experiment in progress [chores//eru]

[Avu]

In Rusahre’s far-from-humble opinion, this was…completely pointless. Who in their right mind would seriously want to make someone mop up the water in the Communal Bathing Rooms? Really? The Candidate would have given up, except for the fact that he didn’t have anything better to do (which was actually kind of sad), and that mopping didn’t require thought, which meant he was free to think about other things, and if Emoyan decided to drop by, he had a mop with which to wave at the Candidatemaster (as much as to say, ‘see? I’m doing your stupid chores’) and/or to whack him over the head with if he tried to hoist him, Rusa, around by his ear again. He actually kind of preferred the thought of the latter. Did that make him sadistic…? Probably, but Rusa had been very, very offended by the Candidatemaster via his very first lesson. To be fair to Emoyan, he’d been upset that he’d even had to go, but being treated as if he lacked basic intelligence did not go over well with Rusa at all.

He kept his head bowed as he pushed the mop around absently, crinkling his nose and curling his toes under his bare feet as cool water sloshed over them. Rusahre was wearing a very, very loose shirt, the arms of which had been cut off entirely, and pants that had also been cut off at the knee; his boots were sitting a few feet away, up on a bench to spare them the indignity of getting wet. It was ridiculously warm at Selenitas, he’d decided – because of course his opinion mattered. It had probably been no better at Nerat, but…meh; Rusa was used to Benden and he was just about ready to lie halfway in the river and just stay there, assuming he could find some shade from the sun. Maybe he actually would, after he’d finished…mopping up the bathing rooms. Hnn. Whoever had designed this chore clearly hated Candidates and Weyrlings…

Keeping his eyes on the ground, Rusa shoved at the water, trying to push it back into the pools. Maybe not what was actually desired, but it did the trick just fine: No more water on the floors, see? And then, of course, someone walked by, and water splattered on the floors again. Rusa stuck out his tongue at the receding back, sniffing indignantly before he twisted the mop, swiping at the droplets again. Why did the Weyr-people even decide to make this a chore, anyway…? Had some high-ranking idiot managed to slip in the bathing rooms and bash their brains out or something…? Hnn. Rusa actually smiled at the thought: It was an amusing one, even though he definitely wouldn’t have liked to be there…the Candidate twirled the mop absently. He didn’t like mops: Rusahre was much better with brooms, but only because his weyrmate had insisted he sweep their weyr because, apparently, it was hers, and knowing how to sweep helped when it came to fighting. She’d definitely been lying on the latter, but still: Rusa knew how to use a broom.

Mops…not so much.

And then somebody else padded across the floor, leaving nice puddles all over the floor for him, and Rusahre gave up, sniffing indignantly and pursing his mouth as the person disappeared through a door and left him with a sopping wet floor, a mop, and a bathing room. Hmm. Rusa examined the water for a moment, and then he bit his tongue for a moment. He really shouldn’t. He shouldn’t. He wanted to…but he shouldn’t. Nope. Not going to, even if the Candidatemaster had treated them like inferior idiots…Rusahre bowed his head again for a moment, and then, swiping the last of the water into the bathing rooms, he propped the mop against the wall and then sat down on the bench, lounging backwards and folding his arms across his chest, head propped against the wall, watching through his hair. He doubted Emoyan would come, and he also doubted anyone would call him out on not actually working, but if they did, he’d just claim he was doing an experiment: See how wet the floor could get till someone actually slipped and fell.

[hseru]

Zan whistled low as he worked, rummaging through his basket of burnt out glows for another fresh one to replace the fixtures lighting the hallways. He was a particularly good whistler, a side-effect of living around animals that did so all the time. Of course, according to the dolphins, his tones were always way off, but nevertheless, he was good for a ‘huuman’. He had considered it rather high praise at the time. It was a habit now, bred from boredom as something to do while his hands and or mind were busy with something or other. His demeanor was a bright contrast to the angry, disgruntled candidate who’d attended class. He didn’t mind chores, they were normal, easy, and expected, as he’d arrived with the aid caravan for that specific purpose. True, he preferred dredging the river for debris, but apparently he’d done such a good job that there wasn’t anything else left in the river, including fish. Zan smirked to himself at the rather dim joke.

Done with his current glow, he passed several that still burned brightly, and paused at the dim one outside the communal bathing rooms, fumbling with the catch before he got it loose and worked at changing the thing. There couldn’t be many left in this area, but he might still have to go back and get a fresh basket of glows. All it took was one extra for him to make the trip anyway. Someone walked out of the bathing room, a man, and Zan looked up only to whistle as he walked away, a fresh wet look to him that the candidate found rather appealing. The man didn’t seem to notice, and passed around a far turn in the hall without looking back.

A bit disappointed to be so brushed off, Zan’s brow shot up as he turned an interested look on the doorway. Now there was a fine idea, if he said so himself. No better way to appraise his prospects than a nice peek at said prospects. He’d get away with it too, because luckily enough, he wasn’t barred from looking at the males. Oh, how he was blessed in tastes. Practically petting his own ego, Zan opened the door just enough to stick his head in, unable to see anything immediately interesting through the short hallway. He slipped in completely, leaning against the door, and was a bit disappointed to not see anything good in the main bath (oh yes, there were some two people in it, but neither of them were of the caliber he considered worthy of his attention). He did, however, wait until the unworthy ones decided to leave, dripping along the way as they passed him in the short hallway. He held the door open for them both, making faces behind their backs and mock shivering.

Now that it was empty, he moved further into the main bathing room, his attention focused on the smaller, screen-separated baths that lined the wall around the main pool. His gaze found a niche along the right hand wall, thinking to move around the main pool as he scoped each smaller bath's occupants. He trod carefully over the rather wet floor, careful to not slip as he took a glance inside the first bath. Shards, empty. A promising splash sounded from the next, however, and he began to move on, completely unaware as to the remaining occupant of the main bathing room, seated close to the entrance hallway.

[Avu]

“Most people don’t go bathing with glows…”

Rusa spoke quietly enough, one eyebrow quirking behind his hair. Anybody passing would probably have assumed him asleep. The floor was slicked with water; sopping puddles had formed, and the mop still stayed dormant, propped against the wall next to the bench. Rusa had drawn his legs up onto the bench, and he was sitting cross-legged, arms flopped across his legs; his head was bowed. His hair fell over his face, brushing his nose and lips, completely shielding his eyes, and he had been completely motionless for the past five minutes. Nobody had slipped yet, though someone had shot him an extremely confused look; Rusahre had responded with a smirk and jabbed one finger at the mop, and the man had wandered on – apparently pointing at a mop was an acceptable answer? Hnn. Nevertheless, nobody had slipped. His experiment was still in progress when Zan had entered the bathing room – Rusa had glanced around when he heard the door click shut, and then he had to smirk to himself.

He actually kind of liked Zan – if only because of the Candidate Lessons. Rusa had gone in expecting his classmates to be completely meek, complying instantly; it had been a nice change. Anzalorin, Zanalorin, and Nautic: He approved of them. He approved of the people who had decided to skip, too, though to a lesser extent; they hadn’t suggested that he take over the lesson for Emoyan, incompetent as the man was: By treating the Candidates like they weren’t intelligent, Emoyan had, to Rusa, been compensating for something. That something? His own lack of intelligence, as far as Rusahre was concerned, or he was just insufferably panicked by the thought of actually befriending Candidates as opposed to treating them like something nasty he’d stepped in. Albeit something nasty he’d stepped in that knew how to mouth off. Hnn.

Even as he spoke, Rusahre lifted his head, one hand rising to push his hair out of his face: How easily it stayed back proved that he’d been deliberately letting it fall all over his face at the Candidate Lesson, and quirked one eyebrow curiously at the other boy as he went on, just as quietly, though he was sure that each word was very much audible, “Most people also go directly to the bathes instead of standing in the hallway for – what, a full minute…?” Resting his elbows on his knees and interlacing his fingers, Rusa dropped his chin onto his fingers, eyeing Zan curiously. It’d probably do him some good to befriend other Candidates; they might very well end up in the same Weyrling class and, Zan being the first Candidate he’d met out of lessons, he was admittedly slightly curious about the other Candidate – and his – what, twin? Brother? Their names suggested some sort of relation, but it could just be a coincidence; they didn’t look incredibly alike.

Maybe Zan could help him in his experiment…like, by splashing water all over the place. Rusa’s uncrossed his legs, dropping his feet back to the ground; they landed with a distinct splash, directly in the center of a puddle, and Rusa’s eyebrows rose slightly at Zan as he wriggled his toes in the cold water and then reached out for the mop absently, shoving the water under his feet closer to the actual hallway so that people could better slip instead of just wading to the doorway. That would be no fun. If only Selenitas was cold enough for ice…

[hseru]

Zan turned quickly, almost slipping in the process but catching himself at the edge of the main pool. Taking half a moment to congratulate himself on not slipping, he peered across the room to see just who had caught him in the act of peeping. His defensive posture practically disappeared when he recognized the other candidate way over by the door, and mentally smacked himself for not even noticing him. Ah well, not like it really mattered, right? He couldn’t help but smirk when Rusahre continued, and he shrugged in a slightly exaggerated manner just to make certain the motion would be seen. Then he gestured around with the basket of glows to the fairly bright room.

“Do you see how dark it is in here? I always carry a few extra glows with me when I bathe, just so that I can make certain everything’s nice and bright. Not to mention that I prefer to bathe alone.~” The last statement had a rising lilt at the end. Clearly, he was practicing his audacious wit towards sarcasm. He nodded to himself, starting an easy walk back around to the entrance side of the main pool. Now that his fun was slightly ruined, he thought it only fair that Rusahre be the one to entertain him for at least a bit. When he finally made it around the pool, he paused in front of the other candidate for a moment, deliberately splashing a bit at the pool that was steadily growing at his feet. Whether it was to emphasize the splash Rusa had already made wasn’t readily obvious. He grinned when Rusa swept the water towards the short hallway, moving out of his way only to take a seat on the bench, setting his basket in the water without a second thought.

“So, tell me what brings you to the baths, still fully clothed and wielding a mop for a use completely opposite to the one it was designed for.” If it seemed like he was disappointed that the other was still clothed, well, that could just be chalked down to his boredom and the fact that his sport had been derailed. After all, this was a prospect too. Zan watched Rusa with a bit of a smirk, one brow raised in question.

[Avu]

He almost slipped, and Rusa actually grinned, the Candidate leaning forward slightly and propping his arms against his crossed legs again, almost curling on himself – he looked like he was stretching or something of the sort as he eyed Zan curiously, and then blew upwards at his bangs, smirking slightly at the other boy. He didn’t know exactly how old Zan or his brother was, but he was pretty sure they were more or less his age – and Rusa had Turned nineteen a few months ago. Maybe eighteen – seventeen – or maybe even older than him, twenty…? His head tilted to one side almost imperceptibly, and the Candidate smiled as Zan shrugged expressively, though he didn’t comment. The women’s bathing room was the other way; maybe he didn’t know that…? Hnn. His nose crinkled slightly at the Candidate’s question, and he leaned back against the wall. Clearly he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, was he…? Well, he could play along; it didn’t really matter one way or another to him.

“It’s horribly dark,” he agreed, one eyebrow quirking slightly. “They really ought to light it up properly…I think we should complain to the Weyrleader.” Speaking of which, he’d never actually gotten to talk to the Weyrleader, either. Oh well. He was just a Candidate; he’d probably be ignored and anything he said dismissed on the grounds of being untrustworthy. Especially if Emoyan and the Weyrleader had regular contact; in that case, the Weyrleader probably was biased against most of the male Candidates that were planning on Standing. Smirking slightly at the thought, Rusa raised his head to look up at Zan as the other Candidate stopped in front of him – and splashed.

His experiment puddle. Rusa crinkled his nose slightly, wriggling his toes absently – they were wet (whine, whine) and there was some dampness on his pants, too, where his feet had rubbed the water onto the fabric. As Zan sat down next to him, Rusa obligingly moved his boots out of the way, transferring them to his other side, and promptly grinned as Zan put his basket of glows into the water. He didn’t know – he’d never actually tried it – but he somehow doubted that glows and water were very compatible; Rusa had always thought of glows as being kind of like fire, except that it didn’t burn and it was much safer as far as lighting things up went. Certainly the glows did have some heat – assuming you up and touched them. Zan’s question made him smile, though – if the other Candidate wanted to neglect his glows, he didn’t care – and he gestured broadly towards the bathing rooms in general.

“I’m doing an experiment,” he explained, smiling, though there was a distinct edge of annoyance to the look (he blamed Emoyan) as he nodded to the water that was spread in great puddles over the floor. “I got assigned General Weyr Service as chores – and this is Se – um, Emoyan’s idea of a chore worth doing, apparently.” Smirking, he shrugged, trying to cover the momentary slip. “Mopping up the bathing rooms – because that’ll accomplish a lot.” He shrugged again. “So I figured I’d see how wet the floor could get before some poor idiot slipped and fell – and then maybe I’d mop it up, then, or something, but I don’t see the point in mopping it up if someone’s going to wander by and I have to start all over again…so far, I’ve been sitting here for about five – six now, I think – minutes; the floor’s gotten wetter and wetter; nobody’s slipped. I have received a few weird looks, but that’s okay…”