Mop, mop (chores)

[shadowreine]

And here, yet another reason to regret not having Impressed. Keloran was stuck on general duty, and this morning? He was dealing with the corridor outside the communal bathing area.

There was a common problem that area experienced. It got wet. People dripped all over it, dragged towels through it, firelizards shook themselves in it...

So, whoopi do, Keloran's task was to make it dry again. This, of course, was one of those jobs that was never finished and seldom seemed to have any real point. Thus, he could be excused for vaguely moving his mop around the floor. All he was really achieving was moving the water around.

Well, like anyone would notice when it just became wet again immediately. He looked busy, and that was all that mattered. Sadly, he wasn't nearly busy enough to actually be able to keep his mind off of his troubles, which seemed to loom very large right now.

Great, somebody was coming. He moved the water around faster, hoping they wouldn't notice that he was not really...getting anywhere.

[dragon]

Cloar paused when he spotted Keloran moving the water around like he was. A grin quirked its way across his face. "Is this your chores, or your punishment?" He poked, lightly.

He wouldn't poke too hard, since he was assigned the self same chore sections ... and he really didn't want to work alone at all. Not that mopping water appealed to him in the slightest. He'd find something else to do ... even if it meant setting out new soap, he'd find something else to do.

"You missed a spot." Cloar poked, again, gesturing widely. "It's like ... whoa man. It's like ... huge."

[shadowreine]

Keloran grumbled. "That's the spot I mopped ten minutes ago before four weyrbrats came through. They should get the wher candidates to do this at like midnight."

The look he shot Cloar, though, showed that he knew the other boy was teasing him. "Because, really, seriously, this is such a waste of time. Maybe there's something more productive we can do."

And usually chores were at least supposed to be that. Productive and useful work that helped the Weyr. This felt like..a wagon's wheels spinning in the mud for all that the runnerbeast pulling it could do. Stationary. "My punishment is being assigned with a joker like you," he added, just to get a fair jab back. After all, how else did one deal with a tease?

[dragon]

Cloar laughed heartily, and stepped past the mopping that Keloran wasn't bothering to attempt anymore. "I have no idea, really. I am kind of casting about myself, with this assignment. You'd think it would be a little more precise. But ... ah well." He shrugged, and started checking out soap dishes.

Finding a few that did need seeing to, Cloar fetched out a few more bars and dropped them into the dishes. He didn't bother to fish out the shreds that remained of the old bars, figuring they'd probably fuse to the new bars before anyone came along and used those particular ones.

"Me? A joker? Nawwww.... what ever gave you that idea??" Cloar asked, chuckling slightly. "Besides ... being around me can't possibly be a punishment worth the name!" He grinned broadly at the other lad.

[shadowreine]

Keloran laughed. "You missed an opportunity." He didn't elucidate, but rather leaned the mop against the wall and followed Cloar into the bathing chamber. "Oh, ick, look at what those kids did."

Four of the towels were now floating in the water. He knelt on the edge to pluck them out. "Great. Happy happy, joy joy, was I ever that annoying to the people who had to clean up after me?"

He knew that the answer was probably yes. "And you are. I hope you Impress a totally, perfectly, serious dragon." He made a mocking face at Cloar. Truthfully, he liked the other boy and really didn't wish such a fate on him. Although, he suspected Cloar, like himself, would settle for any dragon...or maybe not. Cloar hadn't been here that long, after all.

[dragon]

"An opportunity? Really? I didn't see it. What was it?" Cloar asked, poking to see what he could get out of the other lad. He couldn't go missing opportunities ... regardless of what the opportunity was for. Opportunities were just so much fun...

"Uh ... That's not so much an ick as it is a groan. You'd think they'd at least leave them where we could get them without having to go swimming in used water." Cloar agreed. He pulled over a hamper, and shoved it along the water's edge toward Keloran with his foot. It skidded for a moment, then stopped pretty close to where Cloar had intended for it to go. Thankfully it hand't hit a bump and ditched itself into the water, too. "I think, that no matter who does the doing and who does the cleaning, it is always considered annoying to those doing the cleaning." Cloar mused, before putting the excess soap away again.

"A totally perfectly serious dragon." Cloar said, stopping where he was for the moment to ruminate on that for a moment. "I don't think those words quite go together. But hey ... a dragon's a dragon, no? Seems some people get the complete opposite of thier personality, sometimes. Do you think that maybe the dragon is balancing them out to a guise much closer to normality?" Cloar asked. And then he grinned broadly. "I hope I impress, too!"

[shadowreine]

Keloran nodded. "Maybe they make us do this so when we're riders, we're considerate to the support staff who have to clean up after us," he quipped.

"And yeah, sometimes people do. I long since stopped caring what kind of dragon I get. I'll settle for not aging out of candidacy." He wasn't exactly emoing again, but he was...still disappointed. "I'd honestly prefer a brown, but we don't get the choice and I think it's best to have an open mind about things. You have any thoughts?"

He squeezed as much of the water out of the sodden towels as he could before putting them in the laundry hamper.

[dragon]

"Having respect for people and the work they do is always a good thing, I think. There are so many instances where people just don't realize the grimyness or the hard work that goes into something, until they experience it themselves." Cloar agreed. "It's good for everybody ... even if we don't like it at the time." He wrinkled up his face properly in disgust when he found a heap of towels in the corner that had been sitting there damp long enough that they smelled musty. Toeing it over toward the hamper, he tried to not sneeze.

"What kind of dragon?" Cloar asked. "I dunno, really. I never really thought about it. A dragon is a dragon, I think. But now that you ask ... I really don't want to get stuck with a green." He cracked a grin at the other lad. "Really." He spent a moment more on that thought, before bending to flip the heap of towels over into the hamper. The thing was nearly full already, and they hadn't done most of the room yet. People were just messy. "I don't think I'd want a blue, either. Granted ... if I get a dragon, I imagine I'd be thrilled to death just to have it. But ... honestly? I don't think I'd get on as well with a blue."

Cloar straightened, and picked up the heavy hamper and carried it off. Taking it to the laundry chute, he tipped it up and shook it a few times to make sure all the towels and random peices of filthy clothing actually came out of the bottom. Who knew how long it had been sitting in there, damp, like that? Setting the basket back on the floor again, he kicked its bottom with his foot, sending it skidding back over to where Keloran was. Getting an idea on how to deal with all the water on the floor, Cloar picked up the mop Keloran had so conveniently abandoned, and started useing it briskly. But instead of trying to sop up the water, he was herding it across the floor, to the baths. The water drained off the ledges and down into the tubs... a perfect place for it to stay until they drained and refilled the baths. "That seems to work a little better." Cloar mentioned, before wondering whether or not they really ought to try bothering to get the floor actually dry.

[shadowreine]

Keloran nodded. "It does, until the next people come in here. I vote we settle for there being no huge puddles," he added, grinning a bit as he grabbed the sliding basket.

On the dragon front. "Well, yes, but greens and blues are far more numerous. Gotta accept that you might end up with one. I mean, we don't get to choose. And believe me, when you've stood a few times, you stop caring."

Maybe Cloar would get lucky and not have to wait turns for his dragon. Keloran sighed. Maybe his problem was that the greens and blues didn't like him. He didn't really...he just wanted a dragon. But...there were so few browns and bronzes. Not that he aspired to bronze. Brown or blue would suit him fine. "I don't really want a green either, but...I'd rather she picked me than went Between."

That had been an awful moment...

[dragon]

"Voting on no big puddles? I don't think that will work." Cloar chuckled, pushing some more water toward the baths. "If that sort of thing worked, lots of things would be constantly being voted on ... and that would be a most frightening process to witness. I mean ... people could vote on whether or not you had hair ..." he trailed off at that, as it struck him just how absurd that had sounded ... no matter that he had intended for it to be absurd. But ... gee!

"Greens and blues are numorous, sure." Cloar agreed. "And I have stood before ... and came away emptyhearted. But there will be another time. I can't help but wonder who that green was supposed to be for, though, that they weren't there. I have heard of dragons impressing off the sands before ... and there were a lot of people there." He started shoving the mop across the floor again, then, resuming his work. "How many hatchings have you been to?"

[shadowreine]

Keloran frowned. "There's something else it could have been. Maybe she had something wrong with her. Maybe...she had a deformity in her brain, from the drugs, and couldn't Impress."

If the drugs could give a dragon stunted wings or two tails, then...it wasn't so far-fetched that it might mess up whatever part of the dragon's mind governed Impression. "Those people who did that to Millieth...it's enough to want to use firestone on them."

Some of the dragonets were normal and healthy, but those that were not...pained him.

Cloar's other question got a sigh. "Too many. I've been Standing for three turns...see why I stopped being color-ambitious? I'm tired of feeling like a total and utter failure."

How else could he feel? "I don't know how much more of it I can take before I give up and find something else to do with my life."

[dragon]

"I really wonder what it is that they are doing, that they even have found anything that does these strange things to dragons. How many poor dragons got experimented on? How many died? The whole thing is awful. Not just the use, but the development of them. I mean ... it's not even simple. You can't give fellis to a draconic at all ... it kills them. So what kind of malicious groping about did they do to find something that would dope dragons? Much less getting the dosage right."

"It is probably best that the dragonets that are wrong in the head go between, in all actuality. After all ... they are big, powerful beasts. And having one around that is insane? It would probably drive thier rider insane in the head, too, not to mention wreaking havok everywhere it went. Society, nature, weyrs ... they don't need that. Granted a green is probably a limited case. But what if a gold turned up that way, and she bred? Then we'd have a whole new generation of crazy dragons. To the point where they'd all have to be put down. Which is hard on thier riders, as well. It's natures way of doing things quick and easy. Just get rid of the first dragon, without letting it impress, and it's a lot neater than the alternative." Suddenly realizing that he had been rambling on and on, Cloar stopped, and looked over at Keloran, hoping that just maybe he hadn't made the other lad angry.

It really was a cold way of looking at things, but it was nature's way, and nature usually knew the easiest and best ways of dealing with things. Even if it didn't seem easy at the time. Cloar agreed ... watching that dragon go between instead of impressing had been a sickening thing. But one never knew what the alternative was. Why had it done that? In a world of maliciousness and subterfuge, there really was no telling. Life wasn't as simple as it had been in the records... assuming that the records weren't putting a glamor on the past.

"Three turns is a long time." Cloar admitted, on the topic of standing. "And a lot of clutches." He shook his head in sympathy. "Just ... don't give up yet. You don't run out of tries until you run out of years. At least ... that's what I've been told anyway." He finished shoving the last of the worst of the water into the bath, and then started fumbling in the water for a plug. He wasn't wearing any sleeves - like usual - so he merely just reached into the water toward the drain.

[shadowreine]

Keloran shook his head. "No, it's better that a really messed up dragon doesn't even Hatch. Less painful for those who have to watch it."

He managed to get the towels neatly folded. "Generally they don't, actually. Dud eggs happen in dragons and firelizards alike, and you have to assume there's something wrong with the dragonet...and careful, don't fall in."

Cloar was relatively dry, and he was still somewhat clothed. He didn't need to end up a dripping mess. He did wonder about the green. Had she been deformed or had she just not been able to find somebody? He wanted to believe the former. It made him feel less unworthy. But that wasn't really fair...was it?

"People do age out. And it's...I dunno. I just wonder if I was ever meant to be a rider."

[dragon]

Cloar nodded in agreement. "I suppose so." Watching a dragon hatch and die was indeed harder than just noticing that it didn't hatch. At least then, the moment of death was not known, and most certainly not seen.

He looked up at Keloran, suddenly. "Don't wonder such things. That kind of thinking will probably ensure you never Impress." he said, before his questing fingers finally found the plug. Grabbing it firmly, he yanked on it to make it come up out of the drain. Setting the plug on the lip of the bath, Cloar watched as the water started to slowly drain out. As big as the baths were, each one was going to take awhile to empty ... and even longer to refill.

Getting to his feet, Cloar headed to the next bath over to repeat the process. Might as well get them all going at once. "You're young yet. Don't fret over it. In fact ... I'll wager you that you impress the next time around." He glanced up at Keloran, with a grin on his face again.

[shadowreine]

Keloran shrugged. "It's not that, it's the fact that at this rate, I'll age out and all I'll be good for is drudgework for the rest of my life. Wanting some kind of backup plan..."

He finished folding the towels. "I don't want to be nothing but weyr support staff 'cause all I know is the prep for being a dragonrider. Maybe what I need is a hobby that can be turned into a job."

Maybe he needed a hobby period, a way to take his mind off of his worries. Or a firelizard or salamandyr, if he could get his hands on an egg. The company would be enjoyable...and it wouldn't interfere with him getting his dragon if the time ever came. "I'd warrant you don't either."