Cluck, Cluck (open)

[Cheyenne]

Draighti was still very new to the Weyr, having been here only a week or so. She'd actually lost count of the days, becoming absorbed in this new world she lived in. While the memories of the Northern and Southern continents were still in tact, it was also as if those parts of the world had faded away, leaving just this almost unreal world of dragons and firelizards. It was hard to find a flaw in all of this, but the expectations that came with this honor were certainly one of them. For one, she was sharing a room with three other girls and she'd been forced into one of the lower bunks. She'd hit her head getting out of bed more than once already and it was a constant source of irritation for her. Secondly, she had to attend boring lessons about history and Weyr politics. She didn't need to know all of this. Once she had her dragon, she would be set. Oh, and the chores! She was not a drudge! For how much they said they needed Candidates, they sure treated their potential dragonriders like lower-class citizens.

The spoiled sixteen-turn old was not happy, having just come from doing said chores. This time she'd been stuck cleaning out the storage caverns, dusting, sweeping, scrubbing the floors. It was terrible. Her face was smudged with dirt and her arms ached from the abusive work. She trudged into the Barracks with an exaggerated tiredness, dragging her feet and allowing her back to slump forward. As she reached the common room, she decided she could go no further, though she desperately wished to go bathe and get the musty smell off her body. She flopped into a chair and looked around briefly as if to see if anyone was there to share in her misery. She heard the sounds of someone coming and so she arranged herself to look as completely and utterly exhausted as possible, so she could moan about her ill treatment.

[Fellis]

Kinga had been assigned to washing dishes today. It wasn't a glamorous job, and she would rather have been doing something more along the lines of the manual labor she was used to, but one thing she never did was shirk a job. Being in the kitchens was fun anyway, since she got to hear all the cooks gossip. She was in a fairly good mood by the time she finished, maybe for the first time since she got to the Weyr.

She was humming to herself as she walked into the barracks, the tune of an old sea shanty. She decided to head for the common room to see if anyone else was around. Sure enough, there was. The girl looked exhausted, like she'd just been through a rough storm at sea.

"You look worse for the wear," Kinga said, flopping down into a nearby comfy armchair.

[Cheyenne]

Draighti made a point not to move as the other person came to take a seat. She caught a glimpse of long, lean limbs flailing about as this person flopped unceremoniously into a chair nearby. The voice was an odd one and she couldn't immediately tell if it was male or female. And when she exaggeratedly flopped her head to the side to face her fellow, the mystery was no closer to being solved than before. The...person...yeah, we'll call it a person just to be on the safe side...the person was lightly built with only a hint of what might be curves or might just be muscle and the haircut was such that it accentuated a delicate, but also oddly masculine jawline. The teenager felt like groaning in frustrated. I hate it when girls look like boys and boys look like girls! Why can't they all just make it perfectly clear? It is SO ANNOYING!

Perhaps a flicker of this inner turmoil passed on her face before Draighti took a deep breath and schooled herself into looking pitiful and exhausted. "They work us so hard here! If I had known I'd be a drudge I would have never come!" she moaned, sounding every ounce the spoiled princess that she was. Draighti lifted her hands to gesture, emphasizing how unfair she thought she was being treated. "They made me clean out the storage caverns! There were...like, crawlies and stuff in there!" She gave a dramatic shudder and glanced furtively over at her newest companion to make sure she had his or her complete attention. Once she got someone hooked on her, she would not stop until she'd voiced ALL her opinions. "What awful chore did they make you do?" she asked just to feign politeness, though her tone suggested that this other person's misery was only a second thought.

[Fellis]

Kinga frowned a bit as the girl turned to regard her, apparently barely able to lift her head to do so. Maybe she was seriously ill. Kinga was about to suggest fetching a healer when the other candidate started to whine. She immediately scowled, her own posture growing stiff as she drew herself upright in the chair to stare at this strange, complaining creature.

Crawlies? Seriously? Kinga gave a short bark of laughter, unable to stop herself. She wondered for a split second if she should play nice and get to know her fellow candidate, but that thought soon passed. She couldn't stand people that didn't want to pull their own wait.

"You're getting room and board, and the chance to bond with a fabled beast. It seems reasonable to do some chores in exchange for that," Kinga began coolly, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "I had to wash the dishes, and I'm proud to be able help out the weyrfolk. And are you saying that you ran away with a dragonrider that appeared out of nowhere, to a hidden Weyr, and didn't expect a bit of hardship." Kinga sighed and shook her head sadly, as if she actually pitied the girl. "What's your name, anyway? Where'd you come from that gave you such an attitude?"

Well, that didn't take long.

[Cheyenne]

Draighti didn't see the other Candidate's face change as she was too wrapped up in her tale of horrible things they were making her do. She paused momentarily when she heard the other...person (she still wasn't sure if she was talking to a boy or a girl) laughed and eyed him or her. Given that the expression on her face was one of disgust, it was easy for her to misinterpret it as disgust towards her situation. After all, who wanted to clean a storeroom full of crawlies? She was a little irritated at the interruption, however, but soon resumed speaking.

Unfortunately, Kinga's disgust was not towards her plight, but rather towards her. Draighti's expression was surprised as the other Candidate began her scathing commentary. Her mouth fell open slightly and her eyes stung with moisture at being spoken to so harshly. She wasn't used to people treating her like this. She was usually able to find the people who enjoyed complaining and gossiping just as much as she did. All she could do was sit there and stare at Kinga with a hurt expression and take the brunt of her irritation.

Then the other Candidate asked her name and where she had come from. Given that she'd made her opinion of her abundantly clear, the last thing Draighti wanted was to identify herself. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a name from her memory, the name of a different Candidate. She only hoped that this person didn't know her. "Arielli," she said, her voice squeaking a bit. She cleared her throat delicately and then continued on with a bit more confidence. "I'm from Southern Hold," she lied. Now that she had regained a bit of her confidence, her thoughts protested. They're the ones who need Candidates so bad. Why should I be treated like a drudge if it's such an honor to go? This person must have been a drudge already, so she's being treated a little better than she's used to. Why would anyone want to do chores? But she didn't say that out loud. Of course not.

[Kimmy]

A hand settled on Kinga's shoulder. There was a wink and a wicked little smile as Arielli carried herself into the room past Kinga. Suddenly her voice cracked out like a whip over the room. "Arielli! So there you are! You were supposed to be in my office for our session after lunch young lady! I can't believe you'd be so irresponsible as to put this off! Do you understand just how important this is?" A rather tall young woman stood looming over Draighti's chair, glowering with her ornate dress ruffled in the hands perched on her hips. She had a large healer's bag in one hand and a mass of wild brown hair flung behind her.

Arielli kept a stern angry mask - but inside she was smiling just as much as she was annoyed. This girl, whoever she was, was stealing her name. Whatever her reason, it would land her in her office sooner or later - probably sooner in this girl's case. Arielli was the weyr's only mind healer - though how they expected her to be a candidate, do chores AND heal a weyr full of people who lived through some natural disaster she had no idea.

Arielli waited for a moment, counting her breathes before adding her final statement. "I ought to have you rostered for helping bathe all the sick and injured in the healer's rooms for this. But perhaps you have a reason for skipping out on our appointment today?" No one ever said being a mind healer couldn't be fun sometimes...

[Fellis]

Kinga crossed her arms and tried hard to keep from laughing at Draighti's open-mouthed expression. The poor girl really was shocked. Of course, if she wasn't used to working, she probably wasn't used to being spoken to bluntly either. The girl probably had drudges fawning over her back home, wherever that was.

"Southern? Huh. I'm from there originally too, but I was out on the sea so often it's no surprise I didn't meet you," she said, frowning a little as she tried to think back in case she had seen 'Arielli' before. "I'm Kinga, by the way..." She was wondering what to say next, maybe try and push the girl's buttons a bit more, when another candidate showed up.

She jumped a little at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, thinking for a moment that she was in trouble for something--that was usually the case--but it was Arielli who the woman was after. "Appointment for what?" Kinga asked curiously, peering at the woman's Healer bag. Maybe Arielli was sick, and that was why she felt tired and didn't want to work. Okay, that would garner a little more sympathy, but why didn't Arielli just say that in the first place?

[Cheyenne]

Draighti thought she'd surely been caught in her lie when the other Candidate stated she/he was also from Southern. But given the circumstances of her existence there, it was easy to explain away not knowing her beforehand. Whew. "Nice to meet you, Kinga," she said automatically. Nobody said she hadn't been raised to have good manners. In fact, she could be quite the well-cultured lady when the situation called for it. But whining and gossiping were just as much a part of that lifestyle as using the proper greetings. Kinga...could be a boy or a girl's name. Well that does me no good! The sooner I can get away and back to my room the better.

Unfortunately, that chance would not be coming for some time. Apparently, Kinga was not the only one who had heard Draighti call herself Arielli. A sharp voice broke the silence and Draighti's head snapped towards the sound to find a tall young woman looking down at her with a rather stern expression. "A-appointment?" she stammered in confusion and yes, that was a bit of fear that sent her voice climbing in pitch and wavering like a newborn runnerbeast standing for the first time. The bag in the woman's hand was a dangerous weapon to Draighti, who shrank back into her chair in an automatic sense of self-preservation, and her wild-looking hair was even further intimidating.

Draighti hardly noticed Kinga's own query, now thoroughly frightened by the idea of what this crazed woman wanted to do to her. "They made me clean the storerooms!" she blurted as she pressed for an alibi. It was a little too easy to scare her or bully her into doing as you wished. Any threat of physical violence almost immediately turned her into a sniveling mess and any time she was confronted for her vicious lies and gossip, she had very little to say. Of course, it didn't always stop her from gossiping, but much of the time she was worried about her words carrying physical consequences and kept her lips sealed. "I'm sorry, Miss. I won't miss it again!" Still, Draighti was a little baffled. What kind of appointment was this 'Arielli' that she'd just assumed the identity of going to? And who was THIS woman?

[Kimmy]

Arielli lost her inner smile - the fun drained out of her as she watched the girl change. Either this girl was a little actress with a sense for the over dramatic - or she was actually afraid of Arielli. But it had been so sudden and such a strong change that Arielli couldn't think to doubt it. I'm a wherry headed flit! This girl needs real help and I just blew my first chance! Arielli could of screamed right then - if she wasn't quite certain that this girl would run off terrified!

Arielli kept her angry expression on her face as she tried to think of her next move - because this was important. Stepping over to Kinga, she spoke in a quieter tone as her expression became more neutral and guarded. "This young lady has regular check ups that she always managed to avoid. Its nothing dangerous mind - but as a weyr Healer I have to ensure she makes her check ups her first priority. I need to speak to her in private for a moment - can you wait outside for a minute and make sure we're not disturbed please?" Arielli didn't want to try and comfort this chit with an audience. They'd both made enough of a mess already.

Arielli did turn and glance back at Draighti - though it was as much to ensure the girl didn't try to sneak off anywhere as it was to see how she was reacting. Her expression was neutral - and just a little bit nervous.