Continued from Considered. The Candidates have been touching the eggs all afternoon when Jeniosa seeks permission to leave…
Jeniosa withdraws her hand from the egg and turns towards the weyrwoman. "Please tell Seryth thank you for letting us touch her eggs, Ma'am, but I think I should get back to check on Iforian and the pups. I do have sands duty, though, if you or Weyrleader Xe'ter need anything brought out, you can send a firelizard to fetch me, I'll probably be in the barracks tending to the pups."
Jeniosa's comment draws a vague nod from the Weyrwoman, then a blink. "Pups?" More blinking. "Not in the barracks I hope." She eyes him rather closely. Right? Not in there?
She gestures to the AWLMs to go check. If they are in there, Faranth help them!
Matrin is heading out when he hears Thea's reaction to Jeniosa's comment and he pauses. A dark brow arches and he half-turns but wisdom gets the upper hand and he decides not to intrude. Then again, he is a harper, so he lingers near the exit, dropping a shoulder to the rock wall to (eavesdrop) see what the girl's reaction might be.
Jeniosa umms quietly, shifting a little. Uh-oh? She glances between the weyrwoman and the exit of the sands. Maybe if she makes a break for it she can beat the AWLM to the barracks. "Umm, well…See, we found these orphaned pups by the clock tower and, erm…" Is it time for flailings? It seems it sure is time. "I just remembered, umm, I have…something to do before my break time." And, with a quick movement, the petite beastcraft turned candidate is making a run for the barracks.
Xanadu Weyr - Candidate Barracks
A long, low ceiling room opens off the entrance hall to the arena, one wall slightly curved as it is set against the outer wall of the arena itself. Cots are set evenly the length of the room, in two rows, each with its own small press at the foot, for personal belongings. Wide windows are spaced along the outside wall, letting sunlight in, while other lights are available for the night time hours.
Jeniosa comes running into the barracks, skidding and nearly tumbling as she shoots towards Iforian's cot. "Iffy..quick..grab the pups." Huff puff. There is a certain urgency in her tone as she hopes to find the miner turned candidate.
Iforian is stretched out on his cot with the little runt on his chest, the others sleeping in the basket down on the floor by where his foot is. The tall man looks a lot calmer and more content with the (relatively) little female held close, sucking on one thick finger as he strokes her back. When Jeniosa comes rushing in warning him to grab them, he sits up quickly, earning a quiet squeek from the pup as she goes from prone to being held against his chest, "'S goin' on, Jen?" He doesn't wait for her to answer before he's grabbing the basket of puppies that are starting to move around and trying to peek over the edge when they hear the woman's familiar voice.
Having lingered there at the exit, watched Jeniosa go darting past him and then Thea hot on her heels, what was Matrin going to do? Wander off to do some Harper thing? Heck no. He ambles along at a more sedate pace, half-amused interest playing over his features as he ducks into the barracks after the Weyrwoman.
Thea arrives in the barracks but a step behind Jeniosa but her entrance, unlike the Candidates is unhurried as she hits the door. No, her step inside, though she hotfooted it across the sands (yes Matrin you probably were amused by that sight), is leisurely. She just ambles into the room like she owns it, which technically… she sorta does. Dark brows are lifted inquiringly as she scans the room. Then sniffs the air. Hmm.
Keziah had been coming out from the dragonhealers annex and say the candidate go rushing by, followed by the Weyrwoman and a curious harper. SHe then blinks and groans and heads in after. Or well at least hovers near the doorway. She looks around eyes shifting to those present and then to Iforian and the puppies. "Uh oh." she murmurs under her breath.
Inuelle comes back back the direction of the bathing caverns wrapped up in a bathrobe and a towel in her hair, a couple of other candidates following her talking. "So there was jam in it instead?" says one of the girls. "Yes, and you know how I am with my hair goop, I just dumped it right on my head," she pulls her hair out of the towel to display her now red splotched hair. "Do you know who did it?" is asked, but before she can answer the Weyrwoman is in the barracks and she stops to salute, blushing a little remembering that the Weyrwoman was one of the first to see her with her sticky hair.
Jeniosa kneels down by the basket of pups, making little 'Shh' sounds briefly. "Quiet, now, shh little ones." Nevermind that it's her fault they're riled up right now, if only she hadn't panicked. "Weyrwoman Thea is coming, and I don't think she was happy about puppies in the barracks." And then the weyrwoman is there, in the door, along with a few other onlookers and she gulps, nonchalantly dropping Iforian's blanket down off the cot to cover the basket, and she nudges it backwards with a foot as she pales and turns to face, or make that faces, in the doorway.
Matrin isn't getting involved. He's just… y'know… observing for posterity or something. It's what Harpers do. Though to be a truly objective observer he'd have to be a bit more, well, objective. As it is, leaned against the wall with arms crossed, he looks a bit too close to smug. Not quite, but close. He flicks a glance toward Keziah as she comes up beside him and gives her a greeting nod. "I told him I didn't think having them in here was a good idea," he murmurs.
When Iforian sees Thea, he goes slightly pale to be caught with an armful of rather large puppy, quickly ducking to deposite his little female in with her siblings and making sure that there aren't any little heads in the way to shove it up under his cot. The little girl whines audibly at being put down so quickly among the others, earning a surprised look from the big miner-candidate and a quick little grin at Jen for the improvement. It's obvious that he hopes that Thea didn't see the puppies and isn't going to ask about what he just pushed under the cot, but doesn't believe that they're going to be that fortunate, "Shardit all." That's all there really seems to be to say about the matter.
Thea doesn't really need eyes to know something is afoot that really oughtn't be. She has two ears and a nose. And she's going to let them just writhe a bit is seems, for she's not yet flipping blankets and opening presses (although that would have been a better hiding place than a basket under a bunkbed. No, in fact she seems to be inspecting the floor as she walks towards Iforian's cot. Keziah and Inuelle's arrival earns a glance; nothing more and Matrin over there looking smirky-smug gets the barest glimpse of her best foot forward when she notes casually, "Did you now? So you knew." Not that she expected him to tattle on them, but her next words ought to sound familiar to him, "Accessory to the crime." All said with a deceptively mild-mannered tone and perhaps a bit of glittered amusement in the harper's direction before she resumes her stalking of Jeniosa and Iforian. Until her foot stops. "What's this?" She looks down at the floor, clearly expecting them to follow her direction of sight. Right there, in front of her toe is a dropping that someone has stepped in and smeared. The aroma is permeating the air. Niiiice! Ice-green eyes lift to the miner Candidate. "Would you care to explain how this got here?" It's just pleasantly-idle conversation, really. That's believable, right?
There's a tilt of Keziah's head at the mention of accessory to the crime. Hmm. She keeps quiet though, her mouth stays shut, not even a little smile. THough she's not frowning either. Course, there's no hiding the dancing in her eyes, or the slight touch of worry. Her gaze flicks back and forth from Jeniosa to Iforian as well as to Thea. As Thea toes the floor she winces a little and just shakes her head a bit. "Oh dear." is all she ends up saying.
Inuelle sees whats at the toe in question and wrinkles her nose. Ewwwwwwww. She would say that, but she's instead looking down at her own feet and around her and fleeing to her bed so she can sit down and check the bottoms of her bath slippers. No dropping signs anywhere. She sighs in relief, phew. And reaches for her hairbrush on the table beside her bed to start trying to detangle the hair she's now washed three times today. "Errrn…" She makes rather interesting faces as she tries to detangled the worst of it with tiny gentle itsy bitsy motions of the brush. No fun! No fun at all!
Jeniosa chews on her lip and tugs ruthlessly at the tip of her braid as she shoots an apologetic look to Iforian, she just couldn't lie to the weyrwoman when she was asked about the puppies, it's not her fault really, she just panicked. A brief gulp before silver-blue eyes follow the weyrwoman's ice-green ones, wince. How did they miss one? And as Thea questions Iforian, Jeniosa averts her gaze from weyrwoman, miner candidate and dropping, still tugging nervously at her braid. Poor little Beastcrafter Candidate, she's gonna pull her hair out at this rate. Wisely the young woman remains quiet, at least for now. Speak when spoken to and all that, right?
"It's, uh…" Iforian glances at Jeniosa as though looking for help, "Mud?" It's been raining, after all… Though why there would be a little smear of 'mud' by his bunk and nowhere else… He could have sworn that he'd cleaned up any and all messes that they'd made, after all, so it could possibly be that, could it? He gives her an almost hopeful look, not really believing that she'll fall for it, since the evidence is right there. There's another little whimper from one of the pups, followed by a yip, and all of the tall man's muscles tense for a moment, but he doesn't move to check on them.
Just a little smug. And Matrin wipes it right of his face when Thea turns to look at him and makes that comment. "Accessory to the-" He trails off with and straightens a bit, clearing his throat and then rolling one shoulder in a shrug. "Well I knew he had them in the barracks at some point but of course hoped he'd move them after I…" yeah, there's really not much he can say there. So he just shrugs again and hopes his most charming grin might help him get off lightly. "You've been busy," he adds, then shoves his hands in his pockets and stays right where he is - hopefully out of the center of attention, though he does surreptitiously tip a foot up to make sure he didn't end up with any other missing droppings on a heel.
Mud. Yeah right. That smells like canine poop. When Iforian speaks, the Weyrwoman snorts. "Ohhhh really." Not a question there. She beckons him with one forefinger then points to the little mess. "You work with dirt and rocks, so I'm assuming you won't mind at all getting a little of that on your hand. Go ahead, check it out. You too," she notes to Jeniosa. She sidesteps the area watching carefully where she puts her feet, casting a look 'round the room. Poor Inuelle and her hair problems get a shake of her head but she's not going to comment and further embarrass the girl. Lastly Matrin gets an eyeroll as she sinks to a seat on Iforian's cot with her arms crossed.
Keziah places her face into the palm of her hand and groans a little at Iforian. "Young idjit." she murmurs into it. She shakes her head again and then lifts her face back out of the palm of her hand. She watches with interest though on how Jeniosa and Iforian respond. Still, there is a nose wrinkle at Thea's request. She follows Thea's gaze and then notices Inuelle and winces again. Oh, so not good.
Hey, Jeniosa didn't say it was mud, why does she have to touch it? Not that the Beastcrafter hasn't dealt with feline and other small animal droppings before, but look at all the people around, how embarrassing. Another quiet sound has her wincing because she recognizes it as the oldest and most rambuctious of the litter. "Iffy…what if he gets out?" She murmurs, nay, whispers as softly as she can, to her partner in crime. She's not gonna kneel down to check out the dropping, though, not until Iforian does. Of course, she does chance a brief glance towards each of her boots, and looks relieved that she doesn't appear to be the one that stepped in the poo. "M..Ma'am..maybe someone tracked it in from outside?" There have to be canines around the weyr, right? And she really doesn't feel like touching feces today. But after that initial comment to the weyrwoman, she'll fall quiet and, well, if Iforian can't get them out of it, she'll just have to deal with what punishment they're given. Either way, it will have been worth it when the pups are healthy and ready for homes.
Iforian's expression remains carefully neutral, the big man keeping his shoulders back and spine straight as he kneels down to get a little of the 'mud' smear on his fingertips. It's not like it's the first time that he's gotten puppy poo on his hand lately, after all. The thought of the big male getting out has the miner-candidate looking a little panicked and glancing at where the pups are hidden, the blanket moving as somebody tries to climb over the edge of the basket. He stands and wrinkles his nose at the droppings and keeps his hand well away from his clothing, looking particularly stiff, "It's feces…" There. He admitted it. Happy now? He does make a show of making sure that Jeniosa is just a little behind him. If they're going to get in trouble for trying to save the lives of some helpless little beasties, then he's going to make sure that everyone knows that he was the person mainly at fault. He is the one that found them, after all…
Matrin leans toward Keziah, and since Thea confined herself to rolling her eyes at him, he keeps his voice down to keep from drawing her attention. "A least she didn't suggest he taste it?" He follows her glance to Inuelle and winces a bit, though he saw her hair on the sands as well. "I continue to be grateful for the option to stay in my studio," he mumbles, though this is mostly to himself as he runs an unconscious hand through his own pristine hair. But then Iforian mans up, and Matrin has to allow a glimmer of admiration for it, even if the issue is surely the place the pups are being kept, not the helping of them per se. But still, keeping his mouth shut is a better plan, so he sticks to it.
Thea is happy indeed. She foregoes having Iforian do anything further than checking the 'mud' out, flicking Jeniosa a 'nevermind' hand gesture that lets her off the hook for touching the stuff now that the miner has 'come clean' (no irony there, eh?). "True, someone could have tracked it in," she says in response to the girl's comment, idly slapping at something on her arm. Her hand swipes across Iforian's blanket, coming up with - oh look. Puppy hair. "Tell me," the Weyrwoman asks sweetly, "that you found this hair in the mines? And picked up fleas there too?" Then she waves her hand; he doesn't have to answer that. Instead she reaches down to flip the blanket up and expose the basket, pulls it out from under the bed. "Those," she says firmly upon rising, "belong in the kennel. You may continue to care for them, but they are not to be kept in here." She wrinkles her nose, "Take them there, then when you return, I want the entire barracks emptied, cots, blankets presses emptied. Everything laundered. Floor scrubbed and polished. You'll all work together."
There's no real joy in watching others be taken to task, and at least Thea doesn't read him the riot act. There's a nod from Matrin as she insists that the puppies be taken elsewhere, which he apparently agrees with. But then comes the rest of the punishment. And though he doesn't stay in the barracks and had nothing to do with the puppies, he's not about to go slinking off on his own. Nope, instead he unbuttons his cuffs and starts rolling them up. "I'll go see if I can get some big baskets from the laundry," he offers loudly enough for Iforian to hear before he heads to do just that.
Iforian flushes, wrinkling his nose at the discovery of his blankets covered in puppy fur. He keeps his hand held out a little to keep from getting anything disgusting on his clothing and winces a little when Thea flips his blanket back to find the basket of puppies half under his cot. The big, adventurous male imediately makes his escape, flopping out and flipping nose over tail to come to his feet and imediately run to the Weyrwoman and jump up to put his front paws on her leg, tail wagging madly as he looks up at her as though expecting to be petted. The big man grabs for the pup with his clean hand and scoops him up, "Thanks… Fl'ynn sug'sted we turn 'em int' a project showin' we c'n care f'r helpless things." So they weren't alone in them ending up in the barracks, "Dunno nothin' 'bout th' dam. They's half starved when I found 'em." He drops the male back in the basket, making sure he doesn't land on the still weak runt, "Didn' think th' runt thar's gonna make it." He picks the basket up and cradles it against his hip, "I'll get 'em settled…" He makes a face at the punishment that's been handed down, but nods silently as he walks out to take his charges to get settled into their new home.
Thea reaches a hand to pat the puppy's head. She likes canines well enough. "Oh did he really. Well I'll send him to help you all move furniture then." She simply nods about rescuing the pups, but shrugs about the rest of his excuses for hiding them in the barracks. "That's why we have beasthandlers, you know," she tells the miner as if he didn't know just that. "Since these pups have been in here who-knows-how-long having accidents on the floor, and it reeks in here of that and gruel, well. We'll get rid of the smell and the fleas with one big cleaning session, yeah?" This is said cheerfully to the room at large as she heads out. "Ocelara will supervise and show you all how to polish with elbow grease once this place is clean." She's gone then and if the Candidates find that sockfeet on highly waxed and polished floors makes excellent skating? Well, she won't stop them!