Whistle While You Work
ct.jpg


Xanadu Weyr - Clock Tower
// The walls of the tower are the same dark gray stones that make up the outside of the tower. The central portion of the structure is open, so that one may stand in the center of the structure and see the top. Well…almost the top. A ceiling cuts off the view to whatever it is that's at the very top of the tower. Very little light comes in, just tiny beams of light from the arrow-slits in the walls. The floor is of dark hardwood slats, thin enough to have been worked easily but thick enough to provide protection from insects and wildlife that might be trying to get in.
A wooden staircase is built along wall, one that spirals up and up around the inner wall of the structure. It leads a workshop, where along every wall there are…clocks, of course! Clocks of just about every configuration one could think of, and quite a few that are outlandish enough to escape one's consideration at first. While most of these clocks are working, there are more than a few of them that aren't. The gentle ticking sounds fill the space, the clocks almost always perfectly in sync with each other and with the ticking from the movement of the big clock above and the sounds mingling together to form an ordered cacophony of sounds.
Clock parts are strewn across a table in one corner. There are a couple of cabinets with parts in them like the ones downstairs—parts that are significantly smaller than those on the first floor. These are obviously for the smaller clocks that are built here. There are no less than two large grandfather clocks in this workshop, both working.
A thick support threads through a large hole in the center of the floor, extending from below to above. A chain hangs beside it too, anchored high above, and the spiral staircase continues up, past a door on the outside and on to more storage space, dedicated to piles of crates with springs and "little" parts for the clocktower's main movement. Of course, the word "little" may not be the best way to describe it; some of these springs and levers are longer than a man's arm. And some of the gears in these crates a man could actually put his arm through the middle of easily.//


The morning has begun! A new day is HERE! The sun is out, and the birds are chirping, it's an excellent opportunity to spend all day- INDOORS- Fixing loose steps on the clock tower. A new beautiful, fun, brilliant day full of—Chores. Yes, chores. Today is not special Xanadu Weyr's candidate class of summer 2723 has moved past the wondrous excitement of Leirithtopia, and the injury reports are at reasonable levels. Now that the cardboard catastrophe has left the beach life seems to be returning to normal. Walking into the clocktower, supplies have been placed by the staircase with extremely simplistic instructions that read.

IF A STAIR IS MISSING A NAIL, HAMMER IN A NEW ONE. IF A BOARD IS DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR PLEASE MARK IT FOR INSPECTION BY BUILDERS. CLEAN ENTIRE STAIRCASE AND SEAL WITH WOOD FINISH TO PREVENT ROT This sounds easy enough, sitting by the staircase is everything one could imagine they would need. A box of nails, two hammers, a bucket, two mops, two rollers, and a bottle of the Pern equivalent to wood sealer and finisher. Entering the clock tower, Evangeline is wearing an older skirt, it has a few stains on it and has been rolled up so that her ankles are visible. SCANDAL SUCH NUDITY. SOMEONE TAKE SOME SAUCY PHOTOS. Her shirt is old and goes to her forearms. Old enough that it can probably be thrown away, there are small dots of blue paint on it that one can assume is from the last time she did maintenance. For her part Evi walks in with a small hum of a song, looking at the supplies and reading over the instructions.

Its just another day in the life of a candidate really. At least they got to enjoy the day in that walk from the barracks? Katailea isn't too far behind after a brief misdirection. While Evangeline might have clothing relegated to wear for such tasks, she's wearing her usual garb one of perhaps three dresses if anyone is paying that close of attention to the trader's clothing. A look over the tools provided, the note left, followed by a glance upward through the hole that reaches through the center of those spiraled stairs. "… This might take awhile," she comments whether to herself, the younger candidate, or both.

"Where do we even start." Evangeline groans and shakes her head, picking up a hammer and swinging it around in front of her with no attention to the fact that she could easily hurt someone, probably herself, really. "Arali never let me touch tools- he thought girls should be inside." A shrug of her shoulders and she picks up the container of turpentine-like sealant, she opens the lid and wrinkles her nose. "That is awful. Um, I guess we better start." Evi's idea of stair testing is hilarious to watch, but also a bit absurd. Each stair first gets a toe touch, her gently tapping one toe onto it, and then she JUMPS onto it, and side shuffles back and forth. Yep, they are going to be here FOREVER. "This one is good!" Calling out to Katailea, somehow, she has found joy in their project. At least, at this very moment, she seems entertained.

Where do they start? Good question. "Bottom makes sense," Kataelia replies. They're here, they can check the steps while they work their way up rather than walking up and down on the ones that need fixing too much first. "Careful!" the blonde says, ducking back with a hand out in front of her just in case with that hammer swinging randomly about. That hand reaches for the container of sealant next least it be dropped or spilt. Given how this morning has started, its going to be a long day. Isn't it? Setting the container back on the floor, out of the way of working on those first couple steps, and with the cover back on she can only shake her head as she turns back to Evangeline's testing. "May-" but she'll not make that comment. Not just yet, let the girl figure out on her own that jumping on the steps to test which are still solid probably isn't the best. "Okay," she notes, reaching to pick the other hammer and a few nails.

The jump and shuffle go on for five steps before there's a loud squeal and jump back, one of the boards makes a loud CRACK as Evangeline brings her weight down onto it, there's a visible splintering of the wood and the single solid beam has split into two. Grabbing the railing, the dirty blonde haired candidate takes a deep breath, eyes wide. "Found one!" Biting her lips but struggling to contain a smile down to Katailea, despite that warning, she is still having fun. "Do you have the little markers?" She reaches down through the railing, hand ready to receive one of the paper stickers that say CAUTION BROKEN in bold red type. "I, well, I have never done this before. Um, should we use just ONE Sticker or like, four?" She's genuinely asking, eyes bright with curiosity as she leans down towards the older girl, "Do you wanna do the top? We could meet in the middle! Or if, you have any other ideas.." Maybe safer ideas, really. She has such enthusiasm for the whole project that is as boring as it sounds.
Katailea cringes at the sound of that crack, peeking back towards the younger girl. There are no squeals or screams to follow just that exclamation and the older girl can only shake her head at the younger one. "One should be good," she notes even as she moves to collect and then hand several up to the weaver. "But maybe not jumping," she offers the suggestion. "If it needs to be replaced you'll be able to tell. If you're not sure, put a note on it anyway?" Certainly whoever is following up on that would rather fix or replace a few extra than miss one. "How about you mark the bad ones and I'll follow and check the nails on the others?" the trader suggests. Given how the girl was handling a hammer previously she's not so sure she wants to see her with one again just yet.

Evangeline sighs, and frowns with both eyebrows going up, "Well, ok I guess." Plastering the sticker onto the step, she steps up on the next one and shifts her weight back and forth on it. It's clear from the boring way she steps from stair to stair that this is FAR less fun, and her head rolls back in exasperation, "This one needs one." Placing a sticker on the 11th step up. Despite warnings, she does take a test bounce on the next two steps, looking down at Katailea, "Have you ever done anything like this before?" Her natural curiosity getting the better of her, and her need to fill silence whenever she can. Exhaling with a giant blow, obviously bored already, "I bet dragonriding has NOTHING to do with household repair." A little bit of sass and a conspiratory smile for her new friend, one hand going to her chin as she leans on the rail to watch the blonde work.

Less fun until jumping on the wrong stair sees her falling through more than a handful of steps up the tower! There's no additional warnings for that bounce further on, she may or may not have caught it. Katailea sets to work herself as Evangeline moves on checking the steps above. Some of the nails are holding well, several need a tap or two back into place and there's a few that are (as the note mentioned) missing. A good wack at one that's worked it's way loose, and a second sees it back in place before she glances up towards the other girl with a shrug. "Not exactly like this, but I've helped fix the ship deck before." Which is similar work from the way she's comparing the two chores. "Probably," she agrees about dragonriding having little to do with repairs.

"I've never been on a ship." Evangeline continues to go up the stairs, bouncing on one and as it bows in shaking her head. "What's it like?" Making small talk while she places a sticker on a broken stair and is now only three from the top. The next step makes a loud creak and the board splinters down and in, the dirty blonde haired candidate jumps one step up in time and now she SCREAMS. "THAT ONE IS BAD." She shrieks down to Katailea, eyes wide and body trembling as there is now a hole where her foot once was. "This place is a death trap." And this coming from someone who rode the ferris wheel four times at Leirithtopia. With a small whimper Evangeline takes the next two steps with caution and sits down on the top platform, "Do you have a favorite egg? Mine is the sort of Shiny dark dark blue one." She is speaking of Light of the Mother moon egg, with a guarded smile on her face. "I think it liked me." A blush to her face and she taps her fingers on the wood railing beside her.
"Never?" Katealia asks looking up towards Evangeline, surprise in her voice as if the idea of someone never being on a ship had never crossed her mind. How to describe it though… "Not like here," she replies to that question as she looks back to the work in front of her. "The ocean in every direction as far as you can see, the ship rocking on the waves.." she does her best to describe it, pausing the hammer as she does only to jump to her feet to help at that scream. Thankfully no injuries it appears, but still the question. "You okay?" clearly concerned even if the outcome could have been worse. And then the obvious, "That is why we're fixing it." Though why it wasn't fixed sooner is anyone's guess. Once she's sure the other girl is alright she moves back to add a nail to the next step, only a few to check. "No," she replies with a shake of her head. "I don't know, probably the white one." Kissed by the Wild Egg

"I am fine thanks and NO Never, I have never even been in a small boat, the farthest out to sea I have been is the distance I can swim." Evangeline explains, listening and nodding along as she moves down the stairs, stepping well over the ones marked for further repair. "My Nana sailed; she has sails all over her weyr. My cousin Zoddina is seacraft, she's out there somewhere too." Scuttling down, she fills the bucket with water and begins mopping the undamaged stairs, sighing with utter total boredom. "Did you touch the little dark one? The one that—" Her words catch, as if the thing that the egg tries to do is so awful she has trouble speaking of it. "The, one that tries to smother people?" Obviously, the egg made an impact, her voice loses all its joy, and there is fear her bottom lip going into her mouth. "All that water sounds… wet." Yep, right word choice Evi. Mopping the stairs in prep for sealing and sighing every few minutes, because work sucks.

"Yeah?" It's more of a rhetorical question, confirmation that she is listening about nana's and cousins and sailing. Moving carefully over that last board to be replaced, there's one more nail replaced and two or three tapped down before Kataelia turns to head back down. "Yeah," she shudders at the thought of that particular egg that's asked after as she bends to drop whatever nails remain in hand back into the box and place the hammer beside it in exchange for a mop to begin helping with the cleaning portion of the task. "That was my first one." Which may be why she was hesitant to go again.

Evangeline the stair cleaning goes on without much fan fare, the thoughts of eggs and the dangers that await come hatching loom over Evi and she is quiet. As for mopping, that she can do and she does it with the speed and efficiency that would make her the envy of many a headwoman. Pouring out the dirty water she kneels down next to the sealant and says, "Citayla had to help me off the sands, I didn't touch it again." Pressing her lips together she exhales with a huff, tired. "This is the worst chore EVER." The wood sealer gets poured in a pan and the smell is rancid, Evangeline props open the front door with a rock but it barely helps. "We should probably go top down, or.. I mean, we could get STUCK."

Katailea makes a face that's a mix of sympathy and understanding for Evangeline's experience with said egg. "Well glad you survived it?" she offers, in part teasing with a smile. "I don't know," she then replies of the chore. "Maybe not my favorite, but I can think of worse." There are worse! A nod then as she agrees, "Top down." They don't need to be stuck at the top waiting for it to dry, or leaving footprints on the way down and dragging it across the floor.

The pan full of disgusting chemical goop is carted up the stairs, Evangeline groans and rolls her eyes the whole time but is an equal participant in the chore, the smell is going to stick to them. "Yeah, they could be making us run laps." BLECK she makes several fake gags, they aren't professionals, and one can assume they aren't expected to be perfect at this. Once completed, Evi places all the stuff back where it was but picks up one of the hammers and hums. "I might need this.. for something." A rare glint of mischief in her sweet brown eyes, the modest candidate gives a small unnecessary curtsy to Katailea, "I think we did really good, Thank you for doing work. SOME people SIT, and it takes so long.." LIKE HOW DARE. Another glance and she's traipsing out of the clock tower, let's hope no one comes near it with fire for a bit.


Add a New Comment
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License