Xanadu Weyr - Main Docks
Jutting out from the land are the platforms that make up the main dock of Xanadu Weyr. The extruded plastic makes an odd sound when footsteps echo across it. From this dock, two others protrude taking opposite directions, each for a special purpose.
Standing at the little dock station, in the drizzling rain, with the breeze coming in from the water. That's just how anyone, expecially candidates like to spend bleak overcast day. Kera is returning from running an errand for one of the real guards. That's actually how she's spent most of the day, running errands in between rounds of walking up and down the dock. Her firelizard is smart, and is curled up nice and warm back at 'his' cot. Kera is dressed warmly against the cold rain, but even so, she has to reach up and swipe rain from her face and readjust her hood a she looks for for the other candidate.
Perched on a crate and looking decidedly sorry for herself is Perri. Her hands are tucked up the sleeves of her jacket, and despite her hood strands of hair have plastered themselves damply across her face creating a merry pathway for the rain to trickle down. As chore swaps go this was perhaps not what she had envisioned, and any guarding she's done could not really be described as attentive - in fact she seems to have spent a good deal of the day watching out over the water. Nobody's stolen that yet at least.
Kera spots Perri sitting on a crate further out on the dock but hurries her steps to the guard she's been paired with for the day first. After handing off the return messege and being dimissed after it's read, Kera sidles up to Perri with a little grin. "Perk up Perri." Reaching inside her jacket and pulling out a clothe wrapped little bundle "I stopped by the kitchen on my way back." With a little wink, she offers over a still warm sweetcake. "Haven't even been out of the oven five minutes."
Perri's hands appear surprisingly quickly, showing that despite them being hidden away for more warmth she is in fact wearing a pair of mismatched gloves - or perhaps they do match since one is orange with black fingers, the other black with orange. "How'd you manage this?" The cake is taken with great joy, though she does pause for a second to make a vague attempt at blowing a drip of rain from the tip of her nose. "You missed all the excitement! Nobody came by and tried to steal the crate, and then a cloud that looked a bit like a tree floated by." At least she laughs as she speaks, though the joke is not perhaps the best.
Kera glances around towards her paired guard. Since he's in a deep discussion with the other guardsmen, and some dice, Kera climbs up on the next crate with a chuckle. "Oddly enough, it was easy. I just asked. I think I looked pathetically wet and soaked enough for her to take pity on me." Taking a bite from her prize as Perri reports on the state of affairs around the dock, then peers skywards at the clouds with a smirk. "Tree huh?" She starts nodding to herself with a suspicous glare at the overcast sky. "That's how it begins. Send in a perfectly innocent treecloud to scout the way and report back. You mark my words, there will be a whole forest drifting over us before we know it."
Perri laughs, "I wonder if they'd be generous twice." She grins as she takes a bite of the precious cake. "The trees are definitely used for scouts, you have to worry when they start looking like shipfish, then you're really in trouble. I saw a face once, sort of, it looked like…." and here she pulls a very odd face - wide eyes, wide mouthed, "Only way more wobbly. What do you think are in these crates?" There's barely a pause for breath before the sudden switch in conversation topic.
Kera tears off another bite with her teeth and glances back towards the guard shack briefly. They are still deep in their dicey conversation and she turns her attention back to her fellow candidate still smirking "Ahh. So you rcognize the differant cloud troops then. Trees are scouts. But the dolphins are the assasins of the skies." Winking in amusement as she tale starts to get outlandish. Hey, cold drenched candidate gotta entertain themselves right? "Most people think of the pods as being calm and docile, playloving. But take them out of their element, and they get rather cranky." Brandishing the last bite of her sweetcake, she tries to keep up with the sudden topic change with a shrug and glances down. Tapping it a few times "Probably something that can't be damaged esily if they leave it in the rain with 'us' to guard it."
"And they steal things. Everyone knows that." Perri nods, grinning, "I bet they're waiting just now, ready to spring on us and steal the crates." The idea of the crates being safe is considered and then dismissed, "I bet it's something important but they get us to look after it so people won't think it's important and then they'll go looking somewhere else for the things and we really have them." Breath runs out before words do, and she takes the opportunity to have some more cake. "Maybe the guards are really smugglers!"
Kera eyes the crate under her rather skeptically and shrugs before blinking to Perri "Smugglers? Really? And what could they possibly be smuggling?" Glancing around, she wipes her sticky fingers off on the side of the wet crate. Rain will wash it off eventually. Eyeing the other candidate, she slips her hands back into her jacket pockets as rain drips off the edge her hood in front of her face. "Were you posted to Xanadu before you were searched? IF so, must have been recently else we would have had duty shifts together." Perri's not the only one who can to a quick topic change.
Perri shrugs, then holds up what little remains of her cake. "Cakes?" She moves quite quickly with the topic change, letting the outrageous suggestion fade off into history. "I was at Ierne. They needed someone to help the journeyman there, but really I spent most of my time rolling bandages and things. He wouldn't let me help with the fun stuff. Said I talked too much, which totally isn't true, and he hated my beads, but he was really good with herbs and things." Breath… taken. "Who Searched you? Was it fun? I had M'kal, he's lovely."
Kera eyes widen in mock horror. "Oh the nerve of them. We should distract them then tie their boots together, that'll teach'em to mess with a Candidate Cakes!" Thie whispers that of caorse, not wanting the guards to overhear. "Ierne. I visited there once." Grinning at the duties allowed, she gives an understanding nod "That's pretty much how I spent my first turn at the Hall. Cleaning, reading, making sterile wraps, and a whole lot of watching and listening to the Jouneymen and Masters." Hearing about M'kal, she nods "Ahh. He's a nice guy." Giving a quick shake of her hooded head to dislodge alot of drops from her hood. "I was searched by the Weyrsecond." Kera chuckles softly "Apparently her dragonmate Ujinath wanted to thank for me mending up Kiena's hand." And amused roll of her eyes and she gives a reluctant chuckle "Now that I think back it was amusing. At the time, I was a but put out with Kiena for making me think there was an emergency when there wasn't."
Perri muffles a giggle by stuffing the last of her cake in her mouth, then covering her mouth with a hand as she replies, "I'd smuggle cake if I could." There's more nodding, "I did at turn at the hall too, it wasn't too bad really. Ierne weas a bit boring really, I don't think he wanted help really they just gave him some. But at least I'm here now!" And clearly happy to be. "M'kal's dragon, he's a blue and sooooo pretty, he picked me up on a delivery. I don't think M'kal was too happy to be there, but he had to drop something off." By the way she speaks it's pretty obvious there's at least a hint of a crush there. "I've not met the Weyrsecond, I don't think. What had she done to her hand?"
Kera frowns hearing about the Ierne Weyrhealer and shakes her head "It isn't a matter of if he wants or needs help. He's supposed to be teaching you what he knows." Giving it a few seconds of thought "Perhaps you should mention it to Rider A'ven. He's also a Journeyman in the Hall. Perhaps he could go observe and make his own observations." Letting it sink in to the other candidate apprentice, she smiles and recognizes the little nuances that could be a crush in the works. Canting her head a bit, she peers back towards the water, "She had an accident at the forge. Turned out to be a learning experiance for both of us. She'll not forgot proper procedures and neither will I."
"In the forge?" It comes out very loudly, and Perri looks across quickly towards the real guards, though they only give the candidate pair a cursory glance. "Did she burn it? I know 4 herbs that are good for burns, not that you need it now, but they used to make us recite them as if we needed to know all that more importantly than how to deal with breaks and things." That would be the 'too much talking' her journeyman refers to, the words tripping over each other in the hurry to get out.
Kera nods a little, "There was a little burning, lacerations and some deep punctures." Thinking perhaps the apprentice can learn from hr own mistake, she explains further after a quick glance towards the guardsmen. This crate is still safe, so she's still doing her job and turns her gaze back to the younger candidate. "Some metal she was working with exploded. I cleaned up her injuries and took care of the pain. But I forgot a very important and simply step. The Journeyman checked her puncture wounds and found a shard still imbeded. If I had stitched it up, I would have done more damage than she did." Kera grins suddeenly and holds up a finger to make a point "Never……forget to check the lenses."
Perri's eyes just go wider and wider at the description of what happened. "Wow." It's soft, almost a breath, "She must have been in agony! it's bad enough when you get firelizard claws stuck in you, but hot metal! That would just go through your skin like… well… hot metal! Does it still work? her hand I mean? Is it all okay again? I bet she's scared to go back in there. I would be!"
Kera smirks "I'm sure it hurt, but just like all the riders, was being a bit stubborn. But realized it was serious enough to be looked at." A little shake of her head is given "I think she went back to work as soon as it mended. Thankfully, she has no nerve or muscle damage. Besides a few new scars, it works as good as it did before." Kera snorts briefly "Then again, she's a dragonriderand Weyrsecond to boot, so could just be stubborn." Shifting her weight on the crate and rolling her ankles a bit "As far as I know she went back to work. But she's Weyrsecond now so not sure how often she gets at a forge right now."
Perri nods, "At least she knew to get help. There was one woman they told us about at the Hall and her whole leg fell off!" or had to be removed, but such details aren't actually relevent in her mind. "I used to be scared of the infirmary. Well not scared, but some of the smells and things were really bad. Not as bad as dragon poo though. Apparently that smells really horrid." Not horrible, horrid.
Kera winces and quickly shake her head "Oh don't ruin the day by mentioning muck. Thankfully I avoided a Beastcrafters' curse of forever mucking after every kind of smelly beasty there is." She's totally not even thinking about a hatchling having 'to go' somewhere. She nods however "There are people here that are just as…..stubborn…. as that woman." One could almost think 'stubborn' wasn't the first thing that popped into her head.
Perri giggles, but nods and there's no more mention of that… for now. "Stubborn isn't always bad! Well okay sometimes it is butif we weren't all a bit stubborn we wouldn't be here. I mean it's not all exactly fun and games, we have to do things but then the end might be amazing so it's worth it and…." And what is never said as finally one of the guards takes an interest in the two girls and beckons Perri over. "Hold on!" She hops down from her crate and scurries across only to be sent on a message. "I'll bring more!" is called over her shoulder before she hurries off in the direction of the stores.