[PRP] whelp [ haveli + shaye

[houllow]

Another Gold rose and another clutch was coming. It meant candidate chores would ramp up, she'd be busy doing them, and that was okay. Today was one of those "do the chores" day and Haveli had spent a good chunk of it just cleaning part of the candidate barracks that hadn't been used.

They needed to be prepared for the influx of folks who'd come to stand, right? Better now than later, and plus it was an easy enough task. Her limp had long cleared to the point where working wasn't a strain, so there was no reason to think she couldn't clean an entire room by herself.

Not that Haveli was alone of course. There were other candidates working just fine, and she slapped away at some dirt that had gathered in a corner.

Cleaning, cleaning.  

[houllow]

Really? "It will happen when it happens but, if we go by the standards of literally every other Gold on Pern, we've a few months yet." There was a bit of an annoyed bite to Haveli's words as she slapped down more dust, wondering just how had it managed to get this dirty in barely two Turns. This specific area had been filled to the brim when there had been that double clutch, with candidates practically overflowing and bursting at the seams, but lately it seemed as though more and more of the area grew empty. Candidates aged out or simply gave up, leaving beds to rot from disuse.

Or, by nature, went on to Impress and then die anyway.

Whatever.

"And as for eggs, probably more than one. Safe to bet on that." Another thunk of her broom had dust fly up and scatter about. It seemed like the more she cleaned the dirtier it was going to get but hey - this was her only real chore for the day. Might as well spend all of it going over and over the same spot with the hopes something will change. "Or, I'm sorry, were you hoping it'd happen quickly and we'd have eggs before the Turn's end?"

Wouldn't be a bad way to celebrate, bringing the end of the Turn to a close with new life and new relationships. That really didn't sound entirely too awful.

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

Haveli snorted a bit at the vigor that she witnessed, wondering if she should stop trying to knock down the dust if all that was going to happen was her making it harder on her new cleaning companion. The water on the dust would only serve to turn it to mud and the ratty object this new girl dared to call a mop probably would make it far worse before there was a sign of improvement. At this rate it'd be better to just dump the water bucket over and sweep it out, though her broom was also covered in muck and wouldn't help anything. She glanced at the filthy bristles and sighed.

No point in starting a fight.

For now.

"With a maiden Queen on her first flight, especially with a brown partner, it probably won't take that long. If we look to to the records of her sire and dam, also a brown and gold pairing, you have a better chance of guessing there." She flipped the broom down, so the bristles just faintly touched the floor, careful not to put too much pressure on it. "You could also say because of the pair there won't be that many eggs, or because it's a maiden flight there could also be a small amount. Either way they're having us clean these rooms just in case, though at the rate we're going it'd be better to just flood the barracks."

Who exactly had used this room last? She couldn't remember who it might have been, as the woman was still occupying the same bunk from the first time she'd come in. Her roommates had changed many, many times as they Impressed or aged out, but not her.

"If not flood, at least give us decent tools to work with. I'd have better luck using this to sweep the floor in the stables."

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

"The reason we shouldn't do it is because there's no way for the water to drain, and unless you think we'd be able to get it all up we'd be left with moisture on the floor." Wet floors brought about mold and other troubles, though perhaps with the cold weather it might not flourish as much. The Weyr did tend to keep the candidate barracks warmed though so at the very least there'd likely be a smell.

But you know what? "....actually, let's try it anyway. It's not our fault they gave us shoddy tools to use and aren't we supposed to find new and fancy ways to make chores easier?" The bucket was kicked over rather unceremoniously, with Haveli stepping back slightly to prevent it from sloshing up and getting the hems of her long skirts.

Also, belated, the dimples of charm were either noticed and ignored, or not noticed at all. Either way Haveli was not swayed.

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

Shaye may have been content with skimping, but Haveli wasn't. Even if they were taking a massive shortcut there was to be no full on overlooking of things, and so she made sure to get beneath the beds. Maybe in spite, since she saw her companion skip over the first set. Or maybe she just really wanted this place to be clean, who knows.

A few sweeps of her broom saw the underside of the cots swept, ready for scrubbing, and the woman smirked a tiny bit as she moved on to continue. Nothing would be done in half-a** if their progress was to get checked on later, and plus what if water had somehow managed to settle under there? Super careless to just move on and not exhaust all cleaning options.

"It was a good idea to dump the bucket then. Maybe we should bring it up to the Candidatemasters later as a possible method for future cleaning. It'd save time and effort, if done thoroughly that is." Haveli may have been calming down the past few months, but that tiny hint of pettiness still lingered.

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

Haveli watched Shaye bitterly work at the spots she'd missed with a sort of semi-smugness. It was always a joy to get what she wanted in a roundabout way, to slowly press others into doing the right thing. Right according to her own standards of course.

"I'll let you do the honors then, if you'd like. I may have mentioned flooding the area but you were the one who really pushed it home with using the bucket." Haveli normally would have worked to take the credit all for herself, but sharing it in this case might be the better option. It was unknown how the Candidatemasters would respond to literally dumping water all over the floor, so to have someone else step out in front as a shield against any wrath would be better. If it came out accepted then sharing would be allowed.

The room they were in was more or less done now, at least for their portion of it. There were, of course, other parts that needed to be cleaned but with a dirty broom how was she to knock down the dust off the walls without causing further problems? An issue had been discovered.

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

"Please do. I'll see what I can get done with what I have, provided the broom doesn't cause too much damage. I probably should have gone at it more before, or..." She paused, thinking. "Maybe this would be a better case of dipping the broom in the water to get it wet and then scrubbing?"

Throwing water at the wall would just make the floor soaked, but then again they were going to need to wash the floor again after clearing the walls. This was the first step they should have done and Haveli faintly chided herself for not thinking that far ahead. Normally she'd be about ten steps from this spot by now, but today it seemed her mind wasn't all there. Perhaps the thoughts of the upcoming clutch were far more distracting than she originally thought.

tatterpixie

 

[houllow]

"I'd rather not have to do double the work, but if you're willing? Fine." Haveli enjoyed the satisfaction and praise that came with a job well done but she didn't always like the effort required. She'd already somehow managed to get Shaye to clean under the beds once with her slight movements, but having to repeat actions herself was beyond her desires. "It's my fault for not finishing the task first. Got ahead of myself, got a bit too excited, but lesson learned or whatever else it is that F'dral and T'nus like to say."

She knew exactly what they liked to say, enough to quote it by heart with the lessons she devoured in an effort to excel, but she also knew she needed to sound a bit more relatable to the candidate near her.

"I guess the thought of the clutch has me a bit more rattled than I first thought." It was a small fact that Haveli was willing to admit, a small bit of weakness she was willing to show. "Standing for the clutches of both parents, just to stand for their children as well is sort of." Something that literally everyone who was a candidate experienced, obviously. She had a few Turns left before she aged out but there was always just this strange feeling to think that she could be rejected yet again by several generations in a row of dragons, not just one or two.

Several.

tatterpixie