A Grumble In The Night (Turk)

[Kiran]

Jafari had to admit, he was feeling ever so slightly better about the Weyrfolk at his point. Slightly. The beast crafter girl made him a touch softer towards them. Sort of. Vaguely. And quite frankly, he wasn't sure how to feel about that! ....Slightly relieved, to be honest, that there was one he could consider okay.

Maybe he would consider this on a case by case basis.

Maybe.

But one didn't make him forgive the rest of them, didn't quell his heart! No matter how tired he was of being upset, he couldn't let go of the embers of Niger in his heart. He ouldnt let himself get close to any others, start liking them. They could betray him and his friends, just like his family had been when his father...

Jafari's lips tightened. Yes, they couldn't be trusted to not turn on a dime. He set himself to scrubbing the sand tables in the classrooms wher they had their lessons in reading and writing from the Harpers. Spots of ink were everywhere, and it was generally a mess. Though he had to admit... That last story they had been told and learned to write had been pretty funny. A chuckle escaped him, though in his cracking voice it sounded like some strange animal call. Jafari cleared his throat immediately after that, embarrassed. Puberty was doing strange things to him that he didn't like, and that was one of them.

Ah, well. Tht was one worry. The other was getting these desks cleaned. He scrubbed harder at them, trying to get them acceptably clean.

[turkoizdog]

Meena crept through the hallway, carefully making sure each footstep was as quiet as possible. She was hunting... well, something. She couldn't remember what it was anymore, but some wild creature had snuck into the weyr, and she was determined to find it.

As she snuck around, she heard a strange sound coming from one of the classrooms. A ha! The poor creature had trapped itself in a classroom, and was desperately calling for help. Who could save the poor thing now? Meena, of course! Magestic Meena, Magnificent Meena, oh wait until Captain C'ian hears this tale!

But when she opened the door, there was no creature. Just a candidate, scrubbing the tables.
Alone.
This worried Meena, and all thoughts of the creature were whisked from her mind. This poor boy was left to scrub tables alone. Who was assigned to scrub with him? Surely they'd be in the utmost trouble for it.

"Hey... why are you alone in here?" she asked carefully, trying not to startle him too much. "Usually they don't assign just one candidate to a job like this." She bit her lip. She didn't recognize him, either. Perhaps he was a transfer candidate? He looked about the age Meena had been when she moved to Dalibor, around 5 turns ago, and if he was new like she had been, he probably could use a friend.

[Kiran]

Jafari glanced over at the girl who had interrupted him during his work. She looked confused, and cautious, and that irritated him. It felt like how his friends - not friends, betrayers, traitors, abandoners - had looked at him after her father had been banished, and by extension, him and his family. He out his head back down and started scrubbing even more furiously at the tables.

"Doesn't matter. And I'm not gonna complain. They have a right to not work with a Holdless." After all, he was an interloper, an intruder, a suspicious being that had no place in their society. A creature that existed outside their boundaries of safety. And Jafari couldn't deny them that. He was, for all intents and purposes. He had volunteered as a wher considerate, not necessarily because he wanted a wher, but because he wanted to look out for the others. And now... Jafari glared at the table in front of him. They didn't need him.

It kind of hurt. He hadn't even been here long enough to stand for a clutch, and he already felt like he wanted to just disappear. He wasn't wanted, and the only reason this girl hadn't yet... "It's okay if you leave, too. I get it. Holdless. Ya know, I get it? We arent worth the time or effort, we're scary and all that. We probably poisoned the herd beasts, and led to the deaths of all those dragons and riders. Yep, that's us all right!" His voice got angrier and more bitter the more he spoke.

Eventually, though, he shut up. His body was paused, unable to move any more, anger and sadness filling him too much to do anything else. He was just too stiff and too sad and too angry. His shoulders slumped. "It's okay. Just go," he whispered, defeated. He was useless here, and nobody wanted him here. Why did he even bother. "I can finish this alone. That's how I've been doing all my other chores. It's no big deal."

[turkoizdog]

It took Meena a while to process the whole Holdless thing. Not because she was scared of him or anything, but because she had honestly never talked to one before, although she had known about the controversy of a handful of them being allowed to come to Dalibor.

The odd thing was, Meena wasn't sure what she thought the Holdless would be like, but she certainly hadn't expected them to be so... sad. Granted, Meena never expected anyone to be sad, given that she rarely was so herself, but to realize that this person had so much of a reason to... it was quite a bit for her simple little mind to handle.

"I'll help you then." she decided aloud, heading over to the table he was currently scrubbing. "The Holdless are just the new kids, and new kids are new friends." she smiled. She had never thought of the Holdless as anything more than newcomers to Dalibor, and given that she had been a newcoming to Dalibor only a couple of turns ago, she could understand the anxiety that came with it. Their anxiety was probably doubled, if not tripled, by the reputation the Holdless had, and the poisonings going on. But, Meena didn't think anyone had done that on purpose. After all, who could live with having done something so mean?

[Kiran]

Jafari glanced up when she simply said that she would help. Really? That was more than unexpected, and it seemed a touch suspicious if he were going to be truthful with himself. With wary eyes the former Holdless watched as she came over and started to help. New kids were new friends? For a few long moments he just waited for the other shoe to drop, for her to say something or do something that would signal that she wasn't nearly as sincere as she sounded like she was trying to be.

But no such thing happened. Jafari glanced down at the table and started scrubbing it again, confused. "Thank you," he said quietly. This was completely unexpected. And he didn't know how he felt about it. And now he was left without something to say or talk about. "So... Where are you from?" The question was cautious, curious. Questioning about the girl who didn't seem as afraid or as angry at him as some others had been. Heck even his own emotions towards other Holdless (Lirmox specifically, only Lirmox) were more volatile than her!

He glanced up at her, looking at her knots. "And are you a weyrling or a rider? What's the name of your dragon?" It was something that he could grasp onto. Jafari didn't interact all that much with riders, since their schedules were so much different, and he didn't know much about the creatures. That was okay because he was fairly sure that he wasn't a candida for one, nor did he want one. Saowyn had a wher, and that meant that he wanted one, too! But in the next couple of hatchings, if things didnt work out, maybe he would ask to be Searched and see if he could have a shot at one. Couldn't hurt...

[turkoizdog]

Meena could tell the boy was suspicious, but it's not like she had anything to do. Treddy was taking a nap, and she had taken off to explore, and found herself here. She supposed he thought she must be busy, but being a rider wasn't as time consuming as being a candidate at times, especially since she graduated from weyrlinghood.

He thanked her, and she chirped back "Of course!" as she began to scrub. It wasn't the most interesting chore, but if they did it while they talked, they'd be done in half the time! But before she could start conversation, he did, by asking where she was from. She paused. Not a question she was used to hearing, but what with Dalibor being younger than she was, it was a fair question nonetheless.

"Well, I was born in Fort, but I really consider Dalibor my home. People at Fort were really mean, and I didn't really have any friends there, you know?" she told him. "Momma rides a green, and when she heard they needed transfers here, we moved right away. And the people here are much nicer than Fort. They probably wouldn't have let you guys come live here at all, but Dalibor has many really nice people, like my friends and stuff." It didn't sink in for Meena that this might be a touchy subject, one she probably shouldn't bring up.

When he asked about her dragon, she grinned. "I'm a rider, though a relatively new one. Meena, of gray Tredecimth! Though I just call him Treddy for short." she said. Treddy can be pretty gloomy, but it's okay, because I can cheer him up!" It was quite obvious that Meena's one true love, her longing, her passion, was for happiness. She would do or say anything to make a person happy, especially if that person was her dragon, Treddy, her other half.