Like a Needle in a Haystack [OPEN]

[Digitalis]

Strangely enough, Phaenna often found her chores to be some of her favorite parts of the day. They were simple enough to figure out, in fact there were very few chores required by the candidates that she had not had some experience with at home, so learning the ropes had been quick. They also, for the most part, required enough focus that she did not become bored easily, for all that she did very little talking with her fellow candidates--she kind of sort of knew a few of the other candidates, but as shy and withdrawn as she was, she hadn't really made any friends since coming to Dalibor several months ago. Working on chores gave her an excuse to remain silent without inviting conversation, which in Phaenna's experience, was often a daunting task and an excellent opportunity to make a fool of herself.

Today's chore was sorting and bagging firestone, and she settled down in a corner of the storeroom to work. Ignoring the people around her, she started grabbing shards of firestone, sorting them into different bags based on size. She was quiet as she worked, but her mind was racing. It would not be long now before Callistath's and Kalesk's clutches would hatch, and Phaenna would get to watch another hatching. Even though she was primarily a dragon candidate herself, she looked forward to getting the chance to see a whole clutch of whers bonding. Just maybe, if she was very lucky, she'd even come away with a dragon of her own...

She reached into the pocket sewn into the front of her tunic, where she kept her good luck charm. It was a small, unremarkable blue-grey pebble, but it was special to her all the same, because it had come from the Hatching Sands just after Wenth's clutch had hatched. As she'd done many times before, she stroked the small stone for luck. Some days she still thought the searchrider who'd brought her here had been wrong; other days, like today, she let herself believe she could be here for a reason.

Perhaps it was bad luck, or perhaps she wasn't paying quite enough attention, but when Phaenna went to drop the pebble back into its pocket, it missed the hole and tumbled down, bouncing off her lap and straight into the pile of unsorted firestone pieces in front of her. Finding it again in that mess would be like--well, looking for one small rock in a large pile of them. Her panicked cry of alarm was probably the first sound she'd made since entering the storage room, but at the moment, Phaenna was beyond caring what attention she drew. She started digging haphazardly through the shards of firestone, no longer bothering with bagging it, just tossing pieces aside as soon as she saw they were not her good luck charm. It had to be there somewhere!

[Kiran]

Kira had just finished running some errands for a rider who had requested her assistance. Now, it was time to get to where she should be: sacking firestone. She meandered through the hallways to the piles of firestone that were sitting around, searching for the candidate that would be helping her today. Her eyes caught sight of her roommate and fellow candidate, Phaenna. They were roommates, but as shy and withdrawn as Phaenna was, it hadn't been the easiest thing to make friends with her. They were still on somewhat awkward terms, but Kira had to admit... She rather liked the girl, as quiet and tiring as she was. They didn't argue much, or get along badly, and that was more than she could say for her last roommate. All in all, Kira was fairly content with how their relationship was.

But all the same, Kira couldn't really say they were friends. They both needed more of them. So Perhaps it was time now to be them, Kira thought, and stepped on over to where her roommate was digging frantically through the firestone. Se had to duck to avoid one that came sailing towards her head, haphazardly thrown behind the girl as she searched for something. "Hey," Kira offered, glancing down at the rocks. "Is something wrong? Is it anything I can help with?" Best to ask! But all the same, the candidate kept well out of the danger zone of something coming hurling at her unexpectedly again. It wouldn't do to end up with a concussion so close to the hatching!

((Sorry it's so short! I will do better with my next post, I promise, just wasn't sure what else to put here since I don't know much about your character to fill in the blanks))