Working on the Dock {chores}

[Kaemi]

Who: Lialla
What: Dock chores
When: early evening
Where: ......on the docks.......

Candidate chores. She had done plenty of the basic apprentice chores at the Hall, had helped out her fair share when she was a young weyrbrat. But Lialla had never officially done 'candidate chores'. It was exciting, if she though t about it like that. And, well, she didn't altogether mind chores. They kept her distracted from whatever it was like here. Because she definitely missed her friends, and she hadn't bothered to make new ones. What was the point, if she was just going home after the Hatching, anyways?

Lialla had no idea what to expect when she approached the docks a few minutes ago. It had only taken a few minutes, however, before she was instructed and expected to fall into the groove of her assignment. It wasn't hard work: physically taxing, a little, but intellectually it was a piece of cake. One just had to take the bucket, fill it with water, soak the rag in the water, and then scrub the deck. It took work to cut through the days of fish slime and the like, but (as she looked at those unloading the day's catch) she was fairly pleased with her assignment.

Anyways, the manual labor helped clear her head of the everyday dribble that filled it, which Lia appreciated. On her hands and knees, scrubbing circles in the deck and watching as she cleared away the slime, bit by bit. The candidate sat back, sitting on her ankles as her torso rose. She looked up at the people running back and forth on the deck, the chatter and the drama filling her ears. Eh, not too bad of a day's work.

[Mango]

"Awww, but it smells icky!!!" a voice cut through all the chatter. The childish voice was quickly told off and pushed toward Lialla. A look of recognition crossed his face as he saw who he'd be working with. This could be slightly more fun since he...kinda knew someone.

"Hey sleepy head!" he called, his grin wide and friendly, not too entirely mischievous, "Why ain't ya sleeping now? They got you working with the fishies too?" He laughed as he approached her, more at his own apparent cleverness than at her or the situation they both were in.

In his accustomed place, Polo sat on the boy's shoulder. After the small episode with trying to get on the Sands for the clutch arrival, Polo and the boy had been inseparable. It was said the boy talked aloud to his imaginary friend even more than usual in his room. Luckily, he had no weyrmate to freak out. Especially since the talking was definitely of a private matter, It was like a husband and wife who feared a separation talking. There was talking of working things out and promises of undying love. It was an odd thing to hear coming from a 12-turn old boy speaking to his imaginary fire lizard.

Since the incident, he hadn't stopped smiling though. Even now, doing chores, he was smiling. Not that he really minded being around the "icky" smelling dock. He was a little boy. He could get dirty every day and not give a lick. He just wanted someone to tell him off or roll their eyes or threaten him to get his chores done. That's how he worked. It was how he had worked since he was young enough for enough conscious thought to find a way 'to work".

[Rouxy]

The surf beat above him and tugged lightly at him as he worked, the sharp scraper only a little more difficult to use underwater even despite his practiced hand. Shards and blast, how had this dock gotten so overwhelmed with barnacles in so short a time? It didn't help that even at low tide they were still covered with sea water, allowing them to grow uninhibited. He felt a slight pressure at his back, but wasn't alarmed as a dolphin zoomed past. They were always trying to get him to play, but they knew when to not get in the way. The tickle for fresh air began, and he pushed up and away, snagging hold of an offered fin almost out of habit as the friendly bottlenose assisted him topside.

Hoisting himself out of the water and onto the small floating dock beside the main docks, Zanalorin took several slow deep breaths of air to re-accustom himself to regular breathing while two of the dolphins sported around the small dock. Laying his tools out, he checked them for wear and damage. Satisfied that they were in good repair, he re-stored his tools in the netted pouch at his side and then set out for the main dock with strong sure strokes. Catching hold of the ladder there, the ex-dolphineer pulled himself out of the water and onto the docks, taking a deep breath of the salty air as he began towel drying.

A glance thrown over the docks identified new workers and old alike, and Zan snorted lightly at the kids they had doing the cleanup work. New candidates, for sure. No one would volunteer to work here unless they were touched in the head. Snickering at the light jab at himself, he strolled over to the pair, dodging netters and haulers with hardly a second glance. He pulled his wet hair back into a short runner's tail, tying it with a thin piece of hide and unheedful of the fact that it was still dripping down his back. The towel he draped over his bare shoulders. "Oi, you two candidates too?" He called when he got close, perching on a large pile of coiled rope.

[Kaemi]

A high pitched noise came through, making Lialla wince a little before she recognized it. Dimly. She hadn't met many people here, so the familiarity helped narrow down who it may be... considerably. She had met even fewer prepubescent boys. So the candidate looked up at the boy candidate with a small smile. “Hey, Cheko.” He was a little-- bizarre, but he was sweet. In a... mischievous sort of way. “I'm required to do chores, that's why I'm not sleeping.”

She didn't mention Polo. The whole 'I have a flitter you simply can't visualize him' was a bit much, but she wasn't going to upset him. As Lialla had mentioned: sweet boy. “Now, you're distracting me from my work,” she told him bluntly, softening it a little with a smile. “So either come down here and work with me or go.” A decisive nod accompanied her words. She wasn't the most people-friendly after all, but she liked Cheko.

Lia began to scrub the deck some more. She wasn't going to do the entire deck today, but she wanted to finish this portion, at least. Another voice made her look up, though, to see another boy, on rope, for some odd reason. She nodded again. “I'm Lialla.” Sure, her people skills left much to be desired. But she was trying.

[Mango]

Cheko stuck his tongue out at Lialla playfully. He'd work when he wanted to. She didn't seem to feel the need to give him attention though. Luckily, another boy showed up. Well, he wasn't much of a boy compared to Cheko. Much closer to a man. In fact, he looked about as manly as they came. Even his long hair, which he seemed to have tied back, couldn't detract from that.

"Yep!" Cheko piped up at the other's question, "I'm Cheko. And her name is sleepyhead, despite her saying it's Lialla. She likes to sleep in the middle of the day. Weird, huh?" He grinned as he went over to him, mind easily turning to his more troublesome side. How was he to best cause a little trouble an mischief with this one? "Oh!" he qucikly added in, pointing to the top of his head, where there was nothing there, "This is Polo. Can't forget 'bout him!"

The grin he offered the male candidate helped in no way to explain what "Polo" was to him. He'd have to ask and make things awkward or just smile and nod like many people chose to do. This would be a nice start to learning what this new Candidate was like.

[Rouxy]

Zan couldn't help an impetuous grin at the younger kid who'd not only introduced himself, but reintroduced the girl who'd already said who she was. He already liked the smaller boy. He nodded at Lialla and gave a two finger salute to Cheko as the younger boy moved over to him. Zan leaned in conspiratorially to Cheko and pointed at Lialla with a small grin. "Well you know Cheko, the females are always doing strange things. Maybe she hunts felines at night!" He nodded his head sagely at his own suggestion.

The candidate gave the boy a look over, clearly not seeing something that could adequately be named 'Polo'.. this couldn't be -that- kid, right? He'd heard some dock gossip about a kid who saw things that weren't there, but otherwise, Zan couldn't see anything that would distinguish Cheko as the crazy kid the gossip had turned him into. No harm in a child's fantasy then. Zan peered real close at the top of Cheko's head, then his features brightened and he grinned. "Well hello there Polo, nice to meet such an upstanding citizen of Cheko's head."

He motioned to Lialla and Cheko to sit with him for a moment. "I'm Zanalorin, or just 'Zan' to most people. I don't get off these docks all that often, so it's no surprise we haven't met yet." His grin was quirky. "You two Weyrbred or hold?"

[Mango]

Cheko gasped at the other boy's suggestion. Of course! That was such a good suggestion! Cheko liked this older boy a lot. He was like the older brother Cheko never had...or knew he had at least. He especially liked that he at least played with him in regards to Polo. he obviously had no idea who or what Polo was, but he was nice enough to joke around with the boy.

Cheko didn't even feel like correcting Zan. Of course Polo didn't always live on Cheko's head. That'd be silly. And Cheko would have a mess of firelizard droppings in his hair. Cheko took the opportunity to sit when Zan offered, sliding next to him and looking up with a large grin on his face. He didn't know if sleepyhead would join them. She seemed pretty into doing work. Wow, she was weird.

The question threw Cheko for a loop though. Which was he? He had lived at Benden for a while with his dad. Then at Bitra Hold. After thinking about it shortly, he enthusiastically answered, "Both! I was born at Bitra Hold, moved to Benden Weyr, then went bsck to Bitra!" He gave the boy a smile, hoping this was an adequate answer.

[Kaemi]

Lialla focused on her chore, continuing the scrubbing in the circular motions, and completely missing the ideas spawning between Cheko and the dock boy. She wanted to be done with this chore as soon as often: it wasn't that she didn't want to be around the boys, only that she didn't quite enjoy scrubbing docks as an activity. So as soon as she finished what she needed to finish, she could leave, at least for today. Simply blowing off the chore didn't even occur to her.

However, she looked up in time to see the dock boy gesture for them to join him. Lialla bit her lip and then put her rag down, not against taking a break as long as it didn't take too long. Standing up, she moved over towards the dock boy- who mentioned his name was Zanalorin- and then she sat down, cross-legged, listening to Cheko's reply.

"Weyrbred from Ista, Craft-raised at the Star CraftHall in Honshu," she told him. Hm, a little more complicated than she had intended, but oh well. "What about you?" Honest curiosity, but it wouldn't last for long. After all, she wanted to be gone from the docks. She didn't particularly enjoy the fishy smell, herself.

[Rouxy]

Cheko really and truly reminded Zanalorin of his brother. An efficacious personality that wanted to draw everyone in on whatever the focus was, the kid was bright and energetic. Zan didn't even mind when he took such a close seat, where he might have asked another to scoot over a bit. It was amazing how quickly he felt at ease around the youngster. It served to make him more companionable and ready to chat it up with these new-comers.

Hah, they'd both accepted him invitation as Lialla came to sit as well, cross-legged. Zan gave her a brief smile as well. As for his question, a mix of both from Cheko and Weyrbred from Lialla. He nodded, tapping his fingertips on his knee. "I'm from Southern Hold's Dolphineer Hall. Born and raised, and there my entire life until just the last two months or so here at Cerulean." He tilted his head at the girl. "The Star CraftHall in Honshu? I've heard about it, but is there really enough up there-" He pointed overhead to emphasize the direction of 'there'- "to warrant a whole hall? Honshu's a Weyr, right? Why'd you come here instead of stay there to impress?"

If he was getting too nosy or insensitive about his questions, he didn't seem to show that he noticed or cared. A half grin seemed perpetually glued to his lips, making him seem to laugh at everything in a semi-sarcastic way.

[Kaemi]

She liked Cheko, but she wasn't yet sure Zan. He wasn't unfriendly or anything... In fact, if there was something, he seemed a little too normal for her liking. Lialla tilted her head upwards to look at him, nodding at his story. From the Dolphineer Hall... well now that was something. At Ista she had known them as shipfish, and then at the Hall she had learned them to be dolphins. They were absolutely fascinating, in her most frank opinion.

“You'd be surprised at what's up there,” Lialla replied, fighting to keep her voice from going defensive. He didn't mean it like that, she didn't think. “Honshu's a weyrhold, yes. I wasn't planning on Standing at all, to be honest, not there or anywhere else... but that shards rider played on my sympathies to get me to come here and try my hand.” She shook here head. After all, she wasn't planning on Impressing, anyways. She had full plans to leave after the Hatching and go back to her life at the Hall. She had her eyes on her Journeyman knots, and it would take more than her sympathies being played upon to make her give up her dream. As long as she didn't entertain the notion of actually Impressing- she had given up that thought a long time ago.

Shrugging, she looked over at Cheko. “You have yourself a craft?” she inquired. He was a little young, but they had all started young. He may not be any different... oh, what a lie.