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Writers: Avery, Mirren
Date Posted: 30th January 2016

Characters: Doria, A'vel
Description: Chores and talk.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 11 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Meledei

Favelance peered down at the hide in his hands and the scribbled note
on the side. He had to find his chores partners and then go to work.
At least he knew where he was going around the Weyr. The Hall might
have left awhile ago, but not long enough that the memory of where
things were had faded. Still, he wasn't looking forward to starting
the boring drudgery of chores...

Doria actually liked cleaning out the pantries. Other candidates
groaned about having to pull everything out, clean the shelves and
check the quality of the dried stock. They complained about how high
some of the shelves were and that reaching gave them sore backs. But
Doria liked the relative peace of the storage caverns.

She saw the same chore had been assigned to a boy she didn't recognise
and tapped him on the shoulder.

Favelance jumped. "Uh, hi. Are you my partner?"

His jumping made her jump. "Um, yes." Maybe when her heart slowed down a little.

He stuck out his hand and tried to recover the first impression. "I'm
Favelance. I just got Searched. You are?"

"Um, Doria." She awkwardly shook his hand and half-smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. Have you always been here?"

"Yes, I was born here." She started walking toward the storage cavern.

"I was here while the Harpers were here, but my dad never wanted me
straying over to the Weyr proper for long," he said. "So you might
have to help show me around."

"Um, all right." It would be rude to say no to request like that.
"This is the way to the storage caverns."

"Great, And we're restocking the pantry?" he asked, rereading the
slip. "How bad is that usually? At least it's not infirmary...or
dung..."

"It's…fine. It's just a lot of lifting and…things." He'd soon find out.

He followed along with her, trying to figure out what to say. He was
feeling a bit out of his depth. It was his chance to reinvent himself,
he kept telling himself. But at the same time, he also knew how to
interact with other apprentices. Here he didn't really know anyone or
how much of his humor would be okay to make.

Once they got to the pantry, he looked up...and up. **Great.** Well,
surely there was a ladder.

"Okay. What first?" He tried to sound positive.

"We need to check what's here and dust the shelves." She paused and
looked them over. "Maybe one of of us does one and the other does the
other." Did that make sense?

"Yeah, it does."

"Good." She nodded, then stood looking at him. "So - which do you
want?" She'd do whatever he didn't want to do.

"I'll take this side," he said, walking over to the left. "You know,
this isn't what the Harper tales say about being a Candidate. How long
have you been one?"

"A little while." She moved to the other side." What do the harper
tales say," she asked curiously.

"About being a Candidate? It teaches you strength and disciplnine and
makes you become a good man so you can Impress. Or a great woman of
course," he added quickly. "It's all about egg-touching and stuff that
isn't...pantries and dung and..."

She snorted softly. "It's much more messy and - real." If only she
could be taught to be great. She doubted anyone had that ability.

"Yeah...I guess if we told the truth, nobody would want to do it."

She frowned slightly. "People still would. They want a dragon." Most
people would do _anything_ to impress one. "Besides, if you impress,
you should get used to dung."

"They never tell stories about that, either."

That drew a short laugh from her. "Are you put off now?"

He considered it. "Not really. I feel like I'm meant for this. And if
you tell anyone, I'll deny it," he said, wagging his finger. "I won't
have it be known I'm a cliche Harper telling cliche tales."

She smirked. "No one will hear it from me." Or anything for that
matter. "What colour are you hoping for?" That told a lot about a guy.

"I'm not hoping for anything. I'll see what I can get," he said genially.

"Oh… so…" She paused, remembering how weird holders and other
non-Weyrfolk were about sexuality. "That's… great."

"I just want to belong. Whatever color I'll Impress, he'll love me."

"Ah." So either he wasn't expecting green or he wouldn't admit it.
"I'm sure he will," she replied.

"Would you like a gold the next time an egg happens? I saw the last one
happen," he bragged.

That actually made her laugh in surprise. "No. Golds don't choose
girls like me."

"And what's a girl like you?"

She shrugged. "A shy one."

"Who says a shy girl can't Impress gold?"

"All the outgoing goldriders around," Doria replied. Not one was like her.

"I'm sure there are shy girls who have ridden a gold. Girls who aren't
bold or outrageous. Meledei seemed self-contained and reserved before
she Impressed Elleth." He remembered his dad having said he'd expected
someone showier.

She shrugged, unwilling to argue the point, or any point for that matter. Maybe he was right, maybe not, but she knew herself. Silently she went back to work.

She didn't seem interested in engaging, so he decided to go back to the shelves.

Last updated on the January 31st 2016

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