==== September 28, 2013
====Bailey, Cerise, Daycen, Dimitri, Ellen, Hannah, Kultir, Nora, Yulena (ST'd by Hannah with help from Bailey)
====In the midst of cleaning up the storerooms in preparation for the moving of precious books into dry storage, the Candidates make a rather… disturbing discovery!

Who Bailey, Cerise, Daycen, Dimitri, Ellen, Hannah, Kultir, Nora, Yulena (ST'd by Hannah with help from Bailey)
What In the midst of cleaning up the storerooms in preparation for the moving of precious books into dry storage, the Candidates make a rather… disturbing discovery!
When There is 1 turn 1 month and 12 days until the 12th pass.
Where Dark Caverns, Southern Weyr

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Dark Cavern
It's too dark in here to see anything.
The glowbaskets are not lighted.
Type 'help here' for more info.


-- On Pern --
It is afternoon
It is 1:20 PM where you are.
There is 1 turn 1 month and 12 days until the 12th pass.
It is Spring and 91 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.




Oh glorious spring day! It is a hot, hot, hot day outside with a humidity index closer to one hundred and twenty percent than not and where can the Candidates be found? Why, with Nora and other members of the weyr being lead through the living caverns, through the kitchens, through the stores, into what looks like a small antechamber full of old junk. An echoing quality casts mystery on the room's size, however, but with all the junk piled haphazardly into the nooks and crannies, it is hard to tell. Plus, as soon as this room's exposed, it's dark, dark, dark. With only the trickling of light from the Weyr's Stores shed upon the boxes of dusty discards that have long since gone to rot and waste. Hannah and Bailey trail along behind the assistant headwoman as Candidates march along like ants on a log. "I just know," Hannah comments in an aside to Nora, "that there's room down here to move everything of importance here." Might be, might be not. Further instructions do come to the troup of slave — er — hard workers: "Start grabbing stuff and pulling it out."

"Stuff" is such a vague descriptor! So much room left open for interpretation. Fortunately, Cerise is not the technicality lawyer that her brother is, which means she isn't shy about beginning to grab things up. First order of business, prying free a somewhat frayed basket and giving it a good shake to clear it of dead trundlebugs and the like. It's dark enough that her shudder of distaste goes unseen. As she bends over to begin piling other junk into the basket, her posterior nudges someone and she chirps a, "Sorry, wide load, coming through!"

"Y'heard 'em." Ellen is walking near the front of the Candidate troup; less to lead and more to branch off and meander loosely more in her own little hemisphere. Her feet make short, hard 'scff!' sounds at the ground, stamping at deeper shadows reflexively, to give tunnelsnakes a few things to think about. She's wearing a light lace-knit poncho in brown, with a few white feathers dangling off the uneven V-ends in the front and back to compliment her white knot. She hangs back long enough to BUTT-SMACK Dimitri's rump. "Let's packmule it."

Oh goody! Baskets and bundles and rotted things to play with. Swept along with the grup of candidates to be marched into this dark corner of the weyrniverse, Daycen surveys what can be seen with a dubious expression. And rolled up sleeves. Welp, no point in wasting time; he steps into the dark and grabs.. well, whatever the first inanimate object is that he finds. Hauling it out will probably be more of a chore as the group all piles in to grab things. And each other, apparently.

Kultir follows along in the group, peering around with interest at where they are being led though the mustiness and obvious disuse is a bit disconcerting. His eyes slowly adjust to the near impenetrable gloom as they stop in a cavern that seems to hold very little echo. It's either very small or it's very crowded. At the oder to start clearing the drek, the husky teen manuevers himself to where he can grab up whatever is the first thing to come to hand. This time a mildew smelling bale of something that might have been fabric or leather … something that used to be softish anyway.

Bailey is really here as muscle, right? Hired muscle. And not the kind of muscle that moves things around. Or something? Who knows, she's probably just here to avoid losing her shit at the new head cook. "Yulena," Bailey calls out to the only woman taller than herself here, "Keep 'em organized, will you?" Maybe it's the connection. Cook. Past cook. Butter. No butter. Long story. She gestures. Delegation. It rocks. She smirks at the thought of Dimitri being used as a pack-mule, and then ducks in behind Hannah.

The last time Yulena cleaned anything in Hannah's presence, it didn't end very well for her, so perhaps the tall woman can be forgiven for taking a moment to try letting her eyes adjust to whatever light there is. "Should we take care of what we find, in case someone wants to go through it later?" she asks, trying to simultaneously hear for her fellow sla…Candidates and guess how far her voice goes. Something is blocking Yulena's path, so she bends down to retrieve it. Bailey's instruction get a little nod. "In and out the door, one at a time," is her only suggestion so far.

Nora is, for the record, not dressed to involve herself in the actual dirty work — the usual skirt and leg and heals, the clean white of her shirt, the presence of a clipboard instead of gloves. But she is happy to oversee the moving of debris, even if moving it stirs up quite a bit of dust. And meanwhile, her glance skims out to the already-established stores, so it's hard to tell whether it's the dirt in the air or the Hannah's comments on space that turn her expression to a doubtful frown. Meanwhile, she directs the laden candidates with the point of her pen - they can put the bigger pieces over there, and the smaller ones can go in these handy bins, just waiting to be filled.

PSH, organized! Dimitri seems all too willing to move around in some sort of random pattern, yet seems unwilling to actually get to work. Hey, he likes his hands. Who knows WHAT'S down here that might have needles in it. Or something that bites. And he's got his nice white shirt on as well! … Like he has a second set of clothing. The BUTT-SMACK earns Ellen something between the chuckle and a scoff, as he turns in her general direction and squints, grin forming to stay. "Packmule it? … 'S that mean you tell me to do a thing and I stubbornly refuse? Because I'm up for that."

"I brought some glows," Hannah's real contribution comes to light. As Candidates start moving things out of the dark room, she ducks in to set the glows on some uneven spaces in the walls. "Here, Ellen, Daycen," random names tossed out as they pass by, "take these glows and set 'em further in." Neither is she really dressed for the occasion, although at least she's not wearing white nor is she wearing a dress. Khaki trousers, loose yellow knit shirt and boots complement a rather dapper safari-esque outfit. Pale hair is wound into a braid but other than that, the junior's pretty casual. Luckily, this will light the room enough for everyone to get a glance at what's being pulled out. As for Yulena's question on sorting, she shrugs and looks to Nora.

You light the glowbaskets and see …


Dark Cavern
This area is little more than an anteroom and currently piled high with both rubble and debris, looking almost intentionally so as the two are jumbled together in ways that do not suggest some kind of collapse. In fact, the wall appears solid, if the strip visible at the top is any indication. Whatever it was used for in the past, now it's just a filthy, dirty mess that will take some sweat and strong backs to clean.
The glowbaskets are lighted and brilliantly illuminate every corner of the room.
Cerise, Yulena, Kultir, Daycen, Nora, Bailey, Ellen, and Dimitri are here.
Obvious exits:
Iron Gate



Better, in close confines, to move up than out. Once Cerise has a basket packed with (ick) old, dusty, half-rotted whatevers, she lifts it up onto her shoulder with a grunt of effort. Ever the peasant, this one, no matter how hard she tries. So sad. Following Yulena's one person at a time rule, she skirts around the others working- her free hand reaching out to give Ellen a poke in the ribs as she passes- on the way towards both the stronger light and the bins just waiting to be filled. The look she wears is slightly discontented- she just KNOWS there are spinnerwebs in her hair now. Ugh. Gross.

"Yes ma'am." Dutifully, Daycen takes the offered glows once he's dropped off the first of his burdens. And, begins making his way around the rubble to set glows so they can all see what it is they're touching. Could be good. Could be bad. Nevertheless, he's been developing his dragonpoker face. Noooooo change in expression as the odd configuration of debris comes into view. Just a slight narrowing of eyes as he looks up towards the top of the room and then back down. "Huh." Oh well! A piece of fallen wall is lifted up by the ends. "Gonna need two people for this, I think. Someone grab the other side for me?"

Kultir dumps his armload into one of the bins since it certainly smells like it won't be salvagable. He turns and is rather happy that someone finally got some glows out so that there is at least less possibility of running people over when carrying bulky and possibly injurious materials. The boy moves over to help Daycen, lifting at the opposite end and allowing the other Candidate to steer him and their load to the refuse area. He grunts at the weight but his back is strong enough to bear it with the other's help.

Bailey is the one MOST dressed to help, and the redheaded goldrider may twitch as the others get to work. Okay fine, fine, she can't help herself. "If you need me," she comments to Hannah-and-Nora before untucking her gloves from her belt and wading in to grab a musty bale of moldering wool and tossing it to the candidate closest to the door with empty hands. Here: catch.

And then there was light, and Yulena is entirely relieved for it… until she looks up and sees, despairingly, the ickness. Fortunately, there's nothing too awful in her arms, but she stares at the wall of detritus before her. "That… that's going to be a right pain. We're going to have to take that apart carefully. Just like a shipment of containers," Yulena tells Nora as she moves to drop her current arm-load outside, then comes right back in. She's … um, thinking of how to do things! That's it.

"I suppose, if anyone finds something that isn't entirely trashed…" Nora's hand waves aside, more toward the organized portion of the stores. "Over there, for now." She doesn't seem particularly hopeful about finding much that isn't busted beyond use, but hey, who knows what's in there. More toward the golriders, she adds, "I have some muscle waiting until the kitchen is ready, and then they'll start coming through to remove the debris." That is, the debris that the candidates are slowly un-piling from this delightful, dust-filled workspace. It's no good for it to just live in a heap elsewhere in there stores - what would be the point of that! And it would be sad if the candidates couldn't all be right here under the watchful eyes of two barely-helpful women and one Bailey who has her gloves ready.

The rubble mixed in with the broken and not-valuable things could make it easy to miss the odd item here and there that seems to be wedged into this room. A threadbare runner blanket, what could have been an old cutting board, and possibly what was once sacks of rice that fell to rot long, long ago and now aged and dirty grains of rice crunch beneath the feet of the workers. It's almost as if, the old Southerners tossed everything but the kitchen sink in here.

Daycen is good with the helping part - and is grateful it's someone else carrying the brint of the load quite honestly. He gives Kultir a little salute when they finally unburden the piece of wall. Or ceiling. Or whatever. And then trudges back in to start dragging a sack out from another pile. "Couldn't they just dump all their junk between? Why pile it all in here?" He is confused. And all of this mess just offends his organized brain. Twitch.

Hannah helps, where she can, although she's more into grabbing up the lighter stuff than the heavier, buuuuut she's not had a good run of it when it comes to these sorts of things, so it's only here and there; mostly she's interested in the discards of things that might be found as more valuable than broken table legs. Like a pretty blue-and-white patterned china set that lost most of its cups and plates, though some remained (mostly) unchipped.

Ellen has a way of pretty much always being dressed for work - in that any quality wear that crosses her shoulders earns a few instant points in Grubbiness. "Sure," Ellen takes a basket from Hannah, her grin eerie in the shifting light and shadows, and she shoves it up at Dimitri, "An' then I'll butcher'ya for a mulestew. Hold this up." The glow basket. And - a pillow of some kind? And is she cramming a stool at Dimitri as well? RIGHT AT HIS CHEST. He can either take it from her or he can be BLUDGEONED by it. Repeatedly. One randomThing for You. One for ME. She hoists something heavy and kind of - rough and wooden? Is that a BUTTER CHURN? - up onto her own shoulder.

Bailey has the misfortune of picking up a box that MOVES; she drops it and takes an instinctive step back, and a horde of spinners and crawlers erupt to skitter for the dark corners. Watch out, candidates, there's a bunch of eight-legged freaks heading your way. Bailey, meanwhile, is doing the heebie-jeebie dance wherein one frantically swipes down arms and clothes and hair in vain attempt to reassure yourself that you have not, in fact, become a new home for a spinner.

To Yulena> From Bailey's box, a flutter of a scrap of hide falls out. Do you pick it up?



Kultir is doing his best to move this bit of wall with Daycen's help, the two burly boys moving steadily through the cavern as they move to the refuse pile. He smiles and nods at Daycen when the other flicks him that salute as they both head back to grab something else up. He barely sees something flying through the air and snatches it out of the air before it can smack into anyone not paying attention. The force of the toss and his grasping hands cause dust to poof in a cloud, right in his face. He gets a snoot-ful of the choking stuff and does just that. *COUGHCOUGH* The boy sputters and sneezes and coughs his way to the bin and drops the stuff in, holding onto the bin while he tries to clear his lungs and sinuses of the cloying stuff.

Here's a new nugget of wisdom from the former cook: "Let's clean out the rest of this stuff and then tackle… that," one hand waves at the wall of deeeeegrossness. Finding a big pile of… well, perhaps they were once window coverings, but now seem to be a lot of thick poles with craps of fabric and dust over them, Yulena hauls them into her arms. Sneeze. The bag of… well, maybe it was food, is glared at with despair in the way only cooks can at ruined food, "They left the rice in here." How… declasse of them. The poles are hauled out and Yulena comes back to Bailey screaming and Cerise pressed against her. That's right, sacrifice the redshirt. That scrap did get noticed: "Hey, what's that?" She's just going to point at it. Bailey might have spinner-itis.

Though the gift of a glow basket from Ellen doesn't appear to immediately strike Dimitri as the best thing to be holding right now, when there's suddenly a pillow and a stool wedged under his arm? He's not so terrible uhapy anymore. The basket is momentarily set aside, so he can… put the stool down, lean on it with one hand to make sure it won't fall over quite so immediately, and then plops the pillow right on top. "I'd make a pretty bland stew." And then… he sits. Righto n that pillow, sending dust out from the sides, while everyone else is working. "Though if you find some magic seeds down here, maybe you could grow something tasty to go with it—" CRASH. A snap of wood later (it's old stuff, what did he expect) and he's on the ground, grabbing for the back of his head with flailing arms. Ow. And a moment later, he is on the ground with a bunch of things crawling over him. Frozen. Good times.

Someone is going to have to pick up the hide. It sits there. All innocent and waiting. Meanwhile, the slow churn of debris removal causes a strange whining sound to come as if air is slowly being squeezed through a pin-hole shape. Soft, subtle. It plays to the creepiness of the place and brings with it a musty odor that's vaguely familiar… and yet not. Like dried and dusty leaves.

Kultir finally clears his lungs of the choking dust and moves to grab some litter bits of hide and such off the floor. Still smelling that mildew from the bale he just inhaled, the new odor doesn't register till way too late. The whining sound is noted but ignored, there's always little holes and crevices in stone after all. Hide and other bits of scrap is scooped up in his large hands to be dumped into the bins a few steps behind him.

Daycen takes a moment to stop and stare at Dimitri when he has that stool and pillow. As if… you know, he doesn't quite believe the guy is going to try just lazing around while the others work. He really should know better. It's when the wood snaps and poor Dimi winds up with crawlers on him that the starcrafter snorts back a chuckle. "Heey, heeeeeeeeey - these are the things that eat other bugs! Don't.." *squish*. Oops. Sigh. "Nevermind." he mumbles under his breath, grabbing a broom to sweep up some of the peripheral mess they're all creating. And maybe hurry some of the spinners outta there.

To Cerise > Another hide has slipped free of the stuff that Dimitri's knocked over. It's brittle and seems to be partially sticking out of a book…



Further to the spinners and the note, now there's a crash, and Dimitri is covered in spiders. Good times. For Yulena, who is not. Oh what the heck, it's just fabric, right? Bending over, Yulena leaves Cerise to her own devices and pokes the note that Bailey… found, kind of. Well, it doesn't bite back, so Yulena slowly, gingerly, takes posession of it. "Would someone go brush Dimitri off?" she requests absentmindedly, and studies the hide in her hand. "Lemme see… Eeee… Eeeee… Fffff Whyyy… no, that's not an I…" What on Pern is this note trying to say? Oh don't mind her, everyone, just standing in the middle of everything.

"Don't move," Ellen whispers softly over Dimitri, looking askance down at him grimly. "Those're venomous, y'know." ARE they? She vaults lightly over the poor bastard with a basket shedding whicker along the way. Maybe she uses her FOOT to nudge at some of the creepy crawlies. Her route changes instantly, hip-checking up alongside Cerise as she leans over Yulena's shoulder to squint down at the hide as well. It says - what now?

To Yulena > The scrap is nothing but a partial to a whole; quite simply, the only bit of words that can be read are: "…otal: 150." Ink is long faded, and barely legible. And suspiciously browned on the edges.



Bailey stops in her frenetic spaz of windmilling arms (she knows MARTIAL ARTS, or one would think after a couple of her moves a minute ago) just in time to catch the incredible sight of Dimitri's immediate karma. The undignified whoop of laughter erupts before she can clap her hands over her mouth and then think immediately poorly of THAT particular decision. Ugh. Dusty gloves. "Daycen," she calls, "You have my permission to beat him until he… does something." A vague gesture. You know. Work? Meanwhile, she has an approving smile for the others who seem to be more work-focused (and Ellen, because hello, hilarious), before she side-steps the crawler box (NOT IT) to move on to some mismatched candlesticks.

"What is going on in there?" The 'good junk' area being a little off the line of conveyor belt style Candidate trooping. Hannah steps away from the sorted pile, giving a glance to Nora, but pressing her lips together when she sees Bailey doing her dance. A frown may come when she sees Dimitri lying there, but the other junior's taking care of it. Pausing by Nora, she dusts her hands off and tilts her head up to the headwoman, "We might actually find some valuable antiques in this mess." She is, mostly, in the background.

To Ellen > Leaning over Yulena might be a good intention, but do the eyes catch a glint of dulled metal? Stuck in that pile closest to the rubbled wall?



Cerise cares not for ancient writings! Hell, she found something like that of her own and gave it away! Brother covered in crawlies and likely sporting a big ol' bruise on his tush? That is far more engaging. She does not hesitate to squish a few bugs as she walks to Dimitri's side, hand down to help haul him to his feet. "Ridiculous," she accuses, with a grin. But then there is a pause and the young woman's head cocks, as if listening for something. Trust someone attuned to life on the road to be attentive to sounds and smells- she asks, "What's that?"

Dimitri seems for a moment quite content to be lying on the ground with his limbs a-sprawlin'. You know, not counting the look of fear that crosses his face at the mention of the little biters (are they?) being venomous (ARE THEY??). If he could freeze any more than he already was, he would When Bailey gives Daycen an order, however, he can't help but look up and over at Daycen from his spot on the floor, and laughs right back. "Daycen? Beat anyone? That's about as likely as me bedding any of you g— … what's that noise?"

Kultir continues to pick up the larger bits of … drek that lays about the floor, stuff that Daycen's broom won't be able to handle and slowly clears a way to the much larger pile of rubble. His light linen shirt is already dusty and starting to be sweat stained as he hauls heavier objects from the pile to the bins or seperate pile to be taken out later. He glares at Dimitri as he passes the older Candidate, laying on the floor and not working … as usual. "Brush 'em off 'n pick som'un up, Legs." he grumps, remembering the nickname he'd been dubbed not so long ago in the kitchens. He grabs up a heavy metal … pot? and starts to carry it toward the bins. "What're we doin' f'r th' metal stuff? Savin' it f'r the Smiths 'r … what?"

Yulena is still trying to peer at the note, one finger running along its browned edge. And pulls it away suddenly. Even if it's not what she thinks it is, Yulena is staring down at the box that Bailey has abandoned. If you let the spinners win, they'll think they win everything. Yulena toes the box a little, and says, "Total of what??" Her tone is accusing: who leaves bad records like this around? Dimitri… gets a look. The look of AHAHAHAHA not happening. "Noise?" she asks carefully of him. Does it sound like something falling on your head, for curiosity's sake?

To Kultir > In picking up the random odds and ends, a hoof pick has found its way into the things picked up. Oddly… while long gone to rust, some animal hair and ancient, leathered hide cling…



"Hey, I've got more muscle then you now beanpole." Daycen retorts, scowling a little at the dude. On the floor, looking afraid. (Alas, not of him). "At least pretend to work, or someone will beat you." he points out, shaking his head. "There's a noise?" Yeah, he can tune everything out remember. It's been his means of survival in the corwded and noisy barracks. He looks over at Bailey, with a smile. SHE thinks he can beat someone up. "You hear a noise?" Between those dance moves.

Bailey hears it, too. "Creepy," is her pragmatic reply to Daycen's question. Like the hatching sands, but on a tinier scale. "Here, this one looks salvageable," she hands Hannah one of her candlesticks - it's a little moldy, but there are carvings on the wood under that. To Kultir, she gestures with her chin: "Uh, metal things heap over there by the salvageables, maybe? Good point. They can probably melt them down." Then she's back to hover next to Yulena by THE BOX. "So." Casually. "You going to get that?"

As quickly as it sprung up, the whining sound of wind dies down. More of the rubbled wall is exposed, but more importantly is slow unveiling of a purpose behind the giant pile of debris that seems to be solely fashioned to shore up a crumbling, shoddily put together 'wall'.

Raccoonish tendencies have Ellen's restless bustle shuffle on from Yulena towards, almost reflexively, that glinting bit of metal. Is she casually sniffing? Sniffsniff? At more of a distance, the sound of Candidate (and handler's) grows distant and quiet, crouching down on her hunkers. With furrowing brows, she's looking over her shoulder at the cluster of humanity in these dark, strange lands. "—s'kinda weird here, guys." SPLAT. She drops down her hands to SQUASH a few spiders. "Y'know some old mines - y'go into 'em, and the air turns bad. Y'can't tell, poisons your brain." Her deep husky voice rasps softly over the simple-flat words. So casual. "Y'go mad. Die." Doot doot doot.

Nora lets out a laugh, all breath through her nose. "Don't we have enough antiques yet?" she quips with a wry smile cast aside at Hannah. And then another look around the room kind finds Dimitri sprawled on the floor and Yulena standing still amidst the shuffling and grunting and general noise and dust. Her chin lifts toward the former-cook, brows furrowing. "What's she have?" she wonders with a momentary bit of frown. Yes, she saw Dimitri, no she doesn't expect any different from him. What does does get her attention is the exposure of that… "Is that… Is that the wall?" She might just have to mince a few steps closer to wrinkle her nose at the hasty nature of it. Sure, a wall was expected, but not one that looks so… temporary.

"Thenkee, ma'am." is called over Kultir's shoulder as Bailey directs him to where he should pile the metal stuff and drops it with a clang onto the pile for the Smiths. He returns and sees people congregating around a box. "Umm … ye wan' I should get tha' f'r ye, ladies?" he asks, half polite but half disgusted that they can't pick it up themselves. Then his attention is distracted by Nora asking about a wall and takes a long look himself. They'll get there … eventually. Shrugging he returns to lifting the heavier objects to move them out of the way so people can work closer to that wall they are so interested in.

To Dimitri > From the rather unique perspective that Dimitri finds himself in — prone, LAYING ABOUT — a scrap of paper sticks out from an aged book. At least, it will be until Ellen gets a chance to yank on the metal thing she's going for…



Ellen's calming words aside, Yulena gives Bailey a cautious look, and then eyes the box. And the wall. And the box again. Possibly measuring for kicking distance. She waves the scrap of paper at Nora, "Just a piece of… what seems like records, a tally of somesort." Worst tally EVER. Crouching down just over the box, Yulena reaches out a hand to poke the box, prod it in case more spinners come out. "Does anyone have gloves?" That might be sensible.

To Daycen > Marching up and down the line as Daycen has been — no sounds heard, his fellows flailing about on the floor — this will be ample opportunity to find a hint of something smooth and ivory. Like a long lost treasure that can be purloined. If it can be pried from the very bottom of the biggest pile…



Daycen knows nothing about wall building and the like. But he does know when something looks rather ut of place. so his nose crinkles along with everyone else as the haphazard area so named comes into view. "Looks a bit like it could be toppled over by a light wind. Not like the rest of the place." But! He's here to be muscle (har!) not speculation. "I thought we were all already a bit mad." he jokes, looking oer at Ellen with a bit of a smirk. Before he… "Hey, hey check this out." He points at the smooth and ivory, laying a hand on it as if to try and tug a little. Before he looks up at the pile of stuff on top of it. "Hnh. Maybe not the best idea."

To Ellen > Yank and yank and — POP goes the weasel. Held in her hands, Ellen finds a large what-was-once a cleaver. Bent and broken, the strangest thing is how dull the blade is. As if… it had been used to slice a bunch of things all in one go.



Bailey eyes the box with trepidation. She ignores Kultir since he doesn't follow up on his offer (and seems to be senseless to the dangers that potentially venomous spinners offer), and takes a stabilizing breath. "Okay fine. Go back to the front," she shoo's off Yulena towards the pile in front of the wall, "See if we can't figure out what the deal is with that wall." She's heard the commentary. With a flicker of eyes up towards the hastily-erected thing, the goldrider aims a booted foot against the box. THUNK. A spare spinner, larger than all the rest so far, high-tails it for Hannah and Nora. Incoming!

Hey, people aren't working! For Cerise, that means it's an opportunity to brush the ickies off of Dimitri and cast a curious glance to the source of that no longer present noise. She heard it, even if no one else did. And the more she thinks about it, the more she's suspecting Ellen of being right. "Sounds familiar, aye? Going mad, dying."

"There's some gloves back in the stores," Hannah pipes up, taking the candlestick from Bailey. Aside to Nora, "We do, but we can always use more. They sell well and we need the marks. Especially if we are going to be buying enough firestone to save our sorry hides from Thread." What? No one knew there was a firestone shortage? Well, the more you know! "Okay, into the pile THIS goes." Now a SPINNER is flying through the air. Letting out a startled (and way too girlish yelp), the goldrider tries to duck out of the way. Regardless of whether or not it hits her, now she's doing the heebie-jeebie dance. And effectively sits out the next round.

Scrap of paper! … But wait. The AIR will kill you? This suddenly takes Dimitri's attention off of the spinners that still linger on him. Once he's helped up by his sister and gives himself a shakeshakeshake (all helpful-like in the middle of his sister trying to more delicately brush things off of him, what a girl), arms all limp and floppy. But instead of looking to the superiors for confirmation on whether Ellen could be right, he cracks a nervous excuse for a grin and looks to Cerise. "… So how's about some fresh air. MMM, FRESH AIR." Thick eyebrows crumple toward each other, as his eyes scan, only now, past others.

To Daycen > The thing surprisingly moves rather well … but wait. ARE THOSE BOXES TOPPLING?!



Just too many spinners. So no, Nora is not getting any closer to the wall than she is now, nor any closer to anything, or anyone else. She might have her game face on, but every time someone breaks down in a flailing of creepy-crawlie spasms, the assistant headwoman's shoulders creep up just a bit higher. She's just glancing at Daycen, perhaps ready to share an 'I know nothing about walls, but…' look, when Hannah let's that truth-bomb about firestone drop. Too bad she's facing a spinner-attack and all Nora can do is stare at her with mouth agape and the wheels turning quickly behind her eyes, eventually opting not scare anyone by asking further questions here. Instead, ahem, she just coughs a bit. Oh, so much dust. Yeah.

To Cerise > Daycen's tug on something ivory catches the eye; an otherworldly sense of doom upon you. Is he messing with a bone?? WAIT ARE THOSE BOXES TOPPLING?!



"Nuh!" Ssssshing, Ellen pulls a cleaver from the wreckage! It makes a meaty dragging-steel sound even pulling free and catches the glint. Hunkered over and heavy-built it's like an armed badger has come shuffling in from the dark. Standing up, she gives the knife a rather pragmatic looking-over, closing one eye to sight down its blade. "Huh." Some flying spidery thing? Smacks into the side of hear head? She slaps a hand down on it absentmindedly. "Check it." She's kinda showing it to Dimitri and Cerise - or anyone. She even uses the end to describe a loose little X-MARKS-THE-SPOT shape with it in the sibling's direction. "Maybe I've gone mad. Y'don't know."

This is what happens when you don't pay enough attention to what the nerd is doing! He's doing exactly what one shouldn't be doing while the goldriders do the spinner-dance. Tugging on that last piece of the jenga pile that's going to bring it all down. Ohhhhhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeah. He does look up in time to see boxes about to tumble on him though. Stop, drop, and roll! No wait, that's for fires.

Bailey continues playing kick-the-box-to-where-it-needs-to-go, ignoring the antics around her in focusing on getting this thing to where it needs to go without actually, like, picking this shit up. Carry on.

Kultir is not afraid of spinners, having had them and worse crawling on him before. The females, gold rider included, continue waffling about the box so he scoops it up on his next trip by it. He lifts it and gives it a shake, dust and dead trundlebugs fall out and offers it to Bailey in case she wants to investigate it.

As the boxes around Daycen start to topple, shivering and trembling from his tugging, an ancient book among them goes with them. All evidence of what might-have-been is lost when a scrap of paper is torn in the avalanche that surely follows. However, as chaos ensues, this leaves an open, clear spot against a hastily thrown up wall. A few tugs of stone here and there, and why, it might be possible to see how far deep this cavern goes. An echoing sense of size slowly permeates as the musty smell rises up among the dust of all the hundreds of years that Southern was left abandoned.

Yulena is pulled from her dissection of the box and blinks owlishly for a moment at Bailey. Being sent to the front lines. Yessir. Ma'am. Sir. The box's one last spinner still makes her flinch a little, but Yulena's moving forward to examine it. "Should Aaron or one of the Smiths look at this?" she wonders. Structural integrity and all that? "Dimitri, could you do me a big solid one and take away that little bit over there?" Something that looks defenseless and completely innocent. Aahahahaha. And… Oh crap, Daycen's one with the rubble now. "Daycen, are you okay?" She sounds less worried, and more annoyed that he must have pulled the thing that everyone knows should not be pulled. But it, and he, opened a path to the wall, so Yulena's now agape at the … hole now presented. "Coooee!" she says, then listens for any response. Hello, Mister Tunnelsnake, are you home?

To Yulena > A glint of — sparkle? Metal? Something that catches the eye from where the wall's exposed. Do you have the fortitude to check it out? Crumbling stone await, and yet secrets are held behind…



"That's a lovely killing tool," Cerise is in the midst of saying to Ellen when shit goes down. Literally! Without thinking, her hands flash out to grab Dimitri by one hand, Ellen by the other, and then like it or not they will be hunkering down with her! Aaaa! Falling! When the roar of tumbled boxes ends, she lets go and peeps up to see if anyone has died. No corpses? That's a win. "That's new," she points out, saying of the newly cleared wall.

Bailey shudders, "No, thanks," to Kultir, "Uh, thanks," more earnest about him getting that. "Appreciate it." She's edging away as the sound of DEBRIS TOPPLING causes her to spin around enough that her red braid whips around behind her. "Ack," comes her so-mature statement, and she's moving swiftly up towards the breach-to-the-wall. She eyes it from a distance, squinting at Cerise's great defensive reactions and then down at Daycen. "Uh, you okay, kid?"

(PS: "Is that a cleaver?" to Ellen, from Bailey, now that she's close enough to stare.)

To Daycen > Amidst the boxes and rubble — THANK FARANTH YOU ARE SAFE, RIGHT?! — the smoothly worn ivory thing is revealed to be… a long bone. Strangely shaped. Is it even human?



Daycen just stares wide-eyed at the jumble of boxes that may or may not have almost turned him into a candidate pancake. So he doesn't exacly answer Yulena. Or, anyone else really. Maybe it just got personal. He does look at both Yulie and Bailey though. There might be a bit of a nod, as he holds up the ivory treasure that's caused the ruckus. LOOK WHAT HE GOT EVERYONE. "…" Yep, that's all he's got, people.

Daycen's ivory treasure is long, smooth, and worn; a strangely shaped long bone - narrow, rather than girthed - that's snapped off at the end. Air currents pick up again, a soft wailing moan that stirs the musty odor of things long forgotten.

Curiosity is a powerful force, and Yulena is stepping forward under its sway. Oooh, something shiny! Slowly, carefully, Yulena reaches out and pokes and tries to push a few things out of the way. Stop? Why should she do anything so patient? Daycen's personal condition and find goes unnoticed for now, because Yulena's glaring at what's blocking her path. She starts trying to poke around at something that glints in the glow-light. Reveal thyself!

A cleaver! Dimitri looks excited for a mere few seconds, until something is asked of him again. Pfh. Work. "Little bit where—whhHHUH." Comes Dimitri's response to Yulena, when he is uddenly yanked downward by a hand in the middle of trying to figure out what's being asked of him. And then he's hunkering down with Cerise, apparently! Sort of awkwardly. Before reaching an arm around his sister to pull her right back up again, as if just to be contrary. They ARE siblings, after all. BACK UP YOU GO. "… There it is again. THERE IT IS." He stands perfectly still now, like it will aid his hearing somehow, staring up at the CEILING. "There is a noise."

Ellen allows herself to be hauled down - though it's all kind of amiably deliberate, turning her sturdy back to the falling debris to close ranks with the siblings. For a moment it looks kind of like a SCRUM, and then Ellen is bouncing loose again. "Yep," grunted openly to Bailey, as she tucks the cleaver professionally down the back of her belt. Finders keepers. As the sound of eerie air currents ruffles across the napes of their necks, she grins in the faint glow light at the opening between the BASEMENT DETRITUS. "'S' a lotta things," she agrees with Dimitri, "C'mon." And, tucking her thumbs into her belt-loops, she HOPS some of the flotsam strewn across the floor, bumping encouragingly past Yulena. "Y'comin?" Because she's goin'.

To Yulena > Surprisingly, the metal object gives: a single, glittering tag that looks like it might have once belonged on the collar of man's best friend. It's worn with age and tarnished so whatever is etched is hidden. However, in the midst of poking, the stones crumble with relative ease. A few tugs here and there, and perhaps it might come undone. Were you to pull inward. Definitely something blocks any outward pushing



The heebie-jeebie dance has been completed just in time for Hannah to get an eyefull of boxes and things toppling on Daycen, and then the subsequent bone being brandished. "What is going on in here?" Now the clutchmom is starting to get a bad idea for her candidates — gaze sweeps across Kultir, Yulena, Ellen, Daycen, Dimitri, and Cerise, holding an almost maternal look — to be mucking around in this ill-gotten room. "Maybe we should — what is Yulena doing?"

Bailey grimaces at the scene-and-sundry. "Ellen," she calls. "Let me see that." The CLEAVER. Why would such a thing be in a place like this? She gestures at the trader-candidate, pausing only to frown down at Daycen and his …. bone. "You could hurt someone with that," she mildly comments.

Kultir shrugs and smirks slightly as Bailey turns away. He tucks that box under his arm and moves to toss it and another handful of lightweight debris to take to the bins. Turning back to the stuff piled against the wall and stops short since he too is now hearing that noise. "Wha' be tha' sound, eh?" he asks. He watches the antics of everyone else, usually too focused on the work that he's been told to do and not bothering to actually look at what they are moving debris away from. He hmphs softly as he notices the things he's a bit slower at seeing than the others have been.

Huh. Yulena stares at the metallic thing in her hand suddenly. That was way too easy. "Feedoough?" What kind of name is that? Whatever, as Yulena tosses it over her shoulder to anyone who's paying enough attention to catch it. Hopefully it doesn't look like another spinner. Oopsie. Fingers reach out, clawed and gaping, to the stone, Yulena's eye stuck solidly on the barrier. Pull. Pull. Tug, huff. What's behind door number… What number are we on, anyway? Yulena's just completing her last pull when she hears Hannah behind her, "Just trying to find out what's here, madame…"

Daycen looks kind of forlorn, holding his bone like that. All alone on the floor. But he uses it to point towards Ellen. "That could hurt someone more." he points out, and the player feels dirty now for typing bone and Ellen in the same sentence because OMG she is 12. "Well, don't look at me. I'm… apparently, playing with .. this thing. Maybe she found a klah recipe." Because that's what Yulena's do, right? Find klah recipes?? "I think I'm gonna… take my bone here and start moving the stones at the wall. See if we can, you know."

"Bones and stones, eh Daycen?" That's a minor remark from Cerise. It should be noted that the once and future performer is hanging the hell back. Yes, she is letting the 12 Turn old boldly go where she won't. Why? Well, someone has to stay put and chaperone Dimitri. He's even conveniently keeping still to make the job easy for her, letting her gather up a handful of the back of his vest in case more yanking is needed. While she keeps an eye on those candidates who are poking at the wall ahead, she remarks, "There is a noise. Kinda like the Weyr whistling at us. Or laughing."

Oh, Cerise. You should know better. Dimitri WAS staying place until that last comment, there. "… It IS laughing, isn't it!" And with that, his shoulders go BACK and his expression screws into something far too determined to look quite in place on his face, and PULLS FORWARD like the packmule he was going to be earlier, whether Cerise has let go of him or not. She'll either let go, or he'll drag her WITH.

The wall's integrity is weak, easily crumbling beneath the tug and pull of determined fingers; whomever made it, did so hastily and with very little materials. It might explain why so much stuff had been used to shore it up, for what's on the other side is best to be kept out of the light of day. Unfortunately, hundreds of turns later, curious Candidates have felled the secrets of this weyr. With a last, shuddering groan the wall gives way. Not with a roar, nay, but with a shudder. A groan. The moaning sound of dry, papery things rubbing together as an avalanche is slowly revealed: bones upon bones upon bones spill out from the weakness in the wall, driving the aged moarter and ill-gotten stones ever outward. Skulls, ribes, femurs, pelvises; too many bones to count spill forth like a great beast has been gutted. As Candidates, weyrwomen and headwomen all surely scurry back, the oddest thing of all is that not a bone is human. When the casket of bones stop their slow-fall avalance, a single skull will roll into the center of cleared space, eyeless sockets staring accusatorily at those who dared to awaken them.

Why oh WHY did you go PULLING ON SHIT Yulena? Bailey's shout is — a shout; she reaches down, grabs Daycen (not by the bone, kthx) to haul him up and AWAY from the oncoming rush of dead things and the mushroom-cloud of old dust that precedes the cascade of bones.

Nobody wants to touch Daycen's bone :( It's so sad. He stumbles backward with Bailey when he's hauled away. But all he can do is -point-. *point* LOOK AT THE SKULL. He points again. No words, just that stare. "What the fuck is -that-??" Okay, there are finally words. And it may well be the first time he's used such language in front of others. "It's staring at us."

Hannah's just about to — what? Whatever was on her mind, she's left staring at the slow birth of bones from the wall; a sea of aged ivory that has the color draining from her face to leave high points of red on her cheeks and wide, shadowed green eyes. Far enough back that she doesn't have to jump too far back to avoid the macabre avalance, never the less she's left to stare at the skull. "N-N-Nora." The headwoman's name is a stutter, "They need to get out — the candidates. They need — safe. Mindhealers." In case anyone is traumatized by the sudden exposure of bones. "Healers." It doesn't make much sense, but who can hold their cool with such a sight?!

Kultir steps backwards as the wall cumbles, the musty smell and dust billowing outward. He slits his eyes against the onslaught of more 'stuff eyes don't like' and finally can see the huge pile of bones laying in a heap with a single skull leering at them. It's not freshly dead or rotting corpses so the big teen doesn't seem to be bothered so much by the sight of bones. If it had been rotting carcasses … he'd probably be one of the first on the way OUT of there but as it isn't, he steps forward slowly to get a good look at that skull.

Game over, man! Game over! Cerise might have been reeled in closer by virtue of keeping a grip on Dimitri, but the instant she identifies the projectiles tumbling and slithering towards them? Yeah, she's done. The siblings are going to have to wage a tug of war if Dimitri wants to stay on up there in the front because Cerise is intent on pulling him back and away, closer to the (relative) safety of the weyrwomen. "Ellen!? Get the fuck out of there, it's all dead!"

As the wall tumbles down, Yulena steps backwards, eyes round with amazement as a bounty of bones pile up before her. Maybe Feedough is one of them. Probably. It's an animal-lover's worst nightmare, but Yulena's eyes keep going over and over the bones. "Heeeey, are all of these…" Just what type of animals are these? Maybe it's because the bones aren't human, or perhaps Yulena should stop being allowed to do anything but work in a pre-approved kitchen. Hannah's orders bring her back to herself and to the much more salient fact that holy shit, pile of bones, and there's something terribly wrong with this scene. Like, the scene itself. She swallows a little, and takes a few more rushed steps back. "That might…" Is her tone faint? Swallow, try again, "That might be a good idea."

Nora does scurry, oh yes. Her little shoes drag backwards quickly and the long gasp she pulls in is covered by her hand, as if that can keep her from breathing in anything… um… anything. With huge blinking eyes, she just stares until the last of the bones has stopped rolling and clattering and only after does she turn to look at Bailey and Hannah, as if either of them have some kind of explanation she doesn't. Either way, the headwoman's first reaction seems to be to puzzle over the whole thing, and she appears almost confused when Hannah begins to worry for the candidates. "Huh?" is her eloquent response. Not that she isn't kind of inching toward the exit, the safety of nice, tidy, normal, rooms. "Healers?" Sure, healers, whatever. Anywhere not-here sounds like it's probably a good idea.

"Knives don't hurt people, Daycey," Ellen grins, her hand slipping behind her back to retrieve the knife, likely to meet Bailey's demand - it hangs over her own practical belt knife as it is, "People with knives hurt people." As she's turned to speak over to the young man, she isn't LOOKING at the torrent when it topples loose. And throws up an arm, hunches up her back, spreads out her feet and HOLDS HER GROUND as it pours past her, flowing around her hips and scratching past her legs. In the loose bone dust and final dice-like rattle of fragments that come in the aftermath, She must surely hear Hannah and Cerise, but… Slowly standing up, she dusts off an arm, plastered in pale white. "…s'not people." She says.

Daycen doesn't -appear- to be freaking out. Not over the bones, anyway. Not after that first outburst. He's probably more freake dout by Ellen calling him -Daycey- in that tone of voice. His shoulder just twitched. "Soooooooo, do we have to clean up all -that-?" The bones. The ivory predictors of trauma. (He's not holding his bone anymore, in case anyone was curious - and I know you all were).

Ellen isn't the only one keeping her cool, Kultir is fascinated by the skull that's leering at them all. He steps forward and hunkers down in front of it, giving it a poke with one finger and stroking that finger along the dusty surface. The teen looks up to the goldriders, fully expecting one of them to tell him just what it's a skull of though he has an idea, just from the size. What he doesn't expect from the Weyrwomen is panic.

Dimitri's rather determined march forward comes to a stop the moment he's yanked back by Cerise, which is when he stumbles back and his eyebrows pop the hell up. Someone stop them they might fly off his forehead. But at least he's spared from the bone dry avalanche. "Wh- whahey. Uh. That's." His mouth just sort of stays open, but the witty remarks don't seem to come so easily all of a sudden. "What is that." But he's reaching for Cerise's grip on him, intending to pry it loose so he can go take a look. Though he does… very briefly, look toward Hannah, Bailey, then Nora as their exchange of words continues. Though it doesn't look to be for permission. Who's surprised.

Bailey steps forwards, after hauling Daycen back. "BACK," she calls, and in that second it goes from mild-mannered junior-haha-you-think-I-can-do-anything to a calm woman in control. "All of you back, and out. Orderly, now, keep your calm." Her authoritative manner can't be denied, and she POINTS to the exit, physically turning Dimitri around if he doesn't do so before she gets to him / he doesn't wiggle out of it. "The question is," more to herself as candidates start to exit, but aloud enough for all to hear, "Why would a weyr wall in a herd of herdbeasts?" She's not afraid to reach down and pluck the skull up from the ground, turning it around in her hands as if it somehow is the key to the whole mystery.

Consternation enters Hannah's expression, especially when she sees Nora inching backwards. Initial shock is shoved aside as the weyrwoman gets a grip on herself. "Everyone back. Out of the bones. Come on, Ellen, you too." The one that's in the middle of the SEA of bones. Giving her hands a few claps in 'chop-chop' staccato, the goldrider is now working to corral the Candidates towards Nora. "Take them to the healers to make sure they're all," she waves a hand, gesturing as if to finish a thought, though she does add, "Okay." Just in case. One NEVER knows when a pile of bones is FOUND. Bailey's actions of also ensuring exit will cause the pair of juniors to close ranks around the bones. Contemplative is the expression that rests on youthful features. "Nora's cavernfolk will clean this up. For now, you lot are done down here." And that is that. To Bailey, she tilts her head up to look at both woman and skull. "Who would do anything that we've found in this cursed place?"

"Doesn't have to be people," Cerise says under her breath, fingers slipping loosely from Dimitri's vest. "If that many things died and they walled 'em up in here, there's a reason. And if that reason was they was sick…" Oh dear, her brogue is loose. It plays thickly through this observation as she's one of the first to retreat to the exit.

Daycen stuffs his hands in his pockets, absolutely not wanting to touch anything else. And, as ordered, begins to back out of the cavern. "Maybe they thought the herdbeasts were crazy." he tosses over his shoulder before busting out into fresher air and lack of skeletal remains. He thinks whoever DID this was crazy.

Thankfully for Yulena, Ellen's around. With that easy declaration from the young girl, the older cook is settling back into her skin a little. And hey, better than a body in a flue any day. Bailey's order is met with, confessedly, disappointment, but Yulena does her very very best to be one of the last ones out; all the more time to study the scene of the… uh… crime? Who would herd-beast rustle in Southern anyway? "Were they alive when they went in there?" she wonders. Because Yulena doesn't know when to stop asking questions.

Nora stands clear of the doorway while certain candidates go bailing, rather understandably, on the scene that's just transpired, urging them through with a tense but absent wave of her hand. But the murmurings from those closer to the spectacle tug at her attention. Though she still holds a forearm up before her mouth, she stares at the eerie mess, curiosity creeping around the surprise in her eyes. But Bailey is ordering them all out, and so the wave of her hand continues. "Are these the kinds of antiques you were hoping for?" she tosses over at Hannah, the dark humor thin but present anyway. There's probably a weak, wry smile behind that arm she's using as a mask. Oh, they're her cavernfolk, now? Where's Renalde when she wants him?

Kultir pushes himself to his feet as Bailey orders them to get back and sighs, dusting his hands off on his trousers. He nods slightly, recognizing the shape now that a name has been put to it. He's not too interested in the reasons, more in just finding out what it was. He sighs as he hears mention of Healers again … no way he'll be able to skive off of seeing them again. Despite his grumbling, he does as he's told and follows the mob where ever they are being shooed.

Bailey tosses the skull up in the air, absently, feeling the weight of it when it returns to her hand. She turns the thing around to stare at it face-on, a free gloved hand reaching to carefully wipe dust out of one of the eye-sockets. "Not a mark on it," she comments, and stares upwards. "You've a point," she comments baldly to Hannah. "But this, this takes the cake." Her face screws up as she stares at the pile of bones, and predictably, Bailey goes to where her brain ALWAYS goes: "I wonder if we could sell these as souvenirs."

"No way t'tell in th' dark," Ellen answers Yulena first, actually, standing right where she is, weighty and hard shouldered for a moment longer in this sea of strange bones. Faint light catches something clench in the side of her jaw subtly, as the goldriders begin to issue their orders, but it fades and she's all clenched-teeth grins and tendons standing out in her neck to make it easier to muscle her way out of the heap. "If they were sick, they wouldn'ta kept the things locked up un'er their feet," she grumbles to Cerise. Possibly slinging an arm around either Dimitri and Cerise's waist on their way out. These. These are my bitches. "-shells."

"No way t'tell in th' dark," Ellen answers Yulena first, actually, standing right where she is, weighty and hard shouldered for a moment longer in this sea of strange bones. Faint light catches something clench in the side of her jaw subtly, as the goldriders begin to issue their orders, but it fades and she's all clenched-teeth grins and tendons standing out in her neck to make it easier to muscle her way out of the heap. "If they were sick, they wouldn'ta kept the things locked up un'er their feet," she grumbles to Cerise. Possibly slinging an arm around either Dimitri and Cerise's waist on their way out. These. These are my bitches. "-shells."

Nora purses her lips behind her arm, visible only in the shape of her cheeks. With a bit of concern etching on her brow, she puts out, "I wonder if everyone should report directly to the baths." Maybe she overheard that comment from Cerise and suddenly healers aren't sounding like such a odd idea. Or, you know, maybe she's just officially done being coated in a dusting of filth. But the thoughts just keep tick-ticking away, leaving her to stare at the pile while she waits to see that the candidates are cleared out.

Yulena nods thoughtfully and slowly turns to make her own exit, reluctant. The thought of a bath makes Yulena's face brighten a bit, "And klah too!" trials after her as Yulena disappears out the doorway.

As the caverns empty, Nora's question gets a rueful flash of smile from Hannah. "No, not particularly. I was hoping for more like diamonds." In which to stock their weyr full of firestone. A worry for another day. Turning back to Bailey hefting that skull, she bites her lip. "That it does, that it does." With the delicate nudge of her toe to the closest edge of the avalanche of bones, she falls silent. "Come one, come all, and buy some bones from ol' grisly Southern." Irony woven with dark humor is tossed to Bailey, though her eyes will rest once more upon the pile of bones. And there she'll stay until a cleanup crew comes. Devoid of Candidates, devoid of life; the caverns hold their mysteries and leave naught but souvenirs.
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