Who

Talya, Xanthee, Ziniel, Daenerys

What

Someone brought a little piece of the jungle to the Candidate Barracks, complete with native wildlife.

Candidate Bingo!

When

It is sunset of the tenth day of the sixth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Candidate Barracks, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 12 Mar 2018 04:00

 

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"Igen, we have a problem."


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Candidate Barracks

Hopes, dreams, and fears are contained in these cramped quarters, full of small cots and smaller trunks; thin ragged curtains barely provide privacy between the bunks, shining patches in the material suggesting one too many mending attempts. The minimal floor space is kept clear of debris and personal possessions, wide enough for a single broad table often used for study in the art of dragon care. It is a cramped space despite it all, when dragoneggs lie upon the Sands: there's no helping the worn surroundings, when use is at an all-time high. Near the entrance, one cubby exists, large enough to contain a bit of luxury for an adult overseer of the candidates, and a desk — for once in reasonable shape — is set to the left of the entrance, conveniently placed for the monitoring of comings and goings.


The summer day is drawing to an end, with the sun going down outside and taking the worst of the heat with it. Talya may not have been seen much during her usual rotation of chores with the other candidates, but she looks like she had a pretty busy and exhausting day. She has not been long in the barracks, hair hanging went and limp around her fresh from a bath (to wash off all the evidence most likely), and hanging by her own bunk. She is currently staring down at a clump of some plant (roots still attached) that was plopped between her bunk and her neighbor's, studying it intently. Perhaps as perplexed about where it came from as the rest of the barracks? No, just this one clump. Something about it seems to catch her full attention.

Xanthee had laundry, again, although she swears that she is there more than any other candidate. But it wouldn't do to complain even if that is the truth, they are supposed to be learning to do as told, when told and without questions. But it was another hot summer day, and the only thing on Xan's mind is grabbing a change of clothes and then heading to the baths. Barely noticing where she steps, her eyes are half-closed as she works at a knot in her neck with strong fingers as she stretches it to one side. Too bad she wasn't looking, cause she probably would have seen that vine in her path instead of tripping over it. Falling forward, she whindmills her arms frantically to keep from going down, and just barely manages to regain her footing. Emerald eyes are now wide open and taking in the new barracks decor. "Woah…Welcome to the Jungle." she mutters as she peers at all the folliage, taking a couple more steps inside.

Talya glances away just momentarily from the clump to see Xanthee's fall! And then look just a tad bit disappointed that it wasn't a crash and burn, but she still has to stifle a snicker at her reaction. "Watch your step," she calls out helpfully way after the fact. She gives the whole room another look about from where she is at, daring to step away from the plant she was observing. "It definitely feels homey in here suddenly. Kind of brightens up the place, don't you think?" Better than dragging sand in after the recent storms. Even if it is a bit cramped. Way cramped. As if they weren't already all stuffed in there.

Xanthee snorts, "Homey for you maybe." And with that, the raven-haired girl will cast a suspicious glance at the Southern native but chooses not to say anything at this time. Stepping now carefully through the clutter of plants, flowers and vines, she makes her way back to her bunk, sniffing slightly at the fragrances bringing back memories of her time at Southern. "It does brighten up the place actually. And it's even better cause we don't have Southern's humidity which is just murder on my hair." she concedes with a shrug. When she gets to her bunk and sees how the folliage is blocking her path to her trunk, she mutters bitterly, "Igen, we have a problem."

Talya is all wide dark innocent eyes at Xanthee when she gets a suspicious glance. Maybe she's laying it on a little too hard. She gives a laugh, grabbing a vine and wrapping it around her wrist from where it was draped almost prettily around the frame of her small cot. Perhaps her section had the best and least inconvenient of decorating. "Definitely colorful. Bet you miss all that back at Southern?" She drops the vine almost as if it was on fire, eyes snapping up towards the other young woman. "Did you see something? Cause I thought I saw something— What the fuck!" Talya suddenly leaps onto her own trunk, kicking aside some pretty assortment when something big and nasty goes skittering out of the plant she was eyeballing, as if knowing it was the perfect moment to make its escape. Straight to the safety of some other plant across the aisle. Just a little closer to Xanthee over there. The thing was hard to miss, and yet perfectly hidden.

Just as Xanthee is trying to figure out how she is going to make it through to her own trunk to gather a change of clothes for her bath she hears Talya's words, which take a moment to process. She snaps her head up just in time to see the large thing go skittering from one plant to another, coming closer to her. With one loud shriek the raven-haired candidate leaps onto her top bunk, screaming at the top of her lungs, "NOO FARANTH! NO. FARANTH. PLEASE. NO. NO!!! NO!!! NOOOOOO!!!" as she watches the massive, in her eyes, spinner make it's way towards her through the greenery.

Stopping dead as she trails behind a small gaggle of candidates, Ziniel can only stare at the transformation of the barracks. Well, at least the stone's been camoflaged? But look at all that stuff everywhere! Like the girl wasn't having a difficult enough time, there's all this jungle to clutter things even more. Stone spots the spinner and launches after it. Maybe she can get a tasty snack?

Just when the man thought he was gonna have a little peace and quiet to work on his leather roses for Diem — even amid the Southern jungle come to life thanks to Talya — there is a commotion! First, Xanthee nearly breaks her face, then there's a spinner running around the place. And Daenerys goes utterly still; if he had pointy cat ears, they'd be swiveled forward attentively as his eyes narrow into a beady squint. He's practically wiggling (wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle) with interest, preparing to pounce upon the thing as it skitters about. Shall he get it? Shall he not?

Talya knew she saw something! If she was not distracted she probably would have seen it coming and not scared the living daylights out of her. She clutches a hand to her chest, gripping the loose shirt she had on. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself, then eyes Xanthee and the other girl's reaction. She breaks into laughter, not feeling so bad over jumping up to escape herself. "Take a deep breath, girl! You're going to faint and then it'll crawl all over you!" There's a firelizard, there's flowers, and then there are probably some trundlebugs hiding in the flowers that the firelizard may find. Their friend, the big hairy spinner, definitely uses some sort of bug distraction to escape to another safer clump. But it's still showing itself. And when it darts back out, hairy legs scuttling, Talya jumps again. There's just no where to go. She may laugh at others, but she's not too happy with the thing either. "With everyone's firelizards, it's bound to be eaten. Right?"

Clutching her pillow to her chest, legs tucked up under her, Xanthee's usual tan face is palest white as she clutches her pillow to her chest, and hiding her face in it, only her wide emerald eyes peeking overtop of the cushion. When she sees her brother come into the barracks, she points quickly at the hairy monster hiding in plain sight. "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" She yells in his direction, because he's here to save them all right? Because if that thing is not taken care of, Xanthee is resigned to her fate of never leaving her bunk.

Stone launches after the spinner as it tries to escape. Poor Ziniel is just too stunned by all. that. green however, after a moment she gains her voice, "Stone!" the green stills, turns to look at Zini, then puts a forepaw up on the pot she'd seen the spinner in. But… "You spill that, and I'll send you to Willimina!" the green dives for Ziniel's cot, but she continues to watch where she'd last seen the spinner.

Daenerys decides he's going to go a-hunting a spinner! He's off the bed with a whoop, laughing at the girls' horror and squealing. Oh, he's such an Adult, isn't he? All dignified and — where'd that thing go? Plants are pushed about, limbs bent gently aside as he searches. HURM. There are no promises as to what will happen to the thing once he finds it, though; you know how cats are. Sometimes they play with the bug instead of killing it outright because they're cruel, cruel beasts. But there it is, out from other that 'safe' clump it had been hiding under, and Daenerys is on its trail, creeping along with intent curiosity.

Stone let's out a forelorn croon as she watches Daenerys. That's my bug! I wants the bug! But she doesn't move an inch. Threat of being exiled is apparently a strong motivator to keep the green 'lizard still. Ziniel watches Daen, "Oh don't hurt it. Poor thing's probably terrified," concern for a spinner? Zini's an odd duck.

Apparently, Talya hides her fear with laughter. At least Xanthee is providing a good source of hilarity, able to laugh at someone else's fear. Not tha she will get off her own trunk anytime soon. Being a small girl, at least the thing didn't tip over with her weight. She keeps turning to keep her eye on where (she believes) that Spinner went running to. "Did… Did you just yell at your firelizard and keep it from eating it?" is asked of Ziniel, because that is probably the opposite of what Talya wanted. As amusing as all this is. "Go on, Daeneys, you're Xanthee's only hope left!" Xanthee's, right. The woman still doesn't give up her safe spot though. The Spinner managed to somehow defy all odds and escaped firelizard teeth, and now it has to worry about some big man coming at it? It lies completely still, in wait. When Daenerys seems to have found its hiding spot, it seems the thing is playing dead… Until it leaps! Straight for the man, with the hopes of probably scuttling right by him.
*Daenerys.

Xanthee watches from behing her pillow, knees pulled up to her chest now. As Daenerys begins his chase, she starts to cheer him on while cowering in fear from the nasty spinner. At Ziniel's words though, she gasps audibly, "No! We have to kill it! Or else life will..uh..find a way." She waggles her eyesbrows meaningfully, cause she's talking about little tiny spinner babies all over. She shudders violently then and scoots closer to the wall.

"Spinners are generally more afraid of us than we are of them," Ziniel points out, though she has yet to actually step more than one step inside the barracks. The spinner is not the reason. Could she get away with sleeping just outside the barrack's door? Maybe? Moss joins Stone on Ziniel's bunk, and starts to tug at the pillow, "Oh leave that alone," Ziniel says to the other green 'lizard. She'll just have to suck it up, and go to her bunk. The room has plenty of oxygen. She'll just keep telling herself that, and maybe she'll start to believe. Talya's given a long look as the woman's question sinks in through all that panic-notpanic buzzing around in Zini's head, "Well, I mean," she stops then says firmly, "Yes. Last time she ate a spinner she was sick for a seven," no. No Stone wasn't, but Ziniel won't budge from that reason no matter what anyone says.

Daenerys won't hurt it — yet. And as it springs at him in the hopes of escape, he bats at it, bringing it to ground between his hands with a crow of triumph. See? He's helping! And what a fine prize it is, too; nice and fuzzy and wriggly. With a grin, he turns to eye the girls huddled in their bunks, trying to get away from the spinner. "Guys, it's just a little spinner. Really." He miiiiight be considering showing it to them, up close and personal — if it weren't trying to stick its legs out from between his hands.

"It may be scared but it's still big and creepy and may have teeth," Talya notes to Ziniel with a quick shake of her head. Okay, maybe Tal is a little scared of the thing, just not quite as much as Xanthee. "Come on in if you aren't so scared?" she gives the girl a curious look standing out there in the hall and not coming inside. She makes a come in motion, but her eyes keep straying back to Daenerys to see how he is faring with the beast. It isn't until something Xanthee said clicks in her head, dark eyes staring around at all the plants. "What if it's already laid eggs somewhere in all this mess, Xanthee?" And she's going to let that thought linger in the other woman's head. Let it simmer. Because if someone else is more scared than Tal, then it probably makes Tal feel better about her fear.

The Spinner is caught, but that doesn't mean it is defeated. It's still got plenty of pent up energy, eager to jump away from the candidate when it can. It's up to Daenerys with how he wants to use this power.

"I am pretty sure I am a lot more afraid of it." Xanthee echos Talya's sentiment to Ziniel's words. When Daenerys catches it though, she lets herself breath in relief, but then he is turning in their direction and she scotts back further from him, holding a hand up to delay any thoughts he may have of coming closer. "I most definitely do not want to say hello to your little friend, so you can just go take him outside…. and a looog way from here." She says in a voice that's trying not to crack with the fear still bubbling inside of her. "

What? They don't want to play with it, too? Daenerys is disappoint. He looks to Ziniel, and grins in amusement. They don't know what fun it is to have a wriggling spinner in hand! But today is the spinner's lucky day; Daenerys doesn't feel like squishing the thing, so it gets to go free — way out in the Bowl somewhere. "Oh, all right." He pouts at his sister before trudging — so disappoint, it's such a fun toy! — out to the Bowl to let it go, let it go! Maybe it will come back, and he can play with it another time.

Ziniel watches Deanerys leave with the spinner. Stone paces to the foot of the cot as she also watches her snack being removed from the barracks, "I'm pretty sure spinners aren't that dangerous," okay she likes spinners. Moss is still tugging at the pillow. Stone gives a plaintive chirrup, "You can't have the spinner, Stone."

Talya stares after Daenerys as he leaves for the bowl to release the captive. She slowly gives the barracks floor a good look before /finally/ stepping down off her truck to more stable ground. She even picks up some flowers fallen in the chaos and setting it back to their proper place. "If we start seeing babies pop up all over the place, they can't possibly harm firelizards," she says with a long look in the direction of Ziniel's pair. Yes, please eat them. She glances back to the plant that started it all. "Well, that was fun," she says to the other two girls, giving them a weak grin. "But I think I need to get out of here to shake this off." All the heebie jeebies of critters crawling by her bedside. She could use a drink, but she'll probably find something else to occupy her mind outside the barracks, like another bath.

Watching her brother leave with the Spinner, Xanthee looks moderately relieved, until the mentions of eggs and babies finally reach her and she shudders violently. Hopping down from her bunk, she quickly grabs the long tunic she wears to sleep in, and heads after the Southern girl hurriedly, feeling her own creepy crawlies all over. "I swear to Faranth, I am so sharding mad at the person who brought all these stupid plants in here. It's like…" and here she tries to explain as she lifts her hands briefly to frame her face. "Flames…on the side of my face." Her voice fading as she follows Talya.

And so, the spinner is disposed of, to the disappointment of Ziniel's firelizards and Daenerys, who seems to be taking an awful long time of setting the spinner loose upon the Weyr — maybe there will be many small spinners around the place, maybe there won't be. They'll find out after the Hatching, though. Dun dun DUNNN.

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