Eternal Summer Cleaning [OPEN]

[nineofswords]

Spring didn't mean as much in Semaca where it was warm all year round. Still, as an arbitrary time to take out of a particular day to get caught up on all the little chores that kept getting put off throughout the turn, it wasn't a bad time to get started. Especially now that Scara was without a roommate. She could pull out the furniture and clean behind it in the corners that never got tidied, as well as rearrange everything. She was also going through all the things she'd accumulated over her time here, sorting them into things she wanted to keep, wanted to get rid of, and needed to modify or fix in some way. She'd get to them after she was done sorting.

She'd encouraged her fellow candidates to do the same, even the newer ones, reminding them that helping their fellow candidates clean out there rooms was a great way to get to know them. She stuck her head out into the hallway. "Hey, does anyone want these?" she asked, holding out a pile of clothes. "I think I'm putting on weight - or maybe muscle - cause some of them are a little tight on me. There's also a few things that are way too big for me, so I think they're from a previous resident of the room and got mixed in with my things." Oh wait, that shirt came from Fort, she was pretty sure. Why had she packed it? It was way too big for her, and she didn't remember anyone giving it to her. Oh well, it was clean, someone could use it, and if not she'd turn it into a rag.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin swept at the dust near the ceiling of the candidate hallway. They had tied back their hair with a bandana and wore an old apron they had brought from home, stained from years of use around the farm.

Another candidate, Quentin hadn't caught her name, suggested they all go about cleaning and organizing their rooms. Quentin hardly owned anything, and kept their part of the room tidy, so there wasn't much to clean in there. They decided to clean some of the harder to reach areas of the communal space since they towered over most the other candidates. It seemed to have been ages since someone had dusted, so Quentin was pleased to have found a task that didn't require talking to anyone else.

The candidate that had encouraged Quentin to clean leaned into the hallway offering up some clothes. Quentin looked at her, debating if they should approach and see if they could use any them. She said some were way too big for her, but Quentin was well over a foot taller than her and nearly twice as broad. The chances anything would fit were slim to none, and it would require talking to her. Plus, they couldn't remember her name, which would be extra embarrassing if she knew theirs. Quentin continued to stare, debating whether to approach or not.

[nineofswords]

Scara didn't see many people in the hall when she'd called out, nor was anyone answering. She scowled. Probably most of her classmates were off goofing off instead of actually making good use of their break like she'd suggested. Typical. Well, at least there was at least one person taking this seriously. Quentin, that was their name. They were looking at her, so she walked up to them. "Did you want to see any of these?" Scara asked them, holding out the shirt she'd somehow brought all the way from Fort. "This one was never mine and might fit you. I also have plenty of experience patching up and modifying my own clothes - hate to be wasteful - so I'm happy to try altering something if you really like it? You might want a real weaver, though, for anything super major."

She gave Quentin what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "I'm Scara, by the way. Not sure if you remember. I know being new to a Weyr is really daunting, so many new faces and people all the time. But you came at a good time. There aren't too many candidates in the barracks at the moment, since we had a huge hatching recently, so there's not as many people to remember."

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin was snapped out of their indecision when the other candidate approached them. They nodded at the offer to look through the clothes and took the pile to look through.

She reintroduced herself, Scara, and Quentin responded, "Quentin." They flipped through the clothes, looking at the options while avoiding eye contact. She commented on the difficulty of adjusting to the weyr, and Quentin nodded in agreement. There were more faces than they could keep track of.

At the bottom of the pile was a large pale green shirt that looked like it might fit them. Quentin pulled it out and held it against their torso. They'd have to try it on to be sure, but it seemed large enough. "Thank you," they said as they handed the pile back to Scara, still avoiding eye contact.

[nineofswords]

Quentin's short answers and lack of eye contact didn't go unnoticed. "I don't bite, you know," Scara gently pointed out, but didn't try to force eye contact. She let them take the clothes and sort through them, not rushing them or hovering over their inspection. Instead, she pulled a rag out of her pocket and started hunting for dust in the easier-to-reach parts of the common area until she heard a 'thank you', when she quickly returned for it.

"Sure thing," she said. "Wasn't like I could wear it unless I wanted a dress, and one that would especially unflattering at that." She gave Quentin a look look over. "So, I'm gonna ask you kind of a personal question, and if you don't wanna answer that's fine: Do you find it annoying when I try to talk to you, or are you just shy? Cause if I ever start to get annoying, you should tell me. You've got this incredibly stony expression that's impossible to read, so I'm not gonna be able to guess myself when you're starting to lose your patience. It's really impressive, actually."

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin blinked a few times, surprised by Scara's straightforwardness. They had only exchanged a few words, and a shirt now, they supposed, and she was asking them about their feelings. Quentin gave the other candidate a once over while they tried to come up with an answer. They picked at the hem of the shirt they had picked out as they did so.

"N-no. Not annoying." They stammered. "Talking is just..." they trailed off, still not finding the right words to say. They switched to signing in hopes that maybe Scara understood some PSL. I don't care for talking much. I prefer to sign, or stay quiet. Quentin paused and waited to see if they had been able to convey their message.

[nineofswords]

"Oh!" Scara said, eyes lighting up when Quentin started signing. "Okay, that's fine then. I know enough PSL to get by." Switching to some clumsy signing, she added, But I'm better at interpreting. Not enough practice, I guess.

"Hey would you mind at all if I asked you to help me move some of my furniture? Doesn't have to be right now, and no worries if you don't want to, I'm just struggling to move some of this stuff by myself." Scara gestured at herself. She was on the shorter side, and while she wasn't exactly weak, she did not have a physique that lent itself well to hauling furniture around on her own. "It's a pain trying to crawl under and around things, and since you're new, I'm guessing you don't have a ton of stuff to do in your own room."

In her experience, work was a great way of getting people to relax and open up a little. She was hoping the same would be true of Quentin.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin was relieved that Scara seemed to understand their signs well enough for them to be able to use them. Not that they'd be able to sign much while actually cleaning, but it was something.

They nodded in agreement to help move the furniture. Mama had always taught Quentin it was good to help others, especially folks smaller than them. Quentin gestured towards the room Scara had come out of and signed I can help now. The dust out here isn't going anywhere. It was true, by the layers, the dust in the common area had been building over several seasons, a few minutes wouldn't make much of a difference.

[nineofswords]

Scara beamed at Quentin when they agreed to come help her. "Thank you," she said. She laughed a little. "Yeah, I think the dust will be fine until you get back. Or, who knows, maybe someone else will take the hint and help us get some cleaning done." She shook her head in obvious disappointment as she led the way back to her room. "Honestly, you'd think some of these people would understand that we're going to be riders someday, with all the hard work that entails. It wouldn't hurt to start building a habit of staying on top of chores now when it isn't a matter of life and death." This was clearly not the first time she'd made that particular observation.

She stood in her room, her hands on her hips, gesturing as she laid out the plan for Quentin. "Right. So I want to move that dresser closer to the bed for my next roommate. I have no idea why it was so far away from the bed, that seems like poor planning, but my last one didn't seem to mind. Also, it's way too small to check under for dropped socks and what-have-you. My dresser there I'll also want to pull away from the wall so I can clean under it, but it can go right back into place when we're done with it. Our closet also has some pretty tall shelves that are a pain to clean, so if you could tackle those while I'm dealing with the floor under the dressers, that'd be amazing. That all sound alright?"

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin nodded as Scara led the way back to her room. As they had been learning, being a rider was all the work of caring for an animal on top of having an array of important jobs to serve the weyr. An afternoon doing some basic chores was nothing compared to the responsibilities that awaited them in the future.

As Scara pointed out the furniture she wanted moved, Quentin followed her gestures and nodded at each point, making a mental list of each task that needed completing. The dressers weren't that large, it shouldn't be that difficult for Quentin to move them by themselves. They approached the dresser Scara indicated as hers and pulled it a few feet from the wall so she could get started. They turned around and signed what about the beds? Do they need to be moved?

[nineofswords]

Quentin didn't talk much, but they still seemed very alert. Scara was curious why they felt more comfortable talking in PSL than speaking. Most people she knew who spoke primarily with PSL were deaf or mute, but Quentin was clearly capable of talking, so it piqued her interest. Still, she knew better than to ask after it. The answers to those sorts of questions were either quite depressing or else not interesting in the slightest.

Scara's eyebrows rose a little in surprise when Quentin moved the dresser away from the wall all by themselves. "Wow," she said. "You're as strong as you look. You can't always tell with that sort of thing."

Scara considered Quentin's question. "Well...on the one hand, I can crawl under them easily enough, but it would be easier to clean if they were moved." She chewed her bottom lip as she thought. "Let's handle the dressers and the closet first, and if you're up for it, I'll take you up on what I'm assuming was an offer to move the beds. If you change your mind about wanting to move them, don't worry about it. The one benefit of being small is that I can fit in tighter spaces, like under the bed when I need to clean down there."

[FirebrandPhlox]

The corners of Quentin's mouth twitched upward in the slightest hint of a smile at Scara's praise. Though they didn't like much attention, Quentin always appreciated praise for doing a job well. Moving the dresser wasn't a monumental task, of course, but they enjoyed being useful.

Quentin waited and listened patiently as Scara debated the options. They nodded as Scara landed on starting with what was originally asked. Must be convenient, to be able to fit under a bed, they signed. I haven't been able to fit in that small a space in a long time.

With a quick shove, Quentin moved the other dresser into the designated spot. They gestured towards the closet. I'll clean those shelves, then maybe we can handle the beds.

[nineofswords]

Scara smiled when she noticed Quentin's own smile. She was tempted to point it out, to mention that they weren't as stoic as she'd first thought, but that might just embarrass them, so she just smiled and kept her thoughts to herself.

She chuckled at their signs. "It has its advantages," she admitted. "But the tradeoff is that it's harder for me to get things off of higher shelves and move furniture by myself." She shrugged. "Everything's got a trade-off." After all, dragons each had their place in fighting thread. The smaller chromatics were small and agile, but their stamina wasn't as good. The metallics and larger chromatics couldn't dodge thread as well and had to be in lower altitude wings, but they could fly for a good deal longer without tiring. Each was important, each was valuable, each had a skill and a part to play. It was easy not to feel bad about her drawbacks when she thought about it in that light.

Scara got to work sweeping under her dresser, picking up odds and ends that had fallen behind it during the seasons she'd been here - that was where her bead necklace had gone! - pleased to finally be getting to this particular task. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up at Quentin. She nodded, smiling. "Sounds good," she said. "Knock on the wall or something if you need my attention for anything." It'd be easier on both of them than her consistently trying to look up at them to make sure they weren't trying to flag her down, or for Quentin to have to bring themselves to speak when they didn't like doing so.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Quentin nodded. It was true, they couldn't fit in a small space like under the bed, but they could reach heights that Scara would need a chair or ladder to access. Quentin would rather take the height over fitting in a tight space.

As Scara got to her task on the floor, Quentin turned their attention to the closet. The upper shelves were coated in a thick layer of dust, it could have been several turns since someone last got up here and cleaned up. They pulled the rag they had been dusting with earlier and got to work polishing the shelves. As they cleaned, they began humming to themselves, content in the moment.

[nineofswords]

Scara made quick work of the underside of her dresser, and was able to shove it back into place against the wall. She had to shove her whole body against it to move it, of course, but she could do that much at least. Pulling it out was much harder for her to do on her own since her arm strength wasn't the same as someone like Quentin's.

That done, she moved onto where the other dresser had been and started sweeping and picking up the odds and ends that had fallen back there when her old roommate left. She found more than a few dark black feathers, unsurprisingly since her roommate had brought in a wounded raven who'd then stuck around. She set the feathers on the top of the dresser along with a few other bits and bobs she thought could be useful. She'd see if Naira wanted them, and if not, she was sure someone would want them as decoration or something. Malady seemed like the sort who'd take one.

She moved to where Quentin was working, standing on her toes as if that would let her see any better. "I've finished with the dressers. How's it going up there?" She liked that they felt comfortable enough to hum but didn't comment on it. That tended to embarrass people more often than not.