[Open] Late Snacks and Rebellious Thoughts

[Candidate Zerian]

Quietly, slowly, so that they wouldn't creak, the doors were pushed open and a dark shadow slipped into the room For a moment, the boy in strange, colorful clothing stood still, only his eyes darting around, checking the situation. There was no one but him in the kitchen right now. As it was to be expected in the middle of night. Coming to this conclusion, he quickly moved closer to the tables and grabbed first thing he could get that later appeared to be a piece of bread, Zerian sneaked out of kitchen.

He was pleased with his small victory over the cook who had refused to give him any more food after he had eaten double portion in every meal and had quite a few snacks in between. It wasn't his fault that the eruption had happened so why should he suffer and go hungry all day? He knew well that the food supply was small so promised him self he would try to eat less tomorrow. But tonight he was going to have last, small feast. Unfortunately, he promised this for third night already. Maybe if someone had actually asked him to stop doing his small rides, he would have stopped.

But no one knew of them and Zer had no intention of letting anyone know. Bathing house was perfect place of hiding as no one came to it at night and even at day it was avoided. If the dirty water's smell got too strong for him to stand, he just sat out in the hallway leading to it and enjoyed his meal peacefully. Like right now.

The boy sat down, ignoring the coldness of stone floor pressing trough his thin clothes and started chewing on the bread happily. The piece was smaller than he had thought at first and he already knew it would keep him satisfied for two, maybe three hours, but for now it was enough. Now he could fall asleep without his stomach rumbling. And maybe even do some walks around the Weyr before that. Only there wasn't much to go anymore - he already knew the ruined Weyr like back of his hand, just like he had known it before the disaster.

And all his friends were sleeping, tired after hard work. Not that he hadn't worked today, too. But it was not enough to tire him out. He almost wished they would let him work at night or let him keep the watch, so letting some Riders sleep. But nooo, adults were too stubborn to see a good opportunity of a workforce and just kept complaining how Candidates were no help. Zerian snorted at the thought and licked off bread crumbs off his fingers, still clueless as to what to do now.

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[Candidate Lenore]

It was bitter-cold outside in the dark. Lenore wasn't sleeping. Hunger felt like it was gnawing a pit in her belly, and she didn't want to stay in the candidate's barracks and spend another night half-awake, listening to the others breathe.

Lenore hated being still. So she'd been pacing instead - out into the cold night and into the ruined bathhouse, where the smell of sulfur hung thick and heavy in the air. No one cared if you walked abroad at nights here. People did much stranger things in the aftermath of the quake. Grief had made a lot of them crazy. She could hear an insect of some kind chirping from deeper inside the bathhouse, its strident voice carrying all the way across the yellowed surface of the first pool.

Chirrup. Chirrup. Chirr-

It fell suddenly silent. Footsteps. Someone was coming.

Lenore darted forward into the chamber, concealing herself, and peered back around the corner into the entrance hall. A boy came in, and she watched him eagerly, her grey eyes intent with interest.

It was Zerien, a fellow candidate. That short, wiry boy who never stopped humming, the mercurial one with the odd scars and the hair that always looked like it hadn't seen a comb in a sevenday. Interesting...

If Lenore had been canine, her ears would have perked up, and it wasn't because he was holding a hunk of bread in his hand. Had he managed to convince someone in the kitchens to give him extra rations?, she wondered. Normally, she might have settled for that explanation, but it made little sense at this time of night. No, he must have stolen it.

Why? Probably simply because he'd been hungry. Lenore wouldn't have stooped to something like that - she prided herself on her self-restraint - but she figured the kid had probably needed it if he'd taken it. And she wasn't anyone to judge. She was just watching, like she watched everyone, squirreling away the memory of this event into the back of her mind for future reference.

She crouched in hiding while he ate, planning to stay there until he left and then follow him back to the barracks. He might very well do something else worthy of interest.

She heard him make a little derisive noise to himself as he licked the bread crumbs off his fingers. What was he thinking of?

Lenore wondered what would happen if she showed herself now.

It would produce an interesting reaction, no doubt. Surprising people usually did.

"Hello, Zarien," she said, darting out into the hall where he could see her. "Where'd you get the bread?"