treasure hunting; or something like it [open]

[hexxus]

Marlazen was up to no good. Well, actually it was rather ambiguous as to what he was up to at all, but his track record usually marked everything as 'no good' automatically. The candidate was sifting through the caverns, slipping past the lecture halls and rooms used by people who were practicing their crafts. Absently he paused for a moment, oh his hands were itching to get themselves on some metal to bend and burn into something nice and fancy. That will have to wait. He had to focus on candidacy now, this time seriously. Marlazen has stood as a candidate once before, and coming out of there empty handed had left a burning hole in his stomach that he swore he would fix. It wasn't that he failed, oh no, Mar simply felt as if he didn't try hard enough. Candidacy was something he had breezed through before, this time, though, he was going to make sure he would stand out. Granted, one would only have to pinpoint his shockingly bright hair to say he'd stand out, and then he'd probably be devastated on being pointed out as a ginger redhead once again. No, Mar was hell-bent on doing it right this time, whatever that meant. Right now, though, Marlazen was most certainly not doing the laundry that he was supposed to be. He had showed up for a smidgen of the chore duty beforehand, but the red head, when delivering laundry back to the dragonrider's weyrs, had slipped away.

Now Marlazen found himself near the storage rooms. Ah, at least every Weyr did have these storage rooms, ones which were far too likely infested with tunnel snakes and horrible bugs. The thought of bugs didn't so much bother Marlazen as did the thought of the tunnel snakes. Oh they were always so nasty. Now, as for what specific reason as to why Mar was down here, well, he was on a mission to find something important. The set-back in his half-cooked plan was that he hadn't decided what that important thing was, Mar simply went with the idea that 'he'd know it when he saw it'. Now, though, Mar found himself before rooms filled with stuff. The candidate turned before one of the doorways, leaning in and looking about cautiously for a moment. Okay, no one was lurking in the shadows or waiting to attack from the sides--oh his overactive imagination was kicked into high gear now.

"There has to be something." The words were more of a murmur to himself than anything else, and with that Marlazen gingerly stepped within towards the storage boxes and began his searching. The glow illuminating the room flickered now and then, clearly in need of some changing. Mar didn't care about glows, oh no, he cared about finding something exciting. Two boxes showed up with nothing but wooden debris, probably parts of cabinets or cupboards that had been broken down for space. The next contained old, ruined leathers and empty glass flasks. Mar pulled a few of these out, setting them down before nearly diving back into his spelunking. What Mar wasn't aware of was that his fears of tunnel snakes probably held some water here, seeing that, unbeknownst to he, a rather peeved one was being rustled awake two boxes over. Oh Marlazen was certainly going to get himself into some sort of excitement, good or bad.

[Akira]

Akira sighed as she walked through the caverns. She had been sent to change any glows that might need changing. Thankfully she wasn't alone, Blue was laying on her shoulder with his tail curled around her neck as usual. The little blue flit was actually pretty useful when Akira had to walk around these caverns. He came in handy whenever Akira ran into tunnel snakes. I can't wait until we're done Blue. Akira's normally quiet voice rang through the empty halls. At least, they both thought they were empty. She shook her head, her dark brown hair bouncing around her head with the motion. Why did we get stuck with doing this? She smiled and nodded her head when the little male flit sent her a picture of the two of them with a hatchling dragon. I know Blue, but why couldn't one of the others change the glows? Akira had an exasperated look on her face as she spoke.

Blue chirped quietly as he lazed happily on His' shoulder. His polka-dotted tail wrapped loosely around Akira's neck. He turned his little head around to gaze at Akira when she shook her head, and spoke to him. He sent her a picture reply and fluttered his wings a little before laying his blue head back on his dark blue front paws. He gazed at Akira out of the corner of his eyes and shrugged his little shoulders. How in the world was he supposed to know why they were sent to change the glows? He trilled in response, and had to cling to His' shoulder when she chuckled at him. He barked in surprise at the movement, and growled at Akira when he finally settled himself back down.

Akira couldn't help but smiling at the little blue mail when he growled at her. I'm sorry Blue. She smiled, and pulled out one of the "treats" she kept in a little bag in her pocket, and handed it to Blue. He took it, and all was forgiven. She rolled her brown eyes and continued on her way. She was on her way to the storage rooms so she could find the replacement glows. Alright Blue, so far I haven't really seen that many glows that need changed so it might not be as bad as we first thought. She reached over with her right hand and gently stroked the little blue flit as she spoke. They were getting close to the storage rooms, which meant that they would soon be working their way around the Weyr changing glows as needed.

[hexxus]

The red-head was blissfully unaware of what was happening, stuck within his own scrounging as the nasty little blighter nearby was rustling and growing ever more peeved with how the candidate was acting. For a moment he popped up, an old metal plate in his hand that he inspected for a moment. The Smith part of him was scouring over it, and he absently weighed it for a moment before tossing it back into the box before him. It was good metal, even melted down Mar could probably do something with it, but that didn't tickle his curiosity enough to cause him to pay close attention to it. A small hide sack was nearby, and upon opening it there was a bundle of stoppers for the flasks he had uncovered earlier. Mar grinned widely, grabbing a handful and shoving them into his pocket, he's actually fit them into the head of the flasks later when he was done diving through all of this junk.

Marlazen moved onto the next box, poking his head in and moving to move around the clutter that was in it. This one had a few pots and pans, some wood pieces and handles. After a few frenzied minutes of lifting this and that to see if there was anything worthwhile he sighed, disappointed with the lack of interesting things and moved onto the next, the one that held his unhappy little friend. For a moment Marlazen paused, his hand hovering over the board that was covering the poised tunnelsnake. You know, maybe they've realized I've gone... He could get in trouble, probably double chores, maybe even triple and a verbal tongue lashing. For a split second Mar was there frozen, and it was with a shrug that he dismissed the idea, his hand moving to snatch up the board before his fingers.

The next few events happened in rapid succession. Marlazen, eager to find something like a jar full of buttons or some trinkets he could salvage, found instead the hissing, twisting form of a tunnelsnake who was not happy at all to see the candidate. Mar was frozen, probably with some sort of fear and disbelief as he stared at the horrible demon of nightmares and horror. "Oh shards..." The words were hushed beneath his breath, and it was only when he uttered these words did the... the thing squirmed up and lunged. Marlazen fell backwards, shrieking like a girl half his age. The tunnelsnake writhed up on the junk in the box, his angry eyes focused on the red-head who had disturbed his sleep. Marlazen swallowed thickly, feeling as if he was moving through molasses as he scurried to get up and dash towards the doorway of the storage room, knocking over his precious pile of things as he did so.

"Crackdust! Oh shards it's going to kill me!" The candidate nearly flew out of the room, grappling onto the hallway across from the door, pressing as close to it as he could, away from the room with that thing. It was after a moment of him staring into that dark room did he attempt to glance about him and, oh, what was this? A girl? The sight of Akira looked like, to Marlazen, an angel who would help him escape from the terrifying beast within that room. "Oh shells! Miss! There's-there's a tunnelsnake in there!" His voice was still high pitched, fear dumped into his very veins. "Save me!" He scurried to move behind her, as if by some manner putting this girl between he and the tunnelsnake would protect him. The tunnelsnake, meanwhile, had grumpily skittered to the doorway, and the sight of it's ugly head caused Mar to shriek, again, very girlishly.

[Akira]

Akira jumped a little when she heard what sounded like a shrieking girl. She started jogging when all of a sudden a boy came flying from one of the storage rooms yelling about something going to kill him. Akira slid to a stop and watched the boy, who she was actually starting to believe was a little off his rocker. Blue fluttered his wings when Akira slid to a stop, and a boy came running from one o the rooms. He wasn't sure who this boy was, and sent Akira a picture of a person who was shaded black so that you couldn't see who it was. I dont' know him either Blue. Akira's voice was quiet as she spoked to her little flit.

As soon as Akira and Blue heard that there was a tunnel snake in the storage room that the two of them realized why this boy was acting so scared. Blue tilted his head and watched as the boy scurried behind His' back. Akira jumped, and tried to swallow the lump that had so quickly grown in her throat. She turned her head back around when she heard Blue start growling. Blue's wings had started to rustle noisely against his blue polka-dotted hide. Um...um...who are you? She turned her attention from the snake, very sure in the knowledge that Blue would protect the two of them now that this strange boy was behind her.

Blue hopped off of Akira's shoulder, landing with a small thud on the ground. His wings were lifted from his body in a very threatening fashion...well...it might look a little more threatening if he was bigger anyways. Akira slowly moved away from the strange boy. She moved so her back was facing the oppisite wall, and watched the boy a little warrily. She wasn't sure who he was, or why in the world he had tried to hide behind her, but there wasn't a bone in her body that would have let her stay where she was.