[PRP] Early Morning Shadow (Etansi & Erastan)

[Hattaki]

Shadows shifted across the floor of the hallway outside the Candidate barracks, the glows highlighting the swinging braids of a small teenager that slipped just past their shine. Pockets loaded down with things that she would have to explain the origins of should anyone ever discover the places that she ferreted them away to, Etansi slid out towards the open bowl hoping to find a new hiding place for something she had just acquired. Most of the Weyr was still asleep, the morning light having not come out yet, it was the perfect time for her to move about and find things, hoping to find something that might impress her beloved twin. He wasn't hard to impress, but deep down the child had a feeling that he was much better than she was at stealing, something that rankled her!

Etansi needed to be the best, even if she knew that she wasn't. He really was much better than her at this sort of thing. Maybe when she bumped into Erastan she could show him what she found and drag him off to get some breakfast, her stomach was growling slightly. Years of living on the edges of society had made it so that she rarely noticed the hunger pangs that she felt, but since coming to the Weyr she'd gotten steady amounts of food and than in itself had gotten her a bit complacent. Complacency was something that she couldn't afford when she was surrounded by so many dragons and her brother's safety was at risk, what would she do if one of them ate him?

No... no, no, no that couldn't happen. She wouldn't allow one of these large beasts to lay even one claw on him, she'd tear them apart herself. One.. way or another. Etansi wasn't exactly sure how she would tear them up but she would so help her!

Footsteps rounding a corner froze her in fear, but the rider that passed by only yawned and stretched, if they eyed her a bit it was because she wasn't wearing that stupid knot she'd been forced to have adorn her clothing. Why did she have to wear something that stood out so severely and marked her existance as something that was slightly out of her control. She wasn't a dragon rider, so there was no sense in her being marked.

Her thoughts were getting away from her. Etansi needed to get this new necklace somewhere safe so no one would find it on her!

Sinders Path

 

[Sinders Path]

Erastan had not settled well into living in the brackets. Naturally the boys and the girls were split and that meant he was away from his twin. Erastan had not slept further than arms reach from his twin in all of their fifteen years so he was struggling to adjust. Most of the time that meant little sleep and restless nights. That went some way to explain why he found himself awake at such an early hour.

He had chosen the bed by the window, which let in cold drafts and the occasional rain, constantly aware he might have to make a quick get away but that morning it meant he awoke with dew drops on his eyelashes, moisture jeweling his cheeks and condensation in his hair. He yawned and rubbed the dew from his eyes before clearing the rest of the water drops from his face. For a minute he lay still, listening to the soft breathing and occasional snore from the beds around him. Once he was sure that no one else was awake he sat up. He kicked the covers away in one swift movement and stood on the bed without a sound of stray squeak. He paused, listened again and then scrambled out of the window. Dropping with feline grace onto the grass his bare feet barley ruffled the foliage.

Gathering himself he circled the brackets to the girls wing and peered through the window. Estani had also chosen a bed by the escape route (great minds and all that) However even in the dim light it was easy to see the bed was empty. Huffing Erastan stole away from the candidates sleeping room and out into the weyr bowl. Because he was alert and looking for it, it didn't take him long to spot the shifting out of place shadow slipping across the grounds.

Rolling his eyes he followed after her, sticking to the shadows and silence as much out of habit than need. Keeping his senses sharp for any other early risers he stole after his sister until he was right behind her.

Then he lept forward, wrapped his arms around her tight from behind and gave her a large morning kiss on the side of her cheek. Since they were alone and unseen, he could afford to be playful.  

[Hattaki]

So lost in her thoughts that she only noticed a second pair of footsteps when they were close to her, Etansi tensed a bit until the most familiar scent she knew washed over her. He was sneaky, much sneakier than she usually gave him credit for but it filled her with happiness to have him wrap her in a hug and kiss her cheek. Sleeping apart and being separated in general filled her with something she'd never felt before, it made her uneasy, it made her nights long and her days even longer and hollower. Just the contact alone put her at ease and she twisted about to hug him back, pushing her forehead against his with a rare smile on her face.

Should anyone ever question her connection to her twin they would only ever wonder why she was so... mean. Their personalities were almost the exact opposite of one another in respect to one being sensitive and the other being all but heartless. If she was brutal it was literally because she had to be and the protection of her brother came above anything else in her life, even her actual life. Etansi walked around with a mask hiding her anger every day, just ready to react to her surroundings.

If she was angry he could always cheer her up, but her current troubles revolved around what she had acquired through the early morning hours and she pulled the necklace from her pockets to show Erastan. Catching the light of the glows the metals shone against her dark hands as she held it out, the pride in her glowing near as bright. Usually she wasn't all that great at theft, or at least not compared to her beloved brother. If her hands found something it was usually sharp, but she wanted to find something that a girl might like, something that the gold rider who'd searched them might like?

Eyes twitching to the outside morning, Etansi cast about for the source of a sound her ears was picking up on. Was it feet coming down the hall or was it the sound of something waking up outside? A dragon? Moving closer to her brother she pushed him back into the shadows with her bony body, meaning well to protect him should something or someone come down that way.

Sinders Path

 

[Sinders Path]

Erastan happily returned the hug, closing his eyes for a moment during their contact. Being alone with his twin without anyone else's expectations or judgment was really the only time he felt at ease. Candidate classes were he was split from Etansi were a special kind of torture. He was so sure that he would fail in every task or be called on by the candidate master to demonstrate what he had learned. At least the scowl he had been holding during every class had kept that at bay for now, or seemed to.

He parted from the embrace reluctantly and with a slight shudder, he was still only wearing night clothes and bare feet after all. As soon as he parted from her body warmth the early morning reminded him of it's chill.

When Etansi then produced the necklace he raised a brow, holding out a hand he took the item to inspect it. He turned it around and over in his hands a few times, testing the solid bits of metal work for weakness and flexibility before he bit down on the edge and inspected it again. He gave a small shrug "Not gold." He concluded in a whisper. Ma Loa had taught them how to tell. But it could still be worth something.

Erastan heard it at the same time his sister did. He froze staring into the darkness to try and penetrate the gloom of the poor night. But he didn't get much time to analyze the sound before he was being pushed back into the crevice of a wall. A small grunt escaped him as the air left his lungs but then he went still and silent as his twin. The necklace he had been holding a second ago had vanished.

Luckily whoever or whatever it was seemed to turn away at the last second and the noise faded again before it met them. Erastan let his breath out and pushed his sister away to give him freedom again, then he took her hand and started to lead her away. He lead her around the weyrbowl to a small wooden hut, a large shed really but it was mostly empty. Since the return of thread anything that wasn't stone had been abandoned due to its vulnerability and only a few misused tools remained. It had a wooden floor but it was only planks laid over leveled dirt. Erastan made a point of counting the planks in from the left wall and then pried up the lucky fifth. Then he started to dig in the uncovered earth, soon he found what he wanted, a solid tin box. He pulled it out and handed it to Etansi along with the necklace he produced from his sleeve like a magician pulling flowers from the air.  

[Hattaki]

The simple statement her brother issued at the state of the necklace's worth had been ignored until that point, Etansi wasn't sure that it even mattered if it wasn't gold as long as it was beautiful. Nothing she had found at the Weyr thus far had merited value aside from any that owned it, likely this was due to the harsh nature of the surrounding environment and the very real dangers of being a rider. If she had found something gold she may even have left it where she found it lest she draw out a hunt for the thief down upon her head and place Erastan at risk. That was the way of it, with most things of little value those with any were all the more prized and to take something very valuable and pass it off as a gift would increase the recipient's danger of punishment. Which was not at all her intent.

A growl escaped her when she was pushed, low and soft but it would mean something to her twin, Etansi wasn't one to be pushed about though she let him take her hand. Holding tightly to his hand while her thoughts spilled about in her head, the thin wraith kept close note of what she was passing by and the trail their fast feet traveled to Erastan's destination. Though she had been out in the Bowl many times before this she always felt as though she were exposed in such an open environment and so had taken pains to avoid it unless strictly necessary. Which made it all the more odd to her when they skittered across the open area and into a little wooden shack, the use of which boggled her mind as wood did so very poorly in Threadfall and believably would have little use in a Weyr.

When she entered into the hut with him she ran her fingers over the worn wood, feeling the age and scars in the grain where decades worth of people had used it and abused it. Spots were darker with a patina of dust and oil from skin that belonged to people long since dead; the air held a stale and unmoving scent that spoke to the quiet death of this hut which might have been why her brother was bringing her here. Pulling her attention back to his motions, she watched as he counted the wooden planks and Etansi lifted her eyebrow when he pried one from the floor. When he shoveled dirt up with his hands she tilted her head to one side and edged closer, sniffing the stale air curiously as it was disturbed by the gentle scent of dust and dirt that she was always happy to smell. It reminded her of her times digging a soft spot into the dirt to sleep next to her twin.

Reaching out her smaller hands to receive the tin and her pilfered necklace, Etansi lifted her eyebrow again and pulled the lid off of the tin. There were some other shiny things in there that she moved about with her nimble fingers, taking stock of what had been placed in there previously, trying to match some to what rider's she'd seen wearing them about the Weyr, the girl sat the necklace down on top of them carefully and closed it. Running her fingers over the cool, dusty tin she made to hand it back to her brother, eyes narrowed a bit in confusion for his stash of glittering beauties.

"Many pretties." Etansi offered up in her gravely voice, hoarse from lack of use and general darkness.

Over the years the two of them had pulled so many heists together that it felt almost sad for her to know that he had done these alone, that she was running about the Weyr on her own looking for things. Sure, she was already planning to scale it back a bit but the lonely feeling built up inside her chest again just knowing that she would have to be apart from him once the sun came up this day.

Sinders Path

 

[Sinders Path]

Erastan rolled his eyes at his twins growls. They had spent to much time among canines growing up so their library of vocalizations was almost a language in and of itself. He knew the growl meant nothing serious, just a light warning he could afford to dismiss. It didn't matter. In the wooden hut they were safe. In a way it was sad to see the hut so empty. The wooden structure was a symbol of optimism. People had truly considered thread a thing of the past. So they had felt safe in producing the wooden out buildings. He rubbed a hand once more across the wooden planks and then stood up to face his twin.

He nodded solemnly. "For when we leave." He explained. Erastan had made it quite clear he considered the weyr a way stop. He was still convinced that Etansi had some how tricked the gold rider into bringing them back to her home. Manipulated her into thinking they would make good candidates. That was not a bad thing, it gave them a place they could relax with regular food and shelter. It also meant they could continue the early lessons on how to read and write that Ma Loa had delivered. However, like in the caravan they must soon be discovered and banished, so Erastan was making sure they would have something to fall back on when the time came.

"Good hiding place. but I have others." He added with a shrug, he knew not to put all his eggs in one basket. He reached out and took the tin, held it open for Etansi to drop in the necklace and then put it back into the hole, covering it with the rich reddish earth and then slotting the half rotten wooden plank back into it's place. He also spread the dust back over the top so it looked like it had never been disturbed in the first place.  

[Hattaki]

Uncertain herself as to how the pair of them had managed to end up in a Weyr of all places, Etansi took much the same approach to the pair's stay at the Weyr and wished to take full opportunity of everything offered. If it was a class she would apply herself happily, if it happened to be the opportunity to stock up on valuable items that might present the opportunity to hock for Marks or food then all the better. To her the stone place was just a necessary evil, always there to protect them should Thread threaten to fall overhead and in no way a place that she might actually Impress to a dragon. What would she even do if she actually Impressed to a dragon? Certainly the girl might find a way to get away with said dragon and leave the Weyr entirely to be with her twin, especially if he didn't Impress right alongside her!

The horror of the thought bit at her heart slightly as it was strengthened by the very real separation that they had been suffering through recently. Beds were a fantastic change for her, the cold ground usually sufficing for her needs until they had come here. On more than one occasion she had offered up any type of sleeping arrangement for her brother, leading to fights every time.

"I need more... should stop stealing too much right now though." Etansi offered up, still concerned that there would be prying eyes that might find them during the act or worse, see something they stole on someone else. It was a private fear of hers, though certainly Erastan knew of it by now himself, he always knew her better than she was willing to admit.

Watching him cover it back up she glanced at the door off and on, wanting to make sure that no one would catch them now of all times. Once she was certain that everything was hidden to her brother's satisfaction the dark girl tried to pull him out of the hut quickly, sure that there would be someone awake and in the Bowl by now.

Sinders Path