-------------------------
|[bed]|{}[]b|{}[]b|{}[]b|
|   []|    e|    e|    e|
|   ()|    d|    d|    d|
|   {}|   ()|   ()|   ()|
|                       |
|                       |
-------*-[shelf]-*-door--

* - glowbasket
() - chest
[] - nightstand
{} - armoire

Bunk1 - Kerso
Bunk2 - Apollo
Bunk3 - empty
Bunk4 - empty

Kerso couldn't believe he was being escorted down to the Candidate Bunkrooms by a GREENRIDER. What an insult! He was destined to be a bronzerider, the one who brought him should have been there!

Despite the perceived insult, he was delighted that the room he was being assigned to didn't have anyone else: he was the first one there. Which means he had the pick of the bunks. He couldn't believe the size of the room; his entire family - father, mother, himself, and three siblings - lived in a cothold smaller than this bunkroom for four! He tried to conceal his astonishment and delight as he haughtily chose the left-most bunk, farthest from the door. "Am I allowed to rearrange?" he asked.

"Sure. There's a sheet on the bed listing some things you should see the Storemaster for, if you don't have them already." the greenrider said. "Good luck on the Sands, lad. Oh, and don't forget to read the sheet here by the door."

Kerso bristled a bit at the casual manner, but the greenrider was gone. Instead, he looked at his bunk again and decided he wanted to move the armoire toward the front of the bunk, to give him just a smidge more privacy than the low wall and its overhanging curtain gave him. So he pulled the curtain all the way forward and shoved the armoire around and put it with the back against the low wall. Then he rotated the bed 90 degrees to put it against the back wall and put the nightstand on the right-hand side. Then he put the chest next to the armoire and laid the rug out in the open area.

He glared at the list. Why did he need these work things? He was a Candidate! He seriously considered not going down, but he had a sneaking suspicion the Headwoman would know and he suspected he might need them in the smithy he was supposed to report to the next day, so he stepped out in the hallway...only to realize he had no idea where the Storemaster's office was. He started back down the hallway toward the Headwoman's office; surely he'd meet someone on the way. He encountered a drudge who pointed him in the proper direction. He didn't order any coveralls or heavy-duty work clothes or work boots; he'd brought a pack with three sets of clothes, all of which were work clothes - he was wearing his one set of Gather clothes. He'd worn his only pair of boots, a set of quality farm boots.

He managed to find his way back to his bunk without having to ask directions and put the clothes in the armoire, including the clothes he'd brought. He tossed the empty pack in the chest; he didn't have anything of value, but he'd gotten a lock for his chest anyway.

Having nothing better to do and having eaten in the Headwoman's office, he wasn't hungry. He didn't really feel like exploring - and possibly getting lost - so he plunked down on the bed and stretched out, staring up at the ceiling and imagining being a bronzerider, catching a queen and becoming Weyrleader.

Kerso was coming back to his room after his morning chores in the kitchen. He hated cooking; food didn't sound even remotely appetizing right now, he'd scrubbed too much dirt off the fruits and vegetables that were being laid out for lunch...

When he wandered into his room, intending to grab a towel and a bowl of sweetsand and get himself cleaned up before reporting to the smithy for his first day of Craft-related labor, he was startled to realize someone else was in the room. He'd walked into his own little bunk room when he realized he'd seen someone out of the corner of his eye in the bunk next to his. He stopped and took a couple of steps backward.

"Oh. Hello," he said. "My name's Kerso, what's yours?" He considered the fact that this person had chosen to set up right next to him. There goes his privacy. He frowned at the curtain separating their bunks. Then his arrogance came back full force. "New to the Weyr, huh? Just brought in on Search?" He tried to take an airy, somewhat condescending tone, trying to imply that because he'd been the first Searched Candidate to arrive, he was somehow better than the new boy.

Apollo had been setting things up around his bunk when he heard the other. Easily he stood, ignoring the "better than thou" attitude that the other candidate seemed to be dripping with. Instead, he just smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you, Kerso. I'm Apollo, son of Lord Holder Tethis from Ruatha Hold," he introduced himself formally. Of course, he knew that in doing so he was more or less telling the other in a polite tone that being searched first meant nothing, "Although, I wasn't actually searched. The blue picked my twin, and they decided that if she was searched, then I should be too," he shrugged. Of course, now it just added one more stop on his way to accomplishing his goal of becoming a lord holder one day.

The announcement that the other boy was son of a Lord Holder - Ruatha's Lord Holder, at that - rankled. Add to that, he was quite a bit taller than Kerso, and the young farmer from Boll felt really annoyed. This guy was built more like someone who could work the fields, not someone who could lounge around being waited on by drudges and holders. Right then and there, Kerso decided that he and Apollo must have been switched at birth and the other boy had stolen his birthright somehow.

Kerso felt slightly vindicated when Apollo said he hadn't been searched but his sister had. "Hrm. Your sister, huh? Where'd they put her? I'm surprised you're down here and not in the guest quarters or something." He couldn't quite keep the resentment out of his voice.

Quite honestly, Apollo didn't really care if the other boy was jealous of his upbringing. As far as the boy was concerned, he didn't pick his family... not that he didn't love his parents, siblings and grandparents. It was merely a fact of life, he didn't pick the family he was born into.

At the other boy's question, he shrugged. "She's in the room across the hall, with the other girls... or I guess she's the only one, just yet. Not really certain."

Kerso couldn't believe he hadn't gotten a rise out of the other boy. He thought Lord Holders' children were spoiled and used to getting their own way, but this one seemed to just accept things as they were. Maybe he was mentally retarded or something...that could explain why the Search dragon didn't Search him, only his sister...

Absently, Kerso noted the bell toning to indicate lunchtime and then abruptly remembered why he'd come back to the room: to get sweetsand and try to get the smell of raw and burnt foods out of his skin and hair before reporting to the smithy! Of course, had he known what he'd be in for, he probably wouldn't have bothered.

"Shards! I gotta go, want to get cleaned up before going to lessons." He didn't sound especially excited about that as he spun around to grab a dish of sweetsand and a towel off the amenities shelf behind him. Then he realized he didn't have a change of clothes, so he darted into his bunk area, set the towel and sand on the chest and grabbed a set of coveralls out of the armoire. As he bent over to grab the towel and sand again, he spilled half of the dish of sweetsand on the towel. "Shaffit!" he cursed loudly before shaking the towel out - and getting sand everywhere - and striding out toward the bathing rooms, looking quite irritated.