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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 1:24 pm
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One more long day, done. His chores had been finished, his lessons completed, and Rinor had decided that today his free time was going to be spent simply catching up on sleep. His roommates were already out gallivanting whoknewwhere and for once he could enjoy privacy, solitude, and silence. Just him and his bed. That's all he wanted.
With a relieved sigh, he flopped onto his cot and drew the blankets over his too long legs. There was a little bit of ruckus beyond in the hallways as other candidates made their way in and out but he was content enough as he relaxed and stretched his limbs out, trying to get comfortable. In a matter of minutes, he could feel the first fingers of sleep picking at his thoughts and -
Wait.
What was that?
His eyes flashed open at the same time that he pulled back the covers to stare at a tickling feeling against his thigh.
Was that a scatid? No. Yes. Yes!!
A loud, unintelligible screech ripped through the room as his brain caught up to his eyes and he rolled gracelessly off of his cot and onto the floor as it echoed between the stone walls.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:04 pm
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Calla's hand wavered above him as he began to move. She carefully backed away as he made to stand, regarding him thoroughly as if to search for injury. The only screwed up bit of him though appeared to be the screwed up face he was making. Cool in a crisis, the younger Candidate put out her palms flat to face him, as if calming a disgruntled runnerbeast. "Your bed?" she gestured to the cot with its blankets askew and went to investigate.
After a moment, she spotted the familiar scurry and fuzzy black legs of scatid. "Oh, these things," she said, laughing despite his panic. "When I was a kid, I used to have horrible nightmares about them burrowing into my skin with those little stabby bits." Her laugh was still rattling when she turned to see the terror still on his face. Oh, whoops. Not the best choice of words.
Calla cleared her throat. "Of course, they have no interest in us! It was probably just looking for warmth and ended up in here on accident." Killing it was an option, but with Thread killing so much life, a part of Calla always avoided it, even for something as tiny as a scatid. Glancing around, she spotted an empty mug. The lip lined up against the edge of the bed, and with one clean motion, she swept the scurrying thing inside, plopping a piece of hide on top of it to keep it contained.
"See? No harm, no foul. But really, if these give you panic, how are you going to feel when your dragonet is clamoring towards you?" As spoke, she pulled back his covers. "Yes, see, it was just one little--" The blanket was tugged free from the end of the bed, and there was a sudden explosion of tiny scuttling limbs. No less than three dozen scatid were crawling over each other in a clump at the foot of his bed, and when the cover was pulled back, they took off as if a fire had just been lit under them.
"Oh, shards," Calla swore, staggering back into Rinor in surprise.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 3:32 pm
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As Calla began her cool, calming explanation Rinor found the stitch in his shoulder blades unwinding bit by little bit and as she scooped the offending creepy crawly into an empty mug it seemed the worst of his terror was behind him - even if he was absolutely, never ever in a million years, going to use that mug again.
"I just don't like bugs, it - it will be different with my dragon," he mumbled on a sigh, eyeing the jar askance as she wandered around his room and back to his bed. He was just about to head back to begin cleaning up the tangled mess he had made in his grand escape when she whipped the sheets back and revealed the most horrifying sight he had ever seen in his short seventeen turns.
He wasn't sure if he was more terrified or nauseated and as he took a weak, stumbling step backward towards the curtain that hung across the entrance of his shared room, his entire face blanched and for certain he looked as if he might faint. The only thing that kept him from falling into a heap on the ground was the cold reminder that if those things were scrambling away from his bed then they were heading toward something else. Like him. Or the door.
"W-what, why-" again his words were failing him and as he reached the doorway he pulled the curtain between him and the room as if it might actually help provide some form of armor between him and the offending critters that were inexplicably infesting his bed.
"How- how do we kill them?" he finally managed one full, shrieked sentence.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 10:45 pm
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The sound of Rinor's terror had a reverse effect on Calla. She became even calmer, even if the sight of a bunch of scattering scatids was unsettling. "How do you kill a bug?" she said, voice incredulous. Grabbing the cup, she began making frantic sweeping motions to get as many into the cup as possible, but when they started crawling over the rim and onto her hand she involuntarily flicked a hand, sending 2 or 3 of them cartwheeling through the air.
Directly at Rinor.
Oblivious to this, Calla swore under her breath, put the hide back over the ones that had been captured so far and then took a much less kind approach. Squelch. Her booted feet smashed and stamped with wet smacks on the remaining bugs. "Oh shards, come on -- just crush whichever ones are left!" She was making good progress, but they continued to scatter off in all directions.
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