Open [Rearing Stallion] Cleaning Up Somebody Else's Mess (open)

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

His hearing was unfortunately not as bad as Orin would have hoped; however there really was nothing better in the Pycon's nexus than to try and brush all of it under the table, along with the rest of the mess.. as quickly as possible, too. He pretended as though he'd never heard nor understood the implications and released all his tension in a mute sigh. "When you'd said I should take over, I'd expected you to mean a little more than yourself is all." By the sounds of things, though, that was literally all they were going to have at hand to clean up all the mess. He'd not expected anything different when Iros had dragged him in at the beginning of the day, but Orin had raised his spirits somewhat.

"Alright then, whatever. If it really is just you and me cleaning all of this stuff up then I suppose you and I are really going to have our work cut out." They'd still not formed a very coherent plan either, beyond just 'pick up this'.. which obviously wasn't leading very far since Arch was limited to struggling with one piece of broken pottery at a time. "I've got an idea. Stupid one, but whatever.. we've got quite a lot of time spent here apparently, so might as well spend some of it trying out new things." Who knew, maybe he'd luck out.

"First thing's first.. let's work on the big things. Right all the tables and move them down to give us a little space here. Chairs as well. I can't really move any of this stuff.. but if you can clear the space, then I can start shifting the dust and the stuff underneath." And he could. His fingers flattened and paw begun to push out, with a lot of effort and a bit of excess clay borrowed from the other portions of his body, until he was left with a long, thin spatula of a paw that he could use to scrape all the excess crumbs and dust right along the length of the floor and out the door. A bit cruder than a brush.. but hey, it could work.

"If you can keep on clearing up space, I can keep on brushing all this down.. and then we'll be able to get like a sponge or something down here. You got any sponges?" While talking, he'd already found that combining both of his paws could double the effective length of the scoop.. turning it into something more like a shovel as he powered down the length of the room in long but unfortunately still narrow sweeps, pushing away a decent portion of the dust and dirt right under the front door and out onto the front step. It wasn't a miracle idea.. but hey, it was a start wasn't it.

Plus, it meant that they could actually get a bit of dialogue running. Shyke was going to be useless if they didn't work together... Arch was going to get absolutely nothing done by himself and Orin was going to spend all day trying to get the place clean after all the rubbish he'd put it through. "Once this is done.. uhm, I didn't catch any of the other things that need to be done." Last night was a little too hectic to make a tally of things he needed to replace or fix.. and walking in this morning, well, he didn't really get a decent look of the place with plenty of plates and tables and chairs and other shyke lying about. "Plates need cleaning?"

[Orin Fenix]

Orin forced himself not to roll his eyes at Archailist. Not everyone had the luxury of unlimited resources like the Knights and squires seemed to have. Obviously Orin was the only help that Archailist should be expecting. Actually, that was wrong since this was, in fact, Orin’s job and waiting around for Archailist to try and gather up some semblance of intelligence and start coming up with a gameplan to try and sort out the common room was a serious time waster. Still, Orin had already relinquished any chance he might have had of just giving Archailist clear and concise instructions. So Orin would do his best to suffer in silence. After all, if Orin got belligerent again or so much as lifted a finger in a way that the squire didn’t sanction Orin was getting the distinct impression that the squire would not take it at all well. And that was putting it nicely. The squirrel shaped Pycon hadn’t shown a lick of common sense or an ounce of patience. But Orin had it drilled into him, practically from birth, that the Knighthood was always right. Though Orin now knew that was far from true, acting as if the Order wasn’t the epitome of goodness and kindness or disobeying their orders or simply doing something they didn’t like was a quick way to an early grave. In most cases the Syliran Order actually did make the best decisions. But sometimes their punishments were harsh and uncalled for and it was never clear when they would crack down on someone or something. So, the heart of the teaching that the Knights were always right held true. At least, that’s what one had to remember if they were to live in Syliras. Orin could think of several instances of questionable judgment made by the Order but Orin kept his mouth shut to avoid trouble for himself.

Orin waited impatiently for Archailist to get to some kind of a point, although Orin did his best to keep his outward appearance unruffled and slightly blank. Orin hoped it would read as he wanted it to, as unintelligent rather than carefully trying to conceal his emotions. Of course that had never worked that well in the past so probably some of it was showing through. Orin kept his head tilted down and slightly away from Archailist’s line of sight, hoping to disguise any negative expression that might be leaking through. Archailist seemed preoccupied with whatever thoughts were percolating through whatever equivalent Pycons had for a mind. Orin assumed that since they were shaped with clay they didn’t have a brain like most other living creatures. But they had to have something in there. Or maybe not and maybe that’s why Archailist was being so incredible dense about this whole procedure. Orin was beginning to have serious regrets about this whole endeavor. While it would’ve looked suspicious, he could ostensibly have refused the Knights offer of aid. But now, Orin was totally stuck.

Orin listened patiently to Archailist’s grand plan. It wasn’t the most brilliant idea Orin had ever heard but it wasn’t as if there was really a good way to clean. Orin just knew that you started from the top so you only had to sweep the floor once. And that was about where the extent of Orin’s knowledge ended. However after what felt like an eternity of inaction being finally released to work was a relief. Having been asked a direct question, Orin deemed it safe enough to respond. Mostly, Orin just shrugged at the inquiry about what else they needed to do. ”I think just this room is fine. Dunno. Whatever you think is best.” Orin’s voice was deliberately dull. It might be straying slightly into the farcical but Orin was beyond caring at this point. An already distasteful task had become much more so because of the damned Order.

Orin had to take a moment to stare, awed, as Archailist shifted until his hand turned into something that was at least resembling a brush. Understanding dawned when Orin saw that the Pycon intended to use it as a makeshift broom. To Orin, that was one of the most magical and incredible feats he’d ever seen. It was nothing short of magical. However, remembering the incident from earlier Orin figured putting undue attention on it would just piss Archailist off further, so Orin very carefully refrained from staring. Shuffling to the nearest table, Orin placed himself and then lifted. His muscles had been given a short reprieve as Archailist had been doing whatever he’d been doing for the past few chimes. When the weight of the table was fully in Orin’s grip the pain came back full force. Gritting his teeth almost audibly, Orin managed to stagger over and place the table in a relatively clear space. Turning to Archailist he asked, ”Does that work for you?” Grabbing the nearest set of chairs Orin began putting them back with the tables they belonged with. He didn’t feel up to tackling another table quite yet and this was exactly what Archailist had ordered him to do.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Things were certainly looking up, regardless of the shaky start. For the first time since the unfortunate incident that'd led to the mess he was already busy cleaning up, he actually had a bit of control on a situation. Not just some stupid coincidence either. "Alright then, just this room. I think we'll have this done in no time, really." He flashed a smile off at Orin but the boy apparently was busy looking back at the floor; must've noticed something that Arch hadn't.. but when the Pycon looked over to where the assistant cook's eyes were fixed, it didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just another dirty corner that needed some good sweeping.. and probably a bit of water after wards? He didn't actually know a lot about cleaning up.. right now he was sure that there'd be time to go back over any mistakes and quickly correct them once this was done.

"Hmm? Oh." His eyes widened slightly as Orin shifted the entire table back several paces, visibly struggling.. but without a single complaint. "That's, uhm, that's great thanks. You don't have to worry about moving it that far though, if it's too much trouble." He just needed enough space to squeeze between the smaller gaps and make sure that he got everything. "I think all the overturned tables and chairs are the big problems.. if it's not too much trouble, think you could get them up straight again?" Now that he was looking at Orin a little closer, he was sure that the boy didn't look so.. grey.. when he'd first walked in. Probably something to do with the lighting or something else, he couldn't be certain.

Either way, it wasn't any good prodding into other people's business.. so he continued as normal. "If you can get all the furniture back to the way it was before, I can scoop up all the broken glass and food and stuff, dump that off outside and then I think this place will look much better. After that, the only thing I can think of is a bit of water here and there, y'know?" He didn't give any room for Orin to answer that question, the little statue was already taking another glance around and pointing over to one of the tables.. even from here, he could see stains running down its side. "That probably needs some water.. and maybe one or two of the chairs? Hmm." He didn't know his way around enough yet to find where it was though.

"You got any sponges and water, a bucket or something like that? If you can bring them in, I think I can get to work on parts of the floors and tables, and then.. uhm.. I think that's it!" Bizarre, he could have sworn there'd be something else.. but too busy rushing along the floor, collecting up the dust and larger pieces of glass - leaving all the smaller pieces scattering the floor while remaining completely oblivious - to stop and take a closer look, or even ask Orin for that matter, the squirrel was on a roll.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin was holding onto his tongue with every bit of willpower he possessed. So that was why he carefully refrained from pointing out that if Archailist wasn’t so stuck up, Orin could’ve had this room finished already. But the squire’s fragile ego couldn’t seem to take someone else managing the cleanup effort. And after the spectacular reaction earlier when Orin had just been trying to be friendly Orin got the impression that talking it out with Archailist wouldn’t go over too well. So all Orin replied with was a soft “Yessir.” Orin was surprised that someone who was a squire wasn’t better at taking criticism. Orin figured, from the squires he’d met, that given the number of mistakes they tended to make, critique should be something they would be well used to. Unless Archailist was somehow a perfect squire in every way shape and form. Which, considering that he was not only involved in a bar brawl but couldn’t handle the presence of a civilian for more than a few chimes without acting out, Orin found hard to believe. So Orin was forced to come to the conclusion that Archailist was either a cruel person at heart, that he liked to pick fights, or that he was immature and an idiot. The last option was much more likely, seeing as the Knighthood probably purged anyone who wasn’t good at heart or who was violent early on in the training process. So, Archailist likely wasn’t nearly as smart as he thought he was. Orin was getting a bit tired of squires and knights and their posturing and holier than thou attitudes. Just because Orin wasn’t a member of the Syliran Order didn’t mean that he couldn’t contribute to the welfare and well-being of the city.

Orin rolled his eyes, but he did it carefully so that he back was to Archailist. Since the Pycon had clearly demonstrated that he wasn’t up to moving the larger furniture and Orin had already moved three of the enormous tables scattered throughout the common room without that much effort, it should’ve been obvious that Orin could handle a few chairs. Still, seeing as Orin didn’t have a high estimation of the squire’s intelligence anyway, it shouldn’t really have surprised him. Still as Orin picked up the chairs, most of which only had cosmetic damage and set them in their proper place, he couldn’t help but frown. Part of the reason the tables were so heavy was actually to prevent people from moving them in a fight. After all, it would tire the combatants out trying to flip and shove an immovable object. So, whoever had knocked these out of place had to be significantly stronger than Orin.

Now, Orin wasn’t that strong but he was clearheaded unlike the patrons who likely had been tipsy at best and drunk at worst and wouldn’t be applying the proper leverage to shift the tables. Orin’s best guess as to who had actually messed up the common room this badly had to be the Knights then. They had come through here, pushings and shoving people and objects with no regard to the damage they might do, too focused on the fight outside to consider the livelihoods of those who worked in The Rearing Stallion. It was yet another example of the Order’s might makes right and harsh penalties ideologies. But there was nothing Orin could do to change it. Orin would simply put up with it as he always had, by staying out of the way. When all the chairs were back in some semblance of order and the worst of the damage was exposed, Orin went to the last table. Placing his hands under the edges, Orin put his whole body into it, then essentially fell over a few paces to get the table back where it belonged. Dusting off his hands, Orin turned to Archailist. ”Is that good sir?” Orin wouldn’t let himself disrespect a squire. And Orin found that deference to others made those Orin was bowing and scraping to assume Orin was a stupid boy who couldn’t think for himself. Orin much preferred it that way, since otherwise he’d let his woods get him in trouble if he accidently badmouthed the Order. Being thought a bumbling idiot was infinitely preferable to being thought a traitor. Not that Orin would ever let it get to that point, but having the Knights watching oneself was not comfortable.

Surveying the areas Archailist was indicating, Orin nodded. ”I agree, let me get us some soap and water and sponges sir.” That wasn’t at all what Orin wanted to say. What he wanted to say was something more along the lines of ‘of course we have soap and water, we have a kitchen so obviously we have soap and water and rags.’ Orin was beginning to have severe doubts about whether Archailist had ever even been to a tavern before. Of course, there was probably no reason for the Pycon to do so, seeing as Orin didn’t even know if they could drink. Orin also failed to point out to Archailist that there were several more spots that could benefit from the attention of some cleaning. At this point, Orin just wanted the squire gone, and then Orin could fix everything from there. So, the sooner Orin had the common room to himself, the better. Trudging into the kitchen with his head down, Orin retrieved a few buckets, filled them with water, and set them in the common room. He got a few curious glances from Remi and Rondo but he pointedly ignored them. Once Orin had enough water to clean the whole common room if he had to, which he very well might, he grabbed soap and a few sponges and rags. Setting them all close to Archailist, Orin scratched his head and looked at the Pycon. Orin had to grudingly admit that it was looking much better and the two of them had made progress, albeit slowly. ”What’s next sir?”

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He wondered how long Ser Iros had actually expected them to take.. since he was quite sure they were close to finishing and the knight hadn't shown any signs of returning. Perhaps there was something he was forgetting? Surely not.. Orin would have spoken up otherwise. Then again, the boy seemed pretty simple.. just following everything the squirrel said without a word of disagreement, any other ideas on what to do.. he could only assume that he'd accidentally scared the assistant chef with his earlier outburst and just a simple apology wasn't going to cut it. A flash of guilt ran over his nexus but quickly disintegrated as the memories came flooding back of all those annoying questions.. one after another. It was his fault!

Still, if Orin wasn't going to say anything, then it was all up to the squire to sort things out and get them back on some good footing. Hopefully before his plans just ended up making an even bigger mess than he'd caused last time. Sure, the place was looking much cleaner through his eyes.. but maybe it wasn't as fantastic as it seemed? "Hmm? Why're you asking me?" There wasn't any annoyance in his voice.. just curiosity. "You're the one that works here and spends.. I can only assume a good portion of your time here, right? Does it look alright to you, should we move it a little?"

In fact, Arch didn't really know anything at all about the Stallion.. or any of the taverns in the city. He didn't drink, didn't find it that interesting.. didn't find any interesting company, though that was just his personal preference. The first time he'd come in would've been his last if not for his patron insisting on returning to clean up the mess and, even now, he had absolutely no desire of returning. He was entirely reliant on Orin's knowledge.. however much the assistant cook knew in however long he'd spent here. Funny, maybe the squirrel should be following the assistant chef, instead of the other way around!

"By the way, you don't need to call me sir.. I'm Arch, you're Orin, remember? Just because I'm a squire doesn't mean shyke.. we don't have any actual authority, inside the knighthood or outside." Something that Arch had drilled into his little nexus at great lengths, particularly after last night's incident. Stop trying to handle things on your own. That's what a patron's for. "Besides.. this is my first time actually.. ha, actually cleaning any thing." He wasn't even joking. It was stupid even asking him to try and clean anything because of his obvious size difficulties. Sometimes he could help by crawling up to the upper corners of a room and cleaning there.. but those were tiny parts compared to a room the size of this one.

"Anyway.. for now, let's just run quickly over the floor with the water and rags, if I dig into the edges and corners and you tackle the middle of the room, we can meet up again as we spread out. Unless you've got a better idea?" Strange, considering Orin.. well, actually, did assistant chefs often clean? He'd been cleaning when Iros walked in, so, surely. Yet he'd barely spoken a few words the entire day. "You can tell me what you honestly think, if we should do this a different way you know. You and I are supposed to be a team in this and shyke, if it's a good idea then we'll do it. Not like you probably even need me here, you know where everything is.. you'd probably have this done in five chimes, am I right?"

[Orin Fenix]

Orin had to physically bite his tongue to keep from giving Archailist an angry response. It wasn't hard enough to draw blood but it certainly gave Orin a painful distraction to focus on instead. He counted to ten very slowly in his mind before letting out a deep breath. When he'd calmed himself down responsibly, Orin turned to Archailist. He made sure to keep his words even and level but most especially slow, although he wasn't quite sure how successful he was at keeping the annoyance out as well. He was a bit out of practice when it came to shrugging off irritations or assuming he deserved them. "I'm asking you because, surprisingly enough I work in the kitchens, not the common room, see? And usually I come in through the back. So I rarely, if ever come into the common room, since, you know, I work for a living. Since you were obviously here last night, I'm asking if it looks good to you because I haven't seen it as recently as you have. It looks fine to me personally. I was just asking your opinion. If there's a problem Ser Kevith will tell me I was just seeing if either of us noticed anything amiss that we could fix before he came out here." Orin dropped the honorific since it seemed to bother Arch so much. However, it seemed useless now to pretend that Orin was as dumb as he'd been acting.

Still resentful, Orin didn't reach out to Arch with kindness. At least Orin could be relatively civil with the squire. Almost a season in Syliras had taught Orin quite a bit about being polite in all circumstances even when he didn't like another person. Communication would likely benefit both of them, and with a grudging sigh Orin turned to Arch. It was a bit disconcerting. Orin didn't have the usual cues to tell him what the other person he was talking to was saying. Orin didn't have a whole lot of experience speaking to Pycons. In fact, Arch was one of the first, seeing as Pycons didn't often find themselves at The Rearing Stallion. Orin wondered why. If they were all like Arch Orin had a sneaking suspicion that Pycons hated fun or didn't know how to conduct themselves in social situations so they avoided them like the plague. Maybe it was both. Arch had to have at least some modicum of propriety to be a squire but as Orin knew being social for the sake of your job and being social in and of itself were incredibly different. Still, Orin was making an effort to work on being more outgoing and making friends and he didn't get that impression from Arch at all.

Orin wished he could've said that Arch's admission that this was the first time he'd cleaned anything surprised Orin but he couldn't. Although it was a bit strange that Arch had cleaned nothing at all, it wasn't unusual especially if the Pycin came from whatever passed for an upper class family in Pycon society. Or maybe Pycons simply didn't clean. After all, Orin had no idea how they slept or lived. And since they seemed to be made of clay themselves, dust, mud and dirt probably didn't bother them in the slightest. In fact what humans thought of as messy might even be homelike for Pycons. Orin wasn't being particularly charitable but in Orin's mind, while he may have been rude to Arch responding as Arch had was far worse than anything Orin might have done.

Orin was also conveniently ignoring that Orin hadn't exactly participated in a large scale cleaning effort such as this before. Orin kept the kitchen meticulously clean as well as his apartment but he also didn't usually deal with broken furniture or widespread destruction on this scale. Despite this Orin couldn't help but feel a smug superiority at this admittedly ridiculous knowledge that Orin had and Arch didn't. Orin wouldn't act on it of course. Still Orin was better than at least one member of the Syliran Order at something. Even if it was something that might not save lives it was important nevertheless.

Arch seemed to have settled down from earlier, so Orin debated with himself about risking provoking the squire again and getting the job done right. Eventually Orin realized that those two were not mutually exclusive. If Arch was asking for advice as long as Orin was cautious in his replies maybe some good could come of this. "That's a good plan but may I make some suggestions? First mind if we start with the tables and chairs first? That way if the dirty water drips or something, then it won't be onto clean floors. In the same vein, could we potentially start at the far end of the room, I mean, once we start on the floors, and work our way to the front door? Then we could sort of wash the grime out to the street." Orin bowed his head submissively. He very carefully didn't look at Arch. Orin figured the less threatening and animated he was the better the squire would react. After all, it had been Orin's exuberance that had set Arch before. Orin could tone himself down for the short amount of time remaining where Arch would be with Orin. If the squire was smart then he'd realize that he should clean under the tables when they got there while Orin cleaned the spaces outside. That would prevent Orin from hitting his head if he forgot where he was. Remembering that he still had one last comment to respond to, Orin spoke as softly as he could manage. "I doubt it, there was a lot to be done, especially for one person. Your help has been invaluable." Whether or not it was true it seemed to be the right statement under the circumstances.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Well, up until that point, Arch had liked to think he'd helped at least some-what and done a decent job with the place. If Orin's reaction was worth anything, apparently he'd done the exact opposite and then another ten times worse than that as well. "Yeah well, I didn't get the best look around either. People were too busy trying to get out of the way of Ser Iros so they could arrest those weirdos before they stabbed someone." Since Orin was going to unload everything off his chest, the squirrel might as well do the same.. whether or not it included things better left not shared. "And, by the way, I actually do work for a living, just like you. It's just not cleaning the floors. It was your petching idea that I take over, if you hadn't insisted then I would've been happy to just help wherever you needed me."

Then again, he didn't know what he'd expected at all. Maybe just to be given a set of orders, like his patron or anyone else would normally do, and spend the rest of the day working through them. Maybe someone else to talk with while he went. Then.. this happened. Now people were hating him for doing a shyke job, like he ever had a chance of perfecting something that he'd never done before. Maybe Orin was just an idiot.. maybe the squirrel had it all backwards and he was the one being the moron.. there was no way to tell which was which and he had no intention of backing down from a complete stranger and accepting full responsibility for a failure that might not even be his own.

"Anyway, the two of us standing here and shouting at each-other isn't going to make the floors any cleaner." Better to just diffuse the situation and shift to the side of it before it got out of control and burned the entire room down to ashes. Listening to Orin's opinion, he could only nod in agreement; all sound logic by his hearing, really. Better than what he'd come up with so far. "Alright, so we do all the tables and chairs first, clean them all up, then move to the floor and start from the far corner? Sounds good. You work on the left half moving down the middle, I'll work down the right. I'll try not to slow you down."

Finally they were actually getting somewhere.. well, he hoped so. For all he knew, he was petching it up by following Orin's advice. For all he knew, they'd done everything right up until this point and now they were going to throw it all away and make a bigger mess than before. He was about to get to work, when the final words caught him off-guard and he turned back to stare at Orin. "Look, let's just.. drop the false act alright. There's a reason I don't clean. I'm five inches tall and utterly useless at everything. The only reason I'm able to make a decent living is by being a squire because unlike you, I can't cook. I can't work in the fields, I can't hunt anything larger than a mouse, I can't make weapons or armor, I can't work in the mines." He didn't know where all that came from but there was no point apologizing now that it was hanging there in the air between them. "I'm useless and I know it. You could have finished bells ago and gone home if you were given anyone else in this entire city but me."

Finally, he could breathe. His paws were shaking, clenched tight into fists and he swore that he could feel a prickling sensation around his forehead where his clay was almost literally bubbling.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin let out a huff of bad air. He’d known speaking out was going to go badly based off of Arch’s previous behavior. But he’d been bottling it up for too long and it had finally escaped. Orin felt bad for taking out his anger on the squire. Even if the Pycon’s reaction had been out of line Orin knew he wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Too many people hadn’t seemed to mind his behavior recently so Orin had been letting himself become less vigilant when it came to controlling his words. No longer, though. Archailist had reminded him that the vast majority of the population of Syliras hated inane chatter. They especially hated Orin’s rapid fire way of speaking. Even if select individuals had been kind to Orin and had let him get lazy in his behavior Orin had needed the reminder Arch had provided that most of the world wasn’t that way at all. So even if Orin still didn’t particularly like the squire, Orin felt that he was the one at fault here. ”My apologies I didn’t mean to snap at you. To be honest, this isn’t really my area of expertise either so I’m at as much of a loss as you are. They really picked the right two people for the job didn’t they?” This last part was uttered in a bitter and defeated tone. They could’ve hired someone to put the tavern back to rights but Kevith hadn’t wanted to spend any more money on this then he already had. Since Orin was already working for The Rearing Stallion naturally it had become his task seeing as he was the most junior staff member. It wasn’t at all fair but Orin hadn’t really been expecting fairness when it came to life and work. Still this was just inefficient, having too completely inexperienced workers trying to tackle a job with absolutely no supervision. Orin just wanted it over and done with. He was even willing to do it wrong and be given proper instructions at this point when normally Orin would be terrified of disappointing his superiors.

Still Arch’s assumption that Orin had insisted he take over made Orin bristle all over again. ”I wouldn’t have had to act the way I had if you had just been a bit more sensible and mature and instead of lashing out at me just asked me to control my speech. I can do it, you know, sometimes I just need a gentle nudge that I’m getting out of hand. Which you didn’t know and I’m sorry but your behavior wasn’t any better than mine. Look, can we just drop it?” Orin groaned. This whole situation was giving him a splitting headache. They were both out of their element and it was probably making both of them incredibly cranky. At this point Orin realized there was no one to blame for this situation and he could’ve told that to Archailist. But his stubborn pride flared up and refused to take responsibility a tick before the squire did. After all, squires were supposed to learn how to deal with citizens, Orin assumed. The fact that Archailist knew so little about the lives of the people who he would one day be forced to protect didn’t bode well for the rest of the Knighthood. After all, if they didn’t understand the common folk, then they couldn’t look out for their best interests.

All this chatter didn't seem to be bringing them any closer to a reconciliation. And it certainly wasn't getting the job done either. Archailist seemed to have the same thought. A feeling of relief coursed through Orin when the Pycon finally admitted that Orin's plan was a sound one. Being contrary for the sake of being contrary wasn't particularly normal for Orin. He'd just gotten out of practice when it came to dealing with slightly hostile strangers and he'd never been good at it in the first place. It was no wonder being with Archailist had brought out the worst in Orin. The squire reminded Orin of his own shortcomings and instead of acknowledging them Orin had placed the blame squarely on Arch. Orin was willing to apologize sincerely for his actions and behavior at that point but the two of them had reached an uneasy truce and Orin didn't want to ruin it somehow. So he stayed silent.

Orin took his cleaning supplies over to the side that Arch had indicated. Dipping a cloth into the water, Orin began wiping down the table nearest to him. It came away surprisingly dirty. It looked like Orin, or someone anyway, hadn't been cleaning out here nearly as often as they should. Orin decided that he should mention it to Kevith. The barmaids could handle giving the floors and the tables a good scrubbing, he figured. After all, that probably fell under their job description anyway. Orin kept at it, until the table was significantly cleaner and conspicuously lighter looking when Archailist began talking again.

It tugged at Orin's heart. He hadn't ever been intending to let the matters between them get this bad. Hearing the despair in Archailist's voice immediately made Orin feel terrible. Orin wasn't great with cheering others up and Arch didn't seem to think much of Orin's words but Orin had to try. "Don't say that! You sir, are far from useless. I couldn't have done this without you in any timely manner. As for not being able to cook, most people can't. I've spent most of my life learning how do you definitely shouldn't feel bad for not knowing what to do in a kitchen. I sure can't make armor and weapons either and let's just say that I've been kind of banished from the fields from my complete lack of inability to do anything properly. Some of that is lack of experience and some of it is just my natural physical and mental state. But one other thing I can't do is fight. I'm about as far from a warrior as it's possible to get. So I commend you for doing a difficult job that not everyone can do. And I bet you're great in emergency situations. And much smarter than me and better with people too. I tend to panic and I am definitely far from a smart person. You've probably done a lot more as a squire and have a lot more talents than you're giving yourself credit for which is just silly. Tell me about some of the crazy threats you've faced as a squire. I'm sure there are some, actually, many, that you handled well and with the grace and honor of a true member of the Syliran Order." Orin didn't really know it his words would make a difference at all. At least he'd tried. And there wasn't anything stopping Orin from more attempts to lift Archailist's spirits. Maybe his endless chatter could actually be good for once.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The Pycon didn't need an apology now of all times - nor did he really feel he deserved one for all the shyke he'd pushed Orin through, almost quite literally and entirely unwittingly. He flapped a paw in Orin's general direction for a few ticks in an almost violent way. "There's no need for apologies, I was acting like an idiot and I wouldn't have known any better if you hadn't spoken up." He wasn't grateful for the outburst but neither could he hold it against Orin. "Besides, apologizing for it in the present doesn't change the past." What was said, was said; better to learn from it than go back and try to forget it ever happened. Boy was there a lot to learn as well.

Maybe if they'd both spent more time learning, they wouldn't be in this mess - maybe just one of them would have a clue what they were doing. "Yeah, I get the feeling they could have thrown together an onion and a dog and the room would be a lot better than it is now." They'd messed up from the start and it'd only grown worse since then.. both their very recent relationship and the state of the front room. "Yes, I probably could have asked politely but you know, I don't usually have people suddenly throwing questions at my face like petching knives. I didn't know how to react. I panicked. I overreacted. Now that I know what to expect, next time I'll ask nicely. But, no, I don't know the exact right words to say to someone after five petching chimes in the same room with them to make them stop trying to stab my nexus with their... word-knife-things, okay?!"

His voice had accidentally raised again; this time he took a deep breath to control himself and raised both paws in the universal 'please don't hurt me' gesture. "I'm sorry. Yes. Let's drop it and never speak of it again." If Arch only knew how Orin likely felt about the situation and vice versa - they could have stopped this stupid argument so long ago and just finished the room. It seemed as though every time he tried to push them away from another argument however, it swerved exactly the opposite direction. He wanted to go back to the dorms and sleep.. he just wanted to leave this stupid conversation and never come back to it again, or start over, or find someone else to work with, or kick his own nexus.. all of the above.

There was still one vital thing to deal with before he could do that, though. "No, no. Think about it. People can cook, they just don't have enough practice at it, maybe they don't have the right motivations, or the right tools or inspiration. That doesn't mean they can't cook. Now, me? There's no possibility of me learning to cook because I can't eat food. Even if I liked food, I can't eat it. I am physically incapable of eating meat, or vegetables, or fruits." Something that was really hard to grasp, he had to admit. "You can't make armor? You can lift a hammer. I can't. I will never be able to lift a hammer. You can't work in the fields? I tried, too. It takes me bells to work on a single wheat plant where you take five petching chimes because you don't have to climb up the plant and pick off every little piece because it's the same size as your head."

And then came the praise. Usually he liked it.. loved it in fact. It made everything he'd worked so hard to achieve worthwhile because he could actually hear what other people felt. Now, though.. now hearing it all just felt bitter and hollow - like none of it was even real. Just there to make him feel better. Maybe worse; as if he needed to prove to the world that he had a right to exist. "Threats I've faced? Well..." Truth be told, not a lot. "... I was beaten up by a cat once."

[Orin Fenix]

Orin sighed. Now they were both rejecting each other's apologies. It seemed like he and Arch were just destined not to be on the same page. Orin was getting a bit tired of the back and forth. His better sense won out over his exasperation though. "Look you can't be an idiot if you don't do something right the first time you try it. You're only an idiot if you continue to do it wrong." Orin's words were as matter of fact and as practical as he could make them. He figured the quicker they both got whatever was bothering them off their chest the better. And besides communication seemed to be key in this situation. If Archailist and Orin could just figure out how to talk to each other sensibly then perhaps they could actually salvage something out of this debacle. "I agree with you there. Let bygones be bygones." Orin still thought that he was probably more at fault, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, but at this point they'd both muddied the issue so much that trying to determine blame would just give Orin a headache.

Orin raised an eyebrow and Archailist's analogy. He was still wary of outright contradicting the squire but the scenario that Arch had outlined didn't actually make any sense when Orin actually thought about it for a minute. Orin decided to try a light hearted approach. "Oh I don't know about that. I think we've done marginally better than a dog and an onion. An onion would just stink the place up and have you met a dog? They'd probably try to mark their territory and bury a bone in this mess. We actually didn't do too badly compared to that considering our...shortcomings." Orin held his breath. He wasn't sure how Arch would take that very last comment. Orin had tried to make his response as funny as possible but he wasn't sure he succeeded. Even if it wasn't Arch would hopefully hear the sentiment there.

Orin winced at Archailist's accusations. None of them were untrue, a fact that Orin lamented. Orin vowed to do his best in the future to control his errant tongue. Today had proven that Orin was probably just better off not talking to anyone if it was at all avoidable. Holding anything like a normal conversation was completely out of the question. "You're absolutely right and I really should've known better." Orin smiled bitterly. "Now you know why they keep me in the back room." His time was entirely self-deprecating and deservedly so. Orin shrank in on himself. "I, well, I am rubbish with people. You were absolutely justified in your reaction to my knife-words. Is there...is there any way I could make it up to you? Do you want to knife word back at me?" Orin hung his head in shame. He'd be better off locked up so he could never offend anyone ever again. Orin would've taken a vow of silence if he'd thought he could keep it. With his track record with words, Orin would probably break it within the first tick.

Orin was going to meet Archailist's depressed mood with his own. Orin was pretty sure that when it came to who had the worst lot in life Orin could give Archailist a run for his money. "Well. If we're talking purely physical limitations I'll bet you're so much better than me at exploring new places considering your size and dexterity. And you're probably much sneaker than me. You could get into the smallest crack or crevice and either hide or escape. And I'll bet you can climb better than I ever could considering your form." Orin took a deep breath. His attempt to cheer Arch up had obviously backfired terribly. "But people aren't just composed of what they can do physically. I'm a social nightmare. You're relatively well-adjusted. I'm about as slow as it's possible to be when it comes to learning a new subjective. I would seriously doubt you have the same problem." Orin shrugged helplessly. He didn't have the knowledge or the right speech to snap either Archailist or himself out of this fugue they both seemed to be in.

Archailist, however, apparently did. Whether the squire had intended it to be funny or not, Orin had to laugh at Archailist's admission that he was beaten up by a cat. He hastened to reassure the Pycon. Orin had his own share of embarrassing incidents that he was willing to tell Archailist. "I'm sure you have that nasty cat as good as you got. If it makes you feel better I've been abused by nanny goats. Multiple times. Same goats. Never really learned my lesson." Orin even dared to smile at Archailist. The stories Orin could tell about humiliating incidents involving animals were too many to count. "Oh and I've been targeted by a flock of stampeding sheep. But that's not my, how shall I say, crowning achievement in adventure." Orin paused for dramatic effect. He wasn't usually good at telling humorous anecdotes but at this point he was willing try anything. Besides he'd already promised to deliver. He just hoped the punchline was worth it. "No that would have to go to the time when I lost a fight to an inanimate object. That's right. A scythe beat me. No one was even wielding it, it was just there, not moving. And it won. Go ahead laugh. I know you want to." Orin's scar on his leg twinged in remembrance. Actually the incident hadn't been humorous at all. There had been quite a bit of blood involved and Orin had blacked out. And if he was being truthful Orin had more tripped over it as he was trying to use it and sliced himself open. But that didn't make a very good story. And in retrospect Orin knew that it had been incredibly dumb of him. So Orin was willing to let Archailist laugh at Orin's expense.