Placeholder Spick and Span

[Oralie]

65 Winter, 521

The trees flashed by Oralie on her left in a blur of green, the sea a smudge of blue to her right. Beneath her the sand was warm under her paws and it flicked out behind her in a small cloud as she ran. She could feel how strong the muscles rippling beneath her skin were, her legs pumping and her body flexing. She would never be able to run so fast on two legs.

She soon found herself approaching the Swine Swells and veered closer to the trees, slowing her pace as she did so. There was no need to cause a panic amongst the pigs. Despite the fact that she was a fairly small cat, as far as cats went, she was still a predator and she was certain that the pigs would know it if they saw her.

She jumped lightly onto an outcropping of boulders close to the tree line and settled onto her haunches. She raised her head, enjoying the gentle breeze that washed over her face. Her pink nose twitched, scenting the air and the tang of salt that it carried from the sea. It was nice, Oralie thought, to be a cat.

After a while, perhaps thirty chimes or so, she leapt from the boulders to land lightly in the sand. She set off, heading towards the main settlement once again, at a leisurely pace. She walked as close to the trees as she could without putting herself inside the jungle. One day, she would explore it while wearing this coat, but not today.

She turned her head, luminous golden eyes staring deep into the gloom. She could see animals moving in the depths, though she did not yet know enough about the wildlife of Syka to identify them properly. They were small though, so she guessed they could be monkeys. There was an abundance of monkeys in Syka.

It did not take Oralie long to reach the Protea Inn again. She did not pause, nor break her stride as she came upon the steps to the front door. The residents knew who she was, and knew both of her faces. She trotted up the steps, her footfalls barely a whisper on the wood. She turned and headed down the hallway to her room, ducking her head as she approached to gently butt open the door that she had left standing open just a crack.

Almost immediately as the door slowly eased itself shut behind her a swirl of lights enveloped her body. As quickly as they had appeared, they faded away and Oralie was left standing on two legs again. She moved to her wardrobe and pulled out a cream skirt, pulling it on before grabbing a jewel green blouse to go with it. Both were made of Syka’s traditional isuas fabric, sturdy but breathable enough that she wouldn’t swelter in the heat.

Properly dressed now, she meandered into the kitchen. Breakfast had finished, the guests and residents dispersing to start their daily plans. Oralie put a pot of water on the stove to boil before she attacked the dishes that had been collected onto the side for her. She scrubbed and rinsed until they were all clean, then wiped each one dry and stored it away ready for use again at lunchtime.

The water was ready then, and she found a cup to make herself a tea. She added in a little roughly chopped ginger and some lemongrass before carefully pouring the hot water in. She let it steep as she rinsed a cloth and wiped over the table to collect any stray crumbs or bacon grease smears from the breakfast. She then took an experimental sip of the tea, smiling at the zingy flavour. If anyone needed a pep put into their steps, this would be what she’d give them.

[Oralie]

Oralie drifted over to look out of the window while she sipped on the tea. She watched the waves sweeping in over the shore, and if she looked hard enough her keen eyes were able to make out the tiny distant figures of people moving around on the beach over near the Commons.

Tea drunk, she set the mug down on the counter to wash later and cast her gaze over the kitchen. She figured that the floor could probably do with a good wash. They had had a number of guests recently, and while it did not visibly appear to be dirty, she knew there had been a lot of foot traffic through the area.

She grabbed a bucket and took it to the bathroom to fill with wash water - she wasn’t about to waste drinking water on the floors. She lifted the now full bucket out of the sink with a grunt, and slowly hauled it back to the kitchen. She’d forgotten how heavy water really was, and it took a good amount of strength to lug the bucket back without spilling anything. Once there, she added a cleaning soap into the bucket and then found a good scrubbing cloth.

Before washing, Oralie grabbed a broom and swept the whole area first. There was little point in washing the floor when it likely had sand and bits of debris from the bottoms of people’s boots all over it. It did not take her long to give the area a good sweep, and she stored the broom away again after a handful of chimes and took up the cloth instead.

She dunked it in the soapy water and swirled it around before wringing it out lightly. She wanted the cloth to be sufficiently wet that it would clean, but not so wet that she would make a small flood. Then, she knelt and started to scrub the cloth over the floor in long sweeping motions forward and back so that she could lean her bodyweight through her arms. Pressing her weight through the cloth worked well to make sure that she picked up the dirt. It also, somehow, meant that the floor didn’t get quite so wet as it would if she just lightly brushed over it.

After a short while, Oralie whipped her head round as she heard a commotion from somewhere down the shorter hallway. With a frown, she dropped the cloth into her bucket of water and stood, heading out to go and have a look.

[Oralie]

The noise was either coming from guest room one or two. Room two was Tazrae’s, and Oralie knew that the Innkeeper was out for the day. Room one currently had a guest in it, and that seemed to be where the sounds were coming from. Oralie hovered outside the door, listening. It was an odd sound, perhaps wings? The Kelvic winced as she heard something shatter and then knocked urgently on the door. The noise did not abate, so she slowly opened the door, knocking again as she did so and calling out.
“Hello? Is everything okay?”

Opening the door allowed her to hear clearer now. It was definitely wings. Oralie poked her head in and was surprised to see a small gull in a frenzy. She stepped in and quickly shut the door behind her. How on Miz had a gull gotten into the guests room? More importantly, how would Oralie get it out?

She scanned the room for a tick. It was quite dim inside, the guest having pulled all the shutters closed for some reason. Usually they left them all open to let the sea breezes through the Inn - not even closing them when it rained. The guests though, Oralie supposed, could do what they wanted while they were here.

The gull kept diving for the hallway door and then flapping in an agitated frenzy to find it closed. The guest must have headed out and not shut her door, and somehow the gull had gotten in through the front of the Inn and into the room that way. While Oralie could open the hall door again and see if it would go out the entrance, there was also a chance that the bird would fly further into the Inn and Oralie did not want to risk that, especially when there were other guests around.

It seemed that the gull had broken a vase for there were shards of pottery on the floor along with a small puddle and some flowers. Some of the shell candles too had been flung off the side. The gull, apparently having tired itself out for a moment, was in the middle of the bed, eyeing her. The door to the back deck was closed, but maybe Oralie could get the bird out that way.

Oralie slowly edged around the room, being careful not to step on the pottery with her bare feet. She slid the door to the back deck open, and the noise of it caused the gull to start its frenzied flapping up again. She tried to guide it to the open door but to no avail for the bird continued to fly into the door to the hall.

She pressed herself against the wall, hoping the gull would calm itself down again. Oralie was worried that the gull had hurt itself. Her next plan had been to just open the shutters, but she wanted to be sure that the bird wasn’t going to leave with an injury. As she waited, she combed her brain for ideas on how to safely get the bird out without any more damage to it or the Inn. After a chime, she stood straighter, a plan in her mind. Oralie quickly ran to the bathroom and located a large towel before taking it back to the guest room.

The poor gull was on the bed again, its beak open slightly in a sign of tiredness. Oralie slowly took an edge of the towel in each hand and crept as quietly as she could to the bed. She paused, calculating the angle she would have to move and then leapt for the bird.

She had aimed right, and quickly had the gull wrapped in the towel and clutched to her chest. She pulled the towel over its face, knowing that it should hopefully help to calm it down. Cradling it to her, Oralie gently tipped the bird upside down so that she could fold the towel back a little and do a quick check for any obvious injury. There didn’t seem to be anything that she could see. The bird was starting to wriggle too now, which she took as a good sign, so holding the animal to her, she quickly headed out the front of the Inn and ran to the shore where the sea met the sand.

She knelt and opened the towel. The gull sort of fell out of it, a little disoriented for a moment. Oralie stood and stepped back, watching until the bird shook itself and flew off, seemingly none the worse for wear.

[Oralie]

Back in the Inn, Oralie surveyed the guests room. They did not seem to have any of their belongings out on any surfaces, thankfully, so she didn’t have to worry about that. She picked up the flowers that had been scattered over the floor and took them into the bathroom to temporarily put them in the basin with a little water.

Next, she grabbed a bowl, a cloth and a large sponge. She carefully picked up all the pieces of broken pottery, placing them gently into the bowl. The vase thankfully had not shattered into too many pieces, and she checked under the bed to make sure she had found them all. Next she soaked up the water with the sponge, drawing it through the puddle and then wringing the water out into the same bowl. She repeated this until the worst of the water was clear, and then took up the cloth instead to wipe up the remaining water. The floor was now only a little damp, and that would dry in no time at all.

Oralie then stripped the bed of its sheets. They were not due to be changed, but there was absolutely no way she would let a guest sleep in a bed that had had a wild bird flapping around all over it. Everything came off, the cover, pillow cases and the bottom sheet and Oralie folded all of it and took it to be put with the rest of the dirty linens.

She grabbed clean sheets from a cupboard and headed back to the room, first fixing the bottom sheet over the mattress. She smoothed out any wrinkles and then stuffed the pillow into its new case before putting on the fresh top sheet. Oralie had also grabbed a couple of clean decorative cushions which she now arranged neatly at the head of the bed, and a new decorative throw that went over the foot.

Satisfied that the guest's room was now clean again, Oralie went to find a new vase and took it into the bathroom. She filled it with water and then examined the flowers that were in the sink. Surprisingly only a couple of them were broken, the stems snapped underneath the beautiful flower heads. The rest of the flowers she carefully put into the new vase, trying to arrange them as nicely as she could. Oralie did not have the eye for it as Tazrae did, but she didn’t think her effort looked too terrible.

She placed the vase on the desk again and then retrieved the shell candles and scattered them once more over the various surfaces. Hands on hips, Oralie cast her gaze over the guest room, making sure that everything was as it should be. She wanted to open the shutters, but refrained. Clearly the guest was either not a fan of the sea air, or was just very, very private. She closed the door to the deck again and headed back to the kitchen, making sure the guest door was shut properly this time.

[Oralie]

Back in the kitchen, Oralie tested the water in her bucket and found it had cooled completely. With a sigh she hefted it into her arms and took it to empty. She refilled it, though not as full as she had done before as she had less floor to clean now, and then lugged it back into the kitchen. She added the cleaning soap again and then found her cloth, dunking it in the water. She quickly finished washing the floor of the kitchen area and then decided to do the floor under the long table that the guests ate at. It was sure to be at least a little dirty.

She moved all the chairs out of the way and then lifted the water bucket over. Again, she knelt and took up her wet cloth, sweeping it back and forth in front of her over the floor. Her suspicions had been correct, the fabric finding some sticky patches under the table. Of course, they could well have been the work of the dog, Creature. Sometimes he would hang around while they were eating, hoping for a bite himself and Oralie had seen him drool on the floor more than once.

The morning quickly sped past as Oralie cleaned, and she was just putting the last chair back under the table as a guest headed through to the back deck, enquiring as to when lunch might be. She glanced outside, noting the position of the sun, and assured him that the Innkeeper would likely be along soon to prepare something for everyone.

Oralie took the bucket again to be emptied, and she set it just outside to dry off in the sun. She headed back to her room and undressed, for she had managed to get her skirt damp while mopping. She then flopped onto her bed to curl up for a nap, knowing that Tazrae would find her if she needed any help in the kitchen.

[Oralie]

grade award!

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Character 1

Skills

• Running: 1
• Acrobatics: 1
• Observation: 3
• Herbalism: 1
• Bodybuilding: 1
• Cleaning: 3
• Animal Husbandry: 1

Lores

• Herbalism: Ginger and lemongrass tea is energising
• Cleaning: Mopping floors
• Animal Husbandry: Wrapping animals tightly in towels calms them
• Animal Medicine: Checking birds for obvious injury
• Cleaning: Changing bed linens

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Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns and don't forget to edit your grade request!