[7.9.2707] Hidden In Plain Sight (OPEN)

[lithle]

She'd eaten breakfast as late as she could, hiding away with her tray in the least occupied table she could find. And still, the whole experience had left her shaken. As it did every morning. It wasn't that she was afraid of people. Well, okay, she was afraid of people. But mostly it was the unpredictability of it all. Loud noises. Sudden movement. None of that had been in her life until now.

It was why Roni liked the chores. Or, at least, this chore. She'd been set to peeling tubers, and she'd even been allowed to settle in a less trafficked area of the kitchen. Maybe the woman had taken pity on her, maybe she just wanted her out of the way. Either way, Roni had her little corner, and her pile of tubers, and she was content.

You couldn't go too terribly wrong, peeling tubers. Oh sure, it took Roni awhile. Getting every last possible bit of skin off a vegetable was an exercise in patience that most weren't willing to display. But she'd been told 'peel' and by the first egg that was what she was going to do. No one would fault her tuber peeling, no sir.

It was almost a soothing task really. The bustle of the kitchen wasn't too hard to tune out, and the task, done the way she did it, took the majority of her attention. She was able to forget that there were other people about. Able to forget, even, that other candidates might be assigned the same chore.

[sorra]

Sertex sighed. He had been given the duty of helping in the kitchen. Not one of his favorite things. Calyssa was much better at it then he was, but oh well. He couldn't be picky. They all had their indiviual duties to do.

The teen headed down to the kitchen whistling softly as he went. He stopped when he saw Roni. "Oh, sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

He had seen Roni around a few times and she always seemed very quiet. He didn't want to chance scaring her, so now he was kind of thankful he had been whistling. At least she would have known someone was coming.

[lithle]

Roni had heard the whistling of course. It's just, she'd let it slip into the background noise, becoming part of the general kitchen chaos. She certainly hadn't been focusing on it. She had tubers to peel, after all!

Still, when the noise grew louder and closer she had the presence of mind to glance up. There was a boy there. A vaguely familiar one, but Roni could hardly say more than that. She wasn't good with faces, it was a skill she'd never really had to learn. When you didn't encounter people, why bother learning how to identify them. Still, this was someone she'd seen before, and he was talking to her.

"No. You didn't. Disturb me. I'm just. Peeling." She held up a tuber then, as if she somehow had to defend her reason for being in the kitchen in the first place. She was indeed peeling, there wasn't a bit of skin on the thing.

[sorra]

Sertex stopped where he was. He remembered that Roni was a bit on the shy side and he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. It was hard enough being in a new place without being scared of everyone too.

"I see that," he said cheerily. "And you're doing an excellent job. I was told I was on kitchen duty as well, so I hope you don't mind me being around," he said, watching her.

If she felt better with him being far away, he'd try to find something to do on the opposite side of the kitchen. It was the least he could do to hopefully put her at ease.