A Bit of Cleaning

[Jeni]

Ok Lilith, once I return these glasses to the kitchen, then it's clean. Happy? Z'them asked as he walked through the passageways making his way to the kitchen. He was carrying two glasses, each half full of water, intending to rinse them out and put them back where they belonged.
Yes. Very happy. It looks very nice, I approve. The Rain replied cheerfully as she sat on her couch in her and Z'them's weyr. She had suggested some cleaning. And, even though it wasn't that dirty or messy, Z'them really had nothing else to do at the moment and decided to humor his dragon. With the quarantine, he couldn't leave, so, why not go along and clean. He did have to agree that it looked nice.
Now, for the final task before he was finally done. He grinned.
Striding into the kitchen he went over to the sink and began dumping the two half-full glasses of water down the drain so he could put them back. Normally, he would've just drank it, but they had been sitting in his room for a few days untouched and was stale. He didn't find drinking bd tasting water to be very appetizing.

[Nai-ru]

Raiden had officially chosen the absolute wrong moment to take a visit to the kitchens, but she didn't know that yet.
When she walked in to see what she recognized as Z'them's back, she was fully prepared to beam and greet him and wave... until she saw what he was doing.
Her heart nearly gave out. It was lucky Adath was asleep.
As it was, she crossed the room, seized Z'them's arm, and hauled it aside, trying with her other hand to retrieve the glasses from him.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded, staring at him as though he had just murdered someone.

[Jeni]

"Oh hey Ra....aahhhhh!"
Not quite the greeting he was used to.
He looked between Raiden's accusatory face and the glass she held, still with a bit of water in it, to the empty glass in his hand, then back at Raiden.
"I.... was just getting rid of this water? It's old?" This was said in a questioning, unsure voice for he didn't know what to say, why it made her angry, and if that was the correct response or not.
Why was she looking at him like he had just killed someone?
Z'them=confused and slightly scared.
And a bit apologetic even though he had no idea why.
Poor Z'them.

[Nai-ru]

"That was perfectly good water!" Raiden snapped, backing away and holding the remaining water to her chest like something fragile. "How could you just dump it out like it meant nothing?!" Her mind was reeling- how could someone just throw water away? Water was precious.
"People die because they don't have water, and you're throwing it out because it's old?!" Glaring at him and frankly not caring how old the water was or who else had it previously, she gulped the remnants and threw the glass back at him.
"If I ever see you doing that again," she said flatly, "I will never forgive you."
She was tempted to sweep out of the room and refrain from speaking to him for as long as possible, but she found herself transfixed, glaring and furious. She could hear a voice she hadn't heard since she was a child, begging for water- poor Reid, that skinny little thief she'd managed to befriend. In her memory, she replied in the only way she could.
"Sia, we need water for Reid, he needs it- it's okay, Reid, just hang on a little longer, okay? Sia's bringing water for you, just for you."
It hadn't been long before she couldn't hear him asking anymore. After his throat had become too dry to form the words, his lips still moved until he died. Sia hadn't found any water for him.
Water was not something to waste.

[Jeni]

Z'them opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. His lips just ended up moving idiotically as his brain tried to come up with something to say. What was he supposed so say to that? He had never been yelled at for pouring old water down a drain. Nor did he ever expect to be.
Luckily, he had caught the glass she chucked at him before it either A) Hit him in the head, or B) Flew to the floor and broke. He set it gently on the counter, not moving his eyes from her furious glare. He blinked several times, his mind still working furiously to form a coherent sentence.
"I'm sorry." He finally told her, looking apologetic. And still a bit confused.
It was better than saying nothing.
And he did mean it. For the most part. Yes, he was sorry for upsetting her, though, at the moment and quite honestly, he wasn't all that sorry for disposing of the water. It was normal. But, for some reason, it really upset her and he had no intention of doing it again if she was that angry about it.

[Nai-ru]

Raiden was shaking with rage. She stared at him wordlessly for a few moments, then turned on her heel and stormed away, hands clenched in fists. She couldn't stand that people would just throw things away. Just... throw it away! How could anyone just throw food away, or water? It was like... It wasn't like anything. It was a crime with no equal save for actually harming another creature.
Ugh!
People were so spoiled!

[Jeni]

"W..wait!" Z'them called after her, reaching out to grab her shoulder in an effort to stop her. He didn't want her to leave. And he was still a bit lost on how he had offended her so harshly. He really did feel very bad.
"Really, I'm very sorry! I will never do it again. I had no idea it would upset you, honestly, I'm so sorry." He pleaded, wanting to fix things. Yeah, maybe it wouldn't work, but he had to try something. He couldn't just leave like this, with Raiden being beyond furious with him and marching away.

[Nai-ru]

Lips pursed, Raidn looked completely unlike herself as she stared him down. She fought the panic instinct when he touched her shoulder, and merely shook him off, movements stiff with the effort of keeping some degree of calm.
"Please- refrain- from- touching me," she ground out from between her teeth. Touching, like water-wasting, was a big no-no.

[Jeni]

"Sorry." Z'them quickly apologized, retracting his hand quickly and dropping it to his side.
He didn't want her to be mad at him for that too.
One thing was enough.
"I won't do that again either. Please though, don't leave. I would hate to leave things like this. Really, I had no intention of offending you, and I'm really sorry. For everything."
So... How many times had he apologized thus far?

[Nai-ru]

Raiden sighed, and glared away, at an innocent wall. "Just forget it," she said. "It's fine. You're forgiven." He had never even had to work in his life, she reminded herself. How on Pern could he understand? He couldn't, and it wasn't his fault.
But she was still angry.
"May I leave now?" Sarcasm, something strange coming from Raiden, dripped from her words.

[Jeni]

"I guess if you really want to. I'd never force you to stay or anything." Z'them resigned. No, of course he didn't want her too, but he'd never make her stay, especially if she wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Which it kind of looked like she did right about now. He was glad that he was forgiven though. A small plus to the situation. The only one actually.

[Nai-ru]

Raiden put a hand over her eyes, crossing the other arm across her stomach. She sighed. "Z'them," she said, slowly and deliberately. "I am not angry with you." Well, that was a lie, but she wasn't angry with him on purpose, and that counted. "I am not happy with what you did, but you didn't do anything you thought was wrong, and I am not angry with you." Mostly she was reminding herself exactly why she wasn't angry with him. Really.

[Jeni]

Z'them brightened a little bit. He gave her a bit of a hopeful smile. "I'm very happy to hear you aren't angry with me." He was a bit lost on what to say next. "And, I'm greatfull that you have....uh.. 'shown me the error of my ways.'" He said, dramatically and jokingly mocking some common line in an attempt to lighten the mood.

[Nai-ru]

And it didn't work.
The hand dropped, and Raiden turned her head to glare at him.
"Not. Funny," she ground out. "At all."
It wasn't funny. At all. Nope.

[Jeni]

Z'them looked down at the ground, trying to avoid the harsh glare.
Oops.
He had tried.
And failed.
Miserably.
Again.
Good job, Z'them.
"No, I guess it really wasn't. Sorry." He mumbled slightly, still looking at the floor.