Miniya slowly stepped into the Mess Hall, eyes peering about. She had just came from the dorms, where she unpacked, and, to her disappointment, didn't see anyone. Seeing others who just arrived, she followed in suite to achieve her food.

Once doing so, she paused to look at the tables. Hesitantly, she sat at the end of a table. Amber eyes would look up here and there, memorizing faces and who was with who. Silently, she wondered who was in the same Dorm as her.

"Scuse me. Move. Thank you. Out of my way." Thomas Rede pushed and shoved his way through the crowds of trainees, trying to find a place to put his tray down and eat.

And this table was full too. Too bad.

"D'you mind if I sit here?" he asked, pointing at a not-quite-a-spot across from a dark-haired girl with Carthaki features [guess who]. Then without even waiting for an answer, he shoved his narrow body through the gap, and dropped his tray down rather haphazardly so that it lay over one of his neighbor's, causing it to slant to one side.

"Good evening to you all," he remarked casually, then began to pile into the mountain of food in front of him.

[Bang bang boom! Hooray for trainee day!]

"Do you mind?" Meridan pushed his tray off of hers, and straightened her own. "I'm sorry. Have we met? I'm Meridan of Redrose." The man was rather good looking. She could flirt with him at least. She felt bad about ignoring Miniya though. She would like to be friends with the girl. Oh well she thought. I've begun a conversation with this fellow, and I've got to keep it up, I suppose. She smiled flirtaciously, then turned back to her food.

[I'll take it Meridan's a girl. That confused me a little at first. I'll look at her profile in a bit...]

"Er, nice to meet you Meridan, you must be a trainee. I'm a trainee too. My name's Thomas." He winced inwardly at his words. Wait - take it back - if he could repeatedly whack his head on the nearest brick wall without seeming like more of a fool than he already seemed, he would do it. Why was this happening to him?

He then realized that he had stopped eating altogether, and was just staring at her. Nervously, he stabbed his fork in the general direction of the plate, but instead of stabbing a nearby slice of venison, his fork hit the side of the plate, the one nearest Meridan.

If he had been the chief engineer of the King's Own Catapults, he could not have aimed better. The contents of his plate went flying into the air right towards the aforesaid Mademoiselle Redrose.

[I hope you don't think I'm godmoding - if you don't like it I can edit - but I figured that the embarrassment of the situation lies on Thomas alone. Oh how typical... *snerk*]

Miniya glanced from the other the table, to the male. She was about to reply she didn't when he sat down anyways. Sighing, she looked down at her food. Uninterested eyes would glance up at the occupants around her.

Sighing, she just ignored the two back, and preceeded to eat her Dinner. Something such as speaking to others casually at the dinner table wasn't her best thing. Training and fighting was another story.

Gwenna sat near the end of the same table as the other three, listening to the converstations around her. Her eyes intent on her food, though occasionally her gaze would flick to Miniya and then the others and back.

It was another day gone and another to begin. She sighed putting down her fork to take a sip of juice.

Mini would seem not to be aware for the moment, of the other female who sat not to far away from herself, and the other two. Finishing her plate, rather quickly for herself, she pushed it away. She wasn't really interested in eating anymore, except for a few sips of her juice.

Catching a glance from Gwenna, she had given another one back. This was a slightly curious one, if anything. Knowing she shouldn't stare at the others, she picked up her goblet again, and lightly swirled its contents around.

"Holy Mithros!" Meridan stood up, brushing food off of herself. "What in the name of Tortall were you thinking. Look, I'll have to go change. I might be back in a while, though I might go out on the green and practice swordplay with someone. Anyone who wants to have a practice duel, meet me there." she tossed her long red/blond hair and began to walk out. A few steps away, she winked at Miniya and mouthed 'talk to him!' then she made her way out of the mess hall.

"I'm so sorry!" he called after her desperately. "I didn't mean to!"

"You saw that, didn't you?" he asked Min. "You know that wasn't my fault... my fork just slipped! She's not mad at me, right?"

[Phew... someone's hyperactive...]

"It's all right. I didn't really like this tunic anyway." Meridan rolled her eyes, and headed back to the barracks.

Standing, she lifted her tray, nodding to the person next to her and moved away from the table to deposit her tray.

Gwenna glanced one last time at the group, giving a slight shake of her head with a soft smile.

Min glanced from her drink, eyes slightly lazy, until they came upon Meri's shirt. She felt small pity for the male. So, slowly, she nodded her head. She made no response to the motion Meri did, except for a small inkling of a smile.

Oh good, she didn't care about the shirt. That probably saved a lot of unwanted cleaning. "Nay, not by the looks of it lad. She'll prolly forget about it." She said in responce. Catching the nod from Gwenna, she returned it.

Thomas sighed relievedly. "Oh. Good. I didn't think she was, but I just wanted to make sure." He turned back to shovelling food into his mouth.

Let out a small laughing sound, something like a 'heh'. Taking her goblet again she resumed swirling the contents, sort of amazed as he inhaled his food. Though, she wasn't any better before.

"So... um... " Min paused for a moment, not sure where to go from there. She let a quick silence before saying, in an attempt to be social. "You're Thomas, right? I'm Miniya."

Thomas stopped eating, swallowed, then said, "Hello Miniya. Are you from Carthage? You look Carthaki."

Miniya, slowly shook her head at his question. "Well, my heritage is at least. My parents sort immegrated to Corus from the capital, Carthak."

Thomas nodded, smiling, and bouncing a little in his seat. "So why did you decide to be a Rider?" he asked curiously. "That is, if you want to tell me. If you're going to lie, don't bother."

[What is up with him? Lol, talk about odd...]

[xD]

Miniya blinked rather quickly, suprised by this sudden question to say the least. Setting down her goblet, she looked into it at her reflection. "Well... Long story short, I can't stand bullying. Since I can't be a knight, a rider was the only thing left." She wasn't going to tell the complete story, with the older males teasing her young homeless friend, as she didn't know him well enough yet. "What about you? Same terms."

"My da was a farmer down South, but I didn't want to be one, so I left to join the Riders," he lied. "It's a lot more interesting than plowing, already."

[He's not always this immature. I think it has something to do with having all this food in front of him.]

Miniya slowly nodded her head, raising an eyebrow. She paused for a moment, to take in his looks. He certainly didn't look in his teens. She wasn't going to speak much of it. Taking her plate, she stood up. "I'll be right back."

Heading towards the ktichen's, she too dropped off her plate, before moving back to the table. "I'm going to go practice the sword fighting. Nice talking to you Thomas... See you around." Shw would wait for a response before running to the barracks to fetch her sword.

"Er, yes, see you later... Are you going to go meet that girl outside?" His attention was suddenly snagged by the short figure that was walking to what had been the line for food. "Do you know who that is?" he asked. "She yelled at me earlier - told me to go wash my hair." He scratched his greasy mop absentmindedly. "She acts like she's important."

[BTW, the nice lady that he is speaking of is Brindie Dyer, our commander...]

Miniya nodded her head slowly. "Yes... See you later." She paused to look to the woman who was getting a tray a food, not recognizing . Min gave a cocked smile, a sign of amusement at the comment about his hair. She looked over again, catching a glance of her face. "That, Thomas, is our commander. I think its Bridget or Brindie Dyer. Its a 'B' name, for sure."

Thomas looked slightly shocked, but only for a second. "Great," he muttered, then, "See you later," and began to wander off in the general direction of the barracks where Meridan had said she would fight.

Min smirked lightly, and waved a good-bye as he left. Slowly, she ascended to the feilds where the meditation was held.