Colin accepted his pack with initial enthusiasm, half hoping for some demolition tools. He was less enthused at being the air quality monitor but whatever, it beat having to pound or shift rocks. His hearing was slowly coming back so he thought he got the jist of the instructions, but the pound of white powder stumped him. He sniffed it, prodded it, crumbled a tiny portion between thumb and finger before licking his fingers. Rather puzzled he asked, "What's this for? I take it I'm not baking any cakes. I suppose it could neutralize acid in a pinch, wait! Is there something we should know?"
Once dressed for the day, Raka practically bounces out of the makeshift dormitory. She is, undeniably, a morning person. She reaches down and pokes Brimble good-naturedly as they stand in line for breakfast. The height difference between the two workers couldn't be more stark, making for quite an odd pair. "Stay out of trouble last night?" she asks with a grin.
Like most reptiles, Brimble is physically a bit sluggish in the morning. His mind, however, is not. He returns Raka’s smile and pitches his answer to carry to the people around them. ”Well, I had all sorts of naughty and romantical dreams ‘bout each of the beautiful ladies on this shift. But as my dream self took to wearing boots and a safety vest, no GMC policies were violated. So, I suppose I didn’t get into trouble last night.” Brimble didn’t actually recall his dreams. But morale was important and it cost him nothing to try to make a few coworkers start their day with a smile… because after ten hours of sweating in the mine, they’d be too tired to grin.
The halfling that Brimble had shared a nod with the night before winds up sitting next to him. She has an overabundance of freckles as well as short-cropped strawberry blonde hair; he recalls she's known as Specks, whether or not that's her real name.
"Didn't think I could miss Dawnspear," she says by way of greeting, "but at least it was feckin' warm!"
Trying to raise his body temperature quickly, Brimble clutches the bowl of hot porridge to his chest. He nods at Speck’s observation. ”I hated that mine but the warm mornings were great. Days off, I’d just go bake on a rock.”
"Palescale!" Ubek gives the kobold a toothy grin when he approaches. "I heard Brazali made you Safety Lead! Lucky you. Might want to get one of your tallfolk to carry all this, eh, scrawny as you are?"
Brimble hrmphs at the hobgoblin's slight as he looks through the gear-bag. He throws on the colorful leather tunic then hefts the pack onto his shoulder with little show of effort. His physique isn’t impressive by human standards but Brimble is ‘jacked’ for a kobold… and he has his pride. He hangs his personal pick on his belt in addition to his assigned one – adding more weight. He demonstrates a few deep knee bends and a small leap to show how capably he carries the load. ”Seems like I don’t need any help. Do you got a set of trap-picks for me? If we run into any dwarf-cunning, I’ll need something better than a hammer to suss it out.”