Yay! Riley thought to himself. I don't have to eat now. He was just glad that the punishment wasn't worse. He wasn't sure what 'the hole' was exactly, but from others reactions, he was glad no body had had to go there.

Shade ran a hand through his hair, he was just glad that things seemed alright. At least it wasn't a punishment to eternal burning. The dragons had scary ways to dealing with pests. He'd lived through a lot.

Somehow the prisoners managed to batten down their tempers, and one by one they drifted off toward their stations. Victoria was dismayed to see that she and Jack were chippers again. Her body didn't feel up to lifting a pretzel, let alone a pickax, and the thought of being in a room full of people who hated her, all armed with mining equipment, didn't really make her feel any better. There wasn't even going to be any breakfast. She felt like her stomach had been surgically removed, leaving a gaping hole in her torso, and the thought of a day without food or water--even the gunk they served up here--was frightening.

"Don't worry," said Jack, speaking loudly over the shouts and insults that were being fired at them. "Not the first time the canteen's been shut down for a day and it won't be the last. We're used to it. Got sealed off for three days when the Skulls took on the Leopards. That was a full-blown riot though."

Rhia quietly tugs on Vic's sleeve.

Aaron immediately started getting ready for the day's work. Her stomach growled at her but she shook her head. It would get easier as the day went on.

Victoria wasn't about to fight to stay with the mob.

"She'll be fine, for now," said Jack, falling into line. "Nobody will start a skirmish knowing it'll get them a week in the hole. Never been a survivor after that long. The record is four days, and he was a hollow man afterward."

Nicote awkwardly went to go slip off and....do whether was supposed to. With Lio heading straight to the workroom theyd been in the day before.

Cole followed the crowds. "Guess the Warden doesnt want the guy fixing his stuff to die of starvation or sowmthing." He half joked to Jack.

Rhia tugs on her again, a little more firmly this time.

"Yeah, well, he just got lucky. I ain't never seen the Warden play favorites before," Jack replied.

Victoria turned to face Rhia. "What do we do?"

She leads her to the bottom of the stairs and climbs up, swiftl revealing the storage space.