Carys @ PernMUSH

Desperately Seeking Suizen

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:17:05 GMT

Llioth searches Suizen on NorCon. :)

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Docks, Ista Weyr
Like fingers stretching out to sea, Ista's dockyards provide plenty of room to berth the ships that ply their trade here. Stone pilings support the wooden planking, the whole sturdy and well-worn from the constant traffic of the sailors and dockworkers that come and go with the tide. Thick posts march along both sides of the docks, rising half a man-height; from a few of them dangle salt-swollen and sun-bleached ropes. The ocean murmurs and slops at the pilings, rarely stretching itself to make the planks more than damp. A short distance to the east lies the Sandbar and out across the water distant shapes outline the small islands that dot Ista's famous black sand coastline.

Contents:
Javeri
Obvious exits:
Beach The Sandbar

Evening has come to Ista and that means the docks are less crowded, less busy, and just as smelly. The breeze in from the ocean helps with the latter at least. There are few ships actually docked right now which means it's easy for someone to find a spot at the end of one to sit down and swing bare feet. Javeri's dressed with a loose shirt unbuttoned worn over a bikini with a sarong around her waist. Pretty much typical and it explains why those sailors still in port will occasionally whistle at her or stop for conversation. Right now however she's alone with her head tipped up to watch the stars. Or maybe the shape that occasionally blots out the stars in lazy circles.

Suizen arrives from the main beach.
Suizen has arrived.

Carys is one of the few strolling the docks at this time of night. She's taken her riding gear off, but the look on her face (irritated and sweaty) suggests that she's still a bit warmer than she'd like to be. Ah, Ista. At first she doesn't notice Javeri at all, and only realizes that she's there when the rider almost walks past her. Rys jumps, gasping a little, and then rolls her eyes. "Jeez, you scared me! I mean...well, it's not your fault, 'cos you didn't do anything. But I still got scared." When she speaks, it's a little hushed, as if she's talking to herself more than she's talking to Javeri. "Erm," and she clears her throat, speaking up, "Fort's duties."

Dark red hair, somewhere between copper and bronze, is straight as a board, and tied back in a braid that reaches down to mid-back. The hair frames an oval face, tanned from endless exposure to the Istan sun, and darkly spackled with enough freckles to map all the islands of Pern. Hazel eyes, that unidentifiable colour between brown and green, are slightly narrowed, thick brows and lashes surrounding them, while generous lips are often half-quirked in a grin.
Short and sturdy is the name of the game for this 19-something turn old girl, standing a mere 5'3", and over 120 pounds. Mud-splattered clothing is the other word of the day, even if not currently splattered - for this mud leaves stains, and is probably the unidentified substance under short-trimmed nails. As often as not, her feet are bare as well, giving her an urchin-like appearance, even though the short pants and thin shirt are well made beyond the stains.

A stomping tread comes by way of the beach, a wheelbarrow pushed along in front of the stocky resident. It being the end of the day, and hopes an end of duties after this delivery, she's forgone part of her usual ware to sport a bikini-top and a towel over one shoulder. A thump-bump of the wheel on to the dock, it's a rattling journey that has her heading towards one of the docked ships. "Hey, anyone still around?" she lets loose with a good set of lungs, aimed at one of the longer-standing docked tubs.

"Oh, I am so sorry," Javeri says quickly as she turns her head away from the sky to look at the person she inadvertently scared. "I was just sitting here. I was on the beach, but I got tired of dealing with someone so I came out for some quiet. Oh, but I'm not trying to get rid of you." She flashes a quick apologetic smile before nodding. "Ista's duties then. But do yours come with a name? I'm Javeri." There's a pause then and her head tips up to the sky as she smiles. "Sorry. Blue Chadamalith's. He's very insistent that I introduce him." Then there's yelling and she turns her head. "Hey, Suizen!" she calls out with a wave. "Skipper went ashore to round up his crew. Likely the ones left behind are down below playing cards." Suizen should hardly be surprised that Javeri would know the where abouts of sailors.

Carys hardly expected a flurry of explanations and an apology or two. Her eyes go wide, and she blinks. "Y'don't have to apologize about it, wasn't your fault really. You're a bluerider too?" She points a finger at herself, even in the darkness, and says, "I'm Carys, blue Llioth's." She sounds cheery enough, despite being a bit startled still. Then the shouting comes, and she jumps again. "Shards! I don't know what it is about night time that makes me all jittery." Suizen's call gets no reply aside from a "Hullo," seeing as how Javeri knew just what to say.

"Well, that sucks rotted wherry eggs...." Sooz grumbles, moving her wheelbarrow over towards the sitting 'rider, and accompanying standing one. "Sorry for bellowin' in your ears, but they wanted this today... thought there woulda been /someone/ about." Javeri just gets a wide grin, once she's close enough, despite the evening time hampering sight. "'lo - I'm Sooz, as this one's already probably said. Resident, potter, an' occasional loud-mouth. Sorry about that." Again. Still. Whatever. Actually, probably that last one, as she lets the handles go with a small thump, before going to plop down next to the Istan rider, being somewhat mindful of splinter-possibilities.

"Suizen is the second best potter at Ista," Javeri informs Carys with a laugh. "Although I guess since I'm a rider first now I can say she's the best actual potter at Ista." Said potter gets a wink and a grin. "Good to see you. And he should be back soon. Old Pembrok isn't the sort to get his head turned by a bottle or a pretty girl. Although he still buys drinks for pretty girls so he's one of my favorites." Looking at Carys now she pats the dock by her. "Come on. Have a seat. It's nice to meet you, Carys. Come to escape the bad weather? Ista's the best for that. And Suizen and I will protect you from the big bad scary sailors. Why, I'll throw myself between you and them even."

Carys grins, and then starts laughing at the 'rotted wherry eggs' comment. She's got good ears. "Nice t'meet you...Sooz...? Suizen? I'm Carys, or Rys if you want. I don't care which. "What are you bringin' to the sailors?" Javeri's gesture catches her attention, and the rider sits in the offered spot. "Thanks! Yep, gettin' away from the snow. We're havin' a problem gettin' fibers and whatnot, so there's a shortage on clothing and stuff. A little cold" The comment about protecting her from sailors makes Rys laugh. "Protect me? Hey, I might be small, but I'm wirey!"

"You say that like it's bein' a sacrifice, Veri; them as bein' sailors and all..." she teases the rider, before shaking her head, "Not the best by any means. But decent, I'll claim that readily enough. Oh, a load of mugs. Seems they broke more than half their supply, since last time they restocked. I don't mind them bein' clumsy - a couple of extra marks go a long way to dealin' with sore feet next time I'm dragged to a Gather. An' either or. 'less I piss you off - then I'll be runnin' so that it doesn't matter." Sooz grins a bit at the thought, then laughs at Rys' answer.

"Well, you were acting jumpy," Javeri says to Carys with a shrug as she turns her eyes out to the sea. "I was just offering. And getting away from snow would be good. I'm so far away from it I've never even seen it. But eww. Clothing shortage in the snow would be horrid. Luckily here we don't need to worry about it." She gestures to herself and then Sooz. "We've got the right idea. Live somewhere we don't need a lot to worry about. Other than the rain, but you know... even the rain is warm most of the time." Shoulders shrug as she looks over her shoulder at the ship. "Sure they'll be back soon. And you know going to gathers you can just ask me, right? I mean Chadamalith and I could take you." Not that she sounds entirely thrilled, but she makes the offer anyway with a faint smile the growing darkness nearly hides.

Carys nods her head with an "oh" at Sooz's response and kicks her feet a bit. "You'll have to show me some of your stuff, so I can judge your skills myself." The rest of the potter's remarks make Carys chuckle, and she shakes her head. "You're kinda funny, Suizen. I like you." Her attention turns to Javeri again, and she smirks a bit. "I know I was jumpy! The thing is, though, that if people tend to sneak up on me when it's dark out and I'm all jittery, I usually give them a black eye. It happens surprisingly often!" The talk of weather makes Rys groan. "I hate snow! I don't know why I keep choosin' to live places where it snows! But Ista's too hot for me, so I'm just stumped." Then, "I love gathers! Javeri, y'don't sound too excited about goin' to one, though. What's with that?"

"You just like havin' the opportunity to 'protect' people from the sailors.." Suizen teases Javeri, before grinning at Carys. "I do try - an' haven't really ever lived anywhere else. Visited once or twice, but always too cold for these bones. Gotta have my sun and surf, if only to mock others."

Javeri's feet swing back and forth as in the distance loud singing can be heard. Maybe the sailors coming back. Some sailors anyway. "Oh, gathers are fine," she answers Carys with a shrug of her shoulders. "I like them fine." Slipping her gaze to Suizen she nods her head with a laugh. "You know I do. How could I not want to jump between sailors and someone else? Or on sailors. Well, maybe not tonight. I'm kind of distracted." Another shrug as she tells the other bluerider, "Heat is great. You get men down on the beach with no shirts on. Walking around in almost nothing. I like to just sit with a big drink and watch them."

Carys smiles. "I like mockin' people, too." A curious expression creeps it's way onto her face, and she glances over at Suizen again. "So you're good at pottery, do you make good sand castles, too?" A random question, but the way she asks it makes it sound like it's completely relevant. "I've never made one, but I imagine it'd be kinda like doin' pottery stuff, right?" Javeri gets a funny look, and Rys snorts a bit. "You like watchin' the men walk around practically naked? That's a little funny. But you won't have time now if you're a rider, right?"

"Gathers are bein' all right as long as you're not havin' to wear shoes. Or ask random folks about where they were twenty odd turns ago.." Sooz mock grumbles, before snickering. "She finds the time - especially when she can be talkin' folks into sharin' drinks with her. Sandcastles? Well, I'm not the best at all, but I can dig a mean moat with the betterest of 'em all!"

"I'm not sure I understand," Javeri says to Suizen with a puzzled expression. "About...looking? You're looking for someone? Anyway if I take you I won't make you wear shoes. I hate shoes." She lifts her legs out and shows off her bare feet with wiggling toes. Then she tells Carys, "Umm. Yea. Why wouldn't I? Men are fun to look at. Especially the ones who do real work for a living. All those muscles. And they buy you drinks. Besides I let them look at me back. What's not to like? Oh, and sandcastles is not like pottery. Sand and clay are different."

Carys grins from ear to ear, and swings her feet some more. "Will ya come show me how to make one? Then you can dig a moat. Javeri, you should come help, too." Now that she's got sandcastles on the mind, it will be hard to distract her. Brilliant. "I don't know, I think men are boring. Well most of them anyway. Huh...I woulda thought that sandcastles and pottery would have been at least a little bit the same. But now that you say it, I guess it makes sense."

"Now, if you'd asked about mudcastles...." Sooz trails off, before pushing up to her feet, and offering a hand to Javeri. "You're totally gettin' to help me, 'less you wanna get the Ale-man to be joinin' in. Have't mucked around with sand like that in /Turns/."

"Oh, well, I guess I could come along," Javeri says as she looks up overhead. "Don't think he's coming down again soon anyway. He's thinking." Shaking her head enough that her beads clink she takes Suizen's offered hand to get up. "And men are not boring. Oh. Oh! You're...oh." She's really tan and it's still getting dark so any blush at her stumble is pretty much hidden. "Sandcastles, huh? We'll need to be close to the water. And we don't have a bucket or anything. Don't we need tools?"

Carys wags a finger. "Riiiiight, mudcastles makes much more sense." She shifts herself around and stands up, too, careful not to send herself over the edge of the dock. Javeri's stumble makes Rys' brow raise, and she tries to keep herself from snicker. "Er...yes, yes I am." Then she starts walking toward the beach and shakes her head a bit in the other blueirder's direction. "No, we don't need tools. It's not pottery, right? And I don't know about a bucket...we can try it without I guess."

Main Beach, Ista Weyr
The coastline of black sand stretches out in either direction, tropical waters lapping ceaselessly against the subtle decline of the main beach that rests at the base of the plateau cliff. To the northeast, water from the upper pool cascades over the plateau's edge, its destination shrouded in the lush fronts of the jungle's edge and a hint of blue-tinged mist. The Sandbar, Ista's seaside tavern, stands to the south beside the long branching structure of the docks.
The dry winter season relieves Ista Island of its humidity, replacing it with light, buoyant air. Tonight, the clear sky is alight with stars and a nice, light breeze carries the scent of sea air.

Contents:
Llioth(#1428abp0)
Obvious exits:
Plateau The Sandbar Waterfall Pool Jungles Docks

Suizen arrives from the docks.
Suizen has arrived.

Javeri arrives from the docks.
Javeri has arrived.

"Hands should work well enough; specially if we're close enough to the water. Or hey - feet can be useful too.." Sooz comments, once everyone is up and moving off the docks. The wheelbarrow sits next to the boat, forgotten. Woe.

Javeri's quiet because she clearly said too much so, well, quiet. She lags behind the other two as they head for the beach. And now they don't want tools. Or even a bucket! The horrors! She lets out a sigh and shakes her head. "Well, ok I guess. But you should always have the right tools is all."

Carys looks over her shoulder at Javeri and shrugs a bit. "I believe you. I'll keep it in mind for next time." When she looks ahead again, she stops dead in her tracks and her jaw drops. "Llioth, what did you do?" The blue is sitting next to a massive mound of sand. His eyes are swirling a peaceful green, and he is trying to ignore the fact that there's a sand mountain next to him by not looking at it. He rumbles. "Well y'can't figure out what's makin' the sand black by diggin'..."

Suizen grins at Javeri. "Tell you what - we'll see how this ends up goin', an' if it falls down among our ears, given the nice mountain provided, we'll try it your way next time? An' we can even do it by the Sandbar, an' maybe get some of the sailors to be help?" Llioth just gets a bit of a grin, as she rubs her nose.

"Sorry. I'm a bit distracted. Don't mind me. I don't want to ruin the fun." Javeri smiles sheepishly as she trails after. "It's been one of those days. Anyway I am game for-" She stops and stares at the mountain. "Oh, my. That's...wow. That's a big...hill." Shaking her head she eyes Llioth for a moment and then grins. "Glad it wasn't Chadamalith at least. Don't we need a plan? I mean like what we want it to look like?"

Carys sighs. "I could use a drink /now/. He's been actin' like this all day!" She wags a finger at the blue and says, "When we get ready to leave, you better put all that back in that hole you made!" Llioth grunts, stands, and starts walking toward the water. On his way, he flicks a bit of sand in the direction of the three girls with his tail. "Shards 'n shells..." She drags a hand over her face, and then turns around to look at Javeri again. "Sure, a plan sounds great! I wanna make a big one."

"Well.... we could be usin' that mountain he provided. Moat down 'round the bottom, compress it inward, an' go from there?" Sooz offers after a long pause, before shaking it a bit, and looking at Javeri, head tilted in question.

"Well, I could go get drinks," Javeri offers with a look to the Sandbar. "I know who's in there. Could easily get three drinks." Of course she could and there's a grin as she ducks the sand kicked their way. "Or not a plan. If you two don't want a plan. Decide and I'll go get drinks and Chadamalith said if we need help moving the sand he can do it. Because he is one with the beach and understands the sand." There's a pause as her head shakes. "Don't ask, please. Requests? Or shall it be a round of greenriders?"

Carys winces, and hmms. "I don't think I want to use that whole thing, it's /too/ much! We can just take from it. I guess we could just make a little one or something. I should probably go home soon, anyway. Lli and I have to get up early." She smirks over at Javeri and shakes her head. "He's one with the beach? What does /that/ mean?" But she was told not to ask. "Oh. Well, greenrider sounds good to me! As for the plan...I don't know. Sooz? Something that doesn't involve carving one out of a mountain?"

"Greenriders? Er... you've seen what I've drunk before - go off that, or if it's havin' fruit?" the potter requests, before nodding at Carys. "Moat, four walls, a courtyard, an' maybe some towers? I've never done towers..." she admits, before making her way next to the mountain.

Carys nods her head. "Sounds good to me! You haven't made towers? But towers are the most important parts!" She moves over to the mountain, too. "So what do we do now? Just pile up some sand?" She looks back in Javeri's direction. "Hurry back, we hafta make this thing fast!"

The mountain is abandoned because drinks can be fetched. Before she goes though Javeri tells Carys, "Chadamalith is very interested in learning all he can so that he can understand the world and everything in it. He's very intelligent." This at least she sounds proud of as she gives a wave. "I'll be right back. Have a plan and we'll go with it." Then she's off because she was told to hurry after all. And before long she comes back with three drinks.

"Well, then... I'll build the moat, we can make Veri do the walls, an' you can do the towers? We'll use some of the pile here to be makin' a smaller pile to form from, plus stuff from the moat?" Sooz offers after a moment.

Carys smiles. "He sounds that way! Llioth is smart, but he's also very stubborn and has a hard time admitting when he's wrong. He can be a little stuck up sometimes, too." Or, um, all the time. Speak of the devil, the blue is back and this time it's personal. He lowers his head to try to sniff the drinks being held by Javeri. Rys reaches for one, to lighten the load, and shoos the dragon's head away. "'scuse us, Lli. We're gonna make a castle. You can help with stuff later." Suizen gets a beaming grin and a nod. "OK, sounds good!" Immediately, the rider starts scooping out sand to put in a much smaller pile to work from.

Looking flushed and quite possibly not just from hurrying with drinks Javeri hands them out to her fellow sandcastle makers. "Oh, Suizen! I saw Pembrok and told him your mugs were on the dock. He's sent someone to get them aboard." She's careful to get the drink to the potter without a dragon head getting too close. "Does he like fruit? There's fruit in here. Chadamalith is crazy about fruit. Oh, you have a nickname for him? His name is so short. I can't give a nickname. He doesn't like any I try." Shaking her head she has a big drink from hers and then looks at the sand.

"What about Dam?" Sooz asks, before taking the drink, "Thanks? So, this that greenrider you were throwin' about, or something else?" she adds, moving towards the pile of sand.

Carys shrugs a shoulder. "I guess he likes fruit -- he's saying he does -- but mostly he's just nosey and has to know what everything is. He questions things a lot, like most dragons do. He gets into details a lot, though." She taps her lip and thinks, and then says, "What about 'Ama' for a nickname? Or 'Lith' or something? 'Ada'?" Llioth gets awfully curious, again, and this time tries to move toward Sooz and sniff /her/ drink. He sits back on his haunches and huffs. "He says make a sandcastle, he wants to see one."

"No, I couldn't call him those. Maybe I don't like them? He says Chadamalith is fine anyway. I think partly because people have trouble with it sometimes. No one else is his whole clutch had such a long name." Javeri seems pleased with this as well. "Anyway eventually we'll find one that works. I don't mind if other people want to call him something and doesn't seem to care." Shaking her head the former potter watches Suizen and Llioth with a laugh. "It's a greenrider, yes. And don't share! I didn't flirt with Geordie of all men to get a drink for a dragon."

"You snuff sand into my drink, an' I'm gonna talk your Rys into attachin' your head to my pottery wheel 'til I've made enough mugs to keep me in greeriders for a turn. An' that's a lot of mugs..." she mock threatens the dragon, "... an' one pain in the bottom Geordie, to boot." That is all swiftly ended with a sip of her drink.

Carys says, "It /is/ a pretty great name! Kinda sing-songy. I like it." Then she tips her head. "Geordie? There's a name that needs to be shortened. How'd you flirt with him?" Sooz's threat to Llioth just makes the rider choke back a laugh, and Llioth thumps his tail in dissatisfaction. Hmph. He turns his head to stare at her some more, and croons. "He says he won't snuff sand in your drink if you make a sandcastle now." Her brows furrow. "Well sheesh, Lli, you don't have to be so rude."

The Istan bluerider gets a grin as she tells Suizen, "You know I think he wants your sandcastle. Not ours. We should sit here and drink while you make one. Can't tell the poor boy no." Turning her head to Carys now Javeri looks at her and there's a tip of her head as she laughs. "Do you really want to know? I could show you. And Geordie is shortened."

Suizen rolls her eyes. "I see how it's bein'. It's the poor, put upon potter who's put to work, buildin' sand castles while the 'riders drink an' flirt. No respect...." she mock-mumbles, before putting down her drink and moving over to the pile. Feet are used to seperate a bit of the mountain away from the rest, then she's quite happy with digging her hands into the sand, quickly building a trench. And getting sand under nails.

Carys laughs. "Don't show me on /me/! Pretend your drink is Geordie or somethin'. Wait, his name /is/ shortened? From /what/?!" She just smirks over at Llioth and doesn't comment. The dragon shifts himself to face Suizen and her work-in-progress. He lies on the ground, head tipping to the side to watch her better with one giant eye. "So much for teachin' me how. Lli doesn't want me to touch it."

"Good," Javeri tells Carys with a grin. Then the grin fades and she says rather quickly, "I don't mean that you're not- I mean I'm sure you're. I just...sorry." Shaking her head she lets out a sigh and then looks at Suizen. "Sorry. You're on your own. But I'll make it up with some of Paddy's rum later if you want." Then she holds her drink up and makes big eyes at it. "My goodness, Geordianan. You're looking quite spry tonight. You've been hauling nets haven't you?" Lowering her eyelids a bit she leans closer to her drink trying not to laugh. "Me and my girlfriends are awful thirsty. We've been...busy. Do you like my new bikini by the way? They did. Now if we only had drinks." She stops with a laugh and says, "The rest is history."

There are several muffled sounds from the sandcastle area, and shoulders shake. "... I'm not goin' to be lookin' anyone in the face, next time I go in... though for some of the rum, I might be willin'. Usually only get the ale.." she admits, before she turns a bit, having quickly dug a circle. That part was easy. The next part is... not so easy. Digging her fingers into the damp sand, the potter starts to smoosh sand together from inside and outside the pile, working on making walls. Sort of.

Carys just smirks at Javeri's first comment, and tries not to laugh even though it's kind of apparent she's amused when she says, "Don't apologize. It's funny when you get all stumbly." Then she can't keep herself from laughing anymore, and slaps her knee. "Geordianan? That's /terrible/! Well you did a good job anyway. It's funny when girls get what they want that easy from someone. It's an art." Llioth sniffs at a wall, and snorts. Not acceptable. Rys calls, "Sooz, he says make a tower!"

"It was a weyr warming present," Javeri says with a grin as she explains the rum to Suizen. "I've been real sparing with it and since we don't really entertain there's still plenty left. Chadamalith prefers to go visit people rather than have our space cluttered with company." There's a roll of her eyes as she laughs. "And I didn't tell them who it was I was out here with. Although he could be spying." She peers into the darkness around them before calling out, "Missed all the fun. Move along now." With her grin still in place she looks at Carys and shrugs. "Sorry. It's just...I've been having a rough seven or so. He chased for the first time and I'm still sorting it all out in my head. But I've perfected the free drink moves. Of course now it's just cause I'm friends with most of em. They don't even expect me to go play in the sand."

"Hey, now. No directin' from the Sand Galleries - otherwise, I'm goin' to be expectin' you to help, an' that just means a big ole mess, given the size of things.." Suizen says to the dragon staring at her. Despite the fact, after a bracing sip, she starts to lump more sand where two 'walls' sort of waveringly meet.

Carys nods her head in understanding and lets out a soft 'oh'. "Did he win the flight, or did he /just/ chase? I know what you mean, though. It's kinda weird at first. Not so bad once he chases a couple more times, promise." She opens her mouth to say something else, and then stops to look over at Suizen's castle, and Llioth's tail thumbing. The dragon rumbles at his lifemate, and then stands. "OH! Er, well, um...Sooz? He says that your castle is good, but it's not perfect. He says that he wants you to come back to Fort with us, and practice making castles around the eggs in Peirith's clutch so that they'll be nice and safe. Will you stand as a candidate?" Cue grunt from Llioth. "Oh. Please?"

Watching the potter and the sand and the dragon Javeri grins as she has another sip. "He chased only. There was...it was horrid. Not that...Anyway. It can't get worse or I'd likely die." Shaking her head she's happy to let the conversation go when the other bluerider speaks. "Oh! Suizen! That's great! Suizen and I were candidates together here." This last directed to Carys.

There is a long moment of silence, as Sooz processes that, before she turns, sandy fists on her hips. "Well, if it's anything like bein' here, I doubt there'll be all /that/ much time for sandcastle buildin'.... But..." here she trails off, then shoots a look at Javeri. A tilt of the head is given, then a quirky half-grin. "If you're not mindin' a bit of a delay while I clean up an' pack up the clothin' Fayre requested I kept handy last time... and... wait, that won't do any good there. Do the stores have any heavy clothin', Veri? I'll freeze. If I can't find any, you'll have to come visitin' - heck, even if I do." After all, it's one thing to Stand in the Weyr you've always lived at. Quite another to go do so where it's /cold/.

Carys looks over to Javeri with a grin. "You were? That's kinda funny! So you know how it all works alreay, then, Sooz." She decidedly doesn't say anything more about flights, and only smiles at Javeri once more. "Hey, what else is in a greenrider, anyway? Fruit and what? I'll haveta remember." When Suizen accepts, Rys beams and claps her hands. "Yay! You go get ready. Llioth says you've gotta hurry, though, because the eggs need castles now." She looks over at Javeri again. "You're the all-knowing one, I guess."

"Sooz! Of course I'll come visit! And I'll be there hatching day no matter what!" Javeri scratches her head and then nods. "I bet there's warm stuff. There's got to be. Besides surely Fort's not having such a clothing problem they can't put sweaters on their candidates' backs!" This last is said with a look to Carys as if she might be able to answer this or not. Giving her head a shake she tells Suizen, "You can get stuff here I am sure. And whatever you need you can tell me and I bet granny can arrange. She can arrange anything. Oh, or Paddy! He knows everyone after all!" Another look at Carys and she laughs. "It's funny because I've only been at the Weyr since I was searched. Suizen's been here longer. But I guess I know something. That's nice for a change! A greenrider is rum and limes and water and sugar and mint. Best drink ever. Well, the best drink is whatever is free, but still."

Suizen pauses a moment, then eyes her drink. One last drink is taken, then handed over to Veri. "Hopefully they're havin' the same rules, but either way, probably best not to be smellin' like the Sandbar right out. An' to some degree. Hopefully it's mostly the same. We don't have to be servin' the tithe wagons in bikinis and a sarong, even if you're a guy, right?" she asks Rys, while brushing off the sand from her legs, and muttering to herself, "Definately the 'good' clothes...an' the brush an' the like... an' that... that should be good, keep it down to a bag, what with gettin' warm clothes there...."

Carys nods her head. "Yeah, we have enough stuff at Fort to keep you warm for a while. You just need to get a jacket for the trip *between* is all." Then Javeri is nodded at again. "Rum, limes, water, sugar, mint...I'll try to remember. If I can't, I'll just come back and have you get me another free one. But I wanna watch you do it! Sounds funny. Thanks for this one, by the way." Sooz's question is laughed at. "You won't have to servin' tithe wagons in bikinis and a sarong. And the rules are the same, don't worry 'bout that."

"The rules were horrid!" Javeri says with a laugh. "I am so glad I don't have to worry about that again. Not that weyrlinghood rules were so great especially at first. Well, still are...although we don't really have much right now so that's good." She looks at Suizen and asks, "Do you have a jacket already? If not try the box on the bottom shelf where they are kept. Shoved behind two others. I learned that's where the better ones are kept." Hasn't been so long after all that she was getting her own. Looking at her fellow bluerider she nods. "Sure. I am happy to give demonstrations. But I won't reveal all my tricks!"

Suizen nods, "Right, basic clothes, tolietries, an' a jacket. I can do that. I'll be right ba... oh! Will you tell Paddy an' Sonah, an' Fayre? Oh! And tell Fayre I'm not askin' while I'm there. That's just a call for trouble. Right. Time's a wastin'. I'll be right back." Thankfully, she doesn't have to deal with the wheelbarrow, in that the captain's emptying it. Sand gets kicked up, as the potter heads towards the weyr proper at a good trot.

Carys pokes her tongue out at Javeri and pouts. "Well you're no fun, then, if you won't teach your 'apprentice' /everything/." She calls, "Be quick!" out to Suzien as she trots away. "Hey, Veri, when you come visit Fort I'll have to take you to The Leaking Cavern. It's a good bar."

"Suizen, I'll tell everyone I promise," Javeri tells the potter as she hurries off. "You have my word," she hollers louder before laughing and tipping her drink all the way back to finish it. "Oh, come on," she then tells Carys with another laugh. "I won't even share all my secrets with someone- Someone I know better than you." There may be another blush or their may not. "And a bar sounds good. I'll need a drink if I come visit for all sorts of reasons. And if you're going to buy it's a deal."

The someone-someone doesn't go unnoticed, and Carys finishes off her own drink rather quickly and folds her arms. "Oh? Who's this someone?" She really doesn't have a sense of manners when she gets curious about something, and it's definitely showing now. "Is Someone a man?" Then Rys lets out a little sigh. "Oh /fine/, I'll buy you a drink. Or two. Or however many you need." Yes, need. "You've gotta play darts with me once, though. You and Sooz and I can play or somethin'. The dartboard is pretty beaten up, though, but that's ok."

There's not a word from Javeri and without thinking she takes a drink from the glass given to her by Suizen. Better someone's remains than no drink at all. "It's nothing. We're just friends right now anyway. And, yes, he's a man. And we're just friends. And there's nothing there right now." Shaking her head she grins sheepishly. "We're waiting. And buying me a drink is good. I'll bring you something! Something...I don't know. But something. And I'm not real good at darts so as long as there's no marks on it you have a deal."

Suizen doesn't take all that long to get things together. The most time is finding her shoes - which is shoved into the bag, and a jacket to wear between - which is also shoved into the bag. A shirt is shrugged on over the bikini, and the potter's heading back to the beach, after leaving word with one of the assistant headwomen to shove her stuff in a box for a quick time-being.

Carys flaps a hand dismissively. "Nah, no marks. Truth be told, I'm not very good at darts, either, but I still like playing." The topic about Someone is left alone for now, the rider seemingly satisfied with the response given. All she says is, "Well I hope it works out." She gets perky and bounces a little, clapping her hands. "Ooh, you'll bring me something? I love presents." She looks around the beach a bit and taps a foot. "I know she hasn't been gone long, but Sooz better get back here!"

"She'll come along," Javeri says with a laugh. And when she spies her there's a wave from the former potter to the now candidate. "There she is! And no marks is good. Because I'm already letting you steal away a friend." Shaking her head she looks at the glasses in her hands. "I love giving presents. It's not anything great. But I like to keep my fingers in the clay is all. I do commissions too. Slowly until my life is not so hectic."

"Sorry 'bout that - couldn't find the shoes, an' the box of jackets got shoved two shelves down." There's a roll of the eyes, before the potter grins crooked. "Last time was /much/ easier. No hurry, 'cause I already lived here."

Carys grins from ear to ear. "That's always nice to hear. I like givin' presents, too, but usually they're things that're kinda dumb. I don't mean for them to be, but the people receivin' them don't really care for 'em." Then, "I can't wait to see some of your pottery stuff, then!" Sooz gets a happy wave, and Rys gestures to Llioth, who is crooning at the new candidate. "You ready t'go?"

"This is so exciting!" Javeri tells Suizen with a bright grin. "Oh, and Chadamalith says goodbye and that he will be happy to come see you. He's been pestering me about going more places." Rolling her eyes she laughs quietly before looking at Carys. "I love gifts. And yea I'll bring you something. I don't know when I'll make it though so don't hold your breath. We've just started wing shadowing and I'm not sure when my time off will be. And I'll stop talking now so you can get going and all."

Suizen grins at Javeri. "Good, an' I'll be glad to see you both, so make sure Paddy an' Mic don't have any reason to ground you two, 'kay?" she tells them both, before making her way over next to Llioth, "Ready an' waitin' - an' does that mean I should be scritchin' if you're doin' that? With Jekzith, it did, but that's mostly 'cause any time was a good time for scritches."

Carys nods to Javeri again. "Oh, I know you're all busy and stuff. Wing shadowing is fun, actually. I liked it a lot. Well, it was really nice meetin' ya, Veri! Thanks for the greenrider." She gives Sooz a quick look-over and nods. "Well make sure your jacket's on tight, and you /have/ to wear shoes. You don't wanna lose your feet *between*." Llioth isn't opposed to scritches, and lowers his head with a soft croon. /His/ candidate.

He's Just As Bad

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:14:03 GMT

Carys meets a new friend! Scene with Winston on NorCon MUSH. They're terrible together.

--

Leaking Cavern, Fort Weyr

It's all dark stone and dim lighting, the place for the Weyr's residents and riders to gather when the day's work is done and they have a few spare marks to toss around. The Leaking Cavern serves as a place for folk to unwind in a mellow environment that's free from the usual controlled chaos that the rest of the Weyr operates under.

The bar's namesake is against the back wall, directly opposite the entrance -- it's a steady leak of water that courses down a section of the dark wall that's been carved by an industrious Smith at some point to create a waterfall effect. The combination of water flowing down shelves and into overflowing wells provides a soothing audible backdrop for hushed conversation or bawdy laughter alike. While this chamber is a bit cooler and more damp than some might like, the atmosphere is relaxed and the drinks are reasonably priced.

Along the wall to the left of the entrance is a long, curving bar carved of stone; Al is a permanent fixture behind it, with Sasha's presence being equally ubiquitous. A smattering of well-worn tables and chairs are haphazardly strewn about, often prone to being moved by patrons; typically, groups shrink and grow to follow the ebb and flow of conversation. The decor here is relatively sparse and lit primarily with glows, though a few of the more stationary tables might sport a lamp or two.

Contents:

Winston

Dart Board

Obvious exits:

Inner Caverns

Despite the fact that it's in the afternoon on a relatively nice day, Carys has decided that she's going to be spending a good amount of time in The Leaking Cavern. Why? Who knows. How long is she going to be here? One should hope not long. In any case, she moves through the dim-lighted place to find somewhere to sit, not caring to watch where she's stepping or who she's stepping on. If there are any bump-ins she gives the person or object a good "Watchit!" The fault is never hers, it seems. When she finally comes across a spot good enough to be graced with her presence, she sits and lets out a long, tired sigh.

Seated at the bar is Winston and he watches Carys and her antics with some measure of amusement. But he doesn't try to intercept her and risk his own feet. Or more importantly his fresh polished boots. However once the rider has seated herself the storeroom worker gives her a going over with his brown eyes before he grabs his ale and stands up. He cannot help the swagger in his steps that carry him towards where she sits. When he reaches her table he's got a grin ready as he says, "I would be a happy man if you'd let me buy you a drink. I'd be a happier man if you'd buy your own of course."

Carys eyes Winston with a frown on her face, and then makes a gesture toward the door with one of her hands. "Didn't ya see how I came in? Can you imagine what I'd be like if I were drunk?" She lets out another sigh and cracks her neck and fingers. "But if you'd be amused by it, I'll buy a drink. See what happens." The rider doesn't make a move to do so just yet, though. Instead she closes her eyes and leans her head back. "D'you make it a habit to pounce on every girl that comes in?"

The ale gets set on the table, but Winston doesn't seat himself. It's only a partial encroachment right now. "Indeed I saw how you came in and I was immediately drawn to you. Such force. Such emotion. It near made me fall from my stool and me without even one full ale in me yet. I told myself I had to come over and introduce myself." He leans on the back of a chair and extends a hand. "Winston and it is truly my pleasure to meet you." He doesn't even wait to see if she completes the introduction or takes his hand before he adds, "I do not pounce however. Let me correct you. I skulk in the corner and ease my way into a lady's graces."

Carys would laugh if she weren't so tired, and all that he gets as a reaction from her is a very wicked smirk and a snort. "Well now I've heard every possible first impression that I give. Shells." She doesn't take his hand, but she does introduce herself. "Carys, blue Llioth's. I guess it's my pleasure to meet you, too. You're funny, I'll give ya that." With a small groan she leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees. A curious look is given to Winston when he explains that he doesn't pounce, and she snickers. "Ease your way in, huh? I do the same thing." At that, she gets up, moves over to the bar, practically grabs her drink, and sits down in front of the man again. "What do you do?"

"It is a pleasure then, Carys," Winston says and dips his head in thanks as he pulls his hand back to himself. "Funny, indeed I am." As she goes to get a drink he takes a seat and is waiting comfy as can be when she gets back. Lifting his mug he holds it up in a toast before taking a long drink from it. "Ahh. I am quite good at easing my way into things it is true," he tells her with a wink and a roguish grin. "But as for what I do I am a helpful person. I just work in stores, darling. Hauling heavy things, moving boxes, helping lovely ladies find just what they need. So do please come to me if you ever need anything at all."

Carys chuckles at the talk about "easing in" and keeps a grin on afterwards. "I like you! Gimme another one." When he talks about his work, she nods her head with a soft 'oh'. "Well that's nice. I'll definitely have you hook me up if I need anything. You might just turn into my drinking buddy at this rate," she adds, taking a swig from her mug. "How come you never got into a craft or anything?"

Setting his mug on the table Winston leans on both his elbows and grins slowly. "Afraid there's only one of me, sweetheart, but promise you one is all you're ever gonna need." His laugh comes so quickly after his words it's obviously hard for him to take himself seriously. "And now come the hard questions. So soon? Usually I don't even get those until the second drink." Leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs out under the table he grins as he reaches for his ale. "Well, you're looking at the former heir to Two Trees hold, sweetheart. Until a youthful indiscretion led me to here. So crafting was not an option."

Carys truly makes an effort to keep a straight face while he talks to her, but loses it when he starts laughing. She drinks again, and then wags a finger at him as she swallows. "I oughtta spend more time with you, we'd get along fine. And if I liked men, I'd be all over you in a heartbeat, I'm sure. You're a charmer." She shrugs a shoulder and offers, "I'm just the curious type" as an explanation for the hard questions. When he calls her sweetheart, she just snickers into her cup, and then looks at him over the rim. "No? Well that's kinda unfortunate. But you're happy anyway, right?"

"And now comes the heartbreak," Winston says when she tells him she doesn't like men. He lifts his drink again and has another long pull before setting it down. "But that does not mean we cannot be the best of friends. After all we're not always going to be chasing the same women." He leans forward again and winks, "Although I cannot promise to not be telling you what an adorable woman you are all the time. Because it is just not within me to deny my voice when it must sing of such beauty." Grinning again he nods his head. "Well, curiosity is fine by me. You just ask away any little thing and I will answer. But as to happiness, well, as happy as a man can be."

Carys shrugs a shoulder and winces. "Sorry, Winston! If I could turn on the man-love I would!" Then she puts another wicked smirk on and shakes her head. "I don't know...we might chase the same women. I'm getting the impression that we have similar taste. I mean, come on...you think I'm adorable, and so do I!" After a moment she gives him a kind smile and responds to his compliments with, "Well ev'ry time you voice your opinion on me cuteness I'll voice my opinion on your niceness. You're not a bad looker, either, by the way," she says, giving him 'the nod'. "How come you shave your head?" Here go the questions again. Once started, it's hard for her to stop sometimes. "You don't get cold with no hair? No hats? Nothing?"

Winston's grin flashes once more across the table to Carys. "Darling, I will happily spend time with any woman at all. Which is not a besmirchment upon your lovely self, but just the way it is. There is no woman who does not deserve my attention and I would be just a horrid man if I denied the ladies what it is that they need." Which is, obviously, himself. "And you are adorable and I am nice. And quite the looker. You missed it cause I walking towards you, but I have a nice rear end. Just ask anyone." He's over the top and definitely knows it as he laughs. "Don't like my hair much. So, I make it not an issue. Gets all unruly on me and I'd rather not waste the time. But I've got hats. I'll show you my hats sometime."

Carys laughs. "How generous of you! We'll have to scout out girls with each other sometime. I need to get a feel for what you like." Her eyebrows get raised a little bit when he comments on his rear end. "/Really/? I can't believe I didn't catch that! Well...I guess in a way I can, but now I'm sorry I did. I'll have to watch you walk out or somethin'." The invatation for hat-viewing gets a nod, and Rys finishes her drink. Leaning back, an expression of content runs across her face. "Yeah, I didn't used to like my hair, either. It would really /do/ anything. Then a friend cut it like this," and she points to her head, "and I've kept it that way since. I like it alright. Doesn't get in my way or anything." Then she asks, "How old are you?"

"You wanna know what I like?" Winston says with a grin as he finishes his ale and sets his cup down. "All you gotta do, darlin' is ask me what I like. I would be happy to tell you. Although you'd probably not be satisfied with the answer." Shoulders shrug a bit as he lets out a chuckle. "Tell you what. You finish your drink and I'll buy the next round and you can watch me go to the bar." A wink after these words is followed by another laugh. "Your hair is stunning. Your friend did a great job. Makes you even more adorable. As for my age I am a mere nineteen. Been here at Fort the last three. And you? How long have you been here? What were you doing before your Llioth found you then?"

Carys says, "If your answer is 'anything' or 'everything' then you're right, I'm not satisfied. Which is a shame, because I hear from reliable sources," hint hint, "that you really know how to satisfy a woman." Then, "Oh, good plan. More drinks sound good, too." Now that the questions have turned to her, she looks very slightly bored. Out of politeness she answers anyway. "I'm nineteen, too. I've only been at Fort for about a week, maybe a little less. I used to be a rider over at Telgar, but decided to leave." She leaves the rest of that subject untouched, for who knows what reason, and then grins at the mention of Llioth. "Y'know, the funny thing is that I can hardly remember anything before my candidacy, now. So much has happened to replace all of those other memories that it's hard to think of any. I think I was just hangin' around 'Reaches, doin' work there. I was barely old enough to do any real work before I got Searched and scooped to Telgar."

Winston's grin doesn't falter or diminish in brightness. He leans forward again so his elbows can thump on the table. "It ain't so simplistic as all that, dear," he tells Carys. "What I like in a woman is a willingness to believe she's worth a man spending time on her. Don't matter so much what she looks like or how old she is...so long as she's old enough. She just has to know she's got something to offer a man even if it's just a pat on the shoulder when he's had a bad day. Nothing makes me less interested than a woman that's got no sense of herself. Some belief she let someone convince her of that she wasn't worth the attention I want to give her." Shaking his head he lets out a sigh and his smile disappears. "Plenty of women with that problem and it makes a man want to go punch someone for doing that to her."

Carys puts on a sad smile and nods. "That's honorable of you. I'm sure you're a shardin' good guy, now." There's a moment of silence from the rider, and her eyes cloud over a bit as she sits in thought. "You know, I think that I have the same kind of attitude toward women. I mean, I definitely have my preferences when it comes to physical appearance, but that doesn't matter half as much as her personality and self-worth like you said." Then she shrugs a shoulder and stretches a bit. "So you're from a hold, huh? It doesn't seem like it. You have a pretty Weyr-ish attitude, but I guess that coulda come from your three years livin' here."

"I am the best, darlin'," Winston says with a grin as he stands up. "I'm gonna go get me a refill and I'll even bring one back for you." He saves replying to everything else for his return and he wiggles his read end in an exaggerated manner as he goes to the bar. It's not so busy he cannot get the drinks and return in almost no time at all. Setting down fresh cups he retakes his seat then. "From a hold that's me. Little place, but still quite the hold. Always had that attitude though which is why maybe I didn't fit in so well." Giving his head a shake he lets out a sigh. "Ain't gonna be fibbin' to you, Carys. Truth is I was young and wanted to get my hands on anything in a skirt, but what's a boy to do when he's charming and handsome and the girls are just throwing themselves at him? Made a mistake is all and got some girl pregnant not long after I was engaged. Followed her back here after my parents made it clear they were done with my antics."

Carys smiles, and nods in agreement. "Yep, the best." She watches him walk with interest, and just shakes her head and rolls her eyes when he wiggles his bum. She really is amused, though. When he sits back down she responds with, "Not bad! Not bad at all." The rider listens to his story, reaching for the newly-arrived cup in front of her with a toasting gesture to him as thanks. At the end, she lets out a small breath and tsks. "That's really a shame. Did you love the girl you were gonna marry? Or was it one of those arranged marriage things?" A little personal, but she obviously can't tell. No censorship, sometimes. "I guess the bright side of the story is that you got to meet me, as a result of your skirt-chasing antics."

"Thank you, thank you very much," Winston says as he tips his head to the bluerider. Luckily for her prying ways Winston does not seem adverse to speaking about himself. It is likely one of his favorite topics of conversation. "Didn't love her, but didn't wish her ill. Truth is I know she was plenty like me and was no virgin come to our engagement and was fine with that. But our parents thought my antics with Olviana...know her? Riders green..shells. What's her name? Anyway she brought me back with her but that didn't last." Giving his head a shake he takes a drink. "Ain't nothing to be done for that either. And you are definitely one of the bright sides. Although I'd be lying if I didn't say there had been quite a few of those in the last three turns."

Carys makes a dismissive gesture with her hand. "Yeah, I know I'm not the only one. But I'm one of the best, right? Outside of the bedroom?" She winks. When the rider's name is mentioned, Rys shakes her head and shrugs. "Nope, but it's possible I'll run into her in the future. What's your kid's name?" She doesn't seem too curious about the fiancee anymore, and keeps sipping at the cup in her hand. She puts the tip of her finger in it and stirs the surface of the liquid around a little bit, and then drinks again. "Ok, so if you could go to a craft now, and if you /wanted/ to, which one would you do? I think I'd be a woodcrafter."

Winston's grin turns ever so sad as he looks at Carys. "There you go assuming all my good times were in a bed. I'll have you know I've had plenty elsewhere. But you rank amongst the top of any of them you have my word!" He's so earnest and cheerful about it and his grin is so fond it just has to be true, right? "Olikam's his name. For his mother and her father I believe. Never did remember her father's name." One of many reasons quite likely that they never did make it as a couple. "What about you though? Children? Weyrmate? Significant lady friend on the side?" He's not sprinkling too many questions in, but he's going to get his share inserted somewhere. "But as for crafting I ain't rightly sure. Would have made a fine harper. Other than not being able to read music or act diplomatic around a good looking woman."

Carys clicks her tongue and then pouts. "I didn't mean it, I was only teasing you!" Whether his statement really is true or not is of no significance to the rider, because she got what she wanted; confirmation. The harper talk piques her interest yet again. "A harper? Well they teach you to read music, silly. D'you sing, or play anything?" More questions come her way, and she shifts in her seat to get comfortable. "No children, /that's/ not gonna happen. At least I hope not, if a green is proddy and her rider is a male, I try to be avoid them like the plague. Don't want kids." Weyrmate and significant lady friend on the side both get a shake of the head, and all she says is, "Used to be a girl back at Telgar. I don't know if she still wants to be in a relationship with me or not."

"Not a thing at all wrong with not wanting to have children," Winston says with a nod of his head. "Wasn't planning on any myself truth be told and suppose I ain't the best dad and all, but nice to know there's a little lad down in the nursery charming all the women in my stead." He does sound proud of it although perhaps it's a dubious thing to find pride in. "Ahh. A lady far away. Well, at least you can go visit her, yea? Or bring her here? Or is she not sure she wants that? Always difficult affairs of the heart. You ever want a shoulder to cry on I got two good ones and even know when to keep my hands to myself." He pauses and then winks across the table. "Almost always anyway. But as for singing no better than anyone else. Afraid I've never touched an instrument of the musical variety."

Carys agrees with a smile, and then snorts at the idea of a mini Winston charming the ladies in the nursery. "I'll bet he's a fine little fella." When the subject of her girlfriend is brought up again, she doesn't communicate much by way of body language, and then gives him a good-humored glare. "Now what gives you the impression that I'm a cryer?" Then she breaks the expression and raises the corner of her mouth a bit. "Well if she doesn't want to, that's fine. I mean, I really like her 'n all, but it's hard keeping a relationship with someone who's away. And I don't know if she wants to come over yet. I haven't talked to her since I got here." Rys takes a quick look around the room to see how many people they might be disturbing, and then asks, "Will ya sing for me?"

"Oh, he's a handsome enough lad. Takes after his father and mother. Olviana is a fine woman." Winston smiles fondly for the greenrider who dumped him before taking a drink from his ale. "Well, I hope it works out however you want it to. And maybe I just wanted an excuse to get your head on my shoulders, darlin'?" He asks this with a wide grin and an accompanying chuckle. "Sing for you? For nothing at all? Really? You're not even going to offer me a kiss on my charming cheek? A little peck? Or maybe a drink?"

Carys grins from ear to ear, and stifles a laugh. "You wanted an excuse to get my head on your shoulders? Well you're clever, I'll give you that. But it's kind of a weird thing to want." She taps her bottom lip with her finger, and gives him the stink-eye while looking him over. "I'll give you a kiss if you sing, but just this once!"

Winston's hand raises to cover his heart as he grins. "Swear upon my heart I won't even tell a soul. Wouldn't want to damage your reputation. Not when I've gone and lucked into finding myself a new best friend and all." He sits up straight and lifts his mug to drain the contents. "But you're wanting a song, are you? I do believe I will provide. And don't go blaming me for wanting to get my arms around you even in a friendly way. A man can dream."

Carys holds her grin for a bit longer and gives him a nod. "It's a deal, then! It wouldn't ruin my reputation, though. People would just wonder if I was sick or somethin'." She rolls her eyes in an amused way at his remark, and then says, "Go on, go on, I wanna hear you!"

"Sick? Sick to be caught succumbing to the charms of the most attractive man in all of the Weyr? Nonsense!" Winston's laugh overtakes his words and he has to hold up a hand to excuse himself until he's done laughing. "Sorry. Sometimes I even get to myself. But a song. A song for the most beautiful woman I've had the pleasure of sitting with all evening." Taking a deep breath he launches into a song about a man, a woman, a pack animal, another woman, and a pebble. While it's not so bawdy as to be improper for any ears it's certainly got nothing in it that a harper would sing to a mixed audience.

Carys bites her bottom lip to keep from laughing, so she doesn't interrupt his singing, and then can't help it when she finds out what all of the subject matter is. She's sure not to make any noise until he's completely finished. The rider just looks at him, completely fascinated.

The song ends with a flourish as he sings the line about the pebble running off with the pack animal. Winston leans back in his chair and grins wide. "So, what do you think, darling? Good enough for a harper?" Peeking into his empty cup he looks across the table with a wink. "More important is it good enough for that kiss?" One hand lifts up so he can pat his cheek.

Carys juts her bottom lip out and furrows her brows. "I don't like that, it had a sad ending. Or happy, depending on if you're a pack animal or not." All joking aside, she watches him pat his cheek and then tips her head to assess his singing capabilities. "It was pretty good, I won't lie. With a little bit of training you could be marvelous! So yeah, good enough for a harper." She finishes the last of her drink, sets the cup down, and makes her way over to Winston's side of the table. She brings her hand up to grab his chin, and tries to turn his face to her so that she can give him a peck on the lips instead of the cheek.

"Now that was happy as can be," Winston argues with a laugh. "But I promise to sing you something else then. You just name the subject." But he leans back expectantly for his kiss. When it comes he purses his lips in an almost comical fashion and after his peck he laughs and tries to flick her nose softly before she moves back to her seat. "I shall treasure this always I promise to you, Carys. I shall dream of your lips." Toying with his empty cup he nods once. "Won't even ask for a kiss next time. Promise."

Carys rubs her flicked nose as she moves bak to her seat, and then laughs at his promise. "As long as the dream doesn't turn into a nightmare, I'm fine with that." Then she stretches again and yawns. "Ooh, I'll have to ask you to sing me something another time, I'm afraid. I'm too tired, now! I should go get some rest in. It was nice meetin' you, though, and I've had lots of fun. I'll come down to stores and find you tomorrow."

Rising up from his chair Winston executes a little bow to Carys. "All my pleasure, darling Carys of my joy. Do have a pleasant day and I look forward to seeing you again." He winks at her before leaning against the table. "Gonna watch you leave now unless you object? Then have another drink at all I am missing out on." And he does lean against the table until she leaves before returning to the bar to get another drink.

Carys snickers, and gives a firm nod. "Alright, you're gonna watch me go and then tell me later if I've gotta adjust my walk in anyway to compliment my bum better." Now that that's been established, the rider quickly fixes her hair and proceeds to leave, exaggerating her walk by swinging her arms more, and also swaying her hips. Then, right as she gets to the entrance she gives her rear a good shake before disappearing.

Arch Nemesis

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:38:06 GMT

Met a boy today named Nicholai. I HATE HIM. He beat Ephara up, so I punched him in the jaw. Luckily I didn't get in trouble...next time I better learn to keep my temper under control.

--

Central Bowl, Telgar Weyr

A stony field is the center of this great caldera, the size of which is unmatched at any other Weyr--for the whole complement of all the wings at Telgar could rest comfortably within its towering cliffs. Shaped in a perfect oval, the rock walls seem ideal for keeping the usual chill winds stirring about. The ground is mostly made of pebbles and rocks, some hued the milky shades of old quartz, though there are patches where softer dirt and even trees sprout up from the ground. To the south, the bowl opens onto the living caverns and the Weyrleaders' quarters; the immense entrance to the Hatching Grounds lies to the northwest. Heading southwest will lead one back out into the rocky mountain ranges around Telgar's protective walls. Dragons may be seen, relaxing or fresh from feeding, to the north, as well as the soft lapping sounds of Telgar's lake touching the sandy shore. The Weyrling Barracks, always aflutter with activity, are to the direct west. If you're looking for the 'dutypair' to take you to an outweyr destination, they can be found here. Fall leaves cling around the edges of the bowl, and the trees near the lake are bedecked with bronze and red splendor.

Contents:

Ephara

Nicholai

Obvious exits:

Weyrling Barracks Southern Bowl Lake Shore Hatching Cavern Feeding Grounds Runner Pasture Weyr Entrance

The wonderful thing about pouting is how oblivious one becomes, and Nicholai is certainly oblivious. The stone continually gets kicked a yard or so, this way and that as he crosses across the bowl. So far he is unaware of far he has actually travled, or how close he has gotten to the candidates and the firestone piles. A small puff of the dust billows by causing him to caugh and wince. One more thing ontop of another. He gives that annoying rock one good hard kick and tunrs away to clear his head. The stone itself continues on course straight for the head of Ephara. Well she did want to play with rocks...

Carys is strolling across the bowl, slightly damp from a swim in the lake. She's wearing just her undershirt, the tunic tossed over her shoulder as she whistles a tune and messes with her hair a bit. Rys walks by a little pile of firestone, and looks up to see who's responsible for it. Out of the corner of her eye she spots her favourite Ephara (albeit her /only/ Ephara), and puts on a friendly grin. "Hey, Epha," she offers, taking a couple of steps her way, but not close enough to get a mouthful of firestone. She learned her lesson the other day. "Having fun?"

Ephara is just glancing aside at Carys, about to open her mouth to greet the girl in a surly manner with that Incredible Flying Rock comes sailing in(kinda like a snitch, you see), and lands right between her eyes before darting away again. Ephara looks completely stunned for a moment before her brain registers pain and the girl lets out a yelp of dismay, rocking backwards. The pickaxe is dropped, landing top down on her booted toes and landing sharp-edge down dangerously close to Carys' only foot. Arms windmilling, the girl lifts one foot, clutching it in her hands and hopping around shreiking. This, of course, is her literal downfall. She trips over the pile of firestone and goes tumbling back into it, engulphed in the whole mess. Well, if she didn't look like she'd rubbed all over it before, there's no helping it now.

Talk about timing. Nicholai had just looked back to give that firestone pile a good solid glare for the mouthfull of ash he got and instead he gets a show. The short lad can't really help but stand there and watch the chaos with a look of disbalief on his face. As the poor candidate falls into the rubble the look of shock fades with a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. It doesn't take long before the boy is laughing his proverbial rear off at the sight of it. He actually goes as far as to dubble over at the middle clutching his sides. He doesn't know its all his fault, it probably wouldn't be as funny if he did.

Carys blinks, confused about the flying rock of mystery, and takes a look around to try to catch a glimpse of the person who might have thrown or kicked it. Just as her eyes rest upon Nicholai, the sharp end of the pickaxe wedges itself into her boot and right between her toes, frighteningly close to the skin where they're joined at the foot. She lets out a gasp and jumps, and after a moment she realises that it didn't get her skin at all, which causes her to take the pickaxe out of her holy boot, set it on the ground, and rush over to help Ephara up. "Ooh, nasty fall...here, lemme help ya." Rys stretches out her hand and plants her feet firmly on the ground. She glances over at the laughing Nicholai and frowns. "What's your problem? Sure, someone getting hurt several times in a row and falling into a pile of firestone is pretty funny, but not when she's /my/ friend!" Whoa, breaking out the 'friend' word. "You dolt. You probably did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Ephara is still flailing and kicking and trying to flounder free of the rock when Carys' hand is caught and she pulls herself up, head reemergin from the firestone. She probably has a nasty red spot where the rock hit her; not that you can see it beneath all that firestone dust. She really does look like cromcoal just exploded in her face. Spitting black dust and pebbles from her mouth, she rises ungainly to her feet, looking around. She levels a mean, ugly glare on Nicholai, pointing an accusing finger. "How would you like it if someone hit you in the head?" She starts to reach for a chunk of firestone, but the rider picking through the already broken pieces clears his throat. Ephara grumbles and sets the chunk back down in the pile and glances at Carys, "Thanks for the hand." she says sullenly.

Nicholai stifles his laughter and rights himself. He tilts his head up in a slightly proud and somewhat haughty posture, "I can't help it if'n your buddy there is a complete dull whit and can't stay on her own feet for nothing." He shrugs lightly and looks both girls over, the smirk fading slightly, "Sides why would I want the attentions of a couple of twiggie weyrbrats like you? Granted your friends a cadnidate and all." He waves his hands mocking Ephara slightly, "more like work horse if you ask me. " He shrugs and actually has the gull to move close to the two girls, giving the rider a sidelong glance as he does so. He's in a sour mood today, and everyone ought to be just the same. His walk reflects this mentality.

Carys winces a bit as Ephara picks up the chunk of firestone to throw, and looks as though she's about to say something until the rider gets her. Her shoulders drop in relief and she lets off a little sigh. Looking over at Nicholai with a very disgusted and angry expression on her face, she folds her arms. Then a "No problem" is given to Epha before she focuses on that boy again. Her face turns firey red, and despite her apparent attempts at controlling her temper, she fails. "You are such a shardin' idiot! Some dimwitted wherry threw a rock at her, it hit her square in the head, and she /fell over/. Don't go tryin' to explain somethin' you don't know nothin' about, and don't you /dare/ go insultin' my fellow candidates! Much less my friends!" She even goes so far as to hurl a fist in his direction. Uh oh, Rys...

Ancaith lumbers here from the south.

Ancaith has arrived.

Rilkie has arrived.

"We're both Candidates, you dim glow. Can't you read knots? And I'm hardly a Weyrbrat, my Pa is a Holder." She rolls her eyes. "Don't you know /anything/?" With a contemptuous snort, Ephara turns her back on Nicholai and leans in to Carys, "Don't get mad, get even." There is something so sinister about that phrase when quartered in both girls. She picks up the pickaxe and starts to break up the firestone again, resettling her mask down over her head and trying to wipe dirt off her face. There's a scratch starting to well a tiny bit of blood where the rock hit her, but if she notices, she doesn't mind.

Nicholai blinks and tries to duck back from the girls fist, though it doesn't work out to well. The punch hits him on the edge of the jaw. Stepping back he glares at the girl in slight disbalief, "you gotta be kidding me. Is this what you do everytime someone makes you mad. Geez I hope you don't impress. Imagine you with a dragon. What are you gonna do flame everyone who insults your buddy?" He rubs his jaw glaring at the other girl and his tone turns rather serious, away from the joval teasing it had been, "Not everyone you meet will like you and not everyone will be observant to a notice everything. I made a mistake, sorry. The litteral landslide was funny. Sorry, but it was...so I laughed. You gotta control that temper girl..." He rubs his jaw one last time, "Geez your not even a girl are you?"

Carys looks pleased that her punch landed /somewhere/ on him, a little disappointed that it wasn't his eye. Unfortunately Ephara's suggestion came a little too late. Then she shakes her head. "No, I don't beat everyone up. Just little boys like you who can't keep their mouths shut!" Then she stiffens a bit. "If I had a dragon I would have enough sense to behave myself better. I shouldn't have even punched you, but people like you deserve a lesson like that at least once in your life. I'm startin' to think you might be to thick-skulled to get that to your brain, though!" She pulls a kerchief from her pocket, and offers it to Epha. "You're bleedin'," she mutters, followed by a sniff and glare in Nicholai's direction. She adds, "I'm gonna take that last remark as a compliment. So thank you." Rys quite likes the idea of having boyish strength!

Ancaith glides down to land in the bowl, and Rilkie dismounts neatly. She's on her way somewhere, and her path across the bowl brings her past the Candidates at their chores, breaking up firestone. She might have walked right past if it weren't for the sound of ired voices reaching her ears. "Everything okay?" she asks, affably enough, as she surveys the scene of the two girls and Nicholai.

Ephara titters, "Nah, how could anyone mistake us for girls with you standing here to show them what one really looks like?" Admittedly, with her hair cropped short and unimpressive curves, she could be a boy in the right clothing. She takes the hankerchief from Carys, "You shouldn't have hit him, you're going to get in huge trouble!" the girl says, looking warily at the rider who's convienently carting off the good firestone to unload. When Rilkie lands, the girl looks up; although it's hidden behind her face mask, she nibbles her lower lip uncertainly, and then does something she never thought she'd do: she tattles. "That.. that /thing-" she waves her pickaxe up and down at Nicholai- "threw a rock at my head and then laughed at me when I fell down into the firestone pit!"

Nicholai looks up at the decending dragon and rider. He frowns sternly at the girls, glaring at them. He smirks throwing a retort back to the injured one, "Im a boy and you know it, though the fact that a table has more curves than you two I can see where you would get confused." He freezes when she spills out her so called account of what happened, "I did not. I mean I didn't throw no rocks, Sure I laughed and maybe I shouldn't have but your all right. You just fell." He points to the waving picaxe, "Its that clumsyness that made you fall in the first darned place."

Carys looks at the newly arrived rider, worried, and swallows hard. She manages to smooth her face over so that no expression is on it, until Nicholai starts rambling off again which causes her brow to furrow. "Oh, shut yer trap!" She gets herself involved in the fiasco of yelling and waving tools at people, but instead of a pickaxe she starts flailing a finger.

The conflicting stories make Rilkie look, slightly confused, from Candidate to Candidate to the rock-throwing (or not?) boy. "No throwing rocks!" She finally declares, as a general missive, trying to cover all her bases. "And be careful with those pickaxes. They can break more than just firestone." She tries to add a tone of humor the warning, trying to lighten the mood. "Is there a real problem here, or something you can sort out on your own? Perhaps I should go find R'dur."

Ephara points to the bleeding scratch on her head and the obvious bruise, "You HIT ME, you moron. I saw you kicking that rock across the bowl." She picks the rock up, "Look, you want proof?" She lobs the rock at him and it lands at his feet. "That's your rock, you threw it at me!" She points at the rock, and at her head again to emphasize her point, "I don't see anyone else around here lobbing rocks like a looby, just your BIG STUPID FACE!" She completely ignores Rilkie's mediation, though she does set the pickaxe down before she hits someone with it.

Edlyn walks here from the south.

Edlyn has arrived.

Nicholai glares at the girls and huffs, "I hit you? Geez so I was idly kicking a rock. I did not bend over, pick it up and lob it at you! Does the confounded thing have my name on it?" He huffs and rubs his jaw again, "Talk about hitting folk what about her. She punched me square in the jaw and THAT was on purpose." He grumbles and looks at how out of hand this is getting, "If it was my fault then its an accident or are you to daft to know what that means? That I will apologize for...Im not sorry I laughed or anything else...but if I did accidentally kick the rock at you." He slows and grumbles once again and hufffs a muted, "Sorry."

"You shouldn't kick rocks at my friends," Edlyn interrupts Nicholai as she walks upon the group. One hand is clasped into a fist while the other hangs lazily at her side. Ready to throw one herself, or holding something? Ephara and Carys get a 'are-you-okay' look before Ed tosses a glare at the boy. Her shoulder rolls and her free hand lifts to push her hair out of her face and behind her ears.

Carys wrinkles her nose a bit at Nicholai's accusation, however true, and shouts, "Yeah? Well you deserved it! You should know better'n that!" She looks over at Rilkie and frowns. "I don't care if you get R'dur or not, we're probably still gonna be arguing even after he's here. Talkin' any sense into this boy is like trying to draw an inside straight in Bitra!" She folds her arms again and examines the hole in her boot to avoid eye contact with anyone.

Ephara draws herself up straight, trying to look mature, "She shouldn't have hit you. She's just a kid." Ooh, a whole six months difference there between the two girls. Big age gap. "But you shouldn't be kicking rocks where people is working." Folding her arms over her chest, she holds her superior pose for a second and then grins cheerfully at Edlyn, "Hey Ed! Everything's cool now, I think." She glances at Nicholai, "Right? No more rocks?" Rilkie gets a headshake, "I don't think we need R'dur." Her eyes flick nervously, one hand covering her knot protectively.

Rilkie lets frustration creep into her voice slightly at her inability to easily mediate the stone-throwing spat. "Look! All of you. Whoever hit who, it wasn't on purpose. It's not going to happen again. Right? Best thing to do's to just move on." She nods to Edlyn as she approaches, then at Ephara's words. "Right. Good. I'd rather not see any of you get into trouble. So stay /out/ of it, okay?"

Edlyn returns Ephara's grin with one of her own. Carys is given a one-armed hug. Her voice is lowered, though not to the pitch of an inaudible whisper. "I'm telling you Carys, these fireheads," her hand lifts and waves at the boy's general appearance, "are nasty, mean-spirited, types. Boys, anyway." Her hand lifts to touch uncertainly at her own auburn strands. "My older brother, Aleudre, /always/ said so." She speaks in a manner of firm belief in the source. A hand is offered to Rilkie, "Greets. I'm Edlyn, tho' Ed's usually what I go by. Thank you for stepping in and helping these two. Shells, if I was here, I might've run my mouth even worse than I just did." She grins lopsidedly, "My father's always saying I do put my foot in it, y'know?"

Carys just looks over at Ed with a sigh, still pouting, and focuses on the ground. "Yes, ma'am," is all she offers to Rilkie by way of response, and soon she looking over at Edlyn with a slight smile. "What chores did you bag today?" Then, suddenly, she looks terrified. To Rilkie, "You aren't gonna tell R'dur I hit him, are ya? I lost my temper, but I promise I won't do it again!"

Ephara gives Edlyn a funny look, "Why you wanna put your foot in your mouth for, Ed? Don't it taste bad?" She reaches up to touch her head, wincing as she rubs firestone grit into the scratch, letting out a little hiss. "Jays, I better go wash this out, afore I get myself some of that, you know, head traumas them Healers is always muttering all over peoples about." Just then her belly rumbles, "And maybe a snack." The girl tacks on, her face lighting up. She likes food. "You guys had breakfast yet?" She asks the group in general, looking around and then glancing hopefully towards the living cavern. "Shouldn't take me more than a jiffy to wash up a little." Can you just see Pooh Bear begging for a smackerel?

Rilkie takes Edlyn's hand. "Nice to meet you-- I think I've seen you around a bit. I'm Rilkie, brown Ancaith's." She turns to Carys at the girl's worried tone. "No, I won't say anything. But be careful. If it had been worse, I'd have been obliged to tell him." At Ephara, she grins. "Oh, I've already eaten. But it sounds like you all could use a break."

"Stables!" Edlyn answers Carys with an enthusiastic smile. "Though, they only let us muck out the mess. You should hear this one girl complain. Thinks just because she's a Holder's daughter, she shouldn't have to get dirty." Hmph. Her booted feet kick at the gravel, "You don't really get /dirty/ and the smell is so comforting." To her, anyway. Ephara's look is returned as Edlyn tilts her head to the side, "You've lost the meaning of that statement. I know I'm no beauty, but I'd never stick my foot in my mouth. Oh, and food? Yeah, you think we could take a break?" She looks to Rilkie as the authority on the matter, "I was just running for water when I came upon you..."

Carys lets out an enormous sigh, and chuckles. "Thanks so much, er...ma'am. I'm Carys, by the way, I don't think I've met you proper." Then she looks over at Ed and Ephara with a nod. "Yeah, a break sounds good. I'm starving! It'll be easy for me to get to my chores when we're finished, too. I have to wash dishes."

Rilkie shrugs. "We'd always sneak breaks from our chores. Don't know if I'm supposed to /tell/ you that, though. We used to surprise whoever got stuck with the Stores, and bring them klah and sweets and have a picnic where nobody would find us. As long as all the work gets done..." She grins. "Carys," she repeats, trying to cement the name on her memory. "And Ed. And I know you, Ephara. I'm sorry if I get any of you mixed up. There seem to be an awful lot of you Candidates."

"The more I think about it, tho', food doesn't sound so good. My stomach was upset last night after I ate dinner. Maybe it was the slice of pie I had.. or the second one.. or something," Ed states as an after-thought. She flashes a brief frown at Rilkie, "Skip out on chores? I'd never do that. Wouldn't want to most days. I mean, they aren't bad or anything. Besides, how'd you get the food? I know 'phara's good at nixing things.. but still.. I wouldn't want to get kicked out, right?" She unclasps her hand and reveals a blue-tinted quartz piece which she offers to Carys. "Don't use it to get that boy back, but maybe you'd like this stone? I thought it was pretty."

Carys grins over at Rilkie and says, "Well sure, it gives the dragons a nice selection of bait, right?" Then she looks over at the piece of blue-tinted quartz being offered to her by Edlyn, and she smiles. "Oh...thanks! It's real pretty. Hey, wait...I have an idea." At that, she bends down to snag one of the laces on her boots. "Hey, uh...ma'am? Do you have a beltknife or somethin' I could borrow?"

"Oh, we didn't skip out," Rilkie says, "Just took a little bit of a break. Never a very long one. And we'd just sneak the food from the serving tables. Probably /could/ have gotten into some trouble, but we never did. And it all worked out!" She grins at that, glancing across the bowl to where her dragon's placed himself in the sun. "A beltknife?" The rider nods, reaching for her knife and handing it to Carys.

"I guess so," is the dubious reply as Edlyn follows Rilkie's gaze to the brown in the distance. "I just never would've thought of it. But maybe I'm sort of doing it now, taking an unscheduled break." Her hand rubs idly at her stomach. "Can't decide on food.." Leaning in closer to Carys, she looks curiously at the rock and to the bit of lace. "Wha'cha going to do with that?"

Carys takes the knife from Rilkie with a quick "Thank you!" and sets to work at sawing off a pretty good portion of her bootlace, which, quite surprisingly, is clean. Once that bit breaks off (leaving the rest of the lace all tattered and sagging), she saws /it/ in half, takes the pickaxe that Ephara left lying on the ground, sets the piece of quartz down, and taps on it 'til it breaks in half. Taking one of the chunks, Rys ties a piece of the leather strap around it very tightly, and holds it out for Ed. "Here, now they're like friendship necklaces. I still hafta make mine, though." Then she hands the knife back over to Rilkie.

Rilkie watches with curiosity as Carys makes the necklaces. "Oh, that's such a good idea!" She takes back her beltknife, tucking it back away. "Wish I was that resourceful. Just as pretty as something you'd pay good marks for."

Ephara had been washing up, but now she returns, her face and hands clean though her clothing remains silty. She's arriving just in time to see the friendship necklace production, and she lifts her eyebrows but doesn't comment. "Where'd ya get the rock, Ed?" She asks, and then glances around, "Food, please?" Her stomach gives a pointed counterrumb.e

Nicholai hangs back and watches the group from afar. The exchanging of gifts and talk of friendships seem to have tempered him, or at least cooled him down a tad. He chooses to keep to himself mostly, though his intrest doesn't fade from the group. Idly he picks a rock up off of the ground and tosses it back and forth between his hands and ocasionally high into the air catching it. Once he almost drops the small palmsized stone and bounces it off his knee to catch it in his hand again. A smirk plays across his features as he begins repeating the gestures, dropping it bouncing it off of his knee, foot and ankle...and then back to his hand. You think he would learn not to mess with rocks after the earlier incident.

Edlyn whistles at Carys adept handling of the lace and the stone. "Shells, you're a fair hand at that. If this doesn't work for you here, you should certainly go into some sort of craft." The necklace is taken and slipped over her head. Her hand instantly lingers on the stone, fingering it as she looks down to her muck-stained boots. "I'd offer you a lace, Carys, but I dunno if you'd want it from these boots. They're /old/ and used to being around runners." Ed turns to Rilkie, nodding. "It is pretty good work, right? For such a quick thing. I wish I was that good with my hands." Her lip pushes forward in a brief pout. "I guess I am tho', just in other ways." It is now that she notices Nicholai - and is rock-tossing. "You in a traveling show or something?" she calls out to him. "I'm not tossing you any of /my/ marks, that's certain." Sniff.

Carys blushes, feeling a little sheepish. She looks up at Rilkie and manages a smile, saying, "Oh, well thanks. I come up with things like that kind of fast. See, I don't like it when I'm not busy doing something, so if I get bored I learn how to do something new. I don't remember who, but someone over at Reaches showed me how to make easy things like that; necklaces and bracelets." She takes time to tie leather around her piece of quartz, then ties it around her neck as well. "I might go into a craft. Don't know which one I'd choose, though." She glances over at Nicholai with a frown, watching his rock act, and shakes her head. "You're creative, but you shouldn't be throwin' rocks around anymore!"

Rilkie's curiosity has been caught by another rock-- this one Nicholai's, the one he tosses from hand to hand. "Ancaith's curious," she reports. "He wants to know if that's a fun game, and if you like playing with rocks even though you don't eat them." She seems slightly puzzled by her dragon's question, but relays it on just the same. "Oh, I'm not good with things like that-- I can knit a little," she says to Edlyn. "But you're right-- Carys, you'd be great in a craft!" She smiles at Ephara as she returns. "Still hungry?"

Nicholai tosses the rock up and to test his speed, turns on a heel and catches it with a grin. Its a grin that fades as the girls critisise him for something else. He offers an annoyed glare to the two, 'I'm away from you and I'm doing it because I want, did I ask for marks?" he shakes his head slightly, "geez." As he is ready to start another round he is caught by Rilkie's question, "Oh uhm?" He glances up at the dragon with the first kind look hes had all day, "Its a challange. I like challanges, though I think I may get a scrap of hide and make a saggy little ball or something. The rock can smart a tat, but it doesn't matter really. Its all about seeing if you can do something." the comment was directed directly at the dragon.

Edlyn fingers the rock at Ephara's comment. "Oh, just picked it up on my way over here. I used to get little things like this for my mother." She shrugs, suddenly self-concious in the whole affair. "Rilkie, does he really think we eat rocks? Yeah, well ma--," her brows draw down as her lips clamp down. "Drat! I see that Holder-girl looking for me. I'd best go and rejoin my group. I don't want her sayin' I was shirking things." She rolls her eyes at Nicholai's statements. "Like challenges? Try /not/ to hit my friend." She smiles at the girls. "It was nice talking with you all - and nice meeting you, Rilkie. I'll see you all later." She waves and then takes off at a jog towards the girl. "I'm coming Jorda! I told you I'd just be a second!'

Carys waves to Edlyn as she leaves with a "See ya" and then looks over at Ephara with a smile. "I'm starved. I think we should head over to the living caverns to grab a bite to eat. Yeah?" She sends another disapproving look Nicholai's way, plotting evil things in her head.

"A challenge? It looks like one," Rilkie comments. "Ancaith's wondering, would you keep doing the trick with the rock for him? He's quite enjoying watching it." And from where he suns himself just a little off from the group, the brown dragon bugles. "He knows we don't eat them, but he thinks it's funny we seem to like them so much when we never have to chew them," she says, and waves at the departing candidate. "Later, Edlyn! A bite to eat's a good idea. Chores'll still be here waiting for you when you're not so hungry."

Nicholai looks a little uncertain at the attention, particularly attention of anysort from Carys. He nods though and goes ahead and resumes tossing the rock this way and that between his hands. He turns around here and there bouncing it off his elbows and knees. Every little while he does drop the rock, but instead of bending over to pick it up he scoops it up with the toe of his sandle and tosses it back into play.

Carys seems amused by the dragon wanting Nicholai to keep playing with the rock. "Ancaith, you should give it a try." She holds off going to the caverns until Ephara's ready, and the waiting doesn't seem to bother her since she's having a good time watching dragon and boy interact anyway.

Ancaith lumbers over closer to the group, lowering his head to the ground, watching the 'show' carefully. "Oh, he says he'd like to, Carys! Nicholai, do you think you could place the rock on his nose?" The brownrider seems thoroughly amused by the idea of her dragon playing with such a small rock-- compared to him, anyway-- and her laughter rings through the bowl.

Nicholai stumbles with his latest catch and the rock bounces off of the boys shoulder and tumbles to the ground. He looks back and forth with an look of shock and can't help but laugh at the idea. He nods and picks his stone off of the ground and walks up to the dragon's nose, leans up and places it on the nose of the fellow, "Maybe we ought to get you a bigger stone." He looks at the size differance and then begins scanning the bowl.

Carys looks at the stone curiously, and decides to help Nicholai look for a bigger rock. She finds one that's innocently sitting next to a pile of firestone, and tosses it in Nicholai's direction. "Heads up," she says. Surprising that she's trying to be helpful to someone who she really doesn't like.

Ancaith doesn't seem bothered by the size difference between him and his rock, and he tosses his head upward, sending the rock upwards with it. He manages to catch the rock again with his nose, 'bouncing' it once or twice, but then the rock falls awry and tumbles off of his snout. Ancaith huffs, and Rilkie laughs once more. "Maybe a bigger rock /would/ help. Nicholai, he's wondering if maybe you could give him some lessons? And also-- oh, really?" Rilkie pauses, grinning at her lifemate, then at Nicholai once again. "And also, if you'd like to Stand, for Sareith and Aleith's clutch?"

Nicholai coughs and just stairs at the dragon for the longest time and then at the rider before shouting out, "Are you two off your rocker?" He shakes his head and jumps up giving a loud whoop, "Of course I will!" Nicholai is quite obviously excited to the point where his rock is forgotton. He even goes as far as to attempt a backflip that ends in more of a tumble. He stands again still grinning trying to find something akin to composure and grins at Carys.

Carys blinks, staring at Nicholai with an expression of complete horror fixed upon her face. Even his attemptped-backflip-turned-tumble doesn't make her smile or move or do anything. After a moment she swallows hard and says, "I think I definitely need to go now." At that, she turns on her heels and very quickly darts off towards the living caverns, swearing under her breath.

Girl Fight!!

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:33:51 GMT

Well today I had to break up some stupid firestone. I got so filthy that when I took a short break to find something to eat, Giremi (the Weyrharper) got all offended. Oh well. I cleaned up to make him happy. That's one thing that I hate about being a candidate; I have to be nice to everyone. It's really hard, you know! I also can't drink, I can't prank anyone, and I can't have sex. The sex part doesn't bother me at all, boys are repulsive. Drinking part doesn't bother me, either. The prank thing really gets me though! How do they expect me to have any fun at all? I'm sorry, but being all cheery and ridiculous does not sound like any fun to me. Where's the competition? Where's the surprise? Nowhere! I haven't met too many people since I got searched by Tenli's green, Iridith. Here are the ones I have met, though:

Ferros - Met him before I got searched. He seems alright enough. Kind of nice. Bugs me. But I'm sure I won't mind him after a little while.
Ephara - Met her before I got searched, too. I actually like her! She likes to prank people, too, but she seems to be more nice about it. She's really cheery. It throws me off. In any case I don't think I'll be mean to her.
Edlyn - The kind of person who seems like she has to follow rules. Kind of annoying attitude, but I think she'll probably grow on me. She's nice. Treats me alright.
Tiriana - One word: WHERRY.
Giremi - Weyrharper. He's no fun, really! He won't let us argue without tryin' to jump in and argue. I would have liked to see Epha and Tiriana fight. Woulda been hilarious!
Trevan - Seems alright to me. I haven't spoken to him a whole lot.

Anyway, that's all.

--

Living Cavern, Telgar Weyr
This huge cavern is sufficiently roomy to hold a large portion of the Weyr's population without feeling cramped. There's always a bustle of activity here. Fragrant dishes are constantly in prepartion for mealtimes: currently for the mid-day meal. Drudges are always present, either cleaning under Pierron's watchful eye, or helping fetch and carry. A myriad of glowbaskets and many ever-lit hearths make the cavern warm and inviting despite its size. The scents of cooking meats, baking breads and pastries, and the pungent aroma of spices hang mouthwateringly in the air. It is little wonder that those seeking to relax nearly always find their way here to do it. Dark summer blooms of vivid hue decorate the tables.
A short tunnel jaunts northward out to the bowl and the merry sounds of cooking, chores, and laughter echo from the kitchen at the southeast end of the cavern near the easterly passage to the rest of the lower caverns. Within the lower caverns is an entrance to the infirmary weyr to care for injured dragons and riders.
Contents:
Giremi
Ephara
Pierron
Telgar Serving Tables
Obvious exits:
Inner Caverns Kitchen Bowl

Edlyn walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Edlyn has arrived.

Edlyn strides into the caverns amid a group of exiting riders. She ducks and blushes, attempting to stay out of their way - managing to press herself against the wall and inche past as best she can. Comical. Once they've gone, she continues through the door and heads towards the food table. Her grimed appearance does not stop her from piling a plate full of food and snagging herself some klah. A familiar voice draws her towards the table Ephara is at and she sets herself down with a dramatic sigh. "I /hate/ dusting!" She lifts a sleeve upwards to wipe at her nose and sniffles.

"Ah. My sympathies then." Giremi's smile makes a brief appearance, polite more than anything else still from his standing position just across one of the tables from Ephara. There's a stack of hides, a mug and an empty plate, a chair or two over to his right that are probably his. The harper favors the girl with another long look then tsks lightly. "Aren't you a little young for backaches? It's not like you're an old auntie," he points out then regains his seat. Both brows lift as he settles down. "Well I do sing, but I'm more of an archivist than a singer."

Those eyebrows lift again as Giremi starts to flip over the topmost hide in the sheaf. "A bawdy ballad? You'll be wanting Tiriana then, the Weyrsecond's niece. I don't think I know anyone who knows more bawdy songs than she does." The harper's gaze turns Edlyn-wards and he nods politely. "I'll admit that dusting isn't my favorite chore either, but it does need to be done. Can't have grimy surfaces in the Records."

Carys walks in with black dust all over. She brushes herself off before getting too near people, although there are still smudges on her face and all over her clothes. She smells strongly of firestone. The wee Rys makes her way over to the serving tables, grabs something to eat with a dirty hand, then looks about to find a place to sit where she'll have fun company. Fun...hmm...she hears the words spoken by Ephara, and beams. Making her way over towards her she says, "Hi Epha. Hey, Ed. Hullo...you." Last bit for Giremi.

Tiriana has arrived.
Tiriana enters from the Bowl.

Edlyn busies herself by sipping her klah and organizing her food before her. Greens are pushed ot one side, while the meats, and starches to another. She hhms, poking at it speculatively. At Ephara's admission, her grin pushes forward and she shakes her head. "Goodness, 'phara! You shouldn't even be tempted to steal now that you're here. And I dunno about luggin', but it sure beats dusting." She lifts a hand to her hair and brushes it back from her eyes. "I think I'm just full of the stuff still." She looks to Giremi, tilting her head to the side. "A harper that doesn't like to sing? Shells, that's different! I'm Ed - er, Edlyn." She blushes and pops some food in her mouth to chew.

Ephara waves her hand dismissively, "Ain't about the stealing! It's about the adreniline.. and the look on that looby farmer's face when his prized porcine is hanging from the tree from a rope under it's arms and legs. Don't wanna hurt the porcine, but they sure squeal a fit when they're flyin'!" she chortles in glee, mimicing legs waving in the air. Licking her lips, she empties her cup and goes for a refill, "Want something to drink, Harper?" She asks Giremi politely.

All that black dust on Carys and the fact that she's just picked up food with those dirty hands makes Giremi's lips purse with disapproval as he continues to alternate skimming the hide in his hands and peering up at the cluster of Candidates. "Giremi, Journeyman Harper," provides said harper for Edlyn and Carys' benefit. "Y'know, it's customary to wash your hands and face before sitting down to a meal." This is pointed out to Carys as the harper's face twitches a little, likely in revulsion at the girl's manners. "Well met Edlyn. Mind, I didn't say I didn't /like/ to sing. I like it fine. It's not my strongest skill as a harper though." Just a little stuffily said, that. Ephara's offer peaks his brows upwards yet again. "No thank you, I'd just finished my klah when you arrived."

Carys stops in midchew, looking down at her clothing, and observing her hands. "Oh..." she swallows her food really fast and licks her lips. "Sorry. I didn't think it'd matter, seein' as how I'm just gonna go back out there and break up more firestone when I'm finished." She eats a little more, looking at her feet. She watches Ephara go, wondering why she didn't say 'hi' back, and then finishes off the little thing she'd grabbed as a snack. "I guess I'll go wash up really quick, then." She darts off in a direction that hopefully leads to a scrub bin or something.

There's an extra bit of swagger in Tiriana's step as she saunters into the living cavern this afternoon, in what appear to be new clothes. As soon as she enters, she glances about for a seat; Giremi's high red head provides a convenient landmark for that, and she heads his way to drop into an empty seat by him and the cluster of candidates, though there's not so much as a hello for, well, any of them. "It's my birthday," she tells Giremi instead, expectant. "The least you can do is get me food."

Edlyn reaches into her pockets to pull out a bit of cloth to hand to Carys, but the younger girl is already up and running off to wash up. Ed's lips purse and she looks to Giremi with furrowed brows. "I don't know if you're Harper here or not, but you needn't be so hard on her. She's new to all this Candidate work." Her food is forgotten, though her klah is brought towards her lips for a sip. "Sometimes you only have a short break to shovel your food in." Sniff. Tiriana is appraised with lifted brows and a twitched smile. "Yes, he should also sing for you."

Ephara gets her juice and returns, watching Carys sprint off and Tiriana enter. She lifts her eyebrows and snorts, plunking down in a chair. "I know you." She says, taking a hard look at R'dur's niece. "You was in here the night I arrived." She rubs the side of her nose, leaning back. "Didn't quite catch your name though."

"It's ordinary manners to wash up before meals." Giremi quirks a look at Edlyn for the overwrought response but his entire manner changes the instant Tiriana appears in his field of vision and drops down into that chair, face splitting into a sunny grin that suddenly changes to abashed embarrassment as he flushes all the way up to his hairline. "It's your birthday? Today? Shells. Happy birthday Tiri." His smile returns brighter than before and he leans back in his chair. "Okay, I'll humor you today, birthday girl. Got any preferences?" Ephara's remarks bring a short snap of his fingers. "Oh and Tiriana, this is Ephara, Ephara, Tiriana. Teach her one of your favorite naughty songs won't you?"

"He sings boring songs," Tiriana dismisses Edlyn's suggestion with a wave of her hand, and a smirk as Giremi agrees with her order. "Not wherry. Or fish. I like herdbeast, and... I dunno, not picky about the rest. And dessert, I want dessert," she tacks on at the end, with a nod. Though, her brows knit at his instruction, and she glances at Edlyn and Ephara suspiciously. "What for?"

Edlyn flattens her lips into a thin line as /she/ is not introduced. Her food is once more a focus as she slices each offering into bite-sized portions. Systematically, she places bits into her mouth and chews. "Don't look at me," she answers Tiri, frown flashing, "I don't want to learn those sorts of songs. That's 'phara's type." Her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.

Ephara sniffs, "The worst you know." She corrects it Giremi's wake. "I've heard all the tame ones. I need something to melt Leuxcais' ears." And maybe wither some other parts of his body, if she can manage, judging by the vengeful expression on her face. She lifts a fist into the air and brings it down emphatically. To Tiriana she explains, "I have a bet going with Leuxcais. He thinks he can find a song bawdy enough to make me blush, and I said the same of him. I know some terrible ones, but I'm combing the Weyr for some worse." She glances aside at Edlyn and jerks her thumb in the girl's direction, "That's Ed. She likes runners, but not naughty songs."

Stirring himself promptly after Tiriana's list of likes and dislikes, Giremi heads over to put a plate together for her. "Ephara needs one to win a bet," he calls over his shoulder, then he's busy rooting through what's available and after a moment, sticking his head into the kitchen for a word with the cook. When he returns from the kitchen, Tiriana's plate is noticeably more full than when he went in and some of the items on the plate aren't available on the general buffet. He's also got a covered bowl in his other hand. All of this is set down on the table in front of the Weyrsecond's niece followed by a rooting around in his pocket for a flask that joins the rest of the items. "There you go. One birthday meal." Settling back into his chair Giremi pulls his glasses off and tucks them into his shirt pocket and tidies his hides safely out of the way. "I'm not much of a bawdy fan myself, but I can look some up for you if you like, Ephara."

"Who's Leuxcais?" asks Tiriana, not terribly interested for all that question. She also notes, "Runners're nice. I work in the stables. Anyway. Um... There's one my daddy taught me, back at Ierne--I think he got it from the Weyrwoman or the weyrlingmaster, they were seacrafter types. It's my favorite, but I know bunches." Her lips purse thoughtfully as she lets Giremi arrange a meal for her; she apparently takes it as enough of her due not to have to say thank you as she digs in.

Carys returns from wherever she'd gone with a perfectly clean face, and clean hands to match. Although her clothes are still considerably dusty, she doesn't seem to be spouting any puffs of black firestone crud all over the place. She takes her seat back, looking up at Giremi with a rather awful look on her face which she quickly disposes of before speaking to him. "That better?" she asks in a forced tone of politeness. She really doesn't want to be nice, but she knows she has to. Then Rys looks over at Tiriana with a curious expression fixed on her little face, eyeing all the food with a raised brow. "You have to learn a bawdy song for a bet?" she asks Ephara. "Shards, that's pretty funny!"

Edlyn bites her lip to hold back a smile at Ephara's empathetic response. "I dunno who this fellow is, but I'm guessin' he's going to lose the bet." She shakes her head, sending her hair to falling in her face again. Deft fingers reach up to part her hair and push it as firmly behind her ears as she can. Her eyes linger for a moment on the plate of food before Tiri, assessing the contents from the look of it. Her food is pushed away from her, half finished. "I just can't seem to get much of an appetite for this Weyr food," she comments to Ephara with a half-shrug. "Runners are a lot of work - but you can teach them to do some interesting thing," Ed answers Tiri with a wider smile. Her voice rises in response to her passion for the beasts. "I taught one back home to turn circles and rear up on command. We were workin' on gettin' him to kick out too, 'fore I came here." A nod of approval is given to Carys, "You look much better. Hope your food isn't too cold."

Ephara has taken one of those instant dislikings to Tiriana that people sometimes do. "He's a Candidate." She replies flatly. "And that's okay, I probably know it." Turning to look at Carys and ignoring the 'turnday girl,' she shrugs, "I know lots of bawdy songs, I just want to know the worst one. I think I'll write my own though, to play on my pipe." She shrugs for Edlyn, having no interest in runners. "The foods alright. Better than some, not much different than the fare anywhere else.. well.. some of it at least. We've fresher at home." She admits.

A little distracted, Giremi doesn't immediately notice Carys' return, her actual address to him is what lifts his gaze to the Candidate and he smiles. "There. Much better. Now you won't be eating firestone grime along with your food. Or getting it in anyone else's besides." The harper listens to the various contributions to the conversation before remarking with some surprise: "Really? The food here doesn't suit you? I guess I've always felt pretty fortunate about the variety of things available. And when the bakers get going they make some very nice treats."

"I said I work in the stables. You think I don't know what to do with them?" Tiriana sneers at Edlyn, snorting. "Circus tricks for traders," she dismisses the tricks. Then, giving Ephara a look as well, she raises her brows slightly and shrugs. "Fine, I won't teach you the one I know. Maybe I'll teach him 'stead. And go back to your own hold if you don't like ours." She bristles slightly at the insult to her home, as she stabs a piece of meat on her own plate with her fork.

Carys purses her lips and nods in response to Giremi's comment, and then looks over at Edlyn with a smile. "Thanks. It doesn't much matter if my food's cold or not, I'll eat it either way and still like it. It's keepin' me alive at least." Then she smirks in Ephara's direction, letting out a little chuckle. "I bet you could write a really good one. I wonder if Leuxcais is taking this much time to find a bawdy song to sing to you?" After her question she proceeds to take big portions of food and shove them in her mouth. Manners? She's still learning. Then she casts a curious glance over at Tiriana, entertained by her reaction to Phara and the stabbing of the meat.

"We've better wine, but I guess that's family pride or something," Edlyn answeres Ephara with a bemused smile. Seems the other girl's attitude towards Tiri is noted. Her attention is drawn towards Giremi at his response, she simply shrugs. "I'm not saying it's not /good/. It's just not home, you know? Shells, some of the things on the menu I have never tried before." Her nose wrinkles and her lip curls in mild distaste. "I'm not much of one for adventerous eating." Ed's eyes narrow as she shoots a steely gaze in Tiri's direction. "Well aren't you just a know-it-all. I hope a stallion tramples you." She slams her klah down on the table and rises. "I've got better things to do than chat." Squaring her shoulders, Ed pulls away from the table and stalks out of the caverns.

Giremi eyes Tiriana sidelong with a slight frown and clears his throat a couple of times, but doesn't actually manage to say anything. He nods absently at Edlyn's exclamation then makes wide eyes as she stalks off. "Well then. It's never a day in the living cavern without someone's temper firing off," he murmurs under his breath and pulls his hides towards him again. "Writing your own? You sure you want to Stand Ephara? Sounds like you could make a stab at Harper."

Ephara watches Edlyn and smirks at Tiriana, "Bitter tongues do bitter enemies make." She says with more wisdom than her Turns. "So how old are you now, Tiriana, 4? You must be, only children know everything. They start forgetting as they grow." She finishes her juice, leaning lazily backwards in her chair and folding her hands across her stomach. She watches Carys thoughtfully, wrinkling her nose at the heavy smell of phosphine that permeates from the other Candidate. For Giremi, she shrugs, "I ain't gunna Impress, but I dunno if I wanna be a Harper either. I like to play my pipe, and sing, but to be stuck at that Hall for Turns, drudging my life away." She shudders. "I'd much rather travel Pern selling my wares and hearing the tales. I wasn't meant to stay one place forever. These bones just don't idle well."

"They won't. They like me," Tiriana shoots back at Edlyn, "because I don't try to make 'em act like dumb show ponies." She offers the exiting girl a superior look, before glancing sideways at Ephara. "Sixteen," she answers frostily. "And you better watch your mouth, /candidate/, or I can have you kicked out of there fast. Since you're not gonna impress anyway, we'll just put you back on the road."

Carys notices Ephara watching her, and watches her back with a look of '...What?' on her face. The smell of firestone doesn't seem to be getting to her much. Maybe it's because she's distracted by food and listening to the constant bickering. At Edlyn's exit she rolls her eyes and mutters, "Girl drama..." She lifts her eyes Giremiwards and studies him for a moment. "Is part of your job recruiting or something?"

"Ladies, come now, let's be civil?" Giremi's suggestion is made mildly as his gaze flicks betwen Ephara and Tiriana. "Also, Ephara if you /are/ interested in learning more, how to play other instruments for instance, or some of the archiving, let me know, or just come by. Sometimes the Hall takes apprentices at a higher entering level if they've trained before arriving and then it's a shorter time to Journeyman ... and posting out to wander to different holds, halls and Weyrs." He smiles a little and nods Carys' way. "Actually yes. Journeymen're supposed to keep an eye out for possible Harper talent at postings."

Ephara spits back, "I live here, ya tart. Mind your own mouth if you want mine to be civil." The look on her face has 'you're an idiot' writen all over it. More politely she tells Giremi, "I would certainly enjoy learning a more complicated instrument than my pipe. I love learning new things." Then she can't help but jab Tiriana just a bit more, "Well, I may not Impress, but I have a chance of it." In her head she is obviously thinking that it is more than she can say for Tiriana, for who would want that trollop?

Carys just nods at Giremi, saying, "Oh, I see. Well how long have /you/ been a harper then? Long time?" She looks quite disappointed when he tells them to be civil, wrinkling her nose and pouting a bit. She was amused, in a very sick way. Then Rys looks up at Ephara after finishing what was left on her plate, and asks, thoughtfully, "So wait...if you don't Impres, and I think you probably will, then you might be a harper? I haven't thought of what I might do. Probably stay here and help in the kitchen or something. Or go back and live with A'son at Reaches."

"Hey, hey," Giremi tries conciliation again. "Enough of this. Here, why /don't/ I sing and then you can both make fun of me instead of sniping at each other?" There's a slight nod for Ephara. "Third door down the left hand corridor in the crafter quarters, or you can usually find me in the Records most afternoons, cataloging and such." He takes a deep breath, lets it out and stacks his empty mug and plate, then tips a look over at Carys. "Let's see, seven, no eight turns now since I apprenticed, but only three since I walked the tables and posted here."

Tiriana just rolls her eyes at Giremi, ignoring his cautionary words. Really, ignores them, because at Ephara's words she's pushing her plate back and then her chair, deliberately. "You wanna go at it, then? I can kick your butt, you--you stay out of this," the latter, heatedly, to Giremi as he tries to defuse the situation.

Ephara laughs outright at Tiriana, "I ain't stupid, stupid. I fight you, I get kicked out. Nope, I'm gunna sit right here and enjoy my juice." The girl grins infuriatingly back at Tiriana and then says with breathless inthusiasm, "I would love to hear a song, Harper. And no offense, but I couldn't stick around five turns learning and three more just sitting here. Especially not in that moldy Records Cavern." A light shudder runs down her spine. "Too much time indoors. Give me open air and beautiful sky."

Carys eyes the girls, waiting to see if Epha will jump out of her chair and pummel her or not. When she declines, Rys feels somewhat relieved, but disappointed yet again. Looking up at Tiriana, "Oh sit down, you've already made enough of a scene to give people something to talk about for a sevenday." She leans back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head comfortably.

Giremi's voice is mild but there's something rarely found in his manner: a bid for grasping at some kind of authority. "I'll sing and then let's go have a drink over at the Hold or convince someone to take us to Ista, eh, Tiri?" That last is more cajoling than anything else and one of his hands reaches for the young woman's arm. "Doesn't have to be that long, but do as you will, Ephara."

"Coward," sneers Tiriana, triumphant herself. "Never thought I'd meet somebody chicken enough to be scared of /R'dur/ though." That seems to amuse her enough to settle ruffled feathers, though she sneers at Carys. "Oh, keep your nose out of it--none of your business." She shrugs away from Giremi's touch, but at least falls silent, albeit with an ugly look for him. "I'm not going anywhere with you right now."

Ephara shrugs, "Coward? No." she drawls, amusement in her voice. She finishes her juice, and gets to her feet, "I'm out. See y'all."

Carys looks horribly amused when Tiriana tells her to mind her own business, and she starts laughing. She pushes her dish away, putting Ephara's cup on top of her plate, and then kicks back again. "Kinda funny how fast you two got to fighting, isn't it?" She really doesn't get when to shut her mouth.

Giremi's lips press together a little at the further trading of barbs and then he sends a long-suffering look Carys' way. "Never a dull moment around here," is what he finally says though, aiming for a lighter tone, and doing a passable imitation of not taking that ugly look to heart. "See you around Ephara." He nods politely as the Candidate departs then turns back to tidying up the area of the table he was occupying. "Fine then, no birthday present for you, Tiri," the harper continues in the same mild tone of voice as he gets his things together.

Arezan walks in from the bowl.
Arezan has arrived.

"But look at her run," Tiriana says loudly as Ephara leaves, pointedly ignoring Carys this time around. Though, Giremi's words set her to seething again, and she spits back at him, bitterly, "I didn't want anything from you, anyway." With everyone at the table left in some degree of anger at her, she scowls, shoulders stiff as she reaches to pull her plate back toward her and continue eating.

Carys just raises her brows and grins, letting off a bit of a stretch before she stands. "Alright, well...hope you don't get too fat after eating all that food," is all she says before nonchalantly walking outside to the bowl to finish her chores. She chirrups, "Bye!" over her shoulder.