
Xanadu Weyr - Main Docks
Jutting out from the land are the platforms that make up the main dock of Xanadu Weyr. The extruded plastic makes an odd sound when footsteps echo across it. From this dock, two others protrude taking opposite directions, each for a special purpose.
It's a bit later in the afternoon and a certain candidate seems to have some time off to spend doing … well, whatever he feels inclined to do. Which, currently, means sitting at the edge of the docks with a bit of wood in one hand and a knife in the other. Rished is quiet and occupied with the task of whittling, a large leather bag beside him and three firelizards currently splashing around in the water below. Either that or they're fishing badly. Whatever it is, they're being kept busy and he's happily able to work in relative peace and quiet.
Daralyn is making his way down for a bit of fishing of his own: He's done with his current batch of chores and doesn't have to do much else for a bit. So, he makes his way down to the docks accordingly. As he gets there, he notices Rished there and waves. "Hey there."
Rished continues his work, a thin ribbon of wood being shaved away to fall in his lap. It's hard to tell just /what/ he's making, just that he's very intense about the whole task. Only at the greeting does he stop, the point of the knife resting just a scant half inch from the surface of the wood — already prepared for the next cut, it would seem. "Oh, uh. Hey," he replies, tipping a look over with a friendly grin.
Daralyn looks at the whittling that Rished is doing as Rished responds. He can't quite tell what it is (he's glancing from behind Rished, and one at least -hopes- that Rished isn't trying to whittle behind his back), so… "What're you working on there?" And then… .o0(Duh…)0o. "I'm Daralyn, by the way."
Rished places the blade's point after a moment or two, using it to score a section of the block and then to carve out another bit. It doesn't help, either, that he's a bit hunched while he works, but when the block is turned a little, it's clear that the carving is meant to be something draconic. Or 'lizardly. Something of that sort. "Uh. Oh. This is supposed to be," he leans a bit forward, pointing down at the 'lizards playing in the water, "the green one. Missy." Pause. "Oh, hey. I'm Rished. Nice to, uh, meet you, Daralyn."
Daralyn looks at the block, and at the lizard in question. "Woodcarving of your firelizard?" Daralyn sits down a few feet down from Rished and looks into the water. "How's the fishing today?"
Rished nods to the younger lad and finally moves to reach for his bag to pull out his carving kit. "Yeah. She's fussy, so it's hard to get her to sit still." The carving remains in his lap, his head tipping a little to allow him to glance at Daralyn. "Dunno. Guess it's alright; they're not having too much trouble getting food," he determines after a moment or two.
Daralyn laughs. "Lizards are like that…" Pause. "That's always good to hear."
Rished makes a vague noise at the back of his throat, nods again, and then switches out one knife for another, only to settle back into the task of carving again. "Might be a good idea to go just a little further down. They seem pretty focused on fishing right here, so other areas might have more fish." He guesses. He's just a woodcrafter-turned-candidate.
Daralyn nods. "I'll try down there." He gets up, heads a little way down the dock (far enough that Rished's firelizards won't be scaring off (or eating) the fish, and puts his line in the water.
Rished remains where he is, lapsing into silence while he settles back into his work. More wood shavings and peelings gather in his lap, only to periodically be picked up and set in a growing pile beside him. Below, the 'lizards continue at their play, with the brown — Suede — soon breaking away to go check out what that line is doing.
Daralyn hasn't had much luck, but fishing also tends to be something to do to kill a large batch of free time. He soon notices something dark-colored coming in the general direction of his fishing line. Blink. .o0(What's…)0o. Glance over in Rished's direction. "Uh…Rished?"
Rished finishes up whatever he's doing and switches for another blade, with his attention turning to Daralyn when the lad speaks up again. "Huh?" Suede, of course, is just curious; he flutters around the line, then drops down to the water, poking his head under to take a peek-see.
Daralyn gestures down. "Is he yours? Because I'm…" Yoink! The line comes out of the water. "…worried he'll try and eat the line." Grin.
Squint. "Yeah, that's Suede. He won't eat the line," Rished reassures, then whistles loudly. Suede pops his head out of the water and wings up, skipping Between to wind up just over his owner's head. Dripping. The young man makes a face and drags a hand through his hair, mentally willing the brown to land on his shoulder. "He just wants fish. He's pretty good about not chewing up other things."
Daralyn plops his line back in the water and nods. "Didn't want him to accidentially hurt himself, that's all." He doesn't know how a fishing hook goes down in a firelizard, you know? "He full now?" The question is based on the lizard flying over to Rished's shoulder.
Rished rubs a bit at Suede's jaw, then coaxes the brown to clamber onto his hand. "He's not, but he'll survive. I'll just get him something from the kitchens later. I just figured it'd be better to call him back here, just in case." The brown 'lizard is then offered to Daralyn for closer inspection, if he's so inclined.
Daralyn looks over Suede. He doesn't quite seem to be the type to want to eat a hook…but he can also guess why Rished called him in: Suede is small enough that a good fishing hook could probably do some damage. He tentatively puts a finger out to touch Suede.
Suede's hide is warm and remarkably smooth — aside from still being a little wet in places — and he makes a happy little churring noise for the contact. Indeed, he's as smooth as suede, which is what likely earned him the name. Rished, for his part, is quiet while he watches … perhaps just to make sure he doesn't startle one or the other. Navy and Missy, the blue and green respectively, soon end their fishing and wing over as well, chattering back and forth in their nonsensical 'lizard language.
Daralyn is impressed by how smooth Suede's hide is as he runs a finger or two along it foe a moment. "Smooth. He's smooth." Pause. "Sorry if I disrupted your fishing…" he says to the lizard, with a bit of an innocent shrug to Rished.
Rished keeps his arm steady, so Suede isn't jostled too much. He's a patient fellow, at least; he streatches into the touch, churring warmly all the while. "Yeah, they're all pretty smooth, but he's a lot smoother than, say, Navy. I'm sure he's forgiven you; besides, it's me that should be asking for forgiveness, since I called him back."
Daralyn smiles a bit at that as he puts his hand back down. "So you've got three of them?" he inquires, noting that he's named three and that he can see three here.
Rished grins lopsidedly and gestures with his free hand at the other two, "Missy," the green, "and that's Navy," the blue. "Navy's egg was a gift from my sister and Missy came along a litle after … and then, a few days later, came Suede." He laughs a little. "They're a handful, but … I like them."
Daralyn blinks. "You got them all about the same time?" Acquiring three new pets right at the same time seems a bit…quick.
Rished laughs a little and nods, reaching up absently to rub Missy's neck. "To be fair, though, Navy's egg was with Missy's and a whole bunch of others. They all hatched the same day. Suede hatched in the living cavern and it was dumb luck that I managed to Impress him. It's a lot to do with Navy being fussy … it's, uh, kind of a funny story."
Daralyn laughs along. "Oh? What happened?" He seems quite interested in the funny story.
Rished isn't naturally a storyteller, so it takes him a moment or two to compose his thoughts. Eventually: "Well, I was getting something to eat for me and them. The bowl wasn't entirely empty and Navy crawled into it. But, uh, he didn't like the meat in there, so he threw it all out. So, I picked it all up, put it in the bowl … and he threw it all out again. By then, the other little 'lizards had all hatched and Suede spotted the bit of meat in my hand as I was picking it up … and that was that." Pause. "It /was/ funny. But, uh, maybe it's one of those things where you should have been there."
Daralyn laughs a bit, more out of good nature than anything. There's something odd in getting a pet because another pet of yours doesn't like your food, you know? "How many lizards hatched in that group?"
Rished furrows his brow a bit in thought. "Well, my sister managed to get her hands on a lot of eggs. I know some were her green's, but … no green lays /that/ many. Or, well, maybe they do, but no one finds them — I don't know. It was, uh, more than a dozen, definitely." His lips purse. "But there were only three in the basket that Suede came from."
Daralyn nods. That's…quite a few. "So a couple of the dragons laid eggs that came out in that group?"
Rished looks a little confused and shakes his head, if a bit slowly. "The dragons …? No, I mean, if you mean the 'lizards, then Mo or Mully — Mulgrave, her bronze — had to have found a couple of nests or something. I never did ask her where she found that many firelizard eggs." There's an absent rub at the back of his neck. "The dragons haven't hatched. Well, I mean, one clutch did, but Seryth's eggs are still out there."
Daralyn looks a bit less surprised/confused. "So the dragons found the lizard nests." Right. He's got it, he thinks.
Rished's confusion just manages to deepen. "Uh. N- no. My sister found them with her bronze 'lizard," he attempts, rubbing further at the back of his neck. There's a bit of a laugh, then, and he adds, "She's not a rider, unless she's been keeping a /huge/ secret from me."
A complementary laugh comes from Daralyn. "Yeah, that'd be a -big- secret. So your sister's -lizards- found the nests."
Rished grins and moves to gather his things up, setting his trio to flight with a low whistle. "Yeah. I know Mully's keen on eggs like that; Trina, her green … isn't so much. So I'd wager he found them." The 'lizards swirl in the air then skip Between to parts unknown, leaving the candidate free of them. "Sometimes, you'll get lucky and find eggs along the beach or something … but I've, uh, never had that kind of luck."
"You need to be looking to for them to find them." Daralyn blinks as the lizards skip off. "That always drives me a little crazy…"
Rished rolls a shoulder, looking at where the trio were before his attention shifts back to Daralyn. "I've looked. I'm just awful about knowing /where/ to look." His nose wrinkles a bit, thoughtfully, and then he peers sidelong at Daralyn. "What? The Between thing? It's a little weird, but it's handy."
"Yeah, it's just…something vanishing from somewhere you know it is?" Pause. "But you're right, it can be useful, I think." Daralyn shrugs…it's one of those things you can see a lot and still think odd.
"Well. Kinda. I mean, I don't really understand it all that well myself; I just know they can go from here to the barracks in three seconds. They're just skipping all the stuff between here and there." Rished reshoulders his bag, adjusting the hang of it gently. "It's great for sending messages and things, definitely, but it's not great if you want a hot pastry transported from the Caverns."
Ok, the thought of a lizard leaping into the Caverns to get a hot pastry and bring it back brings a grin to Daralyn's face. "Yeah, the lizard would probably eat it first."
Rished snickers a bit and shakes his head. "Suede would, but it just makes him sick. I've sent them to get them for me before, after curfew, but they always come back freezing cold." Woe is he. "They're edible, at least. Just have to let them warm up a little."
"Wonder why that is…" Shrug. He's not a scientist. "I guess getting a cold sandwich would work better? Or would he eat that, too?"
"That's just what Between does," Rished observes, his head tilting back a little. "It's cold and weird and kind of … numbing for the three seconds. That's just how I remember it, the once or twice I've gone." His mouth pulls a little to the side at the memory. "Well, maybe. But they eat a lot of things they're not supposed to. And, sometimes, they don't get what I want them to, and I wind up with some really weird things."
"I'm not sure I want to know." Daralyn is getting an image in his mind of asking for a steak and getting a snake. "I've never been Between, I don't think."
Rished shifts his weight slightly. "You'd know … I mean, if you've ever ridden a dragon, you'd definitely know. It, uh. It's something you won't forget, ever. It, uh. It's a little scary at first, but riders go Between all the time, so I guess they're used to it."
Daralyn nods. "I've never been on a dragon, so…no, I guess I haven't."
"I've had to, but it's not an everyday thing for me." He absently flicks at his white candidate's knot. "But it might be. Seryth's eggs are pretty hard right now, so it shouldn't be too much longer before they hatch," Rished guesses. Either way, he shrugs again and starts to move, clearly prepared to follow his 'lizards wherever they went — even if he has to do it the long way. His stomach growls audibly, leaving him to wince. "Anyway. I need to, uh, get something to eat. Good luck fishing, hey?"
Daralyn nods. "Thanks, I will." And he waves to Rished before returning to his fishing.