*Xanadu Wilds - Bowl Falls**
The soft music of water dancing upon rock greets you as the narrow declivity gradually opens to a bowl with gently-curved, sides carpeted in emerald-colored moss. Here you may ascend to the rim and access the untamed forest on the surface of the Island.
In one spot a wide section of water pours over the bowl's lip, forming a single sheet that tinkles pleasantly upon rocks at the bottom, a narrow groove providing the runoff to drain out of the bowl and into a crack. Mist rises, but the moisture dissipates, leaving this place a dry and comfortable spot to rest or camp in, the soft carpet providing a natural cushion. Though there are no trees growing down here in the bowl, the trees overhead from the forest on the topside shelter from the sun and rain.
Even on the island the weather seems to be changing more to Autumn is in full swing it would seem. Idrissa has been off trotting around the Island it seems, perhaps searching for a firelizard or two that seems to have escaped. Though at the moment she has two with her, one brown and one blue with her green off somewhere. She pauses long enough to drop some wood off at the pile near the fireplace as fire is a rather nice thing to have with the cooler weather starting to roll in.
Hotaru can't exactly say she's enjoying the change in weather. It's cold and damp, though thankfully not rainy. That would certainly make for a miserable time. The red-head right now is sitting on her bedroll, using her knife to whittle away at a stick with no real purpose other than to occupy her time. She's been around the island so many times now that there wasn't too much else to see. Now she was just cold and a little hungry and wanting to head back to the weyr. Her own bronze is tucked away in her coat, and pops his head out every so often to see what's going on. Hotaru gives a nod to Rissa.
Not only is it autumn, there's wind. Cold wind, but that's not what has Soriana involved right now. It's more the fact that the wind has caught up one of the tarps and is carrying it briskly along, flapping like some great giant bird as Sori gives chase!
Idrissa gives her hands a slight rubbing while she goes about poking at the fire that has died down some. She looks up and smiles. "Hey Hotaru. How you doing?" There is movement and she looks over curiously while tilting her head as she catches sight of the tarp fluttering around. "Oh dear.." She is then quick to chase after it to try and give Soriana a hand. Perhaps it has gotten rather windy around here?
Hotaru blinks a bit as Sori is up giving chase to a tarp. "Don't let it get away!" She'd help, but would really be of no use since she's not close enough to be of any help. Unless it seems to be going on a ways. Then she'll get up and join in the chase. At least there are a trees around so it shouldn't get far? of course it'll probably land in the middle of the cold water. She at least stands up, just in case. "I'm fine. I guess. As well as I can be out here."
The tarp will slip the surly bonds of earth, and dance the skies on grommet-silvered wings! Sunward it climbs, to join the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds… and Sori chases the shouting wind along - puts out her hand, to catch the edge of tarp. "Aha!" in victory, "I have you now," and turning back to Idrissa she adds, "We'd better put some rocks on them tonight."
Idrissa chuckles and nods smiling to Soriana as she is able to grab hold of the tarp. "Ya, might not be a bad idea." This said while she looks upwards towards the sky a few moments.. "I hope the weather doesn't get to bad seeing how we're out well, in the middle of nowhere after all." It could be a bad thing. She glances over to Hotaru and nods with a smile.
Go Sori, go! "Whew, nice catch. I expected it to head straight for the water. And I wasn't looking forward to fishing it out, either." Hotaru waves a hand dismissively. "I'm sleeping on mine tonight. I have been, most nights. Anything to add another layer against the cold rocky ground." Hotaru follows Rissa's eye upwards. "If it rains here I'm sleeping in your bedroll with you Idrissa. You can shield me from the rains." She moves over to poke at the fire some. They've had one lit almost constantly since they arrived, but a nice rain would change that quick.
"Yeah, it's been getting awfully windy," Soriana says with a shake of her head, drawing the tarp down and offering one side to Idrissa for some help in folding it. "I'm not sure I like the look of those clouds, either." She glances up at them (where this tarp shall no longer soar) and frowns.
Idrissa moves on over to Soriana and does help with the folding of the tarp that wanted to get away. Just imagen the stories it will tell the others! "Well gee, that's nice of you Hotaru." She smirks and chuckles after a moment. "I don't like the looks of 'em thats for sure. I get the feeling it might try to rain at some point." Did she just feel as drop? A glance is sent upwards, her eyes narrowing a moment in thought.
Hotaru looks between the other two candidates. "Sometimes that's the prelude to a big storm. Don't jinx us! If it rains I might try to find a pine I can fit under. Or maybe there's an overhang in the rock someplace. I can't think of one, but maybe. Even if it's just big enough to stash some of our gear." She grins to Idrissa. "Hey, I'd provide body heat! Really I guess we should have thought of what to do for rain before. Maybe someone has." Hotaru can just feel the skies opening up any second.
The tarp woulda had even better stories if it had actually managed to escape! Of course, then it wouldn't have been there with the other tarps to tell them. Win some, lose some. Soriana laughs. "I think if it rains… we all get very wet." Isn't that just a great plan? "But, I mean… yeah. If it gets cold enough, you're gonna find me crawling into bedrolls too."
"Well that is true. If it starts raining an all then it wouldn't be such a bad thing I suppose." Idrisa ponders this while giving her hands a slight rub. "Maybe we should get that tarp back up and get them all more secure incase all this happens?" Better to do now then after everything has happened after all.
Hotaru nods to Soriana. "We certainly will all get very wet. There is no doubt of that. It'd be nice to still have something dry to change into. Though all my clothes are pretty ripe about now. It might help to wash away some of the general stench." At least they all mostly smell like a wood fire and not like gym socks. Hotaru wanders off a bit to pick up some larger rocks, so they can anchor down the tarps. "If one of you two are going to share with Sticky maybe we can use your tarp as a cocoon for some of our stuff." Yes, she's already reassigning their tarps!
"Yeah, maybe it'll be a good thing. I think some of the boys haven't bathed since we got here." Noooot that Soriana can entirely blame them, because the water around here is frigid. It's not like her own clothes smell any better. Nevertheless! She brings the tarp over to get rocked by Hotaru, and hehs. "We'd better keep the food dry. Wet crackers, ick." So is that her volunteering her tarp?
Idrissa ewws at the talk of wet crackers. "Ya that would so not be a good idea." She goes along to try and help set up the tarp. "Most likely not. That was is rather cold." Trying to get a boy to bath is hard as it is, right?
Hotaru chuckles. "Every time I bathe I wish I didn't. The water is amazingly cold." Hotaru rocks that tarp! She rocks it hard! There's a nod about keeping the food dry. "Wet is one thing, but everything will start to rot afterwards. Then we'll be cold and wet and hungry. Kale will be so grumpy I'll have to start calling him grumpy instead of Sticky." She blinks suddenly. "Ack! I felt a drop!"
"It really, really is," Soriana says, with a shiver just at the thought of the frigid water. Not that she's too cold right now, what with the double sweater triple sock technique, but still. "Yeah, you can definitely have my tarp." She'll just share with Kale. Maybe that'll keep him from being grumpy. At least, in combination with still having food, because… "Muir can feed himself okay," ish, "-but not all of us." She looks up at the sky at the report of a raindrop. "Really? Oh, shards!"
Idrissa goes about checking the rest of the tarps to make sure they are tied down tightly still. Some rocks are used along the bottoms to offer extra weight and perhaps keep them down while there does indeed seem to be a storm-a-brewing-. "Why is he so grumpy anyway Soriana?" This is questioned as she has been a bit lost from the conversation as of late into what is up with Kale it seems. Then more drops starting to fall and she sends a glance upwards to the shy eyeing it a few moments.
Hotaru starts to scoop up what's left of the food. "Shards… someone's been into the stash. I hope they come pick us up soon, or we are in for some sparse days filled with hunger and sorrow." Maybe! Hotaru can imagine why Kale is so grumpy. No alone time with either of his girls probably. And there they were. Right there. Taunting him… "The ducks haven't been back, either. And I'm starting to hate pine nuts." And a drop, and another drop… Full on panic mode is about to set in, even if it's not pouring yet. "Should we just stay here? Should we try to keep the fire lit?"
"Too long away from the forge," Soriana replies to Idrissa with a teasing smirk. "He'll be fine once he gets the chance to pound some metal again." Okay, so that's only sort of the reason, but it's true that Kale's mood will almost certainly improve once they're back at the Weyr, and also true that he probably won't mind his love for smithcraft (nothing funny. he just likes smithing) being bandied around as the reason. Soriana frowns again as she looks up at the sky. "Pine nuts would be fine if they just had a flavor besides pine. Any flavor." She's going to start carrying a bottle of hot sauce around her neck. Just in case. "Never mind the fire. Let's get the food wrapped up." She removes the rocks from the tarp and brings it over to where Hotaru's got the stash.
Idrissa peers over at Soriana at the bit on the forge, she looks confused it would seem. A soft ah escapes her, hand lifting to scratch at her neck as she ponders. "That's it? His grumpy over that?" There is a pause and she ponders why this would by an issue. She shakes her head and is going back working on getting what food there is lying out and seeable picked up and covered. "Well, how much longer are we suppose to be out here anyway? Wasn't it like a sevenday or something?"
Hotaru blinks at Soriana. "Really? He's sad because… he's not… working?" Does not compute! Though it might be a relaxation thing. Now Kale was all pent up and boiling over! "Well, if you don't like pine I could… eh, nevermind." She laughs a bit. Such a thought was just gross. But really any sort of seasoning would help. They could at least roast them in something. Hotaru moves the food onto Soriana's tarp and helps her wrap it up so that water won't leak into it. "I thought it was ten days? Or maybe a sevenday. I've lost track of time."
"And some other stuff," Soriana admits on the matter of Kale with a wave of a hand. "But he'll be okay." The tarp flutters in the wind, hoping to escape again and make another run for the heavens, but she holds it firm, working with Hotaru to wrap it up around foodstuffs. "Ten days. V'dim said ten days." Sooo if he wasn't lying… and really, it doesn't seem like him to lie. Not answer, sure, but she can't remember him actually lying to them so far.
Idrissa glances back to Soriana as the 'rest' part comes out, she looks a bit confused once more. "What other things?" Maybe she'll just have to talk to Kale about it in the end. A nod is seen at the talk about the ten days while she wraps a few things up and sticks them within a pack an so forth.
Hotaru looks at Soriana, then to Idrissa. She laughs. "Yeah Sori, what other stuff?" Now Hotaru is mostly teasing. Of course her mind goes straight to the gutter. Directly to the gutter. Do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred marks. "How long have we been here? Eight days? Nine?" Really it sounds more hopeful that it does an actual question. With everything packed up, Hotaru picks up her bedroll and stuff, then shuffles off closer to the trees as it starts to lightly rain.
Soriana smirks to Hotaru - and it's true enough that Kale's mood seemed to improve slightly after the two of them wandered off alone one evening. But did anyone notice that? "Important stuff. Crucial stuff." She grins. "Don't worry, the noise from our bedroll won't keep you awake tonight." She starts to gather her own stuff as the rain falls.
Idrissa at the comment from Soriana about the bedroll bit she blinks and peers at her, a slight smirk seen. "How nice." She then leans back and settles down under a tarp near her things while peering out once the rain starts to fall. "Won't take too long for it to really start coming down now."
Hotaru knows what's up. Unfortunately her choice guy was far far away in a magical land called Fort. So maybe she ought to be super grumpy too. She laughs at Sori. "I won't, don't worry." Hotaru starts dragging over everyone else's stuff. The trees wouldn't keep everything from getting wet, but it would at least not be sopping wet. Once that's done she wears her tarp like a cloak and settles down amongst the stuff, clutching her own pack to keep it from getting wet. Sigh. "Nope. Fun days. I hope everyone else gets back soon. Or they'll be soaked."
A magical mysterious land. A land of wonder and… cold. Actually, right now, it might be warmer there than here. If not now, at least in another couple months. "Good," Soriana replies with a smirk. Sharing a bedroll with a girl is probably also something Kale won't overly mind being. Or being gossiped about doing, eitehr. As Hotaru starts bringing stuff over to the trees, Soriana joins in, and the fire sizzles and dances, protesting this water thing. "I hope we get to go back soon. I want a real bath. And real food."
"I wouldn't mind a warm bath that is for sure." Idrissa says while gathering a few things and following after Soriana and Hotaru to the tree. Well as long there is no lighting all should be fine under a tree, right?
Hotaru sighs and nods. "If we don't head back soon I don't care how far it is. I'm gonna start -swimming-." Or really, she'll just send her firelizard to a rider and have them come get her. That would be easier. "Oohh… when I get back I'm going to sit in the baths alll day…" Hotaru leans back against the tree. And tries to nap while the rain comes down. Even if she is unsuccessful, she stays pretty quiet.
"You and me both," Soriana agrees with Hotaru, and nods to Idrissa. "We can all go. We'll have hot tea and cookies and sit in the bath for hours." And if there is lightning, well… then they'll be fried as well as soaked. Right now, Soriana doesn't seem to care.
Idrissa ohs at the idea and grins a bit before nodding. "I rather like that idea actually." Hot tea and hot baths, and not being out in the sticks anymore? Yes please!
Soriana grins back to Idrissa (plip, plop go the raindrops), and nods. "Yeah. I mean… this place is pretty and all… but…" She sighs. "It gets awfully… smelly and sore, after a while. I'd rather go out exploring when I've got a bed to come back to." How many more days is it now? Huh? Maybe they can start counting hours?