Borrowing Blankets
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Xanadu Weyr - Storage Room
The storerooms here are carved into the stone, stretching back deep underground. There is, after all, little need for natural light here; a series of electric lights are more than sufficient to illuminate smoothly cut walls and the assortment of supplies kept until they are needed once more.
For some of the things here, that time will be long in coming. Broken furniture and torn clothing awaits the opportunity for someone to repair it - or else the kindling and rag piles. Other items are more immediately useful; gently worn clothing and boots are neatly arranged in rows and on racks, especially in the quickly outgrown children's sizes, and an assortment of furniture and small appliances in functional condition await new homes.
A series of side rooms connected to the kitchen are the larder which feeds the Weyr through the winter. Sacks of grain lean against barrels of salted meat and wheels of hard cheeses stacked high. Refrigeration and dragonflight make for a more flexible winter diet, but it still takes a great deal of food to provide for this many people. The food is a tempting target for tunnelsnakes, and the occasional scuttle can be heard in the otherwise quiet depths of these caves.
Much of the stores are easily accessed, requiring only the appropriate permissions to be borrowed from. These supplies are, after all, here for the good of the Weyr and the people living here. A few rooms - those containing particularly valuable or dangerous items - are kept locked.


Whispered rumors among the weyrlings about soon to be weyrs might be what has Kera rummaging among the rows of stored goods. Or it could be the weather has turned cold, and Minimur refuses to let her use him for a hot rock to keep her feet warm. Either way, the greenling has pulled out a couple of blankets and set them aside. Her supervisor for this task is the bossy little brown that is 'testing' the top blanket to see if it's worthy enough for him. "Stop that Mini." when the brown starts dragging his talons across the blanket in a way to lead he's about to cause damage. His innocent little chirrup gets a snort from the girl as she looks back towards the shelves. "Don't what me, you know what." is muttered. At least she's not talking to herself.

A treasure trove of toys, the stores are. Toys here for the taking. The borrowing. Most are out and free to take when one sees fit. Others are locked up behind doors and secured in cabinets that require keys. Ka'el … has keys. He owns the keys to the Weyr, and he needn't ask permission for anything down here. As he steps down the steps and starts to head in, he attempts not to look suspicious. Heh. Just because he has keys to things doesn't mean he should go around unlocking doors and taking stuff. Those things are counted and accounted for! But …well, just because he shouldn't go around and snoop at restricted sections doesn't mean he won't. He's only deterred by the sound of someone else here. He pauses, brows lifting as he cranes his neck and looks down a row, brows faintly lifting at a mounting blanket pile down the way and the girl who accompanies it. "You speak firelizard now, do you?" he asks, smirking as he alters his walk to approach her instead, swinging his keys around his fingers.

Toys… or blankets. Toys… or blankets. Shells, that's a hard choice. But, fortunately for K'nid, he doesn't have the keys to go after those toys, so he'll just have to stick with blankets… or other practical items. At the moment, actually, he's looking through some old riding gear, hoping to find something in his size. From his grumbles, he's not succeeding very well, but he looks over at the sound of Kera's disapproval and grins, the expression put on hold as he sees Ka'el approaching. Weyrleader alert!

Kera picked out two likely blankets to choose from, but that doesn't mean she can't keep rummaging about. Looking up from her search at the question, a grin is flashed to Ka'el "No sir, I'm not quite fluent, yet, but I'll get there." Glancing towards her lizardy friend as proceeds to groom paws then wings some. Shaking her head in amusement "Though sometimes his little noises almost sound like he's arguing back." Shrugging the idea off, she perks up at the next blanket in the stack and holds it out to be seen from down the row "Hey K'nid, do ya need another blanket?" She waits to see if her fellow greenling likes it or not and looks back to the Weyrleader "Need help looking for something sir?"

Ka'el gives one last look to those locked doors. He hasn't forgotten you yet, treasures within. He'll explore you soon enough! But not with all these witnesses about who could rat on him if things go awry. Kera. K'nid. And a shuffling noise from somewhere else hints that there's someone else here too. Probably a resident, looking for something relevant. "Cold?" he assumes, eyeing the blankets that are being gathered by Kera. "You didn't have your blankets stolen in the barracks, did you? I think that's an ongoing prank. Forget who it happened to durin' my class.." he says, wandering nearer with a thoughtful look on his face. "Wasn't me." Pft. Ka'el gets very grumpy when he's cold! No one would dare. "And no, I'm just … browsing." Eyes slide to K'nid, eyeing the gear that mostly should stay in the junk pile. "Have the lot of you begun mounted flights yet?"

Blankets? K'nid considers this question seriously. "Nah." He's rough, tough, and able to handle a little cold! Frostbite will just show how manly he is. Missing blankets? "That's D-" Uh. Wait. He stops mid-word and puts on his most innocent face. He knows nothing about any blankets that might or might not have been stolen. Not a thing! Change of topic, please? …and Ka'el provides one. Mounted flights! "Not yet. But we're going to soon, so I want proper gear." Because… it's so very important to be properly dressed for a twenty second hop across the clearing.

Kera cants her head up to Ka'el, her thoughtful expression transitions to annoyance as she realzies he may be right. "Pranks? And I thought maybe grabbed it to be washed with others." K'nid's refusal over the offered blanket gets a lifted brow his way, observing the young man specutively for signs of suspicious behavior. A quiet sniff, he'll need watching, that one. "Well, I 'better' not have to come back for another one." He's quick to grab onto Ka'el's new topic as she rights the blanket from where she had half tugged it from the stack. Crouching and gathering up Minimur as the folded blanket is scooped up. The brown chittering at the jostling of the temperary nest. Nodding agreeable with K'nid "It should be soon. I don't think there have been any serious injuries among the dragons." Her fellow weyrling's mention of cooler temperatures in the air gets a little nod "Good point, I should get a couple of sweaters while I'm here."

"I'd hesitate to call any of that proper gear," remarks Ka'el, sounding amused as he again regards the discarded pieces of riding gear. At least they're neatly sorted by type! But if K'nid is looking for top-notch quality…well… He might get lucky. Very…veryvery lucky and only after much searching. He hooks his keys on his belt (it wouldn't do to lose them and have them end up in the hands of … who knows who!) and moves on over to pick up a pair of goggles whose headband is more than a little stiff. He gives it a stretch, nose-wrinkling before he tosses it back in its plastic bucket. "I would, if I were you, focus on preparing your dragon more than searching for gear. The stores are useful for hand-me-down things, and you'll spend a lot of time here looking for things when you're assigned your weyrs. Riding gear.." he shakes his head once, "I wouldn't advise second-hand. The Weyr takes care of its Weyrlings, so don't worry," he says with a faint and knowing grin. "Same to you, Kera. But ..as for blankets," he crosses his arms, exhalinga breath. "I'd advise you'd use your firelizard as a lookout. Though, they could be in the wash." Who knows! "The two've you enjoy the dance? Learn anything?"

K'nid frowns at Ka'el's amusement. Not everyone can have fancy-pants… uh… pants! Some people have to scrape and scrounge. Like K'nid, and he gets downright scowlyface as things turn into a lecture. Not anothe- waaiiit. There was something in there, about the Weyr and taking care of… K'nid glances to the gear again, then back to Ka'el, surprised out of the frown. "Uh. Yessir," he says. But if he has to go out for first flights clad in nothing but a blanket and trousers with a hole in them? Ka'el will pay! …somehow. K'nid has no idea how. Or how he'd manage it without getting strung up by his ears. But it's the principle of the thing. He turns to Kera so he can sniff at her, "I'm not taking blankets." Not even ones now! It's like he has his own private suppl- no, wait. Not a blanket thief. Not him! Change of topic again? …thank you, Ka'el. Maybe K'nid won't have to take vengeance after all. "It was fun," he says, and smiles. "I met a cute girl." He was supposed to be learning?

Kera smirks to the other greenling then her eyes start scanning along the row for boxes marked 'sweaters'. "Of coarse ya aren't 'taking' them. Not now. They already been 'took'." Not seeing the sweaters along one end of the row, Kera starts shuffling the other way, nodding to Ka'el when she passes and scans the shelves. Listening to the Weyrleader, her gaze flicks over to him and K'nid every so often as she looks. Ah ha! Sweaters! Depositing her lizard covered blanket nearby, she starts looking through boxes. Pausing, her attention goes to Ka'el "So, we shouldn't look for strap peices in storage? Even if they look to be sturdy and solid?" Grinning suddenly at a sweater that catches her eye, she holds up the vivid blue with pick swirls to herself to see if it's big enough. Her fellow greenling's admittance to meeting a girl gets a smile. "Was it that one candidate that seemed…very friendly?" Learn? Hmm, she learned to wait to see what she was supposed to learn before answering that one. "It was fun, at least it made use of the lessons we had to take. I didn't stomp the Weyrlingmaster's poor feet at least."

Ka'el will definitely need to make sure that the weyrlings will be well-equipped for their first mounted flights in the same way his class was now, won't he? It certainly wouldn't do for them to be ill-prepared for it because he told them to stop preparing! Whatever would V'dim think? Ahem! K'nid's lesson learned apparently…wasn't…much of a learned lesson. He met a cute girl. "And a lack of complaint from the Western assistant weyrlingmasters tells me that you conducted yourself in a gentlemanly manner with her," he says with a faint lift of his brow. "Which hints that you did learn something after all." Even if that was just how not to be a douche at a gathering. A lesson that not everyone succeeded in passing. To Kera, he snickers and shakes his head. "I saw. Were you trying to gain extra points with him? I suppose that's one way to do it. Really though, it's difficult to not have my feelings hurt knowing that you'd rather dance with V'dim than with me. Is he really that suave of a fellow?" He eyes that sweater of hers, and the face that he makes…well, he's not quick enough to keep himself from making it. "That's .. eye-catching." Snerk.

"Uh… yeah," K'nid says to Ka'el. No complaints were leveled against him! He looks to Kera and headtilts. "She… well, yeah, she was friendly." Ahem? "Kinda shy, though." So it clearly wasn't that candidate. "We…" he glances back to Ka'el. Oh yeah, manners! "…danced. And I bowed over her hand and all that." See? He paid attention. And if there was a bit of hanging around in the back and giggling, well, they were chaperoned the whole time and raised no eyebrows. Maybe only because there were other distractions for those who might object, but… being subtle is also a good thing to learn. Which is why K'nid stares at the sweater Kera pulls out. "…are you trying to be a landing flare?" Whatever else he's learned, watching his tongue is so not a part of it.

Kera looks up from the sweater, catching Ka'el look then Knid's expression that match both their comments. Gaze flickers between the two before shrugging. "Fine, the swirls are a bit eye catching, but I like the blue." Even so she continues rummaging through sweaters, sizing up a few against herself. Lifting a brow to Ka'el words over points "Of coarse not. He asked so we danced. Was a nice ice breaker, we were all nervous. Everyone relaxed and headed to the floor then." Finding a pale yellow sweater she puts the boxes to right and proceeds to refold the two sweaters she is taking. A little snicker to K'nid as she shakes her head "Shy, no, don't think that was the same young woman."

A landing flare? Ka'el snerks.He can't helpit! He tries to stifle it, but it's a little too late for that, heh. *cough cough!* He looks up at a high shelf for no apparent reason, his smirk still … visible. Heh heh. … Landing flare. It's good to know that all of Xanadu's Weyrlings conducted themselves accordingly! Ka'el feels…hmmm pride. Good job, Weyrlings. "Eye-catching is a good way to put it," he answers to Kera, smiling amusedly, and his amusement stays when she comments on her dance with V'dim. "Well as long as you had a good time. We never had the opportunity to meet other Weyrlings during our class. It would've been good to compare how Weyrlinghood differs between Weyrs. Maybe make new friends as well. I hope you had a chance to speak with someone other than V'dim, on that note. It's good know others abroad." His eyes sweep to the locked cabinets again, and he lightly smoothes his hands over his shirt. "And I should be on my way. The longer I'm down here, the dustier I get, and I've a meeting in less than a candlemark. The two of you … stay warm," he says with a nod to her sweaters. And blankets.

K'nid eyes that sweater for another moment. He opens his mouth. He… oh, right. Manners! They're not just for dances anymore. So he shuts it again. …okay so he's bad at the manners lesson. "How do they even… make that color?" Maybe it comes from frogs or bugs or something similarly gross. That'd be kinda awesome. Dancing… well, it's sometimes awesome, sometimes not. Depends how cute the girl is. And whether there's - nope. Candidates. So, nothing beyond dancing! At least… not until they graduate. "Probably," he says to Kera about the people being different, and shrugs. Is he going to name this girl he danced with? …apparently not. Did he even get her name? Uhwell, it was a busy night! There's a lot of those, when you impress a dragon. "Have a good day," he says to Ka'el. Enjoy your meetings! And the dust. Maybe those sweaters could use a washing before they're worn?

Kera reaches to scoop up Minimur with one hand, while adding the sweaters ontop the blanket and grabbing the whole bundle up. Chuckling over K'nid inquisitiveness over how that shade was made. "Maybe it's some kinda berry. Or crushed shell of…something." A quick nod is sent to Ka'el "I was able to meet a couple of the visitors. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. And I ended up in my 'own' cot, even if someone did hand me cups of tasty punch." A little smirk at the recall of a Gather a couple turns past. Flashing fingers to the Weyrleader as he heads off "You as well sir, G'evening." Stepping back towards the end of the row, she pauses by K'nid, eyeing the nearby box labels. "Hmm, Maybe the young lady you met might like that shade of pink…what was her name again?" Again, he would have had to say it already to be saying it again, right?

Leaving the Weyrlings alone down here… no problems, right? Of course not! They're both very capable of not getting in trouble, unsupervised. They're both grown adults! Ka’el gives them a slight wave then heads off to take care of business. Business that doesn't require rummaging through cabinets and shelves that he has no business going through. And … it's probably better for everyone that he isn't rummaging! They've had enough explosions to last them a while.

Snips and snails and bright pink tails, that's what sweaters are made of! Well, and wool and other actual comfortable things, but… boooring. "Huh," K'nid says. "Maybe." If he decides he actually cares, he'll have to go find a weaver and ask. He… probably won't. "The punch was okay," he says, completely missing the reference. Apparently Ja'ken didn't give him any of the special brew… and the story of Kera's past misadventures hasn't spread as far as it could. But now he's curious! "…do you usually end up in other people's cots?" Nudge nudge wink wink? Though really, his tone is mostly an honest question. He hadn't heard, but then… he's been distracted! Until now. Enquiring minds want to know. Kera's mind… is also enquiring, about pesky little details like names. "Uh." What was it again? "Des…demona." Something like that, anyway.

Kera laughs good naturedly at herself and nods "Oddly enough, it's happened before. And if I recall correctly, it was the Weyrleader's brother handing out full mugs that evening." She waves as if to fan off something buzzing around in front of her "He wasn't Weyrleader then, but anyway, got woken up rather rudely by someone trying to sit on me. Ended up falling out of the cot and noticing I was on the wrong side of the hall." Shrugging since it wasn't as bad as it may have initially sounded, her head can't to her fellow greenling "Demona?.. Are ya 'sure' that's her name? Rather interesting if it is." She absentminedly juggles things around so she's got Minimur half bundled up and gives his neck a little scritch.

Wait, what? The same Weyrleader who was just here? His brother was the one whose cot Kera… "Whoa," K'nid says. You learn something new every day! And apparently the chap didn't even have the grace to not have someone sitting… "Uh. Wow." That would certainly be waking up on the wrong side of the bed! "No, not Demona," he says when she gives the name. "Desdemona." He's sure of it! For the next five seconds. He might change his mind next time you ask him. "It's a fine name."

Kera nods agreeably and leans against the support beam. "I think so, a pretty name. Just…unique, not a name you hear very often." Her fingers continue to spoil the brown by gently working under his chin. He droops lazily, tilting his head for better access. Glancing along the row she lowers her voice and peers back to K'nid "Did you hear Praela after the dance? Her cough sounded even worse cause she kept complaining about how 'unfair' it was she wasn't allowed to go to the Gather." That's what happens when ya don't do what the healer's tell ya.

"Oh," K'nid says, and nods. "Yeah." Unique! He can go for unique. Apparently… he did! "Hah, I don't listen to Praela," he says with a shake of his head. "I'd never get any sleep if I did." K'nid frowns a little. "Even if Zhansith does like Prylith." But really, there's no accounting for taste. Especially not when it comes to dragons! "Maybe that's why the blankets were gone. Washing them all to stop infection from spreading and… stuff." Yeah, stuff. He's not the healer here!

Kera smirks "Wish she was so easy to ignore, her screeches sometimes echo back and forth." Tilting her head this way then that as she eyerolls across the upper cavern. "That's what I'm looking forward to most about being assigned weyrs. No more 'having' to be around her all the time." Poor Prylith can't say the same, better him than Kera though. A nod to K'nid "That what I had thought at first, til Ka'el mentioned pranks." Shaking it off with a casual shrug "So how is Zhansith. Have you had some trouble keeping her from flying too much? Mon has tried to be a little stubborn about coming down when I call her sometimes."

"Aww, she usually talks nice to me," K'nid says. Of course, that's probably because she's trying to use wiles on him to get him to do her chores for her, but… nice is nice! Even if there's ulterior motives. "She's just…" He smirks. "An airhead." A shrug from K'nid, and then he nods about the new weyrs. "Hah. Not me. I… uh. I'm just looking forward to the space." Yep. That's all. He just shrugs as far as washing and pranks and blankets - he don't know nothin' - then grins. "Zhansith's a good flyer, I've got nothing to worry about."

Kera doesn't even try to hide the roll of her eyes 'Men'. "Of coarse you'ld think so." A hint of a smirk slips onto her features "I think calling her an airhead is rather insulting to air though." Peering back towards the end of the row she nods. "It will be nice to have space to stretch about. Been so long that I've slept in a room by myself, I may not now how to react. What with turns in apprentice dorms, then the barracks." Pushing off from the shelving beam "I should go see about getting these sweaters freshened up before it gets too late. See ya back in the barracks later?"

The look K'nid gives Kera is a 'what?' look. He doesn't see anything wrong with what he said! Of course… he wouldn't! He does smirk a bit. "Didn't say what air." There's some as is better than others! Just like some people… well, but any weyrling who gets too swollen a head is likely to encounter correction in the form of V'dim. K'nid nods to Kera as she makes to depart. "Yeah, I'll see you there." Especially if she's wearing that one sweater!

Kera nods and flutters her fingers to her fellow greenling "See ya back there." She won't be wearing the sweater though. Not yet. Perhaps on her first manned flight. Her old boots scuff a little as she moves across the floor, receding the further away she gets til she's gone.


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