Xanadu Weyr - Beach
The unerring range of subdued white rises and falls in a multitude of sandy dunes, creating an endless amount of tiny valleys constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of a dragon.
Smoothing out as it slopes gently to the edge of the deep blue water, the sand darkens and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect. The beach itself is set along a low cliff - the height lessoning as one heads eastwards, blocking a portion of the beach from direct access.
The wide wide stretch of water opens up to the east, the far distant shore way beyond the horizon and the beach curves ever so slowly round to east and west, distant arms of land embracing the wind-ruffled Caspian Lake. East leads up to the mouth of the Rubicon River, where the protecting cliff is merely an arms length higher then the sand, and beyond that, a winding road leading out of Xanadu's territory. Westwards, the beach narrows as the cliff swings out, leaving a path wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to the sheltered cove designated the Weyrling Beach. However, cut in the cliff face to the north are a variety of rough, wide staircases, providing access to the clearing and to the meadow.
A large platform, not more than waist high, sits squarely on the beach, while a variety of chairs are spread around it, erected there for the party that is to come, while each chair and the edge of the stage sport blue and orange ribbons - the colors of Xanadu. While a large bonfire is burning, the fire crackling in the crisp evening air, foods of all sort are spread around, alcohol plentiful, as are the games.
Rhasmir is still blinking after Thea, shaking his head in exasperated amusement, before waving to Rogawani. "Good luck!" He calls after the lad with a sympathetic wince. "Might need it." Then there's a wide grin for X'hil. "I think I might have offended her." He says calmly, not in the least bit surprised. "Brave, stupid…" A vague wince, and chuckle as the man moves off, leaving Rhas to get /off/ the runner and lead her from a slightly happier vantage point, looking somewhat relieved. Maybe a gallop wasn't such a good idea.
X'hil blinks a little at Rhasmir, and shakes his head. "Ah, what man /hasn't/?" he says, with a shake of his head. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to have /done/! Everything /seemed/ fine." he mutters, and seats himself in the sand, opening up the picnic box. "Hungry? Thirsty?" he asks, with a tilted nod to the bareback runner, "Think you've earned a drink." he says, with a sigh. /He/ needs a drink, and he didn't even get injured at all today.
Rhasmir slants a glance at his runner; she's peering pleasantly off after the other runners, ears pricked but otherwise unconcerned with them. With a grunt, he carefully ties the reins up so they don't hang down to the mare's feet, and smacks her shoulder gently. Without looking back, the big runner ambles off towards the meadow for a snack, but doesn't venture far — a handy trait for a runner who travels with a caravan, probably learned since she was a foal. This leaves Rhas to sprawl in the sand with a grin, peering off over the darkening water. "A drink?" A grin for the bronzer. "Drink sounds good." Always, a drink always sounds good. Carefully situating himself in the cool sand, Rhas chuckles. "Women? I don't even try to understand them. Not having any luck?" A pleasant grin. "Oh — I'm Rhasmir, trader, decided to stay in Xanadu to sell some guitars and see about runners, the rest of the family didn't seem too happy with the idea."
X'hil nods a little at Rhasmir, eyeing the runner. "She's a good looking mare, well trained by the looks of things." Didn't run rampaging off, /always/ a plus. He snorts a little, and pulls a couple of bottles out of the basket, opening one and handing it to Rhasmir. "Luck? With women? Ha! I'm lucky if they'll give me the time of day. Can't quite seem to figure them out." he shakes his head and opens his own bottle, then takes a swig. "I'm X'hil, rider to broody bronze Kinseth. Weyrsecond." he grimaces a little, and shrugs. Well, at least he's admitting his title now? "Trader? Sounds like an interesting life." he notes, idly. There's food still in the basket, but he seems to be in no hurry to eat.
Rhasmir's smile is proud, not smirkish or impish for once. "They made me train her before they let me work with the others. Figured I needed to get her trained right so I'd have backup if I ever managed to lose an arm…they're easier to understand than music, too." His eyes follow the mare with amusement as she flops down in the sand and rolls happily. Then a wry grin for the bronzerider, and sympathetic nod. "Oh, I know." Mournful but still amused, he chuckles woefully. "I'm lucky if they don't slap me." He admits. "Who can? Not any man I know." The bottle is taken and a good pull from it brings a more content grin back to the lad's face. It doesn't even falter when the bronzerider's title is said; he just nods slowly, wincing. "Poor thing." For X'hil, offered with another sympathetic smile. "You get to work with all of them then?" Them being crazy goldriders, perhaps. "It is. I like it. Like it more now that they let me'n Ike stay behind at Weyrs for a while when they move on." A wink and grin as he takes another drink.
X'hil ahhs, and tilts his head at the runner. "Probably should head out to visit my aunt once Kinseth's free, see how my old runner is doing." he grimaces a little. "Probably not /too/ well, haven't been able to really visit much in the past twelve turns. Kinseth, he spooks the runners. Huge bronze, /huge/." the man rolls his eyes, and sighs, taking another swig of ale. "Probably should borrow a runner and just /go/, while he's on the sands. But, I've got work, and I've never really left him for long." There's a shake of his head then, and he glances out over the water. "Always /been/ a rider, impressed when I was twelve. Trader lifestyle always appealed, but Kinseth is so /proud/, he has been so happy with my knot, haven't the heart to return it." He seems to prefer this topic, depressing as it may be, to the topic of women, because he doesn't really say much more on that.
Rhasmir tilts his head and grins, eyes crinkling. "You'd be surprised. Some of my grandda's runners're pretty up-there in the turns. Still like to pull the wagons, too. I swear, if they knew where we put up the harnesses they'd go find 'em, even the oldtimers." An eyeroll, then another grin. "Big? Lots of dragon to oil, I bet. But then, oiling tack is nice. Easy. Anything like oiling a great big dragon?" A contemplative silence follows as the young man swigs his ale in complete contentedness, nodding. "Welcome to borrow that gal, if you're up for it. Once you get used to it, saddleless isn't too bad. I've got another to start in saddle while me'n Ike are here, see if we can't sell her." Mused, before: "Not allowed to find the first capable rider and tell them to take over for you for a sevenday or two, then?" Curious, woeful. "Do you reckon you couldn't talk to the big guy if you were too far away?" Dragonriders talk with their /minds/ after all. "Twelve? Faranth, that's a good age to. Bet Weyrling-ness was rough on you." Then he's smiling sadly and nodding. "Gotta go with what your folks' love from time to time, big and toothy or little and cute little girl eyed."
X'hil chuckles, and taps his head. "I could talk to him anywhere, I imagine, but he likes having me around." he shrugs, and has to admit, "I feel the same about him, the big lug." with obvious affection in his tone. There's an eye for Rhasmir, and a snort. "Shards, I couldn't stand it. Doesn't it, you know, /hurt/?" he flicks his eyes downwards, then back up at Rhasmir. There's something in his eye, he knows that pain, and recently. There's a mutter, and he shakes his head, changing the subject slightly. "Mother's a rider. Father probably is too. Kind of fancied a different life for myself once, but here I am." He leans over and rummages around in the picnic basket, coming up with simple meatrolls, though they smell like seafood rather than meat. And, truth be told, they /are/. "Want a bite?" he offers, extending a plate to the trader. Nice lazy day at the beach… He glances back to the meadow, muttering, "Hope she's okay."
Rhasmir's grin is understanding but not — he gets the devotion, not the connection. Mind-to-mind talking for weird! "Aw," He laughs in what might be something of a gruff fashion. "Sounds great. Maybe inconvenient, but…" A chuckle, then another wince. "Uh," How to say it…politely? "After a while, it, well…not as much." Briefly, his expression suggests his favorite aunt died, then a wince and man-understanding; pain ow. Pain hurt. "And if you get one who doesn't like to /trot/ it's not too bad…" Grunt, snort, swig of ale. Then a tilt of his head, curious and smiling. "I've always wondered what it would have been like. Reckon it's any different than normal, having a rider mum?" Pause. "Different life, eh? Bet you wouldn't change it now though." Nod-nod-nod; he might not be an expert in it, but it's not common that you meet a dragonrider who /would/. The food is eyed for a moment, then with a grin he plucks one up. "Thanks." Comes out more like 'fanks', but it's probably still notable as he turns his eyes, too, out to the meadow. "I'm sure she is. They'd probably be after us if she wasn't." Here, a woeful nod.
X'hil takes another swig of his bottle, and nods, wincing in sympathy. "Still, riding bareback man, that takes … guts." He was probably about to say something else then. There's a shake of his head, and he eyes the picnic basket a long moment before pulling out a few of those fishy-meatrolls for himself. It's about early to mid evening, and the man apparently came out for a late night swim, as he's wearing swim shorts and has a towel over one shoulder. He's also still bone-dry, and there are runner tracks in the sand from at least three different runners, as well as a black draft mare over in the meadow. "Well, it's the life I was born to, I suppose. Tried my hand at a craft couple turns back, even moved out to Ierne. But I wound up back in the Weyr, back doing rider work."
Kire comes out into the beach and he is dressed to go swimming. He spots X'hil talking to another man and he wanders over towards him. He gives a friendly smile to both of them, "Hello X'hil how are you doing today? Come down to enjoy drinking on the beach instead of being cooped up in the tavern and drinking?" He nods to the other man, "Hello. I'm Kire, apprentice starcrafter. It's nice to meet you." He offers his hand to the other man, "Are you new to Xanadu Weyr or have I just not had the pleasure of making your acquaintanceship?" In his other hand is a blue rolled up in his free hand.
Cenlia has come down to the beach to - well, she seems to be chasing a flit. The midnight-blue firelizard streaks past, clutching something small and shiny in his paws. Right behind him is a little bronze, chitterng irritably, and behind them is Cenlia, with a brown and another blue firelizard clinging to her shoulders and squawking loudly. "Get back here, ya sharding thief!" comes Cenlia's voice as she runs past, "Rogue, ya-" and she stumbles, but manages not to fall, pelting after the flit, "Shardit get back here!"
Rhasmir snickers cheerfully, eyeing the runner now grazing nearby. "I suppose — sure glad to get a few sevendays off of riding, at least. Hoping that the man looking at one of my guitars won't buy it, you know?" A laugh. "I kind of like it here." This one's sprawled in the sand still in pants, vest, and pale green shirt…but at least he doesn't have any shoes on. "I suppose you're right, there. I guess if you're born to do something no matter what you do you always get back to it?" A wistful sigh as he takes a swig of his ale, peering out at the water now, completely ignoring the massacre of hoofprints around them. "Riders get to retire early and get waited on hand and foot, maybe?" This is clearly teasing, as he's drawing out the smirk again, winking. But then Kire is approaching, and Rhas drags on a less mischievous smile for the lad, shaking the offered hand somewhat lazily. "Well met, Kire! Rhasmir, trader in for a few sevendays trying to unload a few things and enjoy the Weyr life." Pleasantly murmured with a grin. "Friendly place, he…" And here he is, trailing off yet again as yet another woman-type goes streaking past shouting at what could be a firelizard. A mystified blink follows, and sideways glance at X'hil. "They sure make them excitable, here."
X'hil groans a little at Kire, and shakes his head. "Don't remind me! Ugh. I had /such/ a hangover the next morning." Not at all helped by his stitched-up head wound, which thankfully seems to have healed since. "What was /in/ that drink? Flamin' ovine…" There's a blink then, and he peers up at Cenlia's voice, eyeing the gardener and her firelizards. "What's he gone and done /now/?" he wonders, then grimaces. He didn't mean to say that out loud. His eyes scan the gardener's origin briefly, and he exhales. No Eledri? Relief! There's a snort at Rhasmir, and he shakes his head. "If I'm lucky, I'll lose this sharding knot again. That's about as much as I can hope for." But he is /trying/ to hang on to it. No, really. There's a weary sigh at the trader's reaction to Cenlia, and the man shakes his head. "'S not her fault." is all he says, quietly, thinking the gardener will be too distracted to overhear. Well, then, who /does/ he blame? The firelizard? Probably.
Kire turns his head as he hears Cenlia's voice and his own brown who was on his shoulder the whole time pokes his head up to check out what's going on. The small brown firelizard yawns a little bit. "It's nice to meet you Rhasmir. Well I hope that you enjoy your time here at the Weyr. It's got good people, good food and good drink as X'hil can no doubt tell you." He turns towards Cenlia and he moves to help her catch the blue firelizard. He moves over and raises his hand to help try to herd the blue firelizard back towards Cenlia, "Come on now little blue, be nice and give back what you took."
The midnight blue firelizard doubles back at the sight of Kire, trilling cheekily at the humans. However, he then shrieks as Cenlia's little bronze Charmer tackles him in midair. Cenlia stops, panting and shaking a fist at the firelizards, when the dark blue flit drops its presumably stolen loot right in front of her. Grumbling under her breath, Cenlia retrieves what looks to be a silver pocketwatch, and mumbles a, "Thanks," in Kire's direction. The gardener girl gives the firelizards a glare, then stows the watch in a pocket and grins a bit, catching sight of X'hil and someone she doesn't know. "Hey," she says, wandering closer, her four firelizards fluttering off with more squawking play by the water.
Rhasmir's grin is understanding, as far as hangovers go. He makes a sympathetic noise and nods faintly, eyeing the flitty things curiously. "Well, good luck with that. Maybe you'll break something and they'll have to." Somehow, the lad says it with an absolutely straight, serene face as he takes another pull of his ale, then eyes the girl again. "Not?" Curious, maybe slightly amused, as he turns to grin at Kire. "Thanks! It's been great so far." You know, great, the 'crazy women all around' kind of great…but that's normal, right? The girl is then waved to as she slows down, and all of the Firelizards about them watched with something close to admiration. "Evening, there." Mild, amused, he eyes his runner, nearby. "I suppose I should probably go put her up before she stuff herself." It's mused, not too enthusiastically. Walking sounds much less appealing than sitting on a beach in good company — with booze.
X'hil glances up at Kire, then nods, and leans over to rummage around in the picnic basket. "Ah!" he murmurs, pulling out a final pair of bottles, eyeing them briefly, then shrugging. "Uh. Thirsty?" he asks, tentatively offering a bottle each to Kire and Cenlia. His last bottles! He only brought four, wasn't expecting company, apparently. He eyes Cenlia's watch, and then frowns at the blue firelizard. "What /is/ it with firelizards and shiny things? Found another little shovel in Wraith's stash the other day." He rummages around in the basket, then pulls it out. He was carrying it around just in case? He grimaces as Rhasmir mentions taking the runner away, and shakes his head. "Don't envy you, man. Catch you around some time for drinks, yeah?" he asks, adding, "Before you leave?" /If/ you leave. The bronzerider meant to leave /months/ ago.
Kire smiles at Cenlia as he head back to the others, "You're welcome Cenlia." He shrugs, 'I don't know my brown doesn't seem interested in shiny stuff at the moment, but he's only 2 sevendays old, almost." He smiles at Rhasmir, "Great to hear. I hope you have a good evening." He looks back over towards X'hil and he shakes his head, "Nah thanks I'm good, last time I drank when I had duty a whole night of star gazing was ruined. I just came out for a swim before I got some dinner."
Cenlia eyes the booze. Booooze. She looks like she could use a drink, and plops down on the sand, glaning warily at the runner over there before accepting the offered bottle with another thanks and taking a swig. She grins a bit more, "Hah, yer flit's worsen' mine." She peers at the little shovel with a slight frown, "I need to lock them things up. Rogue keeps runnin' off with 'em too." And she makes a face. The girl takes another swig of ale, telling Kire, "Can't hold ya flamin' ovine, huh?" And she giggles, "Next time, could make a chaser with more juice an' wine. That firewater's strong stuff."
Rhasmir's grin for X'hil is friendly, and his wink decidedly mischievous. "I'll make a point of tracking you down. Maybe sometime during the day. I'd hate to interrupt your work or anything…" Not even a complete innocent would believe the look of utter innocence the lad pulls on after a moment, before winking at Kire. "Probably a good plan." He snickers, standing slowly with a vague, woeful noise. A salute and snicker for Cenlia as he does so turns into a bit of a smirk. "Enjoy." He laughs, then sighs and ambles off towards the runner, who walks companionably alongside back towards the stables, wistful as she might watch the grass go by. Oh well — always more!
X'hil doesn't look too disappointed at Kire's refusal, tucking one of the bottles back away in the basket for later. For /himself/ later. Well, he had to at least offer, right? "Aww, didn't mean to interfere with your craft." Hey, aren't apprentices not /allowed/ to drink, anyway? X'hil is a bad influence, yes he is. The man snorts at Cenlia, and shakes his head. "Hey, that /was/ strong stuff! The one, er, your /brother/ made, was especially potent." Not just saying that because he drank it, nope. Also, he /does/ know Eledri's name, he'd just rather not /say/ it. There's a nod to Rhasmir, and a helpful, "I'm often found watching over the hatching sands, if you're ever down that way!" before he raises his bottle in a sort of toast or salute to the trader.
Kire looks over to Cenlia, "I can hold them down all right it's just doing anything else that I have a problem with. Speaking of which, should we set a date for when we are going to get married? I might not have drunk your brother under the table, but I drank him out the door. Close enough I'd say." He laughs and winks as he is teasing. He nods, "Apprentices are not allowed to get drunk, just thankfully no one caught drunk, hurray for being out alone at night. I was able to sober up by morning."
Cenlia waves to the departing Rhasmir, again giving that runner a wary look. She's not too fond of runners, apparently, what with that near-drowning experience a while back. The girl cringes a bit at the mention of her brother, and then blinks at Kire. It takes her a moment to remember what he's talking about, and then she starts giggling, "Then ya gotta drink /me/ under the table instead," she pauses, scratching her head, "Ain't as fun if yer not allowed to get drunk. But 'least ya didn't get caught, yeah." She nods, "Next time, should get out the booze after work, instead of before."
X'hil chokes on his drink as Kire mentions the proposal of the night before, and sort of /stares/ at the starcrafter. At the boy's wink, he manages to stop staring, but still, he's a little shaken. "Man, I thought I /imagined/ that, booze does weird things. You really…" he just shakes his head, and puts his own bottle aside in the sand, reaching for the plate of seafood-meatrolls on the basket, and nibbling idly on one. "Drink Cenlia under the table? You've got no hope!" he does tease, with a grin. "Hey," he says then, glancing to Cenlia. "Haven't seen you in a … few days. Everything alright?" After that night drinking… Things seemed a little strained at the end of it.
Kire laughs a little bit, "True but you aren't supposed to drink in the morning and most days that's when I get out of work except when I have to collect sand samples for my master. I swear he's obsessed with finding the perfect sand to make mirrors from." He chuckles a little bit at Cenlia's answer, "I better start just drinking not stop them so I can catch up and eventually overtake you." Kire laughs as it's all in good fun.
Cenlia laughs, "Only person could drink me under the table back home was my cousin Evi. 'Course my uncle Cern too, but he dun't count. He grows brandy peaches. Dunno if anybody ese could. Maybe Eled." But she makes a face, glancing sideways at X'hil and frowning slightly. The gardener girl shrugs, though, muttering, "Been busy in the garden. Got planting to do." She takes another swig of booze, adding, "Is never too early in the mornin' fer a drink." Case in point, she takes another swig. And then she makes a face, adding, "Eled ain't talkin' to me." She sounds grumpy. Oh well, easily fixed; the girl takes another swig of ale.
X'hil eyes the platter of fishy-meatrolls, and sighs, pushing the picnic basket towards Kire and Cenlia, but not before rescuing the last lonely booze bottle, placing it beside his own. "Drinking's overrated anyway. Ugh. Hangovers … terrible." Scooowl. Pretty weak argument really. "Huh, I don't envy you that, sand-collecting. Sounds exciting!" Sounds sarcastic! There's a glance to Cenlia then, and the man grimaces. "I… Sorry…" He just assumes it's his fault. He doesn't remember much about that night, only that it ended badly, and that he now dislikes, no, distrusts Eledri for a reason he can't /quite/ put his finger on, but it's at the edge of his mind, taunting him. "There… anything I can do?" he asks, with a concerned frown.
Kire chuckles, "I'll remember that if I ever want to take you up on your offer." He nods a little bit, "Well I was in the garden the other day it looks beautiful." He chuckles, "Maybe your right, but I'm not one for booze with my porridge." He shrugs, "Yah it's not very exciting, but it lets me go to other places to collect them, speaking of which I'll be headed to Irene Weyrhold to collect more samples soon. Lucky me huh?" He ohs, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Last time the stuff he had to say made me want to knock his block off."
Cenlia peers at the meatrolls, wrinkling her nose a bit and edging away, saying, "Every time I get near food at the beach, I get me another firelizard," and the girl glances around and then eyes her four flits who're playing at the water's edge with something akin to exasperation. But she turns back, rolling her eyes, "Eled's got another trundlebugup his butt." Such lovely imagery there. Shr shrugs at X'hil, saying, "Tell him y'ain't gonna knock his teeth out, maybe. I dunno, figure he'll get over it." She grins a bit at Kire, "Ierne, huh? Should ask B'miel if Verzth can take ya sometime. He's off to Ierne every change he gets." Cenlia smirks a bit, then just shakes her head, "Most everybody ends up wantin' to punch him. Surprised he didn't get beat up in Landing."
X'hil frowns a little at mention of Ierne, and picks up the bottle again, staring at it a long moment before shrugging and taking a swig. "Nice beaches out at Ierne. Nice. Had a barn opened /right/ onto one." Yep. Nice. There's a bit of a smirk at Cenlia's mention of attracting another firelizard, and he shakes his head. "Don't know how you manage, honestly. My three are enough. /Wraith/ is enough." Of a pain. Nuisance. Pest. Wherry-snake, was the term he used the other day. "I…" he holds up a hand, making a fist idly and eyeing his knuckles, before burying it in the sand. "I won't. I don't /want/ to." He did, but he was also drunk at the time. He's not drunk now, yet. And, considering he's only got two bottles, not likely to get drunk either. "How… I can't imagine. Poor man." He's been beat up a few times himself lately.
Kire smiles as he looks up at the firelizard that has moved up to the top of his head and is resting, "Well you missed a hatching in the Cavern about two sevendays ago. That's where I got this fellow up here. There was a gold, 2 bronzes, 2 brown and a green. Some Master Healer got the gold firelizard. Man I would love a gold firelizard, but I've heard they are extra rare." Kire ouches as he feels sharp claws on the top of his head and he winces, "But I'm very happy to have Temujin up here. He's great." The pain stop and he reaches up to rub where the firelizard dug in its claw. "That's Temujin, my new firelizard overseer." He chuckles, "So what exactly did happen at Landing with him?" He nods a little bit, "Sounds nice having a place right out on the beach."
Cenlia tilts her head at X'hil, "You're weyrsecond, couldn't ya ask for a barn on the beach here?" But at the mention of a firelizard hatching, Cenlia grimaces and says to Kire, "Shards, am glad I missed that. Them two," and she points to where here firelizards are, the brown and bronze looking up when the indicates them, "They got me when I weren't even tryin' - was at a hatching, and was hiding behind B'miel! Sharding things went right for me." She makes a face, but the look she gives the flits is just slightly fond. Cenlia shakes her head, though, and then runs a hand through her hair, mumbling, "Weren't nothin' happened, says Eled. He woudn't tell me till I got 'im drunk, then I wished I didn't know." She makes a face, but smirks just a bit, "Ain't like he could go back, neither, even if he wasn't supposed to keep an eye on me." And her sour expression very clearly indicates what she thinks of /that/.
X'hil shakes his head slowly, glancing back to the meadow. "That's close enough for my liking, the meadow. Had more than enough of /sand/. Everywhere, sand. Used to get in my weyr up at Ierne, now Kinseth drags me out to the sands all the time, and when I get time off…" he stretches his arms wide to indicate the beach, still holding the bottle in one hand. "Too much /sand/." Yep. He chuckles a little at Kire. "Hey, congratulations on that. You'll have a job for life, firelizard feeder!" he says, but he /means/ it well, really. There's a grimace at 'nothing happened' and he eyes Cenlia, but doesn't press it. "Well, least he's not watching over your every move?" Bright side? There's another swig of ale at that, though. "I feel bad for the man, I do." Not enough to call him by name, though. "Sounds … rough. Unfair." Not that he'd know, he has no idea what the story /is/.
Kire nods a little bit, "Well usually something like that isn't entirely not his fault, but sometimes it might be. Not that I know what happened. Not really any of my business, still it makes me curious to know what happened that he's not allowed back at Landing. Everyone knows why I'm not allowed in the kitchens. I caused two explosions." He has come to accept it cause nothing he says changes it. He laughs at X'hil and tries to get the firelizard off his head, "Yah, but if I didn't want that responsibility I wouldn't have tried for a firelizard. I mean it was amazing to watch the firelizard hatch from it's shell and then feed it and have it look you in the eyes and blam! You are not responsible for this new wonderful life." He strokes over his brown's back and wings gently, "You are more then worth it, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything."
Cenlia is definitely not drunk enough to be airing her brother's dirty laundry, so to speak, but she's also slightly boozed, so she smirks, saying, "Ain't like it's that bad." She takes a swig of ale and grins, "Yeah, ain't seen Eled since- for a while." She looks momentarily guilty, but she's got booze, so she isn't overly concerned. She shrugs though, "Weren't fair, but not like it weren't his fault neither, yeah," and she nods, "Ain't got him babysitting me no more." She smirks a bit, and then grins at Kire, "Yeah, wouldn't trade mine fer anything. 'Specially Rogue. Smart little bugger, for a sammich thief." As if hearing his name from further down the beach, the midnight-blue flit trills at Cenlia. The girl grins, "Think A'dar's flits got 'em to behave some. Ever since they got 'em to take them trundlebugs between, my flits been behaving," she pauses, "Behaving better, anyways."
X'hil sighs slightly, and shakes his head. "Well, firelizards are like miniature dragons, really. They impress, they, they send images sometimes. Pictures. Things they've seen, or other firelizards have seen. Nothing like a dragon, really, you can hold conversations with dragons, but, it's sort of similar. And you have to feed and bathe and oil them, like dragons. But there's much /less/ of them." Which is great, especially if you have several. "Kinseth, for the most part, ignores them. He'll butt in now and then when they're being pests, but usually leave them alone." he notes, with a shrug. There's another swig of the ale, and a furrowed brow. It's gone? He holds the bottle upside down over the sand. Not a drop. It's gone. "Well, he'll come around, in time?" he says, to Cenlia, regarding Eledri. He's certainly not asking any questions about Landing, nope.
Kire nods a little bit, "Well it'd have to be bad enough to get him kicked out of somewhere, or not, maybe someone just has a grudge against him." He nods, "Me too I can't wait to train him or try to. It will be interesting, but I know he does prefer ovine meat over any other kind." He nods to X'hil, "Really I thought there would be more firelizards then dragons because the greens can have eggs too." Kire offers as he pets over Temujin's belly. "Yah he's still your brother."
Cenlia shrugs, and turns to watch her flits for a moment, "They ain't so bad, I guess. When they ain't stealin' my stuff." She grins and opens her mouth to say something, but hesitates as she spies someone in the distance. It's none other than Eledri, who seems to be walking somewhat aimlessly along the beach, holding up some gadget with an antennae on it. The young computercrafter is intent on fiddling with some knobs on the device, and doesn't immediately spot the three sitting on the beach. Cenlia groans, looking as if she's about to get up and run in the opposite direction, but alas, her flits have other ideas, and all four of them trill simultaneously, and fly towards the man, circling him and chirping happily. Cenlia groans, but as Eledri waves the flits away he spots her. And Kire. And X'hil. The man's expression goes from annoyed to scowling, to nervous, and he just stands there while Cenlia's firelizards settle on his shoulders and head.
X'hil scowls a little, and shakes his head. "There /are/ more firelizards than dragons. I've got three, Cenlia's got four, they're /everywhere/." He shoots a /look/ at a nearby green, and shakes his head. Thankfully she's not risen yet. "Found three eggs in my loft a while back, though they sort of got switched around, no clue what happened to them… And that green, Elizabeth, has been spending more time around there again, like she's found /another/ clutch. Don't /want/ to look." Scowl. "I…" And then whatever else he was going to say is lost, as Cenlia's firelizards up and take off, chirping. He blinks, and follows their path, then … blushes? He mutters something under his breath, and pulls the basket over a bit, making a point of rummaging through it. He doesn't see Eledri, Eledri is not there. Noope.
Kire nods and he looks over as Eledri comes onto the beach. He moves over towards Cenlia incase the computercraft wants to try to yell at her more. "I haven't found any firelizard clutches, although I think it would be cool to find a wild one. Would I have to report it to anyone or could I just take the eggs and hatch them all myself?"
Cenlia and Eledri just sort of stare at each other awkwardly for a moment, before Cenlia pointedly turns around and says to Kire, "Both Rogue and Mizzle hatched wild. Was eating breakfast on the beach when my sammich started walkin' away. Lifted the top, an' Rogue jumped out," and she makes a face, "THen a sevenday later, Mizzle did the same thing, grabbed hold of me while I was trying to run away from some shakin' eggs." Yep, totally ignoring Eledri. This would be so much more successful if her flits weren't trilling loudly inthe background. X'hil's blushing gets a curious look, but she has to glance back at her brother as the flits start shrieking louder. Poor Eledri is trying to dislodge midnight-dark Rogue, who is clinging to the man's shirt and shrieking at the topof his little firelizard lungs. Nope, not letting go. Not ever. Eledri scowls and stomps over, "/Cenlia/, would you get these things /off/ me." Cenlia makes a face at his irritated tone, but nevertheless gets up and tries to remove the clingy flits. Charmer seems to be trying to nuzzle Eledrito death, while booze-brown trouble attempts to sniff that device Eledri is holding. There's a garbled staticy noise coming from it, suggsting it might be some sort of hand radio. Only little blue Mizzle obediently hops onto Cenlia's shoulder - the other three seem to think Eledri's the best thing under the sun right now. Cenlia looks like she might want to just leave them clinging to him, really.
X'hil shakes his head at Kire, "Firelizards hatch about the place all the time. What you do with the eggs is your own business." he tells the starcrafter, carefully /not/ looking Eledri's way. Seems the blush was because he remembered something from that night at the tavern. There is a frown at the sand, and he digs around for the final bottle, and scowls at it. Drink it, or share it? Who needs it more? He opens it, but for now that's all he does. "Good day, journeyman." he mutters, finally acknowledging Eledri's presence, though in the frostiest manner possible. And still without actually /looking/ at the man.
Kire ohs, "That's cool. Rogue certainly seems like a wild one. Karashi, the new journeywoman healer got a bronze that is as sweet as lemonade on a hot day." He picks up his own firelizard and the little brown flaps it's wings excitedly, but Kire catches him before he can go bother the computercrafter too, "I don't think so, you can stay here with me. I don't want you to get hurt." He nods to X'hil and smiles, "Well although it would be nice to get a lot it would be nice to share too."
Eledri is a bit preoccupied, and at X'hil's greeting there's only a stiffly mumbled, "Sir," by way of greeting, though Eledri looks vaguely embarrassed as he shoots a glance X'hil's way. Eledri, unfortunately, wasn't drunk enough to forget Cenlia's gossiping, and now looks like he very much wants to make a hasty retreat. And yes, he does blush. Cenlia finally manages to remove Charmer from Eledri's sleeve, saying to Kire, "Charmer's nice. 'Cept he can be /too/ sweet." She smirks slightly, and then says to her little bronze, "Go show Kire how sweet y'are." And the girl plops her bronze down on the sand; the little goldeny-bronze flit chirps questioningly, but then scuttles over to Kire, crooning cheekily and waggling his tail. Why /hello/ there. Unfortunatey for Eledri, Rogue does not want to let go, and brown Trouble seems to be trying to eat the noise-making device. Noisy and small equals food, right? Maybe to a firelizard. Cenlia holds Rogue gently round the middle while Eledri tries to disengage those claws, but no, this one isn't letting go.
Kire ahs a little bit as the bronze firelizard come over to him, "Well hello there I can see why Cenlia named you Charmer." His brown firelizard would frown if he could. He doesn't want to be upstaged by some bronze. He starts to croon and nuzzle against Kire, see he can be sweet too. He moves to curl the best he can around Kire's neck and nuzzles him sweetly. Kire chuckles a little bit, "Well aren't you being friendly today."
X'hil nods a little at Kire, then eyes the bottle, and sighs. He gets up and moves over to help Cenlia try and detach the firelizards, starting with Trouble, since the noise-making device is probably more of an /immediate/ concern. Eledri will be fine. He continues to talk to Kire though, adding, "Wraith is a bit of a pain too, wild, untamed, untameable. I /try/, but he's a little /thief/." the man snorts, shaking his head. Not good.
Eledri notices Trouble chewing on his gadget at about the same time X'hil comes over, and the computercrafter fairly growls, "Get /off/!" And he swings the hand holding the radio wildly, causing Trouble to chitter and dig his little firelizard claws into Eledri's knuckles briefly before being flung off and disappearing *between* to somewhere else. Rogue is still trying hanging onto Eledri's shirt, although the little blue seems to think this whole game is great fun, trilling happily and causing Cenlia to look nearly as exasperated as Eledri. Meanwhile, Charmer continues to croon at Kire, and at his little brown, since both of them are obviously worthy ofhis attention. The little flit strikes a pose, spreading his wings to catch the light, showing off that goldeny tinge in his bronze hide. This one has had practice, he has.
X'hil unfortunately gets a gutful of radio, and backs away to catch his breath. Still, it could have been worse? He does seem to recover pretty quickly, it was minor as injuries go, compared to some he's suffered recently. "Shards man, what did I ever do to you?" Besides punch him in the face, get his sister drunk, gossip about him behind his back, er… Okay, maybe he earned that.
Kire smiles as he is being charmed by the bronze and brown firelizards. He reaches to scritch them both and he turns to X'hil to answer him, "Well it's not that Temujin is a pain he just wants things his own way like he's a little Lord Holder." He winces as he sees X'hil get hit in the gut, "I think it was an accident X'hil." He looks to Eledri, "Right Eledri, just an accident." He doesn't want a fight starting out here on the beach.
Eledri seems about as surprised as X'hil, momentarily glancing between the weyrsecond and Kire and stammering, "I- I.." and then looking suddenly concerned. The computercrafter quickly holds up the still-staticy-sounding gadget, inspecting it for damage. Cenlia blinks and seems about to say something to X'hil, but apparently thinks better of it and frowns at Rogue, saying, "If ya dun't let go, am gonna take away all yer sammiches." That might now make much sense, since the flit doesn't have any at the moment, but apparently Cenlia's tone gives Rogue some pause, and he tilts his head to regard her for a moment before chirping and letting go of Eledri. The midnight-blue flit joins Mizzle on Cenlia's other shoulder, giving a little growly 'gwerr' in Eledri's direction. Sure showed him. Cenlia runs a hand through her hair, now that Eledri's been de-flitted, she doesn't seem to have anything else to say. Eledri is still fiddling with the knobs on that device, brow crinkled, possibly having forgotten he just whapped X'hil. Cenlia hasn't forgotten, though, and scratches the backof her head, asking the bronzer, "Y'alright?" Charmer, meanwhile, crooons happily, and tries to nuzzle Kire's hand. Yay scritches!
X'hil coughs a little, and takes a few deep breaths before standing, and nodding over at Kire. "Yeah, yeah. Wraith is /fine/, so long as I favour him over my other firelizards, but he gets a bit resentful whenever I /don't/. And Meredith is just so /clingy/." There's an irritated squawk from within the picnic basket, and a brown head pops out. Clingy indeed! "Oh, shut /up/ Meredith." he snaps at the brown. Cenlia's question about his most recent whack gets a shake of his head. "I… I'll be fine." Scowl. But he /will/. "Was /going/ to offer your brother an ale, but not going to now." Nope. Also, he's pointedly talking loud enough for Eledri to overhear, but not /to/ Eledri.
Kire smiles at the firelizards and he pets both of them, "Well this is much nicer then having you squawk at me Temujin." He nods, "Temujin like I said is rather bossy." He hmms, "Well I'm kinda glad that he's not clingy but I do like having him around. It's nice even when he's creeling at me madly for not feeding him." He shrugs, "I guess that's his loss."
Cenlia glances at the flit in the picnic basket and can't help grinning a little, "That one's almost as bad as Rogue." Rogue chirps in protest from her shoulder, but Cenlia is once again plopping down on the sand. She doesn't care if Eledri gets boozed, athough she does glance warily at her brother. He's not shouting? Hm. Eledri grimaces at X'hil's words, but doesn't look up from the device, though the computercrafter does have the decency to mutter absently, "Sorry." Is he apologizing to the bronzer or to the radio? Cenlia grins at Kire, telling him, "Mine're all clingy, 'cept when I want 'em to be useful. That one's alright, but watch out ya don't ever feed him. Had this candidate in the garden awhile back, and Charmer got him to get some food, an' the poor guy had the flit stalkin' him for a sevenday." Cenlia smirks, adding, "Careful he dun't charm yer pants off, either." She's joking about that last part, isn't she?
X'hil chuckles a little at Kire, relaxing slightly now that he's out of arm's reach of Eledri. "Meredith's not /so/ bad. Here, let me show you a trick." He passes the ale bottle to Eledri, with a brief nod at the man's apology, though still not really making eye contact. Eledri needs the drink more. Naturally the man makes it seem like he was only passing it off to have his hands free for this next thing, but with him not looking at Eledri, how is he to know if the man drinks it, right? He moves over back to the picnic basket, and reseats himself beside it, holding up his empty bottle to the brown in the basket. The brown inches forward, sniffing a little at the bottle, and then chirps. I know what to do here! He climbs up out of the basket and grabs the empty bottle, then disappears between. When he returns, it's with an identical but /full/ bottle. "It's the only thing I've been able to teach him, got the idea off of that thieving Wraith." X'hil notes, with a shrug.
Kire laughs a little bit, "I'll remember that. I don't think that Temujin would like it if I was feeding anyone else's firelizard. You know who has a way with firelizards is Karashi. At least from what I've seen. I'll be careful about that. I need my pants." He smiles as the two seem to make up and he nods, "Well I don't want Temujin to pick up stealing. I'd like him to learn how to deliver messages and get stuff for me."
Cenlia watches Meredith, saying with obvious approval, "I gotta teach Rogue to do that. He only gets stuff half the times, an' only if he feels like it." She tilts her head and prods Rogue with her finger, but only gets a little growly 'gwerr' out of him. Seems he doesn't feel like budging. Cenlia sighs, but then says, "Karashi, huh? That's the healer that saved ya from the tunnelsnake, right?" Eledri, meanwhile, looks a bit surprised to have ended up with a booze bottle after all, and opens his mouth to way something, but then sees what the flit is doing and frowns at Cenlia; great, just what he needs, his sisters flits trained to steal booze. However, the device in his hand starts crackling and making high putchedsquealing sounds. Eledri gives an exasperated growl and whaps the gadget he's holding soundly on the side; so much for being concerned about it. However, the crackling staticy noise is suddenly broken by a voice from the device, going, "-esting, 1, 2, 1, 2. Testing, 1, 2, over." Eledri blinks, and then… smiles. Eledri? Smiling? Never! Cenlia peers up at her brother, but Eledri, quickly pressed a button, saying, "Have a signal on the beach, over." Followed by more static. THere goes that smile, as the journeyman frowns down at the once-again crackling device.
X'hil looks a little shifty eyed at the word stealing, and seems hesitant to open the bottle. Finally, he mutters, and eyes the brown. "Well, he's basically just getting me stuff. Look, he got me an ale!" An ale that is actually quite good, but hasn't been available in Xanadu recently. And /he/ hasn't gone anywhere. There's an odd look passing over X'hil's face then, as he notices Eledri's smile, and then glances to Cenlia. The two do look kind of similar there. It's unnerving. But, he has to say, "You should do that more often, Eledri. /Smile/ once in a while. Won't kill you." he calls, with a smirk. "Honestly, sometimes I think the only thing that man cares about is his tech gadgets." is added in a quiet mutter.
Kire nods, "Yep she's the one that got the tunnelsnake off my arm and it's all better." He looks over at Eledri, "Well that's good that it works. Although you better watch out Cenlia, next thing you know he'll make you carry one of those around that way he can be with you anywhere you go." He shrugs a little bit, "Nothign wrong with liking your craft. I always bring carrying case around with me."
Eledri blinks in surprise and stops frowning at the gadget to momentarily turn that frown on X'hil. Curiously, the suggestion that he should smile more causes the computercrafter to start blushing again. However, the man starts scowling instead, and snaps, "I care about my /sister/." And then he glances at Cenlia, and both of them look momentarily embarrassed. Eledri goes back to fiddling with the radio, muttering a little more irritably, "Wouldn't be here if I didn't." Whether he means the beach or Xanadu in general isn't specified. Cenlia scowls too, and she might as well be a mini-Eledri just then. But luckily Kire has her attention. Cenlia gives the starcrafter a horrified look at the suggestion he makes about the hand radio, and she looks even more horrified when Eledri actually murmurs in a terribly thoughtful, albeit somewhat grumpy, voice "That's not a bad idea."
X'hil to the rescue? "Nah, the firelizard'd eat it." he says to Kire's suggestion. "And then Eledri might do something to the firelizard." He doesn't imagine the man would take too kindly to the firelizard eating it, anyway. At Eledri's blush, X'hil turns his attentions to his ale bottle, quickly popping the top off and taking a swig. At Eledri's snap, that he cares about Cenlia, X'hil just nods, "Good. As you /should/. I shouldn't be the only one!" Wait, he cares about Cenlia? Well, like a sister, right? But even so, he's never actually /said/ as much. And, naturally, he means 'only one at Xanadu', he figures Cenlia has people elsewhere that care about her, family and the like.
Kire winces a little bit and then nods to X'hil, "Yah the firelizard would eat it or take it out to the middle of the lake and rop it." He looks over at X'hil, "Hey I care about her too." He continues to pet the firelizards on him, "Anyway how about we all have a drink."
Eledri's frown gets even frownier at X'hil's suggestion that the firelizard might eat the radio, and he scowls down at Cenlia's flits. Cenlia smirks a bit, then eyes Kire and X'hil. All this talk of caring is getting awfully mushy-like, and Cenlia doesn't do mushy. Right, booze. Cenlia takes a swig from the bottle she still has. And burps. Eledri frowns at Kire and then at the bronzer, but he seems more embarrassed than anything. Naturally, this has to be Cenlia's fault, but as the girl is guzzling booze, well, what the hey, Eledri gives the still-crackling radio an almost disgusted look guzzles the booze bottle. It's half gone before he tips it back down.
X'hil nods a little, eyeing the ocean. "Or drop it out to sea. Salt water /can't/ be good for all that tech stuff." Nope. There's a brief frown at his own bottle as Kire suggests they all have a drink, and he eyes Meredith. "I don't know if he wants to /do/ the trick again, he's done it five times today." And he certainly doesn't want to give up /his/ booze, guzzling a hefty helping of it himself. "It's true you know. I do care." Muuush. And then there's a blush, and he scowls at his bottle, and knocks back the last of it. "…like a brother to a sister." Yep. Though he's eyeing Kire a little now. X'hil seems to be an /over-protective/ brother, really. Like she really needs another of those! At least he's kind of fun, he gives her booze?
Kire watches the others drink and he whews softly, another argument hopefully averted. He looks at the radio and then back to X'hil, "It's all right. I'm not up for any drinking tonight maybe if I get a free night I'd be able to." He looks over at Cenlia, "Tonight's going to be a clear night if you want to see your star." He ignores the overprotective brother glance he gets from X'hil.
X'hil nods a little, eyeing the ocean. "Or drop it out to sea. Salt water /can't/ be good for all that tech stuff." Nope. There's a brief frown at his own bottle as Kire suggests they all have a drink, and he eyes Meredith. "I don't know if he wants to /do/ the trick again, he's done it five times today." And he certainly doesn't want to give up /his/ booze, guzzling a hefty helping of it himself. "It's true you know. I do care." Muuush. And then there's a blush, and he scowls at his bottle, and knocks back the last of it. "…like a brother to a sister." Yep. Though he's eyeing Kire a little now. X'hil seems to be an /over-protective/ brother, really. Like she really needs another of those! At least he's kind of fun, he gives her booze?
Cenlia blushes and blinks at X'hil, looking somewhat relieved when he adds the brother part. Then again, she has an awful lot of /those/ already. Cenlia grins a little, though, saying, "You're worsen' Eled when he's drunk." Yup, chalking it up to the booze. Ain;t booze great? Eedri blinks, frowning between Cenlia and X'hil. Hey, /his/ sister, shardit. /His/. Eledri sits down beside Cenlia, muttering, "I'm not /that/ bad." Cenlia nods, good-naturedly, saying, "Yeah, can almost drink me under the table." Looks like the siblings are talking to each other again? Yay? Cenlia grins at Kire, "Sure! I ain't doing anything tonight." Eledri gives Kire a sharply suspicious look. Overprotective brother? Maaaybe. However, Eledri has to look down again as the device in his hand suddenly crackles louder and a voice comes though, "-un, two, over." There's a pause, and it repeats, "Hey, Eledri, you hearing me? Testing, one, two, over." With some small amount of aggravation, Eledri presses a button and speaks into the thing, "Yes, signal recieved. At the beach. Over and out." The thing crackles into silence.
X'hil eyes the empty booze bottle and mutters, plopping it into the picnic basket with the now-sleeping brown. "Oh, when's the star come out?" he asks Kire, curiously. There's a glance Cenlia's way, and a frown at Eledri. He can /share/! X'hil shared booze, and marks… "Did you, er. Did-you-get-another-signature?" he asks kind of in a rush. "Because, er, I could, um… Slip it in with some paperwork. All sneaky-like." Or more likely just /ask/. And then the radio crackles and Eledri speaks into it, and X'hil just goes kind of quiet. There's a pause then, and a frown. "Anyone hungry?" he asks, eyebrows raised. Please? "Izzy whipped up some things, they're /like/ meatrolls, but they're fish instead of meat. Er. No booze content though." he does note.
Kire smiles, "Great I'lls et up my starviewer later so you can see it." He looks to Eledri, "Do you have other places to test?" He asks as he looks at X'hil, "Well probably in the late evening it's still a little cloudy out, but it should clear up." He smiles, "Depends what are we going to eat?"
Eledri frowns at X'hil's mention of signatures, but Cenlia shakes her head, pulling a slightly crumpled note from her pocket, "If Thea ain't gonna sign it just 'cause of them sharding ovines, even when she /knows/ I weren't the one responsible, it ain't like anybody else will." The girl makes a sour face, but Eledri says, "It's probably because no one wants to be responsible /for/ you," though there's noedge to his tone, and he glances briefly at X'hil, adding almost wryly, "Except for the weyrsecond here." Apparently having punched X'hil in the gut and then gotten booze, even accidentally, has improved the computercrafter's mood considerably. Eledri furrows hos brow, however, at the offer to sneaky-sign the note, but Cenlia happily hands the paper over, saying, "If ya think it'd work." Eledri seems about to say something, but… he holds his tongue. After all, the sooner Cenlia recieves permission to stay at Xanadu, the sonner he can leave. And anyway, there is food. Cenlia seems more interested in the rolls when it's mentioned that Izzy made them, but alas, no booze. She shakes her head. She's never eating at the beach again; already learned the hard way that firelizard hatchlings are attracted to food. Eledri, though, eyes the rolls, saying absently to Kire, "No, this was the last spot I had to check. The new material the techcraft sent us gets a worse signal than what we already have. There's no point in bothering someone to flight-test one when it can't recieve a signal out in the open here."
X'hil leans over to the picnic basket and pulls out a couple of cheap plates, and a bag of fish-rolls. He shakes the bag at Kire's question, and smiles slightly. He has an impish smile, with just a hint of dimples. "/These/." he says. Although he did just say what they were, so the surprise is kind of… ruined. But anyway, he shakes out a good third of the bag on to each plate, passing one to Kire and the other to Eledri, keeping the bag for himself. These seafood rolls are a bit smaller than regular meatrolls, actually. Kind of like sushi. He takes the note carefully, and frowns a little. "I'll… see what I can do." he promises, scowling at the unsigned line, and muttering, "The /least/ I can do. Think she only didn't sign it because /my/ name was on it." Scowl. He very carefully folds it, and tucks it away in the basket, lacking any pockets in his swim shorts and towel, and lacking anything else to have pockets /in/. The rolls are nodded at. "Keep /telling/ Izzy to craft, but she doesn't want to give up booze. Course, she's a candidate now, no choice, but still."
Kire looks to Cenlia, "Well I wish that I could sign it to keep you here. Who knows maybe you'll get searched and then you won't have to have anything signed you'll be a candidate." He ahs a little bit, "I see, just our luck that the last place you have is where we are." He continues to pet the bronze and brown firelizard that are near him as he gets the plate, "Thanks." He takes a couple of the meatrolls that are offered and he sneaks Charmer a little bit of it before he gives a little bit to Temujin as well. He takes a bite out of one of the meatrolls, "Mmm these are good."
Cenlia raises an eyebrow at X'hil and asks, "'Cause your name was on it? What'd ya do this time?" Eledri accepts the plate, nodding a much friendler thanks to X'hil; the bronzer seems to be made of marks and booze and food lately. The computercrafter eyes the rolls curiously, and has one halfway to his mouth before Kire's suggestion of Cenlia possibly being searched makes him frown again. He's awful frowny when he isn't scowling. Cenlia just snorts, muttering, "Only things that hang around me are trundlebugs," and there's a pause before she reuctantly adds, "And them flits." The girl takesa swig of booze, and snags scoots away from the people with food. No sense in tempting anything that might be hatching anywhere. Paranoid? Nooo. Cenlia doesn't see Kire sneaking Charmer some food, though Charmer is more than happy to gobble it up. Gobble gobble nomnom nomm. The little bronze firelizard croons happily, trying to nuzzle Kire and crawl on him, like his was his new best friend.
Kire listens as the two plan to sneak Cenlia in the weyr, "Well the worst thing is that the paper comes away unsigned." He shrugs, "The dragons pick as they will. I doubt they will pick me, I've got too much star stuff in my head. Like today I saw an picture of something called a black hole. Not that you can really see it, but you can see everything around it getting sucked in." He siles as he pets the bronze and the brown as he's happy to have both of the firelizard crooning at him.
X'hil just shoots Cenlia a look, and mutters in an anguished tone, "I don't /know/! She just … doesn't /like/ me." There has to be a /reason/, but the man is telling the truth when he says he doesn't know what it is. "I just… I don't /get/ her. What does she want from me? I'd apologise, but I don't even know what I'd be apologising /for/." he mutters, scowling at the bag of fish rolls. He bangs on the picnic basket a few times, waking Meredith, who squawks angrily at him. "Shut up, shut up and get me more of this." he snaps at the brown, handing him the bottle. Hrmm. The firelizard chitters angrily at the man, takes the bottle, and goes between. But doesn't come back. "Oh, fine. Sharding…" he trails off and scowls. Cranky now. "I'm likeable, aren't I? I… I act a bit rashly sometimes, but…" Great, doubt and guilt. Fun and funner!
"Black hole?" Cenlia scratches her head and regards Kire curiously, blinking as Charmer is doing his best to crawl up Kire's shirt. That's going to be awfully awkward if Kire doesn't do something. But Cenlia just looks amused, instead saying, "Funny name for a star." She furrows her brow briefly, "Sucked in, like it eats stuff?" She obviously seems to be having trouble picturing that. Eledri nibbles on a meatroll, listening to the others talk. He glances at X'hil's outburst, raising a brow and apparently declining to comment, thought the disappearing flit gets an almost amused smirk from the man. Cenlia gives X'hil a shrug, "Maybe she's just got all stuffy from all that paperwork? I dunno, she dun't seem to like me no more neither, and I ain't done /nothin'/ wrong." But the girl shrugs and eyes X'hil, muttering, "Well, I like ya fine. Wish you /was/ my brother, then I wouldn't be nearly dragged off home." Eledri just frowns at his fishroll.
Kire nods, "Yep it's a black hole. When a star dies it can collapse in on itself and everything gets pressed together so tightly and gravity becomes so strong that nothing can escape from it, not even light, that's why it's called a black hole." He chuckles as the firelizard gets into his shirt and he tries to gentle get it out, "Come on now Charmer." He says as it's a good thing he's got a belt on. He reaches into get the firelizard out and he smiles, "Stay above the shirt please." He sets the firelizard in his lap and pets the bronze as the brown is sleeping on his shoulder, "Anything that gets close to a black hole is pulled in and never comes out."
X'hil mutters a bit, and eyes the basket. The half-signed permission note containing basket. "I'll … have a /talk/ with her." And he will, for Cenlia's sake if not for his own. He blushes just slightly as Cenlia says she likes him, nodding as she wishes he was her brother. "I wish I was too, don't much like /my/ family." Scowl. Well, except for that holder aunt, and his younger brother. "Ah, so it's like anyone who feeds that Charmer, he never stops asking for food, right?" he tries a small joke, but it's perhaps too small. He's trying to be more cheerful?
Cenlia takes a swig of booze, and is about to reply to X'hil, when Eledri says almost jokingly, "You should join ours; it would make this entire situation simpler." Cenlia eyes him, but Eledri is already eating another meatroll. Cenlia shrugs, telling X'hil, "Too bad y'ain't old enough t' foster me. Though…" and then she frowns a but, muttering, "Wouldn't be a good idea anymore anyway, t' get fostered by a dragonrider." Cenlia doesn't look at X'hil as she says this, instead mumbling to Kire, "That's wierd," apparently having a hard time trying to imagine that black hole thing. Charmer croons, and as if he senses he's being referred to, he gives X'hil a cheeky croon too. And hey, no Meredith around to scold him! Very reluctant to leave Kire's pettins, Chermer nevertheless scuttles over towards the bronzer, crooning and doing his best charm-the-human tail-waggle.
Kire chuckles a little bit as he tries to look innocent about feeding the bronze firelizard. He smiles, "I think it's amazing there is so many amazing things in the universe it's great to be able to see them all." He waves to Charmer, "See you later." He continues to pet his brown and looks up, "Well let's get the starviewer set up." He moves over to his carrying case and he opens it up to set up the starviewer.
X'hil blinks at Eledri, and blushes just a little, oddly hesitant to join a family other than his own. He /hates/ his own. "Uh. It would… It would." Pause. "Not sure how I'd go about that…" Nope. "Anyway." He scowls at the basket, then stands, picking up the picnic basket and eying the water. "Kinseth /needs/ me. Enjoy the … rolls." he tosses the bag to Eledri, let the man decide what to do with them. Give them to firelizards, or share them, or whatever. "I'll see if I can't get the note signed for you." Hopefully. There's a good dose of doubt in his tone, but he forces a smile. All is well, really. No, really.
Cenlia waves to X'hil, and Eledri eyes the meatrolls he suddenly has, placing the bag on the ground beside him for the moment… which is unfortunate as Charmer practically jumps inthe bag. Whoops? Eledri frowns at the flit, but its too late, Cenlia's blues follow right after, and the remainder of the fishrolls are now flit-food. Cenlia snickers and then grins at Kire, saying, "HE likes everybody, 'cept when he hit his head and thought he wasa gold for a sevenday. Got over it, though." Cenlia leans over, watching Kire with interest. Technical talk about starstuff might be a bit over her head, literally and metaphorically, but she is fascinated by gadgets and things. This may be one ofthe few - very few - interests she has in common with her brother. Eledri, too, watches Kire with interest.
Kire finishes setting up the starviewer and he waves to X'hil, "See you later maybe next time you can see Cenlia's star." He hmms as he checks the instrument and he angles it just so as it points up into the sky. He looks in the eyepiece and he checks the coordinates again. After a few moments of fiddling with the knobs her looks up, "Okay come on over and see it."
Kire finishes setting up the starviewer and he waves to X'hil, "See you later maybe next time you can see Cenlia's star." He hmms as he checks the instrument and he angles it just so as it points up into the sky. He looks in the eyepiece and he checks the coordinates again. After a few moments of fiddling with the knobs her looks up, "Okay come on over and see it." He looks over at Cenlia and chuckles, "He thought he was a gold firelizard? Did he collect rocks and think they were his eggs?" He asks and snickers thinking about it.
Cenlia laughs and nods to Kire, "Yeah, he /did/. Think poor K'vin - he's the dragonhealer - think he didn't know what to make of him. Lucky he stopped, or else he mighta got into trouble." The girl scoots over carefully, eyeing the starviewer almost as curiously, and then peers into it like she saw Kire doing. Eledri seems curious too, although he's suddenly got another problem: namely, Charmer. The little bronze flit is doing that waggle-dance, and trying to nuzzle Eledri's neck while crawling up his sleeve. Eledri uhs, eyeing the firelizard with more than a little exasperation, but Charmer's already hooked his little claws into the computercrafter's shirt, and Eledri is distracted as he tries to dislodge the overly-friendly flit.
Kire nods, "I can only imagine what would have happened if he thought to rise." He shakes his head at that though." He stands back and smiles, "It's a very bright star. I hope you like it. It's got a soft blue hue to it." He watches the firelizard and he snickers, "Having trouble?"
- Scene missing -
Kire smiles at Cenlia, "Make sure he promises first." HE watches the firelizard and laughs, "You better promise Eledri you wouldn't want th em tog et into her pants." He ohs, "It's the wavelength of the light that the star puts out. Our sun outs out yellow light, that's why if you look up at the sun it looks yellow."
Cenlia gigglesnorts at Eledri, and the young man just gives the other two a sour look, "I've had worse things in my pants." Did he just say that? Seriously even? Cenlia doubles over laughing, and Eledri opens his mouth, and then closes it, perhaps realizing just how that sounded. He brings two fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose, muttering, "Nevermind." But as he turns to go, brown Trouble retirns from wherever he's been, and is carrying something large and bottle-shaped. Eledri frowns, and one could almost see the man's stomach sinking from his expression as he says, "That had better not be stolen booze. Cenlia snerks a bit, and then blinks at the approaching Trouble. Who is carrying a bottle of extremely expensive Benden red wine. Uh-oh. Where did /that/ come from? "Wave…length?" Cenlia mumbles absently, as Trouble lands nearby and curls around his booze, growling at everyone.
X'hil jogs back down to the beach, muttering about /dragons/. He seems to have abandoned the swimming idea, as he's got long pants on now and a proper shirt. The picnic basket is nowhere to be seen. He finds all three pretty much where they were, more or less, and nods a little. "Hey." Blink. "Why does that firelizard have a bottle of wine?" Staaare.
Kire laughs a little bit, "Indeed from what I have heard you have." He snickers a little bit as he goes back to looking in the starviwer and he hmms, "Here do you want to see the ship?" He asks, "Better hurry before it moves out of range." He chuckles a little bit, "I wonder where they learned that trick." He shrugs, "Probably because Cenlia is thirsty." He laughs a little bit and hmms as he moves to his carrying case. He takes out a prism. "Have you ever seen one of these?"
Eledri hesitates, not wanting to leave now that the flit's managed to pilfer something - the man's responsible for Cenlia, and thus for her flits as well. He ought to report this to somebody or something. Oh hey, and there's the weyrsecond. Eledri frowns at the returning bronzer, saying, "We don't know. Maybe he followed yours?" Though he eyes Cenlia suspiciously. Cenlia, though, frowns and takes a closer look as that booze bottle, muttering, "Dunno, this ain't ale. He ain't never snatched something that weren't mine, an' Rogue neither, unless I tried to get him to." Cenlia eyes her brown firelizard suspiciously, asking, "Where'd you get that?" Trouble just growls softly and curls around the wine bottle. Eledri scowls at Kire, this time his eyes narrowing. He didn't find that funny at all. Cenlia, though has to bite her lip and snorts a bit, to keep from laughing again. She miight have said something when she was drunk? SHe can't quite remmeber right now, though. Instead, she glances at the starviewer, "Ship?" and she tilt's her head at the prism, "Hey, Eled's got one of those."
X'hil did hear Eledri's pants line, really. And he's avoiding looking at the man again for precisely that reason. "Didn't follow mine, mine's still not back, and besides, don't think that's ale." Nooope. The man seems to be in a slightly improved mood, though. Much as he may grumble, he really does like to spend time with Kinseth, however brief. There's a glance to Kire, and he asks, "I, er, haven't missed Cenlia's star, have I?" Ah, so that's why he was in such a hurry to come back?
Kire nods as he checks the stargazer again and then he spots X'hil, "Hey X'hil, glad to see you are back so soon." He smiles at Eledri and then over to Cenlia, "Yes the ship up in space. You can see it from here. It's not very big, but you can see it moving." He adjusts the starviewer to that the ship will pass by so that it can be viewed. "Yah it show you a rainbow when the light hits it. Well the sun appears to be yellow how the white light from a sun hits the atmosphere of Pern, that's why towards sunrise and sunset it changes colors. The same goes for your star, when it's light hits the atmosphere of pern it appears blue, up in space it would appear to be white most likely, unless it was dying."
Kire smiles at X'hil, "You didn't miss it, it's still up there, I'll turn it back in just a moment. It's a blue star."
Cenlia tries to get the bottle from Trouble, but the brown flit growls and nips at her fingers. "Hey! Sharding flit," she mutters, and then shrugs, "Fine, keep yer sharding wine." Eledri frowns at Cenlia and her troublesome firelizards, and goes over to attempt to coax the booze-brown flit off his pilfered booze. Trouble is all growly, though, and will not be coaxed. But Cenlia is already more interested in the mention of the ship, and she scoots closer to the starviewer, looking curious. Kire's explanation of light has her furrowing her brow, "Hunh. Wierd." That seems to be her reply to most everything complex, but she does ask, "So the sky's like a big one of those?" and she indicates the Prism. Eledri glances at the prism, and then sits back with a sigh, having given up on attempting to get the booze from the firelizard - he already has claw-marks on one hard from that one already. Eledri does say, "There's a piece of hide tied to the bottle." Of course, Trouble is sitting right on the piece of hide, so it's impossible to read what it says.
X'hil nods a little at Kire. "Kinseth just wanted me to tell him how lovely his eggs looked, apparently." he mutters, with a roll of his eyes. There's a brief nod as Kire promises to give him a look in a moment, and the man frowns at the firelizard with the bottle. "Hmm. I see that, piece of hide." he murmurs, eyeing the firelizard warily. "Shards, where's Meredith when I need him?" As if on cue, the firelizard pops out of between. Without a bottle. "Mer! Get /that/ bottle." he tells the brown, nodding to it. His firelizard just looks at him with a questioning chirp. But it's /right there/, why does he need to 'get' it?
Kire nods, "Basically it has a name." He looks over at the brown, "Well it looks like he wants the bottle for himself." He puts away the prism. "Well better not drink it it might belong to someone important, wouldn't want to get in trouble, then again pilfered wine probably tastes really good." He looks over to X'hil, "Here let me turn it back to Cenlia's star." He adjusts the starviewer and he looks in the eyepiece. "Here we go X'hil take a look at Cenlia's star." Kire back away and he pets the sleeping brown around his neck, "Why don't you ask him nicely." He kneels down to Trouble, "Hi there Trouble, could I please have the bottle?"
Trouble growwwlls at everyone, and curls around that wine bottle so tightly, it's likely someone's going to have to pry him off with a crowbar or something. Neither coaxing, ordering, or niceness seems to have worked, as the grumpy flit snugs his wine bottle. /His/. Cenlia rolls her eyes, "Just what I need, flit that steals other peoples' stuff." Though she does glance at X'hil, just for a moment. And here she thought his were picking up bad habits fromher blues; could it be the other way around. But seeing Meredith seems to give her an idea, as Cenlia plops Charmer down by the wine bottle and orders him, "Get him off." Eledri, seeing Charmer, immediately backs away. Cenlia smirks, asuring her brother, "He ain't gonna try for your pants." Eledri… does not look convinced.
X'hil mutters at the firelizard, and steps away, moving over to the starviewer. He peers through it and blinks a little, looking at the sky, then looking through the starviewer. It's not /much/ of an improvement, probably, but it's enough to astound the man. "Star's blue? Huh. It's a /pretty/ star." he notes absently, then blinks a little at Cenlia's comment, glancing from Charmer to Eledri, briefly to the man's pants, and then quickly away again. His eyes land on Cenlia, and he frowns for a long moment, then shrugs, and says, "Uh. Kinseth had… a talk. With me. He … he doesn't think Thea dislikes you. Er. Thinks you should talk to /her/ about it. Kinseth's words, not my own." he finishes with, frowning. Though, it /does/ sound like the right thing to do, really. Time with Kinseth is /good/ for the man. Possibly not the right time to bring it up, but, if not now, when would he? There'd always be /some/ excuse not to.
Kire gets up and he brushes off his pants, "Good luck Charmer." He nods, "Yes it is, it was my first choice for Cenlia's star and I'm gald that I got it." He moves to put his starviewer away as everyone else seems to be done with it." He zips up the case and he hmms, "I can't imagine Thea disliking anyone."
Eledri just frowns at Charmer, but the bronze firelizard has a new game to play. With a cheeky 'gwarrr!' the bronze flit tackles brown Trouble, booze-bottle and all. Trouble gives a surprised squawk as the flits and wine bottle go rolling down towards the water. Cenlia snickers, and then glances sideways at X'hil, shrugging, "What'd Sir Kinseth say about /you/?" She is of course assuming X'hil actually asked the dragon why Thea was mad at him. Again. Cenlia smirks as Charmer actually manages to chase Trouble away from the bottle. And then Charmer sits on him, crooning smugly and pinning the smaller brown flit to the ground. Cenlia smirks, giving her firelizards a grin and stooping down to collect the bottle. Untying the piece of hide, she reads it, and then says, "Hunh, 's from B'miel. Going-away present." She frowns a bit as she plops down, still reading the note.
X'hil doesn't really comment on the idea of Thea disliking anyone. Nope. But he /does/ respond to Kire's comment with "I can't imagine anyone disliking Cenlia!" with genuine amazement in his tone. He really can't imagine that. "He. Er. Had a few words. For me. None I feel like /repeating/." the man mutters, not making eye contact with anyone. And then there's a blink. "Going … away? Who's going away? Is it B'miel?" Is that /hope/ in his tone?
Kire picks up his carrying case to move it off to the side so it doesn't get stepped on. He nods in agreement with X'hil, "Indeed, but sometimes two people just don't like each other, there is just something about the other person that annoys them." He shrugs, "I can't speak for Thea so I don't know."
Cenlia nods at Kire and glances at X'hil with the slightest of smirks, "Y'ain't met my uncle." And then she adds, "Well, 'least ya know why she's mad at ya, then?" Again, assuming, but the girl nods, frowning a bit and continuing, "He's gone to Ierne to try and get his old weyrmate back. Hunh, guess he ain't giving up after all." She folds the piece of hide and pockets it, then eyes the wine bottle thoughtfully, "Hope he manages to get him back this time. B'miel's awful bad at putting his foot down. Guess he couldn't find me, but Trouble was off in the garden. Got Verzth to get him to deliver this." Cenlia eyes Trouble, who has managed to escape Charmer and is sulking further down the beach. Charmer is winging his way back, and settles in the sand by Eledri, making the young man edge away warily. Cenlia giggles, saying, "Shards, Eled, he ain't gonna bita ya." With an absolutely straight face, Eledri mutters, "That is /not/ what I'm worried about. Cenlia snickers, but then wiggles her fingers at Chermer, who leaves Eledri alone and flutters over to Cenlia for scritches.
X'hil just sort of shakes his head and frowns, eyeing the sulking brown idly. A couple of times he opens his mouth to say something, but then just shakes his head. "He gave me some idea." he mutters, finally. Well at least now he'll stop sulking about it? Right now he doesn't seem to want to talk or think about it at all. He tils his head at Kire, and has to nod, "Sometimes, that's true. I just don't like /Nosken/, for example. Never have." but the guilty expression on his face would indicate that now is not one of those times. There's a blink Cenlia's way at the rest of the note, though. "Gone back to his weyrmate? To try and get him back?" Was that a slight emphasis on 'him'? "Ah, well, I wish B'miel luck, then." Yes.
Kire ahs a little bit, "Well good luck to B'miel I hope that he can get his weyrmate back or at least he'll be able to some closure." He strokes the brown on his shoulder as the brown continues to slumber but is cleaning onto the shoulder of Kire's shirt. "Indeed it sounds like he's going to need it."
Eledri sure didn't miss that emphasis on 'him', and there's another blush, though why /he's/ blushing is anyone's guess, and a vaguely frownish expression on the computercrafter's face. Cenlia nods, still eyeing the wine bottle and saying, "Yea, B'miel left when they were back at Fort. Said something about him being away all the time," the girl shrugs, "Dunno the rest, though, 'cause he was drunk at the time. An' S'tan kept interrupting, wanting to go flying with ten shots of vodka inside him." But shr grins, saying, "Said he'd still come back though, to get me and S'tan when there's a party-" and Eledri promptly interrupts, sayingsternly, "You /won't/ be flying halfway across Pern to any parties, Cenlia." Cenlia sticks her tongue out, but doesn't argue, instead, tucking the wine behind her and turning to Kire, asking, "Which one of them's the star you just showed us," and she points up at the sky, "So I can tell my da which one's named after me when I get home, an' show him. Dun think we could get a starviewer in South Boll." Eledri continues to frown. His frowny-face goes unnoticed by the gardener, though.
X'hil nods slowly at Kire, muttering, "Closure is good…" and glancing back to the meadow. There's no /romantic/ closure needed in his life, partly because there's no /romance/ in it either — just the way he likes it. Women are confusing, and he's not into men. But closure in a general sense would be nice. He frowns at Cenlia a little bit. "What, we don't party hard enough at Xanadu?" he asks, half teasing. And then he's looking back up at the sky as she asks Kire about the star, butting in a little, "It's that star, I think?" he points out /a/ blue star, in the general vicinity at least. There's a sideways glance to Kire. The starcrafter would know.