Xanadu Weyr - Clearing
A wide clearing stretches from east to west, the ground packed hard although grass grows across most of it. Trees are strictly forbidden in this space, their danger to the constant draconic traffic reason enough to banish them to the forest that creates a this and sharp border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places with upturned petals to wave to whoever may be looking.
The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the mountain where, high above, Xanadu's Star Stones and the ever present watchdragon sit on a lonely peak. Directly south is a massive tunnel, fully wide enough for even the largest dragon to fly down. Southeast are wide steps leading up to the Caverns and eastwards is the large entrance to the Infirmary. Somewhat north of the Infirmary is a human sized archway that has a frequent quantity of traffic — it leads to the Tavern. Southwest lies the low ledges currently belonging to Xanadu's queens while north and west a broad path cut by the side of the cliff leads to the Feeding Grounds and due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr.
Kioku flies off from his perch as a team of runners come trotting through the clearing with a load of ale. The blue whirls and dives and narrowly misses on of the runners as he swings up towards the trees. The runner, not expecting a blue firelizard, rears in panic, sending the other into a panic and they both bolt, despite the teamsters commands. On the way out of the clearing, the wagon hits a stone and tips, sending the kegs rolling and most of them breaking open, spilling their wares onto the ground, creating a bit of a puddle. Quite a large one in fact.
Abeytuth lands over at the other side of the clearing, but she startles and looks up at the sudden sounds of things clattering.
Morlanol yelps in surprise as he's soaked in ale. His eyes are wide, but the rest of his face is scrunched up from the smell. As seems to be his M.O. lately he turns to leave, then slips and falls. "Shards!" In anger, he picks up some mod and flings it at one of the circling flits.
Kioku shreels loudly at the noise and dives back downwards, only to get hit by flung mud that he didn't see coming. He disappears suddenly and then comes back in a blink of an eye with frozen bits dropping off of him.
Kire looks down from the back of Abeytuth and he blinks as he sees the wagon tip and send Kegs rolling. He winces a little bit, "Uh oh. someone's gonna be in trouble if Cenlia sees this." He says behind Kai and he smirks a little bit, "Can't take you two anywhere can I?" He takes off his helmet and tries to straighten up his flight hair.
Cenlia is just heading back to the caverns from the garden when she comes across the mess in the clearing. The rather booze-smelling mess. Her four firelizards join the ones already circling, though brown Trouble seems especially gleeful as he swoops down to splash in the puddle. The gardener halts and looks dismayed, muttering, "Shardin' waste of booze." She justhappens to glance over in Kire's direction, and calls over, "What'd ya do this time? Explode a keg?" Because naturally, she assumes its his fault, although she is grinning.
Kai says "Maybe we can bet Abeytuth to gets some kegs. Just as long as she doesn't start lapping it up."
Morlanol rolls to his feet, his entire body now caked in mud, splashing mud all over everyone within a 5 foot radius. "Whoops?"
Trouble is wasting no time, and as Cenlia's three other firelizards look on, the brown flit is getting roaringly drunk. And, half-covered in drupping mud, he dives at Cenlia, flinging the stuff everywhere. The gardener girl yelps and ducks, only to get splashed by Morlanol. Cenlia grabs her own handful of mud and fligs it at the firelizard, but alas, even drunk, Trouble is quite an agile thing, made worse by the erratic flying caused by the booze. And that mud-chunk is now sailing clear across the clearing. Whoops indeed.
Kire smiles at Kai, "Do dragons drink?" He asks as he starts to unbuckle himself and he looks over to Cenlia, "Yep, one exploded keg of ale for your drinking pleasure." He smiles at Kai and gives her a kiss, "Thanks for the ride home love."
Kai looks at Kire. "Who'd ever fill a bathtub with enough to see?"
Kioku has found a happy perch and he peers down at Trouble and watches the other firelizard and now the flying mud. He dives downwards again and splashes down into to the mud and then swings upwards. Well, he attempts to. The mud sort of clings to the wings and he ends up careening along the ground, mud flying in his wake as he tries to shake it off.
Morlanol ducks, startled, the first time trouble gets too close, but the second time he fails, and the little flit knocks him over… again… which a loud yelp, sending more mud flying
Abeytuth takes a few steps forward to sniff at the stranage bubbly smell but gets a mental detention from her rider.
Cenlia makes a face and muttters, "Ain't worth drinkin' /now/, 'cept to the fli-" and she's forced to duck as a very drunk Trouble soars past, spattering her hair with mud. And then another firelizard is apparently flinging mud. Cenlia acks, and grabs more mud, attempting to shoo the flits off by… throwing stuff at them. Yeah, she's so mature, isn't she? Well at least mud isn't harmful, and brown Trouble at least seems to be enjoying this immensely. The same can't e said for Cen's other firelizards, who've flown well out of range of the flying, smelly mud, and are watching Cenlia warily.
Kire shrugs a little bit, "I don't know, not me, I thought dragons didn't like human food." He watches as the mud starts to fly and one hit him on his cheek. "Ugh! Watch where you are throwing it." He scraps off the mud and he flings it back towards Cenlia.
Kai says "Ho-oh! I was afraid of this….Kire, don't throw it back! Who knows where the mud is going to end up."
Morlanol dives to the side as yet another drunken flit gets way too close for comfort, spraying mud all over the dragon this time.
Kioku gets winged by some randomg mud fling and ends up belly up on the ground. There's a startled look to him as he lays there. Staring up at the sky.
Kai looks…sees it coming…sees it coming in slow motion….."No-o-o-o-o-oh!" Splat! "Awwww, shrdit! Now I have to wash and iron..I mean, wash and oil her all over again!"
Cenlia acks as Kire's thrown mud hits her square in the chest. "Hey!" and then she's grabbing another handful to fling back in his direction, yelling, "Was aiming at the flits!" Though clearly, she no longer is. Trouble zooms past everyone, flapping off bits of mud and then spashing back into the puddle to lap up some more booze. Cenlia spots the firelizard and dives after him with a, "Trouble, ya shardin' get back here!"
Morlanol doesn't even try to get up this time. He just drags himself to some nearby tree roots and clings to them for dear life.
Kire gahs as the mud is splattered all over the dragon and him, "Hey stop that!" He oofs as he gets hit in the stomach with the mud, "Sure you were Cenlia." He tries to wipe the mud off him.
Kioku manages somehow to get himself upright and then sort of walks like a drunken parrot, though he's not been drinking. Morlanol is eyed, clinging to the roots, and the blue wanders over to get a closer look, sorta hop jumping his way over with a curious creel.
Kai raises both hands to try and gesure the folks to calm down. "Come on, no more mud. That's quite enough now!" She looks at Kire and starts to laugh.
Kire wipes off the mud and he narrows his eyes at Kai. He goes to playfully push the mud on her cheek, well away from her eyes.
Morlanol stares at the approaching blue flit with wide-eyed terror. "No! G'way! Leave me be y' mad beast. I've had m' fill of crazy animals."
Trouble sees Cenlia coming after him, and with a defiant shriek, the firelizard launches himself into the air, flinging mud off his wings as he hurtles upward. Unfortunately for Cenlia, her momentum and the slippery ground has her careening forward to do a belly-flop right in the muddle of the giant booze-puddle. SPLASH. Or something like that, with mud spattering everything nearby. Trouble doesn't go to far, hovering overhead and chittering tauntingly. Cenlia gets up and shakes a fist atr him, "Shardin' flit!" But Trouble just swoops away, going back for more muddy booze. Cenlia makes as if to chase him, but seems to think better of it and instead turns and glances at Morlanol, raising a brow and saying, "'S just a flit," and maybe grinning a bit.
Kioku pauses. A blink, and then a double blink. He gives himself a bit of a shake, mud splattering outwards and then settles his wings along his sides. His mouth opens as he tips his head to the side a little. He then shuts it with a bit of a breathy sound and opens it with a bit of a pop. He trills questionably and then hops again towards Morlanol.
Kai keeps her mouth closed, narows her eyes and purses her lips. Ho-oh…What's she got on her mind? She walks over to where the keg has puddled into the dirt. She gets a big handful of it, pats it into a nice ball, and tosses it at the person who turned the cart and dumped the keg in the first place.
Morlanol shrieks like a girl. It is quickly becoming clear that the juvenile is under the influence. "It may be jus' a fli', bu' i's comin' righ' t' me!'
Kire laughs as he watches Kai go after the person who dumped the keg. He grins as he joins in and he makes a ball of mud to toss it at the shrieking boy. He's a good as target as any.
Seeing more flying mud, Cenlia grins, and then when Trouble swoops past, she ducks down and scoops up more mud, flinging it after the firelizard - though she misses and thus ends up throwing mud randomly aroudn the clearing. But hey, it's all good fun, right? Well, Trouble seems to think so as he trills encouragement to Kioku and then does a wobbly circle around the clearing, diving down into the mud now and again, to splash Cenlia and anyone else in the vicnity.
Kai says "You know, this stuff probably stains!"
Kioku the mad blue stalker? In the tone of Bill Cosby. Riiiight. Kioku flutters his wings at the shrieking and sits back suddenly on the ground. He looks a little confused and he starts to chitter. Kai says, "Oooh! That's putting a date on you!"
Morlanol had bearly regained his composure when he's hit full-face by Kire's flung mud. At this point, being still young and shaken, he bursts into tears, which really don't do anything to clean his mud-stained visage and his open mouth is a recipie for trouble… specifically mud-flavored trouble.
Kire winces as he hits Morlanol in the face and he didn't mean too. He moves over to the boy and kneels down to him. He takes out a clean handkerchief and uses it to wipe off the boy's face, "It's all right. I'm sorry I didn't mean to hit you in the face."
Cenlia is covered nearly head-to-toe in booze-smelling mud now, but she doesn't seem too concerned about it. She does stop and blink when Morlanol bursts into tears. This distraction is what Trouble has been waiting for, and the brown, mud-covered firelizard lands right on Cenlia's head with a happy croon. Cenlia acks, and tries to shoo him off, but alas, the firelizard seems to want to snuggle now, mud and all. With a sour expression, the girl mutters, "Shardin' flit," but reaches up to give the firelizard perched on her head some scritches anyways. At least he's no longer zooming around showering her with mud? She sighs, mud dripping down her back, and glances around, saying, "Y'alright?" She doesn't sound too concerned, though. After all, it's just booze and mud. She's encountered worse things in the compost pile.
Kioku hops again towards the now crying boy and croons softly only to suddenly squawk as someone else comes over and startles him and off and away he goes, much of the mud drying and now flaking off.
Kai goes back to her dragon. "Well, at leasdt the river is right here. Bey, you're gonna need a bath!"
Morlanol continues to blubber, though the frequency of the sounds begins to lessen until eventually he manages to mutter "'malright… jus' caugh' m' by surprise."
Abeytuth goes over to snuffle in the spilled liquid. Funny stuff.
Kire nods as he continues to wipe the boy's face off. "Glad you are okay. I'm Kire." He says as he goes to help the boy up.
Cenlia eyes the green dragon warily, having already seen the miniature version getting good and drunk. Brown trouble continues to croon and tilt drunkenly on the girl's head. Cenlia reaches up and manages to wrestle the firelizard off her head, holdin him at arm's length and wrinkling her nose, saying, "We're all gonna need a good washin' now." Trouble chirps in agreement, and wriggles. Cenlia eyes him, but when it's clear the firelizard isn'y coordinated enough to get away from her, she turns ack to the other folks in the clearing, grinning almost sheepishly as she says to the two she doesn't know, "Hey, I'm Cenlia."
Kai is trying to brush off some mud from her dragon and unbuckle the riding straps at the same time. "Abeytuth, don't lck at that stuff! It's bad for you!" She looks over at Cenlia. "Is this your wagon?"
Morlanol allows himself to be helped up, teary aftershocks still running down his face from time to time. He sniffles, "I'm Morlanol… I think 'm okay now… but I think I may actually need t' clean my shirt."
Cenlia shakes her head, saying, "Not mine. I'm the gardener." The girl eyes the booze-puddle, wrinkling her nose and asking, "How'd all this stuff spill?" She glances at Kire and adds, "He didn't really explode a keg, did he?" But she looks amused, shaking her head again.
Kai says "Bey…stop lapping at it! Oooh! You crazy dragon!"
Kire smiles at the green, "You know if you leave the mud on it's good for the skin or at least that's what all those lord holder's wives do in the books." He nods to Morlanol, "It's nice to meet you." He shakes his head to Cenlia, "Of course not. I was framed just like last time."
Morlanol smiles a little between the mud, "I think a fli' startled th' runners"
Kai finally gets the riding straps off her dragon. "Wrong kind of mud! It's really a mineral mud that does that…and I don't think it has liquer in it! Though it does sort of smell like it."
Cenlia grins at Kire, "I was telling the weyrleader about the kitchens. I think I kinda scared him. He dun look any older than Eled. Shards, he looked bad enough sneakin' outta the shrubbery like that…" but the girl trails off. She nods to Morlanol, saying, "Well, 'least ya ain't hurt, right?" Always a good day at Xanadu when nobody gets sent the the infirmary after a disaster… Cenlia glances back at the dragon, though, and then at Kai, saying, "Shouldn't hurt them none? I mean, they ain't gonna get poisoned by it?" The girl gives her still-wiggling brown firelizard a concerned look, but the concern evaporates when he bites her. With a "Yow!" Cenlia lets him go, and glares at the departing flit as Trouble swoops off chittering loudly.
Morlanol walks a few steps away from the others before shaking off the outer layer of mud. He turns back to them, still thoroughly coated in the sticky ick, "I'm gonna be scrubbin' for hours… I should get started…" He smiles, "Thanks… that was fun…" He turns, slipping again in the thick mud, before managing to slip-slide his way to the baths.
Kire smiles, "I think he all ready knew about it, but I'm sure you know tons of stories that could put his hair on end." He moves to help Kai with the straps, "My mistake…mud is mud isn't it? Just liquid and dirt." He looks to Morlanol, "Have fun with the scrubbing."
The dragon's straps come off easier with two people. "Thank you, Kire." As Abeytuth slips off the straps Kai finds the dragon's scrub brush in a small cargo pouch. "Darn….now I need to scrub her."
Cenlia waves at the departing Morlanol, and then makes a face, glancing in the directon Trouble went and muttering reluctantly, "I better go make sure that shardin' flit dun get me into any trouble." She waves at Kire and Kai, and heads off at a jog as she disappears towards the garden, where the sounds of one very drunk firelizard trilling off-key can be heard. Cenlia's three other firelizards take flight from their out-of-the-way vantage point and flutter after her, though the girl does attempt to shoo them off, to no avail.