Xanadu Weyr - Craft Complex
The large area has been separated into a variety of smaller sitting areas, couches and chairs organized into rings and squares, tables set where they can be used easily. A few desks for studying are pushed against one wall, while another has a variety of doors spaced along side it, opening into private quarters for the ranking crafters posted at the weyr. A set of double doors opens to the general apprentice dorms, and a long hallway stretches outwards, providing access to the various workshops.
Scribble. Scribble scribble scribble. There is flurry of activity in one corner of the craft complex this afternoon, the place fairly empty, with most still being on lunch breaks or outside enjoying the bright sun and cloudless sky. Not Eledri, though, the computercrafter having planted himself behind and desk and likely not having moved since. On one side of him is an empty terminal case, half the panel missing with the innards completely gone, only the fastenings left behind. On the other side, a stack of hides and weighty texts are shoved together while the crafter works with quick, deft strokes, marking things down on some kind of diagram on the hide in front of him. He's wearing his usual semi-frown, lips pressed together as he shoves hair back from his face, brow creasing as some presumably puzzling bit of arrows and things, the man leaning over to /peer/ at some section, and then sitting back to adjust his spectacles. "..Just figures," he mutters to himself, pushing his chair back and making a few more hasty marks while his other hand distractedly reaches for some book or other. There's a moment after he tugs it from the pile, where the sound of sliding hides and paper has him lifting his head in irritation, but too late to slop the sudden and inevitable collapse as the whole lot pile just sliiides off the table - kerthud thudthud thud! - and so one, Eled blinking and then muttering some swear under his breath as he finally gets up.
Booted feet. That's the first indication of someone else around for Eledri. Scuffed, steel toed boots that have certainly seen better days. Then wherhide pants of a khaki color, and finally a teal sweater and a blond fluffy head. Guitar in place against his back with a black and white checkered strap across his chest, Pyriel silently helps the computer crafter pick up the many papers and books that had literally fallen at his feet as he passed by. He doesn't look, doesn't chit chat, just does.
Eledri kneels quickly to grab hides and books, scowling somewhat at the fallen-over pile and totally missing the fact that it came down practically at someone's feet. He's so preoccupied with scooping things up and shoving them back on the table that it's only after a few seconds that Pyriel's presence actually seems to register, and there's a bit of a blink, the crafter straightening and peering first at steel-toed boots, and then up to that blond fluffy head. Blink. "Uh.. thanks," said vaguely, for the help, Eledri shoving hides and books back on the table and at least attempting to make a neater pile this time, stacking the texts more carefully than he'd likely done prior. There's another sideways look at Pyriel, and a slight furrowing of his brow, though if he recognizes the kid from the living caverns backwhen, he doesn't show it.
Pyriel just keeps stacking, books and papers into two separate piles, and only once that is completed does he help to situate them back into the table again. Not really sure where they go, he just puts them where ever he can find a place. Gold eyes come up with the rest of him as he rises to his feet from his knee, and although his brows furrow a touch, he manages a bob of his head for the thanks. Otherwise, he appears to be at a loss as to what exactly one does or says in this sort of situation. He, like Eledri, wasn't exactly a social creature. Pyriel was, one of those people who was hard to forget, but admittedly his hair was shorter than the last time he had run into the computer crafter. All those piercings though, they were hard to miss. Hands are shoved into the pockets of his trousers, thumbs hooked on the outside and he he lingers for whatever reason under the older man's perplexed gaze.
It's those piercings, really. Eledri's eyes seem drawn to them, staring just a bit. Even as his hands move along the sides of the book stacks, straightening the thick texts properly and then moving to sort the hides, gaze dropping tablewards after a second. "Er, interesting jewelry," is commented almost off-hand to the boy, the computercrafter briefly examining each scroll in turn before setting them in some kind of specific order. The ones Py put on the table are sorted too, and stacked well away from the table edge. "Was there.. something you needed?" calling Eledri not social might be an understatement, the man giving Pyriel another sidelong glance when the boy lingers, vague frown returning, though really, that might be Eledri's normal expression.
Pyriel idly lifts a hand to one of the obvious holes in the lobe of his ear. It was literally a hole. You could see right through the flesh to the other side with the rim of black plastic in there that had stretched it. Not terribly obvious, but anyone really looking would see it without a problem. A bit of a frown for the comment made about his choice of adornment before his hand falls away and is jammed back into his pocket. Brows slowly sink down into a deep furrow instead of replying to it though, watching with a distracted sort of interest in the way that Eledri was sorting, restacking, and shuffling things about on the fairly large table. At the question, Py's gaze comes up off the flurry of movement and settles on the older man, his mouth opening as if to say something but no sound emerges. Rather fishlike, he rapidly starts to color at his cheeks, the contrast setting off the few remaining freckles on the bridge of his nose from his prepubescence as it spreads over there as well. Eyes dart to the floor all of sudden, jaw clenching.
The frown doesn't improve at the lack of an answer, Eledri's gaze flicking back to Pyriel when the boy lifts a hand, all but calling attention to that ..rim of plastic in the ear lobe. Nose wrinkling slightly once he notices he can see right through it, there's a quiet, almost unthinking, "Why would anyone put a /hole/ in their ear?" asked more of the air than of the teen. Eledri's eyebrows come together, forehead creasing further, as he just eyes Pyriel's coloring face. Blink blink. There might be some more awkward hide-shuffling, though if he's really still sorting, or just looking for something to do while the boy just stands there, who knows.
Pyriel's head whips back up, and he glares at Eledri. "What the shell?" he snaps, the flush on his face rapidly decreasing to be just as quickly replaced with white hot anger. "And they call me rude. Ya don't see me asking why ya wear them glasses or geeky ass clothes or have the social ability of a dragon gnawed wherry." Grrrr. Hiss. Heckles up, they were all pointed at the computer crafter. Growling to himself, it appears as if the boy had every intention of slamming the doors nearby open and disappearing through them, but he was still intent from the way he lingers, to be wanting something. "I just wanted to ask ya some stuff, but if yer gunna be like everyone else in this sharding weyr…." Hiss. Grrrr. Rawr.
"Well then /ask/ already, don't just stand there wasting my time," Eledri snap-grumbles, his own face coloring now, shoulders tensing back as he straightens and levels an even glare right back at Pyriel over the top of his spectacles. A hand comes up, perhaps a touch self-consciously, to straighten said glasses, the man muttering, "I don't get paid to stand around making polite with some brat." Rawrmew. He totally huffs, right there, too. And goes back to shuffling papers, straightening them out and possibly re-organizing some of those hides, still standing despite his chair right there.
Brat? Pyriel actually takes a step forward towards the older, and larger man, hand out of pocket and half curled into a fist before he manages to stop himself. A pause, and he shuffles back quiet a bit, hand slowly returning to his pocket, before he moves again. This time to remove the guitar off his back and to set it down before plopping into a chair across from Eledri. That entire time he was very slowly breathing in and out, as if someone had taught him an exercise to control all that anger. "I want to talk about boys." he blurts out, immediately turning bright red and finding sudden interest in the corner of the desk. A scuff mark perhaps, or some other imperfection in the wood.
The moment the teen steps forward, Eledri's eyes dart towards him, his own hand going for a nice, thick book, eyes narrowing at Pyriel, slim shoulders tensing even further. There's a silent moment where his lips press into a line, hand hovering over that book while glaring until the guitar is removed and the other takes a seat. Slowly, he moves to lift a rolled-up hide instead, distractedly glancing at its label, with an impatient frown. The blurted answer, though, gives him pause, Eledri blinking and lifting his gaze again, this time with a rather blank, "..What?"
"Boys!" Pyriel emphasizes, golden orbs darting quickly to Eledri before finding purchase once more on that spot at the corner of the table. "Geez ya deaf too?" he grumbles under his breath, before sighing and doing more of that intentional deep breathing in and out. Was he counting as well? Hard to say really without leaning way over and straining to hear. "I heard, some…some stuff. About you. From…around." Fidgeting now, he draws a leg up to his chest, his boot on the seat of the chair, and he plays with the hem of his pants. Ah, no, it's a loose bit of thread. "And I…I got this friend…yeah and he's got this problem ya see. I didn't know how to help him so…" Again eyes dash and go from the computer crafter, finding the thread he twists between his fingers utterly enrapturing from all the attention lavished upon it. "So, my friend. He's totally into girls, right? No problem with them either, they line up. But, this other guy…his best friend. Totally has the hots for him.
"I work with computers, not people," is muttered at the boy, Eledri setting the hide down on the table a bit more forcefully than necessary, perhaps, almost knocking the rest of the stack over. Luckily, his other hand stops the ones that start to roll, and he straightens the lot with his gaze lowering distractedly for a second. Cheeks which had begun to return to their normal hue quickly re-acquire a tinge of red, and eyes flick back up to peer across at Pyriel. "Heard /what/?" is demanded of the teen, shoulders still tense, though then Eledri is giving him another blank look, "..Uh." Mouth partially open, he hesitates, and instead of continuing, just stares a bit at Pyriel, again.
Pyriel yanks that thread right off, yep, and he clenches his teeth behind his lips so hard that the muscles of his jaws flex visibly. "Excuse me for not being a sharding computer." he mutters, careful not to look at Eledri, despite the man's obvious irritation to be saddled with the ramblings of a fifteen turn old boy. He scratches quick like at his own head, and then neck before twisting the now broken off thread between his fingers a few times. "Do I seriously have to spell it out?" he asks, flatly. There is along suffering sigh, head tucking in to hide behind the fuffiness of his hair. "That ya like guys." he mutters, scuffing the boot on the floor a few times. "Just lemme ask my stupid question okay?" he growls, throwing the thread from his fingers with some force, only to have it flutter unhurriedly out of site. "So my friend hasn't once in his life looked at another guy. But ever since his best friend told him he liked him…he's been kinda looking at him different. But it's just his best friend, he's not like checking out other dudes and stuff or nothing. And maybe…maybe the other night he let his best friend make out with him a little bit…" Pyriel seems to be curling up tighter and tighter, picking now at a bit of leather on the toe of his boot that's started to flake.
A hand is brought up, fingers brushing back through his hair and then distractedly rubbing his forehead, Eledri stands there just looking Pyriel for a few seconds more. "Weyr full of riders, and you're asking /me/?" his voice is more baffled than incredulous, though then his brow furrows somewhat, "..I don't know you from somewhere?" Random encounters in the living caverns aside, apparently, as Eledri re-adjusts his spectacles and frowns thoughtfully down at the boy. Still not taking a seat, his other hand absently shifts one of the book stacks, while he mutters, a little awkwardly, "So what are you asking me for? You kissed him, you should go ask /him/ whether he's still interested only in girls," totally assuming there, or losing patience, possibly.
"I dunno any guy riders who are into guys, except my dad and that stupid greenrider that was all over you that time in the living cavern. I ain't talking to either of them about nothing." Pyriel spits, now picking with intention at his boot with one of his short kept fingernails, on a spot as of yet undamaged. He stiffens as Eledri mutters about kissing, and now his head comes up, a glare in place in it's usual spot. "Why does everyone assume I'm like that? Cause of my face right? First my dad and now yer talking about it like I can help looking this way. I can't help my sharding face." Except maybe punch a bunch of holes in it in a misguided attempt to look more masculine? Hmmm, maybe. "I just wanted to know if it's possible that my /friend/ can make an exception for /his/ best friend. He's not into guys, okay. At all. Mostly just wants to punch them for making stupid ass comments like ya just did. He's just really confused about what's going on, and he had no one else to talk to about it. So that's why I'm here talking to the only person I could think of, cause…he doesn't got a whole lot of friends or people he can talk to…about…stuff…."
Eledri makes a bit of a face at the reminder of /that/ greenrider, frowning vaguely still, and just eyeing the boy. Pyriel's glare is met with an even look, the computercrafter muttering somewhat wryly, "All the jewelry does give that impression," avoiding looking at that hole in the teen's ear lobe by rolling his eyes and finally moving back to his chair. Dropping down, he re-shuffles a few hides into a neater stack and then awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, all the while that frown deepening. "..Make an exception?" now Eledri really does sound incredulous, "Right, kid. Tell your /friend/ no one's going to come after him for breaking the rules of.." hand waving vaguely in the air, "..whatever." Slight sarcasm? Maybe, though he pauses, suppressing a grimace before he tacks on, "Unless it's some idiot greenrider." Not a fan of those, is the Eledri, apparently. Gaze returning to Pyriel, the crafter does.. frown a bit more, brows drawing together, though this time lips press into a thin line, and then Eledri suddenly looks away, gaze coming to rest on a stacks of books. "..I see," quieter, said to the books, hand running through his hair again before he adjusts his spectacles, "I'm.. uh. Not really a good person to ask about ..stuff." Cue some rather awkward throat-clearing there.
Pyriel makes a pffft sound, "Yer not wearing any piercings, and people talk about ya like that too. So lay off." he grumbles, flopping back in the chair and letting his hands droop over the arms of the simple wooden chair. He was at least letting himself relax little by little as he talked with Eledri, and now was able to unfurl completely now that everything he had wanted to ask was finally out in the open. "The whole exception thing, wasn't my friend's idea. It was his best friend's idea. He…loves his best friend, and kissing him wasn't horrible or nothing…." he says, pretty white teeth toying with the rings wrapping around the one corner of his bottom lip. He flushes suddenly again, clearing his throat and redirecting his stare of the shuffled paperwork up towards the cavern's ceiling. "It ain't about rule breaking." he sighs, dropping his chin into the palm of one hand and frowning deeply. Then Pyriel lets his gaze settle on the computer crafter again, deciding to forego any further conversation about greenriders and just skips on ahead to the end. Safer in the way of that they wouldn't end up with torches and pitchforks and go looking for said greenrider. "Why not? You got…friends ya talk to about…stuff…right?"
Eledri's own posture seems to have relaxed some, though the mention of people talking about /him/ has shoulders and jaw tightening, the computercrafter's eyes not leaving the stack of books, regarding them rather fixedly. A soft snort is his only reply, though, hand moving to rub along the bridge of his nose. Eyelids lower, at the talk about best friends and things, and he does mutter finally, "I kind of doubt your friends want you asking some stranger about them," gaze sliding back to Pyriel briefly, and another quiet snort, "Whoever's kissing who, I don't see that it should matter, either way. No one's going to care except you and old aunties hunting gossip." The frown returns, however, and Eledri's gaze drops to the hide he'd originally been working on, an abrupt, "I work with computers for a /reason/," muttered without looking at the teen. Reaching over, Eledri opens the book he'd plucked out before everything fell off the desk earlier, and begins absently flipping through it.
The boy wordlessly observes Eledri's reaction, but appears to get no pleasure from it. Pyriel might very well know all too well what it was like to be the focus of cavern gossip and muttered whisperings. His own jaw setting, he gently works the tense muscles out as he waits for the crafter to say something, anything really beside snort like a porcine. When the words finally come, the harper shrugs a shoulder, "Ya dunno who they are, and they dunno who ya are either. I'm just the middle man. Besides, he was the one who asked me to find out, so no one gunna come beating me down for this at least." Yeah, that's a teenaged boy's head for you. He goes silent again after that, perhaps even having given himself a headache with all the nonsense coming out of his face, before he frowns at the older man. "Yeah, I can see that." he says, and slips out of the chair, grabbing up his guitar and slinging it against his back again. "Though maybe ya should work with computers cause yer smart, not cause yer trying to hide from people." He comes around the table and pats Eledri on the shoulder, flashing him a smile. "Thanks. I'll tell my friend. I gutta go so…later…" He tips up his chin and extracts his hand, and heads out those doors. Quietly.
Eledri blinks at that, looking up with one brow lifting slightly, though he doesn't appear any more convinced the teen is talking on the behalf of some friends. "Well," is said a little stiffly, "If your /friend/ wants to talk to someone, I suggest he go find B'miel. He'll talk your ear off about all of that," hand giving another vagueish wave in the direction of the meadow. But as the boy is already leaving, Eled doesn't continue, eyes dropping back to the book. And there goes another soft snort, about computers and hiding from people, though the computercrafter does frown somewhat at the pages of the book, the touch on his shoulder having him jerking away with an irritated.. something on his lips, though it is left unsaid, Pyriel's smile giving him pause, apparently. There's no smile in return, only a vaguely awkward look, and a muttered, "..Later," before Eledri shakes his head and quickly gets back to work.