Note: This is an incomplete log. There are poses before/after what is posted here. If you happen to have more of this log, please post it when you have a chance. I was only able to add what I happened to have in my backlog from my participation in the scene. - Rogawani
Xanadu Weyr - Meadow
A large, slightly rolling meadow is set high enough above the riverbank on both sides to avoid suffering from flooding, healthy ground cover and grass spreading out from either side of the dividing river. Scattered amongst the meadow are a variety of buildings, each with a narrow path leading up to it from a main, winding road. Some are set under a few trees, while others sit by themselves.
Stables and a smithy are settled on their own plots, while trees border the western edge of the meadow, and a faint outline of a fence can be seen to the north.
Riyontali smiles up at the little blue, chuckling. "Have the rest if he'll take it, I don't mind — these two won't eat for a few hours yet." It's late in the afternoon, and a beautiful day, few clouds, brisk breeze, warm but not hot. A small group of Candidates is one of the groups out in the meadow, enjoying the nice day, though it doesn't seem that any have thought to bring food — unless you count the raw meat being distributed among firelizards. Tali snickers over at Ruzel, nodding pleasantly. "Very pretty, good day for sitting by the river, yeah?" She agrees, as tiny Oddity flicks about on the breeze like a little leaf. "Yeah, cursed me! Just look, I've been in the barracks with you for a while now, and all've the sudden I'm walking down the beach and next thing I know I'm feeding these two…" Still, she sounds amused. "I made — erm, asked — Silor trade with me. He didn't wanna muck anyways." Cough. Cough.
Morlanol continues to feed the little blue, "How c'n y' say y' were curs'd? I's like havin' a frien' who'll always be there. An' they're like gems, a sm'll range o' colors bu' a wide range o' details."
"I hear you." Ruzel replies to Cenlia with a heavy sigh before looking up at the clouds. "I have to go back to serving meals in a couple hours. It's a real tragedy on a day like today. Perfect for going out painting! And by the evening, the light makes it trickier… oh well." He arches an eyebrow at Tali, then smirks. "Oooh. So she's the cause of all of it, then? Makes sense. I found Rock here just after she got searched. Jessamin ended up with another one too. It's all coming together now. She must be some sort of firelizard-summoning witch."
Rogawani's form appears in the distance at first, moving along the pathways from the forest, talking animatedly to a woman following along at his side. He's got his usual messenger bag tossed over one shoulder. "Yeah, sorry that it's bad news." The boy replies, looking as if he regretted having delivered that particular message. "Master farmer Anasi said to fetch you as soon as I could." He explains, and the two seem to part ways. The farmcrafter heads off towards the weyr, while Ro' lingers behind, reaching into his bag with a searching expression. Finally, he manages to pull out something small and green from the bottom of the bag, mumbling to himself as he starts walking again. At first, he doesn't even notice the others, so caught up in his own thoughts.
Cenlia grins at Tali, "They're cute though." Charmer croons and chitters at her, finally managing to land on Cenlia's shoulder. She can't wave him off forever! Rogue lands on the other shoulder, eyeing the humans around suspiciously. Cenlia laughs, making a face at Ruzel and muttering, "Shards, the way Thea tells it, me an' animals…" but she shakes her head, reaching up to give Charmer a scritch while saying, "Got four flits by accident, had 'em screamin' at me for food all at once, sharding awful."
Riyontali chuckles towards Morlanol, nodding slowly. "Aw, they're not that bad, but I get shardin' little enough sleep as it is…" She smiles at the other firelizards, then winces. "It is! Awww, maybe you'll get one tomorrow that you can come out and paint while it's pretty? Heard a rider saying it looked like it was gonna be pretty tomorrow, too." Then she slants Cen with a wicked grin, nodding. "All her fault, aye." Agreed cheerfully, before there's a pause — and her belly rumbles ominously. "Oh. Er," A cough, and she's standing quickly. "I'm going to go find some food. Good day for a picnic! Ro, join us! I'll be right back." As she stands, she notices the candidate, and smiles brightly. "Going to get food." Where he was dumped, the tiny brown blinks blearily, sighs, and curls back up, while the blue chases his girl with a loud trill.
Ruzel chuckles a bit and shakes his head at Cenlia. "Just as I suspected. Some sort of firelizard attracting magic. Now it's spreading to the rest of us candidates, like a virus. Who knows where it'll stop?" When he spots Rogawani approaching he gives the other candidate a wave and grin. "Hello, Ro. I've got that sketch ready for you whenever you want to pick it up." He smiles at Morlanol for his suggestion. "Sure! Might make a good subject."
Rogawani's head snaps up, just in time for the green firelizard in his hand to perk and then take wing. The small lizard disappears a moment later, sent off on some errand, as there seems to be a small leather tie clinging to one of her legs. It takes a moment for the smile to spread on to Rogawani's face, and he lifts a hand to wave towards them before approaching. "Hey Tali, I'm comin, I'm comin." He laughs to himself, and breaks in to a jog to cover the distance, eventually extending that same greeting smile to the others. "Oh, you finished it already?" He seems surprised, looking at Ruzel with interested, impressed eyes. "Can you show it to me tonight when we get back?" He asks, and then glances around to see the new additions of firelizards. "So, you finally stumbled on a hatching, didja Morl?"
Cenlia grins at Ruzel, and waves a greeting at Rogawani, but Charmer suddenly takes off after someone at the edge of the meadow. Cenlia acks, recognizing who it is, and suddenly takes off at a run.
Morlanol nods, popping a few more gobs of meat into Agate's mouth before the oddly-mottled flit collapses in sleep, wrapped around Morl's arm. He holds his arm steady for Ruz even as he nods to Ro, "Ya, Sato ha' i' las' nigh' 'n' gave i' t' me."
"Oh, sure." Ruzel responds to Rogawani, smiling brightly. "It came out really nicely. The weather has been very accomidating lately, so I didn't have any trouble getting a good sketch. I think you'll be very pleased with it." He pulls his trusty sketchpad and pencil from his pockets, flipping to a blank page and eyeing Morlanol's firelizard for a moment before he starts drawing an outline. "I've had no shortage of great subjects since candidacy. Perhaps it brings good
Keziah wanders out into the meadows, she's herding goat kids again, and she's just dropped off a gaggle of human kids as well. On her way to the pens she can't help but hear Ruzel and grins as she calls out to him. "Told ya you'ld have lots of people to work with!" She whistles to the canine to go after one of the wayward kids, but he's already at it and the brings him back in as she gets to the gate and opens it letting them file in and then veer off." The canine drops down at the gate, tongue lolling out and watches over his charges. Kezi reaches down and gives him a skritch as she waves to an apprentice beastrafter already in the pens and then heads over towards the others.
Rogawani's eyes look appraisingly towards Morlanol's lizard, nodding slightly before lifting his gaze again. "See, didn't have to wait very long at all." he muses, seeming glad for the young miner's success in aquiring a firelizard of his own. "Better I don't have to worry about a new mouth to feed, though. I've got enough on my plate." His face looks momentarily troubled, but then eases again as he shoots a grin towards Ruzel. "No big surprise there. You have been offering free artwork you know. I'm surprised you aren't overloaded with people wanting drawings." His head turns, catching the whistle from Keziah, almost sa if he were attuned to the sound as much as the canine. The boy watches for a moment, and then looks back to the other two, settling himself into a more relaxed posture.
Morlanol grins, stroking the blue's back lightly, "Guess so." He glances over at Keziah, glad to see her, but doesn't distract her, since he doesn't want to be overrrun again. He glances around at the other candidates, "D'you think anymore can'dates'll be searched?"
"Ah, speaking of inspiring artistic subjects…" Ruzel looks up from his sketch in progress long enough to smile and wave to the latest arrival. "Hello, Keziah! It does indeed seem you were right. I've been having the most wonderful opportunities to work lately." And so he does return to sketching the firelizard. Got to at least get an outline before the creature wakes, after all.
Keziah rolls her eyes a little at Ruzel as she brushes of her hands "Hello, Ruzel, Morl, Ro." she nods to each in greeting and then peers around at each of them. Well more Ruzel and Ro than Morl really "Do any of you know anything about a bouquet of flowers and a very." There's a pause here and a frown "A very eloquent, wordy and romantic love letter?" she asks as she then takes a peek at the harpers drawing. At least the caprines are away and Morl won't get ran over by them.
Rei makes her way out of the forest and into the meadow, green Dalriath following close behind. They're on a break from work, or something. Maybe they have the day off? Though that was hardly likely, with two groups of weyrlings in the barracks and more on the way soon. Rei seems to be in a good mood, it was hard to find her not in a good mood unless Dalriath was proddy. She gives a wave to the gathered candidates. "Someone has a secret admirer?"
"Hey Keziah." Rogawani says as she joins them, offering a small smile as he reaches down to look into the messenger bag again, as if taking stock of what was left for him to deliver. Running errands around the weyr certainly was similar to what he did on most normal days, but not quite the same. "Well, it's certainly nothing I delivered." He replies, looking up a moment later with a shake of his head. "Got yourself a secret admirerer?" The question comes out amused, echoing Rei's comment so that the two questions come out nearly together, but then shifts to slightly concerned. "It didn't get threatening at all, did it? There's been some… odd letters going around like that, blue ink?" His voice sounds more critical, analyzing, but then ends up distracted by Morlanol's question. "Don't know. I think they can search pretty much right up to the hatching." He glances towards the weyrlingmaster for confirmation on this point, though.
Ruzel looks a little amused by Keziah's query. "Hmmm… while that does sound like my style, no, I didn't have anything to do with it. Candidacy is hardly the time to be making those sorts of advances, is it? Besides, I'dve at least left my name." He chuckles and keeps right on sketching, greeting Rei without even looking up from the paper. "Hello there! Has your lifemate flown yet? You sound cheery today!"
Morlanol continues to stroke his flit, "Flowers? Naw, no' m' style. If'n i' were me, it woulda been a frog or summat."
Keziah eyes Ro "Odd letters?" she asks and frowns "No, I've not had any odd letters in a few turns. And I aim to keep it that way. Stupid perverted man." The last sentence is muttered under her breath "But no, it was black ink and all." she notes and then nods at least it wasn't you all." she notes looking pleased at that. She can't help but smirk at Morl "Aww, that's sweet." she states with a snicker and then just shrugs "Guess so, just one more person going on about my beauty, elegance and whatnot. Makes me wonder if it went to wrong person and such, if I didn't already have some others stating it to my face." She rolls her eyes. She nods to the rider and then to the dragon behind.
Rei chuckles a bit as Rogawani and her ask Keziah the same question at the same time. She grins to him. "Hi Cupcake. Stealing my words now?" Then she blinks. "Threatening letters? Who's getting threatening letters?" Then she nods to confirm his answer to Morl's question. "Mm. They search right up until the hatching. Ask X'hil, he was searched the day before… only twelve turns old. Then there's the rare stands impression, too." Then she smiles to Ruzel with a nod. "Mm! She has, a few days back. So I'm back to normal! No annoying proddy green." Dalriath gives a snort in response. She giggles to Keziah. "Heh, at least they're polite?"
A look of relief replaces the concern on Rogawani's face as he nods his head a little bit, although he does lift an eyebrow, not sure of the mutterances about 'stupid perverted man' referred to him or to the person who wrote the letter. "Hey muffin." Rogawani shoots right back towards Rei with a sly expression, apparently all too happy to make up his own silly nicknames. "I'm a mindreader, didn't I tell you?" He says with a teasing tone, and then shakes his head. "Nothing to worry about though. From what I last heard from Cenlia, no one has gotten one of those threatening letters in quite a while. Maybe the writer gav eup." He shrugs his shoulders, and hooks his hands into his belt, not commenting at all on if candidacy is a good time to make advances towards girls, but his lips do twitch slightly into a smile then.
"Now that you mention it…" Ruzel furrows his brow, thinking for a moment. "Wasn't one of the other girls mentioning getting a letter like that? Tali, maybe? I could've sworn this sounds familiar… hmmm." He draws a few more lines, smiles, then carefully detaches the paper from his pad and hands it out for Morlanol. "There you go. If you'd like, I could go off that one and do a colored drawing sometime." He gives Rei a grin now that he isn't distracted. "That's great! Nice to see you in a better mood."
Morlanol grins largely at Ruzel, "A color one'd be really cool." His face shifts to a set of confusion at all the talk of notes and letters, "'Ave people been sendin' threat'nin' letters? Tha' don' seem righ'."
Keziah rolls her eyes "Polite? Hah! Daft is what they are." She gives a bit of a snort "Course with my luck it's some kid." she mutters after a moment. There's an eye for Dalriath at her snort and then her attention is back on the others, her brows rising at the cutsy little terms "Shards, they're all daft." she again mutters and coughs into her hand a bit. "Well, one can only hope. Though if it's that sadistic Kefai. Just let me get my hands on him." she growls a little.
Rei giggles at Rogawani's nickname for her. Some of the other weyrling staff might think he's a little too ballsy, but Rei finds it amusing, clearly. "Well Mister Mindreader, what am I thinking right now?" She raises an eyebrow to him. Then she taps her chin. "Well, no harm in love letters. As long as they're not threatening I think we can leave it alone. Hopefully whoever is writing them will pick a girl to stick with." She raises a brow at Keziah. "We'll just leave that alone. I haven't heard anything about him in a long while, and we don't want to scare anyone."
Rogawani is one of those unusual types that seems to treat readers as relaxed as they treat him, so he simply looks at Rei curiously, and then guesses, "You're thinking that I probably shouldn't call you that?" His face is still a smile, although it shifts into an eyeroll as Keziah starts muttering about her loveletter's author being a 'kid'. He bites his tongue, keeping from making a comment on that, or the quip about everyone being daft. However, the mention of Kefai does cause a wince and a sinking of his expression. He takes a step slightly closer to Ruzel and Morlanol, nodding slightly. "I know Cenlia had gotten a few, not sure about Tali. I tried to look into it back before the last clutch hatched, didn't get anywhere with it."
Ruzel looks just a little concerned, arching his eyebrow again. "Who is this Kefai fellow? First I've heard of him. Some sort of troublemaker, I'm guessing?" He tucks his sketchbook back in his pocket and frowns more. "What makes you so certain the author is a kid, anyways? It could easily be a socially maladjusted adult, couldn't it? We've all written a few bad poems in our days, haven't we?"
Rei giggles to Rogawani. "Well, I don't mind. But it's probably not a good idea in front of the higher ups. Someone might think you're getting special treatment and all." Rei has little to say about the 'kid' bit. She'd just turned twenty turns not too long ago, so she wasn't too far away from being a kid herself." She sighs at the insistence about Kefai. "He's a troublemaker, yes. I don't really know the details, most of what he did I guess was before I moved here to Xanadu." And all of that sort of thing tended to be on a need to know basis.
A glance to Rei and then a glance at Ruzel and Keziah then shrugs "Someone you want to hope to never tangle with." she finally thats. There's a look at Morl "It varies between people and usually depends on the age gap. I get called kid too from time to time. It jsut happens." A glance back at Ruzel "It could, but it's not cause of the wording, I'm just figuring it's my bad luck and all." she notes with a shrug and then just grumps a bit. She glances back at Rei "Well, he kidnapped a goldrider for one… breeds himself lots of kids…" she closes her eyes a little at that memory and shudders some. "They all looked like him."
"My lips are zipped then." Rogawani makes an exaggerated motion across his mouth, and then moves his hand over one shoulder as if throwing away an invisible key. However, as the discussion moves towards Kefai, Rogawani just looks a bit uncomfortable, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers and looking down at his boot, one still stained an odd color from the incident in the kitchens not all that long ago. He misses the entire discussion on how to define a 'kid', and kicks at a rock lightly. "Don't know much myself. Kefai's some sort of cult leader from what I hear. Killed a bunch of people. His daughter is Kate… you know, that missing goldrider." His head lifts, but his expression stays somber. "He's got more than just her now, you know." He eyes Keziah with a worried expression. "We found a bloodstained candidate robe with those overcooked eggs. At least one must have survived to cause… that." He mutters, his voice far lower than normal. Rogawani obviously doesn't like this conversation.
Morlanol goes from quizical to terrified, "This guy's kidnapped can'dates an' weyrlings? How c'n he ge' away with tha'?"
Ruzel looks a little disturbed by the descriptions of Kefai and his activities. "Sounds like someone to steer clear of, definitely… but on the plus side, if he's the type to resort to kidnapping a goldrider, chances are that simply distributing anonymous love letters is a little too tame for him, right?" Ro's contribution to the story only disturbs him more. "How long ago was this?"
It might have taken a while, but Tali does eventually reemerge from the caverns. She's laden down with a pair of baskets and a skin of something as she hustles across the meadow, back to the riverside. "Shardin' had to peel a whole basket of tubers before they'd let me, swear they were just doin' it because I'm a Candidate…" Mutters the girl as she sprawls back down next to the river, before blinking, realizing that there are more people present than she left. "Oh, erm. Hi there. I've got…meatrolls and sweetrolls and fruit, yeah? Kidnapping, what?"
Keziah shakes her head at Ruzel "No, not the love letters, the odd letters." she notes and hmms a little "Well, he kidnapped Ysa and I more than a few turns back." she notes "But he is a cult leader, and a very charismatic one at that. Very." she shudders a little "Course he's insane. When I met him, he was also insisting that Thread is returning." she notes quietly. A look to the skies and then another shake. She glances then at Ro "He worries me. And the more that he's in hiding without a peep. The more I worry. Can't be as lucky has him having slipped and died breaking his neck and everyone disbanding. Though I wish that could be the case." She then perks up out of her downward spiraling mood. "Sweetrolls? Fruit?" Pounce! Well, maybe not quite but she's over there quickly to the girl "I'm starved!"
Rei nods to Keziah. "So I've heard. Well, most of that. Security's been a little tighter around here… I think they usually take the candidates out into the woods for some nature experience training, but I think all that's been canceled." She frowns. "No more of this talk though. Kefai and all of this is not something for a candidate to worry about. You just look after yourself and do what you're told. Stick together and you'll be just fine." And there'll be a sharp look to anyone who wanted to continue down that conversation path. "Oooh, sweetrolls?"
"Nah, Morl." Rogawani says in that same, subdued voice, shaking his head from side to side. "Had his own candidates I'd guess. Bloody mess." The boy seems all too happy to drop the subject when Rei suggests it, but the troubled look lingers on his face. Tali's return, at least, gives him some reason to try to force a smile back onto his features. "Thanks Tali." His voice regains a little of it's usual boyish tone as he reaches out to claim a meatroll. However, rather than gobbling it down as is characteristic, he just holds it for a bit, toeing his boot at the ground before taking a single bite, chewing thoughtfully.
Morlanol jumps up to nab a sweetroll, nearly unsettling Agate, who chirrups grumpily before going back to sleep. He seems less desirous to drop the conversation, but he knows better than to disobey Rei, "Umm… so, is there anything planned this evening?"
"That's really too bad." Ruzel sounds quite disappointed at the cancellation of the nature outing, frowning and rubbing at his chin. "That sounds like it would be an excellent opportunity to see some good material for sketches… maybe the candidates could just organize some sort of day trip? If there were enough of us together it would still be perfectly safe, wouldn't it?"
Riyontali listens quietly to the conversation, reaching into the second basket and plucking out a generous slice of bright red melon. She almost looks like she might like to continue on the subject of Kefai, frowning thoughtfully, but the greenrider is /almost/ scary, so the girl holds off. "Have at it!" She instead encourages, smiling. "They gave me most've a big melon and lots of rolls…oh! And mango juice." The skin is lifted, and offered around with a smile. "'Course." A pause, and narrowed eyes for Ro, curious. "S'not gonna bite you, silly." Teased faintly, then she's frowning again. "I bet we'd be fine if we went out in a big group, yeah," After a curious glance for Morlanol, she peers thoughtfully at Ruzel. "And if we could convince a few riders to go with us. Bet they'd like it." Right, sure — taking a bunch of candidates off into the forest and babysitting them. Fun?
At any other time, Keziah would likely tow the line and just mention the mans name again. However, there are just some things that aren't a joking matter. However, on the matter of the outing "Well, the survival trips tended to be fun, but with that feline attack, I can't say I'm really disappointed." she notes thoughtfully" A look at Ruzel "Sometimes you're never safe." she says dropping her voice down all creepy like "The beds drop out from under you, the roof collapses. You're made to rapple down cliffs." she snatches a sweetroll as she sneaks closer to him "And then, when you're not looking… the needlethorns reach out and GRAB YA!" she pounces right beside him, acting if she's going to grab while shouting out the last bit. And wuth that she turns and trots back for some melon.
Rei sighs. But at least the subject is done. She gives Ro a poke on her way over to claim a sweetroll. "Thanks Tali! This was nice of you." Rei rubs her chin a bit and peers at Ruzel. "Hm. Well, I'll see if I can't do something for you guys to get you out of the weyr. But it won't be for long, and we'll have to stay together the whole time. We'll see though. I'll need some other riders to help me, and the weyr is pretty busy right now." Rei furrows her brow at Keziah now. "Hey now! Knock that off. They won't be able to sleep tonight, and Faranth knows I'll tell them whose bed to put tunnelsnakes in if they're up all night."
Rogawani twists the meatroll in his hand once more, staring at it as if it were particularly interesting. Even when Tali makes the comment about it not biting him, he just mutters something that sounds like. "Yeah…" Then, he finishes the roll off in two quick bites, wiping his mouth without looking up. A chirp from above is enough to draw him from his thoughts, though. The boy's eyes shift upwards and he raises an arm, his green firelizard flitting down to land, looking proud of herself. "That a girl, Kia." The boy says, his voice returning to normal. He ends up missing most of the discussion about wilderness trips, having had enough experience with that, himself. Pulling a small, coiled message from the lizard's leg, he reads it and then nods. The green clambers up onto his shoulder, just as Ro' looks to the others. "I've got to get my chores finished. I'll catch you guys later." It's an excuse, but with the conversation off of Kefai, why would he be in such a hurry to leave? There is a flurry of dragon wings high above, someone arriving as two Fortian dragons wing towards the clearing. Rogawani heads off, back towards the forest. Hadn't he already run his errands there?
Morlanol snarfs his sweetroll and grabs another, shifting the snoozing blue into his coveralls pocket again, with only a slight squawk from him. "Sorry all, I hafta go an' finish cleanin' th' barracks." He gives a wave and disappears on his way.
Ruzel tosses a wave to his departing fellow candidates before he looks back at those who remain. "Chores sure can be a pain that way… well, it sounds like so far our candidate group has been a lucky one. Anonymous love letters and bad poetry are pretty tame compared to cultist abductions and feline attacks. Still, it would be nice if there was the opportunity to have a little adventure…" He gives Rei a big smile. "If you arranged something, I'm sure we'd all be very grateful."