
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 border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places.
The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the rock edifice where, high above on Xanadu's Star Stones, the ever-present watchdragon sits on the lonely peak. Directly south is the hatching arena, the large round complex taking up a large portion of the perimeter, a line of trees visible beyond it. 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 Wandering Wherry Tavern. Tucked neatly under the arch, to one side is a tiny wood-frame shop bearing the name 'Petals and Pots Garden Shop'. Southwest lies cliffs where windows for the administrative offices have been cut. Underneath them are the entrances to the crafters complex while north and west along the cliff's base, a broad path leads to the feeding grounds. Due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr - the meadow, the forest beyond. At the far edge of the clearing, beside the trail leading to the forest sits a clocktower.
It's one of those picturesque spring days that people hope every day to be. Not too hot, not too cold. The blue sky is dotted with puffy white clouds here and there that lazily make their way across the sky, ushered by a calm breeze. The air smells sweet. Like blooming wildflowers and new grass. Ka'el and Kanekith are out enjoying the afternoon. It's a fabled rest day for him. Perhaps with graduation steadily coming closer, the AWLMs are giving the weyrlings time to sort themselves out. There's so much to do! Family to contact, accommodations to be made for them, decisions to finalize… Ka'el walks with his arms up and fingers laced behind his neck. In front of him on the ground, he kicks a ball forward every so often. Walk, walk, walk, kick. The ball goes rolling. Walk, walk, walk, kick.
Kera, having finished her duties for the day, is has claimed a grassy spot well out of the way of traffic. Plopped on her backside leaning against, or hiding behind depending on how ya look at it, a few barrels stacked where they were offloaded from a wagon. She glances up from her inspection of a old drawstring pouch when a fall goes rolling by a few feet away. A few seconds go by and she spots Ka'el trailing behind the ball, only to kick it again. "G'day Ka'el, Kanekith." The apprentice offers a smile and quick dip of her head to the bronzling pair.
Kanekith's eyes are watching the progression of the ball with vague interest as he trails his rider, though thoughts of food soon mix with his silent questions. "You just ate.." Ka'el answers aloud, glancing over his shoulder at the large bronze. "An hour ago. How are you hungry again?" Blue eyes are given a roll, assumingly at some farfetched excuse as to why his grandiose stomach is again empty. "Fine. Wherry. .. But nothin'! You're gonna have a snack Kanekith. Wherry or nothin'." He kicks the ball again, and it goes rolling towards those barrels and the apprentice that leans against them. He smirks, heading towards her. "Havin' a dragon? Figure s'about the same as havin' a two turn old child." Not that he'd know much about children! "Good day, Kera," he greets. Kanekith gives his wings a stretch. Apparently a way of saying hello. "Are you on a rest day, too?"
Kera smirks at Ka'el's assessment of having of dragon, her gaze flicking over to the large bronze as he stretches a bit before her attention goes back to the weyrling. At his question, she gives her head a hint of a shake before peering around the edge of the barrel, gaze towards a couple of the weyr's entrances dotting around the clearing. I've finished my duties for the day, but I'm supposed to be studying." She gives an amused snort and glances back towards Ka'el with a flick of her wrist towards the sky. "How am I expected to study when the weather is so nice?" A quick shake of her head is her next response.
Ka'el moves over to join her behind her barrels, plopping himself down without invitation next to her. If she's trying to hide from someone…Kanekith is going to make a poor game of it, for even though he's complained of hunger, apparently 'wherry' isn't to par with his tastes, and so he settles down near the barrels as well. A super large and bronze 'Someone's over here!' sign. "Impossible," he agrees, nodding his head. "A day like this? Made for doin' what you want to do, not what you have to do." He grins, reaching for his ball and setting it on his lap. "Besides, you know what they say about too much work and no play? It makes your brain explode." Or maybe that's just what Ka'el says! He smirks.
Kera scooches over a few inches to give Ka'el more room to sit and tugs the drawstring on the little pouch she holds. Nodding agreeable and looking over the bronze wall thats doing a great job of blocking them from view of several entrances. Spearing an amused look to Ka'el, she chuckles after a few seconds. "That explains soooooo much about Mur'dah doncha think? Last time I chatted with him, he was acting a bit odd. Even for him." She gives a shrug and stretches her legs out in front of her, shifting her position against the barrel. Looking outward, she seems to just watch the coming and goings then pipes in again. "How about yourself? Aren't you worried someone will find some work for you to do?"
"Mur'dah?" Ka'el, echoes, watching her. "Eh, figure we're all a little .. y'know. With graduation comin' up and everything. S'a lot to think about and do. It's like … Life Begins for us." He smirks, leaning back against the barrel and looking up at the perfect sky. "So. Excuse all oddness from your senior class of weyrlings these next few sevens," he offers helpfully, turning his head to look at her now. "Afterward…maybe we'll be back to normal. But some of us weren't too normal to begin with." He snickers. "As for someone puttin' me to work? Ha! They'll be hard pressed to get me to do a good job of it. They know better than to bother me on my rest day." Or so he'd like to think. He watches her a little bit, then tosses the ball over to her. "Wanna kick around with me?"
Kera thinks about the young man's words about his friends before nodding. "That makes sense." However, his boasting as her smirking and rolling her eyes. "Well now that just sounds like the lst words of a man that knows his bosses are looking for them." Kera's amusement is obvious over the matter. At the invitation to play, she barely gives it any thought before nodding and reaching up to wrap and tuck her braid to keep it from swinging back and forth. As she stands, she slips the little pouch into the larger one at her waist. "What are the rules you play by here?"
Woohoo! Someone to play with. Ka'el grins and as hops up to his feet, giving his backside a brief dusting off with one hand while the other is offered to her as a help up. "Ah, I live life on the edge. AWLMs don't scare me!" Their punishments, on the other hand.. At the asking of rules, he laughs. "Rules? The rule is: Make 'm up as you go. Whatever's fun." He glances around, looking for anything that could be used as a goal. "How about I have to kick the ball past your barrels for a point, and you have to kick it past Kanekith for a point? Kane!" He calls to the bronze. "Go lay over there," he points to the opposite end of the clearing, some yards away. "Why? Because I asked you to. … No, it isn't a lesson. It's a game. … No, you can't kick the ball.. just go will you?" And he finally does."
Kera accepts the help up and gives a quick brushing of her backside to dislodge grass. Canting her head, she watches Ka'el, listening to the one sided conversation. Her head is shaking a bit and she seems still amused as the weyrling tries to coax his dragonmate into moving. With a grin, which Kera tries to hide from the Weyrling she moves to block the space between her barrels. "I think I can manage that." She shifts her feet a few times before deciding to remove her pouch and set it aside, which is what she does. "Does he always argue with you? Or is this just a special occassion because he's hungry?"
Ka'el grins, giving Kanekith an affectionate look once he settles across the way and lays down again. There. A big, bronze goal! "I wouldn't call it arguing as much as it is…questioning everything I ask him to do because he wants to know why he's doin' things," he explains to Kera, grinning a bit. "He's kind of like me in that way. I like to know reasons, too." He retrieves the ball now and gives it a bounce on the grass before letting it settle and stopping it with his foot. He kicks it to hte middle of the field, gesturing for her to follow. "Alright then, here we go! First to three goals wins!"
Kera moves towards the center where the ball is. "First of three…what? All I have to do is tap him with the ball anywhere?" She looks the large bronze over, so much workable area in play if that's the case. Stopping a pace away from the ball, she looks between dragon and rider briefly before canting her head to the side and frowning curiously over Ka'el's shoulder. "What's he doing now then?" She points the way she's looking as she tries to distract the weyrling before giving the ball a quick kick.
"No. Do that too many times an' he'll probably eat it.." remarks Ka'el. "Just get it around him, is all," he clarifies, grinning. "He's not going to try to stop you. Wouldn't be fair of me, since I'm going up against barrels!" And now the rules and regulations are set (sort of) and the game can commence! He readies himself, knees softy and ready to spring, but Kera's question about Kanekith has him pausing. He doesn't turn, but he does do a mental check on the bronze, which is enough of a division of his attention that he's too slow to stop her kick! "Cheater!" he laughs as he chases after her and. Kanekith is a good fifteen or so yards away from where they are, and the dragon watches on with obvious interest swirling in his eyes.
Kera cackles as her diversion seems to have a bit of success. Running after the ball, she chances a hurried look over her shoulder for Ka'el b efore turning it where it needs to be. Stretching her foot out, she tries to give it a swift sidesmack while shifting her body in between the ball and Ka'el. "Cheating!? How's it cheating? I asked the rules….ya didn't say nutin bout the use of distraction." Of coarse, she should be paying attention herself as she trips over a thick grass clump. Sprawling briefly, she still keeps moving, swinging out her leg to try and make contact, and hopefully send the ball sailing the right way. Though she probably misses brillantly.
Ka'el catches up to Kera rather quickly. Weyrling workouts has done wonders in keeping him physically fit! "New rule then. No distracting Ka'el!" he laughs. Apparently distracting Kera is still allowed! He kicks his foot out here and there, trying to steal the ball from her and pausing when she falls. "You al-…" Yup, she's ok, for she's off again! Grinning, he chases and theatrically exclaims "Nooo!" when she kicks the ball towards Kanekith. Smack! The thing hits his bronze hide instead of going past him, though for all the dragon feels it might as well have been a fly. He seems unconcerned. "Yes!" Ka'el gets the ball on the rebound and kicks it in the opposite direction, back towards her side, and he takes off after. "You're never gonna catch me!"
Kera smacks the ground with halfhearted annoyance when she misses, or well, doesn't miss the huge bronze wall. As Ka'el takes control of the ball, Kera scrambles to her feet quickly and is giving chase. She hasn't had all that fancy weyrling training, but she knows how to put one foot in front of the other as quick as she can. "Will too. You're big and clumsy." Trailing along in Ka'el's wake, Kera works to close the gap between them. "Get away from my barrels you brat!"
"Clumsy? I think you meant to say big and awesome and skilled and nimble!" And how about modest, too? Ka'el glances over his shoulder at her, his run slowing juuust slightly so that gap can close a little faster. "Watch and learn, Kera!" And although he still has a ways to go, he rears back his leg and gives the ball a mighty kick, Fzoom! Right towards those barrels, aiming to just miss them and whizz on by for a point! And it almost happens that way too, but he's just an inch too far to the right and the ball clips one of those barrels and bounces off to the side. "Ah! The wind took it!"
Kera sniffs and rolls her eyes as she listens "Yeayeayea." She doesn't seem all that awed over the Weyrling's skills. Seeing that she's not gonna close the gap before Ka'el kicks, the girl gives a hurried look to where she thinks the ball will bank too. Changing her coarse, Kera darts off at an odd angle as she tries to intercept the ball after Ka'el failed attempt. "Am I supposed to learn how to miss? Cause I already got that part perfected. Don't need you to show me how to do that better." She gives another snort. "The wind… more like all that breath you used sent it off coarse."
"That was a perfect shot!" insists Ka'el, though he sounds incredibly humored. "It was just … see, the sun was also in my eye. The wind and the sun!" Nature got in the way, that's all! And now Ka'el has his sights on Kera instead of the ball, because now he must have revenge on her insult! Revenge! "You'll pay for makin' fun of me!" is his battle cry as he runs after her, like before, but unlike before his eyes aren't on the ball to try to steal it away. His eyes are on her. Look out, he comes!
Kera can't help but toss in another jab "OH, I've never heard that one before." She starts kicking the ball this way and that trying to keep it just ahead of her as she chases. Not bothering to look behind her she simply laughs. "What was that? Can't hear ya way back there." She starts edging closer towards the side of Kanekith. When she gets to around twenty feet away from her goal spot, Kera hauls her leg back and tries to kick it over the line. It falls short and rolls ever closer to where it was aimed.
Kanekith watches the ball as it is kicked to him, but alas, it doesn't go flying past him and instead comes to a rolling stop nearby. He lowers his grand head, nosing the small thing. Such an insignificant little thing, but it brings forth so much fun. Curious. Curious. He snorts, blowing the ball back a bit before his head rises again. Ka'el is still after Kera, and when she kicks, he watches the ball soar and fall short. "HA!" The score is still zero zero! And it may stay that way because Ka'el isn't after the ball anymore. He's still seeking revenge! And so he zeros in on Kera and, when he gets closer, he stretches out his arms, hands grabbing for her, trying to catch her. "You'll pay for what you said!"
Kera frowns at the interferance from the dragon. A little hiss might be heard from the apprentice as the ball goes off in the wrong way. Keeping her eye on the ball, she's paying no attention to the weyrling. At Ka'el's insistance for making her pay, Kera merely huffs as keeps pumping her legs as fast as she can "Yea ye, you keep sa…" Whatever she was gonna say is cut off when a high pitched squeak. It comes from Kera as she suddenly being dragged down by the bragging weyrling. *oofmf* The wind is knocked out of her briefly and she takes a few seconds to get to her knees. "See, you tripped us both up with those gangly feet of yours." Eyeing the bronze and huffs and points towards the dragon "And he cheated! The field can't touch the ball!"
Ka'el didn't mean to make anyone fall but, well, accidents happen! Arms have caught a hold of his prey, mwuaha! But there are legs and feet to contend with as she is still on the move and so is he and oomph! down they go. At least he doesn't fall on her. That'd be bad and would probably hurt both parties involved. He lets her loose before impacting the ground, but he isn't down for long. "That was for callin' me clumsy!" He laughs, "And this is for…everything else!" He reaches out towards her again and pokepokejabs his fingers against her sides. Ticklish? Well he's going to find out!
Kera blinks when Ka'el goes on the offensive yet again, eyes widening when she realizes she may be in a bit of trouble this time. Trip her up, knock her down, she'll get right back up and walk it off. That cheeky smirk and that stance can only mean one thing. Tickle-attack."You wouldn't. Doncha dare.." Taking steps backwards, she tries to fend off Ka'el's pokes while trying to slip in her own attacks. Sizing him up she grins and sidesteps suddenly, fingers darting towards the young man's side before jumping back. "You big overgrown brat. You're all arms and feet."
Mwuaha, oh he dares! And he laughs as some of his pokes are successful, and he keeps at it. Until, uh oh .. now he has to go on the defensive! "Hey!" he protests as her finger finds his side, jabbing in and causing him to snicker and lurch away. Ticklish much? Um, yes. "Another rule: Touching Ka'el is not allowed!" There, problem solved? Grinning, he tries to dodge her attacks while still attacking himself. Poke poke, dodge, laugh! Playing with the ball apparently has been forgotten, at least for Ka'el, and Kanekith is content to watch them, every now and then reminding his rider that he is, in fact, still hungry.
"Shard that! You started it, you annoying…..BOY!" Seems the apprentice's insults are lacking when she's defending against vicious and malicious attacks. Still trying to slip around Ka'el's defenses, she shakes her head and dodges to the side in an effort to avoid the weyrling's own attacks. She ends up tripping over her own feet, or so she thinks. Landing and rolling to her side, she holds her hand up quickly trying to stall Ka'el's attacks. It might seem that she's trying to distract, but her attention goes to what's left of her sandal. The thin hide strap has broken, causing the apprentice to take a tumble. "Stop, stop… I'm gonna have to stop and get my sandle fixed." Good thing, she's trying to catch her breath and eyeing Ka'el warily.
Gasp! Ka'el's eyes go wide. "Did you just call me….a …. boy?" He gasps theatrically. But it's obvious that he's trying not to laugh. "You're dealing with a man here!" A man whose favored mode of attack is tickling, no less! And a ticklish man. What a man! And he lunges to jab her again, but then she falls. Ack! Even without her prompting, he pauses, hands still poised but no longer reaching out to her. He assesses the situation question. Did he cause her to tumble? Nope! He sees the broken sandal. His hands lower and he plops down on the grass nearby, grinning. "Time out for broken shoe," he says, nodding. "That's a rule." He glances to her foot. "You alright?"
Kera rubs her ankle where the strap scraped a bit and gives a nod "I'm fine. Strap just broke again is all." Taking off her other sandal "Thankfully it's warm so I won't freeze my toes off on the way back to my room." A little laugh is given before she gives a sidelong glance to Ka'el. "Man…pfft. Men don't use dragons to cheat against a little girl…" Just to rub it in, she sticks her tongue out and raspberries in a childish way before sobering a little and glancing around towards the forgotten ball and the dragon in the distance. "I still say he cheated."
"Me? Cheat? You insult me, Kera!" cries Ka'el, who doesn't really look all that insulted. "And you're hardly a little girl. You're old enough to drink now, aren't you? That right there is proof enough. … Besides. You started it," he points out in such a mature way. He grins, and at her raspberry, he crosses his eyes and sticks out his tongue at her. Nyeeeah! Yes, very mature! Laughing, he fixes his face and looks over at Kanekith. "Hey, did you cheat!" … Ka'el listens for a second, then shakes his head to Kera. "Nope. He says he did not cheat and that a dragon of his caliber wouldn't resort to cheating in order to win because there's no possible way anyone could ever out-do him anyway." A smirk. "Word for word, that's what he said. And hey, shoes are overrated. It's warm enough to go barefoot every day! And you're not going in now, are you? How about you get lunch with me and we can eat outside? Everyone else is busy. Rest days are only given to us one at a time."
Kera frowns at Ka'el and pouts in an exaggerated way and crosses her arms stubbornly when he calls her an adult. "Am not! You take that back!" She gives a fierce glare for all of five seconds before she ends up laughing. With a goodnatured wink and rolls her eyes skyward. "You do cheat. How else to ya explain someone who keeps changing and adding rules?" Her gaze drifts back and forth between rider and dragon before her attention settles on Ka'el. "Both of ya, big brats ya are." She says so in good humor though. At the inquiry about lunch, she glances towards the cavern briefly, chewing on her bottom lip before finally nodding. "Alright, maybe we'll see Soriana on the way." Grabbing up her sandals, Kera gets to her bare feet.
Ka'el chuckles and waves a hand to Kanekith. "Alright, big brat that Kera says y'are, go eat. Wherry only," he reminds, giving him a stern look. "If I find out you had herdbeast, you're going to be sorry." Oh if dragons could roll their eyes, Kanekith would be rolling them now. But as it is, the bronze rises to his feet and gives a mighty stretch before lumbering off to the feeding grounds, taking flight after a few steps. Ka'el grins, rising and helping her up once again. "Hope so," he says, grinning as Soriana is mentioned. "S'about lunch time anyway. And I heard there's ice cream today. While it lasts!" He jogs off to get the ball and tucks it beneath an arm. He returns to her later and nods to the Caverns, jovially heading there with her for some lunch and conversation.