Xanadu Weyr - Weyrling Grounds
Cradled in a cup shaped bite out of the mountain, this wide, grassy flat has become home for Xanadu's weyrling dragons. It's set surprisingly high above the level of the beach, visible from the eastern side of the grounds where a long path snakes its way down the hill to the sand dunes below. All other sides to the grounds are bordered by the hard granite cliffs, two entrances clearly visible. One is merely human sized and leads deep into the mountain, to the Caverns. The other is broad and high, the entrance to the Weyrling Barracks.
It may be a cool day at Xanadu, but at least the sun is shining and the wind is calm, and its not alltogether uncomfortable to be out of doors this afternoon. Today, the Weyrling grounds appear a bit unusual, however, as various tables have been settled in a rough circle, each of them piled with pieces of hide ranging from an arm's length to longer, in various colors, shades, and states of repair. Amidst this circle of tables stands a woman with a Tanner Craftsecond knot on, who is talking to none other than the Weyrlingmaster V'dim, the greenrider nodding and disappearing to take care of his own business, leaving Varia alone.
M'nol takes a huge, very audible gulp when he sees V'dim, and lets out a sigh when he leaves without saying anything. Faraeth, nonplussed by the whole arrangement, walks right up to one of the tables and noses the scraps on it, « What're these for? » M'nol chuckles, "We're about to find out, I think." He looks a Varia for a second, then asks, "So… are we supposed to sit, or…?"
Vivian drags herself out of doors, at least it's not snowing of which we can be thankful. Kelioth passes on something from somewhere to Faraeth that seems to be linking V'dim and M'nol. « Does yours. No don't answer yet, we have things to do. » She croons at the brown as she bounds up to stand at attention next to Vivian.
R'owan walks out of the barracks with his bronze in tow, moving his mouth as if he were having a conversation all to himself, even if he's not speaking aloud. It's a habit he's unfortunately picked up when dealing with his dragon in private. However, as soon as he spots the tables, the boy's mouth clamps shut. Lifting one eyebrow, he looks down at his hands before looking at the tables, wincing inwardly. Nyunath creeps forward and sticks his big muzzle at the table, plucking up a piece of faded red hide. « This is mine. » He informs, holding the piece up proudly. « What is it for? »
Keziah follows Alosynth on out, the green attracted to the commotion and surely it must be more interesting than watching a crawlie lick it's eyeball. Then the scents hit her. Leather. She inhales and her eyes gleam and her fingers itch. Been along while since she's played with leather. And then then there's a hmm as Alosynth creeps up to look at it herself and snuffles. « Doesn't smell edible anymore. » Keziah laughs "Of course it's not."
Varia walks carefully in a circle around the tables, nodding to each Weyrling as they arrive, though the look given to M'nol is similar to those given errant apprentices. "You may stand or sit, Weyrling, though the ground *is* rather cold." As the last of the Weyrlings has gathered, she pauses to look. "The hides are not for eating, and I would appreciate it if you would have yours refrain from doing so." There is, however, a brief smile crossing her lips before she nods the dragons this time. "As I'm certain you are all aware, with your dragons growing older every day, you are quickly approaching the time for flying - first alone, and then together. However, you cannot fly safely without straps. While you may chose to purchase your straps after graduation, every rider should be able to make their own, as well as inspect them for flaws that could prove deadly."
Weyrlinghood has been a long road for Tali, with the girl having grown quiet and a little bit withdrawn but for mealtimes and lessons. Or, to be more precise, she has been entirely too busy keeping her growing dragonet out of trouble — failing, at various points. But here, today, stands a healthy and happy Cidheoth next to his bonded, peering about with playful imperiousness at the other dragons. The tables and bits of leather don't seem to bother Tali, who offers a wan smile and a soft "M'am." after the frequent, slightly panicked should-I-salute look. She's arrived only after V'dim left, so just smiles around, lifting a hand in greeting to her fellows before placing it steadyingly on Cid's shoulder. « What? » The young dragon's voice sparks smoothly, dry and amused. « Hello. » The blue greets his clutchmates. « I think we should leave them to their lesson and see if Isobeth will let us fly. » Tali just groans vaguely. "No, Cid." A beat, then she's peering curiously back at Varia. She opens her mouth to offer a question, but is beat to it, though she seems happy of it, mouth shutting quickly. After a moment, though, the girl smiles just slightly. "Yes, m'am!" This seems to be much more promising than it was!
M'nol is not unused to receiving that particular look from Journeymen and simply smiles back at her in return, "True, just though' I'd make sure. Wouldna put it pas' V'dim t' make us pick a snow drift." He approaches the table Faraeth had already picked out, then grimaces at the huge leather-needle. The velvet and silk make a chuckling sound, « Well if that's yours, all of these are mine. » He pauses to survey his table full of scraps. M'nol gives a sudden twitch as Faraeth relays some message or another, then blurts out loudly, "No! Not at all!" Then he blushes, smiling sheepishly, "Sorry ms. Journeywoman ma'am." He looks at the confusing mish-mash of leather and cloth, this was waaaaaay different from stitching up a rip, "Uhh… miss… where do we start?"
Vivian glances around and shushes Kelioth by placing a hand over her muzzle. "Don't." She growls quietly at her green bit of trouble. "How many sets of straps are they likely to need before graduation?" She asks at an opportune moment, her hands are by no means as silky smooth as they used to be but the look on her face suggests she's not happy about this prospect.
Still with the bit of red hide hanging from his mouth, Nyunath turns his whirling gaze to watch Cidheoth and his rider's approach. Something passes between rider and dragon, and Ro' glances over his shoulder, offering a nervous sort of half-smile towards Tali. Then, he's forced to push that thought aside as he looks up at the bronze. "You heard her, no eating it." « I wasn't eating it. » The drumbeats of the bronze reply as he sets the piece down again, still guarding over it protectively. His wings flick once, and his rump settles to the ground. "You hear that, riding straps." « Red. » The dragon replies, although there is a certain challenge aimed at M'nol's brown. « Good straps. Then fly. Before. » The boy reaches forward and tries to find some scraps on his table that somewhat match the larger piece the bronze already picked out.
Keziah chuckles and nudges Alosynth « I was not going to eat it. » the green remarks and sits back and then she shifts. « Will it be uncomfortable?» Keziah hmms a little "I don't think it'll be uncomfortable as long as it's properly softened and kept clean." she glances at Varia "Isn't that correct? They would't be much different then the tack for runners correct?"
"Clearly, Weyrling, V'dim has yet to stress the virtue of *patience*." The Craftsecond says with an exasperated sigh, before nodding in turn to Vivian's question. "It will depend on the size of your dragon, and how quickly they grow. Many greens, should you make your straps such that you can extend them, may only need two or three sets. A large brown or bronze, however, may need upwards of five or six." Varia comments, before glancing to the leather on the tables. "You will notice that some pieces are dyed, others are not. I would advise waiting for a color until your final straps, unless you find enough of it now. Dyeing leather is time consuming, for straps that will simply be replaced." Keziah's question has the Tanner turning, and nodding. "Aye, they must be carefully taken care of - clean and oiled - to avoid the leather drying or cracking. While using the appropriate leather to begin with does make it easier, it will still be your responsibility to take care of your own straps." Motioning to the leathers once more, she turns to her own table. "The samples you have infront of you are a mix of both good *and* bad leathers. Today we're going to mostly work on identifying the pieces to use, and piece to avoid."
Cidheoth seems to pity the other dragons for their lack of enthusiasm as to his grand plan. The bright dragon chuffs faintly, tailtip flicking with pent up energy. « Why bother with those? » His voice bubbles brilliantly. « We can keep ours from falling off, surely! Or, » Sarcasm sparks in a faint cascade of impish flares. « /I/ can. » He puffs himself up, preening a wing. Tali thoroughly ignores the dragonet, since he doesn't seem intent upon moving off, but doesn't move away from him — no, for all that she tosses a wistful glance at the others, it's probably best that she doesn't. Ro gets a return of the nervous grin, and a wiggle of her fingers. "I'm glad Cid's a blue and he's kinda tiny." The girl giggles faintly, though she tosses the boys a sympathetic look. "Yes m'am." Vivian is given what could actually be the same sympathetic smile — sympathy? From Tali? — before she's nodding stoutly for Kez and the journeyman. She knows saddles! « You know everything. » "Shut up." Exasperation mixed with affection and a shoulder-thump for Cidheoth, as she listens closely to the Journeyman. "What sort of critter do you need to use for dragon straps, M'am?" She asks quietly, tilting her head, then peering over the leather with a slow nod. "Yes, m'am."
This reprimand has M'nol blushing slightly, "Naw… he has me on double duty already." He gulps again, "five or six?" He gives Faraeth a sidelong look, sizing him beside Nyunath, then turns back to the table. He picks up a few of the pieces in turn and can feel that some are different than others, but he doesn't know which are 'good'. Faraeth's velvet touch wraps Nyu's brain, though the others can hear too, « Mine will finish first. » The look he aims at Cidheoth would be comical if not for the odd exchange occurring via brains, « Ours can fly in gentle flight. I intend to fly mine without straps, but these leather bits are supposed to protect them when we fly loops! » uh… oh…
Vivian bobs her head and looks down at the scraps of leather in front of her on the table. The distaste evident. "Why do we have tanners if we have to do it ourselves." She mutters mostly under her breath as she reaches over and starts to run her hand through the pile. "Are you going to pay attention here?" She asks Kelioth with a smile as she starts to toss bits to the left and right on the table, for once her sense of fashion comes in handy as she sorts out good from bad.
Even as his dragon begins to sniff at various pieces of the leather, R'owan's eyes follow the craftsecond as he tries to take in her answers to the other's questions. "Five or six…" He mutters to himself, and for the first time raises an eyebrow towards his bronze. « I am what I am meant to be. » He seems to answer some unspoken thought, even as Ro' glances at the pile on the table. He seems to ignore the challenge from the brown, more interested in his rider's safety than in who finishes first. "Listen, there's no way I can get you all red straps right now. You heard her. « Red. » The bronze repeats, and Ro' just sighs. "Tell you what, if she says it's a good one, we'll use the piece you picked out. The rest has to come from whatever is good here." Nyunath rumbles disapproval at this compromise, but settles himself and seems content to brood quietly about it. « Make good leathers. I will not let you fall. » "Guess it can't be too dissimilar than runner tack, right?" He asks, although to no one in particular, starting to sort through what pieces might be workable.
Alosynth peers curiously over at Cidheoth her attention leaving the leather for the moment « Can you really? How do you do that? » She moves over to look the blue over « Can I see your handles? » "Alosynth." Keziah says ever so quietly and the green looks back over her shoulder and then comes back to pay attention « I only wanted to know how he did it. It does not seem plausible, but if he has a trick to it. I would like to know. » Keziah smiles "Later dear, for now lets learn about leather." She looks over at Vivian "Are you seriously going to trust someone else to see to your safety and your dragons health?" she asks looking quite surprised at that. "It's like looking after yhour own tack. That way you /know/ if something is wrong with it."
"The majority of the hide used is from your standard bovine. Some riders, however, prefer to supplement with wherhide, or to pad the straps with wool. Both of those are things that I recommend only for yoru final straps." Walking by Vivian's table, a piece of blue-dyed leather is picked up from the 'good' pile and flipped over, revealing an odd discoloration upon the back, even though the dye job. "While at first glance, this piece of leather may *look* good, by checking the reverse side, you can see that there is water damage, which can rot the leather. Signs of cracking, hard spots in otherwise supple leather, all of these are things to avoid." The piece is returned to Vivian's table before the craftsecond moves on, taking the piece of red leather from R'owan, turning it over, and inspecting it with a practiced eye. "This piece, however, is acceptable." And its returned to the bronzerider before she moves on. "Making straps invovles much cutting of leather, as well as much sewing. If you weren't good at it before, you will be."
Vivian looks over at Keziah. "If I was getting straps made, I'd be making sure that they were getting done by someone reliable and I'm not likely to trust my own life to someone I don't trust implicitly myself. That and would it really be wise to start checking the straps of a rider you were getting a lift with, there is a certain amount of trust involved." The comments from the Tanner, craftsecond or not has Viv rolling her eyes a touch, "But it's blue, I'd be perfectly safe, there is now way on this planet that I'd be using blue leather on Kelioth."
Ontali nods slowly. "Yes m'am. That makes sense." She agrees with a smile. "I think I might need a whole set of wherhide ones. I think Cid is going to be, uhm…" A glance at the dragonet, preening a step or two away. "Interesting." Cough. The rest gets a quick nod, and a little smile. "Makes sense." She moves to the nearest table, smiling when Cidheoth obediently follows her, as she shifts through the lengths of leather. Color isn't noted, though she does bare a now-amused grin to Vivian, giggling. Finally, after peering over a few, she holds up a length of faded, non-dyed hide, squinting. "Something like this, m'am?"
M'nol takes the time to listen to Varia's speech before beginning to actually sort leather into piles. He tries to check each piece carefully for damaging wear before tossing it one way or the other. He glances up at Vivian's outburst, though, "What's wrong with blue, Vivian?" He picks up a piece of hide died the color of the sunset, but with a giant hole in the middle, "This, I assume, is not a good piece?"
R'owan mouths the word 'wool' and chuckles quietly to himself, his mind forming the image of an ovine, which of course Nyunath pokes his own thoughts into. « Is it tasty? Can I eat it? » "Not if you want wool from it." The boy answers, and bends a piece of undyed hide, watching small cracks appear on the surface before tossing it into the 'bad' pile. « Wool is for later. Eating is for now. » "Leathers are for now. Eating is for later." He takes on his dragon's way of speaking for a minute, and then quiets as Varia steps over and checks the piece of red leather. With a nod, he manages to crack a small smile. "Good eye." « Of course. » The bronze's tail thumps once on the ground. Taking the red piece, he throws it lightly over the bronze's neck, checking just how much length it covers. "Need a bit more than this, though." « Find more. »
Keziah listens and then looks at her hands and frowns "I think I've lost some of my calluses." she murmers at her finger tips. "Gonna have to invest in a leather thimble again it seems." Alosynth snuffles at her fingers, eliciting a laugh from Keziah. At Viv's words she just shakes her head "Never mind." she then turns her attention back to the lesson and picks up a piece of hide and then sets it back down, the cracking obvious through it, then she picks up another one that looks fairly decent, even if a bit stiff. "Blue wouldn't compliment green M'orl." she notes absently.
"That happens to be *your* choice, Weyrling, not mine. I'm personally not sure *what* color I would put on her." Varia comments right back to Vivian before the Tanner is pausing at Ontali's table, fingers sliding over the piece of leather. "Aye, like that, Weyrling." Mor is turned on then, a smile passing over her face. "And yes, that is a bad piece." She begins to meander around the circle, before pausing. "I want each of you to find three pieces at least a forearm long, and once they are acceptable, I will trade you for three lengths that we have inspected that we would use for commissions. One piece has already been prepared using an awl, with sample stitches added. One piece has had the spots for the holes marked, and one piece is completely blank. After all three pieces meet standards, V'dim will be allowing you to begin work on your own straps. Leather, as well as buckles will be available." Pausing, she nods once more at Ontali. "Some riders prefer to augement the neck straps, most, however, leave it for their belt. However, the connecting straps should be made from leather, and checked daily."
Cidheoth rumbles faintly at the others, apparently realizing that nobody is going to stage a coup with him. So he moves a few paces off and stretches instead, all but seething with smugness. Of course he's stretching. He's getting straps, isn't he? Must mean he's going to be allowed to fly soon — not that he couldn't be already. He's just being a good lifemate to Tali and not getting her in trouble, is all. The girl glances back at the blue and frowns faintly, but then turns back to Varia with a little grin. "Black with everything, doesn't it, m'am?" Ah, how times have changed! Before she arrived at the Weyr, she wouldn't have known or cared about that fact. "But I bet it's expensive to dye a whole set of straps black." Then her bit of leather is inspected, and she smiles brightly, nodding. "Me too." With a nosewrinkle for Kez, though she likely never had much in the way of calluses. She thinks she did? The girl listens to the Journeyman quietly for a moment, next, though, nodding slowly. "Yes, m'am." Apparently the thought of playing with even /bigger/ needles doesn't bother her as much as mending…either she's settled down some, or she's lost her mind! « You have gained one. » "Hush, Cid." Laughed with a little roll of her eyes, before she's smiling once more at Varia. "Okay! That makes sense. You check 'em daily anyways, right?" Cid pauses mid-stretch, eyes narrowing faintly towards Nyunath. « Are you going to find food? I'll go with you, if you are. Food sounds good. » Of course it does, he's a bottomless pit!
« I will not trade this one. » Nyunath's storm-filled mind sends a flutter of drumbeats, causing his rider to roll his eyes. "Fine, it just means I have to find three other pieces to trade in." This seems perfectly fine to the bronze, who seems intent on not giving up the red piece of leather. R'owan leans forward on the table, beginning to sort through the various pieces, eyeing a few that seem far too small for much good. While his rider is busy worrying over straps, the bronze turns his attention towards his blue clutchmate, considering with a thrumming of drumbeats before getting to his feet and giving his wings a shake. « Yes. Let us go hunt. Perhaps we shall find these wooly things mine thinks of. » As he walks off, the red piece of leather falls off his shoulder and lands on the ground, just another thing for his rider to pick up. Throwing the red leather strip over his shoulder, he plucks out two likely candidates for good pieces, and then seems to struggle between three different ones that remain.
M'nol just shrugs, "Wouldn' know. I jus' stick t' simple colors what go with everythin'." Then he settles into sorting. This, at least, he has experience with. After a few moments he even begins muttering to himself as he tosses bits into three piles, "Too rough, nothin' but chuff. Nice 'n' smooth, has a use. Really holey? Holy moley." He ends up separating leathers by that designation. Rough and cracked leathers in one pile, ones with holes or stains in another, and smooth, flexible ones in a third. Faraeth eyes Cidheoth again, « You shouldn't leave yours unless she says you can. What if she misses you? » M'nol tries to be casual, but ends up coming out a bit forced, "Ro… D'ya know where I coul' get some wool or stuffin'? I.. uh… I'm workin' on a side-project." He doesn't want to go into too muhc detail in front of Varia… after all, he doesn't know her.
Keziah is busy going through the choices on the tables, checking length, disgarding this one, picking up that one, disgarding that one for another one and so on until finally she seems satisfied and then she starts going through some more. Alosynth is a bit bored by this and the spies both Cidheoth and then Nyunth moving off from the group and so off she goes to join her brothers « Hunting would be good. I am hungry. » she states as she drops and rolls onto her side in the dirt, her tail slapping the ground. Keziah does look up at that last remark from green "Oh Alosynth, as soon as they let us go, we'll go take you to hunt." she says looking apologetic and finally settles on what she hopes is three likely pieces. It's been awhile since she's inspected leather.
Vivian bobs her head in agreement with Keziah. "that shade of blue would not go well with Kelioth's colouring." She states simply, glancing over towards Ontali with a faint smile. "No offence." She tells the bluerider before she goes back to sorting out some larger lengths of leather for the trade in. Kelioth seems much more interested in continuing the conversation though. « Cideoth, yours would go much better with Nyuath's wouldn't it? » The green asks the blue, her mind all sparkly moonbeams with that projection.
Varia could not possibly care less about what the weyrlings are doing unless it involves sorting leathers. The Craftsecond picks up a large bundle of cut straps, each measuring almost six feet long, throwing them over her shoulder. A'den is the first to have his leather scraps traded, before three are taken from M'nol as she passes by. "I will be leaving a set of completed sample straps with your Weyrlingmaster, I encourage you to study them. If you have questions, I encourage you to ask, too. It is better to ask questions then to have incorrect straps." Varia nods, before Ro's two pieces and a third are traded, one of the others he was debating between pushed away after she points out unevenness in the dye. "Flawed dyes mean flawed leather." She comments, before Keziah's choices are inspected, nail scratching here and there, before she seems satisfied and she too gets her straps. And, in time, each of the Weyrlings has their straps to work on. "The rest of the materials you will need are in the barracks. Do you have any questions before I release you back to V'dim? You will have another lecture covering the construction of straps in the coming weeks."
"Mmm." Thoughtfully, Ro' considers his three pieces, looking up in surprise as Varia comes by to start trading in the hides for straps. "Oh, right." He quickly corrects himself, handing over the proper ones and trying to juggle what he's handed. The young rider takes a deep breath and looks on beyond his dragon, and then beyond him to Tali. He seems about to say something to her, mouth open and a little blurb of sound coming out when M'nol questions him. Curses, foiled again. "Stuffing?" At first he's thinking of stuffed wherry, but his mind corrects itself, picking up on his dragon's hunger. « We will hunt. You will work. » The bronze says simply, and continues to walk, not caring if the others follow or not. "Oh, that kind of stuffing. Sure, I know where to find some. We should get these started first though." He notes to the straps, eyeing them warily. "I'll help you find some in the stores after they're asleep." He thumbs over his shoulder.
M'nol gratefully trades in the leather scraps, then begins looking over the new lengths, contemplating how to best begin. Faraeth watches the others leave, then wuffles softly, what did they know. He wasn't going to abandon *his*. M'nol nods to Ro, "Thanks, I'd like that." Then he concentrates on the new leather or a few moments before asking, "Ummm… Has V'dim every actually hit someone with tha' crop o' his?"
Once she's picked and passed on the straps, Tali peers thoughtfully at the ones she's been traded. "Thank you, m'am!" Murmured slowly. "No questions. Thank you for talking with us, M'am." Vivian gets a lopsided grin, next, with a little shake of her head. "None taken, Vivian. Kelioth is very pretty, and Cid's handsome by himself." She laughs, before peering curiously at Ro. « She will miss me, of course, but it is acceptable. She must learn to be away from me. » He turns the tables on his rider with an expression very much like a draconic grin. Tali /snorts/. « The color of my hide, Kelioth? Well, » He even considers it, eyeing the bronze for a moment. « Perhaps. I still think that we're fine by ourselves. Don't you? » Alosynth gets a cheerful look, as the dragonet turns. « Yes. Certainly. » Tali doesn't seem to be too concerned that her dragonet is moving off, smiling at Varia. "Have a good day, m'am." Then M'nol is blinked at. Her mouth opens — then shuts closed. Nope. Not sayin' nothin'.
Vivian picks up three good options for trade in and hands them out towards Varia on her way past. "Not even colour coordinated." She tells her with a sweet smile, though Varia has probably been warned, but you never know. Kelioth gives a mental shake of her head as she replies back to Cidoth « No not us, I know the colour of my hide looks wonderful on me, yours on you too. » She flashes an image of Ontali and R'owan to the blue. « Them, do you think they would match? » The green has mostly managed to start controlling her projections and it stays with Cidoth instead of flashing it to everyone.
Keziah gives a nod to Varia as she checks over the new straps she's been handed, she's just playing it safe, wouldn't wanna be stuck with bum straps and have to redo everything over. Alosynth stretches « What is the big deal with color? » the little green just doesn't seem to get that « And a blue would not be with a bronze. That would be silly. » Alosynth seems to miss anything else on that and Keziah just ignores the random bits she gets, or else she's jsut filing them for later. "Will do ma'am." she murmurs.
"You would have to ask your Weyrlingmaster, weyrling." Varia states simply as she passes back by M'nol, shaking her head a little bit, before at the lack of other questions, she's waving her hand to dismiss them. "I'm certain, weyrlings, if you do it incorrectly, you'll be left to do it again." She adds as a final warning, before settling in to clean up the materials while they return to the other business.
M'nol fiddles with the straps, pretending to feel them and judge their worth, "But.. um… I mean…" He pauses for a minute, "V'dim is scary!" His youth shows both in his vocabulary and the tears the well up slightly in his eyes. Faster than one would think the walking mountain could move, Faraeth is next to his boy, nuzzling him gently. M'nol stroking his nose in return. The two lost for a moment in eachother.
Ontali nods quickly. "Oh, yes m'am." She agrees with a nosewrinkle. "I'm for sure gonna do 'em right." Nod-nod-nod she goes, emphatic. But then she blinks at M'nol, frowning a little. "He is," She agrees. "But…um." The girl sighs, and shakes her head. Yep, she's no use. « Would hunting cheer yours up, Faraeth? » Cidheoth asks cheerily. « He can have the heart, if he wants it. I will share. »
Vivian hands in and dismisses herself from Varia's presence, though not before a wicked gleam enters her eyes as she sees that look on M'nols face. "He's not that scary, the tales I've heard of him beating weyrlings with that cane," She holds up one delicate hand and starts counting off her fingers silently, it's the show that counts. "I only need both hands to count them on for the last two clutches." She explains to him with a reassuringly sweet smile. Kelioth follows along behind Vivian and nudges her in the back until she lifts one of her arms to allow the green to slide her head in underneath, a slight whuffle of admonishment emitting at her lifemate.
Keziah glances over at Alosynth who rolls back upright "Let me put these up, and we'll go hunt." she then heads for the barracks as Alosynth rolls upright and gets to her feet. « I would like to try those white ones. They look to be nice and thick. » The green states.
M'nol seems about to say something to Vivian, then simply collapses against Faraeth. Probably not sobbing as loud as Vivian would want, but more than any young man would like to cry. Faraeth's eyes whirl quickly red-orange, staring right at Vivian. He wuffs loudly, and makes sure she hears him, which means that Kez does to, the velvet and silk hard and snapping, « Don't be mean to mine. He's young. Just because you're scared doesn't mean you have to be mean. »
The admonishment from Kelioth is enough to stop Vivian in her tracks. "Oh shells he needs to grow a spine if he's going to survive life, never mind weyrlinghood." She tells the green, a touch crossly. Something obviously passes between the pair and Vivian's eyes narrow in the battle of wills that by the downcast head of Kelioth after a few moments, Vivian wins this round as she walks off. "Try and help toughen the brat up and suddenly even you're turning on me." Kelioth stands where she is as Viv walks off, « Sorry Faraeth. » She murmurs dejectedly to the brown, though her tone does pick up a bit, going on to pass on what she perceives as wisdom. « He shouldn't cry though, no matter how much it makes mine happy it upsets you. » How successful her pep talk is will really depend on if it's passed on to M'nol or not.
Cidheoth doesn't pretend to understand humans that aren't his own; the blue watches M'nol for a long moment, eyes whirring faintly reddish in worry. « I will get him a heart, yes. I suppose he can have the other squishy parts if he likes them, too. » Bubbles drift faintly in concern; he doesn't want to lose /all/ of the 'good parts'! « Come, Nyunath. We will hunt. Are you coming, Alosynth? » Pleasantly, the blue asks, nudging Tali with his nose. The girl, still holding her straps, stares blankly between M'nol and Vivian. "Uhm." Neither are likely to listen, though, so she happily lets Cidheoth excuse her. "Alright, Cid, fine." Muttered. "I'll just look at these while you hunt." So saying, off she goes. « I will be back! » Cidheoth promises. « I will bring yours some too, Kelioth. She seems hungry. I get snappy when I'm hungry, too. »
M'nol sniffles a few more times, regaining his composure. Mostly ignoring the others, he asks Faraeth quietly, "Do you need to eat." The dragon blinks twice, « I can wait until you are better. Kelioth says you should be happy even though hers is mean and Cidheoth offers to bring you the heart of a beast. I will tell him you prefer your meat cooked. » M'nol giggles, wiping the last of his tears away, "Thanks Farry." He strokes the dragon's nose while Faraeth relays his message to the others, the velvet softening, strengthening, « Mine will be fine, but he doesn't want the heart, thank you. He seems to want something else… » The image of a cookie flashes through the connection, « I will stay with him for now. I will hunt with you another day. »
Vivian just keeps walking off in a huff given that her lifemate just turned against her. Well at least that's how she sees it. Kelioth looks sad because it's caused problems and it's with a big mental sigh that she apologises to the other dragons on behalf of her lifemate. « Sorry, I'll go now. » She tells them before slinking off, body kept low to the ground as she trails off after Vivian.
Ontali passes the image on, then peers over his shoulder. « Mine says yours wants 'cookies'. She will find him some. » His voice isn't sure. « I still think he would do better with a heart, but, humans are strange. » Pleasantly, the blue laughs, then bounds off. « Be well, Kelioth. » Tali follows at a trot, shaking her head wonderingly. What /has/ she gotten herself into?