Stoned Chat
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Xanadu Weyr - Observation Level
Dark blue seats form a semi-circle around the sands below, the lowest row separating from the sands themselves by merely a railing. The seats climb upwards, each row a bit higher then the previous, and they are broken up into sections by 3 sets of staircases. Lights are evenly spaced along the outer wall, lighting the seats and the sands easily, though they tend to be dimmed unless a major event is taking place. A large balcony looms overhead, darkening some of the seats, providing a place for observers of the draconic kind to watch without obstructing the view for others.
When one looks over the railing, the oddly hued sand below can be seen easily, the circle-shaped area of the sands spread out to the far walls, the sand itself a unique mixture of red and white grains.


When you study so much that you can recite the pages from memory, it's time to put down the book and step away. So that's what Kera is doing. After rumaging around for something in the Weyrstores, then stopping back the kitchen, soon the apprentice has a satchel full. So with Minimur leading the way, Kera makes her way to her target, the gallery. The little brown wings ahead, looping and zipping here and there with happy chitters. Kera pauses to let her eyes adjust before scanning the rows of seats briefly. Her gaze drifts along the sands briefly, seeing eggs of coarse but no queenrider. It's not til she peers around once more than see spots the young weyrwoman. With a grin, she waves, but doesn't yell out as she makes her way to where Soriana is. "G'day Soriana."

Down on the sands, Luraoth's in the middle of rotating eggs so they stay evenly warmed. That leaves Kanekith on glaring duty. Chittering firelizards had best not disturb his children. Glare. Soriana herself is down near the front, sitting where she's got a good view of the sands (and Luraoth does of her) while not getting baked from beneath like those eggs. She has a glass of water (important to stay hydrated) in one hand and a book in the other. She's reading - or, well, she was. She looks up at the approach, and lets the book flip closed and be put down at her side. "Hey." She smiles. "How're you?"

Kera grins when she gets close to her friend and takes a nearby seat. "I'm good, if ya ignore that my eyes keep crossing trying to study and review." With a chuckle at herself, she pats the overstuffed satchel. "I brought ya a few things…" she glances towards the water and book with a grin. "..though I guess ya don't really need anything." With a hint of s shrug, she begins pulling out a few things "I got ya jug of juice, some fruit, jerked meat….." She gives one container a curious frown, a little shake and a shrug "Not sure what the cook put in this one."

"I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later," Soriana says, and smiles. "Maybe you just need a study buddy to distract you." She glances to Minimur, and hehs. "Maybe he can help." …nah, distract's probably more accurate. Firelizards are good like that. She shrugs, though, and glances to the sands briefly before looking back to Kera. "Hmm?" Her gaze goes to the things as they're unpacked. "Oh. Thanks. You didn't have to, though." She smiles.

Kera nods agreeably with Soriana as she sets out the stuff she brings, eyeing the mystery container once more before setting it by the queenrider. "I know, and everyone has bprobably been bringing you stuff left and right. But ya never know.." She looks in the satchel once more before shoving her arm in and feeling around "Ha." Grabbing out a plump looking 'mark' pouch, she tosses it so that it will, hopefully, land right on her friend's lap then shoves her arm in the satchl again "I figured ya might also be bored out of your mind and need a distraction." Then she pulls out a square of soft hide that looks painted on one side. Light and dark squares all over one side. The other side, is blank. "Feel up for teaching me how to play stones?" KEra flashes an amused wink.

Soriana just smiles slightly. "I'm fine," she says, then repeats herself. "Thanks, though." The flying bag makes her blink, and she reaches a hand to catch it at just about the point when it lands. "What…?" she begins, loosening the drawstring and peeking inside, then glancing up at the hide board. "Oh, well, if I get too bored, there's always paperwork," she says in an attempt at humor, then gives her head a shake. Peek at bag. Peek at board. "Heh. Not my best game, but I can give it a try."

Kera wrinkles her nose at the mention of paperwork and gives her head the tiniest of shakes "The intense heat from the sands seems to be affecting your judgement, even though you are up here above them." With a cheeky grin, the apprentice shrugs "If ya wanna play something else, that's fine by me. I should have thought to bring you some cards." She frowns a bit cause she hadn't even thought of cards til now. Minimur churls softly, flying in lazy circles til he lands almost daintily on Kera's head "Oh no ya dont." Reaching up, she guides him down to her shoulder. He gives an annoyed chitter, but remains on the shoulder.

"Mmm," Soriana says, and she lets her gaze wander out over the sands, watching as Luraoth fusses over an egg before giving her head a shake and looking back to Kera. "Nah, we can play. It's fine." She smiles, and glances up at Minimur. "Wants to be a hat, huh?" She hehs. "Have you tried training him to sit on your shoulder for feeding? Might help, if that's what he associates…" A shrug, and then she pours out some of the stones onto her hand for setting up.

Kera nods "Or a fancy hair ribbon." Reaching up to scratch the well oiled lizard's neck, she chuckles at the little noise he makes. "I've started trying to train him, but he just seems to like the perching on my head. Particularly when my hair's braided and he can hold on better." Smirking at the little brown, who is watching the large queen tend her eggs. After a moment, wings over to settle on the rail and 'supervise' sand activities. He chitters happily, but not too loud, as Kera flattens out the hide square between Soriana and herself. Taking the stones she'll use, she watches Soriana and sets her peices out in matching arrangement. "How are things going for you? Other than having to take in all this heat?"

"You've got to be firm with firelizards, if you don't want them doing something." Soriana half-smiles. "They can tell when you really mean it and when they can get away with it, and… they will." She lays out her stones on the hide, glancing up at the brown again and frowning slightly. "Don't let him get too close. The dragons are pretty protective." And while they proooobably wouldn't do anything too bad to a curious firelizard… better safe than sorry. There's a reason Soriana's 'lizards are elsewhere at the moment. "I'm okay." She smiles. "Haven't melted yet."

Kera looks from Soriana to Minimur on the railing and her head nods a couple of times. "I suppose you are right. And I know I've been spoiling him, but I didn't want him to get upset and go away." After a few seconds she calls out to the lizard "Minimur, come back." She taps her shoulder encouragingly. This seems to do the trick as the little brown leaps upward then wings over to settle on Kera's shoulder with an affectionately head rub against her cheek. She gently scratches his chin and whereever his leaning directs her to while her other hand lays out peices. "That's good to hear, the last time I chatted with you, you seemed… well, out of sorts, I guess ya could say." She shrugs and glances up from the board.

"A firelizard's not going to be scared by you wanting them to do something," Soriana says with a smile. "That…" She trails off for a moment, looking thoughtful, then gives her head a little shake. "That'll make them feel wanted. Especially for a brown. You're his queen." She smiles, watching Kera and her pet interact, then lowers her gaze to the board. Pieces: set up. So… she makes the first move! There. "Mm? Oh, well. There's been a lot going on lately."

Kera blinks up to Soriana, considering the her words, she finally nods and a shy grin slips over her face "I never thought of it like that." Soriana moves a peice and Kera tries to decide what to move. "You always hear stories of how a person yelled at their lizard, then the lizard never came back." Maybe it was just the other apprentice's messing with Kera. Who knows. Unsure how to really play this game, she chances a quick peek up to Soriana before moving a peice. There, the hardest part is done, actually getting started. Looking out over the sands, Kera nods ageeably again. "That's understandable. I bet Luraoth is quite pleased with herself and her eggs." Kera grins back to Soriana, then down to the board as she absentmindedly pets the happy little brown.

"That's different, though." Soriana glances down to the board again. First moves are made! And so the game begins. "Yelling at them is… it's being mad about the past. Firelizards don't think about the past." A glance out to the sands to look at the dragons, and then back to the board as she makes her next move. "Wanting something from them, that's about the now. Firelizards are all about the now." Her lips quirk wryly. "Sorta something we can learn from them. How to live in the moment." Her gaze drifts out to the sands again, and she nods. "Yeah, she's happy."

She should be taking notes. Soriana's giving her golden information about firelizards. Kera nods slowly. "I guess they are lucky that way. Most of the time, I'm worrying about things I got wrong yesterday, or what I will mess up tomorrow." Kera gives a hint of a shrug and chuckles at herself. All the while, Minimur is still getting attention while Kera eyes the board thoughtfully. "So how is Ka'el doing?" She pauses to choose her next words carefully "Is he still…twitchy?"

"Humans are like that." The wry quirk stays on Soriana's lips. "But you can't change the past… and while you can try for a better future, mostly you have to do that by doing stuff in the present. We're here today." She grins crookedly. "Which is easy to say and really hard to do, so don't think like I'm saying I've got it all figured out." Firelizards, though… she knows a thing or three about those. Much simpler than humans. Her eyes rise to Kera at her question, and he grin eases back to a mere smile. A moment's silence, and then, "Like I said, there's been a lot going on lately." Not just with dragons. There's also things going on with Ka'el, and… "Mm, maybe you should ask him yourself."

Kera snorts at the suggestion that she ask Ka'el and gives a quick shake of her head "No thanks, I like my head attached to my shoulders." Eyeing the board, she hesitantly nudges a peice into a new position, then thinks better of it and pulls it back, only to turn around and push it right back where she nudged it to begin with. Minimur's soft chitters seem to offer a move suggestion, if only Kera understood firelizard speak. "I guess this isn't really a nice relaxing break for you huh? Probably loading ya down with all sorts of paperwork, with the excuse of 'whate else have ya got to do?' explanation?" Kera offers a little grin.

The smile slips into a brief frown, but Soriana nods and lets the matter of Ka'el drop. She watches Kera's consideration of her next move. Does she or doesn't she? …she does! Okay then. In that case, Soriana will do… this. Once she's done it, she looks up and out at the sands again, checking on Luraoth. "Heh. Sands and heat don't exactly make the vacation. I mean, if it's Ista or Eastern, sure. Igen or the hatching grounds… not so much." She gives her head a shake. "It's not so bad. I get to send off anything that needs me to check something myself." She smiles wryly.

Kera slouches down a bit, getting a little closer to the board, like that will help her play better or something. "The heat kinda looses it's charm if ya can't jump into alot of water and cool off right?" She flashes a wink then scrutinizes the board after Soriana makes her next move. The apprentice is most likely walking blindly into whatever trap the weyrwoman is setting up as she moves her next stone. After a few seconds, she peers up to Soriana "Do you have someone keeping check on your weyr? You have a tunnelcat right?" Maybe someone needs to go feed the litte thing.

Maybe if Kera leans in close enough, the pieces will murmur advice into her ears? Seems worth a try, anyhow. Soriana smiles, and nods. "That it does. And the scenery…" she waves a hand vaguely at the opposite wall "…kinda leaves something to be desired." She grins briefly, and then makes another move in the game. She's not really paying much attention, which either means she's being cunning and deep… or she's just doing what seems best at the moment because she doesn't much care if she wins or not. Either way! "I make it back there every so often." When Luraoth's moods permit. "And Cyran's helping with Inkfoot, I'm sure he'll tell me if it burns down or something." She grins. That's a joke.

Kera cringes at the mention of burning something down and shakes her head quickly enough "Don't go and say that, not even as a joke." Another move is made and Minimur's happy chitters take on a differant tone. The apprentice recognizes that sound and is quickly fumbling around in her waist pouch for Minimur's treats and offering it up to the hungry lizard. "Cyran..I think I met him briefly before. Hard to remember with all the new people I've met since posting." With a little shrug, she marches another stone forward then returns to feeding Minimur so he'll stay quiet.

Soriana blinks at the unexpected degree of response. "Really?" She watches Kera for a moment, and then… she asks the question! The obvious one. "…why not?" Because, well… it seemed funny? At the time? And now she's curious. As for Cyran, well. "He's a beastcrafter. Inkfoot likes him." So, good enough! She shrugs a bit, then makes her next move in the game. Oh, hey, is that a clever trap or an accidentally exposed piece?

Kera arches a brow to Soriana. Why not? Really? She actually had the nerve to ask, Why not? "Cause we don't need anymore accidents. And right now the infirmary is a bit crowded. Several woman over the last couple of days have birthed." She seems a bit smug over that since she /did/ scribble it down on the infirm calender before the women started showing up. Eyeing the board, she frowns at it briefly, leaning first to once side of the board, then the other as if a differant perspective will help her play better. "I'm not sure of the rules. Do I /have/ to take a peice just because I /can/?"

Soriana has a lot of nerve? Apparently? "Well, I mean, I don't want it to actually happen, but…" she shrugs. "I thought maybe I'd missed something. I don't get out much, lately." A vague wave to the sands, and then she lowers her gaze to the board. "Hmm?" She looks at it for a moment. "…I think so?" Another shrug.

Kera sighs a little as she eyes the stones. Well, if she has to take the peice, then she has to take it, even if it leaves two other stones as easy targets. Taking the stone and setting it aside, Kera hopes her friend doesn't see her stones practically screaming to be taken from the board. Peering back to Soriana with a shrug chuckles as she goes back to giving Minimur a few more bites of food, "You'ld know better than me if something important was going on. Not much of importance happens in and around the dorms."

The rules say pieces must be taken! That doesn't always mean that the obvious piece must be taken. Soriana makes a hop of one toward the edge of the board. "Oh, well, that depends on what." She smiles slightly. "And what sort of important it is. So, what has been happening around the dorms? Important or not?" She hehs, and adds, "Especially the stuff that doesn't show up in paperwork."

Kera reaches up to rub the brown's neck as she considers the board and question both. "There are always disagreements among people. But a couple of days ago a fight got start between two boys over girl. Think she's in the weaver craft." Kera shrugs, unsure exactly "They both got in trouble obviously. And Sheary is strutted around the dorms like she owns it." Kera rolls her eyes, then chuckles "Oh! There is talk of buying one of the Sr. Smith aprpentice's a tent so he can keep the trees awake at night with his snoring rather than us."

"Well, sure," Soriana says with a small nod. People don't just get along. The world… sigh, doesn't work that way. She listens curiously to the bits of gossip, though, nodding and hmming and so forth. "Sounds like… well, the world's going on as usual out there." She halfway grins. "More or less."

Kera nods agreeably as she nudges another stone as she tries to think of anything else new. Brightening suddenly she grins. "There was a sr. apprentice weaver posted here about a sevenday ago. He seems really nice." Pausing a moment she shrugs "That's probably not interesting to ya though." Nibbling on her lower lip "There was a bit of fishing the other evening. But the fish kept stealing my bait." Kera smirks at that.

"It's not Xanthius, is it?" Soriana asks, then shakes her head and answers her own question. "Nah, it wouldn't be." Not if he's getting described as nice! She continues to play the game, moving and occasionally capturing stones, then hehs. "I always figured going fishing was more of an excuse to stand by the water for a while, myself. Y'know, appreciate the view and all."

"My brain must be cracked! There /IS/ some really neat that happened. There is a Wher and her handler living in the forest. In the old ruins I think she said. Her name is Niko. And her wher's name is Nisk." Kera chuckles a bit "It was actually sorta cute, the way it was mimicing Mur'dah's dragonmate." Reach forward she moves another stone. She's only managed to snag a couple during the game but even though she's losing, she's learning to play better, hopefully.

Soriana lifts an eyebrow, then smiles teasingly. "Are you going to talk to your journeyman about that cracked brain?" Because, hey! That's Cyrus's specialty, right? Soriana glances down to make her next move, then up again to listen. "There's always been a few. Is she actually out at the ruins, or… well, there's some dens out in the forest a bit. We did some night patrols with them, when the dragons were young." Practice! And this game can also be practice. "Whers are really mixed. Some of them… well, that's why it's important to listen to the handlers. So's you don't get your hand bitten off."

Kera smirks and laughs out. "I think he's trying to make me crack. He's ruined the filing system. I spend at least a candlemark a day reordering files and reports." She grins goodnaturedly about it though and eyes the board critically. "I may be wrong, but I do think she mentioned fixing up a den at the ole ruins. Mur'dah might know better since his dragonamte seemed to take right to Nisk." With a sigh at the board, she leans back "I know a lost cause when I see one…nice game Soriana." After a couple of seconds "I should go get something to eat before my duties start." Getting to her feet and scritching Minimur's neck and taking the emptied satchel back in hand. "Do you want me to bring you something before I head to the infirmary Soriana?"

Soriana tilts her head a little at the part about Cyrus, but nods. "Well, just don't let him into the archives, or there'd really be a mess." She smiles briefly, then hmms about Niko and Nisk and shrugs. "I dunno, I haven't heard anything, really… though there's been some work trying to get the ruins less, well, ruined." She smiles, then glances back to the board and up again. "Mm? Well, okay. Wouldn't want to keep you from getting dinner!" She smiles, and helps pack up the game before giving her head a shake. "Nah, I'm fine." She's got plenty of paperwork to do! "Thanks for coming by!"

Kera smiles and gestures toward the game "I got that out of weyrstores for you so maybe someone who actually knows how to play can give ya a decent game later." Kera chuckles, wiggling her fingers to Soriana "Alright, I'll try to slip by again soon. G'evening." Wiggling fingers once more, she starts out with Minimur churling in a bossy little way.


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