To see another perspective, please check out Stormy Whers.
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 this and sharp border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places with upturned petals to wave to whoever may be looking.
The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the mountain where, high above, Xanadu's Star Stones and the ever present watchdragon sit on a lonely peak. Directly south is a massive tunnel, fully wide enough for even the largest dragon to fly down. 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 Tavern. Southwest lies the low ledges currently belonging to Xanadu's queens while north and west a broad path cut by the side of the cliff leads to the Feeding Grounds and due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr.
It's early morning at Xanadu, the sky is only partially overcast at the moment and Keziah is out in the clearing with a brush and going over a particular spot along Alosynth's near hindleg. The green is crooning softly even as Keziah shakes her head "It really didn't even have that much mud on it. Honestly, it's not like you to worry about mud so." she murmurs and then just shakes her head as Alosynth chuffs lightly.
Across the clearing M'nol is performing similar ministrations on Faraeth, all the while berating the brown for deciding that Isobeth would be a good hunt. The brown is unrepentant, even crooning occasionally to Alosynth instead of listening to his rider.
Despite the early hour, the clearing is warm, the air still, and Niva is returning from the feeding grounds with Kilaueth, the large gold having taken the opportunity to feed before the others of the Weyr. The Senior gold offers a sort croon to the green and brown, interesting lingering for a moment, before she's moving on her way, Niva following suit with simply a nod to the young woman. "Weyrlings.."
Not long ago cheery, F'yr is once again a crumpled mess. And crumpled she is, on a spot not too far from the green weyrling, sitting in the middle of the clearing. Maybe not the smartest of ideas, but there she is, sitting, and shreadding flowers.
Alosynth warbles a bit of a greeting to Kilaueth and then she's then blinking a little at Faraeth and ducking her head back and looking the other way away from him at the moment. Keziah snorts as she brushes off the last of the percieved mud and then eyes Alosynth "Honestly. What's gotten into you?" she hmmphs and then there's a glance Niva's way "Hello Weyrwoman.' she murmurs. Then there's a look at F'yr as she moves away from the green. "Whats wrong?" she asks softly as she moves over towards the other rider."
M'nol salutes Niva, "Weyrwoman." His eyes pass over his own dragon, then to Alosynth, then he spots F'yr. He would have gone to ask her what was wrong, but Keziah beat him to it and he didn't want to crowd the despondent brownrider, so instead he goes back to scrubbing Faraeth's hide, perhaps a tad too hard.
A slight wind begins to pick up, bringing with it the scent of rain. Overhead, the clouds are beginning to gather causing the sky darken slightly. Leaves swirl around the ground as they get caught in little eddies of air.
F'yr's expressionless clear eyes sweep slowly in the direction of the green and then towards the brown dragon, a little tightening of her lips before she's glancing back down for a new pretty flower. This one is plucked, twirled in her fingers, and then hastily shredded apart with both hands. "Jus' being stupid, is all," she grunts out to Keziah, bowing her head low. The rapidly worsening weather doesn't seem to bother her at all, so long as she's got things to tear apart around her.
Gaze rests on F'yr, and Niva just stops to blink, utterly confused by the brownrider's behavior, looking from M'nol to Keziah and back, before she snaps her fingers in F'yr's direction. "What did the flowers do to you?" The Weyrwoman asks, before the wind slowly picks up and she's glancing upwards, shivering once, Kilaueth's nose going up in the air as well.
Thea enters the Clearing from the direction of the Hatching Arena, striding towards the Caverns with a purpose, "Late, Don't want to be late." She's muttering to herself as she quickens her pace, half-running. The winds make her long hair a thing alive, whipping it into her eyes so she reaches one hand up to gather her hair in a bunch. She nears the group, pausing, then also peers at the sky. "Looks like a storm." Stating the obvious. Her eyes slide towards F'yr at Niva's words, but she doesn't comment. "Morning Weyrwoman," her greeting to the others is a nod and smile.
Keziah hmms a little at F'yr as she watches the petals being torn about "Why do you say you're being stupid?" and then she's looking up a the sky 'Lovely, more weather." Alosynth warbles and Keziah is blinking at her and then she snorts "Yes it means more mud you ninny." she rolls her eyes and throws her hands up in the air. "Whatever happened to liking to roll in the mud?" A pause. "What? Oh jeesh. I new Vivian was a bad influence at times but not in this respect." She then blinks and then there's a glance towards Nivas. Oops.
M'nol glances up at the sky, then nods to Thea, "It does look like rain…" Faraeth croons to Alosynth again, « Mud is fun! Then you get to have a bath after. » At least someone is happy about the approaching storm.
F'yr squishes the petals tightly in between fingers and then wiping them off on the ground. "Been stupid, being stupid… Does it really matter why?" she says with a little snort, shaking her head sadly. "Just what you get for trusting people." Something dark crosses her face but it's quick to pass when her eyes turn skywards, seeing that everyone else has looked that way. She blinks once, shrugs, and turns back to the ground. "Bet it would've been fun to fly in," she says, in regards to the storm.
"Feels like a storm." Niva counters to the younger goldrider, gaze still hovering on the sky, as Kilaueth slowly spreads her wings, rocking back on her haunches to peer at the leaves that go flying by, the Weyrwoman remains distractioned, Keziah's comment drawing no interest. F'yr's however, catches her attention, and the woman gives the brownrider a bit of a shocked look, speachless.
Off in the distance thunder can be heard rumbling in low tones. The wind continues to pick up speed, causing the trees the move and gusts send up swirls of dust. The lake waters are getting choppy and animals out in the pens are getting restless.
Thea shifts uneasily, eyeing the sky. As she returns her attention to the group, her face shows clearly that she's puzzled about F'yr and the comments regarding Vivian. "It does," she murmurs to M'nol. Her eyes shift to the brownrider, a thoughtful expression in them, although her there is a kindness therein and perhaps a bit of understanding as well. She knows well how trusting someone can hurt. Niva's words break her chain of thought and her eyes rise to the clouds once more, "Getting darker-" The rumble of thunder has her taking steps towards the Caverns, "I'd better get to that radio. I'm supposed to fill in and monitor it today." So saying she hurries off.
A group of apprentice starcrafters come in from the meadow all talking up a storm about getting off of construction work because of the storm. The head towards the craft complex and trailing behind them comes another apprentice with two brown firelizards on his shoulder. Kire spots a group of riders and nods politely to them as he continues to walk along. He is carrying a lunchbox in one hand and his hard hat in another.
Keziah frowns a little and shifts a little uneasily as she listens to F'yr. She's never been good at comforting people and she looks around almost helplessly. The weather has her pushing her hair out of her face "Yeah, I'd say were in for a bit of weather." A pause "Shards, we're gonna have to muck out the barracks if it rains." she mutters and then heads over to Alosynth who snorts a bit at the wind.
Faraeth's nose raises to the wind and, for some reason, he bugles a challenge to the sky even as M'nol jumps at the crack of thunder. His goodbye to Thea is hurried before he glances at F'yr and Kez, "A bit of weather is an understatement…" He glances around, "Where's Zaruath?"
F'yr glances once more at the flowers that are still standing around her. There's a circle of cleared area where ripped stalks and grass as seen. But the rest? Live to see another day as Fy sits back instead to turn her attention to the darkening sky, actually looking like it is soothing her. Ah, turmoil. "Looks nice," comes a mutter from the short brownie before she directs her cool gaze to M'nol and answers in a soft voice, "He's back in our barn. He was bugging me so I told him to leave me alone." Nice rider, isn't she?
Niva turns to continue to talk to Thea, but the junior is excusing herself, and Niva is left to stare after her. At the rumble of thunder, Kilaueth offers her own rumble of challenge in response, wings spreading out wide for balance as the winds continue to pick up, and one young messenger hurries through the clearing with his clearly spooked runner, trying to get him to shelter quickly. "Weyrlings, keep your lifemates on the ground.." She says firmly, and then at F'yr's note of where Zaruath is, she relaxes, just a little.
The sounds of thunder rumble closer and then there's deafening peel of thunder almost as if the weather is answering back in a challenge to the senior gold. Course the sound comes just a fraction of a second thas is almost simultaneous with a flash of light as a tree near the edge of the clearing is hit. The sound of splitting wood can be heard and there's a brief flair of fire and smoke that's almost instantly put out as the sky opens up and it just pours.
Kire jumps as the tree is hit close by and he shakes his head to get the ringing out of his ears. "Definitely time to get in." He hurries towards the cavern as the rain starts. His two firelizards between out and he shakes his head a little bit, "Gee thanks for sticking around." Kire looks back to see if the riders are following as he stands at the entrance of the cavern watching the rain come down.
Faraeth seems to seriously consider takign to the skies to challenge the storm in person, but M'nol mentally drags the brown back to Pern until he can wrap his arms around Faraeth's head, knowing the dragon won't go anywhere with him attached like that. Both jump nearly a foot in the air… thankfully in unison… when the tree is hit. M'nol dissolves into a string of curses best not repeated in civilized company.
"Hmm… but maybe I should call him out. With this wind, it might help pull Zaru into the sky for once," mutters Fy as she watches the weather quickly transforming with a plan forming through her mind. She doesn't have much time to plot, though, as the tree being struck nearby makes her leap up to her feet, looking alert and a little more than excited. She stares at the fire being dosed, and then turns her face up to the downpour, not looking at all like she wanted to go find shelter. "Shouldn't there be search and rescue riders out?" she asks, not quite anyone in particular, as she shifts on her feet, looking as if she could go flying into the storm herself without a dragon.
[Dragon/XAW] « Ribbons of copper and gold, molten reds and liquid silvers flow far quicker than magma, far quicker than that which they mimic, before a heavy weight rests on the minds of the Weyr. « No one must fly in this storm. » Behind the words resides a particular touch, making the Senior golds words far more than merely suggestion. »
Keziah lets out a yelp as the lightning strikes even as Alosynth bugles out her own reaction of startlement. Keziah is blinking as she tries to get the spots out of her eyes. "Shards." she murmurs as she ducks under Alo's wing even as the green hunkers down a bit.
Vora squeaks as the dragon lands after a rough descent. She looks around at the activity frantically going about in the bowl and jumps, gulping down a scream when the tree is hit, looking up with wide green eyes at the smoke. Vora searches for any figure of authority known to her, and spots Niva. Good choice, girl. She approaches Niva at a run, almost breathless by the time she reaches her. The girl realizes she had forgotten T'burk and his dragon in the activity, and looks back over her shoulder to be sure they're fairly okay. Niva's busy giving out orders and /making/ order of this small panic, and instead head for M'nol. She grimaces and says, "I was only looking to visit! What is all this?" The question is clearly rhetorical, as she looks about and up at that sky, frightening and lingering as it is. "Shouldn't everyone be heading to their weyrs or inside the caverns?" Another nervous glance at the sky, and towards the smoke while the two little greens in her sling peer out anxiously, chittering with worry and fear. The brown on her shoulder warbles at them comfortingly, his tail lashing back and forth across Vora's back.
"No one is going *anywhere!*" Niva says with a hint of panic in her words, a panic mirrored in the red tinges that begin to show in Kilaueth's multifaceted eyes, the gold trumpeting again, her vocal sounds backing up her mental words the Weyr. The crack of lightning, the stink of ozone, and that is enough to send Niva scurrying for the entrance to the cavern, her words lost on her lips. Kilaueth hisses loudly at the tree as it cracks and falls, the gold then accepting that she's lost the battle of wills with Mother Nature, retreating to the safety and shelter of her ledge.
The storm intensifies and the though the sky is now dark with black clouds, the air brightens with several flashes of light in them, causing them to turn purple. The waters of the lake are rough and rivelets of water are even now pouring across the clearing as the torrential rain doesn't soak in quick enough. The animals in the pens are racing back and forth along the fences. People are running quickly to make it indoors and when another flash of lightning strikes on woman falls down in a faint, only to be picked up and carried by her mate.
Keziah shoos Alosynth into one of the ground weyrs, being as it's closer and she herself follows off after Niva to the safety of the caverns, especially after the next strike of lighting. She pauses as a little girl slips in the mud as her family runs to the caverns as well. She turns to grab her "come on." she says to the crying girl who's family didnt' notice her going down.
F'yr can't help the nasty look she passes the senior queen after she makes her announcement, putting an end to her wild plans of flying dragonback once again in the middle of the storm. She flips drenched blond hair out of her face and turns her glare back towards the storm, eyes fascinated as they trace the lightning. She looks pretty stubborn where she is, wanting to remain outdoors instead of following the scared crowd, even if all the taller things are moving away, leaving her exposed.
M'nol has to actually fight with Faraeth to get him into the ground weyr. Yelling over the storm, "I don't care! We have to separate to be safe. Just go!" With an unhappy grumble, Faraeth stalks off into the ground weyr alosynth had entered and M'nol turns to follow Kez and Niva, also reaching down to help a fallen runner.
Vora looks on in horror as she watches the Weyr dissolve into further panic, with only small islands of calm here and there where people seem to be able to keep themselves together. Her concern, for now, is riveted on the animals, who seem helpless and terrified in the face of this sadistic storm. As M'nol walks away, leading Faraeth into the ground weyr, she chases after him. "Please, is there any chance that you could help me get the animals inside… somewhere?" Her eyes are pleading, she's fairly begging. She'll open the pens and drag the creatures into the living caverns herself if she must.
As the 'safe' places are quickly filling up, those who were awake are quickly fleeing to the dorms, the caverns, the Hatching Arena - Anywhere to get free of the storm, Niva remains on the brink, ushering people inside. Her attention rests on Vora and F'yr, staring at them both, before she's cutting back out into the weather, as if she'll drag them inside if she has to. "Animals are animals, they'll survive. *You* have to get inside." She says, her tone a bit short, before she's looking to F'yr, trying to usher her too, even if there's no arguing with the seemingly distracted brownrider.
Kire stands back out of the way as he watches the others moves into the cavern. He looks to Vora and he sighs softly as he moves out into the rain after her, "Come on Vora, let's get you in before you slip and fall and hurt yourself. What are you doing back here at Xanadu? Get kicked out of Western all ready?" He teases as he tries to get Vora to move towards the cavern.
The rain starts to taper off, though the wind still continues to blow. The clouds seem to lighten slightly but there's a sickly green tinge of green to them. There's a scream in the distance, though who or what made the sound is not apparant at all. The sounds of branches cracking and breaking can be heard and the water rises along the beaches. Then there's squeal and out in the lake itself a pair of waterspouts form, swirling around each other like drunks coming out of the tavern.
Vora turns to Niva as she gives her orders, and a resigned expression comes over her face, her lips curving downward in the corners slightly and tightening. "Very well…" She casts the animals one more look, apologetic, and turns toward the safety of the cavern - and then there's Kire. She lets him lead her, putting a hand on his shoulder for support on the slippery ground, and gives him a sincere smile at his lighthearted teasing in the midst of all this. "No, I haven't been kicked out as of yet for my terribly fiery antics," she chuckles at her "fiery antics," both of them knowing her antics are anything but. "I came back to visit and see if I can find a particular necklace I lost in the kitchens here a while back but…" She gestures around at the chaos, "I returned to find all of /this./"
Keziah hands over the little girl to her mother who is almost in hysterics when she realizes her little girl was missing and then falls down into tears as she gets them. Kezi looks a little uncomfortable as she's hugged by both parents and just sort of murmurs. She looks around and then catches Vora's words "They're being taken care of. Yina's out theres" she says lying through her teeth.
"/Someone's/ gotta be out here to help when there's help needed," growls out F'yr stubbornly as she remains her ground. A little bit of rain, a little bit of wind, a little bit of lightning… The girl wasn't going to be scared off that easily, standing her ground. That is until her eyes suddenly catch sight of the watersprouts and she finally takes one step back. That wasn't quite what she expected. A few more step backs and her eyes hastily look around the clearing, as if searching for someone specific.
"You're going to be the one needing help, if you don't *move*." Niva practically growls right back at F'yr, and then as the wind begins to whip around, the water begins to dance upwards into the spinning waterspouts visible over the trees, the Senior weyrwoman is frozen in her place for a moment. As F'yr backs up, Niva looks from rider to Caverns, "Come /on/. That's an order, whether you're too slow to realize it or not. I'm not risking anyone else, when you're risking yourself." Niva snaps, before she's ducking her head and running back towards the Caverns, the shelter, and the gathering crowd.
Just as suddenly as they appeared, the waterspouts dissapate as soon as they hit the beach, but not before tearing up some of the sand in the process. High in the sky, the clouds are rotating. Winds stir the treetops, sighing in fitful bursts, gradually building in intensity until leaves roar, merging with the bass voice of the intensifying storm.
M'nol turns at Vora's plea, rushing to her side, "Vora! The animals will be fine. You won't be." He ducks to the side as a giant plume of water pushes up next to him, then grabs for Vora, "We need to go inside!"
Alosynth is hovering near the entrance of the ground weyr, her eyes whirling red and her whole body quivers as she's kept effectively useless. Keziah glances across the way and bites her lip. "Just stay there, please stay there." she murmurs more to herself and to Alosynth, though a few people look over at her. Course, a gold command is hard to ignore let alone the pleading of her rider and so Alosynth stays crouched, snapping though at any other dragon getting a little to close to her at the moment.
Faraeth is definitely a little to close to Alosynth and he gives a startled hiccuping sound as he jumps back from her teeth, then croons, « don't you like me? »
F'yr's steps started leading her closer to shelter shelter, but as the waterspouts disappear her confidence is slowly regained and she glares right back at the mess. "I can take care of my sharding self," she grumbles, eyes turning in the direction of the Meadow. "No, better you do stay there. Can't get much lift when the winds are like this anyway." By the way her eyes are shadowed, she's most likely communicating with that voice in her head. Wet hair still whips around her face, making her push her hair back and away as she scans the clearing now, ignoring the skies above to see what might need attending to.
Vora gives Keziah a tight smile, "Are you sure? Well, that's good then! But…" She frowns worriedly, "I hope Yina will be okay." Even as she looks at Keziah, over her shoulder she spies the waterspouts, and her eyes widen once again with dismay and fright. She calls to T'burk even as the spouts begin to disappear, seeing his eyes on them as well, "You'd better get your lady inside the ground weyrs!" She has to use more force in her voice than ever before just to make herself heard over the winds, waving him over with her other hand still on Kire's shoulder to be sure she doesn't lose her balance. "We need to go!" And she turns back toward the caverns, trying to appease all those around her with quick action… toward safety.
T'burk looks up at Vinteth who looks at him. He nods. "I know you can. We've done this before. Let me grab her and we'ew outa here….VORA!!!" He looks around for her. "Shards…I can't leave her!" He goes running after the Candidate. "What in shards could be so important…"
Kire nods a little bit, "Good, let's go then." He has to yell over the wind that's kicking up and he looks towards T'burk, "Come on we are going towards the cavern." He heads towards the cavern leading the way as he puts his arm up to block the rain from his view.
"Fine! Get yourself killed!" Niva screams across the clearing, through the torrential rains and the heavy winds, every bit the petulent, denied child. The waterspouts disappearance do nothing to ease her worry, as the Weyrwoman instead trying to ensure that everyone else is inside, even if the brownrider seems bound and determined to remain. Another trumpet from Kilaueth, and the mental weight is increased, keeping the Weyr's dragons on the ground.
Muffled shouts precede Sigam if only by an instant, buffering winds and rain carrying it away the moment he bellows orders out. "…then get that note on your firelizard to Ierne's school, to anyone it can find! Keep them on standby, /no one/ is allowed to enter Xanadu skies." The sheet-white girl nods, eyes wide, fingers clutching desperately around a bronze flit and a small, paper-filled vial. She skives off through the grass, pelting for the Caverns even as a drenched and (sigh, again) battered Dragonhealer races towards the gathering in the clearing, eyes locked on the waterspouts, even after they disappear. Ignoring the bickering, staring, and general fright, Sig skids to a halt and looks, for lack of a better description, absolutely aghast. "Listen to the weyrwoman and get inside, you sharding idiots - you're going to get killed." Nevermind that he's nearly gotten himself brained by a falling branch. "Dragons too, d'you hear? You're not immortal - a rescue dragon's already about wrenched her wing out of her socket. GET." Most of what he's said is probably lost in the clashing of thunder overhead, but the intent is clearly written in stance and face - go or he'll /make/ you go.
A swirling tongue of cloud reaches hungry fingers towards the clearing. Branches crackle, splinter and dance in circular motion before dropping to the ground. The vortex dances across the clearing, lifting back to the clouds before it travels very far. As it disappears, there is a blinding flash, deafening crack. Lightning has hit very close, somewhere behind the Hatching arena.
Alosynth turns red eyes on Faraeth her mind is a whiplash of stinging hairs «You, you, you, you think this is all about you?! » but as he backs away from her she goes back to just crouching by the entrance. Her tail twitches angerly and her hide is noticably starting to get brighter. Keziah herself is too strung out by the storm and the chaod to even really notice the verbal biting of her green. "She'll be fine." she murmurs though she's glancing off in the direction of the meadows. "Please be fine Yina." she murmurs softly and then smile and then that smile fades as she lightening hits. "That was another close one." A pause "F'yr!!!" she cries out as she goes racing after the brownrider.
M'nol nods, "good." He goes running after Vora towards the caverns, knowing he can do nothing for F'yr. Faraeth looks truly hurt, crooning gently, « No… I worry about you… you scare everyone away… »
Thea enters the clearing at a dead run, passing the others there, heedless of them all, really. Her head is down to evade the elements of the storm, although she is soaked within just a few steps, she doesn't seem to care at all. What little that can be seen of her face, is whitened pallor and a mouth set in determination. She's making a straight line for the Hatching Arena.
F'yr's eyes flash dangerously. "It's just a sharding storm!" she shouts to those riders running into the caverns. "Someone should be out /there/ rounding up the people that can't get back in time!" She points out in the direction away from the Weyr where surely people are scrambling far from any shelter. Which is probably why she's braving remaining out, anxious and eager to join in. That is up until something nearly hits her in the head and she topples backwards, arms windmilling, and she squeaks at the lightning. "Alright… maybe a little more than a storm. No, /stay/," she growls again, and then jerks her head around to Keziah's shout. "Don't come /this/ way, you idiot! I'm fine!" She scrambles a few feet on hands and knees before she can manage to get up.
Vora hears T'burk's call and turns back, looking on as he tries to bring her back to him. She gives him a confused raising of her brows, and even as she does so she raises her arm off of Kire's shoulder and - SLLLK! - she goes down in the flooding of mud and rainwater. She pulls herself up carefully, her firelizards chittering plaintively, and then pelts very /uncarefully/ toward T'burk. "T'burk! We can't go anywhere, we'll be killed!" And then she beholds the vortex and raises an arm to point towards it. "The weyrwoman's issued a no-fly order, and for good reason, it seems!" Then, as she watches Thea run by, she calls after her, "Thea!" in vain, it seems. She must be concerned for those eggs… well, Vora can understand, and returns her attention to T'burk. "We have to go in, T'burk."
T'burk runs over to grab Vora to protect her, sees the mess the sky has become. "Vinnie! C'mon!" He helps Vora to run to safety.
In the wake of the lightning hit, the Weyr takes on a certain silence that may be noticed behind the noise of the storm and the howl of the wind, a certain hum seeming to disappear. However, soon there after, a deeper thrum seems to take over, though far less noticable.
Niva is apparently done arguing, as instead her hands go up in the air, a string of alltogether unbecoming curses slipping forth, though the majority of them are lost to the howling winds. As the storm twists downwards, she's backing up hurriedly into the shelter of the cavern's entrance, watch, mouth agape at the storm's latest spawned fury. As the lightning cracks, and Thea goes running by, Niva remains frozen, the silence slowly registering in her mind, and then its all she can do to take after Thea, storm or no storm.
The scent of hot metal and smoke is swirled around through the clearing and even towards the caverns. The air goes suddenly still and then there's a rumble, an almost growling sound and the hail now starts to fall, small at first, no more than pea-sized, but it's coming down in force. Out in the meadows another funnel cloud is forming and and dipping down towards the ground. The animals still out in the open panic with the hail and the wind and several manage to break through a weak spot in the fence and race away. The river rises and tears at the banks, in lower lying areas it manages to escape and flood the lowlands and parts of the coastal road.
Keziah is frantic as she watches first Thea and then Niva take off. She then takes on a look of determination and barks out at her fiercest. "Into the caverns. Now!" she she hollors at stragglers. She looks around and shoo's after T'burk and Vora and then her eyes are on F'yr "If you don't come in now. I will drag you in myself." Which would be a laugh since she's only a smidge taller than the woman. "This is no time to prove stupidity or heroics." A glance towards her green who looks about to leave. "Don't you even dare twitch!" she exclaims as she green near vibrates with the intensity of everything.
Sigam has his mouth open to yell something towards F'yr - perhaps a warning of the flying branch, perhaps to rail her out for stubborn behavior - but whatever it is, he doesn't get to finish. "Thea, no!" Shoving rainwater and blood out of his vision with one hand, the Dragonhealer lashes out with the other to jerk hard on the goldrider's shirt. "Get back inside! Don't you /dare/ go anywhere." Oblivious as to where the lightning struck, he snarls the words, attempting to haul her back towards the weyr, slipping frequently in the muck. F'yr's fall is caught in the corner of his eye, worry flashing over his face before the brownrider gets to her hands and knees. "Please, Fy!," he pleads just before he's pinged by something sharp and cold; then, many somethings. "Hail!" Thank you, Captain Obvious. "Get back in there!" Whether this is at Thea, the returning Niva, or any of the others is anyone's guess. Even Sig doesn't really know, heart hammering.
M'nol lends T'burk a hand with Vora, grabbing another straggler as he goes. He was small, but he was also strong. He didn't notice Thea, but his head snaps up at the humming, "The eggs! Th- They're hatching!" Then he's ducking again as hail starts pouring down, "We have to go *now*!"
"Dragonhealer -now-." Niva snarls as Sigam attempts to tell her what to do, countering his 'order' with one of her own, even as it causes her to directly disobey her own instructions. "The rest of you, -get inside- and stay there." As the hail begins to fall, she quickly lifts a hand to cover her head, slipping a little bit before she finally makes it across to the Hatching Arena, slipping inside even as Kilaueth trumpets again, the sound eerie as it mingles with the howling winds, muted in comparison to the cracking of limbs and structures alike from the meadow.
Vora smiles at M'nol, grateful for the help. She heads toward the caverns, a frightened last glance at the sky and arms over her head in an attempt to fend off the hail. She sends an image to brown Slip, and he huddles in her sling with the two little greens. Unfortunately, this doesn't make for good balance, and she slips several times, having to flail out and grasp one of the riders for support.
"Ow!" comes F'yr response to the hail that starts, putting a hand up over her face as if it might protect her from the stinging rain of ice chunks. Running goldriders, people yelling at her? She scrambles to her feet, slips in the mud, and then tries again. This time succeeding as she picks herself up. "I'm leaving; don't bother with me," she shouts back to Keziah and the others, managing to send them a glare, even Sigam's pleading. With an arm over her head, and boots trying not to slip in the mud, she's finally moving /somewhere/. Of course, it's towards the meadow for her weyr and not any more immediate shelter.
The funnel cloud hits the ground and turns into a quickly forming tornado that starts tearing up the meadows, leaving a wide swath of destruction in it's path. The hail starts coming down harder, some reaching up to fist sized and tearing apart the trees, but those are short lived and fall haphazardly. Some of the meadow weyrs are being torn up, roofs coming up or imploding while others are just taken up as the tornado whips through. Downdrafts tear at the trees and several are down with the sound of chrashing and even more destruction.
M'nol smiles back, gripping more firmly as she slips again. Suddenly a tornado is touching down and he's running, Vora's arm still gripped firmly in his hands, "Caverns, now!"
Sigam is seconds from balking, far too used to headstrong riders thinking they know what's best in situations like these… But this is Niva, he has to remind himself, and a command is a command. He wouldn't be practicing what he preached if he didn't listen. Sliding himself, his yank on the junior's shirt obviously had no avail, and I daresay the Dragonhealer hisses at Thea's retreating form. "Right," he at last agrees with Niva, sending one last concerned glance towards F'yr — which is the only reason he spies the tornado. The words coming out of his mouth turn vicious, are mostly oaths, and he nearly runs to bodily haul the brownrider back, visibly torn between duty to weyr and duty to friends. "Fy!," is his last scream before he snarls and races for the hatching arena.
The Action Continues in the Hatching Arena and in the Caverns.