Xanadu Weyr - Store Room
The storerooms here are carved into the stone, stretching back deep underground. There is, after all, little need for natural light here; a series of electric lights are more than sufficient to illuminate smoothly cut walls and the assortment of supplies kept until they are needed once more.
For some of the things here, that time will be long in coming. Broken furniture and torn clothing awaits the opportunity for someone to repair it - or else the kindling and rag piles. Other items are more immediately useful; gently worn clothing and boots are neatly arranged in rows and on racks, especially in the quickly outgrown children's sizes, and an assortment of furniture and small appliances in functional condition await new homes.
A series of side rooms connected to the kitchen are the larder which feeds the Weyr through the winter. Sacks of grain lean against barrels of salted meat and wheels of hard cheeses stacked high. Refrigeration and dragonflight make for a more flexible winter diet, but it still takes a great deal of food to provide for this many people. The food is a tempting target for tunnelsnakes, and the occasional scuttle can be heard in the otherwise quiet depths of these caves.
Much of the stores are easily accessed, requiring only the appropriate permissions to be borrowed from. These supplies are, after all, here for the good of the Weyr and the people living here. A few rooms - those containing particularly valuable or dangerous items - are kept locked.
Rummage and shuffle. The storeroom is a treasure trove of things that are just waiting to be taken by those patient enough to dig it up. Ka'el hasn't had reason to be down here since getting his weyr assignment aaaages ago, and ironically it's his weyr that brings him down here now. Above and outside, it's your typical Xanadu day. Just past noon and still cold with snow and ice and slush that drips wetly. Lunch is underway, and Ka'el has taken the time of his midday break to look for a few things. He's crouched down going through a long-forgotten box. Already he has taken out a few old books with yellowed pages, a broken hairbrush, a candelabra wrought with rust, and some sort of hook thing that he's not quite sure the purpose is for. Whatever he's looking for, it isn't any one of those things, but that doesn't seem to be enough of a reason to put him in a bad temper. This is, again, like finding lost treasure! He pulls out from the box a glass ball, reminiscent of a snow globe. It's the right shape and size, though the glass is murky, and it doesn't seem as if there's much else to it, but he shakes at it anyway and tries to peer through.
The storeroom is an endless list of things that need to be organized and recorded. If people would actually take away some of the junk, that would be great! Of course, most of the time, it turns out that either the things people want aren't junk at all, and there's questions of value and justification, or else the people come and poke through the junk and leave it disarrayed but don't actually take any of it. And guess who gets to deal with it, either way? Soriana doesn't have to guess, because not only does she know who, she is who. Junior Weyrwomen are the keepers of the stores! Which means, when she's coming back from lunch with a clipboard full of quantities to check, and she hears the sound of someone rustling through the stores… she sighs. Is this going to be the, "No you can't have ten gather dresses" conversation? Or the "I hope you were planning to clean up that bag of marbles you just poured on the floor" one? She has had both of those conversations. She's not looking forward to having either of them again, but… it comes with the job. So she heads on over, ready to talk to whoeve- "Oh." Blink. It is a Ka'el. What's he doing here?
Well why can't she have ten gather dresses? What is she supposed to do, rewear the same old dresses to different gathers? Lame. And those marbles obviously fell on their own, so why should he have to pick them all up? Luckily, Ka'el has yet to make a nuisance of himself here, if one discounts the objects he's taken out of the box and sit littered around him like a protective minefield of junk. The glass ball, likeyl a paperweight of some sort, is set aside and he pulls out the next thing. "Ah, nice.." A cool looking goblet is retrieved, looking like it came straight out of some medieval setting, right of out a king's hand. King Ka'el! He's beginning to grin to himself as he turns it over, definitely contemplating keeping the thing when Soriana interrupt his thoughts. He hears her, short as her utterance was, before seeing her, but he soon sees her when he turns her way. Oh. He lowers the goblet but doesn't put it back in the box. Blink. Stare. … Oh. He should probably say something, right? "Erm.." Nailed it. A cough clears his throat in his best attempt at casual. "Hey."
Yeah, see, those are both good examples of what Soriana would like Ka'el not to do! Fortunately he isn't doing either of them… right? Okay, sure, he's gathered some random objects, but they are neither so valuable nor so messy that she really has to care. Besides, it's Ka'el! Surely he's not going to make trouble. She continues on toward him, after a moment of staring, then drops herself down on the edge of his minefield. Not like a mine exploded at her. More like… she's sitting down crosslegged, with a quick, fluid sort of motion, so she's not staring down at him anymore. She should be doing that paperwork, but hey. It's Ka'el. Surely he won't tell. "Hey," she says with a smile, then looks down at his assortment of stuff. The clipboard of paperwork is set down, and Soriana reaches for one of those old books. "What's this?" she asks. As she flips through it. So… answering her own question?
Ka'el tries to make a little space as she sits down to join him, but all he ends up doing is shuffling around the mess he made so that it's just in a different array of mess. Well. She sat, and it isn't like she sat down on a forgotten thumbtack or anything. Success! He watches her, not exactly wary but with a sort of bracing stiffness to his posture, as if the act of breathing the wrong way might scare her off. The rare and exotic species of Soriana. A brow slowly inches up as she takes the book and questions him about it, and his eyes flit from the flipped pages to her face. Uh. He faintly lifts his chin. "That is an ancient thing. Somethin' that's lasted for turns an' turns. Before we were born. Before our elders were born. Shells, it may have been around since the ancients landed. I don' know what it's called.." he says as he gives his chin a thoughtful stroke. "But I've seen others try to use it. See, what they do is hold it open an' keep it still. Then they look down. There are squiggly things printed inside. A code of some sort. And people stare at them an' their eyes go from side to side, like they're in a trance. For some, it lasts candlemarks. Be careful with that thing," he warns.
No thumbtacks. No stray marbles, either. Soriana manages to sit down. There is, however, no cheering. Not that she's looking for an adoring audience, given she's flipping through that book, but… she pauses, and glances up to Ka'el… then smirks. "Hah. It might've been. An ancient tome of wisdom." Or… non-wisdom things. She's not sure, but she flips the thing shut again. "I'll try not to fall into the trap." Keeping the book shut's a good start. "So are you… what, planning to try to lure someone in? Maybe scatter them around the door of your weyr in case there's someone who comes by while Kanekith's out?" And can't be the bronze doorguard of destiny. Soriana glances down to the cover of it again, then lets her eyes wander the other objects Ka'el's gathered.
"I hadn't thought of usin' them as security, no, but now that the idea's in my mind, I can see it workin'.." Ka'el, coming home from a long night's work with Kanekith, arrives to his weyr at which a would-be burglar lays on his stomach, chin on hands and legs from the knee up waving merrily in the air … and nose stuck in a book. The ultimate home security system! He smirks. "Grand idea, but that's not what I'm lookin' for today. Couple days back I broke a guitar string. I've extra marks now, so I went to the harpers to buy another, but didn't think've comin' here first to see if there were any. But uh…can't find the music section, so just started here." He gestures to the near empty box that obviously has no guitar strings in it. "Then, I kept findin' things worth takin' a second look at. Like this," he offers the decorative, though in extreme need of polishing, goblet to her. "Overnight sweeps tonight with my partner. Should do the wise thing like her an' sleep til shift starts, but.." he shrugs. "Not tired." He glances down to that abandoned clipboard of hers. "And you're not workin'," he notes with a small smirk.
"They'd work great. Only problem is, you have to pick them extra careful so the burglars are into them but you aren't." Or else Ka'el will get enthralled in reading and forget about doing to do those sweeps. Soriana nods about that guitar string. "Hmm. There… might be some?" she says with a wrinkle of her brow. "Mostly the harpers'd keep that for themselves, but…" There are times when the stores are like a giant junk room. Maybe someone left a guitar with a different string broken. Soriana hmms, then reaches for the goblet Ka'el offers. "That'd make for a seriously fancy dinner party," she muses. "If you could find a full set. Or… ice cream." Because doesn't everyone want to eat their ice cream from a goblet? Soriana half-grins, then nods to Ka'el's tale of why he's here and neither sleeping nor working. She glances to her clipboard, and smirks back. "I should be." But she isn't. Because she found a Ka'el… and then she sighs. "I won't be done with it if I don't." But she doesn't stand up and pick up the clipboard again.
"Yeah, m'not holdin' my breath about findin' strings here," Ka'el remarks. "But I wanted another blanket too." Because you know, two just isn't enough! "S'cold in my room. Did you feel that, when you were there?" It would've been far less easy to notice if they had been sleeping a little closer together that evening, but … well.. "Been meanin' to find where it's comin' from but.." But he's a Galaxy sweeper who doesn't make time for house repairs and it's a bachelor pad anyway and it's not like he has company in his bedroom often enough to make the need feel.. important enough to rush to do. He grins as the goblet is taken, pulling his band back once it is. "If I find enough've them, I should have one've those…types of parties where people dress up and are too worried about usin' the right fork to have any fun." A snicker follows, though he quiets to listen to her talk about going…but not going back to work. An amused expression follows. "Yeah, but it's not goin' anywhere either, is it? So .. it'll be there when you get back to it. Whenever you get back to it." Which is not now because now she's with him. "Y'heard the news about Marel an' me?"
Soriana nods about those strings, then again about the blankets. "Those're back that way," she says, and points. Not that she gets up to head in that direction, but hey. She's still being useful. Sorta. The cold of Ka'el's room makes her shrug. "It wasn't that bad." She didn't wake up with blocks of ice instead of feet. "But, yeah, you could probably use another one. Or maybe some wall hangings." They're supposed to be good for that sort of thing! Which reminds her… "Did Kera give you a thing too?" Yes, a thing. She's very precise, and then she turns the goblet around in her hands, considering it. Fancy fork parties! A laugh. "Yeah," she says, before making a face. "I'm supposed to be at one in another seven with the Woodcraft." A fancy dinner. With forks and… stuff. Thanks for reminding her, Ka'el. About that, and her other work. "It's always there." She glances to the clipboard, just so she can frown at it. "Do you find time to work on smithing?" she asks, more or less out of nowhere, then blinks as she looks up to him again. "Marel'n you?" She heard about Marel'n flowers. Marel'n'Ka'el? "No." Inquisitive eyebrow arch.
Ka'el moves a hand out to shift some of the stuff out of his way. It'd probably be more constructive for him to put the stuff he's pushing out of his way back in the box. Like that rubber ball that goes rolling down the way. And that paper weight he was examining earlier. And is that a feather quill? Who uses those anymore? .. Probably why it's here in storage. The harpers probably would get good use out of it as a stage prop. But because it's caught his attention, he picks it up as Soriana examines the goblet that will soon be his. "Wall hangings?" His brows lift at the question of Kera. "Ah, shards. Yeah she did! I haven't…hung mine." An interior decorator he is not. Ahem. "But it's good, don't you think? .. Wait. Did you get the same thing as me? Mine was coals and fire with forgin' hammers around it." With a space cleared and feather in hand, he moves to sit next to her, draping his arms over upturned knees. "Why haven't you invited me to your woodcraft dinner?" he smirks, cocking a brow. "What will be served? Woodchips?" Snerk! The question of smithing has him grinning, and it remains as she questions of himself and Marel. "Because of her, yes. Y'know she bought the Petals 'n Pots? .. Pots 'n Petals? Whatever."
"Yeah," Soriana says to the wall hangings. "Like blankets. For walls." In case the walls get cold, or… something. She shrugs a bit, then nods about Kera. "I haven't either." Hung it, that is, except - "Nah. A tunnelcat chasing v'tols." Completely different, except done similarly. By which Soriana means with needle and thread. "Yeah, she's good at that." A small shrug, and then as Ka'el comes to join her, she reaches over to brush fingers against his arm for a moment, then looks back to the goblet to set it down. "Hah. Like you'd want to go sit and listen to the craftheads talk about whatever political thing it… I think it's supposed to be beech trees. Or maybe ironwood. And proliferation?" She shrugs. "Except, it's a fancy dinner, so we've got to pretend we aren't talking about it, except…" A sigh. "Maybe they'll feed us fresh leaves." Uh, yeah. It's called salad, but it probably won't have come from trees. Soriana doesn't pursue the smithery question, but she does nod about Marel. "Yeah." She knows. She heard. She saw the sign.
It's unlikely Ka'el will go searching for wall blankets. He kinda already has a tiny version of that in Kera's gift and .. it hasn't been hung. And that's easy! The touch to his arm recieves a smile, though his eyes shift from her and look around, scanning the rows of junk items for lingering (or watching) people before he snakes an arm around her lower back, looping loosely. Apparently he's over The Incident enough that he's not shying away from initiating contact! That or he's actively ignoring any oddness that may be trying to peek its way through. "What? Beech trees are awesome. They're my favorite type … besides ironwood," he amends. How could he not like a tree with the word 'iron' in it? "It'll be fun." Or not. "Bring me back a bark sample." A grin follows. And now! To smithing! "Figured y'might've known. She's practically loaded now. Y'know she got tons when her grandfather died?" He's guessing she knows. Weyrwomen tend to know lots of things. "Have you been inside?"
If anybody's watching, they're… well, doing it very sneakily. The two of them likely aren't alone-alone in the stores, but at least there's nobody nearby and visible, so close enough. Soriana leans in slightly as that arm goes around her. Ignoring weirdness? Yep! Because if she ignores it, it'll go away… which doesn't always work, but this time, it seems to be. "I'll tell 'em you said that," she says of Ka'el's beechy preference. "If it comes up." Which it's not supposed to, because dinner is a social occasion. She'll probably be wearing a dress. "They might not give me a sample, if they know it's for you. Not if they've heard about you using coal instead of wood." A teasing smile, and then she nods about Marel - though the part about loaded gets an arch of her brow. Weyrwomen hear some things. Not others, not when they're juniors and busy, but… she's hearing it now? "I heard… something about it. And that's why she's got the shop." But details? Not so much… and then she sighs. "No. I've been too busy." Walking past it? Sure. Walking past it when it's open and she has free time? Nnnnope.
"Mur'dah told me," Ka'el explains. "An' so did she. I told her a long time ago she should do somethin' about that shop. She loves that place like she lives there," he says, smirking. "I remember tuuurns ago seein' her there … mm, not really for the "first" time, but it was the first time I really talked to her. She was workin' behind the counter or somethin, and .. I think you were mad at me," he says, squinting his eyes as he tries to remember. "And I was… not gettin you flowers." She's not a flower type, after all. "I think I was.. lookin' for designs for the ones I made you." He nods to himself as the memory comes back to him, his arm tightening around her just slightly, as if the memory of bad times alone will bring them back again. "Anyway, when she heard it was shuttin' down, you'd've thought someone told her her weyr was burned down. I told her her ma probably could help her, but I didn't think she really took me serious. Then, some sevens back, she writes to me and asks me costs for metal. Copper. Steel. Iron, bronze, silver… then asks me about metal flowers. She doesn't tell me why til I get the prices to her, and when I do, she asks me if I could make them to sell at her shop, and next thing I know I've paperwork flowin' in and meetings with the smithin' Journeymen for permission to use their forges."
Soriana nods about Ka'el's sources, but it's with a little sideways quirk of her lips. "Haven't… talked much, lately." With anyone, because, oh yeah, the busy. There's a rueful sort of expression that lingers as he explains about Marel and the shop. Marel working there? Sounds right. A nod, and then a tilt of her head. She was angry and… "Oh. Then." Or thereabouts. Soriana leans in toward him a little, resting her head against his shoulder for just a moment, then lifting it up again to keep on listening. She's still got those metal flowers, scattered on top of her dresser. They outnumber the cosmetics, because this is Soriana we're talking about. "So you're going to be making them for her," she says as he finishes explaining. "Guess you're definitely still a smither." A smile, happy for him, but… oh, there's something not quite entirely happy, lurking in the edges of her eyes.
Ka'el quite likes that head on his shoulder and is left feeling a little wistful as she lifts it again. The feather held in his free hand is twirled between his thumb and index finger, and as she finishes the story, he grins and nods. "Yeah. Like … official and everything. I didn't know all that went into just .. makin' something for someone, but I guess it has to be different when it's for somethin' like a business. I make'm and she sells'm. They're different than yours. She designed these, an' I just made some changes that needed to be done for'm to work. She even has my name on the sign inside," he says with a proud little look. "Crafted by Ka'el." Oh if his chest could jut out a little more it just may detach itself from the rest of his body. "Yours are better though," he assures with a grin her way. "I mean, Marel's design is really nice, but yours…" The sentence goes unfinished, for now he's watching her. Like, really watching her. And when someone has watched someone else for as long as Ka'el has watched Soriana, they tend to pick up on those subtle idiosyncrasies. His grin tones down until it's gone, and with another brief glance to their cluttered surroundings, he leans in to press his lips to her cheek. "S'wrong babe?"
"There's always paperwork," Soriana says. She knows! She sees (some) of it. "It's got to get stamped and approved and re-approved and… stuff." Especially the stuff. "I'm sure they'll be good, though. I'll have to come by and see them. And all the rest of the shop." Not that she does much gardening, but… there's wildflower in the name, right? Maybe there's something she can fling off her porch and then ignore. That's about her speed. The assurance that hers are better make her lips quirk deeper, smiling just a bit more for that, but… oh, Ka'el's noticed, and her own smile fades as well, until - with the kiss - she sighs. She looks away from him, out across their surroundings, but she's still leaning in toward him. She's just… "I've been studying for grade two." For dragonhealing. "Or trying to. I barely have time, and I can do infirmary shifts, but…" She frowns. "Kera didn't even realize I was. A dragonhealer." Is she? Really? "It's just… how am I supposed to… balance things." Ka'el can manage it, with smithing and Galaxy. So why can't Sori?
Something's definitely not right. He called it. And now .. just what is 'something'? Ka'el doesn't have to wait long to find out, and his arm stays looped low around her, and his head remained turned her way to show that she in fact has the entirety of his attention, for this is important to him. As she starts, he nods. Dragonhealing and grade 2. He had assumed she was, even though he never actually asked her. His brows knit faintly at Kera's mentioning, but he can't fault the apprentice. She didn't know Sori before she was handed responsibility over things and people. He has his thinking face on. Brows faintly lowered in a furrow, lips pressed together. "It's different for Weyrwomen, I guess. I mean … together, you're in charge of the whole weyr. An'.. eh, I don't know how it works, but if Thea ever…retires or quits or whatever, one of you is going to be in charge of everyone. I don't mean to say that you can't, but maybe they don't want you to balance. Maybe they want you to put all've your effort in runnin' a weyr, cuz someday you might."
She was so close, before she impressed. Another turn of studying. Maybe half a turn, if she was fast. A few tests, and… she'd have been there. Only… Soriana impressed Luraoth, and now… she doesn't really look back at Ka'el, though she's listening to him, leaned against him enough to make it clear she's not drawing away, she's just… brooding. There's a 'hah' for Weyrwomen - closer to a sigh than a laugh - and then she nods slightly, followed by a nod plus shrug combo for Thea's retirement and what comes then, and then… a frown, for what they might not want, but… who're they? "I asked Thea about it. More or less." They talked, anyhow. "She said… I could choose, but…" A frown. "Tradition says it's the first gold to rise, when there's not a senior." Because the old one retired. Or died. "It's sort of a stupid tradition, but…" She sighs. "Someday I might. Even if it is stupid. And even just being a junior… I'm a ma'am now." Unless she tells people otherwise, and sometimes even then. "Because people think I'm something special. So how am I supposed to tell them no?" When they come to her with paperwork, or requests, or… expecting her to be a (Junior) Weyrwoman.
Tradition. Ka'el wrinkles his nose at the term. "Most things with the words dragon an' tradition put together end up bein' stupid," he agrees in a lowered volume, not wishing to be overheard, for his voice does tend to carry. "Baby, think about this. You had to be Searched before you could stand, right? So that means just the right dragon had to find you. Not only that though, Luraoth had to pick ya, an' I hear queens are choosy. So you didn't just have to get searched, you had to impress and be Impressed too by the toughest type to impress. You think you aren't special?" He shakes his head. "Only a special person could do that." Another kiss is placed to her cheek. "And you wouldn't say no to those people or anyone else because that's not who you are. Dragonhealing…" Oh, what to say about dragonhealing? "Mm…it might be takin' a break right now, an' so should you. Y'said Thea gave you a choice? Was it a … like, a dragonrider or crafter sort of choice, or could you be a dragonriding crafter, like Kiena?"
There are probably some who'd object to the vast variety of riderly and weyr traditions being called stupid. This particular goldrider quirks up one side of her mouth, and nods. Maybe there's some that aren't. She's not so sure, at the moment. Soriana turns her head to look at Ka'el as he gives her something to think about, and his explanation makes her sigh. "It's just…" Why does being special seem to involve being something she doesn't want to be? Only… she doesn't always not want to be it. That's the problem. Because those people keep on asking, and sometimes what they want is something good and something she can do and… another sigh. "I guess." Maybe she could try being mean. Pick one day out of seven, practice saying no to people… "It was more… about where I spent my time. Like Kiena, I guess." Shouldn't she know? She's the one who had the conversation, after all! "It's…" Soriana frowns. "People are going to look at me like a weyrwoman no matter what, but… I don't have to be one all the time. Just… they're going to expect that. And…" A sigh. "I might have to be." Someday. According to tradition.
A mean Sori day, eh? Well, that'd be different! Though a Soriana that merely denies request is far less drastic than a Soriana who goes around biting people's heads off and shouting insults for no reason. The quill feather that he's been toying with is brushed rhythmically beneath his chin as he ponders what she says. It's a thinky sort of conversation. "Kiena spends all've her time in the forges, but she's a craft rider. She has more time to be there, and plus it's her duty. You could spend more time in the annex…and if you play it right, y'might even get to spend a lot of time there. Start little by little. Go in to check on the dragons there. Bring Luraoth. Don't stay long. Then come back another day, and stay a little longer. Mention some things you remember or have been studying. Keep at it for a while, that way you're killin' two avians. The healers will get used to seein' you there and will start expecting you, an' the offices won't even notice that you've been staying away longer because you've been back every day." He grins a little, reaching out to brush the feather playfully against her cheek. "Easy, right? And … yeah. Maybe you might have to be. But..it isn't like Thea's goin' anywhere anytime soon. She's not even old, an' she has this place in the palm of her hand."
"Yeah, she's Asteroid." Kiena is. Soriana… is Nova, and while her 'wingleader' is open to the idea of her spending time on dragonhealing… "I'm already there some," she says to Ka'el's thoughts. "Weyrwomen do shifts to have the golds soothe the injured dragons. I do extra ones, when I can." A half-smile. "And see what I can get out of things. It's just… stuff like the tests. It's like I need a week for taking them, back at Ierne, and I want to study for them," really study, not just read books in her copious free time (hah!), "and… then stuff happens. Like the woodcraft dinner. Or the ice." And suddenly she has even less time than before. A sigh, and then a crooked smile at the teasing feather, and she reaches out to nudge her hand against his knee. Poke. …but then it rests there instead of moving on. "I should just ask her for a month off. Like… after winter's over." And the weather disasters will be… different, at least. Floods and/or droughts! "Tell her I want to get grade two. That I'll come back after and be more useful. She'd let me. Probably." Sori hopes, but there's more of a smile lingering than before. "Because yeah. Even if…" she maybe might have to be… "There's time." Thea's got things handled.
"Luraoth's probably pretty good at that sort of thing, huh?" Ka'el assumes after she mentions her shifts with dragons at the annex. "She's real easy goin', and if she can get along with Kanekith then she has a power most dragons don't." Even if she's the type of dragon that won't give him a heads up that her rider is around when he's trying to sneak in a wagon of wood, complete with commentary! He's smirking at the thought of their lifemates, lowering the feather down as her hand rests on him. "You can do that? Take a whole month off?" She doesn't .. look as if she's joking. Ka'el wouldn't be able to say the same thing with a straight face! A month off…ha! The senior riders would run him out just for having the gall to ask. But he's not exactly on the same level as Soriana. "Hey, that sounds good," he agrees to her tactic. "She wouldn't say no if you tell her it's for the good of the weyr to rank up." He nods, as if doing that somehow has sealed the deal. "Think you'll ask?"
"She is." Luraoth is. Good at getting into the heads of other dragons and calming them down… and at making them want to be calmed by her, which also helps. Soriana hehs at the mention of Kanekith. "He's mellowed." Which is true, but… is more a statement about where he started than where he's ended up. Soriana's gaze starts to drift to his leg, then glances back at his face at the surprise. A shrug. "Probably. I mean, it's not like I'm going to just be… lazing around. I'll be studying." And rank hath privileges to go with the burdens? "I've just got to get Thea and N'shen to okay it. But it makes sense." To her, but she's just a junior. It is for the good of the weyr, though, and she half-smiles as she nods. "Personal improvement." Wasn't that on one of the forms somewhere? Things can be billed to it. Taking time off is… like billing things. Only not. …so… now that they've got this great plan… will she actually ask about it? Soriana sighs. "Yeah," she says (while sighing?) "but not right now. Stuff's messed up with Jethaniel out." Or, well, not out, but… half-out. "So I'd better wait."
"In ways," Ka'el agrees with a bob of his head, knowing that in other ways, his brash bronze is still rather over the top! A fond look touches his face, as it always seems to do when thoughts turn to his dragon (except in those moments in which Kanekith is being …. well, Kanekithy). He leans to the side and rests against her a little, eyes shifting to the aisles again as footfalls are heart. The storage room is empty, though not completely void of people, and it's with a muted sigh that he removes his shoulder from her as a woman comes in to view. She's merely searching though and is at a distance enough to not pay them any mind on her mission for … who knows. New pots, maybe. "Personal improvement," he agrees. "Ask Sori," he urges, eyes returning to her as he lifts his brows in a meaningful expression. "It's Thea. She won't say no, and N'shen probably doesn't care what you do. Isn't his job to the riders and wings and things like that? You're in a league of your own. And what does the Steward have to do with anything? His duty's to the weyrfolk," or something. "Isn't there some sort of back up person to take his place?" Or is that with whom he's speaking with now? "Don't wait. There's always gonna be something that comes up or you think you should do first, and then you're never gonna do it, and you'll end up feelin' like this," he gives her A Look, "all the time."
Heh. Oh, Kanekith. Soriana only hears about him secondhand, but it's enough. He has his ways. His very Kanekithy ways. It's enough to make her smile. Her eyes flit to the searching woman, but… eh. Soriana's conscience is already telling her she should be getting her work done. Random person not paying attention to her is not going to make any real difference. "I will," she says to asking, though it's with a more serious expression again, one that's not quite a sigh, but… it's not that far away anymore. But… it is Thea. She nods to that. N'shen… a shrug. It's always kind of ambiguous whether a queenrider's a rider, in the sense where it matters to the weyrleader. In this case… yeah, N'shen's not likely to care, as long as Thea says yes. The Steward - "It shouldn't. But there's some stuff that could be done by him or the juniors." And, well. "He's getting one, I guess." Which means he doesn't. Yet. Still, that's his problem, not Soriana's, and she sighs again before regarding Ka'el, a serious and thoughtful sort of look. "I guess." She sighs. One more time. With feeling. "It's just…" A look away. "Yeah. I should. And if there's a reason why I do have to wait, Thea'll say."
With all that sighing, Soriana is going to blow Ka'el away! He'd better brace himself. He listens, nodding here and there and looking pleased to know that she has resolved to ask Thea! Well … maybe. She at least sounds a little more convincing than she did before, if that's any indication. Just a little. "You're gettin' there," he remarks, grinning a little. "You nearly sound like the Soriana I know, but that Sori wouldn't doubt anything." The hand that once held the feather, now dropped, lifts and reaches for hers that rests upon his knee. His fingers gradually curl around her hand, grasping in a gentle hold that remains resting against his own leg. "You'll ask Thea. You'll give her a shardin' amazing reason why you should go. You'll go for a seven, maybe two, and when you come back you'll have a wealth of knowledge to share and a dragonhealer rank added." He sounds so determined, his voice taking on a quality one usually has when talking about the own lifelong personal goals being reached! Or in this case, a goal that baby steps are being taken in life towards mastery. He pauses then, and his nose faintly wrinkles. "Ah … I forgot. That means for a whole month we won't have you here." Now he sighs. A large, grandiose sigh. "Who'll bring me evenin' snacks then?" He needs his nuts and juice!
Soriana's hand lifts up from Ka'el's knee enough to curl her fingers back at his. "Nearly almost there?" Just like she is with those dragonhealer studies for grade two! But maybe that determination is catching, because she nods, and she doesn't sigh again. Not right now, anyway. "And I'll come back nearly the same, but with the right for an extra tassel in the dragonhealer knot I don't have a chance to wear. I still won't even be certified." That's grade three. But… it'll be progress. She'll be able to do more to assist, when she's taking her infirmary shifts. That is, if Thea says yes and Soriana passes the tests, but she can imagine. Dream big. Dream miles and miles away. All the way to Ierne. "It's only six hours behind." Is that all? Okay, dream back six hours. "So, you can have your evening snacks at…" if she studies an hour or two after dinner, then comes back to… "Three AM?" A half-grin, crooked but… there. "I doubt I'll stay there. I mean, Ierne's expensive… and I've got Luraoth." Between's easy. Now, whether she'll have time to do anything when she's here except sleep… that's another question entirely! (Assuming she gets to ask it. First, she has to ask Thea!)
"I'll get a tassel for your knot." Ka'el to the rescue! "They're an obnoxious pink color, right? I'll be sure to find the brightest, most eye catchin' one for you. You'll have deserved it after all and would want all eyes on you, right? ." .. Ok, Ka'el not to the rescue! Or then again, maybe he has helped by doing what Ka'el (used to, but still kinda does) do best: Brightening spirits through light-hearted behavior. Or is that childish behavior?? Ha, probably, though this is Soriana. For her, he'd walk upside down on his bare hands over a bed of burning hot iron rods in the middle of summer while wearing a dress and blindfold if she was so inclined for him to do so. … Um, experiment time, maybe? "Is it really six hours?" He scrunches up his face. "You wouldn't like me at three AM. Rumor has it, I'm taken over by an evil entity, and I'm grumpy." Rumor has it, anyway. "Let me know when you've asked and what she says, alright? An' before you go off to Ierne, you've to promise me that we'll fly. Not to anywhere," he says before any interjection can be made, hopefully. "Just around. I haven't flown with you since weyrling classes." And just like her, he knows that if (when) she starts her training, the word 'home' will be equivalent to the word 'bed' with not much else done in it besides sleep! Gotta have fun before work steals it all away!
The dragonhealing school would probably like to be the ones handing out those tassels, buuuut… Soriana arches a brow. Then arches it more. Then laughs. "Yeah. You do that. And don't forget the green streaks." Green is for ichor! That healthy glow. (Can he get one that glows? Because that would really be… something. Soriana's not sure what.) She leans over and kisses at his cheek. "Maybe I'll try in the afternoon, then." Before she heads out for a bright and early Ierne morning. …this is going to mess with her sleep schedule so badly. It did even before, when she was just taking a few classes and studying here while she did. Her intensive course of study she's planning (hoping) for is going to be something else entirely. But… yeah, she'll let him know. She nods to that, even before the clarification. "Yeah. We can fly… wherever." A smile. "Maybe over the lake. We can look for that island where they abandoned us." Way back when they were candidates. Not that there's room on it for gold or bronze to land, but that's okay. Soriana doesn't want to land there. Just point and laugh from a safe distance!
Ka'el snorts. "How could I forget the green streaks? That's what'll make it … uh, unique." Yeah, that's one word to describe her imagined knot of neon colors and pink. So much hot pink! "Shards, everyone's gonna want to be a Grade two Dragonhealer just for the knot. You'lll start a trend that'll spread to all the weyrs." It'll be an epidemic of pink! Ka'el laughs and leans back against her as he's kissed. Onookers be damned. Weyrwomen can have boyfriends! And he's not being lewd, so there should be no problem, right? "Good luck," he says in advance. "Not that you'll need it. Shells, you'll probably be back here in a seven. They'll see how far ahead you are, figure there's nothin' left to teach you at that grade, and move ya on to Three." Woohoo, go Sori! He's already celebrating in his mind, his confidence in her ability obvious (even if his joke of her skipping a grade was just that. A joke). He brightens as the memory of the island is brought up. "The rock? Ooooh yeah, I nearly forgot about bein' stuck on that place! Remember how it kept raining?" He shudders at the thought. "Bring your flamethrower an' I'll get Kanekith ready with firestone. That place deserves to burn!"
Unique is one word for it. Eye-searingly terrifying is another. Actually, it's two words, because one word just isn't enough. "Sure I will." Soriana grins. "Don't you know all the most popular fashions come out of Ierne?" True facts! So if she gets her glowing green and pink knot there… instant fashion statement. And yeah, weyrwomen can have boyfriends. Onlookers can deal. Soriana can order them to deal! Because she's a weyrwoman, you see. It can be one of her practice exercises for being mean. She's only got a half-smile for his confidence on her behalf, but that's because she knows just how much there is to learn. She gives his hand a squeeze, though. "Thanks." For the luck. And also for the attempts to entertain her. "Yeah, the rock. It's probably sunk into the lake, though." As these things do. "Too waterlogged to burn."
"Death by sinking? I'll take that. No Candidate should have to go through what we did!" resolves Ka'el mightily. "In fact, I propose we begin a group. A group whose goal is to destroy all've the things that made our lives awful durin' Candidacy and Weyrlinghood. The Rock will be the first on the list if it hasn't already sunk itself. If it can't burn, then we'll let our dragons destroy it." He puts an imaginary checkmark on an imaginary sheet of paper. Done! The others will have to wait for later. In fact, there are quite a few things that'll have to wait for later, for now there's an interruption to his thoughts. One that causes a faint and brief frown. And a sigh. Maybe he took lessons from Soriana on how to properly sigh? "Unit's gettin' back together from lunch. Got about ten minutes." Siiiigh. Why does work always come when he least wants it to? But, even so, he doesn't make a move to stand just yet, instead opting to steady his gaze on her. "Really though, Sori, I'm serious about you askin' her. An' I'm serious about you not givin' up on your dragonhealing thing, no matter what she says." But it will be a yes, right? "You were born to be one. You know more about dragons than anybody I've talked to" Except well, maybe AwlMs, "an' you're shardin' good at what you do."
…so let's not talk about what the poor candidates for Luraoth's clutch probably had to do. Or what grand tortures V'dim is dreaming up for them now! Let's just not talk about that at all, but… Soriana laughs for Ka'el's plans to destroy the things of a candidacy past. "Only the bad parts," she makes sure to add, but then she sees the change to Ka'el's expression. And the sigh. It's a pretty good one. She gives it a 9 on the sighing scale, but he should work on his resonance. Wherefor does he sigh? A tilt of her head begins to ask, but then he answers. "Oh." He's sighed, so she doesn't have to, but… maybe she would've, except he has serious things to say, so she listens… and nods. "I'll ask. Maybe not today-" because showing up with an incomplete task and asking for favors, so not the way to go- "but soon." The part where she was born to be a dragonhealer? Well, she smiles for it, but it's in that way where she's half sure Ka'el's flattering her because he's her boyfriend and it's his job. There's another half worth of smile that believes him, though. Or at least that wants to. "If I knew so much, I should've known what I was getting into." A crookedness to the smile, a moment - and then she leans in to kiss him. On the lips, this time. There's nobody watching at this precise moment, right? (Not that she checked.)
Ka'el will definitely take some sighing lessons. If he's going to complete the action in front of her, he has to make them good! Near perfect sighs, you see. Nothing else matters except for that ever elusive perfect 10. Other than that, he's content that Soriana will actually ask about going to Ierne to complete her level two training and hopefully test to earn that added pink tassle. "Remember. It's for the good of the weyr," he says in remembrance, knowing that this feature will be the key to winning Thea's grace. "And shards, neobody knew what we were getting in to. I think that's the ploy. No one ever knows." And now he probably should get up because to be on time is to be late in the world of a Galaxy rider. But well.. he likes sitting here, even if the voice in his mind is telling him to get his butt up and move it. But not right now. Right now he's snickering at her with eyes that are beginning to roll in response to her latter statements. He was going to answer and say something about how no one ever knows anything, but he doesn't get a chance to before his mouth is busy with her surprise kiss. Those are the best kind! And he kisses her back, although his is without the element of surprise, but it's just as affectionate as hers. Anybody watching? Pft, he doesn't care! Fingers tuck hair behind her ear blindly, and when that action is done, so ends the kiss as gradually pulls back. "Gotta go.." he says, voice low and recently kissed mouth holding a smile. "Kanekith hates bein' late to anything, and shards does he know how to be annoying." He stands, offering his hand to her to help her up. "Til later?"
Sigh ten. Dragonhealing two. It's good to have goals. "For the weyr. And me." Because hey. She gets to have good things too! Which… Luraoth also is, for all the gold's also a complex and challenging thing. "Still don't know." About riding. About dragons. About… anything, really, but she's pretty sure she wants to be kissing Ka'el, so she does, with warmth and affection and… well, then with the drawing away again, but she smiles back to him as she nods. "Yeah, okay. I won't keep you." And he won't keep her from her work anymore, because she reaches for the clipboard with one hand as she takes the offered one with her other and gets back to her feet. "Yeah. Until then… and we'll go flying soon." Because she'll ask soon? Maybe. Or maybe they'll go flying just because. She gives his hand a squeeze before she lets it go. Work awaits!
Ka'el helps to pull her up as his hand is grasped, and once she's on her feet and her hand slips from his own, he reaches forward to reclaim it and pull her closer to him. His free arm snakes around her hips, and he hugs her gently to his front. He's smiling because he has little reason not to smile right now, and he's kissing her again because he can't help himself. He was worried (pft, when is he not worried about something?) that it'd be … weird. After what happened at his weyr, and awkwardness that followed, worry manifested and grew with the passing days as he was sure she'd look at him differently. And talking wouldn't come so easily. And touching would be unsure and odd. And out of the corner of his eye he'd see her look at him as if he was a stranger she's only now coming to know, and what she's learning she does not like. But the blissful fact is that there is none of that, and they can have weird things happen and embarrassing events unfold and not automatically fall apart or tear at the seams like it's a catastrophic event. Soon, they'll fly and have fun and Sori will probably get challenged to a race, but for now he's giving her one of those 'I pretty much adore you but won't or can't put that into words so this is the next best thing' sort of tenderly slow kisses until Kanekith's lamenting in his mind becomes too loud to ignore. Plus, that lady is coming back anyway, apparently having seen the Junior Weyrwoman after all, and she's now needing her for something or another. Ka'el pulls back, expression warm. "Love you." A pause. "Will you save the goblet for me?" Arms fall from her now, and he steps back just as that woman zooms in on Sori. He smirks and pauses long enough to throw most of the things that he took out of the box back in, then heads out.
Soriana is drawn in easily for that hug and kiss. She doesn't really want to finish her inventory and paperwork. She does want to press her lips to Ka'el's. The weirdness at his weyr? Yeah, she's successfully ignored that problem, or rather, she's figured out how to only listen to the parts of it that say 'Ka'el thinks I'm hot' and 'Ka'el is sometimes awkward but also nice'. These parts are entirely acceptable parts that do not interfere with her wanting to kiss him. So the kissing! She doesn't hear Kanekith's pestering, though she does see the approach of that woman. Probably she has requisitions to make. It's that or complaints about the quality (or organization). But Soriana ignores her for just another moment, her fingers trailing slowly back from where they'd gone for the returned hug. "Love you too," she tells Ka'el, then nods. "Sure." And she stoops to pick up the goblet for him. Not only can she hold it for him, she can do the paperwork for him and bring it to meet him! This is what we call an excuse to visit, and she'd kind of like one of those… but first, what was it about those pots? Yes, she's listening, really… (Sigh.)
