The current time for zone 9 is: 2682.5.9 07:27:53
Xanadu Weyr - Weyrleaders' Office
Office and retreat, this is the domain of Xanadu's Weyrleaders. The door is in the eastern wall, quite close to the southern end while the northern wall is dominated by big, expansive windows, framed by sumptuous deep blue drapes edged with a brilliant gold braid and tied back with a thick rope of braided gold and blue cord. In between, the eastern wall is covered floor to ceiling with shelves that house all sorts of records, manuals and supplies that are used on a day-to-day basis. The southern wall has the Weyrleader's desk — plain fellis wood, well polished and masculine. From behind his desk, the Weyrleader can look straight through the windows and out onto the main airspace of Xanadu. The western wall is where the Weyrwoman's desk resides: a lovely piece of furniture made of warm cherry wood. From her seat, a glance sideways gives her an equally good prospect out the window. There are a few other seats, some comfortably arranged around a low round table for small, informal meetings while there also some that can be drawn up to one of the desks.
On the south side of the door, the space is occupied by a low oblong table where refreshments can be set without someone needing to intrude. There is also an 'incoming' tray where incoming correspondence or similar items can be left.
Sitting at his desk, D'son's got rather an intent look on his face, holding various weather reports and other things that have come in. "Spouts of /water/," he murmurs emphatically and lifts a hand to the back of his neck.
Vivian glances over from her desk. "More strange things happening far away from here." She comments, "At least this time they are anyway. What do you think?"
"Yeah, the world just gets stranger all the time," D'son says and blows out a puff of air, rubs at th eback of his neck some more. "Not here, but you know, Xanadu isn't the world," he murmurs thoughtfully. "I'm not sure, it just does seem like the planet is … really restless."
Vivian bobs her head a touch, interrupting her work or the moment to look over properly. "No, but we've had our share of the weird stuff, the question is though, will those messages of the old poem, carry any more weight with these things continuing to happen around the world?"
"Yeah … that's … what I'm thinking. I mean, shells, they're really starting to add up, aren't they?" D'son looks across the way at her, uncertainty on his face.
"It's only a matter of time before we start getting more prophets of doom appearing out of the woodwork." Replies Vivian sagely, something she's probably thought about before. "It's not going to be pretty if it does happen either, we saw what Kefai managed."
"No it won't be," D'son agrees and sets the reports down, his second hand lifting to join the first. "What do you think Vivi. Could Thread actually come back?"
Vivian shrugs her shoulders at that, stretching her arms up to relive the tension of typing. "If you'd said a couple of turns ago that I'd be riding a green dragon or that I'd have been stuck in a weyr with all that fog cornering us in or that strange snow storm that buffeted us for so long, I don't think I'd have believed you, those all happened so anything is possible."
"Right, right," D'son answers and leans back in his chair, hands coming around to press heels into eyes. "I dunno though, you'd think they'd see it coming though. Up there," he points a finger upward. "Anyway. Yeah, I suppose it is possible, but at the same time, shells, can't let people go crazy."
Vivian lets her arms drop back down again, hands clasping behind her neck. "Not until it falls." She replies softly. "And think of the devastation if it ever did and we were unprepared for it." She puts up the suggestion. "But on the other hand, how crazy would we look if we did prepare for it."
"Mm," D'son says thoughtfully and rubs at his face. "It would be …. awful, just awful." Quiet over on his side of things for a bit. "As crazy as Kefai … though if it did … Faranth, Viv …" hazel eyes lift, try to find hers, an edge of horror held in them.
Vivian smiles gently across at him. "That's the fine line you need to work out, being prepared but not coming over as too crazy prepared." She replies, "Make sure we're ready, but not looking it just in case. I remember reading n some of the old archives, tales of war, where hundreds of people were sacrificed so that others could live. I'm not sure I like the idea but apparently it happened."
What she says leaves D'son looking a little … grim. "I … guess. Yes. We can … make sure that buidlings around the Weyr at least are built with the right kind of materials. Good strong stone and tile for the roofs. Maybe … we could come up with a reason to bring back firestone training?" His brows lift a little and his fingers drum on the desk. "Though shells, no one's done it for ages."
"There's a lot we can do circumspectly." Vivian agrees. "Firestone training is an easy one though." She smirks at him. "You worked search and rescue, were you at western when the fires broke out, You want to stop a fire that big, what do you do? You burn a out a breaker that it can't cross. Easiest way of doing that, flame it."
"Yeah, exactly what I was thinking," D'son says with a couple of nods. "Bring it back for S&R at least. And wll there's risks of fire pretty much everywhere sometime, so …"
Vivian continues to smile over at him, "Especially with all the woodland and grassland we have on this continent." She adds. "All it's going to take is a drought like western had and we're screwed in an unpleasant manner."
"Yeah, a break would really be needed then. A lot of dragons moving water too," D'son says, already letting his mind work over that particular problem. "All right then. I'll talk to D'had about putting firestone back on the menu in S&R. If all the S&R wings at least know how to do firefighting techniques, that's a starting point in case of other things. It'll shorten the learning curve."
Vivian nods her head. "Good plan, water drowns it as well doesn't it. So those two techniques will be really useful if it ever happens, and that's the problem isn' tit, if it ever happens." She sighs, shaking her head in the process.
"Yeah," D'son says and takes a deep breath. "And I'll talk to Niva about our buildings. Take stock kind of. I think … well most of us I don't think ever really shook the habit of thinking of stone as the main thing to build out of. And any older buildings will obviously still be made out of Threadproof stuff, but any new cotholds made of wood, would be a problem."
"Just be careful how you approach them, that's the ones that will give the most problems aout this being picked up as paranoia." Vivian explains. "Maybe encourage a transformation program, most buildings will at least need thier roofs replaced periodically. Work on the woodcraft, find a sympathetic mind that will help promote threadsafe designs under a different name. So that all new buildings going up are safer, just in case. It'll take turns to complete probably, but the more we do now, the less that will need doing if it's ever needed."
"I know," D'son says quietly. "Will you help me go through the lists of people? We can strategize around how to handle each one," the Weyrleader says decisively. "And I'll need to talk to your mother." Another nod. "Woodcraft. Yeah. Though … there's no way to make wood itself threadsafe."
Vivian nods her head at the first, "Give me a few sevendays and I'll have everything ready to get started with, as for the woodcraft, it might not be threadsafe itself, but they still make pretty much all the buildings, even if it's just preparing things so that it's easier to attach cladding or the like?" Either way for now an alarm goes off somewhere, time for Viv to move. "Either way, thats' me finished with this, I'm heading out for my run." She tells him as she stands and grabs her things for changing into. "I'll catch you later." She promises with a blown kiss and a tantalising wiggle as she disapears out the door.
"All right," D'son agrees about the craft and hunts around for a pen to note that down. "Enjoy that run," he says with an absent nod and his laughter for that wiggle chases her out the door. "And see you later!"