Xanadu Weyr - Caverns
A massive cavern in its own right, this one has been skillfully adapted for human habitation. The high ceilings have been painted a light, soft ivory, as have walls hung with numerous tapestries that provide brilliant color and insulation from the stone. The floor has been left in its natural state, pale pink granite speckled through with glittering mica and dark flecks of basalt. The stone is carefully leveled but kept sufficiently rough to avoid slips.
The cavern itself is loosely divided into areas, each one set up to be suitable for some segment of the Weyr's population. The most frequently occupied area is the one near the Kitchens, where tables of varying sizes provide a place to sit down and eat or chat and a buffet of consumables is almost always kept stocked. It's plain that on most days, this area wouldn't accommodate anywhere near the full population of the Weyr, instead feeding people in shifts as they come off duty. On occasions when a formal meal is laid out, tables are borrowed from all the other areas.
There's also a big fireplace set into the western wall, several comfortable chairs nearby providing haunts for elderly residents or riders who like a good view of all that happens. Rugs cover the floor in strategic spots, all of them abstract or geometric in design and most in the softly neutral colors of undyed wool.
Exits lead off in all directions, the largest an archway to the northeast that leads outside. Near it there's an alcove with hooks for coats and shelves for muddy boots. A tunnel to the east goes to the infirmary, and a set of stairs just a little south of that lead up to the offices and administration area. To the south, a long and sloping tunnel leads down to the hot springs. The kitchen is off to the southwest, while the residents' quarters are reached by tunnels going west, deeper into the cliff.
In life, some decisions are tougher than others. Stefyr stands as a boulder that divides a stream, a pair of paces back from the buffet near the kitchens, contemplating the offered consumables while others more decisive or simply with less time than the large blond man appears to have go before him or behind him to get their own vittles as the lunch hour draws near. His blue gaze shifts between a tray of meatrolls and one of some delectable looking puffed pastry. Savory or sweet. So far, the gardener in his slightly dirty work pants and shirt seems to have no answer. At least he isn't staunching the stream of people entirely while he wallows in his indecision, empty plate held parallel to his body, but not quite against his chest.
Nailii has lost track of time like normal for her really, though lunch things are happening now and that means she should at least try to get a meal before the day gets later. She makes her way on in from the Infirmary taking a short cut through there from the dragonannex. A few bits of paper are getting stuffed into a pocket while a blue firelizard clambers over her shoulder and sits up once near the food things. FOODS! "Don't even think about it or your in trouble." Nailii murmurs to the little lizard as she picks up a plate and adds a few things to it. A curious glance is sent towards a personin front of her, a friendly smile seen. "The cheese ones are good if your having a hard time picking there." This said while she adds two cheese breadbun things to her plate even, one getting grabbed up by the lizard while the two move around Stefyr for drink type things.
"Cheese," is repeated in a distracted tone of revelation. Stefyr's look remains distant only one breath longer before he's grinning lop-sidedly and sidelong at the decision-maker before he's stepping forward to scoop up the cheese ones. Er, a lot of cheese ones. More certainly than most individuals might claim as a portion, and he perhaps thinks of this long enough to drop the one he'd had in the tongs only to take up the tongs for the meatrolls after all and add one of those to his suddenly rather mountainous plate. "There are so many choices here," is not exactly a complaint offered up to Nailii, because isn't more better? But it's harder see? So he isn't not complaining either. "Thank you," is offered through a mouthful of cheese breadbun thing and thus a little muffled, but still heartfelt. Now, there's the decision of where to sit, of course. One thing after another. "Where are the comfiest seats?" She might know the answer to this decision, too, after all.
Nailii doesn't pay any attention to the mound of food on his plate, instead she sets her plate down and is going about getting hot water in a mug and while a tea bag is pulled from her pocket an soon dropped into the mug along with a bit of sugar and milk. She hums and glances up curiously before nodding, a smile seen once more. "Welcome." As for the seat question she chuckles and points towards a few off to the side that look a bit weathered. "Those ones are rather nice, even better during the winter when you pull them over near the fireplace." Her plate in had and mug and she is heading towads the seats in questions actually.
Stefyr's brows draw down as he takes in her recommendation. It's not so much that there's any doubt showing, but more that there's a look of focus that might mean he's memorizing the information for future reference. He trails the rider a bit like an oversized puppy, distracted by this and that (not least of all the items on his own plate), ever in her wake until he's near enough to settle in one of the seats. He shifts (wiggles?) an assessing moment before nodding his satisfaction and adding another simple word of gratitude. "I'm Stefyr, by the way. I've been taking most of my meals on the go since I got here," perhaps thinking to excuse his lack of knowledge, "weeks ago," is added with a mutter and a slight flush. Maybe he doesn't have much of an excuse. "I'm a gardener." This is volunteered with an expression of polite inquiry that might be meant to invite the rider to offer those sort of details in return.
Nailii hums a bit and glances back towards other curious like a moment while pausing next to a chair and settles down on it. The mug is set on a little table near the chair. "Yeah? Where abouts are you from?" She quesitons before a soft oh escapes her and she looks a bit amused. "I'm Nailii, Dragonhealer and rider to brown Talanoath." She pauses in thought. "An a AWLM on a good day." This last bit said with an amused tone before she works on getting the tea bag out from the mug careful like as the tea is now hot. "Nice to meet you, and welcome to Xanadu even though its a few weeks late."
"Just a farm out there," a broad gesture with the last bite of the cheese breadbun indicates the world beyond the Weyr. Stefyr pops that bite into his mouth when the gesture is complete, and his farmboy eyes obligingly widen at the title AWLM. "Nice to meet you too, ma'am. Or do you prefer Nailii? My mum always had us ma'aming and sirring as she said was proper, but it seems like everyone I meet here doesn't care for it." He doesn't really give her a chance to answer immediately though, as he has to get in a question before his next bite, "Is AWLM as hard a job as it seems?" to a layman like him he probably means, but he doesn't clarify because his mouth is once more occupied with another cheese breadbun. Through that bite, though, he adds another question, "Or dragonhealing for that matter?" So much for his mum's attempt to teach manners, evidently. He does close his mouth to chew thereafter, at least.
Nailii actually glances towards where 'out there' might be, and ahs a bit before nodding and blinks while loking back to him a moment and soon laughs. "No no.. Honestly just call me Nailii, don't need to worry about all that stuff. Well.. Unless you happen to impress a dragon then during all the fun teaching time that is a bit different of coruse." She looks a bit amused. "Just make sure to always call the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman Ma'am and Sir." That should be interesting conversation. "They will tell you not too but you know, remember to be polite and the like." A slight nod is seen before she is taking a bite from a cheesebun. As for the question on her jobs being hard she ponders the answer. "Well… They both have hard things and easy things I supppose. Just depends on what is going on of course. Being a AWLM I have to teach people and young dragons, as a dragonhealer I'm in charge of keep dragon's alive and healthy."
There's a brief moment of— terror? No, not quite terror, but more like a moment of a brain breaking at the mere thought of impressing a dragon. It's not something Stefyr intends to linger on in the slightest, however, so some helpful nodding since his mouth is (again) full, yields to the preference for informality. "I met Risali," whom he doesn't call Weyrwoman, but he throws Nailii a bit of a beseeching look like hopefully she'll understand why/how. "Her dragon's head was stuck in one of the garden archways at the time," Stefyr adds in a tone that implies he hopes this is helpful context. "And she punched me." This might be a little defensive, as if he's earned his right to not ignore Risali's preference for informality through a rite of pain. "I haven't met the Weyrleader yet," sounds a little worried, but this may be understandable without explanation for a variety of reasons. "Do you like one better than the other or both the same— or differently, I guess is probably more like it?" He cocks his head slightly to one side even as he moves to eat another cheese bun (one of his countless cheese breadbuns, though really, the pile is fairly diminished).
"She did what?" Nailii questions with an amused tone before a soft chuckle escapes her. "Yeah that sounds about spot on for both them honestly." A slight shake of her head is seen. "Risali is a good person though don't let her scare you to much. I also suggest ducking her right hook though." A slight shake of her head seen before she ponders the question. "I like them both, but I've known them both for a while now. Before I impressed actually." She shrugs a bit. "D'lei is nice, his dragon is interesting." Of course she would comment about the dragons. She picks up her mug of tea and peers over at the other a moment. "So.. What did Risali punch you anywho?"
"Well," Stefyr concedes, "I was being a bit of a wherrybrain at the time. Played a bit of a joke on her. And Rhodelia. And some guy I didn't get the name of." But. "My brothers would have done worse for sure." The tone of the word 'brothers' implies 'many' and perhaps unrealistically 'bigger' than the big blond man slouched in the chair, balancing his plate on his knees now while he takes up his last cheese breadbun. "I'll try to duck next time." This is said as such an afterthought that it may be sure that he doesn't doubt that an occasion will arise, though whether this indicates confidence in his ability to irritate or Risali's…Risali-ness, it's hard to say. Maybe both together. "His dragon?" A pause, "So they're … not… like…" Wait for it, "All the same?" In Farmboy's defense, the inquiry seems genuinely perplexed. Maybe no one ever sat him down and talked dragons before.
Nailii grins at this and nods slightly. "Oh I see… Well be ready for her to joke or prank back at you then. You have open up the gates with that right there." A soft tsk esacpes her htough she still looks amused at the thought. "What sort of joke was it?" Hey she is curious now. As for the question on D'lei's dragon she smiles and nods slightly. "Oh yes, ever dragon is different much lile us people. Different personalities, likes, dislikes, grumpy, happy the works. D'lei's dragon is Garouth, he is quiet but very cautious and always watching I suppose one word to describe him. My dragon can be that way, or talktive, just whatever he feels at the moment honestly."
"I think she sort of started it." The pranking-joking-thing. Stefyr sounds anything but certain though. It's possible his sole encounter with Risali twisted his head about in a way that makes it a challenge to get it on quite straight again. He probably wouldn't be the first left permanently perplexed about the events of a meeting with the goldrider. "It all started when Rhodelia lost a firelizard. And then somehow we ended up looking for it and it might possibly have been leading a rebellion of swans." The fact that the gardener relates all of this with that same confused expression and tone implies this is the whole, unadulterated truth as near as he can remember. "And I think I was swan bait," though he seems unsure of that, too. "So when we got to the bottom of the stairs leading to that little nook in the gardens where people go to neck," the mere mention makes him color just a little, "I ducked to the side like something was coming at me and told them it was just the bottom of the stairs." Relating it now makes him color more as if just now he's realizing how dumb it all sounds. He looks down at the sole remaining item on his plate and clears his throat. Isn't it nice that he has a handy fascinating topic to distract him? "So they're all different, dragons that is." He takes a moment to absorb this before he picks up his meatroll. "Risali's dragon didn't seem much in the way of cautious…" He hazards this carefully and casts a glance toward the entrance to the caverns as if mentioning Leirith might summon her to get her head stuck somewhere else. "What's your dragon like?" He inquires of the woman seated with him. "Or is that a rude question? It seems like it could be, given the— I mean, you must be close with your dragon, mustn't you?" The confusion is back. That little wrinkle between his drawn down brows might become permanent at this rate.
Nailii merely chews on a bit of food and sips her tea a she listens to him tell the tale of what happened. She chuckles softly. "The firelizard was leading the swans? That is amusing… I bet it was a interesting sight." As for the rest she blinks and smiles a bit before nodding, she wont point out how silly it is, or well was. "In the end you had a bit of fun, I'm sure the others did as well. So not that bad right?" She quesitons and waves a hand sligtly before brushing her hand off and sets her mug back on the table. "Mine? His talktive, quiet, trickester.. He also likes to tell stories. Talanoath is a interesting one, dragons don't typically remember some things he manages to come up and remember things without a issue. I always thought he should have been a bonze not to sure what happened there." She shrugs and somewhere a dragon is grumbling at the mere thought. "Though speaking of dragons, I'm needed back at the dragonannex. It was very nice speaking with you Stefyr, your more then welcome to come by the annex anytime if you like to learn more about dragons." Well she doesn't have a problem teaching others things, and he seems interested. She picks up her plate and mud and offers a slight wiggle wave of fingers before she turns to go humming a faint tune to herself as she goes.