Xanadu Weyr - Dragon's Rest Farm
In contrast to the gigantic barn is the smaller homestead. The structure is a small two-level cottage, complete with a covered porch that sweeps around the exterior. The wooden slats of the house seem freshly painted, as if this old place has been brought back to life by careful hands. A chair-swing sways beneath the shade of the porch, moving with the slightest breeze off the sea. Inside, the quaint space has been decked out with the comforts one might expect. Fluffy rugs cover hardwood floors, and finely carved furniture dominates most of the spaces. A few things here and there seem older, heirlooms that now have a new place to call home.
Everything within the cottage is comfortable, rather than elaborate. Though it may have once been empty, there is now a warm, welcoming feel to the place. Many large windows and sliding doors look out upon both the training field and across the road, a view of the beach and the sea beyond. Even on the hottest days, these can be opened to let in air and leave the rooms cool and comfortable. Set back a ways from many of the other Weyrbarns along the roadway, there is plenty of room for those who need a bit of space and privacy. There is plenty of space, leaving room to grow, to learn, to expand, and most of all… it is a warm, safe place to come home to when the day's tasks are done.
Finally there's been a break in the drizzle and the sun has made an appearance in the sky. Puddles are drying. The spring grass is reveling in the wetness and light. Things smell fresh and clean this afternoon, and the warmth of the day is infectious. People are outside, enjoying the springtime weather. Spring cleaning! Weyrs need to be swept out, aired out, and straightened because that's what one does in the spring time. Ka'el does too! He probably even has people that he can hire (or are waiting on standby) to do such things for him, but not today. Today he's doing his own grunt work, with the help of friends, not workers. Friends like Alloy, who is busy chasing bugs from the wraparound porch of Soriana's cottage. Friends like Tej, now a Journeyman, who carries an armful of boxes that's been wheeled over from the forest. The tall, brown-skinned fellow is as big as an ox, and those boxes he carries are heavier than they look! And friends like Kanekith, who is refusing, refusing to move a claw to help with this ridiculous process of moving and has sprawled himself out in the grass to make a show of just how much he's not helping. See? This is Kanekith - Not Helping. Ka'el himself is ignoring the ornery dragon and is carrying that wicker chair that, for whatever reason, he really likes and wants to keep. Resting on the seat is his guitar. Both he and Tej approach the farmhouse.
Kanekith is providing Moral Reproach! It's like Moral Support, except not as… actually, it's about as helpful. Neither one involves lifting a single claw. Soriana's in the cottage, moving stuff to make room for the stuff that's coming in to join it. Double the stuff! Okay, so, they can stack the boxes of clothes here until they're put away, and at least Ka'el doesn't have much in the way of kitchen stuff… but if - she glances out the window - they're going to put that chair in here, then she's going to have to move… something. She's not sure what, but she's going to start by moving this table back so they don't knock into it, and then she's going to open the door for them. "Hey!" she calls to the pair. Luraoth's off doing spring cleaning of her own and making sure the beaches are tidy and neat, but Haruhi's supervising from the mantel and Toral's flitting around to check out how things are changing and generally getting underfoot.
“Heeey! Weyrwoman! Soriana!” loudly calls Tej as the two of them near. He’d wave a hand, but that’d require him to move an arm, which would probably cause him to drop those boxes. That’d be bad. And so he suffices with being loud, and a broad and cheerful grin follows. Ka’el’s grinning too and he inclines his head towards her. He stomps up those steps with chair in hand, setting it down upon the porch upon reaching the top. Tej does the same with his load, bending his back and knees to set them down in a stack, then stretching after. “Hey babe,” greets Ka’el as he steps forward to place a kiss to his lips, smiling soon after. “Brought some stuff.” Duh. “So we said this chair can come right?” Or rather, he supposed she’d say that the tacky chair could come and brought it under that assumption, but maybe she’ll just run with it! Tej leans against the railing of the porch, burly arms crossed. “You’re sure you want to live with this one, Weyrwoman? I’ve bunked with him, remember. The nights you’ll want to smother him with a pillow? I’ve techniques to get you past the temptation.”
"Hi Tej!" Soriana calls back with a grin. She could complain about the title, but at least he got the name on the second try! So, close enough. Just like a shout's practically a wave. She grins to Ka'el, too, edging out through the door as they set things down on the porch. Good plan, that. It's got empty space, since it's no longer holding wintertime wood supplies, and it's not raining, so they can bring things inside at their leisure… so long as their leisure happens before it starts raining again. They've probably got at least an hour! Maybe two. "Hey, you," she echoes to Ka'el, brushing her lips back to his, then looks out over that stuff. So he did, and she nods sagely before eyeing that chair. It's… okay, she has to admit, it's decently comfortable. "Yeah, we'll figure where to put it." Somewhere. Maybe it can stay on the porch? Is it an indoor/outdoor chair, or… she's sort of settled into all the rooms of her cottage, what with having them to herself. Well. Time to toss objects up in the air and see where they fall! Only… not literally, because some of them are fragile, and others are kind of… well. It's just not a good idea. And it'd give them kind of random layouts, too, with like… sofas in front of ovens and bed sitting underneath sinks. Better to actually figure these things out with logic and reason, or at least to make their best guesses. Another moment of regarding that chair, and then Soriana looks up to Tej and laughs. "I'm more into pushing him off the edge of the bed, myself." She grins. "If you get the angle right, he'll roll under and the dustbunnies take care of the problem."
“I feel unsafe,” remarks Ka’el as he eeeeeyes Soriana. Then Tej. Then Sori again. Shifty-eyes! “Somehow, I’m thinkin’ I need to sleep with one eye open, else I’m riskin’ bein’ suffocated..or dragged off to the world of dustbunnies where they’ll likely tie me up an’ make a sacrifice out of me.” A dusty sacrifice! He points to each of them in turn. “Remember, I’m the Weyrleader. Anything that is done to me shall be met with double consequences!” Tej turns brown eyes upward and whistles an innocent tune for a handful of seconds. Innocent. Innocence reigns! He turns a hand sideways against his mouth and stage-whispers to Soriana, “Make sure you send word to me when the deed is done. If the dustbunnies don’t take care of him, I’ll dispose of his useless body for you. Consider that my congratulatory gift to you.” Congratulations on your first murder! He laughs afterward, and Ka’el exaggeratedly rolls his eyes. “In any case! Tej ‘n I brought most’ve the ‘have to’ stuff. Clothes. The chair. Guitar. My projects.” Wait, what? A gesture to those heavy boxes. “You have..tables and stuff already, so I left that for now. Plus, Kanekith is still being a hatchling about everything, so..any big things are gonna have to wait.”
"You'll be just fine," Soriana says to Ka'el with false seriousness, "as long as you don't snore." But he doesn't snore… does he? How would he know? These two - what with having slept in the same room as him - probably have a better idea than he does. And their idea? Well… dustbunny sacrifices do seem to be an option! As for the consequences? "That's why it has to be done in secret! Dead of night and all that." Which, conveniently enough, is when she'd (be trying to) sleep with him anyway! Isn't it great when a plan comes together? All the little pieces, like… ooh! Disposing of the body! Soriana leans in to listen to Tej's useful advice. "Wonderful!" She grins, then pauses. "…are there specific metals you're supposed to work, when burning bodies? Er… hypothetically?" Of course. But still! It's a valid question. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe. How about that 'any case'? (Or is it… a case of murder most foul!?) …no. It's a bunch of boxes and a wicker chair. And a guitar. She glances them over. Yep, yep… okay, so at least all the projects fit inside a box, that's good… "I haven't heard back yet about getting that forge installed, but I figure they'll probably have to wait until the ground's thawed more, anyhow." Because bracing and stuff like that. She's not an architect, but she does glance to Kanekith (Unhelpful Dragon Isn't Helping!) and smirk. "Well, I'm not moving back to the barracks. So we'll just have to wait too." For Kanekith to grow up! This may take a while. "But yeah, I've got tables. Flat ones, even."
Flat tables? “Shards, fancy..” remarks Ka’el, whistling through his teeth afterward. “And I’ll have you know now that the both of you are now officially on my ‘To Be Watched’ list. You know I’ve people in the shadows that lurk at all times…” he says mysteriously. “You’re being watched…right now.” By him! And by his ‘his people’ apparently who are currently lurking in whatever shadows are available, beware! Tej makes a false face of terror and moves away from his leaning spot to instead cower behind Soriana. That itself is a comical sight, as he’s twice her size! But, cower he does. “The eyes are upon us, Weyrwoman! We must meet in secret to plan the rest of our coup. He already knows too much!” He puts his hands on her shoulders and peers out from behind her, unable to fully mask his grin. “Quick. Tell me where I can put these boxes and I’ll start setting up traps while he’s distracted!” Ka’el shakes his head, thoroughly amused by their antics, and he examines his fingernails in a show of utter unconcern. “I’ve people” he reminds before laughing. “You really don’t mind the forge? Because … in truth, I could use the ones at the forges..” Not as cool as his own buuut he’s willing to compromise. If needed!
"It took me that long?" Soriana asks. Because really, she's so very watchable! For… a wide variety of reasons. Not the least of which being that now she's got to be watched-through (or, er, around) by anyone who wants to see the hiding Tej. But she'll defend him! With her… uh… being a quarter of his mass. And also, pluck! "The rooster crows at midnight! The fish is well-baked!" Those are the secret passcodes! Or… were. They're not very secret anymore, now are they? But she glances over her shoulder back (and up) at him, and grins. "You can stack 'em against the back wall of the living room. Near that stitchy-hanging-thing." It's embroidered and pretty! And she found it in the stores, because yeah, Soriana has neither the skill nor the patience… nor the right name for it. "Thank you!" she adds to Tej, and then looks back to Ka'el. "Entire wings of them, for all the good it'll do you!" she says, and grins. As for the forge, she shrugs. "You start working on it the middle of the night, I'll mind, but… nah. It should be fine."
Tej gives a quick salute once he's given direction of what to do with those boxes. He said he'd come to help, so help he must! "The midnight rooster will back the fish! Got it!" he says it return, giving her a very obvious 'secret wink' at their shared passcodes. Total. Secret. Spies! Ka'el will never know what hit him! Tej moves to heft those boxes back up, repeating 'stitchy-hanging-thing' to himself with a nod. Oh yeah, he totally knows what that is! Who doesn't? That's obviously common knowledge, and thus he heads in with all the confidence in the world that he knows exactly what he's looking for. If not .. well. He knows what a wall is. He'll just put things down by a wall in the back! Ka'el snickers and for the third time or so, rolls his eyes. "Yes, it took you this long to finally make it on the list. You haven't been trying hard enough, have you? Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed.." he says, clicking his tongue and shaking his head at the same time. "And I'll do my best not to bang away in the middle've the night, though I make no promises. Sometimes, a good midnight bang is in order. Relieves stress. Relaxes the mind." He even keeps a straight face as he says this! .. Sort of. Almost. Right there's a slight twitching of the corner of his mouth that he fails to keep still.
Most secretest thing ever. Soriana nods ever so sagely to Tej, then grins. It's not like he can go that wrong with the boxes - so long as they're inside the house and not blocking a doorway or anything important? Good enough. Walls! Against walls. All good. Unlike Soriana. Who really needs to do better at… being bad? Or at least suspicious. "I'll try and do worse," she tells Ka'el. Because that's what's important here! As well as midnight… banging… There's a lift of her eyebrows. The 'really?' look. No, really? Truly? And… smirk. "The hammer," she begins to intone, "is-" Okay no. She can't even. But she does smirk more widely. "Sometimes, when you can't get to sleep, a quick nail-" which you totally can make in a forge, yep "-will do the trick."
The hammer is…what? Ka'el gives her a prompting look. Brows raised. Smirk devilish. What were you going to say, Soriana dear? But, oh the nail comment is even better he's sure, and he laughs before nodding in total agreement. Yup! "M'glad you agree and understand," he says, trying to regain his solemn face and succeeding eventually. Ahem ahem! "So, .. we're both in agreement that late night nail..ing," which is totally what you call making nails in smith language, "and banging is sometimes necessary. For a restful mind an' peaceful sleepin', of course. And so it'll be totally acceptable for me to wake you up .. or vice versa, if it's needed. I mean, with all the noise that nailing and banging makes, we'll probably wake each other up. Right? Right. Alright." Smirk. Snerk. "Good talk, Soriana," he says, bobbing his head once. "M'glad we're able to have important conversations like this, y'know? To go over the things that matter. Make sure we're both on the same page.." He moves closer to her to stand beside her and try to loop an arm around her waist, his grin beginning to show through just as the clanging sound of boxes being set down/dropped is heard inside. "Nothing's broke!" calls Tej from indoors. "..Probably."
…a… hammer. At least literally. Metaphorically, well… aherm. Nailing! Yes, they can talk about nailing. All the hot (what? It's a forge, of course it's going to be hot!) and heavy (hammers are heavy) nailing that's going to be happening. Late at night, yes. This is Soriana and Ka'el's Weyr… After Dark. Right? Right. "For the sake of peace," she agrees. "And domestic tranquilty. Er, post-bang. Banging our way to tranquility?" That's one way to resolve things. "Vigorously." Yes. That would be another. Also, apparently, smirking, or maybe Soriana's just doing that regardless. Because… oh, yes, this is a good talk. A fine and fabulous talk! A superb talk, and her arm lifts up to drape against his shoulders, just starting to curve her fingertips into her hair when… crashsmash(bang?) go the boxes inside. Her fingers stop, and she eyes Ka'el. "…did you have anything fragile?"
Meh. Ka'el glances towards that open doorway, his mind momentarily steering away from nailing and banging to contemplate what was in those boxes. Projects. Smithy things. Metal things. Abstract things which possibly only make sense in his mind. "Uhhh….hope not," he answers her, quirking a brow at his unseen friend. "I thought you said you were reliable!" he calls to that open door, and it isn't long before Tej reappears, sans boxes and full of grin. "Oh, I am," he answers. "Anything in there made right could stand a little drop without shattering, right? It's the mark of a good smith. What you truly should worry of is what the apprentices are doing to your former weyr. They're supposedly 'cleaning'." He leans against the doorway, arms crossing comfortably again. "Nothing of yours is broken, Soriana," he assures the Weyrwoman junior, his smile softening as he looks between the two of them. Aw. Look how far they've come! "From sneakin' her into the dormitory, to movin' in together. Weyrmates. Where've the turns gone?" he says, his words genuine despite the playful swipe of an invisible tear from his eye. "When should I expect to have the apprentices sign up for babysitting duty?" he asks teasingly.
Better hope! Because there's the clanging and smashing, and even if it survived that, there may be heavy boxes of metal …things… stacked on top of clothes and whatever else. But hey, clothes aren't fragile, at least not for crushing. They can be torn, but surely Ka'el doesn't have any spikey things… … …actually, Soriana's going to hold back judgment on that. She… could see there being a spiked thing of spikes in one of those boxes, for some reason that totally made sense inside of Ka'el's head. Hopefully it hasn't stabbed into her walls? Oh good! Tej can assure her it hasn't, and Soriana laughs. Her hand stays where it is, and she teases lightly at Ka'el's hair. Because it's right there! "Mostly," she says of those turns, "into a pair of shiny lumps we call dragons. Oh, and burnt up in the fire!" That'd be a smither turn. But it's true, there's been time and growth and all sorts of things. The world has changed, and there's a wistful sort of nostalgia to be had in looking back - or, for that matter, looking forward! Tej's question brings a lift of Soriana's brows, a pause, for just long enough that her brain can scramble behind her eyes, and then, "Hah! Are these the same apprentices who're dunking Ka'el's table lamp in lye to get it clean and overflowing the sink just so they can mop the floor?"
Hey, spikes are cool! Ka'el … may have found reason to design some spikey sort of new…spiked thing, which may or may not be situated in one of those boxes, wrapped up and (hopefully) protected. Likely, with socks wrapped around it, because that's how packing works when you're Ka'el. Or Tej. Or a smithcraft apprentice. Ka'el's arm remains around Sori's waist, looped loosely and comfortably, and he begins to fall into deeper contentment at the touches to his hair. Dragon turns. Fiery turns. There have been quite a few themed turns in there, haven't there? And what's this one bound to be? The turn of change? Nah. Too general! The turn of .. babysitting? Wait. What? Two rapid blinks refocuses his mind, and he gives Tej an incredulous look. "Wha-.." Luckily, Soriana beats him to the punch, as he probably had nothing intelligent to say .. unless one counts 'wha?' 'uh?' and 'huh?' as intelligent utterances. He glances to her, then snerks while giving the Journeyman an expectant look. Tej chuckles. "Point," he says, nodding. "But hey, they've to learn responsibility somehow, right? And I'd be willing to bet any child that comes from the two of you can survive anything." It's a compliment in disguise, you see! He leans away from the wall now. "But, speaking of the apprentices, I should get back to them, make sure they really haven't made a mess of things and get back to the forge. I can come back later to help with anything else," he offers warmly, already beginning to head towards the steps that lead down and off the porch.
Huhwha? is practically an entire sentence of… befuddlement. So it's a good thing Soriana gets there to dismiss the whole affair with a laugh! The turn of babysitting… er, no. That's not the turn it is. Because, uh… who'd trust them with babies? They've got boxes full of spikes (wrapped in socks), and a fireplace full of… fire, and all sorts of dangerous things. And no, Luraoth, your comments on the subject are not required, go back to chasing spiderclaws. So Soriana just keeps eyeing Tej. That's right, she's got a point! One about responsibility. And Ka'el and Sori aren't responsible. (Of course not. They're just Weyrleader and Junior Weyrwoman. There's no responsibility involved in those positions. None at all!) That compliment's disguise is fact. Spikes! Flame! Hand-forged nails and vigorous nailings that… uh. Wait, what is Tej implying, exactly? Is that a backhand compliment or a fronthand, er, insult? Soriana's not sure, but either way, she looks dubious at it. Apprentice mishaps are much safer, and those, she responds to. "At least the place's stone, so they probably haven't burnt it down." Probably. You can never be sure, with apprentices. "Thanks for not breaking any of my things!" she calls to Tej as he departs, lifting her hand to wave. Presumably carrying (and possibly breaking) Ka'el's stuff goes without saying? Or maybe she's leaving that part of gratitude to the Weyrleader.
Yeah! These two are the faces of Irresponsibility. Yup. Children? Pfft! They're lucky they've been trusted with firelizards. Ka'el is a lot of no help right now, as all he can manage to do is stand there and watch his friend and wonder why he'd even bring up something that he himself has never even considered (well, Tej /is/ older than he is by a small handful of turns. Maybe he's toying with the thought of settling down?). And now it's just hanging there oddly in the air for them … disregard? Yeah! That's the usual thing to do with uncomfortable topics, right? Pretend they're not there! No one's said anything about babies and children and .. spawning mini versions of themselves. Nope. They can go back to talking about banging…which is sort of the main the prequel to babies. Hmmm, so. No. How about they talk about…yeah! Good job, Sori. Burning down weyrs. A nice, neutral topic. "Don't put it past them," says Ka'el. "It's a miracle some've the things an apprentice can manage to mess up." Poor apprentices! They have such a bad reputation. Ka'el waves a hand to Tej as he takes his leave, and after that's done, he steps to move in front of her, his free arm looping around with the first, and pulls her gently against his front. No baby talk. "Wanna help me unload?" Not his hammer. His boxes. Which may have a hammer or two in them.
Firelizards are too much for them, really. It's … shardit, Soriana doesn't even know what time it is, but if it were 5pm? She wouldn't know where her firelizard was! Not unless she… spends five seconds checking on them, but that's not the point. The point here is that they're… …grown lizards and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, due to Soriana's care and tendi- nope. Still not the point! The point is, firelizards are one thing, a miniature version of… heh, either one of them… would be far more trouble. Mini-Ka'el would break everything! Mini-Sori would throw tantrums and stamp feet! Mur'dah's lucky, he's already got a mini-self in the form of a firelizard (not… his firelizard, but still) and so he doesn't have to worry about all this. Not that Soriana's worrying. Nope. This is the raised eyebrow and awkward silence of Totally Not Worrying About It At All. Which is different than the loud and clamorous banging, which… shells, thanks for making it weird, Tej! Now they can't even talk about bouncing beds, because they're thinking about bouncing babies. Not that they're thinking about it, because they're not. Nope. Not at all. They're taking about fire! And apprentices. Who, if they messed up half as badly as some people claim, would be fired. Possibly from a catapult. Still. Soriana lets apprentices fall from her mind as well, once journeyman Tej has departed, and slips her arms up loosely around Ka'el's neck. No baby talk. …okay brain, you can come up with another topic aaaannny tiiiime now. But it doesn't! Fortunately, Ka'el's does, and it's a sign of just how far her brain's gone that she doesn't even snicker. She just nods, and leans in to kiss him lightly. Because she's here and all, and it'd be a waste not to. Even if… nope. Not thinking about it. So: "Yeah. Let's unpack." His hammers. (With their socks-y wrappings.)
Yeah, Ka'el will dropkick Tej when he has some free time to do so. Payback for … this. But not right now. Right now the young man has departed, leaving Ka'el and Sori to not think about multiplying themselves. Too bad for Ka'el, for ninety four percent of the time that he's with her, his mind is lingering on the act of multiplying with her (or thereabouts) without the actual…multiplication part. But now. Now in this moment, the two go hand in hand. Baby Ka'el? Mini Sori? Uhhhh -.- That's way too much of a Big Thing to even consider! So. Let's focus on unpacking, shall we? And the kiss. Definitely the kiss, which he returns just as lightly. Then again, not as lightly. And almost once more, but that 'once more' time would've been heavy, and heavy kissing gets him worked up. And a worked up Ka'el will start thinking about banging hammers nailing things. And all that would turn around and lead his mind back to … babysitting! -.-; So! UNPACKING RIGHT? "Maybe this can stay out here," he says, referring to the chair, mirroring her earlier thought. It's an inside/outside sort of seat, anyway. After giving her a squeeze, his arms loosen and fall away so that he can step to grasp his guitar by the neck. "This needs a special spot. There's a thing for it to rest on, in one've those boxes." Guitar held in one hand, he reaches his other for hers to head inside. Into their weyr. To unpack his things and dub them theirs. And to not talk or think about babies.