Xanadu Weyr - Star Stones
Here, atop the exposed dome of the geologic monolith that houses the caverns, infirmary, crafters and administration complexes, the view offers a splendid panorama of Xanadu Weyr. To the immediate east is a narrow metallic walkway leading to a column of stone - the natural spire that forms the starstones.
Just beyond, parts of the meadow and ridge can be seen. Directly in front and below is the clearing, flanked by the forest, hatching arena, tavern, clock tower and garden shop. Beyond the trees, glimmers the waters of Caspian Lake and the Sea of Azov, while almost lost to the distance is the coastline of the opposite shore and Black Rock Hold.
Just a few steps to the west looms the tower that is responsible for Xanadu Weyr's shortwave radio communications. Reaching for the skies and lit by blinking red warning lights at night, this area is off limits to dragons landing due to the danger of fouling a wing on the guy wires that support it.
Climbing trees has not gone well for Rhodelia, historically. At least this lovely afternoon when the bartender gets some wandering feet still bring her upwards, there's slightly less danger of being stuck. The panoramic view did get a few appropriate ahhs when she first arrived, but that was a while ago. Slowly but surely she's inched her way closer to the edge of the ledge and ever so gingerly peers over, while carefully rubbing at a pebble in her hand that isn't grasping at the solid rock.
Of course, if Rhodelia does get stuck up here, it'll probably be because someone locked the door at the bottom of the stairs without checking… so she'd be very stuck, to make up for those reduced odds. Always a tradeoff to be had! And a chance of… well, many things, but at this moment, it's footsteps on those stairs instead of their being locked, D'lei coming up them with his gaze focused first toward the radio tower, checking on technology before his attention shifts to Rhodelia. He's quiet a moment, observing her, then makes a bit of a throat-clearing noise of 'hey, fyi, someone else is here' that …. hopefully won't startle her over the edge, but hey. WHO EVEN KNOWS?
Rhodelia might believe she can fly, but she (hopefully) won't be testing that theory today. While the throat clearing when one thinks one might be along is startling, she immediately draws further away from the edge and quickly tucks her hands and the pebble behind her back. "Uh, afternoon?" The sun is still up, so she at least didn't miss that in her edge-gazing. "I wasn't touching anything. Sir." And while she definitely wasn't touching that delicate radio equipment she will try to slowly start shuffling her way towards the wall and the stairs.
Flying's fine. So's touching the sky. It's the smashing into the ground that's to be avoided, and D'lei smiles with a bit of relief as Rhodelia edges back. It's followed by a slight tilt of his head, a considering look . "Why not?" he asks her, a mild tone to the question as he inconveniently continues to stand in between her and those stairs.
That might be inconveniently, but Rhodelia's not going to shove the weyrleader out of the way to flee down the stairs for no reason. Instead, she'll just eye the stairs with a bit of longing. So close and yet… so far. As for why not she blinks and looks back over her shoulder. "Because there were signs?" Big ol' warning signs with words like 'off limits' although they may have been more for the radio tower itself and the whole dragon landing bit.
D'lei … laughs, and gives a nod. "Not a bad reason," he says, and then… well, he does oblige by stepping a bit out of the way, toward a better vantage for seeing that equipment. "…you don't have to be with the Sirs for me, you know." His gaze is focused on the tower, though there's a glance back to Rhodelia along the way. "I don't need them. Just because the job's got a sign about them, well…" He shrugs, just a bit, and half-smiles as he studies the radio equipment. "I've never much liked just-because as a reason."
Rhodelia attempts a bit of a smile at the reminder to drop the sirs. "I uuuh, guess the whole 'Sir and Ma'am everybody' thing kinda stuck again." If Garouth were present, she might have ended up giving the bronze a brief bow out of a bout of post-Candidacy reflexes. "So are you saying I should ignore signs saying 'don't touch this'?" Cause there are a lot of pretty blinking lights over there that might be catching her eye.
"It does that," D'lei says, a bit of wry amusement in his tone. "They try to load you with enough politeness and respect to try and keep the eggs safe, it's no wonder some of it sticks after. Like glitter." A crooked grin, and D'lei looks back to Rhodelia. "I'm saying you should think about what the real reasons might be. Anyone can put up a sign. So… who was it? Why? And… do you actually believe them?"
"They could just have a harper dramatically recount times of when candidates weren't on their best behaviors and squished and egg and everybody died," Rhodelia might be taking some rather macabre flights of fancy there, but it would probably keep folks gingerly stepping around the sands. "I also wouldn't have been surprised if Leirith didn't try to put some glitter on the eggs." She does shift focus back to the sign and frowns a bit as she thinks. "I would assume, techcrafters? Although a steward trying to hide some stolen goods could probably also make some pretty compelling signs."
D'lei nods, considering. "Might work. Especially if we put out avian eggs as traps, so everyone could see how fragile they are and what a mess it is when they get squished." Spoken like someone who wouldn't be the one cleaning it up afterward. As for Leirith and glittering up those eggs… D'lei just grins. No comment, nope! He continues a few more steps toward those signs, as Rhodelia thinks them through, and nods. "Certainly looks technical-ish," he says. "Which could be either of those, really. Just a matter of whether it's there to be technical and blinky, or to wait until it's smuggled away to be sold."
Rhodelia eyes the edge of the star stones again. "I think I saw some smith apprentices tossing avian eggs off the roof of the hold once. To protect them, they said." She shrugs as while she may not believe their reasons, she didn't want to really question them further. Better than just yelling out FOR SCIENCE!!! As D'lei takes a few steps closer to the signs, Rhodelia will tag along behind. "I thought you were a techcrafter before…" There's a handwave to his knot and stuff. "You're sounding a lot like a harper."
D'lei tilts his head to Rhodelia, with a puzzled sort of look that's followed by a laugh as she shrugs. "…so they said," he says, and nods, and grins. He's close enough to one of the signs now to brush his fingertips against it, which he does, then glances back to Rhody. "Journeyman of Tech, communications focus," he says with an amiable nod, then grins. "What's technology except asking questions about physics and electricity?"
"They were encased in something," Rhodelia didn't stick around long enough once the eggs went flying to figure out what the mysterious padding might be. As he confirms she did remember that particular factoid correctly, she nods. "So, did you put the signs up?" As for what is technology, she scrunches up her own face. "I thought most of it was just a bunch of wires. And if it smokes or catches on fire, something went wrong."
"Knitted sweaters, maybe." Or some kind of foam, more likely, but never mind that part. D'lei hehs at the question about the signs, then shakes his head. Not his doing! Not personally, anyhow. "Well." His gaze shifts among the equipment, and he grins. "Those wires -" he points "- are holding up that tower. And that set are carrying the electrical current to power that - whose audio signal comes along those…" So many wires. D'lei looks back to Rhodelia, and grins. "Bartending's just a bunch of liquid. And if people throw up or pass out, something went wrong."
And Schrodinger's eggs are both cracked and whole until you look, regardless of their padding! Rhodelia does attentively follow the pointing at the wires, although backs off just a hair at the mention of electrical current, maybe trusting the sign just a little bit more. Although the bartending comment gets a snort. "Or something went exactly right, depending on who you ask." Although you probably shouldn't be asking alcoholics a lot of things.
D'lei hehs to Rhodelia, and nods. "And fire's good, when the technology's a firestarter." A grin, and he turns a bit toward her and away from the radio equipment that probably actually is technology that's supposed to be there. Probably. "Nothing ever stays simple, not when you look at it close enough." He hehs. "Or too close, depending on who you ask."
Some other techcrafters (*CoughNessaCough*) might even go so far as to claim every piece of tech is a firestarter if you try hard enough! As for things staying simple, Rhodelia just shrugs. "That's cause everybody wants to overthink everything. Not everybody cares about 'complexity and character'." There's a bit of an eyeroll with that. "Sometimes red can just be red, you know?"
Really, if you try hard enough, is there anything that isn't fire-related? D'lei thinks not. He does, however, grin as Rhodelia down-talks complexity, listening to her with an amused expression. "So what are people overthinking?" he asks, with curiosity and that amusement in his tone. "Besides the color red, and whether it's really scarlet or burgundy or cherry."
Standing is over-rated, and since this conversation doesn't seem to be on the move too much, Rhodelia plops back down on the ground, still close enough to look over the edge, but no feet dangling just yet. "Easier to ask what they aren't overthinking? Some red grapes make white wines and other green grapes make red and it's really, really hard to tell the difference between some varieties. And then other times, people want you to do some blind tastings and guess between one vintage and another?" She snorts. "I think some folks are just lucky guessers." And burning it all down is not the recommended solution for dealing with that all, but she may have thought about it.
D'lei tilts his head as he listens, considering on wines and grapes and… tastings. "Some folks are very lucky guessers," he replies, and steps over to trace his fingertip against one of the wires, very lightly. "And others, well. Whatever they guess, everyone's going to go along with it, because otherwise they'll throw a fit and cause trouble. Which just makes everyone have even more thinking they do about it, of course." He grins, the expression a wry one, then turns his gaze to Rhody herself. "…so what are you overthinking?"
"I was never a lucky guesser," Rhodelia admits as she curls her knees up to make a little chin prop. And honestly, that's a bit of an understatement about how said wine tasting experiences may have gone in the past. There's a reason she ran away. "Or they just change the rules as they go along." As for what she's overthinking, there's a long pause before she actually responds. "What home is. And what the future holds. How does someone figure that out?"
D'lei nods, then hehs. "That too. That's the thing about rules, someone made them." BUT WHO. …is a question he doesn't ask, instead tracing the rest of that wire with his gaze, following it and looking at the shape of it as Rhodelia thinks over her over-thinking. "Mmh," he acknowledges after she speaks. "Don't think it's possible." D'lei turns, facing toward Rhodelia… though, after a glance, his gaze goes out over the view instead. "You can make guesses about the future, but… they're only that. So either you get lucky… or you change the rules… but either way, you can't figure it out. You let it happen, or you make it happen…" He hehs. "…or you try to run away, and it happens anyhow."
Rhodelia has some guesses about WHO has been setting up all those rules, and possibly some suggestions about where they can stuff them, even if she was perfectly willing to obey just a sign. As D'lei doesn't magically have the answers to all of life's questions, Rhodelia focuses her glance out on that view as well. "Running away doesn't solve anything. Not really. At most it delays it." She should know, she tried it. "Unless you wanted to keep running forever, but that seems exhausting."
"There's problems anywhere," D'lei says with a nod. "You might run away from some of them, but even if those ones don't catch up -" which they may "- there'll be others." There are always more problems. D'lei takes a few steps from the wires to take his own seat on the edge, a decent distance from Rhodelia for both ease of conversation and not crowding her. "I think… home might just be where you decide to make a stand against the problems." D'lei smiles, just a bit, as he looks out across Xanadu. "Wherever that is. And whatever makes it seem like this, here, might be worth the fight."
"Some did catch up," Rhodelia grumbles a bit. But what did she expect? Kind of hard to remain hidden forever when harpers can pass news with all that new fangled technology. Or even just reports of who Stood where and who might have not Impressed. "Regardless, home shouldn't have to be where you were born. No matter what Fath- err… some might say." Looking out over Xanadu does get a small smile. "It is rather pretty, isn't it?"
D'lei nods, expression understanding even without knowing the details. Problems! They're like that, especially when it's problematic. "Some people might say that, but they're wrong." D'lei grins, with a tilt of his head toward Rhodelia to share that grin, then a nod as he returns his gaze out to the fields and forests and water. "It is pretty. Got its problems, too, but…" He shrugs. "It's home. For me, at least." A moment, and then he adds, "I was born at Paradise River Hold."
At least Rhodelia's problems don't come with angry lord holders and crafters bickering and trying to get the Weyrleader to take one side or another? She stares out at the vista some more before nodding. "Paradise River? That's in Monaco, right?" Geography lessons! She sort of paid attention to them. "I was born in Benden. Well, a vintner cothold near Benden." Toe-may-toe, Tah-mah-toe. "But I'm pretty sure I don't want to go back there."
"Near there, yeah," D'lei confirms those inklings of geography, then nods to Rhodelia's Benden-oid origins. "Went from there to Landing, then from Landing to here, then from here to Monaco, then… back here again." He grins, just for a moment, then lets out a bit of a sigh as his expression shifts a bit more serious. "So don't." D'lei tilts his head, looking to Rhodelia. "If you need an excuse, we can find one."
Rhodelia's eyes widen a bit at D'lei's (southernly) Globe Trotting experience. "That's a lot of places." She gives a sigh herself as she gets up and offers a slight smirk. "I might need one later, but if I don't get going soon I'll need to come up with a reason for being late to my shift." Bar patrons don't care about deep existential crisis-es, they just want their drinks!
Hemispherical trotting experience? Something like that, anyhow. D'lei shrugs a bit, an equivocating sort of gesture, then… laughs. "No excuses. Just get everyone drunk enough that they forget there was ever an issue in the first place." D'lei may not actually be a good source of advice… at least, not if you listen uncritically to everything he says. "But I won't keep you." He'll actually shut up! (Risali would be jealous.) Or at least, he will once he lifts a hand to wave and says, "Good luck."