Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay
docks.jpg

Xanadu Weyr - Main Docks

Jutting out from the land are the platforms that make up the main dock of Xanadu Weyr. The extruded plastic makes an odd sound when footsteps echo across it. From this dock, two others protrude taking opposite directions, each for a special purpose.


It's early morning Mikal's been up since the sun's been up working in the infirmary and now he's found himself with seem free time. So it's off to the beach he goes. Kicking his shoes off somewhere he sits on the docks with an annoyed green fire lizard in his lap as he attempts to wrangle her to get some oil on her gleaming hide.

After an early breakfast with his sister, Muir skipped out on his Harper Lessons (surely he gets a vacation, right?) and heads for the beach. Can't seem to get enough of the Sea of Azov, now that he's home. Boots clomp on the dock as he walks, dressed in a loose tunic and trousers. "Hey," he says as he approaches another, setting the fishing pole down along with the tackle box he held in his other hand. "Mind?"

Mikal eyes the fishing pole with a bit of interest in his gaze. "Hey…you." he settles for that since he can't recall the boy's name, just that he looks familiar. "Join!" he waves a free hand then yelps as Elsie nips the moving appendage. "Mean!" he mutters. "Now lemme get this on that dry patch…"

Muir eyes the firelizard for a moment, and frowns. "She bites?" That's not normal, is it? "Muir," he supplies with a crooked grin. It's early morning and the pair of boys are sitting on the dock (of a bay, watching the tiiiiide roll away…oooooh), while Muir opens his tack box and fishes (har har har) out a hook and some squirming bait. Beside him, Mikal sits trying to oil his green firelizard.

It's not noon yet. So what IS Darsce doing out of bed? Damned if she knows! But here she is, hair combed and makeup flawless in her shortest of short shorts and loose cotton shirt tied up baring her midriff. Hey, daddy darling is not here to squint-eye at her and tug the shirt down or cover her shoulders with his riding jacket while intercepting ooglers with the stink eye, so she is as free as a bird to strut her stuff. In one hand she's got a steaming mug of klah, in the other, having kicked them off at the edge of the sand, flip flops dangle from her perfectly manicured fingers. She traverses the dock, and goes from standing to cross-legged seated in one graceful and practiced move, flipping her silvery blonde hair off her shoulders as she does so. "Hey Peanut, settling in?" It seems pet-names run in the family. Mikal gets a smile that shimmers with lip gloss. "Morning."

Mikal grumbles a bit. "Just a nip." he amends. "And she's cranky. I think she's proddy." "Ah, Muir. Right. Where'd you go the last few months?" he asks curiously. Another voice draws his attention and he peeks over towards Darsce. "Hi there."

Muir shrugs at Mikal, eying the firelizard as he flicks the pole into the water. "Coldstone Hold," he says, murmuring the name softly. "I, uh, was the heir. Briefly." Very briefly. "Good to be home though." So why doesn't he look happy? Turning his head at the approach of another, he has to force his eyes to stay on Darsce's /face/. "Hi, Farce," he returns. "Looking…good." Hot.

Darsce would love to get N'shen having a hard time keeping his eyes away from where they should go, but he's totally devoted to Natali. What? N’shen and Muir are HALF brothers. Mikal she's seen around a few times, but has failed to pay much attention to him since he's so young. Today however, she is in an unusually sunny mood. The flip flops are dropped on the dock beside her and she leaaaaans over towards Mikal offering the green firelizard her fingertip. "I like nibbles," she says huskily. She's being careful with her other hand not to spill that precious klah. "Hey! Be nice!" That's to Muir's nickname and she unwinds a bare leg to extend it and poke him with her toes. So there she is, all sprawled out on the dock between two young men. It's a very good thing daddy darling is busy elsewhere!

Mikal blinks. "Heir, eh? Huh." That's pretty much all he says on that matter. "S'always good to be home." is added after a moment's working on Elsie. She's still unhappy about it and lets them all know with loud, unhappy screeches. Darce once more commands his attention to her and for a moment he's near speechless. This one he's watched from afar and she's never said so many words to him at once. "Nibbles are good…" he says in a slightly breathless tone. "Um, I'm Mikal."

Muir is being poked with a sexy - no, his SISTER'S - toe, so he just pushes it away. "You be nice too," he says, reeling in the hook and then tossing it out again. "This is my half sister, Darsce," Muir says to Mikal, rolling his eyes. "What've you been up to, Darsce? We just got back yesterday…" And then he turns to stare at her, his brown eyes narrowing a bit. "Hey," he says, voice a bit sharp, "did you know why we were going on that fun little /trip/ to Coldstone?"

"I know, we've met," Darsce says flippantly of Mikal. There's an amused peek at healer apprentice from beneath mascara'd lashes for his breathless reply and a pleased 'gotcha' curve to her lips as she sits back up, withdrawing her hand from the irate firelizard. Far be it from her to interrupt an oiling! Besides, those screeches are irritatingly loud to one who ought to still be snoozing. "Not much," answers she truthfully about what she's been up to. Where then, does she get all her marks? "No," she says turning her attention from the water where Muir’s hook has disappeared back to her brother. "Weren't you going there to visit your grandparents?" That seems to her assumption anyway.

Mikal's gaze shifts from Darsce to Muri then back to Darsce again. "Seen 'er around before." he murmurs quietly. Elsie is finally cooperating in that he can oil the dry patch now. So it gives him an excellent excuse to look /down/ at the green in his arms and listen to the siblings chatter.

Muir snorts at Darsce, some anger simmering in his brown eyes. "We were /left/ there. Uncle Tharen left and so Thadan and Mom named /me/ the heir to Coldstone, so they shipped Marel and me off and left us there. It wasn't a visit, it was supposed to be for /forever/." And the boy is angry, that much is clear as he jerks the hook from the water and flings it out again. "So we were there for months, and I was forced to learn all this holding sh - stuff," he corrects himself. "And /then/ my uncle came back and said he wanted to be heir, and we came home. Yesterday." Glancing sidelong at his half sister, he eyes her for a long moment. "You really didn't know?" Turning, he looks at Mikal and nods. "So yeah, that's where we've been."

Darsce's leg is withdrawn and curled back underneath her as she regards Muir unblinkingly. "Hel-lo. I was the one who left you there," she says slowly. Duh. She was the one asked to take them there, after all. "If Thea did that," she seems to doubt it, "then there's more to the story," she says confidently, though she eyes him a moment longer, noting the anger. "So… what, you wanted to stay with that ass?" Meaning Thadan. She doesn't seem to have a problem not sugar-coating her language. "But no, honestly, I didn't know," she repeats. Mikal now, his comment about his little green firelizard has been simmering on the back burner of her mind. "Do you even know what proddy means?" she asks the younger boy sweetly. There's a subtle tease twinkling in her iceblue eyes as she asks the question.

Mikal is looking down so he can't really see the anger in Muir's eyes but he can certainly hear it in his tone! For several minutes he keeps quiet, murmuring to Elsie to sooth the proddy green. But his ears are open as he listens though! Despite his not wishing to comment any on the family matters he does reply to her sweetly asked question with a roll of his eyes. "Born in a Weyr, be hard for me not to know." he comments dryly but doesn't offer up what it means to her.

Muir nods, "Yeah, I know," he says, waving a hand at Darsce, "but I mean they didn't come get us when the 'vacation' was over." Exhaling sharply, he throws the hook out again, shaking his head. "Doesn't add up to me either," he mutters, uncomfortable with the whole thing. "And no, I didn't. I hated it there, neither of us was happy. But still, I'd kind of…I was going to be a Holder. Now I'm not. Now I'm nothing." The boy takes a deep breath and turns to look apologetically at Mikal. "Sorry," he mumbles. "Where're you from? Which weyr?" If it's Xanadu the native boy is going to feel kind of silly.

"Just checking!" sing-songs Darsce lightly to Mikal, "So when you feel all studly muffin suddenly, don't go checking the mirror for whiskers, k?" Oh, but she could have said MUCH worse, the minx. "Yeah, no they didn't," she agrees more seriously to her brother, "but I'm sure they had their reasons." This she firmly believes of both his parents, since she's known their father all of her life and Thea for several turns now. It's easier for her since it's not her life that was messed with. But his ‘I’m nothing’ claim draws a pretty frown. "That's not true. You can be anything YOU want to be now." She draws a breath and asks, "What do you want to be, Peanut?" And Mikal gets a curious look. Where IS he from?

Mikal isn't native to Xandu so Muir has no worries of feeling silly. After all, come winter time, Mikal's one of the first to complain over the cold and snow. "Ista." he replies to Muir though he casts the boy a sympathetic look at his remark of being nothing. "S'more to do at a Weyr." he offers a quiet suggestion. "After the lessons of course." Elsie croons with contentment and stretched out in Mikal's lap. "Silly girl." mutters the youth. His ears turn bright red which is his only reply to her studly muffin remark.

Muir grimaces at his sister's pet name. He hates that one. "Wanted to be a bluerider for forever," he mumbles, shrugging his shoulder. "But now…I don't know. I was all set to be holder, and now…I don't know." The choice - having the option - is difficult for the boy. "Maybe the Smiths? They make some neat stuff. I'm not too old to apprentice yet. What about you?" he asks, hauling Mikal back into the conversation. "What do you want to do with your life? Ista's nice, I've heard. Never been there, I don't think, but I hear it's really pretty. Why'd you end up here, then? From there?"

Aaaand that's probably why Darsce uses it, Muir. Pretend you love it and she'll probably find another one. The blonde reaches a forefinger and lightly tickles one of Mikal's reddened ears. "You're kinda cute when you're flustered," she says lightly. Hey - he's the youngest fella she's ever complimented. It's…sort of scary! And well, Muir has one LESS choice now, though Darsce doesn't point that out. Instead she suggests, "You could always model clothes for me in Ierne? It's not easy finding male models." Though really it shouldn't be. Who would say no to her? Obviously SHE thinks no one would want to.

Mikal ducks his head a bit at the touch to his reddened ears. Hey look it that….he quickly latches onto the conversation opening Muir gives. "Ista's great. Best beaches ever. I got into some fights though when I was younger." Cause ya know, he's oh so old now! "I'm an healer apprentice. Lota work but I like it. Whatcha want to be a blue rider for?" he asks curiously.

Muir blinks at Darsce. Blink. BLINK. And he opens his mouth to shrink back and recoil in horror and say NO, but then he pauses. One can almost /see/ the gears turning in his head. "There's pretty girl models there too, right?" And then he's looking back at Mikal, blinking. "You're a Healer but you got into fights? Isn't that, like…against the Healer code or something?" Do no harm! Then he lifts his chin, almost defiantly. "My dad - our dad - is a blue rider." But then his voice falters a bit and he looks over at Darsce. "You see how he's changed since he and mom…broke up?"

"Are there ever," drawls Darsce of pretty girl models. Does she warn Muir about their papa snorting and calling him girly for considering modeling? She does not! Darsce… is a bad influence. "I like beaches," says Darsce brightly regarding Ista, beaming approval to Mikal for being from a place with great ones. Shallow, thy name is Darsce! But the young Mikal in a fight has her spluttering laughter. "What, did you get mad when the other toddler wrecked your sandcastle?" Someday, Mikal, nevermind that she is nearly ten turns your senior, she will flirt and admire your muscles. Today though, she is highly amused. She sobers at Muir's question and her laughter fades. Dropping her head forward so her hair falls to hide her face, she mutters, "Yeah. He's a lot grumpier. And drunk a lot. But he won't talk about it, even when I tried to fix them back up." Her vulnerability is swiftly covered in her shield of flippancy a moment later as she tosses her head like she really doesn't care, shrugging, "And he's REALLY scaring the boys off now, dammit!" The Grouchy Mcgrouchypants!

Mikal actually snickers a bit at Muir. "I wasn't always a healer." he points out. "Anyways I went from Ista to Red Sands hold to hear. Fostered out." he offers a shoulder shrug. "Nothing wrong with blue riders. Got one in my family." he says, again offering a shrug. Certainly he seems unsure of how to even address Darsce so any response he gives is a mixture of blushing and stammering along with a bit of defiance in his tone. "Oh haha, not when I was a toddler." oh what a wise response he's able to give. Not so much really but he can't think of anything witty right this moment. Just wait until she's gone though! He'll think of the most witty remarks /ever/. And he'll drink his milk too, to grow this muscles. Rawr!

Muir nods at Darsce, actually considering it. "Well..yeah. I could do that once or twice to help you out. Model and stuff. How much do I get paid?" He snorts at her teasing of Mikal, reaching out to flick her arm, and then he sighs, nodding. So it wasn't just yesterday, then. "Thanks for trying," he murmurs. Back to Mikal, the boy nods, and then grins. "Healers are good tho. Lots of pretty girls in the Healers. And some not so pretty ones, but they're fun to talk to." Ouch.

Darsce arches a slim and shapely brow at Mikal. Because that was so long ago, right? But healer he's said and so she purrs suggestively, "That means you know how to play Doctor, right?" She gives him a slightly wicked smile right after she says that. Smirksmirk. She relents though from teasing the boy, flipping her silvery blonde hair back to peer at Muir. "Four marks per session and a clothing discount," she says, all business. AhHAH! So she earns her marks legit - when she works. "Daddy darling doesn't forgive easily, Muir. It's why MY mother and he split up before he met Thea." Sigh. This is so hard. But! She can't sit and dwell on things too deeply. This young woman is a master at avoidance, just like her father. She rises, scooping up her sandals. "I need a nap. Ta!" Her over-the-shoulder flutter of fingers with sandals hanging off her thumb serves as a goodbye for the both of them. Darsce is as casual as they come.

Mikal isn't adding much into the whole modeling part of the conversation. Nope. Most of that goes over his head as he struggles to keep most of his wits in tact around Darsce. It's a full time job! He also only gives a disinterested shrug at the mention of pretty girls in the healers. "Suppose so though I stay kinda busy with studies or working' in the infirmary." notes the healer apprentice. More blushing ensues at Darsce's words. "Um I..oh. See ya then!"

Muir sighs softly, about to ask his sister more questions, but then she's leaving. Ahh well. He's used to her running off. "Let me know about the next job!" he hollers after her, before looking to Mikal. "Modeling sounds like a great job, huh? Paid, clothes, and meeting model girls! And don't let her bug you, she does that to everyone."

Mikal is still a little red around the ears. "Huh…s'not a bad idea." he admits in a thoughtful tone. "Could use some newer clothes myself." he stands, shifting the now sleeping green to his shoulder. "I should get to some errands and stuff. I'll see ya 'round."


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