This time in the morning at Ista sees more than its share of activity. Food is being served. Riders are coming in from sweeps or getting ready to go out for drills. Klah is being drunk at rates usually reserved for healers after long shifts. And in amoungst all the hubub, a single out of place rider is stalking the room. Like a predator seeking prey, Eiriana the Xanadu wingsecond creeps in the shadows. Those close enough to the redhead might hear her mumbling to herself 'Come out come out whereever you are, Uncle Jinic.' And somewhere, hunkered down low, a little old man watches careful as the rider makes her way past him. Another day, another near miss for his niece spotting him!
Ah yes, the joys of being evaded by your family. Not only do Rhelia's relatives avoid her, but so do her brothers. Of course, in some cases this isn't a bad thing, like if your brothers happen to be stupid and whiny. So it is that Rhelia's enjoying no one's company but the silence of her own at a table, a few spaces open near her as she eats and drinks klah. There's got to be some sort of stimulant flowing through her blood if she's to keep her eyes open while looking at the records and all that boring work. Some other young man approaches the young woman at her table, clearing his throat and looking in askance for the spot opposite her, but Rhelia merely shakes her head and avoids looking at him. Clearly he's unwelcome.
If one were to sit above the crowd and put a bright orange dot on top of Eiriana's head and a blue one on top of the little old man's, they'd probably get dizzy with all the figure eights the pair are using, one to avoid the other and one to chase the other. But regardless of how many trips around and through the room (occasionally running down or into anyone not fast enough to move out of the pregnant greenrider's way), Eiriana's success rate is zero. And when her next swing brings her around Rhelia's table and the scent of klah, well the younger woman is doomed. Eiri doesn't ask permission. She doesn't even beg forgiveness! She just sits down across the way from the younger woman. "Have you seen a little old man, about two inches shorter than me with a reddish gray beard lurking around?"
The man who was trying to sit across from Rhelia and being snubbed looks positively flabbergasted as he's shoved out of the way by a pregnant woman. "Wenches, all of 'em," he mutters under his breath as he gives up and stalks off to inflict his unwanted attentions on someone else… or go brood. Who knows what dejected and snubbed men get up to? Rhelia certainly could care less. The younger blonde woman looks up at the red-haired and pregnant woman across from her, surprised by the sudden company. "'ve not seen anyone, go 'way," Rhelia grumbles. Her gaze turns down to her food before she takes another bite and a sip of klah, making a point of ignoring Eiriana.
Eiriana is completely oblivious to the attentions or annoyances of men. In fact, it would be best for everyone in the room wishing to keep their ears intact, that she remains that way and throughly unbothered. Pregnant women are scary women. And determined as well. Her eyes scan the room, giving every male older than their teens a very hard look. Are they harbouring runaway little old men? They could be. Blue eyes narrow dangerously and her current center of attention fidgets in place. Perhaps her death glare has some effect and will soon burn through the back of his head! Muhahahha! But then Rhelia answers and she turns back to the blonde woman with a disarming smile. "You've seen plenty of people if you've been sitting in here a while. Surely at least one of them fits the description? I'm Eiri by the way. Xanadu's duties and all that."
"No ah 'aven't," Rhelia replies on the heels of the greenrider's remark, her words muddled by a bit of bread that the recordkeeper is chewing on. A little crumb even flicks out and lands back on her plate. Such wonderful manners must be some sort of commentary on the fact that this woman across from her is unwelcome company. "Mmph," is her reply to the woman's introduction, a kind of snort and dismissive noise all rolled into one. If Eiriana was hoping for pleasant conversation, she's certainly looking in the wrong places for it, and meanwhile her little old man relative is going to be escaping the room if she sits here too long.
"See? Now was that so hard?" For a woman who has gotten her answer and should be up chasing the little old man as he makes his way out, Eiriana is more than happy to continue to occupy space near Rhelia. Unwelcome or no, she makes herself at home. This includes kidnapping a mug of klah from its previous owner as they walk by. Protests fall upon selective hearing and she enjoys the first sip especially, most likely as the previous owner is glaring at her. Off goes the klah-less person to leave Eiri to her entertainment. "Mmmmm. Good klah today. I should come to visit Ista more often. For as many cousins as I have here, I just don't get to come very often. It's always I've got something to do. Paperwork, clean the pets, clean the dragon, feed the pets, keep L'ton out of trouble, keep L'dran out of trouble, keep R'oc out of trouble… Always so busy! What about you?" Yes, Eiri doesn't need two for a conversation. She's quite good at keeping one up without help!
Rhelia wiggles her fingers over her plate, shaking little bread crumbs onto it before she wraps the hand about the mug of klah and takes another sip, pointedly not looking at Eiriana or paying her conversation much mind. Indeed, Eiriana is welcome to ramble to her heart's content about her problems and daily routine while Rhelia goes about breaking another roll in half. One half is buttered and then she adds some slices of meat to it, forming an impromptu sandwich from which she takes a bite. Of course, as she does so it's unavoidable that her green eyes should glance upwards and see the woman across from her, but that doesn't mean any further niceties, or replies, are given to Eiriana.
Eiriana rambles onward, her voice taking on the tone of someone used to talking to a brick wall and not getting a single answer. But her eyes are busier than a person's should be during conversation. "I imagine you are but what's there's to be done about it? Everybody is busy these days. Never a moments rest. Probably not even here at Ista and you guys are famous for your vacation spot." She's locked on to the food in front of Rhelia. Hmmmm… Avoiding looking at Eiri + food in direct line of sight between them should = food for Eiri. Her tone never changes and her rambling continues but one hand is creeping towards the food across the table with the steady confidence of someone who has done this at least one or two times before. The food wants to come to Eiri….
That doesn't mean that Rhelia's attention isn't on her food. Indeed, it's about the only thing that she is paying attention to. And as that hand comes sneaking towards her plate, it's not a hard thing to spot. In a single, rather nonchalant motion she simply grasps the rim of the plate and pulls it closer to herself before she takes another, overly large, bite of the sandwich in her hand. Now it's not quite possible for her to speak because, well, her mouth is more than full and she's looking like a Terran squirrel with full cheeks. But again, the young woman still says nothing or pays the greenrider any of the courtesies you would to someone who you are listening to. Rhelia is, for the time being, a brick wall of sorts.
Kicked puppy comes close to the look on Eiri's face as the food is moved out of range. But the food doesn't like yucky Rhelia's! It's rather be with happy Eiri's. Yup yup! And to that end a new technique is tried. She's nothing if not hopeful and determined! The hand retreats to her side and she continues to chatter along, pretty much aimlessly. Then she's looking over Rhelia's shoulder, eyes huge and shocked. Her mouth falls agape. "Whatever you do, don't look behind you." She half whispers to the girl across from her, terror reflecting in the blue depths of her eyes. Note that Eiri is gradually creeping forward, not back. Target - sighted, Enemy - soon to be otherwise engaged. Muhahahahaha!
There is plenty of food for hungry pregnant women to gorge themselves on. That which is in front of Rhelia is otherwise taken. Of course, the greenrider's plan is limited by two things. First, Rhelia has effectively tuned out the greenrider's aimless one-sided conversation at this point, and secondly, the young woman isn't even looking at Eiri to see that expression of utter horror written on her face. Finishing her sandwich, Rhelia once again wiggles her fingers over her plate to clean them, then turns a puzzled look at Eiriana. "You're still here? Didn't I tell you to go away?" Geez, woman!
"If I listened everytime someone said go away, I'd never meet anybody!" Awww, Eiri is all dejected. Plan - failed. But she got a response and that's enough to make her grin in Rhelia's direction. In the greatest of all wars, even the small victories count. "Besides, I never leave someone alone without at least finding out their name. Ma always said two things were important in life, always get a name and never ever eat pickled porcine feet. I always go by the first and I figure the second is pretty important too." The gentle Holdbred wisdom is never to be ignored. "Come on, I'm not even asking for a bite of your food. The least you could do is give me a name. Or I may have to give you a nickname. How you do feel about Miss Fluffybottom?"
If only the response extended to further niceties, such as a reply or the offering of her name. But instead, Rhelia makes a point of ignoring Eiri. If she can't get the hint that she's unwelcome, then Rhelia will just pretend that the woman isn't next to her, even if a pregnant woman is a little hard to overlook. The young woman stands up, taking her plate and klah with her as she walks away, not even a good-bye offered. Her path takes her over to the bin where her dirtied plate is placed for cleaning by the kitchen staff later. A redirection in her path occurs in order to obtain a refill on the klah.
A single piece of redfruit flys through the air! Look, it doesn't even need wings! It's target - one Rhelia. It's origin - Quite possibly the very innocent looking Eiriana but the man looking grumpy next to her after being forced to listen to the pregnant woman since she sat down, could also be the culprit. The good news - It wasn't thrown hard enough to hurt. The bad news - It's not once of those nice fresh ones. It's the yuckest redfruit in the bunch and it has but one goal, to hit the young woman on the rump as she runs away from the greenrider. And just to add insult to injury - "Miss Fluffybottom! Look out!" At least the redhead was nice enough to warn her?
It's quite possible that Rhelia is not paying attention to the ongoings around her, or maybe she just didn't put together between herself and the nickname 'Miss Fluffybottom.' At any rate, it's going to be 'Miss Redfruitbottom' with that splatty redfruit that sailed her way. That poor man, deprived of his yucky redfruit. The object meets the young woman's rump and earns a yelp and startled yell, that sloshes hot klah all over her hand and floor. And of course, the hot liquid prompts her to drop the mug, which shatters, and then issue a not so ladylike string of expletives.
Eiriana buries her head in her hands, peeking out between her fingers as the mess escalates. Oh dear. The gentlemen next to her lets out a hardy laugh. Inflict Eiriana upon him, will you? That's what you get! He gets a less than kind smack to the back of the head. Stupid male. It would appear the greenrider was not the thrower after all. She rushes to her feet and towards Rhelia. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. Those hot klah burns can be nasty. Let me walk you to the infirmary since this is all my fault. I insist." And by insist, the greenrider takes charge quite possibly before anyone can figure out what's going on and tries to herd Rhelia towards the doors leading to the bowl. How oddly insistent she is about it too.
It matters not who threw it, the wrath of Rhelia is rained down on the first to approach her. Hissing through her teeth at Eiriana she pulls her hand away from the woman with another curse. Her unburned hand goes to her bottom. And sure enough, there are bits of squishy redfruit that come away. Flinging the handful from her hand onto the floor she begins to storm out ahead of Eiriana, "Shards, woman, can't you leave me alone for a minute?" she fumes during her march. Can the pregnant woman keep up and effectively escort her to the infirmary?
Wrath? What wrath? Things said to or thrown at Eiriana are filtered through a careful mesh of 'I really didn't hear what you said right there' and a fine filter of 'I hear nothing I tell you! Nothing!' And through this method she not only seems unfazed by the behavior, she seems pleased by the direction taken by Rhelia. A little too pleased actually. Think along the lines of the feline that ate the wherry. She all but skips behind her, keeping pace with a happy smile. But for once at least she's being quiet. One of the signs of Pernese apocalypse.
So Rhelia is clearly not the only one with a selective filter, though Eiri's is clearly far less discriminating than Rhelia's. The young woman continues her stormy march out of the room, nearly knocking over some poor server putting out a fresh tray of food, in her mission to get out of the living caverns. If there is impending doom in the form of an overly cheery and usually talkative greenrider, it's something that Rhelia is completely impervious to at the moment. She's concerned more about herself than anything right now, see.
Meet impeding doom. A cousin to impending doom, impeding doom is much slower and tends to sit in front of places you want to go. Like out in front of the hallway leading to the bowl from the Living Cavern. This particular impeding doom comes in the form of a dainty green dragon. One who has planted her rump in the way despite the many protests being lodged from both inside and outside. As Eiriana continues to skip, a task probably better suited to a woman not pregnant and certainly not this far along, Balmaith the green turns around and puts her head down on the level on the people now exiting hurriedly, snorting at some and rumbling at others.
Dragons are a little less than terrifying if you've been living in a weyr for a few turns, and especially if your older brother is a dragonrider. Rhelia's on a mission, and that's being impeded by this inconsiderate beast. Harumph! The woman draws up to a halt and sends a narrowed eyed glare at the obstruction. "Move it," she orders harshly, as though that would do anything to free up the way. Can't the green see that she's got a burned hand and embarassing redfruit mush on her rump?
But it's not terror the tiny green is trying to inflict, in fact it's joy as she spots her favorite person (Eiriana) and then the person Eiri is so dutifully following. "Hi Ball!" Eiri calls ahead to the green. "I brought her like you asked. I didn't see why you couldn't have waited to meet her. No! Ball! You cannot…" Eiri should use more contractions. By the time she's finished the last word, the dragon is leaning over to give Rhelia a special surprise: a dragon sniff and a sneeze. A large sniff at that. "DUCK!" Eiri calls a speedy warning. This may not be pretty.
Rhelia fairly shrieks as she's sneezed on by a dragon. Small for a dragon or not, Balmaith is considerably larger than a human and that sneeze is, well… disgusting. Rhelia stomps a foot on the ground and shrieks again. "You inconsiderate brat of a beast!" Clearly the meeting between Ball and Rhelia is a little less than joyous on the human's part of the meeting. She wipes some dragon snot from herself and flicks it onto the ground. "Now move it!" she yells. Yes, yes, she's making a scene, but a dragon just sneezed on her!
It probably doesn't help any that the dragon is looking as smug as a dragon can. Nor that her rider is trying quite hard to control a set of giggles that refuse to be held in. They need out and to be heard! But in the midst of Rhelia's yelling and demands, something small and white is removed from Eiriana's pocket. "You shouldn't be so loud. It's not everyday Balmaith likes somebody so much. She thinks you have spunk." The giggles come under some form of control and Eiri starts forward with a bright grin. The white thing is held out as Rhelia is approached. "She likes you so much, she wants you to come to Xanadu. She promises not to sneeze on you again, well, at least not much. Miss Fluffybottom, will you join the Xanadu candidates and stand for Kilaueth's clutch?" The white things turns out to be a candidate's knot, dangled near the woman's face.
Who is this telling Rhelia to calm down? The young woman is red-faced and coated in dragon snot and mushy redfruit. And then of course, there is the matter of her burned hand, even if it's not severely burned, it still smarts and is enough to set off the short fuse to her temper. The white object is snatched out of Eiriana's hand, "This isn't funny! My name isn't Miss Fluffybottom!" she snarls, the offering of something and the explanations doing little to soothe her ire. Clearly the importance of the object is escaping her at the moment as well as the overall question being asked. But dangle it and it shall be grabbed and clenched in her fist. How thoughtful of Eiri to offer Rhelia a stress reliever.
"Miss Redfruitbottom then? Or Miss Dragonsnot but that one isn't fit for polite conversation. No, until you choose to tell me your name, it'll stay Miss Fluffybottom." The knot is snatched, importance recognized or not. Eiri jumps up and down, clapping her hands together happily. The squeal of delight might just break eardrums. "Oh Ball! We've got our first candidate! Isn't it great? We have to take her home and show her to everyone! You'd better move now so that she can get her hand cleaned up and then go pack." Like a mother hen, Eiri makes shooing motions towards the dragon and then towards the young woman. "Shoo, go get your hand cleaned and get back here with all of your things. I need to get back to Xanadu soon." She is immune to angry people!
"It's Rhelia!" the young woman fairly yells at Eiri, clenching the knot in her fist once more. Wait - what? with a furrow of her brows Rhelia regards the object in her hands, then narrows her gaze at Eiri. She's been duped! "Fine, I'll go pack," she replies curtly, marching off to return in clean clothes with a satchel over her shoulder a good half hour later. And in slightly better spirits, though with Rhelia that's not saying much.
"Rhelia. Nice name." Eiri looks throughly innocent as the woman finally gets a grasp on what she's been saying. "Remember to pack everything! It'll be a while before you can get back!" She calls after the young woman. "You know Ball, I think we have way too much fun…" The dragon snorts and together they find a quiet place to wait while Rhelia packs and then rejoins them. "One green dragon with rider at your service. Just hand me your bag, scramble on up Ball and we'll be on the way." Green and rider step away from the shadey spot they had been sitting in.
Rhelia is quieter and less red-faced now that she's clean and had some time to cool down, but that doesn't mean she's nice. There's a tenseness in her step that shows she's certainly less than happy to be stuck with Eiri and Bal, but hopefully the trip to Xanadu will be quick and then Rhelia can inflict herself on younger candidates and bully them. She shoves her bag out towards Eiri and then steps towards Ball. She's done this before and the green is on the smaller side of the dragons she's hitched rides on before. Ready whenever Eiri is.
Eiriana catches the bag with a happy grin. See, not much throws the greenrider. Not even grumpy candidates who look ready to attack her for all that she's put them through. With ease that can only come from time, she follows Rhelia's path up with a quick stop over to tie on the baggage. Remember your claim check number! She continues on to the green's neckridges and settles in. "Now remember to keep all your hands, feet and any small children on top the dragon at all times. I am not responible for items lost between or ate by my firelizards when we reach Xanadu." And they are off!