Xanadu Weyr - Meadow
A large, slightly rolling meadow is set high enough above the riverbank on both sides to avoid suffering from flooding, healthy ground cover and grass spreading out from either side of the dividing river. Scattered amongst the meadow are a variety of buildings, each with a narrow path leading up to it from a main, winding road. Some are set under a few trees, while others sit by themselves.
Stables and a smithy are settled on their own plots, while trees border the northern edge of the meadow, and a faint outline of a fence can be seen to the east.
Such a beautiful day to spend outside. There's a few clouds scattered across the skies and moving eastward like fat little ovines, and Arkoss is sitting on a log mending laundry. Now, normally this wouldn't be an unusual scene, but he's wearing a skirt consisting of pink, purple, blue, and red. To somewhat preserve his dignity, he's not wearing a shirt /or/ anything else. Hmph.
Delynni is coming back from fishing with a full bucket, and when she spots Arkoss she blinks in surprise. Men in kilts is something odd. Men in kilts mending laundry? That's cruel and unusual, and Delynni starts to grin and amble over to Arkoss, recognizing him vaguely from the barracks.
Keziah has been washing laundry earlier in the day and now she's out in the pens near the stables checking out some of the caprines, one of which looks to be quite pregnant. Course a flash of pink catches her eyes a bit and she catches sight of Arkoss. Her eyes twinkle as she slips back through the fence and heads over to him, the sweet scent, well sweet to her, of caprine all over her.
Amarante is on dish-duty. That said, sometimes there is a lull in dishes - long enough for the capitalizing young Candidate to sneak out for a bit of air and de-wrinkling of her hands. This is what she's done for now, just breathing in and out and getting some of the kinks out of her lower back and legs from having stood a good while. Stiffness. Nnngh. Spotting Arkoss, she's about to call out to him - then stares at what he's wearing. That…. is her SKIRT. Words die on her lips. For the moment. "By the first shell," she mutters to herself. "He actually DID it?!" She trots towards him at that point, calling out, "Arkooooooss! You take care of my skirt, you… you…." She has no words. "BOY!"
Arkoss looks up when girls mob him and scowls at all of them, even Delynni although she wasn't in on his second public humiliation in two days. "I'll take care of your skirt." Arkoss snorts at Amarante. "You can have it back as soon as I'm done with it. Eight hours, I'm down to five more." glower at Keziah.
Delynni eyebrow quirks at Arkoss and Amarante. "What's up with you? Decided to be eccentric for a day? Or are you just naturally colorblind?" She asks him. "Because I wouldn't be caught dead in that skirt."
Keziah snickers a little "Oh I dunno, I think he looks positively charming." she murmurs ever so sweetly as she bats her eyes in an over exageratted fashion. "Have you gotten any offers from any guys yet?" she asks curiously as she sits down next to him to eye the laundry "You've a neat hand there, one could think you're a girl."
Amarante blinks and eyes Delynni. "It is /colorful/," she says stiffly. "There's just more pink in it than anything. I wore it a lot when I was back home on the beach. You /need/ color there." She crosses her arms and huffs a little, eyeing Arkoss' work. "It /is/ good work, though," she tells him. "Maybe you should think about becoming a Weaver." She reaches out and tries to ruffle his silvery hair.
Stepping lightly out of the darkness of her weyr, M'iri stretches her body up in a slow arch, waking limbs from their slumbering position, and muscles giving slight pops as pockets of air are released from them. The day is wonderful, duty is wonder— what the hell? Miir opens her eyes to Arkoss in a skirt, and that it, the Wingleader's eyes going from sleepy to wide. She notes the other candidates gathered around, and she gives a small grin to them. Kieranth's own head finally comes fro mthe darkness, itself, head and neck exposing into the light. Taking a moment to consider weather she should get herself involved in this group or not, Miir just watches them, until ofcourse, Amarante comes over accusing Arkoss of wearing /her/ skirt. And the bluerider is too amused to keep butted out. Walking towards them, she arches a brow towards Arkoss, "And what might I ask, prompted such a attire?" Kieranth pauses behind, lowering his eye to observe this odidity, as well. "Wait! You were the one searched by Adinaeth, weren't you?" And somehow, that explains /everything/ to the bluerider.
Arkoss ducks away from Amarante, then thumps his bare chest. "No guy would confuse me for a girl, I don't have a rack." he does have a somewhat hairy chest though, and if anyone wonders if silvery white /is/ his real hair color, well there's no wondering now. "It's her fault!" he protests immediately to M'iri, pointing at Keziah. "She's bribing me to wear this for eight hours. And…yes, I was." sigh.
Delynni quirks her other eyebrow this time. "Hmmmm, that's right, you seem to have made every effort to prove that fact. Just make sure your wardrobe doesn't malfunction, or the riders will be screaming about nekid candidates." Delynni giggles.
Keziah looks positivly /not/ innocent. Her eyes are dancing way too much "Wasn't me. Nuh huh, can't prove a thing." she can't help resist laughing thought "After all, it's not like I twisted your arm or anything. After all, I'm such a small girl. What could I do?" Oh yeah, she's innocent. Right. "Side's I ain't got much of a rack either, see?" she states as she opens up her vest to show off her small chest. At least she still has a shirt on? Which can't be said for Arkoss, though with that silvery hair, it may as well look hairless. She glances at Delynni "Whats wrong with naked candidates? I mean it's warm enough out and all." she states with a shrug "Sides, some of the riders go around butt naked with their work."
Amarante just sort of… glides past this naked conversation thing. Not that it bothers her, but it's /Arkoss/! Listening to them all, though, a thought rises in her mind. There is nothing to do but blurt it out with suddenly wide blue eyes. "ARKOSS. YOU HAD BEST BE WEARING UNDERPANTS." She points at him. "I have seen the state of you boys' underpants in the laundry and and and…." Oh my poor skirt!!!! that look on her face screams.
"As far as I'm aware, you arn't /required/ to take up a bet." M'iri laughs, eyeing the younger boy up for a moment in contemplation, "And well, just get something to glue two redfruits to ya, and you could fit in with the rest of the female candidates, if that's what your trying for." The bluerider tries for an innocent look, sliding her eyes between Delynni, and then Keziah, that one brow of her's arching up to it's highest point at their mention of nakedness, and rider's nakedness. "Uh-huh… And what riders have /you/ been talking to?" The look from the Wingleader suggests that anyone exposing themselves might earn having something nailed on to cover private parts. "Not many riders I see prancing around naked, as far as I know. Could you imagine going between naked?" Ouch. And Amarante's question of anything under Arkoss' shirt just makes the bluerider explode into laughter, "If not, you might consider burning it…"
"It's not a bet." Arkoss mutters. "It's something else. And no /thanks/." sulk. "I don't want to be a girl, I'm perfectly fine the way I am right now. And speaking of bets, R'in had to go around naked because she lost one, I think." Amarante is eyed. "You want me to take it off then?"
Delynni shakes her head. "I just don't want to see a fellow candidate indulging in indecent exposure. That's enough to scar a runner bred lass like me for life!" Delynni declares. "If a rider's proddy or well…… that's them. I always thought candidates are expected to be proper when it comes to nudity." She tells M'iri. Then there's Arkoss, threatening to take it off? "Faranth no, I can go without seeing your lower half bare to the world, thank you." She says, slapping her hands over her eyes just in case Arkoss decides to take the skirt off anyway. She looks from Amarante to Keziah to M'iri with a look that says, 'help me.' "Right? Candidates aren't allowed to show off their man and woman bits in public?" Two candidacies and Del has never seen something like this, obviously.
Keziah can't help but grin all the more. Poor Arkoss. "Well, I suppose you could take it off, but then you wouldn't be wearing it for the fill eight hours and well.." she lets that trail off as she nods "Yeah, it was R'in that was doing her duties sans clothing. Was kinda interesting. Not sure I'd wanna try that. I'd be afraid of getting something pinched or the like."
Amarante makes a little sound in her throat. "You just… keep that skirt on," she tells him quickly, finger wagged. "I can wash it much easier than…. my brain." She rubs her forehead. There is no amount of sweetsand in the world… "I think I have a bit more pride than to run round naked as a Candidate. OR a Weyrling." She pauses and then glances at M'iri. "The dragons don't care one way or the other, right? Or are they more or less hatched with the idea that we're odd lumpkins to wear clothes when we don't absolutely have to?"
M'iri folds her arms and leans against Kieranth, whom lowly growls at Arkoss before paying none of them any heed. Taking a moment to eye the rest of the people here, she shrugs, "Like Keziah said, I see no one forcing you into that skirt, and Adinaeth isn't present?" Nodding her a little, it suggests she's heard of R'in's streaking as of the other day, "Aye, but… That's R'in for you." She won't mention the flooding baths, or dousing Niva in salty fish water. Nope. She chuckles again, shaking her head. She's been a rider long enough to know what to expect in male physique, but that doesn't control the hold-bred side of her to blush at it. "Ah, I might suggest keeping that on. Would hate for you to… Get certain parts caught on something while you do your chores. I've heard that's painful." She grins at Keziah as she implies the same thing the other candidate does. Switching to Delynni for a moment, she lifts her head in thought. "Hrm. I know it's probably discouraged, since it kinda goes with other 'no-no' rules. But, given if you impress, you probably should get used to seeing parts you don't generally do." Or wake up randomly with people you don't know. Total strangers. Miir shivers to some of her memories, causing Kieranth to rumble and lower his muzzle next to her, the bluerider idly reaching up and patting midnight blue cheek. "Hrm…" She says to Amarante, turning to Kieranth for a moment, "I don't think it's a big deal to them, no."
"I wasn't going to, but since it was your idea and it's your skirt…" Arkoss shrugs at Amarante. "If you insisted, I'd go change." the dragon is blinked at, and Arkoss shifts a little away in case Kieranth decided that eating him was a good idea. He's not afraid of dragons, but it's kinda disconcerting to have something that big growl at you. Call it instinct.
Delynni grumbles in response to M'iri turning away from the others for a moment. "If it were sex, it wouldn't matter to me ma'am. Its just a matter of courtesy, you don't go running through the Weyr buck nekid, its /rude/. Flights are something you can't help, n' proddy riders can't control their behavior I don't think, but if you have control of it, one shouldn't go streaking through the Weyr with not even one's underthings on."
Keziah shrugs a bit "It don't bother me none, I mean we all come into this world naked." A pause and then a smirk "Course some people are better off not going about nude. After all, if you don't have anything worth showing, why prove it?" she asks with a grin "Course, some are just a bit too white of skin. Be blinding as well."
Amarante lightly and slowly taps a foot on the ground, eyeing Kieranth as he growls at Arkoss. Hm. She nods at M'iri and shrugs a little. "I'd have to wonder," she says simply. "Were I a dragon, I suppose. We're all kind of born naked." She sets her hands onto her hips and glowers at Arkoss. "You better keep that on," she tells him seriously. "Because you made your deal and now you better see it through no matter what." She hesitates. "Besides, I wouldn't want you getting… things… caught accidentally and missing the hatching because…. you were hurt." Delicate cough. Singing soprano as a harper's apprentice? She doesn't say that one out loud.
Arkoss probably has good reason to be afraid of Kieranth, if any of these candidates actually knew how innately violent the blue is. Thankfully, M'iri keeps him in check, smacking his muzzle lightly and giving that look of talking to the creature. Miir laughs at Arkoss' goating, beforen odding lightly. "Well, I mean, in comparison to us, everything is naked. Including dragons. I just don't think it's something they even consider, or think about." She coughs a little and shrugs, "Short memory span helps alot with that… Though sometimes, a dragon will surprise you, and recall things…" Nodding lightly to Delynni, the bluerider agrees with her. "Aye, it's all a matter of respect to visitors, and holdbred folk."
"I'd hate to see the amount of fabric needed to clothe a dragon." Arkoss laughs. "Can you imagine? Maybe a newly hatched green, but…."
Keziah looks at Kieranth thougtfully as she steps his way a little. Yup, she lives for trouble "It would certainly take some doing wouldn't it?" she asks curiously as she eyes the dragon "Think he'd wear a skirt perhaps?" she asks after a moment as she stands there unguarded. "I think a purple one would look good and all."
Amarante grins and laughs suddenly. "It'll be just my luck. I'll Impress at the hatching, and it'll be the only dragon in the history of ever to want to wear clothes while it's young. I'll have to have a Weaver help me knit a sweater out of wool or something for the poor thing." She grins at Arkoss. "Be about as silly looking as you are NOW, might I add." She cocks her head at her fellow Candidate. "Though I do have to admit, it brings out your color a bit…"
Keziah's suggestion earns a turn of Kieranth's head, just above Miir's own. The midnight blue lets out a deep and low growl, and from Kieranth mental touch, a large spit wad of blood is sent to Keziah's mind's eye, to splatter and leak all about in it's bloody and spit-filled display. Pulling back from that tiny touch, Kieranth leans down again to M'iri, who just outright laughs, "Ah, yeah… I don't usually wear skirts, getting Kieranth into one is even less likely." Just the talk of dragons prancing in clothes wierds the bluerider out, causing her to blink absurdly at their antics… "Ugh, Adinaeth must be around these candidates way too much." She mumbles…
Delynni suddenly hears her name called. "Del??? Del where are you? Del?" Its a girl from the kitchens. "Somebody said you had fish? The cooks want to see your catch!" Delynni turns to the group. "I gotta go!" She says cheerfully, she's half gone before calling back. "I'm Delynni! Del for short! Nice to meet you!" And she's away.
Hot and bothered. Sweat glides down his face, as if it were pouring rain and he was the only one standing under it's cloud. Climate change is an adjustment, yet it takes a bit out of a person. It's Nalkor now that suffers the consequences of arriving from a much cooler place. A dragon that broke in from *between* and soon after landed in the clearing, moments laters shows its parcal as a man lumbers forward with a pack slung over his shoulder. It's only after he shuffles through the grasses to arrive in the meadow does he gave up on trying to make it to where he was supposed to go. Eagerly, he dumps his gear under a tree, heading right for the river. He gets as near he can to the water before kneeling, quickly cupping some water to splash about his face. Look. New arrival. Hah.
Arkoss snorts at Amarante. "Well what I want to know is what possessed you to own a skirt like this anyway." he retorts, plucking at it in annoyance. "Even /I/ know that the colors clash. And I don't /have/ any color to bring out aside from my tan." silvery white hair, gray eyes, what?
Keziah goes completely still and then all of a sudden just starts batting at the top of her head as if trying to rid herself of something "Oh Shards but that is like totally and completely gross!" she exclaims as she gives herself a shake "That's just eww. Eww! Ack!" she shudders a little and stomps away from group towards the caprines in their pens muttering under her breath about disgusting and crude dragons.
Amarante scowls at Arkoss with narrowed blue eyes for that one. "I will have you know," she tells him firmly, "that comments of that nature have gotten boys /kicked/ in the /shins/ before. So fine." Arms fold at her chest and her chin lifts a touch haughtily. "So what if the colors clash a little? Your shirt tends to balance it out. That and the swimsuit you wear. Or did you think I wore it all the time for no good reason?" Hmph! She blinks as Keziah goes stomping off for some reason, eyeing the big blue dragon for a moment. Clearing her throat, she looks back at the object of her annoyance and scowls at him all over again. "I should have you take it off and give it back if it bothers you /that/ much. You can find someone else's skirt to wear to win with."
Enough slogging it, the vintner pulls himself up off the river bank, letting the beads of water temporary sooth his overheated body. Turning back around, the man collects his things again, hucking them over his shoulder. A look around registers the group clustering around. Ah. The man moves toward them, grass bending around him as he works his way through the meadow. Popping a shoulder he lets his gear tumble to the ground once he is near enough to greet: "Afternoon and such. Any of you know which way to the barracks?" He fumbles for a piece of crumpled paper the rider who dropped him off left him with, though by the looks of it when he unfolds it, the ink has blotched on him. Twisting his gaze around at each individual, he finds his eyebrows raising as he peers at Arkoss, substantially alarmed.
M'iri adeptly covers her mouth at the suggestion of kicking, "Or other places…" She mumbles behind her mouth, before folding her arms a little and contemplating Arkoss for a moment. "White wash comes to mind. White is a color, after all!" Beam. Keziah stomping off is noted, but Miir makes no effort to control Kieranth's habit, this time. She /did/ try to suggest a purple skirt for him, after all. Not even Miir would be caught dead in purple. Taking note of the entrance of Nalkor, she cringes a little at his sweaty face, "I presume you came from up North? Either that, or they've got you working hard…" She looking for what his knot denotes him as, but she hasn't quite seen it. "Ah, barracks? Towards the clearing, and through the Hatching Area… Uhm." She's bad at giving non-xanaduian's directions. "The hatching arena should be obvious. Ledges, huge opening…" Yeah, not helpful bluerider.
Arkoss regards Amarante. "If you can't take what you dish out, don't dish out." he tells her evenly, then notices….oh shards, another guy. "Er, yeah. What she said." he adds, nodding in M'iri's direction. "You got Searched too, huh?"
Amarante nudges Arkoss' foot with her own. "/I'm/ not the one wearing the skirt when it's unnatural," she tells him simply. "I don't HAVE to take what I'm handing out to you." So /there/. Nyah. She sniffs and glances at the newcomer, giving him a once-over critically. Something about him is familiar, but she's not sure what….
Keziah doesn't notice Nalkor, that's for sure, she's still too busy trying to get the gruesome image out of her head. Which is a shame, it's a good chance to antagonize Arkoss all the more, and perhaps Nalkor as well. Nope, instead she's watching the caprines, her face starting to frown as she watches pregnant doe.
It takes a long time for Nalkor to register that someone else is speaking to him. He just can't stop looking at Arkoss - holding that disbelieving and undeinable disapproving look. Even as M'iri asks him if he's from up north, Nalkor holds onto that arch in his brow as he mutters to Arkoss, "Do you realize what you're wearing?" As if the kid didn't know. This is when he catches the tail end of M'iri's words, "Big arena. Gotcha. That way, right." Pause, "From up North? Oh yeah. Lorena swooped down at me when I was at the 'Reaches." A side glance back at Arkoss as he carries on, still disturbed about the whole skirt thing, "That isn't his color…" he says as if to bring levity to his … shock?
M'iri is watching Keziah for a moment over in her corner near the stables, but the familiar name brings the bluerider back to the conversation suddenly. "Lorena?" She asks suddenly, sizing the new fellow up, suddenly, for no apparent reason. Feigning the sudden interest, she trails on the younger man a moment longer, before she goes back to Amarante and Arkoss, "There can only be two things, considering your prancing around in that skirt, knowing it's ugly… Your either very self-assured, or rather stupid. Either way, I'm pretty sure it's not her…" She points at Amarante, for lack of a name, "Who's wearing the piece of clothing. Like she said." … Maybe it's time she addedh er name, so she actually /knows/ these people, other then as 'that' candidate. "M'iri is the name, by the way." Her knot tells the rest of her status. She didn't miss introductions earlier, did she? Brow props up in inquery?
Amarante nods at Arkoss once. Heh. See? The smug quality that's there vanishes a moment after as she realizes, with a blink, that the newcomer and bluerider didn't actually give her name until right then. And then that SHE hasn't either. "I'm Amarante," she offers with a little curtsy, quick and polite, to the ranking dragonrider. "Nice to meet you, Mistress M'iri." She's letting Arkoss introduce himself. "And you, ah… Nalkor?" She isn't sure what to call him. He's older, yet apparently a Candidate.
Loyauth trots down the trail from the clearing, Lorena, single crutch in hand, astride. "M'iri!" She yelps, from the brown's back as she sees Kieranth and his rider. There's clear distress on her face as she goes to dismount but… oh shards… she forgot that getting down was harder than getting up with this bandaged foot. Pause. Frown. She swings a leg over, holding tightly to the handsome roughout straps on her brown's neck. She, at this point, has not registered the others around, save that most of them seem to be younger… and there's some… -caprines?- Pause. She dangles from Loyauth's side at this mental trigger and turns her head about to pass another look at the beasts. There's Keziah with them. Phew… And yet that feeling doesn't abate. Stupid feelings. She resumes the slow process of lowering herself, by hand, down her dragon, using one foot upon his raised forarm just once. She looks like a rock climber going arms-only down a cliff. Meanwhile, she talks… "Did you…" urgh! "hear from Matt?" And with a bracing look, she hops down, crutch in hand, onto one foot, waves her arms wildly, knee bent, and sticks it! That's a sailor for you. Spin, turn… "Nalkor?!" Fuhwhump! And she falls backwards on her butt. Loyauth… the dying thing? « Nah, Lory. »
"Arkoss." the young man offers, rolling his eyes at Amarante. He then checks his watch. "Only an hour left." he says in some relief. Dang, they've been out here this long? "And you know, it's normally just master craftsmen you need to call 'Master'." he tells Amarante. "The ones who've earned the title."
Nalkor catches onto M'iri's words, "Yes, Lorena. You know the pretty lass," for lack of a better description. He continues on with a sure footed introduction of himself, speaking of self assured, "Yes. I'm Nalkor. Journeyman vintner by trade and candidate by pretty diversions." He follows the introductions around by face, nodding at M'iri and then Amarante. He isn't so daft not to see the flutter of activity over the younger crowd's heads, lifting yet his brow again as lips pull back into what looks like a sneer, but for him is a smile. To her rescue? Perhaps not, at least, not until she gets that surprised expression on her face at his appearance. "Excuse me folks," he says politely, side stepping his pack toward the butt-rooted Lorena, "Careful Lorena, it looks to me you've already got a bad foot, don't need another do you?" A hand appears before her.
Amarante lifts her brows at Arkoss. "Are you saying," she asks slowly, "and this is just so I can fully understand it correctly, that she hasn't…. earned…. her position?" Uh /huh/. She glances up as Nalkor moves off to help Lorena, upon the latter's arrival, and she waves with abrupt cheer at the brownrider and Loyauth. She likes the pair. Searched by them or not.
M'iri wrinkles her nose at the formal prefix added to her name, smiling weakly at Amarante at her use of it, "Please, just M'iri. I have no affinity to formalities, when I can avoid it." She blushes just a little for the formality treated of her, but Kieranth seems rather pleased for it, rumbling to the candidate, "Nice to meet you, Amarante." Arkoss' comment about her rank is earned a withering glare fro mthe bluerider, but she isn't given time to respond to him before she hears a familiar voice. Speak of the devil. As for Kieranth, while Miir is distracted, her lowers his face close to Arkoss and growls again, «Don't speak of things that you have no knowledge in, it just makes you more the fool, /child/.» A blown yellow bubble of blood is earned for Arkoss' mind, before the receeds back, mentally and physically. Miir makes to run to help Lorena, but is beaten to it by Nalkor, and she laughs al ittle at his comment. "At this rate, she'll break her tail bone, before she breaks her other foot." She moves closer to Nalkor, just incase the brownrider is needing more help then just one hand, but she's more interested in another thing mentioned— "What about Matt?" A bit of worry covers her face… She has been bound to Xanadu for three monthes, after all…
Lorena is in a state of shock, staring at him. Again, it's Loyauth's subtle prompting, bringing her to her senses. "Ah… Oh…" She reaches up and takes his hand, righting her crutch to the side most applicable and pulls herself up and back onto one foot. "S'pose not." She mumbles, once righted, and leaning on the crutch. "You… you're here." Mmm, duh Lorena. A look is shot at M'iri. Yus. This one. This is the one. "When-er…" She looks at the bag on the ground and back to him. "did you arrive?" Wait! More pressing news! "Oh! Sorry Nalkor…" She says shyly, turning to M'iri. "Raenth… he contacted Loyauth… said Matt was really upset about something. He didn't want to say what but he's not eating. I wouldn't have thought anything of it myself, told him it could just be stress, but Raenth is really concerned." Meanwhile, Loyauth's large head swings towards the other candidates, after making sure that boy isn't going to try any funny business. His head lowers to peer at her with a croon. He looks over to the one Kieranth is glaring at an… does a double take. Hroooom? « Hey hey, Lory… take a look at this'n. » "Loyauth tried talking to Matt, but he told him to go away-What?" Lorena looks mildly annoyed in the direction of her dragon and then… stares. She looks back to M'iri… then to Nalkor… explaination?
Oh great, even the dragons are staring at him. Flinching from the blood bubble sent his way, he glares as much as he can at a dragon that could eat him up without chewing. Again, he glances at his watch. Hurry hurry hurry. Arkoss is staying silent now, yep.
"I certainly hope not—" this to M'iri's comment of Lorena breaking her tail bone, "it would mean someone else would have to show me around this Weyr." He steadies himself when she latches on, heaving her up easily without breaking a sweat - save for the sweat that the heat has already brought. "Indeed I am. It took me longer than I had hoped, though it's a little tougher to get out of one's duties when one has a journeyman knot on their shoulder. I had to do some convincing for another Vintner to come out and take over what I was doing." A smile. "I just did. One of the Reaches riders were happy enough to give me a lift." To Lorena's last expression he can only shrug, "He likes wearing skirts, I guess."
Amarante dips a curtsy to Kieranth too when he touches her mind. "You as well, sir." She then focuses on Arkoss again. "I'll have to get back to dish-duty soon," she tells him frankly. "I'd like to at least walk you to the barracks and make sure my poor skirt is still in working order beforehand." She eyes him suspiciously. "Not that I don't trust you to care for it, but I'm worried you might wind up liking them so much I find them missing…"
M'iri claps Nalkor on the shoulder, a little flush on her cheeks as she does so, "Well we all hope not, who's gonna keep Loyauth sane?" Kieranth is decides Arkoss is a little too uppity, and leaning forward again, the midnight blue snaps his teeth in front of the candidate, none-too-subtle hint on the lad retaining his manners around his Master. Whuffling Amarante a little as he goes over to Kieranth, the midnight blue dragon rumbles a quiet greeting to Loyauth— but his attention is now on Miir's reaction. "He's /what/!?" M'iri growls, raising her brows as she does so, looking from Lorena to her brown, and then back… The others are forgotten in favor of T'eo in distress. "Kieranth!" M'iri yells, turning towards her dragon before looking back at Lorena for a second, "I think it's time I paid Western a visit, don't you?" She says blithely, walking over to her complying dragon and climbing up his shoulders. Settling herself in the straps and clipping them on, she gives a nod to candidates, and a lazy and teasing salute to Lorena. "Looks like I'm running off again, Sister," Miir uses the new nickname for Lorena, not yet knowing if the brownrider protests to it or not, "To go have a chat with a certain /starving/ Weyrleader." Last is grumbled, and Kieranth is convinced aloft, before he blinks between.
"I do not." Arkoss snaps at Nalkor, then turns to glare at Amarante. "And I will not, thank you very much. I'm only wearing this because /she/ said she'd give me a firelizard egg if I did!" ah, the things greed causes a person to go through. When Kieranth bites at him he flinches and jerks backwards, almost falling off the log he's sitting on. Fortunately, nothing is seen.
Lorena gives a snort, watching Arkoss as he falls off the log, and quickly looking away. Erf! "They're weird sometimes… candidates." Er… look who she's talking to? She looks back at him with a sudden blush again reminiscent, but not as bad as the day she met him. "Ah, oh… well… some of them?" She was also one herself. She'd heard that earlier comment and there's no sense in ruining -that- hope with her less than tactful mouth. The bellow of "Kieranth" wipes this from her mind long enough to look worriedly towards M'iri as she calls her dragon to her and mounts. She likes the nickname. Makes her feel loved. She likes feeling loved or she wouldn't have her cowboy cad of a dragon. Yup. "Good luck! Tell him I love him!" Glance at Nalkor. "Matt-er T'eo… My brother. He's Western's Weyrleader now." Had she told him this? She doesn't know.
Amarante jerks at the teeth snapping nearby, but otherwise doesn't move and winces a bit. Oof. He's gotten on the blue's bad side. She clears her throat and peers over at the half-fallen Arkoss. "So. You… ah…. need some help up?" she asks, leaning over and offering a hand to the other Candidate. She's not smiling this time, and not making it a joke. Though he does look a little… weird… sprawled on a log in an ankle-length skirt of hers. And no shirt.
Nalkor smirks at M'iri, "I'm sure there are many other options for that route." The man nods at Lorena, "I'll go get settled in now. I'll find you later, if I don't get lost, and you can show me Xanadu." The man goes back toward his gear after making sure Lorena is good on her own, hiking the pack up again on his shoulder. "Is he? You've a Weyrleader for a brother? you must be proud. You'll have to tell me about him… once you're finished telling me about yourself, of course." Another tip of his head as he points in the direction of… the arena? "This way I assume! Yell at me if I'm walking in the wrong direction." With that he's headed off..
Arkoss grabs Amarante's hand and pulls himself up, then checks his watch. "Right then. You can have your skirt back." and he trots to the barracks. He'll be back in a few minutes, /properly/ attired. Yeesh.
Keziah has been silent, avoiding the group and all, well maybe it was Kieranth she was avoiding, whatever the cause she is now looking back and is about to make her way back when the doe she'd been watching starts making a terrible noise and she's quickly between the fence and over to the doe. She's checking her out and muttering and cursing and petting the does head. She looks up and looks around and then yelps as a thrashing hoof catches her in the arm "Arkoss!" she yells out, yup call in a guy. Course she hasn't seen him leaving either, but she needs help pinning the doe.
Lorena watches Nalkor leave. Yep, watches. You know -watches-? And then he's behind the trees. Darn. Oh well… she'll see him later? Well with M'iri gone and now Nalkor, she looks a bit awkward out in the meadow with a crutch. Loyauth seems too intently fixed on the cross dressing candidate, but they start off just as a yell from the caprine paddock comes forth. "Er… Arkoss?" She can't -do- anything! Gah. Loyauth takes a step forward. "No you don't. Herd beasts you can handle, but these are too delicate. You'll break them." Lorena hobbles forward to see what she can try to do to help. « Lory! You ain' gettin hurt again! » A tail whips out and catches her around the middle. Glare!
Amarante nods firmly as Arkoss heads off to change. Then there's a shout from the paddocks and she's craning her neck that way. Loyauth isn't letting Lorena over there, and can't do it…. "Keziah!" she calls as she trots over, having made her decision. "I can help until he gets back if you'll tell me what to do!" She deals with the runnerbeasts in the stables. These aren't quite as big, right? Right….?
Arkoss was actually mending a pair of pants, so he'll just borrow them for a while. Fortunately, the part that needs mending was the knee, not anything else. Pulling them on under the skirt, he pulls the skirt off and tosses it at Amarante. Oh well, the pants are a bit short in the leg, but they stay on, so that's all that matters. "Yeah?" he asks, and comes over to help.
Keziah glances up as she suddenly as more people around, and a look is given the dragon and then she shakes her head "Quick, get over here and hold down her head." she murmurs as she shifts around a bit "I've gotta go in, the kids backwards and she's too dang small for this. Some young buck wasn't castrated well enough and managed to cover her on her first season." she states giving a little background on it, whether they want to hear it or not. She glances at Arkoss and the pants "Hope whomevers pants you swiped don't mind you ruinin' them." Though likely it's better than the skirt?
Amarante skids to a halt as she gets a skirt tossed at her head halfway there. Flailing a moment and pulling it off, she blinks and finds Arkoss is… already there. She glances at the barracks, at Keziah and the pregnant doe… And hangs her brightly colored skirt up on a post to go through the fence with Arkoss. "I've got her head if you can get the rest," she tells her companion quickly. He's bigger than she is. He'd do well back there. Probably. She heads in to do as Keziah has instructed at the doe's head. Hold her down until the other comes back ready for work.
"Er, ok, so long as I just have to hold her down. And they'll just have to deal with it. There's a hole in the knee anyway, and pants are easy enough to make, I assume." Arkoss has no interest in clothing, after all.
The doe cries out in pain and continues to thrash against the grips. Keziah mutters "No help for it." Least she was fairly clean as reaches up inside the doe between contractions "Shards! Hold her" she cries out as she searches for a couple of hooves. She listens to the does faultering breathing "Come on girl. Don't quit on me now." she says in as soothing of a voice as she can.
Lorena extracts her dragon's tail from her. "I'm not helping! I want to make sure they're okay!" The dragon conceeds and the sailor-girl gimps her way to the edge of the fence, peering at the three and the wailing doe. She catches her lip between her teeth, nervously. This was how her mare died three turns ago. Or something similar at least. Croon.
Amarante winces as the thrashing beats her around, and tries to do what she can to hold the doe. Upon hearing the same faltering breaths as Keziah, she looks at the female beneath her, saying simply, "Bring him out, love." She does the best she can to soothingly, encouragingly, stroke the caprine's neck, looking over her shoulder as she's jostled with less force as time moves on. "Arkoss? What's going on back there?" She can't see. She's turned the wrong direction.
"The baby is backwards. Feet are coming first." Arkoss reports. "What are the babies called? Joeys? No, that's something else. Billys? Hmm." he can't remember, but then again, he deals mostly with runners, not caprines.
Keziah starts to pull along with the contractions, muttering to herself as she does "Come on, stay with us." she murmurs and then she lets out an exclamation as the feet emerge "That's it come on!" Her arm is coming out a bit red as well.
Amarante grimaces a bit. Breech, then. Nnngh. Dropping her head, she tells the doe softly, "Come on, now. Push. She's got him. We've got him." Rubrub. "Kids, Arkoss. They're called kids."
Arkoss shrugs at Amarante. "Kids, whichever. I thought human children were called that? Eh, whichever." he holds the goat down, looking at the legs coming out. He's helped birth runners before, so it's nothing new for him.
Lorena looks uncomfortable, watching the scene. Loyauth give a gentle rumble and the girl nods, gimping back towards him. At the declaration that the kid is righted and on his way out she exhales deeply. But rather than climb back up to his back, Lorena hobbles alongside Loyauth down the trail to the beach. She has too much time off with this foot.
It some time longer before Keziah manages to pull the kid out. It's been a long birth and the kids not breathing. Cleaning the sack off and the mucous out of the nose, Keziah starts breating for it. The doe is exhausted and just lays there, though not long after her breathing as quit. Keziah doesn't notice that as she's rubbing the kid roughly and continuing to breath until it finally lets out a weak bleat.
Amarante reaches back to nudge Arkoss with an elbow when she hears the bleat. "Off her." She moves to do the same, but then blinks and leans back in to press an ear against the doe's chest, to listen, a short time after. To feel, a hand stuck out before the creature's nose and mouth to search for breath. "Arkoss," she says quietly, a subdued and serious tone in her voice. She lifts her head and looks over at him solemnly, retracting her hand to her lap before casting a look towards the kid, a tiny shake of her head and the press of her lips under her slightly crunched brow speaking up for her.
Arkoss looks up at Amarante when she nudges him, glances at the doe, and sighs. He looks over at Keziah next and nudges her in turn, laying his hand on the doe's chest to find out for himself. He shakes his head. "Well I'd better go change. I'm not finished with the mending."
Keziah looks up and then sighs a little "Least we saved the little guy?" she murmurs as she looks down at her lap. "I need something to dry him off she murmurs and then yanks of her vest and then her shirt. She's got a swim piece on underneath so it's okay. "The poor thing." she murmurs as she rubs him dry. She looks over at Amarante "Can you hold him a sec, I want to get some of the colustrom out of her." she murmurs as she starts digging into her vest for an empty rolled up skin "Get him a good start at least."
Amarante is up and on her feet at the mention of drying him off, but as Keziah uses her own shirt and such, her hands fall away from the skirt she was about to use. Lifting it anyway, she hangs it around her neck and nods at the other Candidate, dropping down to curl her arms around him. She tugs the skirt off and blankets him in it regardless. It has more volume and won't hurt him. Some things are more important, after all. "Will any of the others nurse him?" she asks curiously, tipping her head at the other does.
Keziah hmms a little and then gets a little grin as she strips out the colustrum "Maybe, sometimes not, it can be tricky." she murmurs softly "And he's such a little thing, he'd be having to fight off the other one." She gets a thoughtful look as she looks at him "I'd hate to see him not thrive…" she trails off a little as she looks thoughtfully towards the barracks.
Amarante jerks as someone from the kitchen shouts for her. Angrily, it sounds, as if they'd been looking for her and someone finally pointed them the right direction. "Woo…. how long have I been gone now?" she stammers, looking back that way. Glancing again at Keziah, she tells her, "I have to go. But… ah… keep the skirt for him. If it's ruined, I'll just make it into something else." She smiles quickly. "Was probably going to have to after Arkoss wore it all day anyway. Besides, it really /is/ gaudy and hideous, I suppose." She rubs the little newborn kid through the fabric and leaves him on the ground for a few. "Sorry," she apologizes quickly as she heads back towards the Weyr.
Keziah nods to Amarante as she picks up the kid after getting the colustrum and nurses him carefully through the skin. "It's okay, and I'll see what I can do for the skirt." she mumurs as she heads in to find someone who wants the body. She pauses and then calls out "Thank you!" she then smiles at the kid. Oh yeah, gotta make sure he's well taken care of.