Hair, Tears, and Dead Fish
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Xanadu Weyr - Clearing
A wide clearing stretches from east to west, the ground packed hard although grass grows across most of it. Trees are strictly forbidden in this space, their danger to the constant draconic traffic reason enough to banish them to the forest that creates a this and sharp border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places with upturned petals to wave to whoever may be looking.
//The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the mountain where, high above, Xanadu's Star Stones and the ever present watchdragon sit on a lonely peak. Directly south is a massive tunnel, fully wide enough for even the largest dragon to fly down. Southeast are wide steps leading up to the Caverns and eastwards is the large entrance to the Infirmary. Somewhat north of the Infirmary is a human sized archway that has a frequent quantity of traffic — it leads to the Tavern. Southwest lies the low ledges currently belonging to Xanadu's queens while north and west a broad path cut by the side of the cliff leads to the Feeding Grounds and due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr./


Kamari smiles. "Well-met, Ryski." she says, and then turns back to Kitty. "Both of you? That's interesting; I didn't know that dragons were interested in the stars…although I can suppose they can be interested in anything they want to be…" she rambles a bit, getting carried away.

Kitty gives a bit of a nod "He likes to." she murmurs and smiles as she leans his head against him. She glances over at Ryski and then just shrugs a little, seeming unaffected really by is uncaring, either that she's just used to things like that. "Kitty." she adds after a moment and then glances at her sleeping dragon "Mionarracth."

Those regularly at Xanadu might recognize the nanny Delenn as he moves with intention towards the clearing. However, it would seem that somehow the hair that once reaches the small of his back, has been…detached rather unevenly and now sits in a roughly cut braid tied off on either end by elastics. His expression is rather blank as his brooding pale green eyes search the area with intention. Someone, is in trouble.

Ryski stuffs his hands back into his pockets again, sending a brief look back down the path once more. He seems satisfied though with that brief inspection of empty space, and then eyes the direction of the caverns. Breakfast /is/ sounding rather good about now, anyway. "I still say it sounds really boring." He announces his feelings rather loudly at that, before freezing, catching sight of Delenn..on the warpath. "Aw crap.."

Kamari looks from Delenn to Ryski, and smirks a little, shaking her head. "Did you?" she looks at the braid, then backs towards Kitty and Mionarracth. "Good luck…" she says to the boy, then smiles at Kitty. "Well-met Kitty, Mionarracth" she says, bowing to the blue dragon respectfully.

Kitty glances over at Ryski, a curious look in her eyes and then glances over towards Delenn and theres a hint of a smile as she glances at Ryski again. Shaking her head a little she turns her attenton back to Kamari "Well met." She murmurs quietly

Upon spotting Ryski, Delenn's gaze narrows and his jaw sets, teeth clenched so hard that the muscles are twitching with the effort. Wordlessly he stalks over towards his younger brother and thrusts the braid up and under the twelve turn old's nose. He doesn't say a word, just glares down at the youngster before slowly a single brow very slowly lifts up over one eye. The other two women are completely ignored at the moment, as the nanny's utter focus is on the raven haired boy before him.

Ryski has hair under his nose! Moustache? Unfortunately not. He'll have to wait for that whole puberty thing before being able to grow one of those. Still, he does go a bit cross-eyed trying to look at the braid, before he pushes Delenn's hand away with a quick look up at the older man. "What? Giving it to me for luck or something?" It might not be a good time to be a smartmouth, but..well the boy just doesn't know any other way to really respond to things.

Kamari watches Delann and Ryski quietly, a quiet nod to the blue-rider, gathering up her drawing materials as she watches so she's not just standing there staring.

Kitty eyes the braid, glances at Delenns hair and then a thoughtful look turns to Ryski and a little grin flits across her face and a little giggle as well. She shakes her head some and shifts herself deeper into the crook of Mio's leg. Yep, she'll be quiet, seems somehow the guys around this place tend to be touchy about hair.

There really should have been some sort of blink, some sort of reaction for the that particular remark but there isn't. None. When Ryski pushes the hand with the braid away from him, Delenn continues to stare down at his younger sibling, his expression slowly changing from anger to betrayal. Despite being a boy, and nearly nineteen, the nanny's eyes are soon filling up with tears. What's left of that lovely long hair hangings uneven just past his shoulders, with several strands nearly as long as the braid in his hand. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out and he suddenly turns, his head coming to hang. Then? He starts to walk back slowly the way he came.

Ryski just stares there a moment, his own expression fluctuating somewhat from his attempt at not caring. There's confusion there, stirring as Delenn turns away from him. He stands his ground, however, hands shoving back into his pockets. "It's just /hair!/ It'll grow back, ya know!"

Niva steps down the stairs from the queen's ledges just in time to hear a comment yelled from one of the weyrbrats, and the weyrwoman is pausing one step from the bottom, gaze turning from the younger boy to an older teen turning and walking away. "Shards, V'dim." And then, realizing that the strict greenrider is not one of those gathered in the clearly, she pauses, trying to identify exactly /what/ just happened.

Kamari shakes her head, unbelieving that Ryski could be such a…such a brat!, and follows Delenn almost hesitantly, eventually coming around to get in front of him, and asks kindly "Are you going to be ok?"

Kitty blinks a little at Delenn, the little smile turning to a frown. She glances down at Ryski and asks "No honor?" she shakes her head a little and seems just a little disappointed. "Sad."

Ruined braid in one hand, Delenn stops as Kamari comes up to him and he lifts his eyes up to meet hers. He doesn't know her, and he doesn't care. Ryski's last comment was enough to make the nanny actually cry and without warning he throws his arms around her neck and clings. Apparently no, no he is not okay. He sadly doesn't notice that Niva has arrived, too busy weeping quietly against poor Kamari there. In one hand he still clutched his dismembered braid of dark brown hair, though the observant might get the impression that it's not really the hair he's upset about.

Ryski has nothing at all left to say. Kitty's comment at him goes ignored, certainly not seeing anything in the near vicinity that has anything to do with honor. At least not for a twelve-turn-old boy. He just watches his brother, brows furrowing somewhat together as the man starts actually crying..and clinging. To strangers even. His foot moves, scuffing lightly at the ground for lack of anything else to be done.

"DOn't you do it, you can't I won' let you…Jhanieth I said STOP!" As if that's going to stop a green with something in her head, she's like a cat with a bird in her paws she ain't gonna stop until it's dead and defeathered. "I shouldda just …just…Left you at Ista." It's going to be a fine day for Tay can you tell. Keylin is whinning and thus left with her father, Tavin is well with the nannies and her other two sons are here abouts and nw she finds out that there's something else going one as well. "Spoiled Istan Green, brat, packrat, bronzelover"

And then, there is crying. And Niva is rather at a loss, staring at the crying teen now clinging to another, and then at the preteen who is standing there rather awkwardly, and its this child that she approaches with a soft sigh. "What did you do, boy?" She asks, with some hint of concern in her voice, as her gaze drifts back to the sobbing one, before looking back to the one she has identified as the source of the problem. Only then her thoughts are interrupted by the shouting of a greenrider, who happens to belong with the troublesome trio, and she's trying to catch her attention. Let /her/ sort out the mess.

Kamari looks a bit surprised at the addition of a weeping teenage boy to her neck, and automatically reaches out and pats the back of Delenn's head, other hand, rubbing his shoulders. "It'll be alright…" she says softly, while staring over Delenn's shoulder at Ryski with a 'fix it!" look on her face, green eyes flashing as she glares at the boy with a "this is your fault" look. Not that she minds being clung to, but….

Kitty glances at Tay, blinking a little and then at Niva. Yup, blanket gets wrapped around her a little more as she scoots a little further into the crook of her sleeping blue. Yup too many people coming now. So noisy. Tis why the day is for sleeping. "Extensions?" she asks with a thoughtful look towards the braid in Delenns hand. Poor mangled thing.

Delenn has a death grip on what hair had been removed by his younger brother's hands, or more likely some sort of belt knife. He appears, somewhat, to be comforted by Kamari. At least he isn't making a whole lot of noise anyway. Still, as Kitty suggests 'extensions' reddened eyes come up with the rest of the head they're connected to and he peeks over at her. What? A blink and he sheepishly murmurs thanks to the kind young woman before him as he starts to extricate himself from her arms. Really…hugging complete strangers? Niva's presence is now noted, and for a second it looks like Delenn might indeed try to defend his little brother, but as those startling green depths move towards the raven haired preteen, they harden just slightly. Then, he looks away to let Niva do as she likes.

That glare gets Ryski's attention, and his own eyes narrow immediately in response to it, staring right back at Kamari defiantly. He doesn't /know/ this girl. He has no reason at all to feel intimidated. He does tilt his head to look up at Niva though once she's suddenly…/there/, trying not to look /too/ guilty. And failing, really. "I cut his hair," he mutters lowly, casting another quick look in the direction of his crying brother.

Kamari blushes a bit as she steps back, shaking her head. "it's ok…" she says, although she sighs as she notes Ryski's look, and shakes her head. "And here I had such a good impression of Xanadu…" she murmurs before turning to Kitty. "That's actually not a terrible idea.." she notes, before giving a small bow to Niva, noting her knot. "Good morning, Ma'am." she says politely, stepping away from Delenn a bit.

"Mangled." Kitty murmurs in her own fashion. She fluffs her blanket a little and gives a long yawn and with a glance at Mio who seems to be completely out of it, she shrugs a little. She does nod a little to Niva in greeting "Weyrwoman."

And then, the greenrider is distracted, and Niva is left with the mess after all. "/What/ did you cut his hair?" And unsaid is 'why isn't your mother here to deal with you'. An exasperated sigh, and she moves to grab the back of Ryski's top, steering in towards the slightly less sobby Delenn. "Apologize to him. Now." She states strictly, gaze flicking momentarily to Kitty and Kamari in acknowledgement. "You, boy, are worse than Nicca." Comparing children, woo.

The question of Ryski's reasons on cutting his older brother's hair, earns a tight-lipped look from the boy. Oh, he had his reasons, to be sure. The boy isn't /so/ vindictive that he does things completely without reason. ..Usually. But as his jacket is grabbed, he doesn't put up much of a fight on the rout over to Delenn, glancing up briefly at his brother before finding something else to look at. Namely..a belt loop. On someone's pants. "Sorry."

The nanny hadn't noticed Tay, what with all the hullabaloo and all. Though it might very be blamed on the circumstances. Again Delenn looks to Ryski, this time as Niva hauls him over by the collar of his shirt. And he continues to look the boy over for a very long time in silence. There is very real and obvious hurt there as he stands with that hair braid in his hand, lifelessly dangling from his now loose fingertips. It doesn't fall from them, but it might eventually. As if he'd lost his voice for the moment, he just nods at Ryski, though it be safe to assume that there will be some sort of discussion between the brothers later. After all, they shared a room at Xanadu. After a few heartbeats, the nanny's gaze shifts to Niva and he takes a shaking breath. "I'm sorry for any distress this might have caused you, Weyrwoman." he says very quietly, managing to keep any tone from his tenor. A glance spared to Ryski. Again, that hurt expression. "I feel responsible for how undisciplined my younger brother is, and I assure you he'll think twice before altering anyone else." Oh yes, Ryski is in trouble. Deep. Deep. Trouble. Sure, Delenn was the focus of his sibling's angst, but still, a firm talking to wasn't going to quite cut it apparently.

Kamari observes Delenn and Ryski's moment, then clears her throat and heads toward the resident dorms to put away her supplies. "Well, I think I'm gonna head out.." she calls out over her shoulder, a smile at Delenn, although who is to know if he sees it or not. "Good day, Kitty, Weyrwoman.."

The decently large brown with the awfully sandy-looking hide wings in from a low glide from the direction of the forest and lands beyond. Comfortably astride his back and worringly /not/ buckled into the straps is the one known as R'in. In fact, she's turned around backwards and fiddling with some things that /are/ strapped down. Cargo. There's some barrels and more than a couple bags that are quite stuffed full of this and that. Mayikooth lands quite nimbly and tucks his wings in with a snap of air. "Hold on, Mayi! Lemme just get these down." She has to stretch out over his back as she starts releasing the straps for the cargo: loosening this buckle here, that buckle there. A few full bags fall to the ground with soft thuds.

Niva keeps a hand on Ryski's neck. "Look up." She adds to her list of directions. "And a real apology. That's not a real apology." And she looks at Delenn, shaking her head. "He is old enough to be responsible for his own behavior. And clearly if he enjoys cutting things, he'll enjoy the next sevenday with the beastcrafters, shearing the ovines." Might as well put his destructive nature to work, right? And then she's letting go of his neck, pushing him towards Delenn. "You will make sure he's there. And you will get someone to fix your hair." Perhaps there was something else to be said, but then there's a number of soft thuds from cargo hitting the ground, and her attention turns to the newly arrived brown.

Kitty was starting to doze off until the thuds start sounding. "Hmm?" she blinks a little and then eyes the brown and his rider and yawns. Not a good spor to doze, even if Miyo can. Her attention goes back to Niva and the two. Definantly the hair needs to be fixed. Looks almost as bad as hers does.

Ryski blinks a bit as he's made to look at Delenn, tensing up somewhat as he actually looks at his brother. "I'm. Sorry." He pushes the words out, although it's likely more of a resentment at being told to that has him stubbornly making things difficult. Then there's an abrupt mention of working as he's pushed toward the older boy, taking a quick look back at Niva in surprise. It's not often that the boy is actually..punished for doing some of the things he does, after all. He can only stare, jaw working just a little. He turns quickly to face Delenn again, staring at the taller's tunic.

Delenn inclines his head to Niva when she lays down Ryski's sentence before the two of them, and he considers it briefly before his younger brother apologizes yet again. This time there is no response, only the clapping of his braidless hand onto the boy's shoulder as he nods to the Weyrwoman. "Of course." he replies. He would have no problem at all making sure that Ryski gets exactly as he deserves. Perhaps more considering the way his thin fingers tighten into the lad's tunic clad shoulder tighter and tighter. Another bob of his head as to getting his hair fixed. Appearance was likely very important to Delenn, and leaving the scraggly remains of the butchered ends his sibling caused unattended was probably not an option. Looking sidelong at the arrival of a brown and his rider, the nanny starts to not so gently redirect Ryski. They are going now.

Mayikooth just /is not comfortable/. The brown rumbles softly and starts to move towards what looks to be prime, grassy real estate. R'in flails a bit, grabbing hold of one of the straps. "HEY! Stay put! No, wait, don't step on-" One of the bags is duly squished and she sighs, falling against the dragon's back a bit as he lifts his foot. "Well. I hope they wanted mashed tubers for dinner," she mutters. "You can move as soon as I'm done," she insists, not even having time to regard the little scenario between nanny and charge. Or is that brother and brother? Something. Mayikooth shifts and starts to try to use his muzzle to neaten up the squished tubers. This offsets R'in once again and as she catches herself, one of the barrels falls loose. A very… sloshy barrel. A very wet barrel. A barrel that was quite full of fish, as is proven when it hits the ground and the wood splinters, ends popping outwards. Anything in the vicinity — though primarily dragon and rider — is like to be showered in salty water and plenty of smelly fish.

"I expect 'solda can fix it, if you were to ask her. She has a fairly straight cut." Niva adds with a bit more compassion to Delenn, though she still has a rather icy gaze on Ryski. "And believe me, boy, your mother will hear about this." She's not going to let him off with just punishment, after all. Its only fair to let Tay add another sentence if she sees fit. And then as the nanny moves to lead Ryski, she turns back to the rumbling brown, starting to head in that direction to reprimand the rider before the barrel takes a dive to the ground, and the weyrwoman fails and moving back out of the way, though its a far lighter spray of fish water than R'in was subjected do. "Rider!" She shouts rather angrily.

Ryski is more than willing to vacate the area. Even though going with Delenn isn't quite the way he'd choose to go, but seeing as how his shoulder is currently prisoner to his brother's grip, there's not a lot he can do about the matter. So he walks, gaze fixed on the path before him, and hands stuffed in his pockets.

As the barrel chrashes and the fish spill out, Mio is awakened by not only the smell but the now light stream of fishy salt water trickling down his way. As the first bit hits, he's up, dropping Kitty on the ground who lets out a yelp causing said blue to sweep around, tail going wide as he turns to nuzzle his blinking rider who sits there with a look of 'what happened?" on her face. And then the smell of fish hits her and the sudden dampening of her pants and blanket as the trickle hits her. "Augh.."

"Yes, Weyrwoman." Delenn says to Niva in departure, "Again, my apologies." Only Faranth knew why the young nanny was apologizing to the Weyrwoman for what Ryski did to his head, but there it is. The brothers knew how uneffective telling Tay about Ryski's actions would be for certain, however Delenn wasn't prone to correcting the Senior Weyrwoman of Xanadu. After all he'd skipped that bowl of stupid for breakfast that his younger sibling at apparently had double helpings of. He hisses quietly to Ryski as he drags the boy off in the direction of the weyr, and whatever said no doubt could acidicly peel the paint off of stone.

Squeak! The sound literally emits from R'in as she realizes the /Weyrwoman/ is present to witness the chaos. Not that chaos is often far when Mayikooth and R'in are involved. She ducks down, attempting to hide behind the brown's ridges. He just whuffles and hunches down, making it harder for her to hide. "Oh fine," she hiss-whispers at him, "I see how it is. I thought you were on my side!" He rumbles and she rolls her eyes, "I know she knows it's me! But she might… forget." She lifts her head, looking over towards Niva as she slides down Mayikooth's haunch. The young brownrider slinks over towards one of the lids of the barrel and gingerly picks it up. "Sorry?" she tries. And then, it's a flood: "It's purely an accident. I know it shouldn't've happened at all, but sometimes these things occur, y'know? A slip here, a trip there, a fumble of fingers over there. And I didn't expect to be laden with so much, but my partner for errands today apparently decided that visiting family at Igen was more important, just because her sister had a baby and it still needed to be done or else the kitchens wouldn't have their food for tomorrow, but I wanted to be back in time for Wing exercises so I decided to do it all in one trip and I realize now, in, uhm…" she looks at Mayikooth, "what's the word? Hindsight! Right. I realize in /hindsight/ that it would've been best to take two trips and go between instead of flying the whole way but we really just wanted to feel the air since it's so nice out today." As she speaks, she's starting to try to collect fish. Which as they flop and die isn't /too/ difficult, if not very… pleasant. "At least they won't have to catch the fish in the barrel, right? And I can take 'em right in and we'll be having fish for dinner, I bet! Yup. Fish and tubers and it'll be all delicious I bet."

Niva just stands there, staring blankly at R'in and Mayikooth as the boys have the chance to escape without the weyrwoman adding anymore rules to their departure. "All /you/ will be having, rider, /is/ fish. For the next sevenday. Or, perhaps two." And Niva stares down at her clothing then, fingers brushing uselessly at the specks of water that are most prevalent below the waist, but are still on her stomach and arms. "I don't care /why/. You should know better. He should have known better!" And her voice gains an octave as she waves exasperated at the brown. If she had papers, they'd likely be thrown to the winds by now, for as she abandons her attempt to save her clothes, her hands are up in the air, as the flopping of the fish seems to cease. "Do you realize how much those barrels cost?"

Kitty picks herself up off the ground, glances towards Mio gives a nod and the two start to sidle off home. She knew there was a reason to be sleeping by breakfast. Too much chaos and mayhem. She brushes off her damp pants and then shakes her head at Mionarracth as he eyes sufficated fish. She tips her head again to Niva, glances to the pair and murmurs something about straws and backs and heads towards the meadows.

You'd think, growing up in the Weyr and being as accident-prone as she, R'in would be able to weather this far better. Unfortunately, she always managed to avoid the Weyrwoman's ire. Perhaps because of her cousin being a Jr. It's always worse to get family involved. Clutching a few fish and the lid of the barrel awkwardly in her small hands, Rae just blinks a few times at Niva. She then looks to Mayikooth and shakes her head rapidly, "No, no, no. I don't think you can do anything. Just stay still, right right. Still. Don't move." Her shoulders are squared, as if trying to make a smaller target of herself. She slinks back towards Mayikooth and sets those fish she had down at her feet. Stretching up, she gets down an empty sack and begins piling the fish in. "Well, I don't have much," being Craft-less, the brownrider pretty much has only errands to earn her any Marks, "but I can replace it. Promise. I'll find a way."

Niva sighs softly, shaking her head, and waving off the cost, a hand going to her forehead, gently massaging her temples as she mutters to herself, words that are neither loud nor clear enough for anyone to hear. "I should make you eat that whole barrel yourself. And nothing but, until they're gone." But then there's a fish flopping particularly close to her foot, and she pushes at it with a toe. "Maybe I should make you shear the ovines too." SHe murmurs, before staring at the brownrider and her dragon, attempting to decide what to do about it.

Already, R'in is picking up as many fish and barrel bits as she can. The bits of barrel are being stacked in one spot while the fish are getting unceremoniously shoved into a sack. All the energy she tends to have /can/ be put to good use. Figuring that Niva is just distracted or overwhelmed, she takes advantage of the time by rushing about to clean up as much as possible. Even if her clothes are already stiffening with the saltwater, making the work quite awkward. Mayikooth just watches, eyes whorling in concerned shades. He often shifts and twitches this way and that, barely resisting the urge to help his lifemate.

Niva continues to stand there as R'in runs around gathering up the fish in the sack, making no move to help, but at least she's not yet adding her own commentary either. Staring at the rider as the fish are stuffed in a sack, she looks back at Mayikooth, and then at the rider. "I know. Those fish are now yours. And, I meant that for the pair of you. I suggest letting Mayikooth eat them, less you never want to see another fish again. But you will spend your next 2 off days helping the Seacrafters sort or barrel, or whatever they want you to." And an extra hand will let them barrel more than one extra barrel of fish, certainly. And even with her proclamation, she still just stands there. She didn't make the mess, she's not cleaning it up.

That's the thing about being so accident-prone and having a tendency to prank now and again. You understand that you have to clean up your own messes. Mind, that mentality has also been reinforced by Mayikooth, who continues to watch over Rae in a worried fashion. But he behaves and remains still. She stops, one fish in hand and a bulging bag in the other. "Uhm, how long is it ours? I want to ration so that we still have our strength in case something happens. I mean, fish are small and if they have to last for a while, I wanna make sure that Mayikooth doesn't eat too much." Apaprently she's made the assumption that Niva meant that the fish are to be their only food, period. "Ah. The seacrafters? Right, right. I'll report to 'em first thing tomorrow."

"Til they're gone." Niva replies quickly, glaring at a fish near her that is giving a few weakening flops, its mouth working uselessly in the air. "I don't care what you do with them, but you or him need to eat them, cause I'm not making anyone else do it." And Niva pacing around the edge of the splatter zone of the fish, sighing at the damage, shaking her head. "I'll make sure they know to be expecting you." What else is she suppose to say? "If it happens again, you /will/ pay for it."

"Yes'm," R'in replies, her burst of adrenaline-fueled energy beginning to lessen. She continues retrieving fish, quickly snatching up the one closest to the Weyrwoman before shuffling away. Once the fish are all collected, she sets the almost-overflowing bag near the broken barrel bits. Then she looks to Mayikooth. "Okay, uhm. Let's get the rest of that off of you so I can get it into the kitchens?" A sideways glance at Niva and she nods, before looking a bit crestfallen. "I can pay for some of this? I mean, if it'd help."

Niva shakes her head, dismissing it again. "Your work will be the compensation." And then, the Weyrwoman is moving to head towards the caverns, in the direction she had originally been headed. "Deliver your cargo, I'll get someone here to clean up the rest of the mess. That food needs to be taken care of now. And you're going to need to do something for those fish." And she sighs, looking over her shoulder again at the mess - at least it was just one barrel.

"Yes'm," R'in says again, glancing towards Mayikooth. Once the brown is situated, she begins removing everything else. Her care is almost exageratted, but she's quite obviously trying to avoid another accident. The fish and broken barrel will remain where they are while the rest of the cargo is removed and carried into the Caverns. "Next time, /we're/ taking a day off," she mutters to the brown as she carefully gets everything to the ground. "And leaving them with it all." He whuffs. Whether that's an affirmative or disagreement… only she and the dragon himself know.

Niva hesitated at the cavern entrance, watching the movement of the rest of the cargo with a careful eye, before she's seemingly satisfied, and she heads to her office without any further words. Though, from the wrinkle of her brow, the rider that ditched likely won't face better consequences than R'in.

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