Xanadu Weyr - Caverns
A massive cavern in it's own right, this one has been skillfully adapted for human habitation. The high ceilings have been painted a light, soft ivory, as are the walls where numerous tapestries hang to provide brilliant color and insulation from the stone. The floor has been left in its natural state, pale pink granite speckled through with glittering mica and dark flecks of basalt, leveled carefully but kept sufficiently rough to avoid slips.
The cavern itself is loosely divided into areas, each one set up to be suitable for some segment of the Weyr's population. The most frequently occupied area, however, is the one near the Kitchens where tables of varying sizes provide a place to sit down and eat or chat and a buffet of consumables is almost always kept stocked. Its plain that on most days, this area wouldn't accommodate anywhere near the full population of the Weyr and equally plain that on such occasions when a formal meal is laid out, tables are appropriated from all the other areas.
A big fireplace is set into the wall near the Kitchens as well, several comfortable chairs nearby providing haunts for elderly residents or riders who like a good view of all that happens. Rugs cover the floor in strategic spots, all of them abstract or geometric in design and most in the softly neutral colors of undyed wool.
Exits lead off in all directions, a big archway the largest and that leading outside. Shallow stairs to the west lead to the offices and administration area while tunnels to the east lead to the infirmary, kitchen and resident's quarters. Southwards, a sloping tunnel leads down to the hot springs and southwest is a wide tunnel, carefully roped off to avoid accidents.
X'hil grins and makes his way into the caverns, laughing. "Mission accomplished!" he echoes, with another of his triumphant whoops! He's certainly become more showy since impressing, he was just another weyrbrat before, only noted for a few fights protecting the honour of greenriders, and similar causes. "I hope Thea's okay, I mean, I'm sure she /is/, but, um. Yeah." he shakes his head slowly, taking the chance to scan the caverns, apparently happy with what he sees, or doesn't see, as he visibly relaxes. "Mission accomplished." he repeats, forcing a smile. "When do we drink?" he asks, with visible enthusiasm for that, at least.
Cenlia is laughing as she quickly snags some glasses, too big to be proper shot glasses, alas, though quitelarge enough to get drunk with, especiallyconsidering the strength of the still-open bottle of brew, which hasan unmistakable smell of quite vodka. The gardner girl finds a free table off to the side and pours half-glasses, setting the bottle down with a thunk. Raisig one glass, she grins broadly, eyes full of mischief, "To tuber ale and bronze dragon getaways!" And she can;t helpbut giggle at the memory of that last bit. Cenlia adds somewhat smugly, "And to scaring the pants off my little brother." Quite a toast indeed! What must the poor cavernfolk think of these two?
Alas, the caverns are not completely safe. Not with Niva on the warpath after the disappearance of yet another goldrider and the Weyrsecond no less. Hisolda is currently on the receiving end of the Weyrwoman's ire, the poor headwoman having to deal with just about every insult in the book being flung around. "She's a lazy drunk, an idiot! He's certainly not much better!" Her constant talking hides the small slur that's slipping into her voice, her cheeks flushed - though the anger could certainly cause that as well. However, if one was to head back to her office, they'd discover a mostly consumed bottle of wine. They aren't the only ones drinking.
X'hil grins, picking up the other glass and raising it in response, "To enterprising young farmers, and secret ale stashes!" he grins, then tilts his head at Cenlia. "That boy was your brother?" He doesn't seem too surprised, but he does smirk, and add, "Bonus!" He chuckles, and reminisces. "My sister was eight when I impressed, and she acted like it was my fault I impressed. Silly girl." he snorts, downing the shot quickly, then wincing. That's strong! He coughs a little, then blinks at the commotion that Niva is causing, trying to look as much not like a bronzerider as he possibly can. He's heard things, he has. About Xanadu, the Weyrwoman, and Istan bronzeriders. He's not an Istan, but still.
Cenlia has the glass halfway to her mouth, nodding with a smirk, "Yea, an' he's a brat," at X'hil's question question about her brother, when she hears, and then spies Niva. The garnder girl recognizes her from the weyrling graduation, and hesitates. Who's a lazy drunk now? Cenlia blinks and peers over in the weyrwoman's direction.
"I'm tired of her laziness! He's no better!" And Hisolda is just left to shake her head, letting the Weyrwoman rant away, before she's slowly turning her and sending her off in another dirction, the Headwoman quietly disappearing. Niva, though, is quickly latching onto Cnelia and X'hil - the draw of the alcohol too much, despite the fact that she was just complaining about Ysa's drunken habits.
X'hil snickers a little at Cenlia. "Ah, brats. Can't live with 'em, can't live with yer parents after threatening to dump 'em between." he comments, with a snort. "I was fostered with a /right/ brat of a boy, three turns older, so /sure/ of himself. Never even got searched." There's a pause, and he hastily adds, "Not that that's a measure of worth. I mean, some real /stinkers/ get searched, and even impress." And that's supposed to make it better? For varying definitions of 'better'. There's a pause then, and X'hil notices Niva approaching, and grimaces. No, bad X'hil, be nice, offer a glass… "Er, hi. Would you … like to join us?" he asks Niva, hesitantly. Well, it's better than nothing…
When she's sure that Niva is not talking about them, Cenlia turns to grin a X'hil, snickering a bit at the part about brats and search and stinkers impressing. She just raises an eyebrow at that last mark. But with Niva approaching, the girl hastily puts down the glass she'd still been holding in her hand and offers a quick, "G- Good day ma'am."
"Brats are brats." Niva mutters as she get closer, catching the tail end of their conversation, even as her eyes are on the stolen bottle of liquor. With no weyrmate around to talk her out of it, and the more stick-in-the-mud Weyrleader half of the duo likely off with that new weyrmate of his, Niva's left to express her frustration in whatever way she wants - including nodding at X'hil, even as she flicks her gaze to Cenlia, looking over the girl for a moment, weighing something, before offering a snarky, "Its /not/ a good day."
X'hil jumps up like he's been stung, and runs over to grab a third glass, coming back at a more normal pace, and wincing at the '/not/ a good day' comment. He quickly pours the goldrider a half glass of the vodka, before re-seating himself awkwardly. Wait for it… Wait for it… "Not a good day?" Oh, hello, there it is. X'hil's self-preservation instinct seems to have been dulled by just that one half-glass of the drink.
If Cenlia were the sort to meep, she would definitely meep and hide under the table. Instead she just sort of winces - clearly someone's in a bad mood. Only one solution - get her drunk! Cenlia thinks with her stomach, so instead she does the obvious - or almost does, but X'hil beats her to it, so Cenlia just offers an "Oh?" Terrific, now they're attempting to get the senior weyrwoman boozed. The day just keeps getting better!
"Bloody Ysa, and that bloody Weyrsecond took off somewhere. Faranth only knows where, or when they'll be back. Now is /not/ the time." As the glass of vodka is handed to her, she looks at it for only a moment, and then she's tipping it back without a second thought, and without a moment of hesitation. The alcohol gone, she's left to look from the Farmer apprentice to the bronzer and back.
X'hil /really/ has no clue what to say, so he quickly refills the Weyrwoman's glass. This can only end badly. He seems to realise this, and refills his own as well. Booze will help! Drunk logic is /awesome/! Yes! "Er. That's terrible." he murmurs, shaking his head. "Terrible." His second glass doesn't last long, it's soon knocked back to follow the first.
Cenlia watches Niva down the vodka just like that and… gawps. The farmer girl looks somewhat impressed. And then she hides the grin that threatens to emerge on her face by taking a gulp of her own glass, snorting into that instead. She coughs a bit as she swallows - whew, that's strong stuff. She doesn't down it all at once though, nodding in agreement with X'hil. She doesn't know really what to say about Ysa, never having formally met the woman.
Niva is now feeling that first oversized shot, gasping a bit as it hits her, shaking her head. "What use is a Weyrsecond, when he's not here!?" Niva says, exasperation evident in her voice, as this second glass of vodka is eyed, and taken a bit more slowly, this time its just a sip. Cenlia's snort gets a look, and she's shaking her head. "I bet you could do a better job than that woman." Yes, that is likely the alcohol talking.
X'hil nods quickly, glancing at his empty glass, then frowning at Cenlia, mouthing, 'strong stuff!' before attempting to answer Niva. "Eg, exat, er, right! What use? No use!" he nods, feeling a little cockier now that he's had a couple of very strong drinks. "Shards, /I/ could do that!" he snorts. Do what, exactly? Be an even lazier drunk, or do a better job? He doesn't really elaborate.
Cenlia raises her eyebrows at Niva's comment and, to save her from answering immediately, downs the rest of her glass, only letting out a small cough as she swallows. Now that's the stuff. Cenlia sets her glass down slowly, catching X'hil's mouthed phrase and grinning an bit. "Replace 'em?" she offers, perhaps remembering Thea. After all, Thea seems responsible, reliable… except when she's running off suddenly and leaving her friend behind on the wrong continent. Cenlia frowns and eyes her now empty glass. Well, more booze will fix that, at least! And she pours herself a second glass.
"Y-You know, you could!" Niva says, voice far, far louder than it needs to be - loud enough to cause a few heads to turn, and for someone to have sent Hisolda back into the caverns. Thankfully for the other two, the appearance of the headwoman has Niva turning on her. "Hisolda! Hissssssoolda!" She calls out, loudly, waving her glass around a bit as she goes. "I need a Weyrsecond knot! I found us a new one!" The headwoman seems hesitant to do any such thing, but another drawn out, 'Hisolda' from the Weyrwoman is enough to send her on her way - apparently to get what she wants.
X'hil got Cenlia home, in a roundabout way, at least. And he got himself some very strong fermented tubers for his trouble. He pours himself a third glass, then stares at Niva, very nearly pouring the entire contents of the bottle out over the table. He stops himself, but he's wound up with a full glass where he only intended half a one. "I, I, I, what? What with the what what?" he finds his tongue, but not his brain. "What?"
Cenlia is not quite boozed enough to miss Niva suddenly giving X'hil a promotion, and the gardner girl snerks, letting out something between a cackle and a cough. She stares after Niva, then breaks into a grin, hoisting her own glass up and offering X'hil an enthusiastic "Congraths!" And with that she downs the second glass. Ooh, now she is definitely boozed.
Niva continues to nurse her second glass at a more reserved pace, as Hisolda returns with a knot, and Niva is grinning like the drunken woman she currently, turning around to sit it against X'hil's shoulder. Of course, she's paid no attention to the fact that the bronzerider is wearing the knot of Ierne Weyrhold, not that of Xanadu. As Cenlia offers congratulations, Niva is offering her own, lifting her voice and her class. "Congratulations!"
X'hil takes a hefty gulp of the glass, though not quite downing half of it this time, and stares. "Con, con, con… What?" More. Yes. He takes another sip of the drink, and seems to be calming down somewhat, but it's still quite a shock. "I, but, er." The congratulations are going straight to his head, or maybe that's the alcohol, as he just sits there and lets Niva pin the knot on his shoulder. There's a triumphant bugle from outside, as though the man's dragon was /entirely/ responsible for this turn of events. Naturally. "Th, thanks?" X'hil manages, knocking back the last of his third drink finally.
Upon hearing the dragon's bugle from outside, Cenlia's grin widens, and she adds to her previous congrats, "And to Sir Kinseth! Best getaway dragon on Pern." And then she realizes her raised glass is once again empty. Mou.
The rest of the glass is downed, and Niva's amusement is interrupted by a loud hiccup, and the Weyrwoman is shaking her head, face flushed as she looks from one to the next. "I.. I'll see you tomorrow for work." Hiccuping again, she looks from Farmer to bronzerider and back. "Thanks for the.." And the glass is just lifted as she can't seem to find the word, and then she's tottering off, already somewhat unsteady on her feet. Wait til the rest of it hits.
X'hil giggles a bit at Cenlia's addition, glancing out to the clearing where 'sir' Kinseth awaits, before topping up Cenlia's glass, and his own for good measure. No, this bottle won't last the night, it's already looking rather depleted. "T'm'row!" he salutes Niva shakily. Drunkenly. "W'lc'm" he adds, a very slurred form of 'Welcome', most likely.
Cenlia got to ride a gold dragon, learned how to ferment indigo, corrupted a junior weyrwoman a bit more, pulled off a booze sneaky heist (like a ninja!), made off safely with the loot, scared the living daylights out of her bratty kid brother, made a spectacular getaway on a bronze dragon, got said dragon's rider drunk, got boozed, got the senior /weyrwoman/ drunk, leading to the gardner girl's new bronzer friend getting a promotion? This has been a FANTASTIC day. As her third glass is topped, she takes a swig and downs it in one loong gulp. And than belches, forgood measure.
Perhaps the day got better with the addition of alcohol, and a new Weyrsecond. Perhaps, it will have made it worse. The only thing for certain is that the now gone Weyrwoman will have one heck of a headache come morning.
X'hil has to agree, it's been a /great/ day. And, hey, Xanadu is much less of a scary prospect with lots and lots of booze. "Y'know, y'know what?" Cenlia will never hear what exactly, as the man passes out right then and there.