Xanadu Weyr - Wanderin' Wherry Tavern
It is often whispered in the crowds that converge here, that a certain Weyrleader was asked what he wanted in the remodeling of the pub that was not so long ago given a refreshing. He muttered back over the rim of his ever-present mug, "I don't care what you do with the place, just so long as there is plenty of ale." With that in mind, cask after cask of ale lines the walls of the tavern, the remodeler's idea of a jest. As they age, the casks bring a real rustic atmosphere to the pub, along with the deeply wooden flavor that seems to be the theme throughout.
//The lighting is dim, as it should be in all good pubs, and the tables and chairs are plentiful. A long mahogany bar, intricately carved with runner beasts, stands vigilant duty at the head of the bar, lined with stools for those patrons that seek the bartender's company./
X'hil is seated up at the bar, with an empty barstool on either side, and n-sken on the next stool after, on the bronzerider's left. On the bar in front of the empty stool between them is a basket full of sand. Sand and eggs. X'hil and Nosken both are drinking and chatting almost like old friends. "So. No hard feelings?" X'hil asks the man, and Nosken shakes his head, fighting to keep from smirking, and losing. "Nah, it's fine. Nose is healed. What's in the basket?" he asks, the smirk finally winning. X'hil blinks at Nosken then, and frowns at the basket.
Cenlia has found herway to the tavern. The gardener girl looks as if she's had a close encounter with some shrubbery. There are leaves and twigs stuck in her hair and her clothing. Smears of dirt stain her knees and elbows. Though seeming more than a little dishevelled, she's got a rather satisfied grin on her face. Her four firelizards are with her, the blues on her shoulders and the brown and bronze clinging to her shirt. The girl stops in the doorway, looking around the room a moment before entering. She spots X'hil and wanders over with a, "Hey."
K'vin comes in the tavern and looks around briefly before sitting at the bar, setting a stack of paper beside him. He takes the top sheet andreads it briefly, sighing. "Who..the…hell is that?" He mutters before ordering some booze
X'hil is about to ask Nosken something, most likely what has he done to the basket, when Cenlia makes her entrance. "Whoa. Garden a little wild today?" he asks, causing Nosken to snicker, though the rider shoots the man a brief look, and Nosken decides that he finds his ale /fascinating/. But he can't help snickering, just a little bit. The basket is forgotten for the moment, though X'hil's seldom seen blue, Wraith, swoops down out of nowhere to perch upon it. /His/. He claims it with a deep hum. Wait, what? A /hum/? X'hil doesn't notice, instead frowning at K'vin. "Who is what now?" he asks, with a blink.
Cenlia plops down on one of the empty bars tools beside the bronzers, to the right of X'hil. She waves a hello to K'vin, and says, "Fell outta one of the trees that got damaged when the ovine went through the garden. Been sawing off dyin' branches all night." She doesn't sound particularly unhappy, though. The girl hasn't noticed the basket, and is instead persuing her own mug of ale. Her flits have, though, peer over at it, climbing onto the bar and adding their own voices. Cenlia eyes them suspiciously.
K'vin sighs and raises his hand holding one of the numerous sheet of paper. "I've been receiving…letters." He explains simply. "From…someone." He shakes his head. "secret admirer."
Nosken can't help it, he lets loose a short bark of laughter at the firelizards, causing X'hil to frown in his direction, but then the bronzerider is turning back to Cenlia, looking slightly guilty. "Oh, hey, should've asked me to help." He did promise he would, didn't he? "You alright?" She /sounds/ alright, but still. Nosken snickers into his mug, and X'hil frowns. There's a pause then, and X'hil peers over at the sheets of paper. "Wow. That's a lot of letters…" Does he sound … disappointed? "I've gotten a couple of odd notes lately, but no /letters/." Yep, disappointed, and a little jealous. Wraith hums loudly, and scrabbles at the basket's lid. Must get it /open/. You, X'hil, /open/ it! He turns to X'hil and screeches at the man. He clearly wants something, but X'hil isn't sure quite /what/.
Cenlia wrinkles her nose and glances at the papers by K'vin, saying, "You gettin' stuff too? Least they're not leaving dead flowers in your bed." The girl makes a face, but then turns to X'hil with a grin, "Got a whole pile of branches an' another tree to take care of. If ya got time later, could use help haulin' stuff." Cenlia peers over at X'hil's flit, and then at her own, and glances around, "Hunh, what's with them?"
K'vin sighs. "I mean…it's love letters you know? or close to." He says with a shrug. "Unsigned of course…and it's damn frustrating."
X'hil gives a mock-groan at Cenlia's mention of more garden work, joking, "If only Kinseth fit in the garden, we'd have those out in no time!" As well as half of the garden, probably. A thought occurs to the man, and he narrows his eyes at Nosken, but the other man seems to be reacting as though this is the first he's heard of any notes or letters. Which it probably is. "Whoever's been sending me notes /knows/ me. They know where I live, who my foster mother was, and where /she/ lives." He figured this out from the locations of the notes. Nosken finally nudges X'hil, glancing at the basket. "Hey, man, the eggs are hatching. Open the basket already." he urges, impatiently. X'hil frowns, but does so, calming Wraith down near instantly. Yep. There're the eggs, rocking and a rolling. They look slightly /different/ than they did back in the barn. Huh.
Cenlia looks vaguely horrified at the notion of Kinseth in the garden, but then frowns. Her flits have stepped up their humming too. Cenlia peers at X'hil's basket warily. When she realizes what's in it, the girl scoots away quickly, saying with some alarm, "Hatch?" Her brown flit, Trouble, warbles at her smugly, but Cenlia is suddenly finding her alea bit sour. She slips off her stool and backs away from the bar, saying, "I, er, got some work to in the garden." With that, she makes a trundlebug line for the door.
K'vin sighs. "And why not talking to me, I'm not that unaccessible." He says softly. "I'm adult and open, am I not." He explains with a sigh.
X'hil grimaces, and glances up as Cenlia flees. But… Eggs… He doesn't /want/ another firelizard, and Nosken's smirking is getting to be rather unnerving. He may have to break the man's nose again if he doesn't cut it /out/. Nosken just has a very punchable nose. No. Ignore Nosken. Ignore the eggs. "Maybe the person is just… shy?" he suggests, in regards to K'vin's letters, though he eyes the pile of papers skeptically. "Shy and … wordy? Maybe…"
K'vin shakes his head and sighs. "I don't like this." He whispers. "Who could that be." He asks again. "Someone from this weyr, from another?"
X'hil frowns a little, and glances over at K'vin's papers absently. "Could be anyone, from anywhere. Probably more likely someone local, though." he guesses, with a frown. "Have you met anyone new lately? Maybe done a person a favour?" X'hil suggests, with a frown, ignoring Nosken's repeated attempts to get him to look at the hatching eggs.
K'vin shakes his head. "No, I've been away these past days on an emergency." He says softly. "Just came back today and worked to catch up missed up time with my weyrmate." He says softly. "I have absolutely no idea who is it."
X'hil tilts his head absently at K'vin. "Maybe it's your weyrmate trying to surprise you?" Yeah, not the /greatest/ theory, but hey, why not? "Pretending to be a stranger, for the thrill of a new relationship without ending the old one." he muses, then finally snaps at Nosken. "/What/?!" he scowls at the man, but all Nosken can do is point to the eggs. One has a crack running right down its side, and X'hil frowns at it. Something's breaking through.
K'vin shakes his head. "We don't need that to have a glowing relationship, full of love and passion." He says simply. "So I clearly doubt it." He hmms and shakes his head. "It's not Tay's writing too." He says simply. "Shards, I hate not knowing."
The egg hatches… But, that, that thing doesn't look like any firelizard X'hil has ever seen. In fact, it looks suspiciously like a tunnelsnake. The man scowls at it, and reaches for the basket, yelping as the tunnelsnake lunges forward and chomps down hard on his hand. "Oww!" he cries out, while Nosken laughs. It's all some big practical joke to the man, swapping X'hil's found firelizard eggs for tunnelsnake eggs.
K'vin frowns and heads to X'hil, pushing the prankster out of the way. "You fool, you don't know tunnelsnakes can be poisonnous?" He scowls at the man as he gently takes X'hil's hand. "Let me see that." He says gently.
Nosken actually looks a little ashamed at the poisonous remark, or at least not smirking quite as much. "But only /some/ of them, right?" It'd be okay, surely? X'hil is glaring at Nosken. "It better /not/ be poisonous, or it'll be /your/ hide." he snaps, shoving the basket - still containing the tunnelsnake, at the man, before holding his own hand out to K'vin. It's just a nip on the end of his finger, really. It's bleeding, sure, but it'll be fine. Probably.
The dragonhealer looks briefly at the tunnelsnake and then at X'hil's finger. "It's not poisonnous, not this one at least, but you'd be better to bandage that before you get some sort of infection in the wound." He explains with a nod.
K'vin is sitting beside X'hil at a table, apparently looking over the rider's hand while a tunnelsnake is snarling in a basket made to hold firelizard's eggs. Another person is here, apparently one of X'hil's friend and he's looking a bit sheepish, if not ashamed.
X'hil nods slowly, and /scowls/ at Nosken. "What were you /thinking/? /Honestly/!" he mutters. "A tunnelsnake egg?" he shakes his head in disbelief, then slumps in his barstool. Nosken is hovering nearby, holding a basket with eggshells and a tunnelsnake inside. "I, it wasn't poisonous! Quit being such a baby!" Nosken snaps, defensively.