
Xanadu Weyr - The Firelizard Theatre
There are many different things to look at here. In the northern part of this field lies a massive fort made out of wood. About 10 feet to the right of the fort, there are wooden sit-toys carved in the likeness of dragons and even painted as such. In the middle of the field are two sets of swings suspended from a wooden beam, held up by two wooden beams on either side. To the left of the swings is a 5 by 6 rectangular box filled not quite to the top with sand from Xanadu Weyr's Beach. To the right of the swings are monkey bars, completely crafted out of wood. In front of you are two seesaws, both made out of wood. Finally, to your near left are two benches underneath a large Lemosian Ironwood tree. You find yourself standing in the Courtyard of The Firelizard.
X'hil has come to the theatre with his bucket of firelizard finds, which has somehow /grown/ since it was discovered. In his other hand, he has … a picnic basket? Well, might as well come along and have a picnic under the shade of the large tree. He moves over to rest on one of the benches, bucket of shiny things jingling and clanking as he goes.
Cenlia is exploring, possibly looking for a place to set up that still. The girl is wandering aimlessly, her flits flying around her as she goes. The grumpy little bronze firelizard is on her shoulder, growling any time one of the others gets near. Cenlia spots X'hil and waves a hello as she walks over, her blue flits trilling a greeting as well.
X'hil waves to Cenlia! "Hey, come over, come over!" he grins, opening up the picnic box idly, and pulling out a couple of large meatrolls. Mmm. "Hey, you wanna try something new? Griselda has been working on putting /booze/ in /meatrolls/." he smirks, offering the gardener one of the two. Underneath where the meatrolls were is another of those strange romantic notes, but X'hil hasn't noticed it yet.
Cenlia eyes the meatroll, but accepts one despite looking dubious, "Booze in a meatroll?" she asks, then grins, "Sounds like something my cousin Evi might cook up. But before the gardener cansay any more, her brown flit, Trouble, dives at the meatroll, and Cenlia acks and tries to wave him away.
X'hil snickers at the firelizard, and digs around in the basket, probably looking for the non-alcoholic meatrolls, but he stops suddenly, frowning and pulling out a card, holding it even more gingerly than he had that cesspool box. "/Another/ sharding note…" Meanwhile, Meredith hops into the picnic basket, rummaging around. He picks up a paper bag, and flies off with it, or tries to. It tears, and the contents come tumbling down, meatrolls galore! Ha ha HA!
Cenlia manages to wave off Trouble, but midnight-blue Rogue makes a sudden dive and Cenlia finds herself holding air. "Hey!" she blinks as little Rogue flutters off to a nearby tree, lugging the boozed meatroll. Spotting Meredith and his torn paper bag, the gardener can't help but laugh. "What note?" she asks, plopping down on the bench, having given up attempting to defend the meatroll. Meanwhile, Trouble has gone after Rogue, but little bronze Charmer has had enough of this, and dives after Trouble. The two flits endup wrestling on the ground, but Cenlia's naughty brown firelixard is just too small, and the goldeny bronze ends up pinning him down. Charmer, seeing he has the upper hand, sits on him. Trouble growls irritably, but Cenlia just smirks in the direction of the flits, muttering a, "Serves ya right." Bright blue Mizzle, with his oversized head, has been just watching the mayhem, and lands on Cenlia's shoulder, giving the girl a nuzzle and chirping. Lookit /me/, he seems to say, I'm the only one behaving. Don't I deserve a treat?
X'hil scowls at the note, and peers into the basket, pulling out a single flower, then reading the card. "'Your face looked quite fresh today.' … What does that even /mean/?" he scowls at it, and shakes his head. "Whoever it is… Been spying on me…" he mutters. He did wake in the infirmary again this morning. Possibly a healer? Hmm. Meredith is going after the meatrolls all over the ground, gobbling up as many as he can. Mine, mine, /mine/! X'hil is sitting on a bench under the large ironwood tree, an open picnic basket beside him, a note and flower in one hand, held at arms length, as though they're more putrid than the box D'had found in the cesspit, and a large and faintly booze-scented meatroll in one hand. On the ground, normal meatrolls have been scattered, though the man's greedy brown is trying to take care of /that/. The other boozed meatroll has been flown up into a tree by Cenlia's blue Rogue, and Cenlia's Trouble and Charmer are wrestling on the ground.
Bright blue Mizzle, on Cenlia's shoulder, chirps sweetly, eyeing the meatrolls on the ground, but waiting for Cenlia to offer him one. What a polite little flit. Cenlia, though, is distracted, and eyeing X'hil curiously, "Somebody been spying..?" She frowns, "Y'know, after what we found, might wanna be careful." And then she stops, briefly eyeing Rogue in the tree, who is busy nibbling at a booze-scented meatroll. That can't be good. Cenlia shakes her head, muttering, "Somebody left dead flowers on my cot this morning. Waste of good flowers. If a find 'em, am gonna knock 'em one." She sounds like she means it. "An' there ain't nothin' wrong with my hair," she adds, though doesn't give any explanation. Trouble has given up struggling against the larger bronze flit, and is lying pinned to the ground with Charmer sitting on him smugly. Well, at least the goldeny-bronze firelizard no longer appears to be broody?
X'hil eyes Charmer, and frowns. /His/ blue is still stealing things. The bucket of stolen things by his side speaks to that. And now his brown is in on it, though really Meredith only steals food. Cough. "I, er… /Shards/." Ah, he's spotted Rogue. "Little guy's gonna make himself sick." Teach him a lesson? There's a grimace at Cenlia's mention of dead flowers. "/Dead/? That can't be good…" But yes, he is paranoid, and now almost certain that he's being spied upon. That's why he /came/ to this part of the Weyr in the first place, it's not one of his usual haunts.
Thea walks through the field, pausing now and then to watch weyrchildren at play. She's humming to herself and flashes a wistful smile now and then as a child runs by her. She wanders closer to where Cenlia and X'hil are, but not really paying attention to where she's going. Brown Shep is sharing her shoulder today with a tiny green baby firelizard and Thea is softly talking to both of them. Likely she's just thinking out loud. As she draws nearer, the Junior overhears a bit of their conversation. "Steal? Who is stealing what?" Seems curiousity is biting her.
Cenlia glares over at Rogue, muttering, "Little sammich Thief." Rogue, as if hearing her, raises his head and chirps. After a moment, the midnight-blue flit flies over to the girl's shoulder, letting the meatroll tumble to the ground. Cenlia makes a face, telling X'hil, "Think they was left awhile ago, but we been gone." She shrugs, but then waves when she catches sight of Thea, "Hey." Charmer is still sitting on Trouble, but the little bronze gives a croon at the sight of the weyrwoman. And maybe waggles his tail a bit. Yup, the flit is no longer broody. Trouble snorts in disgust, and tries to wriggle over to the fallen meatroll whole Charmer is distracted.
X'hil snorts, and nods at the bucket beside him. "My firelizard… /Wraith/. Lost anything?" he asks, with a wink. Is he … implying that she just /take/ something? No. No, he can't be. "Surprisingly, no-one's really noticed much missing. He only takes small things really. Some very nice things, but…" There's a pause, and he thinks. "Aaactually…" he rummages around in the bucket, pulling out the shiny - and tellingly engraved - pocketwatch. "I, er. I found this this morning. It's /very/ nice!" He pulls a much plainer one from his own pocket, comparing them idly. There really is no comparison. The firelizards' antics get a raised eyebrow from the man, as he quietly pockets his own watch. Meredith ignores them, still munching through the regular meatrolls on the ground, ignoring the booze one entirely. He's going slower now, though.
As Cenlia waves, Thea steps closer, tentative and careful not to intrude if a personal conversation is going on. The tiny green chirrups in a tiny, silvery tone to the tail-wriggling bronze. As X'hil picks up shiny things from a bucket, she blinks, "Hello, you two whatcha got?" She pauses, clears her throat, then asks, "How did Niva and R'sul take the report of our find?"
X'hil frowns, and shakes his head. "I, er, they didn't seem too pleased. Told me not to go blabbing, as if I would. Hushed it all up…" He's not really in the loop, exactly. "I … had other things to take care of." Cough. Split stitches. Though he seems to be sitting more comfortably today. "But yeah… They weren't exactly /thrilled/." he scowls. "I've been … hiding out. Don't normally come down here. But…" he waves the note. Technically it was left in his picnic basket, which he usually leaves with Isabet in the kitchens, but still. "They know my /foster mother/." Shudder.
Aurora flitters awkwardly over to land by Charmer with a questioning squeak. She tilts her tiny head, this way and that, eyeing the bronze firelizard as if it's the first one she's ever seen. It's not. Charmer's the second one she's ever seen. Thea flashes a quick grin at Cenlia. She listens, nodding sympathetically as X'hil speaks, replying soothingly, "Well, they weren't displeased with -you-. I'm guessing they're being careful-" Thea interrupts herself, casting a furtive look around, "-never know who might be listenin'." She gives him a bit of an odd look at the shudder, "I… see." But of course she doesn't. Her attention is back on the bucket, "I see you're starting a collection."
Cenlia glances about suspiciously, "If somebody's spying or listening, why're they leavin' notes?" She frowns a bit, eyeing the note X'hil has. Charmer continues to croon cheekily. Why /hello/ there. Cenlia eyes the little bronze briefly, but then glances back at X'hil's bucket with a shrug, "Find any of my spades? Think either Rogue or yours snatched one a while back."
X'hil grimaces at the bucket, and shakes his head. "Not by /choice/. Sharding firelizard… You haven't, er, /lost/ anything, have you?" he asks, jerking his head at the bucket. "Take a look, maybe. Just, er, don't shoot the messenger." That would be him. "/Tried/ training the sharding blue, /keep/ trying. He doesn't care." the man mutters, and holds the bucket out, offering it to Thea first, though he does nod to Cenlia. "I /think/ I saw a spade in there. There're a lot of small shiny things in there now, though. Every time I take away the hoard, he builds it back up again."
She can't use her crossbow? Poor Thea, her arrows lie gathering dust while perfect targets flaunt their- "Assuming I have, I promise not to fire, X'hil?" She's in a good mood today as she peeks into the bucket, "Oh. There's my pocket watch. Huh. Didn't even know I'd lost it." She picks it up and shakes a finger at the blue. "Naughty." Cenlia's word 'notes' sinks in, "Heard a little about those. You get one too?" This is addressed to the both of them.
Cenlia grins at X'hil, "Think yours might be worse'n mine. 'Least Rogue only steals my stuff." She nods at Thea, "Somebody been sendin' me notes an' flowers." The girl makes a face, "Waste of good flowers," she mutters. Cenlia pokes in the bucket, but shakes her head, eyeing Rogue sideways, "Guess I better check the greenhouse again."
X'hil scowls at the firelizard, who looks /remarkably/ unapologetic. "Sharding /lizard/." he mutters, and Meredith looks up from his now sluggish nibbling at the meatrolls on the ground, with a confused chirrup. "Not /you/." the man snorts, though it does seem to amuse him a little. "You got one?" he asks of Thea, for some reason looking more /guilty/ than surprised… Hrm. He shrugs a little at the spade not being in the bucket, muttering at the blue absently. What? He /didn't/ steal, and he gets muttered at? Or is the man more concerned that there might be more than one stash?
Thea shakes her head, "No, but the caverns were abuzz about it, over breakfast. Zevida did." She gives the bronzer a second look, "Should I have?" As if he would know. "Most girls like getting notes and flowers, Cenlia. Not your style?" The scolded firelizard gets a glance, "Well, at least we all know who to blame if we're missing stuff…if he keeps hiding it in the same place." The tiny green firelizard begins climbing up Thea's leg, so the Junior reaches down to help her up. "Gotta learn how to fly."
Cenlia mutters, "I like flowers when they ain't dead an stuffed under my blankets. Like 'em even better on the plants." She wrinkles her nose, shaking her head and saying, "Still think it's some healer. How else could somebody stuff a note under my pillow when I was in the infirmary?" She looks a bit uneasy, though, and glances around. Charmer gives an encouraging croon to the little green, opening his wings and doing a little flutter, hovering at about knee-level and showing off his goldeny hide. Cenlia eyes her firelizard warily, and then frowns as brown Trouble, who has by now eaten almost all of the boozed meatroll, stumbles over unsteadily. To X'hil, the gardener girl says, "Maybe we should talk to A'dar. He's got his flits all trained up. Even got mine to between dead trundlebugs." And at this, Cenlia grabs some meatroll from the ground and offers it to Mizzle and Rogue, who crawl down her arms to nibble.
X'hil coughs, and turns sliiightly pinkish. "No, not that I know of… But, er. Whoever it is is leaving them places we're likely to be, or to look. They were under the meatrolls in my picnic basket, for example. Might want to check, I don't know, your office. Er, or weyr. Or… Any place you go, really." Not that he'd have /anything/ to do with that. Cough. Interesting that he suggested office /first/… "A'dar? Hmm. Well, I'll try /anything/. If this keeps up, I'm going to need a bigger bucket." He scowls. "Hey, you reckon A'dar'd take those eggs off my hands as well?" He found a clutch of firelizard eggs in his loft. "They're hardening nicely, should hatch any day now." Hey, maybe that's why Charmer stopped 'brooding', his rocks, er, 'hatched'?
Thea just stares at X'hil's pink face, "Ya feelin'alright?" She's momentarily distracted by the little green, who is peering at Charmer's fluttering wings. Her claws are snagged in Thea's skirt. "Aurora, here." She transfers the green to her shoulder, grimacing. "Found an egg in that crater when I went back to check for that Candidate. Hatched right in my hands." She is silent for a few seconds before she asks Cenlia, "What exactly did the notes say? Nothing threatening, I hope?"
Cenlia eyes Charmer, then asks Thea, "There any other eggs down there? Betcha this one thought they was his." She points at Charmer, then shakes her head. "Dunno about threatenin'… said I had nice hair." The girl frowns and tugs at a loose lock. She shrugs though and says to X'hil, "Should ask A'dar, bet he'd want another - he's good at trainin' 'em."
X'hil peers up at Thea's little green firelizard, then snerks. "Well, suppose we know it's good for eggs, now." Yep. "She's a pretty little thing." he notes, absently. He seems to prefer to dodge the note discussion now, grimacing a little. But he does nod at Thea's question. "I, I'm fine. Tore my stitches, got sewn up again, but healing. Sitting's less painful." Yay. "Er, how're you?" he asks the goldrider then. They haven't really had a moment for that talk yet, so he's still slightly confused about her exit on the first night of exploration. "Note said my face looked fresh." he grimaces. "My face looked the same. Like /my face/. Not 'fresh', whatever that means." He scowls. Wraith doesn't /like/ this talk about training, and /hisses/ at Cenlia, then disappears between. Won't catch /me/!
Thea shakes her head at Cenlia, "Just a bunch of broken shells and her egg." She blinks at Cenlia's hair. "Well, at least that's true." Not quite sure what to say about the fresh face note, she dismisses them with a shrug, "Could be a weyrbrat prank?" X'hil's comment about the hot sands cause her to look worried, then she's shaking her head and snickering, "They can't keep sewin ya up, X'hil. Half-healed tissue doesn't hold restichin so well." Her turn to turn a bit pink, flickering a look at Cenlia then back at X'hil, "Mm fine."
Cenlia snickers at X'hil, saying, "Well, 'least your face ain't overripe or rotten?" Ever the gardener… anyway, Cenlia eyes the disappearing Wraith warily, but then glances from Thea to X'hil, but doesn't say anything. Instead, she leans down to collect the unsteady Trouble, who growls and tries to bite her fingers. Rogue and Mizzle retreat to the girl's shoulders, though Charmer is still fluttering about, trying to show off. "Hope it's a prank," Cenlia mumbles, giving Trouble a glare.
X'hil looks a bit hurt, but his eyes are twinkling. "Oh, come on, it was only twice! Kinseth wouldn't /let/ me stay home, he wanted to see what that … place was." He does frown a bit at that, though, turning a bit more serious. He raises an eyebrow at Thea's pink-faced 'fine', curious. "Fine? Well, that's… good. Right?" Right? He looks guilty again when the notes are mentioned, looking away. "Probably just a prank. Nothing to worry about." Yep. Prank. He blinks at Cenlia then, and scowls. "My face is not some kind of … vegetable." Dunno, it's been doing an okay, though much more pink than red, tomato impersonation whenever the notes have been mentioned.
Thea would burst out laughing at the vegetable-face comment if her mind weren't on something else, her face looking troubled. She doesn't reassure the bronzer that it's good, either. "Nooo, you can't help what Kinseth does…I know." She flashes Cenlia a bright smile, eyes glittering as they catch the light, but she is careful not to turn them X'hil's way. "I, uh… Seryth needs me." And she dashes off under the trees towards her weyr.
Cenlia watches Thea leave, then glances at X'hil. Hunh. The gardener girl shrugs, though, saying, "Maybe this one'll catch the person leavin' flowers. Could set him on guard or somethin'." Trouble growls again as Cenlia gives him a scritch, but stops trying to bite her. Charmer, seeing the little green and weyrwoman go turns to X'hil and starts doing his tail-waggling and preening. Cenlia snickers, "Somebody thought yet face did," she says to X'hil, indicating his note and grinning.
X'hil furrows his brow at Thea's rapid exit, and frowns. "She okay?" he asks absently, then shakes his head. She … must be. Right? Right. The note is scowled at, and the man crumples it up in his fist, dropping it back into the picnic basket. "Stupid note…" he mutters, scowling. Meredith growls sleepily at the bronze, now curled up at X'hil's feet, and utterly stuffed with meatrolls. "I, what?" He catches Cenlia's glance at him after Thea leaves, and blinks, confused and slightly defensive.
Cenlia glances the way Thea went, shrugging, "Guess so?" Charmer continues to preen and chirp and waddle. /Hello/ there. He crooons at Meredith. Cenlia giggles, bit at her flit and at X'hil, "'Least he ain't mean anymore." The girl peers in the basket, "Dun suppose ya got anymore rolls in there? Or some booze?" That last bit sounds more hopeful.
X'hil looks less than convinced about Thea, but he shakes his head, none of his business, probably. At Cenlia's question, he realises he still has his /own/ boozed meatroll. "I'll split this one with you?" he suggests, eyeing it a little warily. There is also booze in the basket, /naturally/. Several bottles of good strong ale. No glasses though. X'hil is a bottle man, apparently. Unfortunately, the firelizards got all of the regular meatrolls… And one of the boozed ones.
The gardener nods to X'hil while eyeing the booze in the basket curiously. Trouble eyes the remaining boozed meatroll, too. But Charmer is the one that takes off, having gotten bored with waggling his tail at Meredith, the little bronze spies something in the distance and takes off. Cenlia acks, and takes off after him, disappearing into the forest with her flits chittering after her.