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.
The cool evening air wafts in from the doorway, with a small fire going in the caverns. Jutin of course sits at one of the tables, shoes off and rubbing his bare feet from sores. In front of him and on the table are his two firelizards, brown and blue, almost how hes feeling right now. "Come'on you two, stop 'yer bickerin', you've both goten' something to eat for dinner, as well as some licks from my soup bowl…now, don't give me those faces, you'd get no more unless you go out huntin', I'd have no lazy fat firelizards on me shoulers weighin' me down."
Matteo strides in and halts for a good look around. He breathes deep the air about him and spots Jutin at one of table near by. Grabbing up some bread, a slab of meat, and some cheese, he waltzes on over and grins down at the boy. "Hey… How has life been as a Xanadu candidate so far?"
Jutin looks up at matteo and smiles, "Long, hard, and loving every minute of it…being a candidate gives me sooo much time full of blank nothing time to reflect on who to make my grand schemes come off correctly." The two firelizards each add a chirp of hapiness, hoping they'll get a few *treats*
Matteo sits himself down, a brow raised at the young smith. "No more fruit falling un unsuspecting passers-by, I hope?" He tosses two bits of the meat to teh 'lizards and starts in on his meager meal. "I know you're behind it somehow." At this a smirk plays across his face. "I just wish i knew who else."
Jutin looks really surprised by this…unfounded…accusation…"What do you mean?…why, without my intervention, three more unprotected people were hurt..because the SFDF was not able to reach the scene in time, humming our theme song!" Jutin starts humming a few notes of the song just to show what he means.
Matteo gives him a look over slice of bread he chews upon. "Uh huh. Who else was assailed?" He asks, thinking of the rotten melon bits dotting Vatyri's dark hair and clothing.
Giving perfect innocene as a look, Jutin sweetly says "three more of the young'er ones…never knew what happened…I think they are in the infirm even now…though, it happened awhile ago…they might as easily have been able to leave as well." Warlin is the first to hop on Jutins shoulder, clutching his meatroll, then followed by Amarak on the other shoulder…now starts the bickering when amarak tries to steal half of warlins meatroll.
Matteo watches the little 'lizards. They reminded him of seabirds fighting over shellfish bits and his shoulders shake in the signs of a silent chuckle. As this depleats and the image of the possible damage done makes him frown. "Seems rather suspicious that you know exactly /where/ the fruit it going to fall before it does yet you say you are not a part of its happenings, does it not? Mind explaining that?"
Pulling out a device that starts to hum, Jutin smiles, "You see this? all members of the SFDF carry one…and it'll start beeping if a fruit is incoming…at that time, we've got about 5 minutes to get the person to safety…err…people in the way." Jutin then lightly grabs both of his firelizards behind the jaws, and forces them to look in his eyes, "You two stop fighting, theres another meatroll on the table, remember?" And its a mad dash from the two to get to the table first.
Matteo arcs a brow. "And just how is this radio getting information of the precise landings? Some sort of wave system?" He has only the mere knowledge of this. Dolphins and whales used it in teh water. Some humans could use it on boats if they needed.
Smieling, Jutin grabs a nearby small redfruit and chucks it to Matteo. "Okay…I'm gonna turn on this standard issue SFDF radar…now just lightly check that small redfruit back to me…you can hear it beep when you do." He gives a grin, even though both his firelizards are fighting behind him for the meatroll…forgetting theres one now on jutin's shoulder they *just* left behind.
Shrugging his shoulders, Matteo give the fruit a light toss at Jutin. The bickering firelizards capture part of his attention as he has the ability to multitask. Silly things.
With a push of a button to activate the 'radar', it starts giving off this 'WOOP! WOOP!' noise, until Jutin turns another knob with a flick of his thumb turns it back down as he uses his free hand to catch the flying fruit. "See? This alarm goes off and tells us members of the SFDF when an impending fruit is about to make contact with the ground.
[Xanadu Weyr] Lahela grins evilly. All I need now is a dragon creature and I'm set. It has cracked shells too.
Vatyri saunters into the caverns, looking quite dirty, her hair mussed and her clothes covered with straw and bits of dirt. Watching the fruit fly through the air, the candidate offers a smirk before peering towards Jutin. "The SDFT stuff, I assume?" Even if she can't remember the proper name of the defense team, it works out all quite well.
Matteo blinks at it for a long second then nods. "Okay… that makes sense.. But why is it-" Vatyri's comment causes his head to turn. A grin flashes across his face. "Hello there." Looking her up and down with his eyes alone, he shakes again in quiet amusement. "Stable duty?" He asks, his mind having shifted to focus on her and Jutin. Needless to say more of it rests to her than Jutin.
Just hating to be ignored…and even more to have his creations misnamed, Jutin says out loud, "SFDF! Say it with me, SFDF!" Giving an argh, Jutin sighs then says "How ya doing Vatyri? my sources say that 3 more people got hit by sky fruit this month alone…its a shame I'm not allowed onto active duty because of the evil overweyrleader."
Vatyri tilts her head towards Jutin, a small smile creeping across her countanance before the girl says quite clearly, with a bit of puzzlement, "SDFF?" She didn't do that on purpose, honest; quickly her attention flickers to Matteo before she grins in welcome. "Well, it would seem so," she says, pointing a finger at a lock of black hair that stands upwards slightly. Plucking a piece of straw off of her soiled trousers, she flicks it away, not noticing the extra attention from Matteo; being pretty much indifferent to the opposite sex, she doesn't take much heed. "I'm fine, what with the fruit flying towards others, and not at me. You?" A lapse in the conversation ensues, and Vaty narrows her eyes at Jutin before pointing a finger at him. "C'ian's not evil. He's doing his duty for the Weyr."
Matteo turns back to Jutin now. "Aye… And keeping you out of comission may just be what is needed. Even with those radar things." He snorts a little to this and sits back in his chair. "Needless to say the weyrleader knows there's something up and that you are a part of it. And despite what you've shown me I'm inclined to agree with him still." having finished what little food he had he eyes the drinks nearby and slips off for a second to get something. Perhaps tea? Yes… he returns and resettles himself rather quickly with aglass of tea. This reminds him of something terribly unpleasent and he groans a little.
"Oh…you two are serious spoilsports…while me and the other >SFDF< people risk our very lives to keep you safe…" *he gives a shrug*…"Anyways…ethier of you two know when the next festival will happen? I had problems at first, but with a little bit of help, I got a SmithDragon working…still a bit heavy, but it needs to be that way. Great though, looks really real!." Though what the SmithDragon is…who knows? only one other person has seen it thus far whos not a smith.
Vatyri gives a shrug, lifting her right hand to brush at her left shoulder before peeking under the table for no apparent reason. A chuckle is heard, slightly muffled, before Vatyri surfaces from under the table. "You wouldn't have to keep us safe if the fruit wasn't flying in the first place," Vatyri points out quite intelligently, poking a finger towards a redfruit and then back at Jutin. "I have no idea. I haven't been here all that long. Maybe I should see about getting one set up," Vatyri says, mumbling something to herself at this. "Hmm. It probably wouldn't be authorized, though."
Matteo just shakes his head, idly wondering what in shard they're talking about. Festival? Poor little hold boy sheltered by his mother for so long. He does, however, vaguely remember something but doesn't voice his lack of knowledge. He does have quite a bit of pride he'd liek to keep, thank you. Maybe by teh conversation he can gather what he needs? So he remains silent to listen.
"Thank ya! Maybe you'd like to see the SmithDragon some time? Its a really cool invention that took us smith apprentices well over 6 months to get right…mainly because of the flamer." (Flamer?) smileing, he pulls out a scroll from his backpack and unfurls, "Okay…lets set a date for a fortnight hence? I'm sure thats enough time…and everyone loves buying fresh bubblies, right Matteo?"
Vatyri has the dignity to look briefly astonished at Jutin's quick planning. "Wait, wait! I said /maybe/ I should ask about having one. I'm likely to be turned down, though, don't you see?" Vatyri says, her brows furrowed together in an expression of astonishment, fingers continuing with their brushing of her trousers; a nervous habit developed over the last Turns.
Matteo blinks for a second, leaving an awkward silence before catching himself. "Uh, yeah.. yeah…" He nods, but he looks about a Vatyri. Were it just her he'd have asked what they were talking about. But, once again, that pride thing. He too starts to fidget with the mermaid pendant he managed to fix.
"Of -COURSE- it'll be approved, I mean, who dosn't want to party? I mean, lets have a cross craft cook off for the leaders? I mean, I'm sure they'd love to see how much we youn'uns have grown…would be tasty too, and I have just the thing, Split Clawfish Tropico…a tasty delight, no matter when its made!" Jutin seems over himself with wanting to have this festival, and the SmithDragon in it too.
Vatyri fidgets nonetheless, Jutin's assurances going unheeded. "Well, still, I'd have to ask, and even then, there's all sorts of preparations that would have to be made. "That's a great idea! I can make an excellent roasted wherry. I have spices that I've stowed away from the High Reaches," the girl says, her face growing considerably less worried.
Matteo continues about his listening, fidgetting with his pendant. Well, at least he was getting the basic idea. But he still knew so little and would have liked a descent explaination if it weren't for his… yep, you guessed it, pride. He focuses now on his tea. Nice flavor to it, yes.
Dreaming dreams of food yet to come (food he makes, and wins the prize!), Jutin nods about the roasted wherry "Theres a million different versions of roasted wherry, but each is unique…can't wait to try it out." Jutin licks his lips, turning to Matteo "Matteo, you got any special dish you could cook up for the festival? I'm sure I could find a way to scrap a few marks together for whoever wins the cook-off."
Vatyri pauses for a moment before grinning broadly and lifting up a finger to command a brief bit of silence. "There was a bonfire at the 'Reaches before I came here. I'm sure I can have someone bring over the games to play, as well," she says, kicking a foot up to prop it on a table in front of her. "Hmmm. Garnished roast wherry in a seasoned gravy, complete with succulent fruits and crisp cider for a beverage."
Matteo looks up suddenly, almost startled. "Er… I can't do anything special really. I mean… I cook for the ships. Fish and shark and shellfish…" He attemps to surpress the spooked-runner look that fights for dominance on his face. He decides to focus his attention mostly upon Vatyri again. At least she wasn't asking him questions he had no answers too.
Licks his lips about that recipe too, Jutin smiles, "Sounds good…though whats so funny? I'd think theres alot of people who owe eatting a half decent meal to you Matteo." It seems like both Amarak and Warlin are getting hungry from this talking, "You two…don't peep, you've both eatten…TWICE…"
Vatyri attempts to tame her mussed and wild hair before giving up, rubbing her chin lightly as Matteo describes his recipe. "Sounds like you should make that, too, if I can get 'them'," them being the Weyrleaders, "to agree to it. Of course, you'd probably have to go fishing, but it'll be worth it."
Matteo can take out his cousin's skiff for it. He nods. "Yeah… Maybe…" He was starting to get the idea of all this and it made him a bit more comfortable. "I'm sure I'd have no problem. Well, the shark might be hard. But I can talk to traders for that one."
"It's settled then, I'll ask the leaders to let us have a festival in 5 days from now…any objections? no? Gooood." Standing up, Jutin starts walking off, backpack bouncing on his shoulders as he leaves for the leaders area, ready to actually get a festival in only 3 days..but whos gonna know that but him?
Vatyri appears confused for a moment, peering off after Jutin before looking back at Matteo. "Well, I had thought that I was going to ask the leaders myself about the festival." The foot propped up against the table gives a little jerk before being lowered to the ground. "It really does sound like a good idea, no?"
Matteo watches Jutin go then swivels his head back to Vatyri. "Uh, yeah…" He pauses a moment then… "I honestly haven't had a clue what you all were talking about for the past 20 minutes." He admits, looking a bit sheepish, but trying to maintain dignity.
"Oh, we were talking about possibly getting a festival started during out candidacy," Vatyri explains casually, using a fingernail to scrape away at a patch of dried tubers stuck in a paste to the table in front of her. "So, you actually admit to not knowning what we were talking about?" the girl queries with an impish grin, now digging under the fingertail with another nail to loosen the grim accumulated from mucking.
"Er, well… yeah…" Matteo looks awkward. "Didn't want 'him', however, possibly making a big deal out of it… that is… are you going to?" He looks wary, but part of him don't think she would. He takes another sip of his tea, watching her over the rim of the mug.
Vatyri arches an eyebrow in speculation towards Matteo before returning her attention to digging out the dirt from underneath her nails. "Who said I would make a big deal out of it? I'm not /that/ mean or calculating," comes the wry comment from the candidate who promptly thumps her foot once more on top of the table.
Matteo smiles a little to himself. "I didn't think you were. But should the idea strike your fancy… one can never be too sure." He gives part of his attention to his mug of tea, taking off his pouch to add some of that horrid powder to the drink. "So… what's at these festivals? Cooking obviously, but what else?"
"Entertainment, of sorts. They're meant to be a respite from weyrlife, though that's always the way I've taken it. Someone else could interpret it differently," Vatyri says with a noncommital shrug, wriggling her foot around with the expression of slight boredom. "That much is true. One can never know what I'm going to do." Especially since Vatyri seems to be rather prone to do completely the opposite of what's expected of her.
Matteo chuckles at this. "So I've noticed." He finishes adding his power and frowns at the cup unhappily. "Predictability is, well, boring, after a while." Like that needed to be said. Smooth move, Matteo. "Oh, what ever happened to that gold 'lizard of yours?" He muses, looking away from the mug as if trying to put off what he has to do.
"Gold firelizard?" Vatyri asks blankly, now staring at a bit of wall on which is - nothing, in fact. "You mean Riaiy? Probably hoarding eggs somewhere, or commandeering some blues." A moment's silence ensues and then the girl offers a shrug, crossing her leg atop of the propped one. "She's around, surely. I don't pay that much attention to her except when she needs to be fed and oiled." Should it be said that she happens to find the creatures a bit annoying? Extremely demanding, no less.
"I've always wanted one…" Matteo muses some more. "I've heard both good and bad about them… But maybe I'll wait till after hatching. See if I impress maybe. I've never had anything like that. A pet or a boldling…" He gives a sudden look taht is undecernable. "Well, I have, but that's just… well, not going there."
Vatyri suddenly jerks her head to one side, staring fixedly at Matteo. "You want one? I'll give you one of Riaiy's, then!" Grinning in satisfaction at the fact that she has just possibly unburdened herself of one egg, she leans back into her chair.
Matteo blinks for a second then smiles a bit himself. "Yeah… that'd be great." The ensuing pause causes him to tap on his mug with a blunted nail. There's a desire in his silence for some sort of topic to talk about, but only the methodical drumming comes to anyone's ear. He opens his mouth to say something but stops and just takes a sip of his tea, forgetting for a second what it is. He gives a startled noise and forces it down his mouth. "Ick"
Vatyri nods smugly, folding her arms over her chest before speaking, "Good, then. I'll find the eggs and give you one. It's just as well. I have absolutely no use for them." The noise of which Matteo makes is given a surprised look, but the girl's mouth is tightly shut as to prevent as exclamation.
Matteo nods after giving the mug a sour look. "I just watch everyone with their pets and bondlings and want one I suppose. Want that kind of a bond." He sets down the mug and sighs. "Well, I should probably get to bed for this stuff to take effect." He stands and smiles at her. "Well, good night to you…"
Vatyri follows suit and, planting her feet firmly on the ground, stands, giving a nod to Matteo. "I used to want that feeling. It's sleepless nights in the beginning, though," she warns, narrowing her eyes at some sort of vague memory; Riaiy creeling for endless pieces of meat and being bothersome in anyway. "Night to you as well." As she bids the other candidate farewell, the girl brushes back an errant strand of hair and resumes brushing off pieces of straw.