Tuesday, April 1, 2003

------------------------------------

Living Cavern

The smooth, rounded walls cavern sweep upward from an oval base, two dragonlengths long and one wide, large enough to seat every member of the Weyr at mealtimes. The soft blackness of the lava which forms these caverns swallows glowlight, so shelves for glowbaskets abound, dotting the walls every three or four paces and casting gentle greenish light toward the sparkles of gold volcanic glass embedded in the ceiling. Ancient, lustrous tables run along the axis of the cavern, and at the far end rests the raised dais and high table, where Weyrleaders and honored guests eat during formal occasions. Behind the high table, the Weyr's symbol is embedded into stone: a smoking mountain in black on an orange shield, trimmed in gold.

Perched near the food are twenty-three firelizards.

You see Antique Dart Board here.

Rhaeyn, Thistia, and Ozeunzi are here.

Lyria saunters into the caverns, grabbing a mug of juice and a piece of fruit or something like that, then turning around and looking for someone. Oooh candies. How about she goes and plays with them. Sounds good. So she wanders over to the trio. And her nose is immediately assaulted. Sniffsniff. Step closer. Sniff. "What /is/ that? Is that coming from you? What /have/ y'all gotten into? Were you," she pauses and sniffs again,"gutting fish or something?" Why /would/ they be fishing anyway?

"Oh." Rhaeyn's response to 'poetry' is typically male. He gnaws on meatroll, glancing back to Thistia with raised 'huh?' eyebrows while Oze's gone to grab herself food. Looks like lunchtime - and now they've got more visitors. "-I- was in the infirmary," he notes sullenly. Fish and redwort stink, part of your balanced diet.

Thistia smiles up at Lyria, then looks alarmed. "Hey, don't look at me," she says, nearly falling out of her chair as she stands up, taking her plate with her to prove that the smell didn't come from her. "It's all Ozeunzi." She rolls her eyes, sighing in exasperation.

Ozeunzi rests her head on the table with a sigh as she hears another question upon her smell. She knew she shouldn't have trusted that Trik with her eyebrows. Crazy bluerider. Without answering Lyria's question towards the room, she continues to stuff her meal into her mouth ravenously, spilling crumbs and bits of meat all over her lap. She's eating like a wild wher. She suddenly pops up from her gnawing at her food at the sound of her name, suddenly narrowing her eyes Thistia. Devil.

Lyria gives Ozeunzi a slightly strange look - doesn't she know not to listen to Trik? And sits down at their table, staying a bit closer - a /lot/ closer - to Thistia than the others. "I see..." She shrugs and bites at the redfruit she's holding. "So...How y'all doin'?"

Thistia grins. "Doing pretty well...been down in the tunnels all day, organizing herbs and stuff like that. Kinda nice to take the break and grab some lunch." She smiles over at Rhaeyn, their plan seems to have worked. A corresponding glare is sent to Ozeunzi.

Rhaeyn at least doesn't spread crumbs around while he eats. A few of the sauce'd fingerroots are forked, and the boy pauses to peer at all three of the girls at the table, a bit confused. "What exactly.. happened with the fish thing?" He -does- look to Oze for an answer, but at this point he'll take any sort of clarification. "Fine, just a bit tired from this morning." He smiles back to Thistia, pleased.

Ozeunzi quickly explains the fish situation, her voice rather high-strung, "Groundworms were chasing me and trying to eat me, I stumbled upon Trik, she told me trundlebugs'd eat my eyebrows if I didn't smear myself with dead fish, she was attacked by trundlebugs and I ran. That's about it." After quite a few moments of silence on her part, she adds, "I hope Trik's okay" Despite all the ridicule she's gotten already, the Candidate still seems to believe Trik's story. Oh well, that's Oz for you.

Thistia rolls her eyes. "Oze, when are you going to get it?" she asks, obnoxious to the nth degree. "She was kidding. We all were. See?" She arches her eyebrows, waggling them. "Eyebrows still intact. So are Trik's. And no fish."

Lyria ahs quietly. That sounds like something Trik would say. Lyri takes this opportunity to lean over the table towards Ozeunzi and say in a slightly hushed voice,"Next time Trik tells you something about things attacking you...Don't listen to her." Solemnnod. And Lyri quickly leans back away. "Tunnels, huh? Mm...If you want to get outside, Rilskiath could use a bath later."

Thistia turns to Lyria, nodding eagerly. Lyri's definitely her favorite rider so far. "Sounds great!" She turns to Rhaeyn, asking, "Wanna help? We might wash the redwort smell off of you." She grins, teasing gently.

Rhaeyn looks.. confused. Very. Maybe explaining the story -wasn't- such a good idea. So he offers a neutral "Oh." and goes back to finishing off those fingerroots while the others try to explain to Ozeunzi that this Trik person was, er, tricking her. "Huh? Bathe.. Rilskiath?" Holdbred. These things are still new to him. "What does that entail?"

Ozeunzi narrows her eyes even further almost to the point that they're shut. She looks highly offended, which is evident as she abruptly stands up from her chair, looking quite livid. She doesn't hear Lyria's comment, only the twitching inside her head. "Excuuuse me, Thistia, but I doubt YOU'VE been attacked by anything as VICIOUS as a groundworm and when you do, don't come running do me! If YOU had to run for your life, I bet you'd be whistling another tune, so don't you mouth off me until you're scared out of you mind, you're just all gas and ash, so hush yo mouth." Where'd the 'hush yo mouth' part really fit in..? Puff.

Lyria is about to explain to Rhaeyn, but then stops to oogle at Ozeunzi. Riiight. Stare. Jaw-drop. Her mouth is snapped shut and she just turns back towards Rhaeyn to calmly explain,"It entails a trip to the waterfall basin, lots of soapsand, and being half-drowned once or twice." Sounds fun, right? Of coooourse. A glance back to Ozeunzi to see if she's sat down yet.

Thistia laughs nodding. "Yeah, sure...the second I get attacked by a vicious insect that /doesn't exist/ I'll come running straight to Lyria here...or maybe N'ano, we can warn the entire weyr and evacuate before we all lose our eyebrows and other important parts of our anatomy." She rolls her eyes, spearing another piece of fruit and chewing on it contentedly. She smiles at Rhaeyn. "It's not too hard. It's fun, too, especially when the weather's nice."

Rhaeyn sort of ... sits there during Oze's outburst. Oh my. You know, this meatroll, it really is very interesting. Fascinating, see? Mmmhm. It's not until people start trying to describe this dragon-bathing thing that he dares look back up. Ahh, the power of girls, to leave poor innocent boys cowering even when they're not involved. "Um. Oh. Well, sure, okay." He'll just be finishing his lunch, then.

Ozeunzi sits down in her chair jauntily, making the legs creak against the floor. She dons an angry glare, her eyes pinned upon Thistia. She folds her arms across her chest tightly, not saying a word, her dramatic expression saying enough. After a few minutes, she stands up again and storms off. She'll teach that Thistia, she will. Huff.

Thistia rolls her eyes, looking from Rhaeyn to Lyri. She shrugs, looking quite innocent and unperturbed as she goes back to finishing her lunch quickly. "Will you be with us, or are we on our own?" she asks Lyri with a smile.

Lyria nods agreeably to Thistia. Oooh she likes this girl. There are those who thing dragonwashing is unfun. "Ah I don't know. I could probably come out. I'd like to go for a swim or something." A slight shrug and with a pause her eyes drift towards the ceiling as she consults with Rilskiath. And she gives the two a fair warning,"Ski's a bit vain for a brown. He likes to be so clean that he sparkles. Just warning you." Eyeroll.

Rhaeyn grins faintly, gulping down the last of his redfruit juice. "S'alright, it sounds a lot more interesting than cleaning up in the -infirmary-." Eiw. Oze's storming off is watched with another perplexed look, before the boy just shakes his head and shrugs. Girls. "And you're right, it's nice out today."

Thistia giggles, nodding. "That's fine, we'll get him nice and clean." She grins at Rhaeyn, eager for the opportunity to stay with the people she likes, doing chores she enjoys. She turns to Lyri, grinning, and explains, "My parents used to let me help them with their dragons. We always used to get into water fights. It was fun."

Lyria looks, not really surprised, just a bit curious,"Oh, your parents were riders? Neat." GoodThing. She doesn't have to go and explain dragonly things then to someone who's been around dragons. The core of her redfruit is discarded and she looks around the table,"Do ya' want to go now, then? I'm free for a while? You done with your lunch?"

Thistia nods. "Yup. Sounds good." She stands up, cleaning the knife off and grabbing the now-empty plate. She waits at the door for the others, adding with a smile, "I'm originally from Telgar weyr...wasted my time in the minecraft for a while. No, not exactly wasted...I liked learning. But...well, I much prefer weyrlife." She grins, a little lopsidedly.

Rhaeyn peers at Thistia after she mentions her parents were riders. Huh. News to him. In any case, he's clearing his plate by using the last of the bread hunk to wipe up the remains of the sauce, seeming much pleased with his lunch. Mmm. "Didn' know that, Thistia, that's neat." He goes to stand as well, nodding to Lyria. "Sure, I think I'm done." Thinks he's done? Oh my. Rhae gathers up his plate, fork, and glass, pausing before he scoots off to deposit them on the sideboard with similarly dirty dishes. Who wants to bet one of his fellow candidates is back there washing?

Lyria shrugs to Thistia,"Minecraft sounds interesting. All the different gems and stuff..." But then again Lyri's a bit of a nerd. She stands up, and motions towards the bowl,"Let's go then. You sure you're done Rhaeyn?" Teenage boys can eat endlessly, you know. WIthout an answer though, she heads out.

Waterfall's Basin

The weyr's fresh-water pool flows clean and clear, almost undisturbed by the river that rests here after crashing down from the heights above. This small bay is neatly surrounded by a series of smooth stone steps and hidden beaches, a haven from the wider lake beyond before the water drops further to the sea below.

One gnarled, ancient tree has survived the ravages of time and Thread, reaching up towards the cliff above and the water below. A set of cruide boards makes the climb an easy one. The beach stretches, wide and warm, the waterfall quite a swim distant.

It is an autumn sunrise.

Gliding above are three firelizards.

Brown Rilskiath is here.

You see Radnazak here.

Rhaeyn arrives from the Weyr-paths, accompained by the crash and tumble of the waterfall.

Thistia arrives from the Weyr-paths, accompained by the crash and tumble of the waterfall.

Lyria makes her way down to the basin, Rilskiath trailing eagerly after the trio, Lyri having somewhere along the way paused to pick up some soapsand and her bikini top along with a pair of lighter pants. They must have paused by the laundry or something? Maybe? The brown goes bounding past the rider and into the water, splashing as he swims deeper, then floats crocodile-like, snout and eyespeeking out of the water.

Laundry, yes! Rhaeyn trails along as well, occasionally peeking glances up at the brown as though he's wondering just how hard it's going to be to get -all- of him washed. He's shucked his tunic and sandals and is carrying them under one arm, left wearing his trousers which have been rolled to the knees. The boy definitely needs a tan.

Thistia follows Lyri with a grin, holding the same ensembles as Lyri. Lightweight, khaki-ish pants and a skimpy little bikini top, which she works to change into as she walks, stumbling occasionally in the sand.

Rilskiath wades a bit into the water, the pants that she's wearing luckily made to do that as they hang loosely to jsut past her knees,"Come up here, Ski," she orders the dragon. The brown obeys, slipping to shallower waters and nosing his rider. Her handful of soapsand, taken from the bag that she left just out of the water, is rubbed onto Ski's muzzle with a brush also taken from the bag. "Grab a brush. Gran some sand. And come scrub. Don't be afraid to scrub hard. He's dusty..." a glance to Thistia,"From trips to the minehold and back." Grin.

Rhaeyn abandons his things well back from the water's edge, inching forward toward the large - larger - isn't it weird how they get bigger when you get closer? - dragon. Ahem. At least he doesn't look scared, but offers a grin, standing knee-deep and reaching to snag one of Lyria's brushes and take up a position further down Rilskiath's side.

Thistia giggles, nodding. "Thanks again for that," she says to the rider as she grabs a brush and wades in, disregarding the water which soaks the hem of her pants. They'll only get wetter, and she knows it. She snatches some sand and wades to the other side of Rilskiath, starting in on the considerable job at hand.

Rilskiath helpfully opens up his wings to be available for scrubbing. His head and neck seem to be pretty much taken care of by Lyria, who is merrily scrubbing away. Just imagine how long this would take with only herself. Gotta love having candies around. Mischevious brown twitches his wing to poke Rhaeyn in the side, Lyria unaware as her view of Rhaeyn is blocked by the big lump o' dragon.

Thistia smiles, switching to scrub the wing on her side. "Lyria, let me know if I'm missing a spot or anything. I'm sure he'll tell you," she says with a grin, patting the brown's wing.

Rhaeyn squeals - awfully feminine, for a guy - as he gets wingpoked. "Eeek! Sorry! Did I hurt him or something?!" A handful of sand gets dropped back into the water. He's been working his way up Rilskiath's side toward those wings, still relatively dry.

Lyria blinks and uses a neckridge to hoist herself up and look over to Rhaeyn,"Eh? What're you talking about?" Of course while Lyri's been checking with Rhaeyn, Ski twitches his /other/ wing to poke Thistia. Lyri's head whips around, noting the "expression" on her dragon's face - one which probably only she would catch with a mental snicker of his,"Stop that, you! You want to be clean or not?"

Thistia laughs, trying to dodge the poke. She splashes water playfully at the brown, familiar with dragon tricks, then calls over to Lyri, "Is he usually this troublesome?" She laughs, her words obviously meant to tease rather than to upset.

Rhaeyn eyes Rilskiath suspiciously for a moment, before cautiously approaching to continue his bathing. "He -poked- me!" Which Lyria has already noticed, apparently. Thistia's comment provokes a laugh, as the boy scrubs, though gently, at brown hide.

Lyria rolls her eyes at the dragon,"Only when he's in one of his weird moods." Sides of his neck finished she climbs up to sit between a ridge and work on the brown's back, who can make an unexpected waterslide if he decides to sit up. Note that by now, Lyri's thouroughly soaked.

Rhaeyn continues doing scrubby things, generally pleasant but a bit quiet. Eventually he gets quite soaked but accomplishes a good deal of dragon-scrubbing. Somewhere along the line, one of the laundry ladies comes down to the pool, and recognizes Rhae. Sigh. He gets begged to come help them haul around heavy baskets. Again. Such is life.

Thistia blinks, giggling. "Looks like fun up there," she says with a smile as he continues working on the wing, working her way around. She leans down, covering herself in water to get the underside of Ski's wings.

Rilskiath lifts up one of his wings to create a wet, dripping, echoey shelter. "Hey Ski," mumbles Lyri as she requests something of him. But while she happens to do this, he lets one of his wings lower. The one that Thistia's trying to clean. Oops. After a moment the dragon realizes his mistake and lifts his wing up, poking his nose over to where Thistia's /supossed/ to be. This twisting of his neck sets Lyri off balance and /she/ goes tumbling into the water. Sploosh.

Thistia ducks under the wing as it closes on her, submerging all the way into the water. She comes back up, spluttering and glaring at the dragon, grinning as she clears her eyes, then starts laughing at the rider's sudden tumble.

Lyria stays underwater and swims over to Thistia, popping up and shaking her head, water from her hair splattering everywhere. "I told you it entailed half drownings." Lyri tosses her brush towards the shore and climbs back up onto the dragon's back, using his wing as a foothold. She beckons to Thistia,"Ever gone down a dragon waterslide?" she asks with a mischevious smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Thistia laughs, nodding. "I've noticed. And no, I haven't." She grins, looking questionably at the dragon and the rider. "What's a dragon waterslide?" She shakes her head, similarly sending water flying, and gropes in the water to find the brush which got lost as she ducked under.

Lyria waves her hand,"Come up and see." Fwahaha.

Thistia blinks, nodding. "All right," she says, game for anything. She clambers up the dragon's side, using neckridges as handholds. "Now what am I doing?" she asks, balancing carefully.

Lyria looks over her shoulder at Thistia, and then at Rilskiath, who is looking over his shoulder at her. "Um....Just don't fall off?" suggests Lyri and Rilskiath sits up really rather suddenly, opening his wings up, and Lyri is sent sliding down his back and into the water, hugging her knees and 'wheee'ing.

Thistia giggles, nodding. She follows suit, looking a little nervous, and laughs as she goes flying down the dragon's back, lannding with a huge splash into the water. She comes back up, shaking her hair and sending braids and water flying. "Wow! That was great!"

Lyria sputters a little bit with a grin and finds her way to the shore, looking around for that big flat rock she likes to sit on. Oh there it is. She climbs up on the rock and lays herself out on it like a big flizzard basking in the sun. "Yeah. He did that to me one day. He sat up. I wasn't ready. I went sliding."

Thistia laughs. "That's great! Must've been awfully surprising." She grins, patting the brown, then rolls her eyes. "Shards...lost the brush /again/!" She frowns, looking around in the water.

Lyria shrugs lazily,"Use mine. It's on the shore..." With that mumbled, the rider's eyes shut and she falls asleep lying there in the sun. Ouch. We may have a sunburned Lyri later.