Ista Weyr - Southern Bowl
Compared to that of other weyrs, Ista's bowl is small, and incomplete - northwards, one wall was blown clear away several millennia ago, leaving the view clear towards the plateau, the jungles, and the ocean beyond that. Somewhat elliptical, the breadth of the bowl seems to run Northwest to Southeast, the bustling epicenter of the weyr being here, towards the southwest. Several large entrances have been dug into the great bowl walls here - north east are the hatching grounds, south the Living Caverns, these being the two largest caverns in the weyr.
To the east, a small entrance leads in to the ground weyrs - the ledges of these line the bowl wall above, often filled with dragons of gold or bronze; westwards is another ledge, but with a staircase built into the wall, allowing access to the Sable Sands. The infirmary is located towards the southwest.
Rukbat has begun to set over Ista, and that brings the day shift Wings back to roost for the night. Among the flurry of dragons overhead can be seen a rather large brown, almost bronzian in size, that winks into the sky from *between*. Circling over the southern portion of the main bowl, the dragon descends and begins to back-wing to land, revealing his rider on his back, and a large supply of crates as well. Dismounting from his dragon, H'gat rubs his arms to shake the brief chill from the void of *between* off. Looking at the packages, he scratches his head and sighs at Pokth, "Oh, sure, you get the easy job."
Shorynia's slight form is making it's way out of the living caverns with a biiiiig stretch. As she walks out into the bowl she twitches her skirt back into it's right place and rolls her shoulders, her eye momentarily catching on that unusual wisp of white, then shaking her head and letting the thought pass. Pokth's shadow is more than familiar and her hand comes up to wave a greeting before her head does, "H'gat, Pokth. I trust your duties were pleasant." She pauses a moment, "Ah, sir."
Randale has come out of the caverns not much beforehand, with a drink in one hand and a blanket in the other. He is accompanied by nobody, but he looks around as though expecting someone to magically appear - however, so far, nobody has. He sighs a little, and glances at the newly arrived brown and his rider then back at the sky - which hopefully isn't showing signs of becoming cloudy. Then he notes Shorynia's arrival, and new wisp of white himself, "Congrats, I didn't notice you had that before…" He muses lightly.
Veherin emerges from the direction of the infirmary, hands shoved into his pockets, the kind of slow-trudge and weary slouch of shoulders perhaps indicating a long day of work. He's not really paying attention to where he's walking at the moment, headed vaguely in the direction of the living caverns, not looking around as yet.
H'gat nods to Shorynia, grinning, only now remembering the candidate deference system that he himself was under only a few turns ago. "Pleasant and well worth the effort. Fort sends a nice supply of fresh furs, I think they'd be ideal for decorating the Weyr and also for clothing on the occasional chilly days that Ista has. Care to give me a hand?" Before he can move to start unsecuring the load, Pokth snorts briefly, shaking his neck for a moment. The brownrider looks to see what would get Pokth's attention, then he sees the two new arrivals. Waving a hand in greeting, he speak, "Evening! I don't believe we've met. I'm H'gat, Pokth's rider. We just got back from Fort, think you could give me a hand with these crates?"
Shorynia grins with a slight inclination of her head to the brownrider, "That's good to hear. Both the safe trip and the furs. I truly hate the cold here. Loose the straps and I can start dragging things down to the stores." She glances at Pokth as he gives that odd snort, one brow raising, "Doing alright, Pokth?" The brown's attention draws her eyes to the other two and her hand comes up to wave lightly, "Veherin and… Ran… something? Sorry, I'm not the best with names." She blushes just a tinge at the question about the knot, "Yeah… Pokth cornered me while I was still hungover the morning after the clutching. How're you both doing?"
Randale has been around Ista long enough to not be concerned about temperamental dragons, and doesn't give Pokth much of a strange look for his neck shake. He purses his lips at the request and downs the rest of his drink so he can put it down near the entrance of the living caverns before wandering over to offer a hand with the crates. "I hope some of them are light." He says with a chiding voice, though seems equally willing to take whichever one he's handed. "To the stores, right?"
Veherin doesn't seem to be aware H'gat's words might be directed at him; he's only just approaching the group as he trudges past on his way to the living caverns. It's only the familiar voices that actually draws his attention enough to look up, giving an easy sort of grin to Randale and Shorynia, a casual, "Hey," tacked on the end. He gives H'gat a nod that seems to encompass Pokth as well, though his attention is diverted soon enough by the tail end of the conversation that he catches. "Oh, congratulations," he offers to Shorynia with an easy grin.
H'gat nods at Randale as he sets about helping with the crates, "Most of them. Some are labeled for specific people, you'll see the tags. Do try to keep them separate." He looks back to Shorynia, "So, starting to settle into things over at the candidate barracks, Shory? I know the first week or so can be rather trying. The change is rather immense when you think about it all." Pokth thumps his tail in agreement…or as much as he can owing to the crates on his back.
"Randale." He offers to Shorynia, "Though Ran works too. I'm not too particular on what I'm called." is added with a smirk in her direction, before he attempts to find the tags that were mentioned. "Hey Veherin. How's things? Been a while since I've seen you.." He muses, though he glances at H'gat and adds, "I don't know some of these people…"
Shorynia moves forward as the first crates start to hit earth a slight nod for Veherin and a soft, "Thanks, it's… a big change for me." She starts sorting crates carefully by name since the riders would have to come down and get them themselves, "It's… pretty empty right now. Just a couple of left overs from Zeek's clutch."
Finally pulling his hands from his pockets, Veherin runs one through his hair, probably showing off the redness that can only come with working with redwort. He trails after the others, moving over as if to give a hand, though he really doesn't fare much better than Randale as he eyes some of the tags with a studied frown. "Need a local," he agrees with a laugh, moving a few crates around, but kind of looking a little lost. "Oh- yeah. I've been busy, went by the Sands the other night, guess you were off work though." Another glance at Shorynia, as if about to add something, but he seems to think better of it, settling for a smile.
Pokth meanwhile begins to gradually stretch out as the crates are removed from his back. After some are removed and set aside, an errant somewhat round brown rear leg stretches out and the dragon croons in comfort as he works the kinks out of his joints. The downside though is that Pokth's stretching path was blocked by a crate. Emphasis on the was. A loud thunk is heard as the crate is kicked, and then the unmistakeable sound of wood breaking. H'gat jerks his head up, trying to look over his dragon's haunches as best he can. "Shards, what was that?!" Gesturing with his head to Veherin and Randale as his arms are full of a crate, he speaks, "Veherin was it? And Randale? Go find out what that was if you could please?" The brownrider does his best to contain an almost imperceptible smile that wants to creep onto his face, although anyone who doesn't know him well probably wouldn't see it for nothing aside from a twitch. H'gat knows all too well what Pokth did, especially with a voice like that sitting in his head all day long.
"I bet it would be a big change." Randale comments to Shorynia, giving her a grin before he lifts up a box an inch before setting it back down. "Shards, that's heavy." He mutters, as there's no chance he's going to be able to lift it and move it anywhere. Sighing a little at himself, he smirks at Veherin, "Ah, of course. You would come on a night I'm off work." He says, though doesn't seem too broken up about it, unlike the crate that gets flung by the brown. "Oh, shards…" is added, as he sighs and wanders off to see the damage. Can't be too bad, there were just furs in there, right?
Shorynia's head snaps up at the sound of breaking wood, then glances at H'gat, "Nothing fragile in these loads, I hope?" She straightens carefully after moving a box and stretches again, "The clutches was great. I thought Ittisieth was going to have some sort of conniption fit or something. Shards he looked irked with Ellamariseth." She glances back at Veherin, then blinks, "Oh, right! You were there, talking to Anaky. I remember now. Moyrel distracted me early on and I didn't get around as much as usual." She bends back to move the next box with the slightest of nods, "After six turns with private quarters and a kid, yeah, it's a bit of switch in mentality."
Veherin is bent over a crate, studying the label with a vague kind of uncertainty. He winces at the crack of wood breaking. "Uh. I think you lost one of your crates," he says, rather obviously to H'gat, casting a longing glance at the living caverns. He casts a glance at Randale, and seeing the other man seems to have that whole looking-at-broken-wood part down pat, resumes tugging on the crate in front of him. With a sigh, he lifts up the crate, tugging it out of the way of any further draconic mishap. "I was there," he agrees easily to Shorynia. "Definitely some colorful eggs in that lot."
H'gat wanders over to assess the damage and bends down, sifting through the broken planks of wood. Picking up two somewhat small items in his hand, he stands and looks towards Veherin and Randale, "Well Veherin, judging by what was in this crate I'd say you're going to get to know those eggs…and hopefully the dragons within…a lot more intimately. And you too, Randale." Opening his hand, the brownrider reveals two white candidate knots. Offering a smile, he continues, not having to worry about hiding his grin at knowing what's going on, "Seems Pokth knows you better than I do at this point. The whole time back from Fort he kept talking about how he thinks you two would be good choices to stand for this clutch. So the big brown prankster had me hide these knots in the crate." He holds them out for the two men, "So what do you say?" Pokth looks on just as anxiously, his eyes swirling rapidly with excitement.
Randale heads over to help pick up the broken pieces of wood, tossing them into a pile to be carted off another time. He blinks a couple times at H'gat, as though confused if he was really being spoken to. Surely that wasn't his name in that sentence as well, couldn't be. He glances at Pokth, and then at Veherin. "That means you can't drink anymore, if you accept, huh." He says, as though it's a horrible thing, then he follows it up with a grin. "It's a great honor, of course. I couldn't possibly say no." He says, waiting to see what Veherin's response will be as well, and giving Shorynia a quick smile. "Looks like you're going to see more of me, too. Maybe I should look at those eggs, I haven't even seen them yet…"
Shorynia straightens again, this time with a brighter grin, "Roommates!" She glances at Randale, "Actually, Ista allows one drink a day. For candidates, anyway. No sex, though." She's had time to peruse the rules intimately, "They're one of the nicer clutches I've seen. Miraneith's clutch, the one Nziekilth is from, had a lot of really ugly ones. One even looked like torn and scarred flesh." She shudders slightly, "Lots of /huge/ dragons, too." She grins up at Pokth for a moment, "Like this one." Her gaze comes back down with a nod for Randale, "You should. Really, you won't have much choice since they'll make us touch them and such. Personally, I'd be glad to have the company."
A startled grunt is Veherin's initial reaction, probably mostly because he almost loses his grip on the crate he's carrying, hastily balancing it with one knee before awkwardly setting it down. His brow furrows, and he stares at H'gat a moment, gaze flickering towards Pokth and back. "I say-," he says after a pause, running a hand through his hair as he straightens, "-I'd be honored, thank you." His lips twitch in a barely with-held grin, though eyes widen as Randale's words penetrate. "Mm. Surely you can have -one- drink, still-" he glances questioningly at H'gat. Shorynia's words, however, are reassurance. "I thought so," he says, relaxing marginally. "Roommates, huh. You don't snore, do you?" he asks Shorynia laughingly.
The brownrider's grin widens, "Excellent then! Congratulations Candidate Randale and Candidate Veherin, I trust you'll do Pokth proud out on the sands." As if to punctuate that sentence, the large brown rears back slightly, causing the last few crates to gently roll off his back over to a nearby pile. Pausing for just a moment, Pokth then bellows out a cheerful note which reverberates off the bowl's curved sides, hanging in the air for a few seconds before fading. Chuckling, H'gat speaks, "Pokth says thanks."
"I was mostly joking, I don't drink that often despite the fact I work at a bar. And… I'm aware of the rules. I think I wouldn't last long if I let candidates drink themselves drunk." Randale says with amusement, before realizing that he may not be at the bar nearly as much as he used to be. Woe, woe is that. "Thanks, Pokth. I think. I hear candidacy isn't exactly a vacation, and shards, if one walks off the sands with a dragon… That's a whole handful of work." He starts sounding like he's rethinking this decision as he thinks about all the work involved in this endeavor.
Shorynia giggles lightly, "You must've started after Val got rip-roaring drunk while he and Aurath were still Weyrlings, then. The WeyrLeader then, X'hil, was /pissed/." She smirks at H'gat. A you-did-that-on-purpose smirk, then shrugs lightly, "Dunno, Veh. Chaton never said I did. Faranth did he, though." She covers her ears for Pokth's celebratory bellow, then lowers her hands with a grin, "Well, you two get a day off to adjust, and I'll gladly take advantage of the opportunity to show you around and let the drudges manage the crates."
As Veherin takes the knot, he examines it thoughtfully before tucking it into his pocket - for now. "It's nothing you wouldn't have handled on a busy night in the sands anyway. You know- crazed, run off your feet exhaustion, etcetera," Veherin weighs in on Randale's musings. With an apologetic look at H'gat and his fellow candidates, he says, "I really should- I was on my way to grab some food. I'm starving, actually. Rain check?"
