Booze Island - Hemp Patch
Surrounded by dense forest on all sides, there is a small, clear area here where the sky is visible, and the ground is covered in tall plants, their stalks reaching up to about waist-height on the average person. The curious patch of vegetation looks oddly ordered, as if planted, a stark contrast to the chaotic jungle that surrounds this place. There are numerous other plants crowding around the edges, but just the one species seems to dominate here, as if cared for. But by whom? And to what purpose? Those who are familiar with the herb might recognize the tell-tale, star-like leaves. Further into the jungle, small shoots have popped up, as the plants spread from their original location, taking hold in sunny spots between nearby trees.
Booze Island. Really, with a name like that, is it any surprise Cenlia's been here before. And the whole time she's been here, she's been /paranoid/. And sleeping with a shovel next to her. Seriously. The girl's gone all darty-eyed and suspicious, parking herself on the beach, and making narrow eyes every time the foliage moved. But.. eventually, the girl does start to relax, and it's some time before she gets up the gumption to actually venture out into the jungle. And naturally, she heads for someplace full of interesting plants, tugging along anyone that would go, to come help her grab a sample since they're there already. "Don't nobody tell X'hil we was here," she can be heard mumbling as she shoves her way through the vegetation, big grin lighting up her face when the hemp patch comes into sight. "Was convinced them things were planted by renegades or somethin', but I figure anybody here's gotta be long gone," even so, she's wielding that shovel awfully close.
A certain clown-haired, ridiculous looking twin is just one of those that Cenlia's managed to drag along. He's seen her enough since his ventures here to realize just how utterly crazy she was (cough), but has said nothing about it. He agrees to go along with her though, and moves through the thick foliage, occasionally slapping a bug off his face or arms, imagined or real. When they arrive at Cenlia's destination, he stares around and frowns. "Wha's so special about all this? Why would Renegades plant stuff?" The boy asks, completely lost.
CRAZY?! Who's CRAZY? Certainly not Cenlia? Ahem. Despite the apparent paranoia, and shovel-wielding, the girl at least manages to find her way into the hemp patch. The grin on her face is /huge/. "Don't find this stuff just /anywhere/," the gardener girl beams at Lotrien. And yes, she's totally been snickering every time she looks at him, though she /does/ make a mild attempt to stifle it. Just a bit. The gardener-candidate shrugs, "Dunno why anybody'd plant it, let alone way out here. Weavers use it though, an' figure we could grab a bunch and get back to Ista with it. Might make a pretty mark or two." Its alll about the marks, yep. Cen kneels down to peer at the foliage, "Weird.. stuff's been cared for. Dun't think anybody in the gardens'd come out here.. mebbe somebody with a boat," mosing as she moves further into the patch, heedless of bugs or branches.
Crazy shield wielding girls in search of hemp patches.. Nothing weird about that! OF course, such /is/ the opinion of the near bald, patchy, hyper-active kid that follows her, so.. Lotrien follows after her, frowning a bit as he looks down at the green stuff, still not understanding. "The weavers use this stuff? What for?" He'd never seen weavers using leaves. Except for perhaps in making dyes. He really knows nothing of weaving though. He picks his way past branches and things. "Why would they pay for it? Couldn't we just tell them it's here and charge'm for directions?" See, he's already thinking on how he can get out of work.
"Dunno, but we used to get 'em a lot back in Southern Boll, with the Weaverhall right there an' all. Sold for /loads/. Figure could find some weavers 'round here.." Cenlia, shovel-wielding gardener girl. Yup. She sets the shovel-tip down in the ground and leans on the garden tool, eyes roaming idly over the patch. "Figure they make stuff outta it, I dunno," a half-shrug given, "Went to a class once where they was brewing indigo. Figure it's kinda the same thing maybe." Cenlia's a farmcrafter; her knowledge of this sort of thing stops short of the processing stage, apparently. "Coulf /tell/ them, sure," she wrinkles her nose, "but then would only get paid once, yeah? 'Stead, we could bring back a bunch, pay some rider t' keep his mouth shut, an' keep makin' marks. Bet I could even grow some of this stuff back at the weyr too.." her musings interrupted by a something she spies in the midst of the plants. She trails off and peers.
Lotrien tilts his head slightly, but he begins to grow excited as he starts to understand the ramifications of this find. Of course, chances of Cenlia letting him have much of a cut are slim, but still, a few marks is a few marks. "That don't sound like a half bad idea." He comes to a stop when she does, looking around. "How do we take it to'm? Do we have to uproot it or do we just takes the leaves?" He falls quiet as she does and frowns, peering off towards where she's looking. "What's up?" he asks, tentatively moving past her and towards those plants that seem to have her attention.
Adouzhi is late in coming, having some how wound up lost. Man it was hard to find your way around in this jungle. You'd think he'd know his way considering how often he's been here in the last several or so days. "Hey Lotlot! Cencen! Sorry I'm late." He says as he walks into the clearing, blinking at the plants. "What the shards are these?" He asks, and walks toward the other two candidates, that is before something hidden in the weeds trips him up. "Whoa!" He says, and winds up on the ground with a slight thud. "What the shell?" He asks, and turns back to peer at what had made him trip.
Cenlia peers, but shakes her head after a second, "Nothing… thought I saw something." And she just shugs it off. What did she see? Who knows. Couldn't have been /dangerous/, right? Cenlia bobs her head at Lotrien, "Would be pretty neat of we could get a rider or somebody to get us over here evy couple of months, bring backa little bit every time. Figure this don't belong to nobody," waving an arm to encompass the patch, which has begun pushing out against the forest as it grows. "Gotta get the stems," the girl indicates the nearest plants, "Brought some knives with me, just in case," though in case of what, she doesn't specify. Once is tugged out of a belt pocket and unsheathed, apparently of the serrated vatiety. "Just cut it down here," and she kneels, disappearing briefly into the patch, and there's a sound of knife-edge on fibers before she tugs up a length of stem. "Figure we don't gotta clean it or nothin' - can let the weavers do that themselves and stuff." The sound of her nickname - yeah /that/ nickname - has her making a face, but she raises a hemp-holding hand to wave a, "Hey!" at Adouzhi, "Where've you /been/?" Becuase she was totally wondering. SHe starts to answer about the plants, and then straightens up when the other boy trips, stepping towards him with a, "Y'alright?"
"Lost! I wound up over there somewhere." Adouzhi says, and gestures in the direction he had just come from. He sends a few plants scattering though, as he lands. "Yeah, I'm ok." He says, and blinks. "Whoa! Hey! I found one!" He says, and clambers to his feet, before he bends down, and snatches up the golden egg that had been hiding out, trying to trip up unsuspecting candidates aparently.
Cenlia's brows shoot up, "Shards, oughtta be /careful/ gettin' lost out here. Might run into trouble or somethin' - though guess couldalways walk straight an' end up onthe coast, and go 'round the island if ya did." She grins a bit at Adouzhi, blinking atthe suddenly-revealed egg, "Hey! Shards, how many's that make now that everybody's found?" Totally forgetting about her hemp patch plan. "Figure more've the folks on our team've found egg things, I bet," despite the fact that they're not even doing the scavenger hunt on teams anymore.
Adouzhi nods. "Yeah I know! But then I heard you and Lotrien, and more or less followed your voices." He chuckles, and blinks, looking around. "Speaking of Lotrien, where'd he go?" He asks. He could of sworn the boy was just here. Cen's talking about the egg distracts him though, and he looks back to it, and nods. "Yeah, I think there must be some kind of prize or something for the candidates that find the most or something." He says, and peers at the egg.
Cenlia grins crookedly, "Glad ya made it, figure I ain't that quiet, 'least." Alas, Cenlia is no ninja, and her voice does sometimes tend to.. carry. Cough. She doesblink a bit and glance aroundfor Lotrien, "Huh. He was right here a second ago.." shrugging it off with a, "Bet he went to get a knife for this stuff," the gardener girl holding up the hemp stem she'd cut and that serrated knife. The latter gets sheathed again, and tucked into a belt pocket, attention turning back to that egg. Cen leans to peer at it, "A prize? What do you think they'd give us? Flit eggs maybe? Though dunno," she makes a face, "if I'd want another of them things. Got too many already." And she looks around again, though her own five are off somewhere else playing.
Adouzhi nods. "If I had gotten into trouble, I could of gotten Flute to send a message." He says, and a moment later, said bronze pops out of between with a chitter, circling, before he goes to land on the boys shoulder. Douzhi though looks around. "Sneaky for a kid with bright hair." He chuckles, and then tucks the golden egg away in his pocket. "I dunno, they never told us, but I would think they wouldn't just make us look for them for nothing, right?" He asks, and then eyes the star leafed plants about him. "What're these things for anyway?"
Cenlia nods, "Guess them greedyguts are good for something," admitted grudgingly about the firelizards, "Still a right pain, though." She peers at the bronze, though there's much less of a suspicious look than she'd give, say, a runner. "Shards, yeah," she has to grin, somewhat lopsidedly, "How the /shells/ did he end up lookin' light that?" Though the gardener girl pauses, adding in with a smirk, "'Least I can tell him apart from his brother loads better now." She has to nod in agreement, "Yeah. Hope the prize is some restdays or somethin' like that, that we could /use/. Sharding hope it ain't flits…" Not that she's paranoid about the little things or.. anything. Cough. "Oh, thos stuff's used by weavers. Healers too, but I know folks back in South Boll sold it to the Weaverhall for some noce marks. Figured we could take a bunch back and find a weaver to sell it to, since there ain't nobody here tending it. An' might as well.. seein' as how we already found one of them things," indicating the pocketed egg with a wave.
Adouzhi nods. "He's turned out handy for getting stuff though, and sending notes." He grins. "But I agree, they sure do eat alot." He says. "I think I heard somebody call them fflying stomachs once." He chuckles. "But all three of mine know to stay on the cot if I tell them too, which will be good, whenever the eggs decide to hatch." He chuckles. "Not sure, I heard something it being part of a prank or something. "But, yeah, it was hard to tell them apart, though I hope the colors wash out atleast by hatching, don't think they'd let him out there like that." He admits, and eyes around at the plants again. "Weavers? Really?" He asks her, slightly surpised. "Huh, cool, what do they make? Like clothes, and stuff?"
Cen bobs her head in agreement, "Yeah, can be pretty handy. Got mine trained up to go fetch booze," she snickers, grin widening, "An' Charmer's always got a way to find X'hil, almost." There miight be a bit more of a smirk there. "Sharding greedyguts," she nods, though the girl has to pause, just a moment, "Mine learned how to hunt, so's I guess it ain't /that/ bad, but still." She nods again, "Mine went up to the galleries last time I stood, an' stayed there. Figure they ain't dumb 'nough to go near big momma dragons, 'specially when them eggs're rocking." As for the colors, Cenlia wrinkles her nose, "Shards, yer right. They don't let us have any colors on our clothes. What's he gonna do if them colors don't wash? Go all bald maybe?" She has to snerk at the thought of that, leaning on the shovel and looking highly amused. She nods about the weavers, "Yeah, gues they make rope and stuff. Is pretty strong once they do stuff to it, but I dunno what.. figure I could ask my sister, she's goin' for her journeyman knot in weaverhall."
Adouzhi blinks, and laughs. "Booze? Really? Wow, that must be handy." He says. "Yeah, I think Flute here is starting to hunt on his own as well, as he doesn't come to me for food as often as he did when younger." He agrees. "Most of my feeding is done for Imzadi, and Taninim now." He chuckles. "And Imzadi, I swear she's a weird green! Noise doesn't scare her anymore, but lately it seems like she's….well, weird as it sounds, but like mirroring how I feel. If I'm fine and happy, she's fine, and happy, unless hungry of course, but if I'm annoyed, of frustrated by something, she is as well." He says, and tilts his head. "Yeah, they might make him shave it or something, but they don't think the eggs are hatching anytime soon, so who knows, it might be gone in time." He eyes the plants again. "Oooh, when you find out, let me know, I'm curious now."
"Yeah, it is," Cenlia grins crookedly, about the boozt-snatching being handy, "Sharding things end up stealing my garden tools though, so guess they ain't so well trained. Sometime, I gotta train 'em up proper. 'Specially that brown," and she makesa face, "Called 'im trouble 'cause he's such a sharding nuisance." She peers over at Flute, nodding, "Betcha he'll find loads to eat out here. Tons of bugs and fish and things. Prolly eating better'n we are," with a snerk, "'Cept for the bugs part." She tilts her head to listen about the firelizard, nodding as Adouzhi speaks, "Yeah, mine do that too kinda, 'specially Rogue an' Charmer. Figure them things're kinda like dragons, yeah? Feel the stuff we feel. Is sharding weird to think about, though." Cenlia smirks, "Betcha him and his brother'll look the same come hatching day, all bald an' stuff," the girl snickering a bit, "Would be kinda funny, wouldn't be able to tell 'em apart again." She's probably got an inkling to the prank war going on, given the gossip that's been floating around. "Yeah, got plenty of time till the eggs hatch. Kinda weird tothink 'bout, some of us'll be riders," Cen looking thoughtful a moment before her attention focuses back on the hemp, the eyeing the plants with a, "Shoulda thought to bring a basket or something, to carry stuff back in," bobbing her head at her fellow candidate, "Will ask my sister ann let ya know, though."
Adouzhi nods. "I bet you'll be glad to not be a candidate anymore, huh? Then you could go back to drinking." He teases Cenlia. "But, yeah, it's a relief that I don't have to feed three firelizards, and shell, sometimes Flute here helps me by bringing food for Imzadi, and Taninim." He admits, and nods. "Yeah, I've noticed this guy can even send me like images of stuff, not often though." He says. "Yeah-yeah, I agree, it'll be weird, it's hard to belive some of us might become riders, while others don't impress, I've heard there's usually one or two friendships broken over one friend impressing, and the other not, or something."
Cenlia laughs, leaning on the handle of the shovel she'd stuck in the ground, "Yeah, will be pretty glad to finally be able to booze again. Hey, if we don't impress, should go an' get good an' sozzled somewheres. Bet it'd be better'n sulking 'bout it, yeah?" Cenlia, ever the optimist, apparently, looks on the bright side of things. And finds BOOZE. "Mine weren't ever that helpful," she wrinkles her nose a bit, "Ain't ever brought nothin' but stinked up trundlebugs, and even then, they never /ate/ 'em. Sharding things," but through all her grumbling, her tone is maybe just a tad fond. There's another nod, "Yeah, sometimes mine show me stuff too, 'specially if it's somethin' they want. Is.. really strange, though," the girl admitting almost sheepishly, hand reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "Huh, yeah.. guess it kinda happens," on the subject of broken friendships, "Back when I was a candidate, Rogawani and me were pretty goof friends, and Tali too.. kinda lost touch with 'em, 'specially R'owan since he's weyrleader over in Xanadu now." She 'hrmhs' at that last bit, mouth scrunching to one side for a sec while she ponders, saying after awhile, "Don't figure it's too hard to keep in touch, though. 'Specially here, with all of of us still bein' around. You ain't goin' anywhere if you don't impress, are ya?"
Adouzhi chuckles. "Getting a drink afterwards sounds good, though if we did impress, we'd have to be sober for a while longer." He chuckles. "Taninim seems to love the water, hopeing maybe he'll learn to hunt fish or something that can be cooked up." He says, and tilts his head as he listens. "Nah, I have no plans to leave, when mom, and the others head back to the desert, I'm thinking of asking to stay here." He admits. "I can see why Razraz likes Ista, though it's a little more humid then I'm used to."
Cenlia makes a face, "Yeah.. couple of turns weyrlings gotta be without booze, right? Shards, awful long time.." the girl coninuing to rub the back of her neck as she thinks about this. "You figure any of us is gonna impress? I mean, guess some of use gotta, though." Cen's brows rise a bit, "Huh, that'd be somethin', teaching a flit to fish for ya, or mebbe even hunt. Wonder if I could get mine to do that.." though she has to snort, "Would probably bring me back trundlebugs and stuff." She nods at Adouzhi, "You and Raz, figure you guys're /fun/, should all go boozing sometime when we're allowed to again. Me, am gonna head back to the orchard, work on a still an' my journeyman's knot." She has to snicker though, "Yeah, just /bet/ it's way more humid than a desert. Ain't as bad as South Boll though - they got jungle everywhere. In summer, 'specially, is all muggy."
Adouzhi nods. "Yeah yeah from what I heard my sister, Naenae, they weren't allowed to touch the stuff till they were graduated." He agrees. "But they said it was worth it, guess Weyrlinghoods much harder then Candidacy, so best to have a clear head during it." He says. "Yes! We shall! Know any good places to do so?" He asks her. "Yeah yeah, I'll go back to earning marks through entertaining, it's rewarding to do something that you enjoy." He grins, and then sighs. "Chores, touchings, and other things have kept me so busy, I've barely touched my flute since being searched. Maybe I can play it at the post hatching party."
Cenlia groans a bit, "Terrific. Hope it /is/ worth is.. guess it must be," the girl perhapsnot wanting to think too hard onthe subject, "Figure it is, t' always have somebody who's got yer back, an' is sharding huge. With big teeth." That last part gets a grin. "Yeah, figure dragons're loads of work - everybody says so, an' just seein' all the stuff riders gotta do - shards. Like oiling and bathing and stuff? Dunno how they manage it," the girl shaking her head a little. She ponders the question on a good spot for fishing, nodding her head, "There's a lake in the forest, back at the weyr, and there's some places here.." though there is juust a slight bit of hesitation, "Should prolly wait till we get back to the weyr fer that though." Head canting to one side, the girl asks, "You gonna join the harpers eventually? Sounds like you could do music stuff - anyways, would be pretty neat if ya did play it sometime."
