Whitewashing the Children's Caverns

Children's Cavern(#1298RAJ)

Rivael stops in the middle of the room, around a pile of other painting supplies and drops his load of other materials in a jangle of clanks and dull thumps. "Here we are!" he announces.

Liaryn is sitting in the middle of the floor, playing with a string of beeds. She looks up, eyes rounding into large o's as big people come in. She smiles really wide and starts to get up, string of beads clutched firmly in hand.

Liaryn walks over slowly, and somewhat warily. Her head tilts to the side in an endearing pose. "Whatcha doin'?" She pipes up. Her beads clatter along behind her.

Carinah surveys the cavern with a critical gaze. "Well, it's good to see that all the cots are already stacked and away from the walls." When Liaryn walks over, she offers the young girl a grin, explaining, "We're going to paint."

Mercy enters after Rivael and Carinah, hands still smoothing in some aloe, for her cherry-hued countenance. Gaze also swept about the chamber in a quick survey of her own, she gives a nod Carinah-ward. "Aye. Saves us work, huh?"

Rivael looks down, surprised by the little person here. His smile broadens, getting even more excited and playful, "Hi there!" he nods in agreement with Carinah, "We're going to paint walls white. You want to help?"

Liaryn's lips curl into a soft 'ooo' of appreciation. "I like ta paint." She enthuses. "Can I help?" Her lips roll over into a little pout and her eyes go all wide and doe-like. "Huh, can I?"

Rivael nods to Liaryn, all too happy to have her help, "Sure you can! But only if you tell me your name." he points to himself, "I'm Rivael.." then he points to Carinah, "That's Carinah" and lastly to Mercy, "This is Mercy."

Liaryn furrows her brow and then says imperiously. "I'm the wierdleader!"

Liaryn pats her chest. She holds up her string of beads and rattles it. "An dis is Parf."

Carinah deliberates, pulling her hands out of her pockets and resting them on her hips. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Rivael. I mean, we can't be responsible for her," she says in an aside, her ashen eyes looking around the cavern. "Now, if the nan ny or her mother or father or someone said it was alright, well, that'd be different." Liaryn's exclamation causes her to pause, and she's hard pressed to swallow an outright laugh. "Cute."

Liaryn babbles on. "I got another Parf, but he's not here." She shrugs and says happily "Where's the paint? What are we gonna paint?" Liaryn listens very hard to what Carinah says and remarks "I'm the wierdleader! I get to do what I want!" The last word rises into a screech. She's so fond of those. It echos nicely through the cavern.

With a slightly amused smile resting upon Liaryn, Mercy waits. And then at her screech, she awards the child with a wince, doubtful glance edged towards Carinah and Rivael.

Rivael blinks, scrathing his head at Liaryn's statement. "Wierdleader..?" then it dawns on him. "Weyrleader! Um, but Parth is E'ryn's dragon." he is muttering to himself. When he gets around to address Carinah, he shrugs "See, she is the Wierdleader, how can you argue with that?"

Liaryn looks happily at Rivael and says abruptly, "You're almost as nice as Meeah!" She bestows upon the boy a most beautific smile. "Can we paint now?" She then says impatiently.

Rivael turns to Mercy too, all charming, innocent and pleading smiles, "Come on. Let her help. She is the wierdleader after all." he beams at the girl's priase, eyes aflame with mischievous, "We can't very well argue with -that-."

Carinah blanches, the young girl's screech causing her to wince. "Okay .. okay," she says, palms held out. "I'm just saying that certain mothers and fathers might not be happy to have a whitewashed child returned to them. That's all." Her shoulders lift and fall in a light shrug, her piece having been said. With that, she turns and pours over the supplies and the buckets.

Liaryn throws a disgruntled look at Carinah. "Just don't step on Parf." She rattles the bead strand which clatters beside her on the floor. Then she smiles "Whats " And her brow furrows "White wash?"

Rivael turns to grab a pail with some white wash in it. He leans over and shows it toiaryn, "This is. Its white paint." he then points to the walls, "We are going to paint them this color. Its kinda like fingerpaints but better."

Carinah snorts at Rivael's explanation, choosing a runner-hair brush and a bucket of her own. She glances over at Mercy with a grin, saying, "I don't know about you, but /I'd/ rather fingerpaint then white wash," before bellying up to a nearby cavern wall with her equipment.

Delicious glee plasters itself all over Liaryn's expression. "But we're not allowed to paint the walls." She starts to say.

Liaryn goes over to one of the buckets and asks, "Do I get a brush?" She jumps eagerly on the oppertunity to do what she's not supposed to.

Mercy hides another amused smile, hand resting across her mouth. Cough? As Rivael chatters with Liaryn, her gaze shifts to regard the supplies: paints, buckets, brushes. "Is it allowed?" she wonders aloud, turning to follow Carinah to the equipment.

Rivael's smile brightens like the noonday sun, "Today we can. I was told to do it." he gets a smaller brush and hands it to Liaryn, "Here, use this. And..." he looks about, only to shrug, "..here, you can share my bucket of paint. Okay?"

Liaryn eagerly twines her pudgy fingers around the handle of a brush. She pulls out the unwieldy tool and then waddles toward the whitewash and dips the brush in. She hauls it up and then slaps the brush against the closest wall, getting half of the paint on her arms as it drips down the handle. "Okay!"

Madelynda emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Madelynda has arrived.

Carinah watches Liaryn with lifted brow as she bends low, dipping her brush in her bucket. She chuckles softly at the young girl but shakes her head as well. Turning her attention back to her own work, she wipes the excess whitewash off on the bucket's edge and then applies her brush to the wall, using long, up and down strokes.

Rivael follows Liaryn's lead, dipping his brush into the whitewash and slapping it up on the wall, but he manages to get a more on the wall than the little girl does. He starts to whistle again, immensely enjoying himself.

Lusani emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Lusani has arrived.

Lusani straightens her tunic as she steps into the room and glances around at the crowd. "Painting?" she asks as she sees the scene.

Rivael cranes his head over his shoulder, looking at the candidates just showing up. All smiles and bubbly, he announces, "Grab a brush and some whitewash! Have some fun!" then he turns back to the wall he is helping Liaryn paint.

Mercy cautiously takes a brush, bristles plummeting into the whitewash. After an experiment of stirring it around, paint sloshed against the bucket's curved sides, she slaps her brush against a wall. "Shouldn't we put something on the floor?" is her query, after a moment of watching her paint dribble floor-ward.

Madelynda hurries in, tying on her horrid apron, and looks about. "Sorry, I got caught up changing glows...but I hope I can still be useful?" she asks no one in particular, looking from face to face in the room.

Lusani laughs as she gestures to her damp hair. "I sense that the bath I took was pointless." Seeming unbothered by this circumstance, she grabs a brush, finds an empty spot of wall, and starts slapping paint on.

Liaryn rubs the brush back and forth over the wall with a will. There are no other children in the cavern, apparently the nannies led them all away before the painting was to begin. Somehow Liaryn must of slipped away.

Carinah glances back over her shoulder and adopts a welcoming smile. "Heyla, Maddy ... Lusani. Grab a brush." Her head turns back towards the wall she's whitewashing. "Hrm," she says, though she still faces the wall and continues to work. "You're probably right, Mercy."

Rivael continues to paint, so caught up in the enjoyment he doesn't hear Mercy's suggestion about covering the floor. That must have slipped his mind. He leans close to Liaryn, "How's it going? Having fun yet?"

Madelynda raises an eyebrow at Liaryn, a subtle "humph" under her breath, but her mouth can't help but smile. Quickly, she fetches a brush and begins to whitewash with wide, meticulous, and slow strokes.

"Maddy!" Mercy greets, a warm smile tossed over her shoulder to fellow candidate. "Greetings, Lusani," she echoes, just spying the other. Whitewash continues it's untalented swishes against stone wall; paint continues to plunge for the floor, while dribblets splatter in blotchy spots around her striations: Mercy's not very good at painting. "Grab a brush," and to Carinah: "Uh, what would we cover the floor with?"

Makeda emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Makeda has arrived.

Lusani has never painted before and approaches it much the same way she would any problem-that is, just get yourself into it, and things are bound to work out. In this case, what the shards, the paint is getting on the wall. Not much else matters.

Makeda hurries in and brings her steps up short as she sees her fellow candidates. "Heya! What are we doing?" Nonchalantly she includes herself in the goings on.

Carinah shakes her head, the corners of her mouth turning down; she looks somewhat clueless. "I've no idea. Sheets?" she asks, talking to Mercy without looking at her. Her brush continues its up-down strokes as Carinah looks down at the scattered drops of whitewash decorating the toe of her boots rather than the floor. "Or, we could wipe it up as we go?"

Elexand emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Elexend has arrived.

Elexand comes in with an armful of towels and bedclothes. "Hey. What is everyone doing in here?"

Lusani waves to Elexand. Unfortunately, she waves with the hand holding the paintbrush, and several drops splatter Elexand-wards. "Ooops." quoth Lu, looking casually apologetic. "Hope you didn't like those clothes.

Rivael wanders back towards the middle of the cavern to get more whitewash for his bucket. As he pours, he looks up at Makeda and flashes a silly, sloppy smile, "Hi Makeda. Want to help?! Grab a brush and some whitewash." then as Elexand walks in he turns to greeting him, forgetting the whitewash which spills over the floor at his feet.

Makeda watches a moment before grabbing a brush and joining the work crew. "Hey, Elexand!" She grins back over her shoulder at Lusani. "These are my work clothes. My one dress is cleaned and pressed and put away."

Rivael whoopies, his attention suddenly draw to his now white feet. He hurries to clean up the mess he has just made, distracted from everything else going on around him.

Elexand dodges the whitewash just in time. "Hey! I like all of my clothes, or I wouldn't wear them! Shells!" He watches the candidates for a minute. "Why are you painting the walls white?"

Liaryn becomes quickly bored with simply splattering the wall with the same color of plain white paint over and over. She sticks her brush in the bucket after a while and glances around. Letting out a little bored sigh of impatience, as if she were wondering when it was going to get 'fun'. She decides to do something to help it along. She trots over to where the fingerpaints are stored and grabs up the brown. Carrying it carefully in her pudgy, paint-smeared fingers she walks back over to the wall, to a spot with half-dried paint done by Carinah, its covered more throughly and a perfect, clean spot for her to work. She sets her paint down on the floor and dips her fingers into it as she looks at the wall speculatively.

Madelynda grins over her shoulder, turning just long enough to dip her brush in the white paint. As she raises her brush to the wall again, the paint dropples onto her long brown skirt. Frowning, she says, "Oh," as if she had just realized that the paint had something against her. After a mournful sigh, she resumes her long strokes on the wall.

Makeda sidesteps the white stuff and looks at Rivael. "Are we to do the floor too?"

"Uh," Mercy considers, gaze drawn to note the entrance of Elexand and Makeda; and the towels Elexand brings. But that's a no-no. "Where're we going to get sheets, Carinah?" Now her gaze shifts to Carinah, though brush still swishes with exaggerated movements: up, down; swish, swish.

Rivael laughs, he can do so even in adversity, and shakes his head, "Nope! I had a little.. accident." he laughs again, at himself. "Just the walls."

Lusani turns back to the wall after saying, "Oh." to Elexand and looking slightly relieved as she sees he didn't get hit. The brush swishes back and forth, coating the wall liberally with white paint. She re-dips the brush frequently.

Soft little giggles of delight emerge from Liaryn; noone's noticed her yet! Happily she starts to fingerpaint in large relief, her favorite subject in the world. First comes a big brown circle, and slowly she begins to fill it in.

Makeda smears whitewash over the walls in random strokes. Up. Down. Sideways. Slanted. "Hey look! I made a star!" She steps back to admire her work.

Carinah catches sight of Liaryn out of the corner of her eye, the young girl's movement alerting her of Liaryn's proximity to her freshly painted and drying wall. "Hey now," she admonishes the young girl, reaching down a hand to try and impeded Liaryn's brown fingers from marring more of her work, her reply to Mercy forgotten.

Madelynda glances at Makeda's sketchy masterpiece and grins. "Very beautiful!" she giggles, then turns back to her own piece of wall. With delicate strokes, she makes a star herself: a very dainty, tiny star, with five points. After examining the outline for a moment, she nods at it approvingly, and carefully fills the empty interior with white.

Liaryn looks up at Carinah startledly. Uhoh! Her brown fingers still against Carinah's hand. "What?" She exclaims. As if she were doing nothing wrong at all.

Rivael stands, having wiped up the whitewash from the floor, except for a big white spot. His feet are still white but he doesn't seem to care. He grabs his bucket and heads back on over to a section of wall near Liaryn.

Elexand watches Liaryn as he stacks the neatly-folded sheets in a cupboard. "Hey, that's not bad. I can already tell what it is. I think."

Lusani ooohs and cools, catching on to the idea and walking over to grab a jar of fingerpaints for herself, this one blue. Finding a spot of dry wall, she dips one finger in and begins to outline a slim crescent moon.

Liaryn beams at Elexand, her face turning back to look at the beginings of her handywork. She replies, "I'm painting Parth!" She glares up at Carinah and starts to tug her hand away, "I'm the wierdleader. I can do what I wanna!"

Rivael was about to say something to Liaryn, but stops as Carinah stops the girl. His smile doesn't disappear for long though, commenting "It looks great Liaryn. Its Parth, isn't it?" then to Carinah, "Its okay, Carinah, paint is paint."

Makeda stares at Madelynda's pretty little star. "I like yours better." Eyes turn to catch Liaryn's work. Her expression turns thoughtfull as an idea percolates through. Following Lusani, her brush dripping paint as she moves, she finds some green paint. "Ah, this will do just fine."

Mercy bites her lip - from worry or from surprassed humor? - as she silently watches the Liaryn-episode. Dragons, crawlies, and wherries, oh my! Back, her brush plummets, whitewash soaking into the brush. "Er, dragons?" she murmurs to herself, brush slapped against the wall: swish, swish.

Carinah tries to look stern, saying to Liaryn. "No fingerpainting the walls, remember?" She pulls her hand away, now slightly brown from Liaryn's fingers. Any serious expression is swift to fade, however, when she realizes that half the candidates are following Liaryn's example.

Liaryn giggles, hand let loose. She abruptly goes back to painting a childish rendition of a larger than life brown dragon. Well, larger than life for her.

Madelynda smiles winningly at Makeda, enjoying the compliment; then her eyes drift to Liaryn and her little drawing. At first, she's skeptical -- the classic eyebrow arch of nanny-disapproval appears on her face -- but after a moment, and especially once the other candidates in the room seem to approve, she softens. She nears Liaryn and examines the sketchy Parth closely.

Makeda imitates Liaryn's work, only hers is green. Slowly circles and triangles, lines and squares take on the shape of a dragon. "Hey!" she calls to no one in particular. "Is there any black paint?"

Liaryn giggles happily again. Her painting doesn't look much like Parth, more like a big brown blob with a rectangle and a triangular head, and also a pair of strange shapped wings.

Elexand nods and grins. "Yeah, I could tell! I like the way you did the back legs. See, it's the legs that define how the dragon is standing. The back ones, I mean." He sets the rest of the sheets on the shelf then comes to squat next to the girl. He dips a finger in green paint, then looks at it for a minute. "Hmm." He scoops a few more gobs of green onto his finger and drops the paint onto the floor. Then he mixes a little yellow with it and says, "Ah. Much better. Anyway, you can draw the back as a curve, down into the tail, like this." With one fingertip covered in the brighter, lighter yellow, he traces a smooth curve of neck and back and tail onto the wall.

Madelynda nods in Makeda's direction, and eagerly trots over to a cabinet. "Yes...here," she calls, pulling out paints of every color and consistency. Arms-full of them, she turns around and smiles sheepishly. "One good thing about being nanny: you know where all the paints are."

Rivael slides up near Liaryn again, whitewash forgotten for now. He too has found some paint, having gotten his hands on some blue and yellow. Pulling out the yellow and dipping a finger into it, he begins to draw a very large dragon.

Liaryn looks at Elexad confusedly for a moment, then beams very brightly. "That looks lots more like Parth!" She hugs the boy with paint-smeared fingers impulsively. "Parth has lots of colors!"

Tanon sits back against the wall, just to one side of the entrance back to the lower caverns and watches quietly, smiling to himself.

Carinah gives a little shrug then settles down cross-legged on the floor near Liaryn, setting her brush full of whitewash down on the ground beside her, heedless of the mark it makes. "Can I borrow some of that," she asks Liaryn, nodding to the brown paint the girl holds.

Lusani follows suit, though her drawing is more chaotically drawn than Makeda's. Seemingly random lines swirl together and form a dragon, in flight, with wings and legs slightly askew, but otherwise rather good.

To fingerpaint, or not. Features scrunch in obvious ponderance; Mercy continues random brush-strokes, whitewash repainted within her five strokes: over and over and over. And as all, it seems, switches to colors, so does Mercy. Brush is set upon the floor, while fingers dip into blue. Tap-tap.

Makeda smiles her thanks to Madelynda. "Great! Thanks! I need something to show shape better." Black lines slowly define wings, tail, legs and body. Taking a step back she frowns. "It's not right. Too green."

Madelynda looks down at the paint that she's set down near the wall, and frowns. Her face plays out the dilema in her mind: since she's the only candidate who knows where the paints are, Daria is sure to know who got them out...Still undecided, she sits back on her haunches and watches the painters contemplatively.

Makeda 'borrows' the yellow from Maehryn and mixes it in with her green near wings edge and across the broad back of the green dragon soaring on the cavern wall.

Elexand has forgotten about his clothes, and he hugs Liaryn back and says, "See, starting with the back helps, then you can add legs, like this." He dips his fingers into the paint again and draws two thicker strokes, recognizeable as stylized legs. He gets a little black paint on a clean finger and, with his nail, curves light talons that suggest a foot with their curvature.

Liaryn looks doubtfully at Carinah. Hesitantly she says "I 'pose so." Then she beams. "There's lots more!" She waves a brown and white hand toward where all the paints are kept.

Lusani steps back and considers her outline of the dragon, one hand on her cheek as she tilts her head to the side, appraising. "Dark blue or light blue," Lusani ponders, looking at her paints. "Dark, I think." is said in a tone of finality and she goes to get a dish to mix blue and black in.

Tanon smiles quietly at Madelynda and watches her for a moment and then begins walking toward her, trying to not be noticed by any of the other Candidates or the children.

Liaryn looks happily at Elexand, and then adds her own brown strokes to Elexand's, in an effort to make Parth on the wall.

Makeda watches Elexand make the claws and adds some to her own dragon. "It's beginning to look like Veyath, the first green I ever saw. What can I do to make mine look better, Elexand?"

Rivael may not be the best artist in the world, but the dragon he paints soon becomes obvious if not from the bright yellow color mixed with a bit of brown in some spots. "This is great! A great idea, Liaryn." he says, gamin smile aglow, making him appear no older than Liaryn.

Carinah chuckles over at Liaryn. "I'll go get my own then." She gets up and walks over to the pile of supplies, squatting down on her heels to sort through it all. "Hrm, anyone got more green?"

Liaryn looks over at Rivael and shines another smile on him. Suddenly she exclaims. "Oooh, you're painting mommy's dragon!"

Elexand laughs at Liaryn and says, "No, no. This one is Tabith. You should use the brown on your own Parth!" He reaches forward and adds green paint to turn her brown markings into the beginnings of shoulders and wings. At Makeda's request, he leans back and looks up. "I think the neck may be a little short. Or is it just how I'm looking at it?" He stands to get a better point of view. "No, see, it is short, I think."

Lusani mixes the blue and black together untill she gets the shade she wants, definitely distinct from either. Bringing the dish over, she takes a small brush and starts filling in the large sections of the dragon.

Tanon smiles and sits himself down next to Madelynda and smiles again, now at her. "Heyla, Madelynda. How are you today?" He smiles quietly and looks around the cavern again.

Makeda nods solemnly at the candidate turned art teacher and works at lengthening the neck of her soaring green. "Thanks, Elexand. I couldn't tell what it needed."

Madelynda giggles as Rivael plays with the yellow and brown, then peers at the other work that's appearing on the whitewashed wall. Shaking her head, she stands up. Taking her brush, she dips it in white paint and begins to ardently cover her little sketched star, apparently intent on creating another blank wall.

Mercy globs brown unto one finger; green goes another, other hand. Mercy's ready. Almost tenatively, somewhat, her finger boasting brown makes a complete, rounded circle: body. Two parallel lines shoot up from the top of the ovoid: neck. From there, fading brown makes a smaller, lopsided circle, of which a pointed triangle outshoots from: head and muzzle. Mercy gots herself a dragon!

Rivael nods to Liaryn, laughing heartily, "Yep. This is Neith. And.." as he finishes the last touches to the 'gold' dragon, he starts to paint little circles around the bottom, "here are some eggs too."

Carinah finally finds a vibrant green paint. She looks immensely satisfied with her choice in colors and totes it back to her small section of the cavern wall, settling back down into a cross-legged position. With tentative gestures, she dips her index finger in the paint and slowly, a tight frown of concentration marring her features, begins to fingerpaint.

Madelynda turns at Tanon's soft voice and gives him a bright smile. "I'm alright, I suppose. Sandia hasn't scolded me today." With a long white stroke on the wall, she chuckles. "Perhaps she's on her way toward forgiving me. And you?" she asks him.

Makeda takes a step back to admire eveyone else's work. "You know," she says thoughtfully, "This looks much better than plain white."

Liaryn frowns, lips puckering up for a moment. If she had her way she'd probably want to paint dozen's of Parth's. She wanders a few inches over to her own dragon and starts painting him again with the brown. As if inspired she dips her hand into the yellow and the green, and starts smearing it on the brown. Now it really looks mottled!

Elexand sits back down to work on his portrait of Tabith. He makes an elegant green S curve for the belly and chest, leaving the majority of the dragon in whitewash, with just the edges in green.

Carinah may have been a late bloomer, but she's quick to finish -- perhaps that's because her painting is mostly a blob. On the wall before her is what could be the drawing of a 5-turn-old: a green blob which vaguely resembles a green dragon, only because of the askew wings painted on it, with a bloated belly. She pulls back and looks at it, a smile beginning to cross her lips for the first time since she's begun working.

Lusani,concentrating as she paints half a wing on her dragon, looks up and grins to Makeda, nodding agreement. "Oh, definitely." Her opinion on this is clear. "A lot more interesting. They should thank us.

Tanon watches Maddy get up and thinks to himself for a long moment but just kinda sits there, watching the children and the Candidates, then turns his attention back to Madelynda and shrugs slightly, "I can't really complain. I'm fine I guess." He smiles again and stands, moving himself next to Madleynda.

Tanon mutters to Madelynda, "... Shast told... how... feels baout you... And... have not... him... you know... I'll..."

Carinah looks furtively around and leans /far/ across the floor to grab an abandoned cup of black fingerpaints. She straightens quickly, surveying her work once more. Little black stick figures soon stand on the green dragon blob she's painted.

Melina emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Melina has arrived.

Melina walks in and looks up and down the walls. A quiet oh escapes her lips as she looks at the painting.

Fingers redipped, a mixture between brown and green smear unto the wall: Mercy's dragon is taking shape - a shape a three Turn old could make, that is. A dab of black is added as big eyes, but quickly change to sapphire, swirled about; multi-facets, they are! Brown mingles with green, the blob of the dragon's body globbed with those two colors. "Hmmm. Somethings missing." Eyes, head, neck, body, and legs.

Madelynda blinks at Tanon, her face suddenly turning close to the color of the white paint that's now dripping onto her shoes, since her body -- and outstretched arm, therefore -- froze in response Tanon's mutter. Swallowing, continues to stare at Tanon, and finally unfreezes enough to shake her head /firmly/ at him.

Melina peers at Mercy's dragon, "Oh.. it's pretty.. but doesn't it need wings?"

Elexand leans back to survey his work again, then leans close to work on the critical head. This is where the resemblance to Tabith can be won or lost, since his dragon is so stylized.

Makeda stands before a childish but recognizable picture of a soaring green dragon. She's painted the face to make the dragon smile. Dragon's smile? Well, this one seems to at least.

Rivael sketches in a stick figure next to the large yellow/brown dragon and the eggs he has painted. Taking a step back to eye his work critically, and finding it to his approval, he leaps into the air some letting out a hoot of glee. As quickly as he stepped away though, he is at his painting again, scrawling letters under the picture, which turn out to be name of the rider and dragon.

Liaryn continues to slap paint on the wall in the haphazard form of a brown dragon. It may not be as wonderful or as artistic as everyone elses, or even done in perfect lines. Heck, most of the paint isn't within the lines. But its done with alot of love and adoration of a child fixated on a dragon.

Melina shrugs and looks at the other dragons. Shyly, she whispers to the nearest person, "Can I help?"

Makeda adds tiny trees under her dragon hoping they make the dragon look more like it's flying high.

Carinah begins to wriggle a little where she sits on the floor as she starts to enjoy herself, oblivious to everything else that's going on around her. She chews her lower lip, though, once she takes a good hard look at what she's done. Just to clarify her picture, she draws little arrows and paints the words 'Oerth' above the dragon, 'Alania' above the first stick figure, and 'Me' above the second.

Mercy slaps her hand against her forehead, brownish green imprint upon sunburnt skin. "Wings!" she exclaims, adding two triangles to jut out on either side of brown-green-army dragon: Raboth. Those are quickly globbed in with paint. To Melina, a smiles awarded. "Wanna help me finish painting in this dragons' body?"

Makeda smiles at Melina and gestures with her paint brush. "Over here. Come and help, 'Lina."

Madelynda looks back toward the white wall; and after she exhales, the color begins to fade back into her face. After a quick flourish, she finishes the space of wall she's working on, and grabs some blue paint. With a smile at Tanon, she says quietly, "Help me draw Faerth?" and then giggles shamefully.

Lusani looks down at herself and shrugs a bit, grinning ruefully. Ah well. The paint she seems to have gotten all over her hands and arms, with a large blue smudge on her jaw, a black spot right on the tip of her nose, and, somehow, a splotch of white paint in her hair, will wash out. As for her clothes...she's growing out of them anyhow. She concentrates on painting the dragon's tail and giggles at Madelynda. "Who do you think mine is?"

Tanon blinks in return to Madelynda, perplexed by her responce and quirks a brow slightly, and then his lip so that he kind of half-grins at her and then shrugs, He mutters to Madelynda, "... will.... go if... Impress?" He glances around the cavern again and smiles when he sees Carinah's painting and says to her, just loud enough for her to hear, "That is very beautiful. Of the best green and the fairest rider." he grins again and turns back to Madelynda.

Melina smiles widely, picking up a brush and looking from Makeda to Mercy. She finally decides on a spot between them and begins, dipping her brush into an orangish paint. She starts interestingly on the head and works from there, alternately dipping and painting to make an red-tinted brown.

Carinah looks back over her shoulder as Tanon draws near. Clearly her painting is neither beautiful nor very fair, but she beams like a 5-turn-old anyway, all remnant of her earlier seriousness gone. "Thanks!"

Melina smiles at Mercy, "She's a pretty green, Mercy. Does she have a name?" She's clearly admiring this painting as she works on her own.

Makeda looks around and paints little stick figures too. After all, imitation /is/ the highest form of flattery. She adds a name to her dragon as well. "This will be for Jh'rin and Siaroth. After all Istan children should see Istan dragons."

Madelynda turns toward Lusani, pausing in her slather of blue paint. Slowly, she grins as she examines Lusani's work. Giggling, she shakes her head. "Can I guess when I check back later?" she says, trying not to offend. Ducking, still giggling, she turns to the non-descript blue blotch that she's creating on her space of wall.

Tanon smiles at Carinah again and then looks at Madelynda, awaiting an answer from her.

Elexand is still working on Tabith's head, using more delicate strokes with his little finger. Each headknob is a delicate flourish, each nostril a carefully-made crescent of darker green.

Liaryn steps back from her smeared and unrecognizeable dragon. "Do you think Daddy will like it?" She tilts her head, rubbing her cheek with a paint covered finger.

Carinah turns back to her painting, her brows furrowing briefly, and thens scouts around, from her seated position, for blue fingerpaints. The freckled-faced candidate next to her, let's her use some of his, and she begins to paint a second, bold blue blob of a dragon next to her green one.

Liaryn holds up her beads and points them at the painting. "Parf, Meet Parth!" She giggles, jiggling her beads.

Mercy contemplates, one finger disappearing into the brown; one plunges into the green. With a careful finger, the blob of a dragon is smoothed out, or tried to, at least; clumps of fingerpaint are smeared into the rest. "There," she murmured beneath her breath, before blushing towards Melina. "That's my tribute to Aberuth and Siaroth." Nevermind that they're morphed, mingled, and mixed.

Rivael steps away from his finished painting, turning to see what other works of art now adron the walls of the Cavern. A pleased smile pushes out his cheeks, and he turns to Liaryn and the brown spotch which is Parth, "I think he will. It looks great, Liaryn!" He doesn't linger there long, snagging up some blue paint and starting on another dragon.

Lusani giggles at Madelynda, dipping her finger in green paint and pressing it to where the eyes would be before rinsing her brush and looking around for something. "Red...red...where's the red paint?" she asks those around her.

Makeda stands back to admire her work. "Whatcha think, Guys?"

Liaryn hobbles over to Mercy and tilts her head "Why 'bruth?" She pokes a finger into the undried paint.

Elexand leans around to look at Liaryn's painting. "I think your father will love it," he says, grinning. "He'll probably want to move this whole wall to his weyr!" Still smiling, he finishes with Tabith and begins to paint around her, a scene that depicts her flying over rocky black mountains and deep blue seas.

Melina trails her brush down the wall gently, making fine lines for the dorsal and stomach curves. The lines snake around, dark and light, tapering to the tail and snout.

Carinah's blue dragon, like her green dragon, is hugely exaggerated, gigantic in comparison to the teeny tiny stick figure that dots its neck. The blue 'dragon' is easily more than three times bigger in proportion to the stick figure than a real dragon might be to its rider. The definition of /big/, however, seems to be in the eye of the painter, and Carinah obviously believes dragons to be /big/.

Mercy hunts down black paint, then journeys for her painting. Blackened finger outreaching to scribble a caption beneath the combined dragon, it halts, just a fingerwidth from the wall, while Mercy flashes Liaryn a smile. "Well, when Maehryn and I were cleaning the beach and were late from an egg-touching, Aberuth and Margret were kind enough to give us a ride to the Hatching Grounds. We would've been really late without their ride."

Madelynda takes a lighter shade a blue and makes two oddly-shaped triangles next to the big blue blotch, that seems to have three (or four?) limbs of various lengths now.

Liaryn nods her head and says "oh." Then she smiles again, looking all around. "Oh. the nanny is going to be so angry!" She giggles, pleased.

Mortin the Cat Mortin the Cat has tired of you and leaves via the nearest shadow. Mortin the Cat has arrived.

Makeda blinks at Liaryn. "Why would the get mad. We made it better than plain ole' white." She grins at the small girl. "Don't you like it better?"

Lusani finds the red and, picking up the jar, carries it over to her table. Dipping her brush in it, she applies it to the wall. A jagged fan of flame now sprays from her imaginary dragon's mouth and she steps back, pleased, to survey the drawing.

Rivael paues, his finger hovering inches over his painting as he cranes his neck over and around to look at Makeda's painting. "Yeah! It looks really good." but his attention doesn't stay long, drifting instead back to his own work.

Makeda admires Lusani's work. "Oh, Lusani! Do mine too!"

Liaryn nods her head at Makeda, "Oh I do. But, when I paint on the wall I get in lots o' trouble."

Yellow sparkles light on 'Lina's brown's wings as she murmers, "I'm making my own. Maybe one day he /will/ be an Ista dragon"

Liaryn tilts her head and quips to Melina. "But what if you get green?"

Lusani shrugs, grinning generously, and steps over to add flame to Makeda's dragon. "Okay..." she says, squinting at the wall as she paints to make sure she gets it right. "There ya go.."

Carinah's dragons are /all/ belly, but she seems pleased as pie with them. One dip into the black paint, and she's labelling her newest drawing: 'Cirameth' and 'Ellwiny'.

Rivael snorts and shakes his head so fast it looks as if it might fly off his head, "We won't get into trouble" he proclaims boldly "Not for this." A little bit of blue here, some there, a long line of color to make a tail.

Makeda beams. "Thanks that looks better." She peers proudly at 'her' dragon.

Melina peers over at Liaryn and grins, "Not saying he'd be mine.. just that I hope he'd hatch in the first place. Personally, I think he'd be better for Maehryn" She mixes some red adn brown to make a carmel color for the shading.

Makeda reaches down and pets Mortin absently.

Mortin the Cat closes his eyes and purrs.

Tanon smiles again at Madelynda and nods quietly at her. After a moment he says quietly to her, "I'll be back, Madelynda...or perhaps I'll see you later." With that, he puches the curtain aside and walks out of the cavern.

Tanon makes his way back to the west cavern. Tanon has left.

Lusani smiles as she sets the red down and gazes at her dragon. Her gaze is drawn to Melina's and she grins. "I'm doing the same thing with mine. He's not any dragon right /now/."

Makeda smiles at the cat. "Whose is this?" She wonders aloud to the others.

Mortin the Cat From a nearby shadow or corner emerges Mortin the Cat. Mortin the Cat has left.

Madelynda dots the light blue triangles with white, then begins to make awkward figures in the scene: a small one riding on what must be the blue dragon's neck, with black hair; and a slightly larger one near what must be a foreleg. She peers at the drawing with severe concentration: it's smaller than some of the other ones, and she adds color only in little bits and pieces.

Carinah carelessly wipes her hands on her thighs, looking over her work with a proud air. Finally, she looks up and down the rest of the wall, surprised to see so many different drawings. "Hunh," she intones to no one in particular.

Finished. Makeda sits down on a child size table to admire the newly decorated walls.

Elexand is busily painting, lost to the rest of the world. The mountains are as stylized as Tabith, and there among light blue clouds of circles and ovals are other dragons, also in flight.

Liaryn claps her hands together happily "so many dragons! Like the bowl!"

Rivael continues to paint away, carried along in the swift stream of the fun of it all, he finishes his second dragon and starts on a third. For those admiring his second creation, there are two stick figures on the back of the blue, letters scrawled underneath to form the words: Sonya. Pryth. Rivael.

Magel peeks his young, chubby face into the doorway, and psssts, "Cari!"

Lusani grins brightly as she looks around and then realizes something. "That's what it needed!" Snatching up the brown, she paints a saddle on the dragon's neck, then switches to black to paint a human figure in leathers.

Carinah laughs, glancing over at Liaryn. "We probably have a least a wing here." Hearing her name, she turns. "Oh, heyla, Magel," she calls out to the young candidate but makes no move to stand.

Madelynda squints at her little portrait, standing back a step. With a slightly displeased sigh, she shrugs and picks up the black paint. In Harper-quality lettering that is /much/ better than the crude painting itself, she writes beneath the patch of blue, brown, and black paint, "Pryth," "Druyan," "Madelynda."

Liaryn walks back over to Elexand, her Parf clattering behind her. She looks at his painting and says "Why not finished yet?"

Madelynda grumbles to herself, scratches out the "Pryth," and hastily whitewashes it. Above the portrait, she paints her correction: "Faerth."

Magel fairly dances in the doorway separating the children's cavern from the west cavern. "No, c'here!" he says petulantly, motioning Carinah over with one pudgy hand.

S-i-a-r-o-t-h. That is written near an especially green part. A-b-e-r-u-t-h. And that is scribbled near a wing, more brown-hued than green. "Oh," Mercy murmurs, two faces drawn on either side of the dragon's head: two eyes, a line for the nose, and an upturned half-circle as lips are painted within each ring. J-'-r-i-n. And that's scribbled out with blackish-green-brown. "No, that's not right." J-h-'-r-i-n. Annnnnnd. M-a-r-g-r-e-t-t. Except, the last 't' is crossed off at the very last moment. "There!" Mercy exclaims, triumphant.

Makeda grins at Mercy. "We got two of Siaroth and Jh'rin. Look." She points to her own green and tiny figures.

Melina hums to herself, painting greeny-blue eyes on the brown. It seems to be on its haunches, wings spread and his muzzle in the air. The carmel brown color is washed through his body, highlights in orange and yellow brown.

Carinah rolls her eyes and pushes herself up off the floor with both hands. "What is it, Magel." Her voice sounds tired. She walks unhurriedly around the other candidates, eyeing their drawings appreciatively, before she gains the doorway.

Elexand is marking light grey streaks of Thread now, cascading spirals and curls coming from darker clouds over the sea. "I'm almost done," he says. "I just never get anything this big to work with."

Madelynda clucks her tongue at herself one more time, then turns to survey the rest of the walls. Grinning brightly, she begins to laugh. "Oh, how lovely! The children will just /love/ it!" Her merry expression reveals that, scolding or not, getting out the paints was worth it to her, if only for the childrens' sake.

Liaryn is proof that the children will love it. She's looking around at the emerging mural with an expression of glee plastered on her face.

Lusani kneels down and paints in green below her picture, 'For what may come.' Her writing is still very good, despite, or maybe because, of having to paint it. Underneath, she writes her name in fluid script. 'Lusani'

Magel anxiously rises up on his tiptoes and whispers something low to Carinah.

Melina pulls back, cocking her head to give it a speculative look. She scowls at the picture, muttering something to herself.

Carinah's mouth pulls to one side and then she nods, ushering the younger, chubby candidate out into the adjoining cavern.

Carinah makes her way back to the west cavern. Carinah has left.

Makeda tosses her used paints and brush into the trash. "I'm going to get something to eat if we're to help with Fall later." She looks around. "Anyone else?"

Makeda makes her way back to the west cavern. Makeda has left.

Lusani puts her brushes and paints away, nodding to Makeda. "That'd be great." She looks down at herself again. Even more paint than the last check. "Ah well," sher says to herself, "I'll wait till after Fall.

Melina nods, still scowling at her painting, "I would.." she hums and repeats several times, "NameNameNameName.."

Rivael doesn't give a response to Makeda, too intent upon finishing his third painting.

Lusani makes her way back to the west cavern. Lusani has left.

Madelynda begins the arduous chore of collecting the paints spread out every which way and across the stone floor. She tsks as she spots wayward blotches here and there, but continues to grin as she gathers the spoils.

Rivael looks up for a moment from his painting to see again how the others are doing. He stands and wanders over to where Mercy is painting, eyeing her rendition. He smiles slyly at Mercy, "You should rename it Jyrith, Mercy" and he winks.

Madelynda carefully avoids the paints that various candidates are still using, leaving them for later, and then opens a cabinet and puts her collection away. With a last glance and chuckle at the colorful mural, she softly patters out.

Madelynda makes her way back to the west cavern. Madelynda has left.

Is that a blush? No. No, that's just her sunburn /enhanced/ by the white and brown and green paint smeared over her face. Mercy feigns confusion. "Jyrith? You mean, Aellya's Jyrith? Your mother, Rivie?" Oops. Ummm. Slip-up. Uh-oh. Mercy meeps, and spins back around to face the wall, and her drawing.

Elexand finishes with his painting and stands, stretching out his legs, rubbing his calves.

Rivael blinks at the nickname Mercy uses, the one only his mother has used. He recovers swiftly however, nodding rapidly, "Yep. That Jryith." he peers at the dragon Mercy has painted on the wall, "Looks kind of like Jyrith."

Liaryn looks back and forth between all the older people and listens into what they say though she doesn't seem to understand the half of it. Her eyelids droop sleepily and she hugs her beads tighter.

Not listening to anything, not paying attention to even the fact she needs something to eat, Melina scowls steadily at her caramel-washed brown dragon and whispers, "What /is/ your name, shardit?"

Mercy breathes a sigh, secretly, of course. She heard it from Sandia. It slipped out. "It does?" A critical eye sweeps up and down her blob which might pass for a dragon of somesuch. "Does Jyrith have brown, too?" And just becauses Rivael said so, black-covered finger adds an A-h-e-l-l-y-a and a J-i-r-i-t-h. Who said her spelling was any good?

Rivael hmmms in consideration, only to nod, "Yep. He sometimes looks like he has brown.." his voice trailing off as he does. He gets back to the wall where he was working and quickly puts the finishing touches on the last dragon he has done.

Melina ohs quietly, blinking wide-eyed. She quickly dabs her brush in a deep cerrulean and scrawls the name 'Prendreth' under the dragon, dips her brush in water then red and adds her name underneith.

Elexand stretches and mumbles something about towels as he goes back to the lower caverns.

Elexand makes his way back to the west cavern. Elexand has left.

"I'm done," Mercy announces, more to herself than to the others left within the room. A glance strays to note the other drawings the walls have donned; some she steps closer to examine, others she tilts her head to give scrutinty.

Rivael leans back from the wall, a light going on in his head and shining through his eyes and ears, "Hey! Mercy! I just remembered! You should add some green and yellow to that painting. Then it should look more like Jyrith." his smile beaming like the sun. <[>Liaryn curls up on the floor where she's standing, sitting at first, then laying down. She's sure tired. She issues a large yawn.

Mercy rubs her nose, black smeared across the tip by her actions. "Oh, yeah," she says, dipping a finger in yellow paint to add splotches of yellow here and there: on the neck, on the head, on the wing. There. Done. A glance is shifted to Liaryn. "Should she sleep in here?" she wonders aloud, wrinkles in her brow chipping the imprint of her palm.

Jereboam emerges from the blue curtains leading to the Lower Caverns. Jereboam has arrived.

Jereboam walks in, looking around rather bemusedly.

Rivael adds the finishing touches to his final work of art, turning around with paint covered hands, a bit of white on his nose and whitewashed feet. "Um, probably not. Maybe we should take her back to E'ryn or Merellia..oh, wait. The Fall is starting soon!"

With a brownish-white-green imprint of a palm on her sunburnt head, and black and yellow smeared on the tip of her nose, Mercy flashes Jereboam a quick smile. "Greetings, Jereboam." And to Rivael, her brow furrows. "Fall? Oh! Threadfall. Where should we go?" Even with her painted self and all.

Melina pulls away from her painting, grinning merrily. At the sound of 'Fall' she frowns, "Where? What do we need to do?

Jereboam suppresses a laugh that threatens to brighten his features at your faces.

Rivael waves to Jereboam, smiles at Melina and Mercy, "Well, we might have to help on ground crew" said like a good weyrbrat "..E'ryn is probably too busy getting ready to fly. We might be able to find Merellia though." he shrugs.

Melina nods and starts to head for the door, oblivios to the blue, red, brown and orange streaks across her nose, cheeks and forhead.

Mercy tilts her head slightly, though a smile hints at the corner of her lips. Painted fingers are absently wiped against her leg trousers, paint smeared there, while she gives a nod to Rivael. "Perhaps we should let this dry and go find everyone else?"

Jereboam stops Melina, beginning to wipe her face clean.

Rivael picks at his fingernails, digging at dried paint being stubborn. He nods to Mercy, bounding up to his feet, "Alright!" he chuckles, "But you should lead the way, I -might- get lost." winking at his fellow Candidate.

Mercy makes her way back to the west cavern. Mercy has left.

Melina blinks and wrinkles her nose, "Shards, Jereboam.. what're you doing /that/ fo.." she finally sees the paint on the cloth he uses and blushes, "Umm.. thanks"

• To see the descs submitted by the candidates for this tinyplot, click here.

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