| Un-official lessons |
| 01/02/2002 Logfile from Harpers-Tale Living Cavern The smooth, rounded walls of the vast living 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 up toward the sparkles of gold volcanic glass embedded in the ceiling. Ancient lustrous tables run along the long axis of the cavern, and at the far end is the raised dais and high table, where the Weyrleaders and their honored guests eat during formal occasions. Behind the high table, the Weyr's symbol is chiseled into the stone: a smoking mountain in black, on an orange shield, trimmed in gold. Perched near the food are twenty-five firelizards. Obvious exits: Northeast Caverns Kitchens Bowl Southern Caverns Jozzie moves gracefully with a habital swing of her hips, in from the Southeastern Bowl. Jozzie Spirited, majestic golden-amber feline shaped orbs stare out from a modishly sloped nose. Her face once slightly round is now thinning out as she becomes more of an older adult. The slight chiseled look of her face gives a hawkish appearance. Tightly pinched, hardly distinct eyebrows adorn above her vivacious hawkish eyes. Her eyes show deep emotion, giving body signals even when she has not spoken her word of thought. Feathery brown lashes laden upon her eyelids. Her cheeks is naturally flourished a light placid pink, and she seems to carry a light smile across her darker shaded lips. Sun-touched beige spiraled ringlets gently brush the cheeks of this falconet face as locks of hair gently trickle down her naturally tanned cheeks. Large natural curls abundantly are seen as they abruptly are cut short, brushing the nap of her neck and cheeks. Red tips of her tresses, dipped onto the ends of her curl, add an intense appearance to her mien. Dark tan features radiate her highly spirited life style. She is lean, however, none the least a weakling. Showing muscle on her lean figure, she is proportionally balanced. Her bust is the average size as her hips gently curve inward before they dip slightly out once again. As she walks, she lightly swings her hips habitually. Her attire seems to show off her hour-glass form as her attire clings closely to her body as it is perfectly contoured. A crimson-red tunic frames her form, fitting her upper-torso. The material is light, economical for the weather. Short sleeves are acceptable to the Southern climate, showing her meridian-tanned arms that are exposed daily to the Istan sun. The top leaves a rectangular portion of the back exposed with a crisscross of spaghetti-stringed material. The top is especially stunning on this rider as the outfit coordinates with her appearance. Occasionally she will be wearing her Wing's midnight colored riding jacket with a bronze dragon adhered to the side of the chest that coheres to her form almost naturally, curving over her contoured form. Dark black riding pants are noticed past the curve of her hips. They fit her tightly, clinging to her hips. On her feet are a pair of matching, wher-hide boots. The boots have steel toe-tips. The boots continue to her knee with a series of buckles at the back of her boots. Perched on Jozzie's shoulder is Kokomo. Jozzie is wearing a knot with a double cord, double loops and one tassel that is intertwined in gold, which symbolizes her as the Wingleader of Ista Weyr's Firestorm Wing. There in an extra ribbon braided into the knot that is the color of her lifemate. A blue, indicating blue Riyth. She is awake and looks alert. Jozzie is 21 Turns, 6 months, and 15 days old. Kazra Kazra stands tall at her final height of 5'8. Brown hair sweeps back off her face, but there is a new addition to it. Twined among the brown strads are quite a few colourful ribbons, white, red, blue, green and purple. Falling neatly down her back, they reach to her shoulders, giving Kazra's hair a new, colourful look. A small band of leather holds the ribbons and the hair back out of her sparkling blue eyes. Long legs taper upwards to a thin waist, broadening out only slightly to her upper body. Arms are slender and well formed, often gesticulating a point. Kazra has changed her outfit along with her name, now sporting a vivid orange short sleeved top and a pair of black trousers. Her feet are covered with ankle length black boots that look rather worn, though sometimes Kazra kicks them off to wander around barefooted. Kazra wears the orange and black knot of an Ista Weyr Weyrlings, with a thin ribbon of brown trailing through it to indicate her lifemate. She is awake and looks alert. You notice Kazra looking at you. Kazra is 24 Turns, 4 months, and 12 days old. Jozzie comes wandering into the Living Cavern, whistling a little tune as she heads towards the table with the food. The Firestorm Wingleader looks in a delightful mood today, which could only mean a very good thing. At least a good thing for her riders because she normally a nice person to begin with. As she spots Kazra, she waves. "Hello, Kaz." she says as she continues her trek towards the buffet table. Kazra is slouched in a chair, legs crossed, holding a glass of juice with her eyes fairly distant. Footsteps, whistling and a greeting all combine to snap her out of her daze though. "Assistant weyrlingmater Jozzie." she says with a salute with her free hand, adding "Wingleader." as well, unsure of which title to use. Formalities done with, she grins and waves in a more relaxed fashion. "Morevening." a cross between morning and evening you see. Jozzie smiles broadly as she takes up a plate, loading breakfast food onto it. "Ah, nice and warm." Just as the term goes, the early bird gets the worm... Jozzie is up rather earlier than her norm, but she didn't do much the night before. "What are you up to at this Faranth forbidden hour?" she asks the weyrling. "Nothing much." Kazra replies thoughtfully. "Just sitting quietly, thinking about stuff. Contemplating sleep, but neither of us are really that tired." Us refering to her and Xylyth. "How about you?" she asks Jozzie, straightening from her slouched position as she starts to slide downwards. Jozzie wanders in the direction of the weyrling, taking at the seat next to the brownrider. "Breakfast," she smiles, "The meal of champions!" Yes, and at this most earliest time in the morning, but the food is warm and fresh; just the way the bluerider likes it. "Biscuits and gravy...sweetrolls, yumm." Kazra grins. "I'll probably have some later, after I've been to sleep." she comments gesturing towards the table, sipping from her glass. "Hows Riyth?" Forgive her, her brain isn't fully up to conversational speed. "He's alright," Jozzie remarks even though the blue as been up to some lower-level thoughts lately. "We took a few of you, weyrlings to the cove yesterday afternoon." she comments. He just ended up lazing about though. "Don't think I've been there yet." Kazra notes. "Been to Gar and High Reaches though." burble. She slides her by now empty glass onto the table. "Heard any interesting news at all?" Glutton for gossip is Kazra on occasion. "News?" asks the bluerider. Like that Jozzie lost a bet with Riyth and had to flash the weyr, or R'ley got Orb preggy and no one has really seen the greenlet out for a few days...or N'ano might have gotten anoother girl preggy, and he might be in really big trouble with his weyrmate. "Um, no- not really." Jozzie says. Best to keep all of that quiet. "I did hear something about where N'ano might be taking you for your camping trip though, looks like a nice place." Kazra hmms quietly to herself, eyes glinting. "It sounds like its going to be a fun trip." she notes, decideing against adding the fact that it could be quiet strange. Tree obsessed dragons, and one with a problem with colour. Hmm. "Will you and Riyth be coming along as well?" Kazra wonders. Jozzie nods, "We're panning on it." she retorts. "At least I have already told N'ano that I would be instrested in taking a few days to some along to this island." She forks up her food, shoveling it into her mouth as she watches Kazra. Kazra bounces happily in her seat, not quite yaying out loud, but coming fairly close to it. "That's good to hear." she says with a fairly wide grin. "Is there anything that you can tell us about the island?" Jozzie shakes her head a little, "Nope, I've never been there. I guess it will be a surprise as much for me as it will for you, unless you can wiggle some information out of N'ano. Kazra grins. Oh, a challenge. "I'll try if I see him." she considers "But maybe I should enlist some of the others." Mmm, evil plotting from the Kazra-type person. "It should be an interesting trip though." Jozzie nods her head as she contines to nibble at her food. "Uhmf, ferry phen," is replied as she has her mouth full of food. That was supposed to be 'very fun', if you are able to pick up on her grabbled language. (repose) Kazra blinks at the garbled comments, and tries to mentally translate it. "Think we'll do any work of any kind, or will it just be sunbathing and swimming?" Guess which Kazra hope's it'll be. Jozzie nods her head as she shallows, "No work, why would N'ano make you do work?" she asks. Then she smiles, "That is what you'll be doing _after_ the trip, my dear weyrling." "Cos he wants to?" is Kazra's fast reponse to the first question, before she considers. "No, that might mean that he would have to work as well, and I think that this trip is all about fun." Blink. "What sort of work do you do in a wing?" May as well as the leader of one for some extra information. "Me?" Jozzie questions as she points her thumb at her chest, "I do lots of different things." She takes another biet before she then remarks, "I draw up formations and see if they'll work with the wing, work and drill on formations, get a count of my wing's roster and make sure that everyone is were they are supposed to be, check on rider's gear and appearance... ya know about inspections, right?" The bluerider bobs her head once before she continues, "I look over you weyrlings to see which of you will fit into my wing and very few will." Jozzie only looks for the best, and she tries to snag away those that will otherwise lean towards Wavecutter. "I talk to other wingleader and the weyrleaders, make sure everything is working properly. Um, also I look out for my wingmates, I have to make sure that they aren't getting into that much trouble." Jozzie isn't going to go into naming those in her wing that need to be watched carefully, but one could guess who one of those riders is. Kazra listens to the flood of information, finally hauling a piece of charcoal and a scrap of hide out of a pocket and trying to take notes as Jozzie speaks, burbling away to herself as she tries to fix the information in her memory. "It does sound like you've got a lot of work on your hands." she comments, before she grimaces slightly at the mention of inspections. "We get those in the wings as well?" she asks curiosuly, ready to write the answer down. Yla saunters in from the Southeastern Bowl. Yla In an almost haphazard fashion, reflecting their owners state of mind on a good day, tangles of short thick red ringlets fall about Yla's head, looking more than a little fluffy and frizzy, the length starting to return from the harsh cut the hair recieved during weyrlinghood, now reaching to just below her shoulders. It serves to hide her face unless pulled back, when it emphasises the gentle roundness of her features. The pale skin of her face betrays her origins from colder climates that no amount of Istan tropical sun can seem to tan out of her while matching that paleness are granite grey eyes, far more chilly and stony than one would expect Yla herself is ever capable of being. She is not particularly tall, having to tilt her head to look up to most people and talk to them, and is becoming much thinner and better muscled than in the past: the results of turns of running after her dragon. What can only be described as devil red is the colour chosen for Yla's leathers that slither and crawl across the curves of her body, the stitching done in a contrasting midnight black. The bodice-top is sleeveless, joining only briefly at each shoulder before plunging into dramatic V-shapes at front and back. Perfect for keeping cool in Ista's heat or for wearing under a riding jacket, it also shows a little more than than is modest. Making her clothing hug her figure, zigzagging black ribbons cross their way down panels in Yla's top at both side, before running down the outside length of her trousers. Working their way down from her hips, they cling to her legs, then flare out just below the knee to obscure her scarlet boots from view. A pendant hangs from a longish copper-coloured chain around her neck; a metallic unpainted version of the Wavecutter Wing symbol with the cresting wave across a backdrop of the Ista Weyr symbol. The talisman draws the eye towards it, which seems to have been the wearers intent. Attached to Yla's left shoulder is a knot, the double cords coloured the orange and black of Ista Weyr, carefully woven and twisted to form a single loop with a long tail, denoting her as a wingrider at that weyr, while the emerald ribbon entwined with the sturdy cords shows her position as lifemate to green Castaliath. She is awake and looks alert. Yla is 21 Turns, 11 months, and 23 days old. Jozzie grins, "All the time!" she says with a cheerful look upon her face. Then she says, "Inspections are very important, especially when there is a rider that doesn't pay much attention to their hygine or their dragons. Leathers wear down and they think that they are worthy of use, but they can be dangerous if not cared for or replaced from time to time." As Yla walks in, Jozzie looks up and waves towards her fellow clutchmate. "Good morning Yla." the bluerider calls. Yla wanders in, giving a bright smile to her clutchmate, and the young weyrling that she's talking to, having some vague recollection of being there while the girl was searched. She makes a beeline for a chair near her wings table, quickly sitting down and propping a book open on her lap that she starts flipping through absently as she responds to Jozzie. "Hello, my dear. You too... weyrling..." Oh bother. She can't remember the name. Just leave it at weyrling then. More notes are taken as Kazra scribbles down the reasons for inspections, adding comments of her own to the hide. SHe glances up as Jozzie greets someone else, and gives a salute with the charcoal. "Ma'am." she says formally, before returning to her notetaking before the words leave her head. Vague notice is made of the fact that Yla doesn't seem to remember her name, but Kazra doesn't object to just being called weyrling. Though it could cause confusion if others were in the room. Jozzie turns in her chair, just sitting at the weyrling's table as she speaks with Kazra. Jozzie is one for wandering the tables to talk to people, not bothering to sit at her own table. "What are you up to?" she asks as she looks at the book in Yla's lap. Then she turns to the weyrling, noticing that the notebook, "May I ask why you are writing all this down?" The bluerider doesn't seem to understand. She was always the one that either just listened and memorized or just forgot. Yla grabs the underside of her seat, scooting, chair and all, over towards Jozzie and the mystery weyrling. The fact that it would probably be easier just to get up and sit down again for some reason escapes her. "I'm... just reading." She says, turning the book slightly so it's contents aren't visible unless one were to lean forward. "And... um... drafting something - yeah, what are you writing down?" she asks, switching her attention towards Kazra quickly. "What you've been telling me's ben interesting, and I sometimes tend to forget things, so I thought I'd write it down to help me remember." Kazra explains to Jozzie with a slightly sheepish smile. "Just some interesting information about inspections and wings." she then offers to Yla, laying down the charcoal and glancing down at her work, before picking up the stick again and amending some words. "I'll probably have to make a neater copy of this." she muses to herself. Jozzie slides her plate away from her as she pours herself a glass of juice that is sitting at the center of the table. "Oh, alright. For me it is easlier just to remember off of memory, but everyone is different." She finishes the half-poured glass of juice, then stands up from her chair. "I had better be off, have some work to do." she says to them. "See you later." Then she dashes off in the direction of the bowl. Yla snorts, shaking her head and leaning back in her chair. "I wouldn't get too wound up about inspections and wings. I mean, I did when I was a weyrling, and I honestly don't know why. After a while it becomes second nature. No reason to be so..." She flips her hands vaguely. "Worried about it." she finishes with a bright smile. Why, how pragmatic of her. "Don't worry. Eventually it'll all be second nature and stuff." Kazra nods. "I'm not really worried about it, more curious than anything." she says. "Its something that I never thought about as a resident back at Reaches." She's been thinking you see. "What was your weyrlinghood like?" Yla shrugs lightly, smiling fondly as she thinks back. "Same as anyone's weyrlinghood I suspect." She says, looking towards Kazra. "Training. Feeding. Cleaning. More training. Oiling. One or two brawls in the barracks. The usual." "Brawls in the barracks?" Kazra queries. "Don't think we've had any of those. Unless I was asleep when it happened." Which could be fairly likely. "And how is Castaliath today?" "Same as ever." Yla offers a breezy smile and shakes her head. "You see, very little of excitement seems to be going on in my life at the moment. Everything happening according to the status quo. And how are you and.... and..." Yla's eyes unfocus for a moment as she makes quick mental enquiries with her lifemate sitting outside, and then remembrance comes across her face. "Xylyth! That's it! How are you and Xylyth doing with your training." Kazra grins. "We're both doing alright, though sometimes its hard to keep Xylyth on the ground at time. He likes to fly." Maybe a slight understatement there. "Still heaving bags of firestone about, and the moans in the barracks keep going." But she doesn't mention names. Yla chuckles lightly. "Ah yes, the fun part of weyrlinghood. The firestone duty. Just be glad you don't have to dig the stuff up as well, I'd suppose. You'd probably throw your back out." Kazra winces at the thought of digging up the firestone. "I don't think there is any way that I could have done that." she admits. "Hauling the bags is quite bad enough. Do you know any miners?" Here she goes with the questions again. Yla nods slowly, reaching across the table to pick up a piece of fruit that some unknown individual must have abandoned there, dusting it off against her clothes. "Oh yes. My cousin. She's actually the weyrminer at High Reaches weyr. Complains all the time about digging firestone. Although I /know/ she just gets her apprentices to do it." Kazra ahs as braincells spark into life "Iisana, right? I remember you came looking for her when Castaliath took a likeing to Meral, er, M'er." She grins, rather pleased with herself that she's remembered, hopefully she's remembered correctly. Yla grins, bobbing her head sharply in an acknowledgement. "That's her. White haired lady with the personality of a grouchy tunnelsnake." She giggles at her own joke. Not overly fond of her cousin it seems but then, she is family. So she's obliged to care on some level. "Ah yes... I never did find her that day. How much do you want to bet she heard me coming and hid?" She grins and shakes her head. "Oh well. But yes, that's a miner in my family. Along with another cousin of mine, Aldyn. He's a lot younger." She shakes her head. "I could never mine. Too much like hard work." And thread fighting isn't? "I think I met her a couple of times." Kazra considers. "Bet? Don't know about that, would she admit to it?" Random answering of questions there. "I suppose its just a different type of work from what you do?" Kazra ponders Yla seems to think about that, tilting her head. "Well... she might. If you ask her. I dunno. I don't spend that much time around her. I just check up on her at her sister and her mother's - another cousin and aunt - request. Might try." Then she grins. "Yeah. We all work. Work hard. Too much hard work in this word." "But sometimes you've just to make time to relax." Kazra half says, half suggests. She meanders to her feet and moves to get a refill of juice for her glass. "Can I get you anything?" she offers while she's on her feet. "Redfruit juice would be nice." Yla says, eyeing the juice jugs. "Yeah, make time. In between drills and oiling and cleaning and fighting-" She pauses and smiles at Kazra. No point in putting the weyrling off now. "But like I said. You get used t oit." Kazra pours the juice, and heads back to the table, delivering the glass neatly before sliding back into her chair. "Thanks for the advice though." she tells Yla. Yla pauses in sipping her juice, staring at Kazra. "I gave you advice?" She asks, looking genuinely bewildered. She thought she was just sitting rambling away as per usual. "Well, you were saying stuff that seemed like good advice to me." Kazra admits honestly. "Though I don't know if you intended it that way." Look who's doing the rambling now. "Ah. Well, in that case," Yla straightens up slightly, as if mentally assuming the mantle of 'one who dispenses advice' and beaming. "Not a problem at all, my dear. As long as you were paying attention." Because there'll be a test later. "Would I not pay attention?" Kazra asks, tilting her head and attempting to adopt an innocent expression, slightly spolied by the twitching mouth as she tries to hold back laughter. She manages to calm herself enough to speak again. "Its been quite a change." Burble Yla raises an eyebrow in amusement at Kazra. "I don't know. You might have other things on your mind. Like... what colour ribbons your dragon wants to tie on her headknobs." Oh wait, that's Cassie. Oops. "Or what you're going to wear." Except Kazra wears a uniform. Erm... "Well, it certainly is that." Kazra tilts her head as she tries to picture Xylyth with ribbons and laughs again. "What colours ribbons does Castaliath have on her headknobs?" kazra asks, changing the subject for no apparent reason? "Green to match her hide, or other colours?" Yla shakes her head at the mention of green ribbons. "Oh no... other colours. We got some off a trader girl that was here a while back. She wears 'em when she's not wearing a hat, or we're not in 'fall. But then she wears her hat a lot..." Kazra nods. "Quite a sense of style Castaliath has." she comments, eyes glazing briefly, before coming back into focus. She falss silent now, before sipping from her glass. Seems like she's run out of things to talk about. Yla giggles, tilting her head. "Absolutely. I think the weavers live in fear of us." She takes a drink, before eyeing Kazra. "So what about you... has..." Quick mental prompt. "Xylyth... managed to pick up any quirks yet?" Kazra grins. "He likes flying to tell you the truth. Never happier than when we're flying. I think we've seen most of the Weyr from above the ground now, but it gives us a good chance to explore." she considers "He seems to have developed a fascination with a bush in the bowl, but that can be blamed on Valanth apparently." Or so he tells her. Yla grins broadly at Kazra's relating of being happy at flying. "Flying is wonderful. And Cass is such a show off..." Yla says with a grin. "But I hate going between. Always have, always will. Makes me feel ill to be perfectly honest with you." is added sotto voce. Imagine. A dragonrider who's made ill by between. "I always have to spend an hour or two after a fall recovering from betweeing so much." Kazra nods. "Between is nerve wracking." she admits "For me anyway." Her eyes lose their focus and she is silent for a moment, before she shakes her head and blinks. "Sorry ma'am, but Xylyth has just informed me that we're both required in the barracks." she rises and puts her glass back on the table. "Its been nice tlaking with you, and thanks for hte advice!" she calls as she makes a dash for the exit where a brown nose can been seen. "Tell him I'm coming!" is the exasperated comment from Kazra before she leaves. You click your heels three times. Xylyth's Curiosity Couch Material dyed a deep green hangs from hooks that are embedded in the wall, making the small alcove fairly dark, lit only by two shielded glows. Dominating the alcove is the couch for Xylyth, carved out of the stone and moulded to the contuors of all the previous draconic occupants. Beside the couch is a nest of cushions and pillows, covered in brightly coloured materials, where Kazra makes her bed. A sheet of black, blue and orange sewn together is folded neatly. Next to the nest of cushions is another cushion, this one looking rather tattered and covered in a selection of grey hairs, marking the place where Kazra's canine Gigi sleeps when she is not being looked after by one of the weyrbrats. A small chest takes up the rest of the spare space in this room, where Kazra stores her clothes and other items. The floor is usually visible, with the alcove overall being neat and tidy. It is a summer before dawn. Curled up on the chest are Emmy, Hawk, Seine, and Pyxis. Brown Xylyth is here. You see Gigi here. Obvious exits: Out *** Disconnected *** |