Difference between revisions of "Logs:Intro Courses"

Stalactites hang high above this enormous cavern like a jagged chandelier
  or an inversion of the Spires themselves, but shadows cling to them       
  instead of light. Below lie great tables arranged in rows, each large     
  enough to serve a fighting wing, while in the nooks and alcoves around the
  cavern's edge sit more sensibly-sized tables, from six- and eight-seaters 
  down to intimate spots for just a couple of diners. The only really open  
  space is around the kitchen entrance, smelling of food and rarely quiet,  
  and by the nearby serving tables with their long buffet of the day's      
  offerings.                                                                
                                                                            
  Tapestries on the smooth walls -- some faded and others newly woven --    
  only slightly mute the sea of sound when a meal is in full swing, but they
  add cheerfulness augmented by the glowlight from wall sconces and the     
  centerpieces of each table. Still, shadows always creep along the ceiling 
  and into the mouths of the exits -- the myriad small hallways at one end  
  of the cavern and, at the other, the twisting tunnel to the bowl near an  
  array of coathooks and and hatracks -- and late at night, when the glows  
  are allowed to dim, the chamber can seem very dark indeed.

With the weather as pleasant as it is, as the Weyr transitions into spring proper, there aren't many who linger over lunches indoors. Sure, many people come and go but there are plenty of spaces open at each table. So, perhaps it's not as egregious that Alysce has set herself up at one of the tables with her hides and scrolls spread out in such a way that the spaces next to her are unoccupiable. The harper's apprentice doesn't wear knot or harper blue, but the sheets and sheets of music might be a tip off to her profession, or that she's currently bent over another piece of melody, muttering words under her breath. Words that sound like curses rather than anything lyrical, it must be said.

It's a rare spotting to find Jo in the living caverns. Entering, she's flanked by a riding couple with a sort of rough look about them as they move together to grab some food and drink. The wingsecond is deep in conversation with the pair as their hands take up bowls and plates and cups, and it becomes a balancing act before once they have all that they need and take a look for a place to take up. Alysce's spread gets Jo's attention since she's taking up a good portion of a table, more so than any other table with free seats to be had, so she heads on over to hers. It's not her that speaks, though. It's the blonde woman flanking her to the right. "Bum a few seats here?" she asks, stepping before Jo.

Alysce's dark gaze lifts from her music to sweep over first one rough looking rider to another to the last. Her nose wrinkles, slightly but it does, and then she answers blandly, "I'm busy." If harpers are supposed to be charming, well-- It looks like this one has no interest in attempting it today as her gaze drops back down to what's in front of her. Of course, that leaves her spread hides defenseless if someone just wanted to push them aside.

She is met with dead silence. With Alysce's head down and back to her work, she has probably missed the imperceptible nod Jo gives to the burly man to her left to proceed - that is, he reaches forward for those poor and defenseless hides. He shifts them to clear off space for 3 people, setting the hides to Alysce's side as he answers her with, "Didn't ask how you were doing." He gestures back to the women and they take up the free space on the opposite-but-adjacent side of the apprentice. He looks at the hides he had vacated once his hands are free of his meal before asking, "What is all that?" - "Music, looks like," comes from Jo, finally breaking her silence once her bowl and cup is down. Sticking a spoon in her stew, "Yer one of Quint's, aren' ya? Think I've seen ya 'bout here."

As soon as the hides start moving, Alysce's attention snaps up again and she watches that burly rider move them with dark, hooded eyes. She only offers a huff of annoyance for his question, snapping a simple, "Not any of your business." It's Quint's name that earns Jo her attention, however, and the apprentice is quick to study her with a lingering look. "Yes, I'm Quint's apprentice. And you're dragonriders," she points out. "I'm sure I've seen you around as well."

The man snorts into the meal he's currently inhaling at Alysce's answer to him and the blonde woman comments dryly, "Another stuffy crafter. Honestly, Jo, I don't even know why you want to bother eating in here." She returns Alysce's ire as Jo returns her scrutiny with one of her own as she slowly eats. "We are," she says on them being riders. "'M sure ya have. Hard to get away with this knot-" she gestures at the wingsecond knot she dons on her black leathers "-in tow. Name's Jo. Blue Tacuseth's. He's M'ron 'n she's Kait. I think Quint told me yer name, but...." it's not coming to her and she's frowning a bit as if trying to remember.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might not be a stuffy fucking crafter but I just hate you?" tosses Alysce back to the woman's comment, matching tone for tone as she curves a brow upwards like the edge of a dagger. It doesn't seem to occur to the apprentice that she might be the least dangerous person at a table full of them, but then, she's young. And being young means she's invulnerable. "It's Alysce," she answers for Jo even as she drags the hides that are closer to M'ron away, tucking them under what she's currently working on.

Alysce's quip earns open laughter from Jo as Kait opens her mouth to speak. The bluerider lays a hand on the blonde's shoulder as she asks, "Oh darlin'. Kait never did anythin' to ya to deserve that. She can be ornery, but hate's a strong word." Jo pauses on her food to regard the apprentice and the name given, nodding. "That's right. Alysce. A harper with a dirty mouth. Quint never told me 'bout that." If anything, she seems both amused and pleased by it.

"Does Quint tell you a lot, then?" Alysce questions in turn, a challenge buried there as she watches Jo in turn under the fan of dark lashes. She doesn't answer what Kait may or may not have done to deserve that word, instead focusing on the last bit.

Returning the study in kind, Jo is slow to shake her head briefly in the pause. "Quint reminds me of the sort of man that holds his cards close to his chest," and she presses both her hands to her own chest in emphasis. "Hands dropping for her cup, "We're not close," she tells her, "but a bond does form when one harper is the investigator of a murder yer involved in." This time, Kait snorts - and hers isn't the friendly sort as she drinks. Dark eyes flick briefly towards the blonde, then lands on the hides Alysce keeps to herself before nodding towards them. "Why music?"

The ease of some held tension in Alysce's shoulder is more visible as it leaves than that it was there in the first place; even then, it's a subtle thing as Jo answers on the part of her relationship with Quint. "Were you the one who murdered them?" she asks blandly, her own gaze sliding briefly to Kait for the snort. "Do you mean why am I working on music, or why am I a harper? Because the first, well. I am a harper."

"I was a mere witness to the act," Jo is brief in relating to her as she digs into her stew. Her tone matches the bland one Alysce uses. "Though, I can understand why ya would assume I was the murderer." Gesturing at herself, "I have that sort of face, I'm told." Looking towards the hides of music now, she clarifies for her, "Why a harper? Why a harper of music? Family business? Ambition?"

"Wow, you ask a lot of questions," Alysce deflects with a roll of her shoulder in a careless shrug, her fingers splaying over that top sheet of music that seems to be in progress, rather than anything already finished and sent from the hall. "Why does anyone do anything? It's something to do, for now." She turns it back, because of course she does, to ask, "Why dragonriders? Why bond to a dragon?"

"That's a big 'something' to do for now," M'ron notes offhandedly as he finishes his meal. From Jo, there's a slight shrug as she says, "I thought harpers liked questions. It's not as though I'm askin' ya if ya killed anybody before." Her grin is loaded and hard to read, but the bluerider seems to take Alysce's own questions in stride since she answers back, "'Cause it's useful to have one, I've found. 'Cause the pros outweighed the cons, for me. 'Cause I find a girl would fuck a 'rider outright once she finds out. Take yer pick."

"And what would you know about it?" is countered to M'ron's offhanded question, black hair flicked over a shoulder as Alysce twists to pin one look on M'ron before her gaze slides back to Jo. "Oh, yes. Those girls. They are fucking dimwits; I'm not one of them," she offers to the dragonrider. "A dragon between your thighs isn't all that impressive. The ability to murder-- I mean, maybe more."

"Know a lot more than you," comes from Kait instead of M'ron, coming to his defense. Eyes roll to Jo before she's up and collecting her emptied wares to put them away. Jo watches her leave before she turns back to Alysce with a knowing grin and a, "So a dragon doesn' get ya hot'n bothered, but murderin' does? Shit, harper. Maybe yer in the wrong profession after all."

The mature apprentice only huffs a disbelieving sound in turn for Kait's answer, but she doesn't press the point. Instead, Alysce answers to Jo wryly, "Or maybe I am. I wouldn't want to get any blood underneath my nails." She even lifts her hand to check perfectly manicured fingers as if they might have gotten some since the last time she looked. "Besides, I could only imagine how much Quint would disapprove if I slept with a murderer."

"'Less yer tell Quint 'bout every person ya fuck, then," Jo points out on the last, shaking her head. "I'm sure ya've done plenty of things that he wouldn' disapprove of, 'n he doesn' even know 'bout it." Pause. "So, yer gonna answer why're what?"

A laugh escapes in an exhale but Alysce only shrugs a shoulder upwards in regards to what she's done that would be disapproval worthy. Instead, she questions as if she's already forgotten, "Why what?"

Giving Alysce an amused but pointed look, Jo asks, "Why become a music harper? I doubt it's 'just because'. Too much work for all that, darlin'."

"Mm, not that much work. Born into it, some strings were pulled. I barely did anything," Alysce answers dismissively, as if it all doesn't matter to her, even as she shrugs a shoulder again in one practiced, careless motion.

"So no ambition?" There's a 'tsk' in there somewhere from Jo, and it's playful more than anything. "Well, may not've taken much to get into that, but it's still a lot of work if it's somethin' ya don' seem to care much for." She drains her cup before setting it down. "'Least ya get to travel. Hangin' out here in a Weyr, learnin' shit...better'n bein' stuck in some Hold."

Alysce smiles a smirkey thing, lingering on here lips as she answers, "Well, some ambition, just not about this." But she makes a soft, noncommittal noise for the rest, picking at the edge of her hide lightly. "The Weyr isn't so bad, if you can get past all the flights and the assholes. There are worse places. I like being Quint's apprentice. I hate teaching the youngsters. The easy travel is nice."

"Kait and I'll meet you in the baths," M'ron tells Jo as he gets up next with his stuff. Jo nods his way as he leaves them before she addresses Alysce with a wry, "Then what is yer ambition?" she has to ask. "'Less that's too personal a question for ya. 'N the Weyr ain' that bad. Nothin' wrong with assholes'n flights. Could be worse, I agree. I've been to worse." There's a pause to something said before she nods considerably before she says, "Quint's a good guy. Ain' a whole lotta those out there, darlin'."

Alysce's gaze flicks up as M'ron rises, but it isn't until he leaves that she asks Jo, "What, you aren't going with them? Going to let them out on their own?" The question for her ambition only receives a shrug and a hint of a smile, but no answer. She will agree flatly, "Yeah, Quint's a good guy. I'm not really interested in good guys, though, so."

"Redfruit doesn' fall far from the tree, I see," is Jo's comment to Alysce not answering, and her hands briefly press to her own chest in indication of that before she addresses her friends. She shrugs on M'ron and Kait as she resumes her meal, stating, "The three'o us came here together'n the three'o us'll stick together. Good to have folks that got yer back, no matter. I'd do anythin' for'em, 'n they me. I see the type yer after. Ya like M'ron's type. Dangerous. Bad boys. Mm. Careful, darlin'," she drawls out, the lopsided grin being one that teases and warn at the same time. "Folks like us lick as well as bite."

"You don't think I can handle it?" Alysce questions, a geniune question as she sweeps a gaze over Jo, tucking black hair behind her ear. "Everyone else seems to think I can handle myself." She pauses, an edged smile catching only the corners of her lips, before she adds, "And, you never know, I might be more dangerous."

"Don' know ya to answer that one," Jo is easy to counter back with a slight shrug. "Ya don' seem like trouble, either. Got the cheeky attitude down par, though. I'll give ya that. Doubt yer more dangerous. Go seduce one of my friends'n we'll see 'bout that." She doesn't seem to be serious, but then, it's hard to tell overall.

Amusement sparks in dark eyes for Jo's answer, and Alysce only offers a quick smirk as she asks as if it were a challenge, "Which one?" "Kait," Jo raises the challenge, a slight brow lifting. "Or K'hal, if ya don' swing that way."

"K'hal. Not that I don't think I can overcome my first impression with Kait, but--," Alysce says with an edge of humor, tossing her hair over the other shoulder as she says it. "Do I get an introduction? Or should I find him and introduce myself?"

"I'd offer myself," Jo is wry in this, "but I ain' exactly an intro course for the innocent." Chuckling low, "K'hal it is," she seems to continue to play along, nodding once. "No introductions. If ya wanna play the high stakes, ya gotta do the work yerself." Considering something in the pause, the wingsecond adds, "Big guy. Tall. Blonde. Built like he's pushed trees over cliffs all his life. Rides bronze. Dakketh."

Alysce quirks a brow upwards at Jo's assessment, before she offers dryly, "I'm not exactly an innocent. So, you know, fuck you. But not really. I'll stick with K'hal." With that, she gathers up her hides, pushing them together before she stands. "And if I manage it? Are there stakes here?"

Laughing, "Not exactly's not completely, either," Jo banters back as she gathers up her wares from the table. She stands with Alysce, the last getting an amused, "What, road cred ain' 'nough?" She chuckles some more as she steps away, turning back at the last minute to look over her shoulder. "Alright," she says to her then. "Ya'll get a favor. Just one," with a lift of one finger. "So spend it wisely if ya get one from me."

"The cred would have been enough," Alysce calls back teasingly, a smile flashing at her lips. "But, too late now! One favor it is." The hides are gathered to her chest, lip caught between her teeth for one thoughtful moment as she watches Jo. But if there's anything else she has left to ask before she starts her challenge, she doesn't manage to voice it.

We'll see, 'bad girl'," Jo puts slight emphasis on the name, the amused look pointed at Alysce. She notes the pause as she's about to leave, turning to lean over and lower her voice to her as she says, "Ain' no shame in failin'. 'N definitely don' spend more'n what ya got, if ya catch my meanin'." Her gaze lingers long to relay the meaning further before she's heading out.