Logs:Wild Enough
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| RL Date: 24 January, 2010 |
| Who: Gabrion, K'del, Markus |
| Type: [[Concept:{{{type}}}|{{{type}}}]] |
| What: K'del meets newcomer Markus in the dinner line. |
| Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day {{{day}}}, Month {{{month}}}, Turn {{{turn}}} ({{{IP}}} {{{IP2}}}) |
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| Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr 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. The line in front of the serving tables at dinner time is a great leveller, people of all ages, ranks and jobs waiting their turn to fill their plate and find somewhere to sit. By the time K'del gets there, it's pretty long - he's too far back even to grab an empty plate, and stares towards the front of the line with a wrinkle of the nose that makes him look younger than he actually is. Despite this, and despite the knot on his shoulder, he seems to be more or less content to wait his turn, taking a few steps forward every so often, as someone finishes and moves onwards towards the tables. Markus watches the line of people in front of him winds its way towards the food which at the moment is his focus. Not that he's starved but he does love his food and is more than willing to wait as long as it takes to get some. He glances to either side of the line noting that the tables are filling up rapidly, though they empy almost as fast as they fill up. "I wonder if this is normal at meal times, if so I'll have to figure out different times to get something to eat." This last said more to himself than anyone in particular. "It's normal." Waiting for food is boring, and K'del, looking bored, is thus all the more inclined to pick up pieces of conversation with random people around him. He actually tilts his head towards Markus and gives him a rueful little smile. "If you /really/ want to avoid it, eat early or late. Or try the kitchens, sometimes; if you get in good with them, they're real obliging." His tone is lazy; manner really quite warm. "Must be new, if you don't know all this, yet." Markus turns towards K'del noting his rank as he does so, "Yes sir just arrived from the Hold, trying to learn my way about the place. I'm Markus sir, looking to find something to do and see where I might fit in so to say." He gives a salute of sorts not exactly having practiced the art, and being somewhat in awe of riders never mind the Weyrleader! "The hold is crowded enough but since mum worked in the kitchens I was able to sneak food pretty much when ever I got hungry." "And I'm K'del, Markus. Well met." K'del's salute is rather more practiced, but done lazily nonetheless, not as sharp as it could be. "Welcome to the High Reaches, then." The line moves forward a few paces, as does the Weyrleader, but he continues to talk easily, reaching forward to grab up an empty place as he gets in range. "You'll want to talk to the Headwoman, then, or one of her Assistants. Milani's her name. Get you a job, all the rest of it. Just decided to give the weyr a try, did you?" Beat. "Kinda did the same thing myself, once upon a time." Which, given his age, can't be more than a handful of turns ago. "Useful, thing, that. Having your mother in the kitchen, I mean." Markus nods his head with a smile, "Thank you sir, I'll do that right after I eat. Well I've heard tales from the aunties and uncles at the Hold, they ranged from the wild to a little less so, so I decided that I would come here to see what was just the wanderings of minds no longer sound or if there was a basis for what they tried to scare us with." He continues to move with the line, the food coming closer and closer as the line crawled forward, "Yes sir, all the kitchen staff was pretty good except for the head cook she took a dislike to me and if she spied me in there without work to be done would chase me out her big spoon swinging in the air like some evil club." A small smile creaped across his face as he recalled the times she came screaming out of her office telling him to get out or she'd fix him good! K'del's expression turns delightedly amused. "Brave of you," he remarks, laughingly, and then; "And? So far? Are we wild enough for you?" The basket of breadrolls comes within reaching distance, and he grabs for one, balancing it on the edge of his plate carefully as he waits for the line to move forward again. "Sounds like a taskmaster, that head cook of yours. We talking High Reaches Hold, here, or one of the others?" That smile makes K'del grin, though it's impossible, of course, for him to know what it's in relation to. Still; "My mother had a wooden spoon. Threatened us with it more than used it, but still. Scared the living daylights out of me when I was a little kid." "High Reaches Hold sir, well I've not seen any wild Orgies that they were talking about nor has anyone threatened to feed me to their dragon yet so I'd say so far that its not met my expectations exactly, oh and no naked riders running wild through the bowl haven't appeared either. Though I suppose that would depend on the weather outside." Markus just shakes his head at all the tales he'd been told knowing that most of what he'd been regaled with was tall tales or the ramblings of aunties or uncles that could hardly remember how to find the hearth at the hold. "I was raised with the rest of the Hold kids, so my only contact with mum was when I'd sneak into the kitchen for food or when she'd take me to the gathers, otherwise the nannies took care of us kids." Giving the issue due consideration, K'del offers, "I could threaten to feed you to Cadejoth - he's my dragon - if it helps? Not sure he'd go for you, though: he seems to like people too much." And he actually sounds apologetic for that last comment, his face screwing up just slightly-- but not lingering like that, because now? The stew is in reach! "The rest... can't help much with that. Wait a couple turns for the next gold flight, maybe." He ladles some of the stew onto his plate, then adds, making a face, "Seems like an awful, impersonal way to raise a child. Know we do a lot of it here, too, but... Kind of sad, really. Still. Happy childhood, I hope?" Markus nods his head, "Yes we got into our share of trouble mind you, got away with some and some we got caught for. We even got caught for some we had nothing to do, had my share of punishments though expected that since we were warned from early on what would happen if we misbehaved." He pauses a moment as if to consider K'del's offer of becoming dragon food, "That is kind of you to offer but I think I'll have to pass on that for now though if it ever comes up again I'll be sure to give you consideration." The smell of the food makes his mouth start to water as it comes closer and closer, "Gold flight sir, do you mean that they have orgies when they have gold flights?" "Reckon we all got into trouble. All kids, wherever they grew up," laughs K'del, with a nod. "Me, I was second-youngest of nine... always scapegoated for things my older siblings did, 'cause they'd get worse punishment than me. Didn't seem to hurt me too much in the end, though." He seems genuinely amused by Markus' disinclination towards becoming dragon food, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'your loss', though he doesn't actually voice the comment. "Not-- quite like that, I guess," he says, of gold flights, as he moves down the serving table to add some greens to his plate. "Gets a bit intense, though. Something to be wary of, if you're not used to it." "I see I have a lot of relearning to do though I had an idea that most of what I'd been told growing up wasn't anywhere near being the truth. Mum said dad was very nice to her and offered to foster me at his Weyr but mum didn't want to ship me off to a place she'd not be able to get to so I stayed at the Hold." A bit of this, a bit of that slowly fills his plate as Markus smiles in rememberance of the tales his mum used to tell of his dad, about how his dragon sniffed her and how he shone in the sunlight. "I don't know if I'll end up staying here till I've joined the uncles and aunties at the hearth but I think it will be a little while at least till I move on if I do." K'del and Markus are /finally/ actually at the serving tables, after a long wait in a long line; the bronzerider pauses at something the younger man says, and laughs. "Strange, isn't it? All the misinformation. Seems a bit dumb, actually... causes more problems than it should. People being nervous about the weyr, or whatever. Wish I could do something about it." He gets back to scooping mashed potato onto his plate after a few moments more, then adds, "Your father is a dragonrider, then? That part of the reason you're here?" "Yes sir, he rode a blue from Nabol Hold though I've never met him but I don't think it has much to do with why I'm here. I guess that the unknown of the Weyr attracted me, and maybe mum's stories added to that since it sounded as if Dragonriders were people you could trust and respect." Markus looks at the various vegetables with little interest wanting something more substantial in his stomach like meat! "If I'd have believed even a third of what I'd been told you'd not have caught me within leagues of a weyr since I'd have been frightened to death of what happened there." Gabrion grimaces when he sees the line and shakes his head. The idea of waiting does not appeal to him at this moment. Instead, he waits for a gap while someone slow is filling a plate, and cuts in at the klah part of the line to fill up a mug and adding some sweetener. He's in and out before the gap closes, with no more than dirty look from someone who was trapped behind the slowpoke. He stands there, hands wrapped around the mug, and looks for a place to sit. As K'del and Markus draw nearer, he overhears part of their conversation and turns to look with a friendly smile and a curious look for the newcomer. K'del makes a little coughing sound at 'trust and respect', but manages a bland-but-wholesome kind of smile as he recovers from it. "Guess I can understand that," he tells the younger man, as he finishes piling up his plate. "Kinda think it was the unknown that brought me here, too. Well," and he laughs. "That, and there was a /really/ pretty woman travelling on the tithe train, as well. 'course, she always was out of my league: Lady Edeline." It's about then that he notices Gabrion, returning the smile with one of his own as he takes a step away from the serving tables. "Evening," he offers, lightly, to the healer. "It will be an adventure if nothing else and I'll be able to say without lying what it is to live in a weyr as well as putting the lie to the stories the Aunties and Uncles seem to enjoy telling to the Hold children. Sides maybe I'll meet some pretty woman here, one that is in my league though I'll not be holding my breath on that count." Markus notes the Healer and gives a small bow, "Good day sir, I'm Markus from High Reaches Hold come to see if all the tales I've heard are true or not. So far they appear to be nothing but the ramblings of oldsters with nothing better to do." Then looking around he tries to spot a place to sit, somewhere where theres a chair to perch on or stool if that is all that is available. "Hi, weyrleader," Gabe says, flashing a grin at K'del. "How's it going?" Markus's introduction gets a laugh and another curious look. "I guess it depends on what kind of tales you've heard. I'm Gabe. Healer apprentice. Born and raised here, though. What do they say about us up at the hold, then?" "Markus," intones K'del, but not without a smile, "likes to talk a lot, we've discovered." His head bobs lazily towards Gabrion to confirm the greeting, as he shifts his plate from one hand to the other, then says, "Mind if I leave the two of you to get to know each other? Promised dinner with someone." And whoever that someone is, they're evidently waiting for him across the other side of the cavern. "Was a pleasure to meet you, Markus." Markus salutes K'del, "The pleasure was mine sir, it was good to meet you and I look forward to learning more about the Weyr as time goes on." He turns to Gabrion "I don't really know much about the weyr, just the stories told by the aunties and uncles. Things like orgies going on all the time, people being fed to the dragons, riders running naked through the bowls, you know normal things." "Oh... sure," Gabe says to K'del, shrugging his shoulders. "Have a good one, then." He looks back to Markus, squinting at him as though not quite sure what to make of what he's said. "So, your aunties and uncles tell stories like /that/? I guess - well - ours tell stories that are a lot more, uh. Tame?" "I'm sure you'll learn plenty," promises K'del, easily, as he bobs his head towards both, and turns to head off through the caverns towards a quieter table for two. |
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