Who

Rocio, D'wane

What

D'wane and Rocio catch up in the Kitten and magical panacea requests are placed.

When

It is afternoon of the seventh day of the eighth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Southern Weyr - Tipsy Kitten

OOC Date 31 Mar 2018 05:00

 

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she should write greeting cards or maybe start her own advice column in the local Harper gazette


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The Tipsy Kitten

Here there be drunkards: a marble bar and the gorgeous array of colored bottles behind it would be enough to draw them in, but more yet lures those to enjoy the recreation the Kitten has to offer. Windows allow light to naturally illuminate the first floor of the tavern in the daytime, while green-tinted glows shine after nightfall. A door behind the bar leads to the tiny kitchen, while a stairway leads above to the rooms available for rent. Among the hubbub and the ruckus, a calamity of tables scatter through the open space, plenty enough for dragonpoker tournaments on restday eve.


Not much of a drinker and not one to hang out in the Tipsy Kitten very often is Southern's very own greenriding huntress. It could be that the weather is crummy enough to keep Rocio indoors, or it could be that she's trying to avoid large crowds in hopes of staying healthy. And what better crowdless spot than the Kitten smack dab in the middle of the afternoon? Yeah. Perfect place to kill some time before drills. "I'll take a Fizzy Spritz with two," Count 'em. "Cherries." Living life on the edge today, she is. Seated at the bar, Ro watches the bartender mix her non-boozy drink before she begins to examine her very short fingernails.

As for D'wane, well, given Amani's confiscation of all sugar and butter and basically anything fun to eat in the living caverns this morning, the weyrsecond isn't daring to step foot in the caverns around anything resembling a meal time for the moment. Nope, instead when his belly starts loudly demanding sustenance NOW, he hightails it into Kitten where he'll hopefully face less complaints! Since he didn't bring any work with him today, he'll head for the first empty seat at the bar and briefly consult the chalkboard menu before ordering, "The wherry sandwich and an ale." Contrary to popular belief, he does eat some things other than bacon. Once the order is placed, he realizes that greenrider a couple seats down does look familiar and so Rocio gets a headnod of greeting.

"Thanks!" Rocio's tone is cheery when the Fizzy Spritz is slid in front of her and she wastes zero time taking a sip. "Mmmm." A thin straw is snagged from a nearby cupful and used to stir up the liquid and the two cherries that have sunk to the bottom on the glass. As she does this, a bulky figure walks by and takes a seat at the bar a few stools down and draws her attention away from her drink. At least for a few seconds. A two fingered salute is then ticked from her temple when she recognizes the Weyrsecond. "Sir." A beat, "Stayin' healthy, I hope?" She's probably asking to gauge if she needs to put more distance between them.

The true question is was Rocio's tone as cheery as those double cheeries? But D'wane's not asking that question since he's more concerned with when his sandwich will arrive. The kitchen staff at the Kitten might be good, if you catch them on the right day, but they're not magic so it's going to take a while. At least he's got his beer already to help tide him over. It's mid-sip that the greenrider's question catches him because that's like the rule, that questions must be asked as soon as someone tries to consume any food or beverage. He waves off the salute dismissively. "I had my go at being sick sevens ago now. I don't recommend it." Then a more critical look over at Rocio. "You're staying healthy as well?"

The cheeriest of cheeries, let's be honest. Rocio takes a sip of her drink and nods soon after, "Ya know, I gotta chalk one up to my immune system. I caught a tinge of some kinda crud a while back, but it weren't near as bad as what some other folk got." A shrug lifts her shoulders as she considers why her immune system is as tough as nails. "Must be from all the dirt and weird stuff I exposed myself to when I was younger. I was always outside doin' stuff. Settin' traps, target practice, huntin'… ya know. Wouldn't surprise me none if I came into contact with some kinda miracle wildling fungi back in the day." Anything's possible, right? More of her drink is sipped. "But, yeah. Can't complain too much right now. Except for maybe what they're servin' in the livin' caverns." No she did not just wrinkle her nose.

"Miracle wildling fungi…" D'wane huhs at that. He's probably not seriously considering it, but it sure would make life easier if it did exist. Especially since Jaguar's currently down three sick riders. "If this goes on much longer, we might be scouring the jungle for any possible cure to this mystery illness." As for the mention of what they're serving in the living caverns, he snorts into his drink. "Today the complaints have been more about what they're not serving."

"True, true." She understands why there's been a change in the menu, but there's still a part of her that needs to grump about it. A small part. If it'll help her avoid getting a more serious version of the crud, though, then she can't exactly complain about it too much. Rocio looks thoughtful as a few of her fingertips drum against the counter top very briefly. "I just… I dunno. Maybe I should spend more time in the woods to see if I can find somethin' that'll help." If there isn't miracle fungi out there maybe there's something else? The greenrider clears her throat a bit and focuses on her drink when she decides it's a good time to hush up about things she can't change.

It's a fact of life for nearly two turns now that D'wane's a magnet for almost all complaints. They don't tell you that when they're handing out big, fancy knots, but since Rocio is definitely one of the more polite and low-key whiners complainants, he'll let her slide with just some empathetic nodding and eventually his sandwich does make it's arrival. At least the Kitten still has bread! For the moment. He ponders the suggestion while taking the first few bites of sandwich since food is clearly the priority. "Maybe on sweeps you can look. Check with some of the wildling riders. Know Serval's got a couple. And there's Rhu… See if they got any 'secret family cures' or anything." He shrugs. "Maybe if it's something that comes from the South, the books from Healers up North wouldn't have anything on whatever it is." They clearly know about firehead, but Southern's a big place and the jungles clearly hold all sorts of mysteries still. And have the healers even found their missing books anyways?

Hey, Renalde made sure that there was very minimal whining when he was Headman at Southern and Rocio learned the hard way a few times. After sitting through a few of his (painfully) boring lectures, she learned reeeaal quick not to tick off Weyr leadership. "I could do that. Anythin' to help." Niamyth twinkles in the very back of her mind when she finally tunes into the conversation and lets Rocio know that D'wane's suggestion is a good one. It'll mean they can have an excuse to venture closer to the jungle, always a good thing for this outdoorsy pair. « Yes. Rain or shine! » Rocio closes her eyes and shudders at the thought of Southern's winter rain during sweeps. "Don't think I'll ever get used to it." Sorry, she's thinking out loud. "Cold rain durin' sweeps." A slight change in topic as she takes a swig of her drink. "'Cause it takes a million Turns to warm up afterward. And I hate cold feet."

D'wane may trust on his rather imposing form to make sure that folks don't get too whiny because long, drawn out lectures definitely aren't his style. He'd get bored halfway through giving it himself! "I'll let Rielle know." And with that nod and a big solemn bite of his sandwich, it's as good as done. Rock can pass the message on as good as most dragons (but not as good as any dragon since Rhiscorath's kinda cornered the market on being the best secretary/librarian). He blinks mid-way through the his sandwich? "This? But it's rain and not like sleet or hail…" The High Reaches in D'wane is coming out in full force at the moment. As long as precipitation is still liquid and not solid, it's downright balmy.

Rocio hunches a bit while sliding her elbows out a little wider on the counter's wooden surface. "Yeah. I think Igen ruined me." She might wilt slightly at the thought of once living at the desert Weyr. "All that dry heat, ya know? Thinned my blood or somethin'. Buuuut," She half smirks and straightens, rolling her shoulders back a little as she glances over at the Weyrsecond. "That don't mean I can't handle it. Just means I gotta head out to the Barrier Hold and find stuff to do up there on my days off. Ya know. To build up a tolerance again." Because the Hold is flippin' freezing on a normal day. "Lotsa stuff to do up there in the snow. Like ice skating on the lake." A beat, "I wonder if Igen ruined my balance, too…" Joking! She does snicker a little, though.

"Igen, eh?" While D'wane may remember the greenrider's name, their last meeting pretty much skipped straight past the normal 'getting to know someone' process in the way that flights tend to. "Well, I'm sure you can find all sorts of things to occupy you up at the Hold. And there's always the springs if you feel the need to warm up. Could just work to adjust to both extremes, jump in the hot springs, then a snow bank a couple times…" Or he could be joking since doing that more than once in a day might end up getting the hold's healer called down.

"Oh yeah, there's tons of stuff to do up there if you got a little imagination." Rocio says, tapping her right temple with an index finger. She doesn't go into detail about which thoughts are kicking around her head at the moment. Instead, she spears a cherry (cheery?) on the end of the thin straw and retrieves it from the bottom of her glass. "I know you're probably busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs these days, but you ever visit the Barrier Hold?" The straw is tapped against the rim of her glass before she plucks the cherry and chews it. "It ain't that far away, but some folks have nooo desire to go. Probably 'cause some days it's so cold the air hurts your face."

D'wane just barely manages not to completely laugh his ale all over the bar with the comment about imagination, but it was a pretty close call. He'll just take another drink to try and compose himself a bit more before answering the last with a nod. "Used to. It reminds me a lot of home. My folks were miners way up in the Reaches." But poor D'wane would probably not have fit well into a mine shaft. Good thing Rocketh found him instead. "But things have been a bit… frosty lately." And not just because it's winter!

"You come from a family of Miners? Heh." Rocio would never have guessed that based on how the bronzerider is built. "Faranth, I ain't been to High Reaches in an age. Nia and I used to travel a lot before my sinuses got too bad." Which is why she had to transfer to Igen for a few Turns. The constant change in temperatures really did a number on her facial injury and its healing process. She does, however, catch that teensie little waver in his last comment about family. "Frosty. Well… that happens. Maybe you can make a trip back home to seem 'em. They probably miss ya." Speaking from experience with her own family. "But, if you don't wanna, you can head up to the Barrier to get your fix of snow." A half grin follows and she looks over at D'wane with a glint in her light blue eyes — another slight subject change in case he has no desire to talk about family. "Sometimes ice fishin' can be quite therapuetic. Or just fishin' in general. Like off the coast of Tillek."

D'wane laughs again, but this time no beer is in danger of spilling as he polishes off the last few bites of his sandwich. "Nah, me and my family are good. Got a passel of sisters and more brothers than anybody needs. All of 'em got their own hoards of kids as well. See 'em whenever I can. Things with the Hold are frosty. Politics." He gives a bit of a snort and rolls his eyes, but what can you do. And half the time, something unexpected might happen the next seven to turn frosty relations better or worst. He does nod about fishing. "I did some fishing with L'xan before, although I don't think there were actually any fish in that lake…" Just an excuse to drink and not do work for the moment. "But I know a couple places up in Tillek from back when I was doing sweeps up there."

Rocio spears the last cherry in the bottom of her glass and downs what's left of the Fizzy Spritz. "Ahh, gotcha. Good about the family, D'wane. You should go home and see your Ma, squeeze your nieces and nephews, and have some good eats with your brothers and sisters." Merry advice from the greenriding huntress — she should write greeting cards or maybe start her own advice column in the local Harper gazette. "Anywho. I s'pose I oughtta be gettin' my hind end out the door for sweeps." The cherry is then chewed and savored as she presses a few marks onto the counter top for the bartender. "Try not to get too stressy about the crud goin' around the Weyr, 'kay? I'mma find that miracle fungi and solve all our problems." A little light humor to leave for him as she hops down from her bar stool.

Now that it's mentioned, D'wane probably will go see his family before too long, although he might have to nab a wherry or two before he makes the trek. That's a lot of folks to feed and the mountain mines aren't really the best places for keeping livestock. "And you should see your's?" The weyrsecond isn't at all as good at the whole writing card business. "Good luck on sweeps and I might just hold you to that." But since she hasn't proven to be a miracle worker just yet, he'll pay for his own meal and returns to trying to tackle at least some of his ever growing list of problems.

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