Who

R'ku Daenerys Xanthee

What

R'ku tries to get his reports together, Daenerys wants to think things over, and Xanthee wants to add a little challenge to her run; unfortunately, the goats have other ideas — and someone's reports got eaten. Sorry, Weyrleader! Also, there might be a pregnant girl somewhere that Daenerys found out about too late.

When

It is sunrise of the nineteenth day of the fourth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.
In Igen:
It is the seventy-ninth day of Spring and 75 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.

Where

Standing Stones, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 23 Feb 2018 06:00

 

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Standing Stones

It is perhaps a pity that the Standing Stones lie in quiet isolation, half-forgotten in the Weyr's easternmost corner. Or perhaps it is inevitable: the grandiose beauty of these red rocks is ill-suited to Igen's coarse grit, and maybe only their loneliness allows them to survive unmarred. Whatever the reason, it cannot be denied that the Standing Stones, a lonely jumble of ancient boulders, have a glory about them. The tumbled field of pillars and arches has been shaped by eons of wind and water into strange shapes, twisted and rutted. The going is treacherous: only the Weyr's half-feral herd of caprines navigates the terrain with any ease. To the northwest, the lakeshore glimmers; to the east, rough-carved steps lead towards another ancient pile of rocks - though the Star Stones are less haphazardly placed than their Standing cousins.


The sun has just started to slide up in the sky, spreading light and warmth over Igen. It's not early enough to count as the crack of dawn, but it's certainly not late either. The majority of the occupants of the Standing Stones this morning are the herd of caprines lazily grazing around to nibble at bits of foliage that may have snuck out from between the stones. The only sound is that of sullen bleating and hooves on rock. That and the subtle shuffling of parchment that's coming from further up the slope. R'ku is there, perched on a chunk of stone that's settled low enough to act as a seat. He seems to be puzzling over some parchments - reports from the Starcrafters, most likely. Every so often he'll glance up at the horizon, scanning the cloud cover and pausing to feel the shift of wind before going back to reading some sort of figure in his notes. His gold fire lizard, Cava, is curled asleep next to him, her hide bright against the dull stone.

It's morning; it's so early — and yet, there's no time like the early morning, before the Weyr is truly awake, to seek higher ground to settle one's thoughts and explore the inner workings of one's emotions and thoughts. And so, because the Standing Stones seems like a good place to go — despite the wandering caprines — to do such a thing, Daenerys can be found picking his way over the rocks, avoiding the half-feral creatures that bleat and hop about, rolling his eyes as one particularly friendly bugger thrusts his nose at the Candidate, searching for a treat and nibbling at the tail end of his long runner tail in curiosity. "Not today." The nose is batted away, and the creature bawls irritably before bouncing off in a huff. "Damn goats." Plainly, Daenerys is not a morning person by any means. The tall, slim young man eventually finds a place to stand, overlooking the Weyr — and is soon distracted by the sound of shuffling parchment and squints in that direction until he spots R'ku — huh. He's not the only one up this early after all. Is he disappointed? Relieved? It'll take him a moment to figure that one out.

R'ku flips to the next parchment in the thin stack of them he's rustling through, brow furrowed in concentration as he tries to absorb whatever sciencey jibberish has been put there by the Starcrafters this time. He squints, tilting the parchment one way and then another before running a hand through his shaggy black hair in frustration. Maybe he should have grabbed some klah before trying to decipher this latest missive. It's too early for thinking of calculations. The sudden outbreak of bleating has him glancing up, lowering the parchments just enough to see over them. He blinks at the sight of Daenerys and straightens up even more, obviously surprised to see a person rather than another goat. "Morning," he calls out in greeting, flashing a toothy grin, "Best to watch out - the goats bite. If you haven't figured that out already." R'ku himself has to shoo away an inquisitive one that's ventured further up the slope.

"So I noticed," Daenerys agrees drily, eyeing his now goat-drooled hair with distaste before he moves farther up the slope and away from the creatures before they try to take another nibble of him. He much prefers creatures that don't think his hair is edible, kthx. He chooses to settle down near — but not too near — R'ku, eyeing the stack of parchment with undisguised curiosity before his eyes wander upward and takes note of that knot, though. Oh, yes, isn't there a salute or something he's supposed to do? He offers R'ku one, just in case the bronzerider is a stickler for such things. "Reports already, sir?" he asks, flicking fingers toward R'ku's headache-inducing stack of papers.

R'ku waves off Daenerys' salute, obviously not too fussed about such things. "Starcraft reports about predictions for weather for today," he notes with a snort, "A lot of it references different landmarks from the view of the Standing Stones, so I figured it might help me take it all in if I were here." He pauses, eyeing a goat as it meanders by, bleating passively, " … the goats are a bit less than helpful." He gives a bit of a grin, all teeth and amusement, "I'm R'ku, Bronze Kabelkath's. Wingleader of Sirocco. Nice to meet you." He'll extricate one of his hands from the parchment to reach towards Daenerys for a shake.

Daenerys snorts. "I can't imagine they'd know much about weather and landmarks, except where it relates to their narrow little lives." That passing goat is watched with a jaundiced eye, making sure it doesn't intend to invite itself over for a nibble or two. When it keeps going, he returns his gaze to R'ku, noting his name and dragon and whatnot. "Daenerys, leatherworker, trader — and Candidate." He'll take the proffered hand for that shake, grinning a little in amusement. He's really had way too many different careers for so young a man. Life isn't supposed to work that way on Pern; and yet, for him, it has.

R'ku arches a brow at all of those titles, his grin growing a bit, "Tried a bit of everything, then, it seems? I suppose potential Dragonrider would be a nice cap to that esteemed career so far." He rumbles a bit of a laugh, his attention dragged for now from his paperwork. It can wait. It's not like it's going to run away on him. So, he settles the parchments loosely on his lap. "What brings a candidate up here so early? One of the Healers didn't ask you to do something strange with the goats, did they?" He casts a side-long glance at said goats. He's heard stories. One of the smaller goats, snakier than the rest, starts to mosey on back towards R'ku and Daenerys, though it seems more interested in nibbling at the corner of one of the parchments.

Being a Candidate does not mean that Xanthee can be lax in her strict running routine. And today she has decided to mix it up a bit with something a little more difficult than running on relatively smooth sand, instead, the rough terrain near the Standing Stones make the perfect place to practice running over uneven ground. She has a nice pace, skipping and jumping, turning and avoiding, her small frame agile and never losing her balance. She's breathing hard by the time she spies the two men and smiles a bit working her way over and bouncing in next to them with an out-of-breath "Hi!" although she does salute the Wingleader and gives her heart-brother a bright smile. "Great day isn't it?" No power in the universe can stop Xanthee being cheerful when she's a Candidate.

"Well, you know, it took a bit to find out what I wanted out of life," Daenerys grins mischeviously, eyeing R'ku sidelong. Perhaps he's a bit of a slow learner in some respects. And then, R'ku puts forth the idea that he should be doing funny things with the goats. Ew. "Nothing like. I don't even like goats. Came up here to get some thinking done away from the rest of the candidates." Speaking of, there's Xanthee, hopping around as nible as one of the goats. Fortunately, he much prefers his foster sister to those four legged nuisances. "And hi to you, too, sister-mine."

R'ku snorts a laugh as yet another candidate hops up to the secluded spot, "And here I thought my only company would be the goats." He flashes one of his usual wide grins at Xanthee, "Nice to see you outside the Tea Room, candidate. I'll have to tell Beris I saw you." He breaks out into a deep laugh at Daenerys' words, though, barely able to get the next words out, "I didn't mean doing anything /that/ gross - I think the healers were doing some experiments with that glowing stuff a while back." He rubs at his eyes, still chortling, "Though the goats here don't seem to be glowing. So … bonus, I suppose." And then the sneaky goat nibbling at the corner of R'ku's parchments makes its move. With a grunt of effort, it pulls the entire sheaf of them off R'ku's lap and, with a triumphant gait, starts to trot away with its prize. " … hey!" R'ku shoots up from his seat on the rock, startling his sleeping gold fire lizard into squawking.

"I find people pop up everwhere in the Weyr, you're never truly alone." And so Xanthee passes down her wisdom of the day as she smiles from bronzerider to ex-trader, "And thank! It's a welcome change of pace actually, and something familiar to get back into. And tell Beris I say hi." Xan stands, but she's not letting her muscles go cold, stretching her legs and walking in place, she is only halfway done her run. When talk wanders to talk of the blue glowing stuff, she seems keenly interested until that goat pulls the sheaf of parchment from R'ku's lap. Good thing she's all warmed up cause she is on that goat in a second, reaching for the parchments he pilfered.

Daenerys is relieved to hear it: he'd been imagining all sorts of shady dealings and mentally shuddering and cringing over each one. "…oh." With a chuckle for Xanthee's wisdom-dropping, he stretches himself languidly, only to leap up after that thieving goat with a yell.

Goats are indeed nimble. The thieving goat, despite being rather plump (probably from handouts from Weyr residents), trots and hops away, darting in-between its brethren with its prize. Xanthee will manage to get a hold of one of the sheets of parchments, but a few others fall to the slope and the last one remains in the clutches of the thief-goat. "Shard it all!" R'ku, rather than chasing after the goat, has remained rather rigid in place. The 2 candidates ran after it, after all, and his additional movement might just scare the thing in the wrong direction. He does manage to rush over and grab one of the parchments that fell to the ground before another goat that was eyeing it thoughtfully manages to grab it. "You think that glowing stuff made them extra sneaky or something?" he manages, scowling down at the parchment in his hand that has not only a bite mark out of it but also a hoof print in the middle of the Starcraft calculations.

"Shards!" the raven-haired girl exclaims as she manages to only snag one of the sheets. Xanthee sighs as she watches the thief run off but decides to pick up the ones that have fallen before they slip down the slow any further. Bringing her bundle back, she hands them to R'ku just in time to catch his comment about the glowing stuff, "I shouldn't think so, I've used the stuff on some minor things and it hasn't done anything except spead up healing time." Xan interjects with a shrug, hands on her hips.

Daenerys manages to snatch another sheet out of the very teeth of another goat, cursing vividly as the creature tries to snatch it back, managing to clip his fingers in the process. "Fuck off!" He shouts, sending the goat bounding away in the wake of his annoyed lunge. He turns back to R'ku with a sigh and handing over the ragged sheet. "Damn goats…" Why can't Lukioth come eat them all! There are tales of just such an occurrence. "Huh. Naw, I think they're just sneaky and annoying all on their own. Pesky buggers."

R'ku accepts the parchments from both Xanthee and Daenerys, eyeing the sorry state of them with a sigh. "Well," he says resignedly, sliding the parchments into a satchel at his side, "I'll have you two for witnesses when I have to tell the Weyrleader that goats ate my reports." He flashes both of them a wide, toothy grin, "I hope I have your cooperation in these matters?" He tries to make his voice sound all formal and such, though he can't help but laughing at the end. Settling back down onto his makeshift stone seat, he huffs out a sigh, "It was pretty bland, anyhow. Nothing much coming, weather wise, since that freak snowstorm during the clutching. At least not today." He rubs at his cheek before adding rather belatedly to Xanthee, "And I will tell Beris you said hi. Not sure if she has a late shift at the Pit tonight or not. Hopefully not." He squints at the two candidates, "You have any interesting chores for today?"

Xanthee giggles a little bit at R'ku, "The goats ate my work! I think I used that excuse when I was in lessons with the Weyrharper." Her giggles quickly devolve into hearty chuckles and she holds a hand up for a second while she brings her waterskin, that has totally been slung across her body this whole time, to her lips and takes a sputtering drink until she finally calms down, "Sorry. I just hope one won't end up in the barracks this Candidacy." she says, eyeing the furry troublemakers.

At least R'ku can prove the truth of his statement, unlike Daenerys from his youth! He'll laughingly agree to back a brotha up should R'ku need such verification when it comes up. Resettling himself on his own makeshift seat, he inspects his abused fingers and note with relief that there's no real harm done; just a stinging bruise for his trouble. "Mm… the usual laundry and whatnot. And I get to help the tanners with leather." Since it's his former Craft and all. "Oh yeah I remember hearing that the Barracks kept getting goat mascots last time."

R'ku reaches out to settle down Cava, his gold fire lizard, who is still chirping anxiously after the whole goat escapade. "Well - I know who brought up the idea if goats end up in the barracks again. Maybe you two are just bringing up the idea to try to throw me off the trail when you bring the whole herd in," he notes, his voice full of amused sarcasm. He's got one of his usual wide grins on his face, though, so it's fairly obvious he's joking. "We didn't have anything half so interesting in the barracks during my candidacy. Seems such a long time ago." He takes a moment for memories before shaking his head, "Laundry. Always hated that. Do they still try to stick you with the dirtiest and the nastiest clothes? Or was that just me?"

Xanthee looks completely innocent as she throws a perfectly round-eyed stare at Daenerys, "Who? Us? We're not really the kind to tempt trouble Sir, right bother-mine?" she says in an even tone that is completely serious, though there may be the slightest sparkle of mischief dancing in her emerald gaze as she turns it on Daenerys for his confirmation. When the bronzerider mentions laundry though, she holds a hand to her lips as she looks like she might gag, "Oh my shards, I knew they did it on purpose. I just had it a few days ago and…yeah, it was lucky I had skipped lunch that day. AS for today, Kitchens, which is fine, those girls always have the best gossip."

Daenerys is all honeyed innocence and wide, shocked eyes. "Sir, I would never…" Hand to heart in solemn vow and everything! He eyes Xanthee with mischief, though, for he well knows how much trouble they can get into. Trouble making sibs unite! "Yeah, they do leave all the worst to us. Because why not torture the candidates?" Doesn't every place — be it Hall, Hold, or Weyr — always foist the worst upon the lowest ranking members of its society?

R'ku sweeps ahand through his shaggy hair, pausing briefly to tie it back into a quick runnertail, "When I was a candidate, I was convinced they purposefully got their clothes extra dirty just for us. Or the full-time laundry workers would give us really embarrassing things like lacy undergarments to clean." He rolls his eyes and snorts before pushing himself to his feet, "Hope you get better loads of clothes today, anyhow." He glances off towards the horizon and the rising sun, gauging the time with a frown, "Well - I better get going. I have to explain the reports to the Weyrleader before heading to drills." He turns back to Xanthee and Daenerys, inclining his head to both of them, "Have fun. Watch out for the goats. And don't bring them into the barracks, for Faranth's sake." Another grin before he scoops up Cava into the crook of one arm and starts to pick his way down the slope, chivvying goats out of the way with a foot as he goes.

Xanthee puts her hand up to shield her eyes against the rising sun, waving at the retreating Wingleader as she calls after him, "Good luck with telling the Weyrleader!" She then turns to Daenerys with an easy smile, "So how're are things with my big brother then?" Xan asks, genuinely interested since they seem to keep missing each other the last few day, one or the other asleep by light's out, and mornings often too tired to do more than grunt at each other.

"Worried about Reveka." Daenerys admits quietly, now he doesn't have to pretend all is just spiffy and oh so perfect; nervously, he toys with the end of his braid and looks off toward the Caravan Grounds. So near, and yet so very, very far. "She is pregnant, you know…" His dread had been spot on, after all, and he turns back to Xanthee with a slight frown. "And her parents are treating her like crap because we aren't married."

Hands flying to cover her mouth as she gasps, Xanthee's eyes grow round at Daenerys' words. "Oh no! That's awful, about her parents anyway. A baby can never be truly awful, but the timing is unfortunate. What are you both going to do? You're still a candidate, so I'm guessing there isn't going to be a wedding, at least not yet. How far along?" Her tone is soft an worried as she comes to settle down next to him.

"You're telling me." There's that dry sarcasm, aimed at the crappy hand their bad choices have wrought; Daenerys is suddenly tired, so tired, of making bad choices. "We don't have much choice, do we? She's found a foster among the Zingari." The slim Trader gnaws at his lower lip, then slowly says, "I… offered to marry her, you know. But she didn't think it would be the best idea. I still want to. Because I am responsible for this."

Putting a hand on Daen's shoulder lightly, Xanthee shakes her head a little bit at his last, "Do you want a marriage of obligation? From what I know about you, you would rail against that in the log run, it's not fair to you or Reveka, or your child." Which Xan is totally going to suggest naming after her since she is kind of responsible for bringing it's parents together. "Fostering is a very sensible option, for everyone." she nods sagely, her opinions on the matter obviously colored by her upbringing as a weyrbrat.

"But is it fair to have her face being disowned and pregnant, alone?" Daenerys counters. "Certainly, Willimina, Tallel, and Igrainehelping her, but she didn't get herself pregnant, I did that." The hand on his shoulder is startling, and he looks round at Xanthee for a moment. "Sensible, hell. What's gonna happen when she has our child?"

"I don't think fair comes into play when it comes to things like babies," Xanthee says with a sigh, "If she has the leaders on her side than I am sure she will be fine. That Willimina is a force to be reckoned with." Xan remembers the way the woman had taken charge during the fight at her Turnday party. "And you're not denying it either, you offered to marry her to make things 'right'. I don't know that you can do anything more than just being there as much as you can if she needs you." When Daen mentions when she has the baby and that causes her to raise a brow in his direction, "And what do you mean what will happen when she has the baby?" Xan looks a little confused.

"I worry what this will do to her. Family is everything among the Zingari." Daenerys reaches for his sister's hand, taking comfort in the contact. "They probably think I don't care; that I was just using her. And that's not true. I gave her a letter to show them. To be surr they know I claim them both. That I'm willing to marry her still." He laughs, then, softly. "I've come to… well. Treasure her. As a person and a lover."

When Daen takes her hand, Xanthee covers it with one of her own as she listens to her brother's words carefully. When he gets to his last, a smile grows slowly on her lips as she hears him declare his feelings for her best friend. And with that she just can't help herself and she throws her arms around him, squeezing hard. "Awwwwwww Daenerys!! You've fallen for her!!" And the air of complete triumph that rests over the raven-haired girl gives her an air of superior smugness she just can't help, although she tries to temper it once she realizes what she is doing. "I would expect nothing less of you than to make sure she was taken care of, her family may not know you, but I do. You're a great guy Daen. And that kid's going to be lucky to have you for a sire, even if you don't get to raise them."

Daenerys laughs at her, his mood lightening a little at her triumph over her success at finding him a girl. "Maybe a little bit." After all, there's nothing like admitting your little sister might have gotten it right after all! "I just wish I could do it myself instead of trusting it to others." Oh, he knows his Reve is in good hands, but still! He's maturing into a man who taking responsibility for his actions. He stands, drawing Xanthee up with him. "Cmon, lazy. I'll race you round the lake. Don't dawdle, now." And then he's off, bouncing nimbly down the rocky trail.

Xanthee gets drawn up with Daen as he gets to his feel, mirthful laughter bubbling out of her as he challenges her and takes off down the trail. "Just try and catch me!" she calls back as she bounces after, obviously having taken some pointers from the furry denizens of the Standing Stones, because she quickly overcomes him, her laugher trailing behind her as the two Candidate-sibblings are off to start their day in earnest.

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