Who

A'lira, Diem, Divale, R'ku

What

Even ranking riders need to escape the heat and all just seem to have the same idea as to where…

When

It is morning of the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Mirror Cavern, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 27 Mar 2018 04:00

 

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Mirror Cavern

Cordoned off from the lake under a cape of stone is a sheltered grotto sized like a dragon weyr. Running water dribbles over the entrance not in any great torrent but lesser strings of liquid. Within, isolated waters assume a perfectly protected calmness pitching prisms of refracted light onto the walls and dome-like ceiling. How they flash when the pool's crystal clear surface is disturbed, serpents of light scattering like tunnel snakes from a lantern. Surfaces are naturally unfinished which explains the varying depths, 2-12 feet, and ability to be comfortly seated. As with any small cavern sounds have a way of being amplified be they swim strokes or nuggets of gossip.


The sun has only just broached the horizon, bringing a crisp and clear morning sky with it! And heat. Oh, summer is in full swing and already much of the Weyr is radiating heat. Great for the dragons, bad for everyone else. Not that that kept many from pre-dawn activities. When half your day is spent avoiding the high-noon sun, your day starts extra early! Parhelion has just finished a few drills and the usual PT, finishing by the lake. With most of the Wingriders dispersing to cool down or seek drinks and some light fare for breakfast, Divale has sought solitude… or as far as she can get it. A dip in the lake turned to wading out in chest high waters towards the mirror cavern. Not exactly fully private but close enough! Its in one of the shallower pools that the Wingsecond settles herself, only the lower portion of her legs dipped in the water while she allows the desert air to dry her off. With her eyes closed, she’s either deep in thought or… dozing. Hey, don’t judge, okay?

The mirror cavern is a quiet and cool sanctuary for a goldrider that's been cooped up on the hatching sands for what seemed like an eternity. Lying on her belly on top of a blanket strewn out over a flat stone ledge is Diem fast asleep. Her arms are folded beneath her head and she has apparently found a good spot to rest, keep cool, and enjoy the silence. How long has she been asleep? It's anyone's guess. There are a few dimly lit glows surrounding her and if folks are looking, they'll notice that she is completely passed out to the world.

Everyone's feeling hot, hot, hot… and not in the good way. A'lira, too, would much rather avoid direct sunlight — for it loves him too well, searching him out to feast upon him. No thanks, not today, sucker. Therefore, the tall brownrider swims through to the coolest part of the Weyr right now. Also, cue his surprise at finding two people already there! Disappointing, really, when he'd anticipated some quiet time where there were no people. Oh, well, he'll get over it and just pick himself a ledge to lie on and allow to leach the remaining heat from his skin.

Into this tranquil serenity comes the fluttering wings and squawking of a tiny bronze fire lizard, his shrill noises echoing nicely off the walls of the cavern. What is that he's got clutched in his jaws? Someone's knot, which he plops on a dry ledge and proceeds to burrow on top of like a tiny nest. "Dos!" comes R'ku's sharp voice from somewhere outside the cavern, "For the love of … don't make me … ah, /shard it all/!" That last bit has the resigned tone of one who now has to wade into the water - not something the bronzerider is fond of at the best of times, even in this heat. So, after lots of muttered oaths and splashing, R'ku makes his slow way into the cavern, doing his best to keep to only where his feet will touch ground … so it ends up taking longer. He appears in the mirror cavern with a scowl on his face, ready to meet his errant new bronze … only to shift to surprise at the fact there are three people here as well. "Oh," he notes with a surprised laugh, "Sorry to intrude .. but … new fire lizard is being a right pain."

Well, it IS quiet, given Divale hasn’t spoken a word and Diem is passed out cold (lucky Weyrwoman!). That the brownrider isn’t aware of her surroundings though would be a dangerous assumption; she’s not asleep and can sense when A’lira makes his arrival. She is polite (and smart) enough not to rouse the sleeping goldrider and she will barely open her eyes at the sound of Sirocco’s Wingsecond finding his own spot to roost. No protest there! Only when that bronze firelizard disrupts the peace, does her head tilt, dark gaze finding the source and a flickering look of distaste crosses her features. She’d have shoo’ed the damned creature, if not for R’ku’s voice… though temptation still holds fast. Her fair is no where to be seen, including her gold Mercy. No doubt all sunning themselves in blissful contentedness with Lukoith! “At this rate, should we invite the rest of leadership? I didn’t get the memo that our pre-Threadfall meeting was here.” Dry, dry and slightly biting sarcasm laces her low voice, though she remains on her ledge and, with her gaze sliding back to the pool… promptly close again.

The quiet sloshing of water might've started to pull Diem back to lucidity, but it was the sharp scolding of a firelizard that awakens her with a jolt. "H'rik!" She was either just dreaming about the Weyrleader or the yelling triggered her subconsciousness to automatically yell at the bronzerider who isn't even here. Dark hair cascades over the weyrwoman's shoulders when she props herself up onto forearms and she finally catches sight of movement close to the flat ledge where she rests. "Oh." There are people here now — she was alone when she fell asleep. Which means… she's been out for quite a while. "Oh." A beat, "What candlemark is it? Who's being a pain?" Jumbled thoughts merge together when she realizes R'ku is after a firelizard and when she can determine Parhelion and Sirocco wingseconds are nearby.

Never, never turn one's eyes off quiet Divales — they always do interesting things. Hence, A'lira's assumption that Divale was likely planning some sort of mischief. He merely cracks a lid at Divale's dry sally, and offers up one of his own: "Mention work again and we'll have to do something. So kindly don't mention it." What, tired of the round-robin of hidework already? Of course A'lira is; he does have some sense. And then Diem's awake, yelling H'rik's name — A'lira is trying very, very hard not to start laughing. Oh, dear. Running a hand over his face, he turns his gaze on R'ku and his disruptive firelizard, hoping against all hope his fair has found Kyprioth and remained there, rather than come looking for him. Rude gits, the lot of 'em. "R'ku… why is your firelizard a thief." He clearly doesn't expect an answer to that one. They just are.

R'ku heaves a heavy sigh that echoes around the cavern and runs a hand over his face, removing some splashed water from there. "He's only hatched a few sevendays ago - he's still .. ah .. fresh." he explains rather sheepishly, "He seems to have bouts of doing nothing but sleeping … then he gets his mind set on something and … poof." He adds tot he 'poof' with a hand gesture sort of indicating an explosion, " … then he's stealing things and using them as beds or toys or other nonsense. I'm trying to train him still." He glances between the there occupants of the cavern, "Did I interrupt a secret meeting?" He starts to try to slooowly edge his way across the cavern to get to the snoozing bronze that has his knot, though he has to take halting steps to try to avoid any unexpected dropoffs.

No mischief here! Divale’s very cautious with her mischief of late (and perhaps soon to change). She will scoff under her breath for A’lira’s return sally, but it’s Diem’s yelling of the Weyrleader’s name that draws her attention. Eyes open again, as her head turns to glance at the Weyrwoman from over her shoulder. “Pleasant dreams?” she asks in lowered, bemused tones and with a hint of a wry smirk to her boldness to joke about it. She would have glanced ahead again and perhaps returned to her dozing state had R’ku’s movements not caught her attention. Not at all ashamed to observe the bronzerider mincing his way around, a brow quirks up. “Hardly.” she retorts, legs moving idly in the water as she straightens and gives up all hope of going back to some peaceful half-zoned state. “… the water won’t bite.” More teasing, with R’ku serving as the target this time.

Diem manages to sit crosslegged upon the blanket now as she streeetches her arms over her head in a feeble attempt to wake up a little more. There are a few things strewn about the ledge next to her blanket and she immediately starts to gather them up and stuff them into a bag that she originally brought with her. "I wish I could remember what it was about." Something tells her it wasn't one of those dreams. Judging by how quickly she's getting herself ready to leave must mean that she's late for something — a meeting, PT, infirmary shift, who knows! She's not saying. "Isn't that the way of firelizards? One minute they're calm and asleep, the next minute they're fluttering about like excitable avians." Small talk as she cinches the drawstrings of her bag. "Mmn. A secret meeting of Igen's early risers…" The blanket is then shook free of sand and she folds it up as small as she can make it before tucking it beneath an arm. "Every meeting is held in a different location so people don't catch on to our whereabouts…" The goldrider then hops down from the low ledge and begins to wade through the shallow end of the pool of water, making sure to avoid getting her bag and blanket wet. "This should be a thing." With a quick nod to wingleadership, Diem slips out the mirror cavern to go be wherever she needs to be~

A'lira is definitely not a fan of such an idea, if the suspicious squint he favors Diem with is any indication. But he says nothing, nothing at all — but is there a gleam of amusement in his gaze for the jab at pleasant dreams about H'rik? Of course there is! A'lira can't help but be amused by the idea of his clutchmate being the object of fantasy. C'mon, really? Ha. He favors R'ku with a lifted eyebrow. "Not here. I'd pick somewhere that's actually secret for such a thing." Who doesn't know about the Mirror Caverns.

R'ku gives a snort in response to Divale's jab, "Haven't you heard of people drowning? Water /can/ hurt." So there. He does flash her one of his usual toothy grins, perhaps an attempt at his usual confident bravado to offset the obvious trouble he's having with … you know .. swimming. He takes another few calculated steps, arms lifted up to try to keep them out of the water for now. He glares balefully across at the ledge where the tiny bronze is happily snoozing amidst the tangle of the Wingleader's knot. His eyes shift to A'lira and his eyebrow goes up, "I'd tease you about why you're not doing hidework or prepping for drills .. but .. " He gives a short rumble of a laugh and gestures at himself, " … I'm not setting the best example here. But it /is/ still like an oven outside. Probably best to avoid more heat stroke in the wing. Ch'ad passing out last drills was bad enough." He makes a face at this. Ch'ad - the bane of Sirocco.

“I will certainly applaud your death if you somehow drown yourself in two feet of water,” Divale’s sarcasm knows no bounds when it comes to parrying verbally. Truthfully she should be minding her tongue, given the rank differences. His grin is met with one of her vague smirks and she’ll relent on teasing him — all while quietly noting a weakness in Sirocco’s Wingleader. As Diem takes her leave, she will dip her head in a polite nod of farewell to the goldrider and masking her bemused smile while at it. “Clear skies, Weyrwoman.” she murmurs instead, while her gaze then lifts to fall between R’ku and A’lira. Now there are three! “Water and hidework would not mix very well,” Which is her sole comment on ‘secret’ meeting spots. A grimace given for the fate of poor Ch’ad, but there’s bound to be more such victims, riders and weyrfolk alike. “Time is short for PT. It was tough even in the pre-dawn hours. At least the coming Threadfall is more towards evening?” But it means they’ll be preparing in the height of this heat. Fun times~ Not.

A'lira is all innocence in the face of such an idea. "Why, Wingleader, sir, do you suggest I slack off? I'm hurt." He'll even put a hand over his heart and put on his most sad puppy face, all big brown eyes and downcast features. SO HURT, R'KU. But he can't keep it up for long, breaking into a broad smile of pure mischief. "Faranth, him. I've told him a million times to stop trying to prove his 'manhood' with those stunts of his." But oh, did A'lira have fun getting the man properly treated for the subsequent waking up — a little humiliation via having his legs propped up in the middle of the Bowl might well cure the man of his stupidity. One hopes, anyhow. That, and little sympathy from the normally very empathetic brownrider for his trouble. "Yeah. Silver linings and all that."

R'ku can't help but laugh at Divale's quip, his grin flashing into place again and spreading over his face, "Such an ignoble death, to be sure. But there /could/ be unseen drop offs in here. And .. well - I don't want to be the Wingleader known to fall into an underwater pothole and drown, either." Plus his swimming skills are obviously so bad as to make him wary about any sort of unknown drop points. Eventually he gets a bit closer to the ledge where his errant bronze is snoozing, but despite his height he can't quite reach back far enough to snatch him. Frowning in thought, he scans the area around for a way up to the bronze that won't entail any swimming. "I honstly don't think Ch’ad will learn until he manages to get a limb removed in some sort of scheme," is R'ku's retort to A'lira, his voice full of resignation, "I'd put marks down that he tries to push himself too far today, doesn't bring any water again and passes out … again. Really - I shudder to think if his bronze catches the Senior queen. Igen'd be right fucked." Ch'ad and his dudebro nature and tiny brain are probably well known around the Weyr. "And we definitely have enough to worry about with threadfall later. We do have enough extra water skins to make sure the wing has at least two each for their straps?" Ever the Wingleader, he has to pause in his predicament to consider this.

Divale chuckles quietly and shakes her head, “There are none of those here,” she claims and with enough confidence that it could be true! It’d be in her nature to scour this whole place and very likely the first thing she did upon discovering it long ago. Always know your exits! “He’s a bronzerider,” she quips to A’lira, in regards to Ch’ad and stupid, ego fuelled stunts. “What’d you expect?” A pause and a sly glance to R’ku. “No offence.” Every offence meant! She let the rest of the exchange between R’ku and A’lira go without comment, as she draws her legs up out of the water — one whole, one very badly scarred from upper thigh down to her foot. “It’s not my place to advise how you run your Wing,” she states dryly. “But I’d hope the common sense is for all of us to bring water. Ordered or not!”

"I could make use of the fancy Healer's knot I have to ground his ass for another day or two. Too much of that can damage what little brain he has left. Last thing we need is an idiot passing out during Threadfall because he can't pace himself properly." A'lira is never above some level of trickery to get a patient to behave himself, apparently, especially if it means he can get the patient out of his hair that much faster. Why must they be cursed with such an idiot? "Fuck, man, now I need whiskey for even imagining that happening." The idea of Ch'ad as Weyrleader is enough for A'lira to want to pack himself and his weyrmate off to, oh, say, ANYWHERE but Igen should that be a reality. Divale is offered a wry smirk. "Oh, dear. How could I forget that rule…" About most bronzeriders being stupid. "R'ku sets a fine example of how not to be a typical bronzerider that I forget." As to the bringing of water, A'lira will shrug, irritated by the man's inability to remember such a simple detail of his kit. "Ch'ad is exceptionally bull-headed about it. He's too manly to need such a simple thing as water." So, naturally, A'lira is secretly planning on finding out just what kind of punishment he can foist on the man, for wasting valuable time where it could be better used on riders who take their health seriously. "R'ku… can we send him back to weyrling training, since he doesn't seem to understand much about how to take care of himself and therefore his dragon? You'd think the dragon's distress would give him some incentive, but…" Not so much.

R'ku edges along the ledge wall, sloshing slightly in the water - he's obviously aiming for a bit of an inlet and what looks to be some good stones to use for stepping up onto to give him a bit more reach to get at the bronze. Divale's words earn a bit of a smirk, "Thanks, Divale. No offence taken … I think. Though I'm pretty sure Ch'ad makes all riders of any color look bad. He is that idiotic." He starts to creep slowly upwards, putting one foot on one stone and then another, trying his best not to alert the bronze that he's on his way up. "If he comes to pre-threadfall drills with no water skins - ground him. I think we have enough other healthy riders to be able to handle the 'fall without him, thankfully," is his response to A'lira after a pause for consideration, "And as much as I'd like to send him back to Weyrlinghood - I think we'd need to talk to H'rik about that. But I do agree. I think he's taking these dick-measuring contests to a dangerous level. No one seems to care that he does them, yet he seems to think he needs to do them. It's gotten a bit worse since I took his Wingsecond knot away." He huffs a breath at that, remembering the incident. "Besides - do you want to foist him off on that new batch of Weyrlings?" Maybe it'd be amusing for the Weyrlings in question, actually. R'ku, squinting in concentration, darts his hand out and snatches the bronze with a cry of triumph, "Gotcha!" The bronze, still sleepy, merely chirrups in resignation. Oh -you got me. Oh well.

A'lira will certainly enjoy that one — Ch'ad has been like a thorn in his ass for weeks, refusing to understand that A'lira hadn't precisely asked for the promotion; he'd merely been doing his job and filling in where the other man hadn't been, lest the wing have holes and more Thread get through. He simply could not allow that to happen, when his brown was so willing to fight the stuff. "We do have enough," A'lira confirms for R'ku, for he keeps a strict eye on the rosters. "Ha. Maybe when the babies are a little older, and better able to tolerate wilder emotions. While I think the humans would find it very amusing, I wouldn't want to taint the dragonets by exposure. They're awfully cute at this point." Only A'lira would find hatchling dragons cute. With that loose plan in place, A'lira shall unwind his long body from the ledge he'd been on, sinking into the water with a soft sigh. "Well, no rest for the wicked — I shall sally forth and attend to Ch'ad." Pray nobody gets their feels all twisted up. "Try not to drown, R'ku — and don't help, Divale." With that, A'lira is gone, swimming away before either can make their retorts.

“Don’t need a Healer’s knot to ground one of your own,” Divale remarks off-hand to A’lira, only to smirk for the rest. “There is always one in every Wing. They’ll either learn or die for their selfishness. Only so many times you can beat sense into them.” Pushing slowly to her feet, she’ll straighten out some of her now somewhat damp clothing, while collecting a few of her belongings that she’d set aside — including a waterskin! “Won’t just be H’rik you need to talk too,” she murmurs to R’ku. “You’d have to have clearance from Vosji, I’d imagine. Perhaps for the very reasons A’lira mentioned.” She wouldn’t know, entirely, given it’s not in her knowledge to know the finer gritty details of being a Weyrlingmaster. Chuckling again for the brownrider’s parting comment, she murmurs, “I never do.” The day may be young, but there is much left to be done. “I should be returning as well. Duties and all… And so much for this not turning into discussions of work, hmm?” She may pitch her voice just loud enough of that last remark to echo to A’lira, before she nods her head respectfully to R’ku. “Clear skies, Wingleader and here’s to fate favouring you come later today.” Who knows what the injury and casualty toll will be. Slipping back into the water, Divale will make her way back through the shallows and to scurry off somewhere out of the blinding glare of the sun.

R'ku tucks the tiny bronze against his chest and extricates his knot from the lizard's claws before stuffing said knot in a pocket for now. "I'd rather not have any deaths on my watch, even if it is Ch'ad. That's the thing." He gives a respectful nod to both A'lira and then Divale as they head out, "Try not to burn or pass out!" He rumbles a laugh at that. And then he'll start to make his slow process out of the cavern, because he still doesn't trust the fact there may not be a drop off hiding somewhere. And now there's no one around to save him if there is, so best be extra careful!

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