Who

Xanthee, Amani, Khaylia

What

Amani finds a moment to visit Igen, tracking down Xanthee before making other stops. Khaylia drifts into the brief conversation as well.

When

It is afternoon of the fourth day of the first month of the fifteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Living Cavern, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 16 Sep 2018 06:00

 

xanthee_default.jpg amani_default.jpg khaylia_default.jpg

"I mean, I don't know what it is supposed to be like, so it can only be what I guess it's like?"


igenlivingcavern.jpg

Living Cavern

Brightly lit by a regimented march of strung glow-globes, Igen's busy living caverns are cut of the same exotic limestone design that frequents the bazaar without. Tapestries line the tops of the walls, one for each of Igen's wings, past and present; beneath them, skybroom tables litter the floors in scattered profusion. Some of the wicker chairs have seen better days, but most of the worst offenders have long-ago been replaced. The seemingly random placement of furniture, however, at closer inspection yields a sort of cross-shape of negative space. The northernmost walls and nooks of the caverns are owned by the kitchen's buffet, food-laden thrice daily in regimented shifts by busy bakers from the curtained southern entrance to the kitchens. To the east is a large arch leading outside; westerly lies the large doors leading down into the bowels of the weyr itself.


It's been about a candlemark since lunch ended, and there are several candidates finishing up with the clean up of the Living Caverns in preparation for the evening meal. Xanthee is amoung them, sweeping around the tables and chairs, moving the latter around as necessary. Ducking, she sweeps up her little pile into a dustpan before depositing it in a nearby trash bin. Then it's just lather, rinse, repeat, over and over again, going from one table to the next, mindlessly sweeping as her emerald eyes glaze of someone with their mind a million miles away.

Amani has never been one to arrive anywhere with any amount of fanfare. Given her lifemate, and now her knot, the matter takes care of itself sufficiently, to her mind. She slips into Igen's Living Cavern with a little shiver at the contrast in temperature between outdoors and in, unfastening the higher points of her collar and then pulling off her gloves as she surveys the room. The fact that it isn't bustling is to her satisfaction, especially since it allows her to more easily spot one of the people she'd most hoped to run into while here. She crosses to Xanthee with a growing smile, clearly unconcerned with knots for the moment. "Just my luck! You could've been anywhere."

Xanthee must have been deep into her reverie, because she snaps her head around as she hears that familiar voice. Just as she's about to squee in surprise, Xan remembers herself, and also that her bestie now wears the big knot, so as she leans the broom against a table, she snaps off a salute for good measure, as she smiles brightly, "Weyrwoman Amani." she addresses respectfully. And once the pomp is observed for any AWLM lurking about, she nearly trips over her own feet to fling herself at Amani in a squeezing hug. "What are you doing here? You should have sent a note! Do you need to see someone? I could go fetch them for you," Xanthee's mouth runs a mile a minute before she lets her friend god and holds her at arm's length, scrutinizing her briefly, "Well you look the same anyway, so getting that Senior knot didn't change you too much…" she drawls, teasing.

For all Amani wouldn't have cared whether or not she got a salute from Xanthee, she is quite proud of her friend for remembering to do so and returns the act with just as much easy sharpness. After that, she catches Xanthee into a tight embrace to match the one she's receiving. "I didn't feel like sending a note," she counters atop a chuckle. "I'm here in the spur of the moment. That's how so much of my free time seems to happen lately. I wanted to see you, and Diem and Nasrin, and the Zingari, not all necessarily in that order." The goldrider lets herself be scrutinized before uttering a soft, rueful snort. "The circles under my eyes must not be as bad as I think then," she counters flatly. "Hopefully everything that has to change doesn't change me." Now it's Xanthee's turn to get inspected. "How's Candidacy treating you this time around?"

"Spur of the moment is always good, makes life interesting," Xanthee counters with a grin as she finally lets go of Amani, chuckling softly, "I guess that makes sense though, but good on you for taking some time for yourself too. That's gotta be important." Looking at a nearby table, she grins at her friend, "Have time to sit for a spell? Candidacy has become oddly familiar to me now, it's almost like I never left, I fell back into all the old routines in no time. So I guess, yeah, it's treating me ok." Since she's been on her feet since before lunch, Xanthee does take a seat with sigh, sagging into it with relief as she gets off her feet. "So…How are you doing with everything? Was it a shock?"

Amani nods to the matter of sitting down, taking the chance to pull off her riding jacket as she moves to the chair. "That's good to hear! And you don't take it for granted, either, which is even better," she notes as she settles back. "I'll be at the Hatching no matter what comes," she asserts, warding away whatever may try to come up and prevent her with the force of her words. Xanthee's last brings for a long, heavy sigh. "I knew it was coming for a bit, but…yeah. It was still a shock," she admits. "Va'os has been a steady presence with me, which I'm grateful for. It's become less of a matter of 'how am I going to do this' and more…'how are we going to keep up our strength'. I've gone from being nervous about when Zymuraith is going to rise to hoping she does it soon and frequently." Which is clearly something she never thought she'd be doing, judging by the bewilderment edging her gaze.

"Take it for granted? I think I only did that once, and you and I both know what that cost me. Never again," Xanthee pledges with confidence as she quickly shakes that memory loose and back to the ether from whence is came. The Living Caverns are mostly quiet, a few Candidates finishing the job of tidying up after lunch. Xanthee and the visiting Southern Weyrwoman are sitting at a table together chatting. The goldrider's next has her smiling brightly, "I totally understand if something comes up, but it'd be great to have you come watch. You gotta drag Evka with you as well, how did the graduation go?" she asks with interest, hoping now that her other bestie is a full rider, that she might come visit as well. "You can both keep Mal from freaking out," she adds with a joking grin.

Amani nods to Xanthee's first, her expression wry. "I fully intend to. Though there's a certain sort of freaking out that I'm not going to try to keep Malosim from doing, especially since we'll probably be joining in," the goldrider says with a wink. She quite confident in the outcome of this Candidacy for her friend, even if it isn't guaranteed. She simply has a feeling. "The graduation went well, though I wasn't there for as much of it as I wanted to be. I ended up having to run around all over the place for most of it," she says with some chagrin. "Evka is still waiting on a tapping, though I hear she'll be pulled into Ocelot, most likely. R'zel does a good job; she should do well there."

Khaylia is one of those candidates and she really DID do much better there for a day or so, but now she's backsliding. A male candidate offers to take her plates and she hugs him briefly, "You're wonderful, thank you so much." It lets her drift over to where Xanthee and Amani are because Amani has the knot of a goldrider and… well… no one is going to send her back to work in THAT company, right? "Weyrwoman," with a saluted greeting that's only a bit floofy, and then a glance at Xanthee, "Are you okay?"

"Ok, if I actually manage to catch a dragonet's eye this time, you all have my permission to go nuts," Xanthee concedes with a chuckle, before nodding at the rest of the news from Southern, "Well good for Evka, I'm really glad she's recovered from…everything that happened." With a heavy sigh as her gaze turns at the approaching Khaylia, grin faltering for a moment before she bobs her head at her fellow Candidate, "Better than ok, my friend Amani came to visit. Amani, this is Khaylia, a fellow Candidate, and Khaylia, this is Weyrwoman Amani from Southern Weyr. We were candidates together back when she impressed, we were the only two from Igen."

Amani catches sight of the little exchange between the other Candidates not far away, a dark brow arching subtly before her attention returns to Xanthee. "Well, now that we have your permission…" she drawls teasingly, and then there's some nodding over the matter of their brown riding friend. "Me too. She's doing so well now." Then the other Candidate girl is approaching, and the soft-edged salute is returned with a crisp one and a little nod. "Candidate Khaylia, well met." Xanthee's last earns a broad smile and a nod. "Interesting times, getting uprooted and all. Are you from far off, Khaylia, or is Igen pretty familiar?"

Khaylia beams to the goldrider in her best attempt to be all sorts of charming. "This is my first time being to IGen Weyr actually. Xanthee was amazing when I first got here, helped me get a job and everything." She flashes Xanthee a more real smile, "I mean, we were a little worried when that healer journeyman snatched you away the other night."
"They definitely were interesting times, that's for sure," Xanthee smirks with a knowing, sidelong glance in Amani's direction before ducking her head a bit at the compliments from her fellow Candidate. "Yeah, met Khaylia right off the wagon as it were," she relates with a grin before it falters briefly at the ginger haired girl's next, Xan blinking owlishly in her direction, "I needed my physical, that's all, nothing to worry about," She's even smiling again, see? Everything's good here. "Anyone else thirsty? I'm going to get us a pitcher of water and some glasses, be right back." And she's off before another word is spoken.

Knowing Xanthee as well as she does, Amani catches that waver in her friend's grin at the mention of being spirited off by a Healer. She also figures if there's more to it than what Xanthee has answered to, she'll be told when Xan is good and ready to bring it up. "Alright," she says as Xanthee trots off, leaving her to assess the other white-knotted girl alone. "She has a knack for that sort of thing. She didn't help me get a job when I first got to Igen, but she did help me to get better acquainted with the Bazaar and to know how to navigate among the traders. And just when I'd gotten it down…off to Southern I went." She gives a soft chuckle for that and sits up a little straighter. "How are you finding Candidacy? Quite a different experience for you, I'm guessing."

Khaylia is NOT that close to Xanthee that she catches the waver and so shrugs. "I mean, I guess we all have physicals or whatever?" A shrug of her shoulder shows an underlying selfishness that allows her to just believe the brush up. "It's… fine?" Khaylia pauses a moment before saying that word. "It's different, and all the candidates are different, you know?" Amani must have gone though this.

It doesn't take long for Xanthee to return with a tray carrying three glasses an a pitcher of ice water, a smile back on her lips as she sets it down in the middle of the table. She gets back just in time to hear Khaylia's response, "Oh that's for sure. This bunch has been great though, lots of new faces from all over too." This seems to genuinely tickle the raven-haired girl, who is enjoying the new friendships she is making.

Amani's brows hike upward in amusement at Kayla's assertion that Candidacy is "fine," folding her arms casually upon her chest. "You don't sound so sure about that," she notes wryly. "'Fine' isn't usually a word most Candidates use to describe it. I sure wouldn't have. But the differences in all those around you are definitely what keep it interesting." She grins at Xanthee when the raven-haired girl returns, knowing how much her friend must be thriving off the exposure to said new faces. "Friends, pains-in-the-ass, somewhere in between. And some of them shift a great deal once they have dragons in their lives."

"I mean, I don't know what it is supposed to be like, so it can only be what I guess it's like?" Khaylia sounds more than a little blond as she says that. A graceful shrug of her shoulder before she flicks a bit of red hair back over her shoulder.

"I don't know, I'd go with nerve-wracking and exhausting at the same time, but fine works," Xanthee teases Khaylia but with a broad smile to show it's friendly. She pours herself a glass of water then replaces the pitcher on the tray. Taking a sip, she almost chokes when Amani so bluntly catergorizes the people one meets during candidacy. "Haven't met any pains in the ass yet, so i guess i should thank Faranth for that. For a lot of them, it's their first time, like Khaylia here," she inclines her head at the ginger girl. "Don't worry, as long as you don't get so hysterical someone has to slap you, you're doing better than I was the first time…" Not to mention her second time, cause she doesn't talk much about that one.

"Or it can just…be as you're experiencing it. Surest way to know how something is." Amani's scrutiny, while subtle, is turned up high on the red-haired girl now. It's fortunate Zymuraith is caught up with Zsaviranth at the moment, else the goldrider would probably be getting a headful of opinions and questions about this Candidate at the moment. She has enough wonders of her own at the moment. Xanthee's assessment of the situation, however, gets a smirk. That turns into an unrepentant smile as she leans forward to pour some water for herself, sipping at it immediately afterward. Xanthee's next comment earns a slightly confused blink before memory sets in. "I'd forgotten about that."

"Oh shells - it would be just my luck and it would be Jaune there." Way too dramatically Khaylia flops herself onto a stool and buries her head in her hands. "Ugh, whatever though." She lifts her head up and arches an eyebrow. "Forgotten about what?"

"About the time I got hysterical just before the first hatching I stood in. Weyrleader H'rik was a Candidate with me at the time. He had to slap me to snap out of it," Xanthee relays with a giggle in response for Khaylia's question as she sighs nostalgically, "I was barely fifteen, terrified of letting down my dead mom, I just broke." She can smile about it now though, a lot has happened since that first time. Some amazing, some terrible, but all of it makign her who she was now. "Like Amani says, just experience it, it will be over, for better or worse very soon," More sage words from the raven-haired girl.

Amani simply observes Khaylia's dramatics with an inscrutable expression, one that shifts into rueful amusement as Xanthee recounts the details behind her first…memorable experience from Candidacy. Drinking down some more water until there's only a third of her glass left, she nods as she sets it down. "Hopefully it's never for worse, for anyone. But nothing is ever guaranteed. Candidacy is such a two-faced mark. Some things are certain, but the end never is, and that's usually the thing you want to be most sure. The goal you can never be certain of reaching. But…" She gives another smirk, this one a bit self-effacing. "It's easy to sit and spout wisdom about it when your own outcome was the ideal."

A deeep deeeep sigh as Khaylia pulls herself back to her feet again. "I guess I don't know anything about it or whatever. Just promise me Xanthee, you will slap me before Jaune does. I don't think I could live it down if he had to do it. And you KNOW he'd feel bad later and then just… UGH." So much ugh.

Shaking her head at Amani's words of wisdom, Xanthee smirks slyly, "You've had a way with words for as long as I've known you Amani." She's about to lean over and share somethign with Khaylia but then the othe Candidate is getting to her feet, leaving her blinking in surprise. "No one's expecting you to know anything, it's your first time, how could you?" she asks, more than a little confused, "No worries, if it looks like you need it, sure, I'll be the one to slap you." Shooting a sidelong glance at Amani, she sighs a little bit, "Actually I should really finish up my section too…" she drawls, without actualyl getting to her feet as well, she takes another drink of her water instead.

Amani has to bite her tongue to keep from blurting the first thing that leaps to mind in light of Khaylia's display, quickly swallowing it. Who's to say what the girl will become if she Impresses, after all? Of all people, the goldrider ought to know how it goes. But that doesn't stop her from being unable to understand the Candidate's current (apparent) mindset. Instead, she nods agreement to Xanthee's counter and finishes her water. Her friend's promise earns a little chuckle, and her reluctant assertion about her duties garners a knowing smirk. "It's alright. I'll go visit the Zingari and circle back this way afterward, provided I don't get summoned back home for some reason." She does stand, pulling her jacket off the back of the chair and slipping it back on. "Good to meet you, Khaylia," says the young Senior, and then she hugs Xanthee again. At the same time, however, she pressed a small pouch into her friend's palm between them. "And happy Turnday. I didn't forget; it's just…been hectic."

"I suppoooose if you're going back to work…" Khyalia makes no more move to go and get herself to work though. Because if Xanthee isn't working then Khaylia isn't about to get started either.

"Indeed, I haven't been to an entertainment night in Faranth knows how long, I'm going to have to fix that soon," Xanthee replies with a look at the lingering Khaylia, finally pushing herself to her feet, "We should both get back to work. If we get it all done soon, we'll have a whole candlemark before Supper prep begins." There's lingering sarcasm in the girl's tone as she turns to Amani and feels something in her palm. The goldrider's next makes her smile and hug her once more, "I figured as much. And thanks." With that she wanders back to her broom to finish her section with as much speed as will still let her do a good job.

Grooooaannnnnnn. Khaylia doesn't WANT TO WORK. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Add a New Comment