Wait an hour after eating
Who: Javeri, Sunniva, X'lar
Where: Waterfall pool
When: Evening on an unknown date.
What: Javeri's out for a walk and comes across X'lar soaking it up with meatrolls. Sunniva joins them later.
It's spring! Spring has sprung! Or something. And you know what that means! Meatrolls! Meatrolls? Meatrolls! The co-candidate coordinator and bronzerider, X'lar, seems to have a platter of a dozen meatrolls by the pool. X'lar himself seems to be enjoying himself in the pool, floating casually in the mid-evening.
Springtime does not mean meatrolls to everyone, but it does mean having little desire to be indoors. Also after dealing with kids for so long Javeri isn't up to some of the younger candidates who can behave rather childishly when alone. Which is why she's been wandering around the Weyr and has eventually wound up near the pool. As she comes up the path she sees someone present and slows her feet to make sure there's just one person and there's nothing inappropriate going on. Who knows what they might stumble onto!? But, no, one person. As she gets close enough to see who that one person is she nearly turns around, but since she has nowhere else to go she just moves forward until she comes to a stop. "Didn't your granny warn you about going into the water too soon after eating?"
There's a quick sploosh from X'lar as he's noticed and asked that question. Treading water, Xie explains back to Javeri: "They're waiting for me. Contrary to popular opinion, Javeri, I can be pretty patient when it comes to food." He eyes the platter again before dunking himself. When he pops back up, he calls out: "And I don't know my granny. Well, not my father's side. My mother's side though.. She's an ignorant crone." He beams back at Javeri before asking her: "So are you here to steal my meatrolls, Javeri?"
There's disbelief on Javeri's face about him being able to wait for food, but she doesn't express it verbally. She does smile however and move forward to sit near the edge of the pool. "Meatrolls are only good if there's lots of hot sauce to dip them in," she answers back with a shake of her head. "I was going to leave those alone, but then I saw they seemed to be yours and I thought about seeking revenge for being stuck with all those kids." She smiles again and gestures to the food. "I probably didn't."
X'lar gapes back at Javeri, asking her: "Didn't your granny ever tell you the best way to eat meatrolls is naked? I mean, the meatrolls. Not you. That'd be wrong." Right. He gives the candidate another grin before going on to say, "Hey, you only were stuck with those kids because you didn't do the chores you were given that day, Javeri. You and everyone else who did that ditch day." He grins again before doing a few back strokes in the pool.
Javeri blinks several times before he clarifies and then she laughs. "Although think about it. Eating naked means never staining your favorite shirt with food! It could be the start of a whole new trend!" She stops there as her head shakes again. "Eww. No. There's lots of people I don't want to see naked at the best of times." Pulling her legs up under her she smooths her skirts out and sighs. "You don't have to be logical about it. Of course I screwed up. But I really did feel horrid about it before being punished. I'm not really like that, you know. Well, you don't, but trust me the people who knew me at home would be shocked to hear I'd done such a thing."
"Oh, I eat naked all the time," X'lar notes. "It's just not something I promote full-heartedly." He wrinkles his nose before going on to say, "Trust me when I say that you do not want to eat ribs..." He trails off and laughs, saying, "Alright. Change of topic, then." He cants his head to the side, looking at the candidate curiously, asking her: "Why is your granny so important to you? You mention her a lot." Xie grins briefly, remarking to Javeri: "It's okay. What's done is done. Plus, you know, it was time spent with friends."
"Oh, yes, thank you," Javeri says of changing the subject. Clearly has no desire to consider eating ribs naked. At least in present company. Or about present company. Either way she jumps at the new subject. "My granny?" she asks while toying with one of her braids. "She raised me. I mean with my dad's help, but while he was teaching me everything there is to know about pottery she was teaching me all about life. About how to behave, and what to say, and how to deal with men and women and when to say no to things and when to say yes and all that stuff." She stops and tips her head over as she scratches her cheek. "I guess she was like a mom. Only better. At least better than my mom."
"It's good to have someone teach you about life," X'lar replies. "For most of my life, that was my mom. But lately, now that I've met my dad and my gran-dad, they've been helping too. A lot. Sometimes too much." The bronzerider chuckles softly before going on to ask the candidate curiously, "So why aren't you close to your mom, Javeri?" He finally gets out of the pool, drying himself off but still listening.
Javeri's head tips downward when he gets out of the pool. Maybe just in case he wasn't decent or maybe he just wasn't decent no matter what he might have had on. Either way it does allow her to not be looking at the bronzerider when he asks the question about her mom so he misses the expressions on her face that flicker past. When she looks up again she's got a casual smile in place. "My mother doesn't want anything to do with me. It is a continued mystery why she even carried me to term. I am wondering if dad had some blackmail on her or something. Or maybe got her to promise in writing. It's curious."
X'lar is so completely decent! He's just wearing shorts as he gets out of the pool. He's decent! He's dry! And he's going after that platter of meatrolls by the pool. Despite the urgency for meatroll consumption, X'lar is very careful about where he sits or stands in order to snag one meatroll from the platter. He sighs once before gesturing to the platter for Javeri's sake. "Go ahead," he tells the candidate. "Take one if you want. They were just baked tonight." He blinks a few times at the potter-candidate's explanation regarding her mother and nods once more, saying, "Old people are weird. My mom seduced my dad, but because my mom's family was so ignorant and prejudiced about riders, she ended up telling her family that my dad had seduced -her-. And then kept to that story until I was a weyrling and /really/ wanted to meet my father." He wrinkles his nose and goes on to summarize: "Old people are weird." And with that, he lays back on his towel, eating the meatroll he'd snagged from the platter. It's a warm spring evening and the garden and pool are rather quiet. Well, quiet with the exception of two people talking about family and meatrolls.
There's decent and then there's decent! Whatever that means. Javeri shakes her head and gestures to the meatrolls. "No, thank you. I'd like to keep all my fingers. And, they're plain. Eww." He is spared having to share since she won't eat naked food. Or eat naked, but that's been covered already. "Well, I don't know what the deal is with my parents. My dad hasn't spoken to me since I was searched and granny says he seems fine, but that doesn't change the fact he won't speak to me or even write. Probably mad because my horrid mother is upset I am here. I can barely pick her out of a crowd so I don't see what the deal is? Parents are a pain." She stops and then shakes her head rapidly. "Old people are not weird! My granny is the best person I've ever met and she's not weird. I mean not any more than anyone is weird because we're all weird somehow and that can't be helped and is good because otherwise how dull would things be?"
It's been a long day for Sunniva, though mostly because of the stable-mucking earlier and dealing with certain tricksterly old uncles in the afternoon. The candidate picks her way to the garden and pool, a towel over a shoulder, and herself clad in increasingly less-characteristic shorts and a tank top. For swimming, of course. Sandaled feet are aimed for the stairs that lead elsewhere, but when familiar voices rise and catch at her ears, she pauses, turning slightly in that direction. "Oh! Hello, there," is called generally as she cranes over to confirm that the owners of the voices are who she thinks they are.
X'lar gasps. Yes, gasps! "Did you just say /eww/ at my meatrolls?" X'lar asks Javeri, stunned as he gestures toward his meatrolls. He can only manage the look for very long until he breaks it by laughing easily. "They /are/ very good though," Xie tells her, taking another bite into his meatroll. "Even if they are plain." He blinks once and asks Javeri curiously, "Is she a rider then, or a resident? You're mom, I mean." He does grin at her protestation regarding his 'old people are weird' hypothesis and shakes his head back at her as he replies back with lesser certainty now, "Well, /sometimes/. I mean, shells, I know /I/ am weird." Knowing Sunni's voice as he hears that greeting from the other candidate, Xie lifts his meatroll in return greeting. "Evening, Sunniva," Xie calls out.
"Are you trying to get me to eat your meatrolls?" Javeri asks before snickering behind her hand. She didn't mean it to sound at all like some childish double entendre. It just does so she snickers about it. "Yea, well, remember I'm older than you so insulting old people means you're insulting me and then I might cry." She sniffles several times and then looks up at the sound of another voice. "Oh, hey, Sunniva!" she calls with a wave. "X'lar was just admitting to being weird. What good timing." She doesn't answer the question about her mom. What question about her mother?
"Oh! Hello, X'lar, Javeri! Good evening to you both." So much for seeking the sanctuary of the pool up the stairs. Sunniva pads over to where they are, a brow quirking upward at the meatrolls, then the other brow lifting a bit as she catches the last bits of laughter and Javeri's comment. "Oh, well, at least he is a good weird. Not ... like old Barclen." Now that's a creepy uncle. She shudders, then moves to sit nearby, to set down the towel and strip off her sandals, with her hair tie soon following suit. "How are you both today?"
"How is that good timing?" X'lar asks Javeri, wrinkling his nose at her before glancing back toward Sunniva. He rubs at his forehead before looking once more to Javeri, saying, "Hey, there's a /dozen/ here. And I had /dinner/ -and- /a/ /dessert/, thank you very much. That usually means I can only eat five. Six at the most." He does smirk, however, as she snickers at her childish double entendre. "And you're not old," he replies back. "/40/ is old." He very nearly sticks his tongue out at the potter-candidate. He looks once more to Sunniva, curious. "Good weird. Interesting. I can't say it's been a bad day. I mean. I even managed to put a few pieces of the Ice Queen together. Not to mention I stole these meatrol-" He quickly clamps his mouth. "Uh. Nevermind."
"Stole?" Javeri says in a tsking manner. "What's the matter aren't you charming enough to get them given to you?" She shakes her head slowly as she looks at the candidate coordinator. "Well, Sunniva can probably teach you a thing or two on charm. Will you give him lessons?" She grins at her fellow candidate and gestures to the plate. "You should have some. Otherwise we'll be responsible for our coordinator getting fat on our watch." Looking at X'lar she laughs again. "I'm just teasing. I'm sure even though you had dinner and dessert and now a dozen meatrolls you'll be fine. As for age I'm older than you. Hey! Respect your elders!"
"Well, yes. Good weird -- the pleasant kind of weird that does not make others want to get a bath immediately afterward." That being her definition, at least. "That is wonderful to hear, X'lar! How much further along is it now?" Sunniva wonders of the Ice Queen, her head tilted quizzically to a side. Forestalling any approach to the water, she moves to reach for a meatroll with an exaggerated look of wariness cast the bronzeriders way. "Stole? Oh, see, now I do not know if I ought to-" and she glances to Javeri, brows winging upward. Blink. Blink blink. "Charm lessons? I hardly think I am qualified." Which immediately means she's looking to X'lar to confirm or deny. And, well, for permission to snag a meatroll, too.
X'lar gives Javeri a grin before admitting, "Not this many. There's a cook in there that pinches my waistline every time I go into the kitchen." He gives Javeri a level gaze on the topic of charm. "I'll have you know I'm a pretty charming guy when I went to be. Right now, I've got shorts on and meatrolls are calling my name. I wouldn't say that I need to be charming right now." He glances to Sunni again before rolling his eyes, adding, "And please, Sunniva, you could charm the pants off any one." He motions toward the platter for the woman from Four Sons' sake, saying, "Go ahead. Stolen meatrolls taste even better than the normal meatrolls." To the topic of the Ice Queen, Xie adds, "Oh, not by much. I've got it in sections now. Including one large piece with the main mast up and everything. It looks rather handsome."
Javeri's hand comes up to cover her eyes as she sniffles in an exaggerated manner once again. "No need to be charming? Really? When we're here? I think we've been insulted." Dropping her hand she grins. "But I'll get over it. And, see, Sunniva? I told you. Besides anyone is charming when in comparison to me. I talk too much and all sorts of other things. What's an Ice Queen?" She looks from one to the other for an answer.
"Could I? Well, that is hardly something I ought to try any time soon, now isn't it?" And for as calmly as that quip about her possible ability to charm off pants is intoned, it still isn't enough to stave off a faint wash of pink across her cheeks. A meatroll is thusly nabbed and bitten into to refrain from further commentary on her behalf for the moment. Sunniva winds up sitting at the edge of the water, feet dangling into it. As an aside to Javeri, "It /is/ true. He can be charming." And she nods, mock-sagely and with a quick wink for her fellow candidate's sake. Back to X'lar again with, "Oh! Oh, how much longer, do you think? Will it be done before the hatching?" He can explain /what/ it is, though, an explanation she seems to look forward to with some anticipation.
X'lar grins briefly at Javeri, telling her: "Hey, I'm with you. I totally talk a lot too, Javeri." He shakes his head before going on to say, "Hey, even candidate coordinators need time where they can be themselves. I'm not /naturally/ charming. I have to work at it." He listens to Sunniva, smiling briefly at her before rubbing at his forehead. "Well, thank you, Sunni," X'lar notes, smiling once more. "Well," the bronzerider explains. "I think if I work at it once a night even a little, it might actually be done before the Hatching." To Javeri, Xie offers: "The Ice Queen is a SeaCrafter vessel in miniature a friend of mine gave me that I've been trying to build since I got my weyr."
A loose thread at the hem of Javeri's skirt gets picked at while she listens. It's a distraction, an annoyance that must be dealt with and so she does. "A miniature ship? How interesting. I guess? Why?" She could understand making pots or other things with clay, but little ships? "That's really weird. Oh. I didn't mean weird. Sorry. I mean not bad. It's just...how neat!" She looks at Sunniva and grins, "I guess he can be charming. But supposedly he has to work at it so is it really charm? I'm a little confused on if that is right? I suppose I can allow it." She dips her head graciously to X'lar.
"That would be wonderful to see," Sunniva murmurs after taking another bite of meatroll. There is no wolfing of food for her; she'll get a few more bites out of it, for sure. When X'lar rubs at his forehead, she frowns slightly, lips pressing into a flat line that quickly resolves into a smile again, even if her forehead remains gently creased with unspoken concern. For now, she lets it go, instead wondering: "What will you do with it after it is done? Will you find another to work on or-?" To Javeri, she laughs softly, "Charm is charm, even if it takes work. /Especially/ if it takes work. That can be what makes it most charming, the effort put into it."
X'lar laughs again as he listens to Javeri, telling her: "Hey, I have a lot of hobbies, Javeri, the Ice Queen is just one of them. Not only that, but working on her gives me a little peace of mind after days of having to work hard." He sits up straighter now, running a hand through his hair. "I can be charming," X'lar notes. "But it's not something I worry about," X'lar tells both women now, certainty easily heard in the man's voice. "Take me or leave me, I /am/ who I am. Charming or not, weird or not." He gives Sunniva a brief smile, warm, as he tells her: "You'll see her, I promise, in all her glory." As far as what he will do once the Ice Princess is completed, he can only shrug and tell her: "I think I'd like to continue working on miniature ships, actually. But I don't know where I'd start to find one. And as far as what I will do with her when she's done, I honestly don't know. I might just give it to someone."
"Then it's fake," Javeri says with a shake of her head to Sunniva. "It's pretending to be something you're not. You should just be who you are all the time. Even if you don't always do so well it's still better than not being yourself." She nods at her own words and adds, and they should be expected, "That's what my granny taught me. That no matter what you need to be yourself. If you're not charming then you just have to deal with it." Then she looks at X'lar and gives him a quick nod of her head. "Oh, I don't think you're not charming. I mean I didn't want to imply that I thought poorly of you because I don't and if I gave that impression then I am really very sorry because it wasn't what I intended and sometimes I say something and I mean one thing, but it comes out wrong and people think I mean something else and that's not the case, but I'm not sure quite what I am doing wrong." Then she catches up in her head to everything that was said and is quick to add, "If you were trying to be by yourself you should have said because I totally could have found somewhere else to be because I was just wandering around not doing anything and I didn't want to intrude."
"So, if a person wanted to change, to be better ... would that be /not/ being themselves? Because if someone /wants/ to be more charming, but they have to work at it, then that isn't being someone other than who they want to be, is it?" Sunniva wonders of Javeri, brows lifted curiously. The rest of the meatroll is eaten and then she moves to get into the water properly. Even if she can't /swim/, she can kind of hang at the edge of the pool with her arms folded over a craggy part of the lip. She tips her head to X'lar, her own smile brightening, "Oh, good. But ... oh, perhaps the Seacraft? Or maybe the Woodcraft-" she trails off thoughtfully with a soft humming sound. "Well, whoever you give it to, if you decide to, will be a very lucky person," she decides, lapsing then into a bit of silence while she soaks in the water.
"Some times you might think of yourself as one thing," X'lar notes to Javeri, smiling. "But what others think of you is different. Completely." He smiles wider now, saying, "And I don't feel like you've judged me or anything, Javeri, really. I know there are some things that I'm just not... One of those heroes from the ballads Harpers sing is not one of them. I can be messy. I talk a lot. I'm a guy who really just can't help himself sometimes. But I have my good points too. I write really well. I'm a fantastic spear fisherman. And I happen to think that I'm a good rider too." He doesn't seem embarrassed at all by this list of his, either. He gives the potter-candidate a brief grin, shaking his head, saying, "I thrive on human contact. People. I can't imagine my life without the company of friends, family and strangers. Catching up with friends and meeting new people." Soon, he asks for further confirmation of the candidates: "You know?" He finally finishes off his meatroll. His first one, too. Oddly enough, he's not looking to eat any more. For now. "A lucky person," Xie repeats Sunni, nodding in agreement. "The Ice Queen's a beauty. Majestic. The sails are incredible, too."
"I don't think that- I don't think that changing yourself makes you better," Javeri says as she shrugs. "I guess I'm not explaining it right. You are who you are. You should be happy with who you are. People shouldn't always be trying to change themselves and make themselves better. That's all." Finally snapping the thread off her skirt she wraps it around her finger as she rises to her feet. "Anyway I think I'll head back now because I wanted to finish something up before going to bed and then you two can talk without me not- you know. Making sense and all. So, it was nice talking to you and enjoy your meatrolls and have a good night!" She waves with both hands, one for each, and then turns to hurry away. If they good bye it will have to be to her retreating back.
"And, speaking of spear-fishing," Sunniva slides a look to X'lar, "I do believe you were talking once of showing us candidates how to do that?" Helpful, no? The candidate remains where she is otherwise, silent and listening and with a thoughtful look that eventually resolves into a grin for the coordinator, "Of course. Without other people to spend time with, what good would living be?" Javeri's words draw a puzzled look from Sunni, who opens her mouth as if to comment, but instead settles on, "Oh. Well, do take care, Javeri." And she waves, of course, brow creased with something or another.
Where: Waterfall pool
When: Evening on an unknown date.
What: Javeri's out for a walk and comes across X'lar soaking it up with meatrolls. Sunniva joins them later.
It's spring! Spring has sprung! Or something. And you know what that means! Meatrolls! Meatrolls? Meatrolls! The co-candidate coordinator and bronzerider, X'lar, seems to have a platter of a dozen meatrolls by the pool. X'lar himself seems to be enjoying himself in the pool, floating casually in the mid-evening.
Springtime does not mean meatrolls to everyone, but it does mean having little desire to be indoors. Also after dealing with kids for so long Javeri isn't up to some of the younger candidates who can behave rather childishly when alone. Which is why she's been wandering around the Weyr and has eventually wound up near the pool. As she comes up the path she sees someone present and slows her feet to make sure there's just one person and there's nothing inappropriate going on. Who knows what they might stumble onto!? But, no, one person. As she gets close enough to see who that one person is she nearly turns around, but since she has nowhere else to go she just moves forward until she comes to a stop. "Didn't your granny warn you about going into the water too soon after eating?"
There's a quick sploosh from X'lar as he's noticed and asked that question. Treading water, Xie explains back to Javeri: "They're waiting for me. Contrary to popular opinion, Javeri, I can be pretty patient when it comes to food." He eyes the platter again before dunking himself. When he pops back up, he calls out: "And I don't know my granny. Well, not my father's side. My mother's side though.. She's an ignorant crone." He beams back at Javeri before asking her: "So are you here to steal my meatrolls, Javeri?"
There's disbelief on Javeri's face about him being able to wait for food, but she doesn't express it verbally. She does smile however and move forward to sit near the edge of the pool. "Meatrolls are only good if there's lots of hot sauce to dip them in," she answers back with a shake of her head. "I was going to leave those alone, but then I saw they seemed to be yours and I thought about seeking revenge for being stuck with all those kids." She smiles again and gestures to the food. "I probably didn't."
X'lar gapes back at Javeri, asking her: "Didn't your granny ever tell you the best way to eat meatrolls is naked? I mean, the meatrolls. Not you. That'd be wrong." Right. He gives the candidate another grin before going on to say, "Hey, you only were stuck with those kids because you didn't do the chores you were given that day, Javeri. You and everyone else who did that ditch day." He grins again before doing a few back strokes in the pool.
Javeri blinks several times before he clarifies and then she laughs. "Although think about it. Eating naked means never staining your favorite shirt with food! It could be the start of a whole new trend!" She stops there as her head shakes again. "Eww. No. There's lots of people I don't want to see naked at the best of times." Pulling her legs up under her she smooths her skirts out and sighs. "You don't have to be logical about it. Of course I screwed up. But I really did feel horrid about it before being punished. I'm not really like that, you know. Well, you don't, but trust me the people who knew me at home would be shocked to hear I'd done such a thing."
"Oh, I eat naked all the time," X'lar notes. "It's just not something I promote full-heartedly." He wrinkles his nose before going on to say, "Trust me when I say that you do not want to eat ribs..." He trails off and laughs, saying, "Alright. Change of topic, then." He cants his head to the side, looking at the candidate curiously, asking her: "Why is your granny so important to you? You mention her a lot." Xie grins briefly, remarking to Javeri: "It's okay. What's done is done. Plus, you know, it was time spent with friends."
"Oh, yes, thank you," Javeri says of changing the subject. Clearly has no desire to consider eating ribs naked. At least in present company. Or about present company. Either way she jumps at the new subject. "My granny?" she asks while toying with one of her braids. "She raised me. I mean with my dad's help, but while he was teaching me everything there is to know about pottery she was teaching me all about life. About how to behave, and what to say, and how to deal with men and women and when to say no to things and when to say yes and all that stuff." She stops and tips her head over as she scratches her cheek. "I guess she was like a mom. Only better. At least better than my mom."
"It's good to have someone teach you about life," X'lar replies. "For most of my life, that was my mom. But lately, now that I've met my dad and my gran-dad, they've been helping too. A lot. Sometimes too much." The bronzerider chuckles softly before going on to ask the candidate curiously, "So why aren't you close to your mom, Javeri?" He finally gets out of the pool, drying himself off but still listening.
Javeri's head tips downward when he gets out of the pool. Maybe just in case he wasn't decent or maybe he just wasn't decent no matter what he might have had on. Either way it does allow her to not be looking at the bronzerider when he asks the question about her mom so he misses the expressions on her face that flicker past. When she looks up again she's got a casual smile in place. "My mother doesn't want anything to do with me. It is a continued mystery why she even carried me to term. I am wondering if dad had some blackmail on her or something. Or maybe got her to promise in writing. It's curious."
X'lar is so completely decent! He's just wearing shorts as he gets out of the pool. He's decent! He's dry! And he's going after that platter of meatrolls by the pool. Despite the urgency for meatroll consumption, X'lar is very careful about where he sits or stands in order to snag one meatroll from the platter. He sighs once before gesturing to the platter for Javeri's sake. "Go ahead," he tells the candidate. "Take one if you want. They were just baked tonight." He blinks a few times at the potter-candidate's explanation regarding her mother and nods once more, saying, "Old people are weird. My mom seduced my dad, but because my mom's family was so ignorant and prejudiced about riders, she ended up telling her family that my dad had seduced -her-. And then kept to that story until I was a weyrling and /really/ wanted to meet my father." He wrinkles his nose and goes on to summarize: "Old people are weird." And with that, he lays back on his towel, eating the meatroll he'd snagged from the platter. It's a warm spring evening and the garden and pool are rather quiet. Well, quiet with the exception of two people talking about family and meatrolls.
There's decent and then there's decent! Whatever that means. Javeri shakes her head and gestures to the meatrolls. "No, thank you. I'd like to keep all my fingers. And, they're plain. Eww." He is spared having to share since she won't eat naked food. Or eat naked, but that's been covered already. "Well, I don't know what the deal is with my parents. My dad hasn't spoken to me since I was searched and granny says he seems fine, but that doesn't change the fact he won't speak to me or even write. Probably mad because my horrid mother is upset I am here. I can barely pick her out of a crowd so I don't see what the deal is? Parents are a pain." She stops and then shakes her head rapidly. "Old people are not weird! My granny is the best person I've ever met and she's not weird. I mean not any more than anyone is weird because we're all weird somehow and that can't be helped and is good because otherwise how dull would things be?"
It's been a long day for Sunniva, though mostly because of the stable-mucking earlier and dealing with certain tricksterly old uncles in the afternoon. The candidate picks her way to the garden and pool, a towel over a shoulder, and herself clad in increasingly less-characteristic shorts and a tank top. For swimming, of course. Sandaled feet are aimed for the stairs that lead elsewhere, but when familiar voices rise and catch at her ears, she pauses, turning slightly in that direction. "Oh! Hello, there," is called generally as she cranes over to confirm that the owners of the voices are who she thinks they are.
X'lar gasps. Yes, gasps! "Did you just say /eww/ at my meatrolls?" X'lar asks Javeri, stunned as he gestures toward his meatrolls. He can only manage the look for very long until he breaks it by laughing easily. "They /are/ very good though," Xie tells her, taking another bite into his meatroll. "Even if they are plain." He blinks once and asks Javeri curiously, "Is she a rider then, or a resident? You're mom, I mean." He does grin at her protestation regarding his 'old people are weird' hypothesis and shakes his head back at her as he replies back with lesser certainty now, "Well, /sometimes/. I mean, shells, I know /I/ am weird." Knowing Sunni's voice as he hears that greeting from the other candidate, Xie lifts his meatroll in return greeting. "Evening, Sunniva," Xie calls out.
"Are you trying to get me to eat your meatrolls?" Javeri asks before snickering behind her hand. She didn't mean it to sound at all like some childish double entendre. It just does so she snickers about it. "Yea, well, remember I'm older than you so insulting old people means you're insulting me and then I might cry." She sniffles several times and then looks up at the sound of another voice. "Oh, hey, Sunniva!" she calls with a wave. "X'lar was just admitting to being weird. What good timing." She doesn't answer the question about her mom. What question about her mother?
"Oh! Hello, X'lar, Javeri! Good evening to you both." So much for seeking the sanctuary of the pool up the stairs. Sunniva pads over to where they are, a brow quirking upward at the meatrolls, then the other brow lifting a bit as she catches the last bits of laughter and Javeri's comment. "Oh, well, at least he is a good weird. Not ... like old Barclen." Now that's a creepy uncle. She shudders, then moves to sit nearby, to set down the towel and strip off her sandals, with her hair tie soon following suit. "How are you both today?"
"How is that good timing?" X'lar asks Javeri, wrinkling his nose at her before glancing back toward Sunniva. He rubs at his forehead before looking once more to Javeri, saying, "Hey, there's a /dozen/ here. And I had /dinner/ -and- /a/ /dessert/, thank you very much. That usually means I can only eat five. Six at the most." He does smirk, however, as she snickers at her childish double entendre. "And you're not old," he replies back. "/40/ is old." He very nearly sticks his tongue out at the potter-candidate. He looks once more to Sunniva, curious. "Good weird. Interesting. I can't say it's been a bad day. I mean. I even managed to put a few pieces of the Ice Queen together. Not to mention I stole these meatrol-" He quickly clamps his mouth. "Uh. Nevermind."
"Stole?" Javeri says in a tsking manner. "What's the matter aren't you charming enough to get them given to you?" She shakes her head slowly as she looks at the candidate coordinator. "Well, Sunniva can probably teach you a thing or two on charm. Will you give him lessons?" She grins at her fellow candidate and gestures to the plate. "You should have some. Otherwise we'll be responsible for our coordinator getting fat on our watch." Looking at X'lar she laughs again. "I'm just teasing. I'm sure even though you had dinner and dessert and now a dozen meatrolls you'll be fine. As for age I'm older than you. Hey! Respect your elders!"
"Well, yes. Good weird -- the pleasant kind of weird that does not make others want to get a bath immediately afterward." That being her definition, at least. "That is wonderful to hear, X'lar! How much further along is it now?" Sunniva wonders of the Ice Queen, her head tilted quizzically to a side. Forestalling any approach to the water, she moves to reach for a meatroll with an exaggerated look of wariness cast the bronzeriders way. "Stole? Oh, see, now I do not know if I ought to-" and she glances to Javeri, brows winging upward. Blink. Blink blink. "Charm lessons? I hardly think I am qualified." Which immediately means she's looking to X'lar to confirm or deny. And, well, for permission to snag a meatroll, too.
X'lar gives Javeri a grin before admitting, "Not this many. There's a cook in there that pinches my waistline every time I go into the kitchen." He gives Javeri a level gaze on the topic of charm. "I'll have you know I'm a pretty charming guy when I went to be. Right now, I've got shorts on and meatrolls are calling my name. I wouldn't say that I need to be charming right now." He glances to Sunni again before rolling his eyes, adding, "And please, Sunniva, you could charm the pants off any one." He motions toward the platter for the woman from Four Sons' sake, saying, "Go ahead. Stolen meatrolls taste even better than the normal meatrolls." To the topic of the Ice Queen, Xie adds, "Oh, not by much. I've got it in sections now. Including one large piece with the main mast up and everything. It looks rather handsome."
Javeri's hand comes up to cover her eyes as she sniffles in an exaggerated manner once again. "No need to be charming? Really? When we're here? I think we've been insulted." Dropping her hand she grins. "But I'll get over it. And, see, Sunniva? I told you. Besides anyone is charming when in comparison to me. I talk too much and all sorts of other things. What's an Ice Queen?" She looks from one to the other for an answer.
"Could I? Well, that is hardly something I ought to try any time soon, now isn't it?" And for as calmly as that quip about her possible ability to charm off pants is intoned, it still isn't enough to stave off a faint wash of pink across her cheeks. A meatroll is thusly nabbed and bitten into to refrain from further commentary on her behalf for the moment. Sunniva winds up sitting at the edge of the water, feet dangling into it. As an aside to Javeri, "It /is/ true. He can be charming." And she nods, mock-sagely and with a quick wink for her fellow candidate's sake. Back to X'lar again with, "Oh! Oh, how much longer, do you think? Will it be done before the hatching?" He can explain /what/ it is, though, an explanation she seems to look forward to with some anticipation.
X'lar grins briefly at Javeri, telling her: "Hey, I'm with you. I totally talk a lot too, Javeri." He shakes his head before going on to say, "Hey, even candidate coordinators need time where they can be themselves. I'm not /naturally/ charming. I have to work at it." He listens to Sunniva, smiling briefly at her before rubbing at his forehead. "Well, thank you, Sunni," X'lar notes, smiling once more. "Well," the bronzerider explains. "I think if I work at it once a night even a little, it might actually be done before the Hatching." To Javeri, Xie offers: "The Ice Queen is a SeaCrafter vessel in miniature a friend of mine gave me that I've been trying to build since I got my weyr."
A loose thread at the hem of Javeri's skirt gets picked at while she listens. It's a distraction, an annoyance that must be dealt with and so she does. "A miniature ship? How interesting. I guess? Why?" She could understand making pots or other things with clay, but little ships? "That's really weird. Oh. I didn't mean weird. Sorry. I mean not bad. It's just...how neat!" She looks at Sunniva and grins, "I guess he can be charming. But supposedly he has to work at it so is it really charm? I'm a little confused on if that is right? I suppose I can allow it." She dips her head graciously to X'lar.
"That would be wonderful to see," Sunniva murmurs after taking another bite of meatroll. There is no wolfing of food for her; she'll get a few more bites out of it, for sure. When X'lar rubs at his forehead, she frowns slightly, lips pressing into a flat line that quickly resolves into a smile again, even if her forehead remains gently creased with unspoken concern. For now, she lets it go, instead wondering: "What will you do with it after it is done? Will you find another to work on or-?" To Javeri, she laughs softly, "Charm is charm, even if it takes work. /Especially/ if it takes work. That can be what makes it most charming, the effort put into it."
X'lar laughs again as he listens to Javeri, telling her: "Hey, I have a lot of hobbies, Javeri, the Ice Queen is just one of them. Not only that, but working on her gives me a little peace of mind after days of having to work hard." He sits up straighter now, running a hand through his hair. "I can be charming," X'lar notes. "But it's not something I worry about," X'lar tells both women now, certainty easily heard in the man's voice. "Take me or leave me, I /am/ who I am. Charming or not, weird or not." He gives Sunniva a brief smile, warm, as he tells her: "You'll see her, I promise, in all her glory." As far as what he will do once the Ice Princess is completed, he can only shrug and tell her: "I think I'd like to continue working on miniature ships, actually. But I don't know where I'd start to find one. And as far as what I will do with her when she's done, I honestly don't know. I might just give it to someone."
"Then it's fake," Javeri says with a shake of her head to Sunniva. "It's pretending to be something you're not. You should just be who you are all the time. Even if you don't always do so well it's still better than not being yourself." She nods at her own words and adds, and they should be expected, "That's what my granny taught me. That no matter what you need to be yourself. If you're not charming then you just have to deal with it." Then she looks at X'lar and gives him a quick nod of her head. "Oh, I don't think you're not charming. I mean I didn't want to imply that I thought poorly of you because I don't and if I gave that impression then I am really very sorry because it wasn't what I intended and sometimes I say something and I mean one thing, but it comes out wrong and people think I mean something else and that's not the case, but I'm not sure quite what I am doing wrong." Then she catches up in her head to everything that was said and is quick to add, "If you were trying to be by yourself you should have said because I totally could have found somewhere else to be because I was just wandering around not doing anything and I didn't want to intrude."
"So, if a person wanted to change, to be better ... would that be /not/ being themselves? Because if someone /wants/ to be more charming, but they have to work at it, then that isn't being someone other than who they want to be, is it?" Sunniva wonders of Javeri, brows lifted curiously. The rest of the meatroll is eaten and then she moves to get into the water properly. Even if she can't /swim/, she can kind of hang at the edge of the pool with her arms folded over a craggy part of the lip. She tips her head to X'lar, her own smile brightening, "Oh, good. But ... oh, perhaps the Seacraft? Or maybe the Woodcraft-" she trails off thoughtfully with a soft humming sound. "Well, whoever you give it to, if you decide to, will be a very lucky person," she decides, lapsing then into a bit of silence while she soaks in the water.
"Some times you might think of yourself as one thing," X'lar notes to Javeri, smiling. "But what others think of you is different. Completely." He smiles wider now, saying, "And I don't feel like you've judged me or anything, Javeri, really. I know there are some things that I'm just not... One of those heroes from the ballads Harpers sing is not one of them. I can be messy. I talk a lot. I'm a guy who really just can't help himself sometimes. But I have my good points too. I write really well. I'm a fantastic spear fisherman. And I happen to think that I'm a good rider too." He doesn't seem embarrassed at all by this list of his, either. He gives the potter-candidate a brief grin, shaking his head, saying, "I thrive on human contact. People. I can't imagine my life without the company of friends, family and strangers. Catching up with friends and meeting new people." Soon, he asks for further confirmation of the candidates: "You know?" He finally finishes off his meatroll. His first one, too. Oddly enough, he's not looking to eat any more. For now. "A lucky person," Xie repeats Sunni, nodding in agreement. "The Ice Queen's a beauty. Majestic. The sails are incredible, too."
"I don't think that- I don't think that changing yourself makes you better," Javeri says as she shrugs. "I guess I'm not explaining it right. You are who you are. You should be happy with who you are. People shouldn't always be trying to change themselves and make themselves better. That's all." Finally snapping the thread off her skirt she wraps it around her finger as she rises to her feet. "Anyway I think I'll head back now because I wanted to finish something up before going to bed and then you two can talk without me not- you know. Making sense and all. So, it was nice talking to you and enjoy your meatrolls and have a good night!" She waves with both hands, one for each, and then turns to hurry away. If they good bye it will have to be to her retreating back.
"And, speaking of spear-fishing," Sunniva slides a look to X'lar, "I do believe you were talking once of showing us candidates how to do that?" Helpful, no? The candidate remains where she is otherwise, silent and listening and with a thoughtful look that eventually resolves into a grin for the coordinator, "Of course. Without other people to spend time with, what good would living be?" Javeri's words draw a puzzled look from Sunni, who opens her mouth as if to comment, but instead settles on, "Oh. Well, do take care, Javeri." And she waves, of course, brow creased with something or another.