Hatching Party 09 pt 1
Who: Ch'son, Dulcinea, Javeri, June, K'aus, Loe, Nenita, P'draig, Piper, Skinner, Suizen
Where: Living Cavern
When: Post hatching
What: Hatching party.
Piper is looking a little /up/, she's breaking through the crowd back to where Skinner and Dulcinea can be seen again. She shouldn't really be counting her marks in public like that. It's rude, so with a satisfied smirk she folds the bills up and slides them into her back pocket. Riiiight as she arrives. "Hey." A casual nod and arms behind her back. Not very good at pretending to be nonchalent. "Did I miss anything?"
"Are you kidding?" Skinner asks with a bark of a laugh. "Ruined is more fun than not. I don't think we use that word the same way, sweets." He snags her drink straight out of her hand, tips it back for a short sip, then offers it back to her with a grin. "Thirsty," he explains. He's got no time to go around with a drink himself, since he's been busy selling mini-replica eggs to everyone and their mother (literally. Mothers love mementos). He and Dulcinea, now joined by Piper, are standing not far from the drinks table. "You missed a moment where Dulcinea hiked up her skirt and did a square dance for me. Other than that, no." With a too-smooth smile for the healer, he pardons himself for a second to chase down a fat man who's just wandered by, bawling about how proud he is of his nephew. That man needs to buy an egg.
Look at that layabout weyrlingmaster's assistant! Is she trying to help out and make sure baby dragons are all settled and new weyrlings are not crying for their mommas? Nope! Not Javeri! Although it's fair to say she was doing that before. Now though she's just making her way into the living cavern with hair still a little damp from a quick bath. The first thing she does is head straight for the drink table ignoring the few comments made in passing about her or her dress or anything like that. Drink!
"He is kidding," Dulcinea points out, enunciating too clearly already over the rim of her glass to Piper. "Haven't been dancing. Have been complaining. Shouldn't. Happy, *happy* day." Only she doesn't exactly sound happy, all that acid in her tone. "I don't like this whole Weyr business. All of the dragons. I don't deal well with dragons. I don't *get* dragons. They mess everything up, all my plans."
Piper moves to grab a drink, while listening to Skinner. Her head is turned, of course. Not such a good listener. "I missed square dancing. That's a shame." Drinking now. Or gulping. While making her way the few steps back. This time standing a little closer to Dulcinea. Actually, standing there face to face listening, her face verging on sympathetic. "Happy, huh?"
When she reaches the drink table the first thing Javeri grabs is a glass of juice. When that's quickly sucked down she abandons the glass, and regular juice for now, to get something with a little kick. Drink in hand she looks around the room and considers where to go.
The fat man turns out to be a sucker and a half: not only does he buy an egg for himself, he buys about twenty more to give to his whole family. Skinner's just fitting the marks into his beltpouch when he spies Javeri, and throws an arm up to catch her attention. "Javeri! How did it feel, doll?" He wanders up beside the tall woman and slings his arm around her shoulders. It just so happens that the angle of his arm turns her head towards Dulcinea and Piper, an escape route should she choose to take it. "Down there on the sands, everyone's eyes on you. I didn't know you were a dragon-training type," he adds conversationally.
There's a moment when Javeri might shrug Skinner's arm off around her, but it passes. Instead she just shrugs and maybe tugs at her dress just a little rethinking the length of it now that he's here. "How? Oh, it wasn't so bad," she tells the salesman with a grin. "It's not like I haven't been down there before. Much less stressful when you've already got a dragon and don't have to worry about dodging claws yourself." She's near the drink table with Skinner. Dulcie and Piper are in the same general vicinity. "And I don't know that I am. I was asked to help out so I said yes. We'll see how it goes. It does get me a little pay raise."
Little interest in the arrival of the assistant weyrlingmaster from Dulcinea, although she does manage to nod a barely-polite hello. She makes a face at Piper instead, who is safer. "Elated. Just elated," is all she says, and then makes a great fuss over drinking and looking around to see just who's here, which unfortunately seems to yield nobody of conveniently distracting interest.
A little arm swinging and hand clapping is all Piper can manage to eek out. Especially as Skinner goes off to say hello to Javeri, leaving only Dulcinea's happy sunshine to enjoy. "Yeah, I missed the whole thing." Piper peers at Dulcinea as she looks around for other company.
Skinner lets his arm slide off after he's made the initial contact, which really, just served to get people around looking at him with interest. They recognize Javeri as that assistant weyrlingmaster from the sands, after all, and being next to her lends Skinner an air of legitimacy. "Well, there you are," he says pleasantly. "And if it still leaves time for the Layabout, so much the better." Because more money, of course. He takes a couple of round, mini-eggs out of his pocket and rattles them in his palm, eyes skimming the crowd for a likely mark.
"Yes, exactly. And when these trays are done, pull the others *hic* out." That's Loe, laying out orders to one of the serving girls. And yes, that was a hiccup, probably because of the drink in her hand. She does it again, too. *Hic* "Shit." But it just makes her smile more broadly and laugh a bit. "Don't forget to refill the water pitchers, too, hm?" Speaking of refills... a glance into her cup shows she could use one. "Where did that wine get off to?" That she asks of, well, anyone in earshot.
"Well, we'll see how much time it leaves me for the Layabout and how much delegation I have to do," is the bluerider's easy response. She waves to Piper and Dulcinea when she sees them. Then Javeri notices the eggs and shakes her head with a laugh. "Hey! I am not here to help you sell things."
Suizen steps into the living cavern, a bit uncertain but definitely cleaner than she was out on the Sands. An uncertain look is given to the folks already there, but with a squaring of shoulders, Sooz goes further in, heading towards the food tables.
"Well," Dulcinea says, too loudly to Javeri but somehow trying to sound conspiratorial despite that, "he's not interested in anything else but selling things. So don't waste the effort." She's already to the point of enunciating every word ex-cee-ding-ly clear-ly, so whatever she's drinking, it's not the first one. "You missed the whole thing?" The question back to Piper, now. "How did you manage to miss that? I thought the whole planet was there."
Skinner's been caught out, using Javeri to make a sale, but he just grins at her. "No, but would you mind doing it as a little side job?" He pauses to look at Dulcinea, his smile growing slowly. "Well, that's always true, love," he calls back to her, winking and tapping a finger to his nose before stretching it out to point at her. He clicks his tongue.
"Yes, but he's adorable so I forgive him," Javeri tells Dulcinea with an easy laugh. She's only on her first drink so is fine. "Did you not have a good time?" Because clearly the healer did not have a good time. Then the assistant weyrlingmaster blinks and says, "Ohh. There was someone out there wasn't there? It's not so long before they're free of restrictions. Just a few months." A few being loosely defined. But then she spots one of the new weyrlings and moves away from everyone to holler, "Sooz!" Yep. Holler. If that's not enough she goes pushing through the crowd to reach her friend and give her a big hug. "Shells, my dress seems a lot shorter next to that one," she tells the new brownrider. Headwoman? What headwoman? Skinner must be on his own as well.
Agreeing with a nod, "Well...he's interested in one other thing as well." Piper clarifies, "That's what I've heard." Back-peddling. "But, you should see his magic trick Javeri, he's a pretty amazing man."
"I don't care about restrictions." Dulcinea is also not a very good liar, and a worse liar after *mumble* drinks, so it's not in the vague range of convincing. "I care," and here's where things are about to get very ill-advised, "that he's going to be wasted on cleaning up after some over-sized lizard." At least she may realize the ill-advised bit, because she adds, very quickly, "But I'm moving on. It doesn't matter. I've already moved on." A faint, smirky smile in the direction of Skinner. "I don't *think* so," to Piper. "At least, not when it might possibly interfere with selling things."
The healer earns herself a look from a pair of riders celebrating the hatching. One of them, taller and more round, snorts into his beer. "She ain't gonna be getting the bit she wants so she's gonna go and be insulting." The other, shorter and only slightly less round chuckles. "I got a bit for ya, sweetie," he tells Dulcie. His friend guffaws. "A bit is right."
Skinner's preferences must remain a mystery, for he's just spotted a fat woman who looks like an excellent target, and so she turns out to be. One gold-dragon memento later, he's dipping by the drinks table to pour a glass of white wine. It's a guess! He brings it unerringly to the headwoman, adding another star of legitimacy to his jacket, and offers it to her with his most charming smile. "Hello, Love. Hell of a party you've put on. Thought I'd bring you a drink to celebrate."
Suizen grins. "Veri! Well, it was all bein' your idea, you know..." she alludes to, waving at her own dress, before shaking her head and making her way to the bluerider, and giving the woman a half-hug. "Didja see Sivrudith?" Never mind she helped the pair off the sands.
"I did! He's so handsome looking!" Javeri will gush suitable over her friend's dragon. And she looks at the dress the weyrling is wearing with a grin. "I knew you'd wear it. I would have cried otherwise. And it's going to make everyone cry because you're off limits now! I'm happier you get to wear it to celebrate your impression though! Let's get you a drink!" Because one needs a drink to celebrate. "And you can tell me all about him! Chadamalith was dying to meet them all, but I reminded him what he was like after hatching so he's just going to be anxious til morning when he can drop in and see them. He's so excited you'd think he was the dad."
Not a person knows where the wine is? Loe makes a face at those in her immediate vicinity and start making the rounds looking for someone with a bottle of white. She stops by here, no they're drinking juice. Over there? Nope, that's red. She's about to walk up to Suizen and Javeri, but recognizes the bluerider at the last minute and thinks better of -that-. She's just about to pull a rather snotty face, hopefully before Javeri sees her, when Skinner suddenly shows up. There are a few blinks and then a sunny bright smile that gets even bigger when she sees the glass. "Oh, you're like a dream," she says, with a little wistfully dramatic shake of her head. "Let me finish this one." Yeah, just give her the time of one gulp.
One appraising glance off at the pair of riders. Dulcinea, however many drinks in, has eyes like a bird of prey. "Forty pounds," she announces, far too loud. "Ditch that much and then we'll talk. I suggest jogging, and less alcohol." But it's hardly an interruption, and from the sounds, not something she's exactly unaccustomed to. "I swear," she says, with less volume. "Men around here. Is it too much to ask for someone who is both assertive and not a total bore?"
"Well, actually I was wonderin' if you talked to him in his shell. To be quotin' my mate, it's partyin' time - at least, it was 'til he got sleepy... an' no one's gonna be /that/ upset." Of course, the mention of the drink has Sooz perking up. "I can? I thought only a sip..." she alludes to previous instructions.
All these /interesting/ people, Piper directs Dulcinea back towards the leering riders. "There ya go, see you've got options." Bit or no bit. Whatever works.
Javeri's quiet for a moment and then she starts to laugh as they head for the drinks. "I swear I never spoke a word to any of them," she promises her friend. "And one drink. Just no more and nothing too strong. Probably supposed to be wine, but I'll be naughty and not tell if your one drink is something stronger. It's amazing how ready to go they are. Until they collapse. Just wait til you're up in the middle of the night because he has to eat like /now/ thank you very much."
There's been time for Ch'son to have a quick visit the infirmary and get a stitch or two in a sensitive area. Considering that, it's probably not much surprise that he's still favoring that leg a little and his pants are loose and comfortable rather than fashionable when he arrives. He's easy enough to spot with his orange swath of fabric tied around his head and he even has the good luck charms he'd been given by Chadamalith via Javeri worn around his neck. His first destination is going to be to get something to drink.
Skinner, all debonair, whirls a hand in front of his chest while dipping a shallow bow to Loe. "I do try," he replies modestly. He waits for her to take that final gulp then, like the dream he is, smoothly exchanges the empty glass for the wine he's brought. He adds to his last sentence brightly, "To get you smashed. I'd like to see it." His eyebrows go up, his grin with them.
"That sounds lovely, truth be told - an' ye didn't? Well, there goes a perfectly workable thought... " Sooz disgards that theory, before grinning at Veri. "I'll let you pick out the drink then?" she offers, before calling out, "Hey, Ch'son! Over here!" Ah, there's the loudness that was co-op'd by her own Impression on the Sands.
"Those are not options," Dulcinea is quick to dismiss. "Those are losers. Options are attractive, available men who are also interesting people. Those are precious few. Usually, they think that having the right equipment is the only qualification they need to be worthwhile human beings," and the healer is now definitely talking too loudly again, punctuating with drinks from the glass which is again nearly empty.
"You just have to admit that deep down you like to party hard," Javeri teases Sooz with a laugh. "And your dragon proves it now! Does he get a nickname?" Asked by the woman who just can't seem to give one to her own dragon. When they're near the drink table she overhears Dulcie and grins. "Can always give women a try," she teases the healer with a wink. "Or go hang on the beach with Piper looking for surfers. Plenty of them are good fellows." But a drink must be selected for the weyrling so she gets one and hands it over. "For you. One and only."
"Skinner, my dear, my darling," Loe lays it on, handing over the empty glass to trade for one that is full. "I find it terr-*hic*-ibly, terribly, unlikely that you'll stick around long enough for that. You'll be gone before I finish this glass." So it's probably a fortunate for him that she's had a solid headstart on the whole getting smashed thing. She has no idea what Dulcinea is talking about over there, but she lifts her wine --"Here here!"--and drinks a toast of fervent, if uninformed, agreement.
It takes a moment for Ch'son to process that that voice calling his name is calling his name. "Oh," he says, glancing up and around toward Suizen and Javeri. He lifts a hand to acknowledge the loudness but he gets himself a drink before he starts hobbling, perhaps moreso than he really needs to, his way toward the pair of riders who are conveniently more close now. "Ladies." More directly to the other weyrling, "Sooz. You'll hafta remind me. Is it you that owes me or me that owes you?"
"Rudi, of course..." Sooz admits, following Javeri over to the drink tables, before Ch'son hobbles over. His question makes her laugh, "Well, we never did make that bed go the other way - it sorta favored you either way, given me impressin' means I won... but I'm somehow doubtin' I'll have time to brush m'hair much less have time to be goin' out to the clay pit for doin' pottery anytime soon..." The drink is taken, and lifted to Javeri in a silent salute.
"Right." Piper's head turns to hide her eyeroll. Or maybe she's got an eyelash in there. "Do you see anyone in here that looks like an acceptable match?" Her glass goes up and the drink goes down. "Damn." She tips the glass over. Totally Empty. "Life bites." And then you die.
"Shells, people sound too down," Javeri murmurs to her friend before grinning at Ch'son. "Congrats! You two are now proof that Chadamalith has good luck. Until he forgets luck and moves on to something else." Since she's watched the new bronzerider hobble she grins once more. "You know you can play it up thick all you want, but you still don't get to partake of all the ladies who may be lining up to offer congratulations." Looking around she continues to conveniently not see the headwoman as she asks, "Do you see more from your class? I suppose I should be keeping an eye on you all. And Rudi. Excellent. I cannot wait to meet him."
Loe is toasting! Dulcinea is toasted, or at least in progress on just that, so she raises what's left of her own glass as well, and then looks at Javeri askance. "It's not the same, is it, girls? If I wanted to look at a woman naked, I'd get a mirror." Not at all self-absorbed, Dulcinea, no. Not at all. "And beaches are full of sand." Poor women stuck at Ista hating sand. But Javeri's attention is elsewhere and so Dulcinea sticks with poor Piper. "Well, there are all kinds who are attractive enough. It's the interesting enough that's the problem. You can't just look at someone and see if they're interesting."
Skinner laughs, lifting the empty glass he took from Loe. "True, but I can at least get you started. I've been helping Dulcie go down that path for a while now." He glances over at the healer, tuning into the loud proclamations which Loe turns into a toast. That widens his grin. "And look how well she's doing. It's my dearest dream to come back from a night of excellent sales and find all you ladies in a drunken heap, perhaps not very coherent but still able to remember me as your kind benefactor." Returning his attention to the Headwoman, he bounces his eyebrows naughtily and holds her empty glass in front of his face.
"On hold then," Ch'son says to Suizen and he lifts his drink is a cheers sort of way. "And you can let Chad know that I'll get him his fruit soon as I can," to Javeri. And then his expression falls entirely. After a quick glance around he asks, "Not even one? What if I cover my eyes? What if they molest me and I can't do anything to stop it?" These are very important questions here! But he gives a quick glance around and gestures toward someone that he'll have to remember the name out of eventually, no doubt.
Ok, so Dulcinea might lose Loe's support when she moves onto to looking at her naked self in the mirror. Well, maybe not support so much as attention, at least for the moment. Instead she's turning her narrowed glance on Skinner. "Is that what you want?" Sounds a smidge like an accusation. "Is that really what you want? A drunk heap? I don't want to be in a drunk heap. Sounds like a pitiful sight, really. Drooping and in*hic*, inactive and incoherent. *Hic* Shit." She was trying to give him a stern look, she really was, but the hiccup and her own swearing have her cracking a wry smile again. "Why aren't you drinking? Planning something more unsavory?" She cocks a curious brow.
Suizen snickers at Ch'son. "No kissing, molesting or gropin' allowed," she takes great glee in telling her fellow weyrling, not bothering hiding this fact at all.
Why Skinner isn't drinking answers itself, when a pair of giggling girls appears out of nowhere. "Uhm, are you the guy selling eggs?" With a glance at Loe, like they're sharing a secret, he sweeps into his sales pitch with them. Keeping up a charming patter, all the while, he produces a few of his miniature eggs and shows how they flip in to reveal a dragon-colored stone within. "You know, they call this one the underwear egg, because it looks like... well." He winks at them. "You know." The girls shriek with laughter and buy a pair of underwear eggs on the spot, and one of them tosses a coy look at the salesman as they saunter away. Skinner winks at her, but he's busy tucking away the marks and resuming his comments to Loe. "A drunk heap would be pretty funny," he answers mildly, only the slightest hint of mischief allowed to show itself.
"Afraid not. You've got a baby in your head who would not understand. I know. It sucks. The good news is eventually they get old enough and now that you're on bronze you'll have all the disgusting squealing messes on you." Ahh, Javeri makes it sound so tempting doesn't she? Looking at Suizen she winks. "I guess you don't need to worry about a room now." Since she'll get a weyr eventually and all. Then the bluerider looks for other weyrlings present and sighs as she notices how many. "Shells. I'm going to have to work. I was hoping to at least get to celebrate. Speaking of which don't let me keep either of you. If you see someone else feel free to run off."
"Liar," Dulcinea calls off in Skinner's direction, and then raises the glass to Loe again, but this time as more of an indicator. "He only got me this one. And he was slow about that. Don't rely on him for refills." Speaking of which, the glass is looking extremely empty, and she eyes it forlornly. "And I have no intention of ending up in any kind of drunken *heap*. I am going to find myself some entertainment and then I'm leaving." Except for the fact that she seems to be hanging out with mostly girls at that point, which makes this an awkward proposition. Even if she's totally the prettiest.
Ch'son offers a small glare to Suizen but there's not any bad feelings behind the look except his own realizations that he should have broken a lot more rules during candidacy. Or at least one rule a lot more. Javeri's reassurance - that's how he's going to take it - has him grinning again, though, "Yeah? Huh." That's something to tuck away for later thought. "Ain't anyone, but I need to sit, if you don't mind." He doesn't wait to go find somewhere to sit, though.
Suizen takes a sip of her drink, then grins at Javeri. "Well, seein' how afterwards, it's all gonna be 'Yes Javeri ma'am!', this is gonna be my own chance to give you plenty of trouble.... could at least grab a table though, I'm guessin' - for Chaes here." There is a pause, then she leans forward to whisper into Javeri's ear.
Suizen mutters to Javeri, "... friends... else's... means I have... one else to... at... moment."
Suizen whispers "Sides; most of my friends are holdin' everyone else's hands - means I have no one else to bother at the moment."
"Oh, Ch'son," Javeri coos with a flutter of her lashes. "We'll be right behind you following enjoying the view." If she were laying it on thicker she'd be stuck in it. Still she laughs and gestures for Suizen to follow him. "We'll go sit then. And if I see some handsome available man I'll leave you two to your celibacy." And she'll leave the moping healer and drunk headwoman to their own fates! Even if it's almost like working sitting with the kiddies and all.
The thing is, though, once Skinner goes into his sales pitch, Loe starts to slink away. "See, not even a few sips," she points out, tapping a finger on her lifted glass while she's backing up. Apparently the headwoman considers his distracted attention to be the same as him leaving. She's on her way toward Dulcinea when she hears his mild reply. "Oh, that's a load of- Yeah, what she said." Dulcinea, calling him a liar. "A drunken heap isn't fun. Drunk people are heavy and throw up if you move them. *Hic* Heap indeed!" she tacks on, a rallying statement, but she lets a smile curl just the same.
June and her sisters made their entrance quite some time ago, outfits coordinated to different styles of black like it was just another night at The Seven. The loose group they formed didn't last long, though, a couple taking to the dancing, others to a table to observe that dancing. June herself heads for the food initially, mingling her way along to the drinks with a small plate of sweets balance on one palm. "How has everyone's evening been?" she asks as her sidling and chatting path brings her to Dulcinea and Piper. While she waits their answers, she leans over and snags a glass of some red wine or another.
"Who said I'd try to move anyone?" Skinner asks, stepping back and turning so he can flash his wide grin at both the increasingly drunken (though not yet heaped) women. "Maybe I'd stand just an inch out of reach and let you all swat at me." He demonstrates the dreamed-of fruitless swatting, batting his arm weakly at the departing Loe. But he doesn't mind much if he's abandoned - after all, he does bring it on himself by being so fickle in search of a sale. And that's exactly what draws him away now, back into the crowd, his voice raising briefly above the drone. "Buy a miniature egg! Just like the real one! Makes for a great souvenir." He disappears at the center of a curious mob.
Where: Living Cavern
When: Post hatching
What: Hatching party.
Piper is looking a little /up/, she's breaking through the crowd back to where Skinner and Dulcinea can be seen again. She shouldn't really be counting her marks in public like that. It's rude, so with a satisfied smirk she folds the bills up and slides them into her back pocket. Riiiight as she arrives. "Hey." A casual nod and arms behind her back. Not very good at pretending to be nonchalent. "Did I miss anything?"
"Are you kidding?" Skinner asks with a bark of a laugh. "Ruined is more fun than not. I don't think we use that word the same way, sweets." He snags her drink straight out of her hand, tips it back for a short sip, then offers it back to her with a grin. "Thirsty," he explains. He's got no time to go around with a drink himself, since he's been busy selling mini-replica eggs to everyone and their mother (literally. Mothers love mementos). He and Dulcinea, now joined by Piper, are standing not far from the drinks table. "You missed a moment where Dulcinea hiked up her skirt and did a square dance for me. Other than that, no." With a too-smooth smile for the healer, he pardons himself for a second to chase down a fat man who's just wandered by, bawling about how proud he is of his nephew. That man needs to buy an egg.
Look at that layabout weyrlingmaster's assistant! Is she trying to help out and make sure baby dragons are all settled and new weyrlings are not crying for their mommas? Nope! Not Javeri! Although it's fair to say she was doing that before. Now though she's just making her way into the living cavern with hair still a little damp from a quick bath. The first thing she does is head straight for the drink table ignoring the few comments made in passing about her or her dress or anything like that. Drink!
"He is kidding," Dulcinea points out, enunciating too clearly already over the rim of her glass to Piper. "Haven't been dancing. Have been complaining. Shouldn't. Happy, *happy* day." Only she doesn't exactly sound happy, all that acid in her tone. "I don't like this whole Weyr business. All of the dragons. I don't deal well with dragons. I don't *get* dragons. They mess everything up, all my plans."
Piper moves to grab a drink, while listening to Skinner. Her head is turned, of course. Not such a good listener. "I missed square dancing. That's a shame." Drinking now. Or gulping. While making her way the few steps back. This time standing a little closer to Dulcinea. Actually, standing there face to face listening, her face verging on sympathetic. "Happy, huh?"
When she reaches the drink table the first thing Javeri grabs is a glass of juice. When that's quickly sucked down she abandons the glass, and regular juice for now, to get something with a little kick. Drink in hand she looks around the room and considers where to go.
The fat man turns out to be a sucker and a half: not only does he buy an egg for himself, he buys about twenty more to give to his whole family. Skinner's just fitting the marks into his beltpouch when he spies Javeri, and throws an arm up to catch her attention. "Javeri! How did it feel, doll?" He wanders up beside the tall woman and slings his arm around her shoulders. It just so happens that the angle of his arm turns her head towards Dulcinea and Piper, an escape route should she choose to take it. "Down there on the sands, everyone's eyes on you. I didn't know you were a dragon-training type," he adds conversationally.
There's a moment when Javeri might shrug Skinner's arm off around her, but it passes. Instead she just shrugs and maybe tugs at her dress just a little rethinking the length of it now that he's here. "How? Oh, it wasn't so bad," she tells the salesman with a grin. "It's not like I haven't been down there before. Much less stressful when you've already got a dragon and don't have to worry about dodging claws yourself." She's near the drink table with Skinner. Dulcie and Piper are in the same general vicinity. "And I don't know that I am. I was asked to help out so I said yes. We'll see how it goes. It does get me a little pay raise."
Little interest in the arrival of the assistant weyrlingmaster from Dulcinea, although she does manage to nod a barely-polite hello. She makes a face at Piper instead, who is safer. "Elated. Just elated," is all she says, and then makes a great fuss over drinking and looking around to see just who's here, which unfortunately seems to yield nobody of conveniently distracting interest.
A little arm swinging and hand clapping is all Piper can manage to eek out. Especially as Skinner goes off to say hello to Javeri, leaving only Dulcinea's happy sunshine to enjoy. "Yeah, I missed the whole thing." Piper peers at Dulcinea as she looks around for other company.
Skinner lets his arm slide off after he's made the initial contact, which really, just served to get people around looking at him with interest. They recognize Javeri as that assistant weyrlingmaster from the sands, after all, and being next to her lends Skinner an air of legitimacy. "Well, there you are," he says pleasantly. "And if it still leaves time for the Layabout, so much the better." Because more money, of course. He takes a couple of round, mini-eggs out of his pocket and rattles them in his palm, eyes skimming the crowd for a likely mark.
"Yes, exactly. And when these trays are done, pull the others *hic* out." That's Loe, laying out orders to one of the serving girls. And yes, that was a hiccup, probably because of the drink in her hand. She does it again, too. *Hic* "Shit." But it just makes her smile more broadly and laugh a bit. "Don't forget to refill the water pitchers, too, hm?" Speaking of refills... a glance into her cup shows she could use one. "Where did that wine get off to?" That she asks of, well, anyone in earshot.
"Well, we'll see how much time it leaves me for the Layabout and how much delegation I have to do," is the bluerider's easy response. She waves to Piper and Dulcinea when she sees them. Then Javeri notices the eggs and shakes her head with a laugh. "Hey! I am not here to help you sell things."
Suizen steps into the living cavern, a bit uncertain but definitely cleaner than she was out on the Sands. An uncertain look is given to the folks already there, but with a squaring of shoulders, Sooz goes further in, heading towards the food tables.
"Well," Dulcinea says, too loudly to Javeri but somehow trying to sound conspiratorial despite that, "he's not interested in anything else but selling things. So don't waste the effort." She's already to the point of enunciating every word ex-cee-ding-ly clear-ly, so whatever she's drinking, it's not the first one. "You missed the whole thing?" The question back to Piper, now. "How did you manage to miss that? I thought the whole planet was there."
Skinner's been caught out, using Javeri to make a sale, but he just grins at her. "No, but would you mind doing it as a little side job?" He pauses to look at Dulcinea, his smile growing slowly. "Well, that's always true, love," he calls back to her, winking and tapping a finger to his nose before stretching it out to point at her. He clicks his tongue.
"Yes, but he's adorable so I forgive him," Javeri tells Dulcinea with an easy laugh. She's only on her first drink so is fine. "Did you not have a good time?" Because clearly the healer did not have a good time. Then the assistant weyrlingmaster blinks and says, "Ohh. There was someone out there wasn't there? It's not so long before they're free of restrictions. Just a few months." A few being loosely defined. But then she spots one of the new weyrlings and moves away from everyone to holler, "Sooz!" Yep. Holler. If that's not enough she goes pushing through the crowd to reach her friend and give her a big hug. "Shells, my dress seems a lot shorter next to that one," she tells the new brownrider. Headwoman? What headwoman? Skinner must be on his own as well.
Agreeing with a nod, "Well...he's interested in one other thing as well." Piper clarifies, "That's what I've heard." Back-peddling. "But, you should see his magic trick Javeri, he's a pretty amazing man."
"I don't care about restrictions." Dulcinea is also not a very good liar, and a worse liar after *mumble* drinks, so it's not in the vague range of convincing. "I care," and here's where things are about to get very ill-advised, "that he's going to be wasted on cleaning up after some over-sized lizard." At least she may realize the ill-advised bit, because she adds, very quickly, "But I'm moving on. It doesn't matter. I've already moved on." A faint, smirky smile in the direction of Skinner. "I don't *think* so," to Piper. "At least, not when it might possibly interfere with selling things."
The healer earns herself a look from a pair of riders celebrating the hatching. One of them, taller and more round, snorts into his beer. "She ain't gonna be getting the bit she wants so she's gonna go and be insulting." The other, shorter and only slightly less round chuckles. "I got a bit for ya, sweetie," he tells Dulcie. His friend guffaws. "A bit is right."
Skinner's preferences must remain a mystery, for he's just spotted a fat woman who looks like an excellent target, and so she turns out to be. One gold-dragon memento later, he's dipping by the drinks table to pour a glass of white wine. It's a guess! He brings it unerringly to the headwoman, adding another star of legitimacy to his jacket, and offers it to her with his most charming smile. "Hello, Love. Hell of a party you've put on. Thought I'd bring you a drink to celebrate."
Suizen grins. "Veri! Well, it was all bein' your idea, you know..." she alludes to, waving at her own dress, before shaking her head and making her way to the bluerider, and giving the woman a half-hug. "Didja see Sivrudith?" Never mind she helped the pair off the sands.
"I did! He's so handsome looking!" Javeri will gush suitable over her friend's dragon. And she looks at the dress the weyrling is wearing with a grin. "I knew you'd wear it. I would have cried otherwise. And it's going to make everyone cry because you're off limits now! I'm happier you get to wear it to celebrate your impression though! Let's get you a drink!" Because one needs a drink to celebrate. "And you can tell me all about him! Chadamalith was dying to meet them all, but I reminded him what he was like after hatching so he's just going to be anxious til morning when he can drop in and see them. He's so excited you'd think he was the dad."
Not a person knows where the wine is? Loe makes a face at those in her immediate vicinity and start making the rounds looking for someone with a bottle of white. She stops by here, no they're drinking juice. Over there? Nope, that's red. She's about to walk up to Suizen and Javeri, but recognizes the bluerider at the last minute and thinks better of -that-. She's just about to pull a rather snotty face, hopefully before Javeri sees her, when Skinner suddenly shows up. There are a few blinks and then a sunny bright smile that gets even bigger when she sees the glass. "Oh, you're like a dream," she says, with a little wistfully dramatic shake of her head. "Let me finish this one." Yeah, just give her the time of one gulp.
One appraising glance off at the pair of riders. Dulcinea, however many drinks in, has eyes like a bird of prey. "Forty pounds," she announces, far too loud. "Ditch that much and then we'll talk. I suggest jogging, and less alcohol." But it's hardly an interruption, and from the sounds, not something she's exactly unaccustomed to. "I swear," she says, with less volume. "Men around here. Is it too much to ask for someone who is both assertive and not a total bore?"
"Well, actually I was wonderin' if you talked to him in his shell. To be quotin' my mate, it's partyin' time - at least, it was 'til he got sleepy... an' no one's gonna be /that/ upset." Of course, the mention of the drink has Sooz perking up. "I can? I thought only a sip..." she alludes to previous instructions.
All these /interesting/ people, Piper directs Dulcinea back towards the leering riders. "There ya go, see you've got options." Bit or no bit. Whatever works.
Javeri's quiet for a moment and then she starts to laugh as they head for the drinks. "I swear I never spoke a word to any of them," she promises her friend. "And one drink. Just no more and nothing too strong. Probably supposed to be wine, but I'll be naughty and not tell if your one drink is something stronger. It's amazing how ready to go they are. Until they collapse. Just wait til you're up in the middle of the night because he has to eat like /now/ thank you very much."
There's been time for Ch'son to have a quick visit the infirmary and get a stitch or two in a sensitive area. Considering that, it's probably not much surprise that he's still favoring that leg a little and his pants are loose and comfortable rather than fashionable when he arrives. He's easy enough to spot with his orange swath of fabric tied around his head and he even has the good luck charms he'd been given by Chadamalith via Javeri worn around his neck. His first destination is going to be to get something to drink.
Skinner, all debonair, whirls a hand in front of his chest while dipping a shallow bow to Loe. "I do try," he replies modestly. He waits for her to take that final gulp then, like the dream he is, smoothly exchanges the empty glass for the wine he's brought. He adds to his last sentence brightly, "To get you smashed. I'd like to see it." His eyebrows go up, his grin with them.
"That sounds lovely, truth be told - an' ye didn't? Well, there goes a perfectly workable thought... " Sooz disgards that theory, before grinning at Veri. "I'll let you pick out the drink then?" she offers, before calling out, "Hey, Ch'son! Over here!" Ah, there's the loudness that was co-op'd by her own Impression on the Sands.
"Those are not options," Dulcinea is quick to dismiss. "Those are losers. Options are attractive, available men who are also interesting people. Those are precious few. Usually, they think that having the right equipment is the only qualification they need to be worthwhile human beings," and the healer is now definitely talking too loudly again, punctuating with drinks from the glass which is again nearly empty.
"You just have to admit that deep down you like to party hard," Javeri teases Sooz with a laugh. "And your dragon proves it now! Does he get a nickname?" Asked by the woman who just can't seem to give one to her own dragon. When they're near the drink table she overhears Dulcie and grins. "Can always give women a try," she teases the healer with a wink. "Or go hang on the beach with Piper looking for surfers. Plenty of them are good fellows." But a drink must be selected for the weyrling so she gets one and hands it over. "For you. One and only."
"Skinner, my dear, my darling," Loe lays it on, handing over the empty glass to trade for one that is full. "I find it terr-*hic*-ibly, terribly, unlikely that you'll stick around long enough for that. You'll be gone before I finish this glass." So it's probably a fortunate for him that she's had a solid headstart on the whole getting smashed thing. She has no idea what Dulcinea is talking about over there, but she lifts her wine --"Here here!"--and drinks a toast of fervent, if uninformed, agreement.
It takes a moment for Ch'son to process that that voice calling his name is calling his name. "Oh," he says, glancing up and around toward Suizen and Javeri. He lifts a hand to acknowledge the loudness but he gets himself a drink before he starts hobbling, perhaps moreso than he really needs to, his way toward the pair of riders who are conveniently more close now. "Ladies." More directly to the other weyrling, "Sooz. You'll hafta remind me. Is it you that owes me or me that owes you?"
"Rudi, of course..." Sooz admits, following Javeri over to the drink tables, before Ch'son hobbles over. His question makes her laugh, "Well, we never did make that bed go the other way - it sorta favored you either way, given me impressin' means I won... but I'm somehow doubtin' I'll have time to brush m'hair much less have time to be goin' out to the clay pit for doin' pottery anytime soon..." The drink is taken, and lifted to Javeri in a silent salute.
"Right." Piper's head turns to hide her eyeroll. Or maybe she's got an eyelash in there. "Do you see anyone in here that looks like an acceptable match?" Her glass goes up and the drink goes down. "Damn." She tips the glass over. Totally Empty. "Life bites." And then you die.
"Shells, people sound too down," Javeri murmurs to her friend before grinning at Ch'son. "Congrats! You two are now proof that Chadamalith has good luck. Until he forgets luck and moves on to something else." Since she's watched the new bronzerider hobble she grins once more. "You know you can play it up thick all you want, but you still don't get to partake of all the ladies who may be lining up to offer congratulations." Looking around she continues to conveniently not see the headwoman as she asks, "Do you see more from your class? I suppose I should be keeping an eye on you all. And Rudi. Excellent. I cannot wait to meet him."
Loe is toasting! Dulcinea is toasted, or at least in progress on just that, so she raises what's left of her own glass as well, and then looks at Javeri askance. "It's not the same, is it, girls? If I wanted to look at a woman naked, I'd get a mirror." Not at all self-absorbed, Dulcinea, no. Not at all. "And beaches are full of sand." Poor women stuck at Ista hating sand. But Javeri's attention is elsewhere and so Dulcinea sticks with poor Piper. "Well, there are all kinds who are attractive enough. It's the interesting enough that's the problem. You can't just look at someone and see if they're interesting."
Skinner laughs, lifting the empty glass he took from Loe. "True, but I can at least get you started. I've been helping Dulcie go down that path for a while now." He glances over at the healer, tuning into the loud proclamations which Loe turns into a toast. That widens his grin. "And look how well she's doing. It's my dearest dream to come back from a night of excellent sales and find all you ladies in a drunken heap, perhaps not very coherent but still able to remember me as your kind benefactor." Returning his attention to the Headwoman, he bounces his eyebrows naughtily and holds her empty glass in front of his face.
"On hold then," Ch'son says to Suizen and he lifts his drink is a cheers sort of way. "And you can let Chad know that I'll get him his fruit soon as I can," to Javeri. And then his expression falls entirely. After a quick glance around he asks, "Not even one? What if I cover my eyes? What if they molest me and I can't do anything to stop it?" These are very important questions here! But he gives a quick glance around and gestures toward someone that he'll have to remember the name out of eventually, no doubt.
Ok, so Dulcinea might lose Loe's support when she moves onto to looking at her naked self in the mirror. Well, maybe not support so much as attention, at least for the moment. Instead she's turning her narrowed glance on Skinner. "Is that what you want?" Sounds a smidge like an accusation. "Is that really what you want? A drunk heap? I don't want to be in a drunk heap. Sounds like a pitiful sight, really. Drooping and in*hic*, inactive and incoherent. *Hic* Shit." She was trying to give him a stern look, she really was, but the hiccup and her own swearing have her cracking a wry smile again. "Why aren't you drinking? Planning something more unsavory?" She cocks a curious brow.
Suizen snickers at Ch'son. "No kissing, molesting or gropin' allowed," she takes great glee in telling her fellow weyrling, not bothering hiding this fact at all.
Why Skinner isn't drinking answers itself, when a pair of giggling girls appears out of nowhere. "Uhm, are you the guy selling eggs?" With a glance at Loe, like they're sharing a secret, he sweeps into his sales pitch with them. Keeping up a charming patter, all the while, he produces a few of his miniature eggs and shows how they flip in to reveal a dragon-colored stone within. "You know, they call this one the underwear egg, because it looks like... well." He winks at them. "You know." The girls shriek with laughter and buy a pair of underwear eggs on the spot, and one of them tosses a coy look at the salesman as they saunter away. Skinner winks at her, but he's busy tucking away the marks and resuming his comments to Loe. "A drunk heap would be pretty funny," he answers mildly, only the slightest hint of mischief allowed to show itself.
"Afraid not. You've got a baby in your head who would not understand. I know. It sucks. The good news is eventually they get old enough and now that you're on bronze you'll have all the disgusting squealing messes on you." Ahh, Javeri makes it sound so tempting doesn't she? Looking at Suizen she winks. "I guess you don't need to worry about a room now." Since she'll get a weyr eventually and all. Then the bluerider looks for other weyrlings present and sighs as she notices how many. "Shells. I'm going to have to work. I was hoping to at least get to celebrate. Speaking of which don't let me keep either of you. If you see someone else feel free to run off."
"Liar," Dulcinea calls off in Skinner's direction, and then raises the glass to Loe again, but this time as more of an indicator. "He only got me this one. And he was slow about that. Don't rely on him for refills." Speaking of which, the glass is looking extremely empty, and she eyes it forlornly. "And I have no intention of ending up in any kind of drunken *heap*. I am going to find myself some entertainment and then I'm leaving." Except for the fact that she seems to be hanging out with mostly girls at that point, which makes this an awkward proposition. Even if she's totally the prettiest.
Ch'son offers a small glare to Suizen but there's not any bad feelings behind the look except his own realizations that he should have broken a lot more rules during candidacy. Or at least one rule a lot more. Javeri's reassurance - that's how he's going to take it - has him grinning again, though, "Yeah? Huh." That's something to tuck away for later thought. "Ain't anyone, but I need to sit, if you don't mind." He doesn't wait to go find somewhere to sit, though.
Suizen takes a sip of her drink, then grins at Javeri. "Well, seein' how afterwards, it's all gonna be 'Yes Javeri ma'am!', this is gonna be my own chance to give you plenty of trouble.... could at least grab a table though, I'm guessin' - for Chaes here." There is a pause, then she leans forward to whisper into Javeri's ear.
Suizen mutters to Javeri, "... friends... else's... means I have... one else to... at... moment."
Suizen whispers "Sides; most of my friends are holdin' everyone else's hands - means I have no one else to bother at the moment."
"Oh, Ch'son," Javeri coos with a flutter of her lashes. "We'll be right behind you following enjoying the view." If she were laying it on thicker she'd be stuck in it. Still she laughs and gestures for Suizen to follow him. "We'll go sit then. And if I see some handsome available man I'll leave you two to your celibacy." And she'll leave the moping healer and drunk headwoman to their own fates! Even if it's almost like working sitting with the kiddies and all.
The thing is, though, once Skinner goes into his sales pitch, Loe starts to slink away. "See, not even a few sips," she points out, tapping a finger on her lifted glass while she's backing up. Apparently the headwoman considers his distracted attention to be the same as him leaving. She's on her way toward Dulcinea when she hears his mild reply. "Oh, that's a load of- Yeah, what she said." Dulcinea, calling him a liar. "A drunken heap isn't fun. Drunk people are heavy and throw up if you move them. *Hic* Heap indeed!" she tacks on, a rallying statement, but she lets a smile curl just the same.
June and her sisters made their entrance quite some time ago, outfits coordinated to different styles of black like it was just another night at The Seven. The loose group they formed didn't last long, though, a couple taking to the dancing, others to a table to observe that dancing. June herself heads for the food initially, mingling her way along to the drinks with a small plate of sweets balance on one palm. "How has everyone's evening been?" she asks as her sidling and chatting path brings her to Dulcinea and Piper. While she waits their answers, she leans over and snags a glass of some red wine or another.
"Who said I'd try to move anyone?" Skinner asks, stepping back and turning so he can flash his wide grin at both the increasingly drunken (though not yet heaped) women. "Maybe I'd stand just an inch out of reach and let you all swat at me." He demonstrates the dreamed-of fruitless swatting, batting his arm weakly at the departing Loe. But he doesn't mind much if he's abandoned - after all, he does bring it on himself by being so fickle in search of a sale. And that's exactly what draws him away now, back into the crowd, his voice raising briefly above the drone. "Buy a miniature egg! Just like the real one! Makes for a great souvenir." He disappears at the center of a curious mob.