Climbing the shelves. Then getting down from them...
RL Date: 7/8/09
IC Date: 2/23/20 --Log pieced together from B'kaiv and T'rev.
Stores, Fort Weyr
Just off of the living cavern is a short tunnel that leads to the cavern complex of the stores, which consists of several caves of various sizes. Stairs lead further down to the darker, cooler caves which house root vegetables, dried herbs, cooking supplies, and row upon row of meat hung up on hooks. The upper level is devoted to everything else, with one cavern devoted entirely to clothing -- much of which might need mending to be useful -- and bedding, while another contains dragonriding supplies like straps, riding leathers, and oil. Other things that can be found here would be furniture, toys, basic supplies for crafters and anything else that folks in the Weyr might need to do.
Everything is neatly organized to the point of anal-retentiveness, ensuring that anyone can find what they're looking for as quickly as possible. Stores workers are usually on hand for those who don't know where to find what they're looking for.
Snow, snow, snow. Will the snow ever stop? Sometimes it doesn't seem like it will. Drills were called off earlier and T'rev's latest card game and conversation with wingsecond Aleine has concluded. With time to kill, the wingleader's slipped into stores and sits not down on the ground, but up on top of a shelf, going through a box of leather supplies. His presence is betrayed only by the odd snatch of song, sung low.
Jaeyi has an excuse to be in here. It probably doesn't involve taking her time about things, probably doesn't involve strolling through the warmer upper stores at her leisure, eating a handful of nuts, peering occasionally into boxes that she's probably not paid much mind to before now. But it's that time of day when her part of lunch is done, when she ought to think about having a bath, when she's technically left to her own devices until afternoon, when she certainly oughtn't be intrigued by the sound of singing coming from somewhere up on high. When she /certainly/ shouldn't stop and peer upwards when she figures out who it is doing the singing. "Why?" she asks simply, taking a few backward steps until she doesn't have to angle her chin quite so sharply to see T'rev's perch.
Unremarked until she speaks, T'rev looks down at the sound of that voice and beams a sunny smile down at the baker. "'Cos it's fun," is the immediate response and he shifts the box off his lap, holds a hand out downward. Good thing those shelves are /very/ well anchored. "Come up with me?" Winningly asked and with something like promise in brown eyes. "If you lie down flat on your back and get really quiet, sometimes folks don't realize you're up here and it can be funny to suddenly sit up and spook 'em," he says with a touch of boyish mischief.
Jaeyi knew that was coming, that invitation, the expectation written all over her face while she looks up at that extended hand. "Come up with me, he says like it's that easy," she answers, finding a pocket for the peanuts, her empty hand now testing the stability of those shelves. Chubby enough not to trust that wood on blind faith, this one. She puts a foot on a shelf, takes it off, puts it back, reaches up toward his hand. "There's not, like, a ladder or anything?" With a hopeful look down the row of shelves.
"Maybe ... but these are good and solid. Trust me?" T'rev says winngingly as he takes that hand. She might not be the slenderest little thing, but he /is/ pretty darned strong. He shifts position in fact, swinging around a little, to offer a second hand down. "Put most of your weight on me and use the shelves for -- leverage, yeah that's it."
Still lifting and removing that one foot, still loathe to leave the floor with it, Jaeyi looks right back up at him and all his winningness to close her eyes hard for a second, shut it out. "There's trust and then there's /trust/." The things she does in T'rev's weyr count as trust; this, climbing up the shelves, counts as /trust/. No sense worrying about how this could count as a bigger leap of faith. With a breath, with her fingers tightening around his hand, she lets him close his hands around hers and convinces herself to push up on that one braced foot, then the other.
"I won't let anything bad happen to you," T'rev promises and waits until she's committed before hauling back. That has to entail some effort, in spite of those well-built shoulders of his she likes so much. Still, up she goes unless a foot gets misplaced to make things go wonky. Regardless, T'rev certainly isn't letting go and draws her steadily upward, keeping an eye on her feet to time things correctly. "Telgar's Weyrwoman got me into this. It's a good place to sit n' think when you ain't got nowhere else to go, like you do when you're a candidate, mostly."
Jaeyi climbs. Not steadily, not gracefully, but she shuffles things with her toes to find niches for her her feet on the shelves, gradually making her way up the rows until she reaches essentially the top. Which presents a conundrum, as now she's on T'rev's altitude, but actually climbing up on top and turning to sit down is... a fancier maneuver. "I think I'll stick to hiding under the covers," she answers in a wry, wobbly voice, still holding to his hands like letting go means certain death and not just some bumps and bruises.
Up to his height and T'rev exerts himself to help swing her up over the edge. This could involve tumbling into his lap, it could. You know. Entirely by mistake! He even laughs a little but there's reassurance offered shortly thereafter. "Okay, but try it out with me? I'll lie down here, you there and then just ... be quiet for a minute or two. Listen to your own breathing, kind of let everything go."
It could. And she could stay there for a second or two, cheeks pinker than that little exertion requires, but it's only a little lingering before Jaeyi starts to figure out how to go... somewhere else. T'rev's very zen idea merits a dubious look, one that manages to take a peek down at the floor-- which looks farther away than she wants it to. "If I fall, you're gonna feel baaaaad," she reminds, scooting with her fingers curled around the edge of the shelves so it's about a half-inch of movement at a time toward space for this laying-down exercise of his.
That momentary closeness draws a soft sigh from T'rev, but then there's being good to be done and Jaeyi to encourage over there. "Not going to let you fall," the bronzerider promises again and his fingers circle her wrist in fact while she's scootng around, touch light. He waits until she's settled before lying back himself and he shifts his fingers then, to slip through hers. The requisite silence is allowed to build, before T'rev asks quietly: "Hanging in there okay?"
Jaeyi answers as quietly, "Yes." Whatever it is she's supposed to be letting go by just laying there and listening to her breathing... well, it's probably not so surprising that it involves knotting her fingers in T'rev's more than just lacing them, twisting them around his knuckles at least for a time, hand finally stilling after a few minutes of quiet. Which makes for a long pause between answering and asking back, "You?"
"Yeah," comes the answer, softly spoken so that even with any carrying of sound it'd only be a murmur to any trespassing ears without any particular shape. His fingers twine the more tightly with hers, palm pressing to palm for a moment or two. "It's different though. Miss it. Lookin' forward to the day you walk the tables," he says with quiet honesty. "Even if it means I have to travel to wherever they decide to post you."
"Which really won't be all that different from how it is now, hmn?" asks Jaeyi, hard to tell if that tone is looking on the bright side or still kind of dwelling. There's a smile behind the words, at least, and the press of the pad of her thumb to the lines of his palm in a little trace. "Probably better not to try thinking that far ahead anyway." /Far./
"I won't have to hold back from kissing you in public though, even if you're not /right here/," T'rev answers and tilts his head towards hers a little, aiming for light contact, comfortable. "No, not really, just right here, right now." He smiles at the movement of her thumb, closes his eyes for a moment or two. "Want to steal you away right now," he confesses with a low chuckle. "Snow day ..." is the gentle tease that follows. Deep breath and he's quiet again, maybe struggling with himself, certainly returning a similar light tracery of thumb along the side of her hand before he speaks again. "So, this probably ain't a surprise, but I need to tell you 'bout Kay. She was -- worried about jealousy. At any rate, so's it don't hit you between the eyes or anything, we sleep together sometimes."
Just to be sure the kibosh on being stolen away is firmly in place, Jaeyi-- /Jaeyi/ is the one that actually points out, "I have to go back in a few hours." Regret, certainly, but a shrug that doesn't seem to struggle much with the status quo. Falling into that quiet, just as happy to let it lengthen so that she greets its ending with a brief, "Hmn?" Ah, but he goes on, and her bemusement is pretty thick; "Okay." Not like bummer-okay; more like 'er, good for you?'-okay.
It's the latter that T'rev focuses on, laughing softly. "Yeah, that's what I thought," is his easy-going response and his hand lifts both of theirs together, cheating just a little on the laid-down rules to kiss the back of Jaeyi's lightly. "Kay said you told her how you feel about me. And she got worried that you might get jealous. Might not be able to you know, handle it." He touches her knuckles to his cheek gently and blows out a breath. "Sure I can't steal you for just an hour?" Cajoling. Just a little.
Jaeyi gives a little bit of a tug in response to that, like she'd keep him from kissing her hand, but there's less impetus than there'd need to be to really put a stop to it. "Well, tell her that it's nice of her to, like, worry. I guess? But, uhmn, I figured you were sleeping with other people. Hoped you were. Or I'd be exhausted." Levity! Good for her. Except levity and cajoling always lead to yielding, and that's what she's working real hard not to do. "I can't, T'rev. This is-- this is too hard to do as it is without knowing there could be /exceptions/, you know?"
"Mm. Didn't really think you were holding back either," T'rev says with a little hitch of one shoulder upward. "Promised I'd tell you though, make sure everything was still okay," the bronzerider continues, voice light and he lets their hands drift back to where they came from, though his fingers don't untangle from hers at all. "All right. I'll stop wheedling," T'rev says with an unseen, but perhaps heard smile, even if it's only in the tone of his voice. "This'll have to be enough stealin' for the next little while, just like this," he says with a slight nudge of his shoulder against hers. "That and ... when's your birthday? And can you get the day off so I can take you to Nerat? You can call it studyin' under a really good cook if you have to."
Jaeyi's, "Thank you," is wholly authentic. For no more wheedling. For the rest-- well, he figured she was, she figured he was; unless they're about to start exchanging lists of who, when, and where, it's not really worth worrying about. "Except we can still go to the Waystation. On days off. When I get to believe I'm still capable of making my own decisions now and then." Axe, meet grindstone. Tilting her head to bring him sidelong into her line of sight, she pulls together a quick smirk and answers, "I don't have a birthday. I'm made entirely of sugar and egg whites. And I probably can't, as I've done a lot of begging to get days off around then already. Any more might involve sacrificing a first-born child or something."
"Exercise in will power for both of us," T'rev says with laughter in his voice still and he starts nodding about the station. "Definitely. Or you know. Around there. Nerat," he adds very seriously and turns his head so he can look down into her eyes. "If you're all fluff ... how come I haven't eaten you all up yet?" is the requisite very.bad.line and T'rev's eyes dance with merriment that turns to straight up happy. "/Good/. Then all you have to do is tell me /when it is/ so I can make good on making it the very best day of your life, ever."
"I have plenty of willpower." Please don't laugh; it'll hurt her feelings. Jaeyi says this quite seriously, so she might even believe it. Way up on top of the shelves-- not her idea, just for the record-- the pair of them are fully dressed and look like they're even behaving, good for them, just laying flat on their backs, talking and holding hands. It's weird, but it's not like there's a whole lot of normal going around this Weyr by comparison. "You'll have to keep trying," she answers to fluff, beams aimlessly at the ceiling. "Like, a week and a half before yours, so no dice."
To his credit, T'rev does /not/ laugh at Jaeyi's claims to willpower. "We have /great/ willpower," is what he's saying instead, given the fact that they're fully dressed and holding hands instead of you know, making the shelves rock and roll and fall over. He laughs all the more as she /finally/ confesses the approximate date of her birth. "So ... what you're sayin' is we should have a double birthday party," T'rev says, slowly, mischievously and while his laughter carries, most of what he actually says is spoken in a low voice so that it's more like every other word that might float across the store room. "Go all out."
Of all the people to come into the storerooms, B'kaiv probably isn't at the top of anyone's list. He's been let loose, unaccompanied by any of the storeroom staff, and that might explain the man's grumpy scowl as he follows those floating words to their source. Only... there's no one to be seen in the aisle. "Shells," he swears, not bothering to keep his voice down, and takes a few steps in. "Who's there? Anybody?" There's another scowl - or maybe the same one - for the boxes and barrels stacked on the shelves and piled in the passage.
So what she's saying is, "Nooooo. I cleared away the second, third, fourth, and fifth. There's no more--" That voice, that tone, that combination shuts Jaeyi up with a lift of her head to peer down toward the floor, toward of-all-the-people. Not that he can see, but T'rev becomes the lucky recipient of a fingernail in the crease of his palm, scraping briefly, then her fingers detach to push herself up seated instead of laid out.
"Sounds great, I --" and that's T'rev breaking off too though there's a muffled 'ow' for that fingernail as he pushes up onto his elbows and looks downward. "Hey Kai," is said cheerfully. "Lookin' for something?"
More speech from the invisible fairies does little to ease Kai's bad temper, but the sound of Jaeyi moving - and more importatly, T'rev's voice - finally has him looking up. "Shells. What're you... two doing up there?" Jaeyi gets a jerk of his chin that'll have to suffice for a nod; T'rev gets an actual salute. Maybe he'll share it with her. Immediately on top of that, "Nah, don't tell me. Don't wanna know. 'M looking f'r shirts. Guy up front said as they'd moved 'em, said they'd be easy t' find." Now that he's identified the pair up there, he steadfastly keeps his eyes down, at shoulder-height or under.
"We're--" Don't tell, he doesn't wanna know, so Jaeyi bites off whatever bit of cleverness she had cooked up especially for B'kaiv. Seated, she finds purchase for her heels on one of the shelves, starts to debate the process it's going to take to get down from here with an expression that is increasingly alarmed, as her eyes head down and down and down toward the floor. Kai being there is just the cherry on top of how much she's going to hate this climb down. "I suggest you look for them," she chimes in as an afterthought.
"Just talkin', honest Kai," T'rev answers and swings his feet over the edge. "Ain't allowed anything else," the wingleader notes further. With regret readily apparent in his voice, then he gives Jaeyi's shoulder a little pat. "Stay put, I'll get down n' catch you, just like y'know, on and off a dragon." He on the other hand is just edging downward and then jumping. Just like that. "Pass me the box down? I've got a bunch of leather scraps to work on. And the shirts are up over yonder, Kai."
B'kaiv /was/ looking for them, but Jaeyi wasn't paying attention to that, so it earns her a glare. And a resigned sort of grimace before he steps forward, arms up to catch the girl. "I gotcha." Not T'rev. T'rev can get down - off? - on his own. As for where the shirts are, he swears again, glancing that way. "Shells. A'right. Sharding Zeion couldn't be bothered t' actually /show/ nobody." And lest Jaeyi forget about him, he gives his hands a clap before offering again. Right here.
Having handed down said box, held out then dropped levelly so it's not likely to upend on the way down, having watched the feat of T'rev's dismount, Jaeyi curls her fingers securely around the edge of the shelf; "I think I'll just stay here." Kai's offer, and the clap that reminds it a moment later, has her adding, all smiles, "Forever." Despite that, she does give the offered arms a measuring frown, contemplates. "If you don't catch me, or if you drop me, someone somewhere will exact vengeance. You know that, right?" An illustrative pass of her forefinger across her neck, slit-throat.
T'rev takes the box and looks upward, a little quirky grin curling up the corners of his mouth. THe box is set to the side and he lurks near Kai to make sure Jaeyi gets down in one piece. Shortly after, his eyes unfocus and he looks apologetic, blows the baker a kiss. "See you later, Kai - talk to you soon. Mecaith --" and that's about the extent of it as he heads off.
B'kaiv only rolls his eyes at the threat and claps again. Hurry up! "You think I'd drop you even if th' Wingleader -weren't- here? C'mon." He does have all those muscles, after all. But T'rev's standing right there, and he probably has a knife, so...
Knee-jerk, "Yes." Like, it never crossed her mind that he wouldn't drop her, regardless of Her Hero standing around. Kai may have big muscles, but Jaeyi's not a little girl, and the physics of the situation are daunting, regardless of any lingering ill-feelings. Still. "Quit clapping, I'm not a puppy." Edging out carefully, she sticks her toes in to a slightly lower shelf, turns carefully-- 'cause no way she's jumping into those arms face first, T'rev or no T'rev-- and sort of falls. Complete with a yelp.
A glance sidelong at T'rev and a quick grin. "He weren't here, prob'ly wouldn't'a offered." Well, at least he's honest? While Jaeyi gets all ready he waits patiently, bending the knees, relaxing his shoulders, and so on... until finally she takes the plunge. There's probably another yelp when she's caught, though not from Kai: he grunts and takes a half step backward. And then, careful as spun sugar, he waits for her feet to be on the ground before taking his hands off and stepping away.
Not so much a yelp as an, "Ow." Which may just be reflexive. "See, things like that," Jaeyi goes on to say hurriedly, recovering composure by finding a lecture-tone, by setting her feet to firmly to the floor and mirroring the backward steps. "Wouldn't-ve offered?" Which is as close as she can get to replicating Kai's so-called speech. "Don't inspire confidence. But thank you," while she brushes herself off unnecessarily.
B'kaiv sends T'rev off with a friendly enough wave, but that leaves him alone with Jaeyi. What fun. "Well, you got up there yourself, yeah?" A rhetorical question. "Figure you can get down yourself too. But it's nice t' offer. An' it ain't like T'rev wouldn't'a caught you if you'd said no t' me." At least, assuming she didn't hem and haw until after Mecaith summoned the bronzerider away. "Welcome. Ain't you supposed t' be working, or something?"
Jaeyi's taken to assuming a blind-spot for blown kisses and things of that nature from T'rev; it just makes life easier, so there are no lash-bats to send him off. "No, I didn't," get herself up there. And, "No, I'm not. Aren't you supposed to be... I dunno. Getting punished or something? I thought that was sort of what you did all day." She could leave, yes, but gosh! What fun would that be! Compared to smiling emphatically and folding her hands behind her back primly and being a pain in the ass.
No-she-didn't and no-she's-not don't endear her further - not to this greenrider, anyway. "Yeah, I am. But I ain't got watchrider duty for another hour, so I come down here t' see about a shirt." Remember? Him and shirts? Things you wear to hide the muscles? He glances up at the shelves, then snorts and shakes his head, the story of what -he- thinks was going on up there (or had gone on, or would go on) clearly written on his face. "Where'd he say them shirts was, anyway?"
What was or did or would go on is met with a blink so innocent that Jaeyi, personally, has absolutely no business having access to it. "I think he said," she begins, helpfully turning away, which may mean she's leaving or may mean she's leading the way. Be the judge, Kai. "Up over yonder." An impression that she does a lot better, familiarity and all. "I know where they are," with only a little lilt of in-your-face.
As long as she's heading 'yonder', Kai'll follow. "Dunno how come they got t' move things around, any road," he grumbles, but it's under his breath and not at her. Look at how far they've come. He narrows one eye and considers her sideways; after a few steps he dares small talk. "What'd you make t'day?"
Not that he's talking to her, but Jaeyi answers with a shrug anyway, passing by shelves that look perfectly happy the way they are, but will surely see rearrangement in a few months anyways. "If I say pie." Turning a corner, passing by some boxes that she stops to peer at, to get her bearings, continues presently. "Are you going to blow a gasket again?"
B'kaiv only snorts, wetly. "Jaeyi," he remembers her name! "You /always/ make pie. --What's a gasket?"
"Noooo, pie just happens to be easy. I make..." Her hand waves vaguely, indicative of the countless confections she concocts of which she makes no mention. Disconnected from that topic, Jaeyi indicates a new set of shelves, one with, "Shirts." To one side, giving him ample room to investigate without her assistance, she clarifies, "It's like a... thingie? That you putting around-- anyway." Because illustrating the function of a gasket with her fingers is /not/ appropriate among this particular present-company.
"You don't neither make shirts," Kai contradicts, with what might - maybe, perhaps - be considered good humor. He moves past her into shirt-land, though, fists on his hips as he scowls at the variously labeled containers, then sideways at her. At that aborted visual. "Ain't never heard it called a gasket before. Huh." He's learned something new today! "Shells. Wish there were a easier way of doing this."
With might maybe be considered tolerance, Jaeyi answers, "Do you want the full list of things I make? You'll get bored." Possibly as bored as she must be to still be sticking around, now with her arms folded and her hip come to rest on a shelf down the ways some. "There is!" Brightly! "It's called having someone make your shirts for you. Which you might want to look in to." The once-over she gives Kai's physique is not, for the record, even remotely lascivious, almost sympathetic instead.
With a sigh, "/T'day/. I asked what you made /t'day/. An' don't go trying t' tell me you make all them different things just for t'day an' everyday, 'cause I ain't never seen that many types of things set out." There's a grumble under his breath and he reaches for a crate helpfully labeled 'men's shirts', to pull it down and see what's inside. With a snort for the suggestion, "Shells, no. Kaida's a cheat, an' if -she's- a cheat, Faranth only knows what her journeyman been teachin' her. I don't need nothin' fancy." Not that there isn't a slight pause there before he lifts off the lid.
"Yes, and then you said 'you always make pie.'" Without the stress on the always, with a sort of vague shrug-- semantics. "Just because you don't get to try them all, Kai, doesn't mean they don't exist. Some people get preferential treatment." And there's no apology from Jaeyi about that, either. Confused, eyeing him with head tilted to prove it; "Why would you call her a cheat? I don't think she's a cheat. I think you're just a bad judge of character." Less like an insult, more like a fact.
Another sigh, this one exasperated, and the weyrling starts digging. "'Cause unless you only know how t' make a few things, there ain't no way you can make all of 'em every day. An' I was saying /pie/ instead of 'you bang T'rev every chance you get'." His eyes flick over. "It were a joke." But away from that: "'Cause she is. Asked her t' fix a sweater I got. Then I went t' one of th' Gathers, asked a Weaver there 'cause I was curious. He told me he'd do it for three-eighths less. That's how I know she's a cheat."
Jaeyi's, "Oh," is a little confused, puzzling through the joke a few seconds longer than it ought to take. "It was a stupid joke," she decides finally, gives up on the whole subject. Knitted brows stay in place, though, while she attends the Kaida-is-a-cheat story. "That doesn't make her a cheat." Surprise, she'd take the Weaver's side over Kai's, though she seems to be doing some little bit to be helpful by sifting through some shirts on top of a box within arm's reach. "That makes her smarter than you are. You should've shopped around. I'd overcharge you if I thought you'd pay it."
"Then it makes you a cheat too," Kai says without heat, and with a shrug. "She tried t' give th' marks back, once I told her I knew, but they was hers, fair an' square. We shook on it." He sets aside a shirt, another shirt, another, all without taking them from their tidy folds or giving them more than a cursory glance. "Anybody cheated us back t' Othana, we broke their nose for 'em an' they weren't never t' come back." Now it's the box he scowls at, runs a sudden hand over his hair. "Shells. Hate this."
"Noooo, it makes you a sucker. One born every minute, they say." Again, Jaeyi shrugs, though she does touch the end of her nose briefly, contemplating the whole idea of having it broken. "If you hadn't pissed off a Weaver that happens to be your girlfriend's best friend, she'd probably help you with it. As it is--" She holds up something in flannel, blue-and-orange flannel, that looks like it has an off-chance of fitting him, then tosses it toward Kai. Toward Kai's head, specfically, catch! "And this one. And... not this one."
B'kaiv tells the next shirt, an undyed thing, "You don't give fair work f'r th' mark, you're a cheat. Simple as that. He doesn't even glance at her. "'D rather be a wherry than a cheat. -Hey!" He ducks away from the lob, his free hand snapping up to catch it inches from his face had been. "It's -orange-." And covered in the blood of puppies. Here's another, and it's caught too. "Why not that one?" he wants to know of the reject. "It ain't orange. Or yellow." Like the second. "I ain't gonna wear nothing as looks like vomit."
Patient; "When you're a crafter, then you can argue with me about crafter pricing, mmkay? Till then." Jaeyi draws the not-that-one out of the box, holds it up against her own shoulders in all its blue ruffled glory. "Where's the trust, Kai? Do you want to look like W'ton? Really?" She wads it up and tucks it back in, leans back over to sort deeper into the box for a few seconds and lay a few more promising possibilities over the rim of it.
B'kaiv doesn't, at least, drop the rejects on the floor and kick dust on them. He just sets them aside instead, looking up in time to snort at the ruffles. "Nah. Guess not. Even that ain't pretty enough for him, though. Th' blue ain't bad." There's a dusty blue hanging over the edge and he holds it up, but it's looking for a man about three inches narrower in the shoulder region. "Shells." He doesn't bother to fold it up again, but drapes it over the side. "S'pose you get all your clothes made special, huh."
Jaeyi, who spends a fair amount of time thinking about men's shoulders, lays out a fair few that might suit-- not a whole wardrobe, but four or five likely candidates that aren't totally pukey. Consider it a peace gesture, presumably free of small pox. "Yes. But, well, I'm pretty." Her tone, half-apologetic, half-sympathetic, pats him right on top of his frustrated little head. "Good luck," with a nod to the piled shirts, with steps leading her back the way she came, through all the rows of shelves.
IC Date: 2/23/20 --Log pieced together from B'kaiv and T'rev.
Stores, Fort Weyr
Just off of the living cavern is a short tunnel that leads to the cavern complex of the stores, which consists of several caves of various sizes. Stairs lead further down to the darker, cooler caves which house root vegetables, dried herbs, cooking supplies, and row upon row of meat hung up on hooks. The upper level is devoted to everything else, with one cavern devoted entirely to clothing -- much of which might need mending to be useful -- and bedding, while another contains dragonriding supplies like straps, riding leathers, and oil. Other things that can be found here would be furniture, toys, basic supplies for crafters and anything else that folks in the Weyr might need to do.
Everything is neatly organized to the point of anal-retentiveness, ensuring that anyone can find what they're looking for as quickly as possible. Stores workers are usually on hand for those who don't know where to find what they're looking for.
Snow, snow, snow. Will the snow ever stop? Sometimes it doesn't seem like it will. Drills were called off earlier and T'rev's latest card game and conversation with wingsecond Aleine has concluded. With time to kill, the wingleader's slipped into stores and sits not down on the ground, but up on top of a shelf, going through a box of leather supplies. His presence is betrayed only by the odd snatch of song, sung low.
Jaeyi has an excuse to be in here. It probably doesn't involve taking her time about things, probably doesn't involve strolling through the warmer upper stores at her leisure, eating a handful of nuts, peering occasionally into boxes that she's probably not paid much mind to before now. But it's that time of day when her part of lunch is done, when she ought to think about having a bath, when she's technically left to her own devices until afternoon, when she certainly oughtn't be intrigued by the sound of singing coming from somewhere up on high. When she /certainly/ shouldn't stop and peer upwards when she figures out who it is doing the singing. "Why?" she asks simply, taking a few backward steps until she doesn't have to angle her chin quite so sharply to see T'rev's perch.
Unremarked until she speaks, T'rev looks down at the sound of that voice and beams a sunny smile down at the baker. "'Cos it's fun," is the immediate response and he shifts the box off his lap, holds a hand out downward. Good thing those shelves are /very/ well anchored. "Come up with me?" Winningly asked and with something like promise in brown eyes. "If you lie down flat on your back and get really quiet, sometimes folks don't realize you're up here and it can be funny to suddenly sit up and spook 'em," he says with a touch of boyish mischief.
Jaeyi knew that was coming, that invitation, the expectation written all over her face while she looks up at that extended hand. "Come up with me, he says like it's that easy," she answers, finding a pocket for the peanuts, her empty hand now testing the stability of those shelves. Chubby enough not to trust that wood on blind faith, this one. She puts a foot on a shelf, takes it off, puts it back, reaches up toward his hand. "There's not, like, a ladder or anything?" With a hopeful look down the row of shelves.
"Maybe ... but these are good and solid. Trust me?" T'rev says winngingly as he takes that hand. She might not be the slenderest little thing, but he /is/ pretty darned strong. He shifts position in fact, swinging around a little, to offer a second hand down. "Put most of your weight on me and use the shelves for -- leverage, yeah that's it."
Still lifting and removing that one foot, still loathe to leave the floor with it, Jaeyi looks right back up at him and all his winningness to close her eyes hard for a second, shut it out. "There's trust and then there's /trust/." The things she does in T'rev's weyr count as trust; this, climbing up the shelves, counts as /trust/. No sense worrying about how this could count as a bigger leap of faith. With a breath, with her fingers tightening around his hand, she lets him close his hands around hers and convinces herself to push up on that one braced foot, then the other.
"I won't let anything bad happen to you," T'rev promises and waits until she's committed before hauling back. That has to entail some effort, in spite of those well-built shoulders of his she likes so much. Still, up she goes unless a foot gets misplaced to make things go wonky. Regardless, T'rev certainly isn't letting go and draws her steadily upward, keeping an eye on her feet to time things correctly. "Telgar's Weyrwoman got me into this. It's a good place to sit n' think when you ain't got nowhere else to go, like you do when you're a candidate, mostly."
Jaeyi climbs. Not steadily, not gracefully, but she shuffles things with her toes to find niches for her her feet on the shelves, gradually making her way up the rows until she reaches essentially the top. Which presents a conundrum, as now she's on T'rev's altitude, but actually climbing up on top and turning to sit down is... a fancier maneuver. "I think I'll stick to hiding under the covers," she answers in a wry, wobbly voice, still holding to his hands like letting go means certain death and not just some bumps and bruises.
Up to his height and T'rev exerts himself to help swing her up over the edge. This could involve tumbling into his lap, it could. You know. Entirely by mistake! He even laughs a little but there's reassurance offered shortly thereafter. "Okay, but try it out with me? I'll lie down here, you there and then just ... be quiet for a minute or two. Listen to your own breathing, kind of let everything go."
It could. And she could stay there for a second or two, cheeks pinker than that little exertion requires, but it's only a little lingering before Jaeyi starts to figure out how to go... somewhere else. T'rev's very zen idea merits a dubious look, one that manages to take a peek down at the floor-- which looks farther away than she wants it to. "If I fall, you're gonna feel baaaaad," she reminds, scooting with her fingers curled around the edge of the shelves so it's about a half-inch of movement at a time toward space for this laying-down exercise of his.
That momentary closeness draws a soft sigh from T'rev, but then there's being good to be done and Jaeyi to encourage over there. "Not going to let you fall," the bronzerider promises again and his fingers circle her wrist in fact while she's scootng around, touch light. He waits until she's settled before lying back himself and he shifts his fingers then, to slip through hers. The requisite silence is allowed to build, before T'rev asks quietly: "Hanging in there okay?"
Jaeyi answers as quietly, "Yes." Whatever it is she's supposed to be letting go by just laying there and listening to her breathing... well, it's probably not so surprising that it involves knotting her fingers in T'rev's more than just lacing them, twisting them around his knuckles at least for a time, hand finally stilling after a few minutes of quiet. Which makes for a long pause between answering and asking back, "You?"
"Yeah," comes the answer, softly spoken so that even with any carrying of sound it'd only be a murmur to any trespassing ears without any particular shape. His fingers twine the more tightly with hers, palm pressing to palm for a moment or two. "It's different though. Miss it. Lookin' forward to the day you walk the tables," he says with quiet honesty. "Even if it means I have to travel to wherever they decide to post you."
"Which really won't be all that different from how it is now, hmn?" asks Jaeyi, hard to tell if that tone is looking on the bright side or still kind of dwelling. There's a smile behind the words, at least, and the press of the pad of her thumb to the lines of his palm in a little trace. "Probably better not to try thinking that far ahead anyway." /Far./
"I won't have to hold back from kissing you in public though, even if you're not /right here/," T'rev answers and tilts his head towards hers a little, aiming for light contact, comfortable. "No, not really, just right here, right now." He smiles at the movement of her thumb, closes his eyes for a moment or two. "Want to steal you away right now," he confesses with a low chuckle. "Snow day ..." is the gentle tease that follows. Deep breath and he's quiet again, maybe struggling with himself, certainly returning a similar light tracery of thumb along the side of her hand before he speaks again. "So, this probably ain't a surprise, but I need to tell you 'bout Kay. She was -- worried about jealousy. At any rate, so's it don't hit you between the eyes or anything, we sleep together sometimes."
Just to be sure the kibosh on being stolen away is firmly in place, Jaeyi-- /Jaeyi/ is the one that actually points out, "I have to go back in a few hours." Regret, certainly, but a shrug that doesn't seem to struggle much with the status quo. Falling into that quiet, just as happy to let it lengthen so that she greets its ending with a brief, "Hmn?" Ah, but he goes on, and her bemusement is pretty thick; "Okay." Not like bummer-okay; more like 'er, good for you?'-okay.
It's the latter that T'rev focuses on, laughing softly. "Yeah, that's what I thought," is his easy-going response and his hand lifts both of theirs together, cheating just a little on the laid-down rules to kiss the back of Jaeyi's lightly. "Kay said you told her how you feel about me. And she got worried that you might get jealous. Might not be able to you know, handle it." He touches her knuckles to his cheek gently and blows out a breath. "Sure I can't steal you for just an hour?" Cajoling. Just a little.
Jaeyi gives a little bit of a tug in response to that, like she'd keep him from kissing her hand, but there's less impetus than there'd need to be to really put a stop to it. "Well, tell her that it's nice of her to, like, worry. I guess? But, uhmn, I figured you were sleeping with other people. Hoped you were. Or I'd be exhausted." Levity! Good for her. Except levity and cajoling always lead to yielding, and that's what she's working real hard not to do. "I can't, T'rev. This is-- this is too hard to do as it is without knowing there could be /exceptions/, you know?"
"Mm. Didn't really think you were holding back either," T'rev says with a little hitch of one shoulder upward. "Promised I'd tell you though, make sure everything was still okay," the bronzerider continues, voice light and he lets their hands drift back to where they came from, though his fingers don't untangle from hers at all. "All right. I'll stop wheedling," T'rev says with an unseen, but perhaps heard smile, even if it's only in the tone of his voice. "This'll have to be enough stealin' for the next little while, just like this," he says with a slight nudge of his shoulder against hers. "That and ... when's your birthday? And can you get the day off so I can take you to Nerat? You can call it studyin' under a really good cook if you have to."
Jaeyi's, "Thank you," is wholly authentic. For no more wheedling. For the rest-- well, he figured she was, she figured he was; unless they're about to start exchanging lists of who, when, and where, it's not really worth worrying about. "Except we can still go to the Waystation. On days off. When I get to believe I'm still capable of making my own decisions now and then." Axe, meet grindstone. Tilting her head to bring him sidelong into her line of sight, she pulls together a quick smirk and answers, "I don't have a birthday. I'm made entirely of sugar and egg whites. And I probably can't, as I've done a lot of begging to get days off around then already. Any more might involve sacrificing a first-born child or something."
"Exercise in will power for both of us," T'rev says with laughter in his voice still and he starts nodding about the station. "Definitely. Or you know. Around there. Nerat," he adds very seriously and turns his head so he can look down into her eyes. "If you're all fluff ... how come I haven't eaten you all up yet?" is the requisite very.bad.line and T'rev's eyes dance with merriment that turns to straight up happy. "/Good/. Then all you have to do is tell me /when it is/ so I can make good on making it the very best day of your life, ever."
"I have plenty of willpower." Please don't laugh; it'll hurt her feelings. Jaeyi says this quite seriously, so she might even believe it. Way up on top of the shelves-- not her idea, just for the record-- the pair of them are fully dressed and look like they're even behaving, good for them, just laying flat on their backs, talking and holding hands. It's weird, but it's not like there's a whole lot of normal going around this Weyr by comparison. "You'll have to keep trying," she answers to fluff, beams aimlessly at the ceiling. "Like, a week and a half before yours, so no dice."
To his credit, T'rev does /not/ laugh at Jaeyi's claims to willpower. "We have /great/ willpower," is what he's saying instead, given the fact that they're fully dressed and holding hands instead of you know, making the shelves rock and roll and fall over. He laughs all the more as she /finally/ confesses the approximate date of her birth. "So ... what you're sayin' is we should have a double birthday party," T'rev says, slowly, mischievously and while his laughter carries, most of what he actually says is spoken in a low voice so that it's more like every other word that might float across the store room. "Go all out."
Of all the people to come into the storerooms, B'kaiv probably isn't at the top of anyone's list. He's been let loose, unaccompanied by any of the storeroom staff, and that might explain the man's grumpy scowl as he follows those floating words to their source. Only... there's no one to be seen in the aisle. "Shells," he swears, not bothering to keep his voice down, and takes a few steps in. "Who's there? Anybody?" There's another scowl - or maybe the same one - for the boxes and barrels stacked on the shelves and piled in the passage.
So what she's saying is, "Nooooo. I cleared away the second, third, fourth, and fifth. There's no more--" That voice, that tone, that combination shuts Jaeyi up with a lift of her head to peer down toward the floor, toward of-all-the-people. Not that he can see, but T'rev becomes the lucky recipient of a fingernail in the crease of his palm, scraping briefly, then her fingers detach to push herself up seated instead of laid out.
"Sounds great, I --" and that's T'rev breaking off too though there's a muffled 'ow' for that fingernail as he pushes up onto his elbows and looks downward. "Hey Kai," is said cheerfully. "Lookin' for something?"
More speech from the invisible fairies does little to ease Kai's bad temper, but the sound of Jaeyi moving - and more importatly, T'rev's voice - finally has him looking up. "Shells. What're you... two doing up there?" Jaeyi gets a jerk of his chin that'll have to suffice for a nod; T'rev gets an actual salute. Maybe he'll share it with her. Immediately on top of that, "Nah, don't tell me. Don't wanna know. 'M looking f'r shirts. Guy up front said as they'd moved 'em, said they'd be easy t' find." Now that he's identified the pair up there, he steadfastly keeps his eyes down, at shoulder-height or under.
"We're--" Don't tell, he doesn't wanna know, so Jaeyi bites off whatever bit of cleverness she had cooked up especially for B'kaiv. Seated, she finds purchase for her heels on one of the shelves, starts to debate the process it's going to take to get down from here with an expression that is increasingly alarmed, as her eyes head down and down and down toward the floor. Kai being there is just the cherry on top of how much she's going to hate this climb down. "I suggest you look for them," she chimes in as an afterthought.
"Just talkin', honest Kai," T'rev answers and swings his feet over the edge. "Ain't allowed anything else," the wingleader notes further. With regret readily apparent in his voice, then he gives Jaeyi's shoulder a little pat. "Stay put, I'll get down n' catch you, just like y'know, on and off a dragon." He on the other hand is just edging downward and then jumping. Just like that. "Pass me the box down? I've got a bunch of leather scraps to work on. And the shirts are up over yonder, Kai."
B'kaiv /was/ looking for them, but Jaeyi wasn't paying attention to that, so it earns her a glare. And a resigned sort of grimace before he steps forward, arms up to catch the girl. "I gotcha." Not T'rev. T'rev can get down - off? - on his own. As for where the shirts are, he swears again, glancing that way. "Shells. A'right. Sharding Zeion couldn't be bothered t' actually /show/ nobody." And lest Jaeyi forget about him, he gives his hands a clap before offering again. Right here.
Having handed down said box, held out then dropped levelly so it's not likely to upend on the way down, having watched the feat of T'rev's dismount, Jaeyi curls her fingers securely around the edge of the shelf; "I think I'll just stay here." Kai's offer, and the clap that reminds it a moment later, has her adding, all smiles, "Forever." Despite that, she does give the offered arms a measuring frown, contemplates. "If you don't catch me, or if you drop me, someone somewhere will exact vengeance. You know that, right?" An illustrative pass of her forefinger across her neck, slit-throat.
T'rev takes the box and looks upward, a little quirky grin curling up the corners of his mouth. THe box is set to the side and he lurks near Kai to make sure Jaeyi gets down in one piece. Shortly after, his eyes unfocus and he looks apologetic, blows the baker a kiss. "See you later, Kai - talk to you soon. Mecaith --" and that's about the extent of it as he heads off.
B'kaiv only rolls his eyes at the threat and claps again. Hurry up! "You think I'd drop you even if th' Wingleader -weren't- here? C'mon." He does have all those muscles, after all. But T'rev's standing right there, and he probably has a knife, so...
Knee-jerk, "Yes." Like, it never crossed her mind that he wouldn't drop her, regardless of Her Hero standing around. Kai may have big muscles, but Jaeyi's not a little girl, and the physics of the situation are daunting, regardless of any lingering ill-feelings. Still. "Quit clapping, I'm not a puppy." Edging out carefully, she sticks her toes in to a slightly lower shelf, turns carefully-- 'cause no way she's jumping into those arms face first, T'rev or no T'rev-- and sort of falls. Complete with a yelp.
A glance sidelong at T'rev and a quick grin. "He weren't here, prob'ly wouldn't'a offered." Well, at least he's honest? While Jaeyi gets all ready he waits patiently, bending the knees, relaxing his shoulders, and so on... until finally she takes the plunge. There's probably another yelp when she's caught, though not from Kai: he grunts and takes a half step backward. And then, careful as spun sugar, he waits for her feet to be on the ground before taking his hands off and stepping away.
Not so much a yelp as an, "Ow." Which may just be reflexive. "See, things like that," Jaeyi goes on to say hurriedly, recovering composure by finding a lecture-tone, by setting her feet to firmly to the floor and mirroring the backward steps. "Wouldn't-ve offered?" Which is as close as she can get to replicating Kai's so-called speech. "Don't inspire confidence. But thank you," while she brushes herself off unnecessarily.
B'kaiv sends T'rev off with a friendly enough wave, but that leaves him alone with Jaeyi. What fun. "Well, you got up there yourself, yeah?" A rhetorical question. "Figure you can get down yourself too. But it's nice t' offer. An' it ain't like T'rev wouldn't'a caught you if you'd said no t' me." At least, assuming she didn't hem and haw until after Mecaith summoned the bronzerider away. "Welcome. Ain't you supposed t' be working, or something?"
Jaeyi's taken to assuming a blind-spot for blown kisses and things of that nature from T'rev; it just makes life easier, so there are no lash-bats to send him off. "No, I didn't," get herself up there. And, "No, I'm not. Aren't you supposed to be... I dunno. Getting punished or something? I thought that was sort of what you did all day." She could leave, yes, but gosh! What fun would that be! Compared to smiling emphatically and folding her hands behind her back primly and being a pain in the ass.
No-she-didn't and no-she's-not don't endear her further - not to this greenrider, anyway. "Yeah, I am. But I ain't got watchrider duty for another hour, so I come down here t' see about a shirt." Remember? Him and shirts? Things you wear to hide the muscles? He glances up at the shelves, then snorts and shakes his head, the story of what -he- thinks was going on up there (or had gone on, or would go on) clearly written on his face. "Where'd he say them shirts was, anyway?"
What was or did or would go on is met with a blink so innocent that Jaeyi, personally, has absolutely no business having access to it. "I think he said," she begins, helpfully turning away, which may mean she's leaving or may mean she's leading the way. Be the judge, Kai. "Up over yonder." An impression that she does a lot better, familiarity and all. "I know where they are," with only a little lilt of in-your-face.
As long as she's heading 'yonder', Kai'll follow. "Dunno how come they got t' move things around, any road," he grumbles, but it's under his breath and not at her. Look at how far they've come. He narrows one eye and considers her sideways; after a few steps he dares small talk. "What'd you make t'day?"
Not that he's talking to her, but Jaeyi answers with a shrug anyway, passing by shelves that look perfectly happy the way they are, but will surely see rearrangement in a few months anyways. "If I say pie." Turning a corner, passing by some boxes that she stops to peer at, to get her bearings, continues presently. "Are you going to blow a gasket again?"
B'kaiv only snorts, wetly. "Jaeyi," he remembers her name! "You /always/ make pie. --What's a gasket?"
"Noooo, pie just happens to be easy. I make..." Her hand waves vaguely, indicative of the countless confections she concocts of which she makes no mention. Disconnected from that topic, Jaeyi indicates a new set of shelves, one with, "Shirts." To one side, giving him ample room to investigate without her assistance, she clarifies, "It's like a... thingie? That you putting around-- anyway." Because illustrating the function of a gasket with her fingers is /not/ appropriate among this particular present-company.
"You don't neither make shirts," Kai contradicts, with what might - maybe, perhaps - be considered good humor. He moves past her into shirt-land, though, fists on his hips as he scowls at the variously labeled containers, then sideways at her. At that aborted visual. "Ain't never heard it called a gasket before. Huh." He's learned something new today! "Shells. Wish there were a easier way of doing this."
With might maybe be considered tolerance, Jaeyi answers, "Do you want the full list of things I make? You'll get bored." Possibly as bored as she must be to still be sticking around, now with her arms folded and her hip come to rest on a shelf down the ways some. "There is!" Brightly! "It's called having someone make your shirts for you. Which you might want to look in to." The once-over she gives Kai's physique is not, for the record, even remotely lascivious, almost sympathetic instead.
With a sigh, "/T'day/. I asked what you made /t'day/. An' don't go trying t' tell me you make all them different things just for t'day an' everyday, 'cause I ain't never seen that many types of things set out." There's a grumble under his breath and he reaches for a crate helpfully labeled 'men's shirts', to pull it down and see what's inside. With a snort for the suggestion, "Shells, no. Kaida's a cheat, an' if -she's- a cheat, Faranth only knows what her journeyman been teachin' her. I don't need nothin' fancy." Not that there isn't a slight pause there before he lifts off the lid.
"Yes, and then you said 'you always make pie.'" Without the stress on the always, with a sort of vague shrug-- semantics. "Just because you don't get to try them all, Kai, doesn't mean they don't exist. Some people get preferential treatment." And there's no apology from Jaeyi about that, either. Confused, eyeing him with head tilted to prove it; "Why would you call her a cheat? I don't think she's a cheat. I think you're just a bad judge of character." Less like an insult, more like a fact.
Another sigh, this one exasperated, and the weyrling starts digging. "'Cause unless you only know how t' make a few things, there ain't no way you can make all of 'em every day. An' I was saying /pie/ instead of 'you bang T'rev every chance you get'." His eyes flick over. "It were a joke." But away from that: "'Cause she is. Asked her t' fix a sweater I got. Then I went t' one of th' Gathers, asked a Weaver there 'cause I was curious. He told me he'd do it for three-eighths less. That's how I know she's a cheat."
Jaeyi's, "Oh," is a little confused, puzzling through the joke a few seconds longer than it ought to take. "It was a stupid joke," she decides finally, gives up on the whole subject. Knitted brows stay in place, though, while she attends the Kaida-is-a-cheat story. "That doesn't make her a cheat." Surprise, she'd take the Weaver's side over Kai's, though she seems to be doing some little bit to be helpful by sifting through some shirts on top of a box within arm's reach. "That makes her smarter than you are. You should've shopped around. I'd overcharge you if I thought you'd pay it."
"Then it makes you a cheat too," Kai says without heat, and with a shrug. "She tried t' give th' marks back, once I told her I knew, but they was hers, fair an' square. We shook on it." He sets aside a shirt, another shirt, another, all without taking them from their tidy folds or giving them more than a cursory glance. "Anybody cheated us back t' Othana, we broke their nose for 'em an' they weren't never t' come back." Now it's the box he scowls at, runs a sudden hand over his hair. "Shells. Hate this."
"Noooo, it makes you a sucker. One born every minute, they say." Again, Jaeyi shrugs, though she does touch the end of her nose briefly, contemplating the whole idea of having it broken. "If you hadn't pissed off a Weaver that happens to be your girlfriend's best friend, she'd probably help you with it. As it is--" She holds up something in flannel, blue-and-orange flannel, that looks like it has an off-chance of fitting him, then tosses it toward Kai. Toward Kai's head, specfically, catch! "And this one. And... not this one."
B'kaiv tells the next shirt, an undyed thing, "You don't give fair work f'r th' mark, you're a cheat. Simple as that. He doesn't even glance at her. "'D rather be a wherry than a cheat. -Hey!" He ducks away from the lob, his free hand snapping up to catch it inches from his face had been. "It's -orange-." And covered in the blood of puppies. Here's another, and it's caught too. "Why not that one?" he wants to know of the reject. "It ain't orange. Or yellow." Like the second. "I ain't gonna wear nothing as looks like vomit."
Patient; "When you're a crafter, then you can argue with me about crafter pricing, mmkay? Till then." Jaeyi draws the not-that-one out of the box, holds it up against her own shoulders in all its blue ruffled glory. "Where's the trust, Kai? Do you want to look like W'ton? Really?" She wads it up and tucks it back in, leans back over to sort deeper into the box for a few seconds and lay a few more promising possibilities over the rim of it.
B'kaiv doesn't, at least, drop the rejects on the floor and kick dust on them. He just sets them aside instead, looking up in time to snort at the ruffles. "Nah. Guess not. Even that ain't pretty enough for him, though. Th' blue ain't bad." There's a dusty blue hanging over the edge and he holds it up, but it's looking for a man about three inches narrower in the shoulder region. "Shells." He doesn't bother to fold it up again, but drapes it over the side. "S'pose you get all your clothes made special, huh."
Jaeyi, who spends a fair amount of time thinking about men's shoulders, lays out a fair few that might suit-- not a whole wardrobe, but four or five likely candidates that aren't totally pukey. Consider it a peace gesture, presumably free of small pox. "Yes. But, well, I'm pretty." Her tone, half-apologetic, half-sympathetic, pats him right on top of his frustrated little head. "Good luck," with a nod to the piled shirts, with steps leading her back the way she came, through all the rows of shelves.