The Greenrider and His Weyrmate
Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one! ~Some Guy
Gabrion runs into a couple of guys who know P'ax, but don't share his high opinion of him. One of them's a real jerk, so obviously they're wrong.
OOC Date: October 17, 2009
IC Date: Day 18, Month 13, Turn 20
Who: Gabrion, B'tal, W'chek
Where: Living Cavern
Gabrion is seated with a couple of friends, dark-haired and dark-skinned boys of about fourteen or fifteen, sharing the brief overlap their lunch breaks allow. "And then," Gabrion says dramatically, in the middle of telling a story, "Yyth takes this big running leap at them, and kind of does this screechy roar, like, 'EEEEAAUUUUEEEEAAAAAUUUGH!'" His imitation is so loud and high-pitched and, well, obnoxious, that it turns heads nearby. "And they all ran inside like little girls! My friend Firistan wrote me that they got in big trouble because they told Master Kindan what happened, and he accused them of making up lies about dragonriders." He smirks triumphantly at the conclusion of his tale. The other boys laugh uproariously, and then stand up and make their excuses. "Got to get back to work." "Yeah, see you tonight, huh Gabe?" The blond boy agrees and after waving to them, he settles back in his chair, alone at the table now, and sips from his mug of hot cider.
It's a dragon's name that catches his attention first as B'tal starts by the table of younger boys. It's the imitation of said dragon that puts that odd look on his face and makes him stare for a handful of moments while he holds onto a plate with his midday meal and listens to the rest of the tale. He might be noticeable just standing there a short distance away but after a glance in the direction of the table usually claimed by Glacier, B'tal joins the table across from Gabrion with a simply offered, "Hello."
Gabrion smiles affably at B'tal. "Hi," he says, and decides maybe it would be polite to sit up straight and give a proper greeting. "Sorry, I hope we didn't bother you, I guess we were being kind of loud." That was all Gabrion, actually, but - details. "I'm Gabrion," he introduces himself.
"No, no. You're fine. Just caught my attention. You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" B'tal asks but doesn't seem as though he has any plans to move one way or the other anyway. "B'tal," he offers his own name in turn, then after a moment adds, "Jeibeth's." Not quite an afterthought but maybe not his first either. "You know P'ax?" he asks conversationally before getting right into taking a bite.
"Nice to meet you. It's totally fine, they had to go off to work so they aren't coming back. Lots of room," Gabrion answers gesturing expansively. "And yeah.. P'ax and Yyth brought me back here from Healer Hall. She's pretty awesome. Yyth." He grins broadly at the memory. "You know them? Are you wingmates?" he guesses.
B'tal is nodding his head slowly to give himself time to take another bite of his meal and glance off toward another table. "Awesome isn't a word most people use to describe Yyth. Even Jeibeth thinks she's kind of abrasive and Jeibeth likes everyone." His attention settles back on the boy and B'tal shrugs. "I know them. Not wingmates, though, no. Friends, I guess."
"Huh. Really?" Gabrion is surprised to hear that not everyone shares his high opinion of Yyth. "Well. I guess I can see that, but," he explains, "these guys kind of had it coming. Some other apprentices. They're a-holes, basically."
Dark blue eyes study the boy while B'tal chews on another bite. He looks down at his plate before he offers anything else, "A lot of apprentices are, I guess." He sounds like he's known some that fit that description, at least. "Sure she enjoyed it, either way."
Gabrion nods his head with another grin of appreciation for the apprentices' comeuppance. "P'ax said so, yeah," he confirms. Then, curious, he asks B'tal, "Did you used to be an apprentice, too?"
B'tal is a young man with still somewhat boyish features. His shaggy, dark hair is often ruffled and unkempt. He has dark blue eyes with a subtly brassy cast around the pupil. He has a strong neck that ties into strong shoulders, but his build is leanly muscled rather than bulky.
His clothes are all chosen with practicality in mind. Dark pants and leather boots, a shirt with short or no sleeves layered with a shirt with longer sleeves depending on the weather, color coordinating only because they're pretty much all the same color. He wears the knot of a Glacier greenrider.
B'tal nods his head once, using his fork to push a piece of meat through the broth it was cooked in. "I was, yeah. Smith. Always figured you healers were... nicer, I guess." A moment of silence lingers, then he asks, "So why are you here? You seem really, you know, young, no offense. Wouldn't think they'd be posting you somewhere else yet."
"I'm fourteen," Gabe says defensively; he knows he looks younger than he is. At the rest, he shakes his head. "They didn't. I - I left. I'm not an apprentice anymore." As flatly as he tries to state the words, there's still a hint of bitterness that creeps in. "It doesn't matter, the headwoman is still making me work in the infirmary," he adds. There, he was trying to be funny, but it still sounds more bitter than anything else.
"Oh." That's all B'tal says at first. All he can think to say at first, maybe. There's something awkward about the way he chews on the bite he takes and doesn't look at the boy again right away. But soon enough he offers, "Have you met Madilla yet? She's an apprentice healer. She's really nice. You'll probably like her."
"Maybe. I guess," Gabe says, dubious. But he'll at least try to look on the bright side. "If she's here, she can't be that bad, right?" he says, and shrugs. "Someone mentioned her. I haven't met her yet. The others are... okay." Again, he shrugs, unenthusiastic.
B'tal snorts at that. "Plenty of not nice people here. Probably more than the nice ones. But healers-- they're healers for a reason, right? Supposed to care about people or something." B'tal and Gabrion are sitting at a table across from each other, the former working on a late midday meal and the latter working on a mug of hot cider.
Gabrion snorts and shakes his head. "That's not the only reason," he says flatly. "Some people, you know, they figure it's better than hoeing vegetables or hollowing out mineshafts. I guess they're even right, but..." He grimaces slightly and takes a gulp of cider.
Audria makes her way out of the kitchen and towards the meal table. Now that lunch is served to most people, it's her chance to eat. Audria loads up a plate with food before she turns, looking for a good place to take a seat.
"I never had to worry about hollowing out mineshafts," B'tal returns with a very small hint of defensiveness. "Seems like a healer ought to be just as smart as next person so they should be able to do whatever if it's not actually healing they want to do. Anyway..." The last word meant to change the subject even if the greenrider has nothing to change it with.
"Yeah. They're mostly smart, just not..." Gabrion runs out of words he really wants to say about that, and shrugs one shoulder instead. "So uh, how long you been riding? I don't remember you from before I went to Healer; you must have impressed out of one of the last couple of clutches?"
Audria finally catches sight of B'tal, and well, he's a sort of familiar face, so the cook makes her way over, hovering beside their table with plate and cup in hand. "Do you mind if I, uh, join you? To eat my lunch?"
Willing enough to stop talking about healers, B'tal thinks for a moment, studying the boy again, "Wasn't here for about five turns before I came back. Jeibeth's a little over a turn now. Last clutch." The greenrider glances sideways at the sound of a sort of familiar voice and a smile is offered to Audria. "I don't mind," but he glances across the table at Gabrion since it's him that was here first.
Gabrion nods to B'tal. "Cool," he says. Knowing that riders love to talk about their dragons, and lacking anything much else to say, he asks, "What's she like?" Glancing up at Audria, he gives her a small smile and nudges out one of the empty chairs with his foot, in invitation for her to sit.
Audria takes a seat in that chair, settling to sit awkwardly at the edge of it as she lays out her late lunch in front of her. B'tal gets a quick smile before Gabrion gets a shyer one. "I don't think I've met you. Or I forgot that I have." She states a bit bluntly before turning to start in on her food.
Coming in from outside, W'chek is to begin with only a dripping, muttering presence near the entrance, coming short of actual cursing. Then begins the process of peeling out of soaking outerwear, hanging most of it up and trudging further into the cavern. There's only one person at that particular table he has reason to recognize from a distance, but that's evidently enough to head in that direction as soon as he's gotten a mug of klah clutched in both hands. Only a glance at Gabrion and Audria to start. "Taking up sitting at the kids' table now, Bet?"
"She's nice," B'tal says, apparently not one of the sorts that will sit and babble on about his dragon just because he doesn't have anything else to say. Silence suits him just fine, not offering an introduction between Audria and Gabrion. Or it would suit him if there weren't people appearing out of nowhere to talk at him. "Yes," is all he says to that. "Are you going to join us?"
Gabrion eyes W'check, looks him up and down, and then rolls his eyes with an unvoiced 'Whatever.' Then he glances over at Audria, and shakes his head in reply. "Nope, I just got back here from Healer Hall a few days ago. I'm Gabe."
Audria looks over to W'chek and just gapes for a moment before she shakes her head. "I am not a, uh, kid. I'm sixteen. I pull my own weight. Not a child." She's emphatic about that, if not the best spoken. Gabrion gets a hint of a smile as she nods. "I'm Audria. Nice to meet you."
"Well, if you're going to sit here, unless you're going to tell me to go away or something." Not like W'chek is really going to ask permission, after all. The bronzerider deposits his mug down there, pulls out a chair and deposits himself as well, rakes a hand back through damp hair. "Yes, fine, sixteen. Good for you," to Audria. "If he's sixteen, I'll eat my riding straps." With regards to Gabrion-the-eye-roller over there.
"He said he knows P'ax," B'tal says as though that's some sort of excuse for sitting here even if he speaks as though Gabrion might not be here anymore. "He's going to be working with Madilla except he hasn't met her yet." And now everyone else is caught up on the smallest boy at the table. "You're wet," he adds to W'chek, scooting his chair just a little closer.
Gabrion opens his mouth and shuts it again, fishlike; he's considering some kind of retort directed at W'chek, but instead he chickens out and just looks away from both W'chek and B'tal. He asks Audria, "So what do you do here? They got me working in the infirmary. But, I'm hoping to get something different soon."
"You don't like the infirmary?" Audria asks, before she looks down her diminished amound of food. "I make this stuff. I mean, I cook. In the kitchens." As opposed to cooking where? W'chek doesn't even get a look for that response. After all, she has food.
Eyes narrow just faintly in B'tal's direction. "Thank you, genius. It's raining again." There's a faint smile, though, and then more of one upon the retrieval of his klah from the table. It's warm. That's a good thing. No extended eye contact for the greenrider, though, more attention on the two others. "P'ax is a loudmouth, hard not to know who he is." Pot calling kettle... "Madilla, huh? Nice girl, Madilla." That last, finally, directly to Gabrion, like maybe he wouldn't have heard that particular detail.
The greenrider is quick to smile at W'chek's less than flattering words to him but B'tal falls silent to continue eating his meal while the other three worry about the actual contributions to their conversation. Except for the brief, "I said she was nice." Of course he did.
Not so good at defending himself, Gabe is nevertheless moved to defend his friend. "At least P'ax doesn't walk up and act like an a-hole to people in the living cavern," he retorts. Little does he know. He's far more interested in what Audria has to say. "Oh, you work in the kitchens? Do they need more people in there? Like maybe dishwashers?" He doesn't answer, about not liking the infirmary, nor about Madilla being nice, but clearly he'd rather be doing something else.
Audria shrugs. "I don't know. They might. People seem to use a lot of dishes. I know that we use a lot of pans and things just in cooking it." Audria states as she finishes off her food. "P'ax just likes to leave quickly."
"Leave quickly?" Gabrion can't figure out if that's supposed to be a good or a bad thing.
"Of course," W'chek says evenly to B'tal, then more narrowed eyes, now in the direction of the kid. "P'ax? Doesn't? Are we talking about the same person? Gangly guy, blond?" Pause, with raised eyebrows. "Dunno about her, I can never get him to actually go away except by accident." Huff of a breath, then a sip from the mug.
B'tal is nodding his head along with what W'chek says although there's no huffing in particular on his part while he eats. Once there's an opening for him to say as much, the greenrider asks Audria, "Are you still just preparing or doing more stuff now?"
Audria gives B'tal a quick smile for the different topic. "More stuff. Not fancy stuff, but making stews, bread, rolls, soup. That sort of thing." Audria states before she adds. "He gets mad and then he just walks off."
"Well, he doesn't to /me/," Gabrion says pointedly to W'chek, implying that it must be the rider who has the problem. Audria, he's more inclined to take seriously, but he does look puzzled. "Huh. Well." He shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe he just had a bad day that day."
A laugh for that. "Yes, the getting mad and leaving--I just don't think so much *quickly*. Maybe, boy-o, you're just lucky. He's no less of a jerk than anybody else is." W'chek sets the mug back down, but leaves his fingers curled around it. "Or arguably more. Or maybe he's just nice on account of your age. You're... what? Thirteen?" He obviously thinks he's being charitable with that estimate, all patronizing smile.
B'tal knows the age but doesn't offer it himself. He's going to finish off his meal instead since it's almost all gone anyway. And then the greenrider realizes he doesn't have a handy drink so he looks at W'chek and makes eyes. "Can I, uh..? Just a sip? Please?" The vowels are kind of drawn out on the last and he's grinning all adorably.
Audria giggles over at B'tal's question and then looks down at her plate. "I should, er, get back to work. Now that the food is gone." Audria decides, standing up and picking up her dishes.
"I'm fourteen," Gabrion says scornfully. "And what are you, twelve?" He obviously thinks he's delivering a devastating cutdown. From which he takes a time out, briefly, to wave to Audria. "See you."
That uncomfortable frown with the lips pressed together is probably not at being called twelve. W'chek eyes the mug and hesitates, but does push it down the table in B'tal's direction. "Sure, yeah." Avoiding those eyes is easier with the kid to scowl at. "Fourteen, fine. Any rate, young enough some folks might make allowances." He manages to raise a hand after Audria's retreating form, anyway.
Like he said, despite the little beam he sends W'chek's way whether he's looking at him or not, B'tal only takes a small drink and then he scoots the mug a little ways back toward the bronzerider. "Bye, Audria," he calls after the cook, then more quietly, "I should've had her take my plate."
"For me? I guess so," Gabe retorts. "What's your excuse?" He makes a face at B'tal beaming at the other rider, and then gets to his feet, mug in hand - apparently he's had enough of the argument. He glances at B'tal's plate, but makes no move to pick it up. Instead, he turns around, and starts to walk away.
"Tried to be a good person once," is W'chek's reply, tone mild, as he retrieves his mug and drinks from it again. "Didn't work." He does not seem perturbed by the boy getting up, but this time, with the departure, freely offers the mug back up to the greenrider. "Did you want any more? Doubt there's any rush about the plate. 'Less you're headed back off already. You have more to do this afternoon? I'm not going back out in that rain, tell you that, I don't care what I technically ought to be doing." Voice pitched to barely above a murmur, yet.
The getting up is attention getting and B'tal lets him smile go away as he looks toward Gabrion. He frowns at the mug, too, glancing at W'chek uncertainly about it before look after the boy's departure with a small sigh. "No, I'm done," he murmurs. "Don't really have anywhere to go. Sweeps were early. Jeibeth won't take me home yet." Enforced social time. It's not the first time she's done that. "What ought you technically be doing?"
Gabrion dumps his mug in a bin and strides out of the cavern, shoulders squared stiffly, without looking back.
Gabrion runs into a couple of guys who know P'ax, but don't share his high opinion of him. One of them's a real jerk, so obviously they're wrong.
OOC Date: October 17, 2009
IC Date: Day 18, Month 13, Turn 20
Who: Gabrion, B'tal, W'chek
Where: Living Cavern
Gabrion is seated with a couple of friends, dark-haired and dark-skinned boys of about fourteen or fifteen, sharing the brief overlap their lunch breaks allow. "And then," Gabrion says dramatically, in the middle of telling a story, "Yyth takes this big running leap at them, and kind of does this screechy roar, like, 'EEEEAAUUUUEEEEAAAAAUUUGH!'" His imitation is so loud and high-pitched and, well, obnoxious, that it turns heads nearby. "And they all ran inside like little girls! My friend Firistan wrote me that they got in big trouble because they told Master Kindan what happened, and he accused them of making up lies about dragonriders." He smirks triumphantly at the conclusion of his tale. The other boys laugh uproariously, and then stand up and make their excuses. "Got to get back to work." "Yeah, see you tonight, huh Gabe?" The blond boy agrees and after waving to them, he settles back in his chair, alone at the table now, and sips from his mug of hot cider.
It's a dragon's name that catches his attention first as B'tal starts by the table of younger boys. It's the imitation of said dragon that puts that odd look on his face and makes him stare for a handful of moments while he holds onto a plate with his midday meal and listens to the rest of the tale. He might be noticeable just standing there a short distance away but after a glance in the direction of the table usually claimed by Glacier, B'tal joins the table across from Gabrion with a simply offered, "Hello."
Gabrion smiles affably at B'tal. "Hi," he says, and decides maybe it would be polite to sit up straight and give a proper greeting. "Sorry, I hope we didn't bother you, I guess we were being kind of loud." That was all Gabrion, actually, but - details. "I'm Gabrion," he introduces himself.
"No, no. You're fine. Just caught my attention. You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" B'tal asks but doesn't seem as though he has any plans to move one way or the other anyway. "B'tal," he offers his own name in turn, then after a moment adds, "Jeibeth's." Not quite an afterthought but maybe not his first either. "You know P'ax?" he asks conversationally before getting right into taking a bite.
"Nice to meet you. It's totally fine, they had to go off to work so they aren't coming back. Lots of room," Gabrion answers gesturing expansively. "And yeah.. P'ax and Yyth brought me back here from Healer Hall. She's pretty awesome. Yyth." He grins broadly at the memory. "You know them? Are you wingmates?" he guesses.
B'tal is nodding his head slowly to give himself time to take another bite of his meal and glance off toward another table. "Awesome isn't a word most people use to describe Yyth. Even Jeibeth thinks she's kind of abrasive and Jeibeth likes everyone." His attention settles back on the boy and B'tal shrugs. "I know them. Not wingmates, though, no. Friends, I guess."
"Huh. Really?" Gabrion is surprised to hear that not everyone shares his high opinion of Yyth. "Well. I guess I can see that, but," he explains, "these guys kind of had it coming. Some other apprentices. They're a-holes, basically."
Dark blue eyes study the boy while B'tal chews on another bite. He looks down at his plate before he offers anything else, "A lot of apprentices are, I guess." He sounds like he's known some that fit that description, at least. "Sure she enjoyed it, either way."
Gabrion nods his head with another grin of appreciation for the apprentices' comeuppance. "P'ax said so, yeah," he confirms. Then, curious, he asks B'tal, "Did you used to be an apprentice, too?"
B'tal is a young man with still somewhat boyish features. His shaggy, dark hair is often ruffled and unkempt. He has dark blue eyes with a subtly brassy cast around the pupil. He has a strong neck that ties into strong shoulders, but his build is leanly muscled rather than bulky.
His clothes are all chosen with practicality in mind. Dark pants and leather boots, a shirt with short or no sleeves layered with a shirt with longer sleeves depending on the weather, color coordinating only because they're pretty much all the same color. He wears the knot of a Glacier greenrider.
B'tal nods his head once, using his fork to push a piece of meat through the broth it was cooked in. "I was, yeah. Smith. Always figured you healers were... nicer, I guess." A moment of silence lingers, then he asks, "So why are you here? You seem really, you know, young, no offense. Wouldn't think they'd be posting you somewhere else yet."
"I'm fourteen," Gabe says defensively; he knows he looks younger than he is. At the rest, he shakes his head. "They didn't. I - I left. I'm not an apprentice anymore." As flatly as he tries to state the words, there's still a hint of bitterness that creeps in. "It doesn't matter, the headwoman is still making me work in the infirmary," he adds. There, he was trying to be funny, but it still sounds more bitter than anything else.
"Oh." That's all B'tal says at first. All he can think to say at first, maybe. There's something awkward about the way he chews on the bite he takes and doesn't look at the boy again right away. But soon enough he offers, "Have you met Madilla yet? She's an apprentice healer. She's really nice. You'll probably like her."
"Maybe. I guess," Gabe says, dubious. But he'll at least try to look on the bright side. "If she's here, she can't be that bad, right?" he says, and shrugs. "Someone mentioned her. I haven't met her yet. The others are... okay." Again, he shrugs, unenthusiastic.
B'tal snorts at that. "Plenty of not nice people here. Probably more than the nice ones. But healers-- they're healers for a reason, right? Supposed to care about people or something." B'tal and Gabrion are sitting at a table across from each other, the former working on a late midday meal and the latter working on a mug of hot cider.
Gabrion snorts and shakes his head. "That's not the only reason," he says flatly. "Some people, you know, they figure it's better than hoeing vegetables or hollowing out mineshafts. I guess they're even right, but..." He grimaces slightly and takes a gulp of cider.
Audria makes her way out of the kitchen and towards the meal table. Now that lunch is served to most people, it's her chance to eat. Audria loads up a plate with food before she turns, looking for a good place to take a seat.
"I never had to worry about hollowing out mineshafts," B'tal returns with a very small hint of defensiveness. "Seems like a healer ought to be just as smart as next person so they should be able to do whatever if it's not actually healing they want to do. Anyway..." The last word meant to change the subject even if the greenrider has nothing to change it with.
"Yeah. They're mostly smart, just not..." Gabrion runs out of words he really wants to say about that, and shrugs one shoulder instead. "So uh, how long you been riding? I don't remember you from before I went to Healer; you must have impressed out of one of the last couple of clutches?"
Audria finally catches sight of B'tal, and well, he's a sort of familiar face, so the cook makes her way over, hovering beside their table with plate and cup in hand. "Do you mind if I, uh, join you? To eat my lunch?"
Willing enough to stop talking about healers, B'tal thinks for a moment, studying the boy again, "Wasn't here for about five turns before I came back. Jeibeth's a little over a turn now. Last clutch." The greenrider glances sideways at the sound of a sort of familiar voice and a smile is offered to Audria. "I don't mind," but he glances across the table at Gabrion since it's him that was here first.
Gabrion nods to B'tal. "Cool," he says. Knowing that riders love to talk about their dragons, and lacking anything much else to say, he asks, "What's she like?" Glancing up at Audria, he gives her a small smile and nudges out one of the empty chairs with his foot, in invitation for her to sit.
Audria takes a seat in that chair, settling to sit awkwardly at the edge of it as she lays out her late lunch in front of her. B'tal gets a quick smile before Gabrion gets a shyer one. "I don't think I've met you. Or I forgot that I have." She states a bit bluntly before turning to start in on her food.
Coming in from outside, W'chek is to begin with only a dripping, muttering presence near the entrance, coming short of actual cursing. Then begins the process of peeling out of soaking outerwear, hanging most of it up and trudging further into the cavern. There's only one person at that particular table he has reason to recognize from a distance, but that's evidently enough to head in that direction as soon as he's gotten a mug of klah clutched in both hands. Only a glance at Gabrion and Audria to start. "Taking up sitting at the kids' table now, Bet?"
"She's nice," B'tal says, apparently not one of the sorts that will sit and babble on about his dragon just because he doesn't have anything else to say. Silence suits him just fine, not offering an introduction between Audria and Gabrion. Or it would suit him if there weren't people appearing out of nowhere to talk at him. "Yes," is all he says to that. "Are you going to join us?"
Gabrion eyes W'check, looks him up and down, and then rolls his eyes with an unvoiced 'Whatever.' Then he glances over at Audria, and shakes his head in reply. "Nope, I just got back here from Healer Hall a few days ago. I'm Gabe."
Audria looks over to W'chek and just gapes for a moment before she shakes her head. "I am not a, uh, kid. I'm sixteen. I pull my own weight. Not a child." She's emphatic about that, if not the best spoken. Gabrion gets a hint of a smile as she nods. "I'm Audria. Nice to meet you."
"Well, if you're going to sit here, unless you're going to tell me to go away or something." Not like W'chek is really going to ask permission, after all. The bronzerider deposits his mug down there, pulls out a chair and deposits himself as well, rakes a hand back through damp hair. "Yes, fine, sixteen. Good for you," to Audria. "If he's sixteen, I'll eat my riding straps." With regards to Gabrion-the-eye-roller over there.
"He said he knows P'ax," B'tal says as though that's some sort of excuse for sitting here even if he speaks as though Gabrion might not be here anymore. "He's going to be working with Madilla except he hasn't met her yet." And now everyone else is caught up on the smallest boy at the table. "You're wet," he adds to W'chek, scooting his chair just a little closer.
Gabrion opens his mouth and shuts it again, fishlike; he's considering some kind of retort directed at W'chek, but instead he chickens out and just looks away from both W'chek and B'tal. He asks Audria, "So what do you do here? They got me working in the infirmary. But, I'm hoping to get something different soon."
"You don't like the infirmary?" Audria asks, before she looks down her diminished amound of food. "I make this stuff. I mean, I cook. In the kitchens." As opposed to cooking where? W'chek doesn't even get a look for that response. After all, she has food.
Eyes narrow just faintly in B'tal's direction. "Thank you, genius. It's raining again." There's a faint smile, though, and then more of one upon the retrieval of his klah from the table. It's warm. That's a good thing. No extended eye contact for the greenrider, though, more attention on the two others. "P'ax is a loudmouth, hard not to know who he is." Pot calling kettle... "Madilla, huh? Nice girl, Madilla." That last, finally, directly to Gabrion, like maybe he wouldn't have heard that particular detail.
The greenrider is quick to smile at W'chek's less than flattering words to him but B'tal falls silent to continue eating his meal while the other three worry about the actual contributions to their conversation. Except for the brief, "I said she was nice." Of course he did.
Not so good at defending himself, Gabe is nevertheless moved to defend his friend. "At least P'ax doesn't walk up and act like an a-hole to people in the living cavern," he retorts. Little does he know. He's far more interested in what Audria has to say. "Oh, you work in the kitchens? Do they need more people in there? Like maybe dishwashers?" He doesn't answer, about not liking the infirmary, nor about Madilla being nice, but clearly he'd rather be doing something else.
Audria shrugs. "I don't know. They might. People seem to use a lot of dishes. I know that we use a lot of pans and things just in cooking it." Audria states as she finishes off her food. "P'ax just likes to leave quickly."
"Leave quickly?" Gabrion can't figure out if that's supposed to be a good or a bad thing.
"Of course," W'chek says evenly to B'tal, then more narrowed eyes, now in the direction of the kid. "P'ax? Doesn't? Are we talking about the same person? Gangly guy, blond?" Pause, with raised eyebrows. "Dunno about her, I can never get him to actually go away except by accident." Huff of a breath, then a sip from the mug.
B'tal is nodding his head along with what W'chek says although there's no huffing in particular on his part while he eats. Once there's an opening for him to say as much, the greenrider asks Audria, "Are you still just preparing or doing more stuff now?"
Audria gives B'tal a quick smile for the different topic. "More stuff. Not fancy stuff, but making stews, bread, rolls, soup. That sort of thing." Audria states before she adds. "He gets mad and then he just walks off."
"Well, he doesn't to /me/," Gabrion says pointedly to W'chek, implying that it must be the rider who has the problem. Audria, he's more inclined to take seriously, but he does look puzzled. "Huh. Well." He shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe he just had a bad day that day."
A laugh for that. "Yes, the getting mad and leaving--I just don't think so much *quickly*. Maybe, boy-o, you're just lucky. He's no less of a jerk than anybody else is." W'chek sets the mug back down, but leaves his fingers curled around it. "Or arguably more. Or maybe he's just nice on account of your age. You're... what? Thirteen?" He obviously thinks he's being charitable with that estimate, all patronizing smile.
B'tal knows the age but doesn't offer it himself. He's going to finish off his meal instead since it's almost all gone anyway. And then the greenrider realizes he doesn't have a handy drink so he looks at W'chek and makes eyes. "Can I, uh..? Just a sip? Please?" The vowels are kind of drawn out on the last and he's grinning all adorably.
Audria giggles over at B'tal's question and then looks down at her plate. "I should, er, get back to work. Now that the food is gone." Audria decides, standing up and picking up her dishes.
"I'm fourteen," Gabrion says scornfully. "And what are you, twelve?" He obviously thinks he's delivering a devastating cutdown. From which he takes a time out, briefly, to wave to Audria. "See you."
That uncomfortable frown with the lips pressed together is probably not at being called twelve. W'chek eyes the mug and hesitates, but does push it down the table in B'tal's direction. "Sure, yeah." Avoiding those eyes is easier with the kid to scowl at. "Fourteen, fine. Any rate, young enough some folks might make allowances." He manages to raise a hand after Audria's retreating form, anyway.
Like he said, despite the little beam he sends W'chek's way whether he's looking at him or not, B'tal only takes a small drink and then he scoots the mug a little ways back toward the bronzerider. "Bye, Audria," he calls after the cook, then more quietly, "I should've had her take my plate."
"For me? I guess so," Gabe retorts. "What's your excuse?" He makes a face at B'tal beaming at the other rider, and then gets to his feet, mug in hand - apparently he's had enough of the argument. He glances at B'tal's plate, but makes no move to pick it up. Instead, he turns around, and starts to walk away.
"Tried to be a good person once," is W'chek's reply, tone mild, as he retrieves his mug and drinks from it again. "Didn't work." He does not seem perturbed by the boy getting up, but this time, with the departure, freely offers the mug back up to the greenrider. "Did you want any more? Doubt there's any rush about the plate. 'Less you're headed back off already. You have more to do this afternoon? I'm not going back out in that rain, tell you that, I don't care what I technically ought to be doing." Voice pitched to barely above a murmur, yet.
The getting up is attention getting and B'tal lets him smile go away as he looks toward Gabrion. He frowns at the mug, too, glancing at W'chek uncertainly about it before look after the boy's departure with a small sigh. "No, I'm done," he murmurs. "Don't really have anywhere to go. Sweeps were early. Jeibeth won't take me home yet." Enforced social time. It's not the first time she's done that. "What ought you technically be doing?"
Gabrion dumps his mug in a bin and strides out of the cavern, shoulders squared stiffly, without looking back.