Log: Searching Wix
Who: P'draig, Wix
When: 16:18 D23 M9 T22
Where: Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
What: Paddy learns a little bit about tanning when he searches Wix, tanner's apprentice.
>---< Local Weather for FTW >------------------------------------------------<
Current Temp: 67 F Today's Lo/Hi: 57 F / 79 F
Belior: waning crescent Timor: waxing crescent
Weather: Clear
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clear and impossibly blue skies carry a hint of autumnal woodsmoke on the
breeze.
>-----------------------------------< 16:18 D23 M9 T22, autumn afternoon >---<
Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
The lake's shore is a broad crescent of golden-hued sand, stretching from the southwest wall near the feeding grounds and around to the southeast where the sand gives way to soil and leaf detritus from a cluster of hardy mountain trees. Where the lake deepens, clear blue water darkens to murky teal, hiding stony depths. Dragons often sun here and riders use the lake for dragonwashing in the warmer seasons, while all of the Weyr's denizens may enjoy walks and picnics among the large, smooth boulders that interrupt the smooth flow of sand. Many of the Weyr's children also play at skipping stones with the wide variety of rocks available along the water's edge.
It's a lovely autumn day and one motley brown is out in the water swimming. On shore, P'draig sits on his jacket, spread out a bit on the sand, feet bare and arms wrapped around knees.
Wix walks purposely towards the shore, her boots kicking sand up a little upon each step, and right past P'draig. Once she makes it to the lapping edge, she pulls two vials from her pocket, pulling the corks loose. She bends down and scoops water into each, topping them, and holding them up to peer through the vials as though she's looking for something, anything.
"What's in the water?" P'draig lifts his voice to call over, head tilting to the side to get a look at the vials rather than the girl. Meanwhile his brown dives beneath the surface, making waves. The rider's toes curl in the sand and relax, then one foot tilts to give his boot a nudge to the side so they line up better.
Wix quickly turns around, the wake lapping now at her boots which once were dry. Wix doesn't seem concerned, and smiles at the rider, "Well, nothing. Which is sort of the problem. Very alkaline. Creating a problem with our tanning solutions. Since it rained yesterday, I thought perhaps another water sample might show different properties, as the water tends to be a wee bit more acidic in rain. If it's not, we may have to start collecting it." She stuffs the two vials in her vest pocket, "Rainwater, I mean."
"Oh ... huh, didn't realize that the -- acid? In the water had anything to do with ... tanning." P'draig laughs a little, a sheepish note in the laughter. "So you can collect rainwater? And if you can't ... what do you do?" he asks curiously. Jekzith's still under the water but he's cruising in toward shore, brown body sending ripples ahead in spite of being below the surface.
Wix walks a little closer to P'draig, with a smile. Finally! Someone interested in tanning! "Oh yes. The acid plays a very large role in the deliming prior to the actual pickling or tanning process." Still a wee bit breezy, Wix stuffs her hands into her pockets. "If we can't collect the rainwater, then we'll have to artificially increase the pH of the water. It takes longer, cause you have to wait for the acid to leech out of whatever you're using." She pauses for a moment before extending a hand, "I'm Wix, and if you couldn't already guess, I'm a Tanner." The knot on her shoulder is indicative of an apprentice.
"Deliming and ... pickling? Really? You pickle hide to make it nice?" P'draig looks surprised by that series of statements. "The ... Pee-Aitch," he echoes and ducks his head for a second. "You know, I have no idea what half of that meant." But he meets her hand with his, grip firm, callused lightly across his fingers. "Well met, Wix. I'm P'draig, and that's Jekzith," he nods to the brown in the water whose head bobs up, azure eyes slow-whirling as they fix on the pair of people on the beach. I'm a rider and I run a restaurant at Ista."
Wix clasps the hand, chuckling and nodding, "Well met, both of you," tossing a glance in the brown's direction to note acknowledgement. "Sorry. I get carried away sometimes. Tanning really is a very neat process. You take a skin and how you treat it can determine what it becomes, be it clothing, boots," and she gestures to Jekzith, "Even straps. But, enough about that. Ista? What brings you to Fort?"
"Wow - you know I had no idea it was so complicated," P'draig says and drops his hand back down to rest atop one knee. "Yeah, do have plenty of experience with straps at least." A nod about Ista. "Yeah. Ista. I actually impressed here, so I swing by to visit, see friends regularly."
Wix ahs and nods, "Well, that's nice. Always good to see friends and family, and your traveling arrangements make it easy to do that, I imagine," she chuckles. "You mentioned a restaurant? What kind of food? I have to admit, I've not left the hall or Fort for much of anything, but I hear that Ista's food is starkly different from the normal roast beast with gravy, mashed tubers and the like that we have here."
"Yep, nothing quite like instant travel to help close the distance between places," P'draig agrees. "Mm, yeah. The Beach House it's called and I use mostly local ingredients so it's Istan, but I also mix in things from the mainland, so it's that kind of combination of flavors that's the specialty."
The tanner kicks a pebble aside and goes down to one knee, folding her arms across the bent leg now held against her chest. "Combination of flavors, eh? I imagine that must taste nice, and truthfully, it's not fair of me to disparage Fortian cooking. I mean, if I actually took time to taste my food before swallowing, I'm sure it's fantastic for this region. We've got a lot of good cooks here, you know," says Wix.
For a moment, P'draig is distracted, looking beyond Wix as Jekzith paddles up and drips out of the water toward the beach. "Hm? Yes, I think it does and well actually, you might have a chance to try it out. Jekzith's interested in bringing you back to Ista, to Stand for Safriath and Taineth's clutch." He blinks twice, re-focuses on Wix and grins. "And I know there are. I know some of them. The older ones who were here when I still lived here. I only transferred to Ista about five turns ago."
Wix's brows lift, "Hmm? Come again?" It starts to sink in and Wix's eyes widen and then narrow as she contemplates all that candidacy will involve, "Um. Well, hmm... It's going to take away from my studies for a little while, but no reason I can't pick it back up afterwards. This is a very true honor, and I appreciate it. I'd absolutely love to go to Ista, and try my luck!" She stands up and grins at the brown and his rider, "If it's ok with you, I'm going to need a bit of time to go and inform my mentor, and gather a few things. Do I uh, do I ride with you, or am I responsible for finding my own transportation?" Wix is a little jittery, obviously trying to contain her excitement over this new prospective assignment.
P'draig's brows hike up a little as Wix jumps right into accepting. "Uh - yeah it'll interrupt things. And if you impress, it'll be a while longer before you can pick up tanning again. Impression changes things," the brownrider says with a little grin as Jekzith comes closer and ducks his head, aiming to fit an eyeridge under Wix' hand. "He's saying hello. And if you'd like to come back with me, there's no rush, I've got a few more visits to do today - was probably going to meet up with someone for a drink. Or you can take a few days and send word, or come over with a Fort rider."
Wix jumps a little at the brown touching her hand, but gives it a gentle, awkward pat. "Oh hello, hello." Clearly a little worried that the rider might change his mind, she bursts, "No no, that's okay. It will only take me a few minutes. I'm sure they'll not mind. I mean, it's gotten kind of hot around here. In the past three days, I've had to answer to two weyrwomen and my journeyman, so...heheheh, I think we all could use a break!" She holds her hands up plaintively, bending over at the waist and backing away from the pair, "I'll be -right- back... right back, honest. Ok?" She turns to trot off to the bowl.
"Hot?" P'draig asks curiously and Jekzith croons encouragingly as Wix pets. "And really ... there's no rush. Once you've accepted, unless you drop out, you have a right to stand," the brownrider notes. "Though ... you sure you don't have any ques-- okay." Bemused he watches her trot off and leans back onto his elbows once she's gone, looks up at Jekzith with a grin. The brown whuffs and streeetches out, curls up to dry in the sun. While Wix is gone, they do get a visitor, spend some time chatting with an old friend.
After about 20 minutes have gone by, Wix comes shuffling quickly back to the shoreline, a satchel tossed over her shoulder, and a large jacket under her arm. She grins, "Alright! I'm ready! Mum's none to happy to watch me go, but happy for me, and my mentor said good luck, but that it doesn't let me off the hook on my project. I guess he's willing to wait though." A big toothy, seemingly innocent smile is flashed at the pair, "Ready when you are, sir!"
Winding up his conversation as Wix approaches, P'draig waves as his friend heads off and he cocks another look over at Wix. "I guess you really are ready to go. Okay, guess I'll come back another day." Briefly he looks toward the bowl and some of the ledges there, but then he leans forward and digs his socks out of his boots, pulls them back on and then the footgear too, ties the laces and gets to hise feet. His jacket is picked up, shaken out and he sling it on, does up the front. "Jekzith's pretty much dry by now, just give me a second to get his straps on and we'll mount up, head out, get you settled. And if you want to try out my cooking, dinner's on the house tonight," he tells her with a wink.
Wix grins broadly, "Okay! Sounds like a deal!" She drops her satchel to the ground, and the loud sound of metal clanging against metal can be heard. She shimmies into her jacket, and starts to button the front of it up. It's a simple leather jacket, nothing fancy, unlined, and unrefined.
P'draig eyes Wix' bag for a second. "Tools in there or something? Not clothes?" Again, bemused as P'draig lifts Jekzith's straps from the sand and heads over to put them on the brown, careful with each buckle and fastening.
Wix hmms, innocently. "What? Tools? Oh, just a few knick-knacks. Things I don't want to leave lying around here, you know what I'm saying. I mean, a lock box is all and good, but you never know when you're going to need something." She flips over the covering of the satchel and pulls out a huge curved knife with wooden handles on each end. To someone who knows nothing about tanning, it could very well be mistaken for some kind of archaic weaponry.
There go P'draig's brows lifting upward again. "That ... looks mighty wicked. You might want to check in with the headwoman, Loe, first about keeping those in the candidate quarters," he suggests mildly and hook the last strap in place, gives it a tug, then smiles. "Okay, all set here, c'mon over and up. Have you ridden on a dragon before?"
Wix looks at her fleshing knife, twisting it left and right, "Wicked? Yeah, I guess it is. Never met a membrane it couldn't take!" She snickers and stuffs it back in her satchel, "But if I gotta check it, I'll check it. Though surely, I'd think the tanners at Ista would have a few hanging around." She shrugs, and bends down to fling her duffel back over her shoulder, before walking to the brown. She looks up at P'draig, "Um, can't say I've ever had the privy. Where do I step?"
"Sure, but there's a difference between using the tools in the work rooms with a journeyman and having them stowed in the barracks," P'draig points out and he gestures toward Jekzith's courteously lowered limbs. "Put one foot there, grab the strap, haul up and get between those two neck ridges. Here, give me your bag and I'll clip it to straps so you're not weighed down for the climb up. And if it's easier, I can also go first and lean down to help you up instead of giving you a hand up from down here."
"Wiiiiiix.... Wiiiiiiiix! I know you're out here, your journeyman said so-OH!" Shilanna stops upon finding her roomie almost in the clutches of a curly-haired rider. "Shards! It's true! You are being kidnapped! They /said/ search, but you never know, it could be a ruse! Or are you being whisked away in a more romantic sense?" She frowns, pondering this possiblity. "I suppose that's a possiblity, but I would have thought you'd take a bath before being swept off your feet."
Wix turns around and casts Shilanna a grin while holding out her satchel to P'draig. She mutters, "Yeah, it'd probably best that you help me from up there. I've never gotten on one of these guys before." She chuckles, "I think he's authentic, Shy. I mean," smiling to P'draig, "It's not that you're not handsome or anything, that's not what I mean. I mean like, you're really obviously a dragonrider, unless this is the most amazingly convincing costume of a dragon I've ever seen."
P'draig takes Wix' bag and turns to clip it to straps, looks up as someone calls the newly-made candidate. Clink, clink go the clips and then Paddy is blinking, brows hiking up and up and up as Shilanna says what she says and Wix answers. "Ah -- thanks," he tells Wix with a rather comical look on his face. "And no, nothing romantic here except maybe the prospect of impression?" he offers over to Shilanna and looks between the two with a touch of confusion.
The dragon is given a sharp look, Shilanna eyes squinted as if to look for seams. "I suppose you're right, I mean it's not like you can fake a dragon, but you /know/ that's not what I meant! Mother used to tell me not to go out in the feilds alone in case a passing rider decided to steal me!" A thoughtful pause - brief, but thoughtful. "Though that might have been because I was five and tended to get into trouble left on my own. I haven't seen any riders come in with stolen women or children since I got here, so I think she may have been making that up. But Wix, handsome riders or not! Wait." She shoots a look at the brownrider, suddenly cheerful. "You will make sure she takes a good bath before letting the little dragons have her, wont you? Oh! Wixie! Do you think I can come see? I want to see what a dragon that likes the smell of brains looks like!"
Wix busts out laughing. "Well, it's not really theft if the person doing the thieving asks, and the person being...thieved... agrees to being thiev-ed?" As she struggles with her logic and words, she walks over to Shilanna to give her a hug, "If, and only -if-, a little dragon likes the smell of brains, I would hope you'd be there to see it!" She shakes her head, laughing. "In the mean time, maybe you can enjoy yourself a little distance in our room! I have a feeling people might spread out a little more now that I'm gone," wink.
Paddy's mouth opens, closes and he takes a moment before speaking again. "No, no stealing," he says as straight-faced as he can. And there go his brows hiking up again. "Well ... you know it could be an advantage to smell like what they like for food, so, we'll see. BUt it's not my job to enforce bathing amongst candidates." P'draig smiles and holds his hand out to Shilanna to shake briefly. "P'draig, brown Jekzith's." Jekzith lets out a bright warble of greeting. The rider turns to get aboard after shaking hands and settles in place effortlessly. "Looks like you're good friends, I'll see if we can't make sure you're able to come," he offers over and leans back to wait for the girls to finish their good-byes.
"Charmed, charmed." Shy responds distractedly to both rider and dragon. "I suppose we well be able to space out some now, especially after we air the room out a little bit. No offense Wixie, but the tanning, well, it smells just a bit." She returns the hug with a light patting on the back, an attempt to maintain /some/ distance between the two. "Be good, and don't let anyone steal you off from there too. I like you just that little bit more than my sisters, though I do like them more now that they're gone, so maybe I'll like you even more after you've left. Hmm." She taps a finger to her lips at that thought, then smiles brightly. "But there's no way to find out until after you've gone, so you better hurry up and go so I can start liking you better!"
Wix laughs and shakes her head. She says, "Sure. Uh huh," as she walks over to P'draig, "I'll see you around, Shy. I'm ready to go now, Sir. Gotta head on out of here so she 'likes me better,' doncha know." Running a hand through her dusty red hair, she looks up at the dragon's straps. "This ought to be real graceful."
Warbling again, Jekzith shifts from foot to foot with excitement. P'draig just laughs. "Sure," and he leans down to offer Wix a hand up along Jekzith's forelimb. "Take my hand, get your foot going and I'll pull while you climbe up and we should get you sorted out." He looks back down at Shilanna, smiles. "Enjoy the extra space."
Cheerfully smiling, Shy waves an enthusiastic farewell, and continues to do so for the entire mounting process, and will likely continue to do so for long after as well. "Have fun! Be good! Take a bath!" and so on, and so on.
Wix grasps P'draig's arm, and easilly makes it to the forearm of Jekzith, but from there, her right leg is just sort of useless. She starts to scramble, trying to grab for anything she can and pretty much relies solely on her grip on the rider's arm. Short of climbing over his head, she manages to sit her butt between the neck ridges he told her to use. Panting, she smoothes her slacks, trying to regain whatever dignity she might have left, "That wasn't so hard..." Liar.
Good thing Paddy's strong? Even so, he does let out a quiet grunt as he winds up hauling the girl halfway up Jekzith's side. "Okay, we'll work on that," the brownrider says with laugh and picks up the safetes to clip around her, a few quiet words offered on how to buckle in. Then he waves down at Shilanna. "Back up a bit, Jekzith's going to send some dust and dirt flying when he takes off." To Wix: "All set?" And then moments later the brown is springing lightly into the air and gaining height rapidly.
Shy pauses in her waving to grab up her skirts and run a distance that is probably far enough way, and then resumes the frantic farewell. "Byeee!"
When: 16:18 D23 M9 T22
Where: Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
What: Paddy learns a little bit about tanning when he searches Wix, tanner's apprentice.
>---< Local Weather for FTW >------------------------------------------------<
Current Temp: 67 F Today's Lo/Hi: 57 F / 79 F
Belior: waning crescent Timor: waxing crescent
Weather: Clear
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clear and impossibly blue skies carry a hint of autumnal woodsmoke on the
breeze.
>-----------------------------------< 16:18 D23 M9 T22, autumn afternoon >---<
Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
The lake's shore is a broad crescent of golden-hued sand, stretching from the southwest wall near the feeding grounds and around to the southeast where the sand gives way to soil and leaf detritus from a cluster of hardy mountain trees. Where the lake deepens, clear blue water darkens to murky teal, hiding stony depths. Dragons often sun here and riders use the lake for dragonwashing in the warmer seasons, while all of the Weyr's denizens may enjoy walks and picnics among the large, smooth boulders that interrupt the smooth flow of sand. Many of the Weyr's children also play at skipping stones with the wide variety of rocks available along the water's edge.
It's a lovely autumn day and one motley brown is out in the water swimming. On shore, P'draig sits on his jacket, spread out a bit on the sand, feet bare and arms wrapped around knees.
Wix walks purposely towards the shore, her boots kicking sand up a little upon each step, and right past P'draig. Once she makes it to the lapping edge, she pulls two vials from her pocket, pulling the corks loose. She bends down and scoops water into each, topping them, and holding them up to peer through the vials as though she's looking for something, anything.
"What's in the water?" P'draig lifts his voice to call over, head tilting to the side to get a look at the vials rather than the girl. Meanwhile his brown dives beneath the surface, making waves. The rider's toes curl in the sand and relax, then one foot tilts to give his boot a nudge to the side so they line up better.
Wix quickly turns around, the wake lapping now at her boots which once were dry. Wix doesn't seem concerned, and smiles at the rider, "Well, nothing. Which is sort of the problem. Very alkaline. Creating a problem with our tanning solutions. Since it rained yesterday, I thought perhaps another water sample might show different properties, as the water tends to be a wee bit more acidic in rain. If it's not, we may have to start collecting it." She stuffs the two vials in her vest pocket, "Rainwater, I mean."
"Oh ... huh, didn't realize that the -- acid? In the water had anything to do with ... tanning." P'draig laughs a little, a sheepish note in the laughter. "So you can collect rainwater? And if you can't ... what do you do?" he asks curiously. Jekzith's still under the water but he's cruising in toward shore, brown body sending ripples ahead in spite of being below the surface.
Wix walks a little closer to P'draig, with a smile. Finally! Someone interested in tanning! "Oh yes. The acid plays a very large role in the deliming prior to the actual pickling or tanning process." Still a wee bit breezy, Wix stuffs her hands into her pockets. "If we can't collect the rainwater, then we'll have to artificially increase the pH of the water. It takes longer, cause you have to wait for the acid to leech out of whatever you're using." She pauses for a moment before extending a hand, "I'm Wix, and if you couldn't already guess, I'm a Tanner." The knot on her shoulder is indicative of an apprentice.
"Deliming and ... pickling? Really? You pickle hide to make it nice?" P'draig looks surprised by that series of statements. "The ... Pee-Aitch," he echoes and ducks his head for a second. "You know, I have no idea what half of that meant." But he meets her hand with his, grip firm, callused lightly across his fingers. "Well met, Wix. I'm P'draig, and that's Jekzith," he nods to the brown in the water whose head bobs up, azure eyes slow-whirling as they fix on the pair of people on the beach. I'm a rider and I run a restaurant at Ista."
Wix clasps the hand, chuckling and nodding, "Well met, both of you," tossing a glance in the brown's direction to note acknowledgement. "Sorry. I get carried away sometimes. Tanning really is a very neat process. You take a skin and how you treat it can determine what it becomes, be it clothing, boots," and she gestures to Jekzith, "Even straps. But, enough about that. Ista? What brings you to Fort?"
"Wow - you know I had no idea it was so complicated," P'draig says and drops his hand back down to rest atop one knee. "Yeah, do have plenty of experience with straps at least." A nod about Ista. "Yeah. Ista. I actually impressed here, so I swing by to visit, see friends regularly."
Wix ahs and nods, "Well, that's nice. Always good to see friends and family, and your traveling arrangements make it easy to do that, I imagine," she chuckles. "You mentioned a restaurant? What kind of food? I have to admit, I've not left the hall or Fort for much of anything, but I hear that Ista's food is starkly different from the normal roast beast with gravy, mashed tubers and the like that we have here."
"Yep, nothing quite like instant travel to help close the distance between places," P'draig agrees. "Mm, yeah. The Beach House it's called and I use mostly local ingredients so it's Istan, but I also mix in things from the mainland, so it's that kind of combination of flavors that's the specialty."
The tanner kicks a pebble aside and goes down to one knee, folding her arms across the bent leg now held against her chest. "Combination of flavors, eh? I imagine that must taste nice, and truthfully, it's not fair of me to disparage Fortian cooking. I mean, if I actually took time to taste my food before swallowing, I'm sure it's fantastic for this region. We've got a lot of good cooks here, you know," says Wix.
For a moment, P'draig is distracted, looking beyond Wix as Jekzith paddles up and drips out of the water toward the beach. "Hm? Yes, I think it does and well actually, you might have a chance to try it out. Jekzith's interested in bringing you back to Ista, to Stand for Safriath and Taineth's clutch." He blinks twice, re-focuses on Wix and grins. "And I know there are. I know some of them. The older ones who were here when I still lived here. I only transferred to Ista about five turns ago."
Wix's brows lift, "Hmm? Come again?" It starts to sink in and Wix's eyes widen and then narrow as she contemplates all that candidacy will involve, "Um. Well, hmm... It's going to take away from my studies for a little while, but no reason I can't pick it back up afterwards. This is a very true honor, and I appreciate it. I'd absolutely love to go to Ista, and try my luck!" She stands up and grins at the brown and his rider, "If it's ok with you, I'm going to need a bit of time to go and inform my mentor, and gather a few things. Do I uh, do I ride with you, or am I responsible for finding my own transportation?" Wix is a little jittery, obviously trying to contain her excitement over this new prospective assignment.
P'draig's brows hike up a little as Wix jumps right into accepting. "Uh - yeah it'll interrupt things. And if you impress, it'll be a while longer before you can pick up tanning again. Impression changes things," the brownrider says with a little grin as Jekzith comes closer and ducks his head, aiming to fit an eyeridge under Wix' hand. "He's saying hello. And if you'd like to come back with me, there's no rush, I've got a few more visits to do today - was probably going to meet up with someone for a drink. Or you can take a few days and send word, or come over with a Fort rider."
Wix jumps a little at the brown touching her hand, but gives it a gentle, awkward pat. "Oh hello, hello." Clearly a little worried that the rider might change his mind, she bursts, "No no, that's okay. It will only take me a few minutes. I'm sure they'll not mind. I mean, it's gotten kind of hot around here. In the past three days, I've had to answer to two weyrwomen and my journeyman, so...heheheh, I think we all could use a break!" She holds her hands up plaintively, bending over at the waist and backing away from the pair, "I'll be -right- back... right back, honest. Ok?" She turns to trot off to the bowl.
"Hot?" P'draig asks curiously and Jekzith croons encouragingly as Wix pets. "And really ... there's no rush. Once you've accepted, unless you drop out, you have a right to stand," the brownrider notes. "Though ... you sure you don't have any ques-- okay." Bemused he watches her trot off and leans back onto his elbows once she's gone, looks up at Jekzith with a grin. The brown whuffs and streeetches out, curls up to dry in the sun. While Wix is gone, they do get a visitor, spend some time chatting with an old friend.
After about 20 minutes have gone by, Wix comes shuffling quickly back to the shoreline, a satchel tossed over her shoulder, and a large jacket under her arm. She grins, "Alright! I'm ready! Mum's none to happy to watch me go, but happy for me, and my mentor said good luck, but that it doesn't let me off the hook on my project. I guess he's willing to wait though." A big toothy, seemingly innocent smile is flashed at the pair, "Ready when you are, sir!"
Winding up his conversation as Wix approaches, P'draig waves as his friend heads off and he cocks another look over at Wix. "I guess you really are ready to go. Okay, guess I'll come back another day." Briefly he looks toward the bowl and some of the ledges there, but then he leans forward and digs his socks out of his boots, pulls them back on and then the footgear too, ties the laces and gets to hise feet. His jacket is picked up, shaken out and he sling it on, does up the front. "Jekzith's pretty much dry by now, just give me a second to get his straps on and we'll mount up, head out, get you settled. And if you want to try out my cooking, dinner's on the house tonight," he tells her with a wink.
Wix grins broadly, "Okay! Sounds like a deal!" She drops her satchel to the ground, and the loud sound of metal clanging against metal can be heard. She shimmies into her jacket, and starts to button the front of it up. It's a simple leather jacket, nothing fancy, unlined, and unrefined.
P'draig eyes Wix' bag for a second. "Tools in there or something? Not clothes?" Again, bemused as P'draig lifts Jekzith's straps from the sand and heads over to put them on the brown, careful with each buckle and fastening.
Wix hmms, innocently. "What? Tools? Oh, just a few knick-knacks. Things I don't want to leave lying around here, you know what I'm saying. I mean, a lock box is all and good, but you never know when you're going to need something." She flips over the covering of the satchel and pulls out a huge curved knife with wooden handles on each end. To someone who knows nothing about tanning, it could very well be mistaken for some kind of archaic weaponry.
There go P'draig's brows lifting upward again. "That ... looks mighty wicked. You might want to check in with the headwoman, Loe, first about keeping those in the candidate quarters," he suggests mildly and hook the last strap in place, gives it a tug, then smiles. "Okay, all set here, c'mon over and up. Have you ridden on a dragon before?"
Wix looks at her fleshing knife, twisting it left and right, "Wicked? Yeah, I guess it is. Never met a membrane it couldn't take!" She snickers and stuffs it back in her satchel, "But if I gotta check it, I'll check it. Though surely, I'd think the tanners at Ista would have a few hanging around." She shrugs, and bends down to fling her duffel back over her shoulder, before walking to the brown. She looks up at P'draig, "Um, can't say I've ever had the privy. Where do I step?"
"Sure, but there's a difference between using the tools in the work rooms with a journeyman and having them stowed in the barracks," P'draig points out and he gestures toward Jekzith's courteously lowered limbs. "Put one foot there, grab the strap, haul up and get between those two neck ridges. Here, give me your bag and I'll clip it to straps so you're not weighed down for the climb up. And if it's easier, I can also go first and lean down to help you up instead of giving you a hand up from down here."
"Wiiiiiix.... Wiiiiiiiix! I know you're out here, your journeyman said so-OH!" Shilanna stops upon finding her roomie almost in the clutches of a curly-haired rider. "Shards! It's true! You are being kidnapped! They /said/ search, but you never know, it could be a ruse! Or are you being whisked away in a more romantic sense?" She frowns, pondering this possiblity. "I suppose that's a possiblity, but I would have thought you'd take a bath before being swept off your feet."
Wix turns around and casts Shilanna a grin while holding out her satchel to P'draig. She mutters, "Yeah, it'd probably best that you help me from up there. I've never gotten on one of these guys before." She chuckles, "I think he's authentic, Shy. I mean," smiling to P'draig, "It's not that you're not handsome or anything, that's not what I mean. I mean like, you're really obviously a dragonrider, unless this is the most amazingly convincing costume of a dragon I've ever seen."
P'draig takes Wix' bag and turns to clip it to straps, looks up as someone calls the newly-made candidate. Clink, clink go the clips and then Paddy is blinking, brows hiking up and up and up as Shilanna says what she says and Wix answers. "Ah -- thanks," he tells Wix with a rather comical look on his face. "And no, nothing romantic here except maybe the prospect of impression?" he offers over to Shilanna and looks between the two with a touch of confusion.
The dragon is given a sharp look, Shilanna eyes squinted as if to look for seams. "I suppose you're right, I mean it's not like you can fake a dragon, but you /know/ that's not what I meant! Mother used to tell me not to go out in the feilds alone in case a passing rider decided to steal me!" A thoughtful pause - brief, but thoughtful. "Though that might have been because I was five and tended to get into trouble left on my own. I haven't seen any riders come in with stolen women or children since I got here, so I think she may have been making that up. But Wix, handsome riders or not! Wait." She shoots a look at the brownrider, suddenly cheerful. "You will make sure she takes a good bath before letting the little dragons have her, wont you? Oh! Wixie! Do you think I can come see? I want to see what a dragon that likes the smell of brains looks like!"
Wix busts out laughing. "Well, it's not really theft if the person doing the thieving asks, and the person being...thieved... agrees to being thiev-ed?" As she struggles with her logic and words, she walks over to Shilanna to give her a hug, "If, and only -if-, a little dragon likes the smell of brains, I would hope you'd be there to see it!" She shakes her head, laughing. "In the mean time, maybe you can enjoy yourself a little distance in our room! I have a feeling people might spread out a little more now that I'm gone," wink.
Paddy's mouth opens, closes and he takes a moment before speaking again. "No, no stealing," he says as straight-faced as he can. And there go his brows hiking up again. "Well ... you know it could be an advantage to smell like what they like for food, so, we'll see. BUt it's not my job to enforce bathing amongst candidates." P'draig smiles and holds his hand out to Shilanna to shake briefly. "P'draig, brown Jekzith's." Jekzith lets out a bright warble of greeting. The rider turns to get aboard after shaking hands and settles in place effortlessly. "Looks like you're good friends, I'll see if we can't make sure you're able to come," he offers over and leans back to wait for the girls to finish their good-byes.
"Charmed, charmed." Shy responds distractedly to both rider and dragon. "I suppose we well be able to space out some now, especially after we air the room out a little bit. No offense Wixie, but the tanning, well, it smells just a bit." She returns the hug with a light patting on the back, an attempt to maintain /some/ distance between the two. "Be good, and don't let anyone steal you off from there too. I like you just that little bit more than my sisters, though I do like them more now that they're gone, so maybe I'll like you even more after you've left. Hmm." She taps a finger to her lips at that thought, then smiles brightly. "But there's no way to find out until after you've gone, so you better hurry up and go so I can start liking you better!"
Wix laughs and shakes her head. She says, "Sure. Uh huh," as she walks over to P'draig, "I'll see you around, Shy. I'm ready to go now, Sir. Gotta head on out of here so she 'likes me better,' doncha know." Running a hand through her dusty red hair, she looks up at the dragon's straps. "This ought to be real graceful."
Warbling again, Jekzith shifts from foot to foot with excitement. P'draig just laughs. "Sure," and he leans down to offer Wix a hand up along Jekzith's forelimb. "Take my hand, get your foot going and I'll pull while you climbe up and we should get you sorted out." He looks back down at Shilanna, smiles. "Enjoy the extra space."
Cheerfully smiling, Shy waves an enthusiastic farewell, and continues to do so for the entire mounting process, and will likely continue to do so for long after as well. "Have fun! Be good! Take a bath!" and so on, and so on.
Wix grasps P'draig's arm, and easilly makes it to the forearm of Jekzith, but from there, her right leg is just sort of useless. She starts to scramble, trying to grab for anything she can and pretty much relies solely on her grip on the rider's arm. Short of climbing over his head, she manages to sit her butt between the neck ridges he told her to use. Panting, she smoothes her slacks, trying to regain whatever dignity she might have left, "That wasn't so hard..." Liar.
Good thing Paddy's strong? Even so, he does let out a quiet grunt as he winds up hauling the girl halfway up Jekzith's side. "Okay, we'll work on that," the brownrider says with laugh and picks up the safetes to clip around her, a few quiet words offered on how to buckle in. Then he waves down at Shilanna. "Back up a bit, Jekzith's going to send some dust and dirt flying when he takes off." To Wix: "All set?" And then moments later the brown is springing lightly into the air and gaining height rapidly.
Shy pauses in her waving to grab up her skirts and run a distance that is probably far enough way, and then resumes the frantic farewell. "Byeee!"