LOG: Clutching Party!
Date: Day 26, Month 2, Turn 26
Location: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: After the clutching, weyrfolk celebrate. Taikrin RUINS it.
Wind and rain outdoors has ensured that the clutching party takes place /indoors/. All the tables and chairs have been piled up in the corners or stored elsewhere, leaving the cavern wide and empty - except for all the people milling about. A group of Harpers are set up not far from the hearth, while the serving tables are full of food, extra tables nearby offering a variety of beverages - alcoholc and non - for those thatway inclined. The buzz about the room is cheerful, though there are more than a few people asking the reasonable question of: "Why is there another gold egg? Isn't THREE enough?"
Beven is leaning against a wall watching the party going on around him, his head tilted just a bit, "So there was a gold egg laid after all?" he asks one of the many people in the living cavern for the party.
A trio of girls comes in from the wind and rain, laughing and chittering excitedly, "I thought for /sure/ the last egg was just soaked in blood. That just doesn't look right at all." The fish-faced younger woman says as she plods in after Rhaelyn who rolls her eyes, "I think that they would be making a huge fuss if it was the dragon's blood and besides, they don't bleed red like us. That is what I've read." She heads over to Beven as she overhears the question, "There is one out there. I think. But I thought it would be bigger to be honest."
Beven hrms a bit and he tilts his head to the side, "I always thought the gold egg was the biggest egg, aside from the fact it's gold, from the rest of the clutch." He says to Rhaelyn, frowning just slightly, clearly not sure if he's remembering things correctly.
Rhaelyn points back the way she came, a thumb poking over her shoulder as she grins at Beven, "It was...I /guess/. Bigger than the others I mean, but I thought it would be -bigger-." She rolls her eyes, "Anyway, you should go and see it and let me know. Have you seen a clutching before? I mean, since you seem to know the facts better than I."
Nathalia slipped in from the bowl area where she had been undeniably caught in the mess of bad weather trying to find her way to the Craft Complex. "should have asked for a map. . ." she muttered to herself. Unfortunately she had managed to wander into the middle of the party. Sheepishly she looked about for a familiar face, and made her way over to the beast crafter she had met earlier.
Beven chuckles ever so softly, "I was raised here in the Weyr, though most of my time was spent in the craft complex, I have seen clutchings and hatchings before, but I could always be wrong, don't take me as an expert in this kind of thing."
K'del's late - late to his own party! But he's changed his clothes and managed to paint on a smile despite the fact that there are bound to be rumours about how unhappy he looked at the arrival of that gold egg. He sweeps in from the bowl, hastily removing a damp coat and hat before he moves further into the room. He's immediately surrounded in well-wishers, most of whom he makes an attempt to fob off so that he can seek out the drinks table. Safety in booze, oh yes.
Rhaelyn adds a smile to Nathalia as she comes to join them, or at least Beven. "I see," She says to the beastcrafter as he speaks of being raised in the weyr, "So, we can't pick your brain about what to expect then? These things are all so new to us." Rhae sounds ever so sad about that.
Taikrin is sulking. Really, REALLY sulking. She's also really, REALLY drunk. Again. It probably should have been put on the list of things that she's prohibited from during her punishment. The brownrider is propped up against the wall, nursing the most recent of many glasses of whiskey and glaring at the world as if their happiness was personally offensive. Her gaze in particular tracks K'del as he enters, narrowing unpleasantly as he makes his way towards her beloved booze.
Nathalia finally makes it over to where Beven is, but not before picking up a glass of something that smelled rather strong. "I take it that queen finally finished clutching." She asked Beven. She noticed the smile, and nods in return though she's never met the woman. "Took her awhile, I take it there's a good number of eggs this time?"
Big weyr parties - even if there are no out-weyr guests - are not the right time for massive screaming matches. Or violence. No matter how much fun /that/ would be. That's probably why, though K'del /notices/ Taikrin, he's carefully not to glance in her direction for more than a moment. Instead, he gets himself a whiskey and shifts back into the crowd.
Beven chuckles a bit and he tilts his head to the side, "Well I can tell you what I know, but asking a rider might be a better idea, since they actually have dragons and probably know more than a weyr resident or crafter." he says with a smile towards Nathalia, "If you need help finding the complex Nat, I'll help you after the party."
Regardless of K'del's intentions, Taikrin pushes off the wall with purpose once she loses sight of the Weyrleader-- and is sidetracked when she overhears a snatch of Nathalia's comment. "One more'n Iskiveth did, 'cause of COURSE th'Weyrleader's got t'be the best at everythin', an' havin' another queen egg t'boot," she injects, words slurred not only from a thick rural-Crom accent but from inebriation to boot.
Rhaelyn's expression reads that she didn't see it as a particularly long time and she pins Nathalia a long, curious look but in the end just gives a little shrug. "There are fourteen eggs. Is that a lot?" Rhaelyn asks at last. She might not be paying much attention to the answer though, because the activity by the drink table, particularly Taikrin's response is much more interesting.
When Teris makes an appearance, it's not one where she's looking to have much notice taken. She's alone, which isn't at all unusual, and dressed just as well as she normally is. Her face lacks any real expression as she weaves through people here and there toward the serving tables to eventually have a glass of wine in hand.
Sound carries. Or, well, maybe K'del is listening out for Taikrin; it's impossible to really tell. At any rate, the Weyrleader's voice is raised rather louder than it needs to be as he remarks to his current conversational companion, "Oh yes. Fourteen - not a bad size, really. And the queen, of course. Not as big as Iovniath's last clutch, of course, but more than Iskiveth's. Quite a coup, really."
Nathalia let a cool laugh at the drunken rider's comment. "Seems to be a thing with males, though I haven't met the weyrleader yet." She shrugs at the number that Rhaelyn mentions. "I haven't been in a weyr since I was very little, so I wouldn't know, Just got in today actually. I am Nat by the way, or Nathalia, take your pick." She takes a large gulp from her cup, and feels a bit more comfortable as the liquid burns down her throat. "Fourteen and a queen, that will be interesting."
Beven hms a bit and he nods his head a bit, "It's a decent clutch if there's not thread falling. The clutches will get bigger as the interval ends." he says with a shrug of his shoulders after a moment."
Taikrin's expression darkens perceptibly - she must have heard at least PART of K'del's comment, because she gives a visible twitch when Iskiveth's name is mentioned. "They /are/ greedy, ain't they?" she agrees, loudly, with Nathalia. Apparently making herself at home in their conversation whether she's welcome or not, she looks between the three then pronounces after Beven, "And /he's/ the greediest of the lot, havin' Cadejoth make all those eggs. Reckon he's excited about that gold egg so's he can add ANOTHER one to his collection. Got t'have a whole set of goldriders all for himself, did y'hear?"
"Oh yes," says K'del, firmly. "We're /very pleased/ about the gold egg. Might use one of our queens to, you know, earn an advantage with one of the other weyrs. Trade 'em on." He's talking loudly, still, smiling as he excuses himself from that particular conversation and on to-- the next. Or. Well. Teris. "Oh. Hello, Teris."
It's difficult for Teris to entirely ignore the vocalization of her lifemate's name and her attention focuses in K'del's general direction as he continues on about the new gold egg. When his attention turns toward her, thin brows lift slightly and she offers her typically polite smile. "Hello, K'del. Congratulations are in order, I suppose." Which must basically be the extent of them she's offering.
Nathalia laughs at the rider's comment. "How many is that so far? I am afraid Haven't kept track of the weyrs of late." She turns her attention back to Rhaelyn for a moment when she's questioned. "Well A queen's egg is usually a pretty rare thing, and they are highly coveted by the Weyrs." She trailed off as she listened to the other rider. And quirked her brow a moment. She noted the girls names and the fact that she probably wouldn't remember them in the morning. She glanced over at Beven with a greatfull smile. "That would be helpful, I don't know that I will ever get used to this place"
"Maybe if we're lucky he'll trade /himself/," Taikrin mutters in what she must think is pretty quiet, but in actuality can easily be heard by her immediate neighbors. Distracted by Rhaelyn's introduction, her scowl of irritation moderates, becomes curious. "Huh. Rhaelyn. We met? Y'all look awful familiar. I know I ain't seen neither of you two--" She gestures with her drink, slopping alcohol over her wrist as she indicates Beven and Nathalia. "And--" she adds on in an aside to the latter, "/Too many/. More'n his share."
K'del looks, honestly, distinctly awkward as he regards Teris, his cheeks turning faintly pink. He mutters to Teris, "... think? Er-- not... transfer you... okay?..." Beat. "Er. Not transferring-- she's just being an idiot. A drunk idiot. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, expression faintly hopeful. "Kind of worries me, actually. Four queens. Not like we need that many, during Interval."
Teris senses "K'del looks, honestly, distinctly awkward as he regards Teris, his cheeks turning faintly pink. "Thanks. I think? Er-- not actually intending to transfer you or anyone else away, okay? Just-- Taikrin, right?" Beat. "Er. Not transferring-- she's just being an idiot. A drunk idiot. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, expression faintly hopeful. "Kind of worries me, actually. Four queens. Not like we need that many, during Interval.""
Beven blinks a bit at Taikrin's comments, not really sure what to say, "Uhm, I'm sure that's probably not the Weyrleader's intent, and even if it was, it's not something we should be talking about, cause it's like disrespectful to him, and more than a little insulting to the Weyrwomen, isn't it?" comes the tentative comments from the beastcrafter lad, nope, not good to disrespect those in authority.
Rhaelyn rolls her eyes as she turns her head away from Nathalia, "There are currently three goldriders here." See, even the exile can dish out some 'I'm a know-it-all' to counter Nathalia's comment about the precious gold egg. When Nathalia turns to Beven, she makes her escape from the pair of them and heads to get herself something to drink, dragging Mara after her. "We met at the Oasis." Of course she means Snowasis, but the name always fails her. "I think we want what you've been drinking."
The Weyrleader's awkwardness makes Teris smile a little more genuinely and she listens to him as she takes a small drink of her wine. By the time he's done, she's offering a small shake of her head and glancing about to get a fix on the brownrider in question. "I didn't think you were. But if you do, I'd prefer some place where there's more summer than winter." She's possibly teasing him or something of the sort. "I'm sure they'll work themselves out. Perhaps they'll rise less often."
Nathalia regards the drunken Taikrin's comment with amusement and mild concern. "No you wouldn't have met me either, I was out at Smith Hall until today." She frowns at the aside, her thoughts obviously weigh heavily on the words. She doesn't quite know what to say to Beven though, so she says nothing. Nat politely ignore's the eyeroll and nods at mention of the current goldriders. "That's just the point, were at an interveral not a pass, there shouldn't be this many gold eggs, and certainly not so close together." She doesn't know if the girl heard or not but apparently she was finished with the conversation, and Nat didn't mind her heading off.
"'Cause Faranth forbid we might be disrespectful of the Weyrleader, on account of maybe we might bruise his poor little ego." Taikrin does not seem enamored of Beven for his comment; she squints at the poor beastherder lad, and is only diverted by her ongoing puzzle with Rhaelyn. "You're gonna have t'do better'n that, I meet all /kinds/ of girls there." At least she understood what the exile was getting at? She turns to follow Rhaelyn, shooting a quick look over her shoulder at Nathalia with a 'what can you do' shrug, then wobbles after the exile. "When was it?"
Laughing; "Maybe I'll go with you. No more wind, rain, snow, /or/ exiles." Or Taikrin. K'del is, however, polite enough not to admit to that last bit out loud. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, giving Teris a rueful smile. "Hope so. It's not-- we can't afford to keep growing all the time, during Interval. Not if we all want to keep eating, anyway." He shifts, turning his gaze so that he can catch sight of Taikrin again, brow furrowing: he seems genuinely unhappy.
Beven shakes his head a bit, "Maybe you should try sobering up before you get yourself in trouble." He mutters under his breath as Taikrin follows Rhaelyn, clearly glad that the crabby rider has departed from his vicinty, "Who knows, it's not unheard of, and it's not like we can't support another gold. Especially considering she won't be ready to rise for at least two turns. And well, we start seeing a build up of golds in a Weyr a few turns or so before the thread starts falling, leastwise that's what my da has taught me and he's been serving as a beastcrafter for most of his life and was weyrbred and raised just like me."
"Well, I obviously didn't make a lasting impression on you last time." Rhaelyn notes with a little sniff towards the brownrider, "Perhaps we should start over again, fresh." Looking amused as Beven speaks up after Taikrin, she looks to see if the brownrider is going to have some nifty retort for him, "Goodness, the lad does have an opinion of you." Nothing like poking the bees nest right?
"For all we know, the older queens might refuse to cohabitate with another," says Teris and for all that that would probably not be ideal, she makes it sound like she's trying to comfort K'del. The junior follows the Weyrleader's gaze back toward Taikrin and she notes, "Glaring at her isn't going to do much to help anything." Even if he's not exactly glaring at her.
Nathalia is sorry to see the rider leave, she may have been drunk but at least she was interesting. She nods as Beven mentions thread, but she's non too pleased with the attitude he seems to be taking. Too much like the Apprentices back at the craft hall for her liking. Still she's new and somewhat dependant on him unless someone else can get her to where she needs to go. "Doesn't bode well. . ." she sighed.
"Hey, there's a lotta pretty girls floating around here, it's hard t'keep 'em all straight." Taikrin goes from annoyed to charming in 0.3 seconds. It'd probably be more effective, though, if she weren't nearly fall-down drunk, and glaring over her should at Beven, to boot. "'m Taikrin," she asides, before turning to look back at Rhaelyn. "Most little boys do. 'Specially the young and jealous ones." K'del is temporarily forgotten as she focuses with all the intensity she can muster on Rhaelyn. "So, where're y'from, eh? Don't reckon you're a lower caverns girl -- reckon I know all of 'em backwards an' forwards by now." There's a bit of a leer in there, at the implication hidden in that last bit.
"She's not /supposed/ to be talking to /exiles/," glowers K'del, turning his attention back to Teris more firmly. He looks as though he'd really like to storm after her, but is doing his best to keep himself here and out of trouble. "Maybe they won't. Iovniath might get all territorial, or something. Or one of the others." The idea doesn't seem to please him much; he scrubs at his face with his free hand. "Wish Tiriana was here."
Rhaelyn laughs as Mara tugs at her sleave, the bug-eyed girl looking worriedly between the brownrider and the leader of their little trio. "Oh Mara, /stop/." The other girl might be seeing th leer but Rhae certainly isn't. Shrugging away from her the girl steps in closer to Taikrin as if to confide something, her voice lowering, "I'm hurt that I'm not prettier than the other girls, but I guess it's forgiveable. I'm from The Island." She reaches the drink table and reaches for a glass blindly, anything will do apparently.
Beven shakes his head a bit as he catches Taikrin's comment, "I'm sorry about that, I don't dislike riders or anything, think most of them are great people, just she has quite the reputation around the weyr of being terrible when she's drunk." he says softly to Nathalia and then he shakes his head again, "Talking bad like that about the Weyrleader, in public, and insulting the Weyrwomen as well, is bad business, specially when done with all the exiles we have in the weyr. It's gonna go badly, but that's just my opinion. And what would an apprentice know about bad business." Usually quite a lot if you ask your crafter apprentices, but who knows, Beven could be wrong.
"Oh, you're from-- wait. WHAT?!" It was all going so well, too, until Taikrin lets out her surprised roar and staggers away from Rhaelyn as if the poor exile girl were actually on fire at that moment. "What kinda game d'you think you're playin'?!" For just a moment, Taikrin looks dangerous, like she just might take a swing at Rhaelyn before she catches herself and redirects. "/HE/ put you up to this, didn't he?" She swings around, as if K'del might magically have appeared behind her.
One of Teris' brows arches at K'del's first comment but she must not want to get into any of that at the moment so she doesn't comment. Instead she takes a slow sip of her wine and nods her head. "Is she well?" she asks but her attention refocuses back onto Taikrin when she hears her voice rising up a bit then she glances back at K'del as though it might be his fault.
For once, it really /isn't/ K'del's fault, though the noise Taikrin makes certainly draws his attention back towards the brownrider, his eyebrows narrowing. "She's putting on a show for me," he decides, firmly. "Trying to pretend she didn't know, so she can get away with it. Good thing I'm on to her. I were you? I'd go tell her as much." He might've forgotten Tiriana entirely, except he adds, then, with a vague glance towards the door, "Think she might have gone into labor. She was-- well. Maybe it's just false pains. Don't know for sure."
Rhaelyn puts a hand to her throat as Mara shrieks out in fear and pulls Rhae back, clinging to her friend. "Fish-bones!" The drink spills all over herself and her friend before the glass shatters against the floor. Outraged, Rhae draws herself up, giving Mara a little push away once she's drawn out of hitting range. Then it's the brownrider that gets the heat of those cold eyes, "What are you -talking- about? Are you sun-struck?"
Nathalia raises a brow and shrugs. "No worse than other's I've met. Some just can't hold their liquor. Sounds like there's some bad blood between those two though." She lifted her cup to her lips only to discover it empty. "I don't know about insulting weyrwomen, but. . . ." Nathalia's attention is shot back at the rider who now seems to be making an uproar. Nat doesn't know what to expect next, but she's been in enough bar brawls to know that the situation isn't good. Not much she can do without getting tangled up in it herself. /Please/ no fights tonight she thought to herself. "I think it might be a good idea to take the conversation over there" she mentions quietly to Beven as she heads in the direction.
Beven just sort of winces a bit and he heads after Nathalia, "This is SO not a good idea Nat, she's really, really got a bad rep when she's drunk." he says to the smith as he trails behind her, "Please somebody stop her before she does actually hit someone."
There's nothing showy about the anger on Taikrin's face as she starts pushing through the crowd, slopping out the rest of her drink on hapless partygoers. "Get the flaming bloody shells away from me," she shoots over her shoulder at Rhaelyn, menace clear in her voice. "Where is--" As she spots K'del, she extricates herself from the cluster of people and somehow finds it /very/ easy to storm her way towards Teris and the Weyrleader, demanding loudly, "What kinda game you /playin'/ at, /sir/? /Real/ funny, can you tell I'm laughin'?" If Nathalia and Beven are coming to get in the middle of this? They're going to get quite an experience.
"I'm not your messenger," says Teris in an overly friendly sort of tone, eyeing K'del for another moment before her attention is quite firmly fixed on the brownrider that comes storming over. "Evening, Taikrin," she offers as though she hasn't noticed the state in which the woman arrived or the fact that she wasn't acknowledged in favor of the whole loud thing.
"Unbelieveable." Rhaelyn hisses after the drunk. "As though I want to be anywhere near her! Why, she is lucky she didn't raise a hand to me." Big with the boasting now that she's safe.
"No," admits K'del, in response to Teris, albeit reluctantly. "Guess--" Whatever he intended to say gets cut off by the arrival of Taikrin (and whoever else is following; certainly, a lot of the eyes in the room are on the group, now). "Me?" He stares at her, half-dumb for a moment, before scowling. "/I/ haven't done anything, you idiot. /You/ are the one who broke my rules; you're the one who is trying to pretend you /didn't/ know so that you can get around me. It. Won't. Work." He sounds pretty pissed off.
Beven shakes his head a bit as he hears the yelling in the caverns between the two, almost seeming to whimper for a moment as he stops and tries to grab Nathalia's arm, "Maybe we should just let the Weyrleader deal with her?" He murmurs, hopefully heard over the sound of the party.
Oh dear Farnath, Nathalia thought. It would be her luck to get caught in the middle of something. When the rider backed of the other girl though, Nat relaxed a little. Her brow furrowed at Rhaelyn's comment but she said nothing. Wasn't worth the waste of breath, and relaxed a little when Tiriana switched targets. "I am pretty sure /he/ can fend for himself, I am going to get another drink. " The smith said to Beven over her shoulder. "I just didn't think that Rhaelyn girl could hold up after getting hit."
"LIAR!" Furious-Taikrin tends to lose control of her volume - much like Szadath in that respect. Her gaze flickers towards Teris, but it is K'del who holds the full force of her anger. "You're tryin' to set me up! I know ALL ABOUT your type, weaslin' around on account of you're too afraid to FACE me yourself!" Sloppy drunk as she is, it's possible she's a little confused. Maybe a lot confused. "Settin' that slut on me like I wasn't even gonna be able to /tell/. I got people twenty times smarter'n you tryin' to set me up, an' they ain't EVER been able to take Taikrin down an' YOU ain't gonna be the first." Well, technically, second. There is that whole jail time thing to consider.
A set of three gasps startle up at the 'Slut' comment. Two of the girls turn to stare at Rhae in horrified silence. "Oh, she didn't just say that!" Squaring her shoulders, Rhaelyn pushes away from Mara and stomps over to Taikrin and K'del and Teris, face red as a cherry, "You take that back! Take it back you horrible woman." Up close to the older, powerful dragonrider woman, some of the fire leaves her, but the outrage makes her misjudge the brilliance of getting up into the drunk's space to damand an appology.
Teris? Not impressed by either of them. It doesn't matter to her that that's not the point of it, of course. But as their attentions fix on each other, the blonde glances between the pair, then rolls her eyes and starts looking elsewhere. Anywhere else that might suit a Teris that doesn't want to be caught in the middle of anything. "Do either of you think this is actually an appropriate place to be having this conversation?" she raises her voice somewhat when no other place becomes immediately apparent to her.
The force of Taikrin's fury seems, initially, to surprise K'del, but by the time she finishes talking, his expression has turned towards relative calm. "Think you'd better go calm down, Taikrin. /Sober up/. Maybe I ought to send you out to watchduty in the far 'reaches for a while - keep you for succumbing to temptation. Cool your tongue a bit, perhaps." The corners of his mouth hint at a smirk, as though he can't quite keep it from blossoming onto his expression - just almost. "Think you'd better apologise, now," he adds, indicating Rhaelyn; he looks almost apologetic himself, as he turns his attention in her direction. Teris' words seem to draw something from him, though he bites back whatever comment he /was/ going to make. "/I/ didn't start it. But I'll finish it. If you'll excuse me?" He has... mingling to do. Elsewhere. Far away. And he doesn't wait for permission.
Beven just sort of shakes his head and moves over to get some klah, might be a party, but he's still an apprentice and not allowed to drink any alcoholic beverages, and one can simply see why that is a rule. Especially considering the behavior at the party he is currently attending, "Least wise she hasn't hit anyone yet." he mutters under his breath, though 'yet' is of course the operative word of the moment.
"Hey-- HEY! Don't you-- get /away/ from me, you tunnelsnake, I ain't /talkin'/ to you--" But by the time Taikrin is finished hissing angrily at Rhaelyn, K'del has made good on his escape. She somehow manages to avoid shouting 'you haven't seen the last of meeeeee~', though she does shake a fist at his retreating back. "You saw!" She rounds on Teris, attempting to ignore Rhaelyn to the best of her ability. "You saw the crap he's tryin' to pull on me! I ain't done /nothin'/ wrong and he's tryin' to /set me up/ an' he /can't/ put us back in the hole, I ain't gonna /stay/ there no more---" She swings wildly, in the way of drunk people, from rage to what might or might not be fear. "Szad won't let 'im!"
"May have spoke too soon." Nathalia huffed as she watched the other 'outraged' woman stomp up in a tizzy demanding an apology. "Shells what do I care, I got shipped here so I would /stop/ getting into fights." She glances over and grabs a whiskey to replace what she was drinking earlier. "If this is a taste of what life is like in a weyr, the dragons can have it." She takes a heavy swig of her drink, and eyes Beven curiously. "Eh, I have decided that at the moment, I just do not care. If the little waif wants to go picking fights with drunks let her. So tell me about the Crafting complex. . ."
There's some pleasure in having the Weyrleader offer the apology in his look given to her, and the request he makes that Taikrin do it. That pleasure is so short lived though. No sooner has she puffed up in cofidnece than she's being insulted again, "You fat toad!" Rhaelyn huffs as one of those fists graze her shoulder. She oofs and rears back, shocked at first and then blistering mad. Lunging forward she pushes at the brick wall that is the brownrider and tries to grab for her hair in true girl-fight-style.
Beven just sighs and he moves over to a corner, reaching out a hand to pull Nathalia out of the way, "Things are about to get interestin." he comments as he shuffles a bit behind one of the many tables that have been stacked off to the side, a napkin full of snackage in his free hand, "Come on, we'll be safe from the worst of it back here."
"No," Teris says firmly to Taikrin. "I don't want to be involved in whatever this is, Taikrin. It's between you and him." She glances in Rhaelyn's direction. "And her, possibly. But I doubt he has any desire to keep you anywhere that he's going to have to pay even more attention to you." Teris is looking displeased even before Rhaelyn lunges at the brownrider and it takes her a few seconds to recover from the shock of it so she can shriek, "What in Faranth's name is /wrong/ with you people?! Get out!" She might possibly stomp one of her feet as she points the way toward the bowl outside.
"No, you don't understand, he's tryin' to get me /sent away/, I know it, and-- what the flaming-- GET OFF OF ME!" Whatever maudlin expression of her sad life Taikrin was about to dive into is shrugged off in the face of this fresh assault. She hasn't got much hair to grab, thankfully, but she's at a distinct disadvantage when Rhaelyn lunges into her back with her assault. "Teris--" Bewildered, for just a moment, she looks to the goldrider with helpless shock before twisting around to try and dislodge the grasping exile. "Leave me /alone/!"
Nathalia manages to grab a plate of snacks and another drink before she is tugged to a safer corner of the room. "Is it always like this here?" She questions Beven, with a quirk of her brow as she watches the skinny little creature go after the brownrider. There is more than a little relief when the weyrwoman speaks up.
Rhaelyn withdraws once she's shouted at by Teris and then by Taikrin. She smooths her hands through her ruffled hair, her face still bright red and her clothes bespattered with wine from earlier. "I'm not slut and I sure don't want anything to do with you. Any of you." Seeing that apparently Teris is alright with the brownrider insulting her. Another smoothing of her hair and clothing with her unsteady hands and she storms out tearfully.
Beven hmms a bit and he nods his head, "More or less, something interstin' always happens at any sort of party here, so I've learned that finding a nook behind a table, where one can duck down, is always a good thing." he says as he watches the hair pulling with wide eyes, "Though usually there's not a lot of girly hair pulling as like what just happened, but you learn to stay out of the way with this lot."
Apparently Teris doesn't care about the words being tossed around in general but she's certainly not willing to stand idly by and watch a fight break out. Perhaps particularly with Taikrin being one of the people involved. She gives the brownrider a cool look and barely glances at Rhaelyn's departing form before she's turning to head off in the direction that K'del hadn't.
Taikrin hunches over, warding off Rhaelyn with hands wrapped around her head. "You're crazy!" She calls after Rhaelyn. "Leave me the shells alone!" But then Teris is running off too, and that /wasn't/ in the plan for the night. Suddenly alone amidst a sea of hostile stares, Taikrin seems to finally take stock of her situation. Mustering up a hostile glare of her own, the brownrider directs it in a half-circle at the nearest bystanders, demanding soddenly, "What're YOU lookin' at, huh?" And, muttering to herself, she pushes past them and out into the chill night air of the bowl and her very concerned dragon.
Nat sighs, "and kids dream of becoming this?" She glances over at Teris and watches the tearful girl storm out, and then the goldrider. "I almost want to see the eggs just to see what all the fuss is about." She glances at Beven, "so much for grace and dignity. I have to hand it to that weyrwoman though, she put an end to it more gracefully than I would have thought possible.
Beven shakes his head a bit, "I have no clue, I thought about going to see them, but not sure I want to be anywhere near the riders come morning. Many are gonna have sore heads and Taikrin's bound to be as bad as a herdbeast with a sore tooth not wanting to take the bit."
Location: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: After the clutching, weyrfolk celebrate. Taikrin RUINS it.
Wind and rain outdoors has ensured that the clutching party takes place /indoors/. All the tables and chairs have been piled up in the corners or stored elsewhere, leaving the cavern wide and empty - except for all the people milling about. A group of Harpers are set up not far from the hearth, while the serving tables are full of food, extra tables nearby offering a variety of beverages - alcoholc and non - for those thatway inclined. The buzz about the room is cheerful, though there are more than a few people asking the reasonable question of: "Why is there another gold egg? Isn't THREE enough?"
Beven is leaning against a wall watching the party going on around him, his head tilted just a bit, "So there was a gold egg laid after all?" he asks one of the many people in the living cavern for the party.
A trio of girls comes in from the wind and rain, laughing and chittering excitedly, "I thought for /sure/ the last egg was just soaked in blood. That just doesn't look right at all." The fish-faced younger woman says as she plods in after Rhaelyn who rolls her eyes, "I think that they would be making a huge fuss if it was the dragon's blood and besides, they don't bleed red like us. That is what I've read." She heads over to Beven as she overhears the question, "There is one out there. I think. But I thought it would be bigger to be honest."
Beven hrms a bit and he tilts his head to the side, "I always thought the gold egg was the biggest egg, aside from the fact it's gold, from the rest of the clutch." He says to Rhaelyn, frowning just slightly, clearly not sure if he's remembering things correctly.
Rhaelyn points back the way she came, a thumb poking over her shoulder as she grins at Beven, "It was...I /guess/. Bigger than the others I mean, but I thought it would be -bigger-." She rolls her eyes, "Anyway, you should go and see it and let me know. Have you seen a clutching before? I mean, since you seem to know the facts better than I."
Nathalia slipped in from the bowl area where she had been undeniably caught in the mess of bad weather trying to find her way to the Craft Complex. "should have asked for a map. . ." she muttered to herself. Unfortunately she had managed to wander into the middle of the party. Sheepishly she looked about for a familiar face, and made her way over to the beast crafter she had met earlier.
Beven chuckles ever so softly, "I was raised here in the Weyr, though most of my time was spent in the craft complex, I have seen clutchings and hatchings before, but I could always be wrong, don't take me as an expert in this kind of thing."
K'del's late - late to his own party! But he's changed his clothes and managed to paint on a smile despite the fact that there are bound to be rumours about how unhappy he looked at the arrival of that gold egg. He sweeps in from the bowl, hastily removing a damp coat and hat before he moves further into the room. He's immediately surrounded in well-wishers, most of whom he makes an attempt to fob off so that he can seek out the drinks table. Safety in booze, oh yes.
Rhaelyn adds a smile to Nathalia as she comes to join them, or at least Beven. "I see," She says to the beastcrafter as he speaks of being raised in the weyr, "So, we can't pick your brain about what to expect then? These things are all so new to us." Rhae sounds ever so sad about that.
Taikrin is sulking. Really, REALLY sulking. She's also really, REALLY drunk. Again. It probably should have been put on the list of things that she's prohibited from during her punishment. The brownrider is propped up against the wall, nursing the most recent of many glasses of whiskey and glaring at the world as if their happiness was personally offensive. Her gaze in particular tracks K'del as he enters, narrowing unpleasantly as he makes his way towards her beloved booze.
Nathalia finally makes it over to where Beven is, but not before picking up a glass of something that smelled rather strong. "I take it that queen finally finished clutching." She asked Beven. She noticed the smile, and nods in return though she's never met the woman. "Took her awhile, I take it there's a good number of eggs this time?"
Big weyr parties - even if there are no out-weyr guests - are not the right time for massive screaming matches. Or violence. No matter how much fun /that/ would be. That's probably why, though K'del /notices/ Taikrin, he's carefully not to glance in her direction for more than a moment. Instead, he gets himself a whiskey and shifts back into the crowd.
Beven chuckles a bit and he tilts his head to the side, "Well I can tell you what I know, but asking a rider might be a better idea, since they actually have dragons and probably know more than a weyr resident or crafter." he says with a smile towards Nathalia, "If you need help finding the complex Nat, I'll help you after the party."
Regardless of K'del's intentions, Taikrin pushes off the wall with purpose once she loses sight of the Weyrleader-- and is sidetracked when she overhears a snatch of Nathalia's comment. "One more'n Iskiveth did, 'cause of COURSE th'Weyrleader's got t'be the best at everythin', an' havin' another queen egg t'boot," she injects, words slurred not only from a thick rural-Crom accent but from inebriation to boot.
Rhaelyn's expression reads that she didn't see it as a particularly long time and she pins Nathalia a long, curious look but in the end just gives a little shrug. "There are fourteen eggs. Is that a lot?" Rhaelyn asks at last. She might not be paying much attention to the answer though, because the activity by the drink table, particularly Taikrin's response is much more interesting.
When Teris makes an appearance, it's not one where she's looking to have much notice taken. She's alone, which isn't at all unusual, and dressed just as well as she normally is. Her face lacks any real expression as she weaves through people here and there toward the serving tables to eventually have a glass of wine in hand.
Sound carries. Or, well, maybe K'del is listening out for Taikrin; it's impossible to really tell. At any rate, the Weyrleader's voice is raised rather louder than it needs to be as he remarks to his current conversational companion, "Oh yes. Fourteen - not a bad size, really. And the queen, of course. Not as big as Iovniath's last clutch, of course, but more than Iskiveth's. Quite a coup, really."
Nathalia let a cool laugh at the drunken rider's comment. "Seems to be a thing with males, though I haven't met the weyrleader yet." She shrugs at the number that Rhaelyn mentions. "I haven't been in a weyr since I was very little, so I wouldn't know, Just got in today actually. I am Nat by the way, or Nathalia, take your pick." She takes a large gulp from her cup, and feels a bit more comfortable as the liquid burns down her throat. "Fourteen and a queen, that will be interesting."
Beven hms a bit and he nods his head a bit, "It's a decent clutch if there's not thread falling. The clutches will get bigger as the interval ends." he says with a shrug of his shoulders after a moment."
Taikrin's expression darkens perceptibly - she must have heard at least PART of K'del's comment, because she gives a visible twitch when Iskiveth's name is mentioned. "They /are/ greedy, ain't they?" she agrees, loudly, with Nathalia. Apparently making herself at home in their conversation whether she's welcome or not, she looks between the three then pronounces after Beven, "And /he's/ the greediest of the lot, havin' Cadejoth make all those eggs. Reckon he's excited about that gold egg so's he can add ANOTHER one to his collection. Got t'have a whole set of goldriders all for himself, did y'hear?"
"Oh yes," says K'del, firmly. "We're /very pleased/ about the gold egg. Might use one of our queens to, you know, earn an advantage with one of the other weyrs. Trade 'em on." He's talking loudly, still, smiling as he excuses himself from that particular conversation and on to-- the next. Or. Well. Teris. "Oh. Hello, Teris."
It's difficult for Teris to entirely ignore the vocalization of her lifemate's name and her attention focuses in K'del's general direction as he continues on about the new gold egg. When his attention turns toward her, thin brows lift slightly and she offers her typically polite smile. "Hello, K'del. Congratulations are in order, I suppose." Which must basically be the extent of them she's offering.
Nathalia laughs at the rider's comment. "How many is that so far? I am afraid Haven't kept track of the weyrs of late." She turns her attention back to Rhaelyn for a moment when she's questioned. "Well A queen's egg is usually a pretty rare thing, and they are highly coveted by the Weyrs." She trailed off as she listened to the other rider. And quirked her brow a moment. She noted the girls names and the fact that she probably wouldn't remember them in the morning. She glanced over at Beven with a greatfull smile. "That would be helpful, I don't know that I will ever get used to this place"
"Maybe if we're lucky he'll trade /himself/," Taikrin mutters in what she must think is pretty quiet, but in actuality can easily be heard by her immediate neighbors. Distracted by Rhaelyn's introduction, her scowl of irritation moderates, becomes curious. "Huh. Rhaelyn. We met? Y'all look awful familiar. I know I ain't seen neither of you two--" She gestures with her drink, slopping alcohol over her wrist as she indicates Beven and Nathalia. "And--" she adds on in an aside to the latter, "/Too many/. More'n his share."
K'del looks, honestly, distinctly awkward as he regards Teris, his cheeks turning faintly pink. He mutters to Teris, "... think? Er-- not... transfer you... okay?..." Beat. "Er. Not transferring-- she's just being an idiot. A drunk idiot. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, expression faintly hopeful. "Kind of worries me, actually. Four queens. Not like we need that many, during Interval."
Teris senses "K'del looks, honestly, distinctly awkward as he regards Teris, his cheeks turning faintly pink. "Thanks. I think? Er-- not actually intending to transfer you or anyone else away, okay? Just-- Taikrin, right?" Beat. "Er. Not transferring-- she's just being an idiot. A drunk idiot. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, expression faintly hopeful. "Kind of worries me, actually. Four queens. Not like we need that many, during Interval.""
Beven blinks a bit at Taikrin's comments, not really sure what to say, "Uhm, I'm sure that's probably not the Weyrleader's intent, and even if it was, it's not something we should be talking about, cause it's like disrespectful to him, and more than a little insulting to the Weyrwomen, isn't it?" comes the tentative comments from the beastcrafter lad, nope, not good to disrespect those in authority.
Rhaelyn rolls her eyes as she turns her head away from Nathalia, "There are currently three goldriders here." See, even the exile can dish out some 'I'm a know-it-all' to counter Nathalia's comment about the precious gold egg. When Nathalia turns to Beven, she makes her escape from the pair of them and heads to get herself something to drink, dragging Mara after her. "We met at the Oasis." Of course she means Snowasis, but the name always fails her. "I think we want what you've been drinking."
The Weyrleader's awkwardness makes Teris smile a little more genuinely and she listens to him as she takes a small drink of her wine. By the time he's done, she's offering a small shake of her head and glancing about to get a fix on the brownrider in question. "I didn't think you were. But if you do, I'd prefer some place where there's more summer than winter." She's possibly teasing him or something of the sort. "I'm sure they'll work themselves out. Perhaps they'll rise less often."
Nathalia regards the drunken Taikrin's comment with amusement and mild concern. "No you wouldn't have met me either, I was out at Smith Hall until today." She frowns at the aside, her thoughts obviously weigh heavily on the words. She doesn't quite know what to say to Beven though, so she says nothing. Nat politely ignore's the eyeroll and nods at mention of the current goldriders. "That's just the point, were at an interveral not a pass, there shouldn't be this many gold eggs, and certainly not so close together." She doesn't know if the girl heard or not but apparently she was finished with the conversation, and Nat didn't mind her heading off.
"'Cause Faranth forbid we might be disrespectful of the Weyrleader, on account of maybe we might bruise his poor little ego." Taikrin does not seem enamored of Beven for his comment; she squints at the poor beastherder lad, and is only diverted by her ongoing puzzle with Rhaelyn. "You're gonna have t'do better'n that, I meet all /kinds/ of girls there." At least she understood what the exile was getting at? She turns to follow Rhaelyn, shooting a quick look over her shoulder at Nathalia with a 'what can you do' shrug, then wobbles after the exile. "When was it?"
Laughing; "Maybe I'll go with you. No more wind, rain, snow, /or/ exiles." Or Taikrin. K'del is, however, polite enough not to admit to that last bit out loud. He shifts his glass from one hand to the other, giving Teris a rueful smile. "Hope so. It's not-- we can't afford to keep growing all the time, during Interval. Not if we all want to keep eating, anyway." He shifts, turning his gaze so that he can catch sight of Taikrin again, brow furrowing: he seems genuinely unhappy.
Beven shakes his head a bit, "Maybe you should try sobering up before you get yourself in trouble." He mutters under his breath as Taikrin follows Rhaelyn, clearly glad that the crabby rider has departed from his vicinty, "Who knows, it's not unheard of, and it's not like we can't support another gold. Especially considering she won't be ready to rise for at least two turns. And well, we start seeing a build up of golds in a Weyr a few turns or so before the thread starts falling, leastwise that's what my da has taught me and he's been serving as a beastcrafter for most of his life and was weyrbred and raised just like me."
"Well, I obviously didn't make a lasting impression on you last time." Rhaelyn notes with a little sniff towards the brownrider, "Perhaps we should start over again, fresh." Looking amused as Beven speaks up after Taikrin, she looks to see if the brownrider is going to have some nifty retort for him, "Goodness, the lad does have an opinion of you." Nothing like poking the bees nest right?
"For all we know, the older queens might refuse to cohabitate with another," says Teris and for all that that would probably not be ideal, she makes it sound like she's trying to comfort K'del. The junior follows the Weyrleader's gaze back toward Taikrin and she notes, "Glaring at her isn't going to do much to help anything." Even if he's not exactly glaring at her.
Nathalia is sorry to see the rider leave, she may have been drunk but at least she was interesting. She nods as Beven mentions thread, but she's non too pleased with the attitude he seems to be taking. Too much like the Apprentices back at the craft hall for her liking. Still she's new and somewhat dependant on him unless someone else can get her to where she needs to go. "Doesn't bode well. . ." she sighed.
"Hey, there's a lotta pretty girls floating around here, it's hard t'keep 'em all straight." Taikrin goes from annoyed to charming in 0.3 seconds. It'd probably be more effective, though, if she weren't nearly fall-down drunk, and glaring over her should at Beven, to boot. "'m Taikrin," she asides, before turning to look back at Rhaelyn. "Most little boys do. 'Specially the young and jealous ones." K'del is temporarily forgotten as she focuses with all the intensity she can muster on Rhaelyn. "So, where're y'from, eh? Don't reckon you're a lower caverns girl -- reckon I know all of 'em backwards an' forwards by now." There's a bit of a leer in there, at the implication hidden in that last bit.
"She's not /supposed/ to be talking to /exiles/," glowers K'del, turning his attention back to Teris more firmly. He looks as though he'd really like to storm after her, but is doing his best to keep himself here and out of trouble. "Maybe they won't. Iovniath might get all territorial, or something. Or one of the others." The idea doesn't seem to please him much; he scrubs at his face with his free hand. "Wish Tiriana was here."
Rhaelyn laughs as Mara tugs at her sleave, the bug-eyed girl looking worriedly between the brownrider and the leader of their little trio. "Oh Mara, /stop/." The other girl might be seeing th leer but Rhae certainly isn't. Shrugging away from her the girl steps in closer to Taikrin as if to confide something, her voice lowering, "I'm hurt that I'm not prettier than the other girls, but I guess it's forgiveable. I'm from The Island." She reaches the drink table and reaches for a glass blindly, anything will do apparently.
Beven shakes his head a bit as he catches Taikrin's comment, "I'm sorry about that, I don't dislike riders or anything, think most of them are great people, just she has quite the reputation around the weyr of being terrible when she's drunk." he says softly to Nathalia and then he shakes his head again, "Talking bad like that about the Weyrleader, in public, and insulting the Weyrwomen as well, is bad business, specially when done with all the exiles we have in the weyr. It's gonna go badly, but that's just my opinion. And what would an apprentice know about bad business." Usually quite a lot if you ask your crafter apprentices, but who knows, Beven could be wrong.
"Oh, you're from-- wait. WHAT?!" It was all going so well, too, until Taikrin lets out her surprised roar and staggers away from Rhaelyn as if the poor exile girl were actually on fire at that moment. "What kinda game d'you think you're playin'?!" For just a moment, Taikrin looks dangerous, like she just might take a swing at Rhaelyn before she catches herself and redirects. "/HE/ put you up to this, didn't he?" She swings around, as if K'del might magically have appeared behind her.
One of Teris' brows arches at K'del's first comment but she must not want to get into any of that at the moment so she doesn't comment. Instead she takes a slow sip of her wine and nods her head. "Is she well?" she asks but her attention refocuses back onto Taikrin when she hears her voice rising up a bit then she glances back at K'del as though it might be his fault.
For once, it really /isn't/ K'del's fault, though the noise Taikrin makes certainly draws his attention back towards the brownrider, his eyebrows narrowing. "She's putting on a show for me," he decides, firmly. "Trying to pretend she didn't know, so she can get away with it. Good thing I'm on to her. I were you? I'd go tell her as much." He might've forgotten Tiriana entirely, except he adds, then, with a vague glance towards the door, "Think she might have gone into labor. She was-- well. Maybe it's just false pains. Don't know for sure."
Rhaelyn puts a hand to her throat as Mara shrieks out in fear and pulls Rhae back, clinging to her friend. "Fish-bones!" The drink spills all over herself and her friend before the glass shatters against the floor. Outraged, Rhae draws herself up, giving Mara a little push away once she's drawn out of hitting range. Then it's the brownrider that gets the heat of those cold eyes, "What are you -talking- about? Are you sun-struck?"
Nathalia raises a brow and shrugs. "No worse than other's I've met. Some just can't hold their liquor. Sounds like there's some bad blood between those two though." She lifted her cup to her lips only to discover it empty. "I don't know about insulting weyrwomen, but. . . ." Nathalia's attention is shot back at the rider who now seems to be making an uproar. Nat doesn't know what to expect next, but she's been in enough bar brawls to know that the situation isn't good. Not much she can do without getting tangled up in it herself. /Please/ no fights tonight she thought to herself. "I think it might be a good idea to take the conversation over there" she mentions quietly to Beven as she heads in the direction.
Beven just sort of winces a bit and he heads after Nathalia, "This is SO not a good idea Nat, she's really, really got a bad rep when she's drunk." he says to the smith as he trails behind her, "Please somebody stop her before she does actually hit someone."
There's nothing showy about the anger on Taikrin's face as she starts pushing through the crowd, slopping out the rest of her drink on hapless partygoers. "Get the flaming bloody shells away from me," she shoots over her shoulder at Rhaelyn, menace clear in her voice. "Where is--" As she spots K'del, she extricates herself from the cluster of people and somehow finds it /very/ easy to storm her way towards Teris and the Weyrleader, demanding loudly, "What kinda game you /playin'/ at, /sir/? /Real/ funny, can you tell I'm laughin'?" If Nathalia and Beven are coming to get in the middle of this? They're going to get quite an experience.
"I'm not your messenger," says Teris in an overly friendly sort of tone, eyeing K'del for another moment before her attention is quite firmly fixed on the brownrider that comes storming over. "Evening, Taikrin," she offers as though she hasn't noticed the state in which the woman arrived or the fact that she wasn't acknowledged in favor of the whole loud thing.
"Unbelieveable." Rhaelyn hisses after the drunk. "As though I want to be anywhere near her! Why, she is lucky she didn't raise a hand to me." Big with the boasting now that she's safe.
"No," admits K'del, in response to Teris, albeit reluctantly. "Guess--" Whatever he intended to say gets cut off by the arrival of Taikrin (and whoever else is following; certainly, a lot of the eyes in the room are on the group, now). "Me?" He stares at her, half-dumb for a moment, before scowling. "/I/ haven't done anything, you idiot. /You/ are the one who broke my rules; you're the one who is trying to pretend you /didn't/ know so that you can get around me. It. Won't. Work." He sounds pretty pissed off.
Beven shakes his head a bit as he hears the yelling in the caverns between the two, almost seeming to whimper for a moment as he stops and tries to grab Nathalia's arm, "Maybe we should just let the Weyrleader deal with her?" He murmurs, hopefully heard over the sound of the party.
Oh dear Farnath, Nathalia thought. It would be her luck to get caught in the middle of something. When the rider backed of the other girl though, Nat relaxed a little. Her brow furrowed at Rhaelyn's comment but she said nothing. Wasn't worth the waste of breath, and relaxed a little when Tiriana switched targets. "I am pretty sure /he/ can fend for himself, I am going to get another drink. " The smith said to Beven over her shoulder. "I just didn't think that Rhaelyn girl could hold up after getting hit."
"LIAR!" Furious-Taikrin tends to lose control of her volume - much like Szadath in that respect. Her gaze flickers towards Teris, but it is K'del who holds the full force of her anger. "You're tryin' to set me up! I know ALL ABOUT your type, weaslin' around on account of you're too afraid to FACE me yourself!" Sloppy drunk as she is, it's possible she's a little confused. Maybe a lot confused. "Settin' that slut on me like I wasn't even gonna be able to /tell/. I got people twenty times smarter'n you tryin' to set me up, an' they ain't EVER been able to take Taikrin down an' YOU ain't gonna be the first." Well, technically, second. There is that whole jail time thing to consider.
A set of three gasps startle up at the 'Slut' comment. Two of the girls turn to stare at Rhae in horrified silence. "Oh, she didn't just say that!" Squaring her shoulders, Rhaelyn pushes away from Mara and stomps over to Taikrin and K'del and Teris, face red as a cherry, "You take that back! Take it back you horrible woman." Up close to the older, powerful dragonrider woman, some of the fire leaves her, but the outrage makes her misjudge the brilliance of getting up into the drunk's space to damand an appology.
Teris? Not impressed by either of them. It doesn't matter to her that that's not the point of it, of course. But as their attentions fix on each other, the blonde glances between the pair, then rolls her eyes and starts looking elsewhere. Anywhere else that might suit a Teris that doesn't want to be caught in the middle of anything. "Do either of you think this is actually an appropriate place to be having this conversation?" she raises her voice somewhat when no other place becomes immediately apparent to her.
The force of Taikrin's fury seems, initially, to surprise K'del, but by the time she finishes talking, his expression has turned towards relative calm. "Think you'd better go calm down, Taikrin. /Sober up/. Maybe I ought to send you out to watchduty in the far 'reaches for a while - keep you for succumbing to temptation. Cool your tongue a bit, perhaps." The corners of his mouth hint at a smirk, as though he can't quite keep it from blossoming onto his expression - just almost. "Think you'd better apologise, now," he adds, indicating Rhaelyn; he looks almost apologetic himself, as he turns his attention in her direction. Teris' words seem to draw something from him, though he bites back whatever comment he /was/ going to make. "/I/ didn't start it. But I'll finish it. If you'll excuse me?" He has... mingling to do. Elsewhere. Far away. And he doesn't wait for permission.
Beven just sort of shakes his head and moves over to get some klah, might be a party, but he's still an apprentice and not allowed to drink any alcoholic beverages, and one can simply see why that is a rule. Especially considering the behavior at the party he is currently attending, "Least wise she hasn't hit anyone yet." he mutters under his breath, though 'yet' is of course the operative word of the moment.
"Hey-- HEY! Don't you-- get /away/ from me, you tunnelsnake, I ain't /talkin'/ to you--" But by the time Taikrin is finished hissing angrily at Rhaelyn, K'del has made good on his escape. She somehow manages to avoid shouting 'you haven't seen the last of meeeeee~', though she does shake a fist at his retreating back. "You saw!" She rounds on Teris, attempting to ignore Rhaelyn to the best of her ability. "You saw the crap he's tryin' to pull on me! I ain't done /nothin'/ wrong and he's tryin' to /set me up/ an' he /can't/ put us back in the hole, I ain't gonna /stay/ there no more---" She swings wildly, in the way of drunk people, from rage to what might or might not be fear. "Szad won't let 'im!"
"May have spoke too soon." Nathalia huffed as she watched the other 'outraged' woman stomp up in a tizzy demanding an apology. "Shells what do I care, I got shipped here so I would /stop/ getting into fights." She glances over and grabs a whiskey to replace what she was drinking earlier. "If this is a taste of what life is like in a weyr, the dragons can have it." She takes a heavy swig of her drink, and eyes Beven curiously. "Eh, I have decided that at the moment, I just do not care. If the little waif wants to go picking fights with drunks let her. So tell me about the Crafting complex. . ."
There's some pleasure in having the Weyrleader offer the apology in his look given to her, and the request he makes that Taikrin do it. That pleasure is so short lived though. No sooner has she puffed up in cofidnece than she's being insulted again, "You fat toad!" Rhaelyn huffs as one of those fists graze her shoulder. She oofs and rears back, shocked at first and then blistering mad. Lunging forward she pushes at the brick wall that is the brownrider and tries to grab for her hair in true girl-fight-style.
Beven just sighs and he moves over to a corner, reaching out a hand to pull Nathalia out of the way, "Things are about to get interestin." he comments as he shuffles a bit behind one of the many tables that have been stacked off to the side, a napkin full of snackage in his free hand, "Come on, we'll be safe from the worst of it back here."
"No," Teris says firmly to Taikrin. "I don't want to be involved in whatever this is, Taikrin. It's between you and him." She glances in Rhaelyn's direction. "And her, possibly. But I doubt he has any desire to keep you anywhere that he's going to have to pay even more attention to you." Teris is looking displeased even before Rhaelyn lunges at the brownrider and it takes her a few seconds to recover from the shock of it so she can shriek, "What in Faranth's name is /wrong/ with you people?! Get out!" She might possibly stomp one of her feet as she points the way toward the bowl outside.
"No, you don't understand, he's tryin' to get me /sent away/, I know it, and-- what the flaming-- GET OFF OF ME!" Whatever maudlin expression of her sad life Taikrin was about to dive into is shrugged off in the face of this fresh assault. She hasn't got much hair to grab, thankfully, but she's at a distinct disadvantage when Rhaelyn lunges into her back with her assault. "Teris--" Bewildered, for just a moment, she looks to the goldrider with helpless shock before twisting around to try and dislodge the grasping exile. "Leave me /alone/!"
Nathalia manages to grab a plate of snacks and another drink before she is tugged to a safer corner of the room. "Is it always like this here?" She questions Beven, with a quirk of her brow as she watches the skinny little creature go after the brownrider. There is more than a little relief when the weyrwoman speaks up.
Rhaelyn withdraws once she's shouted at by Teris and then by Taikrin. She smooths her hands through her ruffled hair, her face still bright red and her clothes bespattered with wine from earlier. "I'm not slut and I sure don't want anything to do with you. Any of you." Seeing that apparently Teris is alright with the brownrider insulting her. Another smoothing of her hair and clothing with her unsteady hands and she storms out tearfully.
Beven hmms a bit and he nods his head, "More or less, something interstin' always happens at any sort of party here, so I've learned that finding a nook behind a table, where one can duck down, is always a good thing." he says as he watches the hair pulling with wide eyes, "Though usually there's not a lot of girly hair pulling as like what just happened, but you learn to stay out of the way with this lot."
Apparently Teris doesn't care about the words being tossed around in general but she's certainly not willing to stand idly by and watch a fight break out. Perhaps particularly with Taikrin being one of the people involved. She gives the brownrider a cool look and barely glances at Rhaelyn's departing form before she's turning to head off in the direction that K'del hadn't.
Taikrin hunches over, warding off Rhaelyn with hands wrapped around her head. "You're crazy!" She calls after Rhaelyn. "Leave me the shells alone!" But then Teris is running off too, and that /wasn't/ in the plan for the night. Suddenly alone amidst a sea of hostile stares, Taikrin seems to finally take stock of her situation. Mustering up a hostile glare of her own, the brownrider directs it in a half-circle at the nearest bystanders, demanding soddenly, "What're YOU lookin' at, huh?" And, muttering to herself, she pushes past them and out into the chill night air of the bowl and her very concerned dragon.
Nat sighs, "and kids dream of becoming this?" She glances over at Teris and watches the tearful girl storm out, and then the goldrider. "I almost want to see the eggs just to see what all the fuss is about." She glances at Beven, "so much for grace and dignity. I have to hand it to that weyrwoman though, she put an end to it more gracefully than I would have thought possible.
Beven shakes his head a bit, "I have no clue, I thought about going to see them, but not sure I want to be anywhere near the riders come morning. Many are gonna have sore heads and Taikrin's bound to be as bad as a herdbeast with a sore tooth not wanting to take the bit."