Log: For Fun
Who: Aleudre, Milani, Jaeni
When: Evening, day 6, month 3, Turn 15, of the Tenth Interval.
Where: Records Room, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani's hiding out a little from Hayda in the quiet of the Records. Aleudre's looking for firelizard information and Jaeni gets lost. Conversation follows.
The evening is whiling away into full on night, the sun set quite some time ago already and the Weyr is starting to doss down for the night. Most of the caverns-workers are enjoying down time in the common room or living cavern and the Weyr's children are bumping into curfews, the littlest ones already abed. Milani's snuck off to find a quiet corner for herself it seems, eschewing the light and noise of the Common Room, for the back reaches of the Records where she sits, not in a chair, but on a pillow she brought with her, a pretty, fleecy llama wool blanket drawn up over her knees, a little glowbasket down on the floor next to a basket of snacks and a book held in her hands. She's not actually reading at the moment though, head resting against the cool stone wall behind her, looking out over the silent and otherwise deserted Records Room.
If only such peace could be kept - but a Weyr is a place filled with many bodies and wherever privacy might be attained it is not long held. The solitude that Milani has sought is interrupted by the arrival of a very aggrieved looking Aleudre. He has two fire lizards circling over his head, chittering in loud and angry tones. "I'm trying to figure out what you -need- but no, no you're never satisfied!" In his attempts to shoo the creatures away, the tailor all but trips over Milani against the wall. "Oh, sorry Milani. I'll get them out of here, just one second." He reaches into a pouch at his side and pulls out two stringy looking morsels which he tosses to the floor. Young and ever hungry, the brown and green pair descend on the food and set to squabbling over the portions. "I came to read about them," he informs the girl, looking embarrassed. "But they woke up and tracked me down."
Milani sits up a little at the noisy entrance of Aleudre plus lizards and tucks her hair back, then draws it around over one side of her neck so that it frames her face there. "Hey Aleudre. It's all right. If I really want to be completely alone, I'd go hide out in my room. It's more that I don't want to be where Hayda would /expect/ me to be and I wouldn't normally be here off-duty and ..." she trails off and lets out a little self-concsious laugh then pats the ground beside herself. "Come keep me company?" A little head-tilt accompanies the invitation.
Embarrassment is replaced with his more usual casual sensuality, her invitation giving Aleudre a reason to smile. "I can read about them another time," he announces and moves to seat himself beside her. He sits -just- close enough that they would almost be touching but are not. "Hiding from Hayda, why, I thought that was my goal since I signed on at the weyr?" He kicks his legs out in front of him and crosses them at the ankle. A lean back against the wall brings his focus back to the bickering lizards. "I should never have let myself be talked into those," he remarks, looking aggrieved. "I went to Fort with a greenrider on a random invitation and there I came upon those," he finger-waves at the tiny shapes. "and impressed not one, but two." He shakes his head. "-Lucky- me."
"Mm. Just don't want to be bothered about work tonight," notes the assistant headwoman, smiling as the tailor parks it next to her. "What do you want to know about them anyway? I mean mostly, you just have to be strict y'know, lay down the law and get them to focus. Sure, lavish affection on them too, but don't let them get away with stuff." Beat. "Or were you like, looking for stories or something?" She looks over at Aleudre curiously, knees drawing up towards chest and she retucks her pretty blanket around her legs as she does so, arms wrapping around on the outside, cheek pillowing agains the shelf her kneecaps make. "Fort huh? Did you meet my brother? Oh I know I know, big Weyr." She makes a waving motion with one hand and resttles it loosely clasping her opposite wrist.
Aleudre shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know if I met your brother, it was busy when I was there. I didn't have much time to chat once the impression was over and I got whisked away again." He grins, dropping his voice and looking around the room as if there might be listeners. "Don't tell Shanlee that I did, okay? I'm feigning uninterest in her offer to ride her dragon because I want a different favor from her." His grin is crooked as he looks back to her. "What that is yet, haven't figured out." His fingers move to touch the blanket. "This is nice work. Did you make it?"
"He's the Weyrlingmaster there," Milani adds helpfully then blinks at the sotto voce confession. "Ohhhhh." The assistant headwoman nods widely then gets a crafty little grin on her face, eyes twinkling a little. "Open-ended favors are a good thing to have on tap." Oh so wise and cunning. Riiight. "Actually, Shanlee gave it to me. I think her family has a llama farm or something." She smiles down at the soft fleecy knit and frees a hand to pat at it gently. She and Aleudre are sat faaaar back in the verrrry quiet Records Room which is mostly dark, the glows shielded for the night, but for the little pool of light coming from a small glow on the floor beside Millie. She's got a book and a basket of snacks too.
Aleudre tilts his head. "I -might- have seen him, but a name is alluding me right now." He watches as the fire lizard pair move about the rooms, inspecting the odd corners around the shelves. "You got me there, open-ended favors are always perks." He looks to her book. "What were you reading before I rudely interrupted you?"
Jaeni walks into the records room and it's evident by her expression that she doesn't know where is. That is if anyone can make out her face in the dark. She presses her fingers against her lips, worried, looking to and fro for any sign that this place is familiar. "Oh, no. I took a wrong turn. The infirmary isn't this way..." Noticing the glows in the back and the sound of voices, she walks over. Surprise leaps to her face when it's actually two people she recognizes. "Oh! Assistant Headwoman Milani and Porcine-Man. Where is this? The records? Is the infirmary nearby?"
"Mm. Well say hello if you go back. Or maybe we can wheedle a ride together even." Milani beams over at Aleudre then drops a hand to pick up her book and passes it over to him. "Stories. You know the kind we used to get told when we were little." Jaeni's approach lifts her eyes up in surprise and she blinks at Jaeni. "Records ... and ... porcine-man?" She looks between the two others curiously.
Aleudre flips through the book once it's handed over, "Sure, we can get a ride over there. If you want, I will take Shanlee up on that trade so you can visit him... granted, he could always come this way...," he is momentarily distracted by one story and he peers closer at it. "I can't make out that word there, what is it? Oh wait, nevermind. The words just were momentarily scrambled." He looks up at the approach of another and a flash of a frown crosses his usual genial features. "Hello Jaeni. Do you really have to insist on calling me that name? I thought we moved past that the other day."
"What? Porcine-man isn't a good nickname? I thought it was endearing." Jaeni replies, flashing him a smile. "But really. This is the records room? It sure smells inky." She comments, eyes breaking from the pair to take in the room. "What are you guys doing in here? In the dark with just glows for light?" Looking down now at the book, she cants her head to the side. "Can't you go blind reading in dim lighting?"
"Not really ..." Milani replies, still looking between the two. "I mean, I don't think Aleudre has much in common with pigs. His manners're too pretty." She tilts the glow a little and shrugs. "It's not dim, plenty of light in this one, and she lifts the littl basket up for Jaeni to see. "I ducked in here for a little quiet time where Hayda wouldn't think to look for me at this hour and then the tailor here came in looking for information about fire lizards." The other basket near Milani's hand is picked up, the one with the treats in it. "Cookie? Pastry?" she offers to the other girl.
"Well he asked me the other day if my sister was pregnant with my "man's" baby. I don't think that was too demonstrative of pretty manners." Jaeni responds, casting a 'look' in the tailor's direction. "But he did /sort of/ apologize." She concedes before saying, "Oh, so you're hiding out. I'm going to have to remember how to get to this place. They won't ever think to look for me in here either." She says idly, drifting her eyes away from them to the shelves behind. "Cookie?" Interest returns to her voice and she looks down, sneaking out a hand to pick out one. "Thanks!"
It takes Millie a second to parse that then she shoots a brow-raised look over at Aleudre. "Okay now, /this/ is a story I /have/ to hear." The assistant headwoman's eyes light up a little at the prospect of gossip. "Though apologies are always good, yeah. And, just remember, 'head for Stores' and 'look for the big Doors' that oughta get you here all right." Milani smiles blithely as Jaeni takes a cookie, then she offers the basket over to Aleudre. "And it's y'know, about finding firelizards that one, so mission accomplished?" For the story in the book.
Aleudre shakes his head. "I was asking in jest, honestly. She was crying," Aleudre looks to Milani, attempting to explain the situation and still maintain some credibility. "and Jaeni was the cause of it." He uncrosses his legs to stretch both out in front of him. He rotates each foot briefly and then resettles them in the same position. He looks through the basket and pulls out a smaller cookie. "I'm good on finding them, now if I could just lose them," he grumbles as he breaks the cookie in half and tosses a morsel into his mouth. For the moment, his objects of complaint have moved off into other corners and crevices and are out of sight.
"I didn't call her fat!" Jaeni bursts out, looking as if this isn't the first time someone's pointed out she made the girl cry. Exasperated with it? Seems likely as she lifts up her shoulders. "Tell a girl she's getting bigger cause she's super pregnant and all of a sudden you're calling her fat." She mutters under her breath before popping the cookie in and chewing. There's a small sigh as she glances down at the book, then at Aleudre. "Are you cursed with firelizards or something?" She asks, looking for confirmation of this from Milani. "Head for stores, look for big doors. That sort of rhymes. Are you going to be a harper?"
To and fro, Milani's eyes go and she deems it wise to take a cold tart out of the basket and pop it into her mouth while each of the others explains their take on things. She's licking fruit filling off her thumb after a big bite squooshes the stuff out and she sort of lets the he said-she said slide. "Yep. He Impressed two at once down Fort way. Some'd say lucky, some'd say cursed. And hell no. I'm an assistant headwoman, my older brother's the harper."
"How many brothers do you have?" Aleudre asks Milani with a curious expression before he finishes off the cookie. "And who'd want to be a harper anyway? Too much work, if you ask me. All that singing, and mending problems, and what-have-you's." He shakes his head at the idea of such 'work'. "No, no. She's better suited for other things." He grins. "Hiding from work, for one."
"Well if you ever decided to be a harper, at least you'd have the rhyming down. I mean, isn't that what harpers are supposed to do? Rhyme and... stuff." Jaeni stares a little at Milani's cursing. "I don't think they say 'hell no' when answering a question. She listens to Aleudre's explanation as she delicately dabs at the crumbs around the corners of her mouth. "When you put it that way it doesn't like a lot of fun." There's a lift of her eyebrows. "You hide from work all the time?"
"Two half-brothers, both much older, two half-sisters and one full-blooded sister," Milani ticks off her family at a rapid clip. "Plus a whole bunch of fosters who were my mother's first weyrmate's kids from flights and having fun." She says this all very matter-of-factly. Ahh weyrlife. "And I dunno, 'Remi likes it well enough. There's something for everyone dontcha know." Another bite of pie and the assistant headwoman's mouth is too full for further talk for a bit though she does smile at Aleudre with a bit of pie filling clinging to the corner of her mouth. "Rhyme? Sure, I guess. Not all the time though. Remi like ... writes things and stuff." A shrug follows and Milani pops that last bite of pie into her mouth and licks more crumbs and filling off her fingers.
Aleudre returns the smile, though his is a little wider at the remaining crumbs clinging to the corner of her mouth. He gently uses his thumb to remove the clinging remnants of her meal. "That's a long list. You should be happy. I'm the only surviving child of my parents, I think." He shrugs. "And if there are more of us out there, well, to each their own." He looks to Jaeni with a lifted brow. "Why wouldn't you hide from work? It's -work-." As if that says it all.
"From flights and having... fun?" Fun is spoken in a such tone that would suggest Jaeni isn't actually certain what 'fun' is supposed to entail when it involves making babies.Pause. Milani and Aleudre are both given curious looks before she finally says with a decisive, "So... basically how my sister got knocked up. Fun. Weird." The boy is given a lifted brow look of her own. "Because you're supposed to do it. If you're not going to work where you live, you shouldn't be allowed to live there. No freeloading."
Milani colors a little for the missed crumbs and fishes in her pocket for her handkerchief to make sure any other lingering messiness is properly dealt with. "Mm. I like my family," the assistant headwoman declares with bright loyalty. "Drive me crazy sometimes, but over all, I love them to bits." Her eyes lift to Jaeni and her brows quirk a little. "Sure. Isn't that why people do it so much? And well there's not doing your work and like ... managing your time. RIght?" Another sly grin crosses Milani's face and she leans back against the wall.
"That's right. Take me for example," Aleudre adds to Milani's start, looking to Jaeni with a crooked grin. "I get all my work -done-. But in what time, and how I manage to make my deadlines.. well, that's my choice. I usually leave it all 'til the end. Not the best management style, but oh well." The peace lasted too long and soon both fire lizards are back from whatever mischief they got into and they alight on Aleudre with loud trills. "Okay, jeeze. They're almost making my own stomach twist with the need for food." He heaves a sigh and gathers the lizards up against his chest. "I'll see you later maybe?" he asks of Milani as he stands up and looks down at her. "We, uh, can chat. Or find something more fun." He grins cheekily and looks to Jaeni. "That, weird? Maybe." He nods to both girls and then heads out back into the working weyr.
"I don't know. I just thought they liked having kids. I would never just do it for /fun/." Jaeni says staunchly, though her confidence looks a little shaken by Aleudre's departing comment. "Well I... Uh. Are you doing..." Insert a slightly confused, embarassed but ultimately interested and curious look. "Fun stuff with him? I mean, he's a little rude sometimes but I guess he's sort of cute." She comments a little shyly, glancing after him. "But sort of lazy-sounding."
"There you go," says Milani blithely with a loose gesture of one hand towards Aleudre, "that's one way of managing things." She picks her book back up, brushing crumbs off its cover and makes sure the page she was on still has the marker between it and its neighbor, then stacks the basket atop it. "Good luck with the lizards, oh, and if you need help training them, my mother or Shanlee're both good people to ask." The assistant headwoman hesitates for a moment, then gives a slight nod of her head. "Sure, later maybe," and her wave follows Aleudre out before her gaze swings back up to Jaeni. "Why not? I mean, I don't plan on having any kids at all, but I'll probably wind up having sex sometime, and if it's not for making a baby, then what else for?" She stands up shaking out her blanket and folding it neatly in her arms. Her gaze skips after the tailor and she shrugs non-chalantly. "A little smooching around, nothing serious. Pretty good kisser actually. And I don't really care if he's lazy or not so long as he meets his quota with Hayda. I'm not about to /marry/ the guy." Millie makes big eyes at the other young woman. "It's all about good fun, see." And she finishes piling up her armload of stuff, preparatory to heading out.
Jaeni mouth opens a little, then she closes it back up. "Well, I'm jealous. I... think." She says, mouth twisting into that shy yet interested smile. "We don't have a lot of good fun at the hold. It's usual fun followed by something bad happening to you. You know. And then you /do/ end up marrying the person." She grimaces and rolls her eyes. "Maybe I could get to like it here. Hm." She shoves her hands into her pockets. "Mind if I follow you out of here? I need to be redirected towards the infirmary. I may have left my sister behind there." She says with a devilish wink, looking as if she's going to leave regardless of whether she's allowed to follow the other girl or not.
"Yeah well, it's a Weyr and no one really cares if you get knocked up, or well rather, see, rider kids are good to have around because they tend to Impress, right? And Pern needs riders. But there's other stuff you can do to /not/ get knocked up," explains Milani, again very matter-of-factly. "So you know, if you don't want kids you don't really /have/ to have them." Millie bursts out laughing at Jaeni's claim to jealousy. "Weeelll, if it sounds good ... stay, there's plenty of work for willing hands." And the assistant headwoman hefts her armload of stuff again. "Grab the little glow, will you? And sure, c'mon, I'll take you back to the Common Room - you can find your way from there." With that the assistant headwoman is marching off determinedly, clearly untroubled by any of the topics of conversation that came up this evening.
Jaeni scoops up the glow, holding up so that their way is well illuminated. "Huh. I don't know, at the hold, you always just sort of... have them. I guess that's why girls don't really get into the fun stuff all that often." She follows after Milani, sneaking around her to hold open the door for her and her armload of 'stuff'. "After you, lady." She quips with a grin, afterwards letting the door shut behind them and catching up.
When: Evening, day 6, month 3, Turn 15, of the Tenth Interval.
Where: Records Room, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani's hiding out a little from Hayda in the quiet of the Records. Aleudre's looking for firelizard information and Jaeni gets lost. Conversation follows.
The evening is whiling away into full on night, the sun set quite some time ago already and the Weyr is starting to doss down for the night. Most of the caverns-workers are enjoying down time in the common room or living cavern and the Weyr's children are bumping into curfews, the littlest ones already abed. Milani's snuck off to find a quiet corner for herself it seems, eschewing the light and noise of the Common Room, for the back reaches of the Records where she sits, not in a chair, but on a pillow she brought with her, a pretty, fleecy llama wool blanket drawn up over her knees, a little glowbasket down on the floor next to a basket of snacks and a book held in her hands. She's not actually reading at the moment though, head resting against the cool stone wall behind her, looking out over the silent and otherwise deserted Records Room.
If only such peace could be kept - but a Weyr is a place filled with many bodies and wherever privacy might be attained it is not long held. The solitude that Milani has sought is interrupted by the arrival of a very aggrieved looking Aleudre. He has two fire lizards circling over his head, chittering in loud and angry tones. "I'm trying to figure out what you -need- but no, no you're never satisfied!" In his attempts to shoo the creatures away, the tailor all but trips over Milani against the wall. "Oh, sorry Milani. I'll get them out of here, just one second." He reaches into a pouch at his side and pulls out two stringy looking morsels which he tosses to the floor. Young and ever hungry, the brown and green pair descend on the food and set to squabbling over the portions. "I came to read about them," he informs the girl, looking embarrassed. "But they woke up and tracked me down."
Milani sits up a little at the noisy entrance of Aleudre plus lizards and tucks her hair back, then draws it around over one side of her neck so that it frames her face there. "Hey Aleudre. It's all right. If I really want to be completely alone, I'd go hide out in my room. It's more that I don't want to be where Hayda would /expect/ me to be and I wouldn't normally be here off-duty and ..." she trails off and lets out a little self-concsious laugh then pats the ground beside herself. "Come keep me company?" A little head-tilt accompanies the invitation.
Embarrassment is replaced with his more usual casual sensuality, her invitation giving Aleudre a reason to smile. "I can read about them another time," he announces and moves to seat himself beside her. He sits -just- close enough that they would almost be touching but are not. "Hiding from Hayda, why, I thought that was my goal since I signed on at the weyr?" He kicks his legs out in front of him and crosses them at the ankle. A lean back against the wall brings his focus back to the bickering lizards. "I should never have let myself be talked into those," he remarks, looking aggrieved. "I went to Fort with a greenrider on a random invitation and there I came upon those," he finger-waves at the tiny shapes. "and impressed not one, but two." He shakes his head. "-Lucky- me."
"Mm. Just don't want to be bothered about work tonight," notes the assistant headwoman, smiling as the tailor parks it next to her. "What do you want to know about them anyway? I mean mostly, you just have to be strict y'know, lay down the law and get them to focus. Sure, lavish affection on them too, but don't let them get away with stuff." Beat. "Or were you like, looking for stories or something?" She looks over at Aleudre curiously, knees drawing up towards chest and she retucks her pretty blanket around her legs as she does so, arms wrapping around on the outside, cheek pillowing agains the shelf her kneecaps make. "Fort huh? Did you meet my brother? Oh I know I know, big Weyr." She makes a waving motion with one hand and resttles it loosely clasping her opposite wrist.
Aleudre shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know if I met your brother, it was busy when I was there. I didn't have much time to chat once the impression was over and I got whisked away again." He grins, dropping his voice and looking around the room as if there might be listeners. "Don't tell Shanlee that I did, okay? I'm feigning uninterest in her offer to ride her dragon because I want a different favor from her." His grin is crooked as he looks back to her. "What that is yet, haven't figured out." His fingers move to touch the blanket. "This is nice work. Did you make it?"
"He's the Weyrlingmaster there," Milani adds helpfully then blinks at the sotto voce confession. "Ohhhhh." The assistant headwoman nods widely then gets a crafty little grin on her face, eyes twinkling a little. "Open-ended favors are a good thing to have on tap." Oh so wise and cunning. Riiight. "Actually, Shanlee gave it to me. I think her family has a llama farm or something." She smiles down at the soft fleecy knit and frees a hand to pat at it gently. She and Aleudre are sat faaaar back in the verrrry quiet Records Room which is mostly dark, the glows shielded for the night, but for the little pool of light coming from a small glow on the floor beside Millie. She's got a book and a basket of snacks too.
Aleudre tilts his head. "I -might- have seen him, but a name is alluding me right now." He watches as the fire lizard pair move about the rooms, inspecting the odd corners around the shelves. "You got me there, open-ended favors are always perks." He looks to her book. "What were you reading before I rudely interrupted you?"
Jaeni walks into the records room and it's evident by her expression that she doesn't know where is. That is if anyone can make out her face in the dark. She presses her fingers against her lips, worried, looking to and fro for any sign that this place is familiar. "Oh, no. I took a wrong turn. The infirmary isn't this way..." Noticing the glows in the back and the sound of voices, she walks over. Surprise leaps to her face when it's actually two people she recognizes. "Oh! Assistant Headwoman Milani and Porcine-Man. Where is this? The records? Is the infirmary nearby?"
"Mm. Well say hello if you go back. Or maybe we can wheedle a ride together even." Milani beams over at Aleudre then drops a hand to pick up her book and passes it over to him. "Stories. You know the kind we used to get told when we were little." Jaeni's approach lifts her eyes up in surprise and she blinks at Jaeni. "Records ... and ... porcine-man?" She looks between the two others curiously.
Aleudre flips through the book once it's handed over, "Sure, we can get a ride over there. If you want, I will take Shanlee up on that trade so you can visit him... granted, he could always come this way...," he is momentarily distracted by one story and he peers closer at it. "I can't make out that word there, what is it? Oh wait, nevermind. The words just were momentarily scrambled." He looks up at the approach of another and a flash of a frown crosses his usual genial features. "Hello Jaeni. Do you really have to insist on calling me that name? I thought we moved past that the other day."
"What? Porcine-man isn't a good nickname? I thought it was endearing." Jaeni replies, flashing him a smile. "But really. This is the records room? It sure smells inky." She comments, eyes breaking from the pair to take in the room. "What are you guys doing in here? In the dark with just glows for light?" Looking down now at the book, she cants her head to the side. "Can't you go blind reading in dim lighting?"
"Not really ..." Milani replies, still looking between the two. "I mean, I don't think Aleudre has much in common with pigs. His manners're too pretty." She tilts the glow a little and shrugs. "It's not dim, plenty of light in this one, and she lifts the littl basket up for Jaeni to see. "I ducked in here for a little quiet time where Hayda wouldn't think to look for me at this hour and then the tailor here came in looking for information about fire lizards." The other basket near Milani's hand is picked up, the one with the treats in it. "Cookie? Pastry?" she offers to the other girl.
"Well he asked me the other day if my sister was pregnant with my "man's" baby. I don't think that was too demonstrative of pretty manners." Jaeni responds, casting a 'look' in the tailor's direction. "But he did /sort of/ apologize." She concedes before saying, "Oh, so you're hiding out. I'm going to have to remember how to get to this place. They won't ever think to look for me in here either." She says idly, drifting her eyes away from them to the shelves behind. "Cookie?" Interest returns to her voice and she looks down, sneaking out a hand to pick out one. "Thanks!"
It takes Millie a second to parse that then she shoots a brow-raised look over at Aleudre. "Okay now, /this/ is a story I /have/ to hear." The assistant headwoman's eyes light up a little at the prospect of gossip. "Though apologies are always good, yeah. And, just remember, 'head for Stores' and 'look for the big Doors' that oughta get you here all right." Milani smiles blithely as Jaeni takes a cookie, then she offers the basket over to Aleudre. "And it's y'know, about finding firelizards that one, so mission accomplished?" For the story in the book.
Aleudre shakes his head. "I was asking in jest, honestly. She was crying," Aleudre looks to Milani, attempting to explain the situation and still maintain some credibility. "and Jaeni was the cause of it." He uncrosses his legs to stretch both out in front of him. He rotates each foot briefly and then resettles them in the same position. He looks through the basket and pulls out a smaller cookie. "I'm good on finding them, now if I could just lose them," he grumbles as he breaks the cookie in half and tosses a morsel into his mouth. For the moment, his objects of complaint have moved off into other corners and crevices and are out of sight.
"I didn't call her fat!" Jaeni bursts out, looking as if this isn't the first time someone's pointed out she made the girl cry. Exasperated with it? Seems likely as she lifts up her shoulders. "Tell a girl she's getting bigger cause she's super pregnant and all of a sudden you're calling her fat." She mutters under her breath before popping the cookie in and chewing. There's a small sigh as she glances down at the book, then at Aleudre. "Are you cursed with firelizards or something?" She asks, looking for confirmation of this from Milani. "Head for stores, look for big doors. That sort of rhymes. Are you going to be a harper?"
To and fro, Milani's eyes go and she deems it wise to take a cold tart out of the basket and pop it into her mouth while each of the others explains their take on things. She's licking fruit filling off her thumb after a big bite squooshes the stuff out and she sort of lets the he said-she said slide. "Yep. He Impressed two at once down Fort way. Some'd say lucky, some'd say cursed. And hell no. I'm an assistant headwoman, my older brother's the harper."
"How many brothers do you have?" Aleudre asks Milani with a curious expression before he finishes off the cookie. "And who'd want to be a harper anyway? Too much work, if you ask me. All that singing, and mending problems, and what-have-you's." He shakes his head at the idea of such 'work'. "No, no. She's better suited for other things." He grins. "Hiding from work, for one."
"Well if you ever decided to be a harper, at least you'd have the rhyming down. I mean, isn't that what harpers are supposed to do? Rhyme and... stuff." Jaeni stares a little at Milani's cursing. "I don't think they say 'hell no' when answering a question. She listens to Aleudre's explanation as she delicately dabs at the crumbs around the corners of her mouth. "When you put it that way it doesn't like a lot of fun." There's a lift of her eyebrows. "You hide from work all the time?"
"Two half-brothers, both much older, two half-sisters and one full-blooded sister," Milani ticks off her family at a rapid clip. "Plus a whole bunch of fosters who were my mother's first weyrmate's kids from flights and having fun." She says this all very matter-of-factly. Ahh weyrlife. "And I dunno, 'Remi likes it well enough. There's something for everyone dontcha know." Another bite of pie and the assistant headwoman's mouth is too full for further talk for a bit though she does smile at Aleudre with a bit of pie filling clinging to the corner of her mouth. "Rhyme? Sure, I guess. Not all the time though. Remi like ... writes things and stuff." A shrug follows and Milani pops that last bite of pie into her mouth and licks more crumbs and filling off her fingers.
Aleudre returns the smile, though his is a little wider at the remaining crumbs clinging to the corner of her mouth. He gently uses his thumb to remove the clinging remnants of her meal. "That's a long list. You should be happy. I'm the only surviving child of my parents, I think." He shrugs. "And if there are more of us out there, well, to each their own." He looks to Jaeni with a lifted brow. "Why wouldn't you hide from work? It's -work-." As if that says it all.
"From flights and having... fun?" Fun is spoken in a such tone that would suggest Jaeni isn't actually certain what 'fun' is supposed to entail when it involves making babies.Pause. Milani and Aleudre are both given curious looks before she finally says with a decisive, "So... basically how my sister got knocked up. Fun. Weird." The boy is given a lifted brow look of her own. "Because you're supposed to do it. If you're not going to work where you live, you shouldn't be allowed to live there. No freeloading."
Milani colors a little for the missed crumbs and fishes in her pocket for her handkerchief to make sure any other lingering messiness is properly dealt with. "Mm. I like my family," the assistant headwoman declares with bright loyalty. "Drive me crazy sometimes, but over all, I love them to bits." Her eyes lift to Jaeni and her brows quirk a little. "Sure. Isn't that why people do it so much? And well there's not doing your work and like ... managing your time. RIght?" Another sly grin crosses Milani's face and she leans back against the wall.
"That's right. Take me for example," Aleudre adds to Milani's start, looking to Jaeni with a crooked grin. "I get all my work -done-. But in what time, and how I manage to make my deadlines.. well, that's my choice. I usually leave it all 'til the end. Not the best management style, but oh well." The peace lasted too long and soon both fire lizards are back from whatever mischief they got into and they alight on Aleudre with loud trills. "Okay, jeeze. They're almost making my own stomach twist with the need for food." He heaves a sigh and gathers the lizards up against his chest. "I'll see you later maybe?" he asks of Milani as he stands up and looks down at her. "We, uh, can chat. Or find something more fun." He grins cheekily and looks to Jaeni. "That, weird? Maybe." He nods to both girls and then heads out back into the working weyr.
"I don't know. I just thought they liked having kids. I would never just do it for /fun/." Jaeni says staunchly, though her confidence looks a little shaken by Aleudre's departing comment. "Well I... Uh. Are you doing..." Insert a slightly confused, embarassed but ultimately interested and curious look. "Fun stuff with him? I mean, he's a little rude sometimes but I guess he's sort of cute." She comments a little shyly, glancing after him. "But sort of lazy-sounding."
"There you go," says Milani blithely with a loose gesture of one hand towards Aleudre, "that's one way of managing things." She picks her book back up, brushing crumbs off its cover and makes sure the page she was on still has the marker between it and its neighbor, then stacks the basket atop it. "Good luck with the lizards, oh, and if you need help training them, my mother or Shanlee're both good people to ask." The assistant headwoman hesitates for a moment, then gives a slight nod of her head. "Sure, later maybe," and her wave follows Aleudre out before her gaze swings back up to Jaeni. "Why not? I mean, I don't plan on having any kids at all, but I'll probably wind up having sex sometime, and if it's not for making a baby, then what else for?" She stands up shaking out her blanket and folding it neatly in her arms. Her gaze skips after the tailor and she shrugs non-chalantly. "A little smooching around, nothing serious. Pretty good kisser actually. And I don't really care if he's lazy or not so long as he meets his quota with Hayda. I'm not about to /marry/ the guy." Millie makes big eyes at the other young woman. "It's all about good fun, see." And she finishes piling up her armload of stuff, preparatory to heading out.
Jaeni mouth opens a little, then she closes it back up. "Well, I'm jealous. I... think." She says, mouth twisting into that shy yet interested smile. "We don't have a lot of good fun at the hold. It's usual fun followed by something bad happening to you. You know. And then you /do/ end up marrying the person." She grimaces and rolls her eyes. "Maybe I could get to like it here. Hm." She shoves her hands into her pockets. "Mind if I follow you out of here? I need to be redirected towards the infirmary. I may have left my sister behind there." She says with a devilish wink, looking as if she's going to leave regardless of whether she's allowed to follow the other girl or not.
"Yeah well, it's a Weyr and no one really cares if you get knocked up, or well rather, see, rider kids are good to have around because they tend to Impress, right? And Pern needs riders. But there's other stuff you can do to /not/ get knocked up," explains Milani, again very matter-of-factly. "So you know, if you don't want kids you don't really /have/ to have them." Millie bursts out laughing at Jaeni's claim to jealousy. "Weeelll, if it sounds good ... stay, there's plenty of work for willing hands." And the assistant headwoman hefts her armload of stuff again. "Grab the little glow, will you? And sure, c'mon, I'll take you back to the Common Room - you can find your way from there." With that the assistant headwoman is marching off determinedly, clearly untroubled by any of the topics of conversation that came up this evening.
Jaeni scoops up the glow, holding up so that their way is well illuminated. "Huh. I don't know, at the hold, you always just sort of... have them. I guess that's why girls don't really get into the fun stuff all that often." She follows after Milani, sneaking around her to hold open the door for her and her armload of 'stuff'. "After you, lady." She quips with a grin, afterwards letting the door shut behind them and catching up.