Log: Miss Sunshine Greeter of Newcomers
Who: A'son, Milani, Zahava
When: 18:48 on day 6, month 8, Turn 13, of the 10th Interval
Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
What: Millie bumps into A'son at the dessert table and prods him about having company over again. Talk of Emilly's scheme to keep her daughter occupied ensues. There's plenty of friendly teasing involved and then a visitor from Fort turns up and Milani puts on a really good imitation of good behavior.
Dinnertime! Milani's sitting with a mixed group of others around her age, laughing and chattering away. "So then, she popped her head out of the water caverns waving the soapy brush and shouting after me that she was going to rat me out to my mother and everyone and blah blah blah. But she hasn't yet, so I guess it's not a problem!" The girl grins airily and pushes her chair back. "Anybody for dessert?"
A'son is getting dessert. What a coincidence! The bronzerider is agonizing over the decision to eat a light and fluffy pastry or what appears to be a sugar cookie. Decisions, decisions. The scruff on his face is rubbedd while he concentrates. In the end, it seems like he's just going to eat both of them. Cookie is on the plate, and then he's reaching for the pastry to add that to his collection of food also.
A chorus of yesses, follows the slender girl as she moves away from the table. Choices, choices, but this one's easy for Milani as she nears the buffet. "Hey A'son!" she carols out cheerfully and darts a long arm in past the bronzerider to snag not one cookie but a handful for herself. She's not bothering with a plate, just juggling the golden rounds in both hands. "How're you and Nikoth? All settled in up there? Getting lots of visitors?"
"Ah, no visitors as of yet. But we're both great. How about yourself? Do you want a plate?" A'son offers after he puts the pastry down on his own. Eyebrows are lift questioningly as he puts his hand out to a pile of plates. "How's... things? Your mother, various siblings?"
"None? Jays A'son, and after all that furniture arranging. Tsk." Milani reaches a poking finger over to nudge the rider and lifts one of the cookies up to take a bite. "A plate? No, what for? Gonna share some of these with that lot," she indicates the group she came from. "Keep a couple for myself. Things? Good. Good. Mum's cooked up some plan to keep my occupied she says. Doesn't want me wandering about at loose ends so much, since I haven't picked a Craft yet. Dunno what that is though."
A'son turns his head slowly to look over at the grouping of teenager girls. "Ah ha. Well, looks like you have quite the den of soon to be hens over there." Looking back towards Milani, he grins. "I know, it's a shame. I'm far from being a good party thrower, guest inviter." There's a shrug of his shoulders. "Cooked up a plan to keep you occupied..." He repeats. "I'm sure it'll be fun?"
"Not /all/ girls, that's actually a boy," Milani points to one of the teens leaning on the table, misleadingly long hair floating over his shoulders. "You just gotta decide to ask, see. Don't ask, don't even have a chance at anyone saying yes." She takes another bite of cookie, munching away and shrugs one shoulder. "Who knows, this is my /mother/ we're talking about. You know. Staid?"
"Yes to being a hen or yes to coming over?" A'son responds, casting her one of his amusing, pushing her buttons grins. "That boy needs a haircut and some meat on his bones." He obeserves before taking a step or two awayfrom the table." An eyebrow is lifted, "Staid?" He asks. "I'm sure whatever she has in store for you is a good thing."
"To coming over silly." Milani's knuckles nudge towards A'son's arm again. "Yeah, well maybe he'll get there eventually. He's only thirteen y'know." Spoken with all the superiority of someone barely a few turns older than that. "Yeah. Mum's nice n' all, but she's not exactly ... life of the party, right?" Her nose wrinkles a little. "Good for me." She heaves a sigh. "That doesn't usually mean /fun/."
A'son snickers, another glance for the boy before he shrugs his shoulders. "Better get started now. I didn't fill out until recently." He admits. "And I'm twenty-five. That's what you get for not eating enough... or something." There's a short laugh for her sigh. "Well, you're better off not having fun /sometimes/. Getting a decent start on doing something with your life could mean the difference between an enjoyable job or working as the person who scrubs the wash caverns clean every morning."
Big eyes from Milani. "You're /that/ old? Shells. You don't look it." She sighs again, working her way through another cookie. "Doesn't seem to matter how much I eat. Just skin and bones, me." The girl purses her lips in distaste then favors A'son with a narrow-eyed look. "There's nothing wrong with cavern-scrubbing either. But ... okay, you've got a point. Hold on a sec okay? Gotta go drop these off." She waves the somewhat depleted handful of cookies and heads back towards the gaggle of 'hens' and one lone 'pullet'.
"I am not /old/. I'm just... getting there." A'son huffs, popping the cookie into his mouth. He gives her a 'look' when she says there's nothing wrong with cavern scrubbing. "You don't want to do it forever, I don't think." He shakes his, casting a wry grin in the direction of the kids while he drops himself off into a nearby chair.
"Here you go, here you go," Milani drops the cookies off, keeping one for herself. There's some thank yous and Milani nods A'son's way. "Gonna go keep him company for a while. He's not real good at asking y'know." She smiles broadly and steers over to perch on the table where A'son's pulled up his chair. "So okay, right, not /old/ but a /lot/ older than me. Y'know, like you're a real grownup and all. And I dunno, there's worse things than scrubbing caverns. There's always scrubbing latrines." The face she makes includes a stuck out tongue, a rolling of her eyes and a general expression of extreme disgust.
"Well, whatever. When your mother informs you of her plan? Imagine the worst job you could ever be straddled with for /life/. And then? Compare it to what she wants you to do. Then you decide whether you want to do it or not." And that's A'son's recommandation as he leans back into the seat. "Well what, you're fifteen aren't you? I guess ten turns is a lot in this situation, yeah."
Furrowed brows indicate the moment it takes for Milani to follow all of that and then it smoothes out all at once. "Okay, okay, yeah she's probably not going to come up with something /bad/ but still," she pops another bite of cookie, "it's probably not going to be what I'd rather, but y'know, sure. Whatever." BOth shoulders lift in a careless shrug and then she shakes her head. "Nooo ... fourteen and a half."
"Oh, really?" A'son responds, blinking at her. "Well, I was terrible at ages. I guess you are just a baby after all!" He says, grinning cheekily at the girl. "But regardless, yeah. I doubt that Emilly would dump you in some horrible job. Horribly boring, but not horrible."
Milani nearly chokes on her mouthful of cookie and shoots a sharp look at A'son. Her mouth twists a little and she chews and swallows before answering. "Okay, I guess I deserved that. You'r not old and I'm no baby. Okay?" She kicks her foot a little, frowning over at her group of cronies who are all giggling and laughing over something. "Yeah. Not horrible's about the stretch of it. Anyway. If you haven't been having company, what've you been up to other than the whole mess over Crom?"
"Deal." A'son agrees, finishing off the last of the treats on his plate. There's a shrug. "Other than that? Same old, same old. Drills, fly sweeps, fly fall when it happens. Sleep, drink, do it again. They don't really tell me much, I'm just sort of a workhorse. You know?" Shifting attention to the group of kids, he jerks his head in their direction. "You don't need to keep me company. I'm a big boy."
"Have more cookie?" Milani eyes the bronzerider with a slight frown. "Drink?" For some reason she seizes on that as she pops a broken off piece of cookie into her mouth and presents another bit to him. "They're probably just gossiping. Taera likes to make up stories about people that aren't true. She's the blonde on the end. Pretty, but she's got a mean streak."
A'son shakes his head. "Nah, that's okay. I think I've eaten my fill for the evening." Attention going back to the group for a moment, he then leans forwards towards Milani and whispers in conspiratal tones. "Don't worry, if they're saying stuff about you? Nikoth will eat them. He likes blondes." He pulls back, gauging her reaction even as he goes to cover his grin with a mug of klah.
"You sure? They're so good." Milani profits by his refusal to eat the rest of the cookie then licks the crumbs off her fingers and dusts more off of her trouser leg. A'son's lean earns a return lean on her part and his comment collapses her shoulders with the fit of giggles that follows. "Does he? I'd have thought he'd like /green/ or y'know, /gold/." Her mouth curls up in a wide smile, merriment echoed in her eyes. "Anyway. There's always tons of gossip down here in the caverns. I could tell you some stories to curl your hair."
"No, no. Blondes and redheads." A'son says, as if this is a commonplace, obvious thing that all dragons do. "And especially the pretty ones. But I'd have to make sure that he was hungry before hand or all he'd do is stare otherwise." A roll of his eyes and shoulder shrug for that, inconviences! "If I ever need to have super curly hair, I'll ask you about some gossip. Then I can be the fanciest bronzerider at the gather." He grins broadly as he slurps from the cup.
Zahava walks into the cavern from the lower caverns.
"Good thing my hair's neither. Somewhere in between, then." Milani heaves an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Death by dragon-munching isn't what I have in mind for an exit." She laughs again, nodding a couple times. "You betcha. Just come find me and I'll tell you everything I've heard all week and you'll be all ready to celebrate. There you go."
"Me too. I wouldn't want him to have to eat you. You're a nice kid. He has no interest in eating me. Something about having a bad attitude, spoiling the taste etc... No sense of humor is what I say." A'son says, attempting something of firm and serious tone while he talks. Snickering leaks through anyway. "Good! You'll be my official gather prep-girl. You'll make sure that I'm ready."
Zahava makes her way in from the bowl, pausing at the door to tuck away her riding gloves and open her jacket over the cream-colored tunic beneath. A hand lifts to rake through her shoulder-length blonde hair, and then she moves deeper into the room.
"Well thanks. 'Nice kid' is a lot better than 'sharding nuisance' by a long shot." Playfully, Milani nudges A'son's shoulder with her elbow. "And is Nikoth /really/ that much of a stick in the mud? How d'you ever survive!?" She beams though at her new 'title'. "You betcha. All the girls'll be swooning at your feet." A stranger moving through the entranceway and the Fort knot catch Milani's eye and she sits up a bit. "Hey look. We've got company from Fort." She considers a moment. "Must be Zahava, 'cos she sure doesn't look like the Weyrwoman or Leah. Wonder if that means my brother's around too. Huh."
"Nah, not really. But we like to pick on each other. I call him a stick in the mud, he calls me a /worse/ stick in the mud." A'son grins. "We're not really inventive, I suppose." He laughs at her enjoyment of the title, and blinks when she suddenly sits up. "Hmm?" He looks at her curiously before glancing around the room. "Oh. Your brother.. uh... attends to the goldriders or does he just live at Fort?" Typical blundering A'son question. When he sets sights on the woman, he gives her a salute. "Greetings from High Reaches to Fort."
Perhaps it's her name, or maybe just the movement that catches Zahava's eye, for she turns slightly and catches the salute, her nose twitching slightly. She returns it with a coureous nod, approaching the rider who gave it, her eyes slipping to Milani as well as she offers a formal greeting. "Fort Weyr's duties to Ista and her Queens. I'm Zahava, Ciath's rider."
"You're not a stick in the mud, Ays. But you /do/ have to ask some folks up to that weyr of yours! Share that liquor you were talking about." Milani mock-wags her finger at the bronzerider then straightens her shoulders out and does her best to look something like proper. "Oh no, just thought maybe if there's a bunch from Fort over he might be with 'em. He's the Weyrlingmaster down there." And there's Zahava coming up and she pastes on the most angelic looking smile. "High Reaches' duties to Fort and hers!" Milani has /manners/ ??. "Well met Zahava. I'm Milani, this here is A'son, bronze Nikoth's. And I'll bet you know my big brother Paddy." She sticks her hand out abruptly. Okay, so not perfect manners.
A'son laughs outright and shakes his head. "Share liqour, invite people up to my weyr. What /has/ your mother been teaching you? Or did you pick that up from the lower caverns?" He asks, finishing the mug of klah off in one swallow and dropping the mug to the table. "Oh! So that would mean... an actual job. Not just a goldrider attending job. Though I guess that could be a whole job in and out of itself." He muses. Milani is given an amused look as she switches attitudes for the foreign rider. "A'son, Nikoth's. What brings you out here to the year round cold?"
Zahava extends her hand towards Milani to clasp her hand politely. "P'draig? Of course...." the words trail off as she eyes A'son askance. "A... what sort of job was that?" she asks, blinking at him, and neglecting to answer the question of her purpose.
Mumbled in an undertone, Milani tacks on an answer for those questions: "My brothers and yeah, the caverns. Not Mum. I think I drive her nuts sometimes, I'm so not like her." Her eyes roll a little and then it's back to Miss Sunshine Greeter of Newcomers. "Oh yes, P'draig's been the Weyrlingmaster at Fort for some turns now." She adopts a stilted, overly polite air like the ones some of the adults around the Weyr use when greeting foreign dignitaries but then she's shaking Zahava's hand exuberantly. "Goldrider escorting is what he was thinking. And it is /so/ not cold here year round. C'mon, you grew up here, A'son. You know it's not true."
A'son eyebrows lift as he feels the considering gaze of the unfamiliar goldrider. "I was talking about Queen riders having their own personal assistance. It could be it's own job." He gives her a long look over before shifting back to Milani once again, grin returning. "Yeah, I guess. but I don't think that the air ever really loses the chill that it carries." Running a hand over his needing-a-haircut hair, "So really, what pulls a goldrider from Fort to 'Reaches? Diplomatic... stuff?" He asks curiously.
Zahava releases Milani's hand, giving a little shiver. "Meeting people," she says blandly. "My Weyrwoman desires me to meet people. I guess you two are the people that I'm meeting today," she continues, her husky voice lightening briskly. Her eyes refocus on A'son thoughtfully for a moment. "You're one of the weyrlings who just graduated? Did I'daur pass along that ice wine I gifted you all?"
"Well I don't mind the weather here. Though that one time we went down to Boll, that /was/ nice." Milani's super proper manners start to wear off again, feet swinging back and forth a little off the edge of the table. "Yep. And now you've met us. What d'you think so far?" The girl's smile is rapid-fire and as exuberant as her handshake, though she's taking in Zahava's appearance again with quick darts of of blue-green eyes. She pipes down long enough to listen to the rest of what the two riders have to say, though she looks just a little fidgety around the edges, like she's having trouble sitting still.
"Well, I don't know whether to congratulate or console you on that. I tend to drive people off in exasperation on occasion and Milani is well... She eats way too much sugar if you know what I mean." He says to Zahava, letting her in on the 'secret' as to why the girl is perhaps fidgeting everywhere. "Yeah, Boll is really nice. I just went down there recently with B'yan." A grin for the question, "Yes, he did. And it was very thoughtful of you, thank you."
Zahava ahs softly, her lips curving in a little smile at the 'secret.' "I see, yes. And Boll is a place of ours, at Fort. It's within our coverage, of course," she says thoughtfully. "But it's been months since I've gone by the Lava Lounge." She shrugs her shoulder slightly, then nods to A'son, "Oh. good. I'm relieved. I was a little concerned when I didn't hear anything. He seemed a little... unenthusiastic about them."
Milani snorts volubly at A'son. "It's not the sweet stuff. I'm just /energetic/. That's the nice way to say it anyway." The girl tugs on the end of her braid and fixes the bronzerider with a long look. "Take me along next time? I promise I won't embarrass you or get drunk, but I'm curious about that drinking hole down there. Heard all sorts of rumors." She grins over at Zahava again, jerking her thumb at A'son. "He's exaggerating about the driving off. Though it's true that we /used/ to argue a lot. He's a good egg really. Just a little /shy/." There's two slow bats of Milani's eyelashes, guileless. Over a table or so, a group of kids around Millie's age are pushing back chairs and heading out in twos and threes. One of them lingers, gesturing over at the girl. "Milani ... c'mon, we're going uh ... swimming." There's something shifty about the other girl's manner that might indicate there's some mischief afoot. Milani hesitates, looking briefly torn then she slides off the table and onto the ground. "Do enjoy your visit to the High Reaches, Zahava." Manners again and then she's ducking around the goldrider to rejoin her friends with a backward wave for A'son. "Bye Ays! I'll see you later!" And she's off, linking arms with her pal and giggling.
When: 18:48 on day 6, month 8, Turn 13, of the 10th Interval
Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
What: Millie bumps into A'son at the dessert table and prods him about having company over again. Talk of Emilly's scheme to keep her daughter occupied ensues. There's plenty of friendly teasing involved and then a visitor from Fort turns up and Milani puts on a really good imitation of good behavior.
Dinnertime! Milani's sitting with a mixed group of others around her age, laughing and chattering away. "So then, she popped her head out of the water caverns waving the soapy brush and shouting after me that she was going to rat me out to my mother and everyone and blah blah blah. But she hasn't yet, so I guess it's not a problem!" The girl grins airily and pushes her chair back. "Anybody for dessert?"
A'son is getting dessert. What a coincidence! The bronzerider is agonizing over the decision to eat a light and fluffy pastry or what appears to be a sugar cookie. Decisions, decisions. The scruff on his face is rubbedd while he concentrates. In the end, it seems like he's just going to eat both of them. Cookie is on the plate, and then he's reaching for the pastry to add that to his collection of food also.
A chorus of yesses, follows the slender girl as she moves away from the table. Choices, choices, but this one's easy for Milani as she nears the buffet. "Hey A'son!" she carols out cheerfully and darts a long arm in past the bronzerider to snag not one cookie but a handful for herself. She's not bothering with a plate, just juggling the golden rounds in both hands. "How're you and Nikoth? All settled in up there? Getting lots of visitors?"
"Ah, no visitors as of yet. But we're both great. How about yourself? Do you want a plate?" A'son offers after he puts the pastry down on his own. Eyebrows are lift questioningly as he puts his hand out to a pile of plates. "How's... things? Your mother, various siblings?"
"None? Jays A'son, and after all that furniture arranging. Tsk." Milani reaches a poking finger over to nudge the rider and lifts one of the cookies up to take a bite. "A plate? No, what for? Gonna share some of these with that lot," she indicates the group she came from. "Keep a couple for myself. Things? Good. Good. Mum's cooked up some plan to keep my occupied she says. Doesn't want me wandering about at loose ends so much, since I haven't picked a Craft yet. Dunno what that is though."
A'son turns his head slowly to look over at the grouping of teenager girls. "Ah ha. Well, looks like you have quite the den of soon to be hens over there." Looking back towards Milani, he grins. "I know, it's a shame. I'm far from being a good party thrower, guest inviter." There's a shrug of his shoulders. "Cooked up a plan to keep you occupied..." He repeats. "I'm sure it'll be fun?"
"Not /all/ girls, that's actually a boy," Milani points to one of the teens leaning on the table, misleadingly long hair floating over his shoulders. "You just gotta decide to ask, see. Don't ask, don't even have a chance at anyone saying yes." She takes another bite of cookie, munching away and shrugs one shoulder. "Who knows, this is my /mother/ we're talking about. You know. Staid?"
"Yes to being a hen or yes to coming over?" A'son responds, casting her one of his amusing, pushing her buttons grins. "That boy needs a haircut and some meat on his bones." He obeserves before taking a step or two awayfrom the table." An eyebrow is lifted, "Staid?" He asks. "I'm sure whatever she has in store for you is a good thing."
"To coming over silly." Milani's knuckles nudge towards A'son's arm again. "Yeah, well maybe he'll get there eventually. He's only thirteen y'know." Spoken with all the superiority of someone barely a few turns older than that. "Yeah. Mum's nice n' all, but she's not exactly ... life of the party, right?" Her nose wrinkles a little. "Good for me." She heaves a sigh. "That doesn't usually mean /fun/."
A'son snickers, another glance for the boy before he shrugs his shoulders. "Better get started now. I didn't fill out until recently." He admits. "And I'm twenty-five. That's what you get for not eating enough... or something." There's a short laugh for her sigh. "Well, you're better off not having fun /sometimes/. Getting a decent start on doing something with your life could mean the difference between an enjoyable job or working as the person who scrubs the wash caverns clean every morning."
Big eyes from Milani. "You're /that/ old? Shells. You don't look it." She sighs again, working her way through another cookie. "Doesn't seem to matter how much I eat. Just skin and bones, me." The girl purses her lips in distaste then favors A'son with a narrow-eyed look. "There's nothing wrong with cavern-scrubbing either. But ... okay, you've got a point. Hold on a sec okay? Gotta go drop these off." She waves the somewhat depleted handful of cookies and heads back towards the gaggle of 'hens' and one lone 'pullet'.
"I am not /old/. I'm just... getting there." A'son huffs, popping the cookie into his mouth. He gives her a 'look' when she says there's nothing wrong with cavern scrubbing. "You don't want to do it forever, I don't think." He shakes his, casting a wry grin in the direction of the kids while he drops himself off into a nearby chair.
"Here you go, here you go," Milani drops the cookies off, keeping one for herself. There's some thank yous and Milani nods A'son's way. "Gonna go keep him company for a while. He's not real good at asking y'know." She smiles broadly and steers over to perch on the table where A'son's pulled up his chair. "So okay, right, not /old/ but a /lot/ older than me. Y'know, like you're a real grownup and all. And I dunno, there's worse things than scrubbing caverns. There's always scrubbing latrines." The face she makes includes a stuck out tongue, a rolling of her eyes and a general expression of extreme disgust.
"Well, whatever. When your mother informs you of her plan? Imagine the worst job you could ever be straddled with for /life/. And then? Compare it to what she wants you to do. Then you decide whether you want to do it or not." And that's A'son's recommandation as he leans back into the seat. "Well what, you're fifteen aren't you? I guess ten turns is a lot in this situation, yeah."
Furrowed brows indicate the moment it takes for Milani to follow all of that and then it smoothes out all at once. "Okay, okay, yeah she's probably not going to come up with something /bad/ but still," she pops another bite of cookie, "it's probably not going to be what I'd rather, but y'know, sure. Whatever." BOth shoulders lift in a careless shrug and then she shakes her head. "Nooo ... fourteen and a half."
"Oh, really?" A'son responds, blinking at her. "Well, I was terrible at ages. I guess you are just a baby after all!" He says, grinning cheekily at the girl. "But regardless, yeah. I doubt that Emilly would dump you in some horrible job. Horribly boring, but not horrible."
Milani nearly chokes on her mouthful of cookie and shoots a sharp look at A'son. Her mouth twists a little and she chews and swallows before answering. "Okay, I guess I deserved that. You'r not old and I'm no baby. Okay?" She kicks her foot a little, frowning over at her group of cronies who are all giggling and laughing over something. "Yeah. Not horrible's about the stretch of it. Anyway. If you haven't been having company, what've you been up to other than the whole mess over Crom?"
"Deal." A'son agrees, finishing off the last of the treats on his plate. There's a shrug. "Other than that? Same old, same old. Drills, fly sweeps, fly fall when it happens. Sleep, drink, do it again. They don't really tell me much, I'm just sort of a workhorse. You know?" Shifting attention to the group of kids, he jerks his head in their direction. "You don't need to keep me company. I'm a big boy."
"Have more cookie?" Milani eyes the bronzerider with a slight frown. "Drink?" For some reason she seizes on that as she pops a broken off piece of cookie into her mouth and presents another bit to him. "They're probably just gossiping. Taera likes to make up stories about people that aren't true. She's the blonde on the end. Pretty, but she's got a mean streak."
A'son shakes his head. "Nah, that's okay. I think I've eaten my fill for the evening." Attention going back to the group for a moment, he then leans forwards towards Milani and whispers in conspiratal tones. "Don't worry, if they're saying stuff about you? Nikoth will eat them. He likes blondes." He pulls back, gauging her reaction even as he goes to cover his grin with a mug of klah.
"You sure? They're so good." Milani profits by his refusal to eat the rest of the cookie then licks the crumbs off her fingers and dusts more off of her trouser leg. A'son's lean earns a return lean on her part and his comment collapses her shoulders with the fit of giggles that follows. "Does he? I'd have thought he'd like /green/ or y'know, /gold/." Her mouth curls up in a wide smile, merriment echoed in her eyes. "Anyway. There's always tons of gossip down here in the caverns. I could tell you some stories to curl your hair."
"No, no. Blondes and redheads." A'son says, as if this is a commonplace, obvious thing that all dragons do. "And especially the pretty ones. But I'd have to make sure that he was hungry before hand or all he'd do is stare otherwise." A roll of his eyes and shoulder shrug for that, inconviences! "If I ever need to have super curly hair, I'll ask you about some gossip. Then I can be the fanciest bronzerider at the gather." He grins broadly as he slurps from the cup.
Zahava walks into the cavern from the lower caverns.
"Good thing my hair's neither. Somewhere in between, then." Milani heaves an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Death by dragon-munching isn't what I have in mind for an exit." She laughs again, nodding a couple times. "You betcha. Just come find me and I'll tell you everything I've heard all week and you'll be all ready to celebrate. There you go."
"Me too. I wouldn't want him to have to eat you. You're a nice kid. He has no interest in eating me. Something about having a bad attitude, spoiling the taste etc... No sense of humor is what I say." A'son says, attempting something of firm and serious tone while he talks. Snickering leaks through anyway. "Good! You'll be my official gather prep-girl. You'll make sure that I'm ready."
Zahava makes her way in from the bowl, pausing at the door to tuck away her riding gloves and open her jacket over the cream-colored tunic beneath. A hand lifts to rake through her shoulder-length blonde hair, and then she moves deeper into the room.
"Well thanks. 'Nice kid' is a lot better than 'sharding nuisance' by a long shot." Playfully, Milani nudges A'son's shoulder with her elbow. "And is Nikoth /really/ that much of a stick in the mud? How d'you ever survive!?" She beams though at her new 'title'. "You betcha. All the girls'll be swooning at your feet." A stranger moving through the entranceway and the Fort knot catch Milani's eye and she sits up a bit. "Hey look. We've got company from Fort." She considers a moment. "Must be Zahava, 'cos she sure doesn't look like the Weyrwoman or Leah. Wonder if that means my brother's around too. Huh."
"Nah, not really. But we like to pick on each other. I call him a stick in the mud, he calls me a /worse/ stick in the mud." A'son grins. "We're not really inventive, I suppose." He laughs at her enjoyment of the title, and blinks when she suddenly sits up. "Hmm?" He looks at her curiously before glancing around the room. "Oh. Your brother.. uh... attends to the goldriders or does he just live at Fort?" Typical blundering A'son question. When he sets sights on the woman, he gives her a salute. "Greetings from High Reaches to Fort."
Perhaps it's her name, or maybe just the movement that catches Zahava's eye, for she turns slightly and catches the salute, her nose twitching slightly. She returns it with a coureous nod, approaching the rider who gave it, her eyes slipping to Milani as well as she offers a formal greeting. "Fort Weyr's duties to Ista and her Queens. I'm Zahava, Ciath's rider."
"You're not a stick in the mud, Ays. But you /do/ have to ask some folks up to that weyr of yours! Share that liquor you were talking about." Milani mock-wags her finger at the bronzerider then straightens her shoulders out and does her best to look something like proper. "Oh no, just thought maybe if there's a bunch from Fort over he might be with 'em. He's the Weyrlingmaster down there." And there's Zahava coming up and she pastes on the most angelic looking smile. "High Reaches' duties to Fort and hers!" Milani has /manners/ ??. "Well met Zahava. I'm Milani, this here is A'son, bronze Nikoth's. And I'll bet you know my big brother Paddy." She sticks her hand out abruptly. Okay, so not perfect manners.
A'son laughs outright and shakes his head. "Share liqour, invite people up to my weyr. What /has/ your mother been teaching you? Or did you pick that up from the lower caverns?" He asks, finishing the mug of klah off in one swallow and dropping the mug to the table. "Oh! So that would mean... an actual job. Not just a goldrider attending job. Though I guess that could be a whole job in and out of itself." He muses. Milani is given an amused look as she switches attitudes for the foreign rider. "A'son, Nikoth's. What brings you out here to the year round cold?"
Zahava extends her hand towards Milani to clasp her hand politely. "P'draig? Of course...." the words trail off as she eyes A'son askance. "A... what sort of job was that?" she asks, blinking at him, and neglecting to answer the question of her purpose.
Mumbled in an undertone, Milani tacks on an answer for those questions: "My brothers and yeah, the caverns. Not Mum. I think I drive her nuts sometimes, I'm so not like her." Her eyes roll a little and then it's back to Miss Sunshine Greeter of Newcomers. "Oh yes, P'draig's been the Weyrlingmaster at Fort for some turns now." She adopts a stilted, overly polite air like the ones some of the adults around the Weyr use when greeting foreign dignitaries but then she's shaking Zahava's hand exuberantly. "Goldrider escorting is what he was thinking. And it is /so/ not cold here year round. C'mon, you grew up here, A'son. You know it's not true."
A'son eyebrows lift as he feels the considering gaze of the unfamiliar goldrider. "I was talking about Queen riders having their own personal assistance. It could be it's own job." He gives her a long look over before shifting back to Milani once again, grin returning. "Yeah, I guess. but I don't think that the air ever really loses the chill that it carries." Running a hand over his needing-a-haircut hair, "So really, what pulls a goldrider from Fort to 'Reaches? Diplomatic... stuff?" He asks curiously.
Zahava releases Milani's hand, giving a little shiver. "Meeting people," she says blandly. "My Weyrwoman desires me to meet people. I guess you two are the people that I'm meeting today," she continues, her husky voice lightening briskly. Her eyes refocus on A'son thoughtfully for a moment. "You're one of the weyrlings who just graduated? Did I'daur pass along that ice wine I gifted you all?"
"Well I don't mind the weather here. Though that one time we went down to Boll, that /was/ nice." Milani's super proper manners start to wear off again, feet swinging back and forth a little off the edge of the table. "Yep. And now you've met us. What d'you think so far?" The girl's smile is rapid-fire and as exuberant as her handshake, though she's taking in Zahava's appearance again with quick darts of of blue-green eyes. She pipes down long enough to listen to the rest of what the two riders have to say, though she looks just a little fidgety around the edges, like she's having trouble sitting still.
"Well, I don't know whether to congratulate or console you on that. I tend to drive people off in exasperation on occasion and Milani is well... She eats way too much sugar if you know what I mean." He says to Zahava, letting her in on the 'secret' as to why the girl is perhaps fidgeting everywhere. "Yeah, Boll is really nice. I just went down there recently with B'yan." A grin for the question, "Yes, he did. And it was very thoughtful of you, thank you."
Zahava ahs softly, her lips curving in a little smile at the 'secret.' "I see, yes. And Boll is a place of ours, at Fort. It's within our coverage, of course," she says thoughtfully. "But it's been months since I've gone by the Lava Lounge." She shrugs her shoulder slightly, then nods to A'son, "Oh. good. I'm relieved. I was a little concerned when I didn't hear anything. He seemed a little... unenthusiastic about them."
Milani snorts volubly at A'son. "It's not the sweet stuff. I'm just /energetic/. That's the nice way to say it anyway." The girl tugs on the end of her braid and fixes the bronzerider with a long look. "Take me along next time? I promise I won't embarrass you or get drunk, but I'm curious about that drinking hole down there. Heard all sorts of rumors." She grins over at Zahava again, jerking her thumb at A'son. "He's exaggerating about the driving off. Though it's true that we /used/ to argue a lot. He's a good egg really. Just a little /shy/." There's two slow bats of Milani's eyelashes, guileless. Over a table or so, a group of kids around Millie's age are pushing back chairs and heading out in twos and threes. One of them lingers, gesturing over at the girl. "Milani ... c'mon, we're going uh ... swimming." There's something shifty about the other girl's manner that might indicate there's some mischief afoot. Milani hesitates, looking briefly torn then she slides off the table and onto the ground. "Do enjoy your visit to the High Reaches, Zahava." Manners again and then she's ducking around the goldrider to rejoin her friends with a backward wave for A'son. "Bye Ays! I'll see you later!" And she's off, linking arms with her pal and giggling.