A taste sensation
Who: Sulisah, and a bunch of tasters!
When: Evening on day 14, month 9, turn 19 of Interval 10.
Where: The Glass Fountain, Fort Weyr
What: The debut of Sulisah's beer.
Sulisah's beer: A light amber ale with floral peaty aroma, full malt character, a spicy herbal flavour and dry wine like finish.
B'kaiv's set: It's nothing like an orgy. But! Harry's behind the bar setting out glasses and beer bottles. In front of the bar, Su's got a Kai attached to either hand, and Kwei's hugging her from behind. They look like they're towing Su toward a booth. T'rev and Jaeyi have just come in, and T'rev looks like he just got out of bed. Surprise, surprise. ;)
"Your foliage is showing," notes Jaeyi, plucking a bit of twig out of the bronzerider's hair with a happily helpful beam, said foliage then tossed off toward a wall for someone to sweep up later. And attempt to figure out, probably. "I still feel a little weird about the idea of drinking beer from a plant whose name I know," she adds, leaning her head far to one side to try and figure out what they've just walked in on. "I also feel a little weird about..." She trails off, gesturing to the lot of them.
Kwei waves them off and glances to the bar where Harry is starting to line up drinks. "Okay Su, I'll get things kicked off." He takes another look at the bar and decides against any athletics so instead he pulls a bar stool over and climbs up onto the lower rungs and hollers out loud, "Listen up, listen up." Using all his Harper training to project it loud and get attention. "On behalf of my darling Sister who apparently doesn't do speeches." He calls out to the bar. "Sulisah is a Vinter, and today we are here to find out just how good a brewer she really is." Pause for effect. "Courtesy of a bush called Nigel she has created a taste sensation to tantalise our tastebuds and you all get a chance to name it, there's cards lying around to write your suggestions down on, come and see me if you can't write." He waves a hand along the bar. "In the meantime, line up and come collect your glass, once everyone has theirs we'll all try it on the count of three."
"Between the two of us, we could just pick them both up and carry them," Kaida notes sotto voce to B'kaiv, with a sideways glance taking in the not-quickstepping siblings. "Although -you- could just tuck one under each arm I'm thinking." Beat. "No fights. This is Su's night." So behave, her narrow eyes warn. But then Kwei's going off and making speeches, so the Weaver pulls up short and turns to listen. Her attention being so hyper-focused on her roommate and immediate group, that laughing, tousled arrivals and tossed foliage goes completely without notice. They'll have to actually, y'know, come say hi and get pounced by Su-hugs first.
Sulisah spots more people and is rather hampered in the waving thing. As Kwei does his speechy thing and she's shepherded towards a booth she keeps an eye out to make sure that someone grabs her a glass, though the way her stomach's been churning all day she likely won't taste a thing. If elbow waves count as greetings then Jaeyi and T'rev get one each and a nod towards the booth.
You are carrying:
"Just in time," T'rev notes to Jaeyi as he catches Kwei's speech and heads over in that direction. There's a sidelong grin Jaeyi's way for plucked foliage. "Thanks, darlin'," he says teasingly and gives her hand a squeee. "It'll be all right. You're with me after all," he says with playful cockiness. "And I won't make any quips about the beer n' where it comes from, though it's rich ground to make fun with." As they draw nearer: "Hey Su! Congratulations." Nods for the 'three Ks'. "Kai, Kwei, Kaida."
B'kaiv gives Kaida one of his quirked, crooked grins for 'picking up and carrying' - don't tempt him! - but Kwei's projecting right into his ear and he ducks closer to Su to get away from it. "See?" he calls to Kaida over Su's head, "This place ain't a -real- bar." Because /real/ bars have fights in them. He's not gone utterly deaf, so when T'rev does his greeting he turns, meets playful cocky grin with a smile that slides back into a scowl at the sight of the baker. "What are you doin' here?" But agh - Su's night, don't make a scene - so he steps back and folds his arms over his chest, never letting go of her hand.
Rhodya slips in midway through Kwei's speech and presses herself against the back wall. She's not far from Jaeyi and T'rev, and when Su glances their direction to wave, Rhodya flashes her a quick, awkward smile. They haven't really seen each other since candidacy, but hey, familiar faces, right? The brownrider nips her way up to the front so she can get a bottle of that beer, slipping past Kwei on his bar stool as she goes. "Nice speech," she tells him with a grin and a quick wink.
Little things about that speech just get Jaeyi by degrees. First, the speaker. Then a-bush-called-Nigel, then the fact that they-- "Wait, we're supposed to, like, come up with a name? I thought it was just... Nigel's Beer? Or Su's Beer? No one told me we were expected to contribute beyond showing up and looking pretty," she informs sulkily, either draws or is drawn by (depending on your perspective) T'rev toward the Vintner in the middle of all this fuss. And, to answer B'kaiv, big-bright-smile, "Lovely to see you, too."
Sulisah's gaze is skipping off round the room revelling in all the people so she doesn't immediately notice that her hand is now on Kai's chest (swoon). Rhodya gets a little elbow wave, T'rev a bright, "Thanks!", then Kai a slightly pleading look before she focusses on Jaeyi for a moment. - sometimes short attention spans are a blessing. "You get to suggest, doesn't mean we'll keep it. Might give a bottle to the most creative suggestion or something."
Kaida tips her head, allows her lips to curve into a smile, "Hello, T'rev." Not even a flicker, unlike the weyrling. "Jaeyi. Get that book sorted?" She is forced to drop Su's hand, since the poor girl probably wouldn't survive being pulled along with her sidestep. At least, not without dislocating something. Thus freed to move again, she's aiming an elbow at B'kaiv's ribs and muttering out of the side of her mouth.
Kwei watches as everyone comes forward to gather up their glasses for the tasting. A smile and a nod going to the people as they pass by him. "Hi Rhodya." He greets that particular weyrling warmly. "Thanks. I just hope the beer tastes okay." He murmurs to her as he leans over to collect one for himself, waiting until everyone seems to have a glass he once again calls out to the room. "Everyone ready?" He projects loudly, "On the count of three, praise Sulisah, taste the Nigel bushes beer and remember your first thoughts for that name." He pauses to let that sink in, but not too long before he calls out. "Three... two... one... drink!" He raises his own glass and takes a sip, hopefully with him standing up there visible to the entire bar, this one is nothing like that big pink thing from the Turn Day gather.
Elbow to the ribs, bright smile right in front of him, and B'kaiv greets them both with a grunt and a sidelong mutter back at Kaida. "Hey Rho," he calls as the brownrider attempts to slip past, "You an' Gedroth got your weyr yet? They're movin' all the big ones out first, ain't they?" There's a rush for glasses and Kai passes his along to Su, ending up empty-handed for the countdown. "Shells," he mutters, and eyes Su disconsolately, like maybe she won't notice the man standing right next to her didn't actually try it.
The explanation, get to suggest a name, doesn't help with Jaeyi's confusion so much. It still sounds a very small little bit like work to her, and she eyes the suggestion cards with a squint. "Yeah, I'll get right on that." Hi, Kaida! "Uhmn, no. But I did actually go to Harper Hall today, which I'm counting as a step in the right direction." She winds up with a glass, because who leaves a pretty girl standing there empty-handed? For a second there, she actually had /two/ glasses; she could have given one to B'kaiv. But she didn't. Just foisted it off on someone else-- T'rev? Rhodya? Whoever. Not that she looks eager to drink anyway, busy peering at the glass speculatively.
Indeed, T'rev does snag two glasses and passes one off to Jaeyi and he shoots Kai a brow-raised look for all the scowling and the claims about bars. Rhodya speaks up and he turns that way, beams a smile towards his mentee. "Hey Rho!" Kwei's instructing though and so it's bottom's up, even if only for that first tasting sip. "Shells ... /nice/, Su!" is his reaction after swallowing, even if he's got a little foam mustache going on that he's vaguely licking at.
Sulisah takes a drink, then offers her glass over to Kai - he's not getting out of it that easily. T'rev's comment has her practically bouncing, "You're biased." quickly followed by "You really think so? Honestly?" Her free hand tugs at her collar again, formal shirt annoying the life out of her despite nerves slowly turning to excitement. She looks round the others, worrying at her bottom lip again as she waits for someone to throw up or die.
Rhodya's a bit surprised to find Jaeyi pushing a beer at her, but hey, whatever works! The weyrling grabs her glass, lifts a tiny toast to Sulisah, then joins Kwei for that synchronized taste test. "Ohh, that feels good," she breathes, putting a hand to her throat. A moment later, she quirks up a smile. "Yeah," she answers Kai, "and I've been up there the past couple hours helpin' Gedroth clean it up. He's /still/ fussed it ain't clean, so I left him up there, and came down myself to clean out my mouth a bit. All that dust." She wrinkles her nose. Oh, but hi T'rev! She clears that wrinkled nose so she can greet him with a clear expression.
Kaida knows nothing about beer, or ale, or whatever this strange concoction of Sulisah's is. A drinker, she most certainly is -not.- So when the glasses are going around, and that disconsolate look is noticed, her glass gets nudged up towards B'kaiv. He'll get to choose, untasted or already passed the lips of his sweety! Lucky him. "For our Sulisah," she says cheerfully, and if there's double meaning there, it's for them to know and the others to miss. Though with the pair of them stood there hovering behind/beside the Vintner, they probably look more like bodyguards than friends at this stage. Too bad their outfits clash. "Did you not find Iryan, then?" asked of Jaeyi - who else? When it comes to the rest of the gathering, she either doesn't know them or they're all busy drinking. Mostly the latter, as it's really only Rhodya who illicits any kind of curious glance, an impressed lift to her eyebrows.
Kwei takes a sedate sip of the drink and nods his approval as he looks around, he can't see anyone gagging, throwing up or pouring it into plant pots. He looks round for a bit longer, just to make sure before he calls out a resounding. "Three cheers for Su!" It's only once he's finished that the little Harper starts thinking about getting down from his perch.
B'kaiv doesn't throw up -or- die, but he hasn't had anything to... oh. It might be too late to drink in unison, but it's never too late to drink. "You have yours," he tells Kaida, pushing it back, accepts Su's offering but only has enough to barely wet his lips before he's giving it back. "Yup, real good. Figure they're movin' th' big ones out first," he continues to Rho, eyes and attention skimming right over the Jaeyi-shaped hole in front of him. "S'pose that means me and Chielyth'll be out of there right before th' next batch of weyrlings." He's trying for funny, honest, but it, like a beer left sitting too long, is rather flat.
"Mustache," for T'rev's edification. And at least Jaeyi's not the only one who wouldn't know good beer if it, er, landed in her hand in the middle of a big-giddy-party. But she nurses the glass anyway, 'cause she looks good holding it, and it gives her something to look at instead of Kaida to explain, "I didn't. I meant to? I will." Solemnly said. Up go three cheers, and it's under cover of that huzzah that she asks toward the little Harper, "I think I saw a step ladder over behind the bar..."
T'rev on the other hand is drinking more and making that mustache worse. He swallows his latest mouthful, grins down at Jaeyi and gives it a proper sweep with his tongue and a mop up after with his hanky. "All better? M'I presentable?" And then his glass lifts again, Su-wards. "Here's to Su! And may that journeyman's knot float your way all the faster on foamy waves of Nigel." He pauses shakes his head. "That came out wrong, didn't it?"
Sulisah stares up at Kai for a time, his reaction being even more confusing for her than the fact Kaida isn't drinking to everyone else. She takes her glass back, but adds a quiet, "I need to go mingle." and reclaims her hand at the same time. There's a flicker of a smile directed ot the two weyrlings and she's just turning away when T'rev makes his comment and she flicks a smile in his direction too. "I'll forgive you." Lame joke is lame.
Rhodya joins happily in the three cheers for Su, thrusting her glass up into the air to punctuate each hurrah. She takes another drink afterwards, and comments with a smile for Su, "This really /is/ good. And my mouth ain't fogged up with dust no more." So she can tell! Her gaze flickers to the side, catching Kaida's raised brow, and she raises a brow back, her mouth going all squiggly. What? her expression seems to say. Is there something on my face? "Well, now that ain't fair," she says as she drags her gaze back to Kai. "Everybody's excited about gettin' weyrs, it's mean to hold you and Chielyth back just 'cause she's still little enough to fit. You oughta say somethin' about it," she insists, all full of verve in defense of the little guy.
Kwei would probably growl at just about anyone else for the stepladder comment but well it's Jaeyi so he just flashes her a smile instead. Leaning over to place a hand on the bar for balance he shifts till he's sitting on the stool instead. "I'll remember that for next time I need to reach an inaccessible place." He murmurs for her benefit, the glass raising to his lips again for a drink while his eyes flick back around the room again.
Kaida shrugs a bit at B'kaiv, not that she's really surprised. Tips her glass towards her face and sniffs experimentally. And after this long and disappointing delay, she finally takes a cautious sip. Tilts her head, hmm. Closes her eyes this time, so she can just concentrate on the smell and the taste, the swallow also being a larger one. A belatedly reaction is better than none, maybe? "I like it, Su," but her roommate is moving away, and who knows if her roughened voice will reach over the chattering and other noise. As for Rhodya's squiggly-mouthed expression, a shrug and non-glass-holding hand waved a couple inches abover her own head. Nothing more or less than the strange woman's impressive height.
Jaeyi, on the heels of Sulisah's ready forgiveness, chimes, "I wouldn't. I'd hold out for something more clever, personally. But I suppose you can afford to be magnanimous today." She tips her glass toward the Vintner, like she's just drinking along with the rest of them, then brushes at the corner of her own mouth with her thumb in a you-missed-some indicator for T'rev, whether or not he actually did miss any. "I'd offer to give you a leg up, buuuuuuut. Here." She puts the glass down on the bar next to Kwei with a knock-yourself-out nod to it.
Chuckling, T'rev just lifts his glass again. "Seriously, they'd better see just how brilliant you are from this, Su," the wingleader says sincerely and brushes at his upper lip again with a wink for Jaeyi. "How far up the Bowl are you, Rho?" he directs over to the brownriding weyrling. "And yeah, hope they let you out sooner than later, Kai. Even little, Chielyth's gotten to be a big girl." Kaida's caution is noted and T'rev edges her way a little. "Not had much in the way of ale before?" he queries in a lower voice.
B'kaiv might have missed Su's sneaking off into the crowd, but not when she has to untangle her fingers from his first. "Huh? Who you got t' go see?" All of the interesting people - and the invisible one - are right here, after all. He cranes his head to try and spot this more-interesting person, drops Kaida, T'rev, and Rho a distracted nod that they'll have to share while he focuses on the diminuitive Vintner.
Sulisah's smile steps up a notch as she turns back to Rhodya. "Thanks!" It's maybe a little overly cheery, but there's a definite genuine element to it. "How's Gedroth? Not buried under all the dust, I hope." Her gaze flicks back to Kaida for a moment, then takes a step towards T'rev to mutter something to him quietly. Her interesting person appears to be her brother. or Harry. Possibly both since it's the bar she heads towards.
Kwei directs his response back to Jaeyi with a smile. "Thanks darling." He says to her, though whether to the her comment or the glass is unclear. Raising and downing his own, he slips the empty back onto the bar to swap it out with the other one. His eyes flickering around trying to take in as much as possible, Harper training for information gathering in crowded situations 101 in progress.
Misunderstanding Kaida's signal, Rhodya brushes a hand over her hair, smoothing back hairs she imagines to be out of place. And note how she does it with such a casual air, as if indulging in a thoughtless habit rather than a deliberate attempt to preen. "Not too far," Rhodya tells T'rev, with a lopsided grin. "But high enough you shouldn't have to worry about Gedroth dumping dirt on your head, if you're out walkin' later today." She winks at Sulisah as the little vintner squeezes past. "Nah, Gedroth's fine. Just a little miffed 'cause I told him the weyr's supposed to be cleaned for us, and well, I was wrong." She shrugs.
Kaida shakes her head in responce to T'rev's query, looking up at him from her thoughtful contemplation of the liquid in her glass. "No. Rules are pretty strict about drinking at the Hall, and usually only wine was allowed. Which I can't drink, so...." A shrug to follow that headshake. "You thought of any idea for a name? You know, something more artful than 'shells this is good?'" Yes, she's teasing him. In her own quiet way. As her glance travels 'round to flicker across Rhodya again, the amusement in her expression intensifies, but she doesn't bother raising her voice to enlighten the brown weyrling. "You look good today," back to T'rev now. "Happy. Relaxed."
Sulisah turns a little to shrug at T'rev, a non-commital answer to something that's quickly followed by a "Whoops, sorry." as she nearly backs into someone else. Another spin follows to dodge someone else and still keep her glass mostly full, but then she pauses and simply drinks it. Half the glass is emptied in seemingly no time, enough that it's safe to move on again. To Rhodya she comments, grin slowly returning to full brightness, "Maybe they didn't want you having any wild parties until you graduate, keep a special supply of dust just for that."
"Well, I thought of 'Flowering Bush Ale' before today, but I'm told it's too suggestive," T'rev notes to Kaida with a wry grin. "That and this tastes really nice, so I'm trying to be more creative," he confesses though his gaze travels after Su, a touch of confusion or concern in his eyes, though it's faint enough it might not get picked up on. "Happy Times Beer?" he quips but nods at the weaver. "Good. Glad to hear that. So when're we goin' dancing next?"
Things like this happen to Jaeyi a lot: Some time after she gives away her drink, some time after she's not right under T'rev's nose, she winds up drawn off toward a corner table, among a handful of people happy to be just a little detached from the throngs of revelry. Here, a rather inebriated bluerider is telling her, in grave detail, all about the rules of the dice game in progress, and she's nodding along like she's paying the least bit of attention. Unsurprisingly, her job is to lean on the edge of the table and blow on the dice. It's not exactly skilled labor, but at least she looks purty doing it.
B'kaiv's not going to mind being backed into, not when it's Su. He's sticking close to her just as if he were that bodyguard he threatened earlier. You never know who's going to want that recipe for Flower Ale, after all. "You want help cleanin'?" he asks Rho over Su's shoulder. "Me an' Chielyth can come, if you want. If I ain't busy studyin'," he amends ruefully, and reaches over to snag a glass of ale off the bar.
"Well they didn't count on me raisin' a dragon housemaid, then, did they?" Rhodya asks Sulisah with a naughty grin. "Gedroth'll have it cleaned up by -" she pauses to listen to Kai, give him a tilted a smile. "Well, that's right nice of you. You're welcome to come by, but at the rate Gedroth's goin' you'll be out of stuff to clean by midnight. 'Sides, we got to see about gettin' you a weyr before anything else." Her gaze swings wide to include Sulisah, but her smile only grows brighter. "Like I said, it ain't fair."
Eventually Kwei gives up on trying to do the observation thing, he's not all that good at it anyway so he hops off the stool and wanders into the group ending up next to Rhodya just for amusement value thanks to the height difference. "You know you didn't look that tall when you were sitting down." He tells her with a grin. "Did you manage to get off to one of the gathers or am I still responsible for getting something running so I can get that dance?" He asks her, flashing a quick smile towards the others she's speaking to.
Kaida snickers into her glass, thankful that she hadn't yet attempted to swallow at the point when T'rev first spoke again. "Yeah, just a bit." She's somewhat passively watching everyone, but her gaze always winds up back on Sulisah. "Something's wrong...." a guess on her part, but it seems awfully like the Vintner is attempting to avoid B'kaiv. At least, from her point of view. "I don't think Happy Times Beer has really the proper ring to it, either. Too simplistic, maybe? I don't know. What sorts of names do other beers get pegged with?" A tilt, a quirked eyebrow, a hint of a smile - vague flickers of expression shifting as she catches bits and pieces of other peoples conversations. Not comfortable enough with any of them to start interjecting, though. "Hmm? Oh... well, I don't know. How soon until the autumn Gathers start up?"
"Weyrs are good." Sulisah echoes Rhodya's comment, then quickly follows it up with a quiet, "I need to go talk to Harry." A slight touch for B'kaiv's arm and she steps away again. There's a slight look given to her brother on the way past, nothing most people would be able to pick up on. She does go behind the bar for a time, speaking quietly to Harry and to Kwei when he follows. More mingling occurs afterwards before she just fades into the background at her own party, leaving quietly without saying goodbye - her mother would be scandalised.
B'kaiv drops Su a nod, following her with his eyes until she's well and safely talking to Harry. "It's all right," he tells Rhodya with a shrug. "She were one of the last t' hunt, makes sense we don't get a weyr straight off. Ain't like she needs lots of room, not like Elaruth." Or Gedroth, but he doesn't say that, only has a swig of beer. "Hey, Kwei," he adds for the Harper and turns to scowl at the crowd, lest it do something untoward.
Rhodya beams at Kwei when he joins the group, and taps her platformed shoes on the floor. "It's the shoes," she tells him, finger over her lips. Secret! Of course, it's clearly not the shoes, but hey. "You still owe me that party, /and/ the dancin', but I think the real question is did /you/ get out to any gathers? With that sweet girl of yours?" She gives Kai a puzzled look, but doesn't keep poking at him about the weyr question. She just gives him a pat on the arm and leaves well enough alone.
"Maybe not wrong ..." T'rev says quietly in answer to Kaida with a shake of his head. "But something seems to be on her mind." His gaze drifts to B'kaiv for a moment and his head shakes again. "Beers? Oh, well usually the name of the person who made it and what type, but sometimes something more creative like 'Two Horses' or 'Crown of Gold'." He tilts his glass again, slides a long mouthful down h is throat, has to lick foam off again though it's starting to break up in his glass. "Another seven and a half or so to the first ones."
Kwei glances down at Rhodya's shoes when she taps them and regrets it because he's got such a long way to go to bring his gaze back up to meet hers again. "Safe with me." He replies with one of his most charming smiles. "We got to the hold one, but that was it." He tells her with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Journeyman had me holed up here learning new songs to keep me out of trouble or something." He spots Su when she heads past him, that look passing between them that only siblings would understand. "I will however be showcasing those new songs soon, so keep an ear out for that mini concert and that dance is yours when I can get someone else to take over the playing." He tips his glass up though in salute to the tall brownrider and drains it, a nod to B'kaiv before he turns to head off and catch up with his sister. "I'll catch you later Rhodya of brown Gedroth." The woman gets the full charming treatment and fancy bow before he sneaks off through the crowd with one last wink.
"Glad I'm not jumping at shadows," Kaida notes, just as quietly, back to T'rev. She's doing more smelling than drinking of her own, apparently more enamoured of the scent of the beer than the taste. Which leaves a goodly amount of liquid left in her glass. Trying to keep in the spirit of the party, she determindly turns her mind from worrying about Sulisah - not like it isn't easy enough for her to accost her friend in their room to find out what's up. "Sulisah's Nigel... nope, that definitely doesn't work, either." Mused with a chuckle. "Summer... Summer something, I think. Not fragrance. Summer... um. Shells. I'm not any good at this, either." A somewhat rueful grin tilted up to the bronzer. "That soon? And I've been instructed to get myself a proper dress, too. Will need to get to work if you've a mind to attend one of the early ones." She's somewhat monopolizing him, and feels bad for it. "You should go mingle, enjoy yourself."
B'kaiv doesn't amble far - not that there's far to amble - before he catches sight of Kaida and T'rev. He hoists his half-full glass at them and tips his head toward the bar. "Lotta people, huh. Looks like everyone likes th' beer. Told Su they would." He has another slug of it to try and drown the little frown at the vintner's name. "You puttin' th' Wingleader in a dress now, Kaida?" Belatedly he offers T'rev a salute.
"Summer's Bloomin' Ale?" T'rev jokes just a little, eyes crinkling up at the corners and considers the contents of his glass, the color of the ale. "Summer Blossom Amber Ale ..." he muses softly then. "Like her eyes ..." and his thum slides a bit of condensation aside to let the light shine through the glass and its contents, making the color that much richer. "Yeah, that soon," up comes his gaze to find Kaida's and he shrugs about mingling, doesn't seem to mind kind of taking it easy. "A proper dress? Well that'll definitely be somethin' to look forward to. If you need any rides down to Weaver to get supplies, just say the word." Kai's approach earns a nod and a renewed tilt of his glass. "Cheers, Kai. How's it? Why all frowny?" and there's a vague flick of fingers towards his own forehead. "And nope, most skirt I've ever worn is a towel."
O'rik is just now ambling into the bar, his path initially carrying him back towards a corner of the room. On the way, he does turn a glance towards the beer crowd. An empty booth seems to be the bluerider's destination, though once he's peered into it a moment he's turning back around again on a heel. That's when the older man finally heads towards the little gathering. T'rev and Kaida, to be more specific. "What's this about skirts?" The question is aimed at his wingleader, a skewed little smile offered as he just barges in. Whiskey eyes don't stay on the bronzerider for long, taking in B'kai with a greeting nod before settling on the weaver. "H'lo," he tacks on, just special for her.
Left by her lonesome, Rhodya lingers for a bit looking around with a sort of ho-hum expression. Will anybody else come talk to her? Alas, no! She has to go in search of conversation herself, edging around B'kaiv and T'rev to come up next to Kaida. Her main goal is, it turns out, a chair that's next to the other woman, but she does draw it up. "Hey," she murmurs, with a quick smile for the men as she butts in to this new conversation. "Hope you don't mind my askin', but I could hear you talkin' from over there and I wondered. You from Igen?" She peers curiously at Kaida's face, as if her features were a clue in themselves.
"This place," says B'kaiv about why-all-frowny, and aims a particularly sour look at the chandelier. "It's just - it don't matter." He glances at Kaida but there's Rhodya to distract her, so he gives O'rik a salute instead before tossing back the last of his far too small glass of beer. "Just gettin' kinda... just was hopin' t' see more of Su." That's his story, and he's sticking to it.
"Oh, yes," Kaida breathes, her own eyes lighting up. "Summer Amber... T'rev, that's -perfect!- Quick, quick, write it down. There should be scraps of paper around here...." Or failing that she can rummage up voluminous sleeves and see if she's conveniently got something squirreled away in one of her pockets. "Yes, well, being told and seeing for yourself are two different things," she notes to B'kaiv. "He's not got the shoulders for one, anyway. The sleeves would have to be waaaay too poofy. I could put -you- in a dress, though?" Wait, did she just tease -Kai?- Switching back to T'rev, "You have no idea, T'rev. Su just mentioned it yesterday, and I've already got the design in my head." Seems she's just starting to relax in this easy-to-manage conversation, when suddenly there's O'rik and his h'lo. "Heyla," and a prompt offering of her glass towards him. "New ale. Have a taste." And then Rhodya, pulling up a chair. Blink back at that peer, "Yes, Igen. Still haven't kicked the accent, huh?"
"Think so?" T'rev says with a grin to Kaida. "Yeah, write it down and put both our names on it," he says about the suggested name and then shoots Kai a quirky questioning look. "What? It's nice? Got good food now. You want seedy, I got places to take you, my friend," he tells the weyrling with a wink. A nod for O'rik and his glass lifted partly and T'rev takes a half-step back to lean against the bar comfortably. "Strapless, for me Kaida?" he says, poking fun still then beams. "Will look forward to that gettin' done then and sweepin' a few rounds around the floor."
It's kind of a salute that O'rik lifts in return to the green weyrling, the fingers just never really make it anywhere near high enough for it to be a proper thing. That's mostly because he's still has his eyes on Kaida. She's the one with... beer, after all. "Yeah?" New? He accepts the glass just as prompt as the weaver's offered. "Thanks." While it's the girls that primarily hold his gaze, it's the guys whose conversation the bluerider has his ear tipped to. "Is too nice," he grunts his opinion of the bar, a nodding tip of his chin accompanying a brief dart of his eyes back to B'kai.
"Why would you want to kick it?" Rhodya asks, feigning dismay. She quickly pops into a grin again, thumbing back at herself. "Rhodya. I'm Igen-bred myself, so it's good to hear a voice from back home." She gives T'rev a funny look, having come into this whole joke about the dresses a bit late to know what he's talking about. Their weirdness is reason enough for her to hang back and listen to them for a while, safely shielded behind her beer.
"...stop blowing on /dice/ at a certain point," is the end of Jaeyi's helpfulness, put while she pushes away from that side-table with a peck-on-the-cheek for her 'host.' Mostly, she's just sort of floated around the table and made people throw away money in ways they really shouldn't, which has at least had the desired effect on the bluerider's pocketbook even if it hasn't turned out quite the way he was hoping. "Strapless?" is where she joins the conversation, blinking away. "Why? There's a lot to be said for, mmn, straps." Kaida and T'rev being lately two of her favoritest people, she gravitates that way naturally.
"I don't have the shoulders for sleeves," T'rev tells Jaeyi quite seriously, though his wink might ruin the effect as he leans back against the bar now, glass almost empty. "Only thing I kind of miss ... is the old bar top," he tells O'rik with the faintest hint of a sly grin caught in the corners of his mouth. Rhodya's funky look earns a brief explanation: "We were talkin' about Kaida's new gather dress and me in one and I said I've only worn a towel before, so then she started mentally designin' me a gown, I guess."
B'kaiv grumbles back to T'rev, "Long as Chielyth can fly there," only to squint at O'rik's interjection and give the bluerider a nod. "Yeah. Used t' be you could drink in here." Back in the far long ago, when Ancients roamed the earth. He sets down his empty glass on something flat and empty, folds his arms and squints more at Kaida, Rhodya, and T'rev. No, Kaida, Rhodya, T'rev, and -Jaeyi-, which causes the weyrling to flat out scowl and turn back to O'rik. "Dunno your name - 'm Kai. B'kaiv. Chielyth's."
Kaida's back to hunting for a scrap of paper, though she's given up on finding any of the ones that had been provided. So it's up her sleeves instead. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think it," she remarks to T'rev. Pause. "Strapless? Rummaging abandoned, "I'll just tell her." and she reaches out to tap at the bronzer's chest. "You're rather lacking in something to fill out a strapless, dear one." Pale eyes are then promptly rolled upwards in a 'save me, someone' expression as new arrivals and too many conversations just throw the entire joke out of context. How to extricate herself? Ale. O'rik. Explanation. That'll work. "My roommate Sulisah is a Vintner. This is her Journeyman project; some old old half legible recipe someone dug out of a storeroom. She's trying to revive it, and this is the first taste. And since Jaeyi's been released from her lucky-charm-arm-ornament duties, the weaver steps away from T'rev to allow the baker to take her place. Herself moving slightly closer to bluerider. And grinning crookedly at brown weyrling, "Don't really want to. But sometimes you're away from a place long enough, you start to lose it. Nice to meet you, Rhodya. I'm Kaida. Weyr or Hold?"
Jaeyi gives T'rev's shoulders a confused look, one that's not such a far cry from the expression worn by Rhodya, and she explains, "Ah. Different kind of straps. Gotcha." She touches a finger to her temple, tap tap, and leans against the bar in a space between two stools. "I feel," she begins, tilting her head to watch Kaida strolling off toward that particular old bluerider, "like I ought to warn her. But." She doesn't, though there's a hi-there curl of her fingers toward O'rik just briefly, a damn-near-identical curl of her fingers (except this one with a gosh-she's-pretty smile) for B'kaiv in the middle of his scowl.
Rhodya snorts at T'rev, shaking her head. "She's right, you know. Ain't got the figure for it." She pinches her glass between her knees so she can sculpt his figure in the air, cutting two straight lines with no curves. "And I'm from the Weyr," she answers Kaida, taking up her glass again with a sparkle of laughter of in her tone. "Ain't lost my accent yet, I don't think, but I know what you mean." She pauses to dump down the last of her beer, letting out a heavy breath when she's done. "Hope you'll excuse me, though. My dragon found a corner he can't really get into, so I'm being summoned back to help him. See you all later," she says with a wave, abandoning her recently claimed chair to scuttle out of the bar.
When: Evening on day 14, month 9, turn 19 of Interval 10.
Where: The Glass Fountain, Fort Weyr
What: The debut of Sulisah's beer.
Sulisah's beer: A light amber ale with floral peaty aroma, full malt character, a spicy herbal flavour and dry wine like finish.
B'kaiv's set: It's nothing like an orgy. But! Harry's behind the bar setting out glasses and beer bottles. In front of the bar, Su's got a Kai attached to either hand, and Kwei's hugging her from behind. They look like they're towing Su toward a booth. T'rev and Jaeyi have just come in, and T'rev looks like he just got out of bed. Surprise, surprise. ;)
"Your foliage is showing," notes Jaeyi, plucking a bit of twig out of the bronzerider's hair with a happily helpful beam, said foliage then tossed off toward a wall for someone to sweep up later. And attempt to figure out, probably. "I still feel a little weird about the idea of drinking beer from a plant whose name I know," she adds, leaning her head far to one side to try and figure out what they've just walked in on. "I also feel a little weird about..." She trails off, gesturing to the lot of them.
Kwei waves them off and glances to the bar where Harry is starting to line up drinks. "Okay Su, I'll get things kicked off." He takes another look at the bar and decides against any athletics so instead he pulls a bar stool over and climbs up onto the lower rungs and hollers out loud, "Listen up, listen up." Using all his Harper training to project it loud and get attention. "On behalf of my darling Sister who apparently doesn't do speeches." He calls out to the bar. "Sulisah is a Vinter, and today we are here to find out just how good a brewer she really is." Pause for effect. "Courtesy of a bush called Nigel she has created a taste sensation to tantalise our tastebuds and you all get a chance to name it, there's cards lying around to write your suggestions down on, come and see me if you can't write." He waves a hand along the bar. "In the meantime, line up and come collect your glass, once everyone has theirs we'll all try it on the count of three."
"Between the two of us, we could just pick them both up and carry them," Kaida notes sotto voce to B'kaiv, with a sideways glance taking in the not-quickstepping siblings. "Although -you- could just tuck one under each arm I'm thinking." Beat. "No fights. This is Su's night." So behave, her narrow eyes warn. But then Kwei's going off and making speeches, so the Weaver pulls up short and turns to listen. Her attention being so hyper-focused on her roommate and immediate group, that laughing, tousled arrivals and tossed foliage goes completely without notice. They'll have to actually, y'know, come say hi and get pounced by Su-hugs first.
Sulisah spots more people and is rather hampered in the waving thing. As Kwei does his speechy thing and she's shepherded towards a booth she keeps an eye out to make sure that someone grabs her a glass, though the way her stomach's been churning all day she likely won't taste a thing. If elbow waves count as greetings then Jaeyi and T'rev get one each and a nod towards the booth.
You are carrying:
"Just in time," T'rev notes to Jaeyi as he catches Kwei's speech and heads over in that direction. There's a sidelong grin Jaeyi's way for plucked foliage. "Thanks, darlin'," he says teasingly and gives her hand a squeee. "It'll be all right. You're with me after all," he says with playful cockiness. "And I won't make any quips about the beer n' where it comes from, though it's rich ground to make fun with." As they draw nearer: "Hey Su! Congratulations." Nods for the 'three Ks'. "Kai, Kwei, Kaida."
B'kaiv gives Kaida one of his quirked, crooked grins for 'picking up and carrying' - don't tempt him! - but Kwei's projecting right into his ear and he ducks closer to Su to get away from it. "See?" he calls to Kaida over Su's head, "This place ain't a -real- bar." Because /real/ bars have fights in them. He's not gone utterly deaf, so when T'rev does his greeting he turns, meets playful cocky grin with a smile that slides back into a scowl at the sight of the baker. "What are you doin' here?" But agh - Su's night, don't make a scene - so he steps back and folds his arms over his chest, never letting go of her hand.
Rhodya slips in midway through Kwei's speech and presses herself against the back wall. She's not far from Jaeyi and T'rev, and when Su glances their direction to wave, Rhodya flashes her a quick, awkward smile. They haven't really seen each other since candidacy, but hey, familiar faces, right? The brownrider nips her way up to the front so she can get a bottle of that beer, slipping past Kwei on his bar stool as she goes. "Nice speech," she tells him with a grin and a quick wink.
Little things about that speech just get Jaeyi by degrees. First, the speaker. Then a-bush-called-Nigel, then the fact that they-- "Wait, we're supposed to, like, come up with a name? I thought it was just... Nigel's Beer? Or Su's Beer? No one told me we were expected to contribute beyond showing up and looking pretty," she informs sulkily, either draws or is drawn by (depending on your perspective) T'rev toward the Vintner in the middle of all this fuss. And, to answer B'kaiv, big-bright-smile, "Lovely to see you, too."
Sulisah's gaze is skipping off round the room revelling in all the people so she doesn't immediately notice that her hand is now on Kai's chest (swoon). Rhodya gets a little elbow wave, T'rev a bright, "Thanks!", then Kai a slightly pleading look before she focusses on Jaeyi for a moment. - sometimes short attention spans are a blessing. "You get to suggest, doesn't mean we'll keep it. Might give a bottle to the most creative suggestion or something."
Kaida tips her head, allows her lips to curve into a smile, "Hello, T'rev." Not even a flicker, unlike the weyrling. "Jaeyi. Get that book sorted?" She is forced to drop Su's hand, since the poor girl probably wouldn't survive being pulled along with her sidestep. At least, not without dislocating something. Thus freed to move again, she's aiming an elbow at B'kaiv's ribs and muttering out of the side of her mouth.
Kwei watches as everyone comes forward to gather up their glasses for the tasting. A smile and a nod going to the people as they pass by him. "Hi Rhodya." He greets that particular weyrling warmly. "Thanks. I just hope the beer tastes okay." He murmurs to her as he leans over to collect one for himself, waiting until everyone seems to have a glass he once again calls out to the room. "Everyone ready?" He projects loudly, "On the count of three, praise Sulisah, taste the Nigel bushes beer and remember your first thoughts for that name." He pauses to let that sink in, but not too long before he calls out. "Three... two... one... drink!" He raises his own glass and takes a sip, hopefully with him standing up there visible to the entire bar, this one is nothing like that big pink thing from the Turn Day gather.
Elbow to the ribs, bright smile right in front of him, and B'kaiv greets them both with a grunt and a sidelong mutter back at Kaida. "Hey Rho," he calls as the brownrider attempts to slip past, "You an' Gedroth got your weyr yet? They're movin' all the big ones out first, ain't they?" There's a rush for glasses and Kai passes his along to Su, ending up empty-handed for the countdown. "Shells," he mutters, and eyes Su disconsolately, like maybe she won't notice the man standing right next to her didn't actually try it.
The explanation, get to suggest a name, doesn't help with Jaeyi's confusion so much. It still sounds a very small little bit like work to her, and she eyes the suggestion cards with a squint. "Yeah, I'll get right on that." Hi, Kaida! "Uhmn, no. But I did actually go to Harper Hall today, which I'm counting as a step in the right direction." She winds up with a glass, because who leaves a pretty girl standing there empty-handed? For a second there, she actually had /two/ glasses; she could have given one to B'kaiv. But she didn't. Just foisted it off on someone else-- T'rev? Rhodya? Whoever. Not that she looks eager to drink anyway, busy peering at the glass speculatively.
Indeed, T'rev does snag two glasses and passes one off to Jaeyi and he shoots Kai a brow-raised look for all the scowling and the claims about bars. Rhodya speaks up and he turns that way, beams a smile towards his mentee. "Hey Rho!" Kwei's instructing though and so it's bottom's up, even if only for that first tasting sip. "Shells ... /nice/, Su!" is his reaction after swallowing, even if he's got a little foam mustache going on that he's vaguely licking at.
Sulisah takes a drink, then offers her glass over to Kai - he's not getting out of it that easily. T'rev's comment has her practically bouncing, "You're biased." quickly followed by "You really think so? Honestly?" Her free hand tugs at her collar again, formal shirt annoying the life out of her despite nerves slowly turning to excitement. She looks round the others, worrying at her bottom lip again as she waits for someone to throw up or die.
Rhodya's a bit surprised to find Jaeyi pushing a beer at her, but hey, whatever works! The weyrling grabs her glass, lifts a tiny toast to Sulisah, then joins Kwei for that synchronized taste test. "Ohh, that feels good," she breathes, putting a hand to her throat. A moment later, she quirks up a smile. "Yeah," she answers Kai, "and I've been up there the past couple hours helpin' Gedroth clean it up. He's /still/ fussed it ain't clean, so I left him up there, and came down myself to clean out my mouth a bit. All that dust." She wrinkles her nose. Oh, but hi T'rev! She clears that wrinkled nose so she can greet him with a clear expression.
Kaida knows nothing about beer, or ale, or whatever this strange concoction of Sulisah's is. A drinker, she most certainly is -not.- So when the glasses are going around, and that disconsolate look is noticed, her glass gets nudged up towards B'kaiv. He'll get to choose, untasted or already passed the lips of his sweety! Lucky him. "For our Sulisah," she says cheerfully, and if there's double meaning there, it's for them to know and the others to miss. Though with the pair of them stood there hovering behind/beside the Vintner, they probably look more like bodyguards than friends at this stage. Too bad their outfits clash. "Did you not find Iryan, then?" asked of Jaeyi - who else? When it comes to the rest of the gathering, she either doesn't know them or they're all busy drinking. Mostly the latter, as it's really only Rhodya who illicits any kind of curious glance, an impressed lift to her eyebrows.
Kwei takes a sedate sip of the drink and nods his approval as he looks around, he can't see anyone gagging, throwing up or pouring it into plant pots. He looks round for a bit longer, just to make sure before he calls out a resounding. "Three cheers for Su!" It's only once he's finished that the little Harper starts thinking about getting down from his perch.
B'kaiv doesn't throw up -or- die, but he hasn't had anything to... oh. It might be too late to drink in unison, but it's never too late to drink. "You have yours," he tells Kaida, pushing it back, accepts Su's offering but only has enough to barely wet his lips before he's giving it back. "Yup, real good. Figure they're movin' th' big ones out first," he continues to Rho, eyes and attention skimming right over the Jaeyi-shaped hole in front of him. "S'pose that means me and Chielyth'll be out of there right before th' next batch of weyrlings." He's trying for funny, honest, but it, like a beer left sitting too long, is rather flat.
"Mustache," for T'rev's edification. And at least Jaeyi's not the only one who wouldn't know good beer if it, er, landed in her hand in the middle of a big-giddy-party. But she nurses the glass anyway, 'cause she looks good holding it, and it gives her something to look at instead of Kaida to explain, "I didn't. I meant to? I will." Solemnly said. Up go three cheers, and it's under cover of that huzzah that she asks toward the little Harper, "I think I saw a step ladder over behind the bar..."
T'rev on the other hand is drinking more and making that mustache worse. He swallows his latest mouthful, grins down at Jaeyi and gives it a proper sweep with his tongue and a mop up after with his hanky. "All better? M'I presentable?" And then his glass lifts again, Su-wards. "Here's to Su! And may that journeyman's knot float your way all the faster on foamy waves of Nigel." He pauses shakes his head. "That came out wrong, didn't it?"
Sulisah stares up at Kai for a time, his reaction being even more confusing for her than the fact Kaida isn't drinking to everyone else. She takes her glass back, but adds a quiet, "I need to go mingle." and reclaims her hand at the same time. There's a flicker of a smile directed ot the two weyrlings and she's just turning away when T'rev makes his comment and she flicks a smile in his direction too. "I'll forgive you." Lame joke is lame.
Rhodya joins happily in the three cheers for Su, thrusting her glass up into the air to punctuate each hurrah. She takes another drink afterwards, and comments with a smile for Su, "This really /is/ good. And my mouth ain't fogged up with dust no more." So she can tell! Her gaze flickers to the side, catching Kaida's raised brow, and she raises a brow back, her mouth going all squiggly. What? her expression seems to say. Is there something on my face? "Well, now that ain't fair," she says as she drags her gaze back to Kai. "Everybody's excited about gettin' weyrs, it's mean to hold you and Chielyth back just 'cause she's still little enough to fit. You oughta say somethin' about it," she insists, all full of verve in defense of the little guy.
Kwei would probably growl at just about anyone else for the stepladder comment but well it's Jaeyi so he just flashes her a smile instead. Leaning over to place a hand on the bar for balance he shifts till he's sitting on the stool instead. "I'll remember that for next time I need to reach an inaccessible place." He murmurs for her benefit, the glass raising to his lips again for a drink while his eyes flick back around the room again.
Kaida shrugs a bit at B'kaiv, not that she's really surprised. Tips her glass towards her face and sniffs experimentally. And after this long and disappointing delay, she finally takes a cautious sip. Tilts her head, hmm. Closes her eyes this time, so she can just concentrate on the smell and the taste, the swallow also being a larger one. A belatedly reaction is better than none, maybe? "I like it, Su," but her roommate is moving away, and who knows if her roughened voice will reach over the chattering and other noise. As for Rhodya's squiggly-mouthed expression, a shrug and non-glass-holding hand waved a couple inches abover her own head. Nothing more or less than the strange woman's impressive height.
Jaeyi, on the heels of Sulisah's ready forgiveness, chimes, "I wouldn't. I'd hold out for something more clever, personally. But I suppose you can afford to be magnanimous today." She tips her glass toward the Vintner, like she's just drinking along with the rest of them, then brushes at the corner of her own mouth with her thumb in a you-missed-some indicator for T'rev, whether or not he actually did miss any. "I'd offer to give you a leg up, buuuuuuut. Here." She puts the glass down on the bar next to Kwei with a knock-yourself-out nod to it.
Chuckling, T'rev just lifts his glass again. "Seriously, they'd better see just how brilliant you are from this, Su," the wingleader says sincerely and brushes at his upper lip again with a wink for Jaeyi. "How far up the Bowl are you, Rho?" he directs over to the brownriding weyrling. "And yeah, hope they let you out sooner than later, Kai. Even little, Chielyth's gotten to be a big girl." Kaida's caution is noted and T'rev edges her way a little. "Not had much in the way of ale before?" he queries in a lower voice.
B'kaiv might have missed Su's sneaking off into the crowd, but not when she has to untangle her fingers from his first. "Huh? Who you got t' go see?" All of the interesting people - and the invisible one - are right here, after all. He cranes his head to try and spot this more-interesting person, drops Kaida, T'rev, and Rho a distracted nod that they'll have to share while he focuses on the diminuitive Vintner.
Sulisah's smile steps up a notch as she turns back to Rhodya. "Thanks!" It's maybe a little overly cheery, but there's a definite genuine element to it. "How's Gedroth? Not buried under all the dust, I hope." Her gaze flicks back to Kaida for a moment, then takes a step towards T'rev to mutter something to him quietly. Her interesting person appears to be her brother. or Harry. Possibly both since it's the bar she heads towards.
Kwei directs his response back to Jaeyi with a smile. "Thanks darling." He says to her, though whether to the her comment or the glass is unclear. Raising and downing his own, he slips the empty back onto the bar to swap it out with the other one. His eyes flickering around trying to take in as much as possible, Harper training for information gathering in crowded situations 101 in progress.
Misunderstanding Kaida's signal, Rhodya brushes a hand over her hair, smoothing back hairs she imagines to be out of place. And note how she does it with such a casual air, as if indulging in a thoughtless habit rather than a deliberate attempt to preen. "Not too far," Rhodya tells T'rev, with a lopsided grin. "But high enough you shouldn't have to worry about Gedroth dumping dirt on your head, if you're out walkin' later today." She winks at Sulisah as the little vintner squeezes past. "Nah, Gedroth's fine. Just a little miffed 'cause I told him the weyr's supposed to be cleaned for us, and well, I was wrong." She shrugs.
Kaida shakes her head in responce to T'rev's query, looking up at him from her thoughtful contemplation of the liquid in her glass. "No. Rules are pretty strict about drinking at the Hall, and usually only wine was allowed. Which I can't drink, so...." A shrug to follow that headshake. "You thought of any idea for a name? You know, something more artful than 'shells this is good?'" Yes, she's teasing him. In her own quiet way. As her glance travels 'round to flicker across Rhodya again, the amusement in her expression intensifies, but she doesn't bother raising her voice to enlighten the brown weyrling. "You look good today," back to T'rev now. "Happy. Relaxed."
Sulisah turns a little to shrug at T'rev, a non-commital answer to something that's quickly followed by a "Whoops, sorry." as she nearly backs into someone else. Another spin follows to dodge someone else and still keep her glass mostly full, but then she pauses and simply drinks it. Half the glass is emptied in seemingly no time, enough that it's safe to move on again. To Rhodya she comments, grin slowly returning to full brightness, "Maybe they didn't want you having any wild parties until you graduate, keep a special supply of dust just for that."
"Well, I thought of 'Flowering Bush Ale' before today, but I'm told it's too suggestive," T'rev notes to Kaida with a wry grin. "That and this tastes really nice, so I'm trying to be more creative," he confesses though his gaze travels after Su, a touch of confusion or concern in his eyes, though it's faint enough it might not get picked up on. "Happy Times Beer?" he quips but nods at the weaver. "Good. Glad to hear that. So when're we goin' dancing next?"
Things like this happen to Jaeyi a lot: Some time after she gives away her drink, some time after she's not right under T'rev's nose, she winds up drawn off toward a corner table, among a handful of people happy to be just a little detached from the throngs of revelry. Here, a rather inebriated bluerider is telling her, in grave detail, all about the rules of the dice game in progress, and she's nodding along like she's paying the least bit of attention. Unsurprisingly, her job is to lean on the edge of the table and blow on the dice. It's not exactly skilled labor, but at least she looks purty doing it.
B'kaiv's not going to mind being backed into, not when it's Su. He's sticking close to her just as if he were that bodyguard he threatened earlier. You never know who's going to want that recipe for Flower Ale, after all. "You want help cleanin'?" he asks Rho over Su's shoulder. "Me an' Chielyth can come, if you want. If I ain't busy studyin'," he amends ruefully, and reaches over to snag a glass of ale off the bar.
"Well they didn't count on me raisin' a dragon housemaid, then, did they?" Rhodya asks Sulisah with a naughty grin. "Gedroth'll have it cleaned up by -" she pauses to listen to Kai, give him a tilted a smile. "Well, that's right nice of you. You're welcome to come by, but at the rate Gedroth's goin' you'll be out of stuff to clean by midnight. 'Sides, we got to see about gettin' you a weyr before anything else." Her gaze swings wide to include Sulisah, but her smile only grows brighter. "Like I said, it ain't fair."
Eventually Kwei gives up on trying to do the observation thing, he's not all that good at it anyway so he hops off the stool and wanders into the group ending up next to Rhodya just for amusement value thanks to the height difference. "You know you didn't look that tall when you were sitting down." He tells her with a grin. "Did you manage to get off to one of the gathers or am I still responsible for getting something running so I can get that dance?" He asks her, flashing a quick smile towards the others she's speaking to.
Kaida snickers into her glass, thankful that she hadn't yet attempted to swallow at the point when T'rev first spoke again. "Yeah, just a bit." She's somewhat passively watching everyone, but her gaze always winds up back on Sulisah. "Something's wrong...." a guess on her part, but it seems awfully like the Vintner is attempting to avoid B'kaiv. At least, from her point of view. "I don't think Happy Times Beer has really the proper ring to it, either. Too simplistic, maybe? I don't know. What sorts of names do other beers get pegged with?" A tilt, a quirked eyebrow, a hint of a smile - vague flickers of expression shifting as she catches bits and pieces of other peoples conversations. Not comfortable enough with any of them to start interjecting, though. "Hmm? Oh... well, I don't know. How soon until the autumn Gathers start up?"
"Weyrs are good." Sulisah echoes Rhodya's comment, then quickly follows it up with a quiet, "I need to go talk to Harry." A slight touch for B'kaiv's arm and she steps away again. There's a slight look given to her brother on the way past, nothing most people would be able to pick up on. She does go behind the bar for a time, speaking quietly to Harry and to Kwei when he follows. More mingling occurs afterwards before she just fades into the background at her own party, leaving quietly without saying goodbye - her mother would be scandalised.
B'kaiv drops Su a nod, following her with his eyes until she's well and safely talking to Harry. "It's all right," he tells Rhodya with a shrug. "She were one of the last t' hunt, makes sense we don't get a weyr straight off. Ain't like she needs lots of room, not like Elaruth." Or Gedroth, but he doesn't say that, only has a swig of beer. "Hey, Kwei," he adds for the Harper and turns to scowl at the crowd, lest it do something untoward.
Rhodya beams at Kwei when he joins the group, and taps her platformed shoes on the floor. "It's the shoes," she tells him, finger over her lips. Secret! Of course, it's clearly not the shoes, but hey. "You still owe me that party, /and/ the dancin', but I think the real question is did /you/ get out to any gathers? With that sweet girl of yours?" She gives Kai a puzzled look, but doesn't keep poking at him about the weyr question. She just gives him a pat on the arm and leaves well enough alone.
"Maybe not wrong ..." T'rev says quietly in answer to Kaida with a shake of his head. "But something seems to be on her mind." His gaze drifts to B'kaiv for a moment and his head shakes again. "Beers? Oh, well usually the name of the person who made it and what type, but sometimes something more creative like 'Two Horses' or 'Crown of Gold'." He tilts his glass again, slides a long mouthful down h is throat, has to lick foam off again though it's starting to break up in his glass. "Another seven and a half or so to the first ones."
Kwei glances down at Rhodya's shoes when she taps them and regrets it because he's got such a long way to go to bring his gaze back up to meet hers again. "Safe with me." He replies with one of his most charming smiles. "We got to the hold one, but that was it." He tells her with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Journeyman had me holed up here learning new songs to keep me out of trouble or something." He spots Su when she heads past him, that look passing between them that only siblings would understand. "I will however be showcasing those new songs soon, so keep an ear out for that mini concert and that dance is yours when I can get someone else to take over the playing." He tips his glass up though in salute to the tall brownrider and drains it, a nod to B'kaiv before he turns to head off and catch up with his sister. "I'll catch you later Rhodya of brown Gedroth." The woman gets the full charming treatment and fancy bow before he sneaks off through the crowd with one last wink.
"Glad I'm not jumping at shadows," Kaida notes, just as quietly, back to T'rev. She's doing more smelling than drinking of her own, apparently more enamoured of the scent of the beer than the taste. Which leaves a goodly amount of liquid left in her glass. Trying to keep in the spirit of the party, she determindly turns her mind from worrying about Sulisah - not like it isn't easy enough for her to accost her friend in their room to find out what's up. "Sulisah's Nigel... nope, that definitely doesn't work, either." Mused with a chuckle. "Summer... Summer something, I think. Not fragrance. Summer... um. Shells. I'm not any good at this, either." A somewhat rueful grin tilted up to the bronzer. "That soon? And I've been instructed to get myself a proper dress, too. Will need to get to work if you've a mind to attend one of the early ones." She's somewhat monopolizing him, and feels bad for it. "You should go mingle, enjoy yourself."
B'kaiv doesn't amble far - not that there's far to amble - before he catches sight of Kaida and T'rev. He hoists his half-full glass at them and tips his head toward the bar. "Lotta people, huh. Looks like everyone likes th' beer. Told Su they would." He has another slug of it to try and drown the little frown at the vintner's name. "You puttin' th' Wingleader in a dress now, Kaida?" Belatedly he offers T'rev a salute.
"Summer's Bloomin' Ale?" T'rev jokes just a little, eyes crinkling up at the corners and considers the contents of his glass, the color of the ale. "Summer Blossom Amber Ale ..." he muses softly then. "Like her eyes ..." and his thum slides a bit of condensation aside to let the light shine through the glass and its contents, making the color that much richer. "Yeah, that soon," up comes his gaze to find Kaida's and he shrugs about mingling, doesn't seem to mind kind of taking it easy. "A proper dress? Well that'll definitely be somethin' to look forward to. If you need any rides down to Weaver to get supplies, just say the word." Kai's approach earns a nod and a renewed tilt of his glass. "Cheers, Kai. How's it? Why all frowny?" and there's a vague flick of fingers towards his own forehead. "And nope, most skirt I've ever worn is a towel."
O'rik is just now ambling into the bar, his path initially carrying him back towards a corner of the room. On the way, he does turn a glance towards the beer crowd. An empty booth seems to be the bluerider's destination, though once he's peered into it a moment he's turning back around again on a heel. That's when the older man finally heads towards the little gathering. T'rev and Kaida, to be more specific. "What's this about skirts?" The question is aimed at his wingleader, a skewed little smile offered as he just barges in. Whiskey eyes don't stay on the bronzerider for long, taking in B'kai with a greeting nod before settling on the weaver. "H'lo," he tacks on, just special for her.
Left by her lonesome, Rhodya lingers for a bit looking around with a sort of ho-hum expression. Will anybody else come talk to her? Alas, no! She has to go in search of conversation herself, edging around B'kaiv and T'rev to come up next to Kaida. Her main goal is, it turns out, a chair that's next to the other woman, but she does draw it up. "Hey," she murmurs, with a quick smile for the men as she butts in to this new conversation. "Hope you don't mind my askin', but I could hear you talkin' from over there and I wondered. You from Igen?" She peers curiously at Kaida's face, as if her features were a clue in themselves.
"This place," says B'kaiv about why-all-frowny, and aims a particularly sour look at the chandelier. "It's just - it don't matter." He glances at Kaida but there's Rhodya to distract her, so he gives O'rik a salute instead before tossing back the last of his far too small glass of beer. "Just gettin' kinda... just was hopin' t' see more of Su." That's his story, and he's sticking to it.
"Oh, yes," Kaida breathes, her own eyes lighting up. "Summer Amber... T'rev, that's -perfect!- Quick, quick, write it down. There should be scraps of paper around here...." Or failing that she can rummage up voluminous sleeves and see if she's conveniently got something squirreled away in one of her pockets. "Yes, well, being told and seeing for yourself are two different things," she notes to B'kaiv. "He's not got the shoulders for one, anyway. The sleeves would have to be waaaay too poofy. I could put -you- in a dress, though?" Wait, did she just tease -Kai?- Switching back to T'rev, "You have no idea, T'rev. Su just mentioned it yesterday, and I've already got the design in my head." Seems she's just starting to relax in this easy-to-manage conversation, when suddenly there's O'rik and his h'lo. "Heyla," and a prompt offering of her glass towards him. "New ale. Have a taste." And then Rhodya, pulling up a chair. Blink back at that peer, "Yes, Igen. Still haven't kicked the accent, huh?"
"Think so?" T'rev says with a grin to Kaida. "Yeah, write it down and put both our names on it," he says about the suggested name and then shoots Kai a quirky questioning look. "What? It's nice? Got good food now. You want seedy, I got places to take you, my friend," he tells the weyrling with a wink. A nod for O'rik and his glass lifted partly and T'rev takes a half-step back to lean against the bar comfortably. "Strapless, for me Kaida?" he says, poking fun still then beams. "Will look forward to that gettin' done then and sweepin' a few rounds around the floor."
It's kind of a salute that O'rik lifts in return to the green weyrling, the fingers just never really make it anywhere near high enough for it to be a proper thing. That's mostly because he's still has his eyes on Kaida. She's the one with... beer, after all. "Yeah?" New? He accepts the glass just as prompt as the weaver's offered. "Thanks." While it's the girls that primarily hold his gaze, it's the guys whose conversation the bluerider has his ear tipped to. "Is too nice," he grunts his opinion of the bar, a nodding tip of his chin accompanying a brief dart of his eyes back to B'kai.
"Why would you want to kick it?" Rhodya asks, feigning dismay. She quickly pops into a grin again, thumbing back at herself. "Rhodya. I'm Igen-bred myself, so it's good to hear a voice from back home." She gives T'rev a funny look, having come into this whole joke about the dresses a bit late to know what he's talking about. Their weirdness is reason enough for her to hang back and listen to them for a while, safely shielded behind her beer.
"...stop blowing on /dice/ at a certain point," is the end of Jaeyi's helpfulness, put while she pushes away from that side-table with a peck-on-the-cheek for her 'host.' Mostly, she's just sort of floated around the table and made people throw away money in ways they really shouldn't, which has at least had the desired effect on the bluerider's pocketbook even if it hasn't turned out quite the way he was hoping. "Strapless?" is where she joins the conversation, blinking away. "Why? There's a lot to be said for, mmn, straps." Kaida and T'rev being lately two of her favoritest people, she gravitates that way naturally.
"I don't have the shoulders for sleeves," T'rev tells Jaeyi quite seriously, though his wink might ruin the effect as he leans back against the bar now, glass almost empty. "Only thing I kind of miss ... is the old bar top," he tells O'rik with the faintest hint of a sly grin caught in the corners of his mouth. Rhodya's funky look earns a brief explanation: "We were talkin' about Kaida's new gather dress and me in one and I said I've only worn a towel before, so then she started mentally designin' me a gown, I guess."
B'kaiv grumbles back to T'rev, "Long as Chielyth can fly there," only to squint at O'rik's interjection and give the bluerider a nod. "Yeah. Used t' be you could drink in here." Back in the far long ago, when Ancients roamed the earth. He sets down his empty glass on something flat and empty, folds his arms and squints more at Kaida, Rhodya, and T'rev. No, Kaida, Rhodya, T'rev, and -Jaeyi-, which causes the weyrling to flat out scowl and turn back to O'rik. "Dunno your name - 'm Kai. B'kaiv. Chielyth's."
Kaida's back to hunting for a scrap of paper, though she's given up on finding any of the ones that had been provided. So it's up her sleeves instead. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think it," she remarks to T'rev. Pause. "Strapless? Rummaging abandoned, "I'll just tell her." and she reaches out to tap at the bronzer's chest. "You're rather lacking in something to fill out a strapless, dear one." Pale eyes are then promptly rolled upwards in a 'save me, someone' expression as new arrivals and too many conversations just throw the entire joke out of context. How to extricate herself? Ale. O'rik. Explanation. That'll work. "My roommate Sulisah is a Vintner. This is her Journeyman project; some old old half legible recipe someone dug out of a storeroom. She's trying to revive it, and this is the first taste. And since Jaeyi's been released from her lucky-charm-arm-ornament duties, the weaver steps away from T'rev to allow the baker to take her place. Herself moving slightly closer to bluerider. And grinning crookedly at brown weyrling, "Don't really want to. But sometimes you're away from a place long enough, you start to lose it. Nice to meet you, Rhodya. I'm Kaida. Weyr or Hold?"
Jaeyi gives T'rev's shoulders a confused look, one that's not such a far cry from the expression worn by Rhodya, and she explains, "Ah. Different kind of straps. Gotcha." She touches a finger to her temple, tap tap, and leans against the bar in a space between two stools. "I feel," she begins, tilting her head to watch Kaida strolling off toward that particular old bluerider, "like I ought to warn her. But." She doesn't, though there's a hi-there curl of her fingers toward O'rik just briefly, a damn-near-identical curl of her fingers (except this one with a gosh-she's-pretty smile) for B'kaiv in the middle of his scowl.
Rhodya snorts at T'rev, shaking her head. "She's right, you know. Ain't got the figure for it." She pinches her glass between her knees so she can sculpt his figure in the air, cutting two straight lines with no curves. "And I'm from the Weyr," she answers Kaida, taking up her glass again with a sparkle of laughter of in her tone. "Ain't lost my accent yet, I don't think, but I know what you mean." She pauses to dump down the last of her beer, letting out a heavy breath when she's done. "Hope you'll excuse me, though. My dragon found a corner he can't really get into, so I'm being summoned back to help him. See you all later," she says with a wave, abandoning her recently claimed chair to scuttle out of the bar.