Kai helps with decorating
It is a spring afternoon, 12:13 of day 13, month 3, turn 23 of Interval 10.
Stores, Fort Weyr
Fort's stores are made up of a series of caverns of different sizes and hold the vast majority of the Weyr's perishable and non-perishable supplies. Accessible from both the kitchen and the tunnel to the outside of the Weyr, stores is split into two levels, with the lower levels dug down deep along a sloping passageway where it's always chilly for perishables and the upper level containing mostly dry goods.
Second-hand clothing, cleaning supplies and second-hand extra linens are available in open stores. Several 'junk' rooms are also kept unlocked with a 'free to take' policy on items that are too broken to throw out but not in good enough condition to warrant a requisition. The rest of the caverns are usually kept locked and require permission from the headwoman or the storeskeeper on duty for access.
Obvious exits:
Tunnel Kitchen
It's probably at least sprinkling (if not actually raining) outside, but inside Fort's storerooms the air is blessedly free from precipitation. B'kaiv mutters to himself near the leather scraps bin, testing the wear and give on laces, of all things. He's snapped quite a few, and the discards lay tangled at his feet, while those that have passed his inspection are looped around one of the shelf's uprights. A tiny green firelizard perches on his shoulder, watching with interest, and making half-hearted attempts at chasing some of the tempting dangling things.
In through the open store room door flitters a tiny blue firelizard cutting an erratic course that loops and wavers with last-minute changes to avoid smacking into shelving and crates while he eyes everything in a curious attempt to see it all. Nissa follows a few moments later, her eyes scanning the area to see just where the creature has gone. "Bruise, slow down," her warning is given just as it smacks into a pile of shirts waiting to be crated. "Ya need a padded cell," her tone wears resignation mingled with affection as she turns towards the area where old furniture, curtains, rugs and the like might be kept. She's going right on past the leather aisle, catches sight of her wingmate and thus backs up a half-step. "Oh heya Kai." Muttering and tangles noted, she could ask, but it's fairly obvious what he's doing. "Um... Wix could make you some sturdier ones maybe?"
Bitty whistles and chirps to her brother, wings flaring for balance as Kai turns to see what she's looking at. "Hey," he greets the tiny blue, then, "Hey," with half of a smile for the other greenrider. "Who's Wix?" Another tug snaps the latest lace, and with a grunt he hands the shortest bit up to his shoulder before dropping the other. "He's getting bigger," with a nod to the blue.
"She's a tanner." Nissa's headjerk in the general directions of the workrooms accompanies that bit of information. "Kinda goofy, nice girl though." Which says nothing of her leatherworking abilities. That shirt pile wriggles and presently the blue's head pokes out with a happy trill announcing to the world at large that his 'on-purpose' shirt checking has been accomplished. "Yeah, he's eatin' enough to." Her chin lift indicates bitty green on B'kaiv's shoulder. "What's her name?" And while he's answering that she takes the final step to the next aisle to finger a stack of floor rugs, well able to see the other greenrider through the spaces left in the shelving between them.
"Bitty," he answers, while the little green rips and tears at her prey. "'Cause she is. I was thinking about making her some straps - you know, t' help keep her on Chielyth when we go flying - only shells, if th' leather's small enough t' fit her, it ain't got no strength. Chielyth ain't gonna like it, but I guess she can't come with us, least until she's bigger."
Fingers pause where they are separating rugs, bypassing orange and brown, hideous purple and yellow as her place is kept there. "Straps for her?" Nissa lends to peer through the 'window into Kai's aisle' and seek out Bitty there on his shoulder, brow wrinkled curiously. "Can't she just, y'know, fly alongside? I ain't gone anywhere far since Bruise came along. He usually rides in my pocket. Or catches up... later." She's ducking back in to resume her search through those rugs, muttering under her breath, "Stupid mudslide."
"You seen how Chielyth flies," her wingmate quips, and tilts his head toward the finger-long lizard perching on his shoulder. "Ain't no way she could keep up. But yeah, guess she's gonna keep t' my pocket, at least for now." He half-frowns through the shelving. "Shells, that's right. How bad was it, for you? Your ledge ain't one of them all covered, is it?"
"Heh, yeah, I have." Nissa's thoughtful for a moment, eyes on the stack without really seeing it while her mind goes off on a tangent. "How 'bout you could make a sort of... carrier thing that buckles to Chielyth's harness? You know-" her hands poke through the 'window', "-about yay long, yay wide and yay high with a mesh front so she can see where you're going?" Her hands are pulled back. A moment later there's a soft grunt and plop. "That's better, can see them now. Shards. Who picks these color combos?!" A moment later, sounding faintly disgruntled, "Not anymore. Though the lake's still pretty high. Kicked up a wave that flooded the floor of my weyr."
B'kaiv grunts after a moment, nodding. "Yeah, could work. Pretty good idea." Good enough, in fact, that he swoops the unbroken laces back into their basket and comes around to join Nissa. "Yeah? Shells, musta been something. You and Liath are a'right though, yeah? You gonna move out, you think? Higher ledge, maybe?"
There's a startled blink for that. "You think so, really?" There's a small, pleased smile on Nissa's face. Used to, perhaps, having her ideas dismissed rather than tried out. When he comes around to her aisle he'll find half the stack on the floor, peeled back like the pages of a huge tome, his wingmate sitting cross-legged on the floor going thru them. She peers up at him, eyes bright with the recollection of it; exciting in hindsight, maybe. "It was FLOOOSH and shaking that woke us up first, then a second later water running in everywhere!" A crooked grin follows, "We got wet. You guys were okay?" She frowns as a thought occurs to her, "Ya think there will be any more slides? Cos... I love my weyr, I don't want another."
"Why not?" he shrugs, and plays a gentle game of tug with Bitty and her lace, shakes his head at her tale. "Shells. --Yeah, we're fine. We ain't nowhere near there, and besides, we're up too high. Th' Den's closer, but it's up real high too. Didn't even get no mud on th' ledge. Asking th' wrong person," he adds, about 'will it happen again'. "I ain't no Smithcrafter. But if you and Liath - and Bruise - need a place t' bunk down, th' Den'd work if it's a emergency. There ain't no room in our weyr, or I'd say there."
Bruise has managed to wriggle the rest of the way out of that shirt stack - finally! Irritated at not having been rescued, apparently, for he's scolding as he wobbles thru that window in the shelving aiming for Nissa's shoulder and misses, managing to snag the underside of the shelf directly behind her to stop himself, clinging there upside down. "Nothin' fell and broke in the Den? My walls shook pretty good." Without looking, she offers a hand to cup underneath the tiny blue just a he looses his grip. "Idiot," she murmurs gruffly fond and sets him down. "Thanks, Kai. I appreciate the offer." Speaking of the Den... "Heya, Kai, I been meanin' to ask, Y'ind if I bring the healer, Isandre up to the Den? She ain't comfortable with many folks and the Fountain..." Well, he already knows what she thinks of that place.
"Ain't nothing t' break," says Kai with one his his half-smiles. "Took some tumbles, but nothing broke." Bitty leans waaaaay over to watch her brother, leaps off Kai's shoulder and flits past the blue, chirruping encouragement. It's a game of chase! "--Huh?" Kai looks back from watching them to frown down at her; after another moment he crouches, balancing arms on knees. "Shells, 'course not. It's a bar, ain't it? Dunno how come people think they got t' ask permission t' come. Anybody's welcome, so long as I keep th' place open. T'kyn," he explains, before she can ask.
"No glasses? Huh. Good then." Nissa ducks as a flurry of wings goes past her head and Bruise is off after Bitty bouncing pinball-fashion off shelf corners, barrels and walls in the course of his pursuit. She's not going to watch that, no. It hurts just hearing the muted impacts. With a frown, "T'kyn wants to shut ya down? Whyon Pern?" Her search for the moment is forgotten as she stares at B'kaiv. "He's a stickler, but he can't do that, can he?"
B'kaiv says, "Didn't say that," and scratches at his jaw while thinking. "Shells, Nissa, you know how he is about drills. I ain't got enough time in th' day, is all - especially if he keeps up them morning drills, and I got t' get Chielyth t' sleep early. Either that, or listen t' her complain until she gets a nap. Couldn't'a run th' Den back when I were in Flint, not with all th' drills your brother runs, and shells, T'kyn's worse."
It's a short-lived relief that relaxes the features of Nissa's face. Her, "Yeah" is sighed out in elongated fashion. "Poor Chielyth. Forgot about her. I feel more prepared for stuff since he gave R'lis the boot, but." She shrugs, mulling this over, then brightly, "Run it as a co-op?" She ducks back to leafing through those rugs. "Nah, ya probably wouldn't wanna do that." She begins tugging on a rug, the soft greens and blues of the yarns in stark contrast to some of the gaudy shades of the others.
He sniffs thoughtfully and reaches out a hand, first to stroke the pile of one of those gaudy rugs and then, once she's started tugging, to help lift some of the weight. "Co-op?" he echoes, then shakes his head. "Nah. S'my bar. Ain't even gonna be able t' pay D'ran, this keeps up. And if I can't pay him, then I can't keep th' place open even as much as I do now, which means I'm gonna lose more money, and shells, at that point might as well just close th' doors." He sniffs again before shrugging: what can you do?
A smile flashes his way, "Hey, thanks." So much easier with his help! While rolling it, "I'm sorry, Kai. I was hopin' it would work out for ya. Ya wanted it for so long. Ain't fair. We're not even in a pass." The thump with which she flops the roll down with might suggest she's wishing T'kyn bug-sized and on the floor right there under her newly-acquired rug. She tries, but nothing, no bright ideas come to mind. Her hands move back to flipping through rugs but her attention is half on them, really.
That's Kai: helpful! "Pretty," he notes of the rug, more because that's what you say than because of any real attraction. "Yeah, well. Been thinking on transferring t' Jasper, any road - shells, I told you that, ain't I? Figure as I got enough marks t' keep the place open for a couple months more. By that time maybe I'll be in Jasper, and I can work something out with C'ston."
"It matches my wall mural," Nissa shares. Like he'd care about stuff like that, really. She blinks up at that news visibly disappointed, "No really, Kai? Aw, but-" She bites that protest off and just shakes her head, ducking back to her rugs, head lower than it needs to be, really to see the colors she's looking for. Subdued, but the disappointment is still there, "Guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do, if T'kyn won't work with ya." Flip flip flip go the rugs in the wake of her silence.
"Ain't that," he answers, before amending, "Ain't /just/ that. Shells, you seen Chielyth fly. We been wanting t' fly with Jasper since... shells. Since I can remember. Don't think we would'a been tapped there straight outta training even if we'd gotten t' rotate through like everybody else. But we got some experience now. --That one's nice," he adds, of a purplish-blue number.
Head still down, Nissa nods silently in response; she has seen Chielyth fly and she knows Jasper's reputation. She shouldn't be this... surprised. The purple-blue rug is pretty, she nods without enthusiasm and tugs. When it's free, she doesn't bother to roll it, just chucks it behind her without raising her head and bends to continue flipping through the pile. Quiet for a longer time than is normal for her, even he would note that, she finally asks, "So...when ya goin'?"
"When am I going what?" he asks in return, patiently holding up the rugs for her.
"Transfer." Nissa returns with a nose-wrinkle at the need for clarification, abandons her search to draw knees up and loop her arms around them, resting a cheek on them all in one motion so that her head is tilted his way. Her hair provides a shield hiding most of her expression but there's a glimpse between tawny strands of stormy hazel eyes regret, resentment a hint of fear. Blame it on the avalanche. Or something.
"Dunno," he says with another shrug. "Ain't even talked t' C'ston yet, see if he's interested in me and Chielyth." If she's done with the rugs then so's he, dropping from a crouch onto his knees, where it's easier to study his wingmate. "Shells, you a'right, Nissa? It ain't certain I'm going. C'ston maybe ain't gonna want t' do nothing t' do with me, not after all what I done. What got your straps in a twist?"
Like a sulky child, "You should... go do it. It's what ya wanted an' all." Nissa follows that up with a shrug and an irritable, "Everything's... changing." And realizing how she must appear, her sheepish apology follows, "Sorry, Kai. You're my wingmate. One'a the best. I dunno what's the matter with me. I'm just out of sorts, I guess. Maybe it's the flooding?" One arm looses from her leg and reaches out, a conciliatory gesture, "Don't mind me. I been- can I ask you a question, Kai?"
"Best," Kai snorts, but he sounds pleased. "Ain't nothing saying you and Liath can't ask t' transfer too, you think Jasper'd be a better fit for you than Obsidian. --Course you can ask me a question. What you think I'm gonna make faces at you, make you cry?" He does, of course, try an exploratory face, eyes wide and rolling and mouth snarling as if he'd bite. Just to see what she'll do, of course.
"Best!" Nissa repeats firmly, and by the look on her face, a transfer to Jasper never crossed her mind. Hmm. What does she think he might do? "You might laugh." Which is what she does when he makes that bitey-face of his. She lifts her head, shifts so that she's facing him more squarely, scooting back to lean against a box left on the floor, "You remember before- or was it after I was down in that hole? I forget. Anyway- and we talked 'bout trust? And how people can fool ya with their facial expressions and stuff?" She flickers him an 'I'm serious' sort of look. "How do you see through that sort of thing to know ya can trust a guy?"
B'kaiv lets his monster face go, slipping away to one of his crooked smiles. "--Nah, not really," he says of the trust conversation. "But I believe you we did." The rest of it, though, causes a scrunched-up, thinking face. "Shells, I dunno. Depends on what you're gonna trust 'em for. Trust 'em t' deal straight in poker's a far sight different from trusting 'em with a knife at your back."
Oh, she's putting this badly! "Probably more like for poker than a knife," Nissa says with a smile that turns into a grin, "Though poker face ain't called that for nothin' huh?" She shifts a bit, leans forward slightly, "I said I could tell when someone was trustworthy and you said there's way a person can fool ya. How d'you see though that?" She's not trying to be vague, really. She flushes and just spits it out, "I need guy advice, Kai."
"Guy advice," Kai repeats with another little frown. Of course he'd pick up on the last bit first. "And shells, I dunno, Nissa. There ain't no way t' tell when people are lying t' you. Not all th' time, any road. I been fooled, plenty times. But what kinda 'guy advice' you need? Need me t' lift something heavy for you?" Like, say, these rugs?
Vanissa waves away the topic with a hand. "Nevermind, Kai. It was a long time ago you said that." She turns, rolls the second rug around the first. Now she has a heavy thing that yes, she'll need help with. "I'll figure it out myself. Or I won't and I'll live with it. S'life." She pushes to her feet, stiff from sitting all scrunched up. "You mind helping me get these out to Liath?"
"A'right," agrees Kai with an equally-easy shrug. "Shells, 'course not. Long as you promise t' bring Isandre up t' th' Den some night." He stands as well, attention momentarily distracted, before he moves to heft the roll over his shoulder. "You want t' get one end? You can get doors, too." So generous of him, to volunteer her.
"Sure, if she'll come, I'll bring 'er. She needs some friends." Ends! Right. Nissa moves to grab the end of the roll and since he's bearing most of the weight, she's got one arm free for that door. "Bruise!" From wherever he has dropped exhausted by that chase there's a faint chirp, a rustle of wings and the lizard some fluttering over to land on her shoulder in a puff of dust-cloud, scrabbles to keep from falling off, then rights himself.
I were her, I wouldn't put nothing on the floor until I knew it weren't gonna get all soaked again. Course, I were her and I woulda moved out of that weyr already. Wonder how long them rugs is gonna stay pretty?
Stores, Fort Weyr
Fort's stores are made up of a series of caverns of different sizes and hold the vast majority of the Weyr's perishable and non-perishable supplies. Accessible from both the kitchen and the tunnel to the outside of the Weyr, stores is split into two levels, with the lower levels dug down deep along a sloping passageway where it's always chilly for perishables and the upper level containing mostly dry goods.
Second-hand clothing, cleaning supplies and second-hand extra linens are available in open stores. Several 'junk' rooms are also kept unlocked with a 'free to take' policy on items that are too broken to throw out but not in good enough condition to warrant a requisition. The rest of the caverns are usually kept locked and require permission from the headwoman or the storeskeeper on duty for access.
Obvious exits:
Tunnel Kitchen
It's probably at least sprinkling (if not actually raining) outside, but inside Fort's storerooms the air is blessedly free from precipitation. B'kaiv mutters to himself near the leather scraps bin, testing the wear and give on laces, of all things. He's snapped quite a few, and the discards lay tangled at his feet, while those that have passed his inspection are looped around one of the shelf's uprights. A tiny green firelizard perches on his shoulder, watching with interest, and making half-hearted attempts at chasing some of the tempting dangling things.
In through the open store room door flitters a tiny blue firelizard cutting an erratic course that loops and wavers with last-minute changes to avoid smacking into shelving and crates while he eyes everything in a curious attempt to see it all. Nissa follows a few moments later, her eyes scanning the area to see just where the creature has gone. "Bruise, slow down," her warning is given just as it smacks into a pile of shirts waiting to be crated. "Ya need a padded cell," her tone wears resignation mingled with affection as she turns towards the area where old furniture, curtains, rugs and the like might be kept. She's going right on past the leather aisle, catches sight of her wingmate and thus backs up a half-step. "Oh heya Kai." Muttering and tangles noted, she could ask, but it's fairly obvious what he's doing. "Um... Wix could make you some sturdier ones maybe?"
Bitty whistles and chirps to her brother, wings flaring for balance as Kai turns to see what she's looking at. "Hey," he greets the tiny blue, then, "Hey," with half of a smile for the other greenrider. "Who's Wix?" Another tug snaps the latest lace, and with a grunt he hands the shortest bit up to his shoulder before dropping the other. "He's getting bigger," with a nod to the blue.
"She's a tanner." Nissa's headjerk in the general directions of the workrooms accompanies that bit of information. "Kinda goofy, nice girl though." Which says nothing of her leatherworking abilities. That shirt pile wriggles and presently the blue's head pokes out with a happy trill announcing to the world at large that his 'on-purpose' shirt checking has been accomplished. "Yeah, he's eatin' enough to." Her chin lift indicates bitty green on B'kaiv's shoulder. "What's her name?" And while he's answering that she takes the final step to the next aisle to finger a stack of floor rugs, well able to see the other greenrider through the spaces left in the shelving between them.
"Bitty," he answers, while the little green rips and tears at her prey. "'Cause she is. I was thinking about making her some straps - you know, t' help keep her on Chielyth when we go flying - only shells, if th' leather's small enough t' fit her, it ain't got no strength. Chielyth ain't gonna like it, but I guess she can't come with us, least until she's bigger."
Fingers pause where they are separating rugs, bypassing orange and brown, hideous purple and yellow as her place is kept there. "Straps for her?" Nissa lends to peer through the 'window into Kai's aisle' and seek out Bitty there on his shoulder, brow wrinkled curiously. "Can't she just, y'know, fly alongside? I ain't gone anywhere far since Bruise came along. He usually rides in my pocket. Or catches up... later." She's ducking back in to resume her search through those rugs, muttering under her breath, "Stupid mudslide."
"You seen how Chielyth flies," her wingmate quips, and tilts his head toward the finger-long lizard perching on his shoulder. "Ain't no way she could keep up. But yeah, guess she's gonna keep t' my pocket, at least for now." He half-frowns through the shelving. "Shells, that's right. How bad was it, for you? Your ledge ain't one of them all covered, is it?"
"Heh, yeah, I have." Nissa's thoughtful for a moment, eyes on the stack without really seeing it while her mind goes off on a tangent. "How 'bout you could make a sort of... carrier thing that buckles to Chielyth's harness? You know-" her hands poke through the 'window', "-about yay long, yay wide and yay high with a mesh front so she can see where you're going?" Her hands are pulled back. A moment later there's a soft grunt and plop. "That's better, can see them now. Shards. Who picks these color combos?!" A moment later, sounding faintly disgruntled, "Not anymore. Though the lake's still pretty high. Kicked up a wave that flooded the floor of my weyr."
B'kaiv grunts after a moment, nodding. "Yeah, could work. Pretty good idea." Good enough, in fact, that he swoops the unbroken laces back into their basket and comes around to join Nissa. "Yeah? Shells, musta been something. You and Liath are a'right though, yeah? You gonna move out, you think? Higher ledge, maybe?"
There's a startled blink for that. "You think so, really?" There's a small, pleased smile on Nissa's face. Used to, perhaps, having her ideas dismissed rather than tried out. When he comes around to her aisle he'll find half the stack on the floor, peeled back like the pages of a huge tome, his wingmate sitting cross-legged on the floor going thru them. She peers up at him, eyes bright with the recollection of it; exciting in hindsight, maybe. "It was FLOOOSH and shaking that woke us up first, then a second later water running in everywhere!" A crooked grin follows, "We got wet. You guys were okay?" She frowns as a thought occurs to her, "Ya think there will be any more slides? Cos... I love my weyr, I don't want another."
"Why not?" he shrugs, and plays a gentle game of tug with Bitty and her lace, shakes his head at her tale. "Shells. --Yeah, we're fine. We ain't nowhere near there, and besides, we're up too high. Th' Den's closer, but it's up real high too. Didn't even get no mud on th' ledge. Asking th' wrong person," he adds, about 'will it happen again'. "I ain't no Smithcrafter. But if you and Liath - and Bruise - need a place t' bunk down, th' Den'd work if it's a emergency. There ain't no room in our weyr, or I'd say there."
Bruise has managed to wriggle the rest of the way out of that shirt stack - finally! Irritated at not having been rescued, apparently, for he's scolding as he wobbles thru that window in the shelving aiming for Nissa's shoulder and misses, managing to snag the underside of the shelf directly behind her to stop himself, clinging there upside down. "Nothin' fell and broke in the Den? My walls shook pretty good." Without looking, she offers a hand to cup underneath the tiny blue just a he looses his grip. "Idiot," she murmurs gruffly fond and sets him down. "Thanks, Kai. I appreciate the offer." Speaking of the Den... "Heya, Kai, I been meanin' to ask, Y'ind if I bring the healer, Isandre up to the Den? She ain't comfortable with many folks and the Fountain..." Well, he already knows what she thinks of that place.
"Ain't nothing t' break," says Kai with one his his half-smiles. "Took some tumbles, but nothing broke." Bitty leans waaaaay over to watch her brother, leaps off Kai's shoulder and flits past the blue, chirruping encouragement. It's a game of chase! "--Huh?" Kai looks back from watching them to frown down at her; after another moment he crouches, balancing arms on knees. "Shells, 'course not. It's a bar, ain't it? Dunno how come people think they got t' ask permission t' come. Anybody's welcome, so long as I keep th' place open. T'kyn," he explains, before she can ask.
"No glasses? Huh. Good then." Nissa ducks as a flurry of wings goes past her head and Bruise is off after Bitty bouncing pinball-fashion off shelf corners, barrels and walls in the course of his pursuit. She's not going to watch that, no. It hurts just hearing the muted impacts. With a frown, "T'kyn wants to shut ya down? Whyon Pern?" Her search for the moment is forgotten as she stares at B'kaiv. "He's a stickler, but he can't do that, can he?"
B'kaiv says, "Didn't say that," and scratches at his jaw while thinking. "Shells, Nissa, you know how he is about drills. I ain't got enough time in th' day, is all - especially if he keeps up them morning drills, and I got t' get Chielyth t' sleep early. Either that, or listen t' her complain until she gets a nap. Couldn't'a run th' Den back when I were in Flint, not with all th' drills your brother runs, and shells, T'kyn's worse."
It's a short-lived relief that relaxes the features of Nissa's face. Her, "Yeah" is sighed out in elongated fashion. "Poor Chielyth. Forgot about her. I feel more prepared for stuff since he gave R'lis the boot, but." She shrugs, mulling this over, then brightly, "Run it as a co-op?" She ducks back to leafing through those rugs. "Nah, ya probably wouldn't wanna do that." She begins tugging on a rug, the soft greens and blues of the yarns in stark contrast to some of the gaudy shades of the others.
He sniffs thoughtfully and reaches out a hand, first to stroke the pile of one of those gaudy rugs and then, once she's started tugging, to help lift some of the weight. "Co-op?" he echoes, then shakes his head. "Nah. S'my bar. Ain't even gonna be able t' pay D'ran, this keeps up. And if I can't pay him, then I can't keep th' place open even as much as I do now, which means I'm gonna lose more money, and shells, at that point might as well just close th' doors." He sniffs again before shrugging: what can you do?
A smile flashes his way, "Hey, thanks." So much easier with his help! While rolling it, "I'm sorry, Kai. I was hopin' it would work out for ya. Ya wanted it for so long. Ain't fair. We're not even in a pass." The thump with which she flops the roll down with might suggest she's wishing T'kyn bug-sized and on the floor right there under her newly-acquired rug. She tries, but nothing, no bright ideas come to mind. Her hands move back to flipping through rugs but her attention is half on them, really.
That's Kai: helpful! "Pretty," he notes of the rug, more because that's what you say than because of any real attraction. "Yeah, well. Been thinking on transferring t' Jasper, any road - shells, I told you that, ain't I? Figure as I got enough marks t' keep the place open for a couple months more. By that time maybe I'll be in Jasper, and I can work something out with C'ston."
"It matches my wall mural," Nissa shares. Like he'd care about stuff like that, really. She blinks up at that news visibly disappointed, "No really, Kai? Aw, but-" She bites that protest off and just shakes her head, ducking back to her rugs, head lower than it needs to be, really to see the colors she's looking for. Subdued, but the disappointment is still there, "Guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do, if T'kyn won't work with ya." Flip flip flip go the rugs in the wake of her silence.
"Ain't that," he answers, before amending, "Ain't /just/ that. Shells, you seen Chielyth fly. We been wanting t' fly with Jasper since... shells. Since I can remember. Don't think we would'a been tapped there straight outta training even if we'd gotten t' rotate through like everybody else. But we got some experience now. --That one's nice," he adds, of a purplish-blue number.
Head still down, Nissa nods silently in response; she has seen Chielyth fly and she knows Jasper's reputation. She shouldn't be this... surprised. The purple-blue rug is pretty, she nods without enthusiasm and tugs. When it's free, she doesn't bother to roll it, just chucks it behind her without raising her head and bends to continue flipping through the pile. Quiet for a longer time than is normal for her, even he would note that, she finally asks, "So...when ya goin'?"
"When am I going what?" he asks in return, patiently holding up the rugs for her.
"Transfer." Nissa returns with a nose-wrinkle at the need for clarification, abandons her search to draw knees up and loop her arms around them, resting a cheek on them all in one motion so that her head is tilted his way. Her hair provides a shield hiding most of her expression but there's a glimpse between tawny strands of stormy hazel eyes regret, resentment a hint of fear. Blame it on the avalanche. Or something.
"Dunno," he says with another shrug. "Ain't even talked t' C'ston yet, see if he's interested in me and Chielyth." If she's done with the rugs then so's he, dropping from a crouch onto his knees, where it's easier to study his wingmate. "Shells, you a'right, Nissa? It ain't certain I'm going. C'ston maybe ain't gonna want t' do nothing t' do with me, not after all what I done. What got your straps in a twist?"
Like a sulky child, "You should... go do it. It's what ya wanted an' all." Nissa follows that up with a shrug and an irritable, "Everything's... changing." And realizing how she must appear, her sheepish apology follows, "Sorry, Kai. You're my wingmate. One'a the best. I dunno what's the matter with me. I'm just out of sorts, I guess. Maybe it's the flooding?" One arm looses from her leg and reaches out, a conciliatory gesture, "Don't mind me. I been- can I ask you a question, Kai?"
"Best," Kai snorts, but he sounds pleased. "Ain't nothing saying you and Liath can't ask t' transfer too, you think Jasper'd be a better fit for you than Obsidian. --Course you can ask me a question. What you think I'm gonna make faces at you, make you cry?" He does, of course, try an exploratory face, eyes wide and rolling and mouth snarling as if he'd bite. Just to see what she'll do, of course.
"Best!" Nissa repeats firmly, and by the look on her face, a transfer to Jasper never crossed her mind. Hmm. What does she think he might do? "You might laugh." Which is what she does when he makes that bitey-face of his. She lifts her head, shifts so that she's facing him more squarely, scooting back to lean against a box left on the floor, "You remember before- or was it after I was down in that hole? I forget. Anyway- and we talked 'bout trust? And how people can fool ya with their facial expressions and stuff?" She flickers him an 'I'm serious' sort of look. "How do you see through that sort of thing to know ya can trust a guy?"
B'kaiv lets his monster face go, slipping away to one of his crooked smiles. "--Nah, not really," he says of the trust conversation. "But I believe you we did." The rest of it, though, causes a scrunched-up, thinking face. "Shells, I dunno. Depends on what you're gonna trust 'em for. Trust 'em t' deal straight in poker's a far sight different from trusting 'em with a knife at your back."
Oh, she's putting this badly! "Probably more like for poker than a knife," Nissa says with a smile that turns into a grin, "Though poker face ain't called that for nothin' huh?" She shifts a bit, leans forward slightly, "I said I could tell when someone was trustworthy and you said there's way a person can fool ya. How d'you see though that?" She's not trying to be vague, really. She flushes and just spits it out, "I need guy advice, Kai."
"Guy advice," Kai repeats with another little frown. Of course he'd pick up on the last bit first. "And shells, I dunno, Nissa. There ain't no way t' tell when people are lying t' you. Not all th' time, any road. I been fooled, plenty times. But what kinda 'guy advice' you need? Need me t' lift something heavy for you?" Like, say, these rugs?
Vanissa waves away the topic with a hand. "Nevermind, Kai. It was a long time ago you said that." She turns, rolls the second rug around the first. Now she has a heavy thing that yes, she'll need help with. "I'll figure it out myself. Or I won't and I'll live with it. S'life." She pushes to her feet, stiff from sitting all scrunched up. "You mind helping me get these out to Liath?"
"A'right," agrees Kai with an equally-easy shrug. "Shells, 'course not. Long as you promise t' bring Isandre up t' th' Den some night." He stands as well, attention momentarily distracted, before he moves to heft the roll over his shoulder. "You want t' get one end? You can get doors, too." So generous of him, to volunteer her.
"Sure, if she'll come, I'll bring 'er. She needs some friends." Ends! Right. Nissa moves to grab the end of the roll and since he's bearing most of the weight, she's got one arm free for that door. "Bruise!" From wherever he has dropped exhausted by that chase there's a faint chirp, a rustle of wings and the lizard some fluttering over to land on her shoulder in a puff of dust-cloud, scrabbles to keep from falling off, then rights himself.
I were her, I wouldn't put nothing on the floor until I knew it weren't gonna get all soaked again. Course, I were her and I woulda moved out of that weyr already. Wonder how long them rugs is gonna stay pretty?