[Logged by Ali]]
Living Cavern
The smooth, rounded walls of the vast living cavern sweep upward from an oval base, two dragonlengths long and one wide, large enough to seat every member of the Weyr at mealtimes. The soft blackness of the lava which forms these caverns swallows glowlight, so shelves for glowbaskets abound, dotting the walls every three or four paces and casting gentle greenish light up toward the sparkles of gold volcanic glass embedded in the ceiling. Ancient lustrous tables run along the long axis of the cavern, and at the far end is the raised dais and high table, where the Weyrleaders and their honored guests eat during formal occasions. Behind the high table, the Weyr's symbol is chiseled into the stone: a smoking mountain in black, on an orange shield, trimmed in gold.
Archellian is sitting, fingering light shimery white fabric, holding it up to the light, watching it flutter. Turquoise eyes shining with awe, utterly rapt by the beauty.
Hyzen slips into the living caverns as unobtrusively as she can, head bowed slightly and eyes locked firmly upon the floor. Seems she has flounded back into that shy state which is slowly disappearing but seems to regain a hold upon her at odd times. Firelizards are perched around her, with the exception of Nauvoo and Proof, as she slinks into a dark corner and seats herself. Taking Phoenix slowly into hand, she begins her loving administration of oils upon his glistening hide.
Blue Tunnelsnake slithers slowly into the Living Caverns, rustling softly as it searches for food. Always searching for food. It spots something across the room, watching for feet, the 'snake hurries across, it doesn't like wide open spaces.
Alister's arms are quite full as she enters the room, loaded with books, hides, and various other items that emit puffs of dust with each and every movement she makes. Coughing uncontrollably, probably from the dust, she drops the things to a table near Arc and slumps down into a nearby chair. "Shards, if I'd have known I'd be spending the day digging through archives, I would have asked Ashy to come with me."
White cloth is folded up carefully at Alisters words, one last wondering gaze at it before Archellian places it carefully on the arm of the chair. "Archives?" eyes shine almost green with jealousy, "I'd have loved to do that. I was stuck sweeping and then baby sitting. Without warning he shrieks like a girl, catching sight of something slithering in the side of his vision, immediately leaping onto the chair in utter horror, trying to get as far away from the beastly pest as possible. Peering over the edge of his chair trying to keep his eyes on the horrid thing, watching it's path, oblivious to all else. "EDGE!!!" he cries for the zillionth time today and as usual nothing happens. Not a thing. Poor, poor boy. Well an ugly brown firelizard in the corner of the room opens to eyes, flaps wearily down and begins to dodder after the snake, not looking all that steady on it's four stubby taloned feet.
Ali jumps an armlength off the ground at the sound of Arc's squeaking, turning to see what it is that he's so afraid of, and backing as far as she can away from the slithering creature. Unfortunately for her, there is a table in her path, keeping her from backing further away. In the process of trying to get away, the poor girl knocks the stack of books from the table so that they scatter all over the floor. "Oh no!" she exclaims unhappily, scrambling to gather them again.
Blue Tunnelsnake notices a comotion in the room. That's bad. The tunnelsnake hisses as it catches the taste/scent of a firelizard coming near it. The blue painted creature raises it's head higher in the air so it can get a better scent. Definately an approaching firelizard. It can see a nice dark spot close by, under a chair or something… Swiftly, it scurries over, or at least as best as a tunnelsnake can. Ahhh, shade.
Torn between helping Ali and keeping out of the horrid beasts grasp Archellian just continues to stand on the chair, wavering in hesitancy. But that brief moment he took his eyes from the snake has caused him to lose it. Panic grips him, his face deathly white, "where's it gone?" he cries with horror, shifting round from his vantage point trying to find the creature, failing of course because he's up on a chair and it's underneath one. Slow and steady tottering brown hideousness ambles nearer to the tunnelsnake, stalking it as best as it can. Not wavering much as it changes it's root, hissing in response to the creature, wings flapped. And then, like a shining beacon of forest light, or more Garish Green, another flit dives from /between/ swooping down on the tunnelsnake, immediately spotting it, sharp talons curling, fangs glistening wickedly as Edge looks for her lunch.
Blue Tunnelsnake wraps around one of the chair legs and moves upwards a little so that its' head reaches just about the seat. A good vantage point. Another, less slow firelizard's scent is caught. That's very bad. The poor thing wraps around the leg tighter, hoping the green won't notice it, but knowing she will. Well, it's escaped a firelizard before…maybe it can do it again? Or maybe it'll actually have to fight, even though it has no practice in fending off hungry flits.
Books, books, hides, papers. They're scattered all over the floor, under the table, under the chair. Ali reaches out as quickly as she can, gathering the precious information back into a pile as quickly as she can. Turning, she finds herself at eye level with the snake, but several paces away. A horrified squeak sounds from her throat and the things are dropped to the floor again as she scrambles across the room and *away* from the crawly thing.
Archellian shrieks louder this time as he catches sight of the tunnelsnake, clambering up one of the other chair legs. Eyes wide with utter panic, heart racing, gasping for breath, he tries to flee away from it, managing to overturn the chair and go clattering to the ground with an awful crash. Edge of course doesn't even seem to notice, divebombing the tunnelsnake with a speed and furiousity totally at odds with her small size. Brown catching up on how this is done, flaps his wings and charges, along the ground in that direction too. Two firelizards. One tunnelsnake. One still shrieking man.
"Go away!" Ali yells at the tunnelsnake, as if she expects it to listen and turn away, on command, from both her and her fellow candidate. Chairs aren't safe enough for this girl, nope, she bounces up to a nearby chair, and climbs to a table from there, forgetting all the rules for fear of her safety. "What does it *want*?" she squeaks in Arc's direction as she shakes in fear. "Why doesn't it just go *away*?
Blue Tunnelsnake flicks out its' red tongue a few times in quick precision. There's a lot of noise as well as the diving flits. Something or things seem to make crashing noises. But as much as it hates noise, it prefers that over hungry firelizards. Where to hide? Or should it fight? It knows it has no chance fighting, so the blue critter chooses to hide. It brings its' head down again so that it's hidden under the seat bottom. Maybe the firelizards can't reach it there. At least, they probably can't dive at him. Hopefully.
A twitch of talon, a swirl of eye — Lissie sees the azure tunnelsnake and licks her dirtied lips hungrily. Her wings flap and she crouches, ready for the kill. Step by step, inch by inch, very near to pouncing…
Blue Tunnelsnake notices yet another firelizard coming at it. This one even bigger than the first two. It is competely panicked now and hopes ferverently to be forgotten, or for them to leave it alone. Why do the firelizards always want to eat the poor defenseless tunnelsnakes?
Archellian clambers desperately to his feet, bruised ego more than anything from the fall. Knowing he's no longer safe now that he's on 'snake level, and chairs would seem to be even more dangerous. But the brave firelizards are fighting it off. He turns and runs, towards a door, stops as he realises he'll have to get near that horrid thing and just well… stands hesitating. Edge swoops down, landing on the ground, hissing at the tunnelsnake, fangs bared as she nears it's hideaway, glistening wickedly. Hideous brown firelizard follows suit, through luck more than any preplanning he approaches the other side, no conscious plan of flushing snake out into the open. Stubby wings are flapped, hissing horribly, in warning as he prepares to get food.
Blue Tunnelsnake realizes that its only chance now is to find a different, smaller hiding place where the firelizards can't reach it. It must face the wide open space again, which is almost as bad as its' predators. Unwinding from the chair, the 'snake reaches to ground and tries to get to its' old familar hole in the wall. They can't get it there, but he must first cross the bright area with no hiding places.
"Are you alright?" Alister whispers over in Arc's direction, finally becoming calm enough to actually pay attention to the fact that he was scrambling back to his feet. Her hand reaches out as if to offer assistance, but since she doesn't dare leave her position on the table, her offer is useless. "Stay there, Arc, I *think* it's as scared as we are, maybe," so, she isn't positive but… "maybe it'll just go past?"
Archellian shrieks as the firelizard darts towards him, diving onto the table this time, closer to Ali, using her hand to help him up, seeking protection in numbers. Deep breaths are taken, relief as he follows the firelizards progress. "Am okay, just bruised," he gasps out. "Okay. Scared? Not scared," he protests, obviously lie. "Maybe they'll eat it," he manages to blurt out. Hoping beyond hope the tunnelsnake wont mess up all her hides and books and such like. They'd both get in trouble for that. Edge unfurls her wings, with a triumphant shrill cry, like lightning she streaks towards the 'snake, claws prepared to snag her prey. Brown follows suit, well tries to, flapping, hissing, warbling, wobbling along the ground, gaining speed, running towards the 'snake but of course not as used to walking and such as it. Blunt fangs posing no real threat.
Alister sighs in relief as Arc manages to clamber up and join her on the table, and her fingers keep a tight hold on his hand when he is actually settled, her fear showing through the grip she holds. "*I* am," she admits quietly and shrinks back toward the middle of the table so she's out of the 'snake's line of sight. "I didn't know they grew to be *that* big. Is that normal? Can it," she gulps quietly and looks to Arc for soothing words, being that he's both older *and* male, "can it *hurt* us?"
Blue Tunnelsnake will be caught by the flit? No! It turns around and raises itself up so it looks much bigger. Hissing viciously and spitting, it shows its' fangs. The show is meant to scare the firelizards, even though the tunnelsnake is about to bolt if its' ruse doesn't work.
Archellian is not all that male it would seem, well he's clutching Ali's hand just as desperately, seeking some sort of calmness or reasurance or something from her. Deep breaths are taken, trying to find something to say, "they grow even bigger, but not usually in holds." Well this isn't a hold and that definitely wasn't the right thing to say. "It… it won't hurt us…" he stammers not all that sure if that's true. "The firelizards will stop it. That's what they do." And yes that is what they do, vicious hissing from Edge, not put off by the tunnelsnakes antics at all, wings spread wide more than doubling his size, she dives for it, lunch awaits, her own fangs like needlesharp daggers, honed for just this job. Brown… well does a doubletake at the hissing, stopping his own hunt and scuttling back, despite the fact he is by far bigger than the green.
What a way for candidates to bond, or at lease, hopefully something good will come from all of this. Ali squeezes her eyes tightly shut, not willing to look anywhere near the dreadfull snake, even if it is being attacked by Arc's proud, daring green. "If *that* is a hint of what they're all like, and they want us to *trap* them, maybe we should go *home*." This poor little Gar gal is losing her cool, quickly, in the face of her fear of tunnel snakes.
Blue Tunnelsnake shrinks to the ground and turns his head swiftly the other way to see how far its' hole is. Maybe it can reach it… But probably not. It decides to stand (lay?) and fight. Even if the green is twice its' size. It curls around itself into a protective circle with only its' head sticking out to bite if need be.
Mutual fear would appear to accomplish what hours and hours of conversation can not. Clutching Ali's hand like a lifeline, not letting go, Archellian murmurs under his breath, "is gonna be all right, is gonna be all right," a mantra, trying to convinve himself of that fact. "I wanna go home…" he mumbles, then realises he is the older one. 23 turns. Not a child. Deep breath taken. "We'll be okay. It wont hurt us," his tone a touch more soothing than before, yet still tinged with panic. "They're all big… we need canines to deal with them as well as firelizards. Or dragons…" yeah singe them, burn them, char them, crisp them. Edge the Warrior Flit, huntress to the extreme, charges into battle full force. Brown warbles his encouragement. A split second distraction, curling talons of the green grasp at thin air, no juicy 'snake flesh within. /Missed/. How?
Blue Tunnelsnake spots its' chance and manages to get into its nice hole in the wall before the flit can dive again. Safe, warm, dark. Just how it likes to be. Even if it is still a little hungry, it doesn't dare venture out again for a while. Maybe in a few days.
Alister curls up into a tiny ball, trying to completely disappear so the nasty old snake can't hurt her. Eyes remain squeezed closed, and it looks as though she doesn't plan to open them any time in the near future. "Tell me when it's gone, alright? I'm just going to not look until it goes away. When I know it's safe, I'll look, but not until then…" the younger candi rambles quietly, her fear evident in her voice as she does.
Hikaru bounces in cheerfully and grabs a mug of klah. She spots Ali on the floor and Arch near her and waves a ittle warily, somewhat confused. "Sanke?" she peers about slowly, "I don't see a snake." the girl shrugs, does she really want to know? Probably not. Taking a chair that was overturned and setting it upright she sits down calmly and sips her drink. Mmmmmmm.
Gone. Relief colours Archellians face as he realises that fact. Perhaps it is not dead but there's no chance the creature will return after an assault like that. "I think it's safe," he murmurs softly to Ali. "The firelizards took care of everything. It's okay now," he tries to reassure, letting go of her hand, waiting a few minutes to ensure nothing else horrid ventures out before clambering off the table, touching her shoulder lightly. "We better get this mess cleaned up. The firelizards will protect us if it comes back. It'll be okay. It's safe." He glances over to his firelizards. Both of them. "I better get them some food." Not too much of course otherwise they wont be able to fend off another attack.
Turquoise eyes flutter over Hikaru, relief as she confirms his suspicions that the snake is gone. "I think it's gone." Archellian says yet again. A pause. Then another. "Thanks." As she turns the chair up proper. "We'll have to pick up all those books and hides and the mess…" not that there seems to be too much mess and the comment is more directed at himself than anyone else of course. "But food for firelizards first," he rambles on.
Ali's eyelids drift open slowly, revealing cinammon brown eyes that are still filled with fear. Looking around carefully before leaving her safe place on the table, she realizes that all is, in fact, clear, and slips down to the floor. Her attention turns to the mess of books and hides that she twice dropped to the floor, and she drops to her knees, scooting around to gather the random bits of information. A groan sounds from her mouth, and she closes her eyes. "Out of order. I spent the entire day organizing it, and it's out of order.."
"I'll help," Archellian volunteers softly, crouching down near her and picking up the hides and such in any order, helping her pile them up. "If you let me know how they need to be sorted and all…" he offers trailing off as things are gathered together. "It's not too much of a disaster, you've done it once you can do it faster the next time and if you let me know well I'll help." He repeats himself again. With that he rises to his feet and does as he should have and goes and gets some fish for the firelizards. One small bowl of scraps set down for both, he watches them guzzle it down momentarly before turning back to Ali. "The snake was probably a once off. I'm sure it'll not be back."
"Thank you, Arc," Ali gathers the pile of books and hides and slowly gets to her feet, giving him an appreciative smile as the things are placed on the table in a somewhat lopsided pile. "It looks like, once again, perhaps we were set up with the wrong chores, doesn't it? Were you working on your robes for the hatching, then?" The white fabric is touched gently as she slips down into the nearest chair with a sigh. "When are we supposed to have time to do those, anyway?"
"No, my friend Journeywoman Weaver Maral dropped the fabric off for me as a good luck gift," Archellian smiles as he looks at the fabric. "It's beautiful isn't it? She also said she'd bring me a pattern too along with my new clothes, so it will be easier for me to attempt to make the robe. I don't know when I'll have time. Guess we'll just have to make it. Hmm yep wrong chores again. They do it on purpose, I think," he shakes his head at the very thought. "I wish I could find Greenrider Teza, she said she'd take me back to Gar to get the rest of my things. I hardly have anything here. And I really would like to see every…" he blushes softly, "sorry I guess you feel the same and all."
"Do you think maybe we could work on them together, so I can see what she brings you?" A look of hope crosses Ali's face at the idea and she grins a little shyly, "I know nothing about sewing, and the idea of trying to make a robe without *something* to look at, well, I'm afraid wearing it would be quite an embarrassment." Her fingers touch the fabric again, and she nods her head at the mention of going home again, "When you go, could you, maybe, find Keris and tell him I miss him?"
"Of course we can work on them together," Archellian says with a warm smile, "in fact Anely was going to help me with mine I'm sure she'll be happy to help you too. Sewing isn't that difficult, next time I get a load of mending I can ask you to help, okay?" he smirks slightly as he says that, "and you can practice without worrying about ruining anything. Though the clothes aren't that important on the sands. Everyone will be looking at the eggs after all. Anely also said there's plenty of old robes in the stores if you'd rather one of them." He pauses and nods at her words, "of course I'll tell him that if I can find him. He's a starcraft Journeyman, isn't he?" Never actually having met the man himself.
"Wonderful!" Ali claps her small hands together at the future plans, one of which immediately mmoves to cover her mouth in an attempt to stifle another yawn. Her eyes blink slowly as she sits in quiet thought for a moment, and then nods her head, "Yes, a journeyman in the starcraft." Her voice drops softly and she leans toward him, "Orpheus knows him, just… send my love. I don't know what he thinks right now, with him there, and me here, you know?"
"I hope I get a chance to see Orpheus," Archellian murmurs softly, "well I'm sure I'll get him to pass on the message if I can't, okay?" he asks, a touch uncertain. A slender hand covering his mouth as he catches her yawn, contagious things them. "I think we'd probably do best sorting this work in the morning," he nods to the hides. "I'm sure it's getting awfully late. And well…" he trails off unable to think of anything to say to comfort her about Keris, blushing slightly. "I know how you feel," he says simply, "and if we just have hope well it'll all work out for the best I'm sure."
"Maybe we should just give up and head to bed early," Ali suggests as she tries to keep another yawn from surfacing, and fails. "We all know that they'll have us up bright and entirely too early for more work before the rest of the weyr is awake yet."
