Tuber-Claw

Western Weyr - Freshwater Pool's Edge
A freshwater pool wells up from underground springs and provides the Weyr with its water supply. A low stone wall rings the water's edge and an odd looking device sits off to one side, a safe distance from the water, with pipes running over into the water and other pipes vanishing into the cliff walls. The solar powered device pumps water to various part of the Weyr.
Electric lights light the entrances as those on night duty come out to take over, moving quietly in the night so as not to disturb those sleeping about the Weyr.Summer is upon the Western Isles, longer days and shorter nights making for a restless feeling that seems to invade every resident and urge them towards the beaches.


Seeing as how the beaches aren’t safe at the moment, or really, that anywhere in the weyr really seems all that safe from the spiderclaw invasion, well, Theicher has taken his shirking to as many interesting places as he possibly can. At the moment he’s slacking off, hanging out near the coolness of the freshwater pool. A half-full cup is nearby as he lazes in the shade of a tree. At least it’s a bit past noon where it should be cooling off. A basket of unpeeled tubers is nearby and currently untouched, apparently that was his much ignored chore for the moment.

Must be nice to just laze about and ignore the rest of the world around you. The brownrider quietly walks up the hill and takes one of the abandoned tubers, turning it this way and that. He takes a seat on the other side of the tree, not minding the daylight at all at this hour. After the tuber has been examined and it's use for a means of entertainment decided upon, it's gently tossed on top of the candidate's cup. "Shame, could've made it in there. Maybe it would've stayed long enough to have sprouted." S'rorn weaves his fingers together and places his hands behind his head, before crossing his feet at the ankles. His chores are done, he can be lazy now.

Theicher isn’t ignoring the rest of the world! He’s, relaxing and taking it all in. Although he’s so relaxed he misses the browrider’s approach. He cracks an eyelid when he hears the tuber make contact with his cup and spill the water everywhere. “I dunno if it would have sprouted that fast. Although if they grew any faster, that’s all the weyr would be doing, peeling tubers or sorting through them. Did you ever get some sticks and put ‘em in a jar and watch them grow? It’s pretty impressive.” Note how Theicher makes absolutely no attempt to start peeling now that there’s a rider around.

S'rorn pulls a knife out of his pocket and begins doing a rather poor job at peeling those tubers. He peels them in different directions and leaves the peelings where ever they may land for the masses. Why is he doing it? Is there a slim chance that the wingleader is actually bored enough or perhaps there's a bit of nostalgia to go with it? Not likely. There is a bit of a grin on the trader-rider's face, though. Not a chipper and cheerful one, but one of a more crooked nature. "I've seen that, actually. Came in handy during the winter months when we were on the road." The deformed tuber is now being dug into by the knife tip, bits and pieces being hollowed out with care. Rorn peers out of the corner of his eyes towards Theicher but his spot on the other side of the tree is sufficient cover enough.

Theicher can hear that knife on tuber sound, and he’s curious enough to lift the rest of his eyes, but apparently his curiousity hasn’t forced him to lean over so he can get a better look at what the heck S’rorn is doing. “That’d be a dark time indeed, where you were looking forward enough to tubers to be growing ‘em that way. I have to say we’re pretty spoiled here in Western, the weather is mostly rather mild, save the storms. But at least it isn’t somewhere like High Reaches or Fort with their snow? Right?” He crosses his legs at the ankle and leans back against the tree before hooking his hands around his neck and generally looking even more lazy, if that’s really possible. “So what brings you out here, Wingleader?”

Zi'on is out for a walk it would seem. In the heat. Actually Suldith's come out for a drink and the weyrleader needed to stretch his legs a bit. The bronze waddles along looking pleased as punch and Zi'on is trying to stay in the bronze's shadow to keep out of the sun. The bronzer does a double-take though as he seems Rorn peeling some tubers and a candidate doing… nothing? He laughs a bit. "Did you lose a bet or something, S'rorn? I always knew you couldn't touch your elbow to your ear. Am I right, candidate?" Suldith is carefully looking over Theicher, eyeing him suspiciously and sniffing at him.

"Wasn't so bad. Tubers and roots took the longest to grow so when we were on the move, we'd start them in old jars in a cart. Whenever the thaw would come in and we find a good place, they'd go in the ground and we'd have a local garden of sorts. In case we were too far from the weyrs, it'd give us something." S'rorn shrugs. Having been born and raised in a caravan, such tasks seem so mundane and day to day. Though, not carving tubers into interesting shapes. When Zi'on approaches, he smirks, but only slowing in his work during their conversation. "Bet? Not at all, I haven't done a bet in a while. Stakes haven't been good enough to make any sort of humiliation worth it."

Theicher finds his attention instantly being drawn away from whatever it is that S’rorn is doing when Zi’on arrives. Elbow to your ear? The young man starts moving his elbow before coming to an abrupt stop, “Oh. I see what you did there. Now that’s clever. I’ll have to use that in the future.” And yet even in the Weyrleader’s presence he’s still staying sprawled out and looking like he’s quite enjoying the shade. Maybe he’ll enjoy it less when whatever S’rorn is creating is finally revealed. “I didn’t think about that perspective. I guess it’s a good way to get them started before they’re planted. Never really dealt much with on-the-go living.”

"Yum. Jar tubers. My favorite." Zi'on wrinkles his nose teasingly at the wingleader. Having been a weyrbrat his whole life Zi'on has no idea what it means to go without, more or less. Thought that also comes with being a spoiled brat, as well. "Hm, we could fix that, you know." Zi'on rubs his chin. He's shave the beard since he decided it was too warm, now he finds himself tugging at air. "There must be something you'd like." The weyrleader laughs as Theicher almost rises to the bait. "Some things are just impossible." Also they make you look like an idiot while trying to attempt them. "I prefer traveling by dragon. It's faster and you don't have to settle for jar tubers along the way." Suldith finally decides that Theicher is okay. At least he seems to, giving the candidate a warble and then nosing him a bit in the ribs.

Kaliena rarely comes by the freshwater pool but today seems to be an exception. Having spent most of her morning in chores, she then returned to her studies in smithing and is only now escaping from what is yet another long day. Having just cleaned up at the hot springs, the girl's hair is still damp, twisted into a loose runnertail and draped over one shoulder. Her clothes look clean at least, a short-sleeved tunic and a long skirt and a pair of sandals. On her other shoulder she carries a little rucksack. And she would have walked on by, her attention focused down rather then straight ahead if it weren't for a warble and the murmured sound of distant conversation. A quick glance and then Kaliena double takes when she catches a familiar face among the bunch. Curiosity kicks in and she changes course, approaching slowly. "G'day to you all," she greets, a touch awkward once she's close enough and followed by brisk nods to all. Kaliena, greeting? Since when?

"Oh, come now. Traveling on foot isn't all that bad. You do get to see things you can't on dragonback and not only that, you meet a lot of interesting people on the road." S'rorn glances up towards Kaliena, offering a warm smile and nod of his head in greeting before going back to the tuber. It's slowly starting to take shape now with bits and pieces being removed. The rest of the batch is still ignored. "I agree, though, shards faster on Nyzieroth than waiting for a ship to take me to either Boll or the High Reaches just to start the hiking part of the journey. At the very least, learning how to survive without them came in handy in case it's needed. Some things you're going to have to work a little harder for to truely appreciate." Indeed. Such as potatos carved into things with many legs, a shell and two big pincers. Tuber-Claw is placed down on the ground, just within sight of Theicher. He said he needed a break from them, he never said in what fashion.

Theicher is nosed at! Ack! Well if Wingleader and Weyrleaders weren’t enough to get this lazy candidate up on his feet, a big fat dragon nose to the side is one sure fire way. Theicher uncoils and lurches to his feet to give the bronze a bit of a confused stare. “Hi to you too.” He gives his nudged ribs a rub before reaching out to pat Suldith on the nose. Friends? No eating the candidates? It’s then Zi’on who’s once more on the receiving end of the chocolate brown gaze, “Well, that’s all fine and dandy if you happen to have yourself a dragon. You don’t have to go begging for a ride from someone else who has one. That definitely adds a side of convenience that us non-riders don’t have. Maybe one day I’ll go spend a few months with the traders. That could be quite an adventure!” As to the arriving Kaliena, he gives a brief wave, taking note of her wet hair, “I hope you didn’t get stuck mucking the stables. That stench doesn’t leave for days-“ It seems like Theicher is going to continue on his tirade up until Tuber-claw is placed down near him and he nearly jerks out of his skin, eyeing the tuber monstrosity with a gleam of horror in his eye. “That looks nearly like the one who likes to keep making my cot its bed at night! I’m surprised I still have all ten toes!”

Zi'on looks rather surprised when Kaliena comes over of her own will. Surely she's seen him. He didn't think she'd want to be anywhere he was right now. But it's a good surprise, as evidence by the smile he's got on his face. "Hey, Kali." He slides over a bit towards her then to lean down and give her a hello kiss on the cheek. It's a bit awkward since he doesn't know if she'll even accept it. "I dunno…" Zi'on says to Rorn then. "Sounds bad enough to me. Have you met half the crazies at some of these holds? I once met a lady who put crawlies in her soup." The tuber-claw is eyed by the bronzer. As is Rorn. "Just shove him away." Zi'on says about his dragon. Suldith warbles though at the pat, the pleased look returning to his features. He gives Kaliena a quick nudge before moving over to get a drink. "Eh, most riders will take you wherever you want to go as long as it ain't too far. Or if they just changed out of their gear and you want to between. At least in my experience." Of course Zi'on's experience was like comparing apples to oranges. Most of his rides were given by his parents and not some random rider in the bowl.

Kaliena doesn't quite return S'rorn's smile, but she smiles and it's a touch uncertain and perhaps distracted. Her blue eyes have caught the tuber carving and she's watching the last of it come together with obvious interest. It's Theicher that gets her attention next though and a smirk to follow his comment. "I wouldn't have minded the stables," she drawls, voice accented but not too heavily as not to be easily understood. "Better then nanny duty or the like. 'Sides, smithing is dirty enough work, a bit of stable muck ain't going to hurt." Then she's eying the candidate's reaction to the tuber-claw with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "Why don't you just kill the 'claw then?" she asks, curious though a touch blunt. By then, Zi'on has slid his way over to her and his kiss isn't rejected though she shoots him a bit of a narrowed look. But he always gets that, usually. Maybe it's for his quip on crazy holders, though the girl is wrinkling her nose. "Crawlies, are you serious?" she mutters. The nudge from Suldith is met with a slight grunt and a quirked half-smile. "Hey to you too." Kaliena mumbles hurriedly and then shifts her weight to one side, adjusting the rucksack on her one shoulder as she listens to the discussion of travel with quiet interest.

"True, some of the riders would come down to the caravan while we were unpacking just to see what we've got for sale or soon to be. Sometimes just for commissions because we've got a little bit of a more diverse stock than the craft halls do. They don't need much, it's an excuse to fly and gives them something to do. If it's out of their way, well, a little bribery never hurt anyone. The tricky part is finding out exactly where the caravan's currently are. Sometimes you gotta bribe the lizards, too." S'rorn rolls his eyes and peers about. Course, bribing the lizards often requires them to be near by. Tuber-claw just sits there stoically. They are never late, nor are they early. They strike fear into the hearts of candidates just as they mean to. Perhaps they got it from Wilson. There's no telling what shenanigans could be afoot! "Crawlies in her soup? I don't know what's worse. That, or all those dead spiderclaws that were pulled out of the hotsprings earlier this morning. It was just like one giant soup. Some of the drudges joked about throwing some herbs into one of the pools to make a stock. Pity anyone who got on that pool. Thankfully, it was only one pool. It'll cleanse itself, in time." Of course the brownrider didn't notice the other candidate's wet hair…

“I’m never one to turn down some fresh friend crawlies when things are getting rough. One time when I got stuck out in a storm, there wasn’t really much to eat ‘sides a few of those. Just add a few spices and you’ll never know the difference.” Theicher offers in an off-hand type of way to Zi’on and his crazy holder talk before giving another light pat to Suldith before he’s moved on to bigger and better things. Apparently he doesn’t believe in ‘shoving’ dragons away. “Well you see, that’s the strangest part. I swear, I’ve brought that sharding spiderclaw to the pot myself and yet every night, that one, with the same markings is hiding at the foot of my cot each morning. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t be creeped out by that. Can’t seem to shake it!” Zombie spiderclaw? Perhaps. Or maybe this one just has a bunch of similar looking cousins. “Well I hope they posted a sign or something or the weyr is gunna smell an awful lot like something the fishermen hauled in.” Is murmured to S’rorn before he kneels down, scoops the little tuber creation up, and settles it farther away from him and much closer to the brownrider. Back! Back foul demon!

Zi'on frowns at that narrowed look. Really he ought to be expecting the Kaliena scowl. "Yep. Though we think maybe she thought they were something else. She was old and only had one good eye. The other one was all milky and blind." Zi'on pulls at his face to make his eyeballs disappear in demonstration. Then he tries to get a peek in Kaliena's sack. "You runnin' off?" Zi'on nods a bit to Rorn. "We used to do that as brats. Trade for this or that. I always had a few marks to buy things. Usually form cheating the other brats out of their marks." Zi'on wrinkles his nose. "Glad I didn't find any in my bath. I keep the door shut usually. Though the firelizards kept most of them out of my weyr and all." He sniffs at Kaliena then. "She does kind of smell like spiderclaw soup. I bet she was in that pool. Probably wondering why no one else was in it, too." He teases. "Sounds like you've made a friend," he tells Theicher. "You should just make him a little box of bedding to sleep in. Or have Kaliena take care of him with her knife." Whichever is good by him.

"Even with one eye, I think you'd be able to tell." Kaliena wrinkles her nose again as she pulls quite the face, not bothering to mask her disgust. "I guess if you got no other option… but I can't buy it that crawlies make good eatin'." She remarks drly, chiming in on Theicher's reply even if it wasn't entirely directed to her. The girl is like that; blunt and prone to interrupting if something catches her attention enough. At his claim that it's the same spiderclaw, she fixes the other candidate with a frown and disbelieving look. "Uh huh. You sure you just ain't seeing things? Dead spiderclaws don't come back." Hopefully she won't eat her words, but she seems pretty confident. There's a snort given to Zi'on and she shifts the rucksack again. "This? Just my dirty clothes. I ain't running off." Yet. "What's this about the baths…?" Kaliena has turned to face S'rorn now and her eyes widen just a little and maybe her mouth draws down just a wee bit. "Which pool?" she asks and when Zi'on sniffs at her, he gets an elbow to the side if she can reach. "Quit it!" she growls at him. Hey, wasn't she supposed to be playing nice or something? "I didn't bathe in no spiderclaw water." She grumbles before smirking at the Weyrleader's teasing of Theicher.

If Kali is going to take care of it with her knife, she had throw it in a bath of it's own with some roasted beast, veggies, and perhaps a nice warm and steamy dinner roll. Her in the soup, on the other hand… Rorn pauses from picking up the peelings and piling them around the Tuber-claw. Yes, Tuber-claw likes his little nest. His THRONE. Work, minion. No, don't put the peeling there. Yes, there. It gives Tuber-claw a slimmer waist like without taking too much away from his tuber-carapace. "Hrm, it wasn't one of the private ones, it was one that was tucked back and away from the main entrance point. Kinda private." He thinks. S'rorn chuckles and right when he was going to lean back against the tree, the tell-tale bellow of needy brown dragon echos across the way. Rorn groans, bringing his hands to his face and rubbing in irritation for a moment before he pushes himself to his feet. "Alright, I best be off before he brings the beast outside of the pen and chases it across the bowl… again. Never can leave things just as they are and do 'em easy." He offers a bow to the Weyrleader and Kaliena then departs, but not before scooping the Tuber-claw with his foot and flinging it right at Theicher. I believe I can fly~ Or fry. Hrmm….

Theicher’s lips curl into a smirk, “Who knows if it was her vision or maybe she was just getting tired of whatever the hold was serving. Wanted to try something new? I’m sure there are people out there that could see crawlies as a delicacy if prepared right. People think are sorts of things are good eating. You know I heard of some people eating herdbeast eyes? Boiled up or something. I don’t know. Can’t say I’ve got the nerve to try them myself though.” Eyes, prepared or not just seem like there wouldn’t be much nutrition there. His brows scrunch up and he makes an ‘ick’ face. At Kaliena’s distrust, he looks almost hurt. To think that Theicher would /lie/. That just isn’t possible! “Well, it sure looked like the same one to me. I have pretty good eyes and some of ‘em have pretty unique markings. This one had a cute lil star-like shape on its back. I’d think that wouldn’t be easy to duplicate. But who knows, maybe one of the other candidates is painting it on there. I’ll admit. They got me good if that’s the case.” He falls silent, rubbing at his chin hair, tugging it out before starting the stroke again. Come to think of it, there is that scrawny looking candidate he’s been having lots of fun with teasing lately. Uh oh. Theicher looks up just in time to end up with a Tuber-claw in his face. *thwap* Right in the forehead. The candidate reaches up to rub at said offending spot before sticking his tongue out at S’rorn. “I think I’m going to go, uh, find a safer spot to do the rest of my tuber peeling.” Because obviously here he was getting so much done. “Catch you around later, Kaliena.” He dips his head, “Weyrleader.” And with that he’s off to try to claim a less occupied spot of the weyr.

Zi'on laughs. "Well, this one couldn't tell. Or maybe she liked them. I dunno. Most of us thought she'd gone mad up there. Her children all had died or moved away and she was still up there in this decrepit old house. This was outside of Telgar. We all knew where it was. We'd dare each other to knock on her door and try to pawn off the job of dropping food off to her." He chuckles as Kaliena says she's not leaving, and he pulls the rucksack a bit with his fingers to peer inside. "Your panties are missing. Someone's took them out of the baths again I wager—Oof!" He grins though after the elbow to the side. At the bellow of the bronze both Suldith and Zi'on look up in that direction. Then he looks back down to see a tuber-claw flying across towards Theicher. The bronzer pulls Kaliena out of the way, though she was never really in danger. The bronzer laughs a bit as the candidate gets thunked in the forehead with it. "Bleh, herdbeast eyeballs. No thanks. Anyways, don't forget your tubers. They'll rot sitting out in the humidity like this, and we don't need the drinking water fouled up." The bronzer gives a wave to the departing, before looking expectantly to Kaliena.

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