Western Weyr - Living Caverns
Here is the center of Weyr life, the living caverns. These two main rooms were man-shaped from smaller caves, and are joined by a carved arch with depictions of dragons in flight and dolphins leaping in swirling waves. One room has many round stone and wooden tables and a stone fire-pit instead of a hearth. Over the round-walled, gas fired pit is a large conical hood made of polished bronze, with reliefs of dragons with their riders flying over ships guided by dolphins. This hood and chimney keeps the room smoke-free. Through the archway is an enormous hall, with long tables and benches, some carved from the rock floor, many crafted of wood. This room is a combination dining and meeting hall, and can seat over 300 comfortably. Above both rooms, angled shafts lined with polished metal bring in sunlight during the day. Electric lights also burn, day and night.
This late past dinner, the living caverns are by and large quiet, drudges bustling around to clean up the tables, and lay in a nice fire in the stone fire pit. It's not empty however, for seated at the wooden table closest to the fire pit is Enka, several books piled up around the Weyrwoman, but from the looks of it, she's not doing anything work related. She pauses from time to time, jotting something down on a piece of paper or sipping briefly from the mug of klah at her elbow.
From the doorway V'ine came walking in. He was moving fairly quickly and hada big smile on his face as he grabbed a sandwich from the head table came and took a seat next to Enka. "Good evening Enka how are you? I've got exciting news but I'll let you go first."
"Seven cups of redfruit and three cups of flour," Enka mutters out loud, the goldrider scowling at the book in front of her. "'Aint goin' to be enough," she pokes the end of the pen in her mouth, nibbling on the nub of it before tossing it down and flipping the book shut to glance up at V'ine. "Me? Just lookin' at some recipies for some bubbly pies." Ok, so the goldrider's got the penultimate sweet tooth which is what lead to her joining the Bakercraft in the first place … but that's beside the point. "Nothin' excitin' beyond that," she sips again at her klah. "So what was it that you were wantin' to tell me?" A brow arches, a rather expectant expression plastered across her face.
V'ine grins at Enka. "I'm going to be a father. Me and Kyldar agreed that is was time for us. I'm so excited I just want to tell everyone." He quite clearly looks excited. He takes a big bite out of his sandwich. "So what do you think of the news?"
Enka's lips twitch with a faint hint of amusement, the goldrider leaning back in her chair, mug cradled between her hands. "Didn't even know you and Kyldar were gettin' together," she remarks, "muchless plannin' to start a family." She does chuckle, ever so lightly. "What do I think of the news? Well, bein' as I've been there and done that myself, I think you've got a lot in store. Plenty of surprises along the way." And how. "Least you'll be able to foster eventually."
V'ine looks at Enka with a grin. "Me and Kyldar have been together for a while. Either way we plan to raise our child as much as we can. I don't really want to foster out my child. Interesting to hear that you've been down that way before though."
The living caverns are mainly quiet for the moment, a few drudges finishing up cleaning up after the evening meal which is since over, and mostly deserted except for them — and the goldrider seated at the table nearest the fire pit, with several books piled up around her, speaking with the brownrider eating his sandwich. "Well, it's news to me," Enka remarks, leaning forward again to reach for her pen and scratch out a line or two on the paper in front of her. "Might find you'd have too much to do," she remarks to V'ine. "Course, there's no need to really foster 'em out before they're two anyway. Least that's what I did with Ema and the twins." She makes another notation on the paper. "Can't see why it wouldn't not be interestin'. Goldriders go between less often, spend more time on the ground. It's not like I'm tryin' not to 'go down that way'" It's funny, one can almost 'hear' air quotations around that last comment, even if the goldrider isn't actually doing it.
V'ine laughs at the comment. "True well I do between a fair bit but you would think a goldrider would be more sensible then say a greenrider. Considering Kyldar has been a rider since we both impressed eight turns ago and after all the flights neither of us have any children it's pretty good."
It seems like missing meals is becoming a habit with Jeyinshi. She walks into the caverns, hair and clothes damp with a towel swung around her neck. There's a cursory glance at the tables and the pair of riders before she heads directly for the kitchens. After a few minutes, the dolphineer emerges, several high piled plates balance precariously on her arms. The petite woman makes her way to the familiar pair, a small smile crossing her lips as she jerks her chin at a chair. "Mind if I join? Though…I probably couldn't contribute much to this discussion. Wasn't fostered myself, haven't fostered before and don't have any children of my own….besides Sungie, and he doesn't really count."
Enka's laughter does sound somewhat like a snicker, the goldrider clearly quite amused at the turn of the conversation as she tosses her pen down again, and reclines at her ease. "Goin' between aint goin' to do a thing to you," she points out quite pointedly to V'ine. "Unless there's somethin' you aint tellin' us all, bein' a busy rider won't affect your chances at bein' a father at all. Besides, a goldrider /can/ be plenty sensible, and it only happened once for me anyway. Flight kid, that is, the twins were planned." She tilts her head, glancing over at Jeyinshi and waving the dolphineer down. "Sit, sit, no need for an invitation, just don't drop anythin'." and then she's nodding a bit. "Daresay Sungie isn't much like havin' a kid. Least you don't have to watch him all the time." There's a teasing wink.
V'ine grinned at Enka. "All I mean is that I end up in a lot of flights. Alright so i guess your more sensible. I just didn't think that a girl who can't be much older then me already had three children."
V'ine grinned at Enka. "All I mean is that I end up in a lot of flights. Alright so i guess your more sensible. I just didn't think that a girl who can't be much older then me already had three children." He looked at Jeyinshi. "Hey, I'm just announcing my good news. I'm going to be a father. Though I guess I have raised a child if I count Rauxith."
The way Jey puts the plates down, the food hardly moving much less dropping, makes it apparent that she's pretty skilled at handling multiple plates. It's a rarity to ever see the dolphineer with less than two. She throws a grin and return wink back to the goldrider, "Nor do I have to clean up after his messes, thank Faranth." Jeyin slides into a chair, quickly taking a few forkfuls of food and chewing on them thoughtfully. She sends a small smirk in the brownrider's direction, "I was already on the way when my mom was that age…and I was number 5." The dolphineer's smirk however, is quick to turn into an easy smile at hearing V'ine's news. "Congratulations! I'm sure you'll make a great father."
"Pretty handy, I'd say," Enka does make a note of that plate-wrangling after all. "Been gettin' much practice with that?" she queries of Jeyinshi. "Definitely didn't drop anythin'." She does chuckle though. "I'd always wondered. I know dragons go between, and you've got to muck 'em out if they can't, which is kind of like muckin' out a really big runner, but what about dolphins?" Eww, isn't that just a little too much of a turn of conversation given the location? Or maybe the golrider really is curious. "I'm what, barely a couple of months older than you," she turns a look towards V'ine. "Emalia just turned five, and Ken and Liam are little over two and a half. It's not like I was havin' a new kid every turn as if I were a hold girl or somethin'."
V'ine looks at Enka with a odd look at the mention of mucking. "Well my parents only had me and my sister and they are holders. So kinda a interesting thing. My parents don't even know that Kyldar and I are going to have a child. The timing on Kyldar's timing was good though cause the day before we had just had a chat about having a child. I was also lucky enough to win her flight."
"If you eat as much as I do, you kind of have to be good at balancing plates." She chuckles softly, taking a few more bites as Enka continues. But even this sudden direction of conversation doesn't seem to affect her appetite. "Nah, they take care of their business on their own. Though we do have to scrub them down pretty often. They get tangled in seaweed, fish lines, and other kinds of ocean litter far too much for comfort. And they can't get rid of that stuff on their own most of the time." Nope. Nothing gets in the way off her appetite, though a scowl does cross her face when she begins talking of trash floating around in the ocean. "My parents were crafters, both dolphineers, which makes them having so many kids kind of strange. But there were two sets of twins….kinda crazy. But its good that it didn't take you completely by surprise and you guys had talked about it before. It's always better that way." Or at least, that's what Jey had observed.
Enka's lips twitch again, amusement evident for a moment or two. "Well, I know what it's like bein' young," as if the goldrider was really /that/ much older than the dolphineer anyway. "Seems like you can never seem to get enough sometimes." There's a momentary pause, the weyrwoman sipping again at her klah. "What've you got anyway? I had a nice side of roast herdbeast and some spiderclaws earlier. With greens." She does nod at the explanation from Jeyinshi. "Thanks for tellin' me." V'ine gets an odd look. "Well, nothin' like plannin' for a kid, but then again…" she trails off, shrugging her shoulders.
V'ine looks at both women much like a rat cornered by a cat. "I feel like a wild wherry being targeted by a feline. I do want to be a father I guess I just held a different view on itthen most people do."
"You don't look that much older than me really." Is she trying to be difficult? Or is that a compliment? The tone of the dolphineer's voice makes it rather hard to tell. "It's probably that and the swimming. After spending all day out in the water, you really need something to keep your energy up." Jeyinshi's lip twist up in a smiles and she begins looking over her plate. She begins pointing at the various items with her fork, quickly rattling off a list, "Two sandwiches. Three servings of mashed tubers. A few helpings of greens. Some rolls of bread, a couple of bubblies, redfruit juice and….roast herdbeast. They must had some leftover." Listing finished, Jey takes a few sips from the juice before turning back to V'ine with a smile. "I'm not that intimidating. And there's nothing wrong with your view. There's a lot of different opinions out there."
"Probably cause I aint," Enka quips, grinning rather cheekily at Jeyinshi. Mir's about eight now, give or take a few more months, Impressed her when I was about sixteen turns. You can do the math from there. I can see," she continues on, "that activity really does make you eat more, workin' hard and all. I don't get out nearly as often as I should, but…" there's a pause, and the goldrider laughs. "Well, you've earned it, I'm sure, gettin' that kind of a meal." As if anyone at the Weyr would be stinted, no? "Not like we're goin' to eat you alive, V'ine," Enka gives the brownrider a wry smile. "So you don't have to be worryin' on my account."
V'ine laughs, "Yeah I don't have to worry about Jeyinshi eating me but you enka. You just might eat me." He laughs again before taking another bite of his sandwich. "Though I'm not sure how great of a father I'll be I'm sure I'll try my best."
Jeyinshi chuckles softly, "I thought so. And still keeping the figure after having a few kids." The dolphineer winks before smiling towards the kitchen doors. "Sometimes I stay out and miss breakfast so they give me a little extra to make up for it. Kinda lose track of time out there. Mmmm, you still need to come out sometime and play with the pod. That'll give you a definite workout." Jeyinshi takes a few more mouthfuls of food before pointing her fork at V'ine, "You don't have to worry about me as long as I'm fed….though….Sungie did once ask what humans taste like." The last comment is given in a serious deadpan and without a hint of a smile. "Do your best, that's really all a kid can ask from a parent."
Enka shakes her head slightly. "Wellll," she begins, "can't say I kept the figure I used to have," Sure, she might be slim and all, but the goldrider's got a bit more weight on those hips than she did when she was younger. "so it's more like I turned a bit more matronly." But not heavyset or anything, mind. She does lean forward again, making another note on the paper in front of her before pursing her lips and regarding V'ine evenly. "Mmm, no, I don't think so." the goldrider remarks. "I might chew on someone a bit though." As in chewing them out, but eating? Never! "Mmm, what she said," And Enka's content to leave it at that.
V'ine laughed before nodding his head. "alright so I guess I'll just be on my way with my sandwich. I'll see you two around the weyr I guess." He gave a slight wave before leaving.
Jeyinshi shrugs, "Still not bad considering. Sometimes I wish I had more curves." The girl looks down at herself, a small smirk forming on her lips before looking back up and taking a sip of juice. Between mouthfuls of food, the dolphineer peers over at the paper Enka's focusing on, "Paperwork again?" Whatever it was, it certainly didn't look like fun. The dolphineer turns to watch the brownrider leave, fork pausing slightly as she waves.
"You might, when you get older," Enka puts in, "I was a skinny awkward gal for a long time, sometimes it just takes a bit of growin' up." The goldrider's gaze does flicker over in Jeyinshi's direction — a brief glance, nothing more. The question about the paperwork is met with a conspiratorial wink and a laugh. "Ha, not this time. Unless you could say it was paperwork for my craft. But these," she waves over at the books before picking up the paper and wafting it towards the dolphineer, "are recipes, and this is the next one I'm workin' on. Redfruit bubbly pies." V'ine does get a nod of acknowledgement as he departs, but Enka's rather focused on that sheet of paper right now.
"Maybe I'm not finished growing. 20 is still young…right?" Jeyinshi chuckles a bit before digging back into her food, though a smile does break out at the mention of recipes. "That sounds amazing. If you've any lack of taste testers, I've a bottomless pit as a stomach." And as if to prove that point, the dolphineer returns to her plates and drinks once more, almost as equally focused on the eatings as Enka is on her recipe.
Enka nods. "Sure, I'm not a healer or anythin' so I wouldn't know. You'd probably really have to ask A'ven about that kind of thing." No, Enka isn't a doctor, and she doesn't play one on TV. "Mmm, when I get this recipe finished and some bubblies baked, I'll be sure to find you as you've so kindly volunteered." And it's not like Enka make icky pies or anything like that. The goldrider chuckles again, moving to gather up her books. "I'd better go raid the store room, see you around" and with that, she's hopping to her feet, and tilting her chin in a farewell nod before sauntering off with her books and recipe paper.