Half Moon Bay Weyr - Lagoon
A sandy beach running along the edge of the lagoon, between the sparkling waters and the bowl. Given the weyr's tropical climate, riders and dragons can be seen playing in the water nearby or a dolphin can be seen cavorting nearly turn-round. At other times seacraft can be seen coming in under the arch to dock. The lagoon is large enough to fill a quarter of the length of the bowl.
It's another fantastic day at Half Moon Bay Weyr, thin clouds drift pass with the bright waters looking nice and refreshing for those on the beach. Nolan has decided that he should put his gift to work for his home. Hosting a sand castle contest in return the top prize is a custom made piece of jewellery for the winner. Plenty of rumours have circled around the Weyr about the talent the young smith has for the craft. With a small stand set up holding juice and water for the beach enjoying the beach. Nolan continues to pass out buckets and spades to those interested in joining his little contest or just enjoy a day at the beach.
Word travels quickly in a Weyr, fortunately - or unfortunately? - for the hosting crafter. A gaggle of children are herded out by the nannies to participate, along with a smattering of the older folks that are still mobile enough to negotiate the sand safely. And, of course, there are plenty of regular folk who just want to take a break and this just happens to be the thing to do. The word doesn't seem to have reached the Senior, though; she's headed out to the shore with a pair of buckets of her own, both packed with cleaning supplies. A couple of towels are looped around her neck and she's clad simply, in a tank top and shorts. Shoes? Not for the job she's apparently going to set about doing. She slows a little at the sight of buckets and shovels and all of that, even lifts a bucket to somewhat wave in that direction, but there's no dawdling to be had. Valigath, of course, is prancing along some distance away - or, at least, until she hits the sand. Then her oddly dancelike steps take a decidedly different form: it's not unlike watching a feline with something on its paws, actually.
Heryn is firmly in the camp of one of the folks intent on enjoying the day. Sprawled out on a towel, the off-duty bartender holds a thin book in his hands, a bottle of something that likely isn't water dug into the sand within reach. The beach is frequently populated, even in Half Moon's sorry excuse for winter, and so it takes a good long while for the man to realize there's more than just your average hullabaloo going on. "What're these for?," Heryn asks as Nolan passes his part of the beach, book set aside to accept the bucket and shovel without thinking on it. Blue-grey eyes sweep the beach - thereby noticing and prompting a brief wave of the shovel in greeting towards Aglaia, and a snicker for the prancing Valigath - and eventually it dawns on him. "Ohhh. Sandcastle event, right? Is that today?"
Nolan grins at Heryn as he nods, "Aye, the sandcastle event is today." Giving a small chuckle at watching the gold prance about looking for the rider before noticing Aglaia. He gives a deep nod to the Weyrwoman. "Weyrwoman Aglaia, it's a pleasure to see you down at this humble little event." Noticing she had her own buckets. "I didn't expect you to be taking part. I hope you enjoy the prize should you win."
It's probably a good thing that Valigath is too far away to hear that snicker, all things considered. The queen continues her journey to the water, distaste written in every movement of her body, while Aglaia is stalled further by a couple of things. One, there's a befuddled look aimed at Heryn for his questions and a stammered, "There was a… what? Oh. No. I didn't know there-" and, distraction number two rolls around in the form of Nolan's preconceived notions. "-oh no. No, no. This was for her. She needs a bath and… sand castles really don't mix well with her. At all." Of course, her voice pitches lower for this last bit, as if that might somehow keep it a secret. It won't. But, for now, there's no trouble to be found in the gold that's ankle-deep in the water and fussing. "And I'm really not good at this kind of thing. Really. Those kids, though, they look like they'll be great at it." You know: the ones that are wearing their buckets and fighting with spades. Those kids.
This is not one of D'nyl's better people days, but he promised he'd come observe and judge the competition. Stupid weyrlingmaster obligation thingies. He's wearing as little as possible in the form of loose swim-aimed shorts, perched in one of the nearby trees looking down on the procedings. A small bag of redfruit hangs from the branch above, but the one in his hand is getting systematically dissected and eaten by the bronzer, though the occasional tidbit get offered to passing firelizards when he's feeling generous.
Heryn 'ahs' expressively for the confirmation of the event, hands still awkwardly holding the bucket and shovel away from himself, very visibly waffling over whether it'd be rude to hand them back. "I'm… not terribly artistic," he admits after a moment. "Crafting drinks is about as close as I get to any real talent." He doesn't give the objects back, though, in the end, instead setting them next to him because who knows. Maybe he'll change his mind. For now, he aims an amused look Aglaia's way when she declines, lips twitching up on one side. "Not a fan of sand? That's… really kind of unfortunate for her," he drawls, hands moving to gesture about the weyr because… well, it was an island. As for the gladiator-children: "Indeed. They seem like experts," is said sotto voce as one launches his shovel like a javelin, hopefully missing D'nyl's tree, though it's hard to tell by the current trajectory.
Nolan grins at the Weyrwoman. "Well children can be so creative, in umm…" He pauses watching the children continue their battle. "Different ways. Do you need any help with cleaning? I used to help my parents with their dragons as a child. I mean they wern't as big as a gold but I'm sure the skills still apply?" Unknown to Nolan his two firelizards had been swooping around finding bits of redfruit being given out by D'nyl in a nearby tree. The little green taking perch near him and screeching until fed more. The blue deciding to buzz around the gold in the water.
"I mean, I guess… I could join in?" But, again. Valigath. At the offer to help, the Weyrwoman shakes her head vigorously and appears to go a bit paler than usual. "Sweet goodness, no. No, you need to worry with the sand castles and all of that. Seriously." Aglaia nods a few times to reinforce that notion, then turns her attention to Heryn. "Trust me. If she could obliterate sand, it would be gone. She really doesn't like the way it sticks - but, then, she also doesn't like water, so." Shoulders rise and fall in a helpless shrug. "Her life is just so hard all the time." Deadpan, that. So very, very deadpan. A couple of kids just stare at the flying shovel, then another decides he can throw it further - and harder. It flies wide enough to miss the tree, but it might yet cause problems for a miniature fair of firelizards over there. Does she spy a D'nyl? She must, since she's waving. Or maybe she's hoping to move the shovel with her mind? Who knows. "… anyway. Um. Do you- are you going to make a thing, uh-" uh oh. "-drat. What's your name? I know your face. I'm sorry! And you-" that would be Nolan that she's dragging in, "-you're Nolan? Right?" She hopes she's got that right, at least.
D'nyl scoffs, nearly choking on his latest bite, when Aglaia says Valigath's life is so hard. So hard, being a queen. She has to wait a whole 10 minutes for Aggie to finish cleaning her tail. POOR BABY. He raises a hand to Aggie, though. They like eachother, even if their dragons are pretty solidly opposed, "You alrigh', Aggie?" She does seem a bit… scattered, "Ya know the sandcastles won' attack, right?" He manages to keep his attention on a lot of things all at once, tossing another bit of redfruit he's decided not to eat himself, then glance cautiously at Valigath, checking for glow. The last time he didn't manage to get out of the Weyr before she went up, Czaiath was at the healers for more than a sevenda.
Heryn snorts for Nolan's trailing words, poorly disguising the reaction with a cough. "Creative. That's the word for it," he says, wincing when the second shovel goes flying, the first boy shrieking laughter and running to fetch his own device in order to try again. That same wry humor lurks just under the surface when he refocuses on the Weyrwoman, one brow creeping towards his hairline. "You're joking, right?," he asks, finally pushing himself to a standing position. "You must be. That, or you're a glutton for punishment." He issues forth an honest laugh for her deadpan continuation, chin dipping in a nod. "The hardest, I'm sure," he replies, flicking an amused glance over towards D'nyl for that unsubtle coughing. As for his name, "Ah, right, I don't think we were properly introduced. You were in a bit of a hurry." A teasing air undercuts the tactful words. "Heryn. And I might make something, though I doubt it'll be a castle." Maybe a giant sandy wine bottle! Yeah!
Nolan laughs before nodding pointing his thumb at his chest. "That's right I'm Nolan, local Smith crafter…Apprentice…" He sees more children planning on throwing shovels and quickly moves to distract them by calling his blue firelizard over. Paz leaving the queen alone to play with the monsters.. err children. "Well Heryn, it doesn't have to be a castle anything works really. It's all in the spirit of having fun." He looks at Aglaia, "Well, it wouldn't be very fair if I participated now would it? I mean if I won my own prize how would that look."
So the wave was deliberate! Aglaia offers D'nyl a lopsided smile and calls back, "I'm- well, you know. Her. The fire in the kitchens. Feyruth's impending clutching. Extra crafters…" she trails off when she realizes she's counting things on her hand. "There's a lot going on. And, uh. I'm not worried about sand castles attacking." There's a pointed look to the distant gold who, fortunately, is not glowing. But she does have a tail on her - which was the source of entirely too much trouble during Weyrlinghood and has only become more of a problem in the turns since. The other boy pouts when one of the firelizards catches his shovel and then he's off, running after it to try to get it back. Chaos ensues. Aglaia winces. To Heryn, back to deadpan, she replies, "I wish I were joking." But, no. Everything shifts back to friendliness after that, though, with a nod of her head and the offering of a hand. "Just a little bit of a hurry, sorry. Did that help get the stuff off or…" she trails, shakes her head, and quickly shifts to, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Heryn. Just call me Aglaia or Aggie or… whatever." Weyrwoman don't mind. And then she's half-turning to Nolan with a laugh. "I meant supervising folks, mostly. Keeping an eye on them, maybe judging a little before the actual judging?" That's a thing, right? "Ah, but it's a pleasure to meet you, too, Nolan!"
D'nyl nods, actually cracking a smile, "I've heard. It took hours to scrub Sunny clean the other night." Riiiiight. 'scruuuub'. "Hopefully, Feyruth won't be as problematic as Vali, at least." He tosses the redfruit core out behind him, then reaches for another from the bag, "Though I am starting to wonder if we're going to have any castles to judge at this rate." Yes, his eyes are definitely following the flying shovels absently. "Who are your odd little friends, anyway?"
And if an entire flock of younger children take off after the boy in a tiny stampede of screeches and giggles, well… It's par for the course, really. Heryn watches them go with amusement before turning to shake his head down at Aglaia. "I'm… sorry for you," he says, eyes scrunching up with a smile to show he doesn't mean it as he leans to shake her hand with his. "It's no problem at all, and it did, right up until Sundari's blue shook water all over us all," he answers, despite the trailing off. "It's likewise a pleasure." Heryn gives Nolan a nod when he indicate's is all good to make something other than a castle. To the idea of him winning his own prize: "Well, I'd imagine it'd look shiny." The prize was jewelry, after all. Grinning impishly at his own joke, because he's lame like that, Heryn sidles further down the beach, the better to gain access to soggy sand that might actually hold together in order to make something.
Nolan smiled as now that the children were distracted people were getting into the spirit of the day and buildings wern't just being smashed as they formed. He leaned close to the Weyrwoman. Keeping his voice low, so instead of his usual loud self it sounded more like a large bee in the area. "Well the secret to that is there will be plenty of winners. I need the experience doing more crafting and it was incentive enough to get people out. So pretty much everyone will get something." He grins before taking a drink of his nearby water, spitting it out not realizing children had put sand in it. "Creative little ones." His blue popping back from between laying on his shoulder while the small green moved closer to D'nyl. "Careful that little green is Naiad, and you can even ask Janja, she's got a temper if you have food and don't feed her. Haven't quite trained that out of her yet." As if on cue the little green started to chirp and squeek and making a general commotion looking for more of the redfruit.
Well. There goes the Weyr, then, with those kids and the firelizards and the shovel that is probably never going to be seen again. "I'm… well. I've seen them share the sands once," Aggie calls to D'nyl. "I'm surprised there were any Candidates left alive." Joking? Serious? Hard to tell. She clears her throat and looks back at Heryn. Handshake handled, she gathers up her bucket again with a bit of a laugh. "That's Irk for you. Honestly, I'm surprised he gets away with everything he does." Blues, man. It's when a shrill keening starts up at the water that the Weyrwoman winces. She offers a sheepish, apologetic look to Nolan and nods at his whispered words, "That's really generous of you. Let me know if you need any extra supplies - I'm sure we can manage something for you." A bit louder, she adds as she starts to move away, "I might be back to see what everyone's made." She has a shrieking gold to tend to and not enough hands to do it with.
D'nyl shakes his head at Valigath's display, then looks down at the lads, blithely ignoring the comment about what it was like sharing the sands with bronze and gold. Murderous, really. He plucks another redfruit out of his bag and tosses it towards the lads, "Here, grow up big and strong." He's not good with people, alright???
Heryn's face scrunches into a sympathetic 'gross' expression when Nolan spits out a mouthful of sandy water. "Kids," he mutters with a shake of his head and another dart of his eyes towards the trampling throng over yonder. Aglaia's laugh is met with one of his own, shoulders rising and falling in a shrug as he heads down the beach. "It sounds like he's a bit of a pro at that," he calls back in agreement before focusing on where he's going, rather than where he's been, heading down to the water (well apart from the shrieking gold) to gather buckets full of wet sand to make what will - indeed - turn out to be a giant sand winebottle. Leave it to Heryn to take 'draw inspiration from what you love' to all new levels.
Nolan catches the redfruit with a nod to D'nyl. "Well let's hope I don't get much bigger." He takes a bite as he wanders down the beach inspecting and helping at various sites with their castle. Enjoying the rest of the day in the sun.