Fort Weyr - Cavern of Pillows
This enormous cavern stretches on into the darkness, its walls bare and grey, the domed ceiling dissapearing in shadow. Save for the noise made by those who enter, it is utterly silent here, and even then the echoes that bounce off the cold stone are muffled by the floor. For the ground is covered in.. pillows. Dusty and old, pillows of every shape and size have been piled high, along with folded blankets, sheets, curtains, and other textiles. Rolls of fabric, their colors faded from age, have been stacked here and there, and the occasional bag or leather item is visible amongst the other things. There must be thousands of items in here, stored away for the weyr's use and then forgotten.
And so the girls cleaned… and cleaned… and cleaned… But it was still just the one weyr. At least Fy's place was more liveable, and she /had/ scrubbed Patchy down like she said she would, making it as good as… used. Wet still, but not dirty. And since Fy still needs more furniture, and she told Cenlia about the pillow cavern. Which is why the brownrider has now dragged the poor gardener off to Fort Weyr, hoping to find that cavern again and steal pillows, like she said she was going to. "Fort is a sharding maze, seriously, and it's lucky 'nough if we— Here it is!" While leading her friend around, she stops at a vaguely familiar door and opens it open to the spectacular sight, grinning broadly. Giving Cenlia enough time to gawk, the brownrider rushes in and goes in for a belly flop on a nice big comfy-looking pile of the pillows.
Cleaning, there was so /much/ cleaning to do. But Cenlia did it, because X'hil had told her to, and he'd managed to guilt her good and proper. The gardener girl was all too eager to take a break, though, and the pillow cavern at Fort Weyr is admittedly something she'd probably jump at the chance to see anyway. "Shards, is worsen' the jungles back in Southern Boll," she comments to F'yr in regard to the place being like a maze. The girl stops when they get there, eyes widening as she gawks at the cavern. Full of pillows. "Whoa, this place is /neat/," and she's definitely grinning from ear to ear now. Laughing, she follows Fy into the cavern of pillows, though right as she's about to join her friend in a belly-flop, there's an odd groaning sort of noise from the tunnel, and a loud, and very strange buzzing sound, like the sudden crackle of electrical equipment shorting out, the groan from down the tunnel echoing even more loudly, and then a CLUNK. And with a suddenly quiet 'zwwwiip' all the electrical lights across the weyr lights blink out.
"Should we just pack Zaruath completely with pillows and take 'em all back?" comes F'yr's voice from the pillow pile as she snuggles into the spot that she flopped in. She moves her arms around, gathering more of the comfy things around her to blanket her. Which is why when the lights go off, she doesn't seem to notice at all, what with the pillow she plopped over her head. "What was that noise?" she does ask, voice muffled now. And there's more shuffling as she digs her face out, and realizes the cavern is pitch dark. "What'd you turn off the lights for, Cen? Can't see what pillows we actually want to bring out of here." More shuffling, more movement, a bit of grunting— Fy was likely trying to stand up, only for a FOMP as she falls back into the pile. At least if they trip, they don't have to worry about hurting themselves… much.
Missing at least one pose here.
Maybe Fy's panic is starting to set in a bit, but she starts to go off into a ramble… "Well, it's a sharding maze here, maybe they're lost, or just around the corner and the walls are too thick and the door— or maybe /we'll/ get lost if we go out. Shells, we gotta stay right here till they come back on, don't we? Cen! We're gonna /starve/ to death!" Definitely panic by the end there. Then there's a pause. "Unless we eat the 'snakes." And by the way that the brownrider says it, it doesn't sound like she's disgusted by it at all. When her flailing hand brushes the other flailing one, also adding Cenlia's squawk, Fy outright shrieks. A nice Eiiie! That is cut off when Fy realizes she sounded stupid. In the darkness she's clutching her pillow to her chest. "Please tell me that was you," she says in a soft squeaky voice.
There's a louder squawk and a yelp as Cen jumps back, probably tripping over something and oophing again as she falls into a pile of pillows. "Should stay put," Cen agrees in a rather muffled voice, and then sounds somewhat baffled, "/Starve/? Shards, we ain't-" but then how many people would come down here? In the tunnels under Fort? "Eat tunnelsnakes?" whatever thoughts derailed, as the girl mutters, "'M more worried 'bout gettin' /bit/ or something," and there's some quite audiable shuffling as she gets back to her feet, the girl's voice more than a bit om edge as she mumbles, "Was me…" And she'll cling to her own pillow. Then, stretching an arm out a bit again, this time with a pillow in hand to prod at the darkness, "Where're you?" Prod prod. It's all a very tense game of 'fine the Fy' now. "Keep talkin' or somethin'," suggested not the least because the quiet would be eerie. Noo, certainly not.
Karona's screaming can be heard long before she actually arrives, an eerie echoing wail getting closer and closer at /quite/ an alarming pace. And then zoooming past, before getting apparently lost, turned around, and coming back. "AAAAAAAAAH!" the journeyman smith is screaming, in her high pitched hysterical tone, as she comes /barrelling/ into the room. Man, she has the lung capacity of a dragon, that one. A gold dragon. A very very large gold dragon. Finally, she stops, gasping for breath, and slows to a shamble. A bewildered, lost, utterly unaware of other occupants of the room, or even the room, sort of shamble. And then she trips on a pillow, and goes falling face first into a pile of them, with a piercing squeal!
"You don't have to worry 'bout that… can't /die/ from a 'snake bite." Beat. "Unless they're poisonous here." But what was the chance of that, right? Compared to starving to death at least. Probably more likely at the end. F'yr's feet make small little baby shuffles forward, so as not to smack right into Cenlia if she accidently gets too close. "R-right… you. I'm right here. I mean, probably right next to you and you don't even know— then 'gain, you don't sound that close either." Yes, she's rambling because she was told to ramble. And then she falls silent at that faint screaming… "/That's/ not you," she squeaks out, listening to it. "Ohshitohshitohshit. There're /renegades/ in the dark tunnels and they're gonna /kill/ us!" Paranoid F'yr is all about being paranoid! "They're killing someone right— No, don't bring 'em in here!" This is to the screaming Karona when the yelling gets right into the same cavern as them. "Quick, Cen, bolt the door!" How anyone would know where the door is is anyone's guess, as the brownrider appears to be shuffling around the pillows again.
The game of 'find the Fy' is not going so well, even with Cen waving that pillow about to prod prod at the darkness. "Shards, where /are/ ya?" the gardener grumbles, a veery faint edge in her voice - is that panic? - nah, couldn't be. And then she falls silent at the sound of wailing, and it's a good thing nobody can see her face, because right now, her expression is /priceless/. The girl gulps, asking a tad warily, "What.. the shards's that?" A beat, "That /ain't/ me." Only it passes and then comes back, and Cen is moving quickly in the direction she hopes F'yr is in, making a muffled sound in her throat, likely the talk of renegades having an effect now, shuffling urgently through the pillows. But when the screaming gets /there/ Cen is frozen in place, managing after a tense moment, "Who's-" and then there's squealing, and Cenlia squawks, loudly, backpedalling away from the noise and tripping over a pillow or something. And down she goes as well, flailing all the way, with something of a, "Yeeaarp!" Really, who knew gardeners could make that sound? And possibly, she'll be tossing that pillow she was holding in some random direction, Fy's own panic likely nooot helping!
Karona squeaks at the voices, first F'yr, and then Cenlia. "I, killing? Who's killing? I don't want to be killed! I never told…" she breaks off. Apparently she doesn't think she's close enough to death for /that/ revelation, as she's just now realised she's laying on a pile of … "What are these? …Pillows?" Death by pillow? Well, now it's all /much/ less terrifying. "Iiii, where am I? And, who are /you/?" A pause, no doubt accompanied by some amusingly scared or thoughtful expression that no one will ever see. "You're not going to kill me, are you?" And then Cenlia throws the pillow, and, by some miracle, it hits. "Oof! HEY! Dooon't." That last word came out a bit more whiny-brat-ish than intended.
It's a very good thing that it is pitch dark in the cavern. Because F'yr would have to murder them if they caught the look on her face. Panic, terror, and many other things. Trapped in a cavern in the dark with renegades? She might start going stab-crazy and kill her good friend instead. "Cen!" she calls out at the girl's strange noise, and she sounds very concerned. "Don't let 'em take you! Fight and keep yelling and I'll kill 'em!" And then her panic starts subsiding a moment when the voice of the new arrival starts to actually sink in. "Kill you? Not us! Who was chasing you? Did you see 'em before the lights went out? Everything in one piece, Cenlia?" Strangely, though, the brownrider's voice sounds odd, sort of muffled. It is very likely that in all that shuffling, Fy dived into the pillows and dug out a sort of cave or fort for herself to hide in.
Cenlia flails wildly for a moment, before she seems to realize that whoever it is isn't about to come kill them, and stills. There's a semi-hysterical, "/WHAT/?" at F'yr, the gardener's eyes wide, though in the darkness, who's to see her expression? Karona's voice has the girl peering off into the darkness, but nope, still can't see a /thing/. "..Yeah, 's jusyt pillows," comes the… almsot shaky, and rather sheepish reply. Did somebody get a bit of a scare? Ahem. Cen clears her throat, demanding, "Who're /you/?" Although she scoots back into the pillows, just in case. With Fy going on about renegades.. well, can't hurt to move /away/. "This's some kinda store room. Of pillows," comes the girl's reply after a moment, and a somewhat more sheepish, "'M Cenlia," followed by an almost wry, "Ain't gonna kill ya." Yeah, not the most eloquent there, but she'll jump a bit and stifle a whimper at that 'Dooon't' and snap, rather sharply, "Don't /what/?" Shuffle shuffle, baacking a little bit more, through the pillows, probably sneaking further into the pillow pile too. Ahem. There's an equally-muffles, "Yea, 'm fine," at F'yr, though she'll wait tensely for Karona's answer to those questions about who's chasing her, the girl commenting, "Shards, musta been somethin' awful." Right, because they totally weren't panicking already.
Karona frowns a little, not that F'yr or Cenlia are likely to see. "I wasn't… I didn't see.. Was grabbed, in the dark, /fled/. Think I bit 'em." She's not really /sure/? Well, it was a crazy moment, a lot was happening, she was a bit … freaked out. She doesn't mention that she was grabbed in an attempt to keep her quiet, as that would also necessitate mentioning her squealing like a five turn old girl, though she's done a bit of that since she entered this room too. Hrm. "HEY! I asked first! Who are /you/?" she shoots back, and then immediately feels sheepish. "Ah. Cenlia. I'm … Karona. Journeyman smith." Ad 'don't what?' she scowls. "Don't throw pillows." They don't really hurt or anything, it's just, /unexpected/, to be hit by a pillow when you can't even see it fly across the room and land in a bucket of water, no, wait, that's Monty Python.
If F'yr can give Cenlia a pointed look, she would. "Grabbed by who? The person that put out the lights? If you hurt him, we can identify him when they get these sharding lights back on, too." The short girl's voice is still muffled, and there's a constant shifted and shuffling of the pillows since she was hiding under a big stack of them, likely. She listens to the brief and strange introductions before she announces, "F'yr. Rider to Zaruath, who's gonna come digging into these tunnels soon if they don't do something 'bout this black out and people being grabbed in the dark. I bet when the lights come on, people will be /missing/." And she sounds very serious about this, too, even if she doesn't move out of her little snug fort. "And we can throw pillows if we like. We could've thrown something a lot worse too and then you would've /wished/ it were pillows. Anyway, this is our hiding place."
The gardener girl peers towards where she hopes Fy is, probably debating scooting over there, or at least /closer/. Safety in numbers, after all. But for now, Cenlia will just stay in her bit of pillow pile, right there where it's safe, braving tunnelsnakes and crawlies apparently being preferable to remaining exposed in the dark cavern. Yep. Hiding. Thank Faranth it's too dark for anyone to see her, or she'd probably die of embarrassment. "/Grabbed/?" and the gardener's voice is just a touch higher in pitch there, although Cen sounds rather sheepish as she adds, "'M a gardener." From Xanadu; but she doesn't mention that part. About flying pillows, there's stifled snerk, and an even more sheepish, "Sorry 'bout that." She's so not sorry. One could even hear the smirk in her voice, possibly. Ahem. More shuffling in the dark, and a voice, "Y'alright?" Because Cen's not really mean. Just a bit hysterical there, and now she's just feeling somewhat silly for the earlier panic. Not that it's sompletely subsided either, but it does help that there are two other girls there. "Ain't /hiding/," Cen protests indignantly, juust a tad defensive too. Hey, Fy can't /see/ her also in a pillow pile. Ahem. "Shards, hope nobody goes missin'…" is mumbled as an afterthought; right now, she's probably more worried about what else might be lurking out there.
Karona frowns a little, and shakes her head. "I… no, I don't think so. I mean, I didn't get a look at him. …or her." Though that last is really tacked on as an afterthought. "Oh, a rider? Can you, um, send for help? Have your Zaruath call for someone? Maybe no-one's noticed yet?" It might just be a localised power outage? A faulty wire somewhere along the way? For the moment, being new to Fort herself, she simply assumes F'yr and Cenlia are people from Fort that she hasn't met yet. After all, it is a large Weyr, and she can hardly make out area knots in this darkness. Karona snorts at the apology from Cenlia, but she does mutter, "I'm fine." if a little sullenly. "But, I'm not going back out there!" she tries to state it with strength and conviction, but there's a fearful waver in her tone. "I don't want to turn up missing!"
F'yr falls silent for a short moment as she takes in Karona's observation. Or maybe it is because she didn't think to ask her lifemate right away while she was panicking. No doubt he was causing his own fuss, unable to get to his lifemate and being a grumpy overprotective brown dragon that he is. "He says it's the Weyr, and not just us, and that there're more people lost… And Chu or him can't :between: to a place they can't see… 'least, Chu doesn't want to, I don't think. Stupid thing is gone. Got any flits?" she asks this to the smith. Her voice suddenly becomes a bit more clear, probably because she sticks her head out of the hidey hole in the pillows, "Well, I ain't moving. Staying /right here/ till those sharding lights come back on or someone gets smart 'nough to actually bring glows down."
"Hey, yeah," Cenlia shuffles a bit out of the pillows, pondering as moment befoe suggesting to F'yr, "Could have yer dragon call for somebody with lights or somethin'?" There's agreement with Karona and Fy, Cen muttering, "Yeah, should just stay put." Not the least because Cen is juust a bit reluctant to wander wound that maze of tunnels in the dark. Common sense, she has it? Or, well, it's dark too; who knows what could be lurking out there. Waiting. And then she's silent a long while, though the rustling and shuffling sounds might indicate someone is exticating herself from a pillow pile. Just a bit. "How long ya think that'll take?" about the lights possibly coming back on, and then Cenlia snorts, "Shards, shoulda brought glows." Well, of course. It's obvious. In retrospect.
Karona is a bit quiet all of a sudden, almost seeming as though she's not even there. "No. Well, yes. But they're just hatched, practically. And with one of the apprentices at the moment. Didn't want my fath— oh, shards." Her eyes go wide, in the darkness. "He's still /back/ there." Buuut, she's not moving. There are no shuffling sounds from her or the pillows around her, not a one. "I…" she glances to where she /thinks/ the door was, in the dark. She can't even be sure of the location of /that/, finding the exit when she was already lost when she stumbled in here? Impossible. "I think we should stay put. They, someone will come find us, or get the power back on."
"Back there? with the renegade?" When did that come up again? Apparently, F'yr is a little obsessedwith them or just overly paranoid about it, what with the mention of grabbing and all that. "Well, we're stuck." Pause. "Anyone want to close the door so no one else comes wandering in here that ain't… you know, non-coming-to-kill-us." That might then defeat the whole purpose of being found. "And I'll make sure that Zaruath keeps passing on the message, too. Tough to tell 'em just /where/ we are. They can be searchign for ages before they find us!" And finally she falls silent… so very silent. Awkwardly so. "So… anyone eaten any good bubblies lately?" Talking, right? Because Fy wasn't going to go to sleep, even in a big cave full of pillows.
Cenlia blinks. In the darkness. "Yer da got left back there? Sure it weren't him that grabbed ya?" Though Cenlia is now settling on the pillows, grumbling, "Shards, I hope there ain't no crawlers or things on here." Because she's sitting in the pillow pile. That would be rather unpleasant to encounter one, in the pitch darkness. There's a tense quiet from the gardener girl before she squawks, baffled somewhat, "Renegades? What'd renegades be doin' down here?" She wrinkles her nose at the darkness. OF course, Cen wasn't around when the renegades used these very tunnels for smuggling into Fort Weyr, so. How's she to know? Paranoia aside, the girl does arm herself with a few more pillows. Just in case. "You could close the door?" Cen suggests oh so innocently, because the gardener girl really has no idea which way it even /is/ anymore. And then there's awkward silence. That stretches. Yep. "Bubblies?" the girl asks, "Dunno.. should get B'miel t' try makin' boozepies." Yes, let's talk about /booze/. Good distraction, or something.
Karona burrows into the pillows a little, with quiet shuffling noises as the pillows move around her. Nope, she's not going for the door. "I don't want to close the door, I, I feel safe." Liar! Lying liar! Pants on fire! She wriggles in place a little sheepishly, pillows shuffling. "I, he. He didn't grab me." This is stated as fact, for she knows it to be one. Quietly she adds, "I… One minute, his hand was in mine, I don't know when he let go. I don't think I noticed, I thought he was there, just behind me." she shuffles in deeper into the pillow pile, feeling terribly guilty. And then, then she practically leaps into life. Bubbly pies? EVERYONE loves bubbly pies! "Ohhh, the cook at the smithcraft hall, blind as a wher and twice as ugly, but /boy/ did he ever know how to bake a bubbly." Mmm. You know what /else/ everyone loves? Distractions! Huzzah!
"Why wouldn't renegades be down here? That's how they got into Western back then… the tunnels deep in the Weyr." F'yr has paranoia, and F'yr shares paranoia. She also wasn't going to get up to close the door, so they all just had to deal with being twitchy at the fact that the door was open. Of course, this will likely help if someone came looking for them, though who knew when that was going to happen. She just sinks quietly into her pillow-fort and sighs. "I liked those boozecakes. He should make one big cake instead of pie. Sigam owed me a cake back in the days and I never got it— well, almost owed me one." There's some lip smacking as they talk about pies and cakes. "The bubblies in Ista are pretty sharding good too. Shells, I'm so hungry now." And just to prove it, there's a muffled gurgle that echoes in the cavern, the source being Fy's stomach. But who would know that right away, if they didn't know where she was exactly, right?
Cenlia peers suspiciously over at that shuffling, presumably in Karona's direction, though in the darkness it's not like anyone can tell. The gardener girl grumbles again, "Betcha there's things crawlin' 'round in here." Because it's /so/ much better than thinking of renegades. "Shards, in Western?" and she'll peer over in the direction of Fy's voice. Then a glance back to possibly where Karona is. "Safer in here than runnin' around screamin'," Cen adds wryly, with a snicker. "Huh, hope yer da's alright then," she comments, and then snerks a bit about the smithcraft hall cook, "Shards, sounds like m' uncle Verren. 'Cept he's a vinter." Snicker. About B'miel, Cenlia nods, and then probably realizing no one can see her, she says, "Yeah, B'miel's boozecakes are real good. He made one big rumcake fer m' turnday a couple turns back. Huh, Sigam know how t' bake?" There's a snort about Istan bubblies, "Should get some when we get back." And the gurgle has Cenlia wrinkling her nose, "What's that?" And she might throw a pillow in that direction. Just to be safe. Ahem.
Karona grumbles, tucked away in the darkness, in a pile of pillows. "What, what's that sound?" she asks, at F'yr's grumbling stomach. It's so quiet that even the smallest things get magnified, and then Cenlia mentions things /crawling/, and a pillow tumbles and brushes against the smith's leg. Karona lets out an undignified and piercing squeal. Then, there is silence from her area, for a long moment. Awkward sheepish silence. "…boozecakes? No, no, give me a good bubbly any day." she says, trying to pretend that she /didn't/ squeal a few moments ago there.
"Nothing's bit me yet… and I think we'll know if something's bit anyone else." There might be some sounds of pillows being punched, maybe F'yr trying to scaer away any crawlies and things that might be around her. But she doesn't dare leave her spot in fear of getting bit. There were worse things afterall. "Yeah, they snuck into the caverns in Western and stole people. No one knew how they were getting in and out at first." She gives a soft little giggle to Cenlia's question, shaking her head in silence a moment even if they couldn't see it. "Nah, we had a bet and he was gonna get someone to bake me a cake. But that's on hold now." Among other things by the way she trails off with that thought. To answer the two girls, she grumbles softly back, "I said I was hungry… was my stomach." Gurgling much? And then she squeaks as well to Karona's squeal. "Didya get bit?" she asks, sounding just a bit frightened at it. But the smith still acts normal, right? "Yeah… bubblies. I'll give all my marks for one /right now/."
Cenlia squawks when Karona squeals, and.. tosses another pillow! At her! Ahem. "Shards, stop /doin'/ that!" the gardener girl grumbles to the darkness, not admitting in the least that her heart nearly jumped out of her throat there. Ahem. She'll just hunker down in the pillow pile and arm herself some more. "Boozed bubblies," Cenlia states, "'s what we need. And a whole lotts brandied peaches inna cake." That pillow-punching over there gets another wrinkled nose, "Yeah, figure will know," about getting bit, and she snerks again. There's a quieter, "Shards," about Western, Cen's eyes going wide - not that anyone can see. There's a louder snerk when Fy admits it was her stomach, Cen muttering, "Shards, sounded like some critter down here." Hence why the gardener threw a pillow at it? Kind of? Eheheh. "Could go fer some booze right now," the girl adds, because getting sozzled is such a wise idea when sitting around in pitch darkness.
Karona is very very quiet after the squeal, and she clears her throat, responding in an attempt — a failed attempt, but an attempt nonetheless — at a calm and level tone. "I… I'm fine. Nothing bit me. Just… Just a pillow." Poor smith is trying to remain calm, over there. At the pillow sent her way, which this time lands harmlessly nearby with a little 'flump' sound, she only squeaks a /little/ bit, it's definitely neither as loud nor as piercing as her earlier screams. She grabs it and tosses it blindly away again, because she really has no idea who's where, even with voices to 'follow', or who threw that. Though she can guess, and she'd probably be right, that it was Cenlia that threw it. "Booze." she mutters, first in disgust, and then she seems to make a thoughtful 'hmmm' noise. After a pause, she admits, "Could actually go for a glass of .. something. Fruity and bubbly." A 'girly' drink.
"Biting pillows. That's all we need down here." F'yr mutters it mostly to herself, but still comes ouloud enough. "Would you stop throwing pillows already? Keep 'em to yourselves!" She likely thinks that it is just the one person that is doing it, but the second one almost lands on top of her, juding by the sound, and makes her jump in fright some more too. Her stomach gives another rumble and she whines loudly, and would probably stick her tongue out at Cenlia if it were able to be seen. "I can't help being hungry. If there really was a critter in here, we would've heard of it by now. And shells… even booze sounds good 'bout now too." Fy must really be hungry, or anxious, to want a drink.
There's a stifled snicker from Cenlia's direction, at Karona's mention of the pillow, the gardener girl snickersnorting more when she hears that squeak fro mover there. Although the whump of the pillow being sent back gets a small 'ack' from the gardener girl. But she's totally grinning in the darkness, there. "Booze's good," Cen states, and then is quiet, pondering, before she agrees, "Guess somethin' fruity an' bubbly might be good. Dunno, after this, might wanna just get sloshed with some tuber ale." That definitely /not/ eing a 'girly' drink at all. Ahem. There is some shuffling when Fy mentions biting pillow, Cen mumbling, "Bettern' some other things," although she is moving about an awful lot, judging from the rustling noises over there. Perhaps someone is re-thinking the 'hiding in a pillow pile' idea. Cen laughs a bit, "Betcha there ain't nothin' in here but us, anyways," all bravado in the face of all this darkness.
Karona's voice sounds vaguely muffled, as though hidden from within a pillow pile. Perhaps because at some point in the darkness, while no one was able to see, she's burrowed deep into one, with only quiet shuffling sounds to indicate her movement. "Bah, /ale/." she mutters from her pillow fortress. "Betcha there's loads of things in here. Tunnelsnakes. Crawlers. Trundlebugs. WORMS. Huge ones!" But she tries not to let it bother her /too/ much. Of course, all her suggestions are both in the realm of the possible and the likely, and /she/ thinks that renegades are neither. "I heard there's a mad old dragonless rider that wanders these caverns late at night, taking refuge in the dark, lurking in the shadows. They say he likes the /dark/, and the /cold/, they say it reminds him of trips with his dragon, and between, where his dragon went, permanently." Is she /trying/ to scare everyone out of their wits? The trembling in her voice would seem to indicate that she's scaring /herself/, at least.
With all of them in a pillow pile, how long were they going to last without fallins asleep all snug and warm? Unless Karona kept scaring them. "Ain't nothing really wrong with ale if you're gonna drink to begin with. I kinda liked the fruity ones myself back in the days." Way back in the days. The handfull of times that she did recently drink was hard liquor anyway. Fy sinks down, shuffling into her pillows that her voice is almost gone completely when she mutters out. "How the shards would he be able to see in his kind of darkness?" Mumble mutter… "If that were true, and he wants to come in here to scare us, I'll be sure to shove him :between: where he really wants to go. Dragonless rider… I never met one, and I never want to be one." Now are they going onto more darker topics? Because Fy is full of emo to get into the mood, too.
"Nothin' wrong with ale," Cen agrees with Fy, "'Course, tuber ale ain't really ale. 'S more like vodka. Take the skin off yer tongue, or somethin', if ya don't drink it fast enough," one could almost hear the smirk in the gardener girl's voice. This gal? She likes her booze, she does. Cenlia snorts, "Ain't nothin' here that I couldn't handle with m' shovel." Since when does Cen have a shovel with her? Well, she doesn't; but does Karona now that? "An' anyways, if there was crawlies, betcha they'd more scared of us than anythin'.." though she trails off, perhaps pondering that pillow pile. Ahem. More shifting and shuffling, someone obviously moving about over there. It stills, though, at Karona's story about the dragonless rider, "Shards, ya kidding, right?" Incredulous? Maybe, though there's a hint of something else in her voice too, as if she /really/ hopes Karona is kidding about that. Hearing about renegades was bad enough; Cen's not gullible, but it it pitch dark and..well. Fy's emo is lost on Cen, the gardener girl putting up the bravado again, "'S right, how'd he be able to see? Anyways, anybody try somethin' on me, an' I'll show 'em my fist. Right in the face," yeah. Cen's not a pacifist.
Karona snorts. "Ale is ale." she mutters. Bit of a broken record there. "I, I /heard/ about him. Old dragonless rider. Wandering in the /dark/. Don't think he even can see, just sort of gropes around with cold hands. Hoping to lay hands on his dragon. I hear firelizards that come down these tunnels /don't come back/, ever." There's a shuffling from her area as she shudders, and then /tries/ to put it out of her memory. "P-probably just a story, though." she admits, and then much more quietly, "I hope."
"We would've been bit by something by now," F'yr notes, and feeling safer in her pillow pile with that thought. She snorts over in Karona's voice's direction. "If he's that bad, I'll help him… Creepy old pervert I bet that just uses that excuse." But there's still shuffling as she tries to get comfy. She's got to snicker a bit at Cenlia's comment. "And I got a knife I'll be happy to use. Hopefully on a renegade than some man instead." Then there's a long pause as she seems to think over some things. "Don't old handler-less whers usually like to live in tunnels like these? I hear Fort don't even know that much 'bout these tunnels or somethign about discovering them not too long 'go. I should've listened to Mom's stories more."
It's a good thing no one can see Cen shudder in the darkness, though she does make a face at that tale, "Eugh, sounds awful. Sounds.. sounds like just some old story the weyrbrats made up, most like." Yeah, she'll go with that. Not at all freaked out a little, nope, not at /all/. Ahem. "Shards, should hear the old aunties talk in South Boll," Cenlia snorts, though she now sounds oddly muffled as well, "Gotta whole row of big apple trees on one side of the orchard - heard tell, was planted a turn from Lastfall - but anyways, said it was haunted an' stuff. 'Cause some nights, there's moaning and things," and now she snerks, loudly, "'Cept I /know/ 's just m' cousins tumbling some girls out there." The old aunties of Southern Boll just like to /think/ they can scare the orchard brats off, really. "A knife?" Cen perks, and she'll grin at the darkness, "Wish I'd brought m' shovel." And then there silence, before Cen mutters, "Whers? Don't their eyes glow or somethin'? Betcha we'd see 'em comin'." Not that that would /help/ at all. But still. "Yer ma live here?" Cen asks. Yay, distraction! And subject change. Maybe.
Karona actually snickers at the tale of that orchard. "Shards, weren't those aunties /ever/ young?" Okay, she'll buy that it's more a scaring tactic, but you tell people one place is haunted, and they'll just find another place. "Smithcraft Hall had their own tales too. Bit, weirder." she notes, in a wary tone. She may have to /prove/ that at some point. "But far less scary, really." Well, that's a matter of perspective. "I wish I was /there/ right now. Back safe in the smith hall. This never would have happened in the smith hall!" But she's not within the first 15 hours — er, 15 days of her posting any more. She can't regen— be reposted yet.
Cenlia snerks at Karona's comment, "Dunno," in answer about the old aunties, "Think sometimes they was /born/ old an' stuffy." It's really too bad Cen can't see F'yr's face, because the gardener would probably be laughing her head off. She does snicker a bit, though, "Shoulda seen the look onEled's /face/..was sneakin' in the orchard an' ran into Eled and this /girl/. He was drunkern' a keg o' Tanner's Friend, an' 'bout to do somethin' real /stupid/. Owes me BIG time fer that one." Whatever she's talking about has her snerking. Poor, poor Eledri. There's a pause, before Cen finally asks Karona, curiosity overwhelming her aversion to spooky stories right now, "What sorta tales?" Another snort in the darkness, "Wish I was in /Ista/." Not Xanadu? Well, with all the disasters there lately, who'd want to go back? "Even if we gotta clean all them shardin' weyrs," and she's totally making a face for that, though in the dark, no one's to see it. There's a startled, "/What/?" at Fy for that remark about thedead person in her weyr, "Shards.." though Cen might be shaking her head in the dark. And speaking of dark, there's some odd mechanical rumbling echoing down the halls, accompanied by a 'ker-klunk ker-klunkker-klunk' that has an undertone.. an electric ziiiing that crackles along overhead. Something. Is happening.
Karona gasps at F'yr's statement. "A… A dead person? As in, a real person, that had died? In your /weyr/?" /Not/ a sight Karona would be happy to find, no. She shuffles deeper into the pillow pile at mention of Ista, and then Tanner's Friend, and then Ista /again/. "Bah! Ista's not so great! I hated it there. And Tanner's Friend is /awful/, by the way." she bursts out with, then goes deathly silent. Ker-klunk? "W-w-what's that noise?" she whispers. It sounds … vaguely familiar. Much like when the power went out, but it can't possibly go any more … out. Can it? "It's not Mad Jack McMad, it can't be him… They say he only has one leg, and he limps around on a steel cane." One of the smith hall 'stories'? But no, the sound was all wrong for that. Is… is that a flicker of light from far off down the tunnel? Or just wistful thinking?
"Wait… /Wait/. You saw Eledri and a girl and—" There goes that face again, probably double than it looked back before. Thank Faranth those lights were still out. "I think I would've had nightmares for the rest of my life. He's your /brother/." She probably did just jump to conclusions, but that's what she's taking out of it. There's a soft giggle at Cenlia. "Wish I was in Ista too. And there definitely ain't nothing wrong with Ista at all!" she snaps, defensive, to Karona. "And well, he didn't die /in/ my weyr. I saw him die. Then I saw him in my weyr when I was waking up. Yeah, I'll call that seeing a real dead person." Or a nightmare. But Fy is convinced he was in her weyr, even if everyone else and her lifemate wasn't. She squeaks and drags a pillow over to close off her little 'den' in the pile. "Whatever it is, keep quiet cause maybe it's coming this way!"
Cenlia does laugh, even if she can't see Fy's face, "Didn't have his pants off or nothin'," and she snickersnerks. "Shards, 'm glad he's gone over to Landing; he's a right turd when he ain't drunk." Or something. Then again, when he /is/ drunk he goes around punching weyrleaders, apparently. Poor Eledri, just can't win. "Ista's fun," the gardener girl agrees with the brownrider, "Shards, wish X'hil was here." Probably because she'd rather hide behind him from whatever. Hey, it worked in that spooky brig! Even if she did end up being hauled out of there. "Ain't nothin' wrong with Tanner's Friend," Cen wrinkles her nose in Karona's general direction, peering into the darkness, "'S bettern' most ales. 'Course, nothin's bettern' Sunny Orchard brandies." Yeah, Cen's more a wine/brandy person, really, though she appreciates the hard liquor too. Ale? She likes it alright, but there's an unseen shrug at Karona, "Should try some-" though the ker-klunking sound has her pausing, the girl snerking at Karona's 'Mad Jack McMad' but quieting at the noise. There's an odd look for Fy in the darkness - dead people indeed! - but that noise.. ZWwwiipp! Zwiiiiiiiippph! And a crackle. And maaaybe there's light? Way down the tunnel? Is it flickering? Or is that just the dark playing tricks on the eyes? CLUNK CLUNK CLUNKCLUNK…
Karona grimaces, and shuffles /awaaay/ from F'yr. She doesn't want to hear about dead people! "Ista's not. I don't /know/ anyone at Ista. Except… you two." She hasn't spotted their knots, so, she doesn't know they're not actually Istans. "And Ista's got … my /mother/." Judging by that tone, she doesn't much like her mother. "…with her Tanner's Friend." Which maaay have just identified her as Leona's daughter, and completely mistaken about her mother's location. "Ierne was perfectly…" and then, the CLUNKING. "Eep!" Ierne was perfectly eep? There's a frantic shuffling as Karona tries to bury herself completely in pillows.
"Oh," Fy says about Eledri with his pants still on. Good thing that. "Wish /Zaru/ was here," she mumbles back at the end. Because then she can just :between: somewhere with light, right? Or something. But her lifemate was who she depended on everyday now for comfort during scary times. "Don't mean that Ista's bad! And… Wait, your mom's that brownrider? The one that moved to Xanadu with her booze?" Names elude Fy a lot. Perhaps Cenlia better remembers people that offer booze. "But I ain't really a drinker so the ale doesn't matter to me much. The Weyr's still great though." She sniffs, still a little hurt by those comments, and then quiets down with that clunking and strange sounds. If the lights were turning on, she wouldn't know, as she holes herself up under the pillows and magically disappears.
"We ain't Istans," Cenlia snerks, "From Xanadu. An' you could go meet some folks in Ista? Them Istans know how to party, anyways," judging from her one glimpse of a pub night, anyways. Ahem. There's a thoughtful silence before she asks, "Her ma is Leona?" Of course Cen would remember that name! And the booze. Mostly the booze. "Should see if he's-" this directed at Fy, likely something about her dragon, but then there is a 'zwwiiiiiipp' and the lights flare again. And one very suprised gardenergirl squawks, and flails as she slips and tumbles down from atop the huge pillowpile she'd been perched on.
Karona isn't immediately visible when the power returns, having buried herself nearly entirely, with just her eyes peeking out. "She… Xanadu? Hunh. Guess she was hoping I'd pick a posting there." Odd thing to say. "Well, I'm sure Xanadu is awful too." she decides, with a harrumph. "'Her' name is Karona!" she does snap. Which isn't exactly a comment on her mother, but kind of - they do share some letters. And then? Then she notices the lights. "Hey…" This is great! She scrabbles out of the pillow pile, blinking in the sudden comparative brightness.
F'yr's voice is barely audible, because she actually /has/ buried herself in the pillows, when she says loud enough, "Well, /you/ ain't an Istan. I'm more than a rider at Xanadu." And because of her fort she has not noticed that the lights have come back on right away. "What? What happened?" she asks curiously, waiting a moment before she she pops out the pillow that blocked her little fort-cave and blinks out in surprise. "Oh. Hey! We're alive! We ain't gonna starve to death!" She crawls out further, her hair a mess and clothes rumpled and dirty from crawling through the pillows. "I guess we can finally get out of here…" She trails off though, remembering why they were there, and looks down to the pile of pillows. Slowly she picks up one, two, three, four. Just starts grabbing them, before the lights go out again.
Cenlia rolls to a stop and flops on her face at the bottom of the pillowpile, letting out an 'ooph' and peering around. And perhaps snerking at the girls hiding inside the pillows. But she'll get to her feet and graba few pillows, saying, "Is now," about Xanadu being awful, muttering a, "Sharding drought." And fire. And flood. Yeeah. "Shards," she blinks a bit in the light, "Was sharin' awful /here/. Should get back to Ista. Betcha we could…" and there's a twinkle of mischief in the girl's eyes, "..could get some ofthese fer X'hil." She grins crookedly at Fy, "How many of these ya think yer dragon could carry?" The grin gets bigger, "Bet we could fill his whole weyr.. just like his old loft!" She has way too much enthusiasm for this, suddenly. To Karona, there's a bit of squinting, "Anyways, hey, 'm Cenlia." And she waves a dusty pillow good-naturedly.
Karona is still a little stunned. "Hey, who turned on the lights?" she asks, eyeing the pair she found herself stranded with, and then glancing sheepishly to the exit. Probably should go. Yeah… "Uh. Hi. Cenlia. I'm… Karona." Yes, yes, we covered this. Named after Leona her mother and— "Shards! My father!" she gasps, and /bolts/ for it, presumably to locate the aging Harper. Well, that was sudden.
"Yeah, is now," Fy agrees with Cenlia with a few bobs of her head. She carefully wobbles a bit with so many pillows she was clutching, glancing over towards Karona. "Nice to meetcha, Karona!" And then she's running off, leaving them in the cavern, but /with light/ this time. "At least she didn't go screaming," she comments to Cenlia with a big silly grin. Were they screaming and scared there in the darkness for the last few hours or so? Noooo. It never happened. "I was thinking of my /own/ weyr but… but there's ropes in the packs on Zaruath too, so we can tie some on him. Then there's only us two. Pillows don't weigh so much either, and he can take quite a bit." Or they can come back for more, because likely the big grump wouldn't want to take as many as Fy wants to.
"Nice t' meet'cha," Cenlia grins at Karona, and then the gardener girl's eyebrows go up as the other girl suddenly bolts, Cen calling a, "Hope he's alright," after her. She has to snerk a bit at the comment about screaming, "Wish I coulda seen her face when sheran in here. Betcha is was somethin'." Snicker. Although she does wrinkle her nose and mutter, "Wonder who grabbed her and scared her like that. Dun't think it was that creepy dragonless rider..?" Right, they can be paranoid with the lights /on/ too. Cen Peers around the pillow caverns now, a little suspiciously, and then just shakes her head, grabbing more pillows and saying, "Should take a whole bunch back with us," as she makes her way toward the cavern exit, "An' if we come back, gotta bring glows," a pause, "An' a shovel."
F'yr snickers to her friend at the mention of the other girl's arrival. "Yeah, would have been funny." If they weren't screaming afterwards themselves and freaking out in the pitch black darkness. "Well, it was all very interesting. But I'll be happy to get back to Ista and leave these crazy tunnels behind for awhile. Gives you a headache just trying to walk down here." Or maybe it was all that screaming and paranoia? She looks over her shoulder towards the exit. "Dunno, but Mad Mack Mcwhatever or a renegade better not sneak up on us before we leave or there's a knife with their name on it." She moves her pillows a bit to make sure Cenlia gets a look of her pretty knife on her belt, with its sapphire on the hilt. "I got as many as I can carry right now. Better go before they catch us and come back later than get no pillows at all!" She does mumble this, her chin holding pillows in her arms holding pillows and just pillows pillows all over her. She's almost more pillow than person! And she's ready to bolt out of there. "Come on, cause Zaru ain't too happy either." And she's already inching her way out, too.
