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Josy - Sunday, January 24, 1999, 10:31 PM
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The following is a roleplay-log from SouCon MUSH (soucon.godlike.com 4201). The world of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey.
Joslyn just sniffs with distaste, mutters something about being taken task by so and so, and then turns to hobble - surprisingly quickly - out of the tent and onto the gather beach.
Lashana grins past Asenah at D'fit and shakes her head, "Not you, lad. No. " she levers herself off the bronze with an absent pat of thanks or dismissal, and nods. ""THough a drink does sound the right thing, or at least a skin to go," she adds with a hasty glance at her ever patient ride. "Mmm, hten again, there's another day of Gathering to go, I understand, maybe just home's best." The poor Mster seems to be half rambling to herself, though she does pause long enough to smiile at Asenah and grant her a little extra bob of the head before she hoists herself up and the trio disapear.
"Seems so, I suppose," Asenah nods, in response to Lashana's words. Further speech on the matter is halted as she notes E'niel's passing. Her eyes follow him, but she says nothing, and does not move to join him, though his path does bring to mind her considerable thirst.
D'fit sheilds his eyes, making sure Tizonth isn't drowning in the ankle-deep water. Just in case. "Something light... Southern white, maybe? Not that I could probably tell," he notes, with a quick chuckle.
E'niel sees Joslyn come out of the tent and calls, "How about you, weyrwoman, would you like a drink? I'm buying.." Another step closer toward the stand, the line waining slowly.
Weyrwoman... weyrwoman... oh, yeah. That'd be Joslyn. She perks up at the offer, trundling over to the source with her cane digging into the sand as she goes. "Whatcha buying, uhm," checks the knot, "Weyrsecond?"
Asenah's gaze again flickers over towards the group knotting up at the stand. With a slight frown to herself, she turns to head back through the crowd, making her way towards the shallows.
E'niel shrugs, nodding to D'fit, "He wants Southern White.. I'm considering a shot of that "Liquid Fire" and a mug of ale.. What is your pleasure?" he directs the question back at Joslyn. Yet another person leaves the line with a mug in hand, shortening it further. We're almost there!
Joslyn thinks about it, seriously, pushing her stick into the sand a few inches and then pulling it back up again. "Whatever he's having," she replies, tossing her chin toward D'fit as his sounded the safest.
An insistant chuff from the shallows brings D'fit's attention back to the beach around him. "I'd comment on the amount of time it's taking to get through the line, but this /is/ a gather," he notes in mild dismay, the line not moving quite fast enough.
As she passes the food tables, Asenah pauses to peruse. Finally, she chooses something that can be held easily in a hand, then continues on her way.
Asenah takes one of the peaches.
E'niel finally finds himself up against the stand, smiling in a friendly fashion to the vintner beyond. "Well, we'd like two Southern White wines.. One of those fire shorts, and a mug of ale." The crafter murmurs something to the rider, causing him to chuckle, "Nope, I've never drinken anything stronger then ale before, but I thought today would be a good time to try.. " With a shrug, the other passes over the drinks, collects the money, and sends E'niel and his group on their way. Turning about, he hands over the wines, then jaundicely eyes the shot.
Joslyn takes the wine in one hand and leans the other onto her cane, eyeing the smaller of E'niel's beverages with obvious interest. "Bottom's up?" she asks, eager to see the drink's effect.
D'fit quickly takes his drink, giving the smallest glass in E'niel's hands a look of misgivings. "Interesting choice there..." He finally comments, taking a sip of his white.
Asenah stands near the edge of the water, her back to the Gather. Every now and then she lifts the peach to her lips, and it comes away a little smaller.
Calinth scrambles down to the sand from the rocky beach to the west.
Joslyn's not much of a drinker, really, but she's game to try. She watches D'fit's sip and then mimics the gesture, trying to look like she's enjoying the wine and even succeeding. To a degree. "Thanks," she remembers to toss in.
Saith scrambles down to the sand from the rocky beach to the west.
E'niel chews his lip, peering at the drink. At Joslyn's prodding, he sighs, then tosses back the shot. First his eyes widen, then begin to water, only to vein with bright red lines... coughing, the rider quickly downs some ale, blinking rapidly as he does.
Calinth wades into the shallow waters.
From the water, Calinth wades in from the beach.
From the water, Tizonth wurbles a greeting as Calinth wades past him, the sound distorted by the water around his half-submerged snout.
Joslyn can't help herself a giggle at the Weyrsecond's abrupt loss of composure. "That's a priceless reaction, sir," she remarks, holding her wine carefully lest the laughter disturb her much tamer liquid.
From the water, Calinth wades into the water with the (comparatively) younger dragon, rumbling his greetings.
D'fit chuckles, just a touch of concern about the effects of the 'liquid fire' coloring his humor. "Instant discomfort in a glass," he jokes, turning to find somewhere to sit down on the crowded beach.
Saith wades into the shallow waters.
From the water, Saith wades in from the beach.
From the water, Saith follows Calinth in and settles beside him with a happy almost purred rumble as her head sings down, after all she's been flying straight with her lifemate.
E'niel blinks a bit more, coughing again before commenting. "I dare say that was horrible. I fear I'll have to end my career as a lush and stick to drinking ale and wine on occasion... Maybe even only water." The burning returns to his throat and he again coughs, drinking the rest of his ale. A quick glance at the line at the booth gains a frown from the Weyrsecond. "Wonder if they have water out somewhere..??"
Asenah starts a bit as the dragons lumber past her, and glances up the beach at the thinning crowd, slight frown still present. She takes an absent chunk out of the peach, and looks about for... something..
From the water, Calinth's tail lashes a moment, then comes to rest against his 'mate. He drifts closer to her, supporting her gently in the shallow water.
From the water, Tizonth lazes backwards slowly, finding a patch of ocean floor that's more muddy than sandy, and begins mucking around in it. D'fit will be so pleased.
"Come now," and Joslyn frowns as if severely. "Surely the Weyrsecond can handle his liquor," she states with a firm nod, offering out her glass of next-best-thing-to-water white wine sympathetically, though.
"I'm sure they must," D'fit reassures, casting his glance around the booths. "Hmm... Or at least peach juice."
"Likely with the juice and other things on the food tables there," Asenah points out, as she drifts within earshot of the group in her aimless meanderings.
E'niel smirks at Joslyn, shaking his head as he bows, "I'm afraid I must disapointed the Lady, as I am the whimpiest Weyrsecond you will ever meet.. " Straightening, he waves off the wine and nods to D'fit, "Peach juice.. a good idea. Peaches.. Fresh ones from the tree. I've not had that since I was an apprentice here." A thankful nod is sent to Asenah as well, but he injects, "I think I'll go pick my own.. any of you want a fresh Cove Hold Peach?"
From the water, Saith sighs softly and rumbles, eyes lidded over fully as her head rests under the water.
Joslyn just makes some remark about bronzeriders and whimps - probably don't want to know - and brings her glass back to her lips for another semi-tentative sip. "I've had peaches enough for a lifetime," she replies, her eyes flickering absently between the dragons in the water and Jeuneth asleep on the sand.
Asenah glances down to the peach in her hand, pausing a moment. Well, that pretty much excludes her, doesn't it? Still... "I... could help pick," she offers, forgetting the imparticality of her outfit.
D'fit raises a hand like he would answering a question in lecture, "Hope they didn't pick them all in that contest - a peach sounds nice." He takes another tiny sip of his wine, glaring at it as the level in the large glass hasn't visibly diminished. "Want me to come?" he offers.
impracticality too.
E'niel seems quite hesitant to answer Asenah, a hint of (fear??) in his eyes. Carefully he considers his words, "If you would like, lady Asenah, though your dress would make that difficult." Then to D'fit he nods, "Aye.. Would ya? I'll climb to the top and get the sunbaked ones, and you can meet me halfway to catch the ones I toss down.."
Joslyn will come along to supervise, of course, but she's not likely to scramble up any trees this evening. Giving up on prodding Jeuneth awake to join the others, she just leans on her cane, nursing the glass and keeping up with who's doing what.
Glancing down at her outfit, Asenah can't help but agree. "No, I suppose it wouldn't," she answers, adding, "And I'm sure the bronzerider will be all the help you need, anyway." Attempting a smile, the headwoman turns away again, tossing aside her bared peach pit and once more resuming the search for... something.
D'fit hesitates at the mention of climbing, but then a surreptitious glance is directed to the now-empty shot glass, and he quickly works through his weighing of options. "Sure," is the verdict, and he gets up, looking after Asenah with a momentarily thoughtful glance.
From the water, Tizonth snorts, head tilting curiously as he spots something. His head and forelegs dissapears under the water, nosing around in the murk of the bottom, and comes up with a large shellfish clasped between two talons.
E'niel places his glasses in the dirty dish tray, and in doing so passes close by Joslyn. He takes this moment to ask, "What happened to your foot, Weyrwoman?" Turning back, he notices Asenah walking off and calls, "You can come supervise or something.. Or catch D'fit when he falls.. for he will surely be the only one to fall out of /that/ tree."
Asenah hasn't begun to walk. She just turned away, looking for a place she could escape to. Now she turns back, looking nothing less than suprised by the invitation. "I... suppose," she answers hesitantly, uncertainly, "If you're sure you don't mind."
Joslyn just grins at the question and shrugs up one shoulder as if she hadn't the first clue on Pern what happened to her foot. "Can I come watch?" she asks eagerly, hurrying up to fall in step somewhere near the Weyrsecond. "And pick up all th'peaches - " Or bronzeriders. " - that fall?"
Asenah starts towards the Weyrsecond, but hangs back at Joslyn's approach to him.
"Hope the Vintners don't mind broken dishware," D'fit comments as he joins up with E'niel and Joslyn, toting the almost-full glass of wine along with him. "I think the orchards are just south of the courtyard..."
E'niel casts a frown at Asenah's last question, "I'm sure.. " then heartily chuckles at Joslyn's, "Sure you can come.. Asenah might need some help catching D'fit if he falls." You never know about those Weyrlings, always walking around off kilter. To the Weyrlings words, he shakes his head, pointing to the Courtyard, "Nah, we want the tree /in/ the courtyard. I know each limb and leaf by name.. best peaches in all of Pern." His step picks up at the mere thought of the juices soothing his burnt throat.
E'niel walks up the path toward the hold.
Asenah walks up the path toward the hold.
Joslyn eyes the bronzerider doubtfully, sizing him up before she raises another skinny shoulder in a vague shrug. Bent on keeping up, she stumblelimps after the others hurredly, making tracks up the beach.
You walk back toward the hold.
Jeuneth> D'fit rolls his eyes at yet another mention of his falling out of the tree, and trots after everyone else.
Jeuneth> D'fit walks up the path toward the hold.
D'fit comes striding up off of the sands of the beach.
D'fit rolls his eyes at yet another mention of his falling out of the tree as he catches up with everyone else, stopping near the base of the peach tree in question.
Trailing along with the general party, Asenah begins to regret not biting the bit and heading for the wine stand when she had the chance. Her throat bobs with a dry swallow.
Joslyn looks up at the peach tree dubiously, standing a few feet from it and leaning back onto her cane. "It is mighty big," she remarks at length, lifting her stick to point vaguely at the uppermost branches. "I should go getta Healer," she muses with a slight grin.
E'niel arrives at the base of the familiar tree, his hand reaching to the second highest limb -- he /is/ tall -- though he pauses as he hears Joslyn's remark, turning back to smirk at her. "Don't count your peaches before they drop on your head, Weyrwoman. I know it'd be a thrill to see two bronzers fall on their noggins, but I fear D'fit and I are Honshu bronzers, not typical at all.. " Ha. With that he leaps up into the tree, disappearing amongst the boughs.
E'niel climbs into the peach tree.
E'niel disappears into the branches.
D'fit shakes his head once, eyeing the tree like he might regret it, and clambers up after E'niel.
D'fit climbs into the peach tree.
"Uhm, I'll go getta Healer," Joslyn remarks, and takes a few hobbled steps off toward the Hold doors. But this is a Gather and there are plenty of folks milling around so she needn't go far before she finds a lad in Healer's garb and shoves him over toward this liekly scene, explaining.
"Yes," Asenah agrees, with a faint hint of.. humor? "It's much more detrimental, seeing as how soft their heads are." A smirk finds her lips for an instant, shakey before it disappears, and her eyes follow E'niel's progress.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit takes his time following E'niel up, grasping only solid-looking, sturdy branches. He is *not* falling if he can at all help it.
D'fit disappears into the branches.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel snorts as he sees the healer arrive below. Calling down the D'fit, he says, "Make sure if you fall, you don't fall /on/ the healer, but /on/ the Weyrwoman, kay? No respect.." he murmurs the last, reaching the summit of the tree and perching.
Joslyn's Healer seems to think his presence is a must and sticks around, shading his eyes to peer up into the tree. The goldrider does something similar, frowning at what she thinks she heard. "Hey!" is her indignant return, shouted up at the branches.
From afar, E'niel nods and just wanted to make sure. :)
Up in the peach tree, D'fit chuckles as he reaches what he deems a respecatble height. "I dunno if she'd be much padding between us and that stone courtyard," he notes, glancing around for any peaches within reach.
Up in the peach tree, Legs swinging like a child's, E'niel sits high in the tree considering the peaches around him. Finally he reaches for one, but doesn't manage to gain purchase on it once it is broke loose, so it bounds down amongst the branches, narrowly missing D'fit, but landing painfully close to the Weyrwoman below... Possibly *splatering* her with juice and pulp.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel yells down as he sees what he has done, "Did you catch that?!" as if he had done it on purpose.
Joslyn repeats, cupping her free hand around her mouth, "Hey!" She stands on her good foot and raprapraps the cane against the trunk of the tree as if she intended knocking the bronzeriders from it that way... and is rewarded with a peach splatting right beside her on the flagstones. "NO!" she replies to D'fit, trying to step backward and managing to land soundly on her rear end. "I missed it!"
Up in the peach tree, E'niel's snicker warms to pure laughter as he sees Joslyn fall on her rump. Soon he is roaring with mirth, rocking precariously back and forth on the limb he is perched upon. Well worth losing a very tasty looking peach.
Up in the peach tree, "Try for something closer," D'fit advises E'niel, craning his neck to check on the status of the fruit-pulp. He waves down to Joslyn, perhaps apologetically, or perhaps not, and then goes back to scanning the branches for ripe fruit. "Hope all the gather-goers didn't eat our peaches..." And he isn't a gather-goer?
Joslyn waves her cane, threatentingly, up at that laughter. She uses it to peel herself up off the ground then, griping to herself as she brushes off. "Shot in the foot, and then sleep out on th'beach, and now fruit thrown at me and bronzeriders laughing. Intolerable. Yes, something closer!" she calls, the last directed upward.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit ums, eyebrow raising as he keeps an eye on the precarious Weyrsecond. Until he's distracted by a comment from below. "Shot in the foot?" he repeats musingly.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel's laughter flows in sporadic chuckles, and he nods, "Alright.. closer." Well, how about this nice looking one right by his ear. "Mmm... " and he plucks, looking down to D'fit, tossing the peach down, then half a second later calling, "Catch!" He hadn't heard the shot in the foot part until D'fit repeated, and he too settles, his laughter gone as he waits for the response.
Joslyn's sage advice, shouted up toward the uppermost branches: "Don't fall!" She doesn't plan on breaking any falls on top of the many other injustices suffered recently. She just shrugs up at D'fit's question, watching that peach's progress sharply. "Catch!"
Up in the peach tree, D'fit makes some startled noise, letting go of the branch with his hands to put them between the fruit and the ground. The fuzzy fruit lands in them with a nice slap-sound. "I got it," he assures both ends of the chain, and then calls down to Joslyn with his own bellow of, "Your turn - Catch!" And then drops the peach at the goldrider.
Joslyn leans more than reaches to catch that peach, dropping her stick in favor of cradling the fruit. "Caught!" she reassures, then looks around lamely for some place to store the sought-after snack. "Uhm." And uhm again, even.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel starts to chuckle again, reaching for another peach. Might as well keep up the chain as they wait for her response. "Catch!" is echoed again, but this time the fruit is dropped /after/ it is shouted.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit makes sure his legs are very firmly gripping the branch, and deftly catches the next peach without the accompanying startlement. "'Nother one comming your way," he announces, letting fall between the branches to Joslyn.
Considering her sari, Asenah appears to find it useful after all. She tugs down one of the many lengths, holding it out like an apron, and offers, "We could hold the batch in here..."
Up in the peach tree, D'fit nods, cupping his hands around his mouth to call, "Good idea!" to Asenah without yelling so much.
Joslyn eventually just drops the first fruit along the base of the tree's trunk. Minus her cane, she just hops ridiculously back over to come p with the second peach, too. "Got it," she hollers. She looks at the fruit, then the apron, the nodsnods. "Catch," as the fruit is tossed toward Asenah.
Up in the peach tree, Spotting a really nice peach overhead, E'niel clambers up, pulling himself to a stand. Soon his hands are reaching far up, his already long body stretched near to its limits. Each shifting step tries to find purchase, and in the meanwhile dislodges loose bark, causing it to rain down on those below. Almost there.. streeeeeeeetch.
Blinking rapidly, and not being as young as the rest of the group, Asenah is thankful for the larger area she has with which to catch the flying fruit. With a little bounce of fabric, the peach is safe and sound in its cradle.
Up in the peach tree, "Hey!" D'fit protests as a shred of bark bounces off his head. Something inaudible is mumbled, a few words like 'overconfident' and something about drinking making it through the branches. All the same, he keeps a close eye on E'niel as he streaches for that peach.
Joslyn brushes a bit of that bark from her hair, frowning irritably. One might wonder why the little goldrider doesn't just go and sit out of the way, but the thought obviously never occurs to her. Muttering things that sound rather like D'fit's mumbling, she hobbles off to take up her cane again.
The only one not muttering under her breath to top her concern, Asenah moves closer to the tree, until she's nearly directly under the bronzerider, staring up at him. "Be careful, oaf!" she calls, frowning a bit while her face is bombarded by sprinklings of wood and bark.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel mutters, "Why does everyone keep shouting runner food? Hey!" he echos, then stretches the last inch, fingers wrapping about the peach as it nearly /falls/ of the stem itself it is so ripe. Grinning, he shouts, "Got it!" then lets go, not having a clue where D'fit is below him, and too unstable to look down and find out. "Catch!" As he settles again on the balls of his feet, he looks down, frowning playfully at Asenah, "I resemble that remark.. " then finds a nice peach right by his nose when he looks up... "Hey," he mutters his own runner feed, and plucks it, shouting, "Catch!" as he lets that one go too.
Asenah snorts quietly, "Yes, you do, scaring us all like that," Asenah scolds. "It'd just serve you righti f you were the one to fall isntead of D'fit."
The Healer, who had been standing back to watch, takes his leave immediately as the peaches start raining down. Watching E'niel up there was tearing him up anyway, he explains to Joslyn before disappearing into the Gathered. "One atta time!" the girl hollers as the duo of peaches come down. "Geez."
Up in the peach tree, D'fit shakes his head, lacing feet under the thick branch as he jerks forward to catch the first peach, just barely clutching it in a tenous grip with his fingertips. He straightens, just in time to be bombarded by the second one, and pins it against his tunic with an elbow. "You trying to get me covered in juice?" he calls up, dropping the two peaches a moment later towards the two on the ground.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit *erms, and sticks his pose before Joslyns so it makes more sense.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel chuckles, reaching for yet another peach as he explains, "I'm just trying to keep you on your toes, Weyrling.. Consider this a training exercise." Bombs away! Oops, he forgot to call this time.
Joslyn completely misses the peach she should have caught, watching it land with a thumpsplat on the ground. Tentatively, she approaches the unbearably bruised fruit and pokes it with her cane, wincing as it rolls over. She kicks it aside just in time to look up at the next peach. "How many of these do you really need, sir?" she asks the branches.
Up in the peach tree, The branches answer, "Enough to eat now, and take back to Honshu. I've been dying for peaches from this very tree for months."
Asenah winces a bit as she watches the fall of the peach, calling a warning to the poor, unsuspecting Weyrling, "Heads up!" She then glances with a wrinkle of her nose to the ruined peach.
Up in the peach tree, "Of course," D'fit agrees, sarcasm definatly in his voice. The unnannounced peach is well-aimed - it beans him on the top of his head, leaving a nice juicy splot before falling toward the ground. "Yech!"
Joslyn makes a face at the branches, then, and shakes her head in good-natured resignation. Then she cracks up, pointing a bit rudely to the weyrling with the juicy head; it's poetically just that the same fruit proceeds to land with a squish on her one shoe. Heavy sigh. Poor Josy.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel isn't above laughing at the messy wet spot now centering D'fit's head. "Sorry.. " he says, and seems to sorta mean it. A couple more peaches are picked, one in each hand as he leans back against a branch, balancing carefully as he looks down at the Weyrling, "Ready?"
Asenah was, apparently, a bit too late. Another battered peach squelches to the ground, and she shakes her head, "At this rate, you two are going to end up squishing the whole crop! Leave it to bronzerider." She continues muttering along this vein.
Up in the peach tree, "Yeah," D'fit replies, trying to keep reluctance out of his voice. Hands are held outstreached to catch the peaches.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit suddenly chuckles, calling down to Asenah "You ought to be proud we're restraining ourselves, ma'am. I'm sure we'd waste alot more peaches if we were actually *trying* to splat them down there."
Joslyn snaps her gaze upward at D'fit's remark: Don't even think about it, or she'll show you just why she's got that bandaged foot.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel is going to be good, for the moment, and drops one peach, "Catch!".. waits a moment, then shouts, "Catch!" and tosses down the second. Afterall, it is /his/ fruit that D'fit is using as conditionar. He rumbles in agreement to the Weyrling's words to Asenah, considering the /greener/ fruit that dangles before his flurting eyes.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit catches both peaches - in his hands and without any more aspirations as a juicer. "Catch!" He warns Joslyn, dropping them ever-so neatly towards her hands for easy catching. A grin is flashed upward towards E'niel.
"Do it and I'll see you regret it 'til you're an old Watchrider," Asenah warns. And she just might be telling the truth, too, knowing her reputation for terrorizing the Weyrfolk who displease her.
Joslyn blinks. Two fruits. One hand. Hrm. She shoves her cane into the ground and thrusts her arms out to receive the peaches, without baubling them even. "Catch," she echoes, holding them both out before she tosses them Asenah's way. "Yeah, she'll see you regret it!" she calls out with a nodnod.
Asenah actually grins a little at that, holding out the swatch of fabric she's using as a catchers' mitt. The fruit land neatly and roll to the center, huddled like eggs on sand.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel hears Asenah again, and snorts... threaten a bronzer? Ha. Ripe fruit forgotten, he pulls his tunic up and starts loading the dip with unripe fruit... nearly squishy, but not quite. Quite fullup, he settles on the branch, then waves D'fit aside, careful to be quiet about it.. Actually, D'fit might wanna move a few branches higher as well, who knows how far that cane can really reaches. A moment of grinning, he starts to wing the fruit down, extra careful not to actually *hit* any of the females, though if anyone were to stray too near the tree, well.. they might find themselves with a new headache.
Joslyn blinks, shocked, at first. Then she ducks, grabbing at her cane to bat a fruit or two away as she skirts away from the tree. "Cut that out, sir!" she demands, looking toward those huddled fruits Asenah's got. Should make for an interesting crossfire, anyway.
Indeed. Not a threat, a promise. Asenah peers up into the branches, keeping careful hold on her sari. As a fruit wings dangerously close to her head, she frowns and skitters back, nearly dropping her load. "I suggest you stop that, if you ever want to be able to leave that tree!" she calls.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit gets a positively impish gleam in his eye, and snatches two appropriatly ripe peaches, tucking them under his chin as he scrambles up the few extra limbs to join the Weyrsecond. "Whoah, the branches are thinner up here," he notes, clutching them tightly as he settles his fruit into his hands.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel tosses another peach /toward/ Joslyn and calls, "Quit calling me sir and I will consider stopping." Well, he is actually running out of fruit, but he isn't about to tell anyone that. At D'fit's words about the thinness of his perch, he nods and grins, "Yea.. So hope you didn't eat that extra slice of wherry at the gather, otherwise, you might be down there with *them* soon." Fear that... Oh, there goes a fruit for Asenah too, landing with a nice *crunch* at her feet.
That's it! Asenah, being the one of short temper that she is, warns, "Now you're in for it bronzerider!" as she shifts the fabric she holds to a single hand, using the other to grab the juiciest, ripest peach--nearly overripe--in her pile. With a narrowing of the eyes, she takes aim and lobs the roughly spherical mound of pulp and fuzz up into the branches, winging it right for the branch where she /thinks/ E'niel is.
Quite a good arm for a very ladylike lady.
Up in the peach tree, "Ouch!"
Up in the peach tree, D'fit chuckles softly, and lobbs his first fruit down out of the tree. Who he directed it at is impossible to tell, as it's flight is cut short by a branch, and it bounces in some useless angle to land with a thud on the stone courtyard. "Hey!" he protests again, as fruit comes sailing up at them. Nevermind that it's only fair.
Joslyn knocks that aimed peach away, too. Handy thing a cane is, really. She uses it, dripping as it is with fruit pulp, to take a step or three backward, snagging one of the picked fruits in the process. "Throwin' - fruit - " And the peach goes sailing upward. She's got terrible aim. " - at girls - on th'ground. Hmph."
Up in the peach tree, E'niel brushes the squishy pulp from his thigh as the residue of Asenah's bomb comes sailing back down at them. What comes up, must come down... Least what is left of it. Plucking a *ripe* fruit this time, he sends it down, mocking, "Girls..." then falling into mirthful chuckles as he reaches for another, eyes glintering sharply with humor. This is fun.
Another peach is grabbed from Asenah's sari, meant as a pre-emptive strike as it goes flying towards the branches again, faster this time. "Perhaps not the best word for us," she mentions, "But the point is the same!"
"You can't stay up there forever!" Joslyn declares, as if that alone made her and Asenah triumphant. She picks out another peach and thinks about throwing it - but she changes her mind and takes a big bite out of it. "And I'll get you when you come down."
Up in the peach tree, D'fit wraps one arm around the trunk of the tree, and tosses another peach down, aiming it directly for Joslyn, "Catch!" he calls through laughter in one of those instances of spontaneous bad-jokes. He scrabbles in the branches over his head for another peach.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel laughs at D'fit's joke, but only after scrambling out of the way of yet another of Asenah's bombs. Moving behind a thick branch, he plucks a fruit, following suit of Joslyn and taking a bite. "Actually, I could stay up here forever.. I got peaches, therefore peach juice, and a good friend," he thunks the Weyrling on the shoulder, "what more do I need?" Besides his lifemate? A bath, bed, a job... if he still has one when the Weyrleaders find out he was tossing fruit at Southern's weyrwoman.
Joslyn bats that next peach away, too, but misses and winds up with a nice stain on the hem of her dress. Again, "Hey!" She brushes away the mess and then just grins at the Weyrsecond. Former Weyrsecond. "We'll see. I ain't got nowhere to go," she assures, tapping the injured foot with her cane.
Some poor apprentice lugging a multitude of empty wineskins passes perilously close to the tree, and is narrowly missed by one of D'fit's badly-aimed fruit-missiles. Sheilding his head, he dashes for the hold doors like Thread is after him.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit clutches the trunk with both hands as E'niel's goodnatured thump nearly dislodges him.
With a growl--sari be scored--Asenah scurries towards the tree, intending to scale it. A moment of pause comes, though, and she decides to do away with the sari, setting it aside, remaining peaches intact, leaving her in skirt and tunic. Now, she is ready to scale the limbs--sort of. Save the fact she's no idea how to go about this tree climbing business.
Joslyn knows how to climb, though! She's just incapable of it. She gets the idea, though, and hobbles along behind Asenah. "Just grab on to the lowest branch, there, and put your foot over here," she taps the trunk. Sounds easy, doesn't it? And she's oh-so-eager to help.
Following Joslyn's instructions, in spite of the trouble her sandals cause, Asenah manages to make her shakey way up the tree with relative quickness, halfway up within a few moments.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit peers downward at Asenah, remarking to E'niel: "By Faranth, I think she's going to try and come up here. Interesting." Not much the weyrling can do about it, though, especially with two arms wrapped around the trunk for support.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel sees Asenah shed her clothes and blinks, looking over at D'fit with an expression akin to 'where the heck are we going to go now?'... Grinning, he whispers, "I know," and starts once again filling his tunic with fruit, ripe and unripe alike. The rest is whispered, therefore not heard on the ground.
Up in the peach tree, There is a sudden spray of fruit as E'niel starts to pick hurriedly, tossing them straight at Asenah in the hopes if he hits her enough, she won't be able to climb. While doing so, he climbs /higher/... Leave D'fit down below, yea, good plan.
E'niel disappears into the branches.
Oh yes, up there is she coming, and she's nearly there now. As fruit begins pelting her, she lifts an essential hand to fend it off, her shakey hold becoming downright precarious for a moment.
Asenah climbs into the peach tree.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit's eyebrows shoot up appreciably, and he works at disengaging his arms from the trunk. One peach is finally grabbed once balance is regained, and sails in Asenah's vauge direction. He looks upward, trying to figure out just where E'niel went, if he should follow, and if it's even *safe* to follow.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel emits a girly squeek and calls down to D'fit, moving into the top of the tree where the limbs are seriously thin, "Protect me, Weyrling! It is your duty.. Ward of the evil!"
Joslyn is just itching to climb up there and get in on those whispers. It shows. She's pacing around the tree, studying it from all possible angles for a path - for a one-footed goldrider in a Gather dress. She dodges most of the fruit and bats away the rest of them. "Get 'em!" she calls out, waving her cane to bridge the impossible gap.
Up in the peach tree, For a moment, unthinking, Asenah disengages her remaining hand to fend off the last stray peach. With a soft squeak, she begins to reel, just barely catching herself in time. A moment to get her bearings, and she rises higher still.
Up in the peach tree, "Evil... Yeah..." D'fit repeats, perplexed. A glow almost visibly goes on over his head, and he mimicks the manner of the hero from the Weavercraft play. "Of course I'll save you! Take that, evil being of oppression!" And a few peaches are tossed down at Asenah at irregular intervals.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel stops, unable to go any further, and watches, chuckling at D'fit, but quietly offering, "Careful, she's a "girl" so can't climb too good. Wouldn't due to make her fall, then we'd really be in for it... I just bet Joslyn would forget all about her hurt foot and climb up here to beat us up." Dangerous girls they are.
Stuck on the ground, all alone, Joslyn peers up in the tree, wincing and making to catch Asenah as she falters. Noble Josy, indeed. She wipes her brow and then reaches down, gathering a few loose peaches and throwing them back at D'fit. "Evil being of oppression. Pfft."
Up in the peach tree, Again, there is that moment where it seems Asenah will loose her hard-won purchase in a few moments of frenzied peach-battering. "Hey! You're going to make me fall!" she calls, needlessly, as she makes her way up a few more rungs.
Up in the peach tree, D'fit ducks behind the trunk to avoid Joslyn's peaches, which have considerable more aim than his own. "Well Asenah's trying to oppress us and keep us from throwing peaches," he points out, trying for logic. The dodging-thing requires balance, however, so the hail of peaches ceases for the moment as D'fit hangs onto the trunk again.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel sees Asenah get higher and higher and starts to panic. Standing close to the core of the tree, he starts to whistle, breaking the whistling now and again to sings, "I am just a bird... no E'niel here, just us birds. Tweet tweet.. " and again he whistles.
Joslyn hits the trunk with her stick: "I might just climb up there and show you what for!" she declares, but she can't do it and she knows it. So she just picks up more peaches and tosses them spitefully at both bronzeriders, and somehow manages to miss Asenah, mostly.
Up in the peach tree, E'niel breaks into his bird song to shout, pointing at the Weyrling, "He made me do it! No... No... I didn't do it at all, it was him, all him. I was just picking nice fruit to eat and he was the one throwing them at you." Yea, that's it... deflect the blame to the underling.
Up in the peach tree, A now all-too-familiar comment emits from 'the Weyrling': "Hey!" That protest out of the way, D'fit surveys the situation from his position plastered against the tree.
Up in the peach tree, As the branches begin to thin dangerously, Asenah hesitates. The merits of this venture--namely tossing the two bronzers from the tree--are beginning to be outweighed by the flaws--her falling on her head and breaking her neck.
Joslyn hmphs, and steps back from the tree. "I'm tellin'," she declares. Odds are, she made that up. But all three of you are up in that tree and she'll have hobbled off before you can get down. Good luck finding a goldrider in a gather. Night.
You walk onto the stairway up to the Great Hall.
*** END LOG ***