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Harper's Tale 3 - Wednesday, July 10, 2002, 9:44 PM
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The Flying Mug
A few shades too bright for the lighting to ever be called quite dim, the interior of the Flying Mug reveals upon closer inspection the marks of a much-frequented bar. Although the tables all match and the chairs are of a set, one or seven chairs have a wobbly leg, a few tabletops have big gashes across them, and each surface has an intricate pattern of turn-old mug rings. A well stocked, well polished and well maintained bar stretches across the expanse of the wall, facing the series of shuttered windows looking out on the courtyard. The bar stools are better maintained than the chairs, with low backs. And they spin, too! An intricate 'mural' covers the ceiling and there's a 'note' on the wall.
High in the rafters are twenty-four firelizards.
You see Hinei and Bartender Lem here.
Leilani and Evan are here.
Obvious exits:
Dining Hall Great Hall

Evan nods to Morallen as he enters.

Sloping into the tavern with an air of mild exhaustion, Morallen sprawls bonelessly in a seat at the nearest table. Evan and Leilani are spotted and given nods, the young girl one a touch more familiar, as he happens to have made her aquaintance before. Ordering a glass of "Redfruit juice, with a bit of citron if you've got it," from a nearby drudge, the Healer student returns to his sprawl with a muttered "If I ever see the business end of a labouring woman again, it'll be too soon..." Apparently, someone isn't a Midwifery specialist.

Leilani continues to eat, green-blue eyes searching the bar curiously, fingers randomly assigning morsels to either her lips or her lap. Her Lap? the very faintest of creels can be heard coming from underneath the table so that probably explains that. Her brow twitches ever so slightly as she notices the Healer she met the other day. "I told you, you were stalking me." Is that a wink? "Euw" Comes the typical response from the youngster.

Evan glances at Morallen and raises a brow slightly as his mouth quirks in a half-grin. He shakes his head and returns to the mug of klah

Sirri pitter-patters in from the great hall.

Morallen favours Leilani with another of his stock of smirks, this one tolerantly amused. A rather big-brotherish sort of smirk, carefully designed to irritate the heck out of those susceptible to it. "I /do/ happen to live around here, y'know," he informs the teen, before taking his glass of juice from the drudge with an exaggerated gratitude. "Drerea, you are /truly/ an agent of mercy. Handfast me!" When the expected response of the elderly drudge (A sound thwap on the shoulder, and a quick scuttle away) has been delivered, the young man returns to smirking into his juice. Tradition attended to.

"Lem? Lem! My original if you don't mind." Sirri flashes a brilliant smile towards the bartender as she passes into the Mug, arms laden with various hidework and who knows what else. Poor vintner, always working that one. With a mild yammer of displeasure, the sprite-esque creature seats herself and is rewarded with a glass of sparkling gar white. Ahh. Bliss.

Gossamer bursts in from ::between:: looking as graceful as ever.
Sirri kisses softly to the air, which seems to attract Gossamer's attention, who drifts over to land upon her shoulder.

Leilani's eyes grow round as she watches the by-play twixt the healer and the drudge. "Okay then" Is all she says, but she could say so much more. "Mind if I sit with you?" She asks shyly, in a glaring veer from her usual studied suspisiousness. "You can see Nibi" She coaxes.

Evan frowns at the knife in his hand and stops to ponder its edge, testing it with his thumb. He nods and tosses it up in the air, catching it bare inches above the table as it comes down. He glances around at the young crown curiously

Morallen is quite sure that Leilani could. After giving Sirri a nod and a mild glance-over, more for identification than admiration, the young man returns his attention to the girl. "It's a public tavern," he allows with a shrug, waving a hand at the seven other vacant seats at the table. "And Nibi, I'm taking it, is some sort of winged beastie?" Hazel gaze then turns to watch Evan with a mild alertness. Knive lead to stitches. And stitches means work. And to a senior apprentice who's /just/ gotten off duty, that means knives are to be avoided.

Sirri would give Morallen the same look but for the moment is too busy enjoying her wine. Toes curling appreciatively, and lashes fluttering with the savoring of said drink. A self-indulgence smile crosses petite features, all the tavern melting away until... cough... Back to reality. She glances up suddenly, whisking a slight smile out for those gathered as the one closest to her age gets a brief glance and her hides are once more the center of her world.

Leilani scoops plate, glass and Nibi up and makes her way to sit beside the Healer. "Yup. See?" She carefully cradles the young brown up for close inspection, before settling him back down on her lap. "Want some?" She asks in a scarily friendly voice, holding up her plate of meat-rolls and nibbles. Her fingers already inching towards another 'roll .

Morallen isn't overly fond of firelizards, despite the appearance granted by the two well-tended beasties on his shoulder. More like, annoyances tolerated because they can run errands for him. Still he manages an expression of proper attentiveness as the little brown is herld up for examination. "He certainly looks properly cared for," he grants. "And... I think I just might." And a meatroll is snabbled and munched on accordingly. "So then, any closer to your goal of becoming a... Harper, was it?"

Sirri pitter-patters through a door into the great hall.

Leilani shrugs. "It's always best in these kinds of situations not to rush things" She announces with the air of someone much older and wiser, but the translation is as always 'Not yet'. Shrugging she continues her division of food tween her and the lizard, both quietly nibbling upon thier respective morsels. "You think?" She asks, her expression crumbling into one more suitably insecure for her age. "I was expecting to you know and here he is and yeah" You can just tell she rushed out to get all the latest gizmoos and fangdangles for her pet cant you?

"He looks just fine," counsels Morallen. With the number of younger sisters he posesses, he's apparently not unused to insecure teenaged females. "With hatchling firelizards, things are pretty easy to take care of. Like... a newborn baby human. They just eat and sleep. Although at least they don't need to wear nappies. Oiling, though..." he rambles, attempting to sound suitably sage.

Evan goes home.

Leilani eyes the healer. "Newborns? I didn't think so, Nibi's a bit more quiet" She nods assuredly now that she knows what she is talking about. "And babys are cute and warm" Nodnod, and a little finger sroking of the now slumbering pet. "I got some oil, its back in my room." Okat so she isnt doing to badly.

Morallen gives a little nod, before slumping back into his seat and sipping at his juice. "Yeah, you'll do just fine then," he assures. "Firelizards are probably one of the easier pets to take care of, once they're out of the hatchling stage. Prob'ly because they haven't been tame as long as felines and canines and the like. They still know how to look after themselves.

Leilani nods and absorbs his advice. "So um" She starts to speak before holding her plate out again. "How long have you been here?" She asks, her other hand gesturing to the hold at large, which just looks likes she's gesturing about the 'Mug.

Morallen spots the extened plate, and helps himself to another meatroll, wagging it a bit in a gesture or two before recommencing gnawing. "In the Mug? Eh, about half an hour now? As for Ista... About six months now. I was at Fort Healer Hall for 7 turns before that, though, eh?"

Leilani nods. "Do you miss it? Fort I mean, it is a long way and stuff" She asks conversationally, biting her lower lip for a moment before selecting something else from her plate to nibble on. "And did you find Istan's strange when you first got here?"

Morallen ponders that a moment, taking the excuse to drink more of his juice. "Hard to say... I have some friend there that I miss, certainly, and I miss having access to the staggering amounts of records that Hall has compared to the Istan one, but Fort's not my childhood home..." He then trails off to twitch an eyebrow. "Istans strange? Er, not really. But I'm weyrbred, you see. My 'strange' tolerance levels are probably a little higher than yours."

Leilani wiggles just a tad away from the healer. "Weyr-bred?" Yup she's heard all those stories too. "I just meant some of them are..." She shuts up suddenly. "Never mind, its probably all my fault anyways" Morsel is dropped onto the plate instead of into her mouth.

Morallen sighs, spotting the twitch away from him, suddenly looking more tired still. "Weyrbreds," he notes. "Are not evil scary monsters. We do /not/ eat the folks that are Searched and don't Impress, we aren't morally corrupt, and Weyrs themselves aren't centres of debauchery and perversion. We're just regular people, just like you Holdbred, just that dragons and living with them means that we have to do some things a little differently."

Leilani looks down at her plate, wilting just a tad. "Well until just now I never heard any differently." Which is why she left her hold in the first place. "Sorry" Is mumbled from underneath her curtain of bright hair.

Morallen waves a casual hand, back to his usual sunny good humour. "It's all right, kiddo," he assures, perhaps a tad sheepish. "That just happens to be a sore spot with me, is all. Sorry about jumping on you like that."

Leilani shrugs, still wilted and such. "It's okay, see it /is/ me" Sniffle. fingers trace the tiny spine of her new pet ever so softly. "What was it like?" She asks in quiet curiosity. "From someone who knows, not someone who's heard" The big wide world is scarier thans she thought.

"Life in a Weyr?" hazards Morallen. "Well, for starters, I grew up at /Benden/ Weyr. And as the Weyr that leads the Weyrs, things are perhaps a little more formal than at, say, High Reaches. Traditional and so on. But really, I'd say the main change is the dragons. They're what life revolves around, if you're a rider, and even the simple residents get plenty of free rides here and there. I think what scares off most Holdbreds is the fact that the dragons, and their instincts, also effect the ways that humans behave. And if something's strange to you, it scares you a bit. But... what do you /want/ to know about life at a weyr? There's lots of stuff."

Leilani shrugs and crumples even further in on herself. "Um I wanted to know how you found it growing up? What you thought of it. But never mind if you don't want to talk about it...." She murmurs as she stands and transfers the lizard to the crock in her bent arm. "I'll leave you alone now" With that she leaves the 'Mug for some alone time.

Morallen chuckles. "I'll talk about it," he allows, finishing off the last of his juice. "Don't really have much I care to hide, really. But... another time." And with that he stands, offering a pat to Leilani's shoulder as he passes her. "I've got some project work I need to do."