Monaco Bay Weyr- Commons Cavern
A grand stairway leads downward into the cool rock of the commons cavern, a place for socializing and relaxing, as well as an area that provides solid shelter from the seasonal storms of this area. One of the few caverns at Monaco Bay Weyr, the rock here has been worn away by centuries worth of water movement, leaving a nearly glass smooth polish over much of the room. Rocky shelves line the walls on which electric lights covered with paper lanterns rest, providing adequate illumination for the area. High above are further light fixtures, enabling a wide range of lighting options here. A natural pool occupies half of the far end of the cavern and is supplied with heated water piped in by an ingenious techcrafter. All about the room are balconies of rock with stairs leading to them and small dumbwaiters for the purpose of delivering food and drink to their heights.
After throwing on a pair of pants and a simple tunic, Briari and Trysta heads back into the main caverns to watch the activity of riders and residents alike mill about. She left her guitar back at her place for a change instead of lugging it about on her shoulder. "So, you came out here to see just me or did you have something you needed to take care of while you were here?"
Monaco Bay Weyr - Common Caverns
A grand stairway leads downward into the cool rock of the commons cavern, a place for socializing and relaxing, as well as an area that provides solid shelter from the seasonal storms of this area. One of the few caverns at Monaco Bay Weyr, the rock here has been worn away by centuries worth of water movement, leaving a nearly glass smooth polish over much of the room. Rocky shelves line the walls on which electric lights covered with paper lanterns rest, providing adequate illumination for the area. High above are further light fixtures, enabling a wide range of lighting options here. A natural pool occupies half of the far end of the cavern and is supplied with heated water piped in by an ingenious techcrafter. All about the room are balconies of rock with stairs leading to them and small dumbwaiters for the purpose of delivering food and drink to their heights.
"Nope, it's a day off for me. No duties." Trysta clarifies as they walk into the commons cavern. There's a pause as she looks around the room.
Mackaje's already set up in the caverns, taking up a small corner of a table with star charts and maps clouded with dotted lines that, frankly, don't make much sense. Maybe not even to him, judging by his furrowed brow, jaw clenching as he traces and re-traces a red dotted line. "That's not right," he mutters, hand seizing as though he'd to ball the whole mess up and throw it away and start over. Luckily, distraction arrives in the form of the Harper and Brownrider. He glances up, perhaps catching a snippet of their conversation or something, and nods their way in a polite fashion before refocusing on his work.
"Cool. I'm glad to see you again. I have missed you quite a bit." Briari passes an easy smile to her best friend. "Sorry I don't write as much as I used to. You know how it is. Just.. busy." She rocks her shoulders backwards a bit to loosen up the joints in her body. "So.. how is Kyra doing? I don't .. talk to her much anymore.. or at all.”
"She's fine. We've all been busy really since graduation and settling into our wings. Duties and all. And I'm just as bad at writing as you are!" the Half Moon rider admits. Chrystyne steps in further finally with full intention of seeking out food. The black haired Package's noted and a wave is tossed his direction. The near crumbling of his work isn't missed by Trysta.
Mac tries really hard to get back into his work, really he does, but between his current frustration and the presence of people more interesting than his take-home work, it doesn't take long for him to abandon his table in favor of following Briari and Trysta towards food. "Hi," he says a tad awkwardly once he's near, not trying to butt into their conversation about people he didn't know, but greeting them just the same.
"Think we got a trailer. Bet he thinks you're cute." Briari says with a soft voice to Trysta with a grin on her face. Glancing over her shoulder to the boy, she gives a wink over to him. "Hey you. Yes, she is single." That's what she gets for that boy crazy comment she made earlier. With that, she is off to the tables of food, cackling to herself.
"Trailer…huh?" Trysta barely has time to register her friend's remark before she spies Mac also headed towards food. And incidentally towards them as well. Briari's next comment directed to Package has Trysta flushing quickly. "Bri..hey!" she hisses towards her departing friend. Self consciously twitching the out of weyr knot attached to one shoulder, Trysta gives a self-conscious look towards Mac. "Don't mind her." she murmurs.
Well. That certainly gives him a moment's pause, Mac's awkward approach halted by Briari's jesting statement. "Is she?" He might not be great at introductions, but when it comes to jokes, Mac doesn't miss a beat, bless him. One dark eyebrow raises at Briari, then bounces once or twice in comical suggestiveness over at Trysta. "Hey, beautiful. Wanna guess what my shirt is made of?" A pause, for effect, then: "Boyfriend material." Badum-psh! His silly expression breaks under the pressure of a real smile, Mackaje shaking his head in dismissal of the blonde's concern and twitching his own shoulder, which bears the knot of a visiting Starcrafter. "Sorry, that was terrible, I know. I couldn't resist."
Laughing loudly, Briari's eyes widen at the sound of Mack's sweet one-liners. She gives a pound on the tabletop with her fist, then reaches up to wipe at her eyes as she snags a glass of juice. "Tyne, that is at least an eight." Taking a sip of her juice, she peeks over at her best friend, then to the boy. "Boyfriend material, huh? Maybe I should find one of those for Merius.”
Trysta is single though she hardly announces it. After giving Briari a quick 'I'll get you back for this' look it soon turns into one of horror at those eyebrow waggles. Soundlessly her mouth opens and closes for a moment before sound finally emerges. "I..uh…boyfriend material. Hah!" eventually she realizes he /must/ be joking for she manages a smile. "At least you didn't ask about what's under your shirt." turning she snags a cup of juice as well. "I'm Trysta and the wise-ass one is Briari." she loses out introductions.
Mac winks over at Briari for her laugh, a friendly gesture rather than a flirtatious one. What? He selfishly enjoys people who like his jokes. "An eight? Damn, I'm slipping," he says with a hint of feigned melodrama. "And I don't know who Merius is, but I'm sure they're lovely." He issues a low laugh when Trysta cottons on, his twisted grin slowly transforming into what he thinks is an innocent one. "Who, me? I'd never. Not unless you were interested, anyways." That, too, he delivers as a joke, chuckling softly with a slight headshake before nodding to them both for her introduction. "I'm Mackaje, though most people call me Mac. Nice to meet you.”
"Merius is my boyfriend but he just does not know it yet." Briari calls over to Mack with a grin on her face. "Trysta here likes long walks on the beach, brown dragons and she used to be a Guard so she is very much into close quarters combat and wrestling." She holds up a piece of bread as if it was a microphone and that this was The Dating Game. "Suitor number 1. If Trysta here was a piece of fruit, how would you eat her?”
"I do need a bit more to go on that you being self proclaimed 'boyfriend material'" intones Trysta with amusement flickering in her expression. "Well met Mac. And Briari you can't claim him as…." she draws in a breath and lets it out with a shake of her head. "If I were a piece of fruit how…" she gasps with a scowl of annoyance. Speaking of fruit one gets picked up and thrown at Briari. "You just visiting Monaco, Mac?" though from her slightly annoyed tone she's wondering if he'll want to even stay!
Mackaje's player has no idea what time of day it is, but the three of them have become clustered close to the drink table in the caverns. Mackaje snickers for Briari's explanation. "Ah, that explains it. Well, you have my permission to borrow my terrible pickup line to rope him in," he jests, a twinkle in his eye as he shifts his gaze over to Trysta. Picking up on Briari's gameshow-style introduction, he considers a moment before saying, "I like fancy drinks, getting caught in the rain, and close combat sounds fascinating. I have excellent reach." Wink. And yet, when he's on the receiving end of that kind of a question, he at least has the good graces to blush furiously. "I— uhm— That answer is… not polite enough for the public. Next question," he says in an amused murmur, glancing around them furtively just in case someone maybe heard her. He laughs when Trysta launches a fruit at Briari, happy to take up the change in conversation, at least until his ears quit burning. "Yeah, it's a sort of… long-term visit, I guess. I'm studying under one of the weyr's Journeymen for a time."
Bonk. The piece of fruit nails Briari in the head and her eyes spin for a moment before she leans down to pick it back up. "You are wasting, Tryst!" Brushing it off, she takes a bite. Ten second rule after all. "It's nice to meet you, Mack! You are hilarious by the way. Good show." Sliding into a chair next to her best friend, she gives her a shoulder bump playfully. "Journeyman Harper here.”
Days have passed, weeks come and gone, and Reya is definitely looking like she's carrying a baby now. She's smaller than most mothers would be for how far along she is, but then again…the gold rider's always been on the small side. It hasn't made her any less crazy though. The goldrider wanders into the caverns in a flowy tank top, jacket, and pair of shorts before making a line straight towards the drink table looking rather suspicious to be honest. She pauses in her steps for a moment when she notices people loitering there. Rats. For now though, she'll play it cool. "Some fresh faces in the crowd, I see!" The young goldrider turns a wolfish grin to the lot while waggling a few fingers in their direction.
Trysta's annoyance with Briari passes quickly. Perhaps because the fruit did indeed impact the harper. "Not wasteful, your eating it." she feels inclined to point out. Her attention returns to Mac. "Then I suppose soon you'll be an apprentice posted here I suppose. Along with Briari." she gives him a 'have fun with that' look. A new voice turns her gaze to the baby-in-the-oven Reya. "Ah, Half Moon's greetings to Monaco and her queens." and baby-toting gold riders too. "I'm Trysta and you no doubt saw my napping brown Marweroeth outside.”
Mac makes a quick face for the floor-fruit eating, clearly /not/ a believer in the ten-second rule, but says nothing about it, instead cracking a grin for her approval. "Why thank you, milady," he says dramatically, hand spinning in an elaborate bow. "The same could be said for you." Bright eyes shift to Trysta for her statement then, huffing out a laugh for her expression. "Aww, I don't think it'll be as bad as that. Though… I guess you won't always be around to keep her in check," he says jestingly, eyeing Briari with teasing wariness. Reya's suspicious approach is definitely noted, but the boy has enough sense not to call her on it. Instead, he grins and waves back to the goldrider, hoping beyond hope his blush has faded enough to no longer be conspicuous. "And I'm Mackaje, from the Starcraft" he says, adding himself onto the end of Trysta's greeting.
"I am hardly someone to worry about. I'm a lot more boring these days than I was a few turns ago. Tryst just hasn't had a chance to see the more mature side of me yet." Briari chuckles with a shrug of her shoulders. Lifting a hand to wave to Reya, she offers up a smile to her. "Good day to you Reya. I hope everything finds you well so far.”
"Aha! That's the visiting brown then. Monaco's duties to Half Moon…." There's the formal part before she just outfight throws it all out the window. "The name's Reya, well met Trysta, Mackaje!" Here's hoping that that she'll remember those names in 10 minutes. Don't count on it. "Hey there." The goldrider raises a hand and nods in Bri's direction before glancing over to the drinks table again. She'll inch a few steps closer and pour out a glass of juice before looking to the others. "So what're you youngsters doing on this lovely day?" Never mind that she's definitely not the youngest one here.
Trysta barely refrains from sticking out her tongue towards Briari. Just barely. "I bequeath you that task then Mac, to keep her in check for me. I don't know if I believe her claim of maturity!" she grins at her friend before looking back to Reya. "Well met then Reya!" a brow is raised at the younger comment. "Well us kid were just gossiping and some flirting but surely someone your age would find all that boring." she says, deadpan.
Mackaje flashes Briari a pretendingly frightened look. "Boring? Shells, I'd hate to see you in rare form, then." Or, from her explanation, maybe that was a glimpse back to said rare form. Regardless, he shifts his gaze over to Trysta for her task, snorting quietly under his breath. "Well, judging by my performance back there, I'm probably not the one best suited for the task, but I'll do my best," he says with a wink, one part sheepish, one part joking. Then, Reya's inquiring as to what they're up to, and Mac is definitely squinting at her and giving her a second once over. Youngsters, indeed! Luckily, Trysta beats him to the punch. He issues a loud "Ha!" for the blonde's deadpan answer, poorly disguising the noise as a cough. "Er, I mean… Yeah. Kid stuff, you know," he adds with a too-fervent nod and a bright grin.
"Oh no, I'm all down for the gossip…flirting not so much." Reya smirks before taking a sip of her juice. For a moment she looks quite wolfish in nature as she looks from one to the other. Briar might have been dragged off by the other harpers but there are still two here. "Kid stuff, hm? Well…how would you two like to help me with some more kid stuff? Earn a few marks on the side?" There's an arched eyebrow for the pair. Not. Suspicious. At. All.
"Well I guess it depends on who is flirting." Trysta relaxes minutely as Briari is drug away by fellow harpers. "Well I sure hope us kids would spend all our marks on sweets." she teases before nodding. "But..um, sure. Whatcha need done?”
"Aww, no fun," Mac drawls when Reya expresses her disinterest for flirting, but it's clearly meant as a joke, if his grin is anything to go by. A small wave is offered to the retreating Briari and then… and /then/ Reya fixes them with that wolfish look and throws out a proposition with no details and alas for her, Mackaje is suspicious enough to question her, if only for humorous effect. "What kinda 'kid stuff' we talkin'?," he asks, steepling his fingers and drumming them together, serious manner belied by a small smile threatening to dimple his left cheek.
"Nothing too bad really…" Reya's eyes glint with mischief before she's reach into her jacket pocket and pulling out a small bottle of some sort of red sauce. "This." Her gaze quickly darts to the kitchen and then back to Mac and Trysta. "You see, I've got a few more of these in the kitchen, but I'm not quite as fast on my feet as I used to be when it comes to running around unnoticed." There's a slight pause. "That and the head chef has it out for me." Who knows why. Such ridiculousness. "So if you two want to help me add these to today's menu….." She'll trail off at that and leave the rest to their imaginations for a moment.
Trysta glances at the bottle then at Reya. "Head chef has it out for you hmm?" she sounds amused. "Well…sure. I am game if Mac is. I am pretty sure I can outrun any cook." she does daily running as a part of her training after all.
"Done." The words are no sooner out of Reya's mouth than Mac is reaching out for the vial, one corner of his mouth flicked up in a devious smirk. He doesn't even need to know the rest, though he definitely snicker-snorts for the implication that the chef has had it out for Reya. One can only imagine why… Regardless, bright blue eyes flick over to Trysta when she agrees to help, the young man gesturing towards the kitchens with his chin. "How should we play this? Diplomatic inspection? Good guard, bad guard? We're out of soup, miss, can I please have more?," he asks, firing the suggestions a little too rapidly, as though this wasn't his first rodeo, and wouldn't be his last either. Muahaha.
"Then you're both game….wonderful!" Reya's grin turns a bit more wicked as she glances towards the kitchen doors. "There are two more bottles of this that I've managed to sneak into the kitchens already. One of them is in a cabinet next to the stove and the others hidden behind the spice rack. Look for the stuff they're cooking the most of and…douse the suckers." Roasted wherry needs sauce right? And the stew. Can put them in the vegetable dish too…anything really! "Whatever works for you two really. As long the stuff gets in there."
Trysta falls inline with Mack's brain storming process fairly quickly. "Oh…lets do good guard bad guard!" that one is always fun. Getting into the spirit she casts an impish grin to both Mack and Reya. "I'm sure we can come up with the best plan for getting it /everywhere/." dinner's gonna be interesting!
Mac takes this all in, eyes going a tad foggy with concentration as he commits all of that to memory. "Got it. Be right back." Sneaking back over to his table, he packs up his stuff and shoves it into a satchel, swinging it across his chest securely before trotting back over to the pair of riders. "Right, I've got a spare scroll. We can pretend we're investigating a rumor that they're putting tunnelsnakes in the stew instead of proper meat. That way we can get our hands on everything," he says a little too maniacally, eyes glimmering before he adopts a serious demeanor. Someone should've been a harper… "Let's do this thing," he says in his best bad guard voice, shooting Reya a wink before gesturing towards the kitchens. "Let's go, Trys." And they're off! The pubs are going to be booming with business tonight…