Ratty Snax
IC Date: <INSERT IC DATE HERE> OOC Date: November 06, 2012
Participants: Etzlix, Kayla, Kestilran, Garawan, Najara Location: Candidate/Weyrling Barracks
Summary: There are plenty of pets around the candidate barracks these days - all of them hungry!

Kayla shifts about rather uncomfortably on her cot, but says little if anything at all. Mostly, she seems to be concentrating on feeding not only a tiny little brown who's just crooooooning away, but a fat white rat in a cage as well. And that little brown seems to be crooning for his supper—with an eye on the rat! "No, Bard… Pie is a friend, not food. Here, THIS is food…" She holds out a bit of jerky to the little brown, which he looks somewhat dubious about but takes it in his forepaws and nibbles on it.

Najara glances over at what Kayla's doing, and gives a little wince of sympathy. "Mine's the same. I've kept him away so far, but…" she sighs, and shakes her head before looking at where her little bronze has decided to lounge: right on top of the half-grown brown on her pillow. Stackable firelizards! The bronze is asleep, the brown has half-open eyes.

Etzlix is settled crosslegged, quiet, on one of the corner cots while her fair of three firelizards lounge lazily upon her pillow. The teen has a sketchpad on her lap, chewing idly on the eraser of her pencil, seeming to be in her own little world and oblivious to the real world. That is until her gold decides she wants her lap and crawls right over and curls up on top of her sketchpad, making the girl blinks out of her reveries. "Ixzana!" She scolds, trying to rescue her pad from beneath the young gold.

Kayla shakes her head, chuckling softly with a little shrug, as she plops another piece of jerky into Bard's forepaws, shifting about to try and get comfortable again. "Well, you can't blame them for instinct. They'd hunt small prey in the wild. Just got to keep reminding them this isn't the wild." Just as she's glancing away to answer Najara, that little ball of mischief is extending his neck, nuzzling the door of the rat's cage with his maw….

Najara nods to Kayla, then laughs a little as Etzlix's gold causes trouble of a different sort. She grins, watching there for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose it's only to be expected," she says, and looks back to Kayla to see- "Oh, hey, watch out, he's trying again!" she calls out. The whispers of mischief in the air rouse Riel enough to open his eyes, though his brown pillow's looking entirely the other way.

Etzlix manages to rescue her sketchpad from Ixzana, settling it to the side of her on the cot and resting her pencil on tp of it before looking to the other candidates that are up, hazel eyes pausing on the caged rat with a shake to her head and a snicker. "I'm tryin' m'best t'get outta takin' care of that thing. M'fair would 'ave it fer supper fer sure. I ain't much good with an'mals anyway." The girl turns a little on her cot to watch the other two ladies, nodding to Najara's warning. "Isn't there a lock that kin be put on t'keep 'em out.. I wonder."

Garawan has been out, doing who knows what. But as he returns to the barracks, he has a piece of paper in his hand, and he writes something on the paper with a pencil. Humorously, there's a pair of firelizards on his shoulders — one on each shoulder — that almost look like they're looking at the paper over his shoulder!

Kayla lets out a little "Eep!", her hand darting out with a serpent's swiftness to gently pinch that naughty little maw shut with her thumb and forefinger. While she picks up the cage from her lap and moves it just out of reach of hungry flizzen bellies, she guides Bard's head, turning him to face her and look her directly in the eyes. "No, Bard. Not food. Friends." Bard, on his part, just looks up at her with swirling turquoise eyes, making an innocent-sounding little chireep. "Nice try." To Etzlix, she inclines her head, shrugging just a bit. "Hmmm. Not sure, could ask and see if anybody has something like that."

Najara nods a little to Etzlix. "It's… not so bad." For a rat, her expression adds. "And besides, Alli's got no idea what to do with it," she glances to the brown with a little smile. "So I've just got Riel to keep in line." She reaches out and pets along the bronze's back, and he trills a pleasant scale. She hmms to the idea of a lock. "Calla might have one. That trader," she suggests, then waves a little to Garawan.

Etzlix lets hazel eyes glance upwards as Garawan enters, watching him writing as he walks, even offering a brief wave, her bangle bracelets tinkling merrily. Then she's back to Kayla and Najara. "Aye, she might at that, mayhaps I'll go try an' find 'er later, that could be m'donation t'th'rat project." Then maybe she could get out of watching the thing.

Garawan looks up in time to see the wave from Etzlix, and offers one in return, raising one of his perpetually-gloved hands to waves back. The words 'that trader' draw his attention, though, and he gravitates over towards where the talk came from. "Did someone call for a trader?" he inquires. His voice is calm and his words are formal.

Kayla grins, nodding towards Etzlix. "She did, good sir. Do you think you might be of some assistance?" With flizzen and caged rat safely separated, she settles back to watch the exchange between the two, having known of but never seen this side of Garawan before. In an aside to Najara, she whispers, "This should be fun."

Ask and ye shall recieve! Najara's barely done nodding to Etzlix's idea before there's a trader presenting himself for deal-making! She grins as well, and continues petting her firelizard. She stops her book from shutting with the other hand, but she's not really paying attention to studying anymore. Instead, she giggles a little and nods to Kayla.

Etzlix watches as the trader presents himself, chuckling quietly and stroking a finger over her gold's headknobs. "We was wonderin' iff'n there be such a thing as a firelizard-proof lock.. fer th'rat cages. Seems all our firelizards wanna eat th'poor furry things."

Garawan looks between the three ladies who seem to be needing a trader, to acknowledge them all. Etzlix notes what they need, and he places a gloved finger on his lips. "Hmm… firelizard-proof lock?" He pauses a moment, to think. "Well… perhaps a key lock would be better? A small but sturdy lock that opens with a key. Obviously the firelizards won't have the key, as long as you keep it on you, hm? Of course… everyone with access to the rat will need a key…."

Kayla nods. "Makes sense, but we also all know a firelizards' penchant for shinies, and just how tempting those keys would be to curious little flits. Are there any other types of locks you could recommend?"

Zelix cracks open one eye, shinies?

"And then the other team of candidates couldn't mess with it either," says Najara to Kayla with a teasing grin and a wink as she listens to Garawan's suggestion, then hehs to Kayla and glances to Riel, who crooons a pleasant 'who, me?' as he curves tail and neck elegantly.
Etzlix nods a little. "Aye, that too. But.. keys fer ev'ryone on th'team, that'd be a lotta keys t'keep track of." She hmms quietly a moment. "I s;ppose there could be jus' one key that travels with th'cage, but then what iff'n it gets, erm, misplaced." She eyes the neon blue firelizard who had cracked his eye open at the mention of shinies.

Both Kayla's question and Etzlix's concerns have Garawan thinking again. "Hm. Perhaps a combination lock, then? Then there would be no key to lose or steal, and a copy of the combination could be given to everyone who needs access to the rat."

Kayla tilts her head to one side, considering the idea, while somehow at the same time managing to keep an eye on her little brown and the fat white pain in the… the darling plump white rat that has somehow become the team's mascot. "True, and I've yet to see a firelizard figure out a combination lock. Has anybody else?"

Najara glances over to the little Wherry- er, rat- that is her own team's, just to make sure nothing's happened to it. Whew. Then she nods a little to Garawan's revised suggestion. "That might work…" she says, and gives her firelizards a considering look. "I mean, they could maybe grab on with their claws, but…" Just what would a firelizard do for a Klondike Rat?

Etzlix considers the option of a combination lock. "That could work. I mean, I dunna think m'fair would bother tryin' t'break a combo jus' fer a bit o'tasty furrything." She glances first to the neon blue who has made his way over to chew at one of her bracelets, then to the brown who is still sleeping on her pillow, then back to the gold on her lap. "Acourse, mine tend t'be lazy sometimes."

Garawan nods to Kayla's observation. "They are quite intelligent, and can figure complicated puzzles out… but something that requires reading comprehension, I think, may just be beyond their scope. They might be lucky enough to figure it out, or perhaps could feel the tumblers aligning inside the lock, but aside from that…." And to Najara's statement? "As long as they could not pull the rat out through the bars, it should be fine. After all, if a firelizard could /pull/ the rat out, the rat could escape itself." And Etzlix's statement of her lazy firelizards draws a chuckle. "Ah, laziness. Eternal enemy of firelizard shenanigans," he observes.

Kestilran comes in from lunch and his chores with a bowl of nutty-butter and corn chips. "I brought something for our mascot," he says and goes over to the cage that houses the piebald rat. "Hello, little guy! Look what I brought for you!" he says in a high(er) voice, leeping his tone soft but happy. He scops up a little bit of the thick, tasty treat on a bit of a chip and holds it up to the bars of the cage, letting the rat sniff at it. "See? Nice and ummy for you."

Kayla nods, and crosses her arms, settling back to listen to the wheeling and dealing. In an aside to Kestilran and Najara, she whispers, "I wonder how much these locks are going to set us ba… ummmm, rats eat that sort of thing? Been sharing my vegetables with ours, he seems to like it well enough…."

"I still don't know just how clever firelizards are," says Najara. "I mean, Alli, well…" she shrugs. "Riel can think circles around him already, and he's just a baby." She glances to the gold Etzlix has, and at some of the others, then glances over to Kayla. "Well… you're all in it together, right?" she asks, then glances to Kestilran and hmms. "Aren't they supposed to… scavenge around?" She wrinkles her nose a little. "I guess the rat knows what's edible… right?"

Etzlix considers with a shrug, "Well, th'larger colours seem t'be a bit smarter most of th'time, or so it seems." She runs a fingerover Ixzana's headknobs. "But I think a combination lock would prob'ly work. How much does one cost?" She asks, turning hazel eyes to Garawan curiously after giving Kestilran a bracelet-jingling wave and smile.

Garawan looks up as Kestilran enters the room, offering a smile and a wave of one gloved hand. He chuckles at the offering of the food to the rat, though he doesn't say anything about it. He's making a sale! Sorta. Najara's attention shifts the Kestilran, and he nods to her once, then turns his attention to the sale. He may or may not have heard Kayla's question of how much, but when Etzlix asks the question, he answers. "Hmm… well, it would have to be one of the smaller locks. Of course, they can only be /so/ small before there is no room for the tumblers to turn inside it. Though I know of a clockmaker who can make small tumblers. So…." He names a fair price. And a smile.

Kestilran tilts his head back slightly and gives a smile to Etzlix. "Hi! How you doing? He says softly to Najara, "In the wild they can forage and scavange. Where they gonna do that in a cage?" As the rat comes up to sniff at the treat and sticks his little nose out between the bars, Kestilran turns the chip sideways to tilt it and slip it in between the bars. He does not make the rat beg or reach for it. After the rat has taken the treat and sits to eat it contentedly then he sticks his finger into the cage to carefully rub the rat's shoulders.

Najara nods to Etzlix, and gives Riel a pet. He trills, and stretches out onto his side. She smiles at him, then looks out to Kestilran again and hmms. "Well, I guess," she says. "I'm no beastcrafter." She watches the rat eat for a moment. "He seems to like it, anyways."

Etzlix turns her attention back to garawan, since it appears she'll be the one buying the lock, at least for her own team anyway. She considers the price, hmm''ing quietly. "Well, anyway y'kin go lower, I mean, I'm jus' a lowly cand'date afterall." She flashes a beaming smile to the trader. Of course, before she has a chance to hashout a deal, she seems to remember something and h mms. "Well, I'll see iff'n I kin get th'marks from somewhere, but I've gotta meet someone, I a'most forgot." And with that she's scooping her gold from her lap to deposit her on the cot before getting to her feet. "I'll be back." And she reaches to grab her fellow candidate Alyn and drag him out the door, poor guy.

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