Jessa and Rallaei's...Play?
Ista Sea Hold Courtyard
Barren and windswept, this small courtyard lies outside the Dolphinhall's main entrance and is paved with large flagstones that lead up from a break in the low, surrounding wall to a large metal door set into the rock of the actual hall. Huge and metal, the door gleam dully beneath a layer of gathering tarnish and the corrosion of sea air, for the area looks out upon the spar and mouth of the cave-like sea entrance into the hall. Back the other way, beyond the low stone wall that surrounds this area, the hold's cove gleams like a rough-cut gem of tropical blue waters and black beach sands, the main hold itself off just beyond that.
It is a spring midmorning.
To the southeast, you see five ships.
You see SeaSprite here.
Mailli is here.
Obvious exits:
Lane's Beach Main Hall Main Beach Quay
A blue dragon is just landing as Mailli picks up her small bundle of things. Her biggest bundle, is of course stuck out in front of her, "Orders from the Healers is to fly you two straight, Ma'am," the rider says as he helps Mai up onto the dragon's neck.
Jessa needs no help getting up, she just scrambles up after them. Her belongings in one hand. ferret is, for once, absent. And one 'lizard trails behind and hovers, waiting to go along with them.
Seacliffs Courtyard
With the soft echoes of the sea pounding the cliffs behind you, you enter a large natural chamber in the cliffside. Behind, fading away is the faint restlessness of the sea, the tang of the salt air, and before you the open courtyard, which gives an unobstructed view of the sea. Turning into the courtyard, you pass into the chamber and find yourself immersed in greenery, potted plants, citrus trees and flowers, all protected from Fall by overhanging ledges naturally carved out of the cliff. The courtyard is open overhead, allowing sunlight and fresh air to sweep in through a natural chimney in the cliff-face. Neither inclement weather nor Thread enter the chamber, because of the ledges'... [look closer]
It is a spring midmorning.
Gliding above are five firelizards.
You see Bandit, Flamer Shed, Doomth Wagon, and Road's Hope here.
You notice Darax, Syra, Morrigan, and Leandra asleep here.
Obvious exits:
Beach Stables Common Room Herb Garden Road Smithy
Jessa slides off easily, her bundle in hands. Once on the ground she looks around, and then her firelizard blinks from between and perches on her shoulder. Jess beams and looks around.
Mailli bearly has time to back away from the blue as he launches into the air. The rider waves an apology for not staying and soon the pair blink between.
Rallaei walks in.
Mailli spots Rallaei as he approaches, then looks over to Jessa, "Play nicely," she warns softly as she enters the hold proper.
Mailli waddles to the Common Room.
Rallaei is walking. Yes. And looking important. Yes. And he's got trunks on, and nothing much else, which might be a bit cold, but he doesn't seem to show it. and he stops to peek at the landing blue, and then beams towards Mailli, and then shudders for Jessa, and tries to find somewhere to hide.
Jessa makes a face at her mentor, hmph. Jess always plays nicely. She smirks at Rallaei. "And what are you up to? Trying to die of exposure? Well, by all means go ahead then, don't let me distract you."
Rallaei decides against hiding, instead pressing his hands to the back of his head and thrusting his torso Jessa-wards. "You know you want me," is declared rather confidently. "Dunno why you always hide it. Even if it wouldn't work out for you, don't you think true love's at least worth the attempt?" Yup, he's still hung up on that idea.
Jessa raises a brow at the boy. "I don't want you at all. I already got someone. True love? Nah, I won't attempt that, at least not with you. Now shoo, go off and freeze or something."
"Oh, do you?" And suddenly Rallaei is even more into the discussion than he was a moment ago. "Who's that? Y'can tell me, I'm nice and won't tell a soul, a nd I'll tell you mine, and I don't want to freeze. S'only the Istan island." Though he is shivering slightly.
Jessa keeps her brow raised at Rallaei and eyes him critically. "And why would I tell you that? You are -not- nice. You're a mean ol' wherry. And I don't believe you won't tell anyone. You're too much of a dumbglow to remember to not tell anyone. And I don't care you who like. I just feel sorry for whoever it is."
"Then I'm a mean old wherry, and you can tell me anyway." At which point eyebrows are wriggled and he brings his cold little self closer. For body heat, you understand. "And you /do/ care. You waaaaant to know. You haaaaave to know. 'Cause it's a big impressive thing and all." Nod.
Jessa gives Rallaei a disgusted look. "I don't want to know. And I don't have to know." Goodness, if the boy wants to tell her, then why not? Now if it's her then she might have to jump in the water to cleanse herself or something, or just beat up Rallaei again. "Pfah. I don't care at all. Now go and freeze somewhere else."
"I told you, I don't /want/ to freeze," Rallaei replies, scooching still closer. "Keep me waaaaaaarm Jessa! Remember the grand old times when you rode 'round on my shoulders? We could do somethin' like that... I'm so loooonely, I'm so coooold." And he's singing now. Off-key. And with no particular tune. Very near Jessa's ear, or at least he tries to be.
Jessa is -not- amused. Nor is she happy. And an unhappy Jess makes for a violent Jess. "I don't care if you don't want to freeze. -I- want you to freeze. Now shoo. Go freeze. I don't care about you." The singing gets on the Keroonian's nerves. And she does the first thing that she can think of to get rid of an annoyance, she makes a nice fist and aims it for her rival.
Rallaei ends up receiving a fist in the shoulder, and it does stop his singing. And even decreases the likelihood of dancing. Howerver, it's got him scowling, and that's bad. "That was uncalled for. I'll expect an apology." At which point, arms are crossed over his chest, and toe is tapped expectantly. "I'm waiting."
Oh, she'll give him an apology, if that's what he really wants. Jess swings her fist again, putting a bit more power behind it this time and aiming for his face. She'S not about to apologize to Rallaei, he doesn't deserve it.
Rallaei is so busy waiting that he doesn't think to dodge. And thus gets smoked. In the face. In the nose. And that starts bleeding. And the lack-of-eyebrows are narrowed, and the lad gets the 'angry' look on his face. "Right, then, I'll shardin' BLEED on you!" At which point he lunges for her, arms outstretched. Quasi-tackle, really. If it works.
Jessa eeks and backsteps, but is inwardly proud of the wonderful hit that she got on him. But oops, that happiness is short lived as the apprentice stumbles and -is- tackled. Rallaei has tackled her? Rallaei on -top- of her. Eeeek! Jess looks very disgusted at him and slaps at him. "Get off me!"
TseLeGi glides in from the Seacliffs Common Room.
Rallaei is officially on top. Hahahah! (Okay.) Anywho, head is shook faintly, though the blood from his nose, as of yet, hasn't gotten around to dripping. Lucky Jessa. "You're mean, so feel the liquidity, yeah baby!" He gets funny when he's being physical. "You deserve it! Apologise!"
TseLeGi rockets through the hold doors. He tangles all four of his taloned feet into Rallaei's hair and pulls with all his strength chittering in absulote fury.
Mailli waddles in from the Seacliffs Common Room.
Jessa just -glares- at Rallaei, but then struggling and wriggling isn't going to help get him off. Jess aims another punch for his face, hoping to knock him off her or something.
Mailli waddles through the hold door after her little flit. She doesn't bother to ask questions. Doesn't matter who started this, she was going to end it. "HOLD!" she shouts at the two combatants as she shoves Rallaei off of Jessa, then grabs each of them by a shoulder to pull them to their feet.
Struggling might not remove the cold SeaCliffs-type, but a 'lizard? Anywho, Rallaei swears in bunches, and stumbles backwards and sorta off Jessa, avoiding the punch and batting at the thing in his hair. "Y'can't start a fight and then call in the winged army!" is protested towards the apprentice- naturally he'd assume the firelizard to be hers, right? "That's a cheap shot! In fact, there were several!"
Jessa just -glares- at Rallaei as her mentor pulls her to her feet. "It's not -my- firelizard. Mine is over there," Jess points to the gold firelizard perched and watching them. "And -you- started it. Not me." At the cheap shot she takes offense, "Nope, not one of them was a cheap shot."
"I'm not the one who threw the first /two/ punches," Rallaei points out, sticking his tongue out, and giving his shoulder an instinctive twitch in an attempt to rid himself of Mailli's grip. "Y'should be thrown out of the craft." Pthbt.
Jessa glares back at Rallaei. "You tried to grab me!" Is her defense, "I'm not a blanket for you, y'know. You should have just gone off and frozen on your own and left me alone!" He earned those punches, indeed he did.
Mailli shakes Jessa's shoulder, "Enough! Both of you!" woops, someone has just made a /huge/ mistake. Just who isn't clear yet, but there you have it. "I said /enough/!" And her she gives Rallaei's shoulder a shake, "Let's just go see if Eirian is around, shall we? I'm sure she has lots of tubers for the pair of you to clean."
Jessa looks very unhappy at being shaken, but quiets at her mentor's insistence. Tubers? Ick. Hm, now how to get out of chores and such?
Mailli looks at the two 'prentices, "You, what happened?" this is directed at Rallaei. Jess will get her chance to tell her side soon enough.
Rallaei snorts for the punishment, but otherwise behaves. "We were rehearsing. For a play. That we made up. We just messed up in the fight scene, and I got bloody, is all, an was stunned, and fell on her... But the dramatic effect was spectacular."
Jessa looks innocent, and nods at what Rallaei says. But she doesn't say anything. Nope nope. This apprentice keeps good and quiet, until Mailli asks -her- version of the story.
Mailli eyes Rallaei with a touch of suspicion, "Well?" she directs at Jessa while trying to disentangle her blue firelizard. *At least I think he's blue?*
Jessa nods to Mailli, "That's exactly what happened. We were rehearsing a little play that we made up. It's really quite fun. But then I must have slipped or something, and accidently hit Rallaei's nose." She plays the innocent part quite well, doesn't she? "And then he kind of fell over in surprise, and fell onto me." They're innocent, really. Not fighting, just playing.
Mailli now eyes them both with a touch of suspicion, "Hmm, alright. Rallaei, you best go see Taree about that nose. As for you, Jessa, be more careful. If you /want/ acting lessons just ask. I can arrange for a harper to come and teach you." She gives them both a warry eye and waddles back into the hold, TseLeGi now firmly under her control. Yup, he is.. She has him wrapped up in her riding jacket.
Mailli calls to TseLeGi, who flies over and lands on her shoulder.
Rallaei shoots a grin (over faintly bloodied lips) to the other apprentice, and then turns expectantly to Mailli. "So... So we don't have to do tubers? And I will go see her. Definitely. Though it's just a slight bleed..." that's still bleeding...
Jessa tries to avoid looking at the other apprentice, or at least doing so without obviously appearing to be -not- looking at him. Tubers? Pfah, why bother asking? Jess nods and smiles to her mentor, "Yah, I'll consider it." Might be fun, actually.
Mailli looks at Rallaei a bit more sternly than she perhaps should have, "You both have kitchenchores tonight. Anymore of this kind of nonsense, and..." she lets the sentence die away. Deliberately of course.
"Fine then. We won't pursue our artistic talents." A huff is given, and Rallaei sniffles just slightly. "But you'll be sorry when we aren't supporting you with our well-earned marks from our shows." So... there?
Jessa giggles at Rallaei's remark. But she still tries to avoid looking at him without being obvious about it. "Oh come on Mailli," she asks, all sweet like. Maybe they can weasle their way out of the chores.
Mailli bursts out laughing, she just can't help it. The looks on both faces are just too much, and she relents. Wheee, don't you just love women who are on the emotional rollercoaster ride known as pregnancy? She's just laughing too hard to be able to make her previous statement stick.
Rallaei beams to the ranking one. "You know that you could be my personal hero, eh?" is crooned her way with a flutter of his eyelashes. Extra special. "So... So we should go get me looked at, hmm? Jess can take me to the infirmary... We get along well." Is he being too obvious?
Mailli wipes tears away from her eyes as she hands Matti to Jessa and TseLeGi to Rallaei, "I think I'll just send these two with you both, hmm?"
Mailli hands you Matti.
Mailli hands TseLeGi to Rallaei.
Rallaei glares very briefly at the firelizard, and then shrugs faintly. "All right. They'll get bored though. Maybe even sick, what with all our mush talk." At which point an arm is bent and offered to Jessa in escort-esque fashion. "Shall we?"
Jessa blinks at Mailli and looks surprised at her mentor. And at Rallaei. Why would -Jess- take him there? Does he have a death wish or something? Uh oh, the 'lizards are coming. She gives the bronze a somewhat distasteful look, but gingerly takes him and puts him on a shoulder. Her gold promptly flies over to her other free shoulder and chirps to the bronze. Jess does -not- look happy at this development, "But Mailli... they're -heavy- and annoying."
Still chuckling, Mai looks at both of the 'prentices, "You will both carry them around whenever you are together. /If/ my presence is required, one of them /will/ let me know. You should count yourselves lucky," she chuckles a moment more before finally getting herself back under control.
Jessa just looks unhappy, "But, but, your firelizard is -flirting- with mine!" Ok, maybe not. maybe it's the other way around. Or maybe there's nothing happening, but it's an excuse.
Rallaei rolls his eyes, and nods perfectly glumly. "But then the secrets of our play'll be given away. So much for surprises." The sigh is emitted, and he nods dully. Acceptance of the punishment.
Mailli starts to chuckle again, "Maybe she likes Matti?" Still chuckling softly, Mai walks back inside.
Mailli waddles to the Common Room.
Jessa looks upset at that thought. So they're stuck with the li'l spies. Grr.
Rallaei rolls his eyes slightly at Jessa, his bleeding having stopped and crustied up a bit. "Well, there we have it. Aren't they cute though. Barthez won't mind, he's too lazy, but the rest of 'em? Well..." A slow rolling shrug here, and he points. "Wanna take me to see a Healer, Jessa-dearest?"
Jessa looks disgusted at Rallaei, "Oh take yourself to the Healer. Or go freeze and spare yourself the trip." Back to her hostilities or something like that. "Barthez? Who's that? And why would I care about anyone named Barthez that you know?"
"It's my firelizard," Rallaei responds lightly. "He's blue. He's pretty. He's fat. Come on, you and I get along, 'member?" And a nod is sent towards the firelizard. "We don't want her back here with the tuber threat..."
Jessa raises a brow, "We get along? No, we don't." But if they're going to have to be threatened with tubers, then they can get along well enough to go somewhere else where Mailli won't find them. "Well, I don't care where you're going. But I'm going to the beach."
"Yes, we /do/!" Rallai retorts, restraining himself from nudging at her ribs. "Right. I'll join up with you later, I guess." A quick nod. "But I've got blood-cleaning to do. We can work this stuff out some other time, I'm sure. Bye. I'll miss you."
Jessa wrinkles her nose at him, "Pfah, don't bother to find me. And I -won't- miss you at all." In short, he shouldn't waste his breathe trying to be nice to her, she's not convinced of his attempts at niceness at all.
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are © Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2000, all rights
reserved, and used by permission of the author.
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