A Pithy Dilemna (K'sel)

[Requiem]

"They are juicy still," F'ur commented, grinning his trademark broad grin for the audience that couldn't see him. "Such a shame to be getting rid of them." He took another bite of the redfruit, hmming contemplatively to himself. My swiping the carrots off the ledge, covered in meat gravy, on top of the working drudges wasn't enough? What, are the fruit forbidden, too? "Forbidden fruit." He swallowed his bite, turning the redfruit over in the palm of his hand as he strolled jauntily through the trees, brushing aside a branch in his way. "I like the sound of that. It's a touch kinky, don't you think?" Do you honestly expect me to comprehend the crazy human Flying habits? Much less comment on them? I have yet to understand why human blues Fly human blues. If it was just you, it could be chalked up to insanity, but other males Fly each other. Ever so unnatural. "You like snatching your females and marking them with scars so they don't forget you. Humans call that sadism." Greens have notoriously short memories. A memento will remind them who they belong to. "Sadist." Freak.

Sinking his teeth into the flesh of the fruit, he tore away another piece, then ran his tongue over his lips to capture the juice. "I rather like the sound of that, too." You would. Back to my original question. Now the fruit's forbidden, too? I thought his only issue was the carrots...because you're a freak and kept pulling them out to watch him twitch sometimes when he started getting the human version of glowy. "Horny's the word." What do horns have to do wi- Stop trying to derail me. "I'm not. You're being amusing." F'ur paused, leaning up against a tall, straight hardwood, his foot planting against the vertical column. "He has taken to threatening to search me every night to be sure I come bearing no edibles. Not an entirely bad prospect, but there's a limit, and then the twitching isn't as funny." You mean you irritate him so much he doesn't want to Fly anymore. "Quite."

Then why not get rid of the red fruit at the same time as the carrots? Honestly, aren't you the one always harping on efficiency or some such? "Ah, but the red fruit did not commit so grievous a crime. It is the carrots that he has found distasteful; the red fruit are merely guilty by association. Lesser crime requires a lesser penalty." Am I really discussing penalizing human food with you? "That you are, my lovely, compassionate blue. Rather, you are helping me to decide how these foodstuffs should be punished. No drudge torturing this time, either. Apparently the healers heard about the raining carrots from a half dozen drudges with nasty bumps, and who do they go accusing? Me, of course. So biased." But it was you. "That's hardly the point, now is it?"

[Lotty]

K'sel didn't mind the cold, the definite chill in the air that lingered here even in the jungles. All it meant was that he had to wear a little bit more than a lightly loosely buttoned shirt for a change. Cue the entrance of a jacket clad brownrider, complete with some ratty fingerless gloves and a stocking cap usually only spotted on the sailor men of the northern seas. His mother had knitted it all for him of course, and something in the rather deep browns and blues of his winter wardrobe had him looking even more like a northern throwback than when he had been sporting that beard of his not too long ago. Speaking of which, he just knew he was going to wish having it back. Facial hair was so convenient when it was cold outside.

The greatest tragedy of the climate however was the fruit. They were all popsicles now. Frozen foods. But there had to be a few nuggets of gold out there somewhere. He would never be optimistic enough to think that he could get a mango or papaya, but the wild grapes were hardy enough and he swore he had spotted a bunch hanging so precariously from a vine way up high. It didn't take much guesswork to figure out then what the man was doing climbing trees (which admittedly was sort of a recreational habit for him anyway). If one were to look up, they could see that he was hanging off of a bowing and buckling tree limb so expertly; swinging his body forward and reaching for those tasty treats. Sure enough he knew the danger. The tree was creaking out with its protests, threatening to snap and break and drop him on his skinny ass. K'sel was just stubborn enough to ignore it, and sharding determined to get what he believed was his. This wasn't just fruit after all, it was manifest destiny.

Inches away however an unwelcomed visitor entered the scene and just enough weight anchored itself down on the branch. Though the bronze firelizard made only the "cutest" of chips and chatters (he was not so innocent as he was letting on) the tree gave it's final warning with a long crack. Time seemed to stop in that instance as the brown rider looked up and locked eyes with his troublemaker pet. His eyes instantly furrowed and his mouth stretched open letting out a long guttural scream of, "MOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHJJJOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"

It was at this time that he had crossed his paths with F'ur, landing himself in a large swath of jungle ferns in front of the bluerider. Don't worry, his before mentioned boney behind had broken most of his fall before the rest of him splayed out on the forest floor still vaguely gripping a grape leaf in one of his hands. The Fortian man was likely to think that hobos were just falling out of the sky here in Selenitas, and he wouldn't be too far off as K'sel pulled his upper body up in something akin to a drunken stupor. Talk about getting the wind knocked right out of you. Ouch. No shit?

Coming to and shaking the stupid right out of his head he refocused on the man before him....he knew him of course. A gather or two ago? Was a weyrlingmaster for a while if he recalled too. Innocenth's. Ah yes, there we go, a name to go with the face: F'ur. As could be expected from K'sel however, he wasn't one to bring any kind of attention to his obvious mishaps and despite having sprigs of foliage clinging to his woolen cap, he greeted the other man as if nothing at all unusual had just occurred. He drolled out in a sleepy tone, "Hows it going?"

((True story, I didn't realize Rei also had a thread featuring falling out of trees. My bad.))

[Requiem]

Crackle, creak. F'ur glanced up, raising a hand (still clutching the half-eaten redfruit), he squinted up at the source of the sounds, not making out much for all the leafy branches in the way. Terror's near silence immediately swelled into a whole wave of various paranoid mutterings, warnings, and near-panic. It was...it was a...a bear. Coming to eat them! "What's a bear?" F'ur questioned, brow furrowing. The purplish, transparent salamandyr's head popped up out of his collar, projecting an image of...one of those stuffed teddy bear things. Only big and with a mouth that gaped into sharp pointy teeth. "You're afraid of an overgrown toy?" It wasn't a toy. That idea had to come from somewhere! Somewhere, out there, was a real bear, just waiting to eat them! Right above them, probably. "Hm."

If it was a bear, then the bear was making a rather desperate little racket up there as it swiftly fell. Terror disappeared right back down F'ur's shirt with a squeak. Hide hide hide, His should hide! It was pouncing them! "Well, if that's the case, we've already been found, haven't we?" F'ur didn't move. Rather, he watched the person with their flailing limbs make a most untimely dive into a collection of ferns. The bluerider blinked at the stocking capped brownrider who'd sat up almost immediately after taking his plunge. Then, apparently unconcerned since the kid looked to be only shaken, F'ur took another bite of the fruit. "See? Told you he wasn't a bear. You can come out now." No, he'd turn into a bear any moment and eat them. "You're obsessed with these fantasy creatures, aren't you? Fine."

Apparently equally unconcerned about what this other might think of his seeming to be talking to himself, F'ur flashed a smile in response to the young man's question. He reached down, offering his free hand to the other rider. "Better than you, by the looks of it. Just a guess, but I don't think screaming 'mojo' is going to help you get it back. Don't worry, though; I won't spread your humiliation around. Yet. Much more fun to keep it as blackmail," he concluded cheerfully.

"Might I ask why you've taken to tree-diving? And if you have any bright ideas for disposing of a veritable hoard of redfruit? Creative, mind you. I've already gone through all the normal disposal methods. They've committed a crime, you see. Namely, they've irritated my weyrmate, and such irritants must be punished." The bluerider nodded solemnly, then squinted at K'sel. "I knooow you. Kid with the boozer not-quite-a-romance story. K'sel? So how is the hunt going with that girl these days?"

[Lotty]

To be recognized. Not always the best thing, but K'sel would take it. He did consider himself rather average, and people like him had a tendency to go overlooked, so to be picked out was quite the honor. Especially when the trigger for his name was that drunken fantasy he tried to weave. Loser or not, he was proud of being the man who broke the unspoken rule of keeping the contest kid friendly and the thought of the whole event cracked a smile on his lips. A faint one mind you, but it was there and blissfully ignoring the fact that he had just fallen the equivalent of two stories out of the foliage of the forest. Now, in the morning this would be a different story, the bruise that would surely mark his tail end would make those morning runs into a beast, and the young man knew of no healer trick that could quickly heal a cracked tail bone.

And thus he took the offered hand gratefully, rising to his feet with something of a groan before letting go and attending to stretching. With two hands placed on his hips he leaned and arched his back until a series of crackles ran up his spine. This time the brownrider merely winced before sighing and finally returning to the real world. Now what was the bluerider saying? He nearly missed it in the midst of straightening himself back out - besides it could just be more yammer about "bears" - but a cheeky comment was rarely missed by him, "Oh but a man can dream can't he?" Hmmf. If you were to ask him, he never had any kind of mojo other than one in the form of the firelizard.

If he had much of one then he still wouldn't be on the hunt for a girl. Or a guy. Or whatever. K'sel wasn't in any position to be very picky anymore. Preferences be damned.

"Saw some grapes," he began to explain his reasoning. Maybe clear up the whole 'mojo' thing in the process, though it wasn't exactly a priority, "Of course on the highest branch. I think they were calling to me and well I like a good challenge time to time," he smirked at his understatement. The brownrider was realizing that as lazy as he claimed to be, he had a habit of always taking the path less travelled, "My tree climbing skills failed me when my dearest pet tried to help..." he paused to roll his eyes. If Mojo was out there watching, then he would definitely see the displeasure on his bonded's face, "But yes, I am that very same kid with the boozer not-quite-a-romance story. K'sel it is..."

He gave a goofy exaggerated face and waggled his appendages out to the side of him...spirit fingers, jazz hands...but the moment of spontaneity died and he returned to his somber self as he considered the prospects of not only this hoard of redfruit, but also the girl. Rubbing his chin he sort of dismissed the latter in favor of returning to the former, "Haven't seen her since her graduation. Bought her some shinies, shaved off my beard, and I've yet to reap the rewards. She could have a man in her life for all I know. I'm a big pussy though so I'll still hold out hope," he would never be optimistic, no matter all of Erilena's insistence that their coupling was like destiny.

"Now what is all this business about redfruit?" it was rhetorical, but the raise of an eyebrow clued into his interest. Having a wealth of fruit was certainly something that the rider could help out with, "First things first I wouldn't mind eating one...if its not rotten. Even if they aren't I can't fathom consuming a bushel," he crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the ground in consideration, "Unless we were to make some cider....hmmmm yeah, we could always start a redfruit wine racquet, but even that seems awfully tame and I am much more of an appreciator than vinter..." as if F'ur couldn't have guessed that fact by now, "Target practice. Stick them on candidates heads, shoot them right off with an arrow...or a knife. Can't find ourselves any wiling participants then we could always just settle for using each other..." The scary part was that one couldn't ever quite tell when K'sel was joking or serious. Of course his brand of humor relied on this type of ambiguity.

Shrugging and loosening his stance he offered a slightly safer option, "Or you know we can be charitable and fly over some impoverished holders and rain our fruity bounty on their unsuspecting heads like some kind of mid-winter miracle!" A show of faux enthusiasm again as he threw his hands in the air in spun in place. Turning back to F'ur he added, "But the rules are we have to wear funny hats and the particularly snotty looking kids only get the half eaten specimens or the cores..."

[Requiem]

F'ur regarded the droll K'sel with something resembling curiosity, conveniently having shoved another redfruit into his face to stop his usual flow of chatter that didn't really have much of a purpose other than to see if the other person's eardrums started bleeding before or after their patience ran out. He glanced upward at the tree, squinting to make out where the branch had cracked and fallen. Hm, much higher than most ventured. The bluerider rather did appreciate the few daredevils he ran across. (It could be argued he had one living with him currently, after all. Who else tagged along after people who professed extreme hatred towards them, provoking fights, if not a daredevil? Course F'lix was another breed entirely.) His eyes returned to K'sel just in time to see the little hand motion, crinkles gathering at the corners of his eyes in a clear smile despite the fact that his mouth was still hidden by yummy fruit. Terror wasn't nearly as pleased with all the arm waving and was coiled and murmuring in actual audible speech for once, something about watch out one of the hands would hit the fruit and knock out his teeth. F'ur ignored the blue.

"Mmmm," he grunted noncommittally, still nomming in silence. F'ur had a bad habit of running away with things if he let himself and K'sel's responses were actually of some interest to him. Sides, all he had to say about Nephele was women were more trouble than they were worth. Always expecting commitment but more than willing to run to the next bigger, more muscley man - or more flirtatious - at the soonest opportunity. No need to poison the kid's mind with decades' worth of bitterness, though. He reserved that for the women who irritated him by being so very...female. He wasn't in the business of treating women like princesses and pretending they were just as reliable as men, while changing himself to suit their pretty tastes. He had quite a better deal with a man who just smiled - or sometimes frowned in a clearly not upset way - and shook his head at F'ur's antics. Then joined in. Heh.

At the brownrider's comment about eating some of the fruit, the bluerider let down the bag he'd slung over a shoulder, finally pulling the redfruit away from his face and clearing the juice from his lips with a sweep of his tongue. He pushed the bag over to K'sel with his foot in silent offering. Clearly he was considering the young man's suggestions, his head canting to the side and small little furrows etching between his brows as he considered. "Unless you've any better accuracy than me, I think the arrows and knives are out. Last I heard, killing candidates was still a punishable offense." Another bite of redfruit. Yay for brain food!

"The redfruit needs a different ending than the carrots. We rained those down on the drudges. I like funny hats, though." He nodded sagely. "You knooooow, the fruit is ripe enough that it should splat pretty spectacularly with a nice lob. I'm thinking a hit and run might be in order. Someplace suitably public and likely to produce chasers that we can then lead into the jungles and torment? You're a pretty decent climber if you got up so high. Don't suppose you ever...run or jump from tree to tree? If you don't it's rather fun. Minus the falling, of course. My weyrmate's quite good at it, actually. Yes, I think we could pelt the unsuspected with these redfruit, then lead them out here. Maybe with a few nicely preset traps to amuse ourselves with. Hmm."

F'ur was clearly musing aloud, speaking the ideas as they came to his head. "Don't suppose you have any nice lady holders hats? I've some really long tunics that look like dresses at a glance, and fans. Could do something with that?" He chewed on more fruit, a brow lifted in K'sel's direction. This kid might actually provide some amusement, and if he was willing enough and not a fool? Well, then, F'ur wasn't above taking a nice protege under his wing, a young partner in crime who could take up where he left off when the 'old man' got tooooo slow and graaaay. In like...twenty turns.

[Lotty]

I do not like where this is heading. This first of all seems stupid, secondly it's not constructive behavior, thirdly... Whamp whamp whamp...wah wah wah whampppp. Yadda yadda yadda. Blahhhhhh~ The brown dragon was throughly and childishly drowned out as his face lit up like it was his 6th name day and he got a sling shot as a present. Oh he liked this F'ur guy. He liked him very much, because unlike his usual associates (all women) he encouraged his more erm, rogue behavior and suicidal tendencies. Appreciation was shown via a feral grin that slid across his features. Nothing hung solely on his lips, the mischief twinkled in his eyes, and perked up on the back of his neck.

But first: food. As the man thought over his suggestions, K'sel helped himself to the bag of redfruit, practically crawling into the sack entirely all in the name of picking out a trio of them to choose from. Which one did he want? The fruit was poked and prodded for ripeness and even juggled for a moment as he ruled out at least one of them and then eventually also the rest, before settling on one and making his territory with one big bite. The juice sort of rolled down his chin, but it took him a long, lazy, moment before he could be bothered to attend to it. It was just plain delightful...well the fruit was, and the thought of carrot pelted drudges, but not so much the image of dead candidates that popped in his head.

"You mean to tell me there are people out there who swing around on vines and leap from branch to branch like some kind of vagrant jungle child raised by wild salamandyrs? And that you think that I may or may not be one of these people?" He gave the bluerider a critical look as he hid his amusement behind bites of the redfruit. A very convenient cover eating seemed to be for him, but it couldn't last for long, "I don't fly, no, but I can get around well enough without touching the ground," K'sel was always the winner of the favorite childhood game, within moments of hearing the declaration that the floor was lava he was up and out and usually knocking his brother into the imaginary magma flows.

Good times.

With on hand on his hip and the other one fiddling with the remainder of his snack he mentally checked off the inventory of his personal hat collection. Surely what he didn't have in the way of gaudy head ornaments his mother did, "If its hats that you need, then I have us covered. If I can do anything about it, I'll have us looking like young, naive, holder girls at a racetrack with the hopes of riding a jockey...or something like that..." he shrugged as he pieced together what ideas F'ur was offering up to him, and by his account it was shaping up to be realllll good, "So, how shall we get started?" Because it did not occur to the brownrider even once that this all might be a joke. Maybe he hit his head on the way down?

[Requiem]

The bluerider smiled directly at the brownrider, brows arching in a clear affirmative. Maybe not wild men, but jumping from limb to limb and swinging on the occasional vine? Definitely. F'lix hunted with a bow, and F'ur had a nice collection of feline furs in the dozens that he definitely hadn't bought. This was what northern riders did when they grew bored. That and throwing food down on unwitting drudges, or attempting the classic glue the candidatemaster's seat to his chair. Or fan dancing. Hm. He needed to break those out again sometime. Had been concentrating on the staff and the almost certain necessity for keeping people at a distance in a fight with his agility slowed by the lung damage and the injury to two ligaments in his knee. F'ur still didn't think it would be enough to give a single opponent the edge to win, but F'ur rarely fought one-on-one...it was true at Fort and it was true here. Bloody bastards weren't polite about it, now were they? If everyone would just qeue up nicely he'd be more than happy to give them all the attention they wanted...

"You have the means to melt off all these extra turns?" F'ur questioned, the surprised look on his face dreadfully exaggerated. "Well that does it right there, kid. I'm adopting you for the purposes of boredom alleviation and youth rejuvenation, at least for the day. Earn your keep and I might consider a more longterm arrangement." The bluerider winked. Kind of hard to tell what all was joking and what wasn't, with the man. Best just to assume it was all hot air but keep it in the back of your mind just in case it wasn't.

The middle-aged rider slumped bonelessly against the tree, gesturing expansively. "Well, naturally a man has to go about a certain order, putting such elaborate work together, don't you think? I imagine the booby traps must come first. Keep it simple. Snares and nets with conventional trips, suitably disguised. If you wanted to take the time there's always the old pit, water and leaf cover trap. Course that one has the disadvantage of they can get out whenever they want, and at least with the others there's a chance you can taunt them before letting them down." He grinned boyishly at K'sel.

"So then, traps first, followed by beauitfying us uglies. At least enough that people don't run out at first glance. Traps are not too effective without victims. You're pretty good at that juggling thing...we can put on an act. People are so predictable; give them something to watch spin or with a lot of pretty colors and they just stare at it mindlessly."

[Lotty]

The ability to melt turns off? Hmmmm wellllll... as much as the young man wanted to take credit for such a power, as far as he knew his perpetual youth probably came from the sucking of souls. If there was ever a man on Pern who could conjure of myths and legends of vampires it was probably he. While seeming to walk out of every single catastrophe unharmed whether it be plagues, massacres, battles, etc, his friends or even acquaintances...basically anybody he came into contact with died including his entire weyrling class, and that was before even graduation. The superstitious could claim he was an angel of death, stealing the life forces of others so that he may thrive and his generally misanthropic attitudes didn't help to persuade one otherwise.

All in all it would probably be better just to not tell F'ur any of this. No matter how much of a daredevil the ex-Fortian was, it would just be a major buzzkill to tell the man that associating with him may finally mean his unfortunate demise, and attentions were quickly shifted back to the time being. Had to enjoy what friendships he could keep even for a short while, and he snorted humorously at the notion of being adopted. Again. By another person. This was becoming an alarming trend, one that he was much too apathetic to protest. It was only for a day....

"I'm fond of the net idea, we can get more than one at once that way, and it doesn't have that escaping issue that you mentioned with the pits..." he was honestly very much considering different little traps. People were morons, he didn't think that the two of them would have to try all too hard to get the desired results, "There is a good spot where a couple of paths converge and the trail gets real narrow. I imagine we could put at least one trap there..." he gestured off down the way.

Although playing the part of a jester and potentially humiliating himself would fulfill wayyyy too many people's dreams, he felt safe enough knowing that he would be in disguise, and should that fail he would still get the best of someone else. Perfect. He would be more than willing to be an entertainer then and agreed amicably, "Not the best, but good enough to keep the simpletons distracted," he then rubbed his chin and grinned realizing that it was a rare blessing that he hadn't a beard or scruff to deal with...it would make for a horrible looking woman.

[Requiem]

“First we’re going to need a net.” Bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet, F’ur dropped his shoulder pack, pulling out…a net. Now, one might question just why he was running around with such a thing in his pack, since theoretically he couldn’t have known he would run into anyone to aid him in his antics. Of course, there was absolutely no reason he couldn’t have done it himself, and the net originally had a different purpose, so maybe not so odd as all that. F’ur did have the oddest tendency of carrying around completely random things. Actually, he was a pack rat, and his weyr resembled a dollar store turned garbage dump. Without the stench. F’lix would never go for rotting. (Not that F’ur would either, but that was rather beside the point.)

“Well, that’s all that’s really needed, isn’t it? I’ve always been a firm believer in the least amount of effort for the greatest gain.” He flashed K’sel a grin, ferreting around the nearby bushes and trees to find himself something of use for turning a simple fishing net into something meant for a catch a bit larger. “Find anything we can use as stakes?” F’ur himself was busy tearing a vine off of the nearest tree. A vine that had decided it very much preferred staying right where it was, thanks. Of course, F’ur was an obstinate one, and he planted a foot against the trunk to tug at it harder. One foot was soon joined by a second, and he was crouch-walking up the tree in short order, still yanking at the vine. It came loose in a shower of leaves. Which…was when he realized he’d had better ideas. The man fell flat on his back, air escaping in a huff. He gasped the breath back into his lungs while holding out the vine to K’sel.

It was in that sprawl that he stretched out and cradled his head in his hands, staring up into the tree above him as if thinking very hard. In truth, he was still working to regain his breath. Chest and back still didn’t take any direct jarring well, much to his chagrin, but hell if he’d let that leak into common knowledge. “Path sounds good. Leaves. We’ll need leaves, and we’ll need some sort of marker, something not too obvious but that will catch the eye while running. Would be a shame to get caught in our own trap by accident.” Even if they did take to the trees relatively early, it wasn’t difficult to lose your footing and running along the path might still be necessary.

[Lotty]

Was it wrong that K'sel did not for one moment question why his new blueriding compadre was carrying around a net? Well the brownrider didn't think it was weird at all, because if you are going to carry around a sack - another non-oddity to the man - then why shouldn't you have such a nifty little device in it? In fact, if he could guess F'ur probably also had an array of other useful things including but not limited to dice, duck calls, hair berets, pick up sticks, knives, herdbeast jerky, candles, sundials, and maybe a map of the North. This was all just some creative conjecture however, and on top of that, the one thing they really needed for step two of the project was not in the magic bag. Pity.

He grunted in his typical way as he stepped around wordlessly in search of supplies and leaving the other man mostly to his own devices. Hmmf, he was starting to feel a little tight in the muscles from that fall, but being the typical hard headed man he was he probably never would get around to the infirmary... Anyway, he was busy crouching down and picking out some stouter looking branches and sizing them up to be whittled down to nice looking stakes when he heard an all too familiar thud. He instantly shot back up to full height and glanced around the forest floor for the sight of a grounded F'ur. Ah, there he unsurprisingly was sprawled out on his back.

He sauntered over to the other man and ran his hand through his black hair to shove away some fickle bangs before leaning well over him and eclipsing any sight of the canopy F'ur might have had with his own face. At very least the expression that graced him was one that was very much amused, "Landing on our asses seems to be a shared trait..." and he winked before taking the offered vine and backing off and pondering on their prank again, adding the vine to his ever increasing pile of booby trap paraphernalia, "Oh a marker shouldn't be too hard I don't think," he pulled a red bandana out of his back pocket. He had a habit of wearing it right around his forehead for his own personal commando moments, "We'll know what it means, and I doubt anyone running for their lives from the redfruit assault will even notice it...unless you had a better idea?" He thought of posting his firelizards around the perimeter, and as reliable as Eyesore might be, Mojo and Fracas were highly questionable, the former for his love of trickery and the latter for her fickle, self centered nature.

[Requiem]

It was very tempting to snog him. No, not because K'sel was attractive...the man wasn't the most tasty specimen walking around Selenitas, even if you took the kitten out of the equation. (That said, he wasn't distasteful either, and might have been considered for more than a heartbeat had F'ur not been quite happily weyrmated. Looks were a very small part of the older bluerider's choices, after all.) No, this random compunction was a direct result of his face being that close, hovering over him like that, and F'ur found most men - particularly those who rode brown - would back up and back up quick when he tried to force a tongue down their throats. Quicker than, say, making a fuss about it. F'ur, at least, had never been known to back off in response to random twitching.

Fortunately for K'sel, he backed up before F'ur fully committed to the idea, so he didn't get a mouthful for his troubles.

"My ass can take the beating," F'ur remarked dryly. His back perhaps not so much, but that was another matter. He levered himself up and slid lithely to his feet, coming up behind K'sel in time to intercept the bandana. Snapping out the fabric, he hmm'd and set about climbing a nearby tree to tie it off well above eye level. That should work well enough. People had a bad habit of never looking up, and he was more than willing to take advantage of it.

Hastening to finish laying the trap - with a nice little test just to be sure of it before covering it in a fine layer of dirt and leaves that would conceal it from any who didn't know it was there - he caught K'sel's forearm and started loping back toward the weyr with his pack on his back and the sack thrown over his opposite shoulder. The older man settled into the pace of a distance runner. Truly, he could run a good half-day without a stop at this pace, not slow and plodding but certainly not fast, either. Could and had, once upon a turn. There was little need for it now. Stopping within sight of the weyr, he turned to his companion. "These hats, then. Where can we get them?" Not waiting for the answer, though, he'd already stepped out into the open air above the thunder of the waterfall, hastening to the stairs that would lead down into the tunnels of the weyr proper. He had sort of skirts to locate, after all.

[Lotty]

It was probably for the best that while awfully perceptive, he would never be a mind reader, lest he find out about the momentary idea of some mouth to mouth retaliation for the violation of personal space. Instead, K'sel was on his merry way and all about helping with their little crime. He was kicking some leaves over a spot of exposed net when the bluerider deemed them finished and grabbed a hold of him all ready for phase two of their devious plan. The younger of the pair, well he was all for it. Luckily, the brownrider was in good condition and up for the ever increasing speeds F'ur took, but did have to wrangle his arm away simply for the ease of keeping the pace. All those morning runs and all of that tree climbing certainly was coming together today to be very, very handy indeed.

Stopping before the weyr it wasn't hard for him to start brainstorming. There was the floral hat, the spurlunking helmet, the feline hunting safari hat, the criminal investigation hat, the sailor hat, the....well put simply, K'sel had collected a lot of hats over the turns. Everyone had their thing, and for some reason the man had a certain affinity for trying to find the most ridiculous head gear that could be conceived of. A vast majority had yet to be even worn - gentleman's top hat, we're looking at you - but there were a few fan favorites in the bunch. As for women's hats, well, that was a tad bit more rare, but he was sure there were a few floppier ones that could make the grade and if not....well then he was more than willing to steal from Erilena. Perfect revenge for the beard incident.

In fact...he was thinking that borrowing some accessories was the best idea ever. First things first though, "I've got a wardrobe of them up in my weyr, if you don't find any of them suitable I have a sister whose more than happy to share her supplies. We won't even have to sneak around, I think she's pulling shifts at the infirmary..." Working and stuff. A novel idea for sure. He bounced on his heels excitedly, but it seemed that the bluerider was just as ready to book it as well. Oh shards he couldn't remember the last time he had been so excited about something...and he darted on across the bridge after F'ur wondering if they had plans to split up and collect their costumes or work in tandem.

Because you know...girls were always asking each other fashion advice so why wouldn't they?