Pillow Fort (Weyrling Chores; Open)

[Requiem]

Not so odd, no, to see him crawling around with two little weyrbrats bouncing on his back. At least, not to anyone who knew X'rx or frequented the creche. Jaiya stood off to one side, pretending her older brother wasn't embarrassing her in front of one of the brownriders come to pick up his son. Nevertheless, her stammering description of the child's behavior for the day and the slight flush to her cheeks betrayed her. X'rx was pleasantly oblivious - or simply didn't care. The greenweyrling bounced a little, making a fair impression of a runner sound and 'giddyuping' with a snort. If he minded the little hands fisted in his hair, or the heels kicking at his sides, he made no indication of it.

Then, of a sudden, the runner 'gave out', clearly exhausted after being run about by the pair and tumbling the two little ones off amidst a flourish of giggles. Minnie, meanwhile, was tolerantly allowing some of the older ones to give her 'pets', the firelizard squirming happily in an attempt to return it through nuzzles and by coiling around little wrists. (Some of the weyrbrats were still frightened of her ghastly appearance: large, black, and equipped with a wicked beak-like snout. Most, however, had quickly realized that the brown-sized green was a sweetheart and not about to hurt anyone.)

Sprawling out on his back, X'rx allowed a little girl to cuddle into his side. He pointed toward the cluster of activity in the far corner. "What's going on over there, Gayle?" She giggled, poking at his side. "Wese makin a fort, Mistuh Zoinks." He scrunched his face up exaggeratedly. "A fort?" The girl gave him a solemn nod, and then her face split into a broad grin. "A pillow fort!"

[raii]

Rof'l rubbed Kamath's ridges as the dragon drifted into a deep sleep. He was growing rather large. Though he was far from mature, he grew in size nearly every day. This, of course, required oiling, but not to the excessive amount that Kamath demanded. Rof'l hoped Kamath would grow out of this shiny obsession. Unfortunately, it only developed. He was smug in his shininess. He wanted other things that had shininess. He wanted to enhance his shininess.

That dragon was a handful. All of them were, he assumed, especially before maturity. Rof'l left his barracks. A normal thirteen year old would be tired, but Rof'l was still bursting with energy. He wanted to play! He wanted to laugh! He certainly did not want to touch anything oily. He decided on chores, as they needed doing, but wondered for a moment about the place. Of course, playing and laughing would be found in the Creche.

As he entered, he noted a corner packed with weyrbrats, a young man with a little girl, and a strangely colored fire lizard. Upon closer inspection, he recognized X'rx. Although he hadn't known the rider well during earlier years at the Weyr, he had met X'rx on the beach with his dragon. He greeted X'rx cheerfully. "Hi, there, X'rx! And who might you be?"

He hadn't been here in a long time. In fact, not since he was just a child. Sure brought back memories. He smiled kindly at the little girl. "My name is Rof'l. It's certainly a pleasure to meet you," he said, giving her a slight bow. His eyes were filled with laughter, though his face was mockingly serious, curled into a solemn expression. He loved the children, he really did.

[Ember]

The best part of creche chores for Dy'shi was the play. He was still young enough to enjoy playing with the weyrbrats despite the fact that he rode a dragon and said dragon was almost mature enough to start rising. He also liked that he could pick creche chores and not feel guilty for having a good time. He normally would have picked a harder task but X'rx had mentioned doing creche chores and Dy had tagged along. They occasionally picked the same chores but it wasn't too often, so Dy was indulging himself a little bit.

He had become part of the crew building a pillow fort in the corner. He playfully tossed a pillow at a kid who giggled and pounced him. As they wrestled (carefully on Dy's part) they tumbled into the fort and part of it collapsed. There were cries of anger and sadness from some of the other kids but Dy and the one who pounced him were too busy giggling to mind. When the blueweyrling finally stopped laughing he said "Oops" and he started laughing again, this time with more of the kids laughing too. "Shishi is silly!" Shaenia said at large and the boy grinned in response.

"What do we do now, Shishi? Our fort went splat!" Dy'shi ruffled the girl's hair and leaned toward her conspiratorially. She leaned towards him, eyes staring at him raptly. "We..." he paused for effect and she poked him. "We what?" With a smile he said, "We rebuild, of course!" Dy'shi renewed the effort to build the fort with the kids, smiling as he did so. He was oblivious as of yet to Rof'l's presence but not doubt he'd be quite happy to have another join his fun.

[Requiem]

(I apologize for epic failness.)

Was that a Rof'l? It certainly looked like a Rof'l, which caught Minnie's attention, too. The queer-looking green firelizard trilled a greeting to him, nuzzling up to the childrens' fingers one last time before winging for the boy, landing on his shoulder and curling her tail possessively around his neck as she rubbed herself against the bronzeweyrling's cheek. Hello, hello, hello X'rx friend! She couldn't remember if she'd met him before, but she knew when they were friends of Hers, and that was more than enough for Minnie. The young man offered Rof'l a friendly smile, but he was more preoccupied with the little girl attempting to melt into his side. She was a bit shy when it came to new faces.

"I-I'm Gayle," she responded softly, at a little nudge from X'rx. Her eyes went wide as the thirteen-turn-old, a rider, bowed to her, just a 'brat. Gayle giggled shyly, ducking her head into the greenweyrling again, one eye still fixed on Rof'l. "He just Impressed a baby bronze," X'rx confided in a whisper, making the child blush deeper. He waved at Dy'shi from his position still sprawled on his back on the floor. "Hey, Dy, get over here and come congratulate our new bronzeweyrling, hm? And let's all hope he's not nearly as much trouble as Cr'oph." His eyes flicked good-naturedly to Rof'l's face. "Or I might just have to let Eveyth remind you we're all just skinbags after all." A playful wink.

"I don't think we've given Rof'l a proper creche welcome. All right everyone." He raised his voice loud enough for all the little kids to hear. "Dog pile on the bronzie!" Cue a dozen little bodies hopping around Rof'l and pulling him down in a fit of giggles. X'rx smiled mischievously, resting his head on his hand. Minnie quite wisely vacated one thirteen-turn-old for the other, chittering at Dy'shi in an animated display of amused irritation at Hers. Play like that could be dangerous! She licked the blueweyrling's ear.

[raii]

Rof'l was a bit surprised by the friendliness of the green. He stroked her head kindly. "Hello there, Gale," he said sweetly. At X'rx's comment, he grinned. "I like to think I'm only trouble when I want to be. And only the good kind, at that." He didn't know Cr'oph, but could vaguely remember him as a senior Weyrling. Or had his group graduated? These kind of logistics didn't stay in his mind. No matter how often one told him this, his mind forgot it easily. He only remembered important information...like what a dog pile was.

He pretended to run, but not fast enough to escape the little ones tugging him to the ground. He laughed along with them, tickling a nearby girl who leaped on top of him. He dramatically stuck his arm out of the sea of bodies, letting it slowly fall into the mass as he cried, "I'm drowning!" One little boy tried to save him, tugging on his arms, while his friend tugged on the legs. Rof'l twisted to free himself, leaping up.

Having successfully escaped was only step one. Step two was to create mayhem. He took a fallen pillow and tossed at a nearby girl. Within moments, a huge battle with fluffy weapons had started. The fort seemed to have to wait until a champion became victorious. Kids were so easily distracted. Soon, they would all return to the fort, but for now, they were content shrieking and laughing. "So," he said, turning back to Gayle. "Would you like me to make a sketch of you?" He pulled out his sketchbook and charcoal.