When you're down, don't drink (open)

[dragon]

"Uhhhhhh - yeah. I think so. She knows I won't follow her into other people's clothing, the little snot." Emoyan answered, soberly, before doing the only thing he could think of to do - lick the cream off his fingers. As many times as the lizard had done swan-dives into his food, he'd become rather desensitized to mandyr cooties in his food. "I can't guarantee she won't bite." He warned, with a shrug, before sliding the bowl aside and trying to mop up the splashed cream from the table top. It really was just cream (barring mandyr cooties), but for some reason it made him think someone had blarked milk all over the table instead. Just ... ick. "If you're willing to let her stay, then be my guest."

Quick! Skink assured Darya, confidently. Never having been stepped on or squished in her life, her confidence in her ability to get out of the way in time was unmarred. Her unnatural speed didn't help that any... because she was undeniably fast. Just how fast? Fast enough to escape a falling person, of course! Or, at least, so she assumed. The problem was it was probably true. Her ego was getting bigger and bigger the older she got. One day, she was going to get into some major trouble, and Emoyan was pretty sure that day would harold Skink's demise. Which was part of why Rascal usually went out of his way to keep an eye on her.

"We were discussing who you'd want to be immortal with. Are you really that hard up for friends?" Emoyan asked, with some genuine concern, giving up on the effort to clean up the cream. All he had managed to accomplish was to smear it all over the tabletop. Which was not at all helpful at all. But, eh, he'd tried. It wasn't like he had a towel and a bowl of water to throw at it. "Surely your mandyr didn't do that to you." And if it did -? That was one awful situation to be in.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya shrugged, apparently unconcerned with her new salamandyr friend. ‘Ignoring sometimes works. It works on Imp anyway, and don’t ‘mandyr’s love to be the centre of attention? So I really feel it should work.’ Darya nodded sharply, pleased by her reasoning. She looked up to see Emoyan licking cream off his fingers, shuddered slightly and looked down at the table with a slight blush. No it really wasn’t the thought of ‘mandyr cooties, that made her shudder. To distract herself from that line of speculation Darya started doodling in the spilled cream with her finger.

True to her word Darya ignored Skink, apart from noting that the salamandyr seemed to be pretty confident she was fast enough to move out the way. She’d better be right, because undoubtedly Darya was eventually going to end up on her back, and not in the way she’d prefer either. More as in dead to the world and waking up wishing she was dead.

Oh yes, she remembered now. ‘I don’t know.’ Darya’s eyebrows drew together into a frown again as she tried to think. ‘I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, um, well ever really.’ The white smears on the table took on the shape of a crawler as Darya flicked her finger through them. She considered the picture, and the question of who she’d be immortal with, with a serious expression. ‘I think I’m just socially inept, Imp just helps a bit by making me act like some insane sex crazed maniac at random intervals.’ Darya shrugged as if to dismiss the whole issue. ‘I suppose there’s R’fuin, he does stop me from locking myself in my weyr, never to be seen again. I doubt he thinks of me as a friend though, more of an unpleasant duty.’

Abruptly Darya shook herself, as if to rid herself of whatever troubling thoughts she currently had. ‘You shouldn’t ask me things like this, Emoyan. Especially not when I’m drunk, I go from elated to miserable and back again like a yoyo.’ She scolded Emoyan as if her inebriation and her changing moods were entirely his fault. ‘Come on, now we’ve destroyed a table, or rather Skink and I have, and I’ve eaten a pie, what can I force you to do next? You’re totally stuck with me, because I need you to hold me up. I need to pack as much in now as I can because I just know that once I fall over I won’t be getting up again for about a week, and the hangover will probably incapacitate me for the next few months. Right now I’m thinking a wash would be a good idea. I can put on one of my new shirts, too. It may be time to throw me in the lake and see If I sober up a bit.’ Darya did have a few suggestions for what to do as it happened but she was aware she was drunk (if not exactly aware of how utterly sloshed she really was), and somehow she just knew Emoyan would resist all of them, so wisely, perhaps, she decided to leave the thinking to someone who was still capable of it.

[dragon]

"I imagine it does work on some 'mandyrs." Emoyan agreed. "But not on Skink... or her twin. The both of them are happiest if you never see them or acknowledge them. The fastest way to make them uncomfortable, I've noticed, is to pay them a lot of attention. They're the type of terror that likes to terrorize unseen, make a huge mess, and then retreat to somewhere hidey and gloat over the raging that happens when the mess is discovered." He explained. "So I guess you might have to ... ehr ... deal with her for awhile. She's not very good at minding." Emoyan apologized.

"R'fuin." Emoyan repeated thoughtfully. "I think I bumped into him somewhere ... not sure, though. Might have been someone else. It's crazy how similar names can get sometimes." He shrugged, wiping his fingers off on the thigh of his pants now that all the cream was off of them. "Enjoy the pie?"

"Oh, don't worry. I am completely aware of your current state. I won't let your string break." He joked, amused by the yoyo reference. Emoyan couldn't remember the last time he'd messed with one of those simple little toys. Maybe he should go find one, while he was at the gather. Once upon a turn, he'd been pretty good at making them do interesting tricks. But then - his fingers were naturally talented with strings. "Force me to do?" He asked, eyebrows going upwards again. "Well ..." a moment was spent looking around before he looked at her again. "I dunno. What do you want to do, then? I daresay you're not going to be up to doing much of anything. You're so tipsy I wouldn't be surprised if your dragon couldn't manage to get airborne, much less fly a straight line."

"I suppose I could always slosh you around in the lake. But I wouldn't trust to letting you go. Be my luck you'd go down and never come back up again." Getting her drowned would be a very bad thing indeed. "In the process, maybe we can dislodge that lizard that's taken up residence in your shirt."

Skink hear! Skink hear! No wet! Bad! Skink protested. The lake was not a good idea in her opinion. Fast she was, almost fast enough to run on water. But ... she didn't really know how to swim!
"

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya considered this revelation into the nature of a certain green salamandyr for a moment, and then raised one shoulder in a shrug. ‘Well it’s hard to pay attention to something that’s pretty much hiding behind you, of course it’s also hard to ignore her while she’s there, so I guess I lose out both ways.’ Darya was philosophical, if not entirely coherent, about the whole business. She was sort of stuck with the little beastie for now.

‘Oh if you’d bumped into R’fuin you’d remember it, he’s one of these huge muscle bound northern types. Just as well, if he was some skinny little scrap he’d never be able to drag me into the light of day.’ Darya smiled crookedly. ‘And no, the pie was just dreadful, that’s clearly why I ate the whole thing.’ She added with a heavy sarcastic tone, hey, ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

Force him? Oh bad choice of words there, Darya mentally chided herself, and did he have to repeat them back to her with that inquiring expression? Because now she could think of about a dozen things she’d like to force him to do, she really hoped she wasn’t blushing, that would be just her luck. To distract herself Darya let her eyes flick around the gather there were a few stalls she was interested in, to start with she was going to need a mask to go with her new outfit, and she seriously wanted some new boots to replace the ones that had been dunked in the ocean not long ago.

‘Well I do want to visit some of the stalls, and I believe I was bribed for dancing. So, let’s go with me being dropped in the lake first, or at least finding a pump so I can stick my head under it. And maybe some kind of proper food to soak up this wine. One day I am going to learn to pace my drinking. And this time, I mean it.’ Darya concentrated and managed to get to her feet on the first try.

Without really thinking she made her way around the table and reached down to grab Emoyan’s hand up and tug at it, she lacked the ability to pull Emoyan up and tow him along as he’d done to her, no matter how much she’d like to. ‘It’s Azrath who has to do the flying, not me, and he knows where home is by now, or he should. Don’t know if I’d trust myself to go between unless I sober up some. In fact I know damn well I wouldn’t trust myself.’ Darya shuddered, she’d never liked the stories of people and dragons lost between, leaving but never arriving at their destination. Better to spend a little time flying straight than to risk everything in a careless moment.

Skink dstracted her, and made her snort with laughter. ‘Hey, you’re already wet silly ‘mandyr.’ She pointed out logically, wriggling a bit to get the green’s attention rather than bothering to try and poke at her. ‘Or is it your mess you don’t want to lose?’ She questioned the lizard before giving Emoyan’s hand another insistent tug.

[dragon]

Emoyan could only chuckle to her reasoning, amused by the circles she seemed to be thinking herself into. It was a good thing she wasn't planning on actually getting anywhere there, or she might get frustrated. "I dunno about that ... do you have any idea how many gargantuan muscle bound types from both sides of the pond there are? Granted, skinny lil folk by far out number them, but sheesh. I gotta wonder what they eat." Emoyan answered, before climbing to his own feet at her insistent tugging. So much for that bowl of cream. Oh well, some young lad would find it and be absolutely delighted at the free treat.

For a moment Emoyan had to wonder just what circular thought was banging around between Darya's ears as she colored a bit. It wasn't quite a blush, but her pale features didn't hide it very well either, showing just enough to get him wondering. The pie hadn't been that spicy. Or at least, he hadn't thought it had been. "A pump? I suppose that'll keep you from drowning on me." Emoyan answered, taking her by an elbow to keep her from falling away from him now that he'd stood up. "Come on, then." pulling her upright again, he took a firmer hold of her to keep her that way. "I think there was one over that way. Can't be sure, I wasn't exactly counting them when I went past the first time." He shoved his gitar aside with his free hand, to keep it from smacking into a table as he walked past, but also kept it from stabbing at Darya in the process. Rather protective of the thing, despite how sturdy the instruments actually were, he was always afraid of damaging it.

"Stalls and dancing it is, then." Emoyan confirmed, with a nod and a twinkle, as he was still amused by her. He wasn't entirely sure she'd last through stall visiting, much less any dancing, but hey. If she was up for it, he wasn't going to stop her. She did have whatever it was she'd ordered to go back and get, though. Whether or not she remembered that he didn't know, but he'd make sure to remember for her. "Pacing the drinking is a pretty good idea." Emoyan answered, with all seriousness. "And if you can't ... might consider not drinking at all." he suggested. It was the route he'd opted for, himself, mostly because he didn't trust himself to be capable of pacing anymore. It was a cliff he didn't want to try leaping off of, since he had no way to gauge how far the bottom was.

The pump wasn't where he'd thought it was, but he did manage to find it anyway, in due time. Emoyan carefully let go of Darya, making sure she could stand up on her own before he completely let her go. That done, he secured a pail and proceeded to draw water into the bucket for her, noting that the hinge needed some greasing, as it would squeak with every movement. "There you go. Do try to not splash everyone around you. They might get mad." He warned, jokingly. Likely as not, it wasn't true, but hey. It was a chance to poke fun at her, and he wasn't very good at passing that up.

"What kind of proper food do you like to consider?" Emoyan asked, in sincerity for a change. Different people had different perceptions on what was proper food ... worse than usual at a place like a Weyr. So many came from such different corners of the world. So it was best, in his opinion, to find out what her definition of 'proper' food was, before he got her something only to find it only turned her stomach.

Skink chirped, darting around on Darya's back to avoid getting crushed the few times that Emoyan had hung onto the woman from one side or the other. Eventually Skink squirreled around to the front and tried to wriggle down inside that second layer of clothing, scraping the cream off of her hide in the process, even as she soaked the blue-rider's clothes in it. No wet, no wet. Bad. Sticky. Drown bad. No wet. Stay dryyyyyyyy~ Skink insisted, little tail thrashing around as she tried to wriggle in, making the front of Darya's shirt do the oddest looking fluffing and waving in the process. One didn't have to be very close at all to tell she had something inside her shirt that wasn't normally there...

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya nodded solemnly, she, too, would like to know what all the massive types it often seemed she was surrounded by ate. They made her own whipcord figure look positively tiny by comparison. However she lost all desire to consider the question further when Emoyan finally got to his feet. She settled for simply shrugging in answer to the inquiry and moving along with Emoyan, not that she had much choice on that front, once again she was being semi towed along through the crowds but as long as he knew roughly where a pump was she wasn’t going to object. There was however something she did want to object to.

‘I can swim you know.’ She pointed out, neatly dodging a running child by falling sideways into Emoyan. ‘In fact I can probably swim better than I can walk at the moment, because I wouldn’t have to worry about balancing. Water kind of does that for you.’ Darya seriously considered poking Emoyan in the ribs but decided that the moment had really passed, that and she’d probably manage to step on his feet and blunder into him enough to make up for a lack of poking.

For a few moments Darya walked alongside Emoyan in silence, pleased that she’d gotten him to agree to her course of action, even if it hadn’t been any great challenge. ‘And you might have come along and mentioned that before I tried to drown myself in wine.’ Darya sounded more amused by Emoyan’s comment into paced drinking than offended. ‘all I can do now is try and minimise the damage to a point where I might be able to stay on my feet unaided for more than a few minutes.’ Speaking of, Darya was left to balance herself while Emoyan forced some water out of the pump, which objected by squeaking and groaning with every movement of the handle.

With an idle curiousity as to what the salamandyr infesting her shirt was currently up to Darya looked down, and much to her dismay she found that Skink was hard at work wiping cream all over the inside of her shirt, as well as her skin. It was only when she took note of the way her shirt was billowing and waving about that she made a connection between the salamandyr’s scrabbling against her ribs and what the green had in mind. She reacted by aiming a swift poke at the waving tail. ‘Hey, ‘mandyr’s do not belong in my breastband, thank you.’ She reproached Skink. ‘Besides I’m washing, so it’s time to bail out of you don’t want to get wet.’ With that warning Darya plonked her bundle of new shirts down on the ground and dragged the bucket a few steps away from the pump, so she wouldn’t be right in the way, and folded down next to it.

The shirt had to go, she decided, and hold notions of propriety be damned. Not only was it soggy, it was also sticky, and likely to dry crispy. Darya was methodical in using it as a cloth to wash the cream off the rest of her body, although it didn’t come out of her trousers that well with only a quick scrubbing at. Once she was satisfied that she wasn’t still plastered in cream she stuck her head in the cold water a few times as if it might wash the nonsense out of her head.

‘Okay, feel less drunk but more cold now.’ She told Emoyan, pulling the brown shirt over her had and neatly folding the much-abused black shirt into a bundle that had all the wet and cream soaked parts inside. Only knowing that she’d be carrying it around for the whole day stopped her from trying to wash it out a bit more. ‘And as for proper food. Hrrrm, don’t even get me started on all the things I’d like. Most of them are sugar filled and not much use for counteracting booze.’ Darya answered the previous question as if there’d never been a break in the conversation. ‘Let’s wander around a bit first. I want to look at these bone masks everyone’s been talking about. I fancy something dramatic to hide behind. Come on!’ It might have only been her imagination but darya felt steadier on her feet now, steady enough to dart through gaps in the crowds and leave Emoyan to follow along in her wake towards the much talked about stall of bones.

[dragon]

Skink flailed a bit before finally finishing the wriggle into the not-very-ample room in Darya's band, narrowly missing getting wet herself. Once inside, she made a pft sound, curling up on the spot. Emoyan would never get her in heeee-eeeereeee~~ She was sure of it. And hey, it was warm, too. Hey hey. The occasional splash of cold water elicited a chirp from her, though, before she fell entirely silent afterward. Easiest to get forgotten if she didn't say anything, right?

Emoyan didn't do much of anything as Darya stripped and bathed right in the middle of the square, unperturbed by the whole thing. He'd spent most of his life as a dragonrider, himself, and was rather desensitized to the whole thing. That and if half what she said about Imp was true, she likely didn't care, either. So he spent the moment trying to think of a way to entice Skink back out of there, because that was actually rather embarrassing. He was unsuccessful in the end, coming up empty on ideas. Whether that was due to an actual lack of ideas or a preoccupation of half his brain in watching Darya, he couldn't truthfully say.

Coming out of thought, Emoyan started a bit when she suddenly lurched to her feet all on her own and took off through the crowd. "Eh? What? Wait!" He turned and went after her. Partly out of concern, partly out of her having Skink, and partly out of curiosity. Had he really been so lost in thought as to not hear something she'd said. Wait ... something about masks. Ehhhhhh ... after binge drinking? "I don't think that's a very good idea, actually -!" He pointed out. For many, many reasons that he didn't care to elaborate on. Catching up to her, the ex-rider paced her headlong march.

"The brown looks good on you, by the way." He complimented. "Much better than the black did." Emoyan did wonder how long she was going to carry everything around, though, or if it would even occur to her to leave it with her dragon. Surely she had a carry satchel on her harness? "Why do you want a mask? Afraid someone might recognize you?" He teased.

"I've never tried to counteract booze, so I don't even have a notion what might do it." Emoyan confessed. "I would imagine it wouldn't be anything bread-related. Or sweet for that matter ..." No healer he was ... or a cook for that matter. His skills were more along the lines of the gitar strapped to his back. And he really did like it that way. Healing and cooking was best left to the Healers and cooks.

Bones, bones, bones. Some of them looked like they were fresh from having the soup meat cooked off of them. What in the world would someone want that for? Other than giving to their local canine? When he reached the area, Emoyan poked at what looked an awful lot like a bovine hip. Okayyyyyyyyy..... Stuffing his hands back in his pockets, he looked over at Darya, only to see something past her that really seemed strange. Apparently the bovine hip was a ready made mask? For someone not terribly far away was wearing one, as just exactly that... those huge holes in the blades as eyeholes.

How ... strange ... clearly Darya wasn't the only one that had been drinking too much!

[Kisha-Ra]

Well, it seemed that Skink had found a better way to stay dry, and away from Emoyan, which Darya assumed was the salamandyr’s major goal. She’d managed that alright, no one would be seen dead with their hand like that, not even if they had the excuse of retrieving their (presumably) beloved pet from inside Darya’s clothes. Darya decided, as she elbowed someone out of her path, that she wasn’t going to do anything about Skink, except ignore her. Anything else was only bound to encourage the ‘mandyr to do something worse.

Why wouldn’t a mask be a good idea? Darya didn’t wait to find out, whatever further comment Emoyan might have had on the matter was lost on Darya as she elbowed someone out of her way, slipped around a group of chattering holdwomen and resolutely walked on until an annoying group of screeching children in her path had no option but to move or be stepped on.

‘Why Emoyan, that sounded like a compliment, a backhanded one mind you, but you still ought to be more careful. People are going to start thinking you like me or something.’ Darya wasn’t particularly surprised to find the harper had caught up to her, she did still have his ‘mandyr after all, and her mood had swung back to playful now that she wasn’t considering anything important for the moment. ‘If you’re really going to escort me around and keep me upright I’ll be needing a mask so no one can see who you’re with. You’ll thank me later.’

This was definitely the place, no mistaking it. Bones everywhere, even lashed to the sides of the stall. Darya trailed her fingers over the bones as she stalked along the stall, giving all the displays a cursory glance. Those who had chosen complete bovine hip bones as a fitting adornment for their faces were clearly below her contempt, she wanted something quite different from that, there had been some more intricate, delicate masks made from the bones of much smaller beasts around earlier. Those were probably a ways more expensive but Darya was good for spending money, mostly owing to her habits of never actually buying anything, or attending gathers.

A covert poke at several of the more intricate masks revealed that they weren’t quite as delicate as they looked, which was probably a good thing, Darya didn’t fancy shedding little bones everywhere as she went along. However she was quickly distracted by the clinking sounds that bracelets of small avian bones made when shaken. Perfect! Darya snatched up a pari and shook them, grinning at the noise they made, and what was that? How creepily cute! A plush dragon skeleton was also plucked from the table and someone who could see how easily Darya was being distracted appeared to charge her before something at another stall caught her attention.

A little rearranging saw Darya reappearing at Emoyan’s side with a clinking bone bracelet on each wrist and her hand wrapped around the spine of the plush dragon. Struck by a sudden alcohol induced urge she wrapped her free arm around Emoyan and all but snuggled up to him. ‘I couldn’t find anything that would disguise my hideous face.’ She announced as an explanation as to why she’d decided not to buy a mask. ‘What next?’

[dragon]

Emoyan just blinked for a moment, before shrugging. Okay. "I don't see how that's a bad thing, but if you insist." He pocketed both hands again, watching as she wandered all over the stall and attempting to discreetly jab at things. He was pretty sure that if it was going to jump up and eat her, it'd still have flesh on it to some extent. But hey - she was drunk. Who knew what it was she was actually thinking in prodding bones? Thankfully she wasn't drunk enough ... or maybe not even the type - to jump and squeal in terror when the items moved when she poked them. He shook his head a bit, and turned slightly where he stood to stare across the way at another place, where some sound had caught his attention. What it was he'd heard, he wasn't sure at all, and looking didn't seem to help identify it in the least.

Emoyan heard the clanking bone-bracelet wearing Darya approach, but he hadn't the slightest idea it was her at all until she appeared beside him again. There was just enough time to look at her before she suddenly decided to get very friendly. Startled for a moment, he had to grab at his gitar to keep it from dumping onto the ground upon the strap being shoved off his shoulder. That secured, he went ahead and wrapped an arm around her in return. Hey, why not? "Going for the undead belly dancing effect are we?" He joked.

"You wanted something to eat, remember?" It took a moment to get situated again, slipping the instrument's strap back onto his shoulder and positioning it so it wouldn't brain anyone when he walked past. "We can find you something to eat, and then we'll go find a spot to set up your dancing so I can play. Alright?" It might be really hilarious to see her dance, now. Not only was she in new clothes, but she had a mandyr in there, too, as well as her bone jewelry ... on top of being unsteady on her feet. This could be really interesting...

[Kisha-Ra]

Blithely unaware that she was about to be belted around the back of the head with a musical instrument Darya leaned companionably against Emoyan and half closed her eyes. ‘Hmmm, Just you wait until you see what those weavers are making for me.’ Darya’s mouth twitched into a self-satisfied smile, one that would have undoubtedly been disturbing if it hadn’t been half hidden against Emoyan’s shirt.

‘Like I can remember anything at the moment.’ Darya snorted. ‘Either it’s my age or the wine really is going to my head. Probably the second one. I need to pick up my stuff from the weavers, before the dancing. If I’m going to make a fool of myself I’ll do it in style, dubious style, but style none the less. I ordered boots too, before I started drinking. I need to pick them up as well.’

Despite her pronouncements of needing to pick up things she’d ordered Darya started heading for the wonderful smells of the roast meat stalls immediately after she was done speaking, with her arm still wrapped around Emoyan of course, she hadn’t been shaken off so now she was going to harder to get rid of than a bad mark. ‘You know this might be a bit more fun if you had a drink or three as well, then I could laugh at your expense too. We’d be very entertaining then.’ She commented idly. All of a sudden an amusing idea struck her, one that Darya just had to follow up on. So, without a warning other than a slight break in her sride, Darya spun on one foot, fetched up in front of Emoyan, wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on him.

Then, just as suddenly she pulled away and resumed her original position at the harper’s side. ‘So, feeling more amusing now?’ She inquired ‘That must have transferred some alcohol to your bloodstream.’

[dragon]

"Okay, that works." Emoyan remarked. "Weavers, boots, ..." He started, trying to make sure he, at least, remembered everywhere she needed to go. "Hey, hey. No. I am not going to start drinking, sorry. That sort of thing is not a friendly place for me." He protested. "The last time I drank, I almost drank myself to death." Which was really sad, because he had always liked wine. But he didn't trust himself to fall into that hollow that Kindrith had left in him if he started drinking again... "So I'll just have to be amusing without the inebriation, okay?" Emoyan walked with her toward the stalls that were serving roasting meats, keeping her in a more or less straight line and away from randomly walking into anyone or anything.

Thankfully, he was not drunk, and quick enough on the ball that he realized what she was after before she quite got there. At first he was surprised, but he went with it anyway, despite being aware she was quite drunk and probably not at all acting normal to her character. He returned the brief kiss, and then laughed. "I dunno about that, but okay. I am certainly amused, if not amusing." Wrapping his free arm around her middle again, he took her over to a stall that had food stuffs.

"Get her whatever she wants." He told the person manning the stall, as he released Darya so she could do just that; get whatever she wanted. Sliding his gitar off his other shoulder, he rested it on the ground and leaned it against the table, fishing marks out of a pocket. He didn't mind buying her lunch. All things considered, he wasn't even sure she had any marks anymore. After all that wine, clothes, special orders, boots, jewelry ... she had to have been rich when she'd first come to the gather, today!

Smelling meat, Skink wriggled in her hidey hole, before clambering up out of Darya's shirt and greedily eyeing what there was to go swimming in. Fooood!