jayashri_pw

Jayashri settles into Fort Weyr and runs into some new friends -- literally!

Thanks to milodann_pw for the first half of this log!

Fort Weyr - Northeast Bowl(#10535RJ$)
The northern end of the bowl can be an intimidating area, being that Fort is the largest weyr. The far north wall contains the gigantic opening to the hatching caverns, and to the west of that can be seen the sprawling ledges and carved stair cases that mark the way to the administration complex and the training grounds were candidates and weyrlings can often be found. The west cliff wall towers up, dotted here and there by darker openings that mark individual weyrs before it tapers to a point at Tooth Crag.

Sometime earlier in the day, there was a war, here. Granted, the weapon of choice was compacted snow, ball-shaped, and the soldiers were all about three or four feet tall and nowhere near reaching puberty, yet, but they left their marks. Scuffs in the snow mark the fallen, and two curving snow forts, little more than walls about three feet tall, while between them the remnants of icy missiles lie broken. Behind one of these walls is Milodann. He's bundled up against the cold in a winter coat, a knitted cap, gloves, and a multi-hued striped scarf that's really far too long. His cheeks are pink and he's tittering in glee, just waiting for a victim to come along, all unawares, so that he can ambush them. He's got a good supply of ammunition, at least two dozen snow balls. He crouches behind his little wall, and - yes! His arm swings over his head and he lets fly. It's a glorious throw. The snowball arcs through the air and meets its target dead-center, exploding against his unwary victim's torso in a satisfying crunchy sound. "Whoo!" Milo cheers, and waits for retaliation.

It's colt in Fort weyr, nature finally deciding to show all what winter looks like, or atleast a small hint of what's to come, but even by this time of day, some of the snow has melted into slush, either through use, or some other means. Moydeo just happens to be passing through the bowl, bundled up for the cold, with heavy pants, short, and jacket, as well as gloves, and a hat, accompanied by her stoney blue flit who is on her shoulder, when the snow ball goes flying. "Eeep!" She says, startled as the ball of snow hits her in the torso, and she turns to try and pot the source, Rocky gives a squak of protest, and takes to the air, to zip around, and help try to find the culprit.

Odisyn is bundled up, wearing a nice black cable sweater and black and brown scarf tied around his neck almost like a necktie. Over that he wears a long black wool duster coat, very, very goth. He looks up from feeding his firelizards at the noises. Vulcan scolds Milodann vigorously for such illogical behavior. Odisyn grins, "OYE! BRAT! Lemme in on the fun will ya?" Vulcan, finished with his meal tugs on odisyn's hair, trying to keep him from going out to join the snowball fight.

A slight figure comes slip-sliding into view from the far end of the bowl, bundled up in a thin woolen coat against the onslaught of freezing cold slush that seems to have invaded the Weyr. It isn't hard to eventually see that it's Elyciana, judging by the fine strands of amber hair that are blowing about in the chill wind and her mismatched eyes being the only thing really visible above the scarf wrapped around her neck. Not to mention, there's a steady stream of muffled curses at each misstep on some hidden patch of ice. Those two-toned eyes remain almost riveted to the ground at her feet. The sudden WHOOSH of a snowball passing in front of her vision, as well as the accompanying sound it makes as it whacks into Moydeo, is enough to break her concentration on her footsteps. Big mistake, as she catches her foot on a rather slick bit of ice, pinwheels and almost trips over that dratted snow fort that Milodann's crouching behind. It doesn't do well for the fort after allh er weight lands against it, causing a good bit of it to crack and collapse. She sits up amongst the snow and slush and narrows her eyes at Moydeo. AH yes. The first person she sees, "Did you have to trip me? Isn't it hard enough to walk in this sharding slush?" Cold weather does not make a happy Ely, judging by her initial knee-jerk response.

Moydeo finally spots Milo, and she grins. "Okh! You're going to pay for that Milo!" She calls, and points at him, though theres no real vehemence in her words., as she heads for one of the other Forts. she might tug Wyn along with her. She blinks momentarily at Ely. "I didn't trip you! I was hit by a snowball!" She says, and ducks behind one of the small Fort, and starts working on some snow balls, before she lobbs one of them toward Milodann.

Wyndrei snorts, hearing the voice and recognizing it. Her mouth drops open in time for a snowball to catch her in the belly then she sees Milo and narrows her eyes. "Well sure didn't take you long.." she says with a snort then crouches to pile up her own snowball. Rather than throw, however, she stalks toward him and his lap-mate, only to see him racing to the other fort. "Wherry!" she calls out, then grins at Elyciana, "Wyn..Milo's sister.. excuse me whilst I keeel heeem.." she says with an evil muwahahahaha, turning to run after him.

Not only is Elyciana thoroughly surprised to find out that she had not indeed fallen onto pure snow, but snow plus Milodann. Not only that, but she's given a kiss on the fly which leaves her to give a surprised little shake of her head before calling at the man's retreating back, "You do pop up in the oddest places, Milo!" Not that she doesn't put out by her tumble into the snow anymore, now, despite the fact she's partially soaked with slush and her scarf has gone missing. Then it's an onslaught of introductions and explainations - none ofw hich Ely even bothers with processing now, though. It's a snowball fight and that's allt hat's workign its way into her brain for now. Crouching low, she scoops up a huge double handful of wet slush and begins to pack it thoroughly into a large ball as she curves aroun to come at the other fort frm the side. Slipping and sliding, she skids to a stop a few feet away from the main melee and hurls a partially melted missile at Moydeo's unprotected side, "Goats /are/ better than runners, you know!" Yes, a snowball for the goats.

Tossing her own snowball at Milo, Wyn shakes a fist, "If I didn't have a shift to do, you'd be frozen wherry!" and she snorts then giggles as she runs off.

Too many people to keep track of, and being distracted by Ely in his lap, means that Milo missed the fact that Moydeo has already taken over the fort. So he's running directly at her and doesn't see the snowball she's thrown at him until it's too late. He barely manages to bring his arms up to sheild his face in time before it hits him. "Bleaugh!" he yells happily. Then Odisyn's snowball narrowly misses him, too. He skids to a stop, nearly falls, and starts packing another snowball frantically. Wyn is coming after him, and he /knows/ that look. "Oh, no!" he yells, smiling wide enough to nearly split his face. He gets up and runs from her, tossing the snowball over his shoulder, hoping to get her through luck alone. He's running /back/ to Ely, now. "Save me!" he yells to Ely, only to be pelted by Wyndrei's snowball. He laughs and watches her run off. "I'm so gonna get you!" he yells.

Odisyn grins, making a small pile of snowballs. "Okay Vulcan, grab the ball and bombs away!" He gives the snowball to Vulcan, who wings upwards with it gingerly grasped in his talons. He drops it right above Milodann, chittering eagerly. Roger that captain, phasers set to stun!

Moydeo is crouched down behind a makeshift small fort, that was obviously made for somebosy atleast two feet smaller then her. She's making up snow balls, and acks at one thrown by Ely, and she retaliates with one herself. "Shards no! Runners are /way/ better!" She calls, and lobs another one at the dashing Milo.

Almost as soon as the snowball is out of her hand, Elyciana crouches oncem ore to scrape frantically at the thin layer of slush to gain enough for a proper bit of ammunition. With a look of triumph, she comes up with a veritable mountain of slush and works at rolling the mosntrous thing into a weapon of mass destruction. All the while, she tries to remain a moving target - a skid to the right and a few shuffling steps forward to doge any random flying wads of wetness. She notes the hurtling form of Milodann and her grin broadens, one gloved hand going out to try to catch him or slow his falls hould he slip or skid, "Let's rush her!" Ah yes, there's that mischievous glint in her eye as she tries to recruit Milo to her cause. While she's busy trying to perfect her snowball of doom, though, she completely misses the retaliatory snowball thrown by Moydeo and catches it right in the shoulder. Splatters of slush fly into her face and she splutters for a moment, letting out a mutter of, "Shards!" This means war.

Milo barely manages to dodge the snowball dropped by the firelizard, and he glances upwards in irritation. "No fair, BRAT!" he yells at Odisyn. "If you're too wimpy to throw your own go play with the kids!" Yeah, he's trying to get the other guy riled up. He's laughing again by the time Moydeo's snowball sails toward him, and he just raises his arm to block it - shatters and he goes back to packing the snow fort around himself and Ely. "You throw, I'll build!" he says, almost shouting with his excitement. Only she's suggesting a much more proactive approach to the battle. "Aye-aye, captain!" he says, and snaps off a smart salute to her. He scrapes together his own snowball and charges toward Moydeo with a battle cry, snowball held high, victory in his eyes.

Odisyn snorts. "you don't want me to do throwing! When I do snowballs i throw so hard I peg. But if you insist on stinging snow getting under your jacket! But I can demonstrate for you!" He winds up, there's the pitch, and if Milo doesn't look sharp he's going to get a fastball pitched snowball stinging him not in the head, but at the collar.

Moydeo lobs a few snow balls at Odisyn as well, since he seems oblivious to her at the moment, before she acks at the charging Ely, and Milo. "Hey hey! No fair ganging up!" She laughs, before she starts lobbing her snowballs at the two, and standing up.

Screaming charges, shouts, and, of course, flying snow attract Risner's attention. His mug is poised at his lip as he turns and eyes the war taking place in the Bowl. Innnteresting. But wait! What is this? Two against one? That can't be fair. Risner eyes his mug, sighs, and sets it carefully in the snow near the wall (where he is sure to never find it again). In the same stooped motion, he balls himself a snowball, packs it down, and lobs it at Milodann. Or, rather, in the general direction that he is going hoping, it seems, to get him in the midst of his charge.

Elyciana widens her stance slightly and bends forward once more, adding more slush onto her veritable mountain of slush. Yes, it would seem she's making the ultimate weapon. With a little wobble that nearly causes her to fall, she straightens back up and casts another mischievous grin at Milo just to see which way he's taking the charge. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she leans forward into a running stance and sprints as fast as she can towards the opposite side of Moydeo's fort. The slush gives way under foot, making it a sort of slip-sliding trip that looks a bit comical, despite the fact she's holding aloft a giant mound of snow that she's hell-bent on using. Even in her haste and determiation she manages to slide around Odisyn, just barely clipping him as she whizzes past. One or two of Moydeo's snowballs hit home on her way in, but she ignores them and once she's in range she lobs the entire pile of snow at the girl's face. A veritable shower of slush and wetness is aimed at her. "Ha! I told you goats were better," Though now she finds herself directly in front of the fort and, with little cover. Drat.

Odisyn grins, one of the snowballs hit, but now his brown firelizard Apollo pokes his tattoo patterned muzzle into the fight. He darts after the second of the couple of snowballs, misses. Odisyn raises a wool sleeve to protect his face as the snow impacts. Then he's clipped by Elyciana. "Shards! Elyciana watch it!" He cries, slipping on a patch of ice and falling in the snow.

Milo has no trouble evading Odisyn's fastball, since he did the whole evil villain monologue before pitching it. He dodges and comes back up blowing a rasperry at him. "Nyah-nyah, you can't hit me!" he taunts, totally having fun with the game. For Moydeo, he has no mercy. As soon as he can see her hunching down behind that wall, he lets fly. "All's fair in love and war!" he shouts. "And I sure ain't in love with you!" Risner's snowball explodes against his hip and that's just the little bit he needs to lose his footing. Milo slips, slides, and tumbles down, the wetnes of the snow sending him skidding into Moydeo's fort, which collapses on top of him. He pops his head out, laughing like mad, just in time to miss Elyciana's ultimate weapon deployment.

Odisyn chuckles and prepares another barrage of snowballs, this time concentrating rather than yawing. Meanwhile Vulcan lands on Milodann's snowfort and begins to scold the youth, and the others participating in the fight, for acting so illogically. But Apollo finds a snowbank, burrows inside, and comes out the other end chittering excitedly. Snow snow snow snow snow!

"I would hope not!" She grins, she may of seen the kiss between them! Maybe. She yipes, and tries to dodge the snow and slush thrown at her at almost point blank, but it does manage to smack into her head, and knock her hiat right off. But! Now they're right infront of her fort! Mwahaha! Here she starts lobbing all she's got at the two. "All is fair in love and war!"

Risner leads a charge of his own, sans battle cry. And it's aimed right at Milodann, with the intent to tackle him (I mean, can't hit a girl, right? Milo's fair game!) "Haa!" is his brief cry of warning before he's stomach down in the snow, attempting to grab handfuls of snow and lob them at whoever is not Moydeo.

Odisyn is about to really let loose when he hears his name called. Its Jr'di and blue Datath, coming directly from landing with a letter. Odisyn eagerly runs over and grabs the notice out of the bluerider's hands, ripping it open. He peruses it, frowns, then turns into a very, very, very angry look. Its enough that his firelizards look up, chirping in concern. "Sorry Odi. I tried to get you in..." Jr'di begins as Odisyn pounds off angrily towards the lower caverns. The look of wrath on his face is enough to deflect any question about why he's leaving the snowball fight so quickly.

Elyciana clutches at her sides, trying her best to keep herself from laughing too hard at the effect her snow bomb had on Moydeo. If it weren't so cold, tearsm ight be leaking out of her eyes. As it is, she's not in much of a state to dodge anything due to the fact she's standing right in range. WHACK. A barrage of snowballs crash into her and she lets out another, "Shards!" that effectively stops her laughing. One, two, three, four manage to hit home before Ely is bowled over, landing with a soft THUMP in the snow right next to Milodann once more. Well, atleast she wasn't on top of him this time, though it was a close call. She shakes her head a bit to try to rid herself of clinging snow, despite the fact she's pretty much soaking wet at the moment. She's not one to give up, though, as she half-glances at Milo, "Not that I can get any wtter now .." She lets out a snort of laughter as she picks up another massive pile of snow and hurls it in the general direction of Risner and Moydeo. Might as well keep going - she certainly CAN'T get any wetter than she already is.

Milo ignores the firelizard. He's got bigger fish to fry. He just laughs at Moydeo again and sits up, scoop snow at her as he goes, just like people splash water at each other when they swim together. Then Risner tackles him and he yelps. "Ah!" He grabs handfuls of snow and smooshes it in Risner's general direction, laughing much to hard to really see his opponent. There's a lot of wriggling involved. The girls might think it's pretty hot. Finally, though, he does manage to get out from underneath Risner's heavier weight, and is scooping up more snow for another snowball. By this time he's red in the face and panting hard, and still laughing. "Truce! Truce, guys." He grins down at Elyciana and extends a hand to help her up, if she'll take it. There is a wicked grin for Ely. "I bet I could get you wetter," he says, and gives her the once-over, his stare hot enough to turn that melting snow right into steam.

Moydeo laughs as her snowballs hit home, and Risners tackle of the other man makes her laugh as well, and smirk. "You got good timing Ris!" She grins, and stands up. "Truce sounds good to me." She says, as the group gathers, and she moves to offer Risner her own hand up, if he wants it, and then eyes Ely and Milo. "Oh get a room." She grins at them.

Elyciana lets out her breath in a puff and reaches out a gloved hand to take Milodann's outstretched one with a grateful look. The comment garners a rather amused smirk as she makes some attempt to brush the clinging bits of snow from the front of her coat with her free hand, "Well. I can take your word for that, I'm sure, Milo." A cryptic response, at least. Thankfully Elyciana's face is already quite pink already from the snow or there might be some more telltale sign of blushing. Keeping her other hand in Milo's, she half-slides her way to his side and glances at the other pair, eyebrow raised, "I say we won, yes? No contest." She seems rather confident about this, though she's usually confident about everything and right now isn't an exception. "But I think before we all agree on that, we ought to find somewhere to warm up before we all freeze, yeah?" Finally she's got a sensible suggestion.

"Ha!" Moydeo calls over to Elyciana's claiming her team won. "I think you two oughta be disqualified, ganging up on me like that." She says with a grin, still offering her hand up to Risner if he wants to get up. "Getting some place warmer, sounds good to me, I bet the cavern people have hot cider or something set out." She grins.

"A room?" Milodanna asks. "I've got a room. And we make good use of it. But that's for later. NOW!" he says, and grabs Elyciana's arms. There's a bit of fancy footwork and somehow he manages to pick her up, piggy-back style, though she'd better grip with her legs or she'll slide off. "NOW it's time for cider. Yes, an excellent suggestion, Mo." He bounces a little to adjust Ely's weight and grins at them. He's carefull about where he puts his feet down, obviously not wanting to slip and send them both tumbling. "We won the war!" He sings in a surprisingly nice light tenor. He turns beet-red, but continues on, anyway, obviously making it up as he goes along. "We won the snow-war! 'Cause we're the best! Milo an' Ely give 'em what-for!"

Risner's hand lifts, and he grabs Moydeo's firmly. There's a brief look of contemplation, a glint in his eye, but no... Risner simply pulls himself up and carefully dust himself off. "Mm, cider sounds good. And I dunno who won, I only saw the last bit of it, in which, clearly, Moydeo and I had the upper hand."

Elyciana clears her throat slightly at the mention of the room, but merely manages a litle smirk and notes in a voice dripping with her usual sarcasm, "Ah yes. He really means we play a lot of card games in there. I win most of the time though." From the looks of it, she was about to say more, though she has to let out her breath in a surprised whoosh as she suddenly finally herself being hoisted aloft, "I .. Milo!" It's odd for Ely that she's not either annoyed or irritated at this, but laughing instead. There's a bit of wobbling before she manages to find a comfortable way to hold on with her legs that doesn't make her fall off. "You know I'll have to get you back for that," she does manage to retort, scoffing a little. "And we did win," she adds to Risner and Moydeo, letting her voice add to the impromptu song in more of a commentary mode. She reaches out to pat Milodann on the head, "Let's go then! I'm freezing. Truly."

Huddled inside of a long, thick coat, Jayashri moves across the bowl with a quick step from the administrative complex, her slender arms wrapped tightly about something held close to her flat chest. Her cinnamon curls are covered in a knit hat, some of them still spilling over her shoulder, jostled about as she quick steps through the snow, trying not to fall on the unfamiliar surface. "Cold, cold, cold," she puffs to herself as she hurries, so focused on the ground and where she's walking that she doesn't see the assembled group.

Moydeo moves to retrieve her hat, and shakes it out, to get the snow off, as well as brush the clinging snow off her jacket. "You did not win!" She calls cheerfully, as she moves to follow the other pair, replacing her hat on her head. She erks however as somebody runs into her. "Whoa! Easy there!" She says.

Milo laughs when Ely starts talking about cards. "Cards, yeah," he says, laughter in his voice. "You'll get me back?" Milo asks Ely, grinning wickedly. "Oh, I sure hope so." And then he neighs like a runner and - slowly, being careful of his footing - gallops off toward the livign caverns. "To cider!" he cries, and leads the way. "Hello!" he calls happily to the girl with the cinnamon-colored curls. They nearly collide, and he has to make a hard stop to avoid it, but he doesn't seem too troubled. He watches as the girl runs into Moydeo and chuckles. He ignores Mo and Risner's claims of victory, too upbeat just at the moment, and really rather intent on getting warmed up. He starts toward the living caverns once again. "To cider!" he calls out a second time, and picks up his pace, arms gripping Ely's legs tightly so that she doesn't slip off.

Risner just rolls his eyes at Elyciana and Milodann. "Sure, whatever," he decides, unwilling to debate the results. He steps over towards Moydeo quickly, and puts a hand out as if to steady her when Jayashri runs into her. An eyebrow is raised, good-naturedly. "To cider!" he agrees with Milo, a fist raised into the air. Ho-rah! "Let's go, hm?"

Elyciana grips even tighter with her legs and wraps her arms around Milodann's shoulders, trying her best to secure herself in place through the ride. "Yes. cards," she agrees with as much seriousness as she can muster, "A very in-depth game of cards. All Bitrans play very intense card games." Well, the Bitran part is possible, but there's a smirk playing around her lips that probably gives it away as a joke. "Yes, I don't ever lie, you know ... I .." she begins to mock threaten Milo, but is cut off at the sudden movement to avoid collision with the newcomer. A little yelp escapes her in sheer surprise, though it eventually turns into a laugh, "Well. At least we didn't topple. I don't know if we could get up." Readjusting her legs and arms, she leans in close to Milo to try to keep herself thoroughly in place for the rest of the ride, "Yes. Cider, before I freeze in this position forever, yeah?"

"Oh, shells, I'm sorry!" Jayashri struggles momentarily to keep her balance as her forward momentum is disrupted. She manages to stay upright, her feet splayed somewhat awkwardly as she clutches her bundle to her chest. "Are you okay?" she asks of Moydeo, carefully adjusting herself into a more natural position. "We're going for cider?" Her ears perk as she looks up at the assembled and departing. "May I join you?" The Apprentice queries hopefully, starting to walk carefully after them, her booted feet still slipping periodically on the snow.

Moydeo shakes her head at Jayashri. "Nah, it's alright." She says, and eyes the woman a moment. "Are you new to Fort? Don't think I've seen you before." She says, before she moves to heads for the living caverns again. "Yup, it's cold out here, we're headed to get something warm to drink. You're welcome to join!" She calls to Jay, as she walks, catching up to Risner.

Milo only laughs at Ely's card-playing tangent. "Now we really /will/ have to play cards," he murmurs to her with a grin as he tries to look at her over his shoulder. "You can teach me how to play strip poker." There's a snicker, and then he nods amiably at her request for cider. And since this new girl is asking for some too... "To cider!" Milo carols for a third time, and starts to half-jog to warmth, food, and hot, spiced, redfruit cider. "Yeah, the more the merrier," Milo tells the new girl. And off he goes.

Risner turns, waiting for Moydeo to catch up. "Come on slow poke," he teases, grinning.

It's a bit awkward, considering all the wobbling and bumping while in motion, but Elyciana manages to lean forward and plant a small kiss on Milodann's cheek as he turns his head towards her. "Well. If Bitrans are good at anything, they're usually good at any sort of poker," she retorts with a sly sort of smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth and a little bit of mischief lacing her tone. As for anything further regarding the stripping part, she merely leaves that to hang in the air now that the party is finally entering the marked warmth of the living cavern. A relieved sigh escapes Ely's lips as soon as the heat washes over her. It's not surprising, considering she looks completely soaked through - which includes her amber hair, which is plastered to her head from the massive amount of slush that got dumped in it. "Thank Faranth for heat," she says with a further sigh. She waits for Milodann to slow to a stop before gently easing her arms free from his shoulders and her legs from around his middle, landing steadily on her feet with a soft *thump*. "Now that we're warm on the outside ... some cider would do well for the inside."

Despite her awkward footing, Jayashri manages to make it to the living caverns without further mishap, managing to stop behind Moydeo and co without running into any of them this time. Stamping her feet to remove the caked snow and ice from their soles, she finally replies to Beastcrafter. "Yeah, I just got here a couple of days ago." Her vermillion lips quirk in an odd sort of half smile, her olive complexion slightly rosy from the cold. "I'm Jayashri," she offers, adjusting her bundle and managing to hold out a hand. "Of the Computer Craft." Her hazel eyes turn toward the serving table with a wistful expression. "It's so /cold/ here. How do you stand it?" She looks about for a table, needing to free her hands before she can get some of that lovely hot cider. "Oh, most people just call me Ashri, though."

Milo only grins at Ely's boasting, and makes a mental note to tease her about it later. He seems pleased with the kiss on the cheek. He eases her down and starts bounding toward the drinks table. He grabs up an entire pitcher of hot cider and a few empty mugs and carries them over to a table which is near to one of the roaring fires. "Gather round, lads and lasses," he booms, smiling fit to bust. He plops the mugs on the table and pours enough cider for everyone. "Nice to meet you, Ashri," Milo says, and smiles at her.

Moydeo jogs her way up into the living cavern, faster you get inside, the faster you can start getting warm! She stomps her shoes as well, and slips off her jacket, and hat, hanging it on hooks provided, as she walks further into the warm caverns. She then looks to Jayashri. "Ah, nice to meet you Jayashri. I'm Moydeo, apprentice Beastcrafter." She says with a grin. "You can call me Mo though." She adds, and shrugs. "We've lived here most of our lives, guess we just got used to it." She admits, and goes to sit down at the table Milo is waving too. "Ah, thanks Milo." She saays, and pulls off her gloves, before picking up a mug, and taking a sip with a shover, and an 'aaah'. "That hit the spot." She says.

Coat and scarf get hung on the hook, and Risner stamps his feet only twice to get the blood flowing. "Oh! You got in!" remarks Risner, grinning wide at Moydeo. "Congratulations!" Jayashri is given a sympathetic sort of look, and a shrug of his shoulders. "Cold is in my blood, I guess. Born and raised here. Personally, I don't see how you Southerners handle the humidity. Ugh." He drops himself into a seat at the table, pulls a mug over, and wraps his fingers around it. "Mm," he agrees, taking a quick sniff. "Love cider."

Elyciana edges around tables and chairs to reach the spot closest to the fire, sinking gratefully into one of the seats closest to the waves of heat. A low sigh escapes her as she strips off her wet gloves and throws them into her lap. Using both of her hands, she runs her fingers through the wet mess that's the remnants of her hair and grimaces as she meets nothing but tangles. Giving that up as a useless job at the moment, she strips off her coat instead to let her soaked clothes underneath dry more easily. Leaning forward, she snags one of the steaming mugs and wraps her long fingers around its warm surface greedily, an actual smile aimed at Milodann (surprising as that is), "Another way to make me happy. Warm cider. Just because I'm used to the cold doesn't mean I like it." She settles back into her chair, "I still say we won," are the next words out of her mouth - straight and to the point. She regards Ashri over the rim of her mug and offers up, "I'm Ely. Nice to meet you." She considers the girl for a moment, one eyebrow lifting, "What's in the package?" Her eyes drift to the bundle in the girl's arms.

Jayashri manages to slip out of her coat without dropping her bundle, hanging it up next to the others and pulling her hat off, revealing the full bundle of curls pulled back behind her head. She wanders over to the table, plopping down into a chair and snatching up the last mug. "Oh, Faranth be thanks." She sets the bundle down on the table, and raises the mug to her lips, pausing as she realizes she was asked a question. "Oh, it's my laptop," she offers. "I need it for my work." Cider is blown to cool it slightly, and she keeps trying to sip the too hot warmth, trying to get some of the apple goodness into her belly without burning herself. "Nice to meet you all." Puff, puff.

"You're welcome," Milodann says to Mo, and nods to Risner. He's welcome, too. "I like seasons," Milo comments, shrugging out of his soaked coat and gloves, and unwinding the ridiculously long scarf, to prop them all on the back of his chair with his hat, near the fire to dry off a bit. His legs are still wet, but oh, well. He returns Ely's smile with a warm grin of his own, and waggles his eyebrows a couple of times. He perks up at the mention of the laptop. "Oh, yeah?" he asks. "I never was much of a computer savvy person. I like to draw, mostly." He props his feet up on an empty chair and sips at his own hot cider. "Mm," he says, eyes closing in the bliss that is hot redfruit cider on a cold day, in the company of nice people and (especially) beautiful women.

Moydeo grins at Risner. "Yes! I got the acceptance letter a couple of days ago!" She says. "I've tried to let you know, but you always seemed so busy in the bar." She admits, and nods to Ely. "Agreed. Man, if Choth's clutch is going to be laid in the middle of winter, I don't envy the candidates that'll have to do chores, and other things out there." She remarks, and then looks to Jayashri as she sips from her cider again, as well as letting the warm mug against her bare hands help to warm her up. "Ah, I know of atleast one other computer crafter in Fort, he was taking some kind of test a couple nights ago, and then was playing during the snowball fight today before leaving." She admitts. "Don't know where he is now though, he took off."

"That's great! I'm really happy for you," says Risner, grinning at Mo, before he takes his first sip of cider. It must have cooled enough not to burn him, for he sighs happily and quickly takes another. "And yeah, bar gets busy the colder it gets." He shrugs a 'go figure' sort of shrug. "Me neither, about being computer savvy." He shakes his head gently. "Never really got into that technology stuff. What brings you to Fort, anyways?" he asks Jayashri. "Something here good for computers?"

Elyciana shivers a little and wraps her fingers more tightly around the mug as she scoots her chair a little closer to the fire. She even seems to lean inwardly towards the warmth, lifting her mug to her lips to sip slowly at the heated contents. The coldd doesn't stop her from giving a little amused half-grin, "I can testify that he's quite good at drawing. He showed me some of his artwork the other day." Rolling her mug between her fingers, she takes another long drink from the contents and sighs deeply in contentment. "Goats! You'll lfinally get to learn about goats now that you've gone official," she can't seem to help but tease Moydeo, ,a wicked smirk on her face as she makes note of the other girl's promotion. "If oyu serve anything like this, you know, I can see why it's crowded," she throws at Risner before the bundle in front of Ashri is eyed again as tohugh it were some foreign object, "Well. A laptop. I was supposed to make some sort of .. listing .. for the goats here. But the laptop ..." she trails off and scowls, not bothering to finish that particular comment.

Milo nods a couple of time to agree with Moydeo. "Yeah, I know. Brr. Those poor Candidates." There's just a hint of wistfulness to his tone, though. "I don't know, though... I mean... the chance for a dragon would be pretty great. My older brother Impressed. We all just about exploded with pride that day." He chuckles at the memory. There's a big smile for Ely when she mentions his artwork. "Yeah, I like to dr-" he breaks off and bolts to his feet, barely managing not to spill his cider. "Oh, no!" he says. "I totally forgot to get that picture to Gregos! He's gonna -" he spins on his heel and dashes out of the room. Then he dashes back, kisses Ely on her cheek if she doesn't dodge it, and whispers in her ear, "See you tonight?" And then he's off again.

Cider cools enough for the Computer Apprentice to begun sipping in earnest, though Jayashri continues to puff on the steaming beverage as her sips take her to hotter territory. "Well," she begins in her clear soprano. "They could have picked a better time than winter to ship us north." Well, isn't she opinionated. She shivers at the mention of chores in the cold. "Makes me glad that my work is done /indoors/." She clutches the mug closer to her, as if the mere mention of the the temperature somehow makes her colder. "I think they mentioned him, but..." She glances around, her curls swishing across her back as she does so. "I haven't seen him." Hazel eyes then blink-blink at Milo's mad departure, an expression of bemusement crossing her features before Risner's question sinks in. "Oh, I was assigned here to help Fort Weyr update their technology, particularly their computer systems." Lips quirk into an eager smile. "I'm supposed to help program a new system for them for their records and other administrative stuff." Yay, technobabble.

Moydeo nods. "True, that as well." She agrees to Milo, and then blinks. "Bye! Good luck!" She calls to him, before she looks to Risner. "Yes, busy crowds over rides exciting news any day, or night." She chuckles softly, and then listens to Jay for a moment. "Yes, seems like they could of picked a warmer time for that, I'm not computer savvy either, but, couldn't the cold, and dampness hurt the computers?" She asks the girl, eyeing the laptop a moment. "Actually," says Risner with a grin towards Elyciana, "We do serve a spiced beverage similar to cider. But it's a bit, ah, stronger. Really gets the blood pumping." He lifts his mug, takes a long swallow, and sighs happily as he sets it back down. His free hand lifts as Milo darts off, and he averts his gaze from Ely and Milo, for whatever reason. There might even be a brief roll of his eyes (or he could be following the flight of a firelizard, who knows). "Well, never know. That sort of stuff sounds important." Updating... things. "And we do have a nice heating system, don't we? I think you'll like Fort, once you get to know it. Snow can be pretty, and you'll thaw out eventually."

A slow flush of pink touches Elyciana's cheeks that really has nothing to do with the warmth of the fire nearby. It would seem the parting kiss from Milodann might be the culprit, though she does her best to hide it with her usual shields. She pausesa bit to swivel i her seat to murmur a quiet reply to the man before he leaves before her attention drifts slowly back to the conversation. "Nothing better to warm you up than a fresh bout of vomiting and then a hang over," she murmurs in a sarcastic quip, smirking a little in Risner's direction and effectively hiding any previous smile that may have been a remnant of the kiss. Nothing but the usual sarcastic Ely over here - really. "Technology and I don't get along. I have this funny ability of breaking most things I touch," she retorts with a rol lof her mismatched eyes. She stares at Ashri contemplatively for a moment over the rim of her mug - one blue eye and one green eye saring intently - before taking a long drink, "Obviously you don't have the same trouble. Your craft is lucky they didn't send me to the Computer craft for a test run of an Apprenticeship. Half your stock would be gone." She hesitates for a moment, rolling her mug in her hands to warm them, "They tried me in the Glasscraft." She lets this hang in the air. Ely and a bunch of glass. It's not too difficult to figure what happened.

Jayashri is finally starting to feel warmth in her toes. Said warmth has begun to make the Apprentice more animated, and she responds to Risner's query between sips of cider. "Wet is bad for them," she agrees, one hand affectionately caressing the top of her bundle. "But cold really isn't. They generate enough heat that being in colder environments is actually better for them. Less wear on the parts." Yup, more technobabble. Her hazel gaze slides to meet Ely's mismatched gaze, her multi-colored eyes confident as they glitter with a smile. "I'll be sure to thank whoever let my Craft avoid that fate." She grins, revealing straight, small teeth. "Though I'm pretty sure we could get them back online, even if you did crash them." She giggles softly, draining her cup and reaching for the half full pitcher, trying to stretch over the table before her short form gives up. "Could you pass that, please?"

Moydeo snorts lightly. "Probably alot of that happened the other night, with the party at the Gemstone Tavern." She remarks about the vomiting and hang overs. "Amazing you don't cause injuries or something in the Beastcraft then, if you're that bad Ely." She says, teasing lightly, and then looks to Jay. "Oh, alright. Then this must be a great place for computers." She chuckles lightly.

"Oh yeah?" wonders Risner, though it's clear he's humoring Ashri more than anything else. He toys with his mug, eyes on the cider briefly. He cracks a small grin, glances between Ely and Mo, and decides, "Well, gotta take the bad with the good, you know? Could say the same for animals, yeah?" He shrugs, downs the rest of his cider, and stands. "But speaking of drinking, I'd better get back - this was meant to be a short break."

Elyciana exhales slowly as the warmth finally seems to be getting completely through to the rest of her body. Lifting her mug to her lips, she quickly drains off the rest of her cider and settles the mug down onto the table, "There's not much you can break when it comes to goats, really. And if they did suddenly decde to stampede or something .. well .. it isn't going to hurt much." She seems to smirk at the thought of that happening before she eases herself out of her chair and collects her things, "I thnk I'll take Risner's lead. I'm going to go take a hot bath to warm up more and then call it a night." As though to accent this note, she yawns widely and gives her head a little shake as tohugh trying to clear it. "Well ..." She pauses and eyes Ashri for a moment before leaning forward to nudge the cider pitcher closer, "Try not to spill cider on your laptop. I don't even think your little brain can fix that." She lets out a snort of derisive laughter at that, "See? A goat can't break if you spill cider on it. Less for me to break in the Beastcraft." Another yawn and she slowly winds her way out, lifting a hand idly to wave farewell to e veryone in a lazy sort of way.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ashri beams at her laptop in sudden realization. "I've got my own portable heater." This idea seems to please her, for she grins even broader before nodding to Risner. What exactly she's agreeing to, however, is uncertain. Amber gleams predominantly in her gaze due to the reflecting firelight as she grasps the pitched that Ely nudged her way, carefully filling her cup and setting the pitcher back down. "No, I suppose the goat wouldn't break if you split cider on it." She smirks slightly. "But I'm pretty sure the goat might try to break you. At least my laptop won't ever try to kick my teeth in." She laughs and offers the departing pair a wave as she attempts to sip at her steaming mug. "Oh, hot, uhm," slurp, puff, "mmm, good!"

Moydeo weaves to Ely as she leaves. "See you around." She says to the other beastcrafter, and looks up as Risner gets up as well. "Alright, have a good night, hope there's no brawls tonight to break up. Maybe I'll drop in later." She smiles, and then looks to Ashri. "I don't work with goats, I work with runnerbeasts, rather work with something I can ride, then something that's liable to head butt me in the stomach or something when angry." She admits. Risner hesitates, poised on the other side of his chair as if to push it back in. He smiles at Moydeo, nods and decides, "That'd be nice. You know, it's not usually that rough in there. Normally it's nice." He flashes Jayashri a quick grin and a quick, "It was nice to meet you, Ashri. I'm Risner, sorry I didn't give you my name before. Mo can fill you in on what I do, but you look a bit young to visit." He grins wide, tucks in his chair, and heads for Shenanigans.

Jayashri smiles at Moydeo over her glass, her eyes twinkling as the corners crinkle. "Risner. Right. I'll try to remember that." She chuckles as he comments regarding her age. "Yeah, I only turned fourteen about a sevenday ago." And still as flat-chested as any boy, too. "But maybe when I'm older you can show me around." She grins confidently before turning back to the Beastcrafter. "Runnerbeasts, huh? I've only been on one once or twice. They seemed nice enough. They're big though!" Her eyes widen, as if to emphasize this point.

Moydeo chuckles. "Yers, fourteens a little young to be in there." She agrees. "A couple more turrns, and you should be ok, I'm only sixteen, and nobodys objected to me being in there yet." She shrugs, and chuckles. "Aww, not all of them are big, some of the ponies can get pretty small." She admits. "Almost goat sized in some cases. But, yes, I love riding them, what got me into the beast craft in the first place, though I hadn't considered it till I got here." She says.

Jayashri slurps away at her cider as she listens to Moydeo, cupping the mug between her petite palms. "Maybe you could show them to me sometime," she suggests boldly. "And maybe I could show you some about computers." She glance at her laptop. "Er, if you want to that is." She offers him another one of her warm, genuine smiles. "the Beastcraft uses computers for some of their records now. You might have to at some point as well." Ah, ever prevailing technology. How it sneaks into our lives. "So, deal?"

Moydeo sips at her cider as well, aaaaah. thank faranth for warm liquid. "I could, just stop by the stables sometime, they're just outside the Weyr, you can get there by the tunnel in the southern part of the bowl." She explains, and then grins. "Alright, deal, maybe learning something about a computer wouldn't hurt me, even if I can't afford to get one." She chuckles, and then blink, looking up as she hears her name, and erks, standding up. "Well, I think I hear my mentor calling me." So out into the evil cold she must trek again. "It was nice meeting you Jayashri, and talking to you, hope to see you around again."

Jayashri nods, mentally filing away the location. She still learning her way around the Weyr, but thinks she can manage to find the stables. If by nothing else than the smell of manure. "Nope, can't hurt a bit," she agrees, finishing her own cider. "I need to get back to my studies anyway. Thanks for the company." She stands, starting to gather her things. "Stay warm!" she calls in a parting shout to the departing Apprentice before she heads down into the lower caverns.

Yes, smelly manure is a great way to find the stables, just becareful you don't find the feeding grounds by mistake. "Alright, you stay warm as well." She grins, and slips on her gloves, before grabbing her hat, and jacket, and slipping them on, before heading out to the bowl.