Turn's End Party - Scavenging Fun (2/2)

Writers: Corrin, Devin, Duskdog, Estelle
Date Posted: 16th April 2024

Characters: N'kyri, K'mai, L'keri, G'zan
Description: The partyboys meet back up to share their scavenger hunt finds and stories.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 29 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentor approved.

N'kyri

K'mai

L'keri

G'zan

N'kyri arrived back to his weyr with a good quarter-candlemark to spare, stumbling back into the party barefoot, his boots clutched to his chest. One boot stuffed with snow, the other stuffed with an irate wherry chick. Both boots would be _ruined_ after this, but it was worth it for the points, and the laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, wise guys. No. It's not my date." N'kyri pushed into the weyr to the table where G'zan and the other 'officials'-cum-wherry-wranglers stood. A make-shift pen had been erected and a couple of chicks now huddled amid N'kyri's upturned furniture. They were going to make a mess, but that was a problem for Morning N'kyri. "G'zan! Score me!"

G'zan stood back with his arms crossed, watching N'kyri pad barefoot across the weyr floor, trying to appear very official but failing miserably because he couldn't even begin to wipe the broad grin from his face. "Well there's the birthingday boy! Let's see what we've got here!"

He leaned over and tilted one boot back on the table to get a better look inside. "Actual snow! Check!" Then he tilted the other back. "Aw, that's a wherry chick alright. Extra-spicy," he added, when his attempt to pet the chick with one outstretched finger was met with an angry beak. He handed the boot off to someone else so that they could gently tilt the avian out into the pen.

"Okay. That's five points for the snow, and ten points for the spicy wherry nugget. If we end up with a tiebreaker, maybe I'll give you an extra two points for style." He nodded downward, indicating N'kyri's bare feet.

"I don't need pity points, I have something better." Relieved of his boots, N'kyri reached into his flight jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, wrapped around a half eaten redfruit tart. Peeling them apart he held them out to G'zan with a broad grin. "That's five for the tart and then ten, because I'm a _very_ good boy."

It was the task he'd most tried to pawn off onto K'mai or L'keri, but in the end, N'kyri held a paper that declared through a smear of redfruit: "Nikki is a very good boy. SOMETIMES. -- L'vacus, Weyrlingmaster Third, Far Island Weyr".

G'zan read the note and then practically _guffawed_. "Oh, you took a little trip to find somebody that'd vouch for you, huh? And half a tart is suspicious. You didn't offer half of it as a _bribe_ to this guy, did you?" He waved the paper with mock seriousness and then laughed again. "Don't matter, bribes aren't against the rules! Neither is eating half yourself. Ten more points, then five more for the tart. Now... what's the rest of the team got?"

"Is that what I think it is?" L'keri bounded up and stood on tiptoe to peer at the paper over G'zan's shoulder. His eyes went wide and he saluted N'kyri respectfully. "Congratulations. I couldn't persuade a single Weyrlingmaster to write that about me. Not even with bribes. Or the 'sometimes'. I did have success elsewhere, though. First - " He held up a soft green plush toy with a perky sewn-on draconic grin and slightly chewed headknobs. "May I present Kerinth, lifemate of Eluri?"

"It helped it wasn't one of the staff from my weyrlinghood. It was a clutchmate who made good." N'kyri's admitted this workaround shamelessly, while nodding a politely at the proffered toy. "Welcome to my party, Kerinth."

The door burst open. "Did I make it?" K'mai rushed in, shirtless and barefoot.

"Points for the plushy, L'keri -- and it's a green, too. You sure know how to butter a guy up!" G'zan marked the points down on his ledger. "K'mai! You made it right under the wire -- c'mon c'mon, lay it out for me!"

K'mai opened his hand to display the fabric he had clutched there. "Blue underwear!" He grinned triumphantly.

G'zan laughed, clapping slowly. "_Yes!_ That's exactly why I'm here -- shenanigans like that! Ha! You look like you got 'em the hard way. Or... the easy way, depending on who it was. You know you gotta spill the beans if you want the bonus points, though. Was it somebody in another Wing...?"

"That _was_ the rule," K'mai said with a smile. "And I had to earn them." He laid the feminine underwear on the table, smoothing out the fabric.

"Now I'm wondering if she knows you took 'em," G'zan said. "But doesn't matter! Points are points! K'mai coming through for his team with blue underwear... probably from somebody with Azure Wing pride, because these look more azure than cyan or cobalt, and we don't actually know and that means we get to make up the details."

He marked down the points for the team.

"Oh! I nearly forgot." Before G'zan could start adding up the total, the brownrider pulled out something from his pocket and pinned it to his shoulder, where it hung lopsidedly over his own knots. "Bow down and obey me, humble wingriders, for I am Wingsecond L'keri!" He stuck his nose in the air and affected a lordly accent. "Is this a - a _party_? By the First Egg! Why aren't you all in your weyrs, studying wing formations and oiling your riding straps?"

K'mai saluted. "Sir, we're so sorry sir!" Then he had to immediately cover his mouth against a laugh.

N'kyri hastily saluted as well, struggling to keep a straight face. "Sir! How did you come by your promotion, sir?"

"A very good question, wingrider. To which one answer might be - in much the same way as Bluerider K'mai came by this item." L'keri lifted an eyebrow in his most suggestive manner and picked up the blue undergarment between two fingers.

"I _hope_ you didn't sleep with a Wingsecond because you'd turn him off men forever," K'mai said. "A first experience shouldn't be that disappointing."

"Do I detect a note of jealousy in that remark, bluerider?" L'keri grinned wickedly and set the garment down on the table again. "As much as I hate to banish the delightful image of myself locked in a passionate embrace with a noble Wingsecond, I may have had an accomplice. She would be here, but..." He waggled his eyebrows again.

G'zan looked up from tallying the points and blinked, and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Tryin' to figure out how _that_ worked. When'd you do the hand-off of the knots? Were you in the closet or something? I got questions for you later, man. But right now..." He stood up to his full height, waved his talley-sheet in the air, and bellowed: "Time's up! If you got something else to add, well too bad, 'cause the points are all added up! And before you say anything, yeah I _can_ do math! Somebody gimme a drum roll! Somebody...?"

He elbowed the nearest rider, who dutifully beat out a sad attempt at a drum roll on the table in front of him.

"And the winner is... the only team to actually get _every_ sharding item on my list..._the birthday boy's team_!"

The party go-ers, those still paying attention to The Game and not too deep in their cups, gave a scattered applause and few good natured complaints as the winners were announced. N'kyri himself whooped and slung an arm over L'keri and the still shirtless K'mai, jostling them both. "Mad lads, we did it!" It felt good to start the new Turn with a win.

Last updated on the April 22nd 2024

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Turn's End Party - Scavenging Fun (2/2)