Dining Hall Announcement (Open)

[saidaltam]

Kalos stepped into the dining hall, a scroll under one arm and a large volume under the other, and paused, sniffing pensively and considering the room. Not just anywhere would do. It had been much too long since he'd opened his books, last, and he was well past due and starting to notice the lack. He had to find the perfect place.

After several long moments of deep consideration, the scruffy rogue selected an expanse of open wall opposite the doors. Placing his book carefully on a table, the maladroit handyman set about the task of unfurling the scroll he'd brought with and affixing it to the wall by lodging a sturdy hook in place and propping the narrow wooden dowel upon which the scroll hung onto the hook. For several moments, he made minute adjustments to the exact hang of the scroll, but, eventually, he seemed satisfied, and he took three steps back to examine his handiwork with a smug smirk.

[TheDreamerLady]

Tafren was off duty and it showed. Her hair, slick as it had been less than an hour ago had become tousled, and instead of her dark blue uniform, she was clad in mismatched yellow pants and a faded into pink red shirt. It was comfortable attire, and kept her from looking anything like her Weyrguard persona.

When she entered the dining hall, a snack on her mind, the first thing she noticed was the sign on the wall. She was trained to notice oddities, or changes, and so she moved closer to study the writing.

When she was finished reading, the tall woman chuckled deeply, looking around for the scruffy bookie she enjoyed seeing off-duty, and often had to speak with while on duty.

"Kalos never stops, does he?" She commented to herself, wondering where the disreputable man was right this second. After all, Elfreth's newest clutch should be on books already.

[saidaltam]

Kalos, for his part, had taken up a seat at the table nearest his self-proclaimed lovely poster. A large, sticky roll and a steaming cup of klah, his idea of the only tolerable breakfast on Pern, sat before him. Off to one side was the bound stack of hides that served as his improvised book.

With the books reopening, he rather expected he'd have to spend far less time pretending he actually did something constructive around the Weyr and be far more able to enjoy his klah, his flirting, and, best of all, his increase in marks.

Tearing a large piece off of his roll, he popped it into his mouth and half purred with delight. He did love his rolls. They were, he was firmly convinced, the finest, stickiest, messiest indulgence known to man--or, if not quite all that, certainly a very close second.

That was when he noticed Tafren reading the poster, and he swallowed the too-large bite, taking a swig of klah to wash it down, then waved cheerfully at her, adopting a broad, impish smile. "Care to lay a wager?" he called brightly, thingying an eyebrow at her. "Or would you rather join me for a cup of klah and an indulgence?" With this last, he gestured with sticky fingers toward the plump, gooey roll.

[TheDreamerLady]

Tafren sauntered on over to the table the bookie had claimed as his own. Pulling a seat out, she sat, and stared at Kalos with a humorous grin.

"I think I'd fancy a bet on Elfreth's clutch." She said after a second of thought. "And thanks for the offer, but I'm just off duty. I need sleep before I need klah."

This didn't keep her from taking one of his offered buns. After a long night of keeping the peace was wearing on one. Three bites later(large bites), the bun was gone, and Tafren was feeling a lot better.

"So." She began with a smile. "What bets do we have now?"

[saidaltam]

With a cheery, devilish grin, Kalos flipped to the first hide. "Let's see... number of eggs in the clutch. Exact date of hatching. Candidates to impress--and to what color. When she lays, color of the hatchlings, but I haven't seen any eggs, yet, so that one is still out. However, first color to hatch is open." He flashed her a bright, cheery smile. "First bet's all yours, too, pretty lady. Shoulda opened this sooner and you coulda got in on betting for the outcome of the flight."

As he spoke, he prepared a flicked through the hide pages, labeling the first several in concise, tidy script. "What's it gonna be, pretty lady?" he asked, looking up at her and setting the pen down. Leaning back lazily, a languid smile stretched across his face. "And, by the way--mention to your friends that I'm open, will ya? I could always use the extra business."

[TheDreamerLady]

"I think I would like to place a bet on the size of the Clutch. And the first color to hatch. Twenty three eggs, and a Brown to start the Clutch."

It was fairly obvious that Tafren had put previous thought into this topic, but when one spend all of one's time surrounded by Dragonriders, and Weyrfolk, the topic was never far from anyone's mind. And she liked to discuss whatever was the most burning topic in anyone's mind.

Currently, the most pressing topic was if the Igen Queenrider would allow girls to stand for her Clutch. And if a Queen Egg would result of the Flight(but whenever a Queen Rose, people wondered about that).

Then she burst into laughter.

"You." She declared seriously. "Have absolutely no need of my help advertising your frowned upon activities. I have no need of Hysiae's hatred, and you are quite shameless enough to do your own advertising." She rubbed her messy hair again, and grinned at him, friendly and relaxed.

"So." She began. "You've managed to stay out of trouble so far. Why are you starting this up again?"

[saidaltam]

Kalos scrawled her bets under the appropriate headers, then flashed her a bright, devilish grin. "It's what I do best, beautiful. How much you want on each of those? And for everyone who bets on the number of eggs, I've got an option for an extra payout if you guess whether or not there'll be a queen." He winked mischeivously at her, stretching languidly, and popped another bite of roll in his mouth before adding, "And I'm not afraid of Hysiae. She's a doll. She just tries to pretend she's not. You don't really fall for her act, do you? There's sweetness under all that, you mark my words." As if to emphasize just which words she should be marking, he tapped his pen seriously in her direction, like some sort of ineffective underlining.

In truth, he believed no such thing of Hysiae, and was, in fact, just a little bit scared of the woman, but it was better to ignore that, better to let himself seem unflappably defiant and charming. It made people trust his reliability and effectiveness far better. Also, it got him out of doing any real work, and there wasn't much else more important than that.