Oadatrouff stares, deep in concentration, at a small collection of reeds on the bar in front of him. Shifting on the stool, he peeks at them from one side, then the other, lying his head on the bar, hovering over it, trying to peer at them from under it... And still they don't make much sense. Then his attention drifts to the three glasses of juice set out before him, and he seems to attempt to put reeds and juices together in a way that makes sense. At least to him. At the sound of an entry, he looks up with his 'friendly host guy' grin, and allows a little wave, too involved in his problem to realize who it is, exactly...
Kristiana follows the path of a familiar green, eyes curiously cast about her as she treads through unknown walkways. Finding herself in a pub, she "ohs" and shakes her head at the green. "I don't think I should be here, Adanac. Apprentices aren't supposed to be in pubs." Sure, and that explains why harpers spend their days in the Mug. As one weyrleader once said (oocly), there are so many harpers in the Mug that you can't swing a firelizard around without smacking one of them. She notices Trouff and grins broadly. "Aah... so you weren't just trying to get me lost," she chuckles to the 'lizard before returning the wave with a curious look. "Trouff? What are you doing?"
From Oadatrouff's shoulder, Adanac chirps, all too pleased with herself for having brought her odd-acting 'pet a friend. Trouff's eyes focus at his name, and his reed-filled brain slowly begins to work on a wider spectrum... "Kris. Kris? What are you doing here?" Hadn't she just said something about apprentices? Or was that just Iona's do's and don't's reverberating in his skull? The man reaches for his belt knife, not caring the impression this might give. "Well, ya see, there are so many kids here, and sometimes they come in for juice, but it's messy, so... I'm trying to find the perfect reed for sucking the juice up. So far I've tested this one..." and he gestures to a dark green reed with the knife. "And... Ya." Trouff's quest in life: making drinking straws.
Kristiana chuckles slightly and shrugs. "This little beast of yours dragged me here," she replies with a grin, waving her hand toward the beast in comment. She slides herself onto a stool, peering curiously over the reeds as he explains. "Sounds like an... interesting venture. Is... that one working all right?" She seems a little confused to see her friend playing with reeds and juice, but she's going to listen and be nice and all that such. "So is this your new job? Developing straws?"
Oadatrouff shakes his head. "It's smooth enough, and it doesn't break or anything. And if you know where to look, you can get lots... But it gives the drink this terrible aftertaste..." With a careful hand, he takes a lighter green reed, severing both ends and peering through it. Some juice is grabbed, and the reed dropped in. "It's not so much the whole job, just part of it... Well, I don't need to, but the poor drudges, wiping up the spills, and then the nannies having to take care of juice soaked kidlets... So, you're at SeaCliffs just... cause?"
Kristiana mmhmms and puts her elbow on the table, chin in her palm, as she listens to the explanation. "Well, I suppose that means you have to try another then, unless you can coat the inside of the reed with something. But that would get annoying after a time." She chuckles slightly. "You're going to be so full of juice soon that you'll bust, Trouff, even if this is for science sake." She nods slowly. "Well, that's nice of you then, to find something like that..." She glances down at her fingers, thumping them lightly against the table as if in drum code, and then back up at Trouff with a shrug. "I don't know... I didn't know where else to go, and... well, I had to get away." She shrugs. "Kurt's been quite busy. I doubt he'll notice I'm gone till I get back."
Inhaling deeply, and feigning courage, Trouff puts his lips to the reed, and... Gets a mouthful or rather nice tasting juice. The man smiles to himself, grinning to the Harper. "Had to get away?" Count on him to sort out the most doubtful sounding bit of someone's sentence... Whether he reacts to it or not depends on his mood... "Sneaking out are we?" And then he twirls the reed between his fingers. "Works rather nice-" and the thing folds in on itself. "Maybe it's just a bad sample?" He reaches for another of the light green reeds.
Kristiana leans forward to watch in amusement as the Straw-Tester does his duty. She raises an eyebrow at the end, waiting for his response, but, to her luck, questions come first. "Yeah," she replies before snickering softly. "I've never 'snuck out', but I suppose if that's what you want to call it.... yeah..." She grins and nods before oopsing at the folded straw. "Perhaps it's not fully grown yet and that makes it soft-- it is green, after all. Maybe if you find some older ones?"
Oadatrouff nods slowly, cutting the ends of the next 'victim' with little attention spared for anything else. The broken reed is removed, and the next placed in the glass. 'Bartender Boy' goes to test the next, and lets out a yelp, lower lip sticking out as far as it can as he attempts to remove its freshly acquired splinter. "No good... So why'd you sneak out then? Gotta be some reason... Ouch! Sharding reeds..." and the remainder of the light greens are cleared to a little pile to the left of the rest, while Trouff licks at his wounded lip and ponders which reed to take next. "And those were the ones that grew in abundance too..."
The harper glances from the Straw Dude... to the reeds... back to the Straw Dude... back to the reeds. Each time she sees him he's doing something unusual. And she thought harpers were odd. She jumps softly, biting her lower lip. "Are you all right, Trouff?" She asks quickly before chuckling and shaking her head. "Be careful there. Might be out of commission for a while, and then your women would be quite upset." She winks before sighing softly. "Just.. had no reason to be there, I guess. Same old thing every day... and it's boring me. And I'm ready to move on. I guess I wasn't meant to be a harper, no matter how much my mother keeps telling me 'Don't give up.' Or perhaps I'm just worn out... " Realizing she's talking a lot-- and she doesn't generally talk about her own problems-- she quiets quickly, glancing at the reeds. "Need some help?"
Oadatrouff selects an almost blue-ish one, cutting it next, and peering through, as he'd done with the previous. Tossing this one aside, he mutters "not good, too many holes, not completely hollow, and reaches for the next, most likely the same type of plant, cutting it open to reveal the same results. "I'm sure Khaly won't mind..." And then he reaches for a glass, drinking some just for the sake of tasting some without injury to lip or tastebud, nodding as she speaks. Him, need help? "You could kiss it better for me." And then he blushes terribly, realizing he'd actually said his little comment out loud. "But, if you don't want to be a harper, don't. Take what you've learned and leave..." Not to change the subject, cough cough.
Kristiana still watches him in curiosity, sort of wondering this whole art of straw making. She moves to lean back against the bar, elbows on the surface, as Gwyned and Grendel both chitter at her movement. "Aye, you two, go back home... and Grendel! Stop wrestling with the straws! Trouff needs those!" The blue squawks indignantly and flitters *between*, and the apprentice blows some hair from her forehead in mock frustration. "I'm sure she won't..." She replies before his next coming brings raised eyebrows and a slight chuckle to her lips. "Aye, I would, but then who would you go to to vent your confusion with women, eh?" She shrugs slightly, moving on quickly after noticing his blush. "Don't be a harper? I've always wanted to be a harper. I was… destined to be a harper, because of my mother and... I don't know what else to do. My whole life has revolved around it."
Oadatrouff nods, adding the rest of the blue reeds to the light green pile and sighing. "Y'know, I wanted to be a harper... For the longest time. Course, then I went and realized I had this 'thing' for Khalila, and that all sorta died... Y'know, apprentices and relationships and that, and honestly, what's more important?" Well, that answer seems obvious enough now, eh? "And now I'm the pub hosting man, and strawmaker extraordinaire." He reaches for a brown/green reed, making the practiced amputations, and peering through it. A triumphant expression appears on his face, and he nods proudly, showing Kris with a grin. "Hollow." Adanac gives a bit of a sigh, curling her tail tighter about Trouff's neck, interest in the antics of the other 'lizards having faded by now. The green is bored with her 'pet, it would seem, or with reeds, or juices...
Kristiana hmms and glances down at the ground in thought her feet dangling in the air. "It depends... on your future. I mean, a career is very important, especially if it's a career you definitely want..." She shrugs and smiles. "I've never been in the other situation, so I don't know." She chuckles. "Well, that's quite a list of talents to have," she replies as she glances down at the callouses on her fingers. "And I can make and play a mean harp, but that doesn't get me anywhere on Pern." She shrugs and grins. "Aye, it is hollow, Trouff."
Oadatrouff continues on admiring his new reed, toying with it, making sure it doesn't break easily, rubbing it against his finger to check for splintering, and finding nothing to dissatisfy him. "Well, instruments, y'know... Who cares if they get you anywhere, that's not really the point... I used to know some gitar. That would be good to take up again..." The reed is plunged into some juice, and Oadatrouff's smug look slowly disintegrates as the end of the reed begins to fizz. The thing is removed, and he sighs, arms folding on the bar and forehead resting on that. "So be like me. Go and become a bartender, and find yourself some wonderful person, and have kids, and all will be well." He sighs, getting a little tired of reeds, and places the brown/green subject back into the juice, watching it fizz and giving a bit of a whuffle.
Kristiana hmms and nods slowly. "I could probably teach you, though it's not my specialty, and you may know how to play it more than I do..." She glances at the juice and fizzing reed and shakes her head. "Try again." She laughs and shakes her head. "I left my home because I didn't want to handfast. Of course, I would've handfasted a forty-year-old drunkard. And... bartender? All I've ever had is one glass of Benden on special occasions. What do I know about /bartending/?"
Oadatrouff shrugs, yawning as the reaction between the juice and reed seems to end, and standing, stretching luxuriously. "So if you handfast, handfast someone you love. Simple." Of course, finding the person may not be quite as easy, but Trouff never really considers that, having found that himself without really meaning to, and not being short on people to like him back either. Head tilts from side to side, neck and spine cracking to tell of how long he'd been sitting with his project. The man makes his way around to the other side of the bar, bringing up a flask of white wine, and pouring two glasses, handing one to Kris, and placing one near the reeds, then heading back to his seat, and raising his drink in something of a toast. "So, plenty to learn..." And if she didn't drink it, Faranth knew he would.
Kristiana hmms softly, eyes drifting off into space. Aye, she's a daydreamer, this one. She can also be a little dense at times. "But I can't handfast anyone-- not for a while, anyway, since I'm an apprentice. Shards, Trouff. I'm nearly nineteen turns old..." She shakes her head, chuckling softly. "Sorry about this ranting... I'm not normally like this," she apologizes as she fiddles with a broken reed laying on the table. She glances down at the glass he brings, looking at him and chuckling before tentatively taking a sip. "I need to get out more..." she murmurs, laughing at herself.
Oadatrouff shrugs, swirling his drink idly in his glass. "You're an apprentice... At the same time, you're an apprentice sneaking out to SeaCliffs and drinking wine when something could be presumed to be wrong..." The fizzed-out cup is placed to the side, and Oadatrouff reaches for a yellow-ish reed, toying with it between his fingers. Free hand goes for the glass, from which another sip is taken, and Trouff leans on the bar slightly, eyeing the Harper. "So, there needs to be a better reason for your being here then the fact that you were bored with the hall..." Anything other than reeds... Shards, /anything/.
Kristiana bites her lip, nodding to his words. "Aye, I'm just a bad girl, aren't I?" she chuckles with a wink. "I never would've considered something like that before-- you know, leaving the hall, but.... when you have to get away, you have to get away." She takes another languid sip, shaking her head at the reeds. "Haven't you found one /yet/, Trouff?" She sighs and shrugs softly. "I came to see you? Is that a good enough reason?" She shrugs and grins. "I'm a renegade harper... what can I say?"
Oadatrouff sighs, taking his knife and slicing the ends of the reed, as he'd done so many times before. Holding this one up to peer through it, he gives a little shake of his head, sending his hair bouncing into his way, and then a toss of his head to clear that. "Not a good enough one... Unless everyone wanted juice that tasted roughly the way numbweed smells when it's boiling..." Oh, the memories of the smells of the Weyr... "Coming to see me. That's a lovely reason, really..." And now the question arises: pursue the topic to possible offense, or go on to the next subject. "So, Ailea met her first dragon a while ago..."
Kristiana wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "Throw that one away," she replies, "unless you're trying to scare off customers-- Hey, you could always save it for a patron you don't like. But then you might get pommeled." She smiles softly and shrugs. "Well, you come to visit me sometimes, so I figured I would be nice... and run away here. You should be beaming to see me." She winks before raising her eyebrow with an "Oh? Was she scared?"
Oadatrouff shrugs, placing this reed now in the juice and attempting to summon any courage left after the previous failures. "Scared? No, she acted like she'd Impressed him! She was scared of Izz'y and Brid and Fylaer, cause it was early in the morning and there were lots of new people... But Nua she liked... She bapped him on the nose with Squee, and they got along very well." Lips are then brought to the makeshift straw, and with a wince at what might come, he draws some juice from the glass... And smiles. "Now, that is good..." Fingers are run over the reed, not finding any splintering or breaking, and he grins. "I think this one might work... The yellow ones... There aren't many of them, but I know where to get 'em..."
Kristiana watches with a raised eyebrow at his new test, chuckling softly. She grins and shakes her head. "Well, that's good... I think," she replies. "At least she didn't run and hide... and that the dragon didn't mind her. How many turns does she have now?" She grins and nods. "Well, that's good, then. You don't have to worry about testing more and getting more splinters... But I still can't believe you spend your day testing straws."
Oadatrouff beams with his parental pride, something he's taken to doing of late. "Well, she's one turn, two months, and a few days... I don't have brainpower after the reeds to figure out ho many." And then he reaches for the reed to stir it around in the drink, peers into the glass, and pulls up the reed, which sags. "Oh, wonderful. My saviour gets mushy when it gets wet..." He pokes at the suddenly flexible end with a finger, and shrugs, tossing it to the reject pile. "I was so close too..."
"Wow... that old already?" Kristiana grins as she spins slightly in her seat, still fiddling with a reed in one hand and taking occasional sips out of the glass in her other hand. She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "Just give up, Trouff," she chides with a snicker. "How long have you been at this?"
Oadatrouff sighs, shaking his head. "Way too long. Cause I've had to get the reeds, then test them, and several hours have gone by, seemingly to waste..." And this brings a grimace, and he takes his glass, tilting his head backwards and finishing the contents quickly. He blinks to clear his head from that maneuver, giving a bit of a grin and reaching for the flask to refill the now empty goblet. "But I need to find the right reed. The kidlets'll thank me?" And he reaches for a reddish one with an obvious lack of vigor.
Kristiana furrows her forehead, chuckling softly, as she glances down at the remaining, untested reeds. "I'll come visit you after I get my journeyman knot in... oh, ten turns... and you'll still be playing with these reeds." She looks a bit shocked at his quickness at drinking and takes another gulp. "I'm sure they will appreciate it, yes, as long as you don't put splinters in their lips and fill their mouths with numbweed-flavored juice."
Oadatrouff sighs, flopping back against the bar (though it's a careful flop so that he won't knock anything over). "Ten turns for the journeyman knot? Sounds an awful long time. Honestly, you should come down and help me play with straws all day." And he takes a sip of his second glass of wine. "The kids can love you too, if you help me find one." And the red ends are severed, the reed flung into the juice, and a daring sip taken before he can even consider the consequences.
Kristiana chuckles and shrugs. "Well, I figured I've been an apprentice for nearly four turns... give me a few more, plus that many or more for senior apprentice, and you have Journeyman Kristiana." She snickers and shrugs. "Play with straws all day... I can't decide if that sounds like an interesting proposition or a boring one..." She raises an eyebrow. "So how's the latest reed?"
Oadatrouff nods, rolling his eyes only slightly. "And we will have Journeyman Kristiana, old and withered, but shards, can she play a harp..." The reed is used to stir at the juice, Trouff finding himself amused at funnel created by the swirling liquid. Another test, the amount of juice dropping noticeably, and then the pub host's poking and prodding at his new innovation, testing for faults the others all had, and hoping not to find any new ones. "The latest reed's holding up quite well, so far... And these ones are in good supply. The juice tastes pure, the reed has a nice smooth feel on the lips, it doesn't fizz or disintegrate, it's not mushy yet... And it hasn't turned the stuff green yet. Although you weren't there for that one, where you?"
Kristiana laughs and shakes her head. "And sing, supposedly, but I'm not too sure about that..." Eyes stir over the juice and reeds, hmming slightly. And she thought /she/ needed to get out more. "Where did you find so many at? And none are working.... Honestly, Trouff, I don't see how you have the patience, but I suppose it's a challenge for you." She listens to the stream of the definition of the latest reed, nodding slowly. "Sounds like you may have found a charmer... so far... if it continues to work." She hrms and furrows her forehead. "I don't believe so, but it sounds interesting."
Oadatrouff grins, going for more wine, which he /certainly/ needs. Nothing like alcohol to get the blood flowing and the brain working. "Well, yes... But, wandering the beaches and that, you do find the occasional plant. And I did check to make sure none of these were toxic..." Imagine, his charmer killing off half the hold. Now, that would be something to talk about. "It's holding up so far though..." He takes another of the reddish reeds, chopping it appropriately and holding it out for the Harper. "Here, try it with your wine." And an evil grin follows that comment.
Ah, alchohol. A definate to get the blood flowing and the thought processes to turn to mush. Kristiana takes another languid sip, over half a glass remaining. "Well, that was nice of you," she responds with a quick chuckle. "And how'd you test that?" She glances down at the juice glass, watching the reed. "I don't see any fizz, so that's good." She takes the reed slowly, raising an eyebrow at him. "This won't kill me or something, will it, Trouff?" she asks as she plunges the reed into the glass, still not taking a drink.
Oadatrouff settles slightly amused eyes on the wine, the reed in it. "No, it won't kill you. Will get ya good and drunk faster than normal sipping will, that's for sure... I wouldn't usually give someone a straw for alcohol. Would even prevent it, but you're a special case." He winks to her, finding this amusing to the extreme. But, thus the after-effects of playing with reeds for hours upon hours and then drinking wine. Thinking of which... And some more is swallowed. Adanac gives a little sigh, most likely about the current mental health of the man on whose shoulder she rides.
Kristiana chuckles and takes a small sip through the straw, hmming and nodding. "Not bad... and I don't want to drink fast. Then I'll be so messed up you'll have to carry me back to Grinstead... and that's quite a trip." She takes a longer drink and grins. "This is good..." She's started to sound loopy as it is. Poor Kris... she's not used to drinking. She chuckles at his words and spins around on her stool once more.
An even more amused expression appears, and Trouff watches his little guinea pig drinking from the straw, and becomes minorly afraid, but not so much that he'll leave. In face, he happil leans back, lying across several stools, arms hanging, and looking generally relaxed, only sitting up occasionally to drink, either juice or wine. And one of these trips, he stirs the reed and repeats his little tests. "Still doing well. I think we've found the perfect straw... Careful there, not to fall off your stool." Responsible of him, giving someone wine and reeds to suck it through, no?
Kristiana moves out of the way, scooting over with her stool in hands (as she sits on it) when the bartender lays down, and she shakes her head. "That's not a good way to work, Trouff," she informs him, as if he will care about her little suggestion. "I could try that... but I'd fall on the ground. And then you would point and laugh at me." She giggles softly and takes another drink. "Could I have some more Benden please, sir?"
