• Title: Life’s just a picnic (2)
    Author: Rialia
    Subject: Scampy does it again.
    Date: 38.12.09
    Location: Thread’s End Hold. (TEH)
    Attn: anyone.
    Weather: Partly cloudy all day.
    Thread: 38.12.10 (E4/W4 mid-afternoon)
    NPCs: --
    Mentioned: Tobar, woodcutter; Marchel, weaver for family business; Sepia, assistant shopkeeper for family business; Unnamed Holdfolk.
    Notes: --
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    Rialia hadn’t even had one customer by the time Sepia and the boys returned a while later. Scampy was poking around in the wood shavings, having long given up on bringing anyone in. ** Besides, ** Rialia thought with a smile as she worked on the wings of the same dragon. ** He’s bound to grab something that he’s not supposed to. I don’t have the type of marks to pay for anything he’s stolen. **

    Scampy chirruped and poked his head out of the shavings, a pile of them like a crown on his head. ~~ Surprise!! Happy!! ~~ He took to the air, wheeling in excitement.

    The only thing that would make the brown so happy was the arrival of the two just as rowdy boys—who should be acting like the young men they were by now—Tobar and Marchel. Tobar, Sepia’s brother, and his best friend, Marchel, were the most rambunctious pair of young men that Rialia had ever seen. They took every opportunity to find something fun to do, just like Scampy. Rialia smiled as she put away her carving knife; her life would be much more boring without them…though sometimes she wouldn’t mind peace and quiet for a while.

    “Hey, there’s our mini-dragonrider!” Crowed Tobar as he and Marchel tumbled in, followed by Sepia with a long-suffering look on her face. The brawny woodcutter’s arms closed in around Rialia, engulfing her in a human cave. “Not getting too bored, are we?”

    Rialia squealed as she was lifted off the ground and pounded his chest. “Let me down, you big oaf.” When she was finally set on her own two feet, she whirled around and fairly smothered Marchel in as big a hug.

    Marchel, just the physical opposite of Tobar because of helping his family’s weaving business, stumbled beneath the onslaught. “Hey, easy there, will you? Sepia said you didn’t want us here at all until she bribed you.”

    Laughing, Rialia reclaimed her seat while the others found theirs, Scampy landing on Tobar’s lap the instant he sat. “Shells, you two, you’re more busy than I am in a week. I didn’t want you to drag yourselves down here if you’re needed up there.”

    Sepia snorted. “I barely had to say anything. They were fairly thrown at me.”

    “Now wait a minute,” Marchel protested, his brown eyes widening in protest. “I wasn’t doing that bad of a job was I?”

    Tobar guffawed. “I’m surprised your mother and sisters let you weave at all. Your baskets would hardly hold a firestone, let alone whatever they’re supposed to hold.”

    “And your tree-cutting hasn’t gotten you any praise yet, has it?”

    “It’s true,” Sepia added with a wicked grin. “His logs are a little crooked.”

    Rialia held up her hands to hold off the onslaught. “Hold on, you guys. You’re starting to sound like bronzes just before a mating flight!” She couldn’t keep a hint of a laugh out of her voice, though. “I’m sure you-”

    “Hey!” Someone outside her shop hollered. Scampy zipped back to Rialia’s shoulder, eyes whirling in mild alarm. A finely dressed lady and a heavy-set man who Rialia assumed must be her husband stormed up to her shop.

    Rialia stood up and dusted the sawdust from her clothes. “Can I help you?” Her heart was sinking, however; these people didn’t look like they were here for buying. ** Scampy, what did you do this time? ** she silently asked her firelizard with an inward groan.

    The woman pointed a white finger at Scampy. “That…that…that thing stole my necklace!”

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    Rialia
    Unranked Woodcarver