Ambitions and love lives seem to coincide.
RL Date: 8/2/09
IC Date: 5/14/20
Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr(#675RJLs$)
There is a little more grass in this section of the bowl than at the center, though this can be attributed to the lake that's not too far off and not to any improvement to the sandy soil. More weyrs can be seen high along the mountain walls to either side, though there are none in the massive earthworks that spill down the southernmost section of the volcanically created valley.
The sandy lake shore is further to the southwest, creating a vast half-crescent that contains the blue-green waters of the lake proper. More to the west would be the feeding grounds that contain the animals designated for being consumed by both dragons and humans alike. Off toward the distant northeast would be the weyrling barracks, the Weyrleader's complex, the hatching complex, living cavern, and infirmary.
After weeks and weeks of largely miserable weather, a sunny day sees a fair amount of activity in the bowl, not just the usual traffic of dragons and riders. Residents, kids, crafters, the whole caverns crowd will probably manage to nip out for at least a little fresh air, take a stroll along the lakeshore, have a picnic in the garden, help the laundresses air out the summer-weight quilts and blankets, stuff like that. Jaeyi's one of the ones just trying to get a breath of fresh air, looking like she needs it while she makes her way across the bowl from the caverns, wiping sweat from her forehead with the inside of her wrist, pushing her hair from disheveled to tidy, cooling cheeks with too much color in them. Whew~!
Phara likes sun, sun is definitely good. That's probably why she's sprawled on Bennath's back, a fair immitation of the bright blue bulk, taking more space than absolutely necessary for his unsubstantial form. Stretched as he is, it's no wonder he's got prime tickets to watch the comings and goings of the Weyr, and one baker in specific. He rumbles cheerfully, rousing Phara to open one eye and roll lazily to see who he's paying attention to. "Oh, pie girl!" she calls, lifting one limp hand in a sort of untidy greety.
It takes a couple steps longer before Jaeyi realizes that greeting's aimed at her, lost as she is in the business of getting hit in the face with cooling breezes. She still keeps wide of the dragons, though not wary-wide so much as personal-space wide; the personal space of dragons has to be much larger than that of humans by comparison, right? Anyway, she's aiming to continue right on around Bennath when pie-girl penetrates; "Well, that's certainly better than some things I've been called." Amused, though coupled to a crinkle of her nose, she turns to get a peer at the owner of the voice and the limp hand, rolls on to her toes for a better look. "You look cozy," with only a little small envy in there.
Bennath isn't a personal space sort of dragon. Or at least, he's just too cheerful to mind company. The more the merrier, for sure. "Pie girl's hardly unflattering," Phara points out and then wiggles those limp fingers in beckoning now. "Come take a break, enjoy the sun for a moment. There's room." Indeed, Bennath's slim back is plenty long to accomodate both young women. "What's brought you out here? Besides the obvious." One finger points upwards at the refreshingly clear sky.
"Uuuhhhhmn." Jaeyi makes a big show of thinking about that, of looking around at the oh-so-fine day and all the oh-so-fine people it's dragged out from hiding to enjoy it. "The obvious!" she commits after a couple of seconds, bites the corner of her mouth to slip the grin in under the radar. Approaching, shading her eyes with her hand curled against her forehead, she contemplates the offer with her head tipping steadily more to the side. "You'll have to help me up, and then promise, really promise not to make fun of me." Chubby girl climbing dragons probably isn't all that graceful, see.
Phara bursts into laughter. "Hey, nothing wrong with the obvious." She leans down to tip a wink at the pretty brunette. "I'd be an awful person to laugh at you. You should have seen me climb up on Mecaith, it was like watching a flopping fish trying to scale a cliff, I'm sure." She hooks her toes into the straps and leans down to extend her hand as far as she can. "Put your foot there on Ben's knee, he'll give you a boost."
"That's about how I feel most of the time about trying to get up Mecaith's back." Beat. "Felt most of the time." Jaeyi thinks through that assessment, the grammar of it, then commits a nod, satisfied with the end result of her words. With a deep breath, bracing herself for the pending sloppiness of her ascent, she reaches up with one hand toward Phara's, the other slipping a little from Bennath's side until she can put her foot up there, as directed. "I hate," she says in the midst of this, making a face, "how easy you people make this look!"
Phara's mouth twists in just the smallest of grimaces. But she does wait until Jaeyi is safely hauled up beside her, strongeer than her breakable frame would suggest. A quirk of a grin is matched with an offhand comment of 'Years of practice' before she can ask quietly, kindly, "How are you holding up... since?" She leaves it at that. The qualifier isn't necessary.
The fumbling is accompanied by an aside apology for Bennath, sorry for scrabbling like that, till Jaeyi's up over the horizon and scoots around, sitting down with a big exhale. "I think there's some big secret trick they teach you all when your weyrlings that they don't tell the rest of us. You know, so you guys can go on having something to chuckle about." All the cooling off she'd done on the stroll over now has to be done again, with her fanning her face with her fingers; "Hmmn?" The qualifier might have been necessary, till the tone sinks in. "Oh. It's okay. Like, it's hardly the end of the world, right? How're you?" More chatty, less sympathetic.
Bennath's reply is an amused rumble. "I think it helps that they're not so big when we start climbing up on them. And you know, sharing a mind more or less. I don't think I'd ever be able to make it up onto a hulk like Zaiventh or Taursreth. Even Cadejoth and Mecaith aren't that big and I have a hard time getting on them the few times I've had a reason to since Bennath came along." At least the breeze is cool up here, unhindered by the maze of dragon bodies. "Been," Phara comments thoughtfully. "Not the end of the world," she agrees. "But... hard enough. What have you been doing? Keeping busy in the kitchen?"
"I rode once on Aath-- from Ista? It wasn't so bad. She was littler, and I liked her." Jaeyi scoots around till she's getting a good breeze on her cheeks, which lose some of that florid pinkness pretty quickly once she starts cooling down. "Not to say I don't like Mecaith, or Bennath." She lifts her voice on that last one, presumably so the blue will hear. "Anyways. Mostly busy in the kitchens, and I'm getting, like, real work outside Fort now. I went and made a cake at Ruatha, and I'm making one for Ella's birthday party, too. When's yours? I'll make you a cake!" Not that she doesn't want to discuss the end of the world, but there are certainly easier subjects.
Phara nods her head. "Aath's pretty big for a green, but she's still a green. Ben's only just a bit bigger. He's no monstrocity." She pats his warm hide fondly." She looks eager enough to hear about Jaeyi's real work. "Oh, I bet that's exciting. Gives you a chance to get out of the Weyr, too, right, making cakes for different people. Shards, you get enough of a name for yourself you could be up to your eyelids in flour all day, everyone would want you to do their parties." But it catches her off-gaurd, asking about her Turnday. "Oh. It just passed just about three months ago. So you've got awhile. When's yours?"
Up to her eyelids; "That's the idea, kinda. I mean, I have a whole reputation to live down anyway, so I better start building up a good one. Plus, really, it totally strokes my vanity to have people asking for me." Jaeyi's lashes flutter at the thought of it, even, all dreamy-happy for her own fame. "It just passed when?" Not to be deterred, she gives Phara a real spill-it look. "Mine's really just past. It's on the twenty-fifth of the third month, like right before Peirith's--" Stupid. "--Flight."
Phara lifts an eyebrow. "Which reputation. Pie girl or.... /pie/ girl?" There's no subtlety there. "Uh. The seventeeth of the 2nd month. So it's been awhile." She grimaces at the mention of the flight, perhaps just as tender about it as Jaeyi is, but likely for vastly different reasons. "Yeah, not too long back then."
"The, uhmn, one where I better start learning to keep some things quiet or they're never gonna let me walk the tables." Jaeyi makes a face at the thought, certainly not one that plagues her, the face dissipating around the time she sighs about the whole mess-- that she made for herself, mind! "What's that face for?" she asks after the grimace, brows knitting together. "Don't you-- I mean, isn't it nice that T'rev's the Weyrleader? He seems to be taking it really seriously and all, not like he's doing a bad job of it?"
Phara lifts her eyebrows, a look clearly encouraging Jaeyi to elaborate on this whole mess. "Not being a crafter, I don't really understand I suppose." She smooths the grimace away uncomfortably. "What look? Oh, it's just me being a grouch I guess. I mean, it's nice being in the Weyrleader's wing, I guess I was just hoping somebody else would tap me out when the weyrlings graduated. Don't mind me. Yeah, he's doing a good job. I thought he'd take it much worse than he did, honestly. I always sort of figured being a Weyrleader terrified him. I mean, he avoids goldflights like the plague but... Well... Mecaith really likes Peirith. So maybe it was inevitable."
Jaeyi waves her fingers in a light, dismissive way at the first remark, not so much unwilling to elaborate as implying maybe she'll clarify it further later. Listening, head tipped, she goes on to remark, "He told me that some of Flint's riders weren't really happy with all the fuss of being in the Weyrleader's Wing. Is that it? And aren't you and T'rev still friends? Why wouldn't he want you to fly with him?" The lilt, the expression question the vice-versa in there, why wouldn't Phara want to fly with him?
Phara nods her head, accepting the dismissal. "It's a lot more complicated than that. Flint's not changed much... yet. But I'm sure it's coming. Perhaps most of us are worried about where we will fit into that. Not that T'rev would ever neglect us, you know? He does his best to play on everyone's strengths. But what use to the Weyrleader is a stunt wing?" Her lips pucker unhappily. "Of course we're still friends. For life. But this is /business/. There's nowhere to go in Flint. Our Wingsecond's good, experienced, T'rev won't be wanting to replace her any time soon. Not in my timeline, at least."
"What use to the Weyrleader would any other Wing be?" Jaeyi's question is an honest one, like she really can't figure out what /else/ the Weyrleader ought to be doing. "It's Interval. If the Weyrleader's Wing can't show off and look good, what should they be doing? Holders'll be more impressed by tricky flying than by a Wing that-- oh, I dunno. Did whatever the other Wings do." Knitted brows take Phara's concerns seriously, though, seriously enough that she ends over a light smile. "He has ideas for the Wings, you know. You ought to talk to him if you're worried."
Phara chuckles at Jaeyi, "The Holders like a show, it's true. Well, I don't know. Seems like the Weyrleader should have some ... serious people under him. Weyrleading seems serious. More serious than I think of T'rev as being. Though I guess he's not the feckless 17 turn old I first met, eh?" Her smile is winsom before it turns flat. "I should. We don't talk much, not the way we used to. Too much history and bitterness, I guess. Or at least, I'm bitter. Though, not really towards him. It's not his fault. He's a good man." Her amber eyes turn towards the dark baker. "It won't be forever, you know. He'll come back when he realizes how ridiculous he's being."
A shrug, one that manages not to comment on whatever the man in question may have been like seven years ago, answers what Jaeyi will accept as a rhetorical question. When Phara goes on, though, with the baker looking squarely back at her, her expression clouds with a mixture of puzzlement and apology, maybe. Gently asked, "Why are you bitter, Phara?" Everything else about the bluerider's remarks will just go unqualified for now, that taking precedence.
Phara waves her hand, her turn to shrug off a question. "That one would take a whole lot of explaining.. providing I even knew the answer. Which I don't. I frequently ask myself the same thing. Well, we can't all be happy all the time. That would just diminish the happiness we do feel." She tips her face up into the sunlight, leaning back on her hands to expose her thin neck to the sunlight as well. "I'm too young for midlife crises! Do you ever question where your life is going, or the choices you've made to get you there? You know... something you could have changed?"
"No," Jaeyi begins slowly, an agreeing no, not a contradicting one. "I suppose we can't all be happy all the time, but bitterness and happiness are..." She holds her two hands far apart in front of her, at either extreme length of her arms, and looks beyond the near one to Phara again. With rounding eyes; "That's an awfully big question, isn't it? I think-- I think sometimes most of my life was just like a little twig-boat like kids float on a stream, and I just happily rolled along wherever the water went. Now, though, I'm making decisions and choosing which forks of the stream I want to take. If you'll let me get away with such a silly metaphor." Even she makes a face at it. "What things would you change?"
Phara grins at the metaphor. "Don't knock those twig boats. They're delightful." Her nose scrunches at the bridge, clearly pleased with something. "But that seems a much easier, more carefree existence. It's a good one. I don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. It's not so much what I would change. It's perhaps more the... what ifs. What if I'd accepted the life my parents chose for me. What if I'd never been a candidate with T'rev. What if I hadn't stood the second time - who would Bennath be with now? What if I had stayed at Telgar. You know. The other fork you never take, where your life would head." She draws herself up short and laughs. "Faranth, why didn't you stop me? I know you'd never believe it, but I didn't used to be so philosophical. Mostly, I was happy to have dirt up my nose and the sun in my eyes."
Jaeyi's lips twist askew, purse up to a bunched frown. "You can't think like that, though. Not for very long, or else you'd have to go all the way back to the very first decisions you ever made and wonder if even they were right, and what good can come of that?" Speaking of much easier, more carefree. The road-not-taken might pester the baker occasionally, but she clearly has not invested a great deal of time in worrying about which leads to where. "It's okay. I like to listen, even when people are being all philosophical. Plus, you're probably prettier waxing philosophic than having dirt up your nose." Which leaves her rubbing the end of her own nose, icky thought. "I'm pretty happy overall, I think. You can't be too unhappy?" Sitting on her own dragon in the middle of the bowl on a fine spring day?
Phara can't help but laugh and swipe at her own nose as if the smudges of her more dasterdly teenage years might still be lingering. "You're probably right, nobody looks very pretty with anything in their nostrils. But I don't want your ears to fall off either. I monopolize conversations. You shouldn't let me. I'd rather hear about other people, honestly. At least their lives are interesting-- sweet, even." There's a tickle of mirth tucked into the corner of her lips for the wordplay. "No. I'm not unhappy. Never unhappy. Left wanting, that would be a better way to describe it. But then again, who doesn't have unfulfilled wishes, eh?"
Jaeyi just repeats in a quiet, confiding way, "It's okay. I like to listen." Like, really, keep talking, she's not going to roll her eyes and swish off just because Phara's chatty. "Everybody wants something, you're right. A promotion, a new dress, shoes that fit better, happiness for their kids, whatever it is. But you keep saying things like that, like somehow that makes what you want or wish less important or relevant. Howcome? If there's things you want, why don't you figure out a way to get them?" Cooled, comfortable, she really does seem pretty happy pestering the bluerider, not for any specific purpose other than-- well, Phara's got things on her mind, and Jaeyi's not exactly doing anything better at the moment!
Phara gives Jaeyi one of those weird suspicious looks she reserves for when she doesn't understand why a person's so interested. "Well what if the things I wanted weren't the things you could just... have. You know, they have to be earned, I suppose." Her lower lip sticks out, folds over the top one. "Or maybe that's an easy excuse. Maybe I'm just afraid." She puffs her cheeks out suddenly and then blows out a breath, sprawling backwards across Bennath's back. "Besides, it's so much more fun to see OTHER people get what they want. Their happiness, that's good. Enough, even. If I wake up someday when I'm old and find myself single and childless, that would still be okay as long as my friends were happy and Bennath's always with me." She rubs her chin. "I think I'd like to see Threadfall again before I croak though, seems a shame to drill my whole life for it and never get to fly against it. Is that insane?"
"Then... you... earn them?" Hi? Duh? Jaeyi cocks her head there, clearly having some trouble understanding why Phara wouldn't make this logical jump on her own. Clearing her throat then, she goes on to add, "Look, I'm all about making other people happy. It's kinda why I like what I do so much, but sometimes you have to look out for yourself, too. Or else-- how can you make other people happy if you're not? It'd be hollow, wouldn't it?" To Phara's last question, all the baker can do is nod and nod and nod. Yes, that is insane. Totally.
"That would be the obvious conclusion, yeah," Phara says with a sarcastic lilt, laughing through her words. "Well, we'll see. I'm trying, for sure, for the promotion thing. I don't think I did so great as a weyrlingmaster though. I mean, B'kaiv pretty much still hates me as far as I know." She glances down at the ground, upside down from her perspective. "You think so? I guess there are a few things... the weyrlings are graduated, after all." And at Jaeyi's frantic headbobbing she laughs. "Thread's only a little scary. Nothing Ben and I couldn't handle."
Here's Jaeyi's mean voice, don't get used to hearing it often; "B'kaiv's a jackass idiot, so I wouldn't let it keep me up nights, his opinion." Fortunately, as quick as she is to disparage the greenrider, she's just as quick to drop the subject and make a face. "Thread may only be a little scary for you-- which I think is crazy, by the way. People get killed! But it's downright terrifying for us folks that don't confront it head-on. If that's your big ambition, well. I'm sorry to say, I really kinda have to hope you fail that one."
Phara looks slightly startled at Jaeyi's mean voice. "Well." She trembles in indecision and then nods firmly. "Jackass idiot. You're completely right." And that's all she says there. "No, no, that's not my biggest ambition, not at all. No, my biggest ambition is to see every inch of Pern. That wouldn't be so bad. You know, a steady bedmate, a pretty baby of my own, a promotion, those would all be pretty good too."
Jaeyi lets go the matter of B'kaiv and threadfall, both being equally distasteful, and lifts a look to encompass the bowl, with all its springtime industry, to say quietly, "I'm getting partial to these inches of Pern, myself. They're not so pretty as Boll-- or Nerat. Have you been there much? It's lovely." Wistful sigh. Then a small, sympathetic laugh for Phara's Christmas list. "Those are pretty reasonable things to want, really. And, well, there's no shortage of men here who'd be happy to be your lover, I'm sure. Plus, most probably wouldn't mind if you wanted to have their kids as long as you, like, didn't expect them to take care of it. Guys are like that." Go figure. "But a baby and a promotion might not fit together so well?"
Phara smiles around at Fort. "It's becoming home," she agrees. "Telgar will always be special, but wherever the people I love most are, that's where I'd like to be the most. When I'm not trying to dig up new inches, at least." She runs her fingers through her cropped hair, reflective. "I'm pickier than that, you know. I seem to have this inescapable thing for bronzeriders... especially the ones that end up Weyrleaders." Snort. "That's three now. Tragic." To the last, she nods. "You're right, they wouldn't. But I don't htink the promotion will happen any time too soon anyways. I'm only 21, and I haven't even been riding five turns yet. Most people like their officers a little more seasoned than that."
As if absently; "If you lined up all the women that wound up falling for T'rev, side-by-side, do you suppose they could stretch the whole length of the bowl? I'm betting they could." A thought that Jaeyi finds amusing, but which also leads into the frown she casts Phara's way. "Speaking of the Weyrleader-- he told me he was a Wingsecond just about out of weyrlinghood, and started leading that Wing at Telgar, uhhhmn, Thunderbolt? He wasn't even twenty yet, the way I remember. It seems to me like ageism doesn't play so heavily into leadership decisions for dragonriders?"
Phara lifts an eyebrow at Jaeyi and says lightly, "Oh, maybe not the ones who fell for him - not T'rev's style to go for the ones who can't keep it casual. But the ones he's slept with could probably span over to Ruatha if not farther." As for the Weyrleader she says sourly, "I remember. He was my wingleader there, too." She shakes her head. "Him and R'uen are special cases. Rev was the Weyrleader at Telgar and then here, you know, practically the minute he fell out of graduation. And T'rev's always been a natural leader, even if he never saw it in himself. But normal riders? The ones that have a little potential but not that much... we have to work pretty hard."
A little more confidently, after taking a look at the far end of the bowl, Jaeyi winds up shaking her head. "No, probably not. Not unless they all had really long arms." She stretches out her own, on the far side of Phara, looks at the tips of it, and decides again to shake her head. "Reeeeeally long arms." Which thought leaves her grinning for a second before she returns to listening to the bluerider, once more with her head tipped and her frown turning thoughtful. "Not that much? That doesn't sound like a good way to sell yourself. If you want a promotion, shouldn't you be convinced enough that you're so totally the right person for the job that you could convince someone else, too?"
Phara clearly judges Jaeyi to be quite naive so doesn't push the issue. "You never know, T'rev could have a thing for girls with abnormally long arms." She returns Jaeyi's grin with her own and then it turns somber. "Used to be cocky like that. I thought a person was supposed to get more confident with age."
Jaeyi is naive, and wouldn't argue the matter if it was brought up, but, "No. I just know about where I am in line." And, in her mind's eye, it's not so very far across that-- what? Mile long stretch of the Fort bowl? She squints in that guesstimate locale, still peering generally over yonder while her smile blooms again. "So did I. Did someone come along and stomp all over your ego, Phara? Do you want me to go and tell them to be nicer? Because I will." And what a stern reprimand it would be, surely.
Phara looks Jaeyi up and down quite seriously for a long moment before she starts laughing. It doesn't let up until just a bit longer than is strictly polite, either. "I'm sorry!" she finally gasps out. "I was just imagining you ripping someone a new one." Especially a certain Weyrleader. "No, no, you needn't," she adds once she's got ahold of herself again, but her cheeks are flushed from the laughter and she has to wipe at her eyes with her thumb to clear tears. "Really, he feels bad enough about it, and we've hashed it out before. It's all my own drama to deal with now."
The effort at even looking stern is... yes, laughable. Jaeyi hardens up her expression, screws her lips into a tight little frown, squints her eyes toughly, and then blows it all out with a big burst of air. "Well, keep the offer in mind. I could at least shake my finger at someone." And she illustrates that with a credible attempt, at least, waving her index finger strictly through the air in front of her. By the time she lowers it, looks back; "Is this really-- I mean, it's not any of my business, I know, but could he really have done something so terrible?" Because this particular baker cannot wrap her head around the notion, clearly.
"You'd surely strike terror into the heart of anyone I set you on." Phara says kindly. "As long as they were under the age of 5." And then she bursts into a fit of giggles again. Jaeyi's question draws her back into reluctant seriousness and she sighs, settling herself upright and wiggling until she can sit crosslegged comfortably. "I don't know. Do you suppose you'd be a little... afraid to let anyone else in if the man you loved and wanted to be with didn't feel the same? It's like sticking your hand in a flame expecting it not to burn you, and coming away disappointed every time. Eventually you get to a point where the burn won't heal and you're just left with scars."
Really, without jumping immediately to judgment, Jaeyi commits slowly, "I guess? I've never... I never fell in love with someone who didn't love me back. My problem seems to be more falling in love with people I'm not allowed to?" Which speaks more to her own foolishness than anything, but let's not dwell! She looks at her hand for a second, trying to ground the metaphor to the physical concept of burning her hand, even finds a spot on her index finger where a little blister resides-- perils of kitchen work. Then; "There's a lot of people out there. They're not all gonna be, mmn. Well, you can't find someone who loves you back if you just stop falling in love altogether, right?"
Phara smiles lopsidedly. "Guess I'm waiting for someone to love me first before I put myself out there. Must sound pretty silly, huh?" She cups her chin in her hand and asks, "How do you find someone you're not allowed to fall in love with? It's not like love exactly requires permission. You don't really choose who you love, love chooses you. That's what people say, anyways."
"Silly?" Jaeyi hits the word a little hard, gives Phara a sideways look that stresses that particular way to describe it. "Mmmn, no. Not silly. More..." Something she chooses not to say, though her expression apologizes for the words even if she doesn't go ahead and throw them out there. "Yeeeah, I guess it does? I mean, I didn't necessarily select to fall in love. But, uhmn, I sleep with men I probably shouldn't be sleeping with?" Beat. "Although, technically, apprentices aren't supposed to sleep with anyone, speaking of the top ten stupidest ideas ever."
Phara grins. "Apprentices sleep with people all the time," Phara points out, taking no offense and moving on easily - almost gratefully - from her own problems. "I've slept with a few people I shouldn't have, and done much worse. But the past is past, hm? Can't really be upset over that."
Jaeyi starts looking toward the ground about then, scooting on her hands till she can see it a little more clearly. Not one for heights, her expression is daunted even from the relatively low climb of Bennath's back. Hmmmmmn. "The past is the past, yes. Except that my past is also kinda my present, which makes it a little bit harder to just shrug it off as one of those hard-learned lessons, mmn? Help?" Down, she means, not like help with the larger, lovelorn issues.
Phara considers. "That's true. Our past makes us who we are, certainly. Well, I'm sure you'll sort it out, and so will I. Heck, maybe I'll go out tonight and see if I meet someone nice." Without the hesitation Jaeyi shows, she slides off Bennath's back, catching the strap to take her down until she can reach Bennath's knee. It's a short hop from there. She offers up her hands for Jaeyi to slide down into. Ever the 'gentleman'. "Back to the grind, huh?"
"I know a lovely smith," Jaeyi begins helpfully, "but he's really only at the Weyr about once a month. He's awfully nice, though, and he gives away lingerie like candy!" This being a major major selling point, at least from her perspective. The help down is obviously necessary, since getting down is much like getting up-- a controlled slide, sorta. She gets her heels dug in before she risks bowling Phara over, though, which is probably good, given she's gotta have a fair few pounds on the bluerider. "'kay, next time, chairs!"
Phara smirks. "Lingerie, huh? Not really a lingerie kinda girl." Not tomboyish, waify Pha. "Pfft, next time we'll FLY!" Chairs. "Don't worry. We'll make you a graceful dragonclimber in no time." As she lets Jaeyi down to the ground she swipes her bangs out of her face and says sheepishly, sincerely, "Thanks. You know... for listening and stuff."
Jaeyi looks up, dubiously, then over at Phara, just as dubiously. Not freaking likely. But there's a smile just as sunny as the day to follow, and the turn of bouncy steps and swishy hips to have the baker returning, "Thanks also. Come and get some cookies after dinner!" As that's apparently what she's headed off to do, retracing her steps toward the stuffy indoors.
IC Date: 5/14/20
Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr(#675RJLs$)
There is a little more grass in this section of the bowl than at the center, though this can be attributed to the lake that's not too far off and not to any improvement to the sandy soil. More weyrs can be seen high along the mountain walls to either side, though there are none in the massive earthworks that spill down the southernmost section of the volcanically created valley.
The sandy lake shore is further to the southwest, creating a vast half-crescent that contains the blue-green waters of the lake proper. More to the west would be the feeding grounds that contain the animals designated for being consumed by both dragons and humans alike. Off toward the distant northeast would be the weyrling barracks, the Weyrleader's complex, the hatching complex, living cavern, and infirmary.
After weeks and weeks of largely miserable weather, a sunny day sees a fair amount of activity in the bowl, not just the usual traffic of dragons and riders. Residents, kids, crafters, the whole caverns crowd will probably manage to nip out for at least a little fresh air, take a stroll along the lakeshore, have a picnic in the garden, help the laundresses air out the summer-weight quilts and blankets, stuff like that. Jaeyi's one of the ones just trying to get a breath of fresh air, looking like she needs it while she makes her way across the bowl from the caverns, wiping sweat from her forehead with the inside of her wrist, pushing her hair from disheveled to tidy, cooling cheeks with too much color in them. Whew~!
Phara likes sun, sun is definitely good. That's probably why she's sprawled on Bennath's back, a fair immitation of the bright blue bulk, taking more space than absolutely necessary for his unsubstantial form. Stretched as he is, it's no wonder he's got prime tickets to watch the comings and goings of the Weyr, and one baker in specific. He rumbles cheerfully, rousing Phara to open one eye and roll lazily to see who he's paying attention to. "Oh, pie girl!" she calls, lifting one limp hand in a sort of untidy greety.
It takes a couple steps longer before Jaeyi realizes that greeting's aimed at her, lost as she is in the business of getting hit in the face with cooling breezes. She still keeps wide of the dragons, though not wary-wide so much as personal-space wide; the personal space of dragons has to be much larger than that of humans by comparison, right? Anyway, she's aiming to continue right on around Bennath when pie-girl penetrates; "Well, that's certainly better than some things I've been called." Amused, though coupled to a crinkle of her nose, she turns to get a peer at the owner of the voice and the limp hand, rolls on to her toes for a better look. "You look cozy," with only a little small envy in there.
Bennath isn't a personal space sort of dragon. Or at least, he's just too cheerful to mind company. The more the merrier, for sure. "Pie girl's hardly unflattering," Phara points out and then wiggles those limp fingers in beckoning now. "Come take a break, enjoy the sun for a moment. There's room." Indeed, Bennath's slim back is plenty long to accomodate both young women. "What's brought you out here? Besides the obvious." One finger points upwards at the refreshingly clear sky.
"Uuuhhhhmn." Jaeyi makes a big show of thinking about that, of looking around at the oh-so-fine day and all the oh-so-fine people it's dragged out from hiding to enjoy it. "The obvious!" she commits after a couple of seconds, bites the corner of her mouth to slip the grin in under the radar. Approaching, shading her eyes with her hand curled against her forehead, she contemplates the offer with her head tipping steadily more to the side. "You'll have to help me up, and then promise, really promise not to make fun of me." Chubby girl climbing dragons probably isn't all that graceful, see.
Phara bursts into laughter. "Hey, nothing wrong with the obvious." She leans down to tip a wink at the pretty brunette. "I'd be an awful person to laugh at you. You should have seen me climb up on Mecaith, it was like watching a flopping fish trying to scale a cliff, I'm sure." She hooks her toes into the straps and leans down to extend her hand as far as she can. "Put your foot there on Ben's knee, he'll give you a boost."
"That's about how I feel most of the time about trying to get up Mecaith's back." Beat. "Felt most of the time." Jaeyi thinks through that assessment, the grammar of it, then commits a nod, satisfied with the end result of her words. With a deep breath, bracing herself for the pending sloppiness of her ascent, she reaches up with one hand toward Phara's, the other slipping a little from Bennath's side until she can put her foot up there, as directed. "I hate," she says in the midst of this, making a face, "how easy you people make this look!"
Phara's mouth twists in just the smallest of grimaces. But she does wait until Jaeyi is safely hauled up beside her, strongeer than her breakable frame would suggest. A quirk of a grin is matched with an offhand comment of 'Years of practice' before she can ask quietly, kindly, "How are you holding up... since?" She leaves it at that. The qualifier isn't necessary.
The fumbling is accompanied by an aside apology for Bennath, sorry for scrabbling like that, till Jaeyi's up over the horizon and scoots around, sitting down with a big exhale. "I think there's some big secret trick they teach you all when your weyrlings that they don't tell the rest of us. You know, so you guys can go on having something to chuckle about." All the cooling off she'd done on the stroll over now has to be done again, with her fanning her face with her fingers; "Hmmn?" The qualifier might have been necessary, till the tone sinks in. "Oh. It's okay. Like, it's hardly the end of the world, right? How're you?" More chatty, less sympathetic.
Bennath's reply is an amused rumble. "I think it helps that they're not so big when we start climbing up on them. And you know, sharing a mind more or less. I don't think I'd ever be able to make it up onto a hulk like Zaiventh or Taursreth. Even Cadejoth and Mecaith aren't that big and I have a hard time getting on them the few times I've had a reason to since Bennath came along." At least the breeze is cool up here, unhindered by the maze of dragon bodies. "Been," Phara comments thoughtfully. "Not the end of the world," she agrees. "But... hard enough. What have you been doing? Keeping busy in the kitchen?"
"I rode once on Aath-- from Ista? It wasn't so bad. She was littler, and I liked her." Jaeyi scoots around till she's getting a good breeze on her cheeks, which lose some of that florid pinkness pretty quickly once she starts cooling down. "Not to say I don't like Mecaith, or Bennath." She lifts her voice on that last one, presumably so the blue will hear. "Anyways. Mostly busy in the kitchens, and I'm getting, like, real work outside Fort now. I went and made a cake at Ruatha, and I'm making one for Ella's birthday party, too. When's yours? I'll make you a cake!" Not that she doesn't want to discuss the end of the world, but there are certainly easier subjects.
Phara nods her head. "Aath's pretty big for a green, but she's still a green. Ben's only just a bit bigger. He's no monstrocity." She pats his warm hide fondly." She looks eager enough to hear about Jaeyi's real work. "Oh, I bet that's exciting. Gives you a chance to get out of the Weyr, too, right, making cakes for different people. Shards, you get enough of a name for yourself you could be up to your eyelids in flour all day, everyone would want you to do their parties." But it catches her off-gaurd, asking about her Turnday. "Oh. It just passed just about three months ago. So you've got awhile. When's yours?"
Up to her eyelids; "That's the idea, kinda. I mean, I have a whole reputation to live down anyway, so I better start building up a good one. Plus, really, it totally strokes my vanity to have people asking for me." Jaeyi's lashes flutter at the thought of it, even, all dreamy-happy for her own fame. "It just passed when?" Not to be deterred, she gives Phara a real spill-it look. "Mine's really just past. It's on the twenty-fifth of the third month, like right before Peirith's--" Stupid. "--Flight."
Phara lifts an eyebrow. "Which reputation. Pie girl or.... /pie/ girl?" There's no subtlety there. "Uh. The seventeeth of the 2nd month. So it's been awhile." She grimaces at the mention of the flight, perhaps just as tender about it as Jaeyi is, but likely for vastly different reasons. "Yeah, not too long back then."
"The, uhmn, one where I better start learning to keep some things quiet or they're never gonna let me walk the tables." Jaeyi makes a face at the thought, certainly not one that plagues her, the face dissipating around the time she sighs about the whole mess-- that she made for herself, mind! "What's that face for?" she asks after the grimace, brows knitting together. "Don't you-- I mean, isn't it nice that T'rev's the Weyrleader? He seems to be taking it really seriously and all, not like he's doing a bad job of it?"
Phara lifts her eyebrows, a look clearly encouraging Jaeyi to elaborate on this whole mess. "Not being a crafter, I don't really understand I suppose." She smooths the grimace away uncomfortably. "What look? Oh, it's just me being a grouch I guess. I mean, it's nice being in the Weyrleader's wing, I guess I was just hoping somebody else would tap me out when the weyrlings graduated. Don't mind me. Yeah, he's doing a good job. I thought he'd take it much worse than he did, honestly. I always sort of figured being a Weyrleader terrified him. I mean, he avoids goldflights like the plague but... Well... Mecaith really likes Peirith. So maybe it was inevitable."
Jaeyi waves her fingers in a light, dismissive way at the first remark, not so much unwilling to elaborate as implying maybe she'll clarify it further later. Listening, head tipped, she goes on to remark, "He told me that some of Flint's riders weren't really happy with all the fuss of being in the Weyrleader's Wing. Is that it? And aren't you and T'rev still friends? Why wouldn't he want you to fly with him?" The lilt, the expression question the vice-versa in there, why wouldn't Phara want to fly with him?
Phara nods her head, accepting the dismissal. "It's a lot more complicated than that. Flint's not changed much... yet. But I'm sure it's coming. Perhaps most of us are worried about where we will fit into that. Not that T'rev would ever neglect us, you know? He does his best to play on everyone's strengths. But what use to the Weyrleader is a stunt wing?" Her lips pucker unhappily. "Of course we're still friends. For life. But this is /business/. There's nowhere to go in Flint. Our Wingsecond's good, experienced, T'rev won't be wanting to replace her any time soon. Not in my timeline, at least."
"What use to the Weyrleader would any other Wing be?" Jaeyi's question is an honest one, like she really can't figure out what /else/ the Weyrleader ought to be doing. "It's Interval. If the Weyrleader's Wing can't show off and look good, what should they be doing? Holders'll be more impressed by tricky flying than by a Wing that-- oh, I dunno. Did whatever the other Wings do." Knitted brows take Phara's concerns seriously, though, seriously enough that she ends over a light smile. "He has ideas for the Wings, you know. You ought to talk to him if you're worried."
Phara chuckles at Jaeyi, "The Holders like a show, it's true. Well, I don't know. Seems like the Weyrleader should have some ... serious people under him. Weyrleading seems serious. More serious than I think of T'rev as being. Though I guess he's not the feckless 17 turn old I first met, eh?" Her smile is winsom before it turns flat. "I should. We don't talk much, not the way we used to. Too much history and bitterness, I guess. Or at least, I'm bitter. Though, not really towards him. It's not his fault. He's a good man." Her amber eyes turn towards the dark baker. "It won't be forever, you know. He'll come back when he realizes how ridiculous he's being."
A shrug, one that manages not to comment on whatever the man in question may have been like seven years ago, answers what Jaeyi will accept as a rhetorical question. When Phara goes on, though, with the baker looking squarely back at her, her expression clouds with a mixture of puzzlement and apology, maybe. Gently asked, "Why are you bitter, Phara?" Everything else about the bluerider's remarks will just go unqualified for now, that taking precedence.
Phara waves her hand, her turn to shrug off a question. "That one would take a whole lot of explaining.. providing I even knew the answer. Which I don't. I frequently ask myself the same thing. Well, we can't all be happy all the time. That would just diminish the happiness we do feel." She tips her face up into the sunlight, leaning back on her hands to expose her thin neck to the sunlight as well. "I'm too young for midlife crises! Do you ever question where your life is going, or the choices you've made to get you there? You know... something you could have changed?"
"No," Jaeyi begins slowly, an agreeing no, not a contradicting one. "I suppose we can't all be happy all the time, but bitterness and happiness are..." She holds her two hands far apart in front of her, at either extreme length of her arms, and looks beyond the near one to Phara again. With rounding eyes; "That's an awfully big question, isn't it? I think-- I think sometimes most of my life was just like a little twig-boat like kids float on a stream, and I just happily rolled along wherever the water went. Now, though, I'm making decisions and choosing which forks of the stream I want to take. If you'll let me get away with such a silly metaphor." Even she makes a face at it. "What things would you change?"
Phara grins at the metaphor. "Don't knock those twig boats. They're delightful." Her nose scrunches at the bridge, clearly pleased with something. "But that seems a much easier, more carefree existence. It's a good one. I don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. It's not so much what I would change. It's perhaps more the... what ifs. What if I'd accepted the life my parents chose for me. What if I'd never been a candidate with T'rev. What if I hadn't stood the second time - who would Bennath be with now? What if I had stayed at Telgar. You know. The other fork you never take, where your life would head." She draws herself up short and laughs. "Faranth, why didn't you stop me? I know you'd never believe it, but I didn't used to be so philosophical. Mostly, I was happy to have dirt up my nose and the sun in my eyes."
Jaeyi's lips twist askew, purse up to a bunched frown. "You can't think like that, though. Not for very long, or else you'd have to go all the way back to the very first decisions you ever made and wonder if even they were right, and what good can come of that?" Speaking of much easier, more carefree. The road-not-taken might pester the baker occasionally, but she clearly has not invested a great deal of time in worrying about which leads to where. "It's okay. I like to listen, even when people are being all philosophical. Plus, you're probably prettier waxing philosophic than having dirt up your nose." Which leaves her rubbing the end of her own nose, icky thought. "I'm pretty happy overall, I think. You can't be too unhappy?" Sitting on her own dragon in the middle of the bowl on a fine spring day?
Phara can't help but laugh and swipe at her own nose as if the smudges of her more dasterdly teenage years might still be lingering. "You're probably right, nobody looks very pretty with anything in their nostrils. But I don't want your ears to fall off either. I monopolize conversations. You shouldn't let me. I'd rather hear about other people, honestly. At least their lives are interesting-- sweet, even." There's a tickle of mirth tucked into the corner of her lips for the wordplay. "No. I'm not unhappy. Never unhappy. Left wanting, that would be a better way to describe it. But then again, who doesn't have unfulfilled wishes, eh?"
Jaeyi just repeats in a quiet, confiding way, "It's okay. I like to listen." Like, really, keep talking, she's not going to roll her eyes and swish off just because Phara's chatty. "Everybody wants something, you're right. A promotion, a new dress, shoes that fit better, happiness for their kids, whatever it is. But you keep saying things like that, like somehow that makes what you want or wish less important or relevant. Howcome? If there's things you want, why don't you figure out a way to get them?" Cooled, comfortable, she really does seem pretty happy pestering the bluerider, not for any specific purpose other than-- well, Phara's got things on her mind, and Jaeyi's not exactly doing anything better at the moment!
Phara gives Jaeyi one of those weird suspicious looks she reserves for when she doesn't understand why a person's so interested. "Well what if the things I wanted weren't the things you could just... have. You know, they have to be earned, I suppose." Her lower lip sticks out, folds over the top one. "Or maybe that's an easy excuse. Maybe I'm just afraid." She puffs her cheeks out suddenly and then blows out a breath, sprawling backwards across Bennath's back. "Besides, it's so much more fun to see OTHER people get what they want. Their happiness, that's good. Enough, even. If I wake up someday when I'm old and find myself single and childless, that would still be okay as long as my friends were happy and Bennath's always with me." She rubs her chin. "I think I'd like to see Threadfall again before I croak though, seems a shame to drill my whole life for it and never get to fly against it. Is that insane?"
"Then... you... earn them?" Hi? Duh? Jaeyi cocks her head there, clearly having some trouble understanding why Phara wouldn't make this logical jump on her own. Clearing her throat then, she goes on to add, "Look, I'm all about making other people happy. It's kinda why I like what I do so much, but sometimes you have to look out for yourself, too. Or else-- how can you make other people happy if you're not? It'd be hollow, wouldn't it?" To Phara's last question, all the baker can do is nod and nod and nod. Yes, that is insane. Totally.
"That would be the obvious conclusion, yeah," Phara says with a sarcastic lilt, laughing through her words. "Well, we'll see. I'm trying, for sure, for the promotion thing. I don't think I did so great as a weyrlingmaster though. I mean, B'kaiv pretty much still hates me as far as I know." She glances down at the ground, upside down from her perspective. "You think so? I guess there are a few things... the weyrlings are graduated, after all." And at Jaeyi's frantic headbobbing she laughs. "Thread's only a little scary. Nothing Ben and I couldn't handle."
Here's Jaeyi's mean voice, don't get used to hearing it often; "B'kaiv's a jackass idiot, so I wouldn't let it keep me up nights, his opinion." Fortunately, as quick as she is to disparage the greenrider, she's just as quick to drop the subject and make a face. "Thread may only be a little scary for you-- which I think is crazy, by the way. People get killed! But it's downright terrifying for us folks that don't confront it head-on. If that's your big ambition, well. I'm sorry to say, I really kinda have to hope you fail that one."
Phara looks slightly startled at Jaeyi's mean voice. "Well." She trembles in indecision and then nods firmly. "Jackass idiot. You're completely right." And that's all she says there. "No, no, that's not my biggest ambition, not at all. No, my biggest ambition is to see every inch of Pern. That wouldn't be so bad. You know, a steady bedmate, a pretty baby of my own, a promotion, those would all be pretty good too."
Jaeyi lets go the matter of B'kaiv and threadfall, both being equally distasteful, and lifts a look to encompass the bowl, with all its springtime industry, to say quietly, "I'm getting partial to these inches of Pern, myself. They're not so pretty as Boll-- or Nerat. Have you been there much? It's lovely." Wistful sigh. Then a small, sympathetic laugh for Phara's Christmas list. "Those are pretty reasonable things to want, really. And, well, there's no shortage of men here who'd be happy to be your lover, I'm sure. Plus, most probably wouldn't mind if you wanted to have their kids as long as you, like, didn't expect them to take care of it. Guys are like that." Go figure. "But a baby and a promotion might not fit together so well?"
Phara smiles around at Fort. "It's becoming home," she agrees. "Telgar will always be special, but wherever the people I love most are, that's where I'd like to be the most. When I'm not trying to dig up new inches, at least." She runs her fingers through her cropped hair, reflective. "I'm pickier than that, you know. I seem to have this inescapable thing for bronzeriders... especially the ones that end up Weyrleaders." Snort. "That's three now. Tragic." To the last, she nods. "You're right, they wouldn't. But I don't htink the promotion will happen any time too soon anyways. I'm only 21, and I haven't even been riding five turns yet. Most people like their officers a little more seasoned than that."
As if absently; "If you lined up all the women that wound up falling for T'rev, side-by-side, do you suppose they could stretch the whole length of the bowl? I'm betting they could." A thought that Jaeyi finds amusing, but which also leads into the frown she casts Phara's way. "Speaking of the Weyrleader-- he told me he was a Wingsecond just about out of weyrlinghood, and started leading that Wing at Telgar, uhhhmn, Thunderbolt? He wasn't even twenty yet, the way I remember. It seems to me like ageism doesn't play so heavily into leadership decisions for dragonriders?"
Phara lifts an eyebrow at Jaeyi and says lightly, "Oh, maybe not the ones who fell for him - not T'rev's style to go for the ones who can't keep it casual. But the ones he's slept with could probably span over to Ruatha if not farther." As for the Weyrleader she says sourly, "I remember. He was my wingleader there, too." She shakes her head. "Him and R'uen are special cases. Rev was the Weyrleader at Telgar and then here, you know, practically the minute he fell out of graduation. And T'rev's always been a natural leader, even if he never saw it in himself. But normal riders? The ones that have a little potential but not that much... we have to work pretty hard."
A little more confidently, after taking a look at the far end of the bowl, Jaeyi winds up shaking her head. "No, probably not. Not unless they all had really long arms." She stretches out her own, on the far side of Phara, looks at the tips of it, and decides again to shake her head. "Reeeeeally long arms." Which thought leaves her grinning for a second before she returns to listening to the bluerider, once more with her head tipped and her frown turning thoughtful. "Not that much? That doesn't sound like a good way to sell yourself. If you want a promotion, shouldn't you be convinced enough that you're so totally the right person for the job that you could convince someone else, too?"
Phara clearly judges Jaeyi to be quite naive so doesn't push the issue. "You never know, T'rev could have a thing for girls with abnormally long arms." She returns Jaeyi's grin with her own and then it turns somber. "Used to be cocky like that. I thought a person was supposed to get more confident with age."
Jaeyi is naive, and wouldn't argue the matter if it was brought up, but, "No. I just know about where I am in line." And, in her mind's eye, it's not so very far across that-- what? Mile long stretch of the Fort bowl? She squints in that guesstimate locale, still peering generally over yonder while her smile blooms again. "So did I. Did someone come along and stomp all over your ego, Phara? Do you want me to go and tell them to be nicer? Because I will." And what a stern reprimand it would be, surely.
Phara looks Jaeyi up and down quite seriously for a long moment before she starts laughing. It doesn't let up until just a bit longer than is strictly polite, either. "I'm sorry!" she finally gasps out. "I was just imagining you ripping someone a new one." Especially a certain Weyrleader. "No, no, you needn't," she adds once she's got ahold of herself again, but her cheeks are flushed from the laughter and she has to wipe at her eyes with her thumb to clear tears. "Really, he feels bad enough about it, and we've hashed it out before. It's all my own drama to deal with now."
The effort at even looking stern is... yes, laughable. Jaeyi hardens up her expression, screws her lips into a tight little frown, squints her eyes toughly, and then blows it all out with a big burst of air. "Well, keep the offer in mind. I could at least shake my finger at someone." And she illustrates that with a credible attempt, at least, waving her index finger strictly through the air in front of her. By the time she lowers it, looks back; "Is this really-- I mean, it's not any of my business, I know, but could he really have done something so terrible?" Because this particular baker cannot wrap her head around the notion, clearly.
"You'd surely strike terror into the heart of anyone I set you on." Phara says kindly. "As long as they were under the age of 5." And then she bursts into a fit of giggles again. Jaeyi's question draws her back into reluctant seriousness and she sighs, settling herself upright and wiggling until she can sit crosslegged comfortably. "I don't know. Do you suppose you'd be a little... afraid to let anyone else in if the man you loved and wanted to be with didn't feel the same? It's like sticking your hand in a flame expecting it not to burn you, and coming away disappointed every time. Eventually you get to a point where the burn won't heal and you're just left with scars."
Really, without jumping immediately to judgment, Jaeyi commits slowly, "I guess? I've never... I never fell in love with someone who didn't love me back. My problem seems to be more falling in love with people I'm not allowed to?" Which speaks more to her own foolishness than anything, but let's not dwell! She looks at her hand for a second, trying to ground the metaphor to the physical concept of burning her hand, even finds a spot on her index finger where a little blister resides-- perils of kitchen work. Then; "There's a lot of people out there. They're not all gonna be, mmn. Well, you can't find someone who loves you back if you just stop falling in love altogether, right?"
Phara smiles lopsidedly. "Guess I'm waiting for someone to love me first before I put myself out there. Must sound pretty silly, huh?" She cups her chin in her hand and asks, "How do you find someone you're not allowed to fall in love with? It's not like love exactly requires permission. You don't really choose who you love, love chooses you. That's what people say, anyways."
"Silly?" Jaeyi hits the word a little hard, gives Phara a sideways look that stresses that particular way to describe it. "Mmmn, no. Not silly. More..." Something she chooses not to say, though her expression apologizes for the words even if she doesn't go ahead and throw them out there. "Yeeeah, I guess it does? I mean, I didn't necessarily select to fall in love. But, uhmn, I sleep with men I probably shouldn't be sleeping with?" Beat. "Although, technically, apprentices aren't supposed to sleep with anyone, speaking of the top ten stupidest ideas ever."
Phara grins. "Apprentices sleep with people all the time," Phara points out, taking no offense and moving on easily - almost gratefully - from her own problems. "I've slept with a few people I shouldn't have, and done much worse. But the past is past, hm? Can't really be upset over that."
Jaeyi starts looking toward the ground about then, scooting on her hands till she can see it a little more clearly. Not one for heights, her expression is daunted even from the relatively low climb of Bennath's back. Hmmmmmn. "The past is the past, yes. Except that my past is also kinda my present, which makes it a little bit harder to just shrug it off as one of those hard-learned lessons, mmn? Help?" Down, she means, not like help with the larger, lovelorn issues.
Phara considers. "That's true. Our past makes us who we are, certainly. Well, I'm sure you'll sort it out, and so will I. Heck, maybe I'll go out tonight and see if I meet someone nice." Without the hesitation Jaeyi shows, she slides off Bennath's back, catching the strap to take her down until she can reach Bennath's knee. It's a short hop from there. She offers up her hands for Jaeyi to slide down into. Ever the 'gentleman'. "Back to the grind, huh?"
"I know a lovely smith," Jaeyi begins helpfully, "but he's really only at the Weyr about once a month. He's awfully nice, though, and he gives away lingerie like candy!" This being a major major selling point, at least from her perspective. The help down is obviously necessary, since getting down is much like getting up-- a controlled slide, sorta. She gets her heels dug in before she risks bowling Phara over, though, which is probably good, given she's gotta have a fair few pounds on the bluerider. "'kay, next time, chairs!"
Phara smirks. "Lingerie, huh? Not really a lingerie kinda girl." Not tomboyish, waify Pha. "Pfft, next time we'll FLY!" Chairs. "Don't worry. We'll make you a graceful dragonclimber in no time." As she lets Jaeyi down to the ground she swipes her bangs out of her face and says sheepishly, sincerely, "Thanks. You know... for listening and stuff."
Jaeyi looks up, dubiously, then over at Phara, just as dubiously. Not freaking likely. But there's a smile just as sunny as the day to follow, and the turn of bouncy steps and swishy hips to have the baker returning, "Thanks also. Come and get some cookies after dinner!" As that's apparently what she's headed off to do, retracing her steps toward the stuffy indoors.