[Log] Barracks. /Really/?
Who: Carys, Tiriana, Virgil
When: Day 11, Month 4, Turn 16
Where: Lakeshore, Telgar Weyr
What: It's all Llioth's fault.
Lake Shore, Telgar Weyr
The vegetation thickens near the lake, becoming a meadow that runs along the edge of a narrow, sandy beach. The sands spill down into a crystal lake to the north, lapping against the crater walls to the north and east. A fence runs northwest-southeast, blocking off the lake from the feeding grounds. The grass is thick with autumn, and the long strands are beginning to seed. The few trees that stand on the banks of the lake are in their full splendor with leaves of red, gold, and brown. In one corner of the meadow, Telgar's herb garden makes the air thick with the smell of mint, thyme and chive. The light of the morning sun spills over the eastern rim of the bowl, and sets the lake sparkling and shining like a giant mirror.
The evening is clear, not a cloud to be seen, giving you a perfect view of the stars. The smaller Belior is a nearly full waning gibbous while Timor is a nearly full waning gibbous. It is completely still, no winds blow and the spring air feels a bit nippy.
Contents:
Carys
Llioth
Virgil
Obvious exits:
Bowl Weyrgardens
Aah, evening at Telgar. It's barely cold outside, and the stars are out. The sun is almost completely down, giving little light to the Weyr at all. Carys and Llioth are sitting by the edge of the water, rider leaning against her lifemate with her hands folded behind her head while the blue dragon whuffles lazily at the water. She as a smile on her face, her eyes closed, and she lets out a comfortable sigh.
Perhaps in a post-dinner haze, Virgil succumbs to the pull of the cool night air and continues along the carefree path from the Weyr's bowl to the lake shore. Her arms swing and her boots find the right places to step but she doesn't seem to watch where she's going at all. The world wouldn't let anything bad happen to her! Upon reaching her destination she stops to take in the sight of rider and dragon, since the latter at least is hard to miss. "Hi." Either that or back out, and she's already here and all.
Much like she passed by the lake on her way to the stables this morning, Tiriana detours back by it on her way home for the evening. She's pulled her boots off, dangled over her shoulder by the laces, and rolled up her pants so she can wade through the edges of the cool water, enjoying the warming spring. And look, there's Virgil again. Tiriana stops and eyes the other girl as she prances along the shore. "Did you do /anything/ today?" Tiriana wonders.
Carys jumps, and her eyes shoot open when Virgil greets her. Llioth turns his head, curious, and gazes at her for a moment. He lets out a little croon and then goes back to playing with the water after shifting his bulk around a bit. Carys puts on another smile, saying, "Hi! What are you doin' out here? It's gettin' late!" Tiriana's remark to Virgil catches the rider's attention, and she gets up and twists about so she can see her. Stretching, she offers a polite smile and says, "Hey, Tiri." Catching herself, she corrects, "Er...Tiri/ana/...sorry."
"Sure I did. Did you?" While Tiriana might have meant that as a sarcastic remark, Virgil's reply is anything but. Genuinely interested, she drifts closer to, er, everyone but pauses just shy of being /too/ close to /anyone/. "I thought I'd stare at the sky for a little while before I went in for the night." Because that's totally normal. "I didn't think I'd have company." Small smile. Apparently she doesn't mind.
Tiriana hardly has time to shoot a snakey look at Carys before the correction, and she just sniffs, settling back down. "That's more like it," she remarks. "So hey. And I did, if you must know," the latter added to Virgil. "Was exercising the runners all day, now it's warm enough to get in a good ride." She tosses her shoes up on the shore out of the way while she pauses just in the water. Of Virgil, "Don't think she's all there in the head," Tiriana tells Carys, shaking her head; she doesn't even bother to lower her voice any. "Should have heard her this morning."
Carys snickers at Virgil's comeback, and then leans against her lifemate's flank. A grin breaks out when the subject of staring at the sky comes up, and she pats Llioth's leg while saying, "Well that's what we've been doin'! Starin' at the stars 'n thinkin' 'bout stuff. Pop a squat next to Lli and I, I'm sure he won't mind!" She gestures to a vast amount of space around her and the dragon, who probably wouldn't notice if Virgil were to step on his tail at this point. He's too busy bumping rocks into the water with his nose. Rys doesn't realise that the "Don't think she's all there in the head" comment is directed toward herself until she starts protesting, "Hey, I may be a little cr-oh...you mean /her/! Well that's alright. Cooky people keep me entertained." For Tiriana, "Hey, how exhausted do you get from workin' with runners all day...if at all?"
For her comment, Tiriana receives one of Virgil's quirky-mouthed glances. And, for Carys, "She's afraid of niceness," with a thumb jerk the stablehand's way. Since the bluerider offered and all, she moseys on over to Llioth to pat him on his near-shoulder and tucks her hands into her pockets. Though she won't sit, she will do what she said: stare up at the sky.
Tiriana snorts at Carys, rolls her eyes. "Of course her. Could go for you, too, though, I guess," she notes as she strolls out of the water, back up onto dry land herself. Getting sand all over them, she turns to flop down on the beach, too. "You'd be surprised," she answers the bluerider then, shaking her head. "You ever tried to sit some headstrong runner that's been cooped up too long over winter? Like to see it." Beat. "Hey, I am not!" she rounds on Virgil again, voice rising. "I just... I am not!" Brilliant comebacks.
Carys laughs at Virgil's comment. "You think I didn't notice? You'd think that an act of kindness, like a handshake or a hug, would burn her skin." She winks Tiriana's way to let her know it's only a joke, quite unafraid of any scathing remark if there's one waiting for her. Llioth shoots a look over at Virgil when he's patted, and stretches his neck over and down so that he might get a good sniff of her. If she were to allow him to get too close, an enormous puff of air would come out of his nose and into her face. His eyes swirl a happy blue-green. At the talk of runners, "No, I haven't. I'll have to try sometime so you can see me fall flat on my back. What kind of exercises do you do with 'em? I've never really watched anyone work with 'em before, so it's kinda interesting to me..."
"Are so," singsongs Virgil in reply, just before that breath of air full in the face, which results in her blinking rapidly and wrinkling her nose. Smelly. But he /is/ allowed close enough, she doesn't freak out. What she /does/ do is reach a gloved hand up to pat him on his blue nose. "There, there. I like runners. Wish I knew more about 'em."
Tiriana sniffs, just a touch sulkily as she pulls her knees up to her chest and stretches her arms out over her knees. "Depends on who it's from," she grumbles, flicking at the sand clinging to her damp legs. "Don't mind some people quite so much." When back to the topic of runners, though, she's a little less grumpy about it, at least. "Yeah? Mostly put 'em through their paces, really--nothing too earth-shaking. Could stop by someday, I guess, and watch. Take a ride--there's people that give lessons sometimes, y'know. Not me. I deal strictly with the runners, not /people/."
Llioth accepts the patting, and immediately thrusts the top of his head forward. It's his way of asking for a scritch on his headknobs. "Gettin' a little cozy, aren't ya, Lli?" Carys asks, chuckling. She addresses Tiriana once more and says, "That'd be fun. If I promised not to get in your way would you let me watch you work with 'em sometime? I think it'd be more fun if I was with someone I talk to on a semi-regular basis." She turns to Virgil and asks, "You been around here all that long? I don't remember runnin' into you any times before..." Then she's back to Tiri. "Have you noticed a great deal of differences between ridin' a dragon and ridin' runners? You know aside from the obvious size difference and the flying thing..."
"I wonder why," wonders Virgil, with a sly little glance Tiriana's way. She's teasing, obviously, but it doesn't go much further than that. She's listening to them, about runners, while she smoothes her hand up Llioth's forehead to one headknob. And she takes Carys's question in stride, because she's been hearing a lot of that. "Been here my whole life. A lot of people are saying they've never seen me, I didn't stick out much. It's all a part of my new philosophy."
Tiriana gives Carys a funny look, her brows furrowing together. "Wouldn't it be more fun with somebody you, y'know. Liked?" she suggests dubiously. She shoots a look from Carys to Virgil, as though the other girl can explain it more. At the nanny's words, though, Tiriana just groans. "Oh, Faranth. Don't get her started on this philosophy crap. She's been all over me about it like some kind of... I don't even /know/ what." She affects a shudder, though, to emphasize her dislike of the subject, until the bluerider's latter question makes her pause, and frown. This time, her gaze shifts between rider and dragon and back again. "You can actually get a runner to do what you want?" she suggests slowly. "And they're more... alike. Even though they have their own personalities, too, but not the same, I don't guess. Not so independent?"
Carys nods her head at Virgil and lets out a long, "Ooooh" sound. "Well I'm sorry I didn't notice ya before! You looked kinda familiar, but I wasn't sure. What do you do 'round the Weyr?" Tiriana's first question is awarded with a very funny look; nose all crinkled up on one side and her brows all furrowed. She blinks and shakes her head...then starts laughing, her expression immediately going from one of confusion to one of glee. "Who said I didn't like ya?!" Once she calms down a bit she raises a brow. "Philosophy? Well I'm interested, what's your new philosophy, er...whatever your name is...?" Then the little Rys looks over to Tiriana again and shrugs a shoulder. "Oh...alright, then. Just wonderin' is all, don't hafta treat me like a dolt." Llioth rumbles in appreciation for the scritches from Virgil, and then turns to stare at Tiriana, intrigued. He gets up, stretches, shakes a bit, and then walks over to sit in front of her on his haunches. He shoots his wings out really fast and with a loud FUMP sound as if to say, 'Look at me! Am I as interesting as a runner?!'
"Virgil." Because Carys didn't know. And, "I work with kids. You probably know my dad." That provides, pretty much every time. "He's G'eon. Irsith's, um, rider." Llioth is leaving. Llioth is going. Llioth is gone. She, without something to busy her hands with, stuffs them into her pocket again. "She's insecure too," she tells Carys, because why else would someone assume someone else doesn't like them? As for philosophy: "I'm broadening my horizons. I'm meeting new people and I'm not holding anything back. I hate the thought of dying with nobody knowing me." She sniffs. It's all very simple, see.
For that, Tiriana just kind of stares blankly at Carys. "You do?" And that earns an even more suspicious look from Tiriana, who leans a little away from Carys, as though the crazy were contagious. She shakes it off, though, and then gives Virgil a look patently I-told-you-so. "See, I give an honest answer and people just think I'm mean. Might as well be mean and give 'em a reason to think it," she tells the other girl. The philosophy talk (and even the slights on her self-esteem, somehow), she ignores, though--maybe she really has heard it all before--in favor of eyeing the showing-off Llioth. "/I'm/ not petting you," she informs him. "Go pester her again." And she jerks her head toward Virgil.
Carys snaps her fingers. "Ooh, G'eon's daughter! Alright, then, I get it now." As if there was something to get. "Well that's a good philosophy to have, I think. I like meetin' people. More friends, the better." To Tiriana, "Sure I do! If I didn't like you I wouldn't talk to you. I like the sassy, honest kind of personality you've got." Llioth snorts and stamps one foot down. He isn't satisfied. He jerks his wings out a bit more to emphasise his point. The blue lowers his head some, as well, in an attempt to get at least somewhat close to the girl's face. The vibrant green in his eyes is whirling quite fast, and he croons. "I think Llioth is flirting with you, Tiriana."
At this point, after all of Llioth's antics, Virgil is grinning and shaking a little from laughter she's holding in. Flirting! That breaks it. "Ha! Ha/ha/!" Some people have nice, pleasant laughter. /She/ practically cackles. Her hand flies to her mouth, clap.
Tiriana, to her credit, holds her ground in the face of Llioth's questing nose, if nothing else. "I'm not his type," she answers Carys after a moment. Her eyes flick to Virgil, wide and appalled at that laughter though they quickly narrow again as she cuts her glance back to Llioth. She adds, "And anyway, I already have a... R'uen." Yes.
Llioth grunts and shoots Carys a look as if to say, 'I am /not/ flirting!' and turns back to Tiriana. He croons very sweetly at her again. Carys snickers. "You already have a R'uen? Well you don't already have a Llioth, that's for sh-" but her words are cut short. She blinks, her eyes clouded over a bit, and then gawks at her lifemate. "/What/?" The blue reaches down more so that he can very lightly nudge Tiriana, if she'll allow. Rys clears her throat. "Er...Tiriana...Llioth says that he'd like to know if you want a chance at Impressing on the sands. He thinks that you would care for a lifemate like you would care for your runners if you did Impress, and he'd like to see that happen...if you want...to...that is." Disbelief. She looks at Virgil, and jerks a thumb at the dragon. "Can you /believe/ that?"
"R'uen?" Virgil's head tilts. "/Oh/. /You're/ the girl." A new light shines on this realization and she reflects on it while Tiriana's getting all searched and whatnot. For someone who's seen this happen a time or two before, this really shouldn't be that big a deal. And yet her grin grows and soon enough she's beaming at the other girl. "Oh, I can believe it."
Tiriana just glowers at Llioth the more he croons at her. "Yes," she answers defiantly. "I have a R'uen. And I don't need a--" Much like Carys, she finds her words cut off by the blue's pronouncement. She stares, glower fading into something else entirely, a bundle of mixed emotions that don't seem in any hope of sorting themselves out any time soon. She doesn't even seem to hear Virgil's words, or at least not to register them just yet. Instead, she casts a glance at Carys again. Her mouth opens, shuts, tries again before she finally finds a voice again. "You're shitting me," Tiriana says then, half-fearful, half-hopeful.
Carys gives Virgil a funny look and shrugs. "Well I kinda can I guess." Then she looks at Tiriana and shakes her head frantically. "Shards no, I'm not! I wouldn't joke 'bout somethin' like that!" Llioth moves to nuzzle Tiri in a last attempt to persuade her for a scritch or a pat or a poke or something. He also thumps his tail on the ground, impatient. "W-well, whaddya say?"
Virgil stands there, hands in pockets, grinning. She can't seem to stop grinning. She unpockets one of her hands, again, to cup it around her mouth and stagewhisper, "Say yes," at Tiriana.
That time, Tiriana seems to believe it, her hand coming up automatically that time to rub across Llioth's muzzle. "Of course!" she answers, recovering enough to roll her eyes--isn't that answer a given? Maybe not. She still looks a little off-balance, even as she picks up again a thread resembling conversation. "What do you mean '/that/ girl'?" she asks Virgil, but doesn't wait for a reply before she continues on, with growing enthusiasm. "I got searched. I have to go tell--oh." That thought pulls her up short yet again, makes her lips purse. "I have to go tell R'uen." Not quite so enthusiastic this time.
The blue seems quite happy, and gives a small whuffle of satisfaction as he sits up straight again. Then, somewhat randomly, he lets out a bugle and stands on his hind legs for a moment. Wooohoooo, Tiriana's a Candidate!! Carys is just as enthusiastic. "Alright, /great/! Congrats, Tiri! We're rootin' for ya!" Then, "Oh...you know where the barracks are, right? You can move all your stuff in their for now if you want. That's where'll you'll be stayin', all that stuff you probably already know...if ya got questions, ask anyone!" Then she raises a brow at the lack of enthusiasm for telling R'uen. "How come you weren't so excited that time?"
"Congratulations, friend." Virgil, very calm, rocks back on her heels and glances off for the Weyr. "I should be heading back in, too, actually. Hey, maybe I'll see you around. You can tell me about runners." Olive branch? No? With a shared grin for new candidate and bluerider, she detaches from their little group to stride up the shore, humming offtune the whole way.
Virgil goes home.
Virgil has left.
"Barracks, do I have to?" Tiriana whines that time, pushing herself up to her feet after making an attempt at dusting as much sand off herself as she can. She cringes slightly at the loud bugling, while she slides mostly desanded feet into her boots and laces them just tight enough to keep them on for a little bit. "Yeah. I guess. Okay," she agrees with Virgil while the other girl leaves; Tiriana looks after her a moment before turning back to Carys. "I--um. So barracks. /Really/? It's not like I don't know the whole drill, lived in Weyrs my whole life." Dodging the latter question much?
Carys gives Virgil a happy wave and says, "Nice to finally meet you! Get nice and warm!" Then she chuckles. "Yeah, you have to. It's not so bad, really! Not that long, either." After a moment she folds her arms over her chest and smirks. "You're avoidin' my other question! I mean if you really don't wanna answer, you don't have to, but..." Llioth gets up and moves back to the water after whuffling at Tiriana again, pushing some more rocks around. After a little while he moves to stand behind Carys, watching the humans curiously.
Tiriana's nose wrinkles at the answer to her question, her expression glum, resigned--not like she expected it to change, but had to try anyway. "I hate people," she grumps about it, though, before casting another look at Llioth, eyeing him when he returns to rock-pushing. Quickly, she turns back to Carys. "S'not any of your business. It's... It's personal. Of course I'm excited. I am." And she flashes a smirk, brushing off whatever over concerns might be in her little head about then.
Carys shrugs her shoulders and holds her hands up. "Alright, alright, I won't bother ya anymore. Just thought I'd give it a shot." She glances up at Llioth with an "Oh," and smiles back at Tiri. "Alright, well you try to have fun, despite the abundance of people, and congrats again. I'll see ya around!"
"Yeah. Well. You don't have to," Tiriana tells Carys, shaking her head. "And--yeah. I will." Not so sure about that, as she turns to go herself, making it a couple of steps before she pauses and turns back. Sliding her hands into her pockets, she hesitates a moment, and then finally says, "Well. Thanks. Bye." And then she turns to go in earnest, maybe off to the barracks to claim herself sleeping space.