Log: Degrees of Separation
Who: Avey, Javeri, P'draig, Leisath, Chadamalith, Jekzith, Neraset (NPC), K'mron (NPC)
When: Afternoon, day 19, month 5, turn 18 of Interval 10
Where: Weyrling Barracks, Ista Weyr
What: P'draig talks with the weyrlings after picking a bad time of day to exercise them. Talk of flying and the separation between rider and dragon occurs. Also the merits of running on the beach versus running in the bowl.
Late afternoon light follows the group of sweaty weyrlings and sweaty assistant weyrlingmaster into the Barracks. P'draig is flapping his shirt visibly as he goes, the humid heat apparently getting a little bit the best of him. "Okay. I think maybe we'll save /that/ one for the morning next time," he says with a little shake of his head as K'mron casts himself down onto his cot bodily and groans.
"Unless you're trying to kill us all so you can have some time off," Javeri tells P'draig as she wipes the back of her arm across her forehead. "Maybe we should be doing that when the dragons are out there flapping their wings? They can fan us while we exercise." See? It's a brilliant idea followed by the former potter not throwing herself on her cot, but looking like she wants to. Instead she grabs a towel from her clothes press to wipe her forehead off. Much better than her arm.
"Heh, no," P'draig says with a sheepish look as he walks over to one of the water barrels, dips the ladle in and just pours the lot down the back of his neck rather than drinking it. "And that's not a half bad idea. Automatic air currents," Paddy continues humorously. K'mron just makes grunting noises while Neraset joins in the flopping, only on her back, because it makes a pretty picture and well ... other things.
Both Neraset and K'mron get ignored by Javeri who is too busy wiping sweat from her face. "Well, if we have to exercise and they do there's no reason we can't make it work for us," she reasons with a smile. It would save dramatics from certain others, but in an effort to get along there's no way that she's going to say such a thing. "Still I suppose it does beat having to do such things in the snow or something horrid like that." And despite being overheated and sweaty she still shivers at the thought.
P'draig only laughs at that remark and ladles more water over his face this time, then hooks the ladle back in place, turns to pick up a towel from the omnipresent stack that's usually meant for absorbing excess oil and cleaning up dragonet messes. "It's not so bad running around in the cold. You work up some heat pretty quickly that way," he explains. "I'm Reaches born and raised, apprenticed at Tillek, Impressed at Fort. I'm still not used to the heat here and can better withstand that kind of stuff in the cold," he explains. Neraset's flopping around on her cot trying to get attention from ... well almost anyone who'll pay attention to her, which winds up being K'mron who props his hands up on his chin and just blatantly /watches/ the blonde girl.
"It's still snow," Javeri points out with a wrinkled nose. "Cold, wet, not warm snow. I'll take the heat here anytime." When some of the other weyrlings are done with their own water barrel trips she head over and resists the urge to dunk her head in it. Instead she just drops her towel in and doesn't bother wringing it out as she lets it drip onto her head. "Istan all the way," she tells P'draig with a grin. "Never been off the island even." Then she wrings the towel out over her and drapes it across the back of her neck. Doing her best to not look at Neraset she focuses on the conversation. "So are there constant horrible torturous exercises to look forward to for the next turn?"
"So you've missed out on the fun parts of snow too," P'draig tells Javeri with a wink as that line of weyrlings progresses by. Shortly at least two are napping with dragonets curled up in wallows nearby. That's K'mron watching her and Neraset slants her eyes towards the other weyrling and since it's /him/ she finally flops over on her side in disgust under the illusion that if she has her back to him, he won't be leering at her backside. "Yep, time to get in shape. Calisthenics most mornings, a good run around the Bowl, lots of sack tossing to build up all those muscles most of you don't have."
Javeri's disgust at the whole showing off thing is only evident in a quiet huff and the way she pointedly makes sure her back is to where Neraset's cot is located. "If snow's so fun how come so many people come here to get away from it?" she asks P'draig with a victorious grin. "Honestly I never heard anyone at home going on about wanting to get away from here to go to the snow. But I saw people all the time at the docks talking about being glad to get away from the snow back home." The argument is won! Well, perhaps not, but she thinks the argument she makes is solid. "Running? Running is so boring. Laps around the bowl is enough to put me to sleep." Which sort of sounds like a complaint so she is quick to add, "Not that I mean to sound complaining because I'm not, really. It's just- Nevermind."
"Well it is cold and it gets messy in the spring and there's mud. But I miss it myself. Head up to the Reaches to skate and all," P'draig explains with another loose grin and shrugs. "Mm, yeah it can get boring, but when you get bored of the Bowl, we can run the stairs down to the beach and along the beach itself. In the sand." Which as most know is quite the workout.
"Someone's likely to break a leg running on stairs," Javeri points out doing a great job of not looking at anyone as she says it. Like she needs to since the clumsy ones are well known by now. More even than her who has barely been to the infirmary since the hatching. "Cold and messy and muddy," she repeats with a quiet laugh. "Yes, I can imagine missing it. Well, not so much. Maybe if it had been a home there would be an attachment." But her tone makes it clear she doesn't believe that to be the case. "I'd rather run in the sand anyway. The scenery is better." Especially if they get to pass any sailors.
"Nah, doesn't happen that often," P'draig says gaily. "I like the changes of the seasons, the leaves, the cold air and then the softer in the spring. It just makes you appreciate summer more, I guess," the brownrider explains with a little shrug of his shoulders. Her last comment brings out a bright laugh. "Good point. It's hard work on the legs though."
Lifting a leg and stretching it out in front of her, balancing on one left for just a moment, Javeri grins. "I have good legs. Orrest always told me so." Likely others did too, but she's not going to list off names. "I'd rather a harder run than laps around the bowl. Especially if some of the ships docked are out working on their big nets." Yep. She does seem to have a one track mind about that at least.
P'draig eyes that extended leg. With professional interest. Of course. K'mron starts snickering from his cot. "Oh yeah, you've got /great/ legs, Javeri," he calls over and casts her a meaningful smile. Neraset looks over her shoulder and stares in disbelief. She flounces around all day and all Javeri has to do is stick a leg out. Well /fine/. The blonde rolls off of her cot and flounces back outside. Paddy eyes her for a moment, eyes going vague then he snaps back to the room. "All sorts of good places to run around Ista to liven things up."
Javeri's head snaps around to K'mron and she snorts. "Yes, I do. But you will never know how great so keep your filthy thoughts to yourself." Was he having any? Maybe not, but it's K'mron and Javeri's spent enough time with him to believe she is right. As for Neraset, well, her flouncing gets a look from the former potter, but it's not one of appreciation. "She's going to be in a snit all night," is muttered as she turns her attention back to P'draig. "Well, I am not so worried about things livening up as I am just getting to see other things. And I do love the beach. Will be going swimming to exercise?"
Rolling his eyes, K'mron gives Javeri a long look. "So you're allowed to have them about sailors, but no one about you. Psssh," the lad says. His dragon looks up though and makes an unhappy sound which sees him busying himself with soothing and scratching the dragonet's chin. "Mm, probably," Paddy murmurs lowly about Neraset. "She'll get over it by tomorrow though. And yes, swimming, will definitely be an exercise."
"Trust me, K'mron if I am thinking about a sailor he is not bothered by it. But unlike you I do not spend every waking moment-" Well, she lets it end because he is busy now and it's not like she wants to talk to him. Much better to be talking to P'draig. Which is why he gets a grin. "Yea. She'll accidentally drop her shirt changing for bed and point out the accident completely without meaning to and all that." Eyes rolling for the antics of the greenrider Javeri shakes her head. "Swimming's fun though. So that's good."
Hand to mouth, P'draig covers what's either a laugh or a yawn as Javeri makes that remark. "He's a guy," he notes conversationally in a lower tone to the blueriding weyrling. "Of course he does." That hand shifts to the back of his neck now as she mentions Neraset's little trick. "Well at least she doesn't seem to /mind/ when she's giving the free show," he says, manner easy-going. "I swim almost every morning, either in the pool or out in the ocean. It's a good all around exercise."
A look over her shoulder at the male weyrling is all Javeri does. "Well, he doesn't have to be so obvious about it," she comments. Tilting her head to one side and tugging at a braid she finally nods. "I guess she doesn't. I can't imagine acting that way myself, but to each their own. No matter how annoying it is to everyone else. Swimming in the morning is the best. It's not too hot, but not cold at all and there's never a lot of people around. I prefer the ocean though. Plenty of space to share too."
"Mm. Just wish she wouldn't /drape/ quite so much," is P'draig's sentiment about Neraset, skipping over K'mron. He might even be thinking back to being a teenaged boy. "Anyway, yeah, it's a good start to the day, swimming." Paddy and Javeri stand near a barrel of water after coming in from a round of ill-advised physical exercises for the weyrlings in the middle of Ista's afternoon heat. In fact the weyrlingmaster's assistant's shirt is wet, back and front like he just plain poured water on himself not long ago. Several weyrlings lie on cots in various states of exhaustion or relaxation. Notably absent: Neraset who flounced off earlier after K'mron leered at her too much and Paddy didn't deign to pay her any attention. "How's Chadamalith about water, by the by?"
Avey lounges on her cot writing something on a hide, and Leisath lounges in her nearby couch. Avey perks up and glances over when she hears people talking about dragons and water.
"Water? He doesn't seem to care about it one way or the other," Javeri replies to P'draig with a grin. Her head turns now and she searches out where the blue is in the barracks. True to form Chadamalith sits by his couch seeming to be paying attention to nothing and everything without showing any desire to come find his rider or bring her to him. "He's fine in a bath and he asks questions about the ocean all the time sometimes. I guess because I think about it a lot. He sometimes fixates on something I've been thinking on. And doesn't ever let them go." The last sentence is said with a sigh attached to it.
"Good he's got no problems bathing," P'draig says with a quick grin of his own and his gaze tracks after the pinstriped blue, taking in the way he look/doesn't look around. "Should be able to go down soon, they're getting strong enough," Paddy notes. "Though it'll be a while yet before he can fly down." That last bit earns a sympathetic look from the weyrlingmaster's assistant. "Tenacious, hm?"
Avey sets her hide aside and rolls over on her side, propping her head on one hand, now openly eavesdropping on P'draig and Javeri's conversation with no attempt to hide it.
"He has no problems with anything really." Well, sure she's gonna lie. There's no sense speaking of problems where everyone might here. Javeri just lets it all go and looks again to where Chadamalith is sitting. "Really? Soon? That's great! He's so ready, he says, to go out and see more. Even if it's not by flying. He'll be happy to see more of the world. I think he's tired of just having me describe it to him and show him what I see. He wants to know what he will see."
"None at all, must be nice," P'draig says with a chuckle. "Jekzith was too into everything, always on the move. Nosey." The brownrider is observing Chadamalith again from his position near the water barrel where he's still talking with Javeri after exercises out in the Bowl that've left the weyrlings who participated limply resting in the Barracks. "Yeah, couple more months yet before he can fly," Paddy says cautiously, lest Chadamalith get any ideas. "But he'll get to see soon."
Avey sighs dreamily at the mention of flying, and goes all daydreamy.
Chadamalith turns his head like he knows he's being watched and watches P'draig in return now. He's still as a statue with nothing twitching anywhere. Javeri looks at her blue with a grin before saying, "He's curious and all, but he prefers to observe stuff before acting. He's real big on observing things. Then he moves onto something quickly and I'm glad he's not grown up so I can try to learn to keep up."
That dreamy sigh catches Paddy's attention and he takes in Avey's expression, mouth pulling to the side amusedly then he's focusing back on Chadamalith again. "Huh. Observing. I think I know a couple of dragons like that. Might want to go visit over Fort way sometime when you're able," he offers over to Javeri and clears his throat. "Thinking about flying too, Avey?"
Avey starts out of her reverie. "Huh? Oh! Oh, flying... yeah." She sighs, and then laughs. "Leisath and I imagine it, sometimes, together."
"I think we all think about flying. It's so stir crazy after awhile. First candidacy and now weyrlinghood? A whole long chunk of our lives held so close together." Well, for Javeri it makes her stir crazy. Who wants to be stuck somewhere all the time? She pretends like she's not watching Chadamalith, but she can't help but peek over at him. Nope, he's not looking at her at all. He's still staring at P'draig. Even when one of the other weyrlings bumps into him rushing by there's just a lifting of one paw as it twitches and then he's making like a statue again.
"Yeah, Jekzith was sharing a little with Tyalith the other day," P'draig tells Avey with a grin. "He likes helping the imagining part along." His head bobs at Javeri's assertion. "Yeah, at least you can get out a little bit more now that they're old enough. It's a crazy time those early months," Paddy says with renewed sympathy. "I used to go out for walks." And back come gray-blue eyes to Chadamalith and they stay there. Staring contest?
"I go swimming," Avey says, "when Leisath's asleep. For some reason if I run, she wakes up. Like, if I'm getting /too/ much exercise when she's sleeping. It just doesn't work. Isn't that weird?"
Javeri's head turns to Avey when she speaks, but she doesn't seem to have anything to say to the other weyrling. Maybe it's just hearing from someone with a less standoffish sort of dragon that is interesting. Then she looks back to Chadamalith and suppresses the sigh this time. If he's going to sit there and stare there's nothing she can do about it most likely. "Getting out is good," she agrees as she looks back to P'draig finally. "I can get to the beach now which is nice." Chadamalith blinks, but his eyes remain on the assistant weyrlingmaster.
"Really? She wakes up if you run? Huh, that's really interesting. Do you think she kind of feels your footfalls or something?" P'draig asks with obvious interest though he's still looking over at Chadamalith. He's blinking now and then too. "Oh that's good too if he'll let you go down without having to be along with. The whole separation thing."
"Yes, I think it's too -- I mean, if I'm too /active/ she can't sleep. You know? I mean when I say I swim, really I mean mostly I sit in the water and relax," Avey explains. "It makes sense though. I mean, when she's tired I kind of get tired too. So."
"He acts entirely unbothered wherever I go," Javeri says after waiting for Avey to speak. "Like it doesn't matter if I come or go or stick around or whatever." Arms folding across her chest this time she doesn't look at Chadamalith but instead watches P'draig and Avey. The same as Chadamalith although he's more interested in P'draig for whatever reason. His mouth opens and snaps back closed as he stares. Not a yawn, just a snap.
"Shared restlessness," P'draig says with a nod and his gaze breaks away from Chadamalith to focus on Avey instead. "Right, sounds like you're still pretty closely bound then. But you can find the line between you and her, right?" P'draig's posture shifts and his hands slide into damp pockets. "Now see there's a contrast, eh, Javeri? He's unbothered by you coming and going, and Avey and Leisath're still close enough that when one is tired the other is too."
Avey blinks at Javeri and looks amazed at her. "He... doesn't? Really?" She looks at Leisath, and shakes her head, and laughs. "Right, yeah. What do you mean, about the line between us?" she asks P'draig.
"Not for the last few sevens," Javeri tells Avey with a casual looking shrug. "He's fine on his own. At least he never tells me otherwise." Another peek over her shoulder to the blue who is staring right at her like that's what he's been doing all along. Shifting her gaze to P'draig she nods once looking almost suspicious at the question. Like she's doing something wrong. "It's like the others. He seems to be the only one not interested in what his rider does."
Moving away from Javeri with a grin and more over towards Avey. "Every dragon is a little different. Just sounds like Chadamalith's bridged that gap a little sooner than some," is what P'draig says to the blue's rider. "So Mic had a good way of explaining this actually, so I'll repeat him." Paddy threads his fingers together loosely, like a basket. "Most riders and dragon pairs are kind of like this. Close together, touching, but clear separation and they come apart easily enough when needed," and he draws his fingers loose. Mic and Aath were like /this/ as weyrlings." And he threads fingers again, overlapping them tightly. "Completely twined together so that they were really as one and T'mic didn't realize that he was losing himself a little in Aath. They had to find that line between them to be able to back up more to like this." The loose weave again.
Avey blinks blankly, and then her face lights in recognition when P'draig threads his fingers more tightly. "Yeah," she says. "We're - not one /person/ but one... thing. Team. Sort of. Something." She frowns, unable to articulate what she means, and not liking the suggestion it should be any different. "So maybe not everybody has a line. Or needs one."
From where he sits Chadamalith continues to stare at Javeri until she takes a step backwards towards where he is. She looks at P'draig as he explains, but her attention is clearly not on what he says or what Avey responds with. Instead after a few more backwards steps she's turning and heading for where her blue is now curling up by her cot. Since there's not just a line, but an extra thick one between her and her dragon she just lets the conversation float on without her and contents herself rest by Chadamalith while he seems to really want her there.
There's a brief look over Chadamalith and Javeri's way as he sees the pair spending that together time .... together and P'draig smiles, but then he's nodding at Avey. "Yeah, the team part is good, what's not so good is when you can't tell who you are and who she is anymore. The sleep part is what made me think of it, because Mic said he and Aath used to be so tight that if she went to sleep he'd just drop off right there no matter what he was doing. And that's an extreme that takes a little practice to pull back from."
"Oh. Well." Avey frowns, and is silent for a long moment, mulling that over. She doesn't appear to like it much. Finally she says, in a much lowered voice, "I just don't want to be like Javeri and Chadamalith! It's like he doesn't even /like/ her or something. I would hate that."
"Oh no, not like this," P'draig slides his fingers apart again so the tips are only just touching. "This." The loose weave. "But able to do this," pull apart again, "when you both need to and not have you fall asleep standing up in the living cavern because she's taking a nap in here, that's all. JAveri and Chadamalith probably need to work on being a little closer, trusting each other." His hands part and he nods to the cot. "Mind if I set? I promise, I'm not wet enough to get your blankets damp."
"Sure. It's fine," Avey says, still frowning slightly. "I just, I don't know. What if she likes being apart and wants to be apart all the time like Chadamalith?"
"I doubt it'll be like that, Avey," P'draig says confidently and sits down, hands resting atop knees. "It's kind of a balancing act though, figuring out the comfort zone." Jekzith rouses from outside where he was chatting up a green from Timor and sends a questing bubble of thought Leisath's way.
"I think we're fine the way we are," Avey says firmly. Leisath, lying drowsily in her couch, but awake, playfully mind-bats at Jekzith's bubble.
Nodding, P'draig can accept that. "Just keep an eye on that line where you don't know who you are anymore," he says gently while Jekzith's thoughts remain amorphous, multicolored and bubble-filled but not forming anything conscious beyond that.
"...okay," Avey agrees, and reaches over with her toe to stroke Leisath's tail. Then she yawns a bit. "We might go to sleep," she says. "It's late, I guess."
"Not even dinner yet," P'draig says with a little grin. "But yeah, nap." And he pushes to his feet. "I'm going to go clean up, trade off with B'ryce. Talk to you around, Avey."
Avey waves and smiles. "See you, thanks," she says, and flops down on her cot for that nap.
P'draig grins and pushes to his feet, waving back as he ambles off through the Barracks, sticks his head into the office to let B'ryce know what's up then heads off-duty.
When: Afternoon, day 19, month 5, turn 18 of Interval 10
Where: Weyrling Barracks, Ista Weyr
What: P'draig talks with the weyrlings after picking a bad time of day to exercise them. Talk of flying and the separation between rider and dragon occurs. Also the merits of running on the beach versus running in the bowl.
Late afternoon light follows the group of sweaty weyrlings and sweaty assistant weyrlingmaster into the Barracks. P'draig is flapping his shirt visibly as he goes, the humid heat apparently getting a little bit the best of him. "Okay. I think maybe we'll save /that/ one for the morning next time," he says with a little shake of his head as K'mron casts himself down onto his cot bodily and groans.
"Unless you're trying to kill us all so you can have some time off," Javeri tells P'draig as she wipes the back of her arm across her forehead. "Maybe we should be doing that when the dragons are out there flapping their wings? They can fan us while we exercise." See? It's a brilliant idea followed by the former potter not throwing herself on her cot, but looking like she wants to. Instead she grabs a towel from her clothes press to wipe her forehead off. Much better than her arm.
"Heh, no," P'draig says with a sheepish look as he walks over to one of the water barrels, dips the ladle in and just pours the lot down the back of his neck rather than drinking it. "And that's not a half bad idea. Automatic air currents," Paddy continues humorously. K'mron just makes grunting noises while Neraset joins in the flopping, only on her back, because it makes a pretty picture and well ... other things.
Both Neraset and K'mron get ignored by Javeri who is too busy wiping sweat from her face. "Well, if we have to exercise and they do there's no reason we can't make it work for us," she reasons with a smile. It would save dramatics from certain others, but in an effort to get along there's no way that she's going to say such a thing. "Still I suppose it does beat having to do such things in the snow or something horrid like that." And despite being overheated and sweaty she still shivers at the thought.
P'draig only laughs at that remark and ladles more water over his face this time, then hooks the ladle back in place, turns to pick up a towel from the omnipresent stack that's usually meant for absorbing excess oil and cleaning up dragonet messes. "It's not so bad running around in the cold. You work up some heat pretty quickly that way," he explains. "I'm Reaches born and raised, apprenticed at Tillek, Impressed at Fort. I'm still not used to the heat here and can better withstand that kind of stuff in the cold," he explains. Neraset's flopping around on her cot trying to get attention from ... well almost anyone who'll pay attention to her, which winds up being K'mron who props his hands up on his chin and just blatantly /watches/ the blonde girl.
"It's still snow," Javeri points out with a wrinkled nose. "Cold, wet, not warm snow. I'll take the heat here anytime." When some of the other weyrlings are done with their own water barrel trips she head over and resists the urge to dunk her head in it. Instead she just drops her towel in and doesn't bother wringing it out as she lets it drip onto her head. "Istan all the way," she tells P'draig with a grin. "Never been off the island even." Then she wrings the towel out over her and drapes it across the back of her neck. Doing her best to not look at Neraset she focuses on the conversation. "So are there constant horrible torturous exercises to look forward to for the next turn?"
"So you've missed out on the fun parts of snow too," P'draig tells Javeri with a wink as that line of weyrlings progresses by. Shortly at least two are napping with dragonets curled up in wallows nearby. That's K'mron watching her and Neraset slants her eyes towards the other weyrling and since it's /him/ she finally flops over on her side in disgust under the illusion that if she has her back to him, he won't be leering at her backside. "Yep, time to get in shape. Calisthenics most mornings, a good run around the Bowl, lots of sack tossing to build up all those muscles most of you don't have."
Javeri's disgust at the whole showing off thing is only evident in a quiet huff and the way she pointedly makes sure her back is to where Neraset's cot is located. "If snow's so fun how come so many people come here to get away from it?" she asks P'draig with a victorious grin. "Honestly I never heard anyone at home going on about wanting to get away from here to go to the snow. But I saw people all the time at the docks talking about being glad to get away from the snow back home." The argument is won! Well, perhaps not, but she thinks the argument she makes is solid. "Running? Running is so boring. Laps around the bowl is enough to put me to sleep." Which sort of sounds like a complaint so she is quick to add, "Not that I mean to sound complaining because I'm not, really. It's just- Nevermind."
"Well it is cold and it gets messy in the spring and there's mud. But I miss it myself. Head up to the Reaches to skate and all," P'draig explains with another loose grin and shrugs. "Mm, yeah it can get boring, but when you get bored of the Bowl, we can run the stairs down to the beach and along the beach itself. In the sand." Which as most know is quite the workout.
"Someone's likely to break a leg running on stairs," Javeri points out doing a great job of not looking at anyone as she says it. Like she needs to since the clumsy ones are well known by now. More even than her who has barely been to the infirmary since the hatching. "Cold and messy and muddy," she repeats with a quiet laugh. "Yes, I can imagine missing it. Well, not so much. Maybe if it had been a home there would be an attachment." But her tone makes it clear she doesn't believe that to be the case. "I'd rather run in the sand anyway. The scenery is better." Especially if they get to pass any sailors.
"Nah, doesn't happen that often," P'draig says gaily. "I like the changes of the seasons, the leaves, the cold air and then the softer in the spring. It just makes you appreciate summer more, I guess," the brownrider explains with a little shrug of his shoulders. Her last comment brings out a bright laugh. "Good point. It's hard work on the legs though."
Lifting a leg and stretching it out in front of her, balancing on one left for just a moment, Javeri grins. "I have good legs. Orrest always told me so." Likely others did too, but she's not going to list off names. "I'd rather a harder run than laps around the bowl. Especially if some of the ships docked are out working on their big nets." Yep. She does seem to have a one track mind about that at least.
P'draig eyes that extended leg. With professional interest. Of course. K'mron starts snickering from his cot. "Oh yeah, you've got /great/ legs, Javeri," he calls over and casts her a meaningful smile. Neraset looks over her shoulder and stares in disbelief. She flounces around all day and all Javeri has to do is stick a leg out. Well /fine/. The blonde rolls off of her cot and flounces back outside. Paddy eyes her for a moment, eyes going vague then he snaps back to the room. "All sorts of good places to run around Ista to liven things up."
Javeri's head snaps around to K'mron and she snorts. "Yes, I do. But you will never know how great so keep your filthy thoughts to yourself." Was he having any? Maybe not, but it's K'mron and Javeri's spent enough time with him to believe she is right. As for Neraset, well, her flouncing gets a look from the former potter, but it's not one of appreciation. "She's going to be in a snit all night," is muttered as she turns her attention back to P'draig. "Well, I am not so worried about things livening up as I am just getting to see other things. And I do love the beach. Will be going swimming to exercise?"
Rolling his eyes, K'mron gives Javeri a long look. "So you're allowed to have them about sailors, but no one about you. Psssh," the lad says. His dragon looks up though and makes an unhappy sound which sees him busying himself with soothing and scratching the dragonet's chin. "Mm, probably," Paddy murmurs lowly about Neraset. "She'll get over it by tomorrow though. And yes, swimming, will definitely be an exercise."
"Trust me, K'mron if I am thinking about a sailor he is not bothered by it. But unlike you I do not spend every waking moment-" Well, she lets it end because he is busy now and it's not like she wants to talk to him. Much better to be talking to P'draig. Which is why he gets a grin. "Yea. She'll accidentally drop her shirt changing for bed and point out the accident completely without meaning to and all that." Eyes rolling for the antics of the greenrider Javeri shakes her head. "Swimming's fun though. So that's good."
Hand to mouth, P'draig covers what's either a laugh or a yawn as Javeri makes that remark. "He's a guy," he notes conversationally in a lower tone to the blueriding weyrling. "Of course he does." That hand shifts to the back of his neck now as she mentions Neraset's little trick. "Well at least she doesn't seem to /mind/ when she's giving the free show," he says, manner easy-going. "I swim almost every morning, either in the pool or out in the ocean. It's a good all around exercise."
A look over her shoulder at the male weyrling is all Javeri does. "Well, he doesn't have to be so obvious about it," she comments. Tilting her head to one side and tugging at a braid she finally nods. "I guess she doesn't. I can't imagine acting that way myself, but to each their own. No matter how annoying it is to everyone else. Swimming in the morning is the best. It's not too hot, but not cold at all and there's never a lot of people around. I prefer the ocean though. Plenty of space to share too."
"Mm. Just wish she wouldn't /drape/ quite so much," is P'draig's sentiment about Neraset, skipping over K'mron. He might even be thinking back to being a teenaged boy. "Anyway, yeah, it's a good start to the day, swimming." Paddy and Javeri stand near a barrel of water after coming in from a round of ill-advised physical exercises for the weyrlings in the middle of Ista's afternoon heat. In fact the weyrlingmaster's assistant's shirt is wet, back and front like he just plain poured water on himself not long ago. Several weyrlings lie on cots in various states of exhaustion or relaxation. Notably absent: Neraset who flounced off earlier after K'mron leered at her too much and Paddy didn't deign to pay her any attention. "How's Chadamalith about water, by the by?"
Avey lounges on her cot writing something on a hide, and Leisath lounges in her nearby couch. Avey perks up and glances over when she hears people talking about dragons and water.
"Water? He doesn't seem to care about it one way or the other," Javeri replies to P'draig with a grin. Her head turns now and she searches out where the blue is in the barracks. True to form Chadamalith sits by his couch seeming to be paying attention to nothing and everything without showing any desire to come find his rider or bring her to him. "He's fine in a bath and he asks questions about the ocean all the time sometimes. I guess because I think about it a lot. He sometimes fixates on something I've been thinking on. And doesn't ever let them go." The last sentence is said with a sigh attached to it.
"Good he's got no problems bathing," P'draig says with a quick grin of his own and his gaze tracks after the pinstriped blue, taking in the way he look/doesn't look around. "Should be able to go down soon, they're getting strong enough," Paddy notes. "Though it'll be a while yet before he can fly down." That last bit earns a sympathetic look from the weyrlingmaster's assistant. "Tenacious, hm?"
Avey sets her hide aside and rolls over on her side, propping her head on one hand, now openly eavesdropping on P'draig and Javeri's conversation with no attempt to hide it.
"He has no problems with anything really." Well, sure she's gonna lie. There's no sense speaking of problems where everyone might here. Javeri just lets it all go and looks again to where Chadamalith is sitting. "Really? Soon? That's great! He's so ready, he says, to go out and see more. Even if it's not by flying. He'll be happy to see more of the world. I think he's tired of just having me describe it to him and show him what I see. He wants to know what he will see."
"None at all, must be nice," P'draig says with a chuckle. "Jekzith was too into everything, always on the move. Nosey." The brownrider is observing Chadamalith again from his position near the water barrel where he's still talking with Javeri after exercises out in the Bowl that've left the weyrlings who participated limply resting in the Barracks. "Yeah, couple more months yet before he can fly," Paddy says cautiously, lest Chadamalith get any ideas. "But he'll get to see soon."
Avey sighs dreamily at the mention of flying, and goes all daydreamy.
Chadamalith turns his head like he knows he's being watched and watches P'draig in return now. He's still as a statue with nothing twitching anywhere. Javeri looks at her blue with a grin before saying, "He's curious and all, but he prefers to observe stuff before acting. He's real big on observing things. Then he moves onto something quickly and I'm glad he's not grown up so I can try to learn to keep up."
That dreamy sigh catches Paddy's attention and he takes in Avey's expression, mouth pulling to the side amusedly then he's focusing back on Chadamalith again. "Huh. Observing. I think I know a couple of dragons like that. Might want to go visit over Fort way sometime when you're able," he offers over to Javeri and clears his throat. "Thinking about flying too, Avey?"
Avey starts out of her reverie. "Huh? Oh! Oh, flying... yeah." She sighs, and then laughs. "Leisath and I imagine it, sometimes, together."
"I think we all think about flying. It's so stir crazy after awhile. First candidacy and now weyrlinghood? A whole long chunk of our lives held so close together." Well, for Javeri it makes her stir crazy. Who wants to be stuck somewhere all the time? She pretends like she's not watching Chadamalith, but she can't help but peek over at him. Nope, he's not looking at her at all. He's still staring at P'draig. Even when one of the other weyrlings bumps into him rushing by there's just a lifting of one paw as it twitches and then he's making like a statue again.
"Yeah, Jekzith was sharing a little with Tyalith the other day," P'draig tells Avey with a grin. "He likes helping the imagining part along." His head bobs at Javeri's assertion. "Yeah, at least you can get out a little bit more now that they're old enough. It's a crazy time those early months," Paddy says with renewed sympathy. "I used to go out for walks." And back come gray-blue eyes to Chadamalith and they stay there. Staring contest?
"I go swimming," Avey says, "when Leisath's asleep. For some reason if I run, she wakes up. Like, if I'm getting /too/ much exercise when she's sleeping. It just doesn't work. Isn't that weird?"
Javeri's head turns to Avey when she speaks, but she doesn't seem to have anything to say to the other weyrling. Maybe it's just hearing from someone with a less standoffish sort of dragon that is interesting. Then she looks back to Chadamalith and suppresses the sigh this time. If he's going to sit there and stare there's nothing she can do about it most likely. "Getting out is good," she agrees as she looks back to P'draig finally. "I can get to the beach now which is nice." Chadamalith blinks, but his eyes remain on the assistant weyrlingmaster.
"Really? She wakes up if you run? Huh, that's really interesting. Do you think she kind of feels your footfalls or something?" P'draig asks with obvious interest though he's still looking over at Chadamalith. He's blinking now and then too. "Oh that's good too if he'll let you go down without having to be along with. The whole separation thing."
"Yes, I think it's too -- I mean, if I'm too /active/ she can't sleep. You know? I mean when I say I swim, really I mean mostly I sit in the water and relax," Avey explains. "It makes sense though. I mean, when she's tired I kind of get tired too. So."
"He acts entirely unbothered wherever I go," Javeri says after waiting for Avey to speak. "Like it doesn't matter if I come or go or stick around or whatever." Arms folding across her chest this time she doesn't look at Chadamalith but instead watches P'draig and Avey. The same as Chadamalith although he's more interested in P'draig for whatever reason. His mouth opens and snaps back closed as he stares. Not a yawn, just a snap.
"Shared restlessness," P'draig says with a nod and his gaze breaks away from Chadamalith to focus on Avey instead. "Right, sounds like you're still pretty closely bound then. But you can find the line between you and her, right?" P'draig's posture shifts and his hands slide into damp pockets. "Now see there's a contrast, eh, Javeri? He's unbothered by you coming and going, and Avey and Leisath're still close enough that when one is tired the other is too."
Avey blinks at Javeri and looks amazed at her. "He... doesn't? Really?" She looks at Leisath, and shakes her head, and laughs. "Right, yeah. What do you mean, about the line between us?" she asks P'draig.
"Not for the last few sevens," Javeri tells Avey with a casual looking shrug. "He's fine on his own. At least he never tells me otherwise." Another peek over her shoulder to the blue who is staring right at her like that's what he's been doing all along. Shifting her gaze to P'draig she nods once looking almost suspicious at the question. Like she's doing something wrong. "It's like the others. He seems to be the only one not interested in what his rider does."
Moving away from Javeri with a grin and more over towards Avey. "Every dragon is a little different. Just sounds like Chadamalith's bridged that gap a little sooner than some," is what P'draig says to the blue's rider. "So Mic had a good way of explaining this actually, so I'll repeat him." Paddy threads his fingers together loosely, like a basket. "Most riders and dragon pairs are kind of like this. Close together, touching, but clear separation and they come apart easily enough when needed," and he draws his fingers loose. Mic and Aath were like /this/ as weyrlings." And he threads fingers again, overlapping them tightly. "Completely twined together so that they were really as one and T'mic didn't realize that he was losing himself a little in Aath. They had to find that line between them to be able to back up more to like this." The loose weave again.
Avey blinks blankly, and then her face lights in recognition when P'draig threads his fingers more tightly. "Yeah," she says. "We're - not one /person/ but one... thing. Team. Sort of. Something." She frowns, unable to articulate what she means, and not liking the suggestion it should be any different. "So maybe not everybody has a line. Or needs one."
From where he sits Chadamalith continues to stare at Javeri until she takes a step backwards towards where he is. She looks at P'draig as he explains, but her attention is clearly not on what he says or what Avey responds with. Instead after a few more backwards steps she's turning and heading for where her blue is now curling up by her cot. Since there's not just a line, but an extra thick one between her and her dragon she just lets the conversation float on without her and contents herself rest by Chadamalith while he seems to really want her there.
There's a brief look over Chadamalith and Javeri's way as he sees the pair spending that together time .... together and P'draig smiles, but then he's nodding at Avey. "Yeah, the team part is good, what's not so good is when you can't tell who you are and who she is anymore. The sleep part is what made me think of it, because Mic said he and Aath used to be so tight that if she went to sleep he'd just drop off right there no matter what he was doing. And that's an extreme that takes a little practice to pull back from."
"Oh. Well." Avey frowns, and is silent for a long moment, mulling that over. She doesn't appear to like it much. Finally she says, in a much lowered voice, "I just don't want to be like Javeri and Chadamalith! It's like he doesn't even /like/ her or something. I would hate that."
"Oh no, not like this," P'draig slides his fingers apart again so the tips are only just touching. "This." The loose weave. "But able to do this," pull apart again, "when you both need to and not have you fall asleep standing up in the living cavern because she's taking a nap in here, that's all. JAveri and Chadamalith probably need to work on being a little closer, trusting each other." His hands part and he nods to the cot. "Mind if I set? I promise, I'm not wet enough to get your blankets damp."
"Sure. It's fine," Avey says, still frowning slightly. "I just, I don't know. What if she likes being apart and wants to be apart all the time like Chadamalith?"
"I doubt it'll be like that, Avey," P'draig says confidently and sits down, hands resting atop knees. "It's kind of a balancing act though, figuring out the comfort zone." Jekzith rouses from outside where he was chatting up a green from Timor and sends a questing bubble of thought Leisath's way.
"I think we're fine the way we are," Avey says firmly. Leisath, lying drowsily in her couch, but awake, playfully mind-bats at Jekzith's bubble.
Nodding, P'draig can accept that. "Just keep an eye on that line where you don't know who you are anymore," he says gently while Jekzith's thoughts remain amorphous, multicolored and bubble-filled but not forming anything conscious beyond that.
"...okay," Avey agrees, and reaches over with her toe to stroke Leisath's tail. Then she yawns a bit. "We might go to sleep," she says. "It's late, I guess."
"Not even dinner yet," P'draig says with a little grin. "But yeah, nap." And he pushes to his feet. "I'm going to go clean up, trade off with B'ryce. Talk to you around, Avey."
Avey waves and smiles. "See you, thanks," she says, and flops down on her cot for that nap.
P'draig grins and pushes to his feet, waving back as he ambles off through the Barracks, sticks his head into the office to let B'ryce know what's up then heads off-duty.