Vignette: Talking to Neraset
Who: Neraset, Vaylith, P'draig, Jekzith
When: Evening, day 9, month 6, turn 18 of Interval 10.
Where: Plateau, Ista Weyr
What: P'draig gives Neraset a talking to.
The relative cool of evening washes over Ista as sunset paints the plateau golden and dimly the early shapes of stars might be caught out where the sky is slowly deepening in color. A pretty blonde sits perched on the feeding grounds fence looking out across the grassy expanse that gives way to the broken lip of the crater's cone and goes plunging downward dramatically to the beach beyond which the sea moves ceaselessly. Here its music is only faintly heard, more of a whispering shush against the sands.
Neraset's been here for a while, just watching the shift of colors across the horizon it would seem, with Vaylith in the grass nearby, curled up daintily, her own attention captured by her rider, eyes a clear, contented blue-green. Whatever passes between the pair, it pleases the young green.
The crunch of footsteps on the rockier ground in the Bowl and then the hiss of soles over grass announce P'draig as he passes. Neraset though is absorbed, her face and body, for once, at peace as she takes in the view.
"You know, you look ten times prettier sitting there like that, without even trying to, than when you're flouncing around trying to get everyone to look at you," the assistant weyrlingmaster says in a quiet voice and leans up against that fence rail, looking up at the girl.
Neraset startles a little, blue eyes going wide and she looks down at Paddy with a mixture of pique and sudden interest. "Do I?" she inquires a little breathily, lashes lowering as she peeks across at the brownrider.
"Yeah," P'draig answers simply, looking back up at her steadily still. "Minute you do that though, you just turn into a simpering floozy again and any minute attraction anyone might have fleetingly felt just goes right out the window."
Her brows draw down and Neraset stares at the weyrlingmaster's assistant hard for a moment. "Did you come out here to insult me or something? Because it's not much fun if that's what you meant to do." Neraset swings a leg over, drops down off the fence, but doesn't step away yet. She's got that pouty edge to her lips and looks up at the brownrider now she's off the fence, body tilted just so, even as she challenges him with a narrow-eyed look.
"No, Neraset," P'draig says more softly, looking her frankly in the face, reaches out to touch her shoulder lightly. "I'm saying it to give you a reality check. You're a pretty girl but you're not /just/ a pretty girl. When you actually stop trying to have everyone stare at you, you actually do some decent work. Wouldn't you rather be a good rider, than just another notch on some man's belt? Because acting the way you do, that's all you'll wind up being."
Neraset blinks as his hand skates close and her breath catches in her throat. Her hand lifts towards his, like she'd take it, bring it closer. His words though make her forehead wrinkle up and she stares at Paddy with big round eyes. "I --" she starts, stops and then folds in on herself a little, arms wrapping around her middle, lower lip jutting out a little, silent.
P'draig's hand retreats, folds atop the other on the fence rail, waits patiently for her to speak or do something other but stand there.
There's the sound of a hard swallow and when Neraset looks up again, she looks a little shaken. "Do you really think I'm a floozy? Just a loose skirt who'll easily turn into a notch like that, sir?" There's something terribly vulnerable in her eyes even if her face is set in petulant lines as she asks the question, and another follows. "And even if I am, do you /really/ think I can be a good rider?" There's uncertainty in her voice there and a quick look over at Vaylith who is craning her neck, looking more intently towards the pair. The girl rushes on quickly: "Vaylith wants me to be. So I guess I want to be." Said green's eyes flicker just a little with passing yellow flecks. << What does yours do to my girl? >> is asked demandingly of Jekzith.
Up in the sky is the brown, winging about enjoying Ista's air currents. Vaylith's question though brings him down to the ground and he lands neatly, trots over to the young green and plunks himself down beside her, observing the pair of riders for a moment. << He's trying to help her, >> he explains and flashes a bright picture of Neraset's last flouncing attack, complete with heaving chest. << She pretends like she's proddy too much and it's getting in the way of you both learning. >>
"No, actually, I don't think you are, but you come off like one all the time," Paddy says candidly, fixing the weyrling with a serious look. "I mean seriously, you don't need to go pushing it on anyone. If anything, all this stuff you do kind of masks the fact that you've got you know, nature on your side," P'draig says with a little chuckle. "Can you maybe try to drop it? Or at least tone it down a few notches? Keep your clothes on at least?" Again the brownrider's voice is gentle. "I'd really like to see what you and Vaylith can do together. I'm betting she's going to be one heck of a flyer. Why let whatever it is that's eating you get in the way of that?"
<< Oh. Well. Yes. >> Vaylith admits to Jekzith and sighs deeply, setting back down regally on her forelimbs, turning her head to regard the motley brown curiously. << I have been trying to get her to focus more but she is just completely wrapped up in the idea that everyone needs to /see/ how lovely she is and fawn all over her and me too. /That/ is not what I chose her for. >> A little primly.
Neraset looks down at the ground for a moment, then peeks up between her lashes at the brownrider. "Oh. Well good. Because you know, I'm really /not/ a slut," she says with odd candor, those lashes fluttering a little. Deep breath and she looks up at him more properly, considering the brownrider. "I can do that," she finally breathes out softly. "For you." And she steps a little closer, reaches for his hand again. "I want to impress you. Impress everyone. I've always been the prettiest, but now I could be the /best/, couldn't I?" The girl's head tilts towards the green in the grass and then back up as she looks up at Paddy wide-eyed, steps closer again. "And maybe after we're allowed, you'll show me a thing or two? I'm sure I'd be a good student with such a good teacher."
<< Oh? And your love isn't enough for her? >> Jekzith asks inquisitively and squints over at the pair by the fence more closely. << Well, I hope that she can understand that you'll /always/ love her no matter what. It makes mine uncomfortable when she walks around with her clothes falling off. >>
P'draig's face is held carefully neutral as Neraset steps closer and closer still, though his brows twitch a little comically. "For me? No, don't do it for me, Neraset, do it for yourself and your dragon. I want to see you get to be the best rider you can be, and I think you've got it in you to do that." He doesn't let her take his hand though, keeps his arm folded across his body in a stance that defies being closed with. "As for showing you a thing or two, simply put, I don't bang my weyrlings. Not while they're weyrlings anyway. That just wouldn't be right."
There's a sudden flush in Neraset's cheeks as she looks up at P'draig still, rests her hand gently atop his forearm and her eyes seek out his, wider than wide. "Don't you like me though? Don't you think I'm pretty?" she questions softly and lets her fingers play lightly along his skin. His last increases the shade of her blush and her head ducks down. "Wouldn't it? Aren't you supposed to teach us /everything/?" she shoots him a little look, giggles girlishly. "I want to learn and be good at everything. And I hear things about you. You and Mic." There's a little pause and a deep breath, then more softly: "That's not ... wrong, is it? I mean, sometimes I just feel like I'm going to fly to pieces from waiting to /know/."
<< It is and it is not. It is for some things, but not for this. She is restless all the time and can't put a name to it. >> Vaylith pauses, thoughtful, head tilted to the side. << She wishes to be /valued/. Thought of highly. To mean something. Not just be 'another girl'. >>
Jekzith contemplates this, his own forelimbs crossing and he lowers his head to rest there. << Oh. Well that I can understand. I mean who doesn't want to feel special sometime, right? >> He floats bright colored bubbles towards Vaylith. << Maybe P'draig will be able to help her then. >>
There's a look down at where pale fingers run along tanned forearm and Paddy just lifts his brows, gives Neraset a meaningful look. "Start with that, hm?" he suggests mildly and waits a moment or two as her hand snatches back hastily. "No, it's not wrong to want like that, Neraset. But there's better, more sincere ways to go about showing you're interested than flaunting it all over the place for all and sundry to see." He takes a deep breath, lets it out, shifts his arm aside. "C'mere," he invites this time, offering a hug.
Eagerly the blond steps into that offered arm and snuggles into its curve, sighing happily. Neraset drops her head to the brownrider's shoulder a bit. "Well I guess I don't feel quite so -- I don't know." She sighs softly, closes her eyes. "I'll try harder, P'draig. I promise. For me. For Vaylith." She's quiet for a little bit, clears her throat. "It's just so hard sometimes, I've never really had to think much about anyone other than myself, but now, it's all /her/ and well I guess it makes me realize some things too about other people." She says this slowly, carefully. "And I'm just used to -- well I guess I'm used to flaunting to get my way," she admits, fingers playing a little with his shirt. "But I /will/ try."
There's a little squeeze of the brownrider's arm then he's releasing her, taking a half-step back to re-establish the distance between them, something wary on his face for a moment for those playful fingers. "Okay then. Doing it for Vaylith is really a good thing, a step in the right direction, I think. So. Keep trying and focus on working through class, okay? Anything else, we can talk about after you're a full rider." His throat clears a little there and his grin turns sheepish as he pushes away from the fence. "For now, hoof it over to dinner young lady, you should eat while you can and then into the Barracks with you and that green of yours. Bedtime isn't that far away."
"Yessir!" Neraset says laughingly and gives the brownrider a much sharper salute than she has before and without shoving her chest too far out either. "I'll see you later, P'draig." She starts to run off, pauses and looks back. "And, thank you." More softly. She smiles briefly, radiantly then scoots across the Bowl. Vaylith stands, stretches prettily herself, though with unconscious sinuousness. << Thank you for speaking with me, Jekzith. Until later. >> she says politely and trots after her rider to play a little pseudo-tag before sitting down just outside the living cavern to wait for Neraset to finish with her meal.
Paddy just grins, waves as the girl scampers off and blows out a long puff of air. "Hopefully that'll stick," he mutters under his breath and pushes away from the fence to meet Jekzith for the glide down to the beach and a stiff drink at the Sandbar before heading home to check on poor proddy T'mic.
When: Evening, day 9, month 6, turn 18 of Interval 10.
Where: Plateau, Ista Weyr
What: P'draig gives Neraset a talking to.
The relative cool of evening washes over Ista as sunset paints the plateau golden and dimly the early shapes of stars might be caught out where the sky is slowly deepening in color. A pretty blonde sits perched on the feeding grounds fence looking out across the grassy expanse that gives way to the broken lip of the crater's cone and goes plunging downward dramatically to the beach beyond which the sea moves ceaselessly. Here its music is only faintly heard, more of a whispering shush against the sands.
Neraset's been here for a while, just watching the shift of colors across the horizon it would seem, with Vaylith in the grass nearby, curled up daintily, her own attention captured by her rider, eyes a clear, contented blue-green. Whatever passes between the pair, it pleases the young green.
The crunch of footsteps on the rockier ground in the Bowl and then the hiss of soles over grass announce P'draig as he passes. Neraset though is absorbed, her face and body, for once, at peace as she takes in the view.
"You know, you look ten times prettier sitting there like that, without even trying to, than when you're flouncing around trying to get everyone to look at you," the assistant weyrlingmaster says in a quiet voice and leans up against that fence rail, looking up at the girl.
Neraset startles a little, blue eyes going wide and she looks down at Paddy with a mixture of pique and sudden interest. "Do I?" she inquires a little breathily, lashes lowering as she peeks across at the brownrider.
"Yeah," P'draig answers simply, looking back up at her steadily still. "Minute you do that though, you just turn into a simpering floozy again and any minute attraction anyone might have fleetingly felt just goes right out the window."
Her brows draw down and Neraset stares at the weyrlingmaster's assistant hard for a moment. "Did you come out here to insult me or something? Because it's not much fun if that's what you meant to do." Neraset swings a leg over, drops down off the fence, but doesn't step away yet. She's got that pouty edge to her lips and looks up at the brownrider now she's off the fence, body tilted just so, even as she challenges him with a narrow-eyed look.
"No, Neraset," P'draig says more softly, looking her frankly in the face, reaches out to touch her shoulder lightly. "I'm saying it to give you a reality check. You're a pretty girl but you're not /just/ a pretty girl. When you actually stop trying to have everyone stare at you, you actually do some decent work. Wouldn't you rather be a good rider, than just another notch on some man's belt? Because acting the way you do, that's all you'll wind up being."
Neraset blinks as his hand skates close and her breath catches in her throat. Her hand lifts towards his, like she'd take it, bring it closer. His words though make her forehead wrinkle up and she stares at Paddy with big round eyes. "I --" she starts, stops and then folds in on herself a little, arms wrapping around her middle, lower lip jutting out a little, silent.
P'draig's hand retreats, folds atop the other on the fence rail, waits patiently for her to speak or do something other but stand there.
There's the sound of a hard swallow and when Neraset looks up again, she looks a little shaken. "Do you really think I'm a floozy? Just a loose skirt who'll easily turn into a notch like that, sir?" There's something terribly vulnerable in her eyes even if her face is set in petulant lines as she asks the question, and another follows. "And even if I am, do you /really/ think I can be a good rider?" There's uncertainty in her voice there and a quick look over at Vaylith who is craning her neck, looking more intently towards the pair. The girl rushes on quickly: "Vaylith wants me to be. So I guess I want to be." Said green's eyes flicker just a little with passing yellow flecks. << What does yours do to my girl? >> is asked demandingly of Jekzith.
Up in the sky is the brown, winging about enjoying Ista's air currents. Vaylith's question though brings him down to the ground and he lands neatly, trots over to the young green and plunks himself down beside her, observing the pair of riders for a moment. << He's trying to help her, >> he explains and flashes a bright picture of Neraset's last flouncing attack, complete with heaving chest. << She pretends like she's proddy too much and it's getting in the way of you both learning. >>
"No, actually, I don't think you are, but you come off like one all the time," Paddy says candidly, fixing the weyrling with a serious look. "I mean seriously, you don't need to go pushing it on anyone. If anything, all this stuff you do kind of masks the fact that you've got you know, nature on your side," P'draig says with a little chuckle. "Can you maybe try to drop it? Or at least tone it down a few notches? Keep your clothes on at least?" Again the brownrider's voice is gentle. "I'd really like to see what you and Vaylith can do together. I'm betting she's going to be one heck of a flyer. Why let whatever it is that's eating you get in the way of that?"
<< Oh. Well. Yes. >> Vaylith admits to Jekzith and sighs deeply, setting back down regally on her forelimbs, turning her head to regard the motley brown curiously. << I have been trying to get her to focus more but she is just completely wrapped up in the idea that everyone needs to /see/ how lovely she is and fawn all over her and me too. /That/ is not what I chose her for. >> A little primly.
Neraset looks down at the ground for a moment, then peeks up between her lashes at the brownrider. "Oh. Well good. Because you know, I'm really /not/ a slut," she says with odd candor, those lashes fluttering a little. Deep breath and she looks up at him more properly, considering the brownrider. "I can do that," she finally breathes out softly. "For you." And she steps a little closer, reaches for his hand again. "I want to impress you. Impress everyone. I've always been the prettiest, but now I could be the /best/, couldn't I?" The girl's head tilts towards the green in the grass and then back up as she looks up at Paddy wide-eyed, steps closer again. "And maybe after we're allowed, you'll show me a thing or two? I'm sure I'd be a good student with such a good teacher."
<< Oh? And your love isn't enough for her? >> Jekzith asks inquisitively and squints over at the pair by the fence more closely. << Well, I hope that she can understand that you'll /always/ love her no matter what. It makes mine uncomfortable when she walks around with her clothes falling off. >>
P'draig's face is held carefully neutral as Neraset steps closer and closer still, though his brows twitch a little comically. "For me? No, don't do it for me, Neraset, do it for yourself and your dragon. I want to see you get to be the best rider you can be, and I think you've got it in you to do that." He doesn't let her take his hand though, keeps his arm folded across his body in a stance that defies being closed with. "As for showing you a thing or two, simply put, I don't bang my weyrlings. Not while they're weyrlings anyway. That just wouldn't be right."
There's a sudden flush in Neraset's cheeks as she looks up at P'draig still, rests her hand gently atop his forearm and her eyes seek out his, wider than wide. "Don't you like me though? Don't you think I'm pretty?" she questions softly and lets her fingers play lightly along his skin. His last increases the shade of her blush and her head ducks down. "Wouldn't it? Aren't you supposed to teach us /everything/?" she shoots him a little look, giggles girlishly. "I want to learn and be good at everything. And I hear things about you. You and Mic." There's a little pause and a deep breath, then more softly: "That's not ... wrong, is it? I mean, sometimes I just feel like I'm going to fly to pieces from waiting to /know/."
<< It is and it is not. It is for some things, but not for this. She is restless all the time and can't put a name to it. >> Vaylith pauses, thoughtful, head tilted to the side. << She wishes to be /valued/. Thought of highly. To mean something. Not just be 'another girl'. >>
Jekzith contemplates this, his own forelimbs crossing and he lowers his head to rest there. << Oh. Well that I can understand. I mean who doesn't want to feel special sometime, right? >> He floats bright colored bubbles towards Vaylith. << Maybe P'draig will be able to help her then. >>
There's a look down at where pale fingers run along tanned forearm and Paddy just lifts his brows, gives Neraset a meaningful look. "Start with that, hm?" he suggests mildly and waits a moment or two as her hand snatches back hastily. "No, it's not wrong to want like that, Neraset. But there's better, more sincere ways to go about showing you're interested than flaunting it all over the place for all and sundry to see." He takes a deep breath, lets it out, shifts his arm aside. "C'mere," he invites this time, offering a hug.
Eagerly the blond steps into that offered arm and snuggles into its curve, sighing happily. Neraset drops her head to the brownrider's shoulder a bit. "Well I guess I don't feel quite so -- I don't know." She sighs softly, closes her eyes. "I'll try harder, P'draig. I promise. For me. For Vaylith." She's quiet for a little bit, clears her throat. "It's just so hard sometimes, I've never really had to think much about anyone other than myself, but now, it's all /her/ and well I guess it makes me realize some things too about other people." She says this slowly, carefully. "And I'm just used to -- well I guess I'm used to flaunting to get my way," she admits, fingers playing a little with his shirt. "But I /will/ try."
There's a little squeeze of the brownrider's arm then he's releasing her, taking a half-step back to re-establish the distance between them, something wary on his face for a moment for those playful fingers. "Okay then. Doing it for Vaylith is really a good thing, a step in the right direction, I think. So. Keep trying and focus on working through class, okay? Anything else, we can talk about after you're a full rider." His throat clears a little there and his grin turns sheepish as he pushes away from the fence. "For now, hoof it over to dinner young lady, you should eat while you can and then into the Barracks with you and that green of yours. Bedtime isn't that far away."
"Yessir!" Neraset says laughingly and gives the brownrider a much sharper salute than she has before and without shoving her chest too far out either. "I'll see you later, P'draig." She starts to run off, pauses and looks back. "And, thank you." More softly. She smiles briefly, radiantly then scoots across the Bowl. Vaylith stands, stretches prettily herself, though with unconscious sinuousness. << Thank you for speaking with me, Jekzith. Until later. >> she says politely and trots after her rider to play a little pseudo-tag before sitting down just outside the living cavern to wait for Neraset to finish with her meal.
Paddy just grins, waves as the girl scampers off and blows out a long puff of air. "Hopefully that'll stick," he mutters under his breath and pushes away from the fence to meet Jekzith for the glide down to the beach and a stiff drink at the Sandbar before heading home to check on poor proddy T'mic.