You can't tell her!
Who: Rhodya and Gedroth, Hattie and Elaruth
When: Afternoon on day 7, month 3, turn 20 of Interval 10.
Where: Lakeshore, Fort Weyr
What: Rhodya and Hattie talk about their upcoming wing assignments, until they get sucked into a discussion of flights parallel to their dragons. Gedroth confesses his secret love for Chielyth, and gives Elaruth some brotherly advice about her own prospects.
Whee, springtime! It's not that warm yet, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Gedroth, who's splashing out in the middle of the lake and making a great show of sending water everywhere. Rhodya's retreated wisely from the threat, perched up on a wide rock back on shore and laughing sporadically at her dragon's antics. Right now, his excellent impersonation of a fountain has her going.
Not headed for the water, Elaruth heads along the shore with Hattie trailing after her in quite an exact manner, as if the goldrider is chasing her dragon's tail. Appropriate spot to settle found, the queen noses at sand and a stray rock, then curls round a couple of times and lies down, unfurling her wings to catch the sunlight. It's quite a way from Rhodya, until those wings fan out and close distance without actually closing it. Hattie steps away and trudges further in the direction they were headed, a wave for the brownrider as she ambles that way.
After he runs out of water to fountain, Gedroth flips over and allows himself to sink into the water, until only his belly and the tip of his nose remain visible. Even so, he's managed to spot Elaruth, and sends her a greeting from underwater. << Good afternoon, Elaruth. Isn't it nice out? >> Rhodya glances over at the extending sail of gold, and keeps looking in that direction until she spies the rider who goes with the queen. "Hey, Hattie!" she calls cheerfully, waving back.
Eyes closed, Elaruth replies with her head angled a little in Gedroth's direction, guided by sound rather than sight. << Good afternoon, Gedroth. The sunshine is nice. It is easier to find now, without so many clouds. >> Hattie carries right on walking until she can park herself - without asking - at the foot of the rock Rhodya's perched on, legs stretched out in front of her. "Hey, Rhodya," she belatedly greets. "What've you guys been up to today?"
"Sucking up," Rhodya answers candidly, with a wide grin. "We're still waitin' to hear what wing we've been put into, but until we do, Gedroth figures there's no harm making a good impression even better. Of course, /I'm/ the one who's got to go around and do it." She picks up a loose stone that cracked off the rock she's sitting on and chucks it at the lake. It even skips a few times, but it doesn't come anywhere near close enough to hit her dragon's lounging belly. << The clouds were a problem. My house plant almost didn't make it through the winter. But it did, and now it's doing very well with all this sun. >>
Hattie looks back and glances up at the brownrider, expression caught between baffled and amused. "How exactly do you that? Praise Wingleaders at random? What sorts of things have you been saying?" she asks, genuinely curious. Elaruth opens one eye and peers over at her brother. << You... have a house plant? >> the gold questions, sounding quite as bemused as her rider. << I am glad it is doing better. It would have been sad to lose it. >>
Planting her chin in her palm, Rhodya smiles lopsidedly at Hattie. "Oh, I just happen to turn up the same places they're going, like running into C'ston in the lunch line a few hours ago. Gedroth saw his Shimroth gettin' ready out on the ledge so I just -" she makes a walking motion with her fingers - "put myself in the right spot. I'll talk to 'em about the wing if they want to, but mostly it's about gettin' a little extra face time. We cycle through so fast it doesn't feel like you're making an actual impression. You know?" Gedroth sends Elaruth a picture of his house plant: broad-leafed, a bit droopy right now, but gradually regaining a healthy emerald glow. << I'd have been very sorry to see it go. It's interesting to grow something, and think of it as yours. Very different from the way a rider is 'yours,' a whole 'nother kind of possession. >>
"I guess that makes sense. More subtle than other ways, not actually sucking up to them," Hattie replies, thoughtfully, eyes gone distant as she tries to imagine the whole process as it's been set out before her. "I didn't... don't really worry about it all. I mean, there's nowhere else but Pyrite for us to go, it's just a question of whether we're good enough or not." Elaruth is quiet as she studies the plant, voice softer as she considers Gedroth's words. << I do not have anything that is mine that needs something from me. Aside from a rider, as you say. I suppose one day I will have eggs and they will need me like that; be mine like that. For a time. >>
Rhodya pantomimes a little curtsy, from her rock, to acknowledge the subtlety of her approach. "Well, I ain't really good at suckin' up, but I am pretty good at running my mouth. I do what I can." But she quirks a brow at the goldrider, looking amused. "Is there really any doubt you'll be good enough? I always thought Cirse liked you." Gedroth rolls slowly around in the water, sending lazy waves up to lap the shore. His ridges poke through the surface like a school of small brown sharks. << Eggs sound interesting as well. I considered trying to fly you for that reason, but Rhodya said it was mean to use you like that. I don't think it was 'using' you, but I believe she is right. It would be dishonest. >>
Hattie smirks at the curtsey and bobs her head in return. "I shouldn't assume that because it's the only option, I automatically get tapped, no question. I'm not saying we won't be, it just seems wrong to assume." She hesitates and looks away. "I hope she likes me," is an awkward admittance, quietly. "But which Wing do you want to end up in, if you had the choice?" The pale queen opens her other eye to get a better view of the waves. << If you catch me, you catch me, whenever the time arrives, >> Elaruth says gently. << I doubt very much I should care for the reason, in the end. Only now I should be hurt that you would not chase only because you might like me. >> Sunlight glimmers off ripples in shallow water: she dares to tease today.
"Sure. Wouldn't want to jinx it," agrees Rhodya the Gambler, reaching out to push Hattie's shoulder playfully. A nudge that, perhaps, offers encouragement as well. Whatever Cirse thinks of Hattie, at least Rhodya likes her! "I'd pick Jasper. Gedroth thinks we can learn a lot from them, and we're interested in moving up to wingsecond some day, so we think - turns from now, mind you - that with the way C'ston trains his seconds, they could get promoted some day and we could move up. Maybe. See, I don't want to jinx it, either." She winks. Gedroth sighs, sending up big blubbering bubbles from underwater, because in her teasing she's hit indeed a tender spot. << I do like you. It was actually very hard to give up the thought of flying you, but I will have to because I'm in love with Chielyth. >> Realizing belatedly what he's said, Gedroth suddenly pulls himself up in the water with a splash and adds, with teenaged terror, << You can't tell her! >>
"I think you'd make a good wingsecond," Hattie declares. "You'd get my vote." And so few people do! "If we voted on that sort of thing. Is he still dragging you off to train at things?" The goldrider eyes the water as Gedroth splashes, tilting her head back up to his rider. "Is he alright?" she adds, not sure whether to laugh or not at the sudden move. Elaruth raises her head from her paws and peers out across the water to Gedroth. This new information takes a while to settle and then she's folding her wings and padding to the very edge of the water. << I will not tell her, >> she promises. << She would be better for you than I. You are very much alike in some respects. >>
Rhodya beams, accepting Hattie's hypothetical vote with real gratitude. "Yeah, he's always got somethin' to work on. Lately it's -" she stops, to check on her splashing brown. Then she rolls her eyes. "It's flights. He wants to catch Chielyth when she goes up. But we ain't allowed to tell her or Kai about it, and he wants me to make sure you won't." Indeed, Gedroth swings a look towards Hattie as he starts paddling back towards the shore. He stops in the muddy shallows, stretching his nose out to touch Elaruth's and seal that promise. << Thank you. Chielyth notices things I don't, sometimes, and she is always fun. I suppose you are very close to Dasarth. >> That's a good trick: see if you can divert attention from your own embarrassing admission by prying one out of the other person.
Hattie looks between Rhodya and Gedroth, blinking to focus between short and long-range. The brown is offered what she must hope is a placating look, then it's another nod for his rider, along with a promised, "I won't say anything, so hopefully he can stop worrying." She draws her legs back and crosses them. "All the rising and catching stuff's on the horizon for real for all you guys, then. Well, again, for you." Elaruth touches her nose back to Gedroth's and stays just out of the water's reach. Not still for long, that comment has her flustered much like so many things used to unsettle her. << I... care for Dasarth, >> she admits softly. << I do not know if he would chase me. It would be wrong to assume because we spend time together. >>
Rhodya's smile turns wry. "Yeah, he's gone up - I've even lost track of the times. Hasn't caught yet, but he's gotten awfully close. It's kind of weird," she admits, scratching behind her ear. "He does it to practice, but I mean, when he goes up he - /means/ it. You really can't keep a straight head." Gedroth pulls himself up out of the water, his legs and belly covered in delightful mud. Since Elaruth's staying so fastidiously away from the water, he does her the favor of circling out a bit, and dropping his muddy self down a ways away. << He'd better chase, >> the brown declares firmly, nibbling shoal out of his toes. << He is one of the few bronzes worthy of you. There is also one at High Reaches, if you are not opposed to foreign bronzes, but that is all. >>
"So he... wants them, but doesn't want them like he wants her?" Hattie queries. "It'll be her first flight and he'll have chased more often than that regardless, so that must improve his chances. Depends on who else chases. You don't mind it? That he wants Chielyth?" Elaruth's gaze tracks Gedroth as he circles and settles, so that she might move a little and turn more his way. She's further flustered by talk of worthiness and, were she able, she might blush. << I am not particularly opposed to any bronzes. If they think to chase, we will see. I should not like for there to be trouble. >>
Rhodya crinkles up her nose, and has to think a moment before she can answer. "He wants them when they're flying, but Chielyth's the only one he talks about when he's not... in the grips of his sex-drive." She snorts ruefully and looks over at her brown, who's now moved on to licking himself like a cat. Rhodya shakes her head. "I don't mind. It makes it really weird talkin' to Kai, especially since he started worryin' about Chielyth goin' up and what if a man catches, but I've gotten used to the idea that the person on the other end of the dragon don't matter. I've felt it enough. I just /wish/ I didn't know his girlfriend," she adds sorrowfully. Her brown turns an evaluating eye on the would-be-blushing Elaruth. << That's a good way to think, since you're female, and realistically you could be caught by any male. If you're not opposed to them then there won't be any frustration. But I am your brother, and I'm able to judge them freely. >> He stretches out his right paw, now cleaned, to dry in the sun. << The bronze I was telling you about is Nikoth. >> So she knows.
"Sulisah? She's sweet. Haven't really talked to her since the Hatching, though." Hattie shakes her head dismissively. "Partners don't factor into the whole thing. Unless you do something when it's your choice, is how I see it anyhow. Neither of you can prevent it, so you shouldn't feel bad about it." She shrugs. "And if the people on the outside can't deal, then that's their problem." Elaruth unfurls one wing to stretch out across the sand, the other remaining tucked close and away from the water. << Nikoth, >> she repeats, as if making a mental note. Or getting Hattie to. << You are able to judge them and I appreciate your opinion, >> she tells Gedroth. << Are there others? >> Since he's male and boys often know how boys behave better than girls do.
Rhodya plants her hands behind her and turns her face into the sun, like a flower. "Well, that's the thing. The two people who are in the flight, we wake up next to each other and get a moment to go okay, so this happened. You deal with it." She cracks an eye open to take a peek at Hattie's expression, but can't keep it up for long with the sun shining straight down on her now. "But Sulisah, in this case, everybody expects her to just move along like nothing's happened. She don't get to go up to me and say, so this happened. Doesn't seem fair." Gedroth nods his head sagely, not surprised that she welcomes his wisdom. He is, after all, very smart. << No, he and Dasarth are the only two. That I know of. I imagine there are others that I do not know well enough to judge. >> Though he doesn't sound very firm in this imagining.
"I imagine whoever it is gets to have that moment with their..." Hattie pauses and grimaces around the words, "boyfriend or girlfriend," said as ever with distaste. "How unreasonable would it be for them to expect to be able to go up to you and acknowledge it happened? Like they expect an apology or explanation. And what would you say, anyway?" She shakes her head. "/That's/ not fair, getting to make you feel bad." Gold paws begin to heap together a sandcastle, careful to make it as balanced and symmetrical as possible. << Dasarth and Nikoth. We will see what happens. Circumstances may take the choice away from me in the end, >> Elaruth considers. << I do not know what it will be like. >>
Rhodya quirks up a smile at Hattie's distaste for those two particular words. "I ain't afraid to put someone in their place if they do come up to me like that. I just feel like it's gonna be the elephant in the room. But I don't really know what I'd say. So I'm just gettin' my whine out while I still can." She leans her face back up and grins down at the goldrider. Gedroth rolls over on his side, pawing absently at the mud clinging to his belly. Most of it seems inclined to just slide off, but he'll lazily help it on its way. << I don't know what it's like for a female, but for me it's been very intense. >> So says the lounger. << It's true that once we get up in the air, we're single-minded. And the catches are usually hectic. But I've also heard that a female's preference can influence the flight, so perhaps you will be able to keep a more level head. >>
"Less talk, more punching," Hattie proposes, quirking a grin back at Rhodya. She must be joking. "You could offer to detail the experience to them in a very graphic way, which I'm sure would send them scuttling off." Blink. "And if they don't, then it's definitely time for the punching." Elaruth decides, << I should not have a preference. It would be unfair and unbalance the whole affair before it has even begun. >> Though whether or not she does or will remains to be seen. << I would like to be able to think. I am not like a green. There are many things to consider. >> She reaches out to touch her nose to Gedroth's again, rising slowly to her feet.
Rhodya laughs at Hattie's - wait for it! - /punch/ line. "Now, now, Hattie, you can't solve all your problems with violence. Just a select few," she adds, punching her palm with a wink. Gedroth pauses, one hand hovering over his belly, to look at Elaruth again. He rolls back onto his belly before touching her nose, so at least if he's not getting up to see her off, he's not sprawled indecorously like a beached whale anymore. << There are consequences to a gold flight that a green doesn't have to worry about, >> he agrees. << But that's why you are gold and not green, because you have the capacity to make such decisions. You will be fine. >> He touches her nose again, for confidence.
Hattie turns as she shoves herself to her feet, swearing, "I can try," in a low voice, despite the smirk that curves her lips. "Any problems that /can/ be solved with violence, let me know," she continues, brushing sand from her trousers. "Elaruth's decided she's hungry. And I'm glad I know she won't rise for a good while, because otherwise her deciding that right when we're talking flights would've been very worrying." The goldrider pauses, then leans forward a bit to offer over a one-armed hug to Rhodya. << Thank you, >> Elaruth says faintly, nudging forward just a little to nuzzle along the brown's jaw, appreciative of such faith. << I do hope you catch Chielyth. I would like you to be happy. >>
Rhodya laughs again, and returns the hug with both arms. "You got it. Any time somebody needs a good punch, I'll have Gedroth bespeak Elaruth about it. Thanks for the talk." She smiles happily up at the goldrider as they part from the hug, and waves bye-bye. Gedroth rumbles as he turns his cheek into Elaruth's gentle nuzzle, his eyes whirling a deeply contented blue. << Thank you, too. I am certain I will be. >> Simple confidence, as he presents it, though it'd be bragging from most anyone else. << Have a good meal, Elaruth, >> he wishes her pleasantly.
When: Afternoon on day 7, month 3, turn 20 of Interval 10.
Where: Lakeshore, Fort Weyr
What: Rhodya and Hattie talk about their upcoming wing assignments, until they get sucked into a discussion of flights parallel to their dragons. Gedroth confesses his secret love for Chielyth, and gives Elaruth some brotherly advice about her own prospects.
Whee, springtime! It's not that warm yet, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Gedroth, who's splashing out in the middle of the lake and making a great show of sending water everywhere. Rhodya's retreated wisely from the threat, perched up on a wide rock back on shore and laughing sporadically at her dragon's antics. Right now, his excellent impersonation of a fountain has her going.
Not headed for the water, Elaruth heads along the shore with Hattie trailing after her in quite an exact manner, as if the goldrider is chasing her dragon's tail. Appropriate spot to settle found, the queen noses at sand and a stray rock, then curls round a couple of times and lies down, unfurling her wings to catch the sunlight. It's quite a way from Rhodya, until those wings fan out and close distance without actually closing it. Hattie steps away and trudges further in the direction they were headed, a wave for the brownrider as she ambles that way.
After he runs out of water to fountain, Gedroth flips over and allows himself to sink into the water, until only his belly and the tip of his nose remain visible. Even so, he's managed to spot Elaruth, and sends her a greeting from underwater. << Good afternoon, Elaruth. Isn't it nice out? >> Rhodya glances over at the extending sail of gold, and keeps looking in that direction until she spies the rider who goes with the queen. "Hey, Hattie!" she calls cheerfully, waving back.
Eyes closed, Elaruth replies with her head angled a little in Gedroth's direction, guided by sound rather than sight. << Good afternoon, Gedroth. The sunshine is nice. It is easier to find now, without so many clouds. >> Hattie carries right on walking until she can park herself - without asking - at the foot of the rock Rhodya's perched on, legs stretched out in front of her. "Hey, Rhodya," she belatedly greets. "What've you guys been up to today?"
"Sucking up," Rhodya answers candidly, with a wide grin. "We're still waitin' to hear what wing we've been put into, but until we do, Gedroth figures there's no harm making a good impression even better. Of course, /I'm/ the one who's got to go around and do it." She picks up a loose stone that cracked off the rock she's sitting on and chucks it at the lake. It even skips a few times, but it doesn't come anywhere near close enough to hit her dragon's lounging belly. << The clouds were a problem. My house plant almost didn't make it through the winter. But it did, and now it's doing very well with all this sun. >>
Hattie looks back and glances up at the brownrider, expression caught between baffled and amused. "How exactly do you that? Praise Wingleaders at random? What sorts of things have you been saying?" she asks, genuinely curious. Elaruth opens one eye and peers over at her brother. << You... have a house plant? >> the gold questions, sounding quite as bemused as her rider. << I am glad it is doing better. It would have been sad to lose it. >>
Planting her chin in her palm, Rhodya smiles lopsidedly at Hattie. "Oh, I just happen to turn up the same places they're going, like running into C'ston in the lunch line a few hours ago. Gedroth saw his Shimroth gettin' ready out on the ledge so I just -" she makes a walking motion with her fingers - "put myself in the right spot. I'll talk to 'em about the wing if they want to, but mostly it's about gettin' a little extra face time. We cycle through so fast it doesn't feel like you're making an actual impression. You know?" Gedroth sends Elaruth a picture of his house plant: broad-leafed, a bit droopy right now, but gradually regaining a healthy emerald glow. << I'd have been very sorry to see it go. It's interesting to grow something, and think of it as yours. Very different from the way a rider is 'yours,' a whole 'nother kind of possession. >>
"I guess that makes sense. More subtle than other ways, not actually sucking up to them," Hattie replies, thoughtfully, eyes gone distant as she tries to imagine the whole process as it's been set out before her. "I didn't... don't really worry about it all. I mean, there's nowhere else but Pyrite for us to go, it's just a question of whether we're good enough or not." Elaruth is quiet as she studies the plant, voice softer as she considers Gedroth's words. << I do not have anything that is mine that needs something from me. Aside from a rider, as you say. I suppose one day I will have eggs and they will need me like that; be mine like that. For a time. >>
Rhodya pantomimes a little curtsy, from her rock, to acknowledge the subtlety of her approach. "Well, I ain't really good at suckin' up, but I am pretty good at running my mouth. I do what I can." But she quirks a brow at the goldrider, looking amused. "Is there really any doubt you'll be good enough? I always thought Cirse liked you." Gedroth rolls slowly around in the water, sending lazy waves up to lap the shore. His ridges poke through the surface like a school of small brown sharks. << Eggs sound interesting as well. I considered trying to fly you for that reason, but Rhodya said it was mean to use you like that. I don't think it was 'using' you, but I believe she is right. It would be dishonest. >>
Hattie smirks at the curtsey and bobs her head in return. "I shouldn't assume that because it's the only option, I automatically get tapped, no question. I'm not saying we won't be, it just seems wrong to assume." She hesitates and looks away. "I hope she likes me," is an awkward admittance, quietly. "But which Wing do you want to end up in, if you had the choice?" The pale queen opens her other eye to get a better view of the waves. << If you catch me, you catch me, whenever the time arrives, >> Elaruth says gently. << I doubt very much I should care for the reason, in the end. Only now I should be hurt that you would not chase only because you might like me. >> Sunlight glimmers off ripples in shallow water: she dares to tease today.
"Sure. Wouldn't want to jinx it," agrees Rhodya the Gambler, reaching out to push Hattie's shoulder playfully. A nudge that, perhaps, offers encouragement as well. Whatever Cirse thinks of Hattie, at least Rhodya likes her! "I'd pick Jasper. Gedroth thinks we can learn a lot from them, and we're interested in moving up to wingsecond some day, so we think - turns from now, mind you - that with the way C'ston trains his seconds, they could get promoted some day and we could move up. Maybe. See, I don't want to jinx it, either." She winks. Gedroth sighs, sending up big blubbering bubbles from underwater, because in her teasing she's hit indeed a tender spot. << I do like you. It was actually very hard to give up the thought of flying you, but I will have to because I'm in love with Chielyth. >> Realizing belatedly what he's said, Gedroth suddenly pulls himself up in the water with a splash and adds, with teenaged terror, << You can't tell her! >>
"I think you'd make a good wingsecond," Hattie declares. "You'd get my vote." And so few people do! "If we voted on that sort of thing. Is he still dragging you off to train at things?" The goldrider eyes the water as Gedroth splashes, tilting her head back up to his rider. "Is he alright?" she adds, not sure whether to laugh or not at the sudden move. Elaruth raises her head from her paws and peers out across the water to Gedroth. This new information takes a while to settle and then she's folding her wings and padding to the very edge of the water. << I will not tell her, >> she promises. << She would be better for you than I. You are very much alike in some respects. >>
Rhodya beams, accepting Hattie's hypothetical vote with real gratitude. "Yeah, he's always got somethin' to work on. Lately it's -" she stops, to check on her splashing brown. Then she rolls her eyes. "It's flights. He wants to catch Chielyth when she goes up. But we ain't allowed to tell her or Kai about it, and he wants me to make sure you won't." Indeed, Gedroth swings a look towards Hattie as he starts paddling back towards the shore. He stops in the muddy shallows, stretching his nose out to touch Elaruth's and seal that promise. << Thank you. Chielyth notices things I don't, sometimes, and she is always fun. I suppose you are very close to Dasarth. >> That's a good trick: see if you can divert attention from your own embarrassing admission by prying one out of the other person.
Hattie looks between Rhodya and Gedroth, blinking to focus between short and long-range. The brown is offered what she must hope is a placating look, then it's another nod for his rider, along with a promised, "I won't say anything, so hopefully he can stop worrying." She draws her legs back and crosses them. "All the rising and catching stuff's on the horizon for real for all you guys, then. Well, again, for you." Elaruth touches her nose back to Gedroth's and stays just out of the water's reach. Not still for long, that comment has her flustered much like so many things used to unsettle her. << I... care for Dasarth, >> she admits softly. << I do not know if he would chase me. It would be wrong to assume because we spend time together. >>
Rhodya's smile turns wry. "Yeah, he's gone up - I've even lost track of the times. Hasn't caught yet, but he's gotten awfully close. It's kind of weird," she admits, scratching behind her ear. "He does it to practice, but I mean, when he goes up he - /means/ it. You really can't keep a straight head." Gedroth pulls himself up out of the water, his legs and belly covered in delightful mud. Since Elaruth's staying so fastidiously away from the water, he does her the favor of circling out a bit, and dropping his muddy self down a ways away. << He'd better chase, >> the brown declares firmly, nibbling shoal out of his toes. << He is one of the few bronzes worthy of you. There is also one at High Reaches, if you are not opposed to foreign bronzes, but that is all. >>
"So he... wants them, but doesn't want them like he wants her?" Hattie queries. "It'll be her first flight and he'll have chased more often than that regardless, so that must improve his chances. Depends on who else chases. You don't mind it? That he wants Chielyth?" Elaruth's gaze tracks Gedroth as he circles and settles, so that she might move a little and turn more his way. She's further flustered by talk of worthiness and, were she able, she might blush. << I am not particularly opposed to any bronzes. If they think to chase, we will see. I should not like for there to be trouble. >>
Rhodya crinkles up her nose, and has to think a moment before she can answer. "He wants them when they're flying, but Chielyth's the only one he talks about when he's not... in the grips of his sex-drive." She snorts ruefully and looks over at her brown, who's now moved on to licking himself like a cat. Rhodya shakes her head. "I don't mind. It makes it really weird talkin' to Kai, especially since he started worryin' about Chielyth goin' up and what if a man catches, but I've gotten used to the idea that the person on the other end of the dragon don't matter. I've felt it enough. I just /wish/ I didn't know his girlfriend," she adds sorrowfully. Her brown turns an evaluating eye on the would-be-blushing Elaruth. << That's a good way to think, since you're female, and realistically you could be caught by any male. If you're not opposed to them then there won't be any frustration. But I am your brother, and I'm able to judge them freely. >> He stretches out his right paw, now cleaned, to dry in the sun. << The bronze I was telling you about is Nikoth. >> So she knows.
"Sulisah? She's sweet. Haven't really talked to her since the Hatching, though." Hattie shakes her head dismissively. "Partners don't factor into the whole thing. Unless you do something when it's your choice, is how I see it anyhow. Neither of you can prevent it, so you shouldn't feel bad about it." She shrugs. "And if the people on the outside can't deal, then that's their problem." Elaruth unfurls one wing to stretch out across the sand, the other remaining tucked close and away from the water. << Nikoth, >> she repeats, as if making a mental note. Or getting Hattie to. << You are able to judge them and I appreciate your opinion, >> she tells Gedroth. << Are there others? >> Since he's male and boys often know how boys behave better than girls do.
Rhodya plants her hands behind her and turns her face into the sun, like a flower. "Well, that's the thing. The two people who are in the flight, we wake up next to each other and get a moment to go okay, so this happened. You deal with it." She cracks an eye open to take a peek at Hattie's expression, but can't keep it up for long with the sun shining straight down on her now. "But Sulisah, in this case, everybody expects her to just move along like nothing's happened. She don't get to go up to me and say, so this happened. Doesn't seem fair." Gedroth nods his head sagely, not surprised that she welcomes his wisdom. He is, after all, very smart. << No, he and Dasarth are the only two. That I know of. I imagine there are others that I do not know well enough to judge. >> Though he doesn't sound very firm in this imagining.
"I imagine whoever it is gets to have that moment with their..." Hattie pauses and grimaces around the words, "boyfriend or girlfriend," said as ever with distaste. "How unreasonable would it be for them to expect to be able to go up to you and acknowledge it happened? Like they expect an apology or explanation. And what would you say, anyway?" She shakes her head. "/That's/ not fair, getting to make you feel bad." Gold paws begin to heap together a sandcastle, careful to make it as balanced and symmetrical as possible. << Dasarth and Nikoth. We will see what happens. Circumstances may take the choice away from me in the end, >> Elaruth considers. << I do not know what it will be like. >>
Rhodya quirks up a smile at Hattie's distaste for those two particular words. "I ain't afraid to put someone in their place if they do come up to me like that. I just feel like it's gonna be the elephant in the room. But I don't really know what I'd say. So I'm just gettin' my whine out while I still can." She leans her face back up and grins down at the goldrider. Gedroth rolls over on his side, pawing absently at the mud clinging to his belly. Most of it seems inclined to just slide off, but he'll lazily help it on its way. << I don't know what it's like for a female, but for me it's been very intense. >> So says the lounger. << It's true that once we get up in the air, we're single-minded. And the catches are usually hectic. But I've also heard that a female's preference can influence the flight, so perhaps you will be able to keep a more level head. >>
"Less talk, more punching," Hattie proposes, quirking a grin back at Rhodya. She must be joking. "You could offer to detail the experience to them in a very graphic way, which I'm sure would send them scuttling off." Blink. "And if they don't, then it's definitely time for the punching." Elaruth decides, << I should not have a preference. It would be unfair and unbalance the whole affair before it has even begun. >> Though whether or not she does or will remains to be seen. << I would like to be able to think. I am not like a green. There are many things to consider. >> She reaches out to touch her nose to Gedroth's again, rising slowly to her feet.
Rhodya laughs at Hattie's - wait for it! - /punch/ line. "Now, now, Hattie, you can't solve all your problems with violence. Just a select few," she adds, punching her palm with a wink. Gedroth pauses, one hand hovering over his belly, to look at Elaruth again. He rolls back onto his belly before touching her nose, so at least if he's not getting up to see her off, he's not sprawled indecorously like a beached whale anymore. << There are consequences to a gold flight that a green doesn't have to worry about, >> he agrees. << But that's why you are gold and not green, because you have the capacity to make such decisions. You will be fine. >> He touches her nose again, for confidence.
Hattie turns as she shoves herself to her feet, swearing, "I can try," in a low voice, despite the smirk that curves her lips. "Any problems that /can/ be solved with violence, let me know," she continues, brushing sand from her trousers. "Elaruth's decided she's hungry. And I'm glad I know she won't rise for a good while, because otherwise her deciding that right when we're talking flights would've been very worrying." The goldrider pauses, then leans forward a bit to offer over a one-armed hug to Rhodya. << Thank you, >> Elaruth says faintly, nudging forward just a little to nuzzle along the brown's jaw, appreciative of such faith. << I do hope you catch Chielyth. I would like you to be happy. >>
Rhodya laughs again, and returns the hug with both arms. "You got it. Any time somebody needs a good punch, I'll have Gedroth bespeak Elaruth about it. Thanks for the talk." She smiles happily up at the goldrider as they part from the hug, and waves bye-bye. Gedroth rumbles as he turns his cheek into Elaruth's gentle nuzzle, his eyes whirling a deeply contented blue. << Thank you, too. I am certain I will be. >> Simple confidence, as he presents it, though it'd be bragging from most anyone else. << Have a good meal, Elaruth, >> he wishes her pleasantly.