No pie for Kai - part two
It is a summer afternoon of day 23, month 6, turn 19 of Interval 10.
[Continued from part one]
"I hope so," answers Jaeyi to seeing her around. Walk around sullen men, put book on shelf, finally find time to smile apologetically at the beleaguered archivist, and out. No hip-swishing. For a change.
Dragon> To Gedroth, Chielyth, all overcast and cloudy instead of her usual sunny cheer, pouts wordlessly at her brother. Wordlessly, but not meaninglessly: Kai is being a poopyhead, and she doesn't like it.
Rhodya holds her palms up, arms outstretched in a gesture of surrender. "Not makin' you do that, either," she says, keeping her tone light and happy. But, "I'd like it if you kept that language out of my presence," she reminds him. Just because he's trying to escape doesn't mean he can be rude!
Dragon> To Chielyth, Gedroth's mind is a curious, confused jumble of clashing swords and spilling blood, and for a moment he 'feels' more like Dasarth than like Gedroth. It clears up in an instant, with a crash that brings the sun out for him again, languishing over a hot, humid, lazy mental day. << Why is being that way? >> the brown wonders.
B'kaiv sweeps the hides into the crook of one elbow like he'd rather be crumpling them up and burning their bones. "What language?" he demands, looking up angrily. A beat, another, and his eyes drop, back to the last thin scroll. She doesn't like swearing and he can hardly stop himself, even after repeated reminders. At least he does manage a muttered, "Sorry." On his feet again, he tries for one last explanation. "I just... she... /Shel-/" And clamp go his teeth over that last little sound. No apologies this time, just Kai spinning on one heel and making a fast, head-dropped exit. Better hope Jaeyi moves quickly.
Dragon> To Gedroth, Chielyth retracts from the blood-clash-clang, wide-eyed and hurt. << Dasarth? >> But no, it's Gedroth, and she tippy-toes warily back to her brother's side. Jaeyi's scribbled face, recognizable mostly by the cascade of hair and too-big eyes, appears next. << He will not say why, though. He wants Mecaith's. >>
He's not perfect, but he's trying, and that earns him a smile from Rhodya. "Thanks." She hops up on the desk, scorning the chair in favor of an arrangement that lets her look directly at him. Because she does have to examine him for a while here, before she offers tentatively, "I thought you and Su...?"
B'kaiv pulls up before he's managed to make even three steps past the end of the table, whirling on Rhodya with one of his very best defensive scowls. "What -about- me an' Su? We ain't. This... /That/," with a jerk of his head back at where Jaeyi's disappeared, "Just wanted t' eat some of that pie she's flashin' around t' every man who looks. Ain't... Don't want t' /marry/ her."
"Good thing, because you can't." Rhodya tugs her own weyrling knot. She keeps eye contact with Kai, but her legs are tightly crossed, and the muscles there show tension. "Anyway, I just remember you and Su bein' sort of cute, the day of the Hatching. If I read that wrong, I'm sorry, but I assumed you had a thing for her, and Jaeyi seems to think so." Rhodya kicks out those tense legs, keeping them crossed but giving them a little outlet through motion.
Tightly, "/Know/ I can't." His free hand clenches and relaxes, over and over. "Can't even sharding well -think- about it, 'cause Chielyth's too little. You think I'd do anything t' /hurt/ her? This ain't... it ain't -about- me an' Su. S'just /pie/. An' she been leadin' me on ever since I met her." Jaeyi, not Su. One would hope. "You know what she done? Leaned over, let me look down her dress! So I ask her flat out, an' she said no, 'cause of /me and sharding Su/!" The archivist tries again to shush and Kai stares bloody daggers at the older man.
Rhodya tries the opposite tactic on the archivist, giving him a friendly smile that seems to disarm the man. Does not compute! He scuttles away to ponder a new strategy. "Hey, some folks are like that. Need the attention. And for the record, I think it's a mean need to satisfy, seein' as we're weyrlings and can't have any of that... you know, can you stop callin' it pie? I mean, think I know what you mean when you say it, but I /like/ pie, and I don't want that kind of association." She wrinkles her nose. "But just 'cause she does it doesn't mean you got to take her up on it. I mean, why /her/? If you have got somethin' for Su, why not try for her?" Rhodya shrugs and shakes her head, the pinnacle of confused-ness.
Dragon> To Chielyth, Gedroth strengthens the feeling of marshy languor, the buzzing of inconsequential insects and the burbling of rivers. This is definitely Gedroth. << Sorry. I was just watching him. >> Another confused tangle of images floats her way, more clanging and shouting (muffled for her comfort) and an image of Dasarth asleep. Then it's abandoned so he can ponder this strange girl Chielyth is imaging at him, and Mecaith's. << If he's angry, he probably shouldn't go seeking out Mecaith's. >> He flashes back his own image, of Mecaith at the head of a wing that practices above the bowl each morning. Mecaith and his are Important.
B'kaiv's fist continues to do its thing, and where's a neck when you need one? "I like pie too," he says tightly, "An' it's easier t' keep it from her if I don't think about it as nothin' else." So there. "'Cause she's a... 'cause Jaeyi's showin' it t' -everybody-. She got a -list-. She's a slut. Su ain't like that."
Dragon> Jangled and upset, a cloudy Chielyth reaches out to the blue, 'cuddles' under one mental wing. (Chielyth to Bennath)
Dragon> To Chielyth, Bennath stops his quiet contemplation instantly, turning his attention to the little green and pulling her in closer with a thrum of engine. << Everything jake, doll? >> he asks, concerned.
Rhodya eyes him reluctantly. "All right, but if this conversation pops into my head the next time I get pie... /actual/ pie," she amends, with a cough. Entertaining sidebars be damned, though, she still looks a bit tense, especially when she's what Kai's fist is up to. "Well, that's what I'm sayin'. If she's goin' around like that, and you don't care for her, why are you tryin'? Why ain't you... I wouldn't say nothin' about no pie yet, but brushin' up your relationship with Su?"
Dragon> To Bennath, Chielyth's metaphorical chin wobbles. << No, >> she sniffs, all clouds and silence instead of her usual sunshine and birdsong. << Kai is... he is... >> Words fail her, and she vomits up a mish-mash of emotions and her usual scrawled images: scarlet fury, a head of dark curls, hides covered with angry scribbles.
Dragon> To Chielyth, Bennath scoops her up in a pocket of wind, makes soothing shush sounds composed of sputters and windy sighs. << Mine will come. >> He offers, though his thoughts are dubious on how that will help.
B'kaiv manages a little snort at her protest; his fist clenches once more and goes still. "'Cause she's easy. She'll show it t' anyone, she'll /give/ it t' anyone." Not-pie, that is. "An' this ain't got nothin' to -do- with Su! How come everybody got t' ask that?" Rhodya's perched tensely on a table, looking at Kai, who's standing just past the end of it with an armful of hides. "Su ain't... she's not... she don't give her pie t' nobody. Not like Jaeyi."
Dragon> Enough of the clouds clear to offer a glimpse of blue sky, but Chielyth remains subdued and unhappy. (Chielyth to Gedroth and Bennath)
Rhodya quirks a brow at him. She's trying very hard not to seem intimidated by his ranting, and to her credit, the only thing giving her away is that indefinable tension in her muscles. "I don't know about you or nobody else, but when I like somebody, if I /mean/ it, then the only person I try to have pie with is that person. And if you're just lookin' for someone to keep you busy till you and Su hit that level, then I'm sorry, but I can't muster much sympathy for that. Nothin' says you can't eat a pie alone if all you are is hungry."
Dragon> Blue rivers wind away beneath a blue sky, an idyllic scene indeed. << Where are you, Chielyth? I would like to see you. >> See with his eyes, that is. The brown flashes an image of himself stretching out next to the feeding pens and scanning the bowl for her. (Gedroth to Chielyth and Bennath)
Phara is breathless when she thumps through the door, having jogged across the bowl when Chielyth contacted Bennath. "Kai?" she calls before she's spotted him, "Are you hurt?" But her eyebrows raise when she sees Rhodya and B'kaiv there together, looking less worried than she did a moment ago. Instead, she sighs in exasperation. "I know you two aren't fighting in here."
Dragon> To Bennath and Gedroth, Chielyth shares with her usual scribbly images: herself-the-green-blob-with-wings hunkered near the other end of the bowl. Near the scribbly hide place that Kai doesn't like.
A lifetime spent in the sun has tanned Rhodya's skin to a dusky brown, against which the darkness of her hair and eyes contrasts dramatically. She keeps her full-bodied black hair at chin-length, poufed up by some attentive styling and swept strongly to the right. Her thick eyebrows slant down as they near the bridge of her slim but hawkish nose, creating a strong frame for her dark and glittering brown eyes. That lively sparkle is often accented by the big hoop earrings that she likes to wear.
When it comes to clothes, this twenty-something favors tight tops and billowy bottoms, the one to show off the uniform thinness of her torso and the other to mask the boniness of her long legs. But there's really no hiding her 5'11" height, and Rhodya doesn't even try: she sticks with high-heeled shoes and thick-soled sandals that make her as tall or taller than most men. The knot sitting atop her shoulder makes her a Fort weyrling with a brown dragon.
"I been eatin' plenty of pie by myself," Kai retorts, even if Rhodya didn't perhaps want to have that knowledge. "I just..." When he hears the bluerider's call his eyes close and jaw juts out even further before he mouths something short and (probably) rude. By the time Phara finds them he's pulled down his more usual sullen mask and announces tersely, "We ain't fightin', ma'am." After a second he adds a salute to prove it.
Chielyth> Hippity hoppity! They're here and there! Brown dragonets on parade. Gedroth comes trotting up from the southern bowl, his stride long and smooth despite the gangliness his body suggests he should have. Saulienth gambols in his wake, trailing him to no particular purpose, other than to start a game. But Gedroth is looking for a green blob, not a game of tag, so he beeps and shoulders Saulienth off him. The smaller brown squeaks and goes loping away to find somebody else. Somebody /fun/.
Chielyth> Chielyth's not a green blob! On the outside, anyway. She's crouched, meatloaf-like, in the bowl, not far from and facing the entrance to the records room. Every so often a limb will twitch, but mostly the little green hunkers tensely. The arrival of her brothers pulls Chielyth far enough from her funk to look at them; after a few seconds she warbles to catch their attention. Well, Gedroth's attention, since Saulienth is being pouty.
No, Rhodya definitely didn't want that information. Her brow wrinkles up and she squints, making a visible effort to squeegee that thought out of her brain. So it's a funny, squeezed-down look she gives Phara when the other woman arrives. "No, ma'am, just havin' a talk." Her gaze lingers thoughtfully on the bluerider. "Think maybe a certain green broke your code," she murmurs.
Phara sighs, leaning her hip against a nearby table. "Bennath had me scared to death. Why's Chielyth so upset?" She looks between the two of them and asks archly, "And whose 'pie' have you been having plenty of, B'kaiv?" She doesn't want names, it's more of a warning. Rhodya is flicked a look, disapproval etched on her face. "A talk. Of course." She's not swallowing that one, clearly.
Chielyth> But she does catch both! Saulienth spies Chielyth with a warble of joy, because she's /always/ good for a game and he knows it. He springs over to her, swift as an antelope, and punches his nose into her shoulder. << Play tag! >> he instructs her. << You're it. >> He's totally oblivious to the funk. Gedroth's merely curious about it, following his brother up to Chielyth and pausing to take deep sniffs, as if emotions were written on the wind for him. << There you are, Chielyth. You don't look very good. >> Brothers are so sensitive.
Rhodya looks up at Phara, and does a double-take. There's disapproval there? The look she gives the assistant weyrlingmaster is quite plainly offended. Mouth open, brows knit in disbelief. No mistaking it. Rhodya turns her face away and crosses her arms, saying nothing. Now /she's/ ticked. Yay for weyrlings.
Suddenly it's very important that Kai use both hands to hold his armful of scrolls. "'Cause I been yanked around," he answers them both, looking from one woman to the other. "She's unhappy. Can I go t' her?" And that's not quite a request, but neither is he pushing past Phara to make for the door. Nor is he answering some of those questions.
Chielyth> Chielyth isn't either it. She wraps her tail tighter around her haunches and grumbles at Saulienth. << No, >> she tells him shortly, looks past him to the larger Gedroth. << Kai is *a jumbled mash of images, even more scribbly and unclear than her usual*. And he isn't listening! >>
Phara makes a face at the both of them. "First you'll tell me what you're doing with all those scrolls." A meaningful look is given to the armload of records. "I trust you've checked them out properly or you're planning on reselving them." She lifts a hand to rub at her temples. "And then, by all means, go to her. I think you'll come too, Rhodya, and the two of you can tell me just exactly what you were discussing to upset your dragons so."
Chielyth> Saulienth is ever so slowly starting to cue in that something's amiss, but he doesn't know quite what to do about it. He gives Chielyth another prod with his nose. << No? But you're /it/! >> This moodiness makes him uncomfortable. Gedroth flops down on his stomach to keep studying it. << He isn't listening? What happens when you speak to him, he is blocked? Or he is gone? >> Stretching his nose out below the level of her chin, he nudges up to give her a tentative, comforting bump - a literal 'chin up!' So it's not all science with him.
B'kaiv possessively clutches his hides even tighter. "These is for my sharding /harper lessons/. Shells!" Alas for Rhodya's poor delicate ears! Jaw clamping even tighter, he shoots Rhodya a quick look of apology before whirling one last time and stomping out without another word. Out past Phara, out past the shelves and the weedy archivist trying to organize his records in peace, and out to the sunshine.
"Gedroth isn't upset," Rhodya points out, her tone measured and neutral. She won't disrespect her superior, as Kai does, but she's not going to be her usual friendly self in this mood, either. Her expression only softens for a single second, and that's to give Kai a wry, wordless thanks for his equally wordless apology. "I'll see you outside, ma'am," she says, and follows Kai.
Northern Bowl, Fort Weyr
This section of the bowl is just as devoid of plantlife as the central portion, the sandy soil having been packed more solidly due to the sheer amount of foot traffic passing through. While there are weyrs located to both the east and west, there are very few toward the north.
Toward the northwest would be the ledges for the junior goldriders, while a second flight of stairs leads up to the Weyrleaders' complex. A little to the northeast is the entrance to the hatching cavern, while an entrance to the living cavern is located directly to the east. At the opposite and distant southeastern end of the bowl would be the lake and feeding grounds, with the weyrling barracks and infirmary to the southwest and southeast, respectively.
Obvious exits:
Southern Bowl Living Cavern Inner Caverns Hatching Cavern Records Room Weyrleaders' Complex Junior Ledges
<< No, you're it. I'm not playing, >> Chielyth answers Saulienth, and remains all tucked up and grumpy. Poor little brown. << He listens and says yes but then he *an explosion of hides* again. I don't like it! >> But here comes Kai, slamming his free fist into the wall every other step, his face a virtual thunderstorm of sullen.
Phara makes a face and follows wordlessly after Kai's outburst, folding her arms over her stomach. She inhales and then exhales slowly. She brings up the rear of the little party, looking mostly helpless.
Saulienth is /so confused/. He pulls his feet together like somebody just tightened an invisible drawstring around them, and bounces his weight antsily. << But - it would make you feel better? >> he tries. Gedroth reaches a paw out to push his brother, unbalancing him and making him stumble. << You're being annoying, Saulienth, >> he observes. The littler brown deflates and falls in a heap, edging over to put his side against Chielyth's to offer what comfort he may. He's better off not speaking. << But you do like it, >> Gedroth remembers, tilting his head at Chielyth. << We have talked about him. He is exploding and angry and wonderful to you. This is different? >> Rhodya follows Kai out, but all she does is glance at Gedroth (making sure he's fine) and then stare stonily ahead, like she's awaiting an interrogation.
B'kaiv stops just to one side of the entrance, thumps his fist into the stone twice more and his head once (though gently) before moving off straight to Chielyth's side. "She don't want t' play, Saulienth," he tells the smaller of the browns brusquely as he caresses the green's nose, managing a tiny crooked smile for Gedroth. "Just need t' work some of this off," he tells the three young dragons, not looking to see if he's been followed. "Sorry, Chielyth. I ain't doin' good t'day."
Phara just shrugs at Rhodya and jams her hands into her pockets. "Right then." She heaves a sigh and meanders off across the Bowl towards Bennath lounging relaxed. "Sharding boys," she mumbles to herself. "Always worked up over nothing."
Gedroth glances up when Kai gets there, looking inquisitive more than anything, and accepts the explanation for his behavior with a rustle of his wings. Saulienth just pulls a wing up to hide his face and crowns even closer to Chielyth, like he needs comfort, too. When Rhodya sees Phara walking away, and the prospect of an imminent interrogation fades, at least, from her immediate forecast, she lets the ice melt out of her demeanor. Throwing her head back against the wall behind her, she lets out a long sigh and slides down it.
B'kaiv's got one arm trapped by sharding hides or else he'd surely indulge Saulienth's whim, wouldn't he? Or no, he'd probably just wrap them both around Chielyth's neck instead. His shoulders remain tense - he can't see Phara walking away, so he probably thinks the third degree still awaits. But Chielyth nudges at him, nudges again and lays her head over his shoulder with a sigh, blinking - if not content, then at least less stress - after the bluerider.
Phara isn't leaving, she's just biding her time until Chielyth is calmed down. When Bennath seems certain the green is settled down some, she meanders back and takes a deep breath. "Alright then. Somebody want to tell me first what you two were doing in the Records Room? And don't tell me just talking, because Chielyth was upset enough to call Bennath, and Bennath was upset enough to tell me I was needed, and those sorts of things don't just happen from talking."
Rhodya pulls her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around them. Hearing Phara's voice break into her short-lived reverie, she tenses, but she doesn't grow as stiff as she was a moment ago. "It was just talking..." she answers unhelpfully, her words trailing off as her frown intensifies. Gedroth glances up and looks at her for a moment, rustles his wings again, then stretches his muzzle out to sniff at Chielyth and take another sniff of her mood.
Chielyth sighs and uncurls her tail just enough to whack it lightly against Saulienth's back legs; rolls an eye over to Gedroth and sighs at him, too. "We /was/ just talkin'," Kai agrees without turning around, letting Chielyth do the looking for him. "It weren't Rhodya's fault - she come in after I was already mad. Got upset over somethin' Jaeyi said. I was tryin' t' explain, only I didn't do too good. Couldn't keep it from Chielyth, neither. Mean, she don't know -why- I'm mad, just that I am. Gedroth's only unhappy 'cause Chielyth is."
Phara nods her head, accepting B'kaiv's explaination. "Thank you, B'kaiv," she says simply. "I appreciate your forth coming. I think, in the future, I shall request that Jaeyi keep her distance. It seems to me she is an unhealthy distraction for you. Please try to control your temper in the future, though. It really isn't good for Chielyth, and I know you don't want her upset." Rhodya gets a simple look. "You too, huh?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Don't know what I did to deserve /everyone/ hating me. Don't like people anyways." And Phara stomps off, presumably to whatever she was doing before she was interrupted.
Chielyth blows out her breath as the bluerider stomps off, sounding for that moment rather like her rider. "Dunno why Jantha ain't told her t' pack her bags and get," Kai says once the green's done, and shoves up her head so can turn around beneath it. "Sorry. Think she follows me around, waitin' for me t' mess up."
"Well, she wasn't all wrong," Rhodya concedes, stretching her legs out and watching Phara stomp into the distance. She twists her lips, but doesn't attempt to call after her. She just looks back at Kai. "You needed some time to cool down and there I was talkin' to ya and not lettin' you have it. Plus she comes in 'cause Chielyth's upset, she's got to work with what she sees. I feel bad about it." Gedroth flips his tail. << I'm not unhappy! >> he objects, to Kai's earlier words. << I don't know why everyone thinks I am unhappy. >> He shakes his head and lets out a honking, baffled snort. Saulienth peeks out at the sound, sends a mental snicker around the trio of dragonets, then leans his head against Chielyth's shoulder. His tail starts tapping rhythmically.
"Shoulda..." Kai starts, but doesn't finish that thought of what he should have done. He reaches up and back for Chielyth instead, his other hand stretching out to offer Gedroth a pat for that honk. "Don't think I ever heard no dragon make noises quite like Gedroth. He's somethin', ain't he?" << I was unhappy, >> Chielyth agrees, her tail flipping around to tickle and tease at her larger brother. << I know! They confused us. Because we look exactly alike! >> There's her twinkling, sparkling self back, muted but no longer so muffled and dark.
Rhodya grins, stretching a hand out for Gedroth as well. He leans into the pat, from Kai, and stretches his nose out to take a scritch from Rhodya. "He sure is. Makes me laugh," she adds, giving him a more vigorous scritch than he expected. Gedroth obliges them all with a beep of surprise, then a perfectly ordinary croon as she hits a good spot. "Silly baby. Chielyth's lookin' feisty again." She gestures at the flipping tail. Gedroth tries to catch it, scooting forward on his elbows to chase it when he misses. << We don't look exactly alike! >> he says, settling for bumping her shoulder since he can't catch the tail. << Your nose is bigger. >>
This big brown looks like a living bundle of sticks, his build all odd angles and long planes on a spindly body. His hide boasts mostly even coloring in a pale tan hue, but an ochre undercurrent strengthens the intensity of his already large, high-set eyes and the long sweep of his wings. A narrow muzzle stretches into an overlong, sinuous neck that goes on for ages, its length measured out in tiny, toast-tipped ridges. His limbs are the gangling sort, awkward and at odds with his body, but when he moves it all comes together: smooth motions, the elegant tip-toe of a dancer, each step alive with energy. A flat-topped tail balances all that movement, and brings one final brush of ochre out like the last rays of sunset.
At 0 turns, 4 months, 1 day old, Gedroth is 15 feet, 2 inches long with a wingspan of 26 feet, 7 inches, standing 10 feet, 2 inches tall at the shoulder.
Darkness rises from dainty talons to blend into the sun-dappled, earthy green that dances over Chielyth's lissome frame. With a body made for prancing, buoyant grace sketches her muscles from the slender curvature of her lengthy neck, down her sleek, moss-tipped neckridges, to each articulate turn of her slim tail. Her wings are short and strong, meant for agile turns and just a little more endurance than speed, with sunlight seeming to pool where her wingsails narrow into her spars. Tinged darker along her trailing edges, her sails, when spread, reveal an overlaying of herringbone wisps, as if the artist who painted her had cleaned his brush off there when finished with one color and found the effect interesting enough to leave. A slim muzzle, shockingly dark against her brightness and looking as though she'd dipped it into dye, sets off large, guileless eyes.
At 0 turns, 4 months, 1 day old, Chielyth is 9 feet, 1 inch long with a wingspan of 15 feet, 10 inches, standing 6 feet, 1 inch tall at the shoulder.
<< And I am faster, >> Chielyth agrees, casting each brown in turn an adorably coy look. "Yeah," Kai agrees, hanging a crooked smile off his teeth and giving Gedroth another manly thump. "S'one good thing about her - she shows up and I shove everything down. Y'know? 'Cause she... I dunno. S'like she don't got t' say nothin' an' I get mad. Don't want t' upset Chielyth more, I got t' put it away."
"Well, some people rub ya the wrong way," Rhodya admits with a twisted grin, falling back against her wall again. "I get that way about a brownrider here, some lady who's a friend of V'rel's. One time she got me riled up, /one time/, and now I can't help seein' her everywhere and she's in my face about it again and again." She shakes a fist, playful for the most part, at the weyr. Saulienth wriggles like an excited puppy under Chielyth's coy look, springing to his feet. << Tag? >> << Tag! >> Gedroth answers, shoving Saulienth. << Saulienth's it. >> He shoots off, skittering pebbles underfoot he's moving so fast. Beat that, Chielyth!
B'kaiv agreeably shakes his fist too - Weyrling solidarity! - only to get shoved forward and stumble by Chielyth springing after Gedroth, away from Saulienth. << No fair! >> Chielyth laughs, scrambling in the larger brown's wake. << Saulienth, get Gedroth first! >> Kai hustles closer to the wall and nominal safety, sinks down beside Rho to watch the trio. "You ever think about it? When they'll get older?"
"What part of it?" Rhodya asks with a grin. She crosses an arm behind her head, watching the dragons cavort. Gedroth narrowly dances away from Saulienth, who greets Chielyth's plea with happy obedience. "I been thinkin' about riding him a lot since they started to fly. Oh my /gosh/, Kai, I'm so excited. I wanna see what he's got!" She turns a bright grin on the greenrider, her eyes sparkling with anticipation of the challenge. Gedroth bounds towards Chielyth, leading Saulienth back to her. << Get her! >> he goads the other brown, and Saulienth is once again happy to obey. He scampers after the green.
B'kaiv says, "Nah, like /older/ older." But flying, that's something he's more than happy to discuss. "Yeah, me too. Bet she's gonna be somethin', small as she is. Hope they don't keep me offa her back longer 'cause of it." He glances sidelong, meeting her grin with another one of his wry half smiles. Chielyth shrieks happily and dashes in another direction, trusting that her size and the tight angle will keep Saulienth's nose from her flank, scrabble scrabble. "Hey Rho - can I ask you somethin'?"
Older? How much older can they - oh. Understanding forms on Rhodya's face, and she grimaces. "You mean..." she lets that thought trail off, and doesn't get around to finishing it. Instead she nods emphatically. "Sure you can. Of course." Saulienth bounds straight at Chielyth with all his energy and speed, but when she turns out of the way, well, curse her! He keeps going straight with a cry of dismay. Gedroth turns to see what happened and winds up getting tagged: Saulienth recovered quickly! The big brown bleats a protest of his fate. << I was tricked! >>
B'kaiv purses his lips at her, but doesn't continue down the path of older-older. "Been havin' these weird dreams," he says instead, looking to Chielyth and her playmates again. "There was this one where Chielyth were flyin' - really flyin' - and she weren't listenin' t' me, an' my Ma were there, only it weren't my Ma, 'cause she was a rider too." He glances over as Chielyth dances teasingly at Gedroth, wings flagged high. << Too bad! Get him back! >> "Anyway. You been havin' dreams like that too? Ain't slept this bad since she were little."
Rhodya starts to give him the same shocked look she was giving Phara, except without the outrage this time. "I had that /exact/ dream!" She shakes her head at him, in awe of the coincidence. "And I been havin' others, too. Real weird ones, always." She pauses, gives him a grin. "I hope you ain't had any where you're datin' my ex-boyfriend, 'cause then I'd really start to worry for the both of us." Gedroth puts his head down and bulls after Chielyth, taking care to pick up his steps and get ready to /turn/ when he gets closer. << I'll get /you/ back! >> he threatens, whirling after her. << You sent him after me. >>
Chielyth shrieks again in delight and dashes away, wings trailing behind her like scarves. Kai watches her mostly, only looking now and again over at Rho. "Shells. --Sorry." Even Cirse hasn't had much luck in cleaning up his language. "I mean, yeah? I ain't had - I don't /remember/ havin' none with no boyfriend. Think I'd remember one of them." Again his smile flickers. "Don't let that Gedroth catch you!" he calls encouragingly, which sends Chielyth galloping at Saulienth. "What d'you think it means? Us havin' the same dream, I mean?"
Rhodya narrows her eyes at the dragonets, uncertain. "I dunno. 'Cause that dream we both had - it wasn't my mother either. Mean, she /was/ a rider, but she wasn't rude like that lady was." Gedroth seems to be cheered on by Kai's encouragement, even more than Chielyth is. He leaps after her, misses, but hey, there's Saulienth, resting on his laurels as the most recent It. So brown retaliates on brown, and Saulienth is It again. "You think it's something they're doing?" Rhodya asks in a murmur. "Talkin' among themselves or something, and maybe it influences us?"
Green scoots past brown and off across the bowl, her wings straight out now. << I'm -flying-! >> is what she sends to her brothers, all thought of tag gone. << Fly with me! Like this! >> "Dunno," Kai shrugs, and glances Rhodya-ward again. "Maybe? Chielyth's up a lot at night - lets me sleep, but every time I wake up so's she. /She/ ain't got no rider mama either. Could ask Jantha, I guess. Or V'rel?"
<< You just don't want to get tagged! >> Saulienth calls, distraught. To him, it's no fair that he has to be It twice and Chielyth gets off scot free. But for Gedroth, that's his problem! He bowls after Chielyth, head down and wings out. << I /could/ fly if I wanted to, >> he lets them all know. Rhodya nips her lower lip into her mouth, and it's difficult to say whether she's worried about Gedroth (at that breakneck speed) or the weird dreams. "Yeah, Gedroth's always up when I get up, too. And T'rev reminded me it's a problem if we don't get enough sleep. I guess we have to?" she asks, looking worriedly at Kai for confirmation. "I /really/ don't like talking about my dreams. Think it's silly. But if you're havin' the same ones as me, something's going on, huh?"
<< Whee!!! >> Chielyth broadcasts as she soars and dips on the winds. Or, well, on the ground. With her wings out. Poooor Saulienth! "I got dreams I don't want t' share with nobody," Kai admits after a second or two, low-voiced and only half-laughing. "But yeah - maybe we should. Dunno what's goin' on, so..." So they should ask. Only he doesn't say that, just pulls his knees up and wraps his arms around them. "Had this one, once, where I was bein' chased by these giant pitchers of beer an' the only place t' hide from 'em was under tables. That was back t' the Waystation," he adds, lest she think she'll be having anxiety dreams about bartending next.
Maybe Rhodya was thinking just that, because she pantomimes wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. "Don't be thinkin' about that one too much, in case you put it in their heads. I don't want no pitchers of beer chasin' me," she laughs. What he said about dreams he didn't want to share? She's still got a bit of a blush after that, but whatever it made her think of, she's not about to share either. "You'd think they'd warn us if dragons could get into your dreams. Just so we'd be prepared," she murmurs. Gedroth leaps into the air, never truly taking flight but certainly getting a good long jump out of it. << Gedroth's flying! >> Saulienth accuses, darting past his brother.
B'kaiv snorts once, twice. "More like firestone sacks, these days. Or hides." Which he gives a nod to, those still clustered around his legs like ducklings. "Makes sense, though, don't it? 'Cause they're in our head an' all. Wouldn't be surprised t' dream about meat or flyin' sometime. Well, before they got old." Older, anyway. Idly, "Think we ought t' stop 'em?" with a nod after the gliding-not-flying dragons. Chielyth only goes, << Whee!! >> again, leaving Saulienth to play hallway monitor if he's going to.
"Yeah. Old. You worried about that?" Rhodya asks delicately, with a tiny tug of her head towards the stampeding Chielyth. Saulienth is disappointed that nobody, not even Gedroth, seems to care about his accusation. << I'm tired, >> he declares as he stops, and Gedroth bolts past him again. The brown leaps a few more times, scrabbling his claws on a jut of stone one time, but he's wise enough not try what Saulienth accused him of. Rhodya's watching him carefully regardless. "Yeah, in a minute. If one of 'em gets hurt in that minute I'll feel pretty dumb, but I feel like they're gonna wear themselves out pretty soon, goin' like that." She gestures at Saulienth, the proof.
"Worried 'bout lots of things," Kai admits in a low enough voice that he can pretend he never uttered anything. "Don't think nobody's gonna want no greenrider as can't read good." He scowls at his knees and flicks away bits of dirt or sand; after a second he adds, more normally, "It ain't like we ain't right here. And they ain't..." He ends with a shrug, leaving Chielyth to 'bank' and turn back to her brothers. << I'm tired too, >> she says, trotting three, four more steps before slowing and letting her wings droop. << Saulienth... >> Like Kai she doesn't finish, but unlike Kai she sends a poor-pitiful-me look at the smaller brown. Won't he come over and help her, so far away from the others?
"Yeah, but they're goin' awful fast," Rhodya replies - right before Chielyth stops. Gedroth slows to a trot soon after, then turns to follow his siblings and see what they're up to. Saulienth whined about having to move, but who could resist that face? In the end, he comes to Chielyth, and Gedroth joins them for a dragon dogpile. << That was fun, >> remarks Gedroth, master of the obvious. Rhodya chuckles at the sight of them. "You're still havin' trouble with that harper stuff, huh? Don't worry." She gives him a sunny smile. "I'm sure you'll get it. You're smart up here," she taps his forehead, "so once you get comfortable, I got no doubts you'll be zippin' through this stuff." She nudges a hide near her boot.
Chielyth sighs happily and collapses against the browns, wriggling until she's got a wing free and a neck draped so and maybe it's time to nap. "Ten kinds of stupid," Kai scowls to her cheering and grabs belatedly after that tapping finger. Of course, given his prowess at self-defense, the lateness was almost definitely deliberate. "Been workin' with Majawin - Journeyman Majawin," he corrects, "Since we was Candidates. Know what he told me th' other day?" He doesn't give her the chance to answer. "Said my spelling don't make a wher cry no more." He can't decide whether to be amused or insulted, but comes down just over the line into humor.
Good thing he leans towards humor, because Rhodya laughs immediately upon hearing the phrase. She hoots, in fact, and slaps Kai's shoulder appreciatively. The missed finger grab has not deterred her. "See? What'd I say? Smart. Don't you give me none of this 'ten kinds of stupid.' Just 'cause you ain't figured it all out yet doesn't mean you ain't /gonna/ figure it out." Gedroth grunts and shifts along with Saulienth, the two boys wordlessly giving choice of placement to the littlest dragon among them. Once Chielyth's settled, Gedroth pushes his way into the next most comfortable spot and when Saulienth objects, points out simply, << You lost tag. >> Then he closes his eyes.
B'kaiv smirks over wryly, unfazed by her shoulder slap. "Ain't, though." He lets the argument go with a one-sided shrug, leans over his knees to start collecting hides. "Should get back, though. Get her tucked in before she falls asleep." A nod's given to where Chielyth's draping body parts over her browns. "An' I got t' start on that sharding essay." No sorry that time.
"Aww, you ain't gonna let 'em cuddle?" Rhodya asks, with another look at the dragon sleeping pile. She's got this melty smile all over her mouth when she does, too. But she wipes it off her face to help Kai, offering "Here" and leaning forward to help him collect hides. That gets it done in half the time! "Watch your mouth, but good luck on that essay. I'm confident you'll spell it at least mostly right." She grins impishly up at him. Up? Well, he's getting up to leave. Rho's staying here, because why not? There are cuddling dragons.
Kai can't, won't, doesn't try and hide the goofy smile that's given to Chielyth and Chielyth alone, his hands pausing momentarily in their hide-gathering. Rho's 'here' brings him out of it, and seconds later he's on his feet, hides in arm once more and looking down at her. "Thanks." For the hides? For the rest of the afternoon? "Guess if you're gonna stay she can, too." Which is good, for as soon as the words are out of his mouth Chielyth's sighing and relaxing into her Saulienth-and-Gedroth pillow. "See you in a little bit." With that and a nod as his farewell he heads off across the bowl, heading for the barracks.
Shells. Least Rhodya got a good head on her shoulders. Just... I just got to think about - got to /stop/ thinkin' about pie. Period. And I can't... I got to make sure I don't go near J- that girl no more. For Chielyth.
[Continued from part one]
"I hope so," answers Jaeyi to seeing her around. Walk around sullen men, put book on shelf, finally find time to smile apologetically at the beleaguered archivist, and out. No hip-swishing. For a change.
Dragon> To Gedroth, Chielyth, all overcast and cloudy instead of her usual sunny cheer, pouts wordlessly at her brother. Wordlessly, but not meaninglessly: Kai is being a poopyhead, and she doesn't like it.
Rhodya holds her palms up, arms outstretched in a gesture of surrender. "Not makin' you do that, either," she says, keeping her tone light and happy. But, "I'd like it if you kept that language out of my presence," she reminds him. Just because he's trying to escape doesn't mean he can be rude!
Dragon> To Chielyth, Gedroth's mind is a curious, confused jumble of clashing swords and spilling blood, and for a moment he 'feels' more like Dasarth than like Gedroth. It clears up in an instant, with a crash that brings the sun out for him again, languishing over a hot, humid, lazy mental day. << Why is being that way? >> the brown wonders.
B'kaiv sweeps the hides into the crook of one elbow like he'd rather be crumpling them up and burning their bones. "What language?" he demands, looking up angrily. A beat, another, and his eyes drop, back to the last thin scroll. She doesn't like swearing and he can hardly stop himself, even after repeated reminders. At least he does manage a muttered, "Sorry." On his feet again, he tries for one last explanation. "I just... she... /Shel-/" And clamp go his teeth over that last little sound. No apologies this time, just Kai spinning on one heel and making a fast, head-dropped exit. Better hope Jaeyi moves quickly.
Dragon> To Gedroth, Chielyth retracts from the blood-clash-clang, wide-eyed and hurt. << Dasarth? >> But no, it's Gedroth, and she tippy-toes warily back to her brother's side. Jaeyi's scribbled face, recognizable mostly by the cascade of hair and too-big eyes, appears next. << He will not say why, though. He wants Mecaith's. >>
He's not perfect, but he's trying, and that earns him a smile from Rhodya. "Thanks." She hops up on the desk, scorning the chair in favor of an arrangement that lets her look directly at him. Because she does have to examine him for a while here, before she offers tentatively, "I thought you and Su...?"
B'kaiv pulls up before he's managed to make even three steps past the end of the table, whirling on Rhodya with one of his very best defensive scowls. "What -about- me an' Su? We ain't. This... /That/," with a jerk of his head back at where Jaeyi's disappeared, "Just wanted t' eat some of that pie she's flashin' around t' every man who looks. Ain't... Don't want t' /marry/ her."
"Good thing, because you can't." Rhodya tugs her own weyrling knot. She keeps eye contact with Kai, but her legs are tightly crossed, and the muscles there show tension. "Anyway, I just remember you and Su bein' sort of cute, the day of the Hatching. If I read that wrong, I'm sorry, but I assumed you had a thing for her, and Jaeyi seems to think so." Rhodya kicks out those tense legs, keeping them crossed but giving them a little outlet through motion.
Tightly, "/Know/ I can't." His free hand clenches and relaxes, over and over. "Can't even sharding well -think- about it, 'cause Chielyth's too little. You think I'd do anything t' /hurt/ her? This ain't... it ain't -about- me an' Su. S'just /pie/. An' she been leadin' me on ever since I met her." Jaeyi, not Su. One would hope. "You know what she done? Leaned over, let me look down her dress! So I ask her flat out, an' she said no, 'cause of /me and sharding Su/!" The archivist tries again to shush and Kai stares bloody daggers at the older man.
Rhodya tries the opposite tactic on the archivist, giving him a friendly smile that seems to disarm the man. Does not compute! He scuttles away to ponder a new strategy. "Hey, some folks are like that. Need the attention. And for the record, I think it's a mean need to satisfy, seein' as we're weyrlings and can't have any of that... you know, can you stop callin' it pie? I mean, think I know what you mean when you say it, but I /like/ pie, and I don't want that kind of association." She wrinkles her nose. "But just 'cause she does it doesn't mean you got to take her up on it. I mean, why /her/? If you have got somethin' for Su, why not try for her?" Rhodya shrugs and shakes her head, the pinnacle of confused-ness.
Dragon> To Chielyth, Gedroth strengthens the feeling of marshy languor, the buzzing of inconsequential insects and the burbling of rivers. This is definitely Gedroth. << Sorry. I was just watching him. >> Another confused tangle of images floats her way, more clanging and shouting (muffled for her comfort) and an image of Dasarth asleep. Then it's abandoned so he can ponder this strange girl Chielyth is imaging at him, and Mecaith's. << If he's angry, he probably shouldn't go seeking out Mecaith's. >> He flashes back his own image, of Mecaith at the head of a wing that practices above the bowl each morning. Mecaith and his are Important.
B'kaiv's fist continues to do its thing, and where's a neck when you need one? "I like pie too," he says tightly, "An' it's easier t' keep it from her if I don't think about it as nothin' else." So there. "'Cause she's a... 'cause Jaeyi's showin' it t' -everybody-. She got a -list-. She's a slut. Su ain't like that."
Dragon> Jangled and upset, a cloudy Chielyth reaches out to the blue, 'cuddles' under one mental wing. (Chielyth to Bennath)
Dragon> To Chielyth, Bennath stops his quiet contemplation instantly, turning his attention to the little green and pulling her in closer with a thrum of engine. << Everything jake, doll? >> he asks, concerned.
Rhodya eyes him reluctantly. "All right, but if this conversation pops into my head the next time I get pie... /actual/ pie," she amends, with a cough. Entertaining sidebars be damned, though, she still looks a bit tense, especially when she's what Kai's fist is up to. "Well, that's what I'm sayin'. If she's goin' around like that, and you don't care for her, why are you tryin'? Why ain't you... I wouldn't say nothin' about no pie yet, but brushin' up your relationship with Su?"
Dragon> To Bennath, Chielyth's metaphorical chin wobbles. << No, >> she sniffs, all clouds and silence instead of her usual sunshine and birdsong. << Kai is... he is... >> Words fail her, and she vomits up a mish-mash of emotions and her usual scrawled images: scarlet fury, a head of dark curls, hides covered with angry scribbles.
Dragon> To Chielyth, Bennath scoops her up in a pocket of wind, makes soothing shush sounds composed of sputters and windy sighs. << Mine will come. >> He offers, though his thoughts are dubious on how that will help.
B'kaiv manages a little snort at her protest; his fist clenches once more and goes still. "'Cause she's easy. She'll show it t' anyone, she'll /give/ it t' anyone." Not-pie, that is. "An' this ain't got nothin' to -do- with Su! How come everybody got t' ask that?" Rhodya's perched tensely on a table, looking at Kai, who's standing just past the end of it with an armful of hides. "Su ain't... she's not... she don't give her pie t' nobody. Not like Jaeyi."
Dragon> Enough of the clouds clear to offer a glimpse of blue sky, but Chielyth remains subdued and unhappy. (Chielyth to Gedroth and Bennath)
Rhodya quirks a brow at him. She's trying very hard not to seem intimidated by his ranting, and to her credit, the only thing giving her away is that indefinable tension in her muscles. "I don't know about you or nobody else, but when I like somebody, if I /mean/ it, then the only person I try to have pie with is that person. And if you're just lookin' for someone to keep you busy till you and Su hit that level, then I'm sorry, but I can't muster much sympathy for that. Nothin' says you can't eat a pie alone if all you are is hungry."
Dragon> Blue rivers wind away beneath a blue sky, an idyllic scene indeed. << Where are you, Chielyth? I would like to see you. >> See with his eyes, that is. The brown flashes an image of himself stretching out next to the feeding pens and scanning the bowl for her. (Gedroth to Chielyth and Bennath)
Phara is breathless when she thumps through the door, having jogged across the bowl when Chielyth contacted Bennath. "Kai?" she calls before she's spotted him, "Are you hurt?" But her eyebrows raise when she sees Rhodya and B'kaiv there together, looking less worried than she did a moment ago. Instead, she sighs in exasperation. "I know you two aren't fighting in here."
Dragon> To Bennath and Gedroth, Chielyth shares with her usual scribbly images: herself-the-green-blob-with-wings hunkered near the other end of the bowl. Near the scribbly hide place that Kai doesn't like.
A lifetime spent in the sun has tanned Rhodya's skin to a dusky brown, against which the darkness of her hair and eyes contrasts dramatically. She keeps her full-bodied black hair at chin-length, poufed up by some attentive styling and swept strongly to the right. Her thick eyebrows slant down as they near the bridge of her slim but hawkish nose, creating a strong frame for her dark and glittering brown eyes. That lively sparkle is often accented by the big hoop earrings that she likes to wear.
When it comes to clothes, this twenty-something favors tight tops and billowy bottoms, the one to show off the uniform thinness of her torso and the other to mask the boniness of her long legs. But there's really no hiding her 5'11" height, and Rhodya doesn't even try: she sticks with high-heeled shoes and thick-soled sandals that make her as tall or taller than most men. The knot sitting atop her shoulder makes her a Fort weyrling with a brown dragon.
"I been eatin' plenty of pie by myself," Kai retorts, even if Rhodya didn't perhaps want to have that knowledge. "I just..." When he hears the bluerider's call his eyes close and jaw juts out even further before he mouths something short and (probably) rude. By the time Phara finds them he's pulled down his more usual sullen mask and announces tersely, "We ain't fightin', ma'am." After a second he adds a salute to prove it.
Chielyth> Hippity hoppity! They're here and there! Brown dragonets on parade. Gedroth comes trotting up from the southern bowl, his stride long and smooth despite the gangliness his body suggests he should have. Saulienth gambols in his wake, trailing him to no particular purpose, other than to start a game. But Gedroth is looking for a green blob, not a game of tag, so he beeps and shoulders Saulienth off him. The smaller brown squeaks and goes loping away to find somebody else. Somebody /fun/.
Chielyth> Chielyth's not a green blob! On the outside, anyway. She's crouched, meatloaf-like, in the bowl, not far from and facing the entrance to the records room. Every so often a limb will twitch, but mostly the little green hunkers tensely. The arrival of her brothers pulls Chielyth far enough from her funk to look at them; after a few seconds she warbles to catch their attention. Well, Gedroth's attention, since Saulienth is being pouty.
No, Rhodya definitely didn't want that information. Her brow wrinkles up and she squints, making a visible effort to squeegee that thought out of her brain. So it's a funny, squeezed-down look she gives Phara when the other woman arrives. "No, ma'am, just havin' a talk." Her gaze lingers thoughtfully on the bluerider. "Think maybe a certain green broke your code," she murmurs.
Phara sighs, leaning her hip against a nearby table. "Bennath had me scared to death. Why's Chielyth so upset?" She looks between the two of them and asks archly, "And whose 'pie' have you been having plenty of, B'kaiv?" She doesn't want names, it's more of a warning. Rhodya is flicked a look, disapproval etched on her face. "A talk. Of course." She's not swallowing that one, clearly.
Chielyth> But she does catch both! Saulienth spies Chielyth with a warble of joy, because she's /always/ good for a game and he knows it. He springs over to her, swift as an antelope, and punches his nose into her shoulder. << Play tag! >> he instructs her. << You're it. >> He's totally oblivious to the funk. Gedroth's merely curious about it, following his brother up to Chielyth and pausing to take deep sniffs, as if emotions were written on the wind for him. << There you are, Chielyth. You don't look very good. >> Brothers are so sensitive.
Rhodya looks up at Phara, and does a double-take. There's disapproval there? The look she gives the assistant weyrlingmaster is quite plainly offended. Mouth open, brows knit in disbelief. No mistaking it. Rhodya turns her face away and crosses her arms, saying nothing. Now /she's/ ticked. Yay for weyrlings.
Suddenly it's very important that Kai use both hands to hold his armful of scrolls. "'Cause I been yanked around," he answers them both, looking from one woman to the other. "She's unhappy. Can I go t' her?" And that's not quite a request, but neither is he pushing past Phara to make for the door. Nor is he answering some of those questions.
Chielyth> Chielyth isn't either it. She wraps her tail tighter around her haunches and grumbles at Saulienth. << No, >> she tells him shortly, looks past him to the larger Gedroth. << Kai is *a jumbled mash of images, even more scribbly and unclear than her usual*. And he isn't listening! >>
Phara makes a face at the both of them. "First you'll tell me what you're doing with all those scrolls." A meaningful look is given to the armload of records. "I trust you've checked them out properly or you're planning on reselving them." She lifts a hand to rub at her temples. "And then, by all means, go to her. I think you'll come too, Rhodya, and the two of you can tell me just exactly what you were discussing to upset your dragons so."
Chielyth> Saulienth is ever so slowly starting to cue in that something's amiss, but he doesn't know quite what to do about it. He gives Chielyth another prod with his nose. << No? But you're /it/! >> This moodiness makes him uncomfortable. Gedroth flops down on his stomach to keep studying it. << He isn't listening? What happens when you speak to him, he is blocked? Or he is gone? >> Stretching his nose out below the level of her chin, he nudges up to give her a tentative, comforting bump - a literal 'chin up!' So it's not all science with him.
B'kaiv possessively clutches his hides even tighter. "These is for my sharding /harper lessons/. Shells!" Alas for Rhodya's poor delicate ears! Jaw clamping even tighter, he shoots Rhodya a quick look of apology before whirling one last time and stomping out without another word. Out past Phara, out past the shelves and the weedy archivist trying to organize his records in peace, and out to the sunshine.
"Gedroth isn't upset," Rhodya points out, her tone measured and neutral. She won't disrespect her superior, as Kai does, but she's not going to be her usual friendly self in this mood, either. Her expression only softens for a single second, and that's to give Kai a wry, wordless thanks for his equally wordless apology. "I'll see you outside, ma'am," she says, and follows Kai.
Northern Bowl, Fort Weyr
This section of the bowl is just as devoid of plantlife as the central portion, the sandy soil having been packed more solidly due to the sheer amount of foot traffic passing through. While there are weyrs located to both the east and west, there are very few toward the north.
Toward the northwest would be the ledges for the junior goldriders, while a second flight of stairs leads up to the Weyrleaders' complex. A little to the northeast is the entrance to the hatching cavern, while an entrance to the living cavern is located directly to the east. At the opposite and distant southeastern end of the bowl would be the lake and feeding grounds, with the weyrling barracks and infirmary to the southwest and southeast, respectively.
Obvious exits:
Southern Bowl Living Cavern Inner Caverns Hatching Cavern Records Room Weyrleaders' Complex Junior Ledges
<< No, you're it. I'm not playing, >> Chielyth answers Saulienth, and remains all tucked up and grumpy. Poor little brown. << He listens and says yes but then he *an explosion of hides* again. I don't like it! >> But here comes Kai, slamming his free fist into the wall every other step, his face a virtual thunderstorm of sullen.
Phara makes a face and follows wordlessly after Kai's outburst, folding her arms over her stomach. She inhales and then exhales slowly. She brings up the rear of the little party, looking mostly helpless.
Saulienth is /so confused/. He pulls his feet together like somebody just tightened an invisible drawstring around them, and bounces his weight antsily. << But - it would make you feel better? >> he tries. Gedroth reaches a paw out to push his brother, unbalancing him and making him stumble. << You're being annoying, Saulienth, >> he observes. The littler brown deflates and falls in a heap, edging over to put his side against Chielyth's to offer what comfort he may. He's better off not speaking. << But you do like it, >> Gedroth remembers, tilting his head at Chielyth. << We have talked about him. He is exploding and angry and wonderful to you. This is different? >> Rhodya follows Kai out, but all she does is glance at Gedroth (making sure he's fine) and then stare stonily ahead, like she's awaiting an interrogation.
B'kaiv stops just to one side of the entrance, thumps his fist into the stone twice more and his head once (though gently) before moving off straight to Chielyth's side. "She don't want t' play, Saulienth," he tells the smaller of the browns brusquely as he caresses the green's nose, managing a tiny crooked smile for Gedroth. "Just need t' work some of this off," he tells the three young dragons, not looking to see if he's been followed. "Sorry, Chielyth. I ain't doin' good t'day."
Phara just shrugs at Rhodya and jams her hands into her pockets. "Right then." She heaves a sigh and meanders off across the Bowl towards Bennath lounging relaxed. "Sharding boys," she mumbles to herself. "Always worked up over nothing."
Gedroth glances up when Kai gets there, looking inquisitive more than anything, and accepts the explanation for his behavior with a rustle of his wings. Saulienth just pulls a wing up to hide his face and crowns even closer to Chielyth, like he needs comfort, too. When Rhodya sees Phara walking away, and the prospect of an imminent interrogation fades, at least, from her immediate forecast, she lets the ice melt out of her demeanor. Throwing her head back against the wall behind her, she lets out a long sigh and slides down it.
B'kaiv's got one arm trapped by sharding hides or else he'd surely indulge Saulienth's whim, wouldn't he? Or no, he'd probably just wrap them both around Chielyth's neck instead. His shoulders remain tense - he can't see Phara walking away, so he probably thinks the third degree still awaits. But Chielyth nudges at him, nudges again and lays her head over his shoulder with a sigh, blinking - if not content, then at least less stress - after the bluerider.
Phara isn't leaving, she's just biding her time until Chielyth is calmed down. When Bennath seems certain the green is settled down some, she meanders back and takes a deep breath. "Alright then. Somebody want to tell me first what you two were doing in the Records Room? And don't tell me just talking, because Chielyth was upset enough to call Bennath, and Bennath was upset enough to tell me I was needed, and those sorts of things don't just happen from talking."
Rhodya pulls her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around them. Hearing Phara's voice break into her short-lived reverie, she tenses, but she doesn't grow as stiff as she was a moment ago. "It was just talking..." she answers unhelpfully, her words trailing off as her frown intensifies. Gedroth glances up and looks at her for a moment, rustles his wings again, then stretches his muzzle out to sniff at Chielyth and take another sniff of her mood.
Chielyth sighs and uncurls her tail just enough to whack it lightly against Saulienth's back legs; rolls an eye over to Gedroth and sighs at him, too. "We /was/ just talkin'," Kai agrees without turning around, letting Chielyth do the looking for him. "It weren't Rhodya's fault - she come in after I was already mad. Got upset over somethin' Jaeyi said. I was tryin' t' explain, only I didn't do too good. Couldn't keep it from Chielyth, neither. Mean, she don't know -why- I'm mad, just that I am. Gedroth's only unhappy 'cause Chielyth is."
Phara nods her head, accepting B'kaiv's explaination. "Thank you, B'kaiv," she says simply. "I appreciate your forth coming. I think, in the future, I shall request that Jaeyi keep her distance. It seems to me she is an unhealthy distraction for you. Please try to control your temper in the future, though. It really isn't good for Chielyth, and I know you don't want her upset." Rhodya gets a simple look. "You too, huh?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Don't know what I did to deserve /everyone/ hating me. Don't like people anyways." And Phara stomps off, presumably to whatever she was doing before she was interrupted.
Chielyth blows out her breath as the bluerider stomps off, sounding for that moment rather like her rider. "Dunno why Jantha ain't told her t' pack her bags and get," Kai says once the green's done, and shoves up her head so can turn around beneath it. "Sorry. Think she follows me around, waitin' for me t' mess up."
"Well, she wasn't all wrong," Rhodya concedes, stretching her legs out and watching Phara stomp into the distance. She twists her lips, but doesn't attempt to call after her. She just looks back at Kai. "You needed some time to cool down and there I was talkin' to ya and not lettin' you have it. Plus she comes in 'cause Chielyth's upset, she's got to work with what she sees. I feel bad about it." Gedroth flips his tail. << I'm not unhappy! >> he objects, to Kai's earlier words. << I don't know why everyone thinks I am unhappy. >> He shakes his head and lets out a honking, baffled snort. Saulienth peeks out at the sound, sends a mental snicker around the trio of dragonets, then leans his head against Chielyth's shoulder. His tail starts tapping rhythmically.
"Shoulda..." Kai starts, but doesn't finish that thought of what he should have done. He reaches up and back for Chielyth instead, his other hand stretching out to offer Gedroth a pat for that honk. "Don't think I ever heard no dragon make noises quite like Gedroth. He's somethin', ain't he?" << I was unhappy, >> Chielyth agrees, her tail flipping around to tickle and tease at her larger brother. << I know! They confused us. Because we look exactly alike! >> There's her twinkling, sparkling self back, muted but no longer so muffled and dark.
Rhodya grins, stretching a hand out for Gedroth as well. He leans into the pat, from Kai, and stretches his nose out to take a scritch from Rhodya. "He sure is. Makes me laugh," she adds, giving him a more vigorous scritch than he expected. Gedroth obliges them all with a beep of surprise, then a perfectly ordinary croon as she hits a good spot. "Silly baby. Chielyth's lookin' feisty again." She gestures at the flipping tail. Gedroth tries to catch it, scooting forward on his elbows to chase it when he misses. << We don't look exactly alike! >> he says, settling for bumping her shoulder since he can't catch the tail. << Your nose is bigger. >>
This big brown looks like a living bundle of sticks, his build all odd angles and long planes on a spindly body. His hide boasts mostly even coloring in a pale tan hue, but an ochre undercurrent strengthens the intensity of his already large, high-set eyes and the long sweep of his wings. A narrow muzzle stretches into an overlong, sinuous neck that goes on for ages, its length measured out in tiny, toast-tipped ridges. His limbs are the gangling sort, awkward and at odds with his body, but when he moves it all comes together: smooth motions, the elegant tip-toe of a dancer, each step alive with energy. A flat-topped tail balances all that movement, and brings one final brush of ochre out like the last rays of sunset.
At 0 turns, 4 months, 1 day old, Gedroth is 15 feet, 2 inches long with a wingspan of 26 feet, 7 inches, standing 10 feet, 2 inches tall at the shoulder.
Darkness rises from dainty talons to blend into the sun-dappled, earthy green that dances over Chielyth's lissome frame. With a body made for prancing, buoyant grace sketches her muscles from the slender curvature of her lengthy neck, down her sleek, moss-tipped neckridges, to each articulate turn of her slim tail. Her wings are short and strong, meant for agile turns and just a little more endurance than speed, with sunlight seeming to pool where her wingsails narrow into her spars. Tinged darker along her trailing edges, her sails, when spread, reveal an overlaying of herringbone wisps, as if the artist who painted her had cleaned his brush off there when finished with one color and found the effect interesting enough to leave. A slim muzzle, shockingly dark against her brightness and looking as though she'd dipped it into dye, sets off large, guileless eyes.
At 0 turns, 4 months, 1 day old, Chielyth is 9 feet, 1 inch long with a wingspan of 15 feet, 10 inches, standing 6 feet, 1 inch tall at the shoulder.
<< And I am faster, >> Chielyth agrees, casting each brown in turn an adorably coy look. "Yeah," Kai agrees, hanging a crooked smile off his teeth and giving Gedroth another manly thump. "S'one good thing about her - she shows up and I shove everything down. Y'know? 'Cause she... I dunno. S'like she don't got t' say nothin' an' I get mad. Don't want t' upset Chielyth more, I got t' put it away."
"Well, some people rub ya the wrong way," Rhodya admits with a twisted grin, falling back against her wall again. "I get that way about a brownrider here, some lady who's a friend of V'rel's. One time she got me riled up, /one time/, and now I can't help seein' her everywhere and she's in my face about it again and again." She shakes a fist, playful for the most part, at the weyr. Saulienth wriggles like an excited puppy under Chielyth's coy look, springing to his feet. << Tag? >> << Tag! >> Gedroth answers, shoving Saulienth. << Saulienth's it. >> He shoots off, skittering pebbles underfoot he's moving so fast. Beat that, Chielyth!
B'kaiv agreeably shakes his fist too - Weyrling solidarity! - only to get shoved forward and stumble by Chielyth springing after Gedroth, away from Saulienth. << No fair! >> Chielyth laughs, scrambling in the larger brown's wake. << Saulienth, get Gedroth first! >> Kai hustles closer to the wall and nominal safety, sinks down beside Rho to watch the trio. "You ever think about it? When they'll get older?"
"What part of it?" Rhodya asks with a grin. She crosses an arm behind her head, watching the dragons cavort. Gedroth narrowly dances away from Saulienth, who greets Chielyth's plea with happy obedience. "I been thinkin' about riding him a lot since they started to fly. Oh my /gosh/, Kai, I'm so excited. I wanna see what he's got!" She turns a bright grin on the greenrider, her eyes sparkling with anticipation of the challenge. Gedroth bounds towards Chielyth, leading Saulienth back to her. << Get her! >> he goads the other brown, and Saulienth is once again happy to obey. He scampers after the green.
B'kaiv says, "Nah, like /older/ older." But flying, that's something he's more than happy to discuss. "Yeah, me too. Bet she's gonna be somethin', small as she is. Hope they don't keep me offa her back longer 'cause of it." He glances sidelong, meeting her grin with another one of his wry half smiles. Chielyth shrieks happily and dashes in another direction, trusting that her size and the tight angle will keep Saulienth's nose from her flank, scrabble scrabble. "Hey Rho - can I ask you somethin'?"
Older? How much older can they - oh. Understanding forms on Rhodya's face, and she grimaces. "You mean..." she lets that thought trail off, and doesn't get around to finishing it. Instead she nods emphatically. "Sure you can. Of course." Saulienth bounds straight at Chielyth with all his energy and speed, but when she turns out of the way, well, curse her! He keeps going straight with a cry of dismay. Gedroth turns to see what happened and winds up getting tagged: Saulienth recovered quickly! The big brown bleats a protest of his fate. << I was tricked! >>
B'kaiv purses his lips at her, but doesn't continue down the path of older-older. "Been havin' these weird dreams," he says instead, looking to Chielyth and her playmates again. "There was this one where Chielyth were flyin' - really flyin' - and she weren't listenin' t' me, an' my Ma were there, only it weren't my Ma, 'cause she was a rider too." He glances over as Chielyth dances teasingly at Gedroth, wings flagged high. << Too bad! Get him back! >> "Anyway. You been havin' dreams like that too? Ain't slept this bad since she were little."
Rhodya starts to give him the same shocked look she was giving Phara, except without the outrage this time. "I had that /exact/ dream!" She shakes her head at him, in awe of the coincidence. "And I been havin' others, too. Real weird ones, always." She pauses, gives him a grin. "I hope you ain't had any where you're datin' my ex-boyfriend, 'cause then I'd really start to worry for the both of us." Gedroth puts his head down and bulls after Chielyth, taking care to pick up his steps and get ready to /turn/ when he gets closer. << I'll get /you/ back! >> he threatens, whirling after her. << You sent him after me. >>
Chielyth shrieks again in delight and dashes away, wings trailing behind her like scarves. Kai watches her mostly, only looking now and again over at Rho. "Shells. --Sorry." Even Cirse hasn't had much luck in cleaning up his language. "I mean, yeah? I ain't had - I don't /remember/ havin' none with no boyfriend. Think I'd remember one of them." Again his smile flickers. "Don't let that Gedroth catch you!" he calls encouragingly, which sends Chielyth galloping at Saulienth. "What d'you think it means? Us havin' the same dream, I mean?"
Rhodya narrows her eyes at the dragonets, uncertain. "I dunno. 'Cause that dream we both had - it wasn't my mother either. Mean, she /was/ a rider, but she wasn't rude like that lady was." Gedroth seems to be cheered on by Kai's encouragement, even more than Chielyth is. He leaps after her, misses, but hey, there's Saulienth, resting on his laurels as the most recent It. So brown retaliates on brown, and Saulienth is It again. "You think it's something they're doing?" Rhodya asks in a murmur. "Talkin' among themselves or something, and maybe it influences us?"
Green scoots past brown and off across the bowl, her wings straight out now. << I'm -flying-! >> is what she sends to her brothers, all thought of tag gone. << Fly with me! Like this! >> "Dunno," Kai shrugs, and glances Rhodya-ward again. "Maybe? Chielyth's up a lot at night - lets me sleep, but every time I wake up so's she. /She/ ain't got no rider mama either. Could ask Jantha, I guess. Or V'rel?"
<< You just don't want to get tagged! >> Saulienth calls, distraught. To him, it's no fair that he has to be It twice and Chielyth gets off scot free. But for Gedroth, that's his problem! He bowls after Chielyth, head down and wings out. << I /could/ fly if I wanted to, >> he lets them all know. Rhodya nips her lower lip into her mouth, and it's difficult to say whether she's worried about Gedroth (at that breakneck speed) or the weird dreams. "Yeah, Gedroth's always up when I get up, too. And T'rev reminded me it's a problem if we don't get enough sleep. I guess we have to?" she asks, looking worriedly at Kai for confirmation. "I /really/ don't like talking about my dreams. Think it's silly. But if you're havin' the same ones as me, something's going on, huh?"
<< Whee!!! >> Chielyth broadcasts as she soars and dips on the winds. Or, well, on the ground. With her wings out. Poooor Saulienth! "I got dreams I don't want t' share with nobody," Kai admits after a second or two, low-voiced and only half-laughing. "But yeah - maybe we should. Dunno what's goin' on, so..." So they should ask. Only he doesn't say that, just pulls his knees up and wraps his arms around them. "Had this one, once, where I was bein' chased by these giant pitchers of beer an' the only place t' hide from 'em was under tables. That was back t' the Waystation," he adds, lest she think she'll be having anxiety dreams about bartending next.
Maybe Rhodya was thinking just that, because she pantomimes wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. "Don't be thinkin' about that one too much, in case you put it in their heads. I don't want no pitchers of beer chasin' me," she laughs. What he said about dreams he didn't want to share? She's still got a bit of a blush after that, but whatever it made her think of, she's not about to share either. "You'd think they'd warn us if dragons could get into your dreams. Just so we'd be prepared," she murmurs. Gedroth leaps into the air, never truly taking flight but certainly getting a good long jump out of it. << Gedroth's flying! >> Saulienth accuses, darting past his brother.
B'kaiv snorts once, twice. "More like firestone sacks, these days. Or hides." Which he gives a nod to, those still clustered around his legs like ducklings. "Makes sense, though, don't it? 'Cause they're in our head an' all. Wouldn't be surprised t' dream about meat or flyin' sometime. Well, before they got old." Older, anyway. Idly, "Think we ought t' stop 'em?" with a nod after the gliding-not-flying dragons. Chielyth only goes, << Whee!! >> again, leaving Saulienth to play hallway monitor if he's going to.
"Yeah. Old. You worried about that?" Rhodya asks delicately, with a tiny tug of her head towards the stampeding Chielyth. Saulienth is disappointed that nobody, not even Gedroth, seems to care about his accusation. << I'm tired, >> he declares as he stops, and Gedroth bolts past him again. The brown leaps a few more times, scrabbling his claws on a jut of stone one time, but he's wise enough not try what Saulienth accused him of. Rhodya's watching him carefully regardless. "Yeah, in a minute. If one of 'em gets hurt in that minute I'll feel pretty dumb, but I feel like they're gonna wear themselves out pretty soon, goin' like that." She gestures at Saulienth, the proof.
"Worried 'bout lots of things," Kai admits in a low enough voice that he can pretend he never uttered anything. "Don't think nobody's gonna want no greenrider as can't read good." He scowls at his knees and flicks away bits of dirt or sand; after a second he adds, more normally, "It ain't like we ain't right here. And they ain't..." He ends with a shrug, leaving Chielyth to 'bank' and turn back to her brothers. << I'm tired too, >> she says, trotting three, four more steps before slowing and letting her wings droop. << Saulienth... >> Like Kai she doesn't finish, but unlike Kai she sends a poor-pitiful-me look at the smaller brown. Won't he come over and help her, so far away from the others?
"Yeah, but they're goin' awful fast," Rhodya replies - right before Chielyth stops. Gedroth slows to a trot soon after, then turns to follow his siblings and see what they're up to. Saulienth whined about having to move, but who could resist that face? In the end, he comes to Chielyth, and Gedroth joins them for a dragon dogpile. << That was fun, >> remarks Gedroth, master of the obvious. Rhodya chuckles at the sight of them. "You're still havin' trouble with that harper stuff, huh? Don't worry." She gives him a sunny smile. "I'm sure you'll get it. You're smart up here," she taps his forehead, "so once you get comfortable, I got no doubts you'll be zippin' through this stuff." She nudges a hide near her boot.
Chielyth sighs happily and collapses against the browns, wriggling until she's got a wing free and a neck draped so and maybe it's time to nap. "Ten kinds of stupid," Kai scowls to her cheering and grabs belatedly after that tapping finger. Of course, given his prowess at self-defense, the lateness was almost definitely deliberate. "Been workin' with Majawin - Journeyman Majawin," he corrects, "Since we was Candidates. Know what he told me th' other day?" He doesn't give her the chance to answer. "Said my spelling don't make a wher cry no more." He can't decide whether to be amused or insulted, but comes down just over the line into humor.
Good thing he leans towards humor, because Rhodya laughs immediately upon hearing the phrase. She hoots, in fact, and slaps Kai's shoulder appreciatively. The missed finger grab has not deterred her. "See? What'd I say? Smart. Don't you give me none of this 'ten kinds of stupid.' Just 'cause you ain't figured it all out yet doesn't mean you ain't /gonna/ figure it out." Gedroth grunts and shifts along with Saulienth, the two boys wordlessly giving choice of placement to the littlest dragon among them. Once Chielyth's settled, Gedroth pushes his way into the next most comfortable spot and when Saulienth objects, points out simply, << You lost tag. >> Then he closes his eyes.
B'kaiv smirks over wryly, unfazed by her shoulder slap. "Ain't, though." He lets the argument go with a one-sided shrug, leans over his knees to start collecting hides. "Should get back, though. Get her tucked in before she falls asleep." A nod's given to where Chielyth's draping body parts over her browns. "An' I got t' start on that sharding essay." No sorry that time.
"Aww, you ain't gonna let 'em cuddle?" Rhodya asks, with another look at the dragon sleeping pile. She's got this melty smile all over her mouth when she does, too. But she wipes it off her face to help Kai, offering "Here" and leaning forward to help him collect hides. That gets it done in half the time! "Watch your mouth, but good luck on that essay. I'm confident you'll spell it at least mostly right." She grins impishly up at him. Up? Well, he's getting up to leave. Rho's staying here, because why not? There are cuddling dragons.
Kai can't, won't, doesn't try and hide the goofy smile that's given to Chielyth and Chielyth alone, his hands pausing momentarily in their hide-gathering. Rho's 'here' brings him out of it, and seconds later he's on his feet, hides in arm once more and looking down at her. "Thanks." For the hides? For the rest of the afternoon? "Guess if you're gonna stay she can, too." Which is good, for as soon as the words are out of his mouth Chielyth's sighing and relaxing into her Saulienth-and-Gedroth pillow. "See you in a little bit." With that and a nod as his farewell he heads off across the bowl, heading for the barracks.
Shells. Least Rhodya got a good head on her shoulders. Just... I just got to think about - got to /stop/ thinkin' about pie. Period. And I can't... I got to make sure I don't go near J- that girl no more. For Chielyth.