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"Nah as long as you don't try to remove her she won't bite. Honestly I'm not sure she even knows how. All she does is eat, screech, beg, and gossip." Hekate replied with a slightly exasperated chuckle as the little gold seemed to settle back down for a nap. "As to Klah he's probably got some weyrbrat feeding him the best bits from their plate in hopes of getting to pet him knowing that rascal." She added with a shake of her head before considering his question with an arched brow. However after a moment of stringing him along she gave in and shrugged.

"Well I doubt she's a threat. Bereck wouldn't have invited her here if he thought she might do the Weyr and more importantly all the Jr. Weyrlings harm. Could be a potential candidate? However I hear he's been visiting the wayward gold and her rider to check up on their progress. It wouldn't surprise me if he happened to have invited her here without telling anyone. He's about as fond of rules and authority as I am and not half as err, all respect due, socially savy about them. That and from the way Kindra is staring at her and the rest of the crowd is acting I'm fairly willing to bet marks on that assessment." Hekate replied looking the girl over and subtly scanning the crowds. It was funny how many of her more nefarious social skills like those used to pick an easy mark applied to the high and mighty politics of the Weyr. It was as simple as reading the faces in the room and putting two and two together. However before Z'fer might go charging over there Hekate reached out looping her arm with his to stop any potential movement.

"However," She began glancing up at her weyrmate with that unnerving look of keen intellect she sometimes let slip into her golden eyes. "She seems a touch shy. If you want to talk to her I'd suggest maybe having Calanoth ask Berath to ask Bereck to send her over. While I adore you Z'fer you are a touch imposing looking being a Wingleader and all." Hekate advised her last few words a bit softer and teasing so as to not potentially hurt his pride.

[K'yne]

He'd grabbed himself some food and a cup of something non-alcoholic to drink. He knew exactly two people that he almost didn't want to hate (but as we all know, K'yne hated everyone equally). It meant that he could wander back to the Weyrling table, knots in place, and flop right into the chair Psaumith saved for him. The dragon shuffled back from K'yne's boots, save for a slight gnawing in rebuff.

Oh look. The other brown. Psaumith murmured when he saw Kh'men and Maicoth leave the group around masterhealer Bereck. Should we socialize?

"No," K'yne mumbled before taking a sip of his drink.

Mmm. the brown paused and then reached out to his brother, more than willing to cause his rider discomfort if it meant getting his way a bit. He liked getting his way. Maicoth. You're looking well.

[Natai]

If a crowd of three seemed out of place at a party full of well aquainted riders and weyrlings, Natai had no knowledge. Save for a brief hello to the young brownrider and Becka, they had only C'ross, Bereck, and two infant dragons. It didn't seem like much of a gathering to her - and if any looked at her more than usual save for Kindra and perhaps Narisa, Natai wouldn't have noticed that either.

"I don't mean to be rude just...just it's a tad unnerving to find someone staring at you from afar, talking with another. The wine doesn't help all that much either," Natai wrinkled her nose just slightly but shrugged. She had two nice little dragons with her, a nice weyrling, and a... less grumpy Bereck, if that meant anything. Being rude never was her goal; there was something instinctive about not wanting to be watched or, as she'd noticed the other woman doing, being laughed at and waved with mocking fingers. People wondered why she stuck with what she knew... "Z'fer. Right. Thank you, Bereck. I'll have to be nearer to him at some point so I'm glad to know at least his name. The dancing sounds fun, though... Perhaps later. Sober. I'm not too sure if drinking right now is appropriate."

The goldrider paused, contemplative, and turned back to C'ross. "I apologize for using you as a stare shield, C'ross. It was either that or ... well, I'm not sure but in all likely hood it would have been unpleasent for others."

And for the moment, she could pretend not to notice the two talking and watching her from the distance. It unnerved her. Dragon aside, Natai was not used to being eyed like that. Thank goodness for a huge blueriding weyrling no one could hit.

Narisa took the stage and began laying down the rules, and C’ross listened attentively as she did so. Some might have rankled under the strict restrictions of weyrlinghood, but C’ross always functioned better in situations where he knew the parameters of what was and was not acceptable behavior. And it wasn’t as if the rules would be hard to follow. C’ross hadn’t been sexually active since moving to Trine, two more turns wouldn’t cause him to shrivel up and die. As for not flying, going between, or chewing firestone until they actually knew how to do those things, that was common sense. No alcohol would be a bit more difficult, but still more of a frustrating inconvenience than a terrible burden.

“I have no idea,” he told Natai frankly in response to her comment about sex. A lot of things about dragons seemed to revolve around sex, and quite honestly he’d like it if there was… well, less focus on who was putting their d**k in whom. Human d**k or dragon d**k. But he didn’t make the rules.

When Natai shifted to use him as a shield, however, C’ross reflexively glanced in the direction she was hiding from, scanning for anything that might be considered threatening. What was she hiding from? Or who? There were two people staring in their direction, which was strange, considering that three people talking at a party was in no way notable enough to be attracting attention from across a crowded room. C’ross stared directly back at Z’fer, eyes narrowed slightly, then turned back to Natai and rested a hand lightly on her arm. “You okay?”

Who were they? He recognized the woman from the Candidate lesson – she was either a silverrider or a blackrider, he thought. The man was some kind of Weyr big shot – Wingleader and a bronzerider, Bereck confirmed a moment later. Well, if he came over here he was going to be in a world of trouble.

Please don’t pick a fight with a wingleader on your first day as a weyrling, Nimith piped in helpfully.

I’m not picking a fight. I’m attending a party where I’m the guest of honor – and where he can’t do anything to me without potentially damaging my fragile new bond with a sensitive baby dragon. In front of everyone, no less. Let’s face it, Nim, we’re untouchable.

Nimith snorted indignantly at being referred to as sensitive, even with the sarcasm behind C’ross’ mindvoice. But even if it wasn't the most honorable of possible solutions, C'ross was at least thinking with his head instead of his fists, and he was willing to give his rider credit where credit was due. You have a point. Iachixth, if you need me and my rider to run interference for you, we’d be happy to do so, he added to the gold.

And - oh Faranth Narisa was coming over. Oh Faranth. Even with the assurances that she was the nice one, she was still a Junior Weyrwoman, and her dragon was Nimith's mother. Hopefully he'd be able to avoid making a complete a** of himself in front of her while simultaneously keeping weird staring people away from Natai. "It's C'ross, ma'am. Thank you." He offered a slight stiff bow and backed off a little to let her embrace Natai without him getting in the way.

Z'fer

Z'fer didn't look away when it was obvious they'd been noticed. He wasn't doing anything wrong after all. Instead he put his arm around Hekate's waist and kissed the top of her head. Half of what Hekate said flew right passed him as he picked just the relevant information out of her, that the woman was probably the missing goldrider. "I'll probably run into her later. Calanoth hasn't said anything about a new dragon yet. He's wrapped up with the hatchlings but I'd think he'd notice a gold hovering about."

Shy was disappointing, but he could work with it. That is if this was the goldrider and not some new apprentice. Z'fer wouldn't be surprised what with all the apprentice healers being picked off by dragons. He wondered if the old Masterhealer would create a subdivision of Dragonhealer's here at Trine? It might be something to bring up. A set of rider/healers dedicated to threadscored dragons might be useful.

Seeing Narisa run and greet the girl made it pretty obvious who she was though. "Speaking of food I'm starving. Lets get something to eat before the dancing starts."

Wen didn't remember much about their hatching feast. It had been just a short time ago, not even a turn but he hadn't known anyone well enough to actually socialize let alone attempt to dance with and had still been reeling after bonding to Rynsemth. Now, well he had Cai... who had suffer a makeover from Jemi, she looked rather nice actually. Jemi had dug out some squirreled away cosmetics from her attempts to be feminine and lent 'forced' Cai to use them.

He for once wasn't in his guard leathers but in a pair of soft gray linen and a pale green shirt with just an hint of embroidery at the cuffs. Jemi had swiped all his plain hair ties and replaced them with ribbons so his customary braid was laced with purple, yellow, and black. "Well, it is a hatching feast. Dancing is expected, so would you care to grace me with a dance?" That is what normal friends who were the opposite did. Right?

(Poor Cai's makeover with permission by Dizzy 3 )

Kh'men was about to make his way over to look for Becka when two things happened. The first was Maicoth informing him of Psaumith's comments. And the second was Narisa coming over to speak with the group. Now, it would be awkward if they just walked away. Putting on a light smile, he gave a little bow and addressed the woman whose gold gave him Maicoth. "Greetings, ma'am. After talking it over with Maicoth, we decided to go with the name Kh'men. It seemed short and easy enough to pronounce."

He was not great at conversation. He was good at talking when a job needed to be done. But still, he would manage to make his way through this trial and come out better for it. "The baskets were very nice. The supplies are much appreciated."

Maicoth turned and gave a sort of thrum towards the other brown. Psaumith. Come and join us? Perhaps, your rider can make mine feel less awkward. He doesn't care for crowds. And neither do I but we seem to be stuck.
Sitting down, the brown supposed he should say something to both golds who seemed to be weaving in and out of the conversation. Searching through Kh'men's mind, who supplied the name needed, the brown spoke in a respectful manner. Greetings Cepheith. I hope your rider doesn't mind that mine is a rider of few words.

[Natai]

A warm and calloused hand touched hers. Natai blinked back to C'ross, her full lips half-curled into a smile. It felt... nice to have someone her own age and impervious to conflict on her side, more than willing to play protector against anything out of the ordinary. She imagined that should they have been in a Harpers tale this would be the moment for her to start admiring the square set o his jaw, the width of the blueriders shoulders under his somber uniform. No such fluttering occurred, in her heart or elsewhere. Just the warmth of a persons touch in what she hoped to be concern outside of future favors from a metallic rider. So she smiled, content in what she knew to be too much trust much too soon. "I'm fine. It's a little different is all, thank you. Is it so unusual to see a new person at a thing such as this?"

You speak so formally, Iachixth sighed. Natai concerned herself too much with her appearance in public in her opinion. She understood grooming and being polite but one could only polish a hie for so long before it began to wear. The gold finally began to leave her little hide away, already starting to squirm from Cepheith's very suggestion. Hiding was boring, super boring, she wanted to visit ith other people as well. It sounded as if a fair number of people saw Natai for who she was, from Healer to bluerider to brown and Becka and possibly the Staring Man and Whispering Woman. Her mindvoice went only to Cephieth, near squeaking. Oh yes! That would be very fun, I would like to see everything! Are you very tired? I can stop being tired, really - flying was ages ago.

She could do it, she knew she could! Even if flying hadn't happened ages ago, not really, she so could. Nimith spoke then, temporarily distracting her, cheerful as ever. Alright! She is okay so far, I think, but it's mostly the watching and whispering, maybe. Narisa is there and Yours is there and Bereck is there so things look to be fun.

Some of Natai's inner frets (and Iachixth's sighs) softened when she saw Narisa up close. Natai smiled as brightly as she could in the unfamiliar public and returned her friends hug. "I'm so glad to see you - you're looking absolutely lovely, Narisa. Cephieths babies are wonderful, Nimith and ell and Maicoth are perfectly polite." It took her a heartbeats pause to remember the little browns name but catch it she did, thanks to the rider saying it aloud. Thank goodness for introductions.

-----

[K'yne]

Psaumith paused, scenerios of why running through his young mind. Get up? Hope K'yne developed social skills past those of a trolling where? He found no point in such a silly endeavor, especially with his rider so enjoying his people watching. Socializing did not seem to be the best idea - fellow brownrider or not.

No, he said after a moment of serious consideration to maicoth. My rider likes to make things even more awkward than they need to be.

And violent. Don't forget violent. K'yne reminded him. Psaumith snorted, his tail twitching.