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 Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:41 pm
Because I am lazy, I am just quoting this and we can go on from here yes?
Ah, forced smiles. Those weren't very common after Touchings. Most Candidates were too smitten with visions of straddling a dragon and soaring through the skies to be weighed down with considerations of real life. It always occurred to them eventually what the odds of Impression were. Usually while they were eating breakfast and discussing the affair with their fellow Candidates. They would be struck by the realization that four other people had all felt drawn to the same egg, and that was only out of the six or so who sat around them, and there were tens of Candidates for this clutch. Surely the dragonets would all find their bondmate with so many choices.
Firyal's answering half-smile was a little wry. She was slipping back into the darker person she'd been when she came to the Weyr at thirteen. Really, she had to make more of an effort to be sociable and pleasant. She had no good reason to be dismal and depressing. And this was clearly the girl's first Touching. If for no other reason, she ought to try to be more upbeat. With that in mind, she took her offered hand and gripped it firmly while also firming up her smile.
"I'm Firyal, and whyever are you apologizing? What's wrong with your hands?" She glanced quickly down to see if she'd somehow missed noticing horrific scarring or an extra finger or something. Seeing neither, she looked back up at Aderyn with her eyebrows raised in query.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:29 am
Aderyn offered a small, embarressed smile.
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm perpetually apologizing..."
She paused, catching her mistake as her cheeks coloured.
"And apparently apologizing for that as well. And my hands... are not beautiful and soft, such as your own. They're rough and ill-suited for dainty work. They're the hands of a Cotholder."
Another small smile, but this time it did not reach her eyes. They were, for their part, shadowed.
"I do want to thank you for your assistance. I'm afraid I panic when I'm not in control of a situation... Especially ones where everyone is watching. Back home it has to be a communal thing, but I always feel most secure when I'm in charge of my own little world. Otherwise I feel like I may lose a grip on myself..."
Silence. She'd said much too much.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:11 am
"Not to worry. I actually apologize a lot, too. And frequently find myself in the position of apologizing for my apologies."
Firyal could absolutely relate to perpetually apologizing. She spent a great deal of her time apologizing, too, though she played games with herself (since no one else seemed to notice the difference) where she would say either "I'm sorry" or "I apologize." The first indicated true contrition, the second was more of a way of getting people off her back when an apology was expected, but she didn't feel particularly sorry for whatever wrong she'd done. Mostly when she felt like apologizing, there turned out to be no need to do so.
"I can understand what you mean about preferring to control your situation, though in a different way. My family is full of fiercely independent people who don't really listen to anyone, and tend to just do whatever they think is best, and tell everyone else what would be best for them. We didn't really qualify as communal, even though we all lived sort of in each other's pockets." Oh, that surely cleared so much up. She should've just kept her mouth shut.
She looked at her hands, wondering how they qualified as soft. Or beautiful. Perhaps if people didn't mind fingers that weren't perfectly straight from base to tip in that they tended to mold themselves to fit each other, working out from her middle fingers. Not that anyone really noticed that. Firyal only noticed because she was very good at self-criticism when the mood came upon her, though she rarely allowed it to bother her, because it was something she could do absolutely nothing about, short of breaking her fingers and hoping they'd heal straighter than they had been. And that would just be stupid, considering there were other things to dislike about her body that were her fault.
She shrugged.
"Ah...my hands are really only soft because I have to oil my firelizard frequently to keep his hide supple, and the oils do the same for my hands. Were it not for that, my hands would show the work they've done for the past six years."
Numenor. She supposed, now that the Touching was over, she could call him back. He wouldn't be able to annoy the queen anymore. She gave a mental command to Come and felt a flutter of excitement that was Numenor's as he went between to appear nearly instantaneously in the air above her head, where he hovered until she held out her arm for him to perch on. She was relieved when he landed on her forearm and stayed there, rather than investigating Aderyn immediately.
"This is the firelizard I mentioned." She fought a blush. It was, in many ways, ridiculous for someone with as little status as she had to own a bronze firelizard. "An embarrassment of riches."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:19 am
Aderyn was genuinely startled by the sudden appearance of the firelizard. For all that the cotholders knew of the dragons, and their smaller counterparts, she had never actually seen one. Her place had been in the orchard, never dealing or so much as seeing the merchants and staff of the Hold, any of whom had the potential means for such an extravagance. From nose to tip he was a perfect bronze colour, and an exquisite miniature of his larger cousins.
Aderyn could not help herself; she leaned forward, throwing caution to the wind, ignorant of firelizard temperaments and the potential for mauling, and got as close as she dared, investigating the beautiful creature up close.
"He's absolutely beautiful, Firyal! You're so lucky to have such a lovely thing. Back home I would never have dreamed of seeing one so close..."
She was in too much awe to even smile.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:57 pm
Firyal's instinctive caution about Numenor's tendencies to bite people who tried to touch him without her go-ahead died on her lips. Instead, she hurriedly gave her firelizard the mental command to Behave. She could sense the bronze's instinct to n** warring with her authority, and was relieved when she won out and he held very still on her arm, his perch. It was evident to Firyal, who knew his moods, that he was making a great effort, holding eerily still to submit to Aderyn's examination. He truly didn't like being handled by strangers, but since Aderyn had not yet made any effort to touch him, he remained in his statuesque pose, regarding the dark girl with suspicion and curiosity.
"Thanks. He was an accident. I mean, he wasn't supposed to be mine. He was supposed to be my roommate's, but things didn't exactly work out as planned."
Numenor swiveled his head around to look between Firyal and Aderyn, keeping the rest of his body perfectly still. His wings were only half-folded, as if he was poised to take flight or batter Aderyn with them. It was usually best for strangers to approach him with foodlike offerings. He occasionally bit fingers rather than food, but usually Firyal could claim it was accidental. That was a harder claim to make when there was no food for him to mistake fingers for.
"I daresay you'll see a lot of them, and dragons, too, should you Impress, or decide to stay at the Weyr to await a future Hatching. With Ista being as overcrowded as it is, it's difficult not to come across them."
She wasn't sure how to go about saying that Numenor was in a nippy mood, and that was the only reason she hadn't offered to let Aderyn pet him. But being told to Stay while his human went off to consort with dragons had put the bronze in a snit and he was even less inclined to behave rationally than he would have been under ordinary circumstances. Not that firelizards were known for being rational.
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