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 Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:14 pm
There were days when Firyal thought she might like to kill her roommate. She was lucky in many ways, in that she only had one roommate and didn't have to sleep in the dormitories with the Candidates, but there were other problems that most people didn't consider when it came to having a single roommate. For instance, Firyal had been living with Adrisa for the past three years, and so Adrisa felt comfortable with and entitled to bringing her Bluerider boyfriend from another Weyr (who, incidentally, didn't like Firyal in the slightest) into the room when Firyal was trying to do other things, and then Adrisa expected the two of them to make nice until the Bluerider in question had to go back to his own Weyr.
Until recently, Firyal had thought that was the worst she would have to put up with from Adrisa and her Bluerider, but today Adrisa had reached a stunning new level of inconsiderate, and brought her Bluerider in without even warning her roommate. Firyal had walked in on them while they were having sex. Although she had been raised by a mother who was embarrassingly upfront about sex and then come to a Weyr, where there was a great deal less prudery than in the Holds and Halls, she had never really expected that she would find herself in the position of being unable to enter her own room because it was occupied.
And so she removed herself as quickly as possible. Neither of the pair she'd walked in on had noticed her arrival, and she didn't think either had noticed her departure either. But what to do with herself? Numenor, riding on her shoulder, crooned encouraging endearments in her ear as he played with the strands of hair she'd tucked behind it after they'd escaped her braid.
"Love you, too, handsome, but that doesn't give me anyplace to go."
If she went to the kitchen they'd just find more work for her. Actually, more work could be found for her anywhere in the Weyr, despite the influx of Candidates who could be put to work. Which meant she'd have to leave the Weyr proper, which was fine with her. She set off for the rocky beach where she would occasionally swim in the mornings. She couldn't swim because her swimming clothes were in her room and it was a time of day when there might actually be other people at the beach, which meant swimming nude was out of the question, but she could at least lie out on the warm sand or one of the larger rocks and listen to the ocean and plot how to kill her roommate and her boyfriend.
When she reached the beach, she was surprised to find that it was practically empty. Just one rider-dragon pair, in fact. Numenor was the first to identify them, but he identified the rider's firelizards first, projecting their images to Firyal as she walked closer. She was able to recognize them as F'sey's Cloud and Song. Well. She wouldn't find a sympathetic ear in F'sey, but he wasn't miserable company, despite what Adrisa thought of him. (Adrisa had nothing nice to say about the man, and said as much whenever he came up in conversation).
"Go say hello," Firyal told Numenor, who wanted to know if he could. With her permission, he flew ahead, landing near F'sey and greeting him with a chirrup.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:04 pm
Sex and escaping it was never a problem for greenrider F'sey. By making himself one of the most unapproachable people in the entirety of Ista, any sex appeal he may have ever had was immediately dismissed. The only time anything physical ever happened was immediately following Ialluth's flight and should he find the poor unfortunate soul still with him the next morning, they will be a very sorry person.
While Ialluth was due to Rise not too far off in the future, the thought was still far from F'sey's mind. Currently, the only thing he was thinking about was the way his little green dragon was splashing around in the water. She kept insisting she needed a good scrub. Not inclined to test the chilly water before warming up properly, the rider tried to convince his pair of firelizards to do the scratching for. Cloud was initially intrigued by the idea, but without Song following along, the little blue quickly returned to F'sey's side.
He was not expecting a third flit.
Cloud and Song leapt forward, springing off F'sey's shoulders when they spotted the newcomer. The bronze began to chatter and warble, circling around the flit as he fluttered his wings. Song followed behind, chirping much more quietly as he met Numenor head on.
"....who else is hear?" F'sey murmured, rubbing his neck as he spotted the figure (woman?) in the distance. Cloud and Song were of no help, so the greenrider simply placed himself on a rock and glanced out for his dragon.
...I might be out there sooner yet.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:33 pm
Numenor was excited to see the pair of firelizards who came up to investigate his arrival. He had not seen them in a long time. He had nearly forgotten that he knew them at all until he saw them. He was intelligent, but he was limited in memory, like all of his race, and his intelligence was relative. He kept his greetings friendly, for although he and Song were of a size, he knew that Song and Cloud would work together against a strange firelizard, and they might not be so quick to recognize him.
Firyal continued to walk closer. There was a very good chance F'sey wouldn't want to have anything to do with her at all. He wasn't the most social of people, and the best way to stay on his good side was to figure out quickly if he was in a mood to be social or not, and leave him be if he didn't seem to be socially inclined. Adrisa disliked him because she had never figured out that her charm only worked on people who were attracted to pretty women, and she didn't really like anyone who was immune to her charming nature.
"Come here," Firyal said, reinforcing the command mentally so that Numenor would be aware of it at a distance.
Numenor was reluctant to obey, but he did as he was told, cheeping apologetically to Song and Cloud. As he flew back he gave Ialluth a wide berth. Firyal had always been emphatic in telling him to leave dragons alone unless he was specifically invited to go near them. She'd seen a wild flit irritate a brown early on in her tenancy at the Weyr, and the firelizard had not survived the brown's quick teeth. She now knew that such occurrances were the exception, rather than the rule, but it had made an impression on her, and she would be devastated if Numenor's curiosity got him into a similar predicament.
When she was close enough that she could see F'sey on a rock Firyal slowed her pace significantly and looked up at him, shading her eyes with her hand. Numenor interpreted this as an invitation to alight on her wrist, and did so, wrapping his tail around her elbow for balance. Rather than carry a fully grown bronze firelizard on her arm, Firyal encouraged him to shift to her shoulder and raised her hand in greeting, squinting against the sun.
She took a few more steps in F'sey's direction until she came to the first of the large rocks that she would have to scramble up or scale. She was practiced at this, and could do so rapidly, but she would wait until F'sey gave some indication that her presence wasn't entirely unwelcome. She was capable of being silent and leaving people to their thoughts, unlike a number of people she knew. Honestly, she just wanted a place she could relax without having to deal with her roommate's boyfriend. It didn't seem like so much to ask.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:49 am
Song continued to squawk loudly, his intentions nothing but friendly as he halted by Numenor's side and headbutted him. Cloud squeaked, nosing the other bronze before he looked towards Song. Song replied with a chirped, egging his fellow on. Both firelizards let out a dismayed warble when Numenor returned to his person but followed suit, leaping into the air. Song quickly settled on F'sey's arm while Cloud made a perch of the rider's head, much to the man's dismay.
F'sey scowled, making an attempt to pluck the small blue from his scalp, yelping when the flit dug his claws in, determined to keep his perch. Both were used to the greenrider's loud voice and high temper, the occasional curse and shout didn't bother them in the least. Once the lizards settled, F'sey turned his attention to the reason they were all tithered and sighed, simply giving the woman in question a nod of his head.
Ialluth did not demand he make contact with the woman, for once in her life.
F'sey had no intention of such, either. Cloud and Song, however, did not seem to get that. They both sprung forth with little warning, all noise and flurry as flocked the young women, still interested in her flit. They swarmed, Cloud perching on the woman's head and the bronze trying to worm his way onto her shoulder.
"....for Farnath's sake come back here!!"
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 7:54 am
Firyal watched as F'sey attempted to remove Cloud from his head. She could certainly sympathize. His shaggy hair was nowhere near as long as hers, but she guessed it was no more of a picnic when his firelizards decided to play havoc with it than it was for her when Numenor got into similar moods. The bronze had a great fascination with hair which had at first mystified her, though she eventually decided it was simply that he hadn't any hair and couldn't see any use for the stuff, and so found it intriguing, and his memory was short enough that he never quite lost interest.
A nod in greeting was likely to be all the greeting or acknowledgment she would get out of the taciturn Greenrider, and so she chose to interpret it as a "welcome" with a hint of "please keep your distance." She could do that, though it would have been nice to have someone to complain to. F'sey wouldn't be that person, though. He was known to have little sympathy for others' petty grievances, particularly if they weren't willing to do anything about them. As Firyal was reluctant to bring her complaints to Adrisa, she would definitely not find a sympathetic audience in F'sey.
When his pair of firelizards eventually followed Numenor back to her Firyal giggled in spite of herself. Naturally she felt Numenor was the finest firelizard in all of Pern, but that didn't mean she couldn't like others' flits as well, as long as they didn't take issue with her own. She was, however, somewhat surprised when they decided to use her for a perch. Numenor wasn't as friendly with people as he was with other firelizards, and so that was not something she had ever had to worry about him doing. It would make it more difficult to climb the rocks, though.
Numenor was amused and pleased by his friends' ready accceptance of his human, and even willing to allow them to temporarily use some of his favorite perches on her person, providing they understood that the arrangement was temporary. Therefore, he allowed Song to usurp his customary place and hovered in the air nearby, chirping pleasantly at his friends.
"They don't bother me," Firyal called up to F'sey.
Belatedly it occurred to her that it might have nothing to do with whether she was bothered by the firelizards. Maybe F'sey simply didn't want them to get into awkward habits, like swarming people and then perching on them. It was inarguable that a large percentage of the Pernese population had never seen a firelizard before, and felt only marginally more comfortable around flits than dragons.
With that in mind, she shrugged and gave a slight toss of her head, saying, "You two should go back to F'sey. He wants you back."
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:08 am
"Then you can keep them," F'sey muttered under his breath. Those firelizards certainly bothered him, even on the best of days. Of course, obnoxious habits like approaching others with flits and mauling them...maybe mauling was a little overdramatic, but they were still flocking Firyal and they really ought not to be. And now she thought she could tell them what to do, fah.
As if the pair sensed F'sey's very thoughts, they warbled loudly and crooned at the stranger before taking off again, careful not to dig their claws in as they departed. They floated and twirled through the air, playing off each and showing off for the lady, but sure enough, they eventually made their way back to their F'sey, chattering pleasantly as theyMi slipped into their customary spot.
"Sharding flits." Always making him the idiot.
Mine, that all-too-familiar voice rumbled through his head. 'Seymine. Thank her, please.
But-
You know, this would go much faster if you actually just did what I asked you to.
F'sey scowled and made a great show; it was impossible for Ialluth to not see how disgruntled he was. She'd give this nonsense up eventually, right? Right!?
"Ialluth says thing you!" he cried to the young woman. Ialluth sighed.
Not what I meant...
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 11:13 am
After Cloud and Song had departed Numenor reclaimed his position on Firyal's shoulder, convinced he had been magnanimous enough for one day. After all, he had shared. His human hadn't even had to tell him to Behave. Firyal reached up absently and rubbed his eyeridges as a reward for his good behavior. Numenor was generally a very well-behaved flit who obeyed her most of the time, but he did have a mind of his own, even if it wasn't a very bright one, and sometimes he got it into his mind to ignore her. There wasn't much she could do when he did that, since it was difficult to punish a firelizard except by conveying a feeling of disapproval and disappointment.
"Ialluth says thing you!" F'sey called to her, causing her brow to wrinkle with some confusion.
As she heard the Greenrider, his words made no sense. It took her several moments to puzzle out that he might have said Thank you. The waves breaking didn't do much for her hearing. Nor did Numenor's soft crooning in her ear as he presumably told her good things, though she less of an idea what the firelizard be telling her than she had of what F'sey might've meant. F'sey at least spoke the same language she did. Assuming firelizards had a language at all.
She climbed a little closer so that she wouldn't have to work so hard to make her reply. She didn't like shouting if it could be avoided, having gotten her fill of that activity early on in life with her mother. For her climb Numenor detached himself so that he wouldn't prove a hinderance. After that he fluttered about in the expanse between Firyal and F'sey for several moments before landing on a different rock nearer the water so that he could play in the spray.
"Would you thank her for her consideration?" Firyal asked.
She was aware that it wasn't necessary to speak to a dragon through their rider, but it seemed to be more polite to do so, since any reply the dragon made would have to come through the rider anyway. It acknowledged their special bond or something like that. She couldn't remember the justification at that moment.
"Also, I apologize for encouraging your flits. I suspect Numenor tells them all I have a soft spot for firelizards and invites them to take advantage of it."
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:42 am
....you know, sometimes, you're a roiling shardit.
F'sey was caught somewhere between being mortified he had said thing instead of thank and the other half of him was completely well, amused. Apparently, there was still some teenage boy buried underneath all that grumpy forty-turn-old rider. ...that was funny, Ialluth.
Mine, I hardly know what to do with you sometimes. You're lucky she didn't laugh at you!
Yes, and instead, I get to laugh at myself. Another chuckle. On his shoulders, his lizards trilled, confused and somewhat alarmed by the abrupt change in F'sey's mood. Well, it wasn't that his mood had changed suddenly, they'd been victims of suffering the violent swing south many times, but to have him suddenly cheer up? Absolutely baffling. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, though, so the lizards made no move to escape. Song chimed in while F'sey laughed; the combination was interesting. For all his rough and gruff, F'sey actually had a very pretty laugh.
Pay attention! She is still talking.
Shaking his head and stroking Song's head, he finally tuned back to Firyal. "It's alright, I suppose. I get the distinct feeling that, on occasion, these little snakes just ignore me to see what I'll do." Okay, almost always. But she didn't really need to know that.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:33 am
Firyal wasn't quite sure what had prompted F'sey's laughter, for it had certainly been one of the last ways she would have expected him to react to anything - ever - but she offered a somewhat unsure smile in response. She was certain she hadn't said anything to earn mocking or condescending laughter, and, really, it didn't sound like that sort of laughter anyway. He had a surprisingly pleasant laugh, though its abrupt appearance had startled her sufficiently that it couldn't have an infectious effect on her. She still felt like she had missed something.
"Capricious little monsters," Firyal agreed, glancing over at her own bronze.
Numenor was more or less oblivious to the phenomenon that was F'sey's laughter. He was much too busy threatening the sea. He enjoyed swimming with Firyal but he always took waves as a personal affront, which Firyal could never fathom, since he seemed to deliberately position himself so that he would be caught in the salty spray. He hissed ferociously at the water, daring it to come get him and then fluttering away quickly when it took him up on his invitation, rather like a sandpiper.
"It's taken me the full two turns of Numenor's life to train him to the point he's at, and there are still days when he behaves like a wildling. Days like that it's hard to believe they might be distantly related to dragons."
Mentioning the theory that dragons and firelizards were related was a bit risky, she supposed. There were any number of riders who refused to consider that their beloved bondmates may have any sort of relation to a comparatively unintelligent and undiscriminating beast like a firelizard. These were also the same riders, however who would deny any relation between dragons and watchwhers based on the idea that watchwhers are ugly and photophobic. Firyal had not given the matter much thought, but the resemblance between the three species gave her the impression that they had to be related in some way, though she would never dispute the innate superiority of dragons.
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