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 Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:58 pm
Kesslan felt a slow smile tug at the corners of her mouth as her dark eyes flicked up to make brief eye contact with her part-time mentor, attention still peripherally on the cards he dealt between them. Twice a week the pair met to play, near habitually, though if the blonde was having a particularly tough fort-night, they might find the cards in their hands and each other’s company upwards of six times.
Of course, to most it looked like a bit of an odd coupling, the slight blonde girl, a hair shy of eighteen turns, and her old, grizzled companion, but it was far from that. The two were well suited to one another’s company. Razaphon had known Kess’s mother, now a blue-rider, and she herself had watched the craftsmen make his dragon figurines in wonderment.
Dragons were her favorite things, after all. Something he understood quite well. There was a clutch on the sands, and that meant that this was Candidate Kesslan’s fifth standing. She had four more after this, of course, but one had to wonder if the failure of Impression would begin to stop her from trying.
Razaphon was one of the reasons it hadn’t.
“Are you going to take a look at your hand, or just sip klah all night, sir?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:24 pm
To sit in this uncomfortable wooden chair, he needed a reason that was worth it. A good card game? Well, that would about do. The only added spice he'd need was company he enjoyed. Kesslan fit the bill, so the recipe of 'How to Make an Old Man Not Complain About Back Problems' was complete. The store closed early that day, as was customary on their scheduled meetings--and, sometimes, not-so-scheduled.
Razaphon always insisted when you got to be his age, no matter who you were, you became set in your ways. Indeed, their encounters seemed to follow a familiar pattern each and every time. The same bad habits, the same banter, the same conversation. Sometimes. Today, they had fresh, exciting, and somewhat morbid topics to discuss. Once he put down the alcohol. Any minute now...
"Told ya, girly. Don't call me 'sir' so much. Makes me feel old." A content sigh brushed past his lips as the mug hit the shaky wooden table. "Need to fix this leg," he commented, like always, lifting his hand up and shuffling the cards around as if that would make a difference in their potential to win the game. Now a days, he never won. Damn kids and their wits. But his poker face was something special. No matter his hand, he always looked like he'd win, always smiled.
Not quite this time.
"S'wonder about that girl, touching them eggs so early on. Can't imagine how that got past the queen. Hopefully nothing'll be wrong with the little things now." Then in a lighter tone, while still rearranging his cards, he took a second to peer at her and asked jokingly, "Why don't you take me up on that offer to buy you a nice dress, Kessy? If you just dressed the part you'd probably Impress a gold this time, no doubt."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:51 pm
"Oh? Is that what you did, sir?" She pointedly ignored his request, as usual, "It's a wonder it didn't work for you. I'd say your legs are far nicer than mine." Kesslan's amused tone was somewhat distant as she parried his offer of a wardrobe change. She didn't actually mind dresses much, she just had no purpose for them.
They both knew that she wasn't the type to impress a gold, unless things really started changing. Of course, odd things had been happening lately, what with the large number of clutches and available candidates.
Her voice didn't change much as she commented on his more serious statement, rearranging the cards in her hand as she rocked back slightly in her seat. "I can't imagine, rather, how it got past Z'nal." Or how the girl hadn't been sent from the weyr. Rin often let rip about the audacity of Kyllae and her group of deadglows.
"I reckon if any of the beasties go Between, or come out a bit... Off, she'll find herself in a fair bit of verbal threadfall."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:07 pm
"Making eyes at the men now, are we?" The man tacked a variety of noises onto his rhetorical prodding; a snort, a cough and the sound of a wooden mug rising from the table then dropping back down once he'd taken a sip. Or more likely a drink. Chuckling at his own joke, just lame enough to strike a cord in his awkward sense of humor, Razaphon too leaned back where he sat.
"Yeah, that's something peculiar, alright. It's a wonder, too. If that girl can get past both of 'em, you'd think she'd have more wits about her than to go doin' what she did." Fingers ran along his chin, eyes peering at the cards. If the thoughtfulness in them was for his hand or the conversation was anyone's guess. "If it gets bad enough one of the little ones goes between, wouldn't be surprised if the queen bites her in half. Not supposed to be able to kill a human is what I was always told, but the wrath of an angry mother is quite a powerful thing." He paused, then added, "S'long as she's the right type of mother, that is."
Shrugging the matter off for the time being, he reached for the mug. This time, he did only take a sip, afterward sucking in a breath of air loudly through his nose. Another thing when you got to be his age was you didn't really worry none about your public image. "What color you hoping for this round, Kessy? This one might be yours."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:20 pm
“A gold of course!” A brief, derisive snort at her own joke and Kess picked one of her cards, shifting it to a new place in her hand. A pause as she reached for her klah, taking a much quieter drink than her companion and she spoke again, this too much quieter.
“I fancy myself a brownrider.” Settling the running joke on her skirt and his legs she blinked at her cards before glancing up again and smiling, amused with herself. “I’ll love whichever I impress, of course.”
Kesslan didn’t actually put much stock into hoping for one color or another. She would get what she was meant to, and they would be her world. Razaphon and she both knew that.
“Some of these candidates…” She hesitated slightly, not out of reservation [she could tell the old man anything, really], but so she could work her way through the thought. “… Well. They don’t pick them like they used to.”
She’d been here all her life after all, and had noticed the change in candidates brought in from the searches. By the egg, it seemed like some of them just… Showed up, nowadays.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:55 pm
"Know you will. Doesn't hurt to hope for a specific." Razaphon shifted the cards from one hand to the other, wiping the sweat from his brow before he aimed another nod her way. He wasn't nervous, just old and hot. And not in very good shape. Oh, and drinking. "I was around your age when I decided I wanted to get a bronze." This story he told every clutch. Every time, it was when he was her age. It had been when he was her age for years. Going senile? Just maybe. "Being picky probably didn't help my chances none, so I guess you've got a good outlook for it."
Musing her last line over, Razaphon, as she had, considered his words carefully before speaking. "I guess they don't. But there's so much overcrowdin' now, it only makes sense there'd be more of a... colorful variety scattered around, ya know?" Something crossed his mind that was amusing enough to stir another chuckle out of the man. As if only now bothering to remember they were mid-game, he tossed two cards from his hand and drew two more to stand in their place, triggering once again his obsessive need to rearrange them in high-to-low order.
"Can't wait to see 'em all packed together myself. Gonna head out early tomorrow. Get me a good spot where I won't get mauled if mama dragon decides to get temperamental. Not sure if she'll need to. Any of them babies goes between, the candidates'll probably end up running around in circles. I'm not sure how a bunch of these kids would handle something like that, especially without the touching this time around. The healers will sure have their hands full." Finally, he lay his cards out on the table; 2 pairs, nothing spectacular. "The new healer they transferred here for that hatching stopped in here earlier to get some stuff for her new place. If I was thirty years younger..." His voice trailed off into a whistle.
But they both knew, if he was 30 years younger, he'd be doing nothing more at this moment than sitting and playing cards with someone else.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:47 pm
An amused noise, low in her throat, and she tossed out her own quip. "Yeah, well, if I was ten years older..." Trailing off, she discarded a card, picking up another from the deck.
"... I reckon if any of the dragonets go 'tween, that Kyllae'd be smart to escape the weyr before the other candidates find her."
Kess herself wasn't the type to lay a beating on the silly girl, but well, most her of friends were, and she wasn't the type to stop them, either. The blonde placed her three-of-a-kind hand on the table.
"Maybe I will let you get me that dress, Sir." Turn a few heads, change a few minds, who knew? Still... "I wouldn't make for queen rider, I think." She'd rather be second than first. A quick smile as she waited for him to deal the next hand. This was the second hand she'd won in a row, though that was nothing new.
"Wish me luck, eh?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:40 am
Razaphon put on an shamed mask. "Now, now. Don't go sayin' stuff like that 'round me. Your grandfather don't wanna hear nothin' about what youngsters you're thinking about making eyes at, man or woman." He was not her grandfather, he knew this. He also wasn't annoyed with her, and no doubt, Kessan knew this. A nudge in the side and comments on the new pretty things that strolled into the Weyr occurred once a game at least. There was always some new eye candy to behold.
"Tell you what, Impress and I'll take you to buy the prettiest dress in all of Pern once your little dragonet is old enough you have the time to spare." As always his tone was light, playful, but he was also serious. Should Kessan stroll off the sands with a dragon, he'd be buying her that dress one day. Didn't matter if she actually ever wore it or not. A man was nothing without his word, don't cha know.
He mentally backtracked, considering Kyllae's welfare should such a tragedy take place. "I've never seen a hatchling between before. Never would. All we can do is hope all of them are happy and healthy. I believe they'll be alright. Their mother is a strong one." If only he knew.
"I hope you don't mean about the cards." If there was one thing Kessy didn't need with this game it was luck. He did. He wished himself luck. Damn kids and their luck. "I do for the hatching. More than anyone else. This time is yours, Kess, I'm tellin' ya. Don't matter none though if I'm wrong. I'm proud of you no matter what and you got a long while ahead before you're up in the stands with the old timers like me."
The next hand went around, and he lost. Then another. He lost again.
Razaphon only laughed at his misfortune. "See? Luck's on your side. I'm right about this one. Best be heading off to settle in, though. Word is the eggs are gonna hatch soon."
Just... he prayed they all hatched soon.
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