[PRP] Browns and Pirates (K'eir and M'che)

[MoonRazor]

Pirate life, as it turned out, suited K'eir. He liked the quiet of the islands and the way his skin bronzed when he lay out in the sun with Wraith. He liked the company it came it. But most of all, he liked that it kept him busy and kept his pockets full at a time when little else was going on in his life.

He and Wraith were biding their time, waiting for the right moment to return to a Weyr. One day, he knew, they'd find a chance to truly capitalize on their skills as dragon and rider trained at High Reaches. One day, it would matter enough for them to return to a place where the chief focus for people like them was to fight Thread.

Today was not that day.

Instead, the morning found K'eir sprawled out on the sand with his back leaning against Wraith. The dragon was similarly stretched out in a giant brown puddle, head nestled into a pocket in the sand, pretending to doze off in the warmth.

Two thirds of a Turn out here on these islands, Wraith thought suddenly. You reckon it'll be much longer?

K'eir shrugged as he twined several long wisps of grass together to form the base of a flower crown. His fingers worked the grass together nimbly, weaving them back and forth. Don't tell me you're bored.

Wraith cast a sideways glance at him, and that odd smile of his crept across his face. Boredom is not a feeling I suffer, he said, and then let his eyes drift back to staring at nothing in particular. But look. We may have company.

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[magnadearel]

MoonRazor

It was some quiet down time for the group. They were well off for the moment. He'd been worried when thread started falling again so suddenly and they'd lost a fair bit of their supplies. Now he was comfortable. None of his friends would be going short. He took a stroll in a loose open front white shirt and cut off pants. Perfect for a stroll up a sandy beach. His Dyneith paced calmly at his side, hoping to find a suitable place to make a wallow and nap.

We are not the only ones with this idea, M'che. He looked calmly at the other brown as they got closer who was already in exactly the position he wished to acquire. Greeting to you and Yours Wraith. Is the sun and sand warm today? Dyneith inquired politely.

M'che glanced further ahead to see who also sought the beach this afternoon. "Oh K'eir! How goes it?"  

[MoonRazor]

K'eir glanced up from his flower crown at the approaching brown, judged that they were a ways off, and returned to weaving the blades of grass and flowers together as M'che and Dyneith neared. Behind him, Wraith lifted his head from its sandy pocket and craned his neck to watch, fixing his unwavering stare on the pair as a crooked smiled crept across his face.

And to you and Yours, Dyneith, he answered finally in his characteristic purr, after a long pause that would have made a lesser dragon quite uncomfortable. The sun and sand are nothing I can complain about... today.

A small, amused smirk flitted across K'eir's face as he added the finishing touches to his crown. Must you be so unsettling, Wraith? he asked with no small amount of amusement. The question was rhetorical, of course - they both knew that there was no other way Wraith could act. You'll worry our friends.

Will you and Yours join us, Dyneith? Wraith continued without moving his head or shifting his gaze.

From where he sat, K'eir finally looked up when M'che was within earshot and offered his brightest smile. "M'che," he greeted, inclining his head. "It goes well. Just brushing off some old talents I've picked up over the years." He reached out and offered M'che the delicately woven flower crown, adorned with little bursts of white and yellow petals.

"You can never say knowing how to weave together flower crowns is a waste of knowledge," he said with a chuckle. "Care to join us?"

magnadearel

 

[magnadearel]

MoonRazor

There was one concern that had been nagging the back of his mind. He knew they couldn't put it off much longer. Thread would fall here once again, and they would need someway to defend against it. The answer was obvious. The method was not. A plan was forming in his mind. Soon he'd put it into action.

The lightly marked brown gazed calmly back at Wraith. Clearly calm and not in the least bit unsettled by his gaze. We thank you, he replied. Each day is as it should be. From his rider's mind he could remember days which had been irritating due to rain or too hot. Not that those things bothered the brown.

He gazed about with blue eyes and contemplated the sand, then the view the beach proffered. I suppose it would be the same here as elsewhere on the islands. Perhaps here will do. Dyneith turned an eye on his rider, shall we settle here where you may speak with Wraith's? Without really waiting for an answer he moved to settle into the sand and crossed his forearms so that his rider had a non-sandy place to sit.

M'che eyed the proffered crown of flowers dubiously for a moment. "I am sure it is a useful talent. Since it would look mighty silly upon my head, I shall receive it for Tonete and bequeath it to her. With all credit going where it is due." He had no idea if the greenrider would appreciate it or not. M'che moved around to settle himself on his brown's forelegs and stretched out his own legs.

"Heard anything interesting from the weyrs?"

 

[MoonRazor]

"One of the more useful ones I've learned so far," K'eir said with a twinkle in his eye, handing the crown over and carelessly grasping for a few more long blades to weave a new one. The movements had long been worked into his muscle memory, his fingers twisting and wrapping around the grass without much conscience bidding. It was a good way to keep his hands busy, not to mention useful when there was a girl or two he wanted to flatter.

"Mm, well," he said in answer to M'che's question. His smile pulled into an amused grin and he managed a shrug. "It depends on what you'd consider interesting."

More than a decade down the road since he and Wraith had left High Reaches Weyr for the great world beyond, and there was still a handful he tried to keep a loose correspondence with. Something like friends, he supposed, and it helped that sometimes it meant some useful news.

"There's a certain cook who, along with a certain courtesan, made a terrible fool of himself while catering to a rather well-known entertainer. I'm afraid that news has traveled like fire through the entire weyr. They may as well find themselves new professions." K'eir paused to add a flower to his new crown, smirking. "But as for the less important stuff - the weyrs are still hoarding firestone like their lives depended on it, there are reluctant riders trying and failing to escape from the weyrs every day, High Reaches collectively still has a very large stick up its a**. You know. Things we already knew."

He put some finishing touches onto the second crown and flopped it onto his sandy brown hair, then stretched out a little bit more against Wraith with his hands clasped behind his head. A small sigh, and then, "Not everyone has it as good as we do, those of us who got out early. Though maybe the dragons would disagree." He patted Wraith reassuringly, knowing too well how it felt. "You ever think you might end up going back one of these days, M'che?"

Going back would be a relief, Wraith chimed in, as much to Dyneith as to K'eir. To me, at least. But now is not the time.

magnadearel

 

[magnadearel]

MoonRazor

M'che watched with only mild interest as K'eir finished the one and started another. The only thing he could say for it was that it kept the rider's fingers nimble. That wasn't a bad thing. "Where might have you learned such a useful skill?" He accepted the crown of flowers and rested it on his dragon's foreleg. With the one crown he had no further interest in another. So he looked out over the ocean, watching the waves roll in.

That was one thing other riders had that they didn't. They'd always been a tight, and tiny, group; never making real friends outside their triangle. Plus the bullheaded way High Reaches ran their Weyr, didn't appeal to them. So they'd left no friends to keep in contact with. It was irritating to get outside information second hand, but he hid it well.

A smile curved his lips at the story of the cook. They had their own sort of drama here, just not that kind. Everyone was on more or less equal footing with their peers. He nodded thoughtfully about the mention of firestone. "Yes, it has suddenly become important again. I wonder where they are mining it from." M'che mused quietly to himself.

"Mmmmm I am interested in rider movements. With thread falling, the Weyrs are likely to form up old sweepriding habits. It could make dips inland more.... mmm difficult." They depended on their inland counterparts for fresh herdbeasts and other food items. It would behoove them to know the frequency of sweepriders and their routes. The mention of riders trying to escape their fates now didn't bring sympathy from him. They had stuck to the easy life in the Weyrs.

Now that they faced true danger they wanted to scatter like sheep. He smirked as he thought about how the Weyrs might try to bring them all into line. Once they had that though, they'd surely look further. What were he and his pirates to do then? He needed to talk that over with his other leaders.

M'che idlely scratched his dragon's proffered eye-ridge. "No, we were some of the lucky ones." Lucky or smarter? He preferred the latter. The mention that he might return to High Reaches left a sour taste in his mouth. "Over my dragon's dead body," he replied steely. He had zero intention of ever returning and being commanded by those with sticks up their asses.

Dyneith rumbled at his rider's sour mood, and his eyes whirled faster. We will not go back Mine, never fear. He turned his head slightly to look at the other brown. Even though they will control you? He asked.

 

[MoonRazor]

"As much as I'd like to say from a lovely night with a courtesan, I learned this from a weaver," K'eir said with a chuckle. "Strong women over in Southern Boll. Clever, too."

He nodded thoughtfully while tracing a finger through the sand in squiggly patterns, considering the things he had and hadn't heard filtering down to him from High Reaches. "They sweep daily, but as far as I know, the locations rotate every few days. If I had to guess, I'd imagine it's up to the wingleaders, so unless you happen to know some of them very well, some careful observation might be in order to figure out when and where they go.

There was a short pause as K'eir folded his arms and studied M'che, as if weighing the other man's steely words. "You dislike it that much, huh," he said. "What did they do to warrant it?"

Behind him, Wraith shifted a little in the sand, but his eyes remained a lazy green. He cocked his head against the sand to look at Dyneith, and something of a shrug lifted the brown's wings a few inches before dropping them back down. It is in my blood to fight, as much as it is to look out for myself and Mine. If one day, the opportunities align, I would welcome it. But it is a big if. He turned his sharply angled head to stare quietly at K'eir for a moment. Maybe one day, the urge to fight will be too strong for Mine to control. I wouldn't want that day to come when we are without firestone.

magnadearel