Difference between revisions of "Logs:It Worked for Taikrin"

Sheltered Lakeside Ledge, High Reaches Weyr

The far side of the lake gets much less foot traffic - there's less grass, due to the poorer soil, and the bed of the lake is muddy and not at all as nice to walk in. But a small stand of four willow trees with long branches hanging low and swinging in the breeze provides some relief from the sun during the heat of the day. A pair of small curved benches sit underneath the trees. The ground rises up sharply towards the northwest end of the lakeside, and the waterfall that feeds the lake thunders downwards there, foaming the water and creating a fine mist in the air that distorts the light.

A late night finds this blue pair on the abandoned sheltered ledge. Tacuseth has settled close to the water with his Jo seated against him as she busies herself with a little bronze firelizard. Little chirps can probably be heard coming from the trio as she works, seeming to be tying something onto the little bronze with meticulous patience. There's a flask next to her (what else?) and a little blue pouch in her lap.

Late-night wanderings are nothing unusual for N'ky and Cailluneth, and the pair meander along the way to the ledge with the coltish teen dressed for a moonlight swim in just his bathing shorts and loosely-tied boots, with a towel hung around his neck. It's Cailluneth who spots Tacuseth first, then Jo; realising they're not alone makes N'ky pause, reaching out to place a hand on his lifemate's foreleg to still her. They're too close to go unnoticed, making a retreat without being seen impossible; it takes a long moment and a bump of Cailluneth's slender muzzle to the weyrling's back to get him moving again. "Um... h-hi, Jo?" Questioning, uncertain, very much offering the bluerider the unspoken option of shooing him off as he stands there with his hands held in front of him, looking awkward.

When the green weyrling pair arrive, Tacuseth is the first to swing his head in their direction. It's likely possible that he's alerted his rider to their presence whether she knew of it or not, for the little bronze is suddenly being let loose with his attached little bundle and he wheels around them before going Between. Jo remains watching after the spot her Mime has vanished, even long after N'ky has spoken before she says, "Curious creatures aren' they, hm?" in a slow drawl. Leaning back more comfortably against her big blue, "Takes'em a long time to learn a thing, but once they do..." she flicks fingers to the sky. Dark eyes seek the weyrling out then, now taking in his lack of clothing with a slightly furrowed brow and a, "N'ky, right? The one that hated public displays of affection. I remember." Smirk.

The little bronze is watched by both dragon and teen alike, with the latter blinking at his disappearance, then looking back to Jo. Cailluneth is far more interested in the blue by the water than in her tiny distant cousin, and she croons a raspy hello to him before making her own way to the shore. Left without his lifemate's physical presence to back him up, N'ky takes a few steps closer to the bluerider, wincing a little at her recollection of him. "I, um... I d-don't think it would b-bother me so much now. Um - n-not like that, anyway." He wrinkles his nose, running fingers through his unruly curls. "I've never s-seen a firelizard up close. A-are they smart?"

Tacuseth's return rumble is a deep and raspy one, his wings folded smartly on his back as he watches Cailluneth intently. "So Impressin' has shown ya a different way of lookin' at such?" Jo seems to tease from N'ky's response on the memory, her grin cheeky as she wipes her hands before her on the ground. "But yer holdbred, right? That's pretty normal. I was, a little, a long time ago." Straightening up, "Goin' in for a late night swim?" she nods towards what he has on, what he has with him before she then answers his question on the firelizard. "It's depends," she says briefly. "I hear the bronzes and golds tend to be easier to train than the others. Hear the greens are the worst."

N'ky's cheeks flush with colour, and he shrugs shyly. "Um - n-not really?" He squirms, wrinkling his nose and squinting down at his booted toes. "I, um... there was a g-girl during c-candidacy, I, um... y'know?" The smile on his face is awkward and shy, but can't be helped, even when he bites down on his lip. "N-now, it's more like, um, l-looking at people... doing stuff is m-more... um... hard." It's an awful, stumbling explanation, and he shrugs his shoulders at the end of it. "Holdbred, yes. And s-swimming, yes... if I'm n-not intruding? Or, um, you could... c-could join me, if you'd, um, like?" He chews on his lip nervously, looking up at Jo with a smile that, while softer than before, has perhaps a hint of something akin to hope in it. "Your bronze seems to, um, kn-know what he's doing."

Jo regards N'ky as he speaks about the first, light amusement lingering as his admittance. "Yeah, I know what ya mean," she answers with humor with a brief dip of her head. "Good on ya. I bet the rules nowadays chafe well. It did for me. How're yer likin' weyrlinghood anyway? Think I've seen the most of ya around, but yer one of the ones I haven'." Which, isn't uncommon, considering. His words on swimming has her flapping one hand at him as she reaches for her flask with the other. "Go on," she gives verbally as she unscrews the cap. "Don' let me stop ya. But me, swim?" She gives him a speculating look for that before she tacks on a wry, "This ain' the place for skinny dippin', darlin'. There are far better places for that sort of thing," as if swimming naked's the only way she'll do it. Lifting her flask, "Think I'll just settle for playin' the voyeur and watch ya splash about," and yes, in her voice, it sounds dirty. To his last though, there's a rather proud, "Been trainin' Mime from his shell. He's takin' direction much better these days."

There's visible relaxing as Jo seems to understand where he's coming from, and N'ky's smile eases up a little, becoming less nervous, more warm. "Y-yeah, I, um... I c-can't go to the baths. N-not when there's p-people," and by people, he means girls, "there." Which could explain why he's out for a swim so late at night. "W-we get our weyrs this month, b-but, um..." He shrugs, rubbing a hand under his nose as he sniffs. "I d-don't know a-anyone who I could, um... I mean there's n-no-one who I c-could, um... I-I think I'll be up there, um, a-alone." And there's the blushing again, this time with an embarrassed shake of his head. "I'm, um, o-ok for swimming. Um... Cailluneth can go in without me." The green certainly hasn't hesitated in waiting for her weyrling; she's already out in the water where she's able to swim. "Wh-when you say s-s-skinny dipping, you mean... w-with nothing on?" He looks wide-eyed at Jo, as if that might just make his head explode.

"It's that bad?" Jo seems to tease on the first - about him not being able to bathe in public. "But what about yer class? Ya can be around them, right? They don' look like a bad bunch the would humiliate ya or anythin' anyway. I think." She nods on the weyrs, stating, "Yeah, I heard about that. One of the best days in weyrlinghood was when I got mine." Taking a drink from her flask, there's a slight frown on his next as she pieces that together. "What, ya don' wanna have yer own weyr?" she asks abruptly. "Or are ya talkin' about fuckin'? Cuz that's a whole different thing." Jo is blunt. She turns an eye on his green, whom Tacuseth still is watching, too, but it's N'ky's last that slides that amused sidelong look back to him. "How else?" she puts forth on skinny dipping. "Best way to swim. So many hazards in the water. Yer suit could get snagged on a rock or somethin'." Oh, the tragedy. "Don' gotta worry about that if ya just go in with yer turnday suit."

And the bluntness makes N'ky blush even more. "A b-bit of the first," he says hesitantly, then drops his gaze to his toes, kicking at a tiny clod of dirt, "a-and s-some more of the, um, s-second." Cailluneth can feel Tacuseth watching her, and she raises her head in his direction, snorting and fluttering her wings to shower droplets his way. N'ky looks her way when he notices Jo doing so, then looks back to the bluerider, chewing on his lip some more. "I've n-never n-not worn sh-shorts." He seems horrified by the idea of it, dropping his hands to cover certain parts that his clothing's already masking. "N-not even in the b-baths, i-if there's p-people there."

Tacuseth blows air out of his nose when Cailluneth showers him with some droplets. His wings flutter just a bit, upsetting Jo's hair. "Y'can always sleep near yer dragon if it's about the loneliness," Jo suggests upon his answer. "Or visit one of yer mates for a night. Aren'cha lookin' forward to havin' yer own space?" There's short, easy laughter for the last bit as she closes up her flask and drops it in her lap with the pouch. Letting her head fall back, "Well, y'ain' the only one like that, here," she says with a touch of wryness. "There's some that are pretty modest, too. Ain' nothin' wrong with that. So long's yer comfortable, right?"

Cailluneth plods through the water towards Tacuseth, snaking her head out to him, inviting him to join her. "I've n-never had my own p-place before. It'll be... w-weird." The look he gives his green suggests she'll definitely be a makeshift bed for him once they're up on their own. N'ky sighs softly, shrugging his shoulders and smiling gently at Jo, which is broken by a huge, noisy yawn that he covers with his hand. "S-sorry. Um, Jo? When you were a w-weyrling, d-did you, um, have a w-wingleader who you... wh-who you didn't like?"

Jo turns to look behind her at her blue before the dragon suddenly gets up and plays like he's been thoroughly enticed. With her 'rock' to lean on gone with him bumping his larger head against the green's flank, "He plays rough," is the only warning the bluerider seems willing to give on her dragon, sitting up. "And, don' need to apologize. Ya should be in yer cot rather than talkin' to me." And then there's that question, and it seems to be an unexpected one, for it takes her a moment before answering. "A wingleader? Umm..." she pauses as if she's trying to recollect, then she shrugs one shoulder and says, "Back then? Hated them all, except myself. They all didn' much care for me, either. Always had a little problem with authority, though. Why? Ain' down with yers?"

"She l-likes it rough." N'ky's point is proven when Cailluneth returns the bump with one of her own; she's not quite as big as Tacuseth, but she's still harbouring plenty of baby fat and is not dainty dame to push around, especially not when she gives as good as she gets with wolfish ferocity. "N-no, I'm not 'down' with him." He mimics Jo's tone with that borrowed word, frowning at the bluerider. "Y-you stood up with Aishani. You... y-you know how to, um, g-go against things? I... I c-can't go a whole month w-with him. I c-can't. He's g-got too many e-e-expectations and I c-can't meet them and I'm g-going to k-keep getting everyone e-extra work because of it, and I c-can't --" He cuts of his little panic-rant by drawing in a deep breath and shaking his head. "I'm d-doing so much and it's n-not good enough, and I don't know what else I can do. What would you do?"

Jo watches Cailluneth bump the blue back, it hardly moving him. Then he slumps into a dive into the water, submerging himself. "Last thing I need is him sendin' a weyrlin' dragon to the dragon infirmary," she notes drolly, shaking her head at Tacuseth and his antics. "He has a fondness for greens. Makes him wanna show off." Back to the topic of disliking wingleaders, which the ex-con seems to be taking an interest in. She watches him get worked up, frowning all the more the more he speaks before she finally lifts a hand before he stops himself. "There ain' no method to standin' against someone, darlin'," she answers, tossing her hair back. "I stood with Shani cuz I had the balls to. What I would do?" What she has done in the past? There's a little smile of trouble on the horizon as she says, "Shit, I did things my way. Tasks got done when they got done. Sometimes they got done when they wanted it, sometimes not. I didn' give a fuck what anyone thought. Got in plenty of trouble for it, too. Ya seem like a good, clean sort," she observes, her gaze flicking all over him. "Ya don' wanna do what I did, N'ky. Someone like ya should talk to the person and see if a deal could be reached, or a compromise. It's smarter."

N'ky looks over to where pudgy Cailluneth dives in after Tacuseth, chasing him beneath the water and snapping at his tail. If she catches it, her hold is gentle, not enough to hurt. "She likes blues," he replies, amused. "He w-won't hurt her. She's t-tougher than everyone thinks." Then he listens to Jo, looking a little disappointed with her conclusion. He shoulders sink, and he shrugs. "S-stupid Harpers talk c-circles around me." Which would suggest he's not up to trying to negotiate. He sighs, looking back up at Jo, brushing his curls away from his face. "I f-feel like a reliability. Um... e-everyone's going to get angry with me b-because they're doing extra work, because I can't keep up. I hate it."

Cailluneth does catch Tacuseth's tail, seemingly much to his delight since he whips his head around and tries to land a nip on her wing. And thus begins a merry chase in the water, the blue trying to bowl the weyrling green over amongst a spray of lake water. Jo seems to have given up on her blue's antics, stating to that, "She's feisty, huh? Maybe that means she'll be the sort to rise early and often, huh?" It's partly in tease, partly in curiosity as she takes the moment to study the pair. "Tac started chasin' pretty early, now that I think of it. Even though I tried ways to not get him to chase, back then." Gaze falls a dejected-lookin' N'ky then, listening. "Those damn lessons," she remarks with a snort. "I don' even use half of that stuff, ya know? Ya don' got a group with ya, where ya study off each other? It's how I survived it. I mean, they're gonna punish everyone else, just because yer behind? Doesn' seem so right to me."

"It's not right." N'ky agrees wholeheartedly. "I... I d-didn't test out of my remedial c-classes when I should have a-and I, um, I h-have to have private H-Harper lessons on top of the w-weyrling classes and lectures and my lessons with Madilla, and I'm meant to be g-getting ready to lead the wing myself b-because I should have been doing it this month b-but I asked Meara to hold it back. I've... I've h-had a bad two months. I wasn't ready." He frowns, then knots his fingers into his hair. "But C'wlin? He doesn't know how to l-lead people, and he's j-just... he's g-grinding me down and I want to p-punch his stupid face and take his knot." While she's still cavorting with Tacuseth, Cailluneth's mind takes a darker turn; thunderous and sooty, rather than kaleidoscope colours. She clearly reflects her weyrling's mood, thumping against Tacuseth's side a little harder when she next gets the chance to barrel into him.

When Cailluneth thumps him harder, Tacuseth seems easy in whipping around and thumping her side a bit harder back. His mind seems to delve through that darkness of hers, reveling in it - it's familiar. Jo drops her pouch into a pocket and doesn't interrupt N'ky as he explains, nodding here and there at certain points made but giving no opinion just yet. It's only at the end when he mentions his wishes, she states with a slight lift of a brow going his way, "Then do it." She's such a bad influence, and she's blatant in it. "Punch his face in. Steal his knot. Or show him that ya can lead better than he can. If yer talent is yer voice...as in, ya can sway folks to yer cause, then the last would be easy. Even if ya didn' have that, it's still doable. Why not? I wouldn' try the first two unless yer prepared for the possible punch back, or worse. I never seem to let that stop me, though." But, he wasn't her.

"He's got N'hax as a w-wingsecond." And N'hax, while maybe not as tall as N'ky, is definitely bigger in every other sense, and enough of a deterrent to make the typically peaceful greenrider think twice about smacking his current wingleader. "I can lead b-better than him. I've been reading, and l-learning, and I th-think I can get... m-maybe one or two people on my side, but one or two out of the whole of Flurry isn't g-going to m-make much of a difference." He bites thoughtfully on his lip, looking over to where Cailluneth breaks the surface to blast a raspy roar at Tacuseth, before diving back down to chase him again, nipping and bumping and growling all the way. "I th-think I could m-maybe get Alida, D'kan... I d-don't know about K'zin. Maybe he'd do it to t-try and make up to me. I d-don't know about the others, though. It's k-kind of a sad rebellion if it's so small."

"I think I remember him," Jo says on N'hax, nodding while behind her, Tacuseth responds to the green's call by taking a nose dive back into the water, his wings staying close to him as he slices through the water almost effortlessly. He's also likely coming around for another pass at nipping and banking against her, too. To the names given, "Alida's one good rebellion all by herself," she remarks in amusement to that, clearly showing a familiarity for the former guard. "I'm just getting' to know K'zin. Only y'can know if somethin' like that would work or not." Getting to her feet as she pockets the flask, "If ya want him outta the way, or off yer balls, challenge him," she gives in words, taking a nice, long stretch of her body with her arms reaching over her head. "It worked for Taikrin, didn' it? And that's if ya like a little risk." Brows lift and fall with that flash of a brazen smile on her lips for the last, then she steps away as she says, "I better head back. Got one more errand that needs doin' before I can retire."

It did work for Taikrin, and bringing up the brownrider's name seems to make N'ky hesitate. "Yeeah," he says slowly, drawing it out. "It worked for her." His lips purse, and he nods when Jo says about having to go. "S-sure. Thanks for your advice - I th-think it's helped." He draws himself up to his full height, no more slumping over, no slouched shoulders - he even holds his chin up high. "It has helped," he confirms, nodding his head. "M-maybe... maybe you c-could, um, come by my weyr when I've g-got one and we'll, um, t-talk t-tactics some more?"

Chuckling shortly as Tacuseth gives Cailluneth one last nip before he's launching into the air, "My advice tends to lead some into trouble they ain' expectin'," she seems to warm, at least lightly since it's given so non-chalantly. "I'll buy ya a drink at the Snowasis if ya come back to me with a black eye." Still, she seems a bit pleased that he's looking like he's feeling better, at least, and as she starts to head out, to the last she tosses out over her shoulder as hands find their way into her pant pockets, "Maybe, darlin'. We'll see." She inclines her head to him briefly as she walks backwards on the path out of there, but once that is executed, she swings right around and heads out with her blue nowhere in sight.

"S-sure! Have a, um, g-good night!" N'ky calls out after the departing bluerider, waiting until she's out of sight before finally taking that dip with Cailluneth.