Logs:Mave's Medicine
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| RL Date: 5 April, 2013 |
| Who: Mave, K'zin |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: K'zin seeks out Mave for advice and gives her a taste of her own metaphor-making medicine. Mave doesn't fare any better with it than anyone else. They talk about her play, following or not following the rules, K'zin's headaches, and a handful of other things. |
| Where: Harper Classroom, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 7, Month 6, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Azaylia/Mentions, Alida/Mentions, Sabella/Mentions, K'del/Mentions, Barnabas/Mentions, N'ky/Mentions, Quinlys/Mentions, Madilla/Mentions, Jo/Mentions |
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| Harper Classroom, High Reaches Weyr A thick door provides some soundproofing against the escape of sour notes and the chanting of Harper Ballads that are common in this room. Chalkdust from the blackboard lingers in the air, motes of the stuff catching the light from many glows clustered in a hanging basket in the middle of the ceiling as well as tucked into sconces around the walls. Just inside the door, cubicles line one wall, each labeled with a child's name and containing various bits of lesson equipment: slates, chalk, scrap hide and paper, pens, ink and pots of glue. Long benches span the room, providing seating for at least fifty children between the ages of seven and fourteen; a tall wood screen stands folded near the middle of one wall, ready to divide the room into groups of older and younger students for more age-targeted study. Storage shelves along the back wall hold musical instruments for learning, mostly small hand drums and single bore pipes plus two rather battered xylophones.
Blessed emptiness for those seeking a relatively out-of-the-way cavern to set up a giant tome and a paper while planting feet up on a desk the way Harpers tend to frown on. Mave's missable in first pass of the room owing to this very thing; the way she's strewn herself on the floor, auburn hair an ill-fitting halo on the floor around her head, with her legs crossed and barefeet thrust up on the edge of the desk she's hauled over. It's nearly a fort, where she's cradled, with the red-bound book open along her thighs. She can only truly see its pages when she lifts her head, but for now she's staring at the ceiling ponderously, seeing more than its crags and purchases -- if she's not just dozed off. Missing Mave in the first look over, K'zin walks a few steps further into the room, taking a moment to give things a more thorough look over. This second look reveals the room's only occupant, and the apparent object of his search. Boots would be the first thing seen by a floor-dweller as he draws nearer to her sprawl. "Aren't you a little old to be back in here?" Comes the question, baritone quietly teasing the younger girl. A hand rises to sub-consciously ruffle through his hair, and then without invitation he sinks into a cross-legged seat beside her. "Whatcha doin'?" K'zin's not one to often slur his speech, but being in this place so full of childhood memories, it seems only natural to fall a little ways into old roles and old ways of doing things. Boots! And then K'zin's looming form leers into her day-dreaming puppets on the ceiling; Mave squints, "You blocked my blocking." Hardly a driven complaint. "Aren't you a little-- no, I've got nothing." Pulling up onto her elbows as he sits, she shrugs, "I like it better than the records, and no one's in here to see me. Unless you're going to tell." A tease for a tease. Sliding one hand down, near his newly crossed feet, she tugs a piece of paper out from nearly under her butt. It's somewhat crinkled in complaint of its treatment, but serviceable. "Writing up some duties for Jo." Still half-squinting at him helps hide a more self-conscious tic in her cheek, "You got something for me?" The weyrling shifts so Mave can withdraw her paper, looking apologetic for having sat on-ish it. "Blocked your blocking?" K'zin's tone and face confirm his puzzlement, as elbows come to rest on knees and chin falls onto fists, tilted down to look at her. "What's blocking? How did I block it?" It's worse than being confused: he plain and simple hasn't the faintest as to what she's talking about. Not uncommon for someone not of a theatrical bent to either not know or have forgotten he ever knew the proper term for it. "Nope. I only tell on myself. Because I'm an idiot. Honesty is really not getting me far these days. Yours shall be my first secret. Never to be told." K'zin's gone a touch dramatic now, playfully, though there's some heaviness to his first words, about telling on himself. "You're giving duties to Jo?" Make that doubly confused. "I don't have something for you. I just-- I was looking to see if I could talk to you about something." This admission comes with a little embarrassment. "Remember me saying you always gave me good advice?" Beat. "Well, I meant it, and I sort of need some. Or maybe just a conversation to try to get my head straight." Drama fouls K'zin's serious meaning, drawing Mave a difficult time discerning it, till he's explained himself a touch better by asking. Questions on her own odd doings fall to the wayside, following too quick before his needed favor; she gives it upmost importance, even dropping her bare feet down to the floor in order to scoot up even straighter. Hands pushing up behind her, she rests on them, leaning back into her shoulders to look him intently, mentioning, "You well and good did the same for me." One hand takes the weight, so as the other can push at her hair, alive and frightening from the static of being rolled along the rug she must've dragged over. It was a regular camp-out. "What's going on?" "It's not so pressing that I can't hear what you're doing with all this, um, blocking that I blocked?" Despite K'zin having been the one to come to her, to broach the subject, he doesn't seem entirely interested to get into it. Maybe he needs a few warming up minutes to remind himself here in the place of the incident that she's his friend, not a girl prepared to punch him for pulling a pigtail. There's a small smile, "Ever wear your hair in pigtails anymore?" It comes from left field, but given the setting, it's not hard to believe he's asking. It also well may be that K'zin has a genuine interest in what's taking up Mave's time these days. They did agree to be friends after all, and friends care, so he puts his own worries aside for the moment; they're what brought him but they don't have to be the only reason. He reaches out a hand to delicately pluck at a stray, staticy fringe and pushes it back, trying (initially without success) to tuck it behind her ear. It's a friendly gesture, judging from his expression - none of those goo-goo eyes that others might have making the same move; he's just helping. Her hands run into his hands, run into her hands; it's a traffic jam around Mave's hair, causing her to shake her head, which gets the hair out of place until, humming, she finally drops her hands and, with pointedly raised eyebrows, lets him run out his own patience on the enthusiastic red-brown waves. "Noooo pigtails," she relates, "Though Hana sometimes gets her hands on it, and then it becomes something I don't even know. Not my hair." Because then it actually looks pretty? Perchance. Having let the book thump heavily against her legs, starting to slide off one to the floor, Mave catches it now, tugging it up into her lap; her page's been lost by a few flipping over. "Blocking..." she weighs carefully the newness of the information, "Is like figuring out where everyone's gonna stand and move around in a show. So I was just trying to-- " whistling along with the finger she twirls up in a point towards the blank ceiling, "Picture it." "Want--" K'zin begins, tone a touch perplexed again, "Want me to braid your hair for you? I learned how for my little sister. I was always rotten at doing it on my own hair, but I got pretty good at doing hers." His hands continue to try to tame the savage beast that is Mave's unruly halo. "In a show." He repeats, a slight frown, and then he tilts his head, hands falling back into his lap. "Are you directing a show?" Apparently, it's news to him. His eyes flicker briefly towards the ceiling before returning to the girl's face, expression now curious. "Yuh. If you want," Mave replies, unmoved either way, a last side-eye at the top of her head where his hands maneuver before she surrenders to looking at him straight. "Not directing. Guess I just got carried away just now... But hiring. And," leaning forward over his knee, she splays finger-tips on the paper and slides it even closer, "Taking notes for Jo. I asked her to do fight coordination." A bit of proud shoulder squaring when she words; that sounds official, doesn't it. Though the pride seems almost unconscious, missed, while her face looks bland and ordinary. Hand still laid out on the paper near her knee, she's a few noticeable cracks and wears, signs that something's been giving her knuckles a hard time. K'zin's brows knit. If he wants? "No, it's fine. I was just offering my services, in case you were tired of trying to smooth it out today." His hand makes a brief circle around her halo, not touching, but indicating the frizz from the rug contact. "Who's directing? What kind of performance?" Now he's all questions. "There's going to be a fight? In the show? Who's going to be fighting?" All these questions have him getting nosy about her papers, the brown eyes dropping to try to look at a few, upside down as they are toward him. Distraction comes in the form of her hands, though and his larger ones are sweeping down to pluck them up to examine the knuckles. "You been letting boys know you don't like them that way again?" Beat. "No, wait, you said it was to show everyone else that you wouldn't be pushed around, right?" Or something like that. His grin is teasing, but there's concern in his eyes. The over-exaggerated inhale preparing to let out a grieved sigh of impatience in his direction catches when he gets off of the boys note to the other. Chin dropping, she blinks. "Ohh," all of Mave's air expels, "No. Just been having Jo teach me some. We wrap my hands and stuff, but I guess they still aren't always used to it," she curls her fingers up, trying to better eye the minor damage while keeping her hands within his. "Anyway, that's why she'd be good, I thought, at making some fight scenes look natural. Even though the play's a comedy, don't mean there can't be some good scuffles." So says not the director. As to who's controlling this questionable masterpiece, she's lost that question to the nether. "So that's enough about me." That's enough about her? Hardly. "You're learning to fight?" K'zin sounds genuinely surprised, looking over her knuckles with a critical eye. "That's a good skill to have. There was the one time, before I knew how to fight," As though he does now! Ha! "This girl I thought was really cool decked me for pulling her pigtails. Sure wish I'd known how to deck her back." He winks, grinning at her. "We could spar sometime, if you want. Alida's been teaching me, and the weyrlingmasters, of course. I'm not good at it, but practice makes perfect, right? I think I'm starting to get used to Alida's fighting style, and it's harder to learn from her now because the weyrlingmasters don't want us hurting each other enough to distress our lifemates." He pretends to eye Mave speculatively, "I think I could take you though." The tone is all false bravado, obviously false. Is he scared of her in a fight? Maybe a little! "N-e-vah l-iv-ing that d-o-w-n." Mave groans in full-blown drama, her head lolling back, eyes rolled to the ceiling. Sparring brings her swiftly back down, though she takes another moment to compose the thought. "Yeah, it would be nice to see how it works with another learner. And I wanted to have Alida show me, to compare, y'know, but she couldn't. So I'm interested." Several head nods confirm it. Also: "I'll wipe the floor with you, of course. There won't be any convenient hand-holds for you to cheat with this time." Straight-up factual tone. She even, very casually, leans her neck to the side and luxuriously cracks it all along the length. Levelling out across from him again, though, adds a layer of genuineness to her voice-- proving the earlier a joke, now late. "But, really. I didn't mind the distraction. But I'd like to know what's eating you." And, since her hands are there, she twists them around, reversing to wrap little girl fingers around K'zin's wrists to cradle his hands between them. "Never." K'zin confirms. That is a fact. As often as he brings up relationships, he's likely neck and neck for bringing up the fact that she's done violence to him before. "Oh, yeah?" That's the best he's got so far as come-backs go. Is it any wonder? He looks truly intimidated for a brief moment. Big, bad, bronzer scared of a scrawny, wild-haired girl. He's tensed by the time the whole thing proves to be a joke and he starts to relax, but then she's asking about his purpose in seeking her out. His lips purse, and then he blows air out of them making a defeated little runner noise out of them. "Okay, it's like this." Beat. "Let's say that there's a rule that says no finishing an entire sweet roll," Could it be that they're good friends for one another because his metaphors are as ridiculous as hers are from time to time? "But you eat a bite of the sweet roll. No one gets hurt, it was your sweet roll to begin with, but it was against the rules to eat the whole thing. Then someone of authority, but who is also a friend, comes along and tells you that it was wrong of you to bite the sweet roll when the rule is not to eat the entire sweet roll, and you agree to turn yourself in to be punished. Then someone else who would be affected by you turning yourself in for biting your sweet roll because it turns out that you both bit your own sweet rolls together, and no one was hurt," He stresses this part as he continues to babble, "Well, she says to you that when you go to turn yourself in, because the person in authority said she would turn you in for biting your sweet roll, implying that she would if you didn't, but not actually saying it." He seems to confuse himself and stops a second to recollect his thoughts. "Oh, right, so the other person who bit her sweet roll says instead of saying I bit my sweet roll, what's my punishment, that I should instead say, 'I need to clarify the rule about eating my sweet roll,' before saying I deserve to be punished." Beat. "And I'm not sure what's right or wrong, and why do they care if I bite my sweet roll if no one is getting hurt anyway? Just because there's a rule?" He sighs, expression frustrated, fingers picking at the leather of his boots. She tries. Faranth, she tries so hard, for his sake, but on and on, Mave's breath catches until her throat and cheek are full of the hot air of her confusion and, as he rolls to a finish, it sputters out in one long, terribly unrelieved breath. Hard concentration wracks her temples, curling her mouth, but she can only say, "I... I'm so lost. I'm so sorry." His wrists are pinched in the ferocity of her need to do better, forgetting herself. "Let me see..." Dammit, she's gonna do this. Staring slightly down at his chest, eyes glazing, she pieces, "I'm going to assume we are not talking about sweet rolls, because then this would be over very quickly when I say 'uhh. Someone's taking sweet rolls too seriously'. So... okay. You-- did something-- against a rule? Kind of? And so did someone else. And.. they're turning you in. No. You're turning-- no." Hold on; give her time. Honesty hasn't been getting K'zin very far lately, but Mave? Surely Mave can be trusted. He's so trusting. He takes a deep breath. "Wait. Let me try with the--" He swallows, "--real details." He starts to take a breath and then holds up his hands, "Wait. Promise me you won't turn me in if I don't turn me in and she doesn't turn me in and she doesn't turn me in?" K'zin has been down this telling people that he's breaking the rules road before, and the last time it wasn't a pleasant journey. Coming down from the pensive high of thinking, Mave's features settle, smoothing out to look at him with round-cheeked seriousness. "Honesty's important, but it's not the same as saying everything all the time. If you're really sure that no one's hurt, and you're asking me in confidence, there's no way I'd tell anyone else." Mouth still open, she hovers, realizing, then adds hesitantly, "Well, I mean. Unless you then asked me to. Or-- or maybe if something came up where you couldn't, but I knew for sure that you wanted to-- You know what," she releases one of his hands to wave her own dismissively in front of her face, "Let's just ignore all that. Yes. I promise." K'zin was with her right up until she started giving other scenarios wherein she would break his trust. His brows flex, "Do me a favor? Ask me before you would tell someone something I asked you not to tell but that you thought you should? I'm not that complex. I'll tell you straight." This is given with a half-smile, both self-deprecating and genuine. "Okay, here goes." He takes a breath, "So the weyrlings have a rule-- no sex." Enter blush. "And I haven't. I mean I never have. I mean. Nevermind. Anyway, I get these headaches ever since Hatching, and nothing seems to work but things that break the rules - like extra drinks or sneaking away from classes or kissing people. And then it gets a little better. Tolerable." He frowns slightly. "I'm going to go to the infirmary about them, I'm just trying to get this all sorted first. So I kissed somebody. But because I kissed Azaylia before Hatching, and since Madilla said that honesty and communication is important, and since K'del threatened that he would punch me if I hurt Azaylia, even by accident, and said he thought Bones would do the same, even though Bones said he wouldn't. Anyway, so I went to talk to Azaylia about it to figure out what was what, 'cause I heard about her sleeping with someone else." Complicated. He's not complex, but surly his teenage life seems to be. "The problem is that Azaylia isn't just Azaylia, she's also the weyrwoman and said it was the right thing to turn myself in for breaking the rules. So I went to tell the person I kissed that I was going to, and she pointed out that the rule says no sex, not no kissing. And neither of our dragons were hurt. Ras was interested, he didn't understand everything, but he's-- he pushes me to try new things." Now he's wandered from the topic, but the story is mostly told, so he just chews his lips. Second time's rocky, merely incrementally improved off of the sweet roll explanation, and long seconds roll by where Mave's not staring at anything-- drifted into her head, piecing it bit by bit back together; who knows if she's doing it correctly. But when she exhales half a minute later, it's with a certain strength of resolve. "Okay, well. You know how I feel about the whole... weyrling kissing thing, but you say Rasavyth wasn't hurt and I'm gonna start from that foundation." There. Her hand levels out, then the other indicates a floor above it. "Now, I think I understand the situation... but I'm not sure what your question is. Is it about if you broke a rule or not? Cause I'm really not the person to ask on that..." Not that she doesn't want to hear him out, her earnestness is clear, she's only honest as to her usefulness on authority. "I do?" K'zin blinks, "Anytime you talked about kissing, I assumed that was your opinion of kissing me specifically." No kissing of K'zin. "Ras wasn't hurt." He assures her once again. Then there's a shake of his head to toss off the thought of him asking her if he broke the rule. "No. My question is about the rule." He takes a deep breath and then lets it out slowly. "Or rather, rules in general. I know rules are made to apply to everyone, but like, some crafts who have folks posted in a Weyr don't mind that their apprentices kiss as long as no one gets knocked up, but the rule is no kissing and stuff in crafts, as apprentices." Although suddenly he seems a little less clear on this point from his confused expression. Could he have gotten that wrong all these turns too? "And there are exceptions to rules. Like Ras. He's not-- he's not a normal dragon. There's almost nothing babyish about him." Almost. "I know the rule is there for dragons who are-- I dunno, more babyish. Like Cailluneth seemed to be at the beginning?" He wrinkles his nose. "But Ras isn't like them and it seems-- silly that the rules don't adapt when there's something different to consider. Should I be following rules just because they're rules?" This seems to be the crux of the matter. Finally. Another nice, long moment for Mave to suffer through her every thought; at least it's clear she's giving K'zin her all, a true contemplation of angles that leaves her gnawing at her lip and, when it wanders by, the ends of one of her hairs. "I know... it's hard when it seems... unfairly built against you, but... umm. I think that maybe you could see it as less about Rasavyth being different?" Hesitance traces every single one of the lines on Mave's face, darkening her gaze and her freckles, as she treads so carefully over dragon territory. Her fingers tap-tap gently on the floor, having lost his fingers, and ultimately finding his boot to dig her nails idly against the sole. "And more about... well. Yes, I think. Yes, you should, in this case, because the rules are about your safety-- even," she holds up two fingers and plants them familiar against his mouth, leaving them there when she forgets while thinking of phrasing, "if you don't feel hurt... that's not, really, the point. Following the rules as a weyrling proves that-- you know. You can be responsible, and listen. And it shows respect to people. If you are bending at rules because you feel... umm. Like you shouldn't have to, it's kind of like you're sometimes walking up and stealing my food, and sometimes you're really nice to me. You know? How can I trust you on the days you're nice that you're nice? We can't pick and choose which rules are for us." K'zin's face shows all too clearly that this wasn't the answer he wanted. He takes it all the same, listening thoughtfully to her as she goes on. "The rules might be for our safety, but they're not always the right thing. I have headaches when I follow the rules, but breaking some of them helps." Because kissing and extra alcohol is good, healthy ways to treat headaches! "But-" And this comes a little grudgingly, "I guess I didn't think so much about obeying rules as a sign of respect." He takes a moment with that thought, toying with the leather on the top of his boot while she tends to the sole. "I do respect the weyrlingmasters. And my dragon. And most of the other weyrlings." His lower lip juts out further as he thinks yet harder. "I guess I didn't think about needing to prove that I'm responsible to other people, either. I guess I took it for granted that they'd just know that I'm responsible and a good guy." He sighs lightly, shifting a little, straightening his back. He picks and chooses through the things she says, not bringing up the ones that might land them in an argument. He's had enough of that lately. "But for the record, I would steal your food and be nice about it." It's true. Right off her plate given half the chance. His tone is teasing though, so to take them to a little less of a serious place. Being teased at leads her to raise one of those picking hands, fingers curled together, and flick his leather-bothering ones. "Who did we already agree would win in a fight?" Mave snorts out, but on watching him keeps a gentler sense to her face, open and empathetic. "But you have to be careful sometimes, K'zin. Picking which rules apply to you without realizing that everyone else is also following them, whether they like it or not, sounds egotistical." Wariness has drawn one side of her face into a mighty squint, cautious of saying, of implying; she doubts every word, but feels conviction strongly enough to push on, leading her fingers to steer his jaw straight on with hers, "Don't you dare take that to mean I'm saying you're egotistical, now, buddy." Angry out of fright to be heard wrong, to be shoved aside as useless. "But listen for a second. Pretend I have a dragon, and you have a dragon." She clears her throat, dropping her hand, "Hey, K'zin? I know Rasavyth acts like a baby, but my green Betterth is totally mature already, so it's okay if I just do stuff you're not allowed to do, right? Don't worry. I know what's right and wrong, cause I've been a dragonrider for-- oh wait. Just as long as you." She shrugs largely. "Hey now, I don't think we ever agreed anything. Now, if you want to talk history..." He threatens playfully to return to the incident since they are at the scene of the crime. K'zin's fingers move to flick hers in return, perhaps unwisely. His face is pensive for a moment after that, "Maybe I am egotistical." He gives a little shrug. "I'm told most bronzers are. And whether I like it or not, I did Impress to a bronze." He doesn't seem to take offense to the idea, simply considering it as a realistic possibility. "I do think about myself a lot. But I also think about other people a lot." Confusion again steals his expression. "It's not about being able to do stuff compared to others. It's not even about knowing better. It's about the fact that the rules are there to keep me safe, but following them makes me continue to hurt and breaking them seems to alleviate it. Not the act of breaking, but the things that I do that end up breaking them." He feels the need to clarify this. "And why would it be your fault if Betterth, which is a terrible name for a dragon, by the way, could handle something that baby Rasavyth couldn't? It would be you moving at the pace of your dragon. What's wrong with that?" "How dare you insult Betterth! Maybe I'll repeat history!" Humor certainly alleviates some of the fear that either one of them will snap at each other, and Mave scrunches up her nose in mock offense before relaxing-- though her nose stays there. "It's not anyone's fault, it's just that saying it can give someone the wrong impression. And you're not supposed to be moving at the pace of your dragon, you're supposed to be like... teaching your dragon the pace." Says the girl who's never had nor taught a dragon, nor barely talked to a Weyrlingmaster; yet she seems secure in her belief, rocking onto her butt and slapping her hands on her knees. "Maybe..." but here's where she falters, "You should try exploring other ways to get rid of the headaches?" Not quite suggesting he hasn't, she's just confused on this point. "I've never heard of a headache that matters if you're following rules or not... I mean, except the one you create for elders that way." K'zin's laughter is full, and forceful enough that he's got to lean back on his hands. "Mave, I respect you. I think that you could do just about anything you put your mind to. Case in point." He gestures to the papers still lying around. "But if you can teach Rasavyth to go at any other pace than Rasavyth's pace, I will pay you half my salary forever." There's so much certainty in his voice that only a fool would take that bet. "There are some things that I work with him on, but I am not the teacher. I'm the student." He gives a little shrug of his shoulders. "The only thing I can figure that the things that fix the headaches is excitement. Thrill. I hardly think anything that's going to give me that kind of a high is going to be within the confines of the rules. At least I'm not off jumping off cliffs." There's something to be said for that. "I've tried just about everything I can think of. Except talking to the healers and dragonhealers. And I will. Just--" He grunts in a frustrated manner. "I feel like I should be able to fix this on my own. I don't want them to tell me I wasn't built for Impressing, or something." That fear, he tries to laugh off, but he's not selling it well enough for anyone to buy it. He's afraid. "Well, with that attitude, of course you are." Mave's scoffing, utterly matter-of-fact. "I can't tell you he doesn't act like an adult, cause, duh. He's in your head, not mine. But you're still older, and you're still-- the rider." At this point, she's merely saying things are true because they have to be true. Her entire view of life hangs in the delicate balance. But as he explains, she shifts up, putting her weight to center, arms slung over her knees, her hands barely splaying to reach his, poking him gently in the knees on either side. "K'zin..." It's serious, low, but distinctly just her: no patronization. "You Impressed. It's not something you're built for or not," she shrugs one shoulder, lifting her right hand to tuck her hair, rounding her fingers along till the tip which she stretches towards the corner of her mouth. "You just did." And she says it so plainly, with such obvious, no-nonsense confidence. Like it might simply be, and, in that, transfer right over to K'zin through her certainty and never be questioned again. Because it is. "If everyone could fix everything on their own," now she sort of puzzles practically through, "Why would we even have healers and dragonhealers?" "Me telling Ras what to do and explaining it's because I'm older or his rider is like someone saying, 'You'll do it because I said so, that's why.'" K'zin responds with a frown, leaning forward to impart: "Mave, Rasavyth is so much smarter than I am. He's not always right, but he's-- It's actually really embarrassing and really almost insane how much smarter he is than I am. He's like-- a prodigy. A genius." K'zin's admiration is clear, though the awe is mixed with just a little bit of fear. "Maybe you've never met one, or realized you've met one, but I'm sure there are other pairings out there where the dragon is the stronger of the two personalities." Now he's admitting weakness? Impression has changed him, some certainly. "It's not like it's something I can change. Impressing. And I wouldn't if I could, but what if my brain is just-- I don't know, too dumb to be paired with somedragon so smart?" He gives her last question some thought and comes up with: "Because some riders faint at the sight of blood or ichor?" His grin is goofy enough that it might be tempting to slap it off his face. "If you were too dumb to paired with some dragon so smart then you wouldn't have Impressed him or he's not as smart as you think he is-- or!" She hops slightly on her butt in her hurried eagerness, "You're not as dumb as you think you are! So there, so there, so there." Boom, boom, boom; Mave lays out there fingers at him and thrusts them in victory between their mirrored crossed legs. "But I guess you've got me there on the dragon stuff. I've said the extent I know, and I've given my advice." Easily drifting down off of getting into a tiff with him about what Rasavyth is or isn't, she twirls her hand more passively where it's jutted out in that shared space. "Hey," because right when she's decided she's done talking is always the best moment to have glows appearing in her brain. Then flicker, causing her expression to falter, wonder. "How long have you had these headaches? I don't think I remember them before..." She seems vaguely distressed that she might've forgotten. First there's shock as Mave starts so excitedly to lay out her booms in order. But once the hand is thrust between them, K'zin is laughing, one of his much larger hands coming up to clap lightly against her hand, capturing her fingers and bringing them down! He doesn't need to verbally argue, he just takes down the fingers. That's the same thing, right? He gives a little squeeze to her hand before withdrawing his own, letting both of his come to sit on his knees. "Only since Hatching. I-- the first couple days were such a blur that I can't remember if I had them then. I know I didn't have them Hatching night." He gives a little shrug, "I don't really mention them. Come to think of it, exercising helps some. It's distracting and exciting. Maybe I'll just do that until I puke." He seems to be giving this some serious consideration. Mave's soft errr would be subtle except for that her lip is raised on one side in a sizable wince of disagreement. When she rolls her eyes to the ceiling to try and imagine, the lip relaxes-- partially. She's half-frozen until she can inhale-- wait-- exhale then inhale quicker, "So. You've only had them since Hatching night," she's reclaimed fingers to tic off on, "Rasavyth is pushing you, your words, to try new things," another finger, "And they go away when you do something exciting," last one, which she hangs onto, fingers prying at each other, hooked, "Rasavyth is interested in learning more about kissing and stuff." Inhale-- pause; she hovers there, uncertain if she's forgotten something, or if, possibly, this list has nowhere to go from there. K'zin said that he was dumb. Didn't he? He said it out loud and everything. "Yeah," He confirms the timeline and shrugs to the next. "He just wants to know everything there is to know. He likes to do new things. Or to understand things. He digs in my memories a lot. Some of the others have said their lifemates do similar things." Again, dismissive. "None of them seem to have headaches though." He's leaning back on his hands, "They were talking in dragon anatomy class-- well, really, it was a tangent and it wasn't something we were supposed to be talking about, but you know that excited feeling you get when you're doing something thrilling? Apparently there's some theory that it's actually linked to some kind of biological thing, and that both we and dragons have it. So I'm wondering if maybe, if it really is a biological thing and not just another crazy Healer theory, maybe it has something to do with that." The idea that the headaches are linked to Rasavyth specifically? Hasn't crossed his mind. "I'll see the healers. I'm sure between Madilla, Leova and I, we'll sort something out." His hand moves to touch her knee lightly, and only momentarily - to draw attention to his next words. "You don't need to worry about me. If you were." The hand re-settles back on his own knee. "Do you need any more help with this play thing you're doing?" Anatomy classes put a furl on Mave's lips to match their surroundings: a small child fervent to learn a new concept. She even leans forward with intent. "Ohh," doesn't sound quite confident, though she plows on with such, "So when he doesn't feel thrilled, he pushes that biological," she stumbles slightly over the word, elongating it, "feeling onto you." Hands rap-a-tap against his sole. "Yeah, I'm sure Leova or someone could teach you how to do that... dragon-mind shielding thing." Scientific, that. Released, her hand chases his to that knee, forcefully winding her fingers underneath his. "Hey. I'll worry about my worry. You just take care of yourself." Glancing across her shoulder, stuck halfway forward to reach his leg, she eyes the tome, "I've got a list of a half a dozen people or so I think would have something to add. Thinking of recruiting some lower caverns kids next." Swinging her head forward, hair shuddering around her shoulders-- its tamed some-- she smiles fondly at him. "Our people." "He pushes it--" K'zin is blinking now. "I-- I don't know about that. I mean, when he's excited I feel it, but I was thinking more that maybe getting excited about something, me getting excited that is, ends up having that biological reaction and it makes the headache go away." That's what he was thinking, but then, he is not a healer. He does not know, and since adrenaline is just a theory, neither do they, anyway! "Alida explained about that, a little. She talked about putting all her private thoughts in a box in her head and locking it." K'zin just shakes his head though, "If Ras wants to know something, Ras knows it. I really don't think there's any stopping him." He squeezes her fingers gently. "Ras wouldn't hurt me." Not on purpose, anyway, he hopes. "He loves me, Mave." It's just that simple. The next shrug throws the whole matter into a mental box and locks it up, as far as he's concerned. "I have an idea." Beat. "How about instead of me giving you a naked sketch of me, and my big imagination, I sketch you up some drawing for what the scenery should look like. I've never tried painting my sketches before, but I could draw it on to whatever canvas you get to put up behind everything, and other people could paint it in." His brown eyes blink innocently at her. Yep, this is all about her getting help with her play and not even a little bit about him getting out of drawing a nude picture of himself for her. "No." Simple, no pause to wonder; Mave, having turned to follow his gaze back to the theater book, turns on him again, with another brush of hair, "No, I'm not to use weyrling's time. Besides, you have to deal with these headaches. I don't get what you're saying, cause you didn't have them before... but, well. People get sick, so. Yeah, healers." Hands push in the air, relieving herself of duty. "See healers, and I'd gladly help try and find distractions for you, but not on time Quinlys has mapped out-- which leads me to..." Shuffling her knees importantly, she bumps into him. There. They are serious again. "How are you feeling about the whole... rules thing?" Her head slightly cocked in question, curious, with a leak of apprehension biting her teeth over her lip. "So it's okay to use my precious weyrling time to have me sketch naked me, but it's not okay for me to lend my free time to you for your scenery?" K'zin doesn't follow. "Oh, is there set times that you have to be working on it? Not like, in the evening when we have free time?" There's a pause, "I mean, I'm working on coming up with a game in the Training Cavern already, and that's taking up some time, but I'd definitely make time for the scenery stuff..." If it got him out of that naked sketch. To the question of rules he heaves a playfully dramatic sigh. "It's making more sense to me. I'll do my best to follow them from now on. It'd be easier if you girls weren't so appealing." He makes a playful face at Mave, as though the entire attractive female gender were her fault, but there's a grin right after, assuring the joke. "Of course, I'm turning myself in right when they start looking the other way about kissing if your dragon doesn't get upset. Same thing with the drinking. I broke the drinking rule two nights before we got to have drinks anyway. My timing is just awful." He concludes, pursing his lips in mock annoyance. "How long were you intending to spend on a naked drawing of yourself?" Mave doesn't follow right back, eyebrows low at him and lips pursed. "Cause, I'm imagining, set design would take way more." A completely considering pause, punctuated by her studious glance down. Realizing, she clears her throat and leans back, looking off towards the childish classroom setting while he relays on about rules. Jested at, she turns to face him, arms thrusting across her apparently appealing chest. "Maybe you should work on that, your timing." Snapped off-- not maliciously-- but as a dry retort, no more thought out than an oh yeah?!, till, rooted in her mind, it begins to take form. It sprouts. Her face softens incrementally, eyes alight. Not with some kind of alluring sexuality, of which she has none, but a lofty tease. "Cause, you know... maybe..." knees bump his less casually than before. One hand drops idly in front of her lap-- which is in front of his-- then the other joins it. She eases her weight in, small, but filling that slim personal space of warm caverns air. "Waiting for something-- " Eyes flick up to him from where she'd been watching her body lean in, over his and her face is near enough to mutter, "Makes it that much better." Abruptly, she thrusts backwards, throwing a hand behind her to catch herself, the other flailing up in the air in front of her. "But good-- !" "Well, it might take a while to get right. I've never drawn a man before, and I've tried to draw my face before, and it-- well, it's harder than drawing someone else. So a while, probably. And I'd rather do the set design." His cheeks show a blush and that probably explains why he'd rather draw something else. "I will!" K'zin responds just as quickly to her comment of him working on his timing, laughter then that dissolves into a smile. Then suddenly he's intent. She's-- she's doing stuff! With her face! It's interesting... He watches her intently. As she goes on, his breath starts to run a little ragged, not in an over-the-to-playful way, but in an earnestly caught up in the moment way. And Mave didn't think she could make a come hither face! True, it's not the one he drew, but the whole thing-- close enough. "You're rotten!" He accuses as soon as her little joke is played out. "That's it, I'm drawing more naked pictures of you, and you can't stop me." His tone is exasperated, but there's that playful edge that says maybe he is joking. "Keep doing things like that, and I'll be wanting to kiss you again, and then where will we be?" He doesn't stop long enough for her to answer, answering for her instead: "In a mess is where." His hands go to the floor on either side of him and he uses the leverage to push himself up to standing. She must have had some effect on him because a trouser adjustment at his waist is necessary on his part to keep the rosy hue in his cheeks from going any further crimson. He's not mad, just flustered... in a good way? In a perplexed way, for sure. She can't claim shame; Mave's giggling too much for that as she scrambles, too, to rising, pushed off from the hand she landed on the floor when leaving him. Bare feet curl at the rug. "Oh, get off!" A hand reaches out to shove him on the arm, playfully but not holding back strength. Coming off of the shove, the hands come up to whip her hair into a runner's tail she then knots to keep itself in place. Bits of hair still stick out in wild angles out from her face. "My point was that you could spread things out a little more, 'stead of rushing head-on in. Same with Rasavyth, I think. More of a-- what's it." Fingers lower, snapping. "Compromise. I know, I know," her hand holds him off, "You're gonna say he's smarter, it's impossible. But," she shrugs, "Sometimes it's the saying what makes it true, and not the truth. You could be setting yourself up for defeat." Sliding up to her tip-toes, she leans forward to try and ruffle the top of his head along his forehead, "Be good to that head," she mothers, lips puckered exaggeratedly, but a sincere sentiment inside. "I'd like to, but that would be mighty inappropriate here, with you, while I'm a weyrling." Getting off would be inappropriate with any of those factors individually, but worse with all three together. K'zin's brows wiggle to indicate the dirty nature of his joke, not able to hold it together and ending up laughing. "Mave, you really ought to learn the kind of effect you have on men. Wouldn't want you to use it on someone--" He pauses briefly to decide how to term things, "-- less understanding than I am and end up in some kind of trouble." Then his hands go to his hips, "How is five kisses in 17 turns not spreading things out sufficiently? I mean, sure, four of those five have been in the last eight months, but still. Eight months is a nice long spread. And it's not like I'm off snogging everything that moves. Faranth's flashy freckles, I've never even kissed a girl with tongue." This is a complaint and a defense. "It'd be one thing if I was wandering around knocking boots with everything that moved, but why is just a little kissing such a big deal to everyone?" This is rhetorical, his eyes drawn up to the ceiling, hands thrown up in the air in a moment of frustration, that while still playful, is rooted in truth. He ducks his head a little to let her ruffle the shortish tresses there, that somehow always seem to lay silky straight with just enough body. "I usually am. Or so I'm learning." When he smiles then, it's touched with sadness, but acceptance. So far, it seems to simply be a fact of weyrling life; setting himself up for worlds of hurt, or at least dramatics. "Don't look at me!" She insists, becoming far too involved in how silky and nice his hair feels so that her hand seems to forget to leave. Eyes, too, watching her fingers play. Mave conveniently ignores that she's touching a person, who may want to not stand tipped over. "K'zin, I haven't done any of those things, either. And kissed even less. I-- I think," not keeping count, clearly; she throws herself past her hesitation to make a point still, "I can't answer your question, only offer advice. On a whole, compromising and spreading things out can keep people sane. Not saying just you, you weyrlings, or necessarily anyone we know at all. Twas only words," like hers now, not lecturing but kind of simply rolling off her tongue as she fiddles with hair, "Suppose I just say cause I couldn't keep my head, a dragon's head, and a girl I was kissin' all straight at the same time. But that's me. So." Hands slow as she comes to her senses, and her shrug helps to move her arm towards her side. "Maybe..." she swipes her hands on her thighs, "What I'm trying to say is it's control? I think you want to be able to... umm. Like, control your emotions and your urges. So, yeah, kissing's not a big deal. But this way you can show everyone that you can, and if you can't, cause headaches, then they can show you how and-- " eyes flicking back and forth in desperation, she concludes lamely, hands smacking, "Boom. Dragonrider. K'zin," a soft whine, "I'm not stopping again. What does boom even mean?" As far as she knows, dragonriders do not explode into existence! He takes her rather more literal than she probably meant, perhaps fearing that he went too far by making that joke. K'zin's brown eyes avert, as she speaks, and though he looks a touch puzzled, he lets her... pet? his head, lets her play with his hair. After her hand moves away, he straightens, and looks at her, assuming that it might be safe now. "I am controlling my emotions. If I weren't, I'd have done a lot more than kiss." This is said as simple statement of fact, his hands find their way back to his hips. The smile he offers now is lop-sided, "But I'll see if I can do better. Okay? Just-- don't tempt me. I don't want to end up doing something dumb because I thought you wanted me to when you didn't really want me to. You can make fake goo goo eyes at Ras all you want, or at me when he's around to tell me you're just faking. But not when it's just you and I in a big empty room where I daydreamed about kissing you for turns and turns." He rolls his eyes, hoping she might see how tempting fulfilling that particular daydream might be. He's laughing at her explanation and the boom. He reaches to capture her hands in his, holding them as he laughs. "You mean boom, like I'll go from being Waki the apprentice, to being K'zin the dragonrider. I get it. I get you. We've known each other a long, long time." Even if they were estranged for some of that time, it doesn't mean he didn't watch her with others (not in the creepy way, just in the 'ohai, you're a girl I like' way) and learn a lot of her mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. "Mave, do me a favor? Promise me that you won't ever stop yourself with me. I like you just as you are. Possibly even especially the parts that you figure most people won't understand. I'd like at least the chance to try." His smile is warm, his fingers giving a little squeeze to hers. "What? Rasavyth doesn't want goo-goo eyes from me..." She intones in snorting confusion under his other words, causing her to have to race to pick back up to listening to him. Mention of the room has Mave twisting her gaze left, then right, to study the room's apparent magical remnants; ghosts of the past. She remembers how much her knuckles hurt. The sting in her scalp that nearly made her eyes water. When she looks back up at K'zin, eyes peel years off, then gently layer them back on when he laughs. A new, dim classroom, light shines on the adolescent lines of his face; she half-grins through her talking because she likes his laugh, and it eases the end embarrassment, even as she whines her way through. "Nothing's as easy as boom, I'm afraid..." she mutters, correcting herself. Then: a favor. Hands move softly inside his, feeling out the shape they all make together with absent flexing. "I'm... not sure I'd know how to be anything else," she muses, very soberly, eyebrows lightly knit, "That sounds like trying to put my head in a fruit jar. Though," with a sigh, her head nodding several forlorn times, "I suppose, should my breasts just pop out one day, for you," eyeing him squarely before she deflates, gazing off to the side, "I'll say no, down, girls!" Wait, wait-- snort. "Not that he wouldn't want them, just that you wouldn't fool him." Which evidently she did K'zin. "But you make it sound so easy." His tone is dramatic again, mournful that it's not just as easy as boom. "I guess I'll suffer through somehow. I'll just have to work on being a better man, so that by the end of weyrlinghood, I'll be dragonrider K'zin, not Waki the apprentice." Beat. "I wouldn't tell N'ky I said that. He doesn't like the idea of me not just being Waki. He doesn't want me to change at all." There's a little sigh for that, but he's letting the topic go as quickly as it found its way into the conversation. It's fine because there's something to laugh about, and he's thrown into a fit of giggles at the idea. "Yeah, you'd have to say that," He manages, "Unless you wanted--" Then suddenly he's blushing and pulling his hands away. "Sorry, nevermind, we're friends." He's reminding himself, firmly. Then he's grabbing her up in a hug, lifting her a little in the air to squeeze tight before setting her back on her feet, all as though she weighed nothing at all and he steps back to a respectably friendly distance. "Thanks for the advice, Mave. And the talking. I-- I really appreciate it." His smile now is simple, grateful. "I'd best get back before I'm missed too much. Since I'm not skipping weyrling stuff anymore." He winks, as though his turn of a new leaf is to be their little secret. "Friends can-- " But whatever's allowed ends abruptly in her high-pitched ugh! at being taken off her feet. Cheek mashed into his chest as she breathes his shirt, the aforementioned breasts pushing in when Mave's squashed by remembering to take up arms, wrapping him at the last second before she's dropped. Her squeeze's too late; he separates. She wobbles. "Well, I... I mean, I'm glad it helped? Or, at least, didn't hurt so much." Is this a checkmark in the good, not physical column versus their past? Slight nibbling at her lower lip would like to think so. "You can talk to me anytime, you know. It sounded like you had other people for advice, but... I'm here." That little girl, hands behind her back, twisting back and forth in the harper classroom. Big cheeks, freckles, and all. "And there's advice in here, too." Taking two fingers, she breeches 'friend territory' to stab him in the chest, "And there," pointing up to his head before her hand pats him on the cheek, "For what it counts-- I believe in you!" Mid stepping back, she twirls, going for her things, enthusiastic to not keep him any longer from his duties. "It helped." He ensures with quiet emphasis, lest she be left in doubt of her advice-giving skills again. K'zin smiles as she speaks the rest, warm. He follows her hand with his eyes, tilting his head down to see where the invading hand lands. He lets a silent laugh shake his shoulders before he, too, is violating the friend territory. His hands grab her wrists to keep her from turning so that he can lean down and place a quick, affectionate (friendly!) peck on Mave's cheek. It's in reaction to her belief in him. "Thanks, Mave. That means a lot." Wrists are released and she's left to her own devices as he heads for the door, calling over his shoulder, "See ya soon!" So intent was she on spinning around that it's not until she's fully facing away from him that she registers her cheek's been invaded. Lines have been wobbly between them for a while now. Perking at the goodbye, she throws over her shoulder, "Yeah!" Lips curl at the lameness of it, but he's gone, and what does it matter. Soon, even the heat on her freckles fades, as she drags the big tome back over her lap and resettles. But it's not certain that it's blocking she sees on the ceiling as her eyes glaze over, and she's surprised and dismayed when all she remembers is blinking before the noise of approaching herds of children and harpers chases her, and her satchel out of the room and down into the caverns. |
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Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:23:55 GMT.
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Mave is clearly the K'zin-whisperer. And I like how in every scene she's still got elements of her own idea, kind of like a quest to gather ingredients from different people.
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