Logs:Fear of Rejection
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| RL Date: 17 January, 2016 |
| Who: D'vro, Dahlia, Colsoth, Taeliyth |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: D'vro and Dahlia both have large dragons to clean; it turns out they have similar fears in common when it comes to each other. |
| Where: Hot Springs, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 5, Month 11, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: N'rov/Mentions, Zennia/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Backdated. |
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>---< Hot Springs, Fort Weyr >-----------------------------------------------<
The Hot Springs are contained within a high domed cavern, the walls
perpetually glistening with a combination of condensation and mica. Steam
drifts through the cavern from the surface of four different-sized pools.
The largest takes up most of the cavern, big enough to hold three
full-grown dragons and is easily reached through the archway from the
Bowl. Three smaller pools, more suited for human use, are clustered near
the entrance leading toward the Inner Cavern. A set of shelves and benches
line the wall nearest the Inner Cavern, fully stocked with pots of
soapsand and towels for those without the foresight -- or means -- to
bring their own.
While the dragon pool is a natural creation, the human pools are the
result of Ancient ingenuity and have been constructed with hewn steps and
seating. The water in all of the pools is warm to hot, and are a perfect
place to bathe young weyrling dragons or for residents to relax after a
long day of work. It's a considerate choice that Dahlia and Taeliyth make to try not to come to the hot springs at peak use times. With Taeliyth in the larger baths, it would make the three it's made to fit a tight fit, though two is easily managed. If there are signs of eggs, they're subtle as yet with still over a month before she's expected to clutch. There are certainly no signs in Dahlia's very bare body that she was anything less than truthful to D'vro when he asked about the possibility of pregnancy. Still, if one were looking less for pleasure and more with an eye toward wellness, the goldrider's muscles are building again, no longer so painfully slender, but with some recovery in her curves and an overall robustness to her frame, though still far from crossing the line toward pudgy. She works, as she must at least twice or three times a seven, to scrub the wheaten hide of her lifemate thoroughly. It's no small task, but one she makes time to do herself. What was once such a challenge for them has become bonding time and Taeliyth's eyes whirl with lazy pleasure. Not peak use times is the sort of time D'vro prefers to make use of, but Colsoth must not tell him that the pools are already occupied despite arriving before the bronzerider does. He doesn't disturb the young queen with more than a polite touch of his presence, inviting her to conversation without demanding it of her during a moment she might wish to share only with her rider. D'vro does arrive soon enough, hesitating when he realizes not only that they're not alone but who they're not alone with. It's only a moment, though, and then the bronzerider is continuing toward the large pools. Colsoth doesn't do the same quite yet, giving his rider the opportunity to disrobe. Taeliyth's mind has a welcoming rustle of leaves, glimpses of sunshine lighting her inner Wood. « Colsoth, » holds warmth. « Do you also enjoy baths? » This coyly teasing reference to their last conversation must mean that she related it to Dahlia, must mean that she's asked the goldrider in those personal moments what she might want to know about their last talk. She's an intelligent queen who uses her time and resources wisely (today, anyway). When D'vro arrives, Dahlia glances his way, giving him a friendly wave. "You have nearly as much work as I do," the goldrider offers cheerfully as he draws closer to the pool. « Doesn't everyone enjoy baths? » It's a warm response. « Even D'vro enjoys putting time aside for them. » And not just the minimum time required for decent hygiene, presumably. The fact that he has one in his weyr now might account for some of that, granted. D'vro drops his bathing supplies at the edge of the pool once he's done, easing into the water despite the fact that Colsoth isn't in any hurry to take up space along with him just yet. "Nearly, yes. Perhaps you should encourage Taeliyth toward smaller suitors in subsequent mating flights. They'd eat less if dragons lost a good few feet." He doesn't sound like he's joking, but there's a good chance he is. « Dahlia tells me we did not, once, when I was small. » That's clearly no longer the case given the hues within her once-lidded eyes. There's shared amusement for D'vro's suggestion, if for different reasons. The gold's aren't shared, but Dalia's laugh leads to, "As near as I can tell, there's no encouraging or discouraging Taeliyth when she flies. Maybe you should make that suggestion to Mirinda," there's a teasing note there. "I hear they train the Igen goldriders to encourage bad flights and brown sires." And her sour expression says plainly just what she thinks of that. « Weyrling dragons seldom have good taste. » Colsoth starts to move toward the pool, walking around the edge closer to where his rider his waiting for him. "I wonder what they'd do with a goldrider who came from another Weyr, in that case." D'vro must not actually wonder that much, though, since he doesn't attempt to answer his own wondering. He's looking at Dahlia thoughtfully, though. « I chose Dee. I had excellent taste, » is returned with playful sass. Taeliyth shifts in the water so she can better observe Colsoth's progress, Dahlia sliding back down into the water with a splash, unprepared for the gold's movement. She's coughing when she comes up, but no worse for wear, sending a spike of a splash to the heedless gold in impotent retaliation. Pushing water out of her eyes she looks to the bronzerider, "I imagine Igen would start training her immediately to do other than she's done her whole life and other than her dragon naturally does. It's not ideal for Taeliyth to have a large clutch," the gold snorts derisively her opinion of that, "but it seems only natural after the plague that she would respond to the deaths of riders in such quantity by flying long and well. Isn't that sort of what our whole hierarchy is founded on? That golds know what to do for the Weyr and therefore their riders should be suited to caring for the human half of the bonds and those who support them?" Her tone is one of pleasant intellectual exchange, no hostility or defensiveness in evidence. "If you believe that, you rule out chance entirely," offers D'vro, watching Colsoth's progress more than the soggy goldrider now. "And no matter how much they may like to think otherwise, a gold is not in complete control of her mating flights. In fact, she's the least in control as she's ever likely to be while in the heat of the moment. If the case were otherwise, there would never be a hoard of suitors vying desperately in her wake." Colsoth slips into the water on the far side of Taeliyth, giving her as much room as he reasonably can. « You may be somewhat biased, » comes his warm return. Dahlia has a slightly surprised, warm laugh for D'vro's answer. "Yes, well. No system is perfect, possibly least of all ours." The goldrider moves around to Taeliyth's face, using a rag she holds to carefully scrub across it. "True. I wonder if any gold has ever tried it. Pitting influence against biological imperative." It's a deep enough thought to give her a little pause, considering Taeliyth for a moment before resuming her cleaning efforts. « Might I? » is far too innocent from the dragon herself, there's a subtle challenge there, perhaps even a trap in waiting for the bronze. "If you could fix a flight, would you?" she asks, glancing back at him curiously. "I can't imagine that they wouldn't have. I'm not sure they always realize when they are." Once Colsoth is closer to him, D'vro moves so he can begin scrubbing his way along the bronze's neck. « You wouldn't have chosen mine anymore than I would have chosen yours. Of course we're biased. » He doesn't seem very concerned about traps. "Perhaps. For the benefit of the Weyr. If there were a Weyrleader that was somehow more suitable than another." It doesn't seem to occur to him that she might be talking about him personally. « Bias doesn't make a thing any less true. You like her, don't you? » Taeliyth is still far too innocent. Nothing to see but a young, sweet gold here with her pretty wheaten hide and unthreatening demeanor and build. "Would you fix it for you?" Dahlia wonders. It's possible it wasn't a thought exactly, until now, for the question doesn't seem premeditated. "I think I would try, if there was someone really awful likely to win." She purses her lips, expression briefly sour. "I don't think I'd have much luck but there are some people I wouldn't like to see as a Weyrleader," if she were Weyrwoman. « We've known her for much longer than you have, » Colsoth tells the young queen. « I enjoy her. » D'vro is focused on his dragon because he came here to do a job and it's going to get done efficiently. But that doesn't mean he won't keep talking while he keeps his hands busy. "For me? No. I think I serve the Weyr better with my wing. Who wouldn't you want to see as Weyrleader?" There's something just slightly protective in the way he asks it. « Yes, but never so well. I know all her secrets. » If that were a secret, Taeliyth wouldn't have told it, but it's not, it can't be given their relationship. She can let Colsoth have that length of knowing her lifemate because in her mind, depth far outweighs it. With the continued air of secrets, « I've known you longer than you've known me, » she tells him, the sense of the mental smirk includes a playful dimple. "When they thought I was going to be senior, I met a lot of bronzeriders. Some of them died in the plague. Others..." She gives a glance around and murmurs, softly, a list of names, none in prominent positions within the Weyr, understandably. "I asked N'rov to keep Vhaeryth away because he didn't want it and I didn't want to do that to him, but I was wrong, I think, to do that. He's a good Weyrleader and Fort deserves someone good." « And I know all of his. » Colsoth doesn't sound very curious over whatever her secrets actually are. He'd forget them anyway. « Have you? » He's more curious about that. "I see." D'vro is silent for a short time, considering while he scrubs Colsoth's hide. "He's a good man. Hopefully he'll be able to do good here for a long time yet." Taeliyth, by contrast, is very curious about D'vro's secrets. She doesn't ask, but simply makes known the feeling that she would be pleased to hear anything he'd like to share. « I have, but not well. We like this, much better, knowing you directly instead of how... one-dimensionally we did before. She only knew you how you were physically, how you were with him. We're both pleased to know you better now. » It's interesting to the gold how non-riders, even her Dahlia, can be so blind to the full personality behind the dragon. "I hope so," the goldrider agrees. It might be a little abrupt when she says, "I enjoy what Taeliyth shares of you, Colsoth," directly to the bronze, for herself. "I'm glad to know you better." That expression sees her turning and crossing the space to offer a hand out to the bronze, questioningly - does he like that sort of overture? Colsoth isn't going to share anything that Dahlia doesn't already know, sorry Taeliyth. And he's not going to hold it against her rider that she didn't understand the depth of a dragon before experiencing it for herself. « We're pleased to know you now. And D'vro is proud that you had the good sense to Impress her. » There. That's almost a secret. The bronze turns his head toward Dahlia, eyes whirling slowly behind his inner eyelid. D'vro pauses in his scrubbing to look that way while Colsoth presses the blunt point of his muzzle toward the goldrider's hand. Dahlia's hands meet the bronze's muzzle with hands long familiar with dragons though her touch is a little experimental to see what Colsoth likes. Taeliyth is smug. Of course he's proud. As well he should be, though really there was never any other choice (she must not remember the time when she wished there was). "Knowing him," the goldrider murmurs, glancing askance to D'vro with a small, warm smile, "helps me understand you better, too, Dav. Familiar and yet new." It sounds like a good thing in Dahlia's book. The bronze dips his head into the water, guiding Dahlia's hand further up toward the ridges of his eyes and the space between them. The heavy, slow sigh that blows bubbles into the water assures everyone that Colsoth is enjoying himself. "Does it? We're not very alike, when all is said and done, but I suppose he suits me well enough." D'vro gives the dragon a wet pat, then returns to his scrubbing along that expanse of thick hide. Dahlia doesn't seem in any sort of hurry, but that's probably because Taeliyth seems content to rinse herself by sinking into the water and sloshing enough to make little waves. "Sometimes it's the differences that are the most revealing." The goldrider's lips press together as she looks at the bronze and then turns her head to look back to his rider, "Actually, when we saw you at the lake that one day, he mentioned to Taeliyth that he spends some of his time entertaining you," something that makes the woman amused, still, "I was wondering if you'd consider letting me help with that?" D'vro eyes the dragon, cutting a look toward the general direction of the bronze's head with furrowed brows. "You're a busy woman, Dahlia. I'm quite capable of keeping myself entertained," there's a weird emphasis on that word, another glance at the dragon, "without taking up your time. Unless you're suggesting off-loading some of your work on me." Most people might not find that entertaining. Maybe even D'vro doesn't. But it would take up whatever free time he has to deal with, perhaps. The woman's eyelashes flutter in a perplexed series of blinks before she squints toward the older man. "I enjoy your company," Dahlia replies, a little awkwardly, as if perhaps she's unsure it should need to be said and her manner turns slightly guarded as she finishes, "but if you don't enjoy mine, then I won't trouble you." She gives a final caress to Colsoth before turning to move back to her own lifemate. It takes D'vro a moment to realize that he's said something wrong. Or there's a good possibility it's Colsoth who's informed him. Either way, he's looking over at Dahlia with a few puzzled lines in his forehead. Colsoth finally rumbles a low sound before D'vro says, "I didn't mean that I don't enjoy your company, Dahlia. Your company is no trouble. I quite enjoy it. But I'm not certain you'd continue to enjoy mine if we spent more off-duty time together." It seems whatever misstep D'vro's made doesn't trouble Dahlia over-much. She does curl her arms around her chest as she turns to face him, her head tilting as she asks, "And upon what do you base your supposition, Dav?" She sounds genuinely curious, but there's an edge to her voice that suggests she'd be truly surprised if he were able to come up with any valid points. "Turns and turns of interacting with people outside of a professional setting," answers D'vro without having to think about it. "I've been called many things in the past that I'd prefer I never have to hear from you. And no doubt your mother would be quite cross if I managed to upset you beyond repair." It's not like he hasn't already been on Dahlia's unhappy side, after all. Dahlia blinks at him, surprised. Point for Dav, though not exactly because she finds it a valid argument. "Dav," is quiet and it has her taking a step toward him, though she keeps her arms where they are. "I don't think there's anything you could ever do that would upset me beyond repair. I can't even imagine thinking ill of you for more than the length of a bad humor, and then only if you really deserved it," because women are known for not bearing a grudge ever, right? "We could try, couldn't we? And if you feel I'm likely to form that sort of opinion, we can stop?" She wheedles a little, a small smile tugging at just one corner of her mouth. Taeliyth's mind lets the anxiety be felt by Colsoth, not hers, but Dahlia's. « It's strange that they both fear rejection for being who they are, » strange because they don't seem the sorts to reject someone else for simply being who they are in Taeliyth's estimation. D'vro doesn't look convinced, but he doesn't speak up to try convincing Dahlia that it's definitely a thing that could happen. "We could try," he agrees with a hint of hesitation. "But if I do or say something that makes you uncomfortable or upset, it's important to me that you say something." Colsoth may or may not share that anxiety with his rider, but he'll at least reciprocate with D'vro's protective hesitation. Hurting Dahlia, particularly accidentally, is the last thing the bronzerider wants to do. « He doesn't usually think about being rejected. » It even feels like a strange word to Colsoth. "I always say something if you do or say something that makes me uncomfortable or upset. Sometimes I even arrange a whole lunch to bring it to your attention," Dahlia returns with dry humor lacing a much more serious tone. "And that goes two ways, Dav. I know you don't like to be hugged and sometimes I go out of my way to touch you because it's childish fun for me to get under your skin, but I'm not a child anymore and I want to know you as you not the way I thought of you as a girl. So tell me if I'm making you uncomfortable or upsetting you," there's perhaps a little stutter over the latter as Dahlia probably can't imagine D'vro upset. « I can't imagine Dahlia rejecting him. She doesn't even reject people who deserve to be rejected, » a source of slight exasperation to the gold, but clearly nothing so harmful as to require intervention. "I don't think there's anything you could do that would make me uncomfortable or upset, Dahlia." It's sincere. And maybe that means the man is capable of being upset, in his own way. "Don't worry about me. Not like that. All right?" That might carry more weight if D'vro were closer to the young woman, but he has to work with what he's got. « You don't seem the type to let her waste time with people who deserve to be rejected, » Colsoth observes. "I'm really quite talented at surprising people," Dahlia returns with humor, but there is something melancholy subtly underlying the expression of the sentiment. She flashes a smile that doesn't reach her eyes before splashing a little more water over Taeliyth's maw. « Sometimes even people who deserve to be rejected serve a purpose. » The gold is shrewd in her interference, it might be felt. « Besides, it's her life. I'm her lifemate, not her mother. » D'vro studies Dahlia before offering a nod of his head and a small smile. He turns back to working his way over Colsoth's bulk while the bronze says to Taeliyth, « Everyone serves a purpose. And I would say you're more important than her mother. » Dahlia finishes with Taeliyth's bath in short order from there. "Now, the delights of oiling," holds humor though it falls a little flat before she moves to get out of the pool and efficiently towel off and dress in the loose clothes she wore here. The gold is slower to rise from the pool, but she does at length, standing to drip what she can before climbing out. « Does that mean I should control her? » She must have an opinion, but now she's curious about his. "Enjoy," says D'vro with a hint of humor. He still has a bit to go before he gets to oiling. « Her mother doesn't control her, does she? How you deal with your lifemate is your business, Taeliyth. You know better than anyone how to coexist with her. It's not my place to suggest otherwise. » Once Dahlia's dressed she turns back to the bronzerider offering an oddly sincere, "You, too." Taeliyth is at once amused and smug. « And don't you forget it, » smacks with playful sass; there might be the sense of a wink and a smirk before she's gone, along with her rider. |
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