Ember
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FLAME GURU OF THE UNDERWORLD
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Post by Ember on Sept 2, 2008 17:29:39 GMT -5
Ferneth nodded happily on the subject. They would be smart enough to pull off packs too, although big groups were generally called fairs. "Not much point for them going after bigger things either. They wouldn't be able to eat all of what they killed most likely," he pointed out. Just as Meira couldn't imagine them eating plants, he couldn't imagine a fair of firelizards taking down a herdbeast. "Plus a lot of the wild ones don't get too close to human holds."
Ferneth was a pretty open young man in general. Trusting to a fault sometimes. Like when his younger brother pulled a prank on him and he believed it. Rotten little boy he could be sometimes. Trusting his mind with a majestic dragon wasn't too big a step for him. No doubt he'd have to get used to sharing everything with somebody. He did have a couple of secrets, but sometimes confiding them in someone helped.
He chuckled along with Meira. "I imagine it's something like having a best friend. They may disagree and fight with you but they'll still be your best friend in the end, right?" Ferneth said cheerily. See, dragons was always a happy topic with him. Admiring them for so long, how could he help it? "Let's hope they wouldn't literally kill. Not that it would do them any good if the dragon didn't like them either."
He wished she had let him know a little more gently but it couldn't be helped now. Ferneth knew that riders did partake in some of the action in Flights, so why didn't it occur to him earlier? Still, a random thing..."I can't say just randomly...I mean why would anyone want..." After his little spurt he fell silent again, letting her pick up the conversation again. He was probably one of the few people in his rotation who would know about it before the lesson started.
Ferneth didn't think random was quite what Kemma meant. She was a nice woman and was probably uncomfortable telling candidates to go have sex - or was that what he hoped she felt? He nodded lamely at her words. Yes, choosing the first time would be much better than the other option. His mind froze when she even mentioned she'd rather do it with him than a stranger. Calm down, calm down, calm down... When he thought he could control his reaction better he said, "I'd be pretty frightened at the idea too - heck I am. I don't much like the idea of doing it with a stranger. A friend, even a friendly acquaintance like you would be better.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 3, 2008 16:13:32 GMT -5
Meira nodded at his interpretation of the fire lizard fairs—although she could see a queen ordering her bronzes to take down a larger wherry or something in order to feed a clutch if food was particularly scarce—no way would such an intelligent creature simply let her babies die of starvation so early out of the shell! “It might be necessary, but I suppose we could always spare a few runners, couldn’t we?” she murmured thoughtfully. Of course Benden Weyr wouldn’t like a queen and her bronzes entering the Weyr, taking down a runner, and waltzing out—no doubt they’d find some way to pin it on some other Weyr. Insult to their pride, or something…as if fire lizards couldn’t simply depart if they didn’t like their Bonded. Meira had seen that many a time with the fire lizard eggs Benden Weyr had.
A best friend…why, yes. That would be a good comparison. Always there for you, but then there were squabbles as well. More intense, as your Bonded could feel if you were still angry rather than have to guess—but also your apology would be almost instantly transmitted to them, and one wouldn’t have to fret about how it would be taken for too long. “In the end—hopefully,” she agreed, chuckling. “I doubt it’s possible for a dragon not to like its Rider—they always seem to adapt even if their personalities do clash.” She paused. “Like they balance each other out, I think,” she finally concluded. Meira had had to tend to Riders before, and sometimes their dragons—mainly greens and blues—had deigned to tell her where their Riders hurt the most. Most of them had treated her scornfully, but one or two—with particularly nasty Riders—had been quite kind.
Had Meira not been incredibly embarrassed herself, she might have teased Ferneth lightly about his stammering. As it was, she shrugged silently, kicking at the loose stones, biting her lip nervously as she glanced up again at the sun and then at the Weyr. They’d covered nearly halfway of the distance back to the Weyr…the same rock that she’d rested on before came into view, and Meira gestured to it, hurriedly changing the topic. “Do you want to take a break?” she suggested. “As it is we’ll probably miss the noonday meal and I brought some meatrolls. We could eat here…?” She stopped near the rock, resting one palm on it lightly, and tilted her head questioningly at Ferneth.
She nearly choked when she realized how her words could have been taken—as an open invitation. Meira had been so at ease talking to Ferneth her guard had slipped. If she’d made such a mistake at Benden…Meira swallowed hard, flashing a hard, quick glance at Ferneth. To her relief, he made no move at her—rather, he looked as startled as she felt. Wait, he was scared? By the idea of—? What did men have to loose, though? They couldn’t get pregnant. They could only loose the friendship of the girl in question and possibly their dignity, and that seemed to most a fair price to pay…
At the mention of doing it with her, Meira bit her lip, her stomach suddenly shifting oddly. Not in a nauseous way—just as if something had changed. Struggling to keep the conversation light, she commented, “You’re the first guy I’ve ever heard that from before—none of them seem to be scared at the idea of—of Flying someone. They seem to like it.” She shuddered, sighed. “You’re unique—in a good way.”
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Ember
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FLAME GURU OF THE UNDERWORLD
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Post by Ember on Sept 4, 2008 15:10:06 GMT -5
"Yeah, no doubt we could. Or maybe some of the herdbeasts and wherries kept for the dragons," Ferneth suggested instead. Those poor things were kept solely for the purpose of feeding the great flying creatures that protected Pern from the ravages of Thread. Surely their small cousins could benefit from them rather than the runners? If they'd lasted so long without human interference he was sure the firelizards could find their own food than have humans give them a beast every once in a while.
Ferneth was rather proud of himself. He normally wasn't so good at saying thing like the 'dragons are like best friends' comment. When she spoke again, however, he turned his attention back to Meira. She had better things to say than he normally did. "That makes sense. They do say that dragons are the ultimate other half of their rider, after all. They probably wouldn't Impress to someone they didn't like either," he commented wistfully. He grinned afterwards for now he might be able to Impress to one.
Ferneth was surprised they'd reached the place the two of them had met already. He gazed blankly at the rock, starting at the sound of her voice. Break? His blush increased, confirming how he took that question. Of course, he was not about to inquire into the meaning behind them. "S-sure. I'm getting hungry but the weyr is still a fair distance away," he replied nervously. He had stopped walking sooner than Meira had, so there was now a bit more distance, which made him feel a little more comfortable.
He wasn't about to admit it, but Ferneth had never done it. He knew that might seem weird for a good looking boy his age but that's not what mattered to him. For him to just up and...It was a weird idea to him. Let's just say it had never been that big of a priority for him. He was sure he would have likely had been married to some stranger back home soon enough had he not come to the weyr. Doing it with Meira seemed a better option than that, but he wouldn't force himself on her. As he'd said when they met earlier, he was no Northern man.
Ferneth blushed again at her words. Oh great, now he seemed like he was afraid of..? He shook his head slightly. "It's not that I'm afraid, per se...More surprised at the idea of just randomly...Flying someone, you know?" How exactly did a guy explain being a bit of the romantic type without losing any dignity? He was convinced it was impossible and left his statement at that.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 4, 2008 15:56:51 GMT -5
Meira smiled. “I’m sure that would be much more appropriate to some of the runner-breeders,” she agreed, imagining their anger if they realized a fire lizard fair had eaten a prize runner. “Although from what I’ve seen, dragons do seem to prefer not sharing food.” A smile flickered across her mouth. “But that could always be…accommodated.” A herdbeast put to one side for a fire lizard every month or so—what could the harm be? They were little gluttons, but one herdbeast seemed quite enough to feed an entire fair for at least part of a sevenday.
“Mm,” she agreed. “Or they could always just be trying to convert them,” she added contemplatively. She’d never heard of a dragon doing that, but of course nobody would share something quite so personal—and with dragons, nothing seemed impossible. Meira sighed. Whers could go between too, and fly at night—the only reason people didn’t think of them as highly as dragons was their appearance. Silly people—appearances counted for nothing. “There’s probably going to be a clutch soon,” she added. “I mean, there’s a wher clutch, and a fire lizard clutch—and it just seems fair there’ll be a dragon clutch soon too, doesn’t it?”
His stammer startled Meira. She glanced towards him and bit her lip, the color rising in her cheeks, too. Oh, Faranth. Again with saying things she didn’t mean—or at least, could be interpreted in ways that she didn’t mean. Pulling herself onto the rock, she pressed her chin against her knees, considering. Being Flown by Ferneth definitely beat being raped by anyone in the North, and right now the concept of Flight didn’t seem quite so terrifying. Merely being in the South made things a lot easier to cope with.
She sighed. Doing this homework was much more awkward than anyone could have guessed. It didn’t seem right to out and tell someone that you wanted to Fly with them without loosing dignity and being thought of as a simple Flightmoth. And Meira would rather never be near the Flightrooms at all when a Flight was taking place. She shuddered. Oh, Faranth no. Dismissing the thoughts, Meira pulled out the neatly-wrapped meatrolls and offered one to Ferneth. She wasn’t going to throw it to him, but neither was he in reaching distance, so she put it on top of the napkin on the rock for him and gestured for him to come over.
“Well,” she said, sighing. “From what I’ve seen, most people would do just about anything to Fly any girl, random or no. So.” She shrugged, absently biting into her meatroll for something to do. “Besides, it’s not like we seem to have much of a choice if we want to honestly say we kept up in lessons,” she added. “Our homework was to loose our virginity.” Oh, that sounded so, so, so—sluttish.
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Ember
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T'san Iskierka Dy'shi Jazheera Ae'on Nephele Qaena K'dem Eikane
FLAME GURU OF THE UNDERWORLD
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Post by Ember on Sept 5, 2008 15:11:10 GMT -5
Ferneth grinned at the idea of stealing a dragon's prey. Whoever did so might end up food themselves. "I'm sure they could be convinced to let one go. So long as one of the queens told them not to touch one I think they'd listen," he said, chuckling. The problem with giving food to the wild fairs would be having them become somewhat dependent on that source instead of searching out their own prey. It would be a nice thing to do though. He doubted a couple of candidates could convince a weyrwoman, or anyone else for that matter, to leave something for them anyways.
"Convert their rider? I suppose they can try but riders seem to be very stubborn." The thought was amusing but unusual. Would a dragon try to convert him if he Impressed? Even so, he wouldn't surrender being himself so easily. In the meantime he replied, "A dragon clutch would be very exciting. I hope you're right about that because waiting and doing chores is no fun." Ferneth looked forward to Impressing. He did have doubts though. What if he never did?
Ferneth watched Meira unwrap the meatrolls, hunger rising quickly at the sight of food but his reluctance to make a total fool out of both of them made him pause. At her gesture he decided to throw caution to the wind, grabbing the offered food and took a bite. And another. It was good! He refrained from stuffing more into his mouth and chewed. When he swallowed he smiled appreciatively. He was starting to calm down again.
What she said made him grimace slightly. "I guess I am a bit different than. That or I have more morals than most guys do," he said dryly. He listened thoughtfully. It was her rotation's homework? "Some homework you guys have. I can already see the reactions of the others in my lessons. I don't intend to be rude, so please don't answer if you don't want to, but how exactly do you plan on completing your homework?" From what she'd said earlier it likely wouldn't be easy to do.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 5, 2008 16:01:29 GMT -5
Meira chuckled at the idea of a queen dragon haughtily allowing a fire lizard fair to eat ‘her’ herdbeasts. “That’s only if we can convince a queen that fire lizards won’t become entirely obsessive over how wonderful her food tastes and eat it all,” she countered. Queens could get rather violently possessive, after all. Not that it wasn’t understandable—they ruled the Weyrs, the Holds—all of Pern bowed to the great queens. If someone threatened to take that away…well, a fight was to be expected, wasn’t it?
She shrugged, taking a noncommittal bite of her roll. Some Riders were quite nice—Savitri and C’lryn, for example—and could probably change their habits if it pleased their dragon. Why wouldn’t they if that was what it took to please their ‘other half’? “I suppose they might be stubborn to other people, but how can you resist your dragon?” she asked, after swallowing the bite and considering. “But yes—dragon Hatchings are exciting. I’ll go for sure—probably just to watch.” Meira was banking a lot on this wher clutch—she so very much wanted to Bond. The tension—did the Weyrwoman not recall how terrible it felt to stay at a Weyr with a clutch hardening, and not be able to know precisely when the clutch would Hatch—and who, for that matter, would Bond? Fear of rejection was always, it seemed, foremost in her mind.
The Candidate smiled, amused by Ferneth’s appetite. Missing the noonday meal apparently wasn’t possible for some people…she took a meditative bite of her own roll, tasting it slowly, still loath to return to the Weyr. The Weyr meant the pressure of completing her homework and the terror of being thought of as completely desperate…the strain of Chores and lessons…what she really didn’t want was the next lesson’s coming. What would happen, then, if Candidatemaster Kemma asked everyone if their virginity was well and truly gone? It would be awful to be the only one who replied, ‘No.’ And yet she couldn’t lie.
She grimaced. “Well, don’t start loosing morals just to fit in,” she advised. Seriously—morals did seem to be loose of late. Meira sighed, stretching as she chewed thoughtfully on the meatroll. Their homework…ah. Of course, she couldn’t stifle the blush that rose in her cheeks and she unconsciously avoided looking directly at Ferneth, speaking instead to his shoes. “Well, um…I was hoping that someone wouldn’t mind…” She hesitated, seeking the right word. “Mind helping me…but it’s awfully awkward to ask anyone…” Meira sighed, rolling her eyes skyward and picking out the pale fluffy clouds now and studying them carefully as if bidden to memorize them. “I just wish someone would just…” The word rape rose to mind, as it always did when people spoke of being Flown. It was a natural reaction after Benden.
“This is going to sound absolutely like—like I’m desperate—but at this point, I really don’t care who it is.” Now the blush was because of shame, but that was the truth. Stupid stress, pressure—it would be so much easier if she had already lost her virginity. Loosing it by force at Benden Weyr seemed a better option than asking someone to take it from her.
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Ember
Administrator
T'san Iskierka Dy'shi Jazheera Ae'on Nephele Qaena K'dem Eikane
FLAME GURU OF THE UNDERWORLD
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Post by Ember on Sept 6, 2008 10:49:52 GMT -5
Ferneth grinned at her point. Yes, golds didn't really like giving up what was theirs, and to them everything in the weyr belonged to them. "That would be a problem then. We'd have a firelizard queen and a dragon queen all huffy at each other over a little old heardbeast," he said, imagining Aslath looking down at a wild firelizard queen, the little thing chittering angrily at her. He chuckled in amusement. That would be interesting to see play out.
"Good point," Ferneth replied simply, thinking it over. Whatever the case no one properly understood unless they Impressed. Perhaps eventually he'd find out. "If you go to watch you'll be able to see me Impress!" Okay, he was getting a little ahead of himself there. "And...well, whers hatch at night but I'll come congratulate after you Bond, I promise," he said with a wink. Between chores and lessons he was certain he'd find time to make good on his promise.
Every meal for Ferneth was absolutely essential. If he missed one he'd be groaning and whining for food until he did eat. He took another bite before speaking again. "At least one of us had the common sense to bring food," he commented lightly. "Thanks much, milady." He dipped his head slightly as he grinned. He took another bite afterwards, this time savoring the taste of the meatroll. There could be no complaints about the food at Selenitas. It all tasted pretty good. It was interesting to think that candidates cooked it under supervision of the headwoman, although other staff did help too.
"I don't intend to," Ferneth assured Meira before falling silent to listen to her answer. He thought about what she said. He could understand the whole awkward part. It wasn't an easy task to go up to someone and ask them to help with something like that without losing any of your dignity. The way his thoughts were starting to turn startled him so he quickly returned his attention to Meira, just in time to hear the next thing she said. Well that didn't help.
"Well then..." He paused for a moment, the blush starting to return full force. "I...I wouldn't mind helping with your homework," Ferneth finished shyly, looking down at his own feet. Apparently they were pretty interesting right now if both of them wanted to look at them. He also had to reassure himself that neither of them were in his mouth right then. He still couldn't believe he'd suggested that...Hopefully she didn't hate him now.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 6, 2008 12:35:39 GMT -5
Meira grinned. “But Aslath is probably used to babies,” she pointed out. “And smaller things…” Still, it was an amusing thought. “Anyway, perhaps it’d be better for them not to get dependant on us. I mean, I don’t want to say anything would happen to the Weyr, but what with Benden…” She hesitated, shrugged. “Maybe it’s safer if they didn’t start eating out stuff,” she finished, shrugging. “Even if Aslath decided to be a generous queen and let loose the herdbeasts for the fire lizards to catch.” That was a rather depressing thought, but true…Meira would hate to see fire lizard lives lost because, after the Weyr couldn’t feed them anymore, they starved. Even a quick death would be better than a lingering one by starvation.
She laughed at his enthusiasm. “Yes, I will get to watch you Impress.” She waggled one finger warningly. “But don’t get a swelled head. I have other friends I want to watch, too.” Mutasim being one of them—but she decided not to mention that. Besides, it wasn’t just Mutasim either. Raila, for a start—and even then, the enchantment of a dragon Hatching that seemed to lure all people there to watch. Just because she didn’t want to Impress didn’t mean she didn’t want to enjoy the Hatching either. She nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, I don’t want to drag you away from your sleep to watch a wher Hatching. “I won’t yell at you if you don’t attend or anything.”
She nibbled thoughtfully on her meat roll, hardly tasting the food that was satisfying her stomach so. Meira hadn’t noticed she was hungry until she began to eat, but now that she was…“You lean to plan ahead if you want to stay alive at Benden,” she responded through swallows. “Well, if you’re a girl anyway.” A man—specifically a high-ranking Rider—could probably get away with doing nothing all day as long as his knots were firmly intact.
So he wouldn’t loose his morals…that was good. It was nice to hear at least one male wasn’t obsessed with Flying any willing—or unwilling—female he came across. “I’m glad,” she assured him, but there wasn’t much more to say. The silence was awkward, especially after such a topic, and Meira found herself staring at the surrounding foliage until she heard Ferneth speak again. Her mouth opened in half-shocked appraisal. He would help her?
She wasn’t entirely sure as to how she should be feeling—grateful and relieved was how her thoughts were veering, but on the other side she should probably be feeling nervous. “I—” Meira paused, bewildered, and then made a split second decision. Hadn’t she said that she’d rather be Flown by Ferneth than a random stranger due to a wher’s run? And she had to keep up in lessons…if she didn’t, it might dent the triumph of Bonding and it also embarrassed her. Meira swallowed and shifted off of the rock, and nodded. Trying to keep her voice from wobbling, she managed to whisper, “I’d be grateful if you did.”
[fade-out]
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