we live lives that are rich and blessed [Dorava]

[Lotty]

So...Kierjaarth was being lazy. He felt like he held the right to be when he was so sharding ancient, and although Mi'rah wasn't very agreeable to the dragon picking off one of the fat, easy kills that could be found in the pen, the rider nonetheless was nearby being that ever supporting entity for the bronze dragon. As seemingly antagonistic of a relationship the two had - there was hardly as many examples of rider and dragon who could spend more time arguing over the most mundane things - it was rather rare to see one out and about without the other far behind. No, they didn't need to touch or cuddle or reassure each other with praises, but they were a two for one deal, so there should be no surprise seeing the rider sitting on the split rail fence watching his dragon gorge himself on a herdbeast.

I'm just am not sure if I approve of this. Can't you just hunt your own food, this is really for the kids...

Nonsense, you always complain that I am looking too boney, and I'm too tired to hunt, you work me too hard and we are just a couple of bags of old bones. The dragon complained insolently. Typical of him to make excuses for himself, because with Mi'rah they almost always worked. There was a reason he picked him there was. You...I don't work you too hard, and we aren't that old. Stop acting like we are geriatric. The bronze of course snorted and made a notable crunch as he snapped down on bones. You are, with your...cane is it? The rider gripped the knobby handle of his crutch. That was a low blow, I only use it when I know I have to walk really, really, far and you know it. Or for appearance. Looking a little more pathetic than he was could be useful. I don't even think of taking it to drills.

There was a snappiness to even his mindvoice that was apparent. The weyr's perfect gentleman was not immune to agitation it seemed, though the rider had the sneaking suspicion that he knew the source of his sharpened tongue. A dark green head popped out from the collar of his shirt. With that silly Doppel playing with his twin, Peccadillo had Mi'rah alllll to herself, and she needed him sharding close right now. He was her conspirator. Home soon. Now. Bossy? Just a little.

[dragon]

Dorava had been out walking, hands in pockets, merely enjoying the scenery as she walked. In the brief lull between excitement and drills. It was still quite warm out, given the season. But the Weyr was on the edge of tipping over that edge from warm days to not so warm days. When the leaves would change. It was only just beginning, and the brief hints of color were quite attractive. Without ever paying attention to where her feet were taking her in the least, Dorava didn't realize she was at the feeding grounds until she got there. Spotting Mi'rah sitting there on the fence and patting the top of his cane, she changed directions to go see what he was up to.

Pulling her hands from her pockets and leaning elbows on the top of the fence, she studied the massive bronze for a moment thoughtfully before speaking. "Be careful, your face might stick like that." She teased, in an almost toneless voice that barely betrayed it was a poke in jest. But then she glanced over at him, and grinned just a bit. "Heavy thoughts or loud 'mates?" She queried.

Really, he looked like he was fixing to suffer from smoke out the ears here shortly. Well ... sortof. Her gaze wandered to the cane, and she pondered that for a moment. Ah, that's why it was so out of place. She couldn't say as she'd ever seen Mi'rah carry a cane before. But then ... she didn't really know him either, now did she? Maybe he was one of those that whittled them for fun? She didn't see a whittling knife around, though... Was it finished? Just being started? "What's with the cane?" She asked, finally, deciding that being blunt was better than eyeing a man's cane.

[Lotty]

"Oh...hello Dorava," she startled him a little bit. Considering all of their training she probably shouldn't have, but nonetheless when one was unaware and talking to a dragon it happened. Up until recently he hadn't been to accustomed to the idea of being a "target" anyway. What would there be to gain from stamping him out? Maybe there didn't need to be a reason, but regardless, the idea of sneak attacks were not on his mind, "Uhm. I guess it is a little bit of both," this was all Mi'rah would admit, he didn't particularly want to go into the details of what him and the dragon were discussing. Not that it was important at all.

He didn't mind Dorava. So much for all of that gossip and information collecting he did on everyone, because from what he had gathered he should have been pulling out handfuls of hair with the woman, but as of yet she had not made any kind of glaring mistake that he wouldn't expect out of everyone else in the wing, though he also had yet to talk to her outside of the drills. This would be the true test, and unfortunately for the poor greenrider she had the odds stacked against her. The bronzerider had the increasingly proddy salamandyr on his hands after all.

Then she brought up the cane. Really? He had figured that most people had seen him with it at least once, but he was something of a hermit, "Ohhh that," the rider tried to pretend it wasn't a big deal with a brief smile and shake of the crutch, "I got hurt in the Fort attack." Now ask him exactly what all was wrong with it and he probably couldn't tell her. Tissue damage, nerve damage...he didn't remember what combination of afflictions he had because at the time he was much too busy asking the healers if he was going to be walking soon or more importantly if he could mount his dragon again. Since then however he's had his share of days where he wished they had just cut his leg off, "I get around well enough without it, but at the end of the day I'm worn out enough to need it...."

"What brings you all the way out here?"

[dragon]

"Oh ... Hello Mi'rah." Dorava imitated, right down to his expression. But it didn't last long, her face busting into a wide grin that was clearly teasing him. "Did I seriously sneak up on you?" She asked, brows bouncing once in surprise. "I must be getting better at it! But seriously ... I wasn't trying to scare you or anything. Really really. Just saw you over here, so I thought I'd come harass you a bit. If that's okay?"

She clambered up onto the fence next to where he was sitting, but on the other side of the post so as to spread the weight out on different timbers. No sense in breaking the fence down and then having to fix it all over again! Settling there, she raked her fingers through her auburn locks, pulling them back behind her ears. Once it was all contained in one hand in a pony, she brought one wrist back to her mouth to pull a lanyard off of it with her teeth. Taking that, she tied the long strands back securely. "He sure looks languid out there." She commented, watching the bronze as he snacked on his chosen beast. After the pony was secure, she started running her fingers through it, starting a thick braid. She hadn't cut it since well before coming to Selenitas, and it was starting to really show ... Dorava had never been able to decide whether or not to cut it though.

The Fort attack ... a rather sore topic that. So she only nodded solemnly at the realization, and let the topic slide by almost as quickly as she'd unfortunately brought it up. No need to dwell there! Seemed everyone had come out of that one hurt in one way or another. Physically, mentally ... or via a bonded. Dorava was just glad that Aonith was flying again ... again. It seemed that the green was always getting her wings hurt in one way or another. It was a miracle she could still fly well enough to pull off all the stunts that she and Dorava had been so well trained in.

But ... she was a green. Greens did that.

"What brings me out here? Oh ... nothing much. Just going for a walk. I finally ran out of things to do ... amazing, right? Anyway ... thought I'd take the moment to go out for a bit. Helps to clear the head, get a good grasp on things again. And to set the weights of the worries aside for a time." She grinned, and shrugged. "Just ... cause I can. Basically. I was following the path, with no real destination in mind. Saw you, and here I am."

[Lotty]

"No. I m-mean, I wouldn't say startled," because to him that suggested that she was some kind of monster. People surprised him, animals and their kind startled. For whatever reason there was a distinct difference between the two to the bronzerider, just don't ask him to explain it, "You...caught me off guard is all. I... you can harass me if you want. I don't really think you can bother me that much?" He replied to her as Peccadillo turned a yellow eye over to the woman. Faranth willing she wouldn't talk to her - the great green goddess.

He paid no mind to Dorava taking a seat...he of all people knew the value of getting off one's feet and outside of drills he didn't find a single fault in some leisure. The rider was grateful though that she picked a spot on the other side of the post, he'd hate to think of what would come out of his mouth should the fence have broken, but his thoughts were quickly redirected to his dragon at the other rider's comment, "Oh yeah. I wish that he didn't...flaunt his bouts of laziness so. He is industrious when he wants to be, but he just revels in being useless..." Mi'rah sort of shrugged, he knew that no matter how much he griped about it, it wasn't going to change a thing.

He listened to Dorava's tale of how she arrived and nodded along. He could see where she was coming from, after all, part of the reason he was sticking around outside was to sort of take in the moment as well, "Me too I guess. I mean I wasn't really going for a walk, but I did decide to ummm pal around with my dragon..." The bronze meanwhile had finished the last bit, and feeling rather heavy and bloated - a sensation that did transfer a bit to the rider, and made him rather miserable - decided to roll over onto his side to nap for however long he pleased...at least long enough to soak up some sun anyway, "But I'm glad that you came along, Kierjaarth makes for good conversation but sometimes I like to talk without having to get into an argument..."

He smiled at the woman. The green salamandyr he was bonded with was sending him every signal not to smile, but sometimes habits could override the not so subtle suggestions of dragonkind.

[dragon]

Dorava looked over at Mi'rah as he spoke, somewhat surprised by his answers, his reactions. She just wasn't used to bronze riders acting that way. She was quite used to them all being quite high and mighty, self assured and confident. Mi'rah seemed ... more normal. And it was a shock. But she smiled slightly afterward. "Is that a challenge?" Dorava asked, quite amused. "Rumor has it I'm very good at it. Not that I tried to create that rumor mind you." And indeed she hadn't ... it just seemed to happen. But it was good to know that things weren't irreparably damaged. That someone was still willing to give her a chance to be normal, too.

She shrugged minutely, twisting the ends of her hair up into itself for lack of having a second tie. The braid finished off and stayed that way with the tuck into the braid itself that she sent the ends through. Flicking it back over her shoulder, she stuck her tongue out a bit. "I wouldn't worry about it, really. They all have their own quirks. Yours likes to be lazy on the ground, mine likes to blow bubbles in the river." she mentioned. "Besides ... it does them just as much good to let their wings down as it does us. They just have different ways of showing it is all." She glanced at him, and smiled slightly. "Right?"

Dorava laughed, and nodded. "I am glad I don't often argue with Aonith. Thank Faranth. And I promise to not argue with you." She told him, before she saw him smile back at her. Suddenly blushing a bit, she looked out at the napping bronze again. "Um ... " Dorava picked at her thumbnail, before looking over again. "Thanks."

[Lotty]

Mi'rah chuckled softly and looked over at the greenrider with something of a goofy smirk and a false bit of defiance. What was this about challenges? He was rather good natured about it all and replied a bit cheekily, "Only if you want it to be Dorava..." well, he kinda was hoping that she wouldn't take him up on that, but it was well known how horrible he was at the art of humor and telling jokes and there was always the chance that she would take his words a tad too seriously. Nonetheless, he pressed on, shooting down the rumors that the woman had brought up. Ironically and despite the bronzerider's need to gather intelligence and keep up on every bit of gossip he also was more than willing to find out first hand how much truth was in the myths, "Y-you know, there is a saying about rumors..." he wasn't even in all the way and he knew he was going to mess the quote all up, "something about a shadow being your reputation but uhmmm," he was blushing, "well there is trees and character and all of that involved. Point being that my mother always told me that rumors are tasteless..."

Ah yes, you could always rely on a Lemosan to fall back on politeness, and Mi'rah did it often, especially now around a virtual stranger. Sure, Dorava was on his wing. He did pick her, but that didn't mean he knew her past those before mentioned rumors and a few solid facts he was able to gather. At drills he hardly found time to analyze much more than the team's collective progress and the weak points of a few members, but now was more personal and he had the opportunity to pick up on little details, like the woman's long hair that she seemed to bother with often and the bit of red to come to her face. Suddenly anything she said about dragons were lost on him and he answered with a mindless affirmative, "Oh oh...right yeah..."

He was concerned. Did he embarrass her? He wondered what he had said to cause her to blush so...sometimes his mouth ran without his brain getting a chance to think...or rather sometimes he over thought things and his tongue rebelled with it's own ideas. Yet, all he recalled was telling the truth. He really was thankful for someone to talk to, "Uhm...t-thank you? For promising not to argue with me that is?" He shrugged, what else could he do? He wasn't always the best about conversations, and he could only hope the greenrider could carry the rest.

[dragon]

Dorava made a show of thinking about it for a litlte while, rolling her eyes upward for a moment to complete the look as she sucked in her bottom lip. But then she looked at him again and grinned. "Nah. I think I'll pass this time around." She said with a most-serious nod before grinning again. "Lucky you!" But then she was quiet again. This time in real thoughtfullness.

"I can't say as I know which saying you're referring to. Actually. But ... I think I sorta get the drift of it? I think ... ?" But it was a good theory to know anyway. Interlacing her fingers together she settled into herself, slumping just a bit as she watched the herds drift away from the sleeping dragon. Somehow she got the feeling she was making the fellow rather uncomfortable, even if he did say he liked company. Which left her rather awkward for saying anything more, leaning more toward sitting in silence. At least until she could come up with something intelligent to say. Part of her problem with people was they thought she was an idiot. Which came from her spouting off before she thought about what she said sounded like. Soo ... to choose her words carefully. Consider them from any perception.

Difficult!

She definitely couldn't help but notice his occasional stutter. Which was definitely not something one would expect from a bronzerider, much less a seasoned one. She was not clueless enough to mention it , but it was an interesting revelation to be sure. So very unusual for his rank. Which only went to show that the color of a dragon's hide did not say everything about the person riding said dragon! "You're welcome, Mi'rah." She offered, with a smile. "But ... am I making you uncomfortable or something? I can go if you like."

[Lotty]

Some people were unphased by silence...utterly comfortable to just sit in the presence of others without having to utter a word or fill in any blanks. Mi'rah was not one of these people, though he desperately wished that he was...he had a deep respect for those who were confident in their quietness, the ones who didn't talk people they didn't need to or didn't want to. This bronzerider on the other hand was the type not to talk only out of a horrible blankness in the brain and the irrational fear that whatever guttural caveman language that came out of him would scare the woman away completely.

He watched her as she struggled through the silence just as he was doing, and he couldn't help but feel all the more guilty. He had clearly caused her discomfort, just as he had with Meira, and most likely countless others. It seemed to him that the harder that he tried to be kind, accommodating, charming and interesting, the harder he failed. His green mandyr hissed at him...a doubtful slave was no good for her. Grow man-ness! Too quiet like nothing between legssss. Cry, cry, cry wah-wah-rah. Though it seemed to be a word salad Mi'rah knew exactly what the mandyr was saying.

And he resented being called a little girl.

"D-Don't! No I mean, even.." his hand immediately reached and grabbed for her shoulder, though it probably wasn't welcome, and on that realization it reeled back with a flurry of apologies, "S-sorry! You aren't bothering me a bit. I'm just...I'm a nervous talker, and I am incredibly boring to talk to," he chuckled a bit reflecting on wingdrills, "I'm really instilling confidence in my wingmembers this way aren't I? Your wingleader is a complete dolt sometimes," though she might have noticed that before. He did have bouts of clumsiness even in front of other riders...if anything more commonly in front of others. There needed to be an audience for his little "moments" after all.

[dragon]

She hadn't even moved yet, and he grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Maybe she'd said that wrong ... had it seemed like she was fleeing in terror, insulting his pride? Dorava couldn't figure what she'd said wrong. She felt so stupid. Human interaction: not her strong suit, plainly. Of course, it was both sad and funny at the same time to see his flailing about afterward. At which point she realized the problem: she wasn't the only one struggling with interaction and not insult. Or ... something like that.

"No! No. You're okay. You're fine. Please ... stop that. You're going to fall down and hurt yourself!" She took a hold of his arm in return, to make sure he didn't fall. Still injured enough to need a cane, a fall off the top rail of a fence would not be a good thing at all. "And no, I don't think you're a dolt." She soothed, before smiling slightly. "Truth be known? I'm not so good at talking to people myself. Okay? So ... maybe we can practice a bit." Dorava shrugged, carefully making sure he was balanced okay before she let go again. "Furthermore, I don't think you should have to be a good motivational speaker to be competent in leading a wing. Sure, it might can help, but seriously? There are better, more important qualities. Which you've got ... after all, if you didn't, you wouldn't have been given a wing, now would you have? Much less one this important!" One that she honestly was surprised to have been included in. Surprise surprise. Maybe things weren't so bad off as she thought they were?

She paused a moment, then inhaled slowly. "Okay, I'll stop now." Dorava laughed a little bit. "Tell me what you think, and then I'll answer." She smiled at him briefly. "Then it won't be boring." Of course, who knew what was going to come out of either mouth!

[Lotty]

Oh no. She had touched him. He touched her and she did so in return and he did what he always did: he blushed. Why he couldn't tell you, it wasn't like he had been living in a monastery for the majority of his life. He was a dragonrider for Faranth's sake. Nonetheless tints of pink rushed to his face and he turned away so that the woman couldn't see; pretending to find great interest in the movement of the herdbeasts off in the distance. The method didn't always work...and in truth his embarrassment only worked to make him redder. The man dearly hoped that she wouldn't interpret the act as him being aloof.

But she did let go of his arm eventually and he had to turn and look back at her again, placing the now free appendage on the post to rest. Dorava was doing quite the job to calm him, and he gave her a grateful smile as she shared her own insecurities about talking with him. It was a great sign, he had learned, that to be told someone's weakness. Disclosure was a very important part of communication, and if she was willing to continue to try and work out their shortcomings at it then he would put in his fair share of effort. The first step was to just reply with something. Anything.

"Ok...practice then..." he muttered mostly to himself as encouragement that whatever he had to say couldn't possibly be too bad. The greenrider would understand his failings at this point, "Uhmmm thank you. It's very nice of you....talking to me and what not," which wasn't the most exciting of answers for the girl but at least it was better than his usual barrage of apologies. Then continuing with this idea of telling the woman exactly what he was thinking he blurted out some uninspired drivel about the weather, "It's also very nice outside. Don't you think?" He had avoided running back to the subject of his wingleading skills out of a desire not to sound like he was fishing for compliments. He believed her the first time she said it all anyway.

"Also I think you have pretty hair...I think its swell..." or something.

[dragon]

He blushed!! And then he blushed harder! Trying to hide it by looking away, like any self-respecting male tended to do. But it was rather hard to hide a blush that went all the way to the ears! Dorava's brows went up on reflex, but she made them come back down ... best not to call him on that. Whatever the reason for it. She wasn't sure at all ... she wasn't used to men blushing. For anything. So ... naturally she had no idea what had made him blush. Of course, this made her completely curious to find out why, how, what, all the rest of it. But how to find out without ... well ... calling him on it? Dorava nibbled on her bottom lip as she ruminated on that for a bit. Finally she decided maybe she would ask someone else. Someone who wasn't blushing at the time, it would be easier to get an answer out of them.

What could make a man blush?

She smiled again, hopefully encouraging and not freakishly, when he turned to look back again. With all that color mysteriously gone. Well, whatever it was, it was short lived. But at least he wasn't flailing around anymore, too. Calm again ... very nice. But of course, she couldn't help but be even more curious now ... just what was it that made him tick anyway? What was he thinking?

Apparently he was as confused about that as she was, if one was to judge by what came out of her mouth. Amused, Dorava grinned a bit as she listened to him. Wow, he sounded like she felt some days. "You're welcome, Mi'rah." She answered, before giggling. "Yes, it is very nice out. 'Tis the whole reason why I'm out here, you know." Dorava reminded, with a wink and a grin.

But getting a remark on her hair caught her blind sided. She never saw that one coming ... especially since she usually got scolded for how long it was. How she should cut it, blah blah blah. It left her grasping at nothing for a few moments, mind shocked into blankness. "Uh ... um. Okay. Thanks? Er. I mean ... well. I like it too." She answered, fumbling for something right to say. Just what did someone say to something like that, anyway? Dorava had no idea!! This time it was her turn to blush madly, and grin a little bit.

[Lotty]

Just when he thought that everything was going well, Dorava had caught him in one of his flubs. Not that it wasn't bad enough that he swore she did see him blush, but here he was still messing up with the whole talking thing and she was noticing. He thought this was just practice, but this was still so hard. His hand took to grabbing the post of the fence desperately as if it was a floatation device in the midst of stormy oceans. His cane was rested over his lap, but still lightly held onto as well. It wasn't quite the same kind of security as the post, if only because it wasn't anchored into the ground.

"Uhmmm," he was caught by what she said, and lightly embarrassed that he had already forgotten that they had just spoken about the weather, "Oh of course, how could I have forgotten," he nervously shifted but did not let himself go from the fence...even though he was suspicious of it's soundness. Was that creaking? Was he that big of a fat oaf? No, no, he had to ignore it. Clearly he was trying to find excuses to run away, "I do remember now, you came out to um enjoy the weather....yes..." He was repeating things already said because it was just so sharding hard for him to come up with something new.

Things only got worse when she reacted to his comment about her hair. Well in his opinion she shouldn't be so surprised since she had been busy playing with it so much! He was bound to take notice and say something after all, and in his opinion there were worse things he could have said. Any comment about her eyes would be some kind of lame come on, and a remark about her smile would be equally as cliche. He had thought that he had done good, and you know maybe he had since she was blushing and grinning herself. Much better than being slapped he supposed, "You should. Its better than my hair..." he paused coming up with another subject to go with, "How is uhm...your dragon doing? We haven't talked about that yet have we?"

[dragon]

He was grabbing that post like he expected it to give up some sweetsap or something. Rather disturbing, that. Dorava wished she could somehow shed the habit she had of upsetting people. It really did get old after awhile. But what could she do? "Um ...." Maybe he should get off the fence before he fell ... or maybe she should just leave before he fell. How to suggest any of that politely, though? Especially since he'd already said once he didn't want her to leave, when she'd suggested it. How awkward. "Maybe this fence isn't the most stable I've seen." She suggested, trying really really hard to not offend him. Or his fragile man-ego by even suggesting he might be in danger of falling. Which she was rather scared he was going to do.

" ... better than your hair?" Dorava asked, amused and bemused at the same time. "Well ... I guess that's a matter of opinion?" She asked, before laughing a little bit. "You're funny." Followed promptly by more laughter at his following comments. "No, we haven't talked about my dragon yet."

"Ummm ... she's alright. Healed nicely, thank Faranth. She's not quite up to her old antics yet, but she'll get there. She's definitely improving every week. I can tell. Aonith'll be as agile as she ever was. We've kinda been practicing in our spare time. Or ... yeah. Something like that. So I guess she's okay." Dorava smiled a bit. "It's been getting harder to get her to concentrate, though. She's gotten to where she's easily distractable of late." She confessed, even though she had a pretty good idea why that was.

[Lotty]

"No, no, its fine..." Mi'rah insisted at Dorava's subtle recommendation. Reason being that he didn't exactly think through how he was going to get off the fence without looking feeble. A clumsy exit wasn't his worry earlier when he was alone, and after all, getting up was ironically a lot easier for him than was the process of getting down. She didn't need to know though. He was going to stall as long as he could while he developed a battle plan for getting off the fence. He could stick his cane out first and then....yeah that would do once he got around it.

Mi'rah then snorted. Yes, snorted before he began to chuckle himself amazed by the fact that someone had called him "funny". Funny! He never thought he'd hear the term applied to himself, and although he did conjure up laughs once and a while he always assumed it was more amusement developed by his awkwardness than so his ability to strike a humorous chord with someone, "Oh am I now? I - I hope I never lose my touch then..."

He nodded along with what Dorava said about Aonith, and felt just slightly guilty that he asked the question as a part of keeping tabs on his wing more so than actual concern. He supposed he was supposed to be a little more sympathetic, but one of the problems with being a bronzerider was that you did tend to worry about yourself and yours first. Still, it was good to hear that the green was improving, even if she was going through a bout of ADD. A little naive he was on most social issues he was, but he had most definitely been in a weyr long enough to know a few of the things that made green dragons a little off. He was just polite enough to make no mention of it, "Oh I see. Well I'm sure that soon enough she will get over it. Might just be the changing of the seasons or something..." Even though he knew that was the lamest explanation known to man.

The fence finally gave another squeal and worry washed over his face. She was right. The girl was sharding right and he had to quickly put his plan into action and he sputtered his next words out too quickly, "Y-you know you're right. I - I think...maybe we should just continue our walk...I mean your walk...t-together?" In his rush he unfortunately made some unfortunate miscalculations and the ground he poked his cane out to was just a bit too soft to be trusted. As he tried to untangle his legs from the rails he quickly found himself out of balance and did in fact find himself falling face first into the ground. I shall start calling you grace again.