Say What? (Rae)

[Requiem]

Beautiful...

X'rx scratched the head in his lap, offering an encouraging smile to the older weyrbrats he'd stolen from the creche. Many of the braver ones were resting against Eveyth as they finished up the necklaces they were making for 'someone special' out of the shells, feathers and fishing line that the greenweyrling had brought. Even though things were very busy with all the chores and lessons and whatnot, if it was within his power, of course he would help Reese. His sister didn't ask much from him, after all, and watching a half-dozen youngsters for a candlemark while the creche was short-staffed wasn't a problem. (Technically he could probably count it as chores if it interfered that much.)

"Jaiya, let me see. You're finished?" He held up the necklace, turning it over in his hands with a very serious look as she watched anxiously. Glancing up at her, he let a slow smile touch his face, watching hers brighten up and chuckling at the gorgeous smile. "It's almost good enough to match your beauty, Jai. We're going to have to beat the boys off with sticks in a turn or two." He dropped the necklace over her neck, catching sight of Reese come to collect them. "My sister's back. You all will have to show me when you've finished...wait, I promised..." The basket of cookies got passed around before Reese rescued them from the kids, giving her older brother a rather longsuffering look. Amusement lingered in her eyes, though.

"Stop spoiling them, Xer. Come on, guys! Say bye to Brother Xer!"

He waved at the chorus of young voices, sliding down and settling his own fishing line creation around Eveyth's neck, the dragon nuzzling him with a contented rumble. "For the most beautiful of all of them," he commented with a wink to his mindmate, before bending to gather up the discarded materials. He hummed softly to himself, amused as Eveyth's tail curled companionably around his calf.

[Lotty]

Cute. Cute. Cute.

Oh come on. As if any of you weren't guilty of a little bit of people watching, and when there was an ouroboros of adorable occurring right before your eyes, then it was even harder not to just hide out there and just take it all in. She didn't know who these people were - of course she could make some guesses, there were weyrbrats and that dragon was most definitely a weyrling - but no worries, she would know soon. She jumped to her feet with a youthful, sprightly, bounce and the mindhealer was instantly on a mission. Oh yes. NOBODY expects the Raebeli inquisition.

Skip, skip, skip. She was on her way across the green field to the now lone weyrling pair, "Oh hello there..." what was it that she could want from them? Well only Rae would know, and even she was still unsure. Curiosity was probably the majority of it all, the desire to know every face in the weyr was the other one, "You must be one of the new weyrlings..." duh. She gave the green an approving look before she caught sights of that pretty charm necklace around the neck of the hatchling. !!! Now, there was nothing that made the girl more excited than home-made trinkets and jewelry. Soooo pretty.

"Oh I see that you were having craft hour?" a disarming smile for X'rx, "I suppose I should introduce myself, I'm Raebeli..." a little wave as one hand went behind her back.

[Requiem]

Watching the figure bounding their way with undisguised interest, Eveyth couldn't help but bounce a little in place experimentally, wondering if two extra legs would make that difficult for her or not. She hoped not. It looked like such fun. The female crooned pleasantly to Raebeli as she came to a stop, bouncing one more time in imitation before folding her wings neatly along her flanks. I am Eveyth, and this is X'rxMine. He is Mine, but I will share some of my time with him with you, because you seem very nice, the green responded generously, earning an amused glance from Hers as he descended into a crouch where he could continue picking up the mess and still have his eyes on Raebeli. He blew the hair from his face and greeted her with a friendly smile.

"She's a bit rambunctious...and possessive...though if you teach her to skip she'll probably adore you forever," he added laughingly. Was that what the bouncing was? she questioned Hers privately. He nodded affirmation, extending his hand in greeting when the woman introduced herself. "The mindhealer. I've seen you around on occasion in the infirmary, but not since they switched you to night shift. Don't worry, though, I'm not anyone you should recognize. Just help out there from time to time," he concluded pleasantly. "Reese - my sister - needed a hand for a bit at the creche, though." He finished collecting the materials, carefully organizing them in the bag he'd brought before slinging it over his shoulder.

X'rx stood, a hand falling on Eveyth's head as she wound around him and nuzzled the woman with abandon - and just possibly the ulterior motive to be shown how to do this skipping thing. "Don't suppose you've eaten yet? You're welcome to join us...my mother is working there today, so you can have anything you want."

[Lotty]

Teaching dragons to skip was not in her skill set, but give her enough time and she would try. The idea of four legs skipping...that was a little complicated. Maybe if she could rear up on her hindlegs? She could probably use her wings for balance. It would be a little awkward at first, but oh it would be....wait. Why was she actually considering this? Time to switch gears girl! She did her best to wipe her brain clean of the adorable image of frolicking green dragons and focus on the equally endearing image of X'rx blowing the hair out of his face. Smiles usually did a good job of hiding her inner dialogue.

"Yep that's me!" it was a sudden and excited reply. He knew who she was! Well...erm...of course he knew who she was, most people did, but maybe it was just the inflection, but but but...it seemed so positive. Usually all she heard was weird rumors. Apparently she discharges crazies all the time, and had magical drugs to keep that pep in her step. Such strange concepts, but all beyond the point...she was simply smitten by the young green weyrling. Why she...wanted to keep him around...and she was going to find a way to do it.

Before she could execute any grand plans she had Eveyth nuzzling her, and for a brief moment she regretted not having a bonded to share such affection with. Sure, since she came to the weyr she was technically allowed to stand if she wished, but it seemed so presumptuous and she felt too old - probably because she hung out with the likes of Dmitri. Again, her brain was floating off into tangents, "Oh food? Why sure I'll join if you don't mind..." she was very agreeable.

"So you say you just help out from time to time? At the infirmary that is... How do you like that?" It wasn't a weird psychological test. It was just testing the waters. If he liked it then it would be that much easier to talk into helping her out specifically.

[Requiem]

"Not at all," X'rx responded generously, though of course if he'd minded he wouldn't have offered. The greenweyrling was rather...good...about not offering more than he was willing to give. In this case, he couldn't really see the downside at all. A warm, home-cooked meal (no one can ever cook better than a boy's mother, after all) in the company of a nice and pretty woman. What was there to complain about, eh? Eveyth fell in beside him as he began to walk toward the kitchens, doing her absolute best to be touching both humans at once.

The young man chuckled good-naturedly at her question. "It's fine, I suppose. I love being able to cheer someone up...it can be a pretty sad place. Cookies and smiles go a long way though, I've found." His eyes flickered briefly over to her. "I really don't do that much, to be honest, aside from cleaning things and treating the occasional scrape. Or playing fetch for the healers."

More might have been said, but at that very moment a certain dragon faceplanted and X'rx went immediately to one knee, helping his beauty back up. It's harder than it looks, she told them both, an edge of melancholy to her mindvoice. The boy smiled gently. "You should let her teach you, Ev. Skipping is hard." I'l get it, and then I'll be the best dragon at skipping in the whole Weyr! X'rx didn't actually expect her to teach his green; she had a short memory and would likely forget the entire conversation in a few minutes.

Shaking his head slightly, he looked on his dragon with fondness, then continued for the kithens again, his stomach protesting his lack of breakfast earlier at rather embarrassing decibels.

[Lotty]

The green's attempts to keep in touch with her and her rider was not lost on the mindhealer at all. She tried to help the little one out by keeping her hands out and reaching for a wing or headknob or whatever would come into contact and not bother the sweet heart. Of course this meant that Rae couldn't very well skip anymore. It was hard to keep such a bouncy gait and not accidentally smack the weyrling, and she would never, ever, be able to live that down, so she was careful to not make ay sudden movements. Later they could skip...maybe

"Cheering people up is very important you know...happy people live longer and healthier lives..." she replied sweetly as ideas began to brew. Sure, it would be easy enough to just ask him if he was interested in mindhealing but that was too blunt and too forward. Who did that? No. She couldn't be that person, she had to pry a little bit more, "Why don't you just become an apprentice? I mean...I sound so presumptuous...you must be really busy with your weyrling lessons and what not. The last thing you need is more distractions..."

But...there was always a but. The woman cocked her head to the side and bit her bottom lip, tapping her chin with a finger as she finished a thought, "But I'm sure the option is always out there on the table, and there are so many thing you could specialize in some day, there really is something for everyone..." not to seem like an informercial for the mindhealers she kept the conversation especially tailored to X'rx, "I'm sure you could work with kids...imagine treating all the weyrbrats with their sneezes and sniffles. How cute!" Admittedly, if Rae wasn't a mindhealer already she would be partial to being something of a pediatrician herself.

[Requiem]

What a nice lady, making it easier for her to touch both of them at once! Leaving her tail curled around X'rx's calf in a gesture that was half-affection and clearly half-possessiveness, the green nuzzled her head against Rae's hand, crooning quite vigorously. I like her, X'rxMine. Can we keep her? She's not a pet, beautiful. If you like her, though, we can always visit her; she doesn't seem like she'd mind. Visiting is good, but we could always talk to her if we kept her on my couch. Doesn't that make more sense? If she wasn't a human, yes, he agreed, rather amused.

Flashing her a grin, he nodded. "Oh, yes, just looking at things from a cheerful perspective helps a lot. Helps your health, makes you more productive, and you tend to weather the bad things better. At least, that's what I've always thought. No one ever got anywhere while upset." It was nice to find someone who understood him - though of course she did, wasn't that her job as a mindhealer? Many people seemed to think he was a little crazy, so adamantly attempting to bring smiles to faces and make people feel better when they were down. If nothing else, it couldn't hurt to have a few more friends; you never knew when you might need them.

Glancing at her, he let his hand fall on Eveyth's neck. "I don't know. I mean, I know they limit hours at the infirmary for staff who are still weyrlings, but that's still a lot of time...Eveyth's still pretty young to leave alone for that long." Not to mention energetic. And prone to getting into things. "If it was more broken up...maybe just a few hours a day...but I wouldn't feel right offering to help and then asking them to make concessions when there are other weyrlings who work there regular shifts." He offered her a small smile. "Perhaps when Eveyth is older."

[Lotty]

Oh yes...yes. She wanted to keep him around. It was official as soon as he agreed with her about the whole happiness deal. Finally someone who was on the same wavelength as her! Though the dragon helped too. She was a sweetie, though this was ery clearly already established a while ago. Sometimes the girl just got so carried away that she would repeat herself.

She had to try very hard not to get ahead of herself here though. There was the fact that he was a weyrling, and she didn't want to be the one who burdened him during the most important turns of his life, "How long ago was it that you Impressed again?" The question seemed almost odd and out of place, especially when she could have guesstimated the age herself. The hatching....it was a handful of months ago right? Ah well...she pressed on with the conversation, almost completely disregarding the little inquiry all together.

"Oh yes, wait for Eveyth to grow up...wait to graduate even. You're young, there is no reason to get too stressed. I don't know how some of the weyrlings and candidates handle it all. I know I went through apprenticeship fine, but I don't know if it would have been so smooth if I had so many other obligation. Goodness...Faranth knows that I had a hard enough time when I was taking care of a baby darter, I can't image a dragon," X'rx had yet to meet Cap'n, but on somedays that was for the best. Not that the darter was mean, he was just a handful. An intimidating handful, and he didn't make for the best first impression. The mindhealer was sure that he cemented her in many people's psyche as "crazy darter lady".

[Requiem]

"She's six months old," X'rx responded with a grin, blinking down at Eveyth as he felt her address Raebeli directly, clearly expecting an answer from the mindhealer. Mine likes you because he thinks you understand him. I like you lots, too. You're so pretty making the skipping thingy. Mine thinks you're pretty, too, but I'm not supposed to tell you because that isn't polite and it makes his face feel warm. "Ev..." Indeed, his ears were shading toward red and his expression was nothing short of awkward. I think you like us though, don't you? Then we should be friends! You can sleep with me on my couch or maybe on Mine's be- no he says that humans don't sleep in the same bed and is getting the funny feeling again. Silly Mine, what's wrong with sleeping in the same bed? Anyway, you can share my couch and we can always be friends together! Wouldn't you like that?

He rubbed at the back of his head, the awkward nervous grin refusing to leave as he wondered just how red his face could possibly get before it melted. "Uh, she really likes you a lot," was his only explanation, and Eveyth crooned vigorously to support that statement. The hatchling would forget by tomorrow that she'd asked Raebeli, and hopefully the mindhealer wouldn't hold anything his green had said against him. The woman was pretty, yes, but he didn't have any designs toward her. Not at all. No matter how much Eveyth made it sound like he did with all the talk about keeping her and whatnot.

He chuckled, attempting to regain his equilibrium. "Oh, I'm not that stressed, just pulling a four or six hour shift all at once...well, that's not really possible." He glanced at Raebeli curiously. "Do darters really...tame?" He didn't think they did, but then, he'd never tried, so maybe they did? "You'll have to show me him sometime...I've never seen a domestic darter." Up close, anyway. A bluerider was rumored to have one, if he recalled correctly.

[Lotty]

Rae was flattered that the dragon liked her so much. She was double flattered by the fact that the dragon was actually talking to her. From what she understood, that was considered quite an honor. Cue rosy cheeks and a hand to her mouth. Coyly she tried to hide how giddy she was (though it was a wonder why she ever tried, everyone knew how easily excited she got about everything). When the green further complimented her and informed her that X'rx thought she was pretty...well...it wasn't the first time she had heard that, and from a weyrling she took the comment as being nothing more than an objective, factual, comment. Lots of things were pretty. Flowers were pretty too...that didn't mean anything though.

Now, what to say to the dragon? She really didn't think it would be very appropriate to share a couch with the green, but she couldn't just tur down such a nice offer (even though it was more of a proposal of kidnapping than an offer). She canted her head and tapped her chin in thought, "Of course I like you and X'rx both dear! We can be friends forever and ever, but I don't think I can sleep with you on your couch. Its not very comfortable for people you see...thats why people sleep in beds...but uhm you only can fit one person in a bed at a time," perfect. There was no need to go into specifics with that one.

Pleased with herself and her cleaver answer she turned back to the boy and entertained his questions about darters. She really wasn't an expert herself but..."Oh yeah...well...I don't know if they all tame. I just know that mine did? He can fetch things and do some really simple errands of sorts. He seems really smart, I think he knows everything I am telling him but....he is a lot bigger than the normal darters? I guess he has a bigger brain?" the woman chuckled, "I would rather not know though...but yeah, if you come by the weyrfolk apartments...or the infirmary sometimes....then you can see Cap'n in all his glory..." She felt like they had been walking forever now...would they ever reach the food? She just now realized how hungry she was getting.

[Requiem]

Eveyth deflated slightly. They couldn't keep her? X'rx merely returned a soft wave of affection, wrapping her in it. They could always see Raebeli more often, if Eveyth liked her so, and even though it wasn't the same as keeping her it was still pretty good, right? They didn't keep Maverick or Trilly or Fairy, after all. The green agreed a little reluctantly, pressing against his thigh a bit firmer. Did people really only fit one to a bed? More than one could fit, but then they got all tangled, and sometimes you forgot which leg belonged to who, and which arm, and there were bruises and it was just troublesome. The green could understand that, though she still didn't like it terribly much. No not at all.

X'rx listened to her explanation with interest. "We'll have to do just that; Eveyth is always interested in littles." Glancing up at the smell of smoking meat, he grinned, and Eveyth suddenly burst into a lope with X'rx not far behind. "Hurry!" he called over his shoulder. "Last one there has to clean the dishes!" Sure enough, the pair pulled up at the smoke pit a small distance from where the rest of the weyr went to eat now that food was mostly served outdoors. He darted between a couple drudges, stealing a chunk of meat and juggling it hand-to-hand as he avoided the slaps of several older drudges. X'rx smiled and tossed it to Rae, then turned to face a wall of older women.

He smiled as charmingly as he could manage. "Aw, but the mindhealer was hungry. Don't look at me like that." One woman stepped forward and pointed a finger at him. "Don't you be giving me that, Xer. There's plenty of food where everyone else goes." He toed the ground, doing a fair impression of a boy suitably cowed. "I'm sorry old Rilya. But it's so much better right off the spit and I didn't think it would do any harm..." As expected, the women melted at that, and even gave the two a couple of plates with some greens and tubers to offset the wherry meat. X'rx plunked down on a log, Eveyth's head immediately going to his lap, and he patted the wood next to him. "Come on. Don't be shy."

[Lotty]

Hey now! Running was not expected...running wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do in a skirt either, but not one to be left behind, she bunched up the excess cloth that would just get caught in the wind and she...she tried her best to run after the weyrling. One hand stretched out for balance as she tried not to trip or twist her ankle in the lumpy ground between where she was and where she wanted to go. Lets face it, she was not catching up to X'rx anytime soon, and it was luck that enabled her to weave in and out of the crowded area.

If it was luck that she managed not to collide with any of the drudges, then it was something otherworldly that allowed her to catch that chunk of meat that flew at her. She managed the feat, not without a few squeaks. "Eeeeep!" She was without a doubt, such a girl, and was just lost as to what to do with a greasy, dripping, hot piece of animal in her hands. Doing a little nervous dance, she passed the piece off from one hand to another, as she stood guiltily behind X'rx. Uh-oh...did they just do something wrong? So she had this in her hands AND he was going to get in trouble for it all!? She felt like she was sweating bullets, but that might have just been the heat of the fire pits...

Things tended to have a way of working out for the mindhealer though, and she was thankfully offered a plate that she could place the pulled meat on. With a big smile, and a little curtsy she thanked the woman who was apparently named Rilya and took herself and her plate over to the log where her new friend was sitting. Don't be shy? Well of course Rae wouldn't be shy...she had absolutely no qualms with sitting good and close to X'rx. They were besties now after all? Right? Right....now to give him a hard time about the whole incident, "Now what did you think you were doing running around like that? I'm an old lady you know..." Or at least a certain wherhandler liked to say she was.

[Requiem]

X'rx quite happily scooted over enough to make sure she had room on the log, while Eveyth slipped her tail around the woman's ankles, crooning while she made sure to touch both humans. Now wasn't this nice? Even nicer when X'rx's hand drifted down to scratch behind her eyeridges almost absently, and she nuzzled him, careful not to nick one of her overlong fangs on his thighs. It was one of the few things she remembered all too well, the time when she'd accidently cut his inner thigh. So much blood everywhere and it was frightening, especially because even though he'd been trying very hard to comfort her, the concern and faintness she'd felt all too readily. But she'd never cut him since, no, not once. (Or, if she had, it couldn't have been too bad because she'd forgotten about it.)

He glanced at her, chuckling outright, and tilted his head to one side which caused part of his hair to mask more than half his face. "You can't be more than a couple turns older than me, and I'm just shy of twenty," he commented, amused. "Don't tell me we're already old. I'll have to rearrange all my life plans, then. Was expecting a good long life with my Ev." The green huffed in shared amusement. Even had she not been able to tell he was joking from his voice, his emotions were laid open to her like a book. Had been pretty much since the moment of Impression, and they'd only managed to sink deeper into one another in the last few months.

Stretching out his legs, with Eveyth adjusting herself to partially drape over them, he set about happily munching at his food. "I'm very glad to have run into you, Raebeli...you seem like a nice woman, even if you are a little girly and getting too old to keep up with me already," he commented teasingly, wrinkling his nose at her. Of course, him calling anyone girly was rather funny, and he knew that. For a girl...no, he probably wouldn't qualify as girly, but as far as guys went, he just didn't quite fit in. Not that he minded. He suspected that had a lot to do with why he Impressed Eveyth, and anything that made her his was considered good. "So what do you do when you're not helping us all keep our limited sanity intact?"

[Lotty]

She felt the suede like brush of dragon hide against her bare ankle and it was obvious. Rae was captured, but to be honest, Eveyth could capture and keep her whenever she wanted to. Unless of course that meant having to live on a stone couch. Ew, no thanks, the mindhealer was extremely agreeable and she wasn't one to complain about anything, but if it could be avoided she would rather not do that one thing. Sure, she wasn't exactly trained in the specific field, but every healer knew that sleeping on a hard floor probably wasn't very good of the joints or posture.

Still she couldn't do anything but smile at the dragon and her bonded, because it was obviously all well intended...actually it was a compliment if anything. Speaking of compliments...that was exactly how she took the comments from X'rx. How sweet! And how different it was to have someone around who didn't call her an old lady. Her adoring and appreciative glances were flickered over to the weyrling between bites of her meal - which admittedly was great - stand ins for the words she couldn't say while chewing.

Swallowing a bite, she replied merrily, "Well, that much is true. I am only 21, but when you are in a weyr full of kids it makes you feel old," that and it seemed like people her age were busy being candidates and weyrlings. A lot of the people she had been seeing and treating were only a couple of turns younger than she, yet she was expected to have all the wise and sage answers. Yes, it made her feel a little prematurely aged, but at least she was still a neat person to meet! That was encouraging, "Well thank you X'rx. You're so sweet you know! Have I told you that already?" She did have a way of repeating herself.

But when it came to what she did outside of work...well then she couldn't think of an answer at all, "Hmmmm wellll...." Suddenly it all came to her, and she spat out a long list of her hobbies, "When I'm not helping people, or writing letters and such back to the Fort Hall...I like making jewelry out of twine, and making little paintings, and going on walks to collect flowers, and talking with people, and playing games, and yeah......but lately I just sleep. I've been busy after all!" This was really the first time she had gotten out in a while.

[Requiem]

"Hm. Can understand that...I'm one of the older ones in our weyrling class," he admitted easily. There did seem to be a lot of people younger than him, and he was hardly old. But then, he supposed this wasn't altogether unusual in a weyr at war. It was an oddly dark thought that he didn't hold onto, even if there was no denying that when he was younger there seemed to have been a lot of older people at the weyr who simply no longer...were.

Sweet? He colored slightly, a condition not helped any by Eveyth's enthusiastic aggreement as she rewarded Raebeli for being such a smart, observant human with a pleasant croon and the near carress of her tail on the woman's leg. "Well, I don't know about all that," he responded, chuckling mildly and rubbing at the back of his neck.

At her list of hobbies, he listened intently, cocking his head to one side as he continued making a steady dent in the half-pilfered food. Eveyth, too, was listening, prodding him at each activity - which was most of them - that she enjoyed too. Oh, how she liked this woman! He scratched behind her eyeridges, finding it hard not to be giddy himself or randomly want to cuddle the mindhealer. Still getting used to how strongly his girl effected him, that was for sure.

"Too busy, it sounds like," he commented quietly. "Don't you have anyone to help you ease the workload? It would be a shame to never have any time to do what you want, and I'm sure the stress builds after awhile." X'rx eyed her curiously. Not that she seemed stressed out. At all. But then, she was the mindhealer, so maybe she didn't allow herself to show any of that. It would certainly reflect poorly on her.