Cute Little Leech (Jazz it up!)

[Requiem]

There was a PMS on her nose. Her head was tilted to one side ever-so-slightly, listening to the description of the Room. It was a special room, with all sorts of wonderful goodies, but there were also sharp nasties. Hot owwies. Still, if you were very very careful, and very very sneaky, you could get some really excellent noms, the salamandyr confided to Teri. She was perhaps one of his favorite peoples. PMS was not so good at the people talk that dragons and even other mandyrs seemed to prefer. (And because he wasn't a lot tended to think him slow, which wasn't quite true.) But Teri didn't need words to understand him, any more than RuthHis or GrumblyHis. He liked the little Teri-monster because of it.

Even now, she was looking back toward the kitchens with all the scurrying cooks, unusually quiet, a thumb thrust into her mouth as she contemplated this room and what it might mean to her. Not now, of course, because she didn't think that Roo or Maman would help her with any 'mischiefs', but when she could walk on her own like the older 'brats?

Uhoh. The girl could feel the change, the little child turning wide, innocent eyes up toward the face of Maman, recognizing that look. "You're up to something. Never quiet unless you're plotting," came the familiar voice, accompanied by a poke to her tummy that tickled and caused her to giggle quietly, kicking in her position cradled against his hip. The fondness was very evident in his voice, and made her smile around her thumb as she shook her head. The digit popped out of her mouth. "No Maman. Not pottin," she insisted, giving him her most earnest, 'i'm not doing any mischiefs' smile.

He wrinkled his nose at her, lifting her up so that she could wrap her little arms around his neck. Terilyn rubbed against his cheek unabashedly. "And if I ask PMS, will he say the same thing?" The girl went cross-eyed, the blue mandyr assuring her that he would not tell of their scheming. "PMS say not pottin," she agreed chirpily, curling her fingers in Maman's braid. "Good. See? Can have cookies?" He tsked softly at that, but he didn't say no. And when he didn't say no, that meant yes. Eventually. Teri tightened her arms around his neck happily.

Glancing around at the food spread out for everyone for the midday meal, M'ta wondered what R'wign would like. He almost wished his weyrmate was picky, beyond disliking seafood. Made it hard to know what to get him. Hm.

[Ember]

Jazz entered the main hall and took a deep breath. Ah food! She'd just finished feeding and oiling Dhavalth and was ready for a meal herself. Bloody meat didn't exactly appeal to her but the main hall always had pretty good stuff. Better than ship food, at any rate. That stuff could be just awful after too long. She loved good food and she normally went straight for it but that day was different. She caught sight of something far more interesting and headed towards a familiar back. She tapped M'ta's back on one side before quickly moving to the side that Terilyn was on.

"Hey M'ta. And Teri too," she greeted pleasantly, smiling up at the pair of them. Jazheera briefly eyed the food but she was still more interested in her brother and her niece than the food. "How've you been? I didn't get to see you the past couple of days." She frowned at thought, none too pleased by it. She knew M'ta was a busy and she was fairly busy herself but she would prefer to see him everday. "Seeing you every now and then beats never seeing you," she added carelessly. Jazz made no secret about her adoration of her brother.

Her stomach rumbled then and she laughed. "My body's honest. What do you say to grabbing some food and joining me for a bit? I'm starving." Jazheera didn't really wait for an answer before grabbing a plate and serving herself. One way or another she would need food. She figured M'ta and Teri were hungry too since they were looking at the food. She didn't see a reason for him to refuse to sit with her.

[Requiem]

PMS was the first to respond to the presence of a certain very familiar short blueweyrling, brushing the mind of His with the thought, even as he offered a chirping croon to the girl. Teri noticed her second, squealing in delight and tightening her arms around M'ta, who closed one eye as she briefly cut off his air in her exuberance. Thus it didn't surprise him to have someone tapping on his back, and he didn't respond as he usually did when startled, instead turning his head towards her and smiling down at his little sister. "Hey, Jazzy." Teri bounced energetically in his grip, though that didn't keep him from snaring his sister about the waist with his free arm, squeezing her against his side briefly. Teri reached out, curling her fingers around a strand of the girl's hair. "Hi. Auntie Jashy, hi!"

The brownrider's smile turned faintly apologetic. "Fine, fine. I'm sorry. I meant to come out to see you, but I'm still getting used to R'wign's new work schedule. He's taken to working nights...and I of course have drills before it's even full light. Throws my sleeping schedule off completely." Teri was busily attempting to braid what she could reach of Jazz's hair. The little girl had become interested while watching R'wign do it for M'ta (who consistently grumbled about needing to cut it and never did, resulting in the braid down past his shoulderblades) and now kept on trying to do it with anything remotely hairlike within reach. Which amounted to twisting and tugging at it until it sort of resembled a braid. Without breaking eye contact with Jazz, M'ta deftly extracted Teri's fingers from his sister's hair just as her stomach growled, a flicker of amusement passing behind his eyes.

Her words caused M'ta to blink. "Well, I, uh..." But she was already turning away to make up a plate. He considered for a moment, then mentally shrugged. Bringing lunch for R'wign was a habit, but an unnecessary one, these days. His werymate was never up at this time. He really couldn't see any reason not to spend lunch with his sister and daughter in that light...then probably return to the weyr to catch up on the rest of the sleep that he didn't get at night anymore. Trailing behind Jazheera, he murmured quietly to Teri, for the most part filling his plate with things she wanted - and a few things she didn't but would be eating anyway. Balancing the baby in one arm and the tray in his other hand, he moved to sit near Jazz.

"How's Dhavalth doing? Broken him of the rhyming yet?" It had become a ritual question for him, almost a joke, really. M'ta found the blue adorable. Or, probably more precisely, Behruth did, and the brown always effected M'ta, at least on some level.

[Ember]

Oh dear. Couldn't sneak up on anyone when they had salamandyrs. Probably a good thing, the woman decided. She still remembered the last time her brother had been spooked. Ruliana probably still remembered too. Jazz smiled brightly when M'ta hugged her, unabashedly hugging him back. She felt Teri's hands in her hair and, not minding the pulling at all, took a few free strands and reach up to brush them across the little girl's face. At first Jazz had been a little tentative about liking Terilyn since the girl was very clearly stealing a lot of her brother's attention. The weyrling had quickly grown to like the girl though. She was adorable and just a kid.

Mention of M'ta's weyrmate brought a bit of a frown to the girl's face. She was especially annoyed since even her brother admitted that his weyrmate was part of the reason why he hadn't come to see her recently. "Mm. S'alright then. Can't help the drills and R'wign means a lot to you?" It was a question but not one she needed the answer to. It was a question covering another question. Why? Jazheera still didn't like R'wign very much. Perhaps it would have been different if she spent any serious amount of time with the firelizard magnet but the woman tried to avoid him, even if subconsciously. When her hair was released and she moved for the food, Jazz spared a moment to run a hand through the part of hair Teri had been playing with. There was nothing to be done about M'ta's weyrmate though. Her brother was happy so Jazz had no say in the matter.

Jazheera at least had him - and Terilyn, her adorable little niece - for lunch. It was a bit of a shame that Dhavalth couldn't join them. The blue liked M'ta. Jazz was still trying to figure out if it was because he genuinely liked M'ta or if it was because he was her brother and she liked him. She always forgot to ask him whenever the thought came up. He probably already knew the question though. He was usually distracted enough not to answer when she was busy and just idly thinking. Speaking of her beloved blue....

"Dhavalth's good. They really do grow quickly when they're young." It was still a bit hard to believe that dragons hatched so small. Behruth was huge in comparison. The usual question brought a grin to Jazz's face just before she took a bite of her food. She finished chewing before responding. "Haven't got him to stop that yet. If anything, he's getting better at it. Practice makes perfect I guess. I don't think I'll be able to get him to stop." In truth, it had stopped annoying her within the first month. He just wouldn't be the same if he didn't rhyme. It wasn't like he wasn't able to be understood either.

[Requiem]

M'ta gave Jazheera something of a searching look. "That's a question?" He didn't know why you'd bother to live with someone if you didn't like them. Apparently it happened, but that certainly wasn't the case with him and his best friend. Or, really, for most dragonriders he would hope. The whole concept of a 'weyrmate' was a lot less binding than the hold equivalent; if it didn't work out you just went back to separate weyrs. No families to dishonor, business arrangements to mangle or vows to break. For that matter, just because a couple of people shared a weyr didn't even mean it was intimate, in a Weyr. Sometimes it was just a roommate. He'd lived with R'wign much longer than he'd been involved with him, after all.

He settled Teri on the table in front of him, beginning to cut everything up into small pieces. "That really has nothing to do with it anyway, Jazz. I've been helping out the infirmary for months now, and my shift's four hours in the evening. Wing drills are early in the morning, and by the time I get back, he's asleep or quickly getting that way. So if I want to see him at all I have to stay up the extra couple hours after my shift while he has his break. Really, it'll be better once I get used to that schedule...it's tiring me out right now." That and he never slept well alone. In fact, he didn't use the bed when R'wign wasn't in it. Ever. Much more comfortable curling up with Behruth. M'ta knew better than to share anything too intimate about his life with the other brownrider with Jazheera, though. She was openly bothered by her brother's weyrmate, and while M'ta knew that R'wign had issues with Jazz, too, they stemmed completely from her obvious attitude towards him. That, and R'wign had the tact never to mention it aloud.

M'ta smiled, giving his cooing baby a bite. "Yes. We used to share Ruth's couch, and his rolling on top of me and squishing me very quickly became a concern." His eyes flicked up to Jazheera, amusement behind them. "Well, there are worse things. He could be in love with a random human, after all," M'ta added dryly. "Behruth finds the rhyming endearing. Apparently he's been employed by Checkoth to help him beat R'wign in their rhyming game. He states that if Dhavalth helped too, they'd be sure to win without any problems."

Teri had a hold of the fork M'ta had been using to feed her, and he released it to the girl, who began turning it over and over, watching the light catch off it in fascination. "Haven't seen much of Ruliana. You two are still hanging out a lot, I hope? Should try to get close to your fellow weyrlings...lots of them will be with you on the wings." Unless, you know, they all disappeared or died for various reasons. Or you were put on a wing made up of older northern nasties. (M'ta liked the wing and the members in it actually, for the most part, but it didn't make him any less of the odd man out.)

[Ember]

Jazheera met M'ta's gaze when he gave her that look. She held it for a moment before glancing away and sighing. "Rhetorical question," she replied, briefly waving her fork at him before sticking it into her food. Seemed like he missed the question underneath the question and that was fine. She watched him cut up the food while he talked and she made a noise of understanding. "So that's it. Well, I'm sure you'll get used to it soon enough." That really was all Jazz had to say on the matter. She thought it was good for her brother to work at the infirmary if he wanted to. She knew her brother could handle it.

The weyrling grinned when M'ta told her a snippet from when he was a weyrling. She loved to hear stories of him from before she met him again, no matter how small they were. The reminder of her blue's sister that was in love with M'ta met with a quiet laugh. That one was a bit...odd. "That's why beds tend to be handy," she teased. "Unless of course they crawl into your bed and push you off." Her blue had done that once or twice in the beginning when Jazz had been very unsure about what she'd gotten herself into. Impressing had been her intention since she learned her brother had become a dragonrider, but she didn't really know what to expect until the moment it happened.

"Rhyming is definitely preferable to some things..." She trailed off for a moment, eyes getting distant for a moment while she asked something of Dhavalth. She snorted at the answer. "Dhavalth would be "most honoured" to help Behruth and Checkoth if they asked for help. Rhyming is a fairly harmless habit but his...his need to settle fights and help and whatnot can be a bit of a problem sometimes. You think he'll grow out of that?" Jazz knew that she took risks too but that didn't stop her from being a little hypocritical and wanting Dhavalth to stop. Or at least back down a little.

Jazheera watched Terilyn for a moment and smiled. At mention of her friend the woman brightened a bit. "Oh, of course. As far as the other weyrlings, my roommate is cool. Glasscrafter. Her name's Tenlie." Jazz paused for a moment before chuckling and adding, "Seems both the weyrlings in my class I know well enough to call friends both have greens." She knew the risk of having her blue know greens well. Jazheera may not have been born in a weyr but she'd been around for a while and she knew how they worked. Thankfully, Dhavalth was still quite young.

[Requiem]

Bullshit. That question wasn't rhetorical. He wasn't sure what it was, or what she was really asking, but it definitely wasn't rhetorical. Nevertheless, M'ta recognized a desire to change the subject when he heard it, and, given the subject matter, it was probably in his best interests to let her change it. Jazheera was quickly becoming the person he spent the most time with apart from his weyrmate in a capacity that didn't relate to his work. It was odd to have someone's complete devotion without having to work for it. Mildly uncomfortable at times, even, but that was one of the reasons he'd determined to spend more time with her to begin with. Not so much because she was his sister, but because it gave her a chance to see...him...and decide for herself. Instead of chase after a phantom of memory or fantasy.

He'd been surprised to find that, even if Jazz hadn't been his sister, he'd have enjoyed her company. She was not so unlike the women - girls - he'd known. Unfettered, but tough. Alive. It wasn't the same as the naive southerners who bought their freedom with ignorance, nor the hardened northern women with their icy...inner death. Either broken or hardened to the point that they seemed impossible to soften again.

And, as with anything familiar to what he'd loved, M'ta returned to it again and again. Which made the strain between her and his weyrmate that much more troublesome; Jazz was becoming an integral part of his life.

M'ta smiled wryly. "I've never been fond of beds. I was still sleeping on Ruth after we became full riders." No need to mention how lonely he got, how difficult it was for him, to sleep alone. "Though he likely would have done the same. Spoil em in the beginning and they're ruined for life," he concluded fondly.

The brownrider chuckled. "Behruth intends to ask Checkoth if he'd like the help of the rhyming master, then." He shrugged, eyes flicking in the direction of the weyrs where his dragon lay sunning. "It's hard to say. Some things my Ruth has grown out of...he still hoards but his shinies are memories and he no longer pursues anything and everything that strikes him as 'pretty.' Dragons aren't so different than people. They start out one way but...over time...depending on what they experience, they change. Mature some, too. You know, except for a few that either can't comprehend or can't remember much. Those seem to remain childlike forever." A flicker of a smile was directed to Jazz. "The only advice I have for you is to let him grow the way he needs to, and try to direct his more worrisome traits if you can. There's nothing wrong with wanting to help, after all, as long as he's not too rash about it."

M'ta smiled slightly at Jazheera. At least it seemed that she wouldn't have any issues with life as a dragonrider as far as Flights were concerned, if she was already laughing about it.

[Ember]

Jazz turned her attention to Teri during the pause in the conversation. She cut a piece of her food and offered it to the girl, teasingly moving the fork slightly. She wasn't certain of the girl's tastes but she was at least being a good influence and offering a veggie. "Teri. You want to grow big and strong like your Auntie right?" So what if Jazz wasn't the best example of anything big or strong. The tiny woman had a lot of spirit that more than made up for it. "Gotta eat your greens." Jazheera wasn't so sure about being called an aunt ('aunt' made her think of old women) but she could certainly act like one sometimes.

When M'ta spoke of not liking beds, snorted and commented, "I've come to love beds. A few years without a proper one probably stunted my growth." She grinned after what she said to show him that she wasn't serious about it. Jazz wasn't touchy at all about her height. It came in handy more often than not. "Though I imagine a dragon might actually be comfortable to sleep on." Not so much with. Dhavalth liked to fall asleep all bundled up but he inevitabley spread out over the night. He wasn't a very dignified sleeper at all. It made her little weyrling cot seem extra smaller. Her space on it kept getting smaller as the blue got bigger, too.

"Oh, rhyming master? I'll have to be sure not to tell Dhavalth that," Jazz told her brother, the affection in her voice not too well hidden by the eye roll. She listened to M'ta's advice and her immediate thought was that dragons were basically overgrown kids. She sometimes forgot that since Dhavalth acted so mature. In the end he was still less than a Turn old so of course he had some maturing to do. She sighed at his conclusion. "Problem is that he can be a bit too rash. I guess for now there's not much to be done about it though."

Jazz wasn't really one to talk about others being rash. She'd left home, survived Thread without a Hold, gone to the worst Hold on the planet, travelled to the South, and stood for Impression all on her own. The reason she'd done most of that was sitting with her. She didn't even have the good grace to regret any of it. Most of it had actually been fun for her, so why bother regretting? There was also no way she would have passed Dhavalth up if given the chance to do it all over again.

[Requiem]

M'ta adjusted to lightly grip Teri's waist as she twisted toward her 'auntie', the little girl regarding Jazheera and - more importantly - the fork with unusual intensity. Her eyes flicked up to the girl's face, back to the fork, then she scrunched her nose up. "G'eens ick," she announced, batting at the fork with one hand. M'ta caught it, carefully wiping off her fingers and speaking softly, "You wanted a cookie, yes?" Teri's eyes brightened up, the girl turning back toward him and nodding vigorously. "Well, then, your aunt is right. Greens are very good for you, and they'll make you grow big and pretty like her. Hm? I can't give you any cookies if you don't eat your greens." The child popped her thumb in her mouth to consider that, turning her head to look at Jazheera from one eye. "P'itty." The word came out even more garbled due to the thumb in her face. "'Kay." Teri made a grabby fist for the fork.

The brownrider was in a quiet mood (and had little intention of lecturing his sister to the point of nausea). He snuck in a couple bites of food, listening to her intently as she spoke. "He loves you. And you're his example." Which was, in the end, all M'ta intended to say on the subject of Dhavalth's rash behavior. His sister had followed rumors of him, turns old, halfway across the northern continent to Bitra, then gotten passage to the south after quite awhile of ferreting around there. For a northern woman it was insane. He also recognized it as an excuse for something else, something that had to do with how much she hated any suggestion of a woman not being as capable as a man, or what a woman's place should be. M'ta was a realist, himself. He'd known plenty of capable women. That didn't make them the same as men, though. Nor did he treat them the same. The fact of the matter was, though, that the northern environment was not an environment geared toward the safety of women who travelled alone, yet alone Bitra. No dragon was going to listen to you about rashness when you did things like that. Not unless you appealed to him some other way.

And Jazheera was too smart not to know that.

"Ka'rys continues to teach us a wide range of things...that seem strange for dragonriders to know. Lock picking. Escaping bonds. Fighting, of course, but with the more exotic weapons that some of the riders know how to use. A bow and arrows, for one. My fingers are finally getting the necessary calluses but it was pretty rough for a bit. Whips at some point...he seems interested in Elysia's. I don't mind practicing with any of these, but my own methods are still far more effective - I don't see myself using these new ones in a pinch." He smiled slightly at Jazz. "So then, what are you and Dhavalth learning right now in lessons? Drilling any yet?"

[Ember]

Jazz wasn't greatly put off by the girl's refusal to eat the "g'een icky." She wasn't too fond of them herself but when you lived in a place where food wasn't always so easy to find you became more willing to eat anything. That and the veggie was better tasting than some of the others that had been available for that day's lunch. She left it up to M'ta to convince Terilyn and actually chuckled at the exchange. The promise of cookies was obviously quite tempting. Jazz wasn't one to have an ego so the compliment (intentional or otherwise) more or less just slid right off her. She let Teri grab the fork though she kept a very loose grip on the end of the handle.

The woman grinned at her brother, knowing exactly what he was alluding to. She knew very wel lthat she wasn't the best role model for her dragon. He had free reign in her memories since she wasn't able to block him out so he knew. He also assured her that when he was bigger they could go back to her father and show him she was worth more than nothing more than a Joining. Jazheera had made it quite clear that it wasn't necessary or safe to do. The side of him that leapt into helping others without always seeing the bigger picture was what she wanted to get him out of. He might yet learn not to do so.

Speaking of learning...Jazheera listened with interest to what her brother was learning. They certainly were odd skills. She knew the first one though. Lock-picking wasn't actually al lthat difficult but Jazz had little use for the skill. "A whip?" She asked incredulously. "Do me a favour and don't use that in real fighting." She knew that M'ta could throw knives. She rather liked the fact that they both knew how to do that even before meeting. As for her lessons.... "Nothing very interesting yet. More nutrition, some ground drills, and oh! I guess there is something interesting, if only because of what it leads to. We've been practicing mounting up."

[Requiem]

Tugging at the green still speared to the fork, Teri eventually worked it off, sticking it into her mouth and chewing at it resolutely while watching her aunt avidly. PMS had moved and now was clinging to the curve of her neck, tail half curled around it as he waved his little clawed forelimbs toward the food. Was it any good? The little girl tore off part and offered it to the mandyr, who nibbled at it then promptly decided he wasn't interested anymore. The child nodded sagely at his disgust. "Icky g'een," she agreed, sticking her tongue out in a clear blech face that was no doubt an imitation of R'wign's dramatics. PMS trilled his agreement, rubbing his head against her neck.

M'ta couldn't resist the chuckle at his sister's concern. "I've no intention of using anything likely to get me killed when the chips are down," he assured her, amusement still clear in his voice. Not whips, not bows. He had close and long range capability with his array of knives, skills that were far more advanced than any new weaponry he was learning. There hardly seemed any point to rely on skills not as developed. It wouldn't keep him from working on them, no, but he wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination.

"Mounting? So close to flying already?" M'ta smiled. "You'll love that, I think...nothing quite like it. Especially with a blue. He'll take you for quite the ride once he grows accustomed to his own wings. If Behruth's any indication of dragons that size, that is." His brown was curiously small for his color, coming out to just a touch larger than the average blue. It wasn't a significant enough deviation to be considered a mutation, as far as M'ta was concerned, but it wasn't normal, either. "If they're not really teaching you much as far as man-to-man fighting is concerned, feel free to come by and I can work with you a little. They should be teaching it. The wings are all training for that, as far as I'm aware."

[Ember]

Jazz smiled faintly at Terilyn as she reclaimed her fork and resumed her eating. She watched the interaction between her brother's mandyr and his adoptive kid. "You two are good friends, aren't you?" She asked the two in question. She could have asked M'ta of course, but somehow it felt rude not to ask Teri and PMS themselves. Kind of like asking a rider how their dragon was doing even if their dragon was right next to them. Not all dragons would speak to other people but they could answer through their riders. She did forget occasionally anyways but she tried.

There was a definite sigh of relief at M'ta's words. She did not want to see her brother wielding a whip, even if it was for attacking with. There was a reason why they were unconventional. Jazz was not so innocent that she didn't know the other possible uses of a whip. She dug herself out of such thoughts before they could delve too far. At any rate, she wouldn't have to see such a thing and that was good. She wondered why Ka'rys wanted his wing to learn such odd things though. It was true that training with different weapons would give a better idea of what their weaknesses were but she couldn't see why they would want to use them in battle.

"What you're doing seems more interesting, but maybe I'll change my mind when we start flying," she said, a hint of wistfulness at the end. "It must be really something for you to be praising it so." She hoped Dhavalth didn't go too fast after practicing with his wings. Riding runners was one thing...flying fast may well be something completely and totally different. As for fighting training.... "Well, they're not doing such a good job with fighting training. Sel'n got replaced with some kid barely out of weyrling training himself."

She didn't intend to let M'ta worry about her needlessly though. It wasn't like she was never trained in fighting. "I was trained before, you know, in how to fight with a knife. And I learned knife throwing in my troupe. So...I think I'm better off than some of the people in my class but I'm pretty rusty and could do with getting better. A little sparring won't hurt, right?" That she didn't mention who taught her fighting was fairly telling about who it was. Jazheera avoided mention of her family, her father in particular. She'd told M'ta a bit about them of course but unless he brought it up she didn't mention it.

[Requiem]

PMS turned his cheerfully swirling eyes on Jazheera, the little blue licking at Teri's neck in a very clear show of affection. The baby herself smiled broadly at her aunt. "Good f'iends. Share seekits." Like the secrets of the fun place that had the cookies. They needed to sneak in there when Maman wasn't watching so closely, to get yums and see all the amazing sights PMS had shown her. In contrast to the baby, the salamandyr seemed to have quite suddenly gone shy, ducking his head behind Teri's neck and peering out at Jazz.

M'ta's attention was partially on the pair, the suspicion behind his gaze making it clear that he was very interested in just what was going on between the two. Nevertheless, he smiled slightly at his sister, completely oblivious to whatever concerns she might have had about the whip. There were things you simply didn't talk about, especially with a younger sister. "Mm. M'kai. He's not helpless, but...yeah, recently graduated." M'ta didn't remember having any personal contact with the bluerider. Still, he was from Benden Weyr, and old enough coming from it that he had to know at least enough to get by there. What 'enough' actually was, or whether or not he could teach it to someone else, was another matter entirely.

"Well, you're certainly more than welcome to come practice or spar with me when you've got a spare moment and I'm not in the infirmary or at wing drills. It'll probably be different than you're used to, though." His lips twisted into a wry smile. M'ta wasn't the best at 'sparring.' He'd gotten better about it, truthfully, but the man's instincts lended toward killing and killing quick, without any regard to what you sacrificed yourself as long as you came out alive. The brownrider was gradually retraining himself to be less...well, like a wild animal, really. Retraining was much harder than training, though, and it was slow going.

"Behruth also says that he'd be happy to take you for a ride if you want to see some of what it's like to fly. He likes to play with his limits though, as a forewarning; unless you ask specifically, Behruth will definitely test your limits as well." Purposely or not. The male was playful in the air.

[Ember]

Jazheera's smiled turned into a definite cheeky grin. Secrets, huh? Her poor brother. His kid already had a co-conspirator. To the little girl, and even to the salamandyr, she said, "It's always good to have friends you can share secrets with." She winked too because anything Terilyn could plan with PMS was likely to be relatively harmless. Kids that young simply weren't dangerous. As for PMS, his sudden hiding was cute and a little suspicious. Was he afraid of her? Did he have reason to be? She was sure M'ta could keep the little creature in line but all the rumours about them made her worry.

Jazz caught M'ta's smile and returned it. His daughter was adorable. The blueweyrling thought of it as completely her brother's child too, despite he being adopted and him having a weyrmate to help raise her. She'd never seen Teri with just R'wign...but then again she rarely saw just R'wign. Perhaps one day she'd be able to accept her brother's weyrmate but the fact that neither of them seemed inclined to spend much time around each other was making the time she disliked him longer. Dhavalth always suggested she just approach him first but the young woman had no interest to do so.

She nodded when he said M'kai's name. Yep, that was him. He had a blue dragon, same as her, but Futh and Dhavalth were about as different in build as blues could get. The poor weyrlingmaster's dragon was not built very well for flying. At least, not in Jazheera's opinion. Too much bulk for the wings to properly carry. Still.... "I prefer M'kai over the other Weyrlingmaster though. I've heard she's...unpleasant at the least." Over the two she would have preferred to keep Sel'n though. Too bad about his addiction though. Perhaps he'd be able to come back after he got over it.

Jazz blinked in surprise at M'ta's words. Different from what she was used to? Interesting. Now she'd have to spar with him at least once to see what he was talking about. "Alright," she responded simply, nodding once. Weyrlings had fairly busy schedules and her brother's time was pretty limited as well. Would be a little hard to meet but she'd find a way at some point. She visibly brightened at Behruth's offer to take her up. M'ta's brown was small for a brown and would give a decent approximation of what to expect from her darling blue. "Oh, I'd like that a lot." She'd probably ask the brown not to go too crazy in the air. Testing heerself a little would be okay but she imagined flying took a bit of acclimatization.

[Requiem]

The babe nodded eagerly in response to Jazheera's words. "Many seekits." Then her face split in a delighted 'o' as her arms flailed, M'ta's fingers tickling over her stomach. "Mamaaaannnnnn!" Followed by a fit of giggles. Holding on to his wrist with her small hands, she half-twisted to give him a 'that's not nice' look, the man blinking at her innocently. PMS trilled with amusement. M'ta's other hand came up off the table to poke the girl square on the tip of her nose. "Teri." His fingers wriggled over her for another brief second, and then he pulled her back into his lap, coiling an arm around her. "Mine." The baby shook her head 'no', but smiled broadly just the same, hands still curled around his wrist.

M'ta glanced up from chasing a PMS around Teri's body with a finger, thoughtful expression touching his lips. "Iskierka? Cold, maybe. She's not malicious, if that's what you mean. Has a lot more to offer you than a near-weyrling." He tsked softly. But then, the brownrider didn't really care about the personality of a teacher if he could learn anything useful from them. (Elysia wasn't someone he would ever really count as a friend socially, for instance, but their professional relationship was friendly enough. Something of a seductress if rumors were to be believed. She'd never tried with him, though, which he was grateful for; M'ta wasn't fond of that sort of interaction.)

All that said, the Tidal Browns - ironically the only two left of their clutch now - had had a reputation as weyrlings for being...impossible as students. Sarcastic, rude, rebellious and trouble-making. But they'd learned, just the same, even if Sel'n likely didn't appreciate those months of his life.

The brownrider's expression shifted to match his sister's. "That will make him very happy. He liked you from the moment he saw you." Behruth was a surprisingly good judge of character. Probably would make a good Search Dragon, too, but M'ta had little desire to go to strange places where dragonriders weren't fully welcome...alone. His paranoia wasn't as bad as it had been six turns before. That said, it was still pretty strong. A moment of silence passed between them, before M'ta questioned softly, "Tell me your fondest memory? Of us...I still can't remember without Behruth's help." There was a touch of shyness in his manner as he looked on his sister. She'd told him some, and he knew that there were things she didn't like talking about, but his curiosity wouldn't let up. It was still almost hard to believe, that he actually had a family somewhere. (He'd always figured his parents for foreigners stranded in Bitra, giving him up to the streets like many of the others had. Most likely dead.)