Taming the Beast (Sena)

[Sebz]

Kallandrith had gotten bigger. This fact used to please C'loy immensely, but now the joys of getting older were transforming quickly into growing pains. His day's seemed to be filled with nothing but oiling the patches of itchy hide that the bronze took great joy in complaining about. You missed a spot under my jaw, Kallandrith informed C'loy, lowing his neck which now reached high above the boy's shoulder, down to a level where the weyrling could lather it in oil. Thank you, he said, almost purring as the tip of his tail twitched.

C'loy loved Kallandrith, and that hadn't changed since the moment he had impressed. However, as the month's passed, C'loy began to see around the bronze's angelic actions and finally was able to fathom that perhaps the dragon wasn't quite as innocent as he appeared. The weyrling learned quickly of Kallandrith's manipulative behavior, and quickly learned that he was being manipulated in the same matter as the rest of his classmates. Learning how to guard himself against it had been tricky, and his attempts amused the bronze immensely. It was a game for him, a game that would determine who the dominant one in the pairing would be. For the moment, they were at a stalemate.

I wish to get some food, so if your finished... Groaning, but giving the dragon a playful push, C'loy scolded, "You're going to bust your hide if you keep this up. What if I were to stop oiling you?" Kallandrith lightly nudged the blonde with his muzzle. Then I would find one of the lovely females in our class to do it for me. C'loy frowned, knowing Kallandrith would probably do just that. "Go on, but don't eat to much." I will return when I am finished. Then perhaps we can find a place in the sun and relax? A smile tugged at C'loy's lips. "Sounds like a good idea."

With that, The bronze stood to his full height, and stalked across the grounds towards the pens that kept the wherries from running off. Kallandrith didn't attempt to take to the air, but instead prowled along, his muscular legs careing him with unerving grace. C'loy watched him go. To think that the dragon might double in size amazed the young rider; Kallandrith already outstripped the other dragon's from the clutch, and with another year of growing, would easily be one of the largest dragon's in the weyr. The boy frowned as he watched the retreating figure of his dragon. It would not do good to have Kallandrith's manipulative behavior go unchecked, especially as he continued to get larger and more powerful. He must find away to curb it, at least to some extent.

Sighing, C'loy plopped down on the ground, and began absentmindly pulling up grass with his fists. What he really wanted right now was to talk to somebody, anybody. Kallandrith was great to talk to... except C'loy was sure that talking to the bronze about his faults would not go over very well. To make it worse, he didn't really have anyone in his class that he was particularly close to. They always busy with their dragons, as they should be, but it made it difficult to form any sort of friendship. And even if he did, nobody else besides him would ever find any fault with the bronze, he was far to devious for that. C'loy felt amusement radiate from the bronze's mind. And why should they?

[Avu]

Sena was pretty sure that the best way to heal a sprained ankle was not to limp around on crutches as fast as she could possibly go, and she was equally sure that between Iski, the healers, Sydney, and Kaius, she’d get absolutely no approval at all for being an idiot, but she was also sure that if she didn’t get to the wher Hatching on time because she couldn’t hobble fast enough, she was going to have to die. (Even Kaius promising to be a crutch wasn’t exactly the same—Sena didn’t want to have to depend on him that much, and Kaius didn’t even want to Stand for a wher Hatching; Sena was betting he’d Impress a bronze dragon right off the bat.)

Sena ricocheted, therefore, into the Feeding Grounds at a pace made entirely more startling by the crutches she was wielding and the screwed up expression of intense concentration that twisted her mouth up to one side. Azazel, who’d finally learned to fly—fortunately for him, since Sena was not a very dependable perch right now—flitted in her wake, offering disconcerted squawks of fretful anxiety; Sena ignored him because taking time to reassure Azzy would only guarantee a faceplant and that just wasn’t an option right now. Since that would hurt. A lot.

And then she came around a hill and saw C’loy exactly half a second before her crutch slipped out from under her on a patch of grass that was slick with the oil C’loy had just been applying to his dragon. Her eyes flew open and Sena yelped and managed to twist to avoid landing wrong on her ankle again. Which meant flopping right next to C’loy, one crutch clattering to the other side and the other narrowly missing the bronzeweyrling’s head. It was not the most graceful of Sena’s moments, crutches or otherwise. Azazel made another distressed-sounding keeerk sound and fluttered to land on her stomach, the Razorclaw blinking anxiously at her, so Sena made no effort to get up.

Instead she squinted at C’loy and then dropped the crutch to the ground, rubbing her hip where she’d landed on a rock, and flashed him a wry smile. “Ow,” she observed, and absently ran one hand down Azazel’s back, ruffling up his feathers lightly. “That was a lot less fun than I’d hoped, y’know? Fallin’ really does suck. Hi, by the way. And sorry ‘bout that, didn’t mean to startle you from your musin’…oh. That your dragon?” She blinked at Kallandrith—bronze, not full-grown. “Congratulations. Belatedly.”

[Sebz]

C'loy had seen Sena approaching, but gave it no second thought. He hadn't expected her to join him, nor did he have any reason to. He had seen her once or twice around the weyr, but had never approached her. He was a weyrling now, and anytime that was not spent sleeping was devoted entirely to Kallandrith. It was because he was not devoting his full attention to her, (a butterfly had flitted by him and he found it to be sopretty) , that he was not able to issue the warning in time. By the time, "Look out!" had left his lips, she was falling. There really wasn't much C'loy could do, even his surprisingly good reaction time, he was not fast enough to stop her from crashing to the ground. He winced as impact was made and ducked as he saw the crutch flying towards his head.

"Are you ok?" C'loy asked, worried. He had never hurt his leg before, but he was certain that falling wasn't going to help the healing process. "You know you really shouldn't be moving around to much with that," he said indicating to her ankle. Not that he was complaining of course, her adventurousness had brought him a companion, just what he had been wishing for, so how could he?

C'loy eyed the Razorclaw cautiously, he had never seen one up close before. It seemed benign enough, but he wasn't to sure if it would be a good idea to let his salamandyr around them. Silently, praying Casiloy would keep his distance, the weyrling followed her's gaze and watched Kallandrith circle a wherry that he had picked out. "His name's Kallandrith," he murmured, eyes not leaving the dragon as the bronze struck, clamping his powerful jaws on the animals neck. With a quick jerk the wherry lay limp between his teeth.

"And thank you," C'loy said, redirecting his attention to the girl next to him. She was pretty, and C'loy hoped to what ever gods ruled pern that that would not equate to her being queezy, because Kallandrith was making his way, wherry in tow. No C'loy thought with all his might. He really didn't want the dragon to scare her away, just not yet. Though honestly she probably wouldn't be getting to far on that leg. "And here the brute comes," he said, pulling a face. I want to see her, will that be a problem? C'loy ground his teeth put did not respond.

"Oh, sorry!" the weyrling exclaimed suddenly. "I forgot to introduce myself! I'm C'loy." He extended his arm in greeting just as Kallandrith settled down a few yards away and dropped the wherry. The bronze gave Sena a searching look before ducking down to nibble at his food.

[Avu]

Oh, yes, she’d expected that. Sena tucked her right hand under Azazel, letting him hook his claws around her fingers, and sat up, tangling the other through her hair to get the grass out of the unruly curls (it was not a good hair day for her, but Sena hadn’t had the patience that morning to care, and she was sort of wishing she had now—way to make a good impression). “Gotta get around somehow, right?” she countered, like it was perfectly ordinary to try to achieve warp speeds on crutches. “I’m adapting, ain’t killed me yet, at least.” A flash of a dimpled grin, hopefully disarming enough that the boy—around her age Sena guessed, but he had a dragon to his currently unknown name—wouldn’t be inclined to get too Healer-ly on her.

“Kallandrith,” she echoed, watching as the bronze made his kill and then started over, and then flashed a grin at C’loy’s addition of his own name. “S’all good, I didn’t say either. It’s nice to meet you, C’loy, I’m Sena. And hi, Kallandrith,” she added to the bronze dragon, who’d plopped down a few yards away. The proximity was surprising and faintly unsettling; Sena wasn’t used to dragons being quite so overtly casual about that kind of thing and while she was okay with, say, Ioth being so close to her, she was a little less okay with a bronze. Bronzes weren’t always nice. Still, “It’s real nice to meet you too, you’re lookin’ good.”

Azazel made a disgruntled sound, and Sena looked down at him, wrinkling her nose. “This is Azazel,” she told C’loy—offering the Razorclaw for his inspection on a finger. Azazel startled, fluffing out his feathers, and Sena added, “Or Azzy.” She deposited him onto her outstretched legs, and then reached out to rearrange her crutches, settled them parallel to her legs and then checked her ankle, sliding one finger cautiously down the wraps until she hit the familiar itchy-twinge of healing. “Um. Mind if I crash your food party a bit?” she inquired. “Know what they say ‘bout getting back up when you fall but these bruises can wait a bit, I think.”

She offered a wry grin, adding, “Plus Azzy would flip out if I didn’t give him a break…’unno if Razorclaws get heart attacks but I figure I’m flyin’ pretty close to giving him one anyway.”

[Sebz]

C'loy found himself laughing in amusement, Sena's response was so... atypical to hear from any girl that he knew. Furthermore it sounded exactly like something he would have said. "That is true, I would hate to be... hindered by an injury." Yes, because then you would be hindering me. C'loy ignored Kallandrith's barbed comment for the moment. "How did you hurt yourself anyway?" he asked. Her mood was infectious, and the weyrling found himself mirroring her expressions. It was nice to have a conversation that did not revolve around responsibilities that he was supposed to have adopted the moment Kallandrith picked him from the row of candidate's that lined the hatching sands.

Sena, the bronze remarked to C'loy rather innocently. A pretty name for a pretty girl. Do tell her it is a pleasure to meet her. The blonde ground his teeth slightly, he had been bonded with Kallandrith long enough to know what he was up to. "Sena's, a pretty name," the weyrling said, flashing his own smile, and scratching the back of his neck, a habit he had developed long ago. The bronze dragon looked up from his kill and fixed C'loy with a hard stare. "Kallandrith say's it is nice to meet you was well," C'loy said, grinning wider.

I believe that's not exactly what I said, the dragon complained to C'loy. Close enough, the weyrling shot right back. I do not say things so you can steal them from me, Kallandrith grumped, bending over again to snap up more of the wherry. It's stringy. The abrupt change in conversation amused the young rider, the bronze took his food very seriously.

" Azzy," he muttered, cocking his head as he looked at the creature. "You know, I've never seen a razorclaw up close before. They look something fierce." He resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle it's feathers; he was unsure if the bird would nip him if he tried. "And you're more than welcome to stay," C'loy said, sitting up and rearranging himself into a sitting position. "I think I'm going to have to finish oiling Kallandrith once he finished his meal, so if watching me do that wouldn't bore you, I could use the company."

Watching Kallandrith idly snap up the last bits of his meal with a look of apparent distaste, C'loy ventured to ask, "Are you a candidate?"

[Avu]

Oh, good, he understood. (Sort of, maybe. It was possible he was just agreeing with her to be polite, and anyway it was a very noncommittal sort of agreement, but whatever.) Sena flashed C’loy a beaming smile, because at the very least he wasn’t fussing at her. “Oh, I fell,” she answered, and went a little pink; she wasn’t usually very clumsy but that fall had been a bad one, “Poking around the Weyr, y’know? It’s all dark and damp and dangerous down there, and I hadn’t been payin’ much attention. There was this one part that was all slippery ‘cause of one of the little baby waterfalls all over the place, and yeah. It wasn’t fun.” Understatement of the century, but there you go; Sena wasn’t exceptionally fond of remembering things like that.

Another, more sincere smile at his compliment; it turned mischievous after a minute and Sena dipped her chin and fluttered her eyelashes at C’loy and then at Kallandrith, shamelessly playful. “Betcha say that to allll the cripples you meet,” twisting up her mouth in a pout; whether she was talking to boy or dragon, Sena wasn’t sure. Both of them, probably; Sena always reacted well to compliments.

Azazel made a grumpy sound, clicking his beak at C’loy and flapping his wings a little, disgruntled. He didn’t think he looked fierce (which he really didn’t, comparatively; even if he had claws and a beak Azzy looked more like a ball of marshmallow fluff dyed gray than a predator. Which he debatably wasn’t; Sena fed him mostly because she absolutely could not imagine killer marshmallow fluff, ever). Sena clicked her tongue right back at him, and then smiled at C’loy gratefully, “Oh sure, if you ain’t sick of me by then I’ll stick around, least I can say I got all the way here…if anyone asks, it’s your fault I stopped.”

A tilt of her head at the question, and she dipped her chin against her collarbone, crinkling her nose wryly, “Is it that obvious? Yeah, yeah I am. Plannin’ on Standing for whers, not that I’d be all up in arms over a dragon either. But I guess that’s sorta boring for me to rant about, so let’s see…it’s a smallish place, right? You know any Candidates, maybe I’ll know ‘em too and then we can gossip about them, and it’ll probably be considerably more interesting than me talkin’ a blue streak, yeah?” She didn’t know any Weyrlings after all, and very few Riders either. Social split sort of thing.

[Sebz]

C'loy tried to cover up the peal of laughter that burst from his lips as Sena told her story by hastilly turning it into a hacking cough. He knew he wasn't fooling anybody, but at least he could try. Besides, it wasn't polite to laugh at a girl, even if she was amusing. Kallandrith even turned his head to fix her in the gaze of one of his jeweled eyes, giving his own rumbling.... cough

The weyrling turned his face back towards the sun, holding up his hand to shade his eyes. "Only to the ones who it applies to." Yes, this one was good company, C'loy really hoped the didn't scare her away. He found it strange, but it seemed that most people in the weyr were unnerved by his fixation with fasion or his tendency to collect shiny objects. But C'loy could not repress who he was by nature, but perhaps he could try to tame his personality. Kallandrith rumbled again with amusement. Boy, I'll help if you wish. I can tell you what to say.

The bronze dragon rose to his feet and walked forward, wings arched upward as the blonde leaned forward to inspect Azazel once more, being sure to keep his distance. Sometimes the most dangerous creatures were the ones that looked the most innocent. Kallandrith settled down again, not five feet from the pair and extended his forarm towards C'loy. You can start here, he instructed, jaw pulling back into a sort of smirk. The weyrling blinked and the expression was gone. Perhaps he had been imagining it.

C'loy listened while he attacked the hide of his dragon. So she was interested in whers, that was unexpected. He had never imagined bonding with a wher as an option, but what if he had? And then you would have never met me, Kallandrith interjected,[/color] sounding rather hurt. But I did, didn't I, C'loy said warmly, slapping the dragon playfully. That's all very well but you better answer Sena's question. Tell her of the Kauis boy you speak so fondly of.

Blushing because he was caught of guard, C'loy quickly offered as a response. "Well I didn't know the rest of the candidates very well myself, I wasn't around long enough to get close to anybody- except for Kauis. Do you know Kauis? Big, shy guy, very nice. He was my best friend," because C'loy could not imagine Kauis being best friends with anybody but himself!

[Avu]

Oh, they were laughing at her, she could tell. She didn’t mind terribly—it hadn’t been funny at the time but sure, in the retelling she wasn’t exactly bursting out into tears either. At least it could be funny in retrospect. Sena could appreciate that kind of slapstick humor. Still. She screwed up her mouth into a mock-frown at both of them, but let it slip at C’loy’s insistence at the compliment. Sweet of him, anyway, but she teased, “So I’m not the only one then… know a lot of cripples, do you…”

She blinked at Kallandrith’s approach, tilting her head as he extended a forearm to be oiled, tempted to reach out and brush her fingers over the bronze’s hide. And then became completely distracted by the mention of Kaius—Sena immediately blurted, “Kaius? Of course I know him—I mean I guess if you have dibs on overall best friend then he’s my best guy friend, I actually wrangled him into bein’ my crutch for the wher Hatching. I figure havin’ a living crutch is probably gonna be either much better or much worse than these,” she kicked at the toppled crutches with her uninjured leg.

“I can help with that?” Sena added, nodding at Kallandrith and the oil. “If it’s okay with Kallandrith, I mean. Is it? I promise I’m not like…” She wiggled her fingers demonstratively, “…gross or sticky or anything. And I figure it’ll be faster than me babbling at y’all doin’ nothing. I’ve oiled dragons before, too.” Specifically, she’d oiled Ioth and Vhirkaath, her mother’s dragon, because that was pretty much the only way she figured she could spoil a dragon. (Spoiling Azazel, therefore, had completely bewildered her—but she’d gotten there eventually.)

[Sebz]

Kallandrith flicked his tail in annoyance when C'loy turned away from his oiling to listen to Sena talk about Kaius. "He's always the gentleman," the weyrling said, grinning, because Kauis was in fact just that, a fact which allowed him to be easily teased. "Just in case you've gotten any ideas, I just think it's fair to warn you that he is my sex kitten." The blonde said this with a straight face, but quickly it began to fall away, a smile played at his lips. Immeditaly he turned back to his oiling as to hide his expression.

You may, this boy here needs all the help he can get, Kallandrith told Sena. He swiveled his head to fix her once more in his gaze, his eyes whirling a pleasant shade of green. C'loy frowned slightly, the color did not match the scheming mind that touched his own. The bronze reassured C'loy silently that he was not up to anything sinister, but in fact he only wanted to befriend the girl. Because C'loy was not at all capable of making friends without his help. C'loy said nothing because Kallandrith was right.

C'loy approached Sena and extended a hand, unsure of how well she was able to stand with her injury, but Kallandrith growled slightly. Come now C'loy, use your head! he told his rider silently before addressing Sena. This lovely girl is hurt and yet still offers to help us. Do not make her struggle with her injury, I will come to you both. C'loy, go fetch the oil and rags. C'loy grinded his teeth together as he followed his dragon's orders. He did not like to apear subservient to the bronze, but everything the dragon said made sense, followed them he did.

Kallandrith stalked forward once again and crouched down, not giving either of the humans much personal space, and extended a muscled wing towards the pair. C'loy handed Sena a rag and began attacking the hide. "So, whats got you interested in whers?" he asked, honestly interested. C'loy had never learned how not to be blunt.

[Avu]

The look C’loy earned was nothing short of delightedly amused; Sena laughed out loud, crinkling her nose in amusement. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t laughing with her—bronzers had that whole predictable sexuality thing going on and most of them were usually so uptight about it, and it was nice C’loy wasn’t. And the idea of Kaius being anybody’s sex kitten was sort of hilarious. Sena’s giggles lapsed after a moment and she flashed a grin at C’loy, “So I guess I’ve been wastin’ time tryin’ to figure out who he likes then huh…I see the appeal. Forbidden romance, ain’t it?”

Her smile twitched wider at Kallandrith’s comment to her; the fact that he would bespeak her at all was really nice. Not many dragons would, after all, let alone a bronze. His movement towards her made Sena blink, startled, and she brushed her fingers over his wing when the bronze extended it, pleased. She was mostly amused by his ordering C’loy around like that—bossy bronze, was it. “Thanks,” she told Kallandrith sincerely, “and thanks to you too,” accepting the rag from C’loy and swiping a line of oil over Kallandrith’s hide to start working in.

C’loy’s question made her tilt her head attentively at him and then she crooked a faintly dry grin at him, “Ain’t a real good story I don’t think…just I grew up at Benden, y’know, so pretty much everyone was a Candidate or had been a Candidate at some point or wanted to be and I Stood a coupla times, but obviously I never Impressed so I left and went to Glasscraft Hall…when I came down here, I figured if I was gonna Stand again I’d open up my options a bit more, y’know? So, that. Figure it ain’t like I ever had a dragon so it’s not like I’d be comparin’ ’em, right? ‘Course you got Kallandrith so I don’t suppose whers’re much interest to you.”

[Sebz]

C'loy flashed her a quick smile and winked. "A bit. You showed up a little bit late to the party. It's ok though, there are lots of fish in the sea, even if the two best are taken." He paused for a second, deciding if the statement that was at the tip of his tongue would be inappropriate. But then again, since when has C'loy had any boundaries? "Of course, I'm always up for a threesome, but you might have some trouble talking Kai into it, that precious boy is so very loyal to me."

Kallandrith closed his eyes and thrummed with dissatisfaction. The boy was making a fool of himself, but he would allow for it to continue for now. He couldn't teach C'loy how to be... well... a bronze rider. Eventually there would come a time when the boy would have to grow up and adopt the serious nature appropriate for his rank. At least he was getting a good oiling from the boy and his knew friend that he had collected. The bronze rumbled in acceptance of Sena's thanks. Yes, he liked this one.

C'loy listened silently as Sena told him her story. So she had stood for hatching before had she. The weyrling paused for a moment, before continuing to massage the oil into the bronze's hide. "Well that makes sense. I guess I never really thought about whers, I came to Selenitas and impressed this fellow here my first go around. I might be interested, I don't know. I don't think I've ever actually seen one up close. What are they like?" He self consciously scratched the back of his neck and gave her a quick searching glance. Would she make a judgement about him based off of his lack of knowledge. Really, he should be more worried about how awkward he came off as, but he didn't know the meaning of the word awkward, so that was a mute point.

[Avu]

It really didn’t even occur to Sena to be offended; C’loy’s mock arrogance earned a delighted laugh, and she paused in her careful oiling of Kallandrith’s hide to make a face at him, “I don’t know, battin’ for the other team’s not real high up there on my list of soulmate traits…” And as for the threesome, if it was a proposition Sena had heard much more genuine and much worse, sometimes simultaneously (which was just downright appalling honestly) and she flashed him an amused grin, “Sorry, I’ve promised my hand in marriage to my bunkmate, couldn’t possibly leave her out, y’know.”

Because, hey, if C’loy could go there, Sena didn’t see why she couldn’t. (The whole feminine modesty thing sort of went over her head at the best of times.) She and Sydney were about as romantically involved as Kaius and C’loy—that being, not at all—so why not poke fun at it. Sena doubted Sydney would mind, anyway; they’d already pretty much established that personal boundaries were exactly zero. She absently patted Kallandrith on the shoulder as she worked oil over the crease at his elbow, ignoring another disgruntled sound from Azazel.

“Oh, whers’re nice,” she added, more seriously now. “I don’t really know that much about them either, ’s really always been dragons I like the best…but I mean, they’re real smart and useful, fit inside so that’s sorta nice, um. Rougher ’round the edges than dragons, I guess; I think some people call ’em ugly, but I don’t think they’re so bad.” And well—yeah, Sena was a little bit shallow; she liked to think that mindmates would be perpetually gorgeous. It was part of the appeal of dragons, their grace. Nobody ever wrote about the clumsy dragons. Whers…weren’t really on par with dragons there, but they weren’t ugly.

They were just…the kind of ugly that was actually adorable.

“Anyway, you should come crash the Wherhandlers’ Apartments with me someday,” she added, swiping another line of oil further up the curve of Kallandrith’s shoulder. “Figure they won’t mind too much. I mean, Candidate, right? The whole sneakin’ in and whatever’s like, expected. It’d be fun I bet. And you could meet Syd. That’s my bunkmate; she’s gonna Stand for whers too. I’d drag Kai too but I don’t think he is, so.”

[Sebz]

Oh good C'loy, it seems that fools attract fools in turn, Kallandrith said, his harsh words softened by deliverance. The bronze rumbled rather affectionately to both the humans. They seemed to be silly creatures, and if they wanted to talk about being immoral, than let them. As long as they continued to oil him of course!

C'loy gave a genuine smile in Sena's direction; it was nice that she was able to joke and laugh with him, it seemed that most of the girls he had met had been proper and whatnot. The rider actually thought of them all as kill joys, but telling his new companion about his opinions of the other candidates that she was bound to be acquainted with seemed like a bad idea, even to one as rash as the weyrling. Instead he quipped back, "Well, she's welcome to join!"

He listened thoughtfully to the candidate as she spoke, feeling Kallandrith's growing approval with every word. At least she has some brains on her. The bronze lowered his head and fixed Sena's figure in his eyes. Or at least she had some until she became muddled by fantasies of... whers.... The distaste was evident in his tone, but it did not reflect in his outward appearance in the slightest. C'loy was glad that Kallandrith had chosen not to relay his sentiments to the girl. One because Kallandrith was being a prick, and second, C'loy didn't agree with his dragon on this particular point.

"Whers sound interesting," he allowed, glancing at the bronze. "Course I'll crash," the blonde grinned, his good mood returning. "If you need help with Kai, I'd be sure to help you get him there. One look at me in a skirt will have him running in the opposite direction. And when I meet Syd, can I ask he- Kallandrith!" he complained, the bronze had whipped his tail around and tapped C'loy smartly on the head. Don't be stupid.

[Avu]

Kallandrith’s words earned an amused stutter of laughter, the motion of Sena’s hand falling briefly into a more affectionate petting gesture. She’d never really doubted that dragons were capable of having a sense of humor (or at least of long-suffering patience, in retrospect, given how naïve she’d been when she was very young and had liked to crawl all over her mother’s dragon and Ioth), but it was nice that a bronze would. You’d expect them to be more arrogant, particularly with the biases against them. C’loy’s addition turned her smile mock-coquettish, a half-smirk as she fluttered her eyelashes, demurely.

Whatever fake modesty she’d accumulated dissolved into another amused grin at C’loy; Sena wrinkled her nose at him disbelievingly. “You’d look real pretty in a dress,” she teased, “You’d think all the guys would be runnin’ towards you, not away, maybe you could just lure him over to the whers ’stead of chasin’ him. That’s how it’s supposed to work anyway, ain’t it?” Interrupting herself with another laugh at Kallandrith’s reproving tail smack, Sena reached out to rub away a trickle of oil on the bronze’s hide.

“Ain’t like dragons can do the whole foursome thing,” she pointed out with mock-sympathy, pursing her lips to fight back the smile, “Guess it’s just humans that’re…creative. But hey, how old’s Kallandrith, you guys go between and all that yet?” He looked big enough to definitely have flown already—but then bronzes always looked big compared to the greens and blues she was used to trying to judge on sight, so maybe not. “How’s the Weyrlingmaster, he nice? ’Cause I don’t wanna judge but the rumors are real interesting, y’know…”

[Sebz]

"I know I do," C'loy said, fluttering his eye lashes. "I've been told I'm quite the charmer." C'loy had never been a charmer in his life. "Lure him? Hmm, that could work, I dunno, Kai isn't much of a skirt chaser if you catch my drift." The boy gave her a side ways glance, and asked "So... you don't think it's weird that I like to wear skirts?" Everyone else teased him for it, so why wasn't she? Well probably she didn't actually think he was serious for one.

"I wouldn't put it past him to try," the weyrling gave the bronze an affectionate pat. If Kallandrith wanted to do something, well then, watch out Pern because it would be done. “He's getting pretty big, nine month's since the hatching, and still growing everyday. Yea, he's done a bit of flying with me, it was something else,” C'loy trailed off, patting the bronze fondly on the shoulder. Their first flight had been anything but usual, the weyrling would never attempt it without a riding harness ever again. “When he get's older, I'd be happy to take you up for a few flights if you'd be willing.” A smile played at C'loy's lips as he remembered that same promise being made for him a few months back.

“We aren't supposed to between for another two or three months,” C'loy muttered mutinously. He would never risk Kallandrith by attempting by themselves, but he couldn't say that it wasn't tempting. Remembering his flights with Feyrianth, he already had to force himself to night try some of the more dangerous manuvours the green was capable. It wasn't helping the the bronze was amiable to the idea... “Oh no, you wouldn't want to cross him,” the blonde said, giving Sena a quick look. “I did once, not the best idea I've ever had. He's something else- not that he isn't an excellent teacher, but yea, scary as shards when he's pissed off.”