[jewelry stall; open] just take me away

[glamourie]

It was probably ridiculous to go in costume to the Gather, but that was just what R’wign had done. It was becoming something of a tradition for him, as he’d worn a costume the last two he’d gone to. The first he’d been in a ‘bellydancer’ costume that M’ta would probably have not let him leave the weyr in; the second he was a clown. He was particularly proud of this one though – even if it wasn’t the most elaborate, he thought it quite clever, and it gave him an excuse to be artistic (and R’wign wasn’t an artist in general so it was particularly fun when he actually tried). It hadn’t even been expensive to compose – which was nice, considering he didn’t want to spend his marks on anything as ridiculous as costumes, not again. He’d much rather spend all of his marks on Riaren. And their costumes actually matched. R’wign was fond of gimmicks.

His outfit was composed of multiple layers. The first one was a skintight black turtleneck with long sleeves that stretched out to the middle of his hands; it was beyond formfitting, almost uncomfortable even. The pants were equally tight, though not enough to constrain mobility, and they were tucked into ankle boots. The second layer was billowing and loose, also black, but with white bones painted onto the fabric. Yes, painted. It was chipping in some places, but that added to the effect. The bones were slightly larger than proportion to emphasize what they were, and they were painted on both the front and the back of his clothes. The loose pants hung over his boots, ending at the ankles – no hands and no feet. His son wore the exact same costume in miniature, but his face was painted on the right side to have bone white bones showing. He’d held still perfectly for R’wign to apply the facepainting and in return he’d gotten a sip of juice – which he’d delightfully squirmed after having, obviously enjoying. The skeleton pair of father and son.

R’wign didn’t have facepaint for one reason: the stall he was currently occupying was the jewelry stall. He crouched down in front of one of the displays, holding Riaren against him as the baby stretched one hand out toward the shiny objects just out of his reach. The healer had decided some time previous (after discovering M’ta’s piercings) that he wanted to get something pierced. It required a lot of thought (and he hadn’t discussed it with M’ta at all – stubborn male) and he’d considered for some time what to get before deciding on several different piercings. He wanted to go with the silver material – those were less gaudy and would look better with his skin-tone. He hadn’t really decided on much else, except the locations he wanted over-all. Part of him was worried about doing all of them at once – the other part of him, more dominant and vocal, was excited. He was going to get his lip done on the last day of the Gather – reason being, it was going to swell badly. He knew that without even having to ask. He’d probably not be able to eat for a few days either, nothing solid anyway. R’wign was a healer: he knew enough to deduce that without thinking. Ears, though – those he could get done early, see how he reacted to having them in.

He was thinking of a bar crossing from one side of the top of his left ear to the other. He’d never seen anyone with a bar through their ear at Selenitas and he was strongly leaning toward it because of that fact – that and his ears were already sensitive, so adding incentive for M’ta to mess with them was all the more appealing. The other ear he was going to pierce the lobe as a test – just to see how he handled the different types of piercings. It seemed like a reasonable idea to him, but the stallkeeper was pretty busy – which was why R’wign hadn’t gotten it done yet.

He was, in fact, crouching by the display, holding his son and thoughtfully clicking his tongue. It was early in the day, early enough that none of the competitions had started, and people were milling around. Riaren closed his hand on the air and looked up at R’wign with a smile, while the healer looked down at him. “You like the silver too, huh?” he asked softly. “We’ll get that, when he’s not so busy. Where’s Ellie gone, anyway? Did you see where she went?” No answer other than a very wide smile – of course. Riaren was much too young to talk or answer his questions, but R’wign did have a suspicious lack of firelizards with him. Most of them were sulking though – so it wasn’t surprising. Ellie wasn’t, but… she was also gone.

Bother.

[absinthe]

[[it sucks, I'm sorry :x]]


Amelie sat on one of the benches at a table facing away from the table itself; she was leaned back against it instead, elbows propped on the edge and hands folded across her waist. The girl was people-watching, a second favorite activity after… actually meeting people. She’d been so excited for the Gather when she’d heard of it and couldn’t wait to go. Unfortunately her lack of marks quite limited the things she could actually DO at a Gather. But that was all right; maybe she couldn’t buy anything just yet but that wasn’t really why she enjoyed going in the first place. It really was the people. The apprentice was very much a people person, whether it was boldly approaching and introducing herself to a total stranger or simply sitting back and watching the people walk past.

Before long though this started to get boring. Sitting up, Amelie shook out her skirt and stood up, smoothing down the fabric with slender hands. The dress she wore was flattering to her slim frame, with a snug bodice but a skirt that fell gently from her hips. The sleeves were long but made of a lightweight material, and fell away from her arms up to the elbow to make it cooler. It was a cool blue-green in color, with silver accents and matched her eyes perfectly. It wasn’t terribly fancy or anything and it certainly wasn’t new; it had been made for her the previous Turn. She would likely continue to wear it until she either couldn’t fit into it anymore or it became too worn; she was really hoping for the former.

Being that she was actually home for the first time in a couple of Turns, Amelie had already visited with family and old friends but it seemed they had all gone on to other things. Which was fine with her; although she enjoyed the company of other people she wasn’t dependent on it to have a good time. Despite the fact that she didn’t have any marks, she began to make her way toward the stalls. She wanted to see what all they had. The glint of metal in sunlight caught her attention and she wandered over toward the jewelry stall. She didn’t even notice R’wign crouched there until she was nearly to the stall. Blinking, she peered at some of the displayed jewelry before crouching next to the other healer and apparently pondering the same display he was looking at.

“Are you actually going to get your ears pierced, or are you just looking?” Hands were tucked into her lap as she crouched easily but in a manner that made it clear she didn’t typically wear dresses or skirts of any kind. “I want to get my ears pierced, but I don’t have any money. Oh hi!” The last was directed at Riaren, as she apparently just noticed the child. “Your son? He’s so cute.” In typical Amelie fashion, she was going on without really waiting for a reply, although it seemed she finally realized what she was doing and paused to let R’wign catch up. Her prattling was a habit that wasn’t always a good thing, and one that she was trying to catch and correct more often. She didn’t always do it though; the better her mood was, the more she tended to talk. And what was better at lifting one’s spirits than a Gather?

[glamourie]

Speaking – R’wign instinctively tightened his hands around Riaren, naturally protective, and turned his head completely. His eye narrowed slightly on the speaker and he brought one hand up to adjust his eyepatch. He recognized that face if not her voice. It wasn’t personal: R’wign didn’t usually make an effort to remember the voices of all the apprentices from Selenitas within a month of their arrival. It was usually after several that he could recognize voices, infliction and manner of speaking: he always managed to deduce E’rro’s voice for instance. This one was just new. Her face was recognized though so that was a step in the right direction. Ami or something, wasn’t she? One of the new arrivals, sent to help with the infirmary ever since Kalierre became pregnant – he’d written furiously for help and was actually glad that for once they’d gotten it. The question still made him frown – especially since she launched into a full-on tirade. R’wign didn’t mind talking to people (he was quite social) but he didn’t like it when others were presumptuous about him, his behavior and his motives. Even if it was kind of obvious that he was considering a piercing – he still didn’t want someone assumpting about it. For that reason, he smirked.

“Yes, I’m getting something pierced, but ears – hm. I was thinking something a lot more personal. You know, my boyfriend might appreciate it quite a bit… he does so love to play.”

It was very fortunate that Riaren was too young to know what he was saying or R’wign would likely be very uncomfortable. As it was, he turned back to the display before indulgently indicating one of the metal bars. “I’m getting that put through the top of my ear, and that,” here he paused to indicate a small studded ball, “put through the lobe of the other ear. Later, before the Gather ends, I’m getting those,” R’wign lifted one hand to point out a pair of bars, “through my bottom lip. When it’s healed enough that it won’t be swollen and sore, I plan to change them to those silver rings there.” The silver rings in question were ridiculously plain – it begged the question of why anyone would be interested n them to begin with. R’wign didn’t explain. He saw no reason to bother. The whole point of piercing his lip was to give M’ta something to fiddle with (once it healed) and he was pretty sure that hoops would get more of an effect than simple studs. Plus it would look cooler and no one ever said that R’wign was lacking in vanity (a laughable idea).

Riaren looked at the speaking girl with wide green eyes, the color of forest leaves at night; barely hinted green. They were very much his father’s eyes. If for any reason R’wign wanted to deny relation to him, those eyes would have sealed the deal. Fortunately, he was close to both of his parents. The little boy closed his hand around something rainbow and then held it out toward the girl for her to look at, his smile widening. It was a plush toy, clearly shaped like a star – and obviously new. The entire thing was stitched from rainbow fabric, and the front said Riaren’s name. The back just said “Love Dad” on it. Getting the star done was a custom job, but – he wasn’t about to be foiled again. Last Gather he’d been determined to buy a firelizard toy – and then some other brownrider beat him to it, which in itself was irritating; Riaren was his son, why were other people buying gifts without at least consulting? He refused to buy from the stall normally this time lest he feel like a fool… again. Riaren liked the toy though – it was bright colors and had all sorts of places to suck on. Would she like to chew on it too? She could have the red point. He didn’t chew the red one, it didn’t match any of his papa’s flitters. Very odd.

Speaking of which, Ellie chose that moment to swoop from between with a ring of flowers in her talons. There were three – all different colors – and she preened prettily before showing them to R’wign. She’d gotten compliments from various holdbrats who gave her the blossoms accordingly. The compliments were on the painting – for R’wign had taken white paint to Ellie, too. He’d covered her in bones the same way that Riaren’s face half was, just to add accenting. Ellie’s entire front was painted, but she’d held still and hadn’t minded. The rest of his firelizards were not quite so docile, but in the end got the same treatment (or close enough to that they were embarrassed, he supposed).

“This is Riaren,” R’wign explained. Riaren smiled again, tightening his little fist on the green star point. “He’s keeping me company right now, until Meira decides to steal him again.” His head bobbed and he indicated the piercings. “He’s helping me pick one out but he likes the one with the dangly rainbow stones, don’t you Riaren?” The baby looked up at his father, gave a soft coo, and held out the star to him. Pretty star. Want to play with it? R’wign tapped his nose and looked at the apprentice again with a shrug. “He likes anything brightly colored. You’re really only considering something as mundane as ears? Boring.”

[absinthe]

Some people might have been doubtful that Amelie would catch the meaning behind R’wign’s words, being only fourteen. But the look she gave him was more than enough to confirm that she did, in fact, know exactly what he was talking about. What she didn’t pick up on was the fact that he was just saying it to be contrary. Or was he? Either way her reaction probably wasn’t as extreme as some people’s might have been. The apprentice only gave him a mildly surprised look before going back to gazing at the display. “Good luck with that; I hope you find the pain worth it.” Fortunately conversation turned to less crude subject matter as R’wign pointed out what he was really going to get. Amelie nodded, although it all seemed slightly odd to her still. All she wanted was holes in her ears so she could hang pretty things from them. She hadn’t thought of piercing anything on her face.

And this was where she looked over at R’wign again, thoughtfully. “That sounds like a lot. All I want done is my ears, but it will have to wait; I don’t have any marks yet.” Distracted by having something bright and rainbow colored thrust at her, the girl returned her attention to the baby with her usual bright smile. “Ooh, it’s so pretty. May I see it?” She looked it over, noting the well-loved points with a smile before handing it back to the youngster. “Thank you, Riaren.” She looked up at R’wign again when he spoke before canting her head and blinking up at him. “What else would I get pierced? My nose?” She started to laugh before something caught her eye: a small box with tiny studs carefully laid out on it. Some of them had brightly colored stones while others were just plain silver, or gold. After the comment she had just made she couldn’t help picturing one of them in her nose. It was odd but not entirely… revolting. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she got used to the idea.

“Hm. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad after all. But it would still have to wait.” She gave a shrug and leaned back on her heels. It was then that she saw Ellie and smiled. “Ellie, right? I remember from the clutch, where I picked up the kitten. Hi Ellie! Those are pretty.” ‘Those’ were, of course, the flowers that the gold seemed so proud of. If the painting on the firelizard gave the girl any pause, it didn’t show. Apparently R’wign had decided that everybody was getting dressed up. Amelie didn’t have any costumes or even any ideas for one so she’d just worn her regular Gather dress. It was good enough for her and that was all that really mattered.

[glamourie]

It was really tempting to quip that if he did, for some reason, pierce something, ah, personal, he was sure that M’ta would make it enjoyable. He was pretty sure the other brownrider was going to mess with his ears like crazy – like he needed any more excuse for that. They’d be even more sensitive after piercing, he knew. His ears didn’t exactly need help, but… eh. He was sure that it would look cool, and R’wign had a problem with how he looked. Mirrors were his enemies; he owned none. It was hard for him to look at his own face and not think he looked like a monster, no matter how much reassurance he received or who it came from. So little things, they helped to take away some of the numb feeling inside – it helped, some. He knew the only way to make that horrible feeling inside go away was to heal himself; other people telling him things wouldn’t change how he felt. It was… something that would take time, and a lot of it. He was trying though. No one could deny that R’wign was putting forth the effort to make himself feel better. It just… wasn’t something that was coming naturally. Maybe it never would again. From vain beyond words to convinced he was repulsive – such a vivid shift. He didn’t say anything. Too tempting.

“You said that already,” R’wign pointed out casually; she’d already said she didn’t have the marks for her ear piercing and it did beg the question of whether or not she was trying to… what? Swindle marks out of him? If she just asked, he’d probably hand them over; he wasn’t exactly stingy. But R’wign wasn’t going to volunteer. He was nice, yes, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t just give marks to someone who was just trying to wheedle and he could only deduce that was her goal – why else repeat herself? “Work in the infirmary often enough, you’ll make marks. Speaking of which, are you planning on submitting for candidacy? You’re old enough to and as Weyrstaff, it’s your right; you don’t have to be Searched.” It wasn’t really a suggestion so much as pointing out a fact; R’wign didn’t really care what Amelie chose to do, after all. She’d been requested to help fill in the gap for Kalierre while she was pregnant… something that was not a problem anymore, unfortunately.

Riaren, ever friendly, watched Amelie with a wide smile before holding his arms out – not to her, but to the toy. She liked? Yes, yes, he wanted it back now. Gingerly taking the star, Riaren immediately shoved the blue point into his mouth and around it he cooed “Obuubuubuu” to Amelie. Because that said it all very clearly, of course. Not his fault if she didn’t speak baby. His head turned back to his father a moment later and he reached up to bat the man’s face lovingly, his fingers finally settling on the collar of his turtleneck. Happy, happy.

“You could theoretically get your eyebrow pierced. Maybe your tongue. Naval. Nose is an interesting choice, why not? That’ll make sneezing an interesting experience,” R’wign said pleasantly as he looked down at Riaren and kissed the baby’s forehead. The touch was very gentle. “Ears alone are boring. You could do cartilage or one here…” R’wign indicated the inner part of Amelie’s ear with one finger before shrugging. “I’m fond of nipple piercings personally, but you’re too young to worry about that or what men are fond of.”

His eye moved over to Ellie as Amelie addressed her, and the young queen gave a sweet chirp in response. She held one flower out toward Amelie – the pink one specifically. Her head cocked to the side and she nudged R’wign’s jaw in blatant affection. R’wign didn’t reach up to hug her, instead cuddling Riaren close and nodding. “Elegance,” he explained, “but I usually just call her Ellie. The kitten’s mother is Empress. Then there’s Roxie, Stumpy, Grouch, Hazard and Crash. I have too many pets, not counting M’ta. My weyr is a terror zone. Consider that my advice never to go there. Or into offices without knocking. How long have you been an apprentice, shrimp?” Because he didn’t remember her name. Whoops.

[absinthe]

It was a good thing R’wign suppressed the urge to comment further on the “personal” piercing; Amelie just wasn’t interested in all that. As of right now, she didn’t really have much of an interest in boys period (or girls, for that matter). Late bloomer? Perhaps. Or maybe just focused. She pretty much dedicated most of her time to her craft, and while she did sometimes notice a cute face, it was never anything worth mentioning. She just wasn’t into the whole attraction scene just yet it seemed. “Did I?” The comment that she’d already said something was met with said question before she smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I did didn’t I?” Amelie was, unfortunately, the sort of person who chattered to fill almost any kind of silence. This often resulted in the apprentice repeating herself from time to time; it wasn’t something she really paid much attention to, but maybe she should start.

“Does it bother you? That I said the same thing I mean? It’s something I do sometimes because I lose track of what I’ve already said and I know it bothers some people. So if it bothers you, I’ll… just shut up.” Awkward. But it was true. Some people liked her chatter, others were indifferent, and some people would have been happy if she’d had her tongue cut out. Clearly her assumption about why he mentioned it was that it bothered him that she repeated herself. It never occurred to Amelie that R’wign suspected her of hinting that she wanted to borrow money from him. Even if he had offered it was likely she’d have declined simply because she didn’t know him that well and didn’t really feel comfortable borrowing someone else’s marks anyway, let alone someone she barely knew.

She seemed surprised when he brought up the subject of candidacy and looked up at him again. “No, I don’t have any intentions of becoming a candidate. Not right away, anyhow. But yes, I did know that. But I understand that candidates have to make time for chores and lessons and such, and if I were to Impress… well, I’d just rather focus on healing right now is all.” She gave a shrug as she looked back at the jewelry display. “I’m not saying I won’t ever, but if I do it won’t be anytime soon. Unless there’s a shortage or something.” It was her intention to at least reach Journeywoman status before she considered going into candidacy. But if the Weyr was ever short of candidates (unlikely), she’d be more than willing to stand. But Amelie didn’t really think she was dragonrider material anyway; her first love was healing and she didn’t want that to change just yet.

The sight of Riaren gnawing on his beloved toy and the sounds he made earned a smile from the girl. He looked like such a happy baby, and it was obvious that he adored his father. But it was Ellie who distracted her, apparently offering her a pink flower. Smile widening, the apprentice healer accepted the firelizard’s gift. “Oh thank you! That’s so nice. I’m sorry I don’t have anything to give you for it.” She liked to give something in exchange for something given to her; if she ever found anything that Ellie liked (clearly she liked flowers), she would have to remember to bring it to the pretty gold. R’wign’s comment about sneezing made her laugh a little to herself. “It would. I would be happy with just ears, but I am curious about other things now.” The flower that Ellie had given her was tucked behind her ear; the stem was just long enough to be secure. The pink didn’t really match the color of her dress, but it showed up nicely against her dark curls. Anyway Amelie wasn’t really much of one to care about such a thing.

Glancing over at R’wign again, Amelie noted what he was saying. No offices without knocking. Got it. She very much doubted she’d ever have cause to go to his weyr though, so she wasn’t really worried about that. That was a lot of pets though; before she could comment on it however, he was asking her a question. “Um… four Turns. I started right after I became ten.” She looked at him curiously, wondering idly if there was any specific reason he’d asked, or if he was just curious. If she’d noticed the ‘shrimp’ comment she ignored it. It didn’t seem as if Amelie was one to mind people commenting on her small stature. Most of the time.

[glamourie]

She talked. A lot. It was rapidly becoming apparent, in fact, that shutting the girl up was probably more difficult than getting her to talk. R’wign fixed the apprentice with a stare as she launched into a series of… explanations. Or whatever they were supposed to be. His head cocked to the side and he crinkled his nose in agitation. She didn’t owe him any explanations. None. Didn’t she realize that? If he wanted her to explain herself, R’wign would’ve said that – or implied it strongly enough that no one could miss the hint; whatever. He wasn’t someone that expected explanations though. In fact, R’wign was really hard to offend much of the time. If he were to be totally honest, it was actually unlikely that the girl could bother him. His mind organized things very simply and it registered her as a child – a little girl and also his inferior in many ways. Therefore, nothing she did made a dent in his obnoxiously large ego and it was unlikely that she could accomplish that without continued effort… which was unwise, given he was her supervisor. She didn’t seem stupid. They’d be fine.

“It doesn’t bother me, just pointing out that you were repeating yourself,” he said honestly. “You do know that candidate chores for crafters consist of doing their crafts? Or did you just think Meira was superhuman? She can come across that way but the quietness is really just that she’s shy, not that she’s exceptionally busy.” His head cocked to the side. Did she have any shifts with Meira? Possibly not; Meira was on most of his shifts (handpicked primarily because he wanted to try and help her get to journeywoman faster; he tried to put most healing apprentices on shift with at least one journeyman capable of teaching them if they felt so inclined but with Meira it was more personal). He didn’t think this girl was at all. Or she was significantly quieter on shift. That was unlikely though. “There’s not usually a candidate shortage though so…” He shrugged. “Whatever you want, makes no difference to me. You just look around the age for most younger-end candidates so I asked.”

His focus was primarily on the different types of earrings, which was most strongly emphasized by R’wign not noticing his firelizard’s antics. Ellie cocked her head to the side and eyed Amelie curiously. She didn’t make a peep though. Typically Ellie was a very quiet firelizard. Typically. She fussed badly over her eggs, and during Flights her personality changed, but most of the time she just had no habits of making a sound. Except to comfort R’wign when he was upset, or to sing to the baby… but not in public. She knew very well how others felt about her kind usually – perhaps she was a little too intelligent – and she didn’t intend to encourage the belief of firelizards as a nuisance.

“Right. You should be pretty close to journeywoman then, if you focus a lot,” R’wign pointed out without looking at Amelie; he dropped the topic of piercings, primarily because he didn’t like lingering on subjects going nowhere. “I think you’re on Jermayan’s shifts? He probably could help you. He’s the shy wherhandler… or at least, he’s shy around me. I don’t know how he is around anyone else, never seen him with other people before.” Well, not extensively anyway. Unusual circumstances aside, Jermayan didn’t get R’wign’s attention that often. He just wasn’t his friend really. “I tend to forget who the ranking healers on the other shift are though – or, really, who most of the people on that shift are. Too many people to remember.”

His head cocked to the side. Riaren mumbled something sounding suspiciously like ‘Buubuuu’ against his star and mimicked R’wign’s head tilt just slightly. One hand went toward the display, obviously interested in the rainbow posts near the front, and he squirmed, kicking his little feet anxiously. Those ones were by far the prettiest, would his daddy pick those ones, he wanted those ones – they were pretty, he wanted to see if they tasted as good as they looked. Oh, oh, but they were out of reach. Wiggling, Riaren made a low whining noise in his throat and shoved the point of the star further into his mouth, before his head tilted and he looked up at the healer inquisitively. R’wign looked back at him and kissed the boy’s forehead gently. “No rainbows. Only on my nails, eh eh? Besides, I don’t think M’ta would appreciate rainbows. I like silver. It shines. You like silver too, don’t you Riaren? Hmm?”