Go on while no one's looking (Vix)

[rii]

A loop of string threaded between his fingers, Kostya hummed softly to himself as he manipulated the length into a simper spider-webbing pattern. A child's game, but the candidate delighted in the fact that very few of the condescending adults could figure out the puzzling twist and turn of string to make the abstract images. So simple, wasn't it, as people made little more than a giant knot in their attempts. In all honesty, the string served as a substitute to occupy his mind until he found something more stimulating. So far the selection had been disappointing..

A drudge that only responded to the knots on the shoulders of riders, a boy too naive to catch the subtle implications behind Kostya's play of words, and a salamandyr (oh the level he had lowered himself to to try and converse with a lizard.. ) that didn't show a shred of intelligence. In the end string was more interesting than the few individuals he had engaged into conversation. That didn't mean Kostya had lost all hope. No, he continued to prowl along the hallways and walking paths in hopes of crossing with something or someone to relieve his boredom.

Kostya stepped around a conversing pair, not interested in a group activity unless the third person was Marsayis. Otherwise the male candidate preferred interaction on a one to one scale. Preferably away from the majority of the weyr.. those that tended to slink off by themselves proved to be more intriguing to Kostya. The fact that they went away to be alone made him all that much more fun to him. Peculiar tastes, he knew, but people were ever the source of entertainment. Poking and prodding at them for reactions, no one like the other, an endless source of playmates..

His pale eyes snared on a growingly familiar shape. What was his name again.. ?

[Avu]

So this was what he’d been lowered to. Stealing.

Oh well. It wasn’t like, Vix told himself, he wasn’t planning on returning them, after. And he wasn’t destroying anything. They’d be perfectly fine, just as soon as he…uh, put everything back together again. Right. That shouldn’t be too hard, after all, even if it was his first time with it. Everything fit where it was supposed to, didn’t it? The leather case of the flying goggles lay across one knee, utterly stripped of what made it so protective to Riders.

The metal reinforcement had been unclasped and lay upon Vix’s other knee, the two glass lenses stacked neatly on his shoes. Everything had been systematically dismembered to its most basic form; the buckle had had its tongue removed, the square clasp showing only a ridged groove where it should fit. The glass lenses had lost the lining of metal; glittering silver and hair-thin, the two little flexible metal rings were being used as bracelets for time being. Even the leather had been taken apart as much as it could be, each strap undone from the main case; one of the ones that were intended to loop ‘round the Rider’s head was held in Vix’s hands, being turned over and over absently.

The Candidate was curled on a stone windowsill, cross-legged, utterly lost in the flying goggles – definitely not his. Nobody had bothered him, and Vix was more than okay with that. As far as he could tell, he’d earned a few curious, sidelong glances from people; some Weyrbrats had come up and looked with open interest at what he was doing, but hadn’t spoken and hadn’t touched, so he’d just kept taking apart the goggles in silence until they scampered off again. But that had been it, and that, along with the flying goggles, made it easily one of the best days he’d had thus far at the Weyr.

Except…

That Vix even glanced up at all was more of habit than anything else: To check the time, the angle of the sun. His gaze, however, caught momentarily on Kostya, and then went on. That Candidate; the one that had actually spoken to him at the last lesson-whatever-thing. Who probably now thought he was allergic to cookies, but whatever. Hopefully he’d just keep walking…Vix clicked his tongue, the checking of the time utterly forgotten in a brief flash of remembered irritation, and then lowered his head deliberately, back to the goggles in his lap, picking up the buckle and starting to fit it back together.

Maybe if he ignored whatever-his-name-was, he would be left alone.

[rii]

T.. eh.. isk.. ?

Kostya was fairly certain that the kid's name started with a 'T' and ended in some sort of 'icks' sound. Hard to pick up on a name when he never cared to ask and the guy in question kept strictly to himself. Kostya had seen him a few times at lessons (when he bothered to attend) and in passing at the candidate barracks. Quite the antisocial one, this Ticks kid. Aside from that, Kostya never saw him around.. likely because the kid didn't exactly stand out; more ore less blending into the stone in which he sat.

Drawing hands together in front of himself, Kostya pressed his fingertips lightly together to allow the loops of string to hang in loose sweeps around his steepled hands. Did his mother ever tell him it was rude it was to stare? Of course she had. Such manners were created because being eyed typically made people uncomfortable – farnath forbid he do that to someone. The corner of Kostya's lips twitched with inner amusement, his slender frame pivoting toward the other male candidate. He took the few steps closer, pale eyes remained intent on Tekivix's face – delighted, really, that the candidate avidly chose to ignore him. Yes, keep looking away, it allowed Kostya to move in all that much closer until it became impossible to refuse acknowledgment.

Kostya drew up next to the window sill, Tekivix's perch, and turned his gaze down to examine the assortment of items lining Vix's thighs. He was tempted to touch one of the pieces, if only because there seemed to be a very particular organization to their arrangement and it would likely irritate the near-obsessive air that hung about the task of.. dis-assembly? Or was this a task of putting it back together. Hm. It was a curious practice, enough to draw a faint tilt of Kostya's head as his own eyes visually put the pieces back to proper order.

His pale eyes flicked up to Tekivix's face, briefly tracing over the younger's narrow features. The bruises appeared to be gone. What a shame. Kostya had rather liked the bruised ego worn in a near-arrogant manner. Both hands came up, bound by the string, and hooked the very tip of a single finger through the metal ring Tekivix had adorned as jewelry. "Tinker, tailor. Soldier, sailor. Beggar man, thief." His voice soft, sing-song as he kept the smile from spreading across his lips that recited the simple rhyme. He gave the ring a slight tug before raising his gaze back to Tekivix face. "Which one do you be?"

[Avu]

Clearly he needed a better plan.

Vix exhaled, not quite a sigh, but certainly a sound of resignation. He couldn’t run when he had things spread all over his lap; if there was one thing he wouldn’t sacrifice, it was goggles. That he had stolen. After that risk, he wasn’t about to just bolt because of some person he barely knew. Even if that person was making him want to throw something at him. Just not anything he was adorned with at the moment, tch, or he actually would. His head lowered, Vix managing to nearly curl in on himself without moving his legs, fingers lacing around one of the leather straps and starting to slide the buckle down it…

His hands stopped their movements as Kostya came closer, and Vix tilted his head slightly to regard the other Candidate in silence. The wrist around which the metal rings had been draped twitched minutely, away from Kostya’s touch – if the strings that laced the other’s hands together were noticed, Vix chose to ignore them in favor of studying his face, still mutely. His expression wasn’t outright antagonistic – not really, just vaguely irritated. After all, he had gone most of the day without being noticed, which was more than he’d expected anyway, in such a busy Weyr as this…

The words drew one eyebrow up like a question mark, and Vix slipped the buckle into place, picking up another clasp and tongue and fitting them together to the other end of the leather. “None of the above,” he replied after a second, talking more to the leather and metal he held than to Kostya – even though ‘thief’ and ‘tinker’ could easily be applied to him. “Candidate with no interest in fawning over Riders. Got a rhyme for that?”

And, really – if there was a faint edge of sarcasm lining his words, was he to blame?

Vix tilted his head, meaningfully, back to his work, slipping the next leather strap onto the now-affixed buckle, pressing the tongue of the buckle into one of the holes along the strap. The proximity of the other Candidate was distracting, though, and he couldn’t quite stop his gaze from flickering back up to Kostya just once before he corrected himself, looking back down at the leather straps that were just beginning to resemble flying goggles. “Was there something you needed?” he inquired after a moment, evenly, without looking up again – just get it over with, go away, go away…

[rii]

The flinching was minimal, but Kostya was aware of it all the same. It helped that he was watching specifically for those particular reactions. Tekivix made it very clear that he didn't want any company. Amused, Kostya let the metal ring slip away, curbing his desire to seize the limb that had twitched away. Predatory, really, the sight of something fleeing triggered that baser instinct..

Kostya tilted his head, again curiously watching Tekivix's skilled hands work at the goggles. Wondering as he did, if the younger male was in a hurry to get it back together to try and flit off to some unoccupied dark corner. "Mm," Kostya drawled thoughtfully at the words. No, didn't come as a surprise to him that the other candidate wasn't willing to play along. Quite alright. Kostya would do all the playing needed. Out of habit Kostya's mind dissected any possible, albeit minuscule, meaning out of the simple phrase – then turned to forming a quick rhyme – per request, of course (ever mindful the sarcastic, rhetorical touch to said request).

"Chains in the mind, they cripple and they bind, keeping us both confined.." Kostya flashed a smile. No, he wasn't trying to be clever. Silly, in all honesty, to study Tekivix's reaction to the various approaches. Tekivix wasn't the only one not interested in being awe-struck by dragonriders. Kostya held no interest in impressing to dragon or wher. He'd love to leave right at that moment if he wasn't stuck. No visible chain around his feet, but with Marsayis unwilling to move elsewhere it created a mental binding to the damnable Weyr. Didn't know Tekivix's reason for being there, but it sounded as if the other candidate wasn't there out of interest of being a dragonrider, didn't it?

The fleeting glance pleased Kostya, regardless of it's reason – after all, the guy seemed to be working intently to ignore him and failing. "Need? I suppose your name." The light, playful words came as Kostya shifted to shoulder against the stone. Giving Tekivix room to leave – run – if the desire was felt. "But if you meant want, then.. hm.." He tapped fingers together; still entangled with the bizarre pattern between his hands. "Want to.. get to know you?"