What's That Funny Taste? (Lotty, Loka)

[Ember]

Are you okay to be walking around alone, Nephelemine? Of course I am, Nuoth dear. You keep asking but the answer will stay the same, the girl assured the green. The concern was touching but Nephele really was alright now. The sickness that had knocked her out for a week or so had gone, though she admitted she still felt at least a little weak. She entered the main hall with a sigh and could smell the noon meal. The smell of food no longer made her even more nauseous which was good because she was damn hungry.

Both of her flitters popped in as she grabbed a bowl of a meaty stew, chirping pleasantly at her. She grinned slightly and shook her head. "You two...alright. Go find me a table?" Misfit took to the task quickly at the prospect of food. Or rather, the silent promise of a cracker. Charming chirpped with amusement at the easily bribed brown before landing on his girl's shoulder and rubbing against her cheek. The action reminded her of a male drudge who had come up next to her, brushing her arm and saying, "Why, hello there pretty." It amused her to see Charming doing the same thing.

Misfit flew back over to her and tugged on her shirt sleeve. He wanted her to follow him so he could get hs reward. Silly beast. He brought her over to a table in a corner of the large room and landed on it. As she sat down thankfully she slid a cracker along the table to him and he dived on it voraciously. "Good job Misfit. When you finish that do come over her so I can feed you some real food." Charming leapt off her shoulder at that point and landed next to the bowl. He easily could have grabbed a morsel out of her bowl but she felt that he was going to make her feed him. Just because. "Aren't you just precious today, Charming. Here you go then, you gorgeous little brown, you." She ripped a piece of herdbeast meat in two and popped it into his mouth.

She proceeded to feed her mindmates first before digging into her own meal. The first spoon in she paused and nearly threw out the bowl. What the heck? It seemed like someone in the kitchens had mixed the ingredients wrong. "Or maybe licking K'sel twice had been a bad idea. Maybe my taste buds are messed up now," she mused aloud, taking a sip of a pleasant redfruit juice. Mm, nope. Some person on kitchen chores' fault. Nephele felt for Nuoth's mind. See darling? I'm still perfectly fine. I am so glad Nephelemine. The loving tone nearly made the girl choke on her food in surprise and adoration for her green. I say it again, I'm so sorry to have worried you.

Nephele cursed that stupid sickness still. It had left her pale and emacciated for a little bit and she still wasn't quite normal. Plus she had said way too many things for her own good to that annoying K'sel. Still...she ended up with the last laugh. When she had snapped out of her delusion in his company she'd said his name then fell asleep. He hadn't gotten a chance to ask about that yet either, considering she'd stayed in a fitful sick-sleep the next day and had been moved to the infirmary. That made them slightly more even, right? Of course...but now she'd need some dirt on him. She continued to eat the stew as she mulled things over.

[Lotty]

Charming is what alerted K'sel to her presence. Well, Charming, by way of Eyesore. The blue knew the brown firelizard well and often alerted His when he was around. He figured K'sel might want to know, since Charming belonged to that girl...not that that would change his opinion of Charming. His named was well suited, so he had managed to endear himself the the blue, no easy feat. So he was oddly sociable and zoomed onto the table to join the brown and unintentionally serve as a warning. A certain somebody was just around the bend, and he was not happy...though that wasn't anything new.

K'sel moved about as a ghost of his former self. He was too thin. His hair was too long. He did manage to clean up since being released from the infirmary the night before; shaved, fresh dark blue shirt and crisp brown trousers, it was a shame that the clothing simply hung off of him, and not even in a normally "disheveled chic" sort of way. It was just plain sad. Lets not even get started on his skin, so pale...he and Nephele were actually a good match today, which made sense to him, since you know, he had HER sickness.

He would blame her till the day he died for the absolute misery he had endured. It wasn't her fault, but she was the scapegoat. Hate. Hate. Hate. He hated her for all the vomit and pain and blood and tears, then then she went and had the nerve to speak so poorly of him. Oh yes, he heard her little comment, and he did not appreciate this...her taste buds paled in importance to his wellfare. Did she forget that he took care of her? Ohhhh that was a whole different burn....he took care of her, while she lied, while she pretended he was a Benden rider. The insults just never ended, he was sure he would have his revenge though. It was his job to irritate her after all...

K'sel. Just don't. You were told to eat and go back to sleep. You may be better, but your strength still needs to come back... Not that his warnings ever stopped K'sel before. He slunk around the tables, his plate of food wobbling in his hand and standing directly across from the other weyrling he glared. He didn't move, didn't make a motion to sit down... I'm just going to say hello. Not. He couldn't just say hello, even though his voice was barely more than a whisper he still had to bring the snark, "I think P'mon ruined your tongue long before I did. P'mon and half of Benden Weyr...." He went there, he was that cruel, and he wasn't even a bit apologetic. Surely not because he felt used? Because he felt like his heart was broken? No. No. She made him sick. Evil woman.

[Ember]

Darn her appetite and over active mind. Really. She should have noticed Eyesore sooner...soon enough to get out of the main hall and away from the danger of K'sel. Yes, danger. A happy cheep alerted her to...soemthing. Nephele looked up to see Charming shuffling closer to a blue flitter, seeming like he was determined to sit nearly plastered to the blue. She looked the blue over for a moment without remembering who it was. When she did remember she gaped in surprise. Oh shards... Well..maybe he'd..stay away? No chance.

As he stopped in front of her she pointedly refused to look up right away. He wasn't likely to take the hint though. K'sel was as stubborn as..well, she was. She ate a few more spoonfuls, watching the antics of the firelizards, as he spoke. Her temper flared at the words even as a slight shudder escaped her at P'mon's name. What right did he have to judge her based on that? There was willing and then there was willing...She had never wanted to do those things with even just one of those men. Finally she looked at him darkly. She should jsut walk away. Right now. Save herself the toruble of dealing with him. That's what made the most sense. But then, neither of them had ever had the sense to walk away before things turned bad.

She took in his appearance with all the sympathy of a rock. It wasn't really her fault he was sick. It was his own damn fault for cuddling with her and carrying her. If he'd just left her alone on the couch nothing would have happened that night. No babbling, no cuddling, nothing. She finally decided to reply to his comment acidly. "Aww, jealous are we? Jealous that..." she paused, unable to say P'mon's name outside of her ramblings, "others have gotten so much further than you have? Perhaps it is you that is in love with me, hmm?" He should remember that Gather day. He'd accused her of loving him and now it was time to do the same.

Before he answered though - for some reason she didn't really want to know the answer (she was convinced it was because she didn't need him licking her to rebut that) - she smirked and went on, "Too bad I don't go for the whole 'I just got discharged' look." Then, as if she truly didn't care anymore (though she really did) she went back to her stew. Thankfully she was almost done and would have a legitimate reason to leave. She looked up at him again and sighed. "For goodness sake, sit down before you fall down. I don't want to have to drag you to the Infirmary." Inviting him to sit was fine too. She had no intentions of staying around to be bashed about her Benden life. She did what she had to do to survive. But of course, she didn't expect him to understand that.

[Lotty]

He didn't know why he went ahead and sat down, he really didn't, but he was willing to blame it on his body. He simply didn't think he could continue to stand there with that plate, and it wasn't like he was going to run away just yet. Eyesore even scooted out of the way so that he would set his plate down safely and soundly before easing himself into the chair. Ugh, it made him feel like an old man, to lower himself in so carefully...he didn't know there was such great pains in something as simple as sitting. Scooting around only made things worse, was that his bones rubbing against the seat? Did he really lose that much weight? He felt like there was no cushion for his bony points, was this going to give him arthritis? He should really occupy his mouth with food instead of retaliating like he was about to, he had a way of diggin himself deeper and deeper.

It was worthy to note that he was mumbling, he didn't have it in him to add that extra bit of K'sel spice that usually made it's way into everything he said, "Jealous that I didn't lower myself to their levels?" she could take that however she wanted. He meant it solely as an acclaim about himself. He wasn't the type to use and devalue her...at least in bed. He would continue to say snotty insults to her until the day he died...but that was different. Anyway, K'sel didn't expect her to take it anyway but the wrong one, and added in a slightly brighter tone, "And what would you do if I said I loved you? I am half tempted to say yes if I knew it would bother you..." He calmly took a fork and began to pick at his food, scraping up a pile of mashed tubers and eating them carefully and slowly.

He considered the variety of ways he could go with this. Should he kill her with kindness? Thank her for letting him sit in her company? Shards no. He was still bitter, in his mind she nearly killed him. She should be held liable for the way she spread her disease to him....that unwanted licking. He could only roll his eyes at her comment about his "just got discharged look". He had nothing to say to that one, he knew he didn't look so great....grumble grumble. Why was it so hard for him to snap back today? Usually he was full of colorful words to strike with. Maybe it was because he could only think of asking her this, "Didn't you get your fill of laughs leading me along that night and tricking me into caring for you?" It seemed a bit out of the blue, but he had to know, he wanted to hear her admit to her conniving ways.

[Ember]

An expression of something similar to relief flitted across her face as he sat down. Good. She really didn't want to have to look after him. That would just be too awkward. Knowing her luck he'd have a relapse and end up babbling about his past and the girl really did not want to know. Exhanging pasts was something friends did. She would not consider him a friend, nuh uh, no way. Until she finished her meal though she had to try and act civil with him. Or at least put on a decent show of it while in a very public area. That meant no yelling at him or throwing her stew...bummer. The odd taste was slowing her progress with the bowl in front of her though...She looked at it with extreme distaste, almost as if it was offensive. Normally she wouldn't care but with K'sel so close she was entering a bad mood.

She glanced up at K'sel when he responded. She made an almost thoughtful sound and quirked her brow. Interesting..sort of. She couldn't decide if not being the type to take advatage of her in bed pleased her or not. She'd lived long enough in Benden that she'd become more accustomed to it, expected al lguys to be like that. This place...it changed her perceptions and it was a hard change to accept. She froze at his question. Joking, he was joking...Misfit peeped softly at her, questioning tone evident. To cover her surprise she offered him another cracker. It worked to keep him quiet and it might seem like that was all he'd been asking about. She looked at K'sel brightly (almost too brightly) and said, "Wouldn't bug me one bit." So don't you dare say it.

Jeez. He was full of questions, wasn't he? She suddenly found her stew very interesting. She pushed a lump of tubers around in the bowl for a while, mulling over that question herself. What to do? She could lie and say she had tricked him just for the laughs. She could also admit the truth but then he'd likely ask her why she'd stayed the night if she had snapped out of her delirium. Choosing the second option also gave her another choice. How to answer the question he'd undoubtedly ask after that...To stall for more time she ate a spoonful of stew and proceeded to try and guess what was missing. "Oh," she said aloud in surprise. She snorted in annoyance. "That's what they forgot? Useless dimglows." Her mutterings probably made little sense to K'sel but the girl didn't really care. Heck, maybe it would distract him. She wasn't fond of lying (though a good chunk of her life had been a lie) but neither did she want to admit the truth to K'sel.

Charming chittered at Eyesore before flutterign towards his girl and snatching the spoon out of her relaxed hand. Too easy! He trilled at her happily and returned to Eyesore with his prize. Nephele didn't attempt to reclaim her utensil. That meant leaning closer to K'sel so she could reach Charming. Clever little brown. Charming licked some of the broth off the spoon before chirping at Eyesore. He'd share if the blue wanted any. Nephele just shook her head and sighed. She didn't get why her mindmates had no problems with Kse'l's. She didn't expect them to but it seemed a bit odd...Charming and Eyesore got along quite well and Nuoth and Pettahth were friendly with each other. Misfit...well she couldn't count him since K'sel didn't have a third draconic mindmate.

[lokath]

L'ka was in the dining hall for one and only one purpose. He was starving. Lith had just finished eating and was sunning himself on top of a large rock. L'ka quickly made his way over to where the food was being served, getting himself a rather large portion of the stew. L'ka was used to eating a lot of food, as sailing required a lot of free energy, but he had been eating more since beginning his Weyrlinghood. It was possible that he was actually expending more energy than when he was sailing, but he doubted it. The blue weyrling thought it was probably one of many effects of his bond with Lith. Having a ravenous dragon sharing it's every thought and emotion with him...

Not one to let up on any chance to socialize, L'ka scanned the heads in the room, looking for someone he at the very least recognized. A fellow member of his Weyrling class caught his eye, a girl who was bonded to a green, and a rather pretty girl at that. A cheerful grin spread from L'ka's mouth all the way to his eyes as he easily made the decision of who to sit with, regardless of who else was already trying to talk to her. Lith's tail twitched as L'ka set down the bowl, sitting right next to the girl.

L'ka gave K'sel hardly a second thought as he smiled at his fellow weyrling, peering at her face. "Well, I could never forget such a pretty face, but your name has slipped my mind." He winked at her. "I'm L'ka, bonded of Lith. I think yours is his clutch sister?"He grimaced as he took a taste of the stew, but winked at the girl and carried on. "I've seen you in most of the lessons I actually bothered to go to, and I'm certain you're smart enough not to get held back. So either I'm hopelessly wrong, or you've got to be one."

[Lotty]

"Hmmm? Forget? Do you think that will distract me?" he was intent on hearing her answer. He wanted to see her squirm as she admitted her guilt.

As pleased with himself as he was about having Nephele cornered, it all came crashing down around him as soon as he was so rudely interrupted. It was like he had just won an award and some arrogant jackass came along and decided to hijack his acceptance speech. Although a popular response would be to stand in awkward silence with your face in utter dismay and shock, this was K'sel we were talking about. He was plotting murder....or at least some smarmy remark to satiate his thirst for revenge, but under a thinly veiled cover of complete cool, but oh it was hard. So so hard.

He hid his sneer by stuffing his face with another pile of tubers, shoveling food down his throat was no longer about the taste or the fact that he needed to gain his weight back, but instead purely to keep himself occupied while this stupid, stupid, stupid boy kept talking. Who told him he should talk...ever? He didn't know what was more annoying, the fact that he was bragging about not showing up to his lessons, or the fact after four months of having class with her he didn't know her name. How could you not know the name of the most obnoxious, horrible, amazing, girl in the barracks? He muffled the thought with the clattering of his utensils and another bite of food. Eyesore took a moment away from licking the spoon with Charming to take a look at the newcomer too. He could tell His didn't like this guy at all, and silently glared at him, a fleck of red entering the eyes to give away his owner's disdain. But enough of that, he turned back to the brown and chirruped a small thanks for sharing. Eyesore wasn't big on friendship, but Charming was about as close as it got.

It was only after a brief moment that K'sel could bring himself to look at this L'ka boy in the eye, "I'm sorry. Who are you again?" It was more rhetorical than anything, what he should have said was Who do you think you are interrupting me and Nephele? Emphasis on "me". He turned his sullen, thinned, face back at the girl, and flipped away an overgrown lock of blackish hair. He was still expecting an answer from her.

[Ember]

Hmph! He was being persistent, wasn't he? Looks liek she would be forced to answer the question or admit defeat. When had she become so competitive with him anyways? Since the Gather? She was saved from answering just as she'd opened her mouth to reply. The look she sent K'sel was decidedly smug as she turned to the guy who sat next to her.

To her surprise it was one of the weyrling boys who had Impressed from the same clutch as Nuoth. His was a blue, if she remembered correctly. Hah, K'sel surely must be simmering under the surface at the interruption. She listened to the blueweyrling talk and turned a radiant smile on him for the compliment. She felt slightly self-concious with K'sel watching but she was doing a credible job of ignoring him for the moment. Considering she hadn't been building any real kind of reputation at this weyr it was little suprise he didn't know her by name. In general, Nephele was a loner though she did put on a good face when with others. Friends in Benden meant nothing. Here...maybe they might be worth her time and energy. But not with this boy.

Nephele giggled the admission he didn't go to all the classes and the embedded compliment. "I'm Nephele, or Nephy if you find that easier to remember. My Nuoth is from the came clutch as yours. I remember you from the Hatching, even if I don't see you as much in lessons." Her tone was gently teasing and friendly, one she had turned on K'sel only once since meeting him. Would he recognize it? Hmm. Speaking of her other company, he'd just spoken up and she turned an apologetic look on L'ka. "Oh dear. I really should have introduced you two as well. L'ka, this is K'sel of brown Pettahth." Charming fluted at Eyesore pleasantly. He was happy to share with Eyesore!

Nephele sighed under her breath at the silent conversation going on between her and the senior weyrling. The return look she sent clearly implied that he was crazy to try and force the answer out of her with L'ka around. She wondered if he'd suddenly remember all the cuddling. She could easily drag that out into the open~