Distracted (open)

[Kisha-Ra]

Various images swirled in front of Yoalla’s eyes, superimposed over the sight of the bustling dining hall. Since all the images were being fed to her by Yosk there was a strong focus on things that the green considered pretty. Yoalla sighed as an image of a firelizard outlined against the twilight sky came into focus, and then vanished to be replaced by a new image featuring a young girl in bright clothes. Apparently Yosk liked bright. She was also attracted to delicate, and graceful, and many other attributes that the wher felt she did not posses. Nothing Yoalla could say would ever convince Yosk that she was pretty, and that she would be graceful if she didn’t slink and slope the whole time, quite frankly no matter what Yoalla did Yosk always had all the confidence of a one legged man in an arse kicking contest. Even now she projected worries to her handler along with images, she was going to be in someone’s way, she’d frighten someone, she was just too ugly to be out here, and so on, Yoalla was used to ignoring such concerns.

She didn’t seem to realise that while she worked on seeing things through Yosk’s eyes she was still sat with a piece of bread halfway to her mouth, nor did she seem to notice at all that Lao was stood on the table by her plate, industriously nibbling away at that same bread, making quite a dent in it for a small creature.

Yoalla frowned and shifted, making Lao skip away and try and look innocent, sometimes she wondered if those lessons with Roivao and Roisk were doing any good at all, not to mention if they’d do any good if people weren’t constantly goofing off in them. She knew she still sometimes felt she was fumbling around in the dark when it came to Yosk, sometimes quite literally even. Take this simple sharing. How simple was it exactly? Not only did she get the image, sharper and clearer than anything she’d gotten from firelizards, she also got a sense of not just the emotions but also the thoughts behind it, quite complex thoughts sometimes. What did that have to do with lessons? Probably not that much except that she wouldn’t be sitting here looking through Yosk’s eyes if it hadn’t come up there, it wasn’t an idea that occurred to her as useful, in fact she still wasn’t sure if it was useful but it was quite interesting.

Lao fluttered his wings, resettled himself on the table and turned to hiss at Zai, just to remind her who was the best green around here and then stood up and looked around. Oh dear, the little green was gone, again. He knew what that meant, time to start looking for her, get her out of whatever she’d gotten into, and prove (again!) that he was the very best green firelizard anywhere. Okay where would she be this time? Lao walked along the table, ignoring any objections to his presence, and peering behind, under, and into anything that he thought Zai might be able to hide behind, under, or in. He was a bronze green with a mission. Honestly why couldn’t his poor pet do it right and get his baby instead of another green?

Quite ignorant of Lao looking for her Zai snuggled deeper into her new sleeping place, casing a faint splashing sound as wine slopped against the side of the goblet. Ah it was nice in here, she was hidden, she was safe. The small firelizard yawned, lapped up a little of the liquid she was curled in and rested her muzzle comfortably against the side of her impromptu nest. Perfect!

[tarra]

(OOC> Are firelizards really small enough to fit into goblets? Lol XD)


S'kor fingered his bread before he dipped it, bringing the dripping mess to his mouth for a quick bite. Someone jolted against his back, nearing upsetting his aim, but he closed his teeth on the bread even as he half-turned to glare at the offending person. The serving drudge, trundling away with her tray full of roasted wherry, showed him nothing more than her retreating back. A chuckle sounded from somewhere down his table, and he turned in time to see the hasty downward glance of a greenrider who had been laughing at him. He smiled at the younger rider's orange curled hair anyway, a mirthless smile, and directed his attention back to his food.

The Dining Hall was stifling in the heat of the lunch hour, but to the bronzerider the noise was just another aspect of Weyr life to be accepted as it was. Ten turns of life at Selenitas had calmed his manner and dulled his senses to the commotion created by so many people in so enclosed a space. No doubt a young lad fresh from the fields would find the place unbearable - but S'kor, if he had once been that lad, was him no longer, and it was a quiet bronzerider who sat sedate at his lunch set and watched the world revolve around him.

He propped the bread into his steaming bowl of stew and took a sip of wine from the goblet beside it. There was some gambling going on at the table opposite him - something to do with a game of sticks and stones. Or was it bread crumbs and forks. There was little he could see of it in the press of bodies roaming back and forth; or hear, for that matter, over the general din. Placing his goblet back on the table he ladled stew and meat into his mouth, taking time to chew and enjoy the rich, warm flavouring. Somewhere someone was scolding a child, and the weyrbrat's cries rang out even over the bustle of the crowd. The bronzerider listened until it had faded away, then picked up his half-eaten loaf. He had just swallowed a few more mouthfuls of stew-soaked bread when a voice rose beside him.

"Ahh, away with you nuisence beast!"

He chuckled as a bronze firelizard came directly across his position and paused to peer over the edge beneath it. He sat back to watch it, amused, as it drew back and continued on down the table - apparently searching for something. Having never owned a flit (nor desired to), S'kor could only guess at the strange little creature's intent. Shaking his head, he finished his bread in a final mouthful and lifted his goblet to wash it down.

And realised that his goblet was rather more full than he had expected.

The bronzerider blinked at the little green flit curled into his cup, surrounded by wine slopping up the goblet sides at the disturbance. The astonishment in his eyes faded into amusement, and a light smile turned the corners of his lips.

"Well little one, you seem to have made yourself comfortable," his brow raised, "At my expense."

[Kisha-Ra]

((OOC: Zai’s unusually small, and according to her description she can, she normally leaves her tail hanging out though.))

Lao skittered backwards as he was shooed from looking in somebody’s cup, after he established Zai wasn’t in there. Meanwhile Yoalla realised that she’d lost her pets and started looking down the table herself, starting by peering into her own mug. She’d discovered, much to her regret, that the green like to sleep in half full mugs and goblets, and drinks didn’t taste that great after a firelizard had slept in them for some reason. Maybe it was the oil Yoalla used on her hide.

Loa, at least was easier to spot, the gender confused bronze was wandering around the table, annoying people by the sound of it, and peering into and under things. Yoalla could only assume Lao had decided to look for Zai as well Still she’d better go and grab him before he got squished or something. Yoalla slipped out of her chair and stauntered down the table, getting a couple of dirty looks from those who knew Lao was hers, she replied to these looks by winking and cocking her hip.

Lao paused at the end of the table and fluted curiously at someone who was talking to a bronze. Where was the bronze? Lao circled once looking for a bronze firelizard or salamandyr somewhere nearby, and could only conclude that this was another sad case of a human being confused. Personally he’d never understood these things, yes he was big for a green, and a rather strange shade, and he couldn’t seem to get properly glowy to Fly (although he did have a clutch) but he was very clearly a green, his pet thought so, and Ellie thought so, and a queen should know who was a bronze and who was a green. Lao’s bout of looking at someone in a funny way was brought to an abrupt halt by Yoalla scooping him up and cuddling him.

‘There’s my best green.’ She ignored the strange expressions around her, Lao thought he was green; the only way he’d been able to deal with catching a queen was to convince himself that one of the eggs was his clutch. So if Lao wanted to be a green, he was a green. ‘Now lets try and find Zai before someone drinks her shall we?’ Lao chirped affirmatively, and clambered up to sit on Yoalla’s shoulder.

Zai looked up as her nest moved, how annoying! Oh it was only a human, they weren’t that scary, unless they were trying to eat her. The green made a series of chirps that were intended to be a sweet song but were actually probably the worst case of tone deafness in the history of the species.

‘I think you have something of mine there, bronzerider.’ Yoalla homed in on the awful noise and leaned over the man’s shoulder to look at Zai.

[tarra]

(OOC> So cute! )

Quite oblivious to the table-wide search now on, S'kor cocked his head in curiosity at the intruder in his goblet. The green flit had looked up at him as he spoke, the annoyance in her manner so obvious that his smile could not but widen. She was small even for her kind, enough so to be mistaken for a large salamandyr, and might have been endearing if not for the fact that S'kor had no real interest in the little lizards. Morreliath could hardly stand them; and some of his overbearing manner had inevitably rubbed off on his mindmate, even though the bronzerider would always be more patient, more easygoing, than his dragon. This flit, he surmised, was probably someone's - few of their wild kin would presume to den in a human's goblet for any length of time. A series of chirps issued from the green: wildly off note and linked enough to be a mellody of sorts, they made him blink and sent the girl beside him scurrying to find a new table. He chuckled, lunch quite forgotten.

"Well, for something so small you certainly have quite a voice."

He set the cup down again, gently to avoid displacing its contents, and raised his eyes to the crowd around him. Someone, he was sure, would come looking for his or her flit; though how anyone was going to find anything in this organized chaos was beyond him. But he would soon find that he had unestimated the power of the green's voice.

‘I think you have something of mine there, bronzerider.’

Someone, a woman from the sound of it, was speaking over his shoulder. Half-turning in his seat, he glanced up at the green-eyed girl who stood with yet another firelizard, a bronze, behind him. Her face triggered no recognition with him, which meant she was probably not a rider or one of the more prominent Weyrstaff (healers, harpers and the like). Her information, however, was accurate; she had identified him as a bronzerider, which meant she was either a Weyr resident or a frequent visitor at the least. She was bold too, showing none of the deference usually given to those of his rank and statue. That was refreshing - unless it meant, of course, that his past, lengthy absences from the Weyr had so degraded him in the common man's view that respect was no longer a neccesity with him.

I disagree, the familiar tone rumbled in his mind. His eyes warmed with an unseen smile. I would expect no less of you.

"Indeed, are you sure it's yours?" he asked, returning to the scene at hand. A glint of mischief sparked in his eyes, "It seems to be in my cup. Which makes it mine."

[Kisha-Ra]

Lao winced, there was no other word for the bronze’s reaction, at the sound of Zai’s ’singing’. Why did she even bother? She might be the more delicate, cute green but Lao was certainly the better singer. As if to prove that statement Lao made a sweet trilling sound and rubbed his head against Yoalla’s cheek. See? He was the best green, his pet loved him best, not the silly little green. Lao cast a sharp look at Zai but the smaller firelizard was definitely not paying attention to him.

Zai, for her part just stared up at the human with her wide eyes whirling calmly, not taking in a word he was saying to her, and pulled her body lazily up the side of the goblet, hooking her front sets of claws over the edge to hold her steady, and chirped again in what she mistakenly thought was a sweet manner.

Yoalla looked down at her fugitive pet, and nearly whined when she saw Zai was resting in a goblet of wine. Why did it have to be wine? Zai would undoubtedly have drunk it, and would now be if not actually drunk then at least doing a very good impression of it. The wherling handler had no idea why alcohol should have any effect on firelizards, but apparently it did, and Zai really couldn’t hold her booze, usually a few mouthfuls of wine was enough to make the green silly and nonsensical all day.

Yoalla could feel Yosk snort in the back of her mind, the wher’s sentiment was clear let the bronzerider keep Zai if he wanted, see how he liked off key firelizard singing, and drink left for more than a few minutes filled with a firelizard and worst of all the uproar whenever someone the general area even mentioned avains. Yoalla grinned at her wher’s vehemence. It was true that Zai could be a pain in the rear, especially when anyone mentioned… those. No Yoalla was not even going to think the word avians when Zai was awake.

Leaning forward, almost pressing against the man, Yoalla reached over and snagged the green firelizard out of her nest. ‘You wouldn’t want to keep her. Not unless you have a taste for green firelizard in everything you drink. She gets into every cup and glass left unattended for a moment or two.’ Yoalla slipped into the recently vacated chair beside the bronzerider and started wiping her errant firelizard off on the edge of her shirt, while Zai made the job difficult by wriggling and projecting disconnected fuzzy images to Yoalla. ‘She ends up drunk all the time, too, thanks to her habit of climbing in goblets and glasses and drinking whatever liquid she curls up in. I worry that one day she’ll end up in something poisonous.’ Yoalla commented while Lao turned on her shoulder and stretched out top examine the bronzerider for himself.

[tarra]

"Ah, I see," S'kor tilted the cup so that the girl might take her flitter back easily. Her easy proximity surprised him somewhat - Weyr women at large were not uncomfortable with males coming close, but Yoalla seemed completely unabashed about it. He continued mildly, "I suppose you must like green flitter drink though, seeing as you keep her - unless she Impressed you without giving you a choice."

He watched as she settled into the chair alongside and began wiping down the wine-wet firelizard with her shirt. No, he had been joking - he would not want a firelizard at all, or a salamandyr, or anything for that matter. For one, there would be Morreliath to deal with if that happened; for another, he did not want to be more patient than he needed to be in life. Half-turning towards her, he waylaid a napkin from the adjacent empty seat as well and offered it.

"Here, you'll have a job washing wine clean out of that tunic," he surveyed the wriggling firelizard a moment, then shot his goblet a distasteful glance before setting it asde for the drudges to clear, "I do hope she drunk enough now that she doesn't repeat it. You might want to train her not to, if you think she might hurt herself with that habit. I'll be more worried she'll end up in the Weyrwoman's cup, if I were you."

He took a quick sip of stew, "I'm S'kor, by the way. I'm afraid I don't know your name though," his eyes found the bronze shape of Lao examing him, and he smiled, "And this is your bronze too, I suppose? I had wondered whose he was when he came down the table."

It was the wrong thing thing to say about Lao, of course - but then S'kor yet to learn about that.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla made a face; clearly she preferred her drinks without added firelizard flavour. ‘Uh huh, I more or less Impressed Zai by accident, I mean I wanted to see the hatching but I wasn’t really trying to Impress anything since I already had Lao. I only ended up close enough to get her because I was trying to rescue Lao from someone’s feline.’ The snort Yoalla added to the end of her sentence made it clear exactly what she thought of felines in general and bringing them along to flit hatchings in particular.

Yoalla plucked the proffered napkin from the bronzerider’s fingers with a rather distracted nod of thanks, for some reason Zai was showing her very fuzzy pictures of a giant white salamandyr, that had a second hand quality to them, it was getting rather annoying. In turn Yoalla scrubbed at Zai’s hide at little more vigorously than was totally necessary.

‘She doesn’t do it so that she can drink.’ Yoalla explained once Zai’s images had temporarily stopped so that the green could grumble about the rough treatment she was getting. ‘She actually likes to sleep in half full goblets and mugs, if you can believe it.’ Yoalla rolled her eyes, she still couldn’t believe that was her firelizard’s preferred nest sometimes so there was no real reason for anyone else to believe it, except the evidence. ‘Trying to train Zai is a pain in the tail, she’s always either asleep, drunk because she slept in someone’s wineglass, or totally hysterical because someone mentioned, um, something she’s scared of.’ Yoalla just remembered not to mention avians in time. Just because Yoalla had mentioned Zai’s hysterics didn’t mean that everyone nearby needed an example. ‘Thankfully I don’t think I have to worry about Zai going far enough to climb into the weyrwoman’s wine, too far for her to bother walking unless she just woke up.’

Yoalla smiled crookedly and tipped her head to one side. ‘Well, I imagine that’s because I never told you my name.’ She replied with a slight air of amusement, why should a bronzerider know the name of a wherling handler? ‘It’s Yoalla.’ She was debating if she should add some polite comment about being pleased to meet the rider or something when he inquired about Lao, who instantly shot the man a glare. ‘Lao honey, do think you could fetch another one of these?’ Ytoalla held the wine covered napkin up in front of the firelizard to distract him.

Lao answered with a brief chirp and hopping down onto the table before her took to the air, people always got so annoyed when he smacked them around the ear with his wings. See, his pet didn’t ask Zai to get things did she? Nooo because Lao was the better green, and he was a green. A green. Lao shot another dirty look at S’kor, interrupting his quest for a clean napkin for a moment to do so. What a stupid man!

Once Lao was out of sight Yoalla turned back to the bronzerider with a slight smile. ‘Yes, Lao’s mine, but he’s totally and utterly convinced that he’s a green and nothing can convince him otherwise. He caught a queen and he’s still sure that he’s a green. He even decided one of the queen’s eggs was his clutch.’ Yoalla felt motivated to explain why her pet had been giving S’kor that disbelieving look Lao always wore when someone called him a bronze, the one that suggested they were either blind, stupid, or both. ‘I really don’t recommend getting any pets around here, that is if you don’t have any already. They all seem to be a bit strange. Although in Zai’s case it could just be that she’s from that clutch Lao sired.’ She added.

[tarra]

"By accident," the bronzerider's amusement glinted in his hazy eyes, recalling how he had Impressed Morreliath. Not that the incident had repeated itself with any firelizards or salamandyrs. Yet. "That does happen, usually when you least expect it. And felines are indeed a nuisence at best."

He settled back to listen as Yoalla explained her green's obsession with cups and goblets, noting as an afterthought that the young woman seemed distracted. With two firelizards (and one of them half-drunk) that was hardly surprising: he himself could barely imagine sharing a mind with anyone outside of Morreliath. His wonder was how she even found herself capable of functioning normally. Knowing the nature of pets in and around Selenitas though, it wasn't strange to hear of Zai's eccentricities. It just made him all the more grateful he wasn't the owner of one of them.

"She sounds a most interesting character to have around," he commented drily, thinking of sipping the wine and then remembering before he could move that he really should not. He compensated by taking a quick bite of stew-soaked bread instead, whilst Yoalla sampled his introduction. She seemed amused, an observation that quirked his annoyance ever so slightly - people almost seemed surprised that a bronzerider would be interested in them, a point that often annoyed. He could see no reason why he should not be interested in his environment, and the environmment almost always included the people in it. She looked like she would say something more, but just then the bronze flitter turned to them with a look that seemed, almost...a glare. Had he not known better...or did he just not know better at all? S'kor watched, bemused, as Yoalla sent the firelizard away to find another napkin.

"Yes, Lao’s mine, but he’s totally and utterly convinced that he’s a green and nothing can convince him otherwise. He caught a queen and he’s still sure that he’s a green. He even decided one of the queen’s eggs was his clutch."

"Oh...really?" the bronzerider was hard-put to focus for a moment as Morreliath's outrage hinted at the edges of his mind. A bronze that thought he was a green? Preposterous! The feeling faded away, and S'kor decided that Morreliath was probably dozing; if he could still think clearly enough to hear the green wherling out, it meant his dragon was not concentrating enough on their conversation to bother interrupting, "That...must have been quite a sight - him brooding over an egg, I mean. Not that it wasn't his anyway, but still..."

"I really don’t recommend getting any pets around here, that is if you don’t have any already. They all seem to be a bit strange. Although in Zai’s case it could just be that she’s from that clutch Lao sired."

"I'm...inclined to agree," he concided, trying not to smile at the absurdity of the situation, "At risk of being rude - I'm sure they mean something to you despite their quirks. It's remarkable you can handle two of them."

He watched the flitter stroll off, then returned to their interrupted introduction, "Yoalla - don't think I've seen you before, but it's easy to lose people in this crowd. Should I apologise to Lao later? He seemed offended."

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla thought she could hear a note of amusement in the bronzerider’s voice as he commented on her Impression Zai, but she was so gratified that he agreed with her on the felines, that she let it slide by without thinking too much.

Interesting? Yoalla raised an eyebrow, Zai was certainly interesting, but like most things, it wasn’t entirely in a good way. The green was pretty, sweet, and delightfully sure of being the right gender and colour after all the trials Yoalla had experienced with Lao. However she was also, well, kind of annoying and amazingly boring once you got to know her. All things considered Lao was a more useful mindmate, even if he was confused. As if she could clearly guess Yoalla’s thoughts Zai lifted her head and made a disgruntled little chirp. That in turn reminded Yoalla that she was getting distracted again; the sooner Zai was sorted out and sleeping off her wine the better.

As she returned her focus to the bronzerider Yoalla noted that he, too, seemed a little distracted. She dismissed it, most people had some kind of strange expression the first time she explained about Lao, she’d hardly been able to wrap her mind around the concept herself to start with. It wasn’t even as if he was small, or one of those mossy green shades that bronzes sometimes displayed, so there really was no physical basis for Lao’s confusion. ‘Oh yes, that was very strange indeed.’ Yoalla agreed smiling. ‘At least the gold was understanding, she just treated him like he was a green and let him have the egg to brood. As you said, it’s not like it wasn’t his anyway.’ Yoalla shrugged expressively, if a mate and a clutch couldn’t sort out Lao and his gender confusion, nothing would.

Yoalla smiled slightly and nodded. ‘Yes, it’s sad but true, they may be strange little beasts in their way but I do love them, it’s hard not to really. Mind you part of that has to be that I Impressed them.’ Yoalla’s expression turned slightly rueful as she said that, sometimes she wondered just how much of a hold all her mindmates had on her. ‘I haven’t got a huge amount of firelizards really, one of the healers has a whole fair looking to him, I don’t know whether I should pity him or envy him.’ Well she was more inclined toward pity but at least he was never short of someone to carry a message, right?

‘I’m not surprised you haven’t seen me before really, I haven’t been here all that long, less than a turn even, and I don’t usually come down this early. I’m a lowly wherhandler, se? Far more like me to be pilfering food out the kitchens in the dead of night.’ Yoalla grinned, the words may have been self mocking but the tone certainly wasn’t, Yoalla was pretty well pleased with being Yosk’s partner and inhabiting the nights.

Another shrug. ‘Lao just thinks you’re blind, because, most clearly, he is green.’ Yoalla rolled her eyes, Lao was actually more a red shade than anything but he didn’t seem to think so. ‘He’ll remember you called him bronze forever, he hasn’t the bad memory of the colour he thinks he is, but you’ll hardly see him, so I guess you can do whatever feels best for you.’ Yoalla answered, craning her neck to keep an eye one the flash of metallic hide in the crowd, no mean feat for someone only jut over five feet in height and seated besides.