Knock on Wood (Ember)

[Lotty]

K'sel had a habit of ending up places he shouldn't really be. It wasn't that he was explicitly told he couldn't be in the jungle, but there were probably better things he could be doing with his time. Of course K'sel was happier to escape to the safety of this vegetive shelter; a place where trees strangled out the light and nature properly held its own. He wasn't exactly hiding here, he could be found if he wanted to; lounging up in a tree whose limbs snaked out like a mother's arms to cradle him while Pettahth slumbered below in the underbrush and Eyesore took up a perch above him playing the role of the quiet sentinel. The group looked every bit like the picture found next to the dictionary's entry for "comfortable", even with the odd chill in the air, it was nothing that a jacket didn't solve and frankly the weyrling couldn't get in a good nap without the security of something covering his arms and legs.

It should also be noted he couldn't live with himself unless he had something in his hands....

That sounds worse than it could be, it was really just a tick. He would be writing, or twiddling his thumbs, or whittling sticks, but more often than not he was eating. The eighteen turn old boy somehow always tip toed the line between being fit and too thin, but if it wasn't for his insatiable appetite and rituals of constant eating, then he would surely be nothing but skin stretched over bone. Needless to say, that fruit he was working on...he surely looked like he needed it, even if he picked at it slowly and without rush. He really hadn't a care in the world after all. Despite the recent Fort attack, K'sel had lived through too many tragedies to think of it as anything more than another bump in road. The boy had his little brown dragon, a friend or two in the barracks, and a firelizard to boot. The stars had finally aligned for him.

[Ember]

Nephele was, for lack of a better term, exploring. The jungle was an interesting place and she felt oddly drawn to it. She had never seen a place like it in the North and she never had much free time after she got the Selenitas Hold. Sure candidates had chores but they didn't take up the whole day. Stifling a yawn Nephele watched Charming twist and glide through the air, envious of his effortless passage through the trees. He didn't have to climb over roots and rocks. Lucky beast. He trilled beautifully as he watched his human pet.

Playfully he swooped down and gave her hair a slight tug. Nephele, having been focused on not tripping, was surprised and let out a little exclamation as she fell on her knees. "That was not funny, Charming," she growled. The brown's eyes whirled concern as he landed on her shoulder. Oops. He gave her a few licks and she sighed, unable to remain angry with the worry and apologetic feelings coming from her flit. Shifting onto her butt the young woman looked around her. This was a calm enough spot. She looked up at the sun-blocking leaves. That is, until Charming blocked her view. "Having fun?" She asked rhetorically.

[Lotty]

Eyesore flinched. The green of his eyes rolled away to a cautious yellow as he chirruped to his pet: there were people afoot there were, and a silly fellow lizard too. He puffed up his chest, proud and ready, only to see brown Charming flutter through the forest. Ugh. Stupid clutchmates. Eyesore simply had no time for this, and rather slunk back down to his state of dismissal, he'd rather not bother his bonded over the brown and that girl that was following. Too bad that it was too late, the blue's moment of alarm stirred the boy from his lounging and even awoke Pettahth, whose eye lids creaked open to slits; pulsing with the same worry that the firelizard showed before. K'sel? What is the matter? Does this need to be dealt with by force? The dragon rumbled and yawned, displaying the fresh white teeth of a 4 month old.

K'sel was hardly as concerned as either of the winged creatures were. It was surely something simple, something stupid, and his suspicions were proven right when he heard the voice. He didn't even need a visual, it was a girl, and he was hardly going to get worked up over that. He leaned over anyway, spying the candidate as she sat in the jungle, and gave her the most curious look - as if it was odd that she had taken to exploring the woods and not himself. Caring very little about the rules of casual conversation, he shifted back into the right position: eyes straight up and seeking out the sky in between the leaves of the canopy. She was the one who came upon him, this changed the rules of engagement, he didn't have to follow guidelines on politeness.

Now that he was comfortable again he addressed the brunette, "Hmm? Are you talking to me?" He didn't wait for an answer as he smoothly diverted the conversation away from simple little questions, "I find it fascinating. These days people never just say hello, they just ask questions. Are people really that nosy?" He sighed. There was no need for an answer, and he really didn't expect much of one anyway. She would probably hit the trail, why waste breath on someone like him?

[Ember]

Charming noticed the company first but his excited thoughts made no sense to Nephele as she stood up to dust herself off. The voice that she heard made her flinch in surprise and alarm. Oh. So it wasn't just her and Charming in this neck of the woods. She looked around her and was quite puzzled when she didn't see the source of the voice. She took a step back and tried to squash the fear. The man had to be around somewhere and she'd be damned if he saw her afraid. Trying to sound pleasant instead of angry and alarmed she replied. Maybe she could hear where he was better when she was paying attention

"Sorry to disturb you," she said at her most apologetic, "Charming was being silly. I am generally not a nosy person." The giggle afterwards was a bit much she realized. Too late to do anything about it. As if his name was his que Charming trilled happily as he fluttered up into a tree. Nephele watched him, wondering if perhaps the man was up there. Ah, yes, so he was. Knowing where he was calmed her quite a bit...especially since any sudden moves from up there were quite visible and she had an advantage down on the ground. Except...except there was a young dragon nearby too. Amazing how she'd missed the brown. She kept a wary eye on him and her own brown. He better not get her into any trouble.

Charming flew up over K'sel's face and peeped down at him curiously. Charming couldn't figure out what the weyrling was looking at. Nothing but leaves and sky upwards. The brown fluttered down to K'sel's chest and tried to look up too. He gave a little snort. That was boring! He chittered scoldingly at the human before flying over to Eyesore. He offered a cheery greeting to his clutchsib, scooting awfully close to the blue.

[Lotty]

Charming? Visions of a brown firelizard flickered through his brain - courtesy of Eyesore for sure. The weyrling huffed. He had enough trouble with Pettahth and his blue firelizard alone, another one on the scene only caused a deep seated sense of dread. All he could do is thank his lucky stars that it wasn't a salamandyr. Those things were the worst.

And then almost as if to defy such allegations, the firelizard so called "Charming" landed on his chest and chittered at him. Chittered! What did he do to deserve this anyway? He flicked his hand at the creature, not wanting anything to do with it. Of course the brown had gotten away before K'sel could lay a finger on it's chocolate colored hide, but Eyesore could take care of the rest. After all, Eyesore did not like other flits, related or otherwise. So as expected, the blue's eyes whirrled with irritation, talons tense with the notion of taking a good swipe at Charming. First you offend HIS K'sel and then dare and try and befriend him? That just was not going to fly buddy. The brightly colored firelizard hobbled down his perch away from his stupid sibling, if he tried to pull a stunt again the claws were going to come out.

All K'sel do was groan. Yeah sure, he wasn't exactly sleeping, but this most definitely ruined his chances of nodding off; the fear of firelizard fights were just too much to handle, and to top it all off he had finished his fruit. He no longer had something to busy his hands, and so all of his boredom had to be redirected to her. He rolled over - carefully - to his side, prying eyes giving Nephele another once over. She was his own age, and nice enough looking...she appeared rather sweet, but he was never fooled that easily by girls. Even the holdborn ones could have a vicious streak in them, so she was served the same dose of K'sel everyone else got. It was only fair.

"Generally huh?" he asked incredulously, but moved on again. He wasn't much for staying on one topic too long, that was dangerous for it could lead to debate. K'sel didn't like to debate, so he opted to keep it all light. Let's just do the small talk first shall we? "Well generally I wouldn't care...but...what may your name be?"

[Ember]

Charming watched Eyesore curiously as he shuffled away. He cheeped once before taking off and disappearing between in apaprent defeat. Nephele blinked dumbly at the sudden abandonment. She shook her head before looking at K'sel with fake amusement. Firelizards were very silly creatures. She was suspicious of her little mind mate though...his mind worked in strange ways.

Nephele kept up the relatively innocent manner as she saw the weyrling boy (man no longer seemed fitting) turn to her and examine her. What his impression was she didn't really want to know. She knew what was expected of ladies though. Although it seemed some of the rules that applied in the North didn't apply in the South....as much. So far not one of the males she met seemed easily tempted and that both disturbed her and made her oddly grateful. She'd heard rumours about how different the South was but she didn't believe such things easily anymore.

When he spoke again he nearly startled Nephele out of her ruminations. She fought down an angry reaction to what she felt was something of an insult. She did not like the fact that he seemed to be questioning her word. If he was perceptive he may be able to catch a spark of anger in her eyes before she managed to squash the emotion. Anger and distrust came much too easily for the girl. With a steadying breath she calmed her thoughts and replied to his question sweetly. "I'm Nephele. Might I ask your name, and of course your dragonkins' names?"

Just then Charming returned with a triumphant little trumpet. In his claws he held what could only be described as a weed. Oh sure, it had a tiny little flower but for the most part it looked like any ordinary weed. Nephele lifted a hand to her mouth to supress a laugh at the images in the brown's mind. He was so asking for it...He flew back up to where Eyesore was and put the flower-weed on the branch and nosed it towards the blue, tail twitching slightly in anticipation.

[Lotty]

K'sel did two things before bothering to reply to the girl named Nephele. First, he yawned, loudly and without remorse. As rude as it was to do so - and without covering his mouth at that - he hardly thought anything of it, again, she was still here and being a willing participant. She was making herself victim to his snarls and venom, no other way about it.

But then in his second act, he dropped from the tree, it was so unceremonious it could have been confused for an accidental fall. That is until he saved himself in the last second, landing on his feet. His moccasin clad feet hardly even made a thud against the ground. This should have been a shock, even Pettahth was alarmed. K'sel looked like many things but graceful was not one of them; he hardly even looked like he could walk straight without tripping over himself. But there he was in one piece, and absolutely unshaken, if asked for comment how would ever so cooly reply with well that's just how I roll. He was just that fly of a guy, kinda.

He sauntered over, he had gotten a kick out of the way girls hid their feelings. He wasn't unfamiliar with the spark in her eyes, the little flare of anger over his unapologetic rudeness. Thora approached him much the same way, she even thought he was an arrogant wherry, but even they worked out their differences. In his smoky tone he pushed past the saccharine taste of her words and served her the answer she probably wasn't looking for, "No...you might not...." he grinned as he let the truth wait at the tip of his tongue. There it stayed for a long moment before he indulged her, "I'm K'sel. The brown kid is Pettahth and the blue brat is Eyesore." He always refered to the dragonkin as children, and even after they were all grown up the designation would probably remain much to Pettahth's chagrin. I am not a child. I am much more responsible and mature than you.

Eyesore would have chittered his reply as well. But no. Just when the blue thought it was safe to to relax that brown was back! And what was that he had? Flowers!? Stupid! He took the flower hastily only to bruise the petals with his claws and drop the torn remains to the ground below. That is what he thought of vanities. It seemed that the firelizard wasn't going to be won over so easily.

[Ember]

Nephele quirked a brow at the yawn, torn between annoyance and amusement. Annoyance because she really did not need the view of inside his mouth, amusement because he very clearly couldn't care less. "Excuse you," she remarked in a dry tone. She was definitely more on the amused side, though she managed to hide that well.

She took an involuntary step back as he was suddenly...just on the ground. That was kind of startling. Scratch that, it was very startling. Nephele admired him for his soft, and miraculously upright, landing though. She wasn't exaclty the epitome of grace. Not on her feet at least. His reply quickly wiped out any admiration though. She very nearly glared at him. Instead, an ever-so-slight pout formed as she pretended to be upset. When the answer she wanted came she gave a slight nod to K'sel. Then candidate girl turned to the brown dragon. At least he hadn't been rude to her. "Well met, Pettahth. As for Eyesore I think he's probably got his hands full enough with Charming," she said, the last part directed back to K'sel. She feigned a half smile.

As for the weyrling boy, he didn't have control of the situation yet. He was driving her a bit insane though. "Umm, how'd you manage that landing?" She indicated the tree in case it was unclear. "I've rarely seen anyone land as quiet as a feline." In fact she had only ever seen it once before. One of the women who she worked with had enough of it one day and attacked one of the bronzeriders. That was an odd sight...some slim, pretty woman attacking a huge monstrosity of a man...But that was the past. It didn't matter anymore.

Charming seemed to swell with happiness when Eyesore very quickly grabbed up the flower. Then, just as abruptly he deflated. He chittered scoldlingy at the blue and flew up into the tree in search of something else. Ah-ha! That would do nicely. He fluttered back down with a rather large leaf and began tearing at the center of it with his claws. Surely this would make his clutchsib happy! He became very focused on his task of ripping a large enough hole in the middle...but for what?

[Lotty]

Pettahth grumbled with delight. He did like compliments, and he took Nephele's introduction as one. His should be so much more appreciative of the efforts of others to befriend him, they did not deserve K'sel's brusqueness, and Pettahth firmly reminded his rider of this. Now be nice K'sel, she might not be as forgiving as Hypriceth's was. The weyrlingrider rolled his eyes Yes mother... he snidely struck back. He was delighted that mindspeak had been coming along so nicely, it was a comment he didn't particularly want said aloud, but now that he could keep his short little quips quiet and on the down low, he could keep his same bemused face ready for the girl. How would he explain his landing though?

Practice made perfect he supposed. Though, he never exactly pulled shenanigans quite like that before - it was a random act, a daredevil stunt for dramatic effect - it wasn't a skill as much as chance and really he chalked it all up to drunken motor skills. Wait...what? Yes, he could attribute everything good about him to drinking, "Well after a few illicit nights drinking my mind away I got really good at not falling over drunk. I guess my wine born sense of balance leaked over into my day life," as for his feline like silence,"....and my quiet landings make up for my loud mouth."

And this was K'sel's own way of being charming. He wasn't going to play games or be overly nice, but he would always be frank. Some people appreciated how up front he was, others weren't, but he would never stop to censor his words.

For a brief moment the grouchy firelizard was again relieved that the brown had left him alone again. But apparently Charming was relentless. Down from the trees he came with a ripped up leaf, and Eyesore was beyond confused. To steal a line from His: what the shards was he doing? Eyesore opted to ignore it. No, no, no, he would NOT deal with this silly sibling of his, so he didn't even grace the fellow with a peep. The blue swiveled his head away in an apparent snub of the leaf and Charming.

[Ember]

Nephele was both interested in and wary of Pettahth. He was...so much smaller than the big beast she was used to. Looking back this was probably the closest she had been to a young dragon. She kept her eyes mostly on the rider but occasionally her gaze would flick over to the brown. She knew better to ask a rider about his beast though. A lot of them loved to absolutely bore her with stories of their dragons. That was possibly less pleasant than chores.

The girl grinned in genuine amusement. Bah, he wouldn't know the difference between real or not. "I see. And here I thought you were so agile because you had to look the part next to your handsome Pettahth," she mock teased, half complimented the brown. Speaking of browns...she mentally checked on Charming and snorted at what she discovered. Silly...

Charming paused from his task as he noticed motion. Eyesore had turned away while he was busy with his task. Well then...he finished up quickly and looked at his handiwork. That would do! He stuck his head through the hole he'd made and cheeped happily. He had his own little frill! Charming pretended aggression to the blue, hissing and posing much like the miniature salamandyrs might. Look, look! He was a flittmandyr!

[Lotty]

Ugh. K'sel cocked an eyebrow at the girl and his amused smirk went slightly sour. All the girls in this weyr thought they were oh-so funny now didn't they? And they were all always so fascinated by his dragon. Is that how his whole life was going to be? Girls lining up because he had a very adorable little brown dragon? He understood that there was some novelty in having such a small specimen for his color but he never imagined that it would be his only claim to fame. The brown got up and rustled about in the dead leaves before striding over to his mind mate to reassure him. It would be ok...really it would Don't worry K'selmine. I'm cute, I know. But I would never let anyone pretend to like you in order to get closer to me. I know how you hate the "liars and fakes".

K'sel had a very weary look out for anyone who could be disingenuous. He wasn't going to give Nephele such a title yet, but he was careful not to be too friendly. He wasn't exactly sure why any woman would want to use him of all people. He was still a weyrling, had almost nothing to his name, no bit of influence, and didn't even aspire to have any. There was nothing to gain from using him, but who knows, even master manipulators could misjudge the value of their target. Hmmm...

"I'm so sorry to disappoint. I'm not sure I can live with myself now!" he faked distress and false worry rushed over his face as he ran a hand through his sooty black hair - ruffling it into further disarray. Luckily it was a look that worked for him.

Eyesore was brought back to attention by Charming. The schreeching was about to earn the firelizard a harsh reprimand, but when the chemical colored blue turned to see the strange costume...well even he thought it was kinda funny. The brown was persistant, he was willing to grant him that much. But it was such a small stride, Eyesore cheeped at the leaf-frilled creature curiously, but still fell short of anything cheery.

[Ember]

Nephele pretended worried curiosity at K'sel's sour expression. Hr expression clearly said "what's wrong?" but she didn't outright ask. What was his problem? She nearly jumped when his dragon got up and walked over. For a moment a slightly startled expression might have crossed her face but she turned to find a place to sit. More to put a little distance then to hide her expression. She located a root not too close, not too far away and sat on it. She didn't care if this aggravated him more. If he was so touchy he problem wasn't worth trying to be friendly with.

The girl might have been amused if he told her had yet to call her insincere. That was probably the word that described her behavior around men best. She couldn't care less what title any guy would give her anyways. In the end men were just to be used, as they thought they could use women. Used or ignored. It was true there was less need to use men in the South but she kept on the lookout for opportunities.

Nephele frowned at his words. "Hardly disappointed," she managed, somewhat confused why he was reacting the way he was. Generally complimenting the dragon kept the rider happy. K'sel seemed opposite. Would he prefer she compliment him instead? Or would he react oddly to that too...hmm.

Charming was very pleased wit himself! Oh indeed, the blue clutchsib had finally responded. The brown started to crawl around in a horrible imitation of a salamandyr. He attempted to crawl along the branch upside down but ended up falling into flight. He chittered the whole time. Idea! While he was air born... He grabbed another leaf and brought it down for Eyesore. Would he like to play too?

[Lotty]

She was sitting down? She was sitting down. She was in for the long haul then; subjected to conversation with him. But more importantly he was left standing up with nowhere to go. He should have stayed in his tree, but again, he never was known for doing what he was supposed to.

K'sel looked at her rather blankly as she frowned, unsure of what to say or do with himself now. His hands kept moving - resting in the crooks of pockets or smoothing down his shirt or reaching over to give Pettahth a good pat on the side before he settled on crossing his arms and leaning against the brown. They could hold each other up, well enough, they were supposed to be a team after all. Although the boy was never one to believe that sort of pep talk, after school special nonsense any other time. Finally admitting to his loss for words he started off with a slow, "Sooooo..."

"Forgive me if I seem a little off..." he began his explanations, excuses, what have you, "I suppose this is the part where I am supposed to ask something about your life, or what you are doing tracing through the woods, but thats all your business and I just figure you would spill that information on your own accord," this was K'sel's nice way of saying he didn't give a shard why she was in jungle or what her life story was. At least in one sitting. Like any eternally curious member of the human race he did have the intrinsic need to know something of her past, but he didn't have the patience yet to delve much further back than a couple of Turns. Besides, those were the kinds of discussions for late in the evening while half drunk in darkened corners, not for the middle of the day in the jungle. Context was extremely important to the weyrling, but his sadly realized that here and now would have to do, it would be some time before he could get away with wrapping his hands around a wine glass. Ugh, the trials and tribulations of Weyrlinghood.

A truly awful imitation of a salamandyr, but he was of like mind as his pet and echoed the notion that salamandyrs were the worst. Accordingly, they didn't deserve a good imitation - it could be confused for flattery after all. Pleased by the acting, he chittered a bit, especially when the other firelizard briefly fell from the branch. However, he wasn't so excited about what he was doing with that leaf. Now, Eyesore might have been amiable about Charming's mischief, but as for himself, he would have none of it. If he were to put on one of those frills he would look silly, and silly was something he wasn't. Keep that leaf to yourself! The firelizard snorted at the offer.

[Ember]

Nephele was secretly amused at what she could only call his fidgeting. Had she finally turned the tables? She waited until he finally leaned against Pettahth before considering speaking again. He got the first chance though and she quirked a brow at his single drawn out word. At least he didn't seem even slightly dangerous when he was so clearly unable to grasp more words.

With her supposedly reassuring smile she appeared to forgive the rider for any ill behaviour. "Generally speaking, that's what someone might ask," she said. Nephele lightly stressed both 'generally' and might' and paused long enough to see if he'd pick up on it. "The woods are interesting, though. I'm just a curious candidate checking out the area." The look she gave him was a silent question, asking why he was there. Great thing about silent questions was you could ignore them if you wanted to.

Due to her own reluctance to talk about her past she wouldn't ask his first. Her cover of Selenitas Hold was handy if anyone asked her but since he had rather pointedly not asked her she felt no inclination to share. That did mean there was a slight lack of anything to talk about though. They could move on to recent events at Selenitas. Like the Invasion or the Fort attack. Hmm. She'd see how the conversation went first.

Charming was very proud of himself. While a little put out that Eyesore wouldn't join in too he didn't push it. Charming let the leaf drift down to the ground as he turned to a branch and pretended to 'talk' at it like he'd seen some 'mandyrs do. Why would any creature want to converse with a pebble, or someone's toe? Silly, silly creatures. Silly...and yet they could be amusing sometimes. Certainly most fun to impersonate!

[Lotty]

K'sel was about the least dangerous man in the weyr. Inhospitable, cranky, and brash but hardly dangerous. He was all bark, but he had little in the way of bite. His only weapon was crude charm, even his belt knife was too dull from utilitarian purposes to be considered a safety hazard. Now safe. That was a different concept altogether. K'sel wasn't safe at all, he was not shelter from rain, he was not somebody you could run to... What exactly was he? If you asked him he was just another person, another Selenitas Weyr child with the dumb luck to impress a brown and was learning to roll with the punches. Someday he could be safe for somebody, until then this was all that could be asked for: a brooding boy with a few lessons to go in life; there was still more mud to fall into yet.

He followed along with her words, something tugged at the corner of his lips when her tongue hit harder on the words "generally" and "might". Oh, he saw what she did there or at very least heard it. He made no remark in reply to this though, he was subtly impressed by her cleverness and was willing to yield the field to her on that one. However he wouldn't ignore the implied question - the blank space she felt at the end of her answer, begging to be filled by his own reasons. He'd give it to her. It could be her reward, "I see. Nothing nearly exciting on my end. Just a little rest, always good in the afternoon..."

Is that what normal conversation sounded like? He couldn't believe it. It was so boring, how could people live with themselves only engaging in the obvious? Not to mention it seemed to fail so easily. He felt like he gave her nothing to play with, talking was supposed to be so much fun but now they were just tossing each other softballs. Surely there is something more he could pick up on, a question he could ask? "So you're a candidate huh? Did you get searched recently or am I so self-centered that I overlooked you in all my turns of candidacy past?" It was certainly possible, there were other weyrbred kids that had impressed at his side whose names he never bothered to learn up until a few days ago. Though this wasn't really narcissism as much as a learned detachment. People come and go, especially with death so prevalent, it was hard to justify cutting out a place for friends in a place like this.

Ok, well Charming did break a little bit of the ice there. And though the blue might not share in the acting, he still chittered happily as the brown scolded the leaf. It very much reminded him of a silly salamandyr he had seen before, though Eyesore was careful to never venture too close to the things. He would stay out of the way thank you very much. However he was warming up to the brown and didn't hop away any further down his branch. He stayed very rooted in place, even if that place was next to Charming. Assuming he didn't do anything completely stupid.