Shenanigans (R'vor)

[Requiem]

How many grown-ass men played with bouncy balls? Not too many, probably. Certainly the majority of them would have confined such clearly childish activity to the relative privacy of their weyrs. Not this one. He'd been bouncing it off the walls of the inner cavern and catching it on his weyrledge for nearly a candlemark now, for the whole world to see. Though, really, most of the Weyr would not be able to make out the figure of the man well enough to tell who it was, yet alone the bouncy ball. Just a clearly strange individual suddenly darting one direction or the other.

If there weren't too many grown men playing with bouncy balls, there were even less who would deign to chase it should it get away from them. Then take that number and cut it significantly again when chasing it required weyrledge hopping and skidding down the slick stone that formed the cavern of the weyrbowl in a reckless descent that was little more than a controlled fall. Then again, Pern had not called this man the Mad Dog for nothing. And maybe that Pern that used to know the old heroes and villains of the northern war when it was still fresh and people still knew what had started it was gone, and maybe just a couple people in all of Selenitas knew the man by his old nomiker, but no doubt whispers of 'mad' and 'insane' and 'eccentric' still circulated as they always had.

If they didn't, F'ur seemed intent on rekindling them today through any who might be watching this.

He finally threw himself into a roll near the bottom of the cliff face and came up running at a full sprint, the nearly forty-turn old man moving at a speed that suggested for all the world that he was still in his twenties (or perhaps had found a fountain of youth to bathe in) as he careened after his sneaky and incredibly bouncy quarry. A quarry that had quite effectively gained in speed and bouncing height by epic proportions after its plummet down the cliff face. It hit the ground near another bluerider's feet who was (unfortunately for him) standing altogether too close to the lake and right in the ball's path, bouncing up and over R'vor's head...

And, naturally, why should anyone expect a man who'd practically just run down a cliff to stop for something as insignificant as a relatively normal looking dragonrider at the edge of the lake. F'ur didn't even slow down. No, in fact, he saw a unique opportunity here and leapt springing partially up R'vor for the extra height to finally snag that pesky runaway bouncy ball of his. Naturally, though, even F'ur couldn't jump so high or so light to land on R'vor's shoulders like an acrobat, having instead used the man's thighs and there was precious little purchase there. So it ended up turning into more of a jumping full-on collision that was part tackle, and even if the older bluerider wasn't the heaviest man alive, 145 lbs moving at full speed and jumping into you was enough to knock any normal man over.

As such, R'vor of course went down in a colossal splash with F'ur on top of him, the perpetrator falling right into the water with him and shooting up with a flash to grin triumphantly and wave that bouncy ball around. "Got it," he announced, though no one really was watching. Unless you counted a very wet, surprised, and probably more than just a little irritated R'vor. F'ur just flashed a grin at him. "Thanks for the boost, old chap."

[Sebz]

To say R'vor was at the lake, at that particular hour, of his own accord would not be true. No, he was there to worship the lake Goddess, as Pisero commanded. Every night for the past fortnight, the white salamandyr had demanded that the blue rider go down to the lake with all the meat he could find, and throw it in as an offering the the Goddess. As much as the mandyr disliked his human touching meat, he disliked the idea of displeasing the Goddess even more.

R'vor hated this so very much. Of course, he could try and ignore the nucisense of the pet, and get some shut eye, but Pisero was skilled at filling his dreams with disturbing images. He would not like to see himself turning inside out every night, thank you very much. So his only other option was to go along with the ridiculousness.

Every night, Pisero would hover over R'vor's head, herding him towards any morsel of the horrible meat that the white had been able to find during the day. R'vor would fill his arms with the food and walk carefully to the lake. He had to be careful not to drop any, because if he did, he would immediatly be berated to a kaladioscope of flashing, angry colors. Pisero had his way's of getting what he wanted, and because R'vor was a masochist, he was trying his hardest to please the little white monster.

So go to the lake he did, and every night without fail, he would throw the food. As each morsel was thrown in, R'vor was required to say something nice about the Goddess. "I'm sure you have nice hair," R'vor said, tossing another piece in, running out of praise for this figment of Pisero's imagination. The white mandr betweened and reapeared on R'vor's nose. Noooooo. Do not praise Goddess for her hair. The white flashed an image into the blue rider's head, distress evident. The Goddess was bald! No hair! Now she would be angry for the mocking. R'vor growned as he felt Pisero's desire for him to jump into the water, to cleanse himself. No, he said setting his teeth, this had gone on long enough, he would not, under any circumstance, jump into the-

Pisero got his wish. R'vor let out a shout of alarm as he found himself being used as a spring board, and simultaneously being bowled over... into the lake. Pisero betweened just as R'vor became submerged. The bluerider, kicked furiously, working to detangle himself from the thing that was ontop of him. Breaching the surface, he began to cough, trying to get air into his heaving lungs. What. The. Shards?

He opened his mouth, and then closed it, at a complete loss of what to say. What had just happened? "Your welcome?" he said incredulously, making no attempt to get out, because just then, Pisero made a pass over his head, towards the stranger, showing him with images of gratitude. The stranger had purified his human's soal, he was forever in his debt. The white Salamndyr landed on the small bouncy ball that F'ur was holding. Did the man-savior want to worship the goddess as well?

R'vor caught the last of Pisero's thoughts, and shook his head violently. Please Please Please, don't say yes, he silently begged. All Pisero needed was to have another worshiper for the lake Goddess. Eventually, the whole weyr would be bowing down to her. Pisero cocked his head towards R'vor. He liked the sound of that.

[Requiem]

Those kicking legs had been quite the little pickle to avoid, but F'ur was pretty well-versed at that sort of thing and - just as with most circumstances - had made a game of it and only suffered a glancing blow to the back of his calf. More than manageable to be sure. Certainly it hadn't been enough to damper the unmitigated cheerfulness behind his thanks. Yeah, so maybe that cheerfulness was a front and specifically designed to irritate the shit out of the man he'd happened to jump tackle into the lake, but this was F'ur. No one ever said he was your most pleasant person.

You're welcome? How boring. F'ur almost (though not quite) audibly sighed at how disappointing that response had been. What was the point of tackling random strangers into a lake while chasing a wayward bouncy ball if they didn't get pissed off? Glare? Spit? Something? Tch. He must be losing his overwhelming asshole vibes. That was actually fairly concerning, considering if people didn't pick up on the rather heavy sarcasm they were likely to think he was a complete idiot. While any sort of false notions worked in his favor he much preferred callous, childish asshole (which actually wasn't that much of a stretch from the truth) to bumbling buffoon.

The older bluerider was distracted from further thoughts as to how to rectify this situation of strange tackled man being gracious about being dumped into a rather slimy lake when a buzzing white bug...oh, right, [/i]mandyr[/i]...dropped onto the ball and bombared him with images that randomly somehow made some rather demented sort of sense. Or maybe it was just a testament as to the convoluted nature of the bluerider's brain that he could figure out what 'mandyrs were talking about when they flashed pictures at him, especially regarding such queer topics as worshipping water deities. Or maybe it was just that his encounter with Cainith was fresh enough in his mind that this idea of 'mandyrs worshipping various things wasn't much of a stretch to him. At least the creature wasn't haling the giant beast as goddess?

Lowering the ball to eye level, he caught enough of R'vor's expression to know that the last thing the man wanted was for F'ur to play along. Excellent. So, naturally, that's exactly what F'ur did. "Worship the goddess, huh? I didn't know there was a goddess in this lake. It's a good thing your person's soul is purified, and I guess the waters purified mine, too, didn't they? They're probably all worn out now, though. Of course the goddess wouldn't be, since she's like...all powerful, or something. But this lake is just an external outlet of hers. We need to charge it back up, so to speak, by invoking her presence."

Making a show of thinking about just how to accomplish this, F'ur's eyes lit on R'vor and he smiled rather roguishly at the man. "You know, I think I have an idea. Virgin sacrifices. The gods always like that, don't they? Of course, I really don't know where we're going to find a virgin in a Weyr. Do you think it's bad form to ask around and find out?" Another glance at the other bluerider, and he asked the man as well, "Do you? I think it might be necessary, bad form or not."

[Sebz]

Poor R'vor, with every word F'ur uttered, the blue rider's predicament seemed to go from bad to worse. Yes, it was bad enough that this man had agreed to play along with Pisero's idiocy. But the man's willingness to comply was even worth. Pisero had sat up and opened his tiny wings, sitting at attention. The man-savior had a suggestion and a good one at that. They needed a sacrifice, and apparently meat would not cut it.

What was a virgin, Pisero murmured, cocking his head in confusion. He had never seen one of those before, at least that's what he thought. The white posed a questioning thought to R'vor, but was imediatly swamped in sheer panic that engulfed him anytime their was a chance that his lack of sexual conquests would come to light. Pisero reeled back slightly, shaking his head in confusion. There was only one thing that made his human act so.

Honestly, F'ur would never have found out about R'vor unless the white had not had an epiphany on the spot. His was panicing because he had never flown anybody. But Pisero... had never flown anybody. He was a virgin. Nooooooooooo! Pisero would not be sacraficed, he was the original Worshiper of the Godess. That would just not do! Frilling with alarm, Pisero betweened away from the bouncy ball and reappeared moments later on the strangers nose.

Pisero had a plan. Sending an image of F'ur picking up R'vor and throwing him into the lake to both of the humans, he tried to get his plan across. They could sacrifice his human, surely the Godess would like that more than a measly salamandyr! And if they prayed to the Goddess, surely she would make his death painless!

All of this happened over the course of ten seconds.

In the meantime, R'vor blanched and just as quickly, but on a facade of indifference. "Yes, perhaps it's good form, but necessary. Shall I draw up a list of possible candidates..." He trailed off as he was bombarded with an image of himself... being sacrificed. Oh shards.