A First Time
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Guest Weyr
Rustic and simple, this one-roomed cottage sits at the edge of the forest near the feeding grounds. The decor is spartan with a wide, comfortable bed and a couch, table and chairs and small kitchenette. Kept stocked with food and drink, the bed freshened with sheets and coverlets after each use by the weyrstaff, it's nothing more than a place to give riders participating in mating flights a bit of privacy when they need it.


Summer hit the entire Weyr HARD with a green going up several times a day as the days got longer and triggered increased cycling. The words hostile work environment have been used in several reports because proddy green riders and itchy, possessive, hopeful male dragons and riders are as likely to make war as love. This proddy season, people have been injured. It comes as no surprise that the Weyrlings have started to rise, Evi's sudden change in personality coupled with Neifeth's sudden increased agitation. For several days the striped bitch had been calling lovingly to anyone nearby and then abruptly threatening to gut them if they got within a fathom. Pulsating a malignant neon glow off of all 20 meters of the teal temptress. Three days of bated breath, three days of Evi insulting anyone she deems worthy.

Finally, the last inches of Rukbat's light was setting over Xanadu Weyr, the siren having gathered several suitors, many having lost a flight earlier in the morning and longing for redemption. The blooding went as expected, one herdbeast was nearly squished by the ravenous raptor, holding the carcass aloft, blood dripping down pulsating hide, streaks of entrails, viscera and hide stuck to head, neck, upper limbs, shoulder, and chest. Evi struggled to control the shrieking beast, barely winning out in the end as meat chunks rained from the skies. «FOLLOW IF YOU DARE, YOU FLIMSY, CUMBERSOME MORTALS.» Speed beyond the capabilities of even large blues, the green showed off all her tricks, splattering rooftops and heads with blood, screeching like a banshee released from a hell dimension. In the end, all of the rage flown out, wings weakening, instead of picking a suitor from the pack nearby Neifeth folded neon wings into cyan body and allowed herself to plummet in a manner that would have surely meant inevitable demise. Fortunately for her, Auricyth swooped in, always a gentleman, and scooped her up. Evi stumbled into the guest Weyr, half aware of what was happening and fully aware of how close they both came to going SPLAT.

All that being equal, the next morning has arrived. Avians chirp, Evi lying next to the lucky (maybe?) winner. Whoever this is, has left his fair share of blood on the battlefield as well. The tiny weaver apparently bites because there are marks all over this sad soul. A pale leg rests over the hips of the man, and for the moment, eyes are tightly closed. No snoring to be heard, but the slightly quicker breathing indicates the end of rest. At least, for now, Neifeth is accepting any affection Auricyth wishes to give, for now, like right now, like hold your breath because you'd as well be cuddling a snake.

« I don't know how I feel about this, P'al. » Auricyth is just going to hold still, because it's rude to shove off a lady. Even if he's feeling particularly sore given the recent activities. « And did you have to bite so hard? I didn't know girls would do such a thing! » Bite? Bite. An eyebrow twitches and the lucky rider in question slowly slides his hand to his face, carefully rubbing an eyebrow and wincing at the bruise his fingers find. He clears his throat, rubbing his face back into the pillow and lightly, he begins to snore once more. Girls do all sorts of strange things. It's safer not to question it. Why do you mention it? « Neifeth bit me! That could mean anything! » His brow furrows, trying to figure out the mystery of the morning through the darkness of the brown's mindvoice. The flickering of light on beveled glass, warm as the morning day break though through the glass, another color joins Auricyth's emotions. Hues of pink and white petals being carried by a gentle cold breeze. P'al stretches, at least, he tries to. Pain finally registers and he growns, stiffly raising his arms over his head. The weight of another finally registers and those amber eyes open wide. Wait. He glances around the room, the foreign room, the one he's seen once before in lessons and suddenly all the pieces fall into place. Hesitantly, the brownrider looks over his shoulder, spotting the leg draped over him and his gaze follows it up to his owner. "…Oh dear."

«You feel great, like, duh. I mean. You'd be a fool to feel anything but like the luckiest soul on the planet. I wish I could fly me.» The voice is sassy and sure of herself coming with the onslaught of a ginormous silver pine forest. The smell of pine follows, oozing its way into your mind, the brush of needles gently sweeping the rose petals forward. Evi twitches, all her muscles contract, shivering from head to toe and pulling the covers closer. Kindly she throws them over the stranger, exhaling and listening carefully to the mind voice. Searching outward, it takes a full 10 seconds to recognize Auricyth. An eyelid twitches, squinting in feigned sleep, she peeks at P'al. Every muscle goes limp, still pinning this person down. Again tightly closing eyes, much like a child making a wish, the soft sweet voice of Evi babbles out. "Hello, um, yeah. So, first thing, I've never done this before. I hope it was um, ok, for you. I think it was, I mean. Sorta. Not that it's you, but I have nothing to compare all of this too. Also, I have only done it outside of this, like… once. So you're totally number two, and that's a good spot to be. I'm sure. I. Maybe not. Uhhh… Tell your lifemate that if he leaves her, she won't care." All of this with no breathing, straight through on one breath, voice weakening as if the moment speaking ceases, it will never begin again. Just keep talking. "I, well. I hid donuts in here, like yesterday. Do you want one? We could eat them together. Or not. You don't need to eat a donut, forget I asked. Maybe pancakes, I can make you pancakes, or you can leave. Or…o-r." After the speech, the leg is removed, flopping back in a pile of sweaty blonde-brown hair and colorless skin. People pay good marks to be this pale, it's youthful, though the girl is not yet 17.

P'al pushes himself into a more upright position, noticing the newly acquired marks on his body. The blanket is pulled closer, covering the goods while he gathers his wits. The man pushes his fingers through his hair, rubbing the remnants of sleep from his face. Well, what's done is done, in all it's horror. "Uuuuh, I… I-I think I'm good. Don't fancy breakfast at the moment." « Does this mean we can have a bigger lunch? » Yes, it means a bigger lunch. In private. After I bathe. The litany wasn't lost on the man, the words 'number two' echoing in his head. Number two. That's not a bad thing, not at all. That means he didn't scandalize this poor woman. That was someone elses doing but still, Evi's youth still blurs the line appearance wise with the olden women he's spent time with platonically. This? Flights are officially a terrible, terrible thing. For a moment, he almost wished it was a grizzled and barely living rider, complete with cane and salve scent for the sake of contrast. With a heavy sigh, he begins to knead the soreness out of his neck while he glances around the room for his clothes. Hopefully they're in the room somewhere. Whatever happened last night, he blissfully can't remember a thing. « Can I have a bath, too? » "You're well… I hope? I can't recall a thing, I'm afraid. I, uh, think we should consider putting ourselves together and returning to our homes. Get clean, and be ready for the day. If I can find my things. Unless you want to find your things first?" The beacons of Gondor are lit, Evi's body calls for aid! Like clothing and stuff.

The events of the night slowly seep into Evi, and she sighs heavily, content to bury herself in covers. "You can get dressed. Um. I. I need food. Do you mind if I at my donuts?" Pulling herself upright, covers to neck, knees to chest, and hands wrapping around. She is young, smelling of sweet nut oil with soft hair, soft eyes. "I um. Sorry." The wounds are eyed, and suddenly, she turns over on her side, dipping a hand under the bed, the donuts are pulled up. Opening the box full of confections, a salve jar is pulled out full of numbweed. Preparedness is an understatement. "Here, can I?" The wounds examined, with a whimper, the pot opens swiftly. "Uh." There's a subtle crinkle, eyes shining with potential tears. Neifeth « I'm famished, or Evi is famished. Evi eat. I do fancy a bath, though after Evi eats.» Neifeth's voice quiets, «Evi, they don't matter anymore. They aren't here, I am. Don't let him see you cry, he doesn't deserve it.» Exhaling deeply, eyelids shutting and nose wrinkling as the tears are chased away. Neinei, he thinks I'm horrible. He might not be wrong. Straightening up, one hand holds a jar, donuts balanced on knees, and the other hand twirls her hair. "I um, you can take the sheet. You can, hide, I'll close my eyes. I'll wait." Flights are terrible because she's going to be doing this song and dance every 6 months for the rest of her life. Parts of her wishes, he was older, someone who had laughed and stood up. SOmeone like F'inn, sure he's Faranath's gift to women. "I'm good, we can.. move on." Somehow, that's the worst part, the fact that it meant nothing. Will never mean anything, the sadness sinks in deep, slowing movements and stilling her.

« We don't need to leave right this second. We know what happened and it's all in yesterday. Let's not worry about today until after lunch, too. » P'al takes in a deep breath and sighs, slowly nodding his head. What's done is done, and they're both intelligent enough to know what happened and why. This is the first time of many for the rest of their lives. No sense making it more weird than it is. He glances over to Evi at the mentioning of the salve and he shrugs, why not? « Well, just don't leave her hanging. Say something! » "I think I would like that, I'm not all that flexible and the salve sounds like a wonderful idea." As for the sheet, well… "I'm not worried about the sheet, it's gonna be collected and taken down for washing as soon as we leave. I think we're owed the longest hottest bath the weyr has to offer and I'm voting on steak for lunch because it sounds amazing right now. Do you like steak? I think I have ribs and some uh…" Sausage links? Loins? "Bacon if you'd rather have that instead." Never to late for bacon? P'al hasn't really thought much in the way of relationships. His experience with women has been mostly platonic and anything of a romantic nature is lost on him. There just hasn't been anyone he's felt was a good fit, and to be fair, he has turns yet to meet the one. The tone of Evi's voice doesn't make the situation any less awkward, and the older rider isn't sure what he could possibly offer to lighten the mood of the room up. "I bet these two feel entirely shameless." « That's not true! I think. » Silly dragons.

«If Evi will be a moment, I itch. I need, like, 11 baths. Not one. 11. Evi, write that down.» Neifeth steps away from Auricyth, stretching her wings, which are still streaked with yesterday's carnage. Evi giggles a bit at her lifemate's antics. Even through the whole disaster, her lifemate was always humorous, mostly at the expense of others, or absurd, but no lack of funny in the striped one. Pulling her lips in, a breath is taken, there's a lot of careful control in the girl. Teenage girls can be hysterical, she's more reserved. With careful swipes, two fingers are dipped into the numbweed after the donuts have been placed on the bed. Pinning arms to side, the covers stay on as she sweeps hands over the bite wounds, barely touching but covering each one with efficiency. While tending the angry red circles that she caused, there's a tiny thread of speech. "I'll eat anything, I've not eaten in days. Everything I put in my mouth tasted terrible. At least I know when not to go dress shopping." Because she'll obviously lose a ton of weight every proddy cycle, with her dragons weird food aversions becoming her own. Neifeth answers, projecting now a sky full of stars, the ceiling is stars, and the floor is stars, then suddenly giant trees, but the leaves are specks of light glimmering with a myriad of colors. «I have never had shame, why would I feel bad about anything?» Rising to knees, she tends the higher up wounds and releases a closed mouth squeak. "Nei has never felt shame, um, we can bathe separately and meet for food? My weyr is very close, and it um. Well, I got hot running water. There's a bathroom near Nei's couch, I have my own upstairs. You can use that, it's not far. " Not many people know where Evi lives, mostly because of the scandal that it took to get her a weyr that is nearly the size of a smallholding, with solar-powered everything and more rooms then she will ever need. So she's not been particularly sharing about her address, you see. "You don't' have to though if after you bathe, you'd rather forget I exist. I read the literature. The um, books had vivid pictures, they were… lifelike." The last sentence said in total horror for the pop-up manuals about penises, vaginas, sex, and such. Nightmare fuel.

"Meeting separately after bathing would probably be best. I finally unpacked and I now have access to my clean clothes. Starting today fresh would be good. We'll eat in the living caverns so we don't have to clean that up afterwards. We'll be busy enough bathing these two." « Can we use the flowery scented sand today? I don't want to smell like those citrus fruits. It's too tangy. » "Oh Faranth, that literature is so out dated it's rather comical. Don't listen to books. They're good to give you just enough information to get you into trouble but they're not there to take responsibility later." P'al chuckles warmly, recalling some of the crudely drawn images and boring descriptions that could almost be carried out in a monotone lecture. With a sigh, he twists at the waist, turning around but keeping his eyes upward to Evi's face. "Evi. Flights are going to be the norm for us now, and sometimes they're going to be weird and cringeworthy, and I know that this whole thing… leaves a lot of questions. You're a good friend and I'm not going to suddenly turn my back on you because the flight is over. You're not disposable. This is their doing, we're just innocent bystanders wondering if we could get away with wearing slippers and pajamas for the rest of the day. If they can be shameless, so can we." The brownrider manages a crooked smile at the least. There's truth in it, this is the first of many flights to come and soon enough, they'll be boring and inconvenient instead of awkward and inconvenient.

«Mine might let you use my sand, it smells like.» The smell pushes forward; it's bergamot, floral, but not feminine and expensive. The blackmailing other people out of valuable items must be a good industry, also who would suspect this pair might be quietly ruthless. Anyone who lived with them at all, that's who. Sliding off the bed, wandering around and tossing a pair of pants to P'al. "Those are yours because I was wearing.." A very short, skin-tight red leather miniskirt is picked up. The kind of outfit you can't bend over in, "Oh wow, I um, lost my mind. I think this is my cousins, she can have it back." Shaking her head side to side, there's a continued search with a slow waddle due to the amount of covers concealing nudity. Locating a shirt, it's tossed on the bed as well. "I, well. The pictures helped, I um. I had no experience in this realm until like, three days ago. So. They helped. I needed some, basic… You know they don't always teach girls things, in holds." There are several moments of searching, content to look for the rest of what might have been considered clothing yesterday. "I was supposed to be married. Nei was never supposed to happen. My family would have used my marriage to live better lives, this is the opposite of all my plans." The shirt is located, with a series of careful movements she manages to slip it on, it's silk and cut down about to her navel. "I'm going to wear my cat pajamas to breakfast and lunch, and we'll have a salad for dinner." Because letting herself totally go would be awful. "Flights are weird, lets make the best of it. I guess." Turning around, the skirt is wiggled up, a blanket covering lower body. "Thanks, for.. being decent. I was pretty sure I was gonna wake up next to someone who'd been born before Nana." Evi's Nana Senkyou is 88, so. That would be a bit much.

P'al takes the pants gratefully, taking a moment to quickly pull them on. With the less handsome half of him covered, the man can rise up and gather up the rest for dressing. He takes his time, giving Evi an opportunity to get herself decent so she doesn't feel at all gawked at. The brownrider has been scandalized by the eyes of the old aunties down at the baths often enough that nothing phases him. « Do uh, we have to wait for you to shower to eat? » No, you both can go eat, bask a bit, and then you can go soak when Evi and I go out there to bath you. Then naps for the rest of the day. Because any sort of activity after a flight is cruel an unusual punishment. "Well, guess we can thank Nei for not letting this be a dull moment. And having all those plans premade sounds like a recipe for disaster. No one needs that kind of negativity in their lives. Glad I didn't have to worry about the arranged marriage thing. We get more freedom this way. I don't have cat pajamas, but I do have some comfy ones. I'll wear the eyepatch." Shhh. At the mention of waking up to the most ancient of peoples, old enough to see the initial settlement of Pern and smelling as though they haven't bathed since, P'al visibly cringes. "Thanks for being decent as well, and not being a blood relative, too." Cause that would be just as worse!

Neifeth stretches out, flicking whip-like tail against the grass and yawning before taking off. «FOllow, if you please, mine needs to put back on boring clothes. I rather like the red Evi, you looked like a treat.» Neifeth lands on top of a wherry, tossing it up into the air and catching it with a dexterity that is normally only seen in dolphins. «These need more feeding, they never feed them enough.» Nei's quiet complaint, snapping down with a sickening crunch. Evi now fully dressed in her preflight get up, the silky black shirt that nearly shows nipples and the skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination. "I have an eyepatch too, I um, I made Ila one, the ones I didn't think suit him are back home." A small bag full of unsuitable eyepatches, waiting for a convention, or party. Allowing her head to drift back on her shoulders a moment, eyes focusing on the ceiling My love, we need a chill day. We've not finished knitting the sweater, we can also fill out our planner. After the bath, plus we need to clean the cat box. Ah yes, a fun day of sweaters knitting and planner filling out. "Nei does nothing dull. Nothing. If you'd of asked me the day they hatched, beforehand, I wouldn't have minded being a wife. Um, things, change." The mention of sleeping with family gets a strangled, horrified gasp, "That is not funny, how awful." At that, she strides to the door, running up and down P'al's length, lips twitching up slightly before messy hair is shaken quickly enough to have it flipping in and out of her face. The quietest of whimpers, before the door, is opened, and light from outside seeps in. "Possibly, one day, I'll walk out of here not feeling exposed. Seems like the whole Weyr might know my business. " Holding the door, she'll wait for him politely, occasionally staring down at the travesty that is passing for an outfit.

P'al doesn't let Evi wait for long, not bothering to put his boots back on. He'll deal with that after his shower. Out the door he goes, walking casually as possible to make their exit look as boring as possible. "I think it should be a rule to keep a pair of bathrobes in here for that very reason. We're lucky to have clothes at all." As soon as the light strikes his face like a punch at a bar, the man grumbles, angling his gaze to the ground. There's bathing and eating to be done! Not a moment more should be wasted. "Make sure you wear an eye patch, it could be our post-flight party attire. I'm sure Ila'den won't mind."

Evi follows him out, carrying red strappy sandals in one hand. The other hand is covering the front of the shirt, holding the split together to avoid anymore public nudity. "That's an idea, bathrobes would be nicer than wearing the clothes you sweated through. Uh. Ok, this is my fork. I'll grab an eye patch, I uh, maybe he likes feeling less alone." Hey, it's a fine theory. Not sure it holds any water but, in the name of inclusion and not teasing they are wearing eye patches today. Yep. Inclusion. These two are pillars of kindness and compassion. Believe it. The road past the feeding grounds, leading towards the meadow is given a wave with the shoes. Walking swiftly, Evi avoids all possible eye contact by staring at a fixed point on the ridge above the meadow and walking as if she has an important meeting. The rest of the day is spent as planned, the two of them relaxing off a first flight experience by being ridiculous and lazy. Life is, what you make it.


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