The Quack of Dawn
rhody_barn.jpg


Rhodelia's Barn
It was a barn. Now it's a weyr! And one day it will really get a desc.


Dragons will be dragons. Glorioth will always be Glorioth, which means he's already left Inasyth now that the deed is done to go make sure not a soul in the Weyr has missed the INEVITABLE, UNASSAILABLE PROOF of his VIRILE VIRILITY. Fortunately for everyone, F'yr's not in nearly so much of a hurry, nor nearly so noisy. In fact, given the lead up to Inasyth's ringing in the new turn, the big bronzerider has managed to sleep through the worst of Glorioth's display in the wee hours (sorry, Xanadu), his frame tucked possessively around Rhodelia's smaller one at least until body needs force him out of the bed to deal with them. At least mid-summer means the temperatures are comfortable for him not to have to find clothes or blankets and thus he's still wearing his turnday suit when he returns to the bed a short time later, settling on its edge but not sliding back into closer proximity with the goldrider, but his expression of trepidation as he looks at nothing finally has him shifting enough to try to see if Rhody is still asleep in the thin green light of the partially lidded glowbasket he took with him.

Even now, Inasyth is focused on the truly important things: planning like five parties and a nap. Probably nap first, BUT THERE WILL BE PARTIES (MULTIPLE) CAUSE SHE FINALLY DID THE THING!!! For now, there's an ocean of smug champagne bubbles for the Weyr to bask in. As surprised as Rhodelia might have been with her unexpected turnover celebration, she doesn't seem to disturbed as she the sleeping goldrider snuggles against F'yr, one hand flapping a token effort of protest as nature calls the bronzerider away. Since he so rudely LEFT (for the moment), Rhody wakes enough to grab the blanket and pull up against any late night (or early morning? What is time anyways?) breeze. She cracks an eye open when the glow basket and F'yr return and there might even be a hint of a smile hiding there. "She did it. Finally. No more old High Reachians lurking about…" there had been several from that Weyr and others after all.

"She did." F'yr agrees, a smile warming his voice even if it's a small one on his lips. "You did ask me to cover you…" So what choice did he have, really? Besides, he's not managed to convince Glorioth not to follow his instincts yet, so it's for the best that he wasn't asked the opposite. He hesitates another moment, perhaps not wholly convinced of his welcome this not-quite-dawn, but then he dares to slip himself back under the blanket and make with scooting himself toward the woman in the bed, one arm reaching to go around her middle while his lips seek to brush a kiss to her shoulder. "You alright?" Flight is something else entirely, in F'yr's book anyway. "Can I get you some water or anything?" Surely Rhody recalls the bit of the lecture about responsibly checking on one's partner that clearly F'yr took to heart and probably would've done anyway.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant," Rhodelia shrugs even as she moves towards him, head going to rest on his chest. "I'm glad it was you," that's not exactly an answer to the question but at least he can rest easier knowing she's probably not going to chase him out of the barn with a slipper at the moment. Bunny slippers aren't exactly threatening either. "I'm fine. And to get water you'd have to wash some glasses…" way too much work to her current state of mind, "but I have some wine skins tucked away if you want something. None of the sparkling one." The last is directed towards the window before Inasyth can even ask.

If Rhodelia will so obligingly bring her head to rest on his chest, the least F'yr can do is to play with her hair, relief running off some of the tension that was holding him at bay on the edge of the bed before. "Me too," is a simple answering murmur that should come as no surprise since he did climb back into bed after all when he could have started dressing to go. His mouth starts to open — and then he closes it. Whatever he was about to say whether it was apology or talk about babies (DRAGON THIS TIME, OKAY?!) or whatever, he seems to have decided better of it. Instead, he just shifts a little. "I have everything I need here." No wine needed, not even the sparkling kind, even if she did have it. The way he lapses into silence and his eyes slide closed, it might be a sign that F'yr's going to doze back off while Rukbat starts to sneak over the horizon. "Oh, mother cluck," he jolts slightly under Rhody a moment later, thoughts disturbing right on that threshold of sleep enough to bring him back wide awake. "We never got the sharding chicken back," he groans, lifting his head and tilting at it to press a kiss to the top of Rhody's head if it's still in range. "I am sorry about all that." Especially because now it's going to be harder to get Featherbrain back.

The jolt is met with more murmurs of protest from Rhodelia. She did not agree to her pillow moving so much! How inconsiderate! But the source of concern gets a snicker of laughter from the woman as she nestles back in, head definitely still in range. "Let them see how cute he is when he wakes up all the kids right before dawn." Maybe this was all an evil plan to get rid of the chicken to a loving home? Nah… besides, Inasyth will surely find another even if Rhody managed to rid herself of the first chicken. SOMETHINGS ARE DESTINED TO BE.

"I'd say they'll learn why one of his names is Cockblock, but not after that loss. Oh, but shell. I bet your downstairs is still soaked." They did bring the waterthrowers after all. F'yr's blinking blearily and performing more bad pillow behavior as he shifts a little like he might be making ready to go address the problems of the day. He is obnoxiously dutiful like that sometimes. He is looking in the vague direction of all the things he failed to notice when he got up before. "Should we get up?" He'll ask her since it's her place after all. Then again, being a barn… how much damage could really have been done?

They're just both lucky they didn't end up in the pond behind the barn or they would REALLY have been soaked. Rhodelia waves off the concerns for the downstairs. "Not like I have any rugs or anything down there." Points for lack of interior decorating! "Think of it as kinda a prolonged floor scrubbing. Or if you feel really bad… you could mop it for me?" Rhody will dare to push her luck just a little bit. "Later though. I think we can be lazy today." To prove a point, she'll stretch out, which causes a few vertebrae or other miscellaneous joints to pop in protest.

"I do wield a mean mop," F'yr offers quite seriously. QUITE. After all, who that survives early weyrlinghood does not know how to mop something out thoroughly? "Mm, but lazy sounds much better." Lazy— but, apparently not that lazy because as soon as Rhodelia's done stretching, he's swooping arms in such a way that he can flip her onto her back and settle himself over her, braced on his elbows. For a moment, there's no smile and then just a small one as he searches her face. "Is this okay?" It might not be lazy enough, but given the fact that for months this has not been apparently okay since no one ever got around to resolving whatever needed to be resolved that was keeping them from situations like this, the question needs to be asked. "I did miss this. Miss you." Since avoidance and giving each other space translated into a lot of "professional" behavior shared but not a ton of outside non-group interactions. Then they might've had to do something or say something about what happened.

"Good!" Rhodelia may actually file that mop-info away for future need and not in the imaginary filing system. Lazy in her mind did not involve any swoopage, but she rolls with it. Okayness confirmed as she leans up to give a kiss. "I think I told you once to tell me if I was being stupid." If she didn't, she totally meant to. "There'll be no missing for the next couple months." She doesn't need a crystal ball to know Inasyth is going to request a LOT of attention from all of them on the sands. "You might even get sick of me."

Kiss accepted as okayness currency and returned with interest, of course. Whereupon, he must, of course tuck his face against her neck to occupy his lips whi;e she talks. "I'm not sure you can really validly worry about that." At least, not stupidly, he means. "I have already lived in close quarters with you for the better part of two turns and worked with you before and after." He does have the weight of time as evidence on his side. "It's going to be so bloody hot," he mutters in complaint of their IMPENDING SUMMERTIME DOOM dancing in attendance to baby-crazy Inasyth who was eager to see other dragons' eggs long before she could even hope to have any of her own, and now that's finally happening for her. And they have no idea what they're really about to be in for. "The stupid part was probably on both of us, for letting things drag out that way. Remind me to stop giving you so much space the next time I think you need some." Like, a week of space, F'yr, not six or so months of space. He pulls his head back to look down at her and ask, "Excited?" For her, he probably means. Maybe even for herself. Maybe just in general.

Talking would be a lot easier if Rhodelia weren't being distracted by just how F'yr is keeping his own lips occupied, but she persists on with the WORDS AND THINGS. "That was then and this is now." This now is already very different than that then considering their time together in the barracks her hands most certainly wouldn't be wandering where they're beginning to wander. "At least the threat of heat stroke could be an excuse for when we need to leave. As opposed to winter where she might try and insist on keeping us warm and bundled up with her eggs." Inasyth is all about the well being of EVERYBODY after all. "I guess we have some time to catch up on." They'll get to that, eventually. But he keeps asking questions and she keeps answering them! "I guess, kinda?" Her dragon's excitement definitely had been more than infectious the past seven and it might be an excitement hangover. "There had been a little part dreading What Ifs but… it's you. And Glorioth. And we know you. Although I guess there could be a what if the eggs are deformed or something…" Glorioth and Inasyth are extra-special-closely related siblings considering dear old dad is also grand-dad after all.

Really, who in Xanadu ever does things the easy way when there's a different choice? Clearly, F'yr and his distractions are true to the knot routinely worn on his shoulder. "So you think I've drastically changed in the months since we last lived together?" F'yr inquires, although it's in a tone of musing. Perhaps this is a cause for taking a moment to reflect on the last many months since becoming Real Riders, since getting their own living spaces (which F'yr still keeps rather mysterious by and large), and the 6,345,782 green flight wins between then and now. At least he's a lot more confident about what he's doing here? "We could always tell her there are a number of parties we've committed to host indoors because of the heat, too." Really, Rhodelia and F'yr both learned long ago the necessity of lying to certain dragons in order to keep the world turning. And if those parties turn out to be F'yr and Rhody finding the booze and sneaking into the cold food stores cavern for an hour or so… well, it will be a celebrated event by two of them, anyway. "It is. And honestly, I'm relieved it's you and Inasyth, even if I am already worried about the eggs." BECAUSE YES, THEY'RE BOUND TO BE VERY SPECIAL. "I have no idea what he's going to be like." And it was bound to happen eventually, right? "I mean, he thinks his dad is dead. What role model does he even have?" And some days, F'yr can manage the poker face he has to maintain so much of his life. But not now. Now he starts laughing and ends up burying his face in the pillow beside Rhody's head, mirth shaking his body and thusly hers as well.

The easy way is for boring people! Rhodelia laughs a little. "No." He has been as steadfastly F'yr as ever, both before and after weyrlinghood. "And you might even get a bit of a break yourself seeing as if Inasyth demands Glorioth on the sands, that means he can't go chasing after EVERY green…" The fun loving gold might make a few exceptions for her sisters though cause sharing is caring after all. As for the worry of eggs barely even begun to be formed, she gives a shrug. "While he might lack them, Inasyth has had PLENTY. She's kept Leirith and Ilyscaeth as much company with their clutches as they'd tolerate." Really, if any gold is prepared for her first clutch, it'll be Ina. Rhody must not have had many good role models either because if F'yr's going to laugh and laugh like that, she'll just add a little fuel to the laughing fire, those wandering fingers now become tickling fingers going right for unprotected sides.

There's a groan. It's a well-earned groan. "If only," he sighs. F'yr was so done with greenflights of people he didn't know about THREE SECONDS after the first one ended. There are many people who would envy the man his frequent bouts of dragon-lust-fuelled romps in the sheets, but the luck of his stupid, IMPOSSIBLE dragon could not have been bestowed on a more ungrateful rider. F'yr hates sleeping with people he doesn't know. It's so awkward. THIS is much better. "I've thought maybe I can convince him that he has to let some others win sometimes so he has better competition, but he doesn't see the logic." Because there isn't any. F'yr was hoping the dumb-as-rocks thing would work in his favor, but no… no. Poor F'yr. "Maybe Ina will be a good influence on him, then," but the words are barely out before F'yr is laughing again. Laughing for tickling, laughing for Ina being a good influence on Glori when these are the self-same dragons who INVADED THE CAVERNS in their first months.

Rhody isn't one of those people, seeing as one flight every eighteen months or two turns or whatever seems like commitment enough and her barn is close enough to the feeding grounds she can hear Inasyth cheering on the more vocal greens frequently enough. GET IT, GIRLS! But that's not a problem for right now. "We'll just have to see how possessive she gets. Apparently she did at least warn the other golds to leave shortly before the chicken raid." The poor, aborted chicken raid. The tickling can't last forever and eventually Rhodelia is laughing too much herself to continue, collapsing down next to F'yr. "I really needed a good laugh."

"Happy to help," F'yr grins up at Rhody when he's caught enough breath to speak, to turn his head and smile over to her. "I don't suppose…" He starts, rolling up onto his side, one hand moving to ghost across her abdomen. "It's been months since I got to do this, you know, and it's not the same with the dragons." That's definitely an invitation, one that he seeks to make all the more enticing with a kiss— and then another if he isn't stopped, and then, of course, plenty more besides just kisses in the hours that follow. If nothing else, by the time all is said and done, one can be sure of a few things: the long awkward pause between them seems done with— forgotten, and F'yr hasn't said a word about any babies that don't have eggshells and hides.


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