Best Friends?
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Xanadu Weyr - Kiddie Playground

A path of colorfully painted slabs of stone cheerfully invites the weyr's youngest residents and their caretakers to partake in the multitude of activities in this elaborate playground. The pathways here are comprised of a thick cushioning layer of dark brown mulch branching off towards distinct sections. Log roll edging with a pale green-brown finish provided an accent to divide wide stretches of well tended grass from long rounded abstract shapes filled with fragrant wild flowers. More edging boarders the back walls made of tall square shaped hedges with the occasional draping of a flowering bush.

Immediately to the left is a enormous teaching garden filled with most of the herbs and the edible plants that can be found on Pern. Each is clearly labeled with their name and use thanks to posts sliced at an angle at their top, the large blocked text easy to read behind square panels of glass screwed directly into the wood. To the right A twelve foot long, seven foot high 'rock' climbing wall with large protrusions and holes designed with young hands and feet in mind. Farther back from here is a section dedicated specifically to a impressive swing set, constructed of heavy pressure treated lumber and includes exactly six swings along each side forming a wide 'vee'. No more than six feet from the swing set is the record setting oak tree discovered when this place was created, and upon it a fixed robe ladder leads up to an amazing tree house. It has a wide porch, and roof build directly into the tree itself. Inside children will delight in the amount of play space, and the range of games to be found. Peg boards, wooden kitchen items, and even a place to sneak away to color or draw with a breathtaking few of the gardens and playground. Just past the tree house is a hedge maze that a small child may lose themselves in, but is short enough to enable an adult to easily guide the little one out again should they get lost.

The center of the playground is likely it's drawing attraction. A huge brightly colored play structure With seven different types of climbing components (including monkey bars), six platforms, two slides and several hand manipulated activities including cranks, large interlocking gears that actually work and a pop flip puzzle with amusing cartoon characters.


It's mid-afternoon and damp. The sky is overcast and despite dry playground equipment, there is the ever present threat of rain. Upon one of the swings, is Pyriel, fingers loosely hung upon the chains that keep the rubber seat of his perch aloft. While there are a few children and adults about, it's just the fifteen turn old in the immediate area. Idly he swings back and forth, though not very enthusiastically. A foot comes down to stop him now and again, rather abruptly, before he's going back again. His attention is very focused on the mulch below that covers the ground, brows sunk low, and of course a frown. His mind appears to be on other things.

Rain. Rain rain rain….it didn't make Ryeo happy at all. But he was tired of being indoors all day all the time. So the starcrafter had headed outside, going off to find the places at the weyr he still hadn't explored fully. Eventually the crafter finds his way to the playground, a small smile forms on his face as he takes in the few kids and adults. And then /he/ comes into sight, and the smile turns into a full on smirk. With quiet steps, Rye comes up behind Pyriel's swing. Hands snake out, suddenly grabbing the chains and stopping it as the crafter leans down, putting his mouth close to the apprentice's ear and giving a quick blow.

Oblivious, especially right now, Pyriel is completely unaware of Ryeokie's sneak attack until it is too late. He startles when the chains of his swing are grabbed, but there isn't enough time to fully react until after he's got warm air blowing against his ear. "Ahhhhh!" he exclaims quite loudly, letting go of where he was clung and quickly moving away, to turn. He's already got a hand to his ear, as if trying to protect it from further assault. Accusing golden eyes look the starcrafter up and down, and that slight frown from before becomes an outright scowl. "I should of known." he growls, taking an unconscious step backwards. Eyeing Ryeokie suspiciously, the harper's gaze narrows. "Someone should tie a bell around yer neck."

Ryeokie straightens up and grins, "A bell? Might be fun actually…as long as you're the one that gives it to me." Smirk. "And calm down, it's not like I'm going to jump you or anything. Specially not with the kids around." The crafter winks before stepping around the swing and taking the now unoccupied seat for himself. He pushes back and forth a few times before looking up with one of his half moon grins, "So…you gonna keep avoiding your best friend?"

Pyriel blinks at Ryeokie's comment, his pale cheeks pinking slightly before he growls again, folding his arms over his chest defensively. That smirk got him every single time. The second comment, has the boy looking about as if to double check that his safety was in fact assured. Yes, there were kids around. Phew. Looking somewhat relieved at this, he slowly looks back to the starcrafter who had now, taken his seat. "What didja expect me to do? Sharded of a way to clue me in that ya got the hots for me." he grumbles, maneuvering himself to lean back against a post sticking out of the ground, hands sliding into his pockets.

Ryeokie smiles as he pushes away from the ground, going back and forth for a few minutes before actually answering. "Well, it's better than giving you flowers and candy and declaring undying affection towards you." The crafter snickers at that mental picture before shaking his head and leaning back. "Besides, that's just my nature." Nature? The crafter is basically bipolar in his attitude towards the harper.

One might even be able to tell that Pyriel is just then picturing Ryeokie on one knee with candy and flowers while declaring and the boy's eyes widen before he goes sheet white. No, that would of sucked. A lot. Nature? Th harper scoffs, "It's yer nature to treat me like wherry dung in front of people, but act completely opposite when it's just the two of us?" Yeah! At least Pyriel had the decency to treat the starcrafter like crap all the time! If nothing else, he was at least consistent.

Ryeokie laughs and leans back, "Just think. If I act charming, they'll think I'm nice. And if they think that, they'll listen to me. So when I start insulting you, they'll think it's true, get a bad image of you and stay away." Apparently the crafter has taken some time to come up with this kind of excuse. Though honestly, it's just fun to make Pyriel irritated with his two-faced ways. The crafter swings a bit higher now, grinning as he waits for the inevitable reaction.

Pyriel blinks at the explanation, brows lifting upwards for a moment, and then they come shooting back down. His best friend was a two-faced manipulative bastard. Part of him was feeling mighty proud that this guy was his closest friend, the other part wanted to deck the jerk right in the face. His chin comes up after a time, coolly regarding Ryeokie. Instead of taking the bait that had been laid out for him this time, the blond takes another approach. "Ya know I'm not into guys right?" he asks, eyes following the swinging movements of the older boy. He had mentioned this before of course, mostly with his fist when the crescent grinning senior apprentice had tried to smooch him. "Ya hoping to wear me down or something? Cause I really don't get why ya like me that way when nothings gunna come of it."

Ryeokie sighs a bit when he fails to get the reaction he'd hoped. The crafter even gets a bit surprised when Pyriel takes a rather mature approach to things. Eyebrows raise a bit, but the smile never disappears and his swinging doesn't slow any. "I know you don't. And maybe one day you will wear down, and maybe you won't. But honestly, haven't you ever heard of the beauty of one sided love? You should be grateful that I'm hanging off your every word."

Pyriel very nearly gets a buzz off the fact that Ryeokie sighs instead of mocks him or gives him that irritating smirk. Ugh. Just thinking about it has the boy prickling instead of enjoying his moment of triumph. They were after all far and few between. There's another blink. Love? The harper narrows his eyes again, suspicious. He had little doubt that Ryeokie would say or do anything to get what he wanted in the end. Be it a reaction or a something far more sinister. Then the older boy has to go and say that last sentence. "I should be…grateful?" he asks, irritation slipping in just a bit. "Why on Pern should I be grateful? Ya harass me half the time, and apparently the other half is spent trying to get into my pants. What part of that am I supposed to be thanking Faranth for exactly?"

Poor Py, his moment of triumph didn't last long at all. Ryeo slows to a stop and his mouth forms a wry half smile, "You should be grateful because I'm amazing." The crafter jumps up and spreads his arms out wide, "With someone as handsome as me following you around, you should be happy." There's a sweeping bow before Rye grins again, "Or you can just be grateful that you've got someone that likes you enough to take your side whenever, wherever. Any of these explanations are good ones."

Pyriel's face goes slack when Ryeokie stops and smiles at him like that. It was a very clear uh-oh expression. Though the words that come tumbling out of the starcrafter's mouth very easily helps the harper's scowl return in full force. "Yer a guy, why would I care how handsome ya think ya are? And why should a guy following me around make me happy?" he asks, leaving out whether or not he agreed with the other boy's assessment on how amazing he might or might not think he was. The bow gets a perplexed twitch, before he rolls his eyes skywards. "Wherry dung." he states flat, hand extracted from his pocket to point accusingly at the other boy. "Ya never take my side. Yer the first one to jump on the anti-Pyriel bandwagon. Ya brought up my skipping classes in front of the Weyrleader, and what ya did with that fatty computer crafter last sevenday? Yer an ass, and ya ain't ever on my side. Yer on yer own side."

Ryeokie is as unphased and as jerk-like as ever, even in the face of Pyriel's accusatory questioning. He shrugs and moves over to lean on another post, "Not on the important matters. The rest of the time though….well I already explained why I did that, didn't I? Besides, ratting you out was for your own good." One side of the crafter's mouth twists up in a half smile. So what if Ryeo was acting like a manipulating bastard? It was fun. "Kiley isn't fat, don't be rude. And it's not like I even /did/ anything. But really, all this hate. Are you…." Ryeo leans down to eye level, the crescent moon smile forming on his face, "Jealous?"

Pyriel's frown deepens as Ryeokie goes on, watching the older boy very closely even as his hand drifts back to slide into it's pocket again. He seemed to be extra cautious now that the feline was out of the bag on how he felt for the harper. "Yer supposed to be my friend. My best friend. That means always on my side, always defending me, always there no matter what. Not handing me over to the Weyrleader on a silver platter." he grumbles, mostly to himself. Though the starcrafter was close enough to hear his mutterings. Shoulders slumping a bit, he shakes his head. He might of defended his rudeness, as Ryeokie had made a point of bringing it up, but what the other boy had said following that had his attention first and foremost. "Jealous?" he almost squeaks, clearing his throat in an attempt to cover the very unmanly tone his voice had taken on just then. "What the sharded are ya talking about? I got no reason to be jealous. I'm pissed off." he bristles, jaw clenching and unclenching as he glares over at the crescent grinning apprentice. "Ya called me the weyr downer. If I'm such a downer why do ya even bother hanging out with me."

Ryeokie sighs and strides over to stand in front of the apprentice. A hand comes up and he pokes Pyriel directly in the middle of his forehead, keeping the hand there as he speaks, "I do what's best for you, now what you think is best for you. But you have every reason to be jealous. Here I am, your one and only best friend that used to fawn on you, and now I'm being stolen away. That's why you would be jealous." The crafter chuckles softly before dropping his hand, "Oy, dense one. Didn't you hear me the last two times? I called you a downer so she'd stay away. You didn't notice the looks she was giving you?"

It really was a shame that Pyriel was so dense to certain things, then he'd likely have a lot more to say. He goes very quiet before Ryeokie comes over to poke him in the forehead, brows wriggling a bit at the uncomfortable invasion of his personal space before he lifts glaring eyes all the way up to meet the other's. "Dude, when have ya ever fawned over me?" he asks, hand coming up to try and dislodge the digit centered on his skull, but it's gone before he can complete the gesture. "She was looking at me like that cause we'd met already." Sadly when it came to Pyriel, that was almost an explanation all in itself. "She sat down across the room, and then moved one table close enough just so she could tell me she was new and what her name was. I told her I didn't care." A shrug for that. "That was pretty much the conversation. So I dun need ya making my enemies for me, I can handle it myself." Hmpf. Hand goes back in his pocket and he looks off somewhere else, apparently this would be the abandoned swingset.

"Are you complaining? I can start fawning over you right now. Though I think you've gotten enough girls doing that already. And it'd make me more like a fan than a best friend, which isn't exactly helpful." Such obvious overtures would probably end up with the crafter taking another trip to the infirmary. "Looks turn to other types of looks easily. But if you've got it covered…well then, I guess I can stop with the insults……or not, it's rather fun."

"No I ain't!" Pyriel says defensively when asked if he's complaining, already halfway around the pole in an attempt to put it between himself and the older boy. Have to watch this guy every second! Eyeing Ryeokie, the harper snorts a bit. "I knew it was cause yer having too much fun, ain't got nothing to do with being my friend or trying to fend off fatty geeks who may or may not be getting crushes on me. Ya kissing me probably gave ya a chuckle or two too, huh?" Perhaps Ryeokie wasn't laughing when Pyriel decked him a good one for it, at least not at first.

"What? It can't be fun and serve a purpose at the same time?" The crafter moves quickly, clamping his hands to the pole and trapping Pyriel in between them. Py's last comments bring a hint of anger to the irritated boy's eyes, "I don't use people like that. If I don't care about them I'd never lay a finger on them. So don't go claiming this is all because of laughs. You don't like guys, but I like you, and I'd rather if you didn't take my feelings lightly." Its a few moments before that strange look on Rye's face fades away, a small smirk replacing it, but the hands? They haven't moved a bit.

"Ya enjoy it way too much!" Pyriel now complains, but stiffens when Ryeokie moves so quick to trap him between his arms. Not like it would be hard to escape. All he would need to do is duck and run. Unfortunately the older boy had longer legs and arms, and likely wouldn't find catching the harper all that difficult. Those gold eyes rise up to meet those of the older of the two. He's quiet while his friend gets irritated, though that irritation can be found in reflection upon the smaller blond. Only once the grin returns, does Pyriel's head come back to rest upon the post behind, doubling in lifting his chin in the process. It gave him a lofty appearance that his pretty looks only enhanced. "I do." he says coolly in retort to Ryeokie's claim that he'd never lay a finger on someone he didn't like. He couldn't even remember how many girls he'd kissed up to this point in his life, or how many he'd fooled around with whenever he got the chance. "I ain't never gunna return yer feelings Ryeokie. I love ya as much as a guy could love a friend, but guys ain't my thing."

Ryeokie chuckles softly and uses a hand to push up his glasses. "I know you do. My rumor spreading does two things, keeps you away from the girls and it keeps them safe from /you/." The crafter narrows his eyes in a mock accusatory glare. "A friend is a friend. But you still just said you love me." Rye was definitely leaving the rest of Py's words out on purpose. The hands fall away and the crafter leans in, delivering a light kiss close to the corner of the harper's mouth before quickly straightening up and taking several hurried strides to the swings. "That was a friendship thing, so don't kill me, yeah?"

Blink! "What?" Pyriel fumes, that cocky expression draining from his features immediately upon hearing Ryeokie's advanced sabotage technique. A hand comes up to roughly grab a fistful of the starcrafter's tunic, the other forming a fist quite quickly. "Ya don't mess with another man's play, it's against the rules!" he growls, brows sunk far low over molten eyes. Then a heartbeat later he's blinking again as his grip loosens, caught off guard by what was said after that. "Of course I love ya, ya think I would put up with half the sharded crap I do if I…" But he's cut off when yet another kiss to the corner of his mouth is dropped in the middle of one of his tirades. Ryeokie did so love to do that when Pyriel was distracted. This is why he needed to be on guard all the time! The older boy could smell weakness. A pause is given for the pure shock of having had that just happen, /again/. It gives the starcrafter time to put some distance between him and the harper, before the blond is snarling, "RYEOKIE!" Colored brilliantly red, he stalks after the older boy with murder in his eyes.

Ryeokie laughs as he runs across the play ground, turning to look over his shoulders and smirk. "You /love/ me remember? One shouldn't harms those he LOVES!" Oh yes, the crafte was getting himself into a deep pile of wherry dung. Maybe he /would/ be taking another trip to the infirmary. The young man runs to the other side of the play set, eyes fixed on the harper's progress. "Rules? Did you ever really think I played fair? Shards you're dense. I've been telling you that same thing this entire time and NOW you understand!" The starcrafter grins and pushes his glasses up again. So what if he was nerdy? His stamina was pretty good.

Pyriel gives chase, with every intention to kick the ever living daylights out of the starcrafter, if he could catch him. When Ryeokie ducks behind one of the play sets, the harper stops his pursuit, barely winded, but certainly taking a moment to devise a plan of action. "I don't love ya like THAT!" he protests, eyes darting this way and that to try and think of a way that he could get to the older boy without ending up running in circles until he wore himself out. "What the sharded are ya talking about?" he snaps, "And stop calling me dense!" He slips out of sight as he heads around the play set, watching the ground for the movement of feet to indicate where he should go next. Then it dawns on him, and it just makes him all the more angry. Was Ryeokie really trying to mess up his chances with girls so that his only option would be him? "Seriously?!" he screeches, booking it now as he comes up behind him, grabbing his shirt and trying to toss the much larger boy to the mulched ground. "Ryeokie I am gunna kill ya!"

Ryeo /does/ fall to the ground…but not because of Pyriel's tugging. The crafter is doubled over in laughter at this point. "See? You're….so…..dense!" Ryeo clutches his sides, taking deep gulps of air at much longer intervals than he should. "Love…is….love." The starcrafter smirks before bursting into another fit of laughter, which if unfortunately followed by a few coughs.

Pyriel is standing there, in absolute rage. He's almost purple at this point with it, and Ryeokie doubling over in laughter wasn't really helping. He tries several times to correct the older boy's thinking, but just ends up sounding like a babbling idiot. He growls and has every intention of going for the throat as it were as he grabs another handful of tunic and draws back a fist, but then the starcrafter is coughing and he pauses, concern masking some of his anger. "Hey, don't mess with me. Ya okay?" he asks, eyes searching. Personally putting Ryeokie into the infirmary was one thing, having his friend actually having a problem breathing was another entirely.

Ryeokie nods and waves his hand in front of his face, still coughing a few times as he does so. It's a few minutes before the crafter actually catches his breathe enough to grin. "I'm fine, just couldn't breathe for a bit…too much laughing." Apparently this problem had happened before, at least that's what it seems like, considering that the starcrafter isn't panicked.

That concern? It's completely gone. Pyriel did for a second look relieved, before his usual temper snaps back into place. He considers just kicking the dung out of him right then and there, and decides to go with a nice right hook into the starcrafter's bicep. "Bastard." he gripes, throwing a light kick in the older boy's backside for good measure. "Stop kissing me." He lets go of the other's shirt, straightening with a pull on the bottom of his own, as it tended to ride up.

"Owwwuuuuuu." The crafter makes a face and rubs the injured areas…oh wait, now he gets to go to the infirmary..smile! "Alright alright, I'll stop kissing you…..today." Rye's last word comes out as nothing more than a whisper from the smirking young man. He stands up, brushing himself off and stretching, "Bastard? I prefer to be called handsome or something. Your nicknames are really lacking, brat."

Pyriel rolls his eyes at the older boy's bellyaching. "Oh stop, I didn't hit ya that hard." He eyes Ryeokie again though, when he says he'll stop. Suspicion that there was a 'this time' or 'for now' attached under his breath that he hadn't heard. He likely would of hit him again, if he had known how right he was. He takes a few steps backward when the seventeen turn old gets up, watching him carefully. "I ain't ever gunna use that word or anything remotely close to describe ya. So get that right out of yer head now. Manipulative, sneaky, and annoying all come to mind. Handsome ain't even in the same universe." he snorts, and then kicks some mulch that way. "Yer nicknames suck too."

Ryeokie grins and puts on his best puppy dog eyes, "Me? Sneaky? Manipulative? I'm offended Py. I'm nothing but helpful and charming. My nicknames are pretty accurate though, you have to admit." The crafter smirks and brushes some mulch out of his hair, peering down at the new spray headed towards him. "Mulch is a dangerous weapon. What if I get cut and have an infection? /Then/ who would your best friend be? You'd be all alone."

"Good!" Pyriel says, completely unaffected by the puppy eyes. Seems the harper is glad that he managed in some way to offend Ryeokie, even if the other boy was merely teasing him again. He does scoff at the very idea that his friend was nothing but helpful and charming. "Yer full of it." He leaves the accuracy of nicknames alone now, before that goes into yet another debate. Eyebrows lift in unison, "Yer such a girl. Yer wearing long pants, and I didn't kick the stuff at ya that hard. Why are ya so weird?" he asks, long fingers of both hands used to idly scritch at his own fluffy haired scalp. He'd gotten it cut very recently, so it stuck up even more than it had before, but at least it wasn't all in his face anymore.

"Hey Py…." Ryeo grins and leans down, "You call me a girl again and you're /really/ going to regret it. I really don't think you'd like the way I would show my manliness." A smirk crosses the apprentice's face and he straightens up. "I keep forgetting to ask your mom about a haircut. Mine's getting annoying now…" As if to emphasize this, a few strands fall into his face and he idly attempts to blow them away. "Is she still gone?"

"Yer a girl." Pyriel says with a haughty lift of his chin. Yeah, take that starcrafter breath. Bring it. Though as the question of hair is brought up, he sort of pulls on his own, eyes crossing in an attempt to look up and between at bangs cut across the height of his eyebrows. There were longer pieces but nothing that would obstruct his view anymore. "Oh yeah. She got back the other day. Ya wanna go hunt her down or something?" he asks, tilting his head to the side as his hand drops from his hair.

"I warned you Py, I really warned you." Ryeo strides up, grabbing a fistful of Py's shirt and pulling the boy towards him. A hand moves up, cupping the boy's chin and lifting it upwards and lips descend…only to stop a few milimeters away, "You're lucky we're in public, brat." As quick as his movements towards Pyriel were, they're as equally quick when he moves away. "Maybe I should go look for her. You coming with?"

Pyriel doesn't appear to be all that concerned when Ryeokie grabs him, actually rolling his eyes upwards and giving the starcrafter a deep frown when his mouth comes in close. They were after all in public, and under the watchful eye of more than one parent nearby. Those kids were still running about the play yard. "So not gunna happen…" he says in a low voice, turning his head away moments before Ryeo lets him go. He smooths out his shirt, and tugs it back into place again before he shakes his head, "Nah, think I had enough of ya for one day. Try her room, and if not there, then down on the docks." Py doesn't go near the docks anymore, or boats of any kind. "Then go get yerself some or something….geez." With that he heads off in the direction of garden, heading back to the weyr.

What? His little acts weren't working anymore? The crafter frowns and shakes his head, waving after the departing harper. "Guess I'll have to step up my game a bit." And the ideas running around his head /might/ just do the trick. So what if Py wouldn't come around for a while? Ryeo just liked seeing him get ruffled. With a final wry grin the crafter heads back to the weyr…or maybe he should check the docks first.

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