Can you feel it? - complete

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River skidded across the floor, her feet scrambling to get traction. She'd forgotten to eat this morning until Laspherith reminded her that food was indeed a requirement even for her. Her braid flailing along behind her as she slide into the Weyr commons before she all but bounced over to one of the comfy looking benches after getting herself a juice. She didn't need any caffiene input even she was almost always happy and bouncy. 

'Mine... food. Remember? If you don't eat, you'll pass out.' River giggled, feeling the coolness from her dragon's run over her mind, the green's voice was quiet and almost icy in tone but River felt the warmth regardless. Some dragons can't help the way they are, and although Laspherith was considered very cold and aloof in temperament, towards her, she was the sweetest thing! 

'I know Lappy! I'm just having a drink first, kayyyy?' River all but chirped mentally in reply to the now sighing green. Moving to settle down with her juice, she glanced around, idly swinging her feet on her seat. Maybe she'd make a new friend today!

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Klah, F'ang thought to himself, settling down into the nearest available table in what he'd been affectionately calling 'the mess,' due in no small part to how rowdy and messy the commons could get. He sat with his tray and disbursed both steaming cups of klah to either side, though not before considering whether or not he should sip from both while they were in his hands. 'Eat first, Mine. Klah can come later.' 'Ruth's reminder was gentle, very nearly an afterthought from the sunbathing bronze. "Morning," he rumbled absentmindedly to River. He was familiar enough with the girl to know that if he hadn't said anything, she'd talk him into a headache for being rude. 

Not that he had any personal experience in that regard. He just heard things. Unfortunate things. 'You will be no Weyrleader if you have no friends, Mine.' He grumbled quietly, knowing 'Ruth was right and cursing himself for being so predictable to his Bondmate. 

At least she's pretty, he thought. Pretty, but dumb. 'She reminds you of a canine?' His brow furrows, knowing that was an unfair comparison. You make me sound like an ass. 'You could not be mine if you were all ass.' Gaburuth had learned to play with images in his head some time ago and F'ang couldn't help but bark out laughter at the image of a man-sized ass in Riding leathers perched on dragonback. 

@kickflare

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River sipped her juice, spotting F'ang heading over and treated him to a massive grin. Waving excitedly at him, she beckoned him over, her grin only growing wider when he greeted her.

"Hi F'angy! How are you doing today?" She chirped brightly, "You should come join me~" She almost trilled at him, wiggling in her seat, grinning up a storm. 'Perhaps you should learn moderation in your interactions, mine.' Laspherith chided quietly, 'Your excitement levels are a bit much at times.' River paused, looking to F'ang for a moment beffore her eyes defocused 'Don't be like that Lappy, someone find a cheerful interaction nice!' River thought back to her dragon, earning a low snort. 'if you so say, dear heart of mine.'

Turning to F'ang, she moved over to give him room so if he chose to, he could join her. "how are you finding lessons? I saw your dragon not long back, He's gotten so biggg!" River chittered away, "I mean... Lappy's pretty much fully grown now and I don't even she's much bigger than Gabby~ I bet you found it difficult to keep up with his appetite when he was young though, baby dragons were always hungry, wouldn't you agree? She turned to F'ang, smiling brightly as though she had had the greatest news in the world. It was kinda plain to see that she was a little lonely by how she jumped at the chance for just a chin wag.

@kylori

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Lessons. "My lessons are going well enough." A lie to himself and he winced when he felt Gaburuth's disapproval. "I'm getting my histori-" And she just kept on talking. And talking. And talking. 'Patience, Mine. Wait for her to finish. She is excitable.' Bad enough to be chided by the Weyrlingmaster, but at least then he'd had his own thoughts. 'You are you. I am me. We are we, Mine.' He smiled inwardly, flooding his bond with appreciation for 'Ruth's understanding. It's hard to be only yourself for so many years and be suddenly... Not. Forgive me, 'Ruth. Silence in his mind, though he felt the familiar pressure that came with the dragon trying to understand the significance of human concepts. 'No forgiveness is necessary. She has stopped. You can speak now.' He got the distinct sense that Gaburuth was preening. Show off. You're too young to chase. Stop trying to impress the pretty dragons. Again, he barks laughter at the recalled memory of Gaburuth doing his best draconic impression of a shit-eating grin.

"He's big because he's Bronze, but at least I don't have to worry so much about him trying to gorge himself. Your," he pauses a moment, trying to recall the dragons full name because he couldn't bring himself to use her shortening of it. "Laspheris? She is green, isn't she? It's natural she'd grow faster, just as it's natural for my 'Ruth to grow slower." 'She also does not have to carry so large a Rider.'

By Faranth he hoped Gaburuth hadn't broadcast that thought to her as well.

@kickflare

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River grinned, forcing herself to stop trying to chitter at him by taking a few dainty sips of her juice, pausing only to nod as he spoke, her eyes all glittery as she watched him. 

"Laspherith." She giggled softly, "I call her Lappy for short tho." She offered in, smiling so brightly that her cheeks redden faintly. Perhaps smiling too much and too wide was going to become a painful issue. NAHHH

'Perhaps you'd be wise to heed that thought, Mine.' Laspherith interjected into her thoughts, she swore she could see the dragon staring down at her cooly from the Weyr, one leg folded neatly over the other in front of her, her tail tip just lightly twitching, feline in its own unique way. 'I am Not one of Those furballs.' River felt Laspherith bristle. 'i know dear heart. You're the most wonderful dragon to ever grace the skies of Pern.' River smiled, an almost dreamy look overtaking her face. 'Flattery will get nowhere, Mine.' The green sulked. 

"She's a green. She's a pretty good size for one too I reckon. I think the biggest green i've seen is about... 45 feet. Lappy's just hit 41 and judging by how little shes' grown over the last month, i think that's her full size." River giggled, she'd begrudge Laspherith growing, but her fingers were thankfully that she wouldn't have to keep readjusting the riding straps.

"Oh! That reminds me~" She turned her attention wholly to F'ang now. "Didn't you and Gabby have your first flying lesson together recently? How was it for you?" River grinned blithely, she remember her first flight with Lappy.

"Well, I hope you did better than I did." She giggled. "First time strapping Lappy up for flight, i was so excited that I didn't tighten up the girth strap properly so when i climbed up and shifted to get comfy, i slid all the around her and ended up clinging to her chest with my legs!" She laughed at the memory. "Then I forgot to unhook myself from the riding straps on dismounting and ended up flailing like a pinned wherry." She remembered it like it was yesterday, she had been so excited and squirmy despite her first time going less than perfectly. But it had been a lot of fun!

@kylori

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F'ang looks down at the bowl of stew he'd been neglecting on his tray and starts eating as an afterthought. Laspherith. That was it. Why did I say Laspheris? Hopefully her Green wouldn't take offense. He'd had a lot on his mind lately anyway.

'She is rising.' Not for months yet, 'Ruth. You're too young for that anyway. 

'Not Laspherith. Her Rider.' F'ang chokes on his mouthful of stew and ends up ejecting what had been in his mouth all over his tray with a cough, thumping his chest as he tries to recover his breath. "Shells, Gaburuth!" He coughs once more and wipes his mouth on his sleeve and running his free hand across his barren scalp. Internally, he was glaring at Gaburuth. 

"I apologize for that," he says, inhaling deeply. "'Ruth was just telling me that I'm not supposed to inhale my lunch." He wipes a the sweat from his forehead with his clean sleeve. "Out first flight was months ago, but yes. Our landing was harder than we thought it would be and Gaburuth worried I might have broken my nose on his neck." No need to tell River that Gaburuth had been chuckling at him and it was only because he was so tense that he'd hurt himself. It was only a bloodied nose anyway. In the back of his mind, he could feel 'Ruth's amusement with his current frustration. 'She will rise. And Mine will give chase.'

If there had been anything to hate about being a Dragonrider, it was when your dragon tried to make sense of how humans worked, threw everything out, and figured it would be simpler if we were more like them. 'Ruth was right of course. It would be easier. But it would also complicate things in ways he couldn't predict. "Ruth is only a little over half grown. He has some months yet before he'll be anything close to his full size and all the oil that will come with it. It won't be long until he's chewing firestone, though."

@kickflare

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River upon realising that F'ang was choking, moved to his side and began to pat his back to help him shift what ever had gotten lodged before handing him a small piece of cloth where she had embroidered a little dragon that looks remarkably like Laspherith in the corner. 

"It's okay. Lappy does it to me as well." She chirped to F'ang, smiling brightly. Nodding when F'ang spoke over chewing firestone, her lips pressed together. 

"I'll warn you now, firestone is super stinky. Took like.. 4 sweetsand baths and then using ciritus oil on Lappy to rid of the smell. Plus shovelling what they... spit out..." River shuddered delicately at the memory. Shovelling feces was one thing but firestone leftover burnt the eyes a bit and was like wet wattle, it stuck to everything and was a complete nightmare to deal with. Even sweetsand seemed to be ineffective in getting rid of its stink. 

"Has Gabby eaten yet? I'm sure they'll let us take 'em hunting if you'd like." River chirped, bouncing in her seat. 

'leave me out of your schemes. I'd rather hunt alone.' Laspherith grumbled. 'don't like that lappy, plus its not like this bronze is going to drape himself over you, he's too young for that.' River sent an image of her pouting to the green and was met with a snort and grumble. At least Laspherith wasn't shy or reserved around her. 

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"He's still napping off this morning's meal in the sun," he says with a light smirk, knowing full well that the Bronze would never say no to a free meal. 'I can eat,' 'Ruth tells him, 'For your benefit of course.' His eyebrow twitches at River more in reaction to Gaburuth than to anything River had said. "Is the firestone breath worse than dragon belches?" Considering the one time F'ang had been unfortunate enough to be face to face with 'Ruth shortly after a meal, the experience was memorable. And not in the fun way. Death had officially warmed over and its name was day old herdbeast. 

He realized then that he hadn't moved away or even tried to stop River from giving him the cloth. He took it gratefully and used it to clean his shirt before, hesitantly and with a glance in her direction as though making sure she was okay with it, began wiping his face in earnest. "Shoveling firestone can't be any worse than dragon vomit. Gaburuth wanted to be lazy once and decided to scavenge and found himself a day old herdbeast that didn't agree with him." He wrinkled his nose, but if 'Ruth was intent on embarassing him, he was certain his Bondmate wouldn't mind taking one for the weyr. 'It was only once.' Twice. You did it twice, 'Ruth, because you didn't remember you'd already done it. 'We survived.'

@kickflare

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River giggled, fiddling with her braid. "So much worse than dragon burps." She stated whilst still giggling. "At least smelly dragon burps fade after a few minutes. Firestone leftovers stinks for weeks." she added on, giving him an apologetic smile. At least Laspherith had been somewhat polite in her instances of burping and turned her head away, that didn't do enough to stop the smell completely. Nothing like the smell of half eaten acid eaten meat in the morning wake one up from a bad night's slumber. 

"Gross, although, Laspherith was trying to show once off, she brought something that was a sevenday old.. still dunno what it was to this day, but it stunk us out for days. Kinda reminded me the latrine bits back in Keroon." River mused, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. 

"Have you already done your leather checks? I can help you with some tips and tricks if you like~" River bounced briefly in her seat before turning to face him, waving the cloth off as though to say 'keep it'. She had missed this, most tended to avoid her, except when Laspherith flew, she was chased by a few browns and some blues. She didn't even know the name of the rider of the dragon that caught Laspherith. She had just woken up in bed, naked and aching... both times. Although Laspherith had informed her that she had been caught by a different blue, and had almost gloated at the fact that browns struggled to keep up with her. River kept the fact that she'd woken up in a different bed due to Laspherith's rising a little disturbing, it wouldn't do make her green feel bad for something she had no control over. She did wonder though... it was a good two months before Laspherith would rise again, maybe she could at least find someone who wouldn't use her and ditch her the morning after. 

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His stomach lurched at the mention of Laspherith bringing in a sevenday old carcass. "She didn't try to eat it, did she?" 'Probably not. She was probably...' 'Ruth takes a moment to rummage through F'ang's wonderous list of useful phrases. 'Getting even?' F'ang snorts with a grin, tucking the cloth River had given him into a pocket. "Ruth thinks Laspherith was getting even for something."

He takes a moment to run a doublecheck on his list of things to do and remembers that his leathers are done in the morning with 'Ruth's sanding and oiling. "Every day," he says, "About the leathers, that is. I'm... Finnicky about that. 'Ruth is a big dragon." 'You're making excuses.' Will you stop? 'Why shouldn't she want to desire you?' Because I don't know her, and this isn't a mating ritual? 'It might be.'

It was obvious at this point that Gaburuth was going to be a nuisance until he stopped making excuses to avoid getting too close to someone. 'See? We are learning.' 'Ruth would be the death of him yet. Not physically. But... Somehow. You win. If you're done sunning yourself and preening for the greens you're still too young for, of course. "I just remembered actually, that I haven't adjusted 'Ruth's harness today." He braced himself for the young woman's surely passionate response after quickly downing his first cup of klah.

@kickflare

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"She was thinking about it." She gave him a faint smile. "Turns out... that she coming into a growth spurt so her appetite increased and no-one warned me. Thankfully, I managed to convince her that eating it would make her sick and took her out hunting once I got rid of the corpse." She then turned him and smiled brightly. "So you got that to look forward to." She added with a chirp before letting out a girlish giggle. River paused at his snort, getting even, with an alien frown taking the place of her usual smile, she reached at out to Laspherith who just simply stated that if she were to get even for something, it would have been far worse than a sevenday old carcase. River cringed visibly for a moment.

"I get that, those straps are the only holding you in place but it doesn't hurt to have another set of eyes on it." She added, a bright smile remerging across her face. Upon F'ang saying he hadn't gone the harness today, River all but leapt to her feet, her hands clasping together in delight. Her eyes all bright and shiny looking as everything about her screamed 'squeeee' although she did however have enough self control to not physically let out the ear shattering noise.

"Well, when you're ready~" She all but danced on the spot excitedly "Its so nice to make a friend!" Her smile shone brightly as she looked so happy at that moment. "Lots of people tend to avoid me, I dunno why though. I mean... life's hard enough, right? Everyone needs someone to get cheerful to bring a bit of sunshine!" She was now practically hopping as she chittered away at him. "I mean... if i was down in the dumps, I'd want to be around someone happy so they could cheer me up!" She giggling, twirling on the spot before coming to a stop, and seemingly getting distracted by her hair. Nimble fingers quickly undid the now frizzy braid and then began to rebraid it so that would stay out of the way. She moved from one foot to the other as she did it, humming an old Hold song from Keroon.

@kylori

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"Some people like having some space to think," he says offhandedly, thought he couldn't fault her logic and couldn't help the pang of jealousy when she began fiddling with her hair; his hand flying up and idly stroking his shiny scalp. Wish my hair hadn't started falling out already, he thought and 'Ruth was quick to jump in. 'Why wouldn't mine wish to be more like me? I am magnificent.' He couldn't help but laugh again with the sent image of the bronze dragon with a full head of human hair. The image was so ridiculous and his laughter so deep that he was clutching his sides and wobbling on his chair to stay upright.

"I- I'm sorry," he gasps, recovering his breath, downing his last cup of klah to soothe a throat aching from laughing so hard, and pulling himself from his chair. "It's not you, I promise. 'Ruth thinks he's funny today." 

'We don't think. We are-,' the dragon pauses. 'Hilarious, you say, yes?'

Aye, sense of humor like that and you should have been a Harper, 'Ruth.

'I can be your... Pretty but dumb, yes, pretty but dumb, if it means you laugh, Mine. You do not have enough happy in your memory.'

"Fair warning, 'Ruth believes you are trying to get me to chase you. Don't be surprised if he acts strangely around you. We don't have much company." His tone was serious. He hadn't meant it to be. It wasn't as if he was actively trying to rule out her company, either. Let her think what she will. If she takes offense, we can deal with that later. 

'We, mine? I thought you didn't want my intervention?' Why did dragons have to pick up such bad habits from their bondmates? He could feel Gaburuth's smug satisfaction at having won the exchange. 'Let the river flow into our weyr, Mine.' The bronze sent images of him gathering the riding gear himself and gnawing on it so F'ang couldn't make any further excuses. His brow twitches into a frown for the scantest moment. You wouldn't. No response from the dragon. The only way to find out would be to return to the weyr.

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"There's having space, then there's wallowing." River answered tartly, arching a delicate brow at his laugh, she couldn't help but smile at the joy at seemed to emanate from him as he laughed. "You should laugh more often." She stated softly, smiling warmly to him. She had blinked at his words, trying to get him to chase her? She blinked, and quickly conferred with Laspherith to ensure she had not been flirting, the green simply stated that she had just been her usual overbearingly friendly self. A wickedly delightful idea cross her mind and she simply grinned.

"Getting to you chase me?" Grinning like that the feline that had gotten the best bit of the cream, she moved a few paces towards the exit. "Shells, no. Gabby's far too young for such things anyway." She spun on her heel and waggled a finger at him teasingly.

"Well, I'm firm believer in that the dragon tells the rider when its okay to entertain such things. And Gabby won't be chasing until he hits 21 months. So you'll have to be patient." She giggled teasingly before shrugging nonchalantly. "Maybe I'm wrong, who knows. Either way a friend and good company is always welcome~" She giggled, smiling to him to remove the sting of her words. Given rumour had it that F'ang preferred his own company and had chosen to spend with time with her for such a thing. She might be a green rider but she would not be easy prey and practice to a Bronze rider looking to bed a queen.

"So would you like to lead the way then, good sir? Her eyes sparkled playfully.

@kylori

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He grunts his assent, moving to slide past her, and only having the attempt complicated by his size. His hand moves to press his fingertips to her upper back, letting her know he was trying to pass in front though he doesn't push, shove, or try to urge her to move in one direction or another. He couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into Gaburuth. He wasn't normally this talkative, nor was he so keen to be in the presence of anyone that wasn't him. 'We do it for you, Mine.' And then there was the 'we' business. By Faranth, the dragon could be an enigma sometimes. 'You do not think of yourself as you. You think of yourself as we. You are you. I am me. We are we, Mine. I learn from you and I learn from we.'

Wisdom. From a dragon. He shakes his head in disbelief. He knew it wouldn't be happening at all if not for Gaburuth practically living in his thoughts, constantly looking for meaning to the things in F'ang's mind.

At least the green riders he normally shared a weyr with weren't likely to be in. 'They sun themselves at the lake.' Thank you, 'Ruth. At least he'd be spared the embarrassment of his weyrmates teasing him for having company when he'd normally keep to himself. Chores build character, he thought. "Ruth thinks I spend too much time on my own," he says to River as he passes and leads the way up to his weyr. "I think he thinks of me like I'm a dragon myself, and keep to myself unless it's for lessons or to mate."

"Nnnot that that's what I'm doing at all, mind. I just don't get along with most is all." Of course he didn't. He was a judgmental ass on a good day and outright hostile on others. "He's been insistent that I make friends that don't have scales for a while. It's just... Difficult."

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River nodded, acknowledging his words with a sweet, understanding smile. How long had it been that she had contact with someone outside of lessons? Too far to long ago it felt, apparently here people were put off the happy, seemingly wishing to remain in their secluded bubbles of inward torment, loneliness or anguish. She had seen far too many people trapped within their confides of their own making, and despite her attempts to offer some reprieve, the offer had fallen on deaf ears. She had very privately begun to question whether the Weyr was truly going to remain her home. River knew herself well enough, she was a social being and needed contact outside of one topic to thrive, but here, it appeared she had become stuck in a rut for too long. 

"You're fine." River giggled, walking with him, a slight skip to her step as she resisted the urge skip along after him. "It's your free time, I'd be a sun stunned wher if i tried to judge." She giggled again.