Two's Company (Esko/Karo and Gar)

[Taxx]

Tucked away in the bathing caverns, Aleni sat with her knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped around them and her head resting on them. Riyo was splashing about in the pool with her brother, Gargerrith, and above, the seaspitter Sleek and her firelizard sister Dab were alternating between hovering and diving into the pool with creels of joy. A slight smile held steady on Aleni's face, watching the antics of her gold and her brown clutchmate before she shifted it to the other girl sitting not far off.

They'd run into each other on the way, both intending to bathe their dragons, and Aleni couldn't deny that it was nice to have Karo there- for whatever reason, she had never asked uncomfortable questions or doubted past a second that Aleni was what she said she was. There was a touch of guilt, for the thought that she was misleading Karo- even though she called herself a girl, took on the appearance of a girl, her body was distinctly not. Should she tell? What would that do between them? Selfishly, perhaps, Aleni shied away from the possibility of Karo's poor reaction- and continued to pretend that she was no different physically than any other girl in the Weyr.

"It's good to see them enjoying themselves, right?" she commented, and glanced back to where Riyobith had completely dunked herself under the water, doing her best to swim but simply flailing legs and wings about, kicking up fountains of water before surfacing again, clawed feet grabbing for solid ground to steady herself.
Esko

[Esko]

Karo of brown Gargerrith

She'd been thinking of Joia.

Karo tried not to, though it wasn't like she thought about her all of the time. There were plenty of times in a day where she'd be thinking of other things and focused on other tasks. But once the girl entered her head, it was hard to get her out. There was this foreign feeling of wanting, though what she wanted was unclear. Sometimes, she'd get little hints of what she desired, but it was nearly impossible to put it into words. Or, words in her vocabulary, at least. Perhaps there was some fancy mainland word to describe it, but Karo didn't know what it was. What was so special about Joia? Though, she began to find other girls in her class to be good looking, but in a different way than guys. She'd asked Gar about it, but of course he didn't know.

Don't worry so much about it, he'd told her, Why don't we go for a bath instead? That's way more fun than this pondering stuff you're doing.

Bathing sounded like a great thing to distract herself with, but as Karo walked the brown down to the baths, she couldn't wrestle the thought of Joia out of her attic. Her brown hair, the way it curled gently at the ends, her eyes and her smile- it brought a funny feeling to her gut. And again, that strange wanting. For a few moments, Karo walked without really watching where she was going, until she heard Gar shout out to one of his clutchmates. A shiny clutchmate. Oh! There was Aleni and Riyobith, also on the way to the baths. Karo did enjoy the company of the goldweyrling, despite all the drama that swam around her. She had to admit, she was slightly curious if there truly were boyparts under her skirts, but it wasn't really something she was curious enough to try and find answers for. From the little bits she heard about dragons, she heard that only girls Impressed golds. Sure, there may be the odd brown -proven by her and Mizao- but a man on a gold? It was just one of those things that didn't happen.

And even if Aleni was physically a boy, dragons searched people's minds. So, at least in her mind, Aleni was a girl.

That's how Karo saw it, anyway.

So, Karo sat there in silence with the goldweyrling, watching Gar splash around with his golden clutchmate. Bet cha that you can't catch me! The brown teased, while also trying to tap the greens that sometimes dove into the water. Karo grinned; seeing the brown simply having fun was the best thing in the world. She wouldn't trade it for even her dad's approval, something she worked her whole life to earn. Soon, she realized that Aleni had finally broken the silence that hung between them with a question. "Oh? Ya, it's pretty great. Would rather be 'ere than doin' chores with K'ton breathin' down me neck." Faranth, she hated K'ton. It seemed as if he jabbed at her and Miz harder than the other girls. "But then, who wouldn't?" Karo chuckled, watching as Gar tried to boldly swim, then retreat after realizing he couldn't. That didn't happen. He huffed.

'Sure.' Then, a realization struck Karo; Aleni was a mainlander. Surely, she knew something about these weird feelings she was having? "Eh, Aleni? I need t' ask ya a question. About mainlander stuffs."

Meanwhile, Gar turned to Riyobith. Hey, wanna see a trick?

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[Taxx]

Aleni couldn’t help agreeing with Karo’s reply- the bronzerider was hard and more than a little scary, much more intimidating after the rather easy-going S’bol. But that might not be a bad thing- after all, whoever looked after the pairs as they grew and learned would have to have a strong hand, and K’ton surely did have that. It didn’t mean he had to be harsh, though. “He does take some getting used to,” she replied- though Karo and Mizao were having a bit of a harder time with him, with both of them bonded to browns.

Riyobith had watched Gar’s attempt, squashing a rumble of amusement as he had no more luck than she in propelling himself through the water, and then brightened. Trick? she asked, dipping her head in a nod and stretching her head closer to him to not miss anything. What trick?

Equally curious, Aleni was also a bit distracted; she glanced back to Karo as the brown weyrling spoke, her attention focusing more on her classmate as she tipped her head. “Mainlander stuff?” she echoed, remembering as she did that Karo had been born and raised on a ship. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

[Esko]

Karo of brown Gargerrith

Karo twiddled her fingers and thought about her question; how did she word it? "So...things've been strange for me since leavin' The Bronzer. Not surprisin', right? I mean, lotsa stuff happened. And...I'm feelin' weird stuff. Like, alright, here's the thin'; Joia. It's weird, but every time I look at her, I feel weird stuffs. Like, I dunno? Like, I feel...warm fuzzies. Yeah, that's it, warm fuzzies. And I want somethin'? I dunno what exactly I want, but it's somethin'. I dunno, what's it about Joia? Is there, like, a fancy mainland term for it?" Karo picked up a tiny pebble and chucked it into the lake. It landed with a tiny ploop. With a sigh, Karo drummed on the ground as she mustered up more words.

"And once she gets into my head, it's hard to get her out. You know?" Karo leaned back, looking at Gar in the lake. It began before she Impressed Gar, hadn't it? So it wasn't related to him at all. She looked at Aleni with wide eyes, wondering if she needed to explain it more. Did Aleni know what she was talking about? Or was it really just her?

Meanwhile, Gar warbled happily at his golden sister. I learned it from an older blue. A group of firelizards was doing it, mimicking the blue. Well, maybe it's not a trick, but it's cool. The blue called it a 'snoot boop'. It goes like this. He moved his snout forward and bumped it against Riyo's gently. Boop! He then chortled, opening his wings triumphantly. I don't know what a snoot is, or a boop, but it's fun!

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