A Gather to Remember [Riasu/Loqui] OPEN

[kevna]

Riasu - Candidate

Riasu looked in her reflective glass, admiring the dress on her slim figure. It was a deep red, and it hugged her curves flatteringly. The split up the dress to mid-thigh along the right side of the seam gave the dress an appealing alure, though Riasu had asked for the addition for more practical matters. It would be hard to wear a dress without one on a dragon. She would have to slip riding leathers on under it for the ride, so not to freeze in between, but they could easily be slipped right off again. The dress had the slightest glitter in the deep color, only seen when light directly shone onto it. The dress had a scoop neck, which fell a little more modestly then the split did, and the material was pleated atop her shoulders, leaving the rest of her shoulders and arms bare. She checked her hair, which she had done with immaculate patience, and was satisfied with how it had turned out. She had made three small cornrows along the left side of her head, pinning them a few inches beyond her ear, and letting the rest of her wild curls reign free. The look was meant to be bold, and she determined that she had succeeded. Red was definitely her color.

I’m on my way Jarath, Lo’qui better not still be looking at himself when I get there. She teased playfully.

She gave herself a slow smile, then briskly turned away, slipped her tightest riding breeches on underneath the dress, and grabbed her gather jacket and gather black purse. She was tempted to look in the reflective glass again but decided against staying one more minute in the dank candidate quarters. She slipped on her short black heels and walked out of the barracks, making a straight line (or as straight a line as Mavros Weyr allowed) towards her brother’s quarters. She practiced her walk, letting her weight settle comfortably into her hips. She meant to be quite a presence at the gather. D’min would be there, and he would regret letting Riasu slip away. A’zael would be there, and she would not mind making an impression on him. Her mother would be there, and all her brothers most assuredly as well, so there was that to look forward to.

She approached the rock wall that lead up to Lo’qui’s quarters. “Hello up there, are we ready yet? I could use some dancing tonight.”

There were hurried steps above, and Riasu’s eyebrows raised when she saw two small heads pop out over the ledge.

“Rhuquin, Rhoqui? You hooligans, what are you doing here??” The tall aunt called excitedly. She hadn’t expected to see them, at least not so soon. “You better come down here and give your Auntie a big old hug.”

I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you two were bringing them here! She said with mock hurt towards Jarath, but in truth she was bursting. She loved her hooligans, and never would have dreamed of their mother allowing them to come here to Mavros so soon after them leaving Ierne.

tovaana

[tovaana]

Lo’qui :: Bronze Jarath
Ft. Rhuquin & Rhoqui

Rhoqui twirled around in her fluffy maroon dress, bouncing on the balls of her feet in Lo’qui’s quarters. The last twenty four hours had been a whirlwind and she felt like the adrenalin from yesterday morning’s escape was still bubbling through her. She had still yelled at him – kicked him with angry tears. “You left!” The words had hung in the air, echoing through the caverns. It made the whole thing more difficult for Lo’qui to keep on the down low. He had hardly winced at her kick, she wished she had kicked him harder before he went all ‘baby-girl’ on her. She rolled her eyes at the memory and groaned out loud.

“How much longer? Can we go now?” She moaned, moving in circular movements toward the entrance.

“Don’t you go out near the ledge.” Lo’qui said in an assertive, yet distracted tone. He was fixing something around his wrists that Rhoqui couldn’t see.

“You’re whining doesn’t make anything go faster.” Rhuquin said blandly. He was sitting on Lo’qui’s bed, reading a book. He turned the page, not looking up as he spoke. “Neither does your tongue.” He had seen her stick it out from the corner of his eye – it wasn’t like it was a first time occurrence.

Rhoqui rolled her eyes again, groaning, louder this time. Her father seemed to know better than to give her attention when she was trying to be annoying. Then there was a voice – that even got Rhuquin’s attention, his eyes torn from his reading. They looked at each other with a grin and ran toward the ledge.

Lo’qui heard their feet on the stone and turned. “Walk! Get away from the edge!” He knew it was in vain and glanced at Jarath. ‘Make sure they don’t fall?’ Jarath made a noise somewhat akin to amusement and shifted as the kids got on their stomach to look over the ledge.

I apologize Riasu, Lo’qui told me to keep the knowledge to myself… He didn’t say whether I could tell you.

“Auntie Ri” Rhoqui yelled, waving a hand at her down below. Jarath’s tail was suddenly between them and their aunt. “Move Jarath, I can’t see!” Rhoqui tried to push his tail. Lo’qui doesn’t want you to fall. That, and you’re getting your dress filthy. Rhoqui scoffed. “When does a dragon care if I get my dress dirty?”

“When the father cares.” Lo’qui showed up behind them, easily picking each one up and moving them away from the edge. “We wanted to surprise you sis!” He said, peering over the ledge. “We’ll be right down.”

Rhoqui brushed the dust off her dress. It was fine. She looked over at her dad and your eyes widened in interest of his choice of clothing. There was usually more maroon – either a shirt or special leather jacket – but it was just the trimming, and some of the buttons down his pressed black shirt. The rest was black – his leather jacket and his pants. Her eyes trailed to a leather sack he had slung over his shoulder, she could see the hint of maroon.

Lo’qui looked down at Rhoqui and the line of her gaze. He smiled. “Gonna see if I can trade some of my nicer things for Mavros colors." 

“You plan to stay here?” She said with a slight scrunched nose as she glanced around.

“Hey now, it needs a little work. Bigger bed. A few things I can pick up at the gather and it’ll be as good as home.”

Rhoqui’s eyebrow rose skeptically.

Lo’qui tapped under her chin affectionately and she pushed his hand away, but then came in for a hug. “Let’s go.”

“About time.” Came Rhuquin’s voice from on top of Jarath. It had taken a moment without Lo’qui’s help, but Jarath was used to lending his nose to help Lo’qui’s littles to his back.

A few moments later they were all on Jarath and gliding down to Riasu.

Rhoqui nearly tore out of her buckles so she could slid/tumble off of Jarath and jump at Riasu in a hug. “I thought you were gone forever!”

Rhuquin and Lo’qui stayed on Jarath as he crouched low to make it easier for them to get on top.

kevna

[kevna]

Riasu - Candidate

No worries big guy, surprises are good for my pride. Riasu chuckled, enjoying Rhoqui’s struggle against the mammoth’s tail. It was obviously in vain. It was also beyond humorous to hear the dragon’s admonition about the sweet girl’s dress. She waved off Lo’qui and he and the other two little heads disappeared.

“I can see that.” She muttered quietly, and sighed. She waited patiently, measuring just how long her niece and nephew could have been here, trying to remember when Jarath’s voice had become distant. She was normally so much better of keeping track of the bronze, but the new voices crowding her head were still a bit overwhelming. The tall woman was excited for a break, loud music, dancing, shopping, loud crowds-she hoped it would be distracting enough to drown out the voices. There were sure to be an overwhelming abundance of them at the gather, but normally she could play through the thrum.

Jarath glided down not too long later, landing to pick her up, but before she could climb aboard her niece was sliding down to her. The young woman held her arms out, catching the girl in them and spinning around with her. “Oh forever couldn’t keep me away from you even if it wanted to. You’re my girl.” She placed the girl on her hip, then slipped her heels off and placed them into the hand holding the girl.

“Okay, ready?” She exaggeratingly prepped as if she were in a race, looking at her niece and wiggling her eyebrows. “Here we go!” She launched herself, and It was good that Jarath crouched for her, because barefoot and holding a child made mounting the giant difficult to say the least. And not the smoothest one either. She laughed, placing the girl in her spot and clipping her in. “Sorry Rhoqui, not my greatest mount. Next time I’ll wear shoes.” She ruffled Rhuquin’s hair. “Hey mister, I missed you too you know. I can’t believe what a man you are becoming.”

She settled herself in her spot, “Okay who is ready for bubbly pies? My treat. Let’s go dominate this gather!”

[tovaana]

Lo’qui :: Bronze Jarath
Ft. Rhuquin & Rhoqui

Rhoqui clung to Riasu, grinning as she played to run at Jarath. Rhuquin hid his excitement, but his interested eyes gave away his feelings. He gave her a smile, but said nothing.

“Memememe!” Rhoqui nearly squealed at the mention of bubbly pies. Rhuquin shrugged, but was overshadowed by his excited sister. “Let’s go! Let’s go Jarath!”

Lo’qui watched with affection the way Rhoqui ran at Riasu. He had made no move to stop her from nearly falling off Jarath. Luckily the beast had sensed her move and had crouched accordingly. Lo’qui reached and undid a rope ladder that was often necessary to climb his mammoth dragon. His eyes trailed back up as Riasu ran with Rhoqui. If only the kids’ mother cared half as much as his sister did. Not that he could fully blame her, he hadn’t been the best of father in his first years…

It made him think of his father and the races that would be going on. He didn’t want to attend the races, but he guessed that was where he was going to find more pleasant company. He’d join the dancing later – and he needed to buy a larger bed and things to make his weyr feel more at home.

“Alright, alright.” He said in response to Rhoqui. “But first, we have one more guest that we’re ferrying to the gather.” There was an exaggerated groan that came from Rhoqui.

Sorry friend, one more surprise. This one was unintended and last minute as well. Jarath directed at Riasu.

Jarath lifted easily enough, flying to the designated pick up of Asirikai. A’zael had asked if he would pick him up, someone Lo’qui hadn’t met – but was running to be Lord Holder. Lo’qui was intrigued by all the happenings going on at Mavros. It was definitely more exciting than Ierne.

That’s him, I think. Jarath informed Lo’qui as a lone individual stuck out at the designated meeting place.

[kevna]

Riasu - Candidate

Riasu raised an eyebrow, both annoyed and intrigued that there was another surprise. Since when was Lo’qui and Jarath a mule cart? She didn’t respond to either, not feeling the need to voice her annoyance, especially in front of his kids. As they took off Riasu enjoyed the air in her hair and the feeling of power under wings. It wasn’t long later that they found the stranger they were picking up. She heard Jarath point the guy out to his rider, and narrowed her eyes.

Asirikai - Lord Holder Candidate

Asirikai had spent a large amount of coin for his current outfit. He wore a deep violate long sleeve V-neck shirt with black ties. Black trousers, a back vest, and thick black boots finished the look, meeting Mavrosi colors in a look of complete confidence. He would be seeing many of his family members this gather, and no more did he wear the dark green and orange of his family hold. It was a statement. He knew it. Asirikai briefly wondered how his father would look at him. Disappointed? Proud? Dirinsin was in the running as well, and he didn’t know where his father stood. He knew where his mother stood. She routed for him. He was looking forward to seeing her.

The time was fast approaching, and he stepped out of his room, moving towards the outer Hold area, and a clearing that A’zael had designated for pickup. He moved quickly and assuredly, there was no point in a slow pace. He made sure he was visible and stood waiting for only a few seconds. Asirikai was pleased when the dragon and rider showed up not too long after. His timing was impeccable. It wouldn’t be right keeping a future Lord Holder waiting. He was even more pleased, and a little in awe, when he noticed the size and color of the dragon. He had never seen such a large bronze. A gold maybe, but not a bronze.

The bronze circled closer to land, and Asirikai lifted an arm in greeting. He tried not to show displeasure when he noticed children and a woman on board. The rider’s wife or maybe companion, as she didn’t look old enough to have kids? He had brought his whole family it seemed, to cart the future Lord Holder to the gather. That was rather annoying. He didn’t really like kids all that much either, so that didn’t help.

“Hoy there, rider! I am Asirikai.” He called out, remembering to be charming. Better to ignore the fact that he was being carted around like any other person.

[tovaana]

Lo’qui :: Bronze Jarath

Lo’qui undid the knotted rope ladder that unfurled and fell down Jarath’s side. It was small compared to his large striped body, but sometimes necessary for those not used to climbing dragons. As it fell, Lo’qui expertly slid down his dragon’s hind leg and jumped off the last few feet.

“Greetings!” Lo’qui countered, noticing lightly that the man had not added ‘bronze’ in his greeting of ‘rider’. He tucked that away, not with a vengeful sort of feeling, but with curiosity. Any Lord Holder candidate is someone who wants power, obviously. From the look of his expensive clothes that were already Mavros colors (something he still needed to amend himself), he was also obviously making a statement of his loyalty. Nothing too out of the ordinary, yet.

Usually Lo’qui wouldn’t care, because back at Ierne, he knew Jarath had not been motivated enough to catch the boring gold queen. Here, though, with everything up in the air, he worried with the low supply of adult bronzes that his name could be on the chopping block for Weyrleader. He wasn’t opposed to it, but he had just arrived, and he hoped he could get to know his weyr a bit more personally… starting with the candidates that wanted to be Lord Holder of Mavros.

He knew Riasu wouldn’t want to be help up by a conversation. So, he kept it short and sweet. “I am Lo’qui, this is Bronze Jarath. You will be joining Riasu, my sister and dragon candidate, and my two youngest children.” With little pause to let the man speak , just long enough for his name perhaps(for men of politics seemed to like to speak), he gestured to his dragon. “Shall we?” He abruptly moved away and stood by where the rope ladder fell to and held on to the base of it to let the man climb.

kevna