Breathing {Ghost/K'tar}

[Simile]

She sat on the edge of the rocks looking down at the waters below, her blues diving and flying back up as they played and tried to fight with each other... or play. Whatever the case may be. She just closed her eyes and took a deep breath, breathing in the moisture ridden air. It was wonderful... and beautiful. She narrowed her eyes. And yet here she was, isolated again, feeling as though it was entirely deceptive here. She didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit. she had yet to gain a friend ... or any worshipers or followers of any kind. She could only hope for the best, she supposed. Only hope for smething more to come of this.

She bit her lip and looked down to where her flitters flew again. She wondered what she would do without them... She couldn't even truly imagine it.

She slowly stood, her eyes taking on what lay beyond these cliffs adn feeling the air which threatened to push her over the edge. So she took a step backward, feeling each shift of the rock beneath her feet. She simply couldn't do much more at this point than step back from the edge as if she were afraid that she was going to fall from the edge, though somehow she doubted that.

She felt Zigfried land on her shoulder and looked to where he sat. She looked up just in time for Amp to fall down towards her, his blue wings fairing as she raised her arm for him to land on, which he did. "That's my boy...." she said softly, gently scratching under his chin. he crooned appreciatively and happily as she scratched his chin. Zigfried hissed irritably and she frowned and scratched his chin as well. "Don't worry... you're both my boys."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar walked along the top of the cliff, Viarth following closely behind. The occasional gusts of wind were inconvenient, threatening push him off the rocks when he stood up straight instead of traveling in a stalking crouch.

K’tarMine, why are you thinking of traveling along tops-of-human-house-home-places?

Because that’s what I was doing when I learned to move like… K’tar’s reply trailed off as his gaze caught on the person standing in front of him, two Blue firelizards in attendance. Because of their relative positions, he couldn’t quite tell who the other person was, though she was maybe a few inches shorter than he, and the sun was drawing red highlights in her dark-brown hair. He didn’t think they’d met before; but he’d been rather busy recently, and had just gotten his free time back, so that wasn’t exactly unusual, particularly with Candidates being brought in for the next Hatching.

Abruptly, he realized that he’d just been standing there, staring at this unknown young woman without saying anything. After all, it wasn’t like he was doing anything questionable, so politeness demanded that he at least inform her of his presence, which he did by quietly clearing his throat.

“Hey, I’m K’tar, of Purple Viarth,” he said, already starting to offer his hand in a formal greeting.

[Simile]

Chantrea didn't notice him at first... but Zigfried did and he turned with a low hiss to the intruder. Chantrea frowned slightly and turned, then her expression melting into a small smile as she looked at him. "Hi," she said, "I am Chantrea." She bowed slightly to him as if she were back in her own clan.

She reached out for his hand with a smile and took him in. He was handsome. And a weryling. She wondered if he would stick around for awhile. She eyed him with interest and looked at his purple. He was a pretty purple dragon, that was for sure.

She gently scratched Amp's eyeridges again.

((Sorry... so short... ;-; ))

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

((Short's ok ))


K’tar hesitated for a second, but he didn’t really have anywhere to be, at least after having altered the chore list last night to remove himself from duty for the day, so he decided to stick around. After all, Chantrea was definitely pretty, with a heart-shaped face containing almond-shaped, dark-brown eyes that were about the same color as her hair. Ok, he wasn’t sure about the hissing firelizard, but the other one seemed friendly enough.

“Do you mind if we join you?” he asked, taking her hand.

Mine, your thoughts are… odd?

K’tar quickly stopped his train of thought, by forcing himself to mentally recite the names of all the Wingleaders and Wingseconds currently at Rainbow Mists. Once finished with that list however… “What are your Blues’ names?” There, that was an innocent enough question.

[Simile]

Chantrea smiled and sent soothing feelings to her flitter even as she gave the slightest blush at his touch. "We wouldn't mind at all."

She was quiet as she looked back out to the skies overhead. She smiled at his question, and both Zigfried and Amp seemed rather pleased that they were being noticed. "This is Zigfried," she said, motioning to the one who had been hissing, "and this is Amp." SHe motioned to the one who had been more friendly and Amp fluttered his wings rather proudly. "Tell me, K'tar, how are you and Viarth doing today?"

She, unlike K'tar, had nothing to worry about in thinking he was a handsome young man - her same age she was almost sure of it. His grey-blue eyes were fascinating and she caught herself looking into those lovely eyes and had to look away. He was lanky and lean and perhaps not the tallest young man she had met, but he was plenty tall enough...

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“We’re doing rather well,” K’tar said with a smile. He didn’t know whether to be glad or disappointed when she looked away, though he was definitely glad that Zigfried had stopped hissing. Certainly, it was easier to keep his thoughts in the right area, but, surely he was at least moderately interesting?

Viarth arched his neck and shifted his weight onto his back legs, looking rather like a spirited runner, only far more handsome. His seemed to think that there was something special about this person, so there was no harm in looking good. He knew that His would approve, though he still couldn’t quite sort out those below-surface-thoughts that danced through His’s mind.

“What about you?” K’tar asked. “How are you and these fine handsome Blues doing?” Recalling her bow, he wondered if she had been part of a trading clan. Maybe she could hook me up with a few knives, he thought, trying to keep his mind off her distractingly pretty face.

Why should you not think about it? If you find her pretty you should say so, and observe her more.

K’tar was only saved from gaping by half a lifetime’s training in manners. That and the knowledge that Viarth didn’t know where that road might go. Of course, he wanted it to, but still…

Because Viarth, if I do that, I’ll start thinking things that it wouldn’t be good for you to know.

Says who it’d be bad for me?

The Weyrling Master.

Rules were made to be broken.

K’tar reflected that arguing with Viarth was frequently impossible. It didn’t help that mostly he was in agreement with Viarth’s statement, rather than the Weyrling Master’s directives. It's not good for Viarth, he reminded himself, forcing his mind to change thought trains once more.

"Are you from a trading clan?" he asked.

[Simile]

Chantrea looked at him out of the corner of her eye with a small smile. She hoped he wanted her attention... Maybe playing hard to get, though, would be a good thing... She gently stroked Zigfried's head. "I'm glad to hear that." She flashed him her most dazzling smile before carefully sitting down on a nearby rock, allowing her flitters to reorient themselves on her person, Amp sitting on one shoulder and Zigfried clinging to her back.

"He's magnificent." She looked at Viarth and looked him over. Oh yes. "More beautiful than the finest stallion and finer than any bronze I've seen."

She looked at him with a soft smile. "We're doing alright. Starving for a little companionship, isn't that right boys?" she asked her flitters with what came very close to a giggle, a soft tinkling sound.

If Chantrea knew what was going through the young rider's mind and the word's of his dragon... she might have been a bit flattered. Though her vanity would have likely gotten the better of her - since she often thought she deserved such attention. Not just that but attention in general.

Ah. So he wished t know about her past... "Well... I suppose you could say that." She shrugged nonchalantly, but in her mind, she was remembering her clan, her family - they were thieves, murderers, criminals... not simple traders. What would he say if he knew that?

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth held himself perfectly still, his eyes swirling blue-green. He always enjoyed attention, and was quite pleased that the female-human-Mine-thinks-oddly-around found him handsome. To have said he was finer than a Bronze. Viarth’s eyes whirled faster, their color slipping a little towards the green of pleasure.

K’tar nodded in response to Chantrea’s statement about starving for company, as he couldn’t think of what he should say. He was now focusing on a patch of sky just to the right of Chantrea’s face, since controlling his thoughts and meeting her eyes were mutually exclusive activities. For the first time since Impressing, he found himself almost regretting Viarth’s constant presence. After all, if Viarth wasn’t right there… but he was, and that was the end of it.

K’tar was a bit puzzled by Chantrea’s reluctance to commit to naming her family as traders. Those traders he’d met back at Stormy Plains (on the rare chances that he got to speak with them) had always seemed very proud of their identities. Maybe something happened so that they had to take up trading, but they weren’t originally traders, he thought.

“That sounds like fun,” K’tar said, choosing to ignore her hesitation until he had more information. He was thinking about how he’d often envied the trader-kids their ability to go anywhere, to do just about anything. “The farthest away from home I ever got to go before coming here was when Lord Famoran took Jatheiron and me down to the Muphar port.”

[Simile]

Chantrea watched the young purple with a smile. Definitely a regal and beautiful creature. Much more deserving of the term king than any bronze or crimson... or tiger. Or... so she thought.

She shifted her gaze back to him and took him in again. He seemed to not quite be looking at her... That was kind of disappointing. Of course, as a weyrling... Mmm... another thought crossed her mind and she looked at Viarth. She couldn't harm a dragon like him.

"Sort of..." she said with a soft smile. "Traveling is the fun part. My family is the hard part." She couldn't help but think that if only he knew the truth... he would understand why she was so reluctant. "I've been all over Pern - the North, the South... most everywhere between...."

She smiled. "He must be a kind Lord then... I have met some who are not so kind."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth raised his wings with a warble, basking in Chantrea’s smile. His was happy and they had made another friend, one who recognized that he, Viarth, was handsome.

K’tar smiled at Viarth’s display. Show off, he chided.

and you’re not?

I never show off, K’tar replied, fighting to keep his face straight in the face of the disbelief that Viarth used as a response. It helped that he was trying to figure out what to say in response to Chantrea. She sounded reluctant to talk about her family, so he didn’t want to bring up more about her travels, since that would make her think more about her family. He was curious as to why she didn’t seem to want to discuss them, but then he didn’t like discussing his brother, and his family was really not that bad. Not like Jatheiron’s family of course, but such awesomeness was hard to attain.

“He is,” K’tar said finally, recalling all the things he’d learned from Lord Famoran, including how to ride. “Some of them definitely aren’t though; the one time that there was a Conclave and I met Lord Brencis…” Despite his efforts to suppress it, some of his dislike and fear from that meeting colored his tone. He had neither liked nor felt safe around the tyrannical Lord of Icy Caverns.

He hesitated, unsure if there might be some bad memory associated with his next question, but what bad thing could be associated with being Searched?

“What was it like getting Searched?” he asked, still not, quite, looking at her.

[Simile]

Chantrea watched the purple dragonet. "Is it alright if I give you eyeridges a scratch, Viarth?" she asked the dragon directly, standing and approaching him with a soft smile.

She didn't even notice that he was having a hard time keeping his face straight. He could speak at his own pace, so she let him thing as she reached out her hand to scratch the handsome purple's eyeridges. She knew a little about dragons,though she didn't make claims to be an expert, but she had learned a lot since coming here.

She chuckled. "You don't have to pretend to like or be indifferent to him. I certainly won't." She sighed softly. "I have met many more tyrants than good lords, I must say. Though Famoran has a great reputation - I have never met him, though I believe he and my family probably met at one point."

She looked at her two flitters for a moment as they took off again to go play, falling down along the side of the cliff and then broke out into an argument. She sighed. "They never learn..."

"Oh... well. It was great, I suppose. I met the search rider while I was visiting the Hold. I was alone at the time, actually... So I just took my things and went. I have to say... I like the Wyer far better than the life I had before. Even if staying in one place is a little bit boring." She didn't talk about how she had been on an assignment to steal from the the very Lord Holder he had such good association with and that the only thing that had stopped it from happening was... her bieng searched.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Why should it not be? Viarth replied, lowering his head to bring his eyeridges into easy reach. After all, they are made for scratching. He butted his head forward, pushing the closest eyeridge against Chantrea’s hand.

K’tar tossed his head back with a laugh. “You’ve done it now,” he said teasingly, as Viarth’s eyelids drooped over the weyrling’s green-whirling eyes. “Now he’s going to seek you out for scratches at all hours.”

Seeing the firelizards disappear over the edge of the cliff, K’tar breathed out in an imperceptible sigh of relief. Amp hadn’t really bothered him, but Zigfried’s hissing had reminded him a little too strongly of his brother’s firelizard “Rusty-Trash”. Briefly, he wondered which Lord Holders she’d met that were so tyrannical; most of the ones that he’d encountered (except the notable occasion involving Lord Brencis) weren’t really tyrannical, although it was generally wise not to cross them. Must have been some of the Northern ones, he thought, especially if Brencis is an example of them. After all, most of the Lord Holders near Stormy Plains, as least until one reached Golden Flight, he considered to be in the stern but fair with a sense of humor category, which was where he also placed Lord Famoran.

“It’s good you like it here,” K’tar commented. He wondered what she’d Impress, and spared a moment of hope that it would be something that Viarth could chase.

Viarth’s nearest eye opened, his attention fixed on His. Why should I want to do something like that? he asked, ceasing to croon as he turned his mind away from the lovely scratching and towards the strange thoughts in His's mind. Chasing is only fun if one swaps off who leads. Racing is what is fun.

K’tar didn’t respond. He was too busy burying inappropriate thoughts under his rather scanty recollections from the prior day’s lesson, which he’d spent calculating how much more he needed to save before he could purchase more knives, rather than paying attention. Of course it had been a recap of “handling conflict resolution” which they’d already done in their first two sevendays as Weyrlings. Yeah, this time around it had been focused on LifeWings, rather than the Riders of RMW, but still, how many times did people need to hear “don’t be insulting” and “no encouraging violence” before it sank in? He didn’t even know why he was stuck in the “Diplomacy” classes, but the look he’d gotten when he’d asked to drop them had communicated quite well that that was not an option.

[Simile]

Chantrea grinned, scratching gently, but rather insistently, her other hand rubbing his royal purple chin. Chantrea smiled gently. "That's not so bad... least then you'll likely be taggin along with him and I can see you both... Or at least the handsome purple."

She was quiet as she showered Viarth with attention, not thinking too much of holders, but rather what it would be when she Impressed her own dragon. Sh wondered what it would be. Or if she even would Impress. But of course, she would. She knew she would. Why else was she searched?

"Definitely. I don't think I'll be leaving any time soon. I often wonder what I'll Impress." She didn't know - but she could always hope or imagine this or that. Not that it really mattered - if she didn't Impress.... maybe she would move on some day... unless something really kept her here. She did like it though... hmm... she couldn't say that about most places.

Chantrea blinked and looked at Viarth as his attention became fixed on K'tar. she wondered what they were talking about. She wondered if it had something to do with her.

She watched K'tar before giving a low whistle, Amp spinning back up, baring a gift for his mistress. It was a shiny rock and she smiled at the flitter. "What a good boy... you certainly like shiny things, don't you?" she said softly to the flitter as he perched on her shoulder, still holding the shiny rock.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“What are you hoping to Impress?” K’tar asked, refusing to let himself dwell on his sudden hope that his presence might be a draw, though he wasn’t sure if he cared for being upstaged by Viarth. He kept that feeling submerged though, after all, Viarth wouldn’t understand it yet. He didn’t say anything about his private hopes on the matter of her Impression either, since ‘I hope it’s something that Viarth will be able to Fly’ was hardly an appropriate statement when he’d only known her a few moments. He might not have cared under other circumstances, but he was trying to make a good impression on Chantrea, and manners were hence paramount.

The friendly Blue firelizard, Amp, returned then, holding a shiny rock that looked like nothing so much as… “Is that a gemstone? Where’d he find that?” Realizing he’d spoken the questions aloud, K’tar briefly wished that there was some way he could vanish. So much for good impressions, he thought. Now she’s going to think I’m some sort of little kid.

“If you want, I could introduce you to Lord Famoran next time he’s around,” he offered, trying to recover some of the face that he’d lost, if only in his own mind.

[Simile]

Chantrea seemed to think about that for a moment. "I haven't given it too much thought, honestly. There are so many colors... And a lot of varying personalities amongst dragons... I just... think I'd rather Impress a female rather than a male..." She seemed to really be considering it for a long moment. "Based on what I know of the colors... I would like to Impress a Gold... or Rainbow or something... but I'd be more than happy to Impress a Citrine... or a female Purple or even a Green. In the end, what does it really matter? You'll be happy anyways, right?" She turned her brown eyes to him with a smile. She wondered what was going on in his head.

Chantrea just grinned. "Oh... Amp is always finding things in interesting places... I really have no idea where he found this one... someone probably dropped it or something..." She knew exactly where he had gotten it and it most certainly had actually been dropped this time. Though... the owner was still about. It was a nice sized, well cut sapphire colored gemstone. Which was probably why Amp had gone and picked it up without any order to do so. Anything blue and sparkly was the best - he was a blue that was.... partial to blue sparkly things. She was still grinning and barely concealing a giggle at K'tar's question. He seemed so embarrassed by it.... and she wondered why for a moment, but of course.. she should be surprised if t was because... he liked her. Even if they had only recently met. She wasn't entirely trusting of men - though she did prefer them... it was a matter of what her life had been... Chantrea had always been generally distrusting of most men... though those who "worshiped" her or were her friends... she could learn to get along with... He'd have to prove himself, though. She had already decided.

Chantrea blinked and seemed to think about this for a moment. "Sure... I suppose that would be alright." She couldn't help but wonder if the Lord would recognize her... or think her familiar. She was certain her family had been at his Hold to steal not so long ago....