You Should Have Stayed Home [Open]

[BlaidDrwg]

274.01.09
Early Afternoon

Char was soaked, straight through her oiled slicker and deep down into her bones. It was the kind of drenching one imagined to never be dry again after and was made all the more miserable in the humidity. Her shoulders had taken on the hunch that was almost instinctive when one battled the falling droplets though it did little to combat the damage already done. Two candlemarks she'd walked as the rain had poured on, two sharding candlemarks that had managed to turn her already sour mood into something that barely abated as the Weyr finally came into sight.

After submitting to the Weaverhall for transfer paperwork, it had taken more than a sevenday to receive response. Even with their approval it took another sevenday between soothing her parents for leaving again so soon and packing before she had deemed herself suitably ready to travel. Just because the trip was short did not mean that she should be unprepared. It was getting into the rainy season now, with big, fat drops driving at a near constant rate for days on end, leaving roads often impassable until they could be properly shored up. Everything seemed to exist in a state of wet, or dirty, though the more often seen was a combination of the two.

There had also been word regarding the dangers of travelling in the shadows of the jungle, of people within that were capable of horrors most common, honest folk grey gilled to even consider passing by. Lucky then that Char was not most common, honest folk. She may have looked wiry and delicate on a good day, but she had the temper and enough practice slugging to make someone sorry they bothered most other days. That had been the explaination she'd given her mother, after telling her that no sightings of the junglefolk had even occurred near the road had failed. In the end, she was an adult and made her own decisions, but it didn't mean her parents had to be pleased with it. They'd made sure she carried a beltknife, with the understanding that it was "just in case", but she'd yet to even remove it from the sheath on her hip. Instead she was far busier being miserable about the rain.

The plan had been to thread the needle between storms, where the eventual break had to happen in the clouds. Except that it hadn't for two days and finally, rather than arrive late and get a mark against her contract, she'd set out early in the morning. The goal was to beat the humidity before it became unbearable and she'd managed at least that much. One slightly less depressing blip on and overall wash of a day. Hah. Wash. She could use a wash. Oh, Faranth, what she wouldn't give for a wash and a set of properly dry clothes.

It wasn't soon enough by any standards that the stone arch drew up before her and she paused just before, straightening her clothes out of habit more than anything. Not like she could really fix the mud stains on her boots, though her skirt was hiked up high enough that it had escaped most of the icky stuff. Her fingers tightened on the reins of the runnerbeast tromping along behind her, giving a low cluck to draw the creature closer. If they were going to do this, they may as well do it properly.

And so the young woman looked up, shielding her eyes from the rain in search of the watch.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Had someone asked K’tar what, exactly, he had done to have been ordered to stand watch, the Weyrling would have been unable to tell them. Not because he didn’t keep running tabs of all the stuff he’d done… well, at least he kept track of the major stuff, but because he didn’t know which of several close-together actions had landed him with this particular wet, miserable, excuse of a duty. Needless to say, he did not expect anyone else to be voluntarily out in the weather, so he was surprised when a woman approached, leading a runnerbeast. The runner must have been an experienced and well-trained creature, for it didn’t bolt, even though it could surely smell the dragons.

With a sigh, K’tar stepped closer, so that he would be clearly visible to the newcomer. She was taller than him, with what looked like it might be mahogany colored hair, if the rain hadn’t darkened it to dark brown, and a severe face. From the way she was standing, she’d been out in the rain for more than just a few minutes, and K’tar was suddenly glad that he’d agreed to try out Viarth’s suggestion of wearing a piece of thick wherhide over his head, so that the rain couldn’t get down into his jacket. Granted, it made the humidity and heat worse, but it kept him from getting soaked by the rain, at least.

“Greetings, welcome to Rainbow Mists Weyr. What is your name and business here?” K’tar privately thought the question was stupid, but when he’d altered it the prior day he’d gotten to clean what felt like most the Weyr, so he stuck to the traditional phrasing.

Hearing K’tar speak, Viarth glanced over from the middle of the Bowl, where he was sporting in the rain. K’tarMine, you should invite her to come play in the rain with us, the Purple weyrling suggested. Now at five months, Viarth was far too large to be called a “little dragon” for he was already as long in the body, at about 15 feet, as full-grown dragons of the smaller colors.

Us? K’tar asked sharply. He glanced over his shoulder, only to see that his now five month old canine had joined Viarth. Shardit, he added to himself, turning back to face the newcomer. Now I’m going to have to wash Altahyr as well as Viarth.

[BlaidDrwg]

She was tired, she was soaked and she was all out of patience after half of her morning was spent trudging through the mud. The first thing she wanted to hear was just not whatever it was K'tar had just said. Not that it particularly mattered what he'd said, she probably would've given him the same unamused blank stare if he'd told her she'd sprouted wings and started breathing fire herself. She pinched the bridge of her nose to stem the tirade that had been building along the road with each splash of mud that stained her hem or time she had to navigate an extra slick patch or even the fact that the road was so washed out that she couldn't even ride the runner like she'd planned.

Just think about a warm bath and some food, oh and the dry clothes...

One long, slow breath in, then a long slow one out and Char found she could probably trust herself to response - maybe politely. "Charlynna Cliffborn, Journeyman Weaver assigned to... well here." Dark eyes made to flip down and then up the young man, rider she amended after her gaze made the cursory swoop across to his knots. Well, technically he wasn't a rider, but he appeared to be the person on watch and that had to be good enough for now. If he wasn't the person on watch, well she didn't even want to know what kind of person it took to actually enjoy the buckets of rain and atrocious humidity that came with it. Her eyes narrowed, head tipping down a little to peak a little better under the hide the boy was hidden under. She should've thought of that. At least his hair looked dry, drier than hers anyway.

Shells, she probably looked a sight!

Without realizing it a hand was already brushing back the limp curls from where they'd become plastered to her forehead and cheeks. "What are you looking at?" The girl looked beyond the boy, following his own look to a dragon beyond and a brow lifted. Purple thread in his knots suggested the dragon might belong to him, though the attentiveness of the boy did a good job of cementing that for her. Pfft. Dragons. Having never met one in person, Char was not inclined to do so now - especially with a runner pawing nervously behind her.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

At the woman’s reply, somewhat curt, but then, this was a bad day to be out, K’tar mentally brought up the list of people that were expected and where they were supposed to go. There was a Journeyman Weaver expected, he recalled, though the name eluded him. What with the weather, he hadn’t expected her to show up until later, after his punishment was over, so he hadn’t paid attention to the details. Obviously, that had been a mistake.

K’tar opened his mouth to respond to the woman’s question, then closed it again. It was what and miserable, and it would hardly be polite of him to make a new resident stay outside any longer than was strictly necessary. As if to make action more important, the slight wind shifted direction, carrying with it dragon-scent and making the runnerbeast behind the woman paw at the ground in nerves.

Viarth, can you tell someone to relay to the Lower Caverns that the Journeyman Weaver is here? he asked.

Viarth paused, looking back towards the Weyr. Altahyr immediately jumped at his unmoving playmate, but Viarth knocked the canine off him with his tail, a move the young weyrling had learned rather quickly, for the canine liked to jump on just about anyone or anything.

Journeyman Weaver Charlynna Cliffborn is here. Having delivered the message, Viarth returned to sporting in the mud with Altahyr.

A couple drudges came out, looking about as happy to be outside as K’tar felt about being on watch. They were, from where their attention was focused, clearly there to help the Journeyman with her possessions and the runnerbeast.

K’tar sighed. He’d been hoping to be able to offer to help Journeyman Charlynna himself, so that he could get out of the weather, but no such luck. “These guys will help you get settled in,” he told her. “Or, one of them will, the other will take your runner over to the stables.” He’d intended to say more, but then another a rider came out, signaling him to go with the group back inside.

“Actually, looks like my watch just ended,” K’tar said. “If you wouldn’t made, I can show you to the Head… to the right office to check in at.” He had swallowed the word ‘Headwoman’ about halfway through saying it, he still didn’t like thinking about what had happened.

[BadWolf]

The weyrling's announcement reached more ears than just the other dragons. There were smaller ears that were very excited to hear an all to familiar name broadcast across the Weyr. One minute she was warm and dry in the safety of the living caverns, having been supervising her human's work efforts, and the next there was a pop a short way above the muddy weyrling and the canine shaped mudpie. Crooning sweetly to the purple 'big one', she flitted lazily over to land on the wherhide over the boys head, not realizing she was indeed sitting on his noggin. She chirped and crooned her greeting to the young woman who had been so close to her human since she had come to the hold. And now here she was at their new home!

Remembering something she'd found floating around in her humans head, an old memory from when he was just a boy, she lept into the air and disappeared with another pop. She wasn't gone but a few moments before she reappeared, with a large flower in her front claws. A big, waterlogged yellow thing that was likely stunning when it wasn't soaked through with rain. Landing lightly on Charlynna's shoulder, she stretched her wing out to shade the woman's head and face as best she could and offered her the pretty flower with a soft croon of pleasure.

Mistborn- Purple Flitter

[/right][/size]

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth crooned back. He watched the cute-small-looks-like-me flitt as she landed on K’tarHis’s head and chirped to the new-arrival-girl-is-wet. He would have watched longer, for he was always curious about new things, but he was distracted by having to prevent Altahyr from leaping up his legs and unto his back. The canine was annoying about that, but at least the game was a fun one.

It wasn’t polite to pester someone, but K’tar had been slipping in manners a bit in the past few months, because as soon as the firelizard appeared again with a flower, he opened his mouth and asked: “Charlynna, is the cute little firelizard yours?”

He started to reach to pet it, but remembered enough manners to know better than to do that without permission, at least.

[BlaidDrwg]

The conversation between rider and dragon was something lost on Charlynna, who had never really spent any length of time in a weyr let alone in the presence of riders. That faraway look in his expression she just sort of took as distraction, which was fine with her assuming he got something done. The appearance of drudges was at least a welcome sight. It meant she was in fact that much closer to actually getting her bath and the rapidly growing list of other creature comforts she was lacking.

"You have no idea how happy I will be to be out of this rain." Her eyes flicked critically over the younger boy. Perhaps he did know. The girl's shoulders rose and fell in an easy shrug. If someone could just point her in the direction of the kitchens she'd be in business. "Actually, if you just point me to a fireplace - I think I'd rather just dry out." She chuckled softly, shaking her sopping hair before looking down at the mess that was her jacket.

So engrossed in her own little mental checking, Char was almost surprised by the appearance of a very purple and very chatty flitter. She'd been pulling on her jacket, trying to convince it into something like a shape, when the twittering gave her pause and she looked up with narrowed eyes. It's disappearance and the subsequent reappearance solicited a gasp from the girl as a weight was just suddenly there on her shoulder.

"You naughty thing." A hand had already reached up for the flower when K'tar spoke and she shook her head. "No, she's a friends." And when she saw him she was going to beat him with this lovely flower. Until then though, she reached into one of her many pockets and withdrew a small scrap of jerky, the remainder of her lunch and held it up to the flitter. "Go say hello you silly thing."

While she'd been bothering with Mist's appearance the drudges had managed to cross the yard and one took the reins quietly, nodding the the weaver as he did so. They'd take care of her runner or something to that effect was murmured, as well as something along the lines of her things being transported to her room and did she need any help checking in? Char shook her head and nodded to K'tar. "Looks like I already have a guide thanks." And they were on their way.

[BadWolf]

Mist crooned sweetly at the chidding, nuzzling against Charlynna's cheek in greeting. She gave her traditional imagery of a sunrise over the mountains in greeting. She took the offered tidbit gently, stuffing it into her mouth and swallowing it as if someone or something might steel it from her if she wasted time enjoying her food, though once she had finished, she gave a feeling of thankfulness and joy for the treat. She quickly turned her attention to the young rider, the man with the big one that looked just like her if she were big and, well... male. She extended her neck, turning her head for his attentions on the side of her jaw and down her feminine neck. She extended the same mental greeting to him, the sun rising to greet the day, just as she greeted him.

Mistborn- Purple Flitter

[/right][/size]

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar nodded absently in response to Charlynna’s reply. He was caught up in rubbing the Purple firelizard, who seemed to like it, at least. He smiled at the image of a sunrise over the mountains, which he reckoned was the firelizard’s way of saying hello. “You’re a friendly little thing,” he murmured, rubbing the side of the firelizard’s jaw.

It was at that exact moment that Altahyr, covered in mud, decided he wanted to investigate the small Purple, which he did by barreling over and leaping up, getting his muddy paws all over the shoulders of K’tar’s wher-hide jacket as he pushed his nose towards the Purple firelizard, trying to catch its scent. In the doing, he nearly pushed the side of his head into K’tar’s face, for they were nearly of a height when Altahyr stood on his hind legs.

“Altahyr, off!” K’tar commanded, simultaneously pushing the dog with a raised knee and both hands. For a moment Altahyr hung there, standing on his back legs and leaning against K’tar’s hands, then the canine fell forward onto all fours, tongue still lolling out.

K’tar looked at the shoulders of his jacket and sighed. He was going to have to scrub the mud off, or at least stand out in the rain a good bit more than he would like, so that it would get washed off.

“Well, do you mind if I tag along?” he asked. At the very least, if he got Viarth and Altahyr out of the rain then they might dry off enough for him to break off most of the caked mud.

[BlaidDrwg]

Charlynna turned back to the young rider and offered him a very rare smile, though it ended nearer to a smirk than anything. It did at least do wonders to brighten up her face considering how absolutely down trodden she'd started out. Her head tipped towards the now departing drudges, holding in what may very well have been a laugh. "I wasn't talking to you. I meant them. You already offered to escort me, did you not?" The girl's eyes seemed to glint in spite of the cloud cover, as if to further show her amusement for his misunderstanding. Then her eyes fell to the dog and the amusement slid away, only to be replaced by a proper smile. Char liked dogs, especially proper dogs like this one. Some people in Melisong had gotten into the habit of keeping dogs for prissy pets and that didn't really set too well with the girl, sea-fairer at heart that she was.

"Come on then, which way to dry land?" Her smile continued, apparently there to stay for the moment. Though she did put a hand to the flitters back in afterthought. It was still a little odd to have one so close to her and she'd thought she'd managed to convince the creature that she wasn't ever so fond of her. Apparently not.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar’s answering grin was broad and open. He caught out of the rain and he got to socialize. Two of his higher callings had just been achieved, and at the exact same time! He was practically bouncing in place as he replied.

“So I did, so I did.” He glanced over at Viarth and Altahyr. He didn’t want Altahyr to jump on Charlynna, which would be disrespectful in the extreme (and would make him look like an absolute tunnel-snake) but he didn’t want them staying out any longer either.

“Altahyr, heel Viarth,” K’tar commanded, pointing to the Purple for good measure. Silently, he added to Viarth: Head back into the Barracks, and… just stay in the common area with Altahyr.

The canine’s head drooped, but he did go over and follow the Purple towards the Weyrling Barracks.

“Dry land’s pretty much on the other side of the Bowl,” K’tar replied. “If you’ll follow me…?” he let the words trail off into a half question, but started off across the Bowl at a comfortable walking pace, confident that Charlynna would follow. “You’ll be reporting to Mariallyn,” he commented as they stepped through the main entrance and into the hall beyond. “Her office is right this way,” he continued, taking off the piece of wherhide he’d had covering his red-brown hair and tucking it under his arm before turning off to the left hand passage. “She’s running the people end of things. When you need supplies, you’ll want to talk to Garvalla. I don’t know her office off the top of my head, but Mariallyn will probably mention it anyway. Do you have any special requests as far as living arrangements go?”

[BadWolf]

Fond or not, hers liked the girl and that was enough to make Mist like her too, even if she'd been given every indication that the girl didn't enjoy her company. Swooning, the purple flitter nuzzled against Charlynna's cheek as she reached up and rested her hand across Mists back, ever careful not to dig her talons into unprotected shoulders. That was something she'd been taught at a young age, never use your claws unless it was an emergency or the human had a jacket on to protect them. She continued to watch the mud canine, rather confused asto why it was made of mud instead of fluffy soft fur like all the other canines she'd seen before. Must be a weyr thing! She kept her wing outstretched to shield Char as much as possible -even if it wasn't much- while they crossed the bowl, Once inside, she tucked her wings, careful to avoid fluttering her wings and getting the girls face wet. She kept quiet while the two humans talked. Well, while the boy talked and the girl listened

Mistborn- Purple Flitter

[/right][/size]

[BlaidDrwg]

She followed his look and nodded, glad enough that she'd neared her goal had so very little left to go. Goal of course, being somewhere dry preferably, followed by, well shards she wasn't actually sure how she wanted to prioritize her desires. Just crossing the bowl seemed like enough of a task to keep her other wants at bay, smiling to herself as some of the downpour was held at bay by a purple umbrella of sorts. So perhaps the flitter wasn't all bad.

Within the dry embrace of the hall, Charlynna pulled back her hood and revealed the drenched dark length that was her hair. Soaked pieces stuck to her cheeks while others curled with the humidity. She ran her fingers through it, pulling the entire mass over one shoulder and wrung it like she might laundry before throwing it back.

"Mariallyn?" The girl's tone held inquiry, though she repeated the name mostly to cement it into her memory. Something about it was odd, though what she couldn't place her finger upon. It was perhaps the oddity that lay in two people she'd need to see as opposed to one as she'd thought was typical in weyrs. Headwoman as opposed to headwomen. Her head shook to loose the thoughts, as it really wasn't yet any of her business either way.

"I don't suppose dry would be obvious? Though nearer to my work room than not." The girl's shoulders lifted and she flashed the younger man a far more winsome smile than had seemed likely in the bowl. Dry did wonders for her attitude.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“Yes, Mariallyn took over the rooming after… well, Mariallyn handles the rooms,” K’tar replied, in response to the inquiry of the tone. It would be obvious even to an absolute idiot that there was something wrong, something that the young man clearly didn’t want to discuss, or, from the slightly widened eyes, even remember.

K’tar glanced over towards the Purple firelizard briefly, a bit surprised that the little thing, Mistborn, if he was remembering right, would have flown all the way out to them in the rain, then tracked them back, if Charlynna was not the firelizard’s bonded human. On the other hand, there wasn’t any reason he could think of for the Journeyman Weaver to lie, so Mistborn’s human was probably just a good friend of Charlynna.

“Shouldn’t be too hard to arrange,” K’tar replied, grinning in response to Charlynna’s smile. She looked good when she smiled, he couldn’t help noticing, though he booted the thoughts and responses of the realization to the far edge of his consciousness. Being a Weyrling might well be an honor, and K’tar frankly wouldn’t have traded away Viarth for anything else in the world, but it made the instinctive recognition of attractive females a real pain.

“Mariallyn,” he called, pausing at a doorway. The door stood open, but he didn’t want to just barge in on her. “Journeyman Weaver Charlynna just arrived, from Cliffside.” he paused, then added: “She says she’d like to be somewhere near her work room.”

———
Mariallyn was sitting at her desk, sorting through several of Lindalyn’s notes. It wasn’t a priority task, usually, but there’d been some bickering about duties and living arrangements, and all the parties were, naturally, saying that Lindalyn had promised them those things that they were after, even when it was impossible. There was no way that Lindalyn would have promised two people the same exact room! Hearing a voice call her name, she looked up with a sigh.

Standing outside her office door was one of the older group of Weyrlings and a girl. It took a couple seconds for her to recognize the Weyrling as the class annoyance, K’tar Damoyen of Purple Viarth. The girl was, by K’tar’s announcement, Journeyman Weaver Charlynna.

“Very well,” she responded. “I’m sure that can be arranged.” She looked over the newcomer, fixing Charlynna’s face in her mind and attaching it to the girl’s name. “K’tar, wait outside,” she commanded.

“I’m glad you managed to arrive today,” Mariallyn told Charlynna. “We’ve been rather short-handed since Huzaran and Wetivoco went back to Melisong.” She smiled at the girl. “As to you preference in room, I have three currently available that are no more than a dragonlength from where you will be working. Two of them have windows, but the third’s a little larger.” She saw Mistborn than, and her eyes narrowed in thought.

“You know Sheamus?” she asked curiously. She recognized the firelizard as the little Purple female belonging to one of the newer Candidates.

[BadWolf]

Mist gave a warble of greeting to 'one of the headwomen' as Sheamus called her in private. When no one would explain to the newcomers what had happened to the headwoman and why they had two people splitting the responsibilities typically put on said missing headwoman. Maybe she'd been kidnapped. Killed. Was simply missing somewhere in the forest. No one would even answer those simple questions! So it was just a matter of trying to figure it out without actually asking any questions. But even if there were two headwomen instead of one, Mist and Sheamus would give both women the respect they would normally show to the one.

She gave a quiet and very lady like bugle at the mention of her beloved's name. Mine, the dragons called their humans, and it was a very fitting thing to call their lifemates! She would call her Sheamus that, if she could just figure out how to make the thought of mine turn into the 'word' mine. She'd managed half the word, but till she got the rest, it was just a humming type noise.

Spreading her wings, she dropped off Char's shoulder and onto the rug, ever careful to avoid getting the girl any wetter than she already was. She fluttered her wings as she landed, shaking her body as best a flit could -much like a gangly dog with clumbersome wings strapped onto its back. Unable to contain herself, despite the fact that she knew better, she rubbed her face on the rug, then her neck and before a half minute had passed, she was rolling her whole body about with great abandon! Finally, she stopped, dead still, and looked around to see if she'd been caught.... if she'd be in trouble for rubbing her wet self all over someones nice rug. OOps!

Mistborn- Purple Flitter

[/right][/size]