Existence (Open)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

15.11.20

“Boot! Get back here with that!”

Instead of obeying, the black-hazed little Brick flitt flew higher, out of T’kar’s easy reach, still holding his latest toy in his mouth. He knew that the toys infuriated His, but really, they were such fun.

T’kar glared up at the flitt. Whose shoe is that, anyway? he wondered. They definitely were not his; he kept his in a secured chest at the foot of his cot, a habit he’d picked up after he’d first awoken to find the flitt gnawing on what, at the time, had been his only pair of shoes. Not that they’d been nice shoes, but still.

“Boot,” T’kar said, forcing himself to speak calmly.

The infuriating flitt only flew in a slow figure eight, allowing the shoe to dangle just barely out of T’kar’s reach. From the quickly whirling green eyes, the black-haze Brick was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Watching the flitt, T’kar sighed. He knew that look; it’d take him half the day before he got that shoe. Unless…

Ancalanath?

One of these days I’m going to refuse, Ancalanath said, but he also rumbled a command to Boot, who landed on the cot with a squeal.

T’kar stepped forward and quickly retrieved the shoe. It was, fortunately, only slightly mauled. Where did he get it? he asked Ancalanath, tugging on a shirt before heading off to the kitchens for meat scraps, the shoe held tightly to prevent Boot from stealing it once more.

He doesn’t know.

Great, just great.

It was still early enough that not many people were up, though the cooks were, inevitably, around. Obtaining a bowl of scraps was easy, and T’kar moved out onto the ledge to feed his three, who appeared overhead as soon as he left the kitchen interior. He started to say something to Ancalanath, but the RR Flame had gone back to sleep.

Boot tried to steal the shoe once, but was easily distracted by a piece of leather, which he immediately started shaking and tossing around.

[theorie]

Z'aiel's first day at his new Weyr was not going as well as he'd hoped. He had actually arrived halfway through the night, an error in judgement that he still regretted, though he could sense Silanth's satisfaction from his position sunning in Rukbat's earliest rays up on the Weyrbowl. The bronze would probably be hungry later, but for now, he seemed to be intent on enjoying the lovely warmth. I could eat, the dragon agreed.

The young wingrider smiled sourly. You could always eat. The momentary distraction got him a warning nip from the azure firelizard imperiously awaiting the next bite of herdbeast fat. Z'aiel didn't like that part anyway, and little Jace seemed to think it was a delicious treat rather than something to be discarded; who was he to argue? Waste not, want not. As he cut off a piece of gristle from a cube of stew meat, he let his eyes travel around once more. He had already decided that he was not impressed with how few people were up at this time of day. Unless there had been some party or other event he hadn't been made aware of the night before, this was an absolutely appalling sign that people here didn't have much motivation. Appalling to his sense of duty - but encouraging to the sneaking ambition that was never far from his thoughts.

I could, but I don't, the bronze protested, sitting back on his haunches with his wings partially outstretched. He peered down as though he could see in a direct line to His, though of course it was impossible. But Mine, and Silanth's mindvoice took on a lecturing tone. It's just as likely that anyone who had something to do today has already eaten and gone on to do it.

Z'aiel rolled his eyes expressively, winning an inquiring chirp from Jace as she finished gobbling her treat. The human ran a finger lightly from just above her nostrils between her eyes and down across her spine, smile coming a bit more sincerely at the way her eyes lidded in appreciation of the caress. "We'll just have to see." He quickly finished his breakfast, returned his used bowl to the kitchen, and headed out. The azure flitter swept down to land neatly on his shoulder before he even went through the entryway. Outside, a black-haired individual seemed to be having trouble with his firelizard. Since he hadn't received his assignment to a wing yet, Z'aiel decided to approach the man, thinking that with his particular rank knot, it was possible the guy could point him toward his duties. There had to be something in Rainbow Mists that the Benden transfer was supposed to be doing right now, and walking aimlessly around sure as shards wasn't it. "Excuse me," the young wingrider called brazenly, ignoring the stranger's firelizard (and Jace's interest in him) to snap a salute. "I am Z'aiel, Impressed to Silanth, recently come from Benden Weyr. When can I expect an assignment?" His voice was short of impudent, though there was a poorly hidden touch of impatience.

Jace launched herself from Z'aiel's shoulder, swooping down toward the Brick with a rough rumble of mock fury. She was clearly in a much better mood than her human as she started trying to claim Boot's prize. The bronzerider kept her in the periphery of his vision while listening to the taller man's response; he was familiar with Jace's quicksilver temper, and had no intention of allowing her to cause any mischief he didn't sanction.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar turned slightly at the sound of Z’aiel’s voice. Being as he had been focused on preventing Boot’s attempts to reclaim the shoe, T’kar hadn’t heard the other man approach. He had known that there was a transferee coming in from Benden, though the exact date had been a little unclear.

Unclear no longer, T’kar thought. The newcomer seemed eager enough for an assignment, though something about his tone… He’s probably just really eager to get started, T’kar told himself, reminding himself that he’d gone to sleep far too late the night before and was not going to make any decisions about people until he’d had some food. He devoted about a quarter of his attention to the interaction between Boot and the newcomer’s flitt, which consisted of Boot refusing to let the Azure get a hold of the leather strip, while replying to Z’aiel, whose rank of Bronzerider was confirmed with a quick glance at the shoulder knots.

“Generally you would have been given one by now,” he said with polite confidence, “but Weyleader M’kota got called away and K’nan, whose Wing you’ll be in, is currently running an extra flight drill with M’kota’s Wing. He’ll probably want to talk when he gets back, but that might not be until this evening.”

A trill called more of T’kar’s attention to the flitts. It appeared that Star and Shadow had finished their breakfast, and were interested in what the Azure and Boot were doing. At that exact instant, Star tipped his Crimson head to one side and trilled again, greeting the new flitt. Black Shadow though, shier than his Crimson brother, just pounced on the leather strip and bit it, starting a tugging match with the Boot.

“K’nan said his Wing’s not going to be doing any training today,” T’kar said, smiling at the flitts’ antics, “so it’s a good day to settle in.” He paused for a second then held up the shoe he’d taken from Boot earlier that morning. “This wouldn’t happen to be yours?” he asked.

[theorie]

Z'aiel tried to smooth his face into impassivity. Instead his eyebrows twitched as they stubbornly attempted to draw down against his will. It was just his sharding luck that the two individuals he most needed to speak with were otherwise occupied. Great. So what does that leave us with for today? 'Settling in' was already done as far as he was concerned; Benden Weyr was and always would be his true home. The weyr he had dumped his accumulated possessions into would seem more familiar after he unpacked, but that wasn't a chore he intended to tackle in the middle of the day. Aloud, he grumbled through slightly pursed lips: "I see."

We could do fall and catch practice, Silanth suggested blandly. It was one of his rider's favorite activities - one that would probably land them in hot water if anyone ever caught them at it. Plummeting through the air while a dragon tried to come up under you at just the right angle was... a bit risky to say the least. As he 'felt' his human considering the option, the dragon hurried to amend the suggestion into something that was more clearly meant as humor. How about I fall, and you try to catch me.

Z'aiel was almost startled into a choked and highly uncharacteristic laugh. He covered it with a polite cough as he followed T'kar's gaze toward the firelizards' antics. I wouldn't throw away your life like that. Jace had her wings tightly folded and, beyond her initial croon of greeting, was back to rumbling loudly, jumping over whichever was in her way to sink her own teeth into the leather again. It was, for the moment, a three-way tug of war, and the little azure swept her wings out with a warbling squawk of protest as she lost her grip almost immediately.

It would be better to get to know our new surroundings.

The young bronzerider made no response to that. He shrugged one shoulder, brown eyes refocusing on the mangled footwear. "Doubtful," he decided after a moment's scrutiny. "It's a bit small." His fingers curled slightly before he hooked his thumbs behind his belt, trying to appear nonchalant. "I don't suppose you know of anyone that could be bothered to give me a basic tour..." He said it with the inflection of a statement rather than a request, in case the rider - flamerider? Z'aiel hadn't memorized the nontraditional-dragon knots too well, but rank knots were universal - had other goals of his own for the day. He still didn't know the young fellow's name, and honestly couldn't blame him for his restraint. Even approved of it, as much as Z'aiel could be said to approve of anything.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar suddenly realized that he hadn’t even introduced himself to Z’aiel yet. Maybe he was a little more out of sorts than he’d thought. Still no excuse for impoliteness though. At any rate, he wanted to get to know Z’aiel a little better, since he would probably be asked for opinions by the other Wingleaders within a day or two at most, and providing a tour would be the easiest way to do that.

“If you don’t mind waiting a couple seconds for me to eat this,” T’kar nodded towards the meatroll that he was hiding from the flitts. “Then I could show you around, since my Wing isn’t practicing until later today.” Taking a quick bite of the meatroll and swallowing it with a dragon-like toss of his head, he casually added: “I’m T’kar of RR Flame Ancalanath, by the way.”

I’ll be back later, I’m going to show our new transfer around.

I thought he was going to be in K’nan’s Wing?

He is, but K’nan’s busy right now, remember?

Remember what was said at the meeting.

I have no intention of being careless, T’kar replied. He gave no outward sign of the discussion, simply resting his left hand on his belt. “Any destination strike you as particularly interesting?” he asked Z’aiel. “there’s the Lake, the beach, the jungle, the fields, the meeting rooms,” he let his voice trail off, though he could think of lots of other places that might be interesting.

Somehow aware that His was about to leave, Star departed from the game and came to settle on T’kar’s shoulder, curling his Crimson tail around the back of T’kar’s neck to support himself.

T’kar reached up and rubbed Star’s head-knob. He’d never worked out why, but Star preferred that to the eye-ridge scratching that both Boot and Shadow adored.

I, of course, like both.

T’kar’s lips twitched, but he said nothing.

[theorie]

((Apologies for the woefully late reply. ;_; And short. Hopefully better than no reply at all.))

Z'aiel quirked an eyebrow. "I would like that, T'kar; pleased to meet you. At your leisure, of course," he murmured, satisfied. It would take more time to go looking for someone else to show him around than it would take the pale man to scarf that meatroll. The former Bendenite was well acquainted with making haste through a meal, though he couldn't imagine trying to keep more firelizards than just Jace out of his snack. Not that he could ever bring himself to deny her a few bites of whatever she was interested in. Say hello to Ancalanath, please.

Though he was in the middle of a massive yawn, the tarnished bronze was quick to do so. Good morning, Ancalanath. How do your wings bend today? It was a casual but polite greeting where Silanth had been hatched. Since they would start out at the lowest possible position here, it made sense to be courteous. Privately to Z'aiel, the bronze added, Don't get us in trouble, okay?

Z'aiel barely refrained from an inappropriate snorting sound, contenting himself to say, I'll behave. For a few days. While His was trying to formulate a reaction to that distressing statement (which had been meant as reassurance, oddly enough!), the shorter human nodded precisely. "Actually, I think I'd like to see the animal pens from the ground, if you wouldn't mind." Mostly because his chances of ending up doing penance chores there was high, and the sooner he got familiar with the placement of slop buckets and feed barrels, the better. "Does Rainbow Mists Weyr keep a flock of fowl for eggs?" He hated having to ask, but he had been sadly under-informed by his superiors back at Benden.

Jace started to seize upon the leather scrap when the crimson took wing; she had been mid-leap, but she squealed and angled her own pinions to soar over her original target. She chittered like a scolding hen as she mimicked the crimson's perch on Z'aiel... except on his head. "Jace, please," the bronzerider groaned, unable to maintain polite detachment. She knew better! She was messing up his hair! He tried to stir her from his perch with a bony hand, but promptly pulled it back with a wince as she nipped him tartly. "Okay, then..." He sent a pleading thought to Silanth.

A moment later, the azure squealed and jumped up, straight between!

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar swallowed another slightly overlarge bite of meatroll with a dragon’s head toss. For the sake of expediency, he gave Star the remainder. At least, he told himself it was just for expediency’s sake.

Why the animal pens and feeding grounds? he thought. It seemed an odd choice to him, but then, Ancalanath had never been particularly picky about his food, which T’kar was rather glad for; a picky dragon of Ancalanath’s size would be a good reason for headaches.

Ancalanath hadn’t heard the older Northern greeting for some months, but he still remembered a polite response. Smoothly and before the wind. What of yours? With the long experience of command, Ancalanath kept himself from revealing his sudden alertness; they’d been told that the newcomer had a bit of a bad record, after all.

“Yes, there are fowl kept for eggs,” T’kar answered. He started to say that Z’aiel would be able to see where, since the fowl were kept near the smaller herdbeasts, but the other man’s Azure flitt interfered by landing on Z’aiel’s head. T’kar maintained a neutral silence while the flitt made clear her displeasure with the idea of moving, after all, there wasn’t much that could be said in the circumstances.

A moment later, and T’kar was holding onto Star’s tail to keep from getting suffocated. The Azure’s sudden departure had startled the Crimson apparently. T’kar briefly wished that Star were a little more like Shadow and Boot, who were now peacefully sharing the leather strip as a chew toy, but it didn’t last, especially once Star rubbed his head against T’kar’s cheek, crooning.

T’kar flicked his eyes over Z’aiel, ascertaining that the other man was indeed ready to go, then headed back through the kitchen and started across the Bowl, towards the pathways that led to the feeding grounds and herdbeast fields.