To hear it all. (Ghost/Open) 75.07.18

[Nicole]

Artemis pressed her head more firmly into her pillow - well, the jacket she had wrapped up to use as a pillow - and closed her eyes again. Fresh air brushed against her, wind curving her hair against her face. And she practiced.

Not practicing meditating or anything like that, though she knew some of the more calm Riders would practice that with their dragons, but practicing just... listening. And not listening.

The DarkBlue in the corner convincing her Rider to go visit a sailor. The White falling asleep on a ledge. The Queen reporting to the Weyrwoman.

Listening, and not listening.

Thinking her own thoughts, and letting it sink in, and letting it just flow out. Like the ocean used to do on the docks when she worked. There but not there. She could listen for it, but it didn't bother her in the background, and she could tune it out.

Listening, not listening.

Cracking her dark knuckles against her hips, she shifted her body, laying out in the Weyr Bowl with a serene expression on her face. She could manage this. Learn to tune it out so the headaches would disappear, so she could focus, so she could... could do what she wanted to. Excel. Be in power so she could be safe, so she could help those who weren't.

(When had that second goal become more important than the first?)

Listening, and not listening.

And when footsteps headed her way, she had sufficiently tuned out everything in the background enough to crack open an eye and peer up at the person casting a shadow over her face.

"Hello."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

It was cooler now, being winter, than it might otherwise have been, but it was still warm enough to swim, and besides, Altahyr had needed a bath, and Viarth had wanted one. Therefore, K'tar was on his way back from the beach, his hair wet and salty, while Altahyr padded along beside him. Viarth, or course, and flown back to the Weyr through between, but taking a soaking wet canine (and soaking wet person) through between was... inadvisable, and while K'tar might not always care about restrictions, he did care about head colds and sick canines, so he walked.

K'tarMine, look down and to your right, Viarth suggested.

Confused, K'tar looked around. There was black haired girl with dark skin sitting so that her head was just within his shadow.

"Hello," he replied, dropping to his heels (and pushing away Altahyr's lick with the ease of long practice). "I'm K'tar of Purple Viarth."

He extended his hand, pausing for her return greeting, than asked: "Um... what are you doing here?"

[Nicole]

"Artemis. Candidate." She reached out her hand, not stirring from her position on the ground - though she did indulge him and open both eyes, brown glittering up at him.

The dog next to K'tar - a name she immediately committed to memory - peered down at her with large, blinking eyes, and a small smile flickered over her face.

"Um... what are you doing here?"

Artemis refocued on the young Rider's face, shrugging from the ground. Her shoulders pushed against the makeshift pillow and pushed it back. Her neck now at a strange angle, she sighed and sat up, reaching up to knead the muscles.

"I'm enjoying the weather."

Not the whole truth, but not a lie, either. Satifisfied with her response, she smiled and cast her eyes over the Bowl, trying to use that - and not her head - to find the purple dragon. Perched not far away, she smiled at him from her spot on the ground before swiveling to fully face K'tar.

"And since we are asking, what are you doing here?"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth blinked, a gesture of surprise that he'd picked up from his rider. He didn't know how this person had known how to find him. There was something different about her, something that he didn't know how to describe.

K'tar smiled in response, his smile only broadening at Artemis's question. "Well, I was bathing bathing a particularly dirty canine, and a rather less dirty but far more fastidious Purple dragon, and well, going between isn't the best idea, so I decided to walk back. After all, the weather is nice."

Altahyr took advantage of K'tar's distraction to come upright, lean forward, and attempt to run his long, wet tongue along this new human's face.

"Altahyr!" K'tar cried, grabbing the back of the canine's neck and attempting to haul him backward. "Sorry, he thinks everyone likes that," he said.

[Nicole]

There was dog saliva. A lot of it. All over her face. And if she was right, it was dripping down her chin onto her chest.

"I... don't mind. If it's not, you know, my face."

She lifted her hand slowly and wiped her face off, rubbing it off onto her pants and tugging her shirt up to wipe at her chest. Hands sticky, she scrubbed them harder against her pants. It didn't help.

"Dogs are okay. I think I prefer cats. Cleaner. But I don't mind them." She stared at Altahyr before sticking her hand out for him to sniff. His black nose twitched for a moment and she pulled it back before he could even think about licking it.

"And I'm glad you're... enjoying the weather?" Small talk didn't suit the dark-skinned Candidate, and she scooped up her jacket and placed it into her lap.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar had, alas, long ago discovered that it was not possible to turn invisible, or just make the last few seconds like they had never existed. Of course, that mostly had had to do with various incidents involving humorless guards and, if you were lucky, lectures, but he’d done his fair share of social blundering as well. Like just now.

Finally, rescue came from an unexpected quarter. K’tarMine, could you tell her hello for me?

“Viarth says to say hi,” K’tar repeated almost instantaneously. At least that was better than dog slobber for an introduction. Equally fortunate was that Altahyr appeared to have satisfied his desire to say hello for the moment, and was content with sniffing at the girl, as if determined to figure out exactly what she had eaten that morning.

[Nicole]

"Does he?" Artemis smiled, the first genuine one since the conversation had started, and the transformation over her face was impressive; her eyes lit up, the smile revealing dimples and white teeth. "Tell him I said hello as well."

She leaned forward over her jacket, placing her elbows back on the ground. They chafed against the dirt, and though she contemplated pulling them up, she could stretch this way at least -- pull up her hips just enough to stretch the muscles, relax them.

Artemis was nothing if not efficient with her time.

"So what do you plan on doing now? Off to rest? Gossip with your fellow Riders?"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar grinned. Social interaction saved by the friendliness of Viarth, he could now proceed.

She’s says to tell you that she says hi back, he informed Viarth.

K’tar shrugged. “First, I’m probably going to get out of these damp clothes, then go get something to eat. I never thought bathing a dragon could be this much work!”

It was a true statement too, for K’tar had aches in places he didn’t even know had muscle. Rubbing his neck, K’tar hid a grimace. His skin was covered in a fine layer of salt, courtesy of the seawater.

“After that, well, I might gossip some,” K’tar grinned. “Unless you wouldn’t mind the company of a damp rider and his damp canine?”

What about the fish. You said earlier that you'd find some fish for me. Viarth included an image of a fish sitting on a grill, something that he'd been wanting to see with his own eyes, and try, for quite some time.

[Nicole]

Viarth's interest in grilled fish was adorable, though not something she could comment on. So she focused on his bumbling rider instead.

"I tend to stay away from gossiping circles. I find that most of it tends to be false, and I like to make my opinions on people by facts, not chatter." Artemis offered the kindest smile she could - which, to be fair, was quite kind, if mildly pitying. "But perhaps I shall see you around at dinner."

With a dramatic stretch of her arms, she replaced the jacket on her ground, scrubbed the leftover saliva from her face, and lay down again, staring up at the sky.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar bowed slightly. “Perhaps,” he replied. He rather hoped that they would, one could never have too many friends to share dinner with.

Ok, that has got to be a new record. Most mistakes ever made in a single conversation. Did I do anything right?

I don’t understand. You are busy with things. She is busy with something, she was thinking and active-mind even before talking. Why should it be a mistake to end conversation quickly?

It’s not the ending it quickly, it’s just the subject matter I chose… Imagining the expression on his father’s face had the man ever heard the conversation in question, he shuddered.

Try again over dinner? Viarth suggested. K’tarHis was not often like this, and Viarth didn’t understand why his rider was ever like this. It was far more fun to just live each moment, like they normally did.

So, you want me to find you some fish, eh?

Grilled-good-taste-fish?

The words you are looking for are ‘grilled. fish.’

Exactly. Grilled-good-taste-fish. Viarth grinned.

K’tar snorted with choked laughter as he entered the dining hall, shaking his head. Just like Viarth to turn everything into a game.

Grilled. Fish.

Grilled-good-taste-fish.