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Post by shadowreine on Dec 15, 2011 18:12:04 GMT -5
Why is the lake solid? Kimath whined to his rider, tapping the ice with a claw.
"Because it's cold," Thaddeus noted. He was well wrapped up...his riding clothes could handle the cold of Between and, thus, were more than sufficient to the mountain winter. Of course, Kimath had encountered ice before.
He had just, in true dragon fashion, forgotten. And given Kimath was not exactly the smartest ever shelled... Tad's firelizards flitted overhead, then landed on snowy branches. Like the dragons, they didn't seem to even notice the cold.
He supposed they had to have an insulating layer under their hide, or something. He was no biologist, but he knew enough to know they had to be holding their body heat in *somehow*.
Kimath tapped the ice again, but it didn't break, causing the blue to peer at it.
He was determined to get to the lake...it had to be under there somewhere!
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 16, 2011 12:11:28 GMT -5
Mentari watched the skies for Ladeth as she walked down to the lake. Ladeth had said something about going for a swim, but Mentari didn't know how she was going to do that with the lake being iced over. But knowing Ladeth, Mentari didn't doubt the green would find a way to break through it.
The sound of someone else talking brought Mentari's attention elsewhere. She looked over and noticed that Tad and his blue, Kimath, were already at the lake. She smiled. Tad was probably her best friend at Rocky, outside her family. She waved and called out to him.
"Tad!"
At the same time a shadow passed over Mentari. She looked up to see her green dragon, Ladeth, flying towards the lake. If Mentari hadn't been hallucinating, Ladeth was carrying a rather big rock...
Mentari was right. Ladeth was carrying a large and heavy rock. And as she flew over the lake she let go of the rocky, letting it fall from the sky and shatter a large chunk of the iced over lake. Ladeth gave a short roar of triumph as she dived into the lake.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 16, 2011 16:45:07 GMT -5
Tad laughed. "See. That's what a *smart* dragon does."
Kimath gave his rider a look, then ambled out over the ice. If the green was going to be nice enough to make a swimming hole, he was going to take advantage of it too.
"I though blues were supposed to be smarter," Tad quipped after him, but affectionately. His dragon might struggle to keep up, mentally, with some of the whers, but he couldn't help but love him anyway. "How's it going, Mentari?"
He grinned at the young woman. There was, of course, no way he was joining his dragon in the lake...brrr...and he was sure she felt the same way. She'd make for good company.
"You know. I think we might want to be somewhere else when they come out..." A nasty thought had just occurred to him...
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 16, 2011 18:04:40 GMT -5
Mentari nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I don't want to be around when they come out soaking wet..." She smiled, turning and beginning to lead the way to a copse of trees that were a good distance from the lake.
Ladeth surfaced slightly, poking her nose above the water level to get a breath of air. She glanced at Kimath and sent him a wave of social pleasure. Then she dove back into the water.
She loved the way it looked under the frozen water. All dark but with star bursts of dappled sunlight. It looked beautiful. She kept sending images of it to herMentari, also sending the happy emotions to Mentari.
Mentari smiled as she received the images and emotions from Ladeth. She loved the fact that her dragon was so happy. And they didn't need to worry about Thread, like they would if they were on Pern. Not to mention, Mentari doubted Faizah would allow her and Ladeth to go to Pern. Faizah would not be happy if Mentari and Ladeth went to Pern to fight Thread...
"So... Can you believe they are over a year now...?" Mentari looked over at Tad.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 17, 2011 16:25:17 GMT -5
"Yes. Old enough to know the difference between male and female, which I admit is a little frightening." Especially as not all of the greens were ridden by women. Tad wasn't the type to go for that, although he also knew that it wouldn't *hurt* him. He wasn't stupid and didn't believe that one homoerotic encounter made a man gay.
But he'd much rather wake up next to...Mentari. Now that was a thought he hadn't let himself have.
Kimath plunged under the water after the green. He wanted to see what was so pretty down there and, being a dragon, could hold his breath pretty well.
The feeling of swimming leaked through their bond. The simple-minded blue was quite happy. And Tad was too, but the thought of waking up next to Mentari...was a little offputting. Did he really like her that way or was it their dragons hitting puberty and having thoughts? He wasn't sure... Still, he was following her to the copse. Which was a safe distance if their dragons decided shaking themselves would be fun. Unless they got determined about it.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 17, 2011 23:50:56 GMT -5
Mentari smiled back at him as they walked to the trees. She thought rather fondly of Tad, and he was her best friend since coming to Rocky. Faizah had begun teasing her about having a puppy dog crush on him.
Mentari didn't see how she had a crush on Tad. But she did know that Ladeth would rise to mate soon. And the only person in the Weyr she wanted to wake up next to the morning after... Tad. There was no doubt in her mind about that as the thought vaguely crossed her mind. But she didn't dare think like that right now. Ladeth might choose to rise any day now...
"It is frightening, isn't it?" She agreed. Mentari tried to banish those thoughts from her mind again.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 18, 2011 17:56:25 GMT -5
Tad hrmed. "Depends on who you think about. For example, I would really rather not wake up next to Alex Taylor." Or Tiffanie, who was almost as bad, but he was safe from her for another turn at least, likely.
"Or any of the male greenriders, but I suppose that's an occupational hazard." Then he shuddered. "But YOU are in danger from S'tor...I don't know how the Weyrwoman puts up with him. I suppose she just ignores him."
Which was probably the best way to deal with the likes of S'tor. Ignore them. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy...and Tad would punch the brownrider's lights out before letting him touch Mentari...
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 18, 2011 19:33:38 GMT -5
Mentari froze in her steps. "S'tor...?" She questioned hesitantly.
Mentari hated the idea of waking up next to that man. S'tor was more sour than the bronze weyrling Lakeen was now friends with. The man really scared her, if Mentari was honest with herself. But surely Ladeth wouldn't choose that brown... Not if Mentari was this against his rider...?
Mentari shook herself, but she couldn't dispel the chill she felt. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Ladeth was swimming through ice cold water. Mentari began to shiver and her teeth started to lightly chatter. She rubbed her mittened hands together to try and get some warmth back into her system.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 19, 2011 18:18:37 GMT -5
Tad shuddered. "Although I think Alex might be worse..." A pause. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned that loser."
Who had a larger and more powerful dragon...not to mention a smarter one, but then, pretty much every dragon in the Weyr was smarter than Kimath. And who knew what *Ladeth* would have in mind when the time came.
Hesitantly, he offered the shivering woman a hug...hesitantly because only the cold was likely to keep it from stopping there. He was not sure he trusted himself with Mentari, not any more, not right now.
Of course, there was the question of whether she could be trusted with him...
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 19, 2011 19:01:01 GMT -5
Mentari shook her head. "No. It's fine. Alex might very well be worse than him." She tried to laugh, but it sounded stressed and brittle even to herself.
Mentari was surprised when Tad hugged her, though. More than surprised, really. Every time before they had avoided physical contact. But she wouldn't pass up a hug!
Mentari wrapped her arms around Tad, thankful for the hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, simply absorbing the feeling of his arms around her. She didn't know why this simple hug felt so... good!
"Thank you." She whispered in his ear. She really didn't want to let go of him.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 20, 2011 17:41:21 GMT -5
If she wasn't going to pull away, Tad wasn't going to let her go. He didn't want to, anyway, suddenly aware that she was, although young, very much a woman.
Very much the woman he wanted. This could be embarrassing. Morality around here was loose, unleashed by the dragons and their transient passions, but there was still something of the strait-laced farmboy in Tad. Something that warred with his own feelings, with Pernese customs as they had drifted through from that alien world he would probably never see...
There was no reason not to by their standards, by Weyr standards. Every reason not to by his, but if this continued, he knew which ones would win. Perhaps, in the end, it should be her choice.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 20, 2011 20:17:18 GMT -5
Mentari could almost sense the war going on inside of Tad. A similar war was going on inside of her. She knew that traditions of the Pernese said that she should lose her innocence before her dragon rose to mate. But, like Faizah, she didn't want to be like her mother. And that's what Mentari was afraid of suddenly.
Another thought that ran through the young woman's mind was, if this was so bad, why did it feel so good? Faizah had never mentioned that it would feel so nice to be in the arms of a man. Mentari had to wonder if Faizah had been in the arms of a man before... Surely, if she had, she would have told Mentari what it felt like.
Mentari finally decided, to hell with it.
Mentari reached up and pressed a light kiss to Tad's lips.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 21, 2011 10:18:59 GMT -5
Going further than that out here would be cold, cold despite the heat Tad felt within him. But her lips were against his, his arms were around her.
There was nowhere else he would, right now, rather be. This was not something he had expected when he came here. Or perhaps it was. Men and women would come together as they always had, dragons or no dragons...although it did seem that the dragons had a tendency towards facilitating the process.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 21, 2011 12:20:09 GMT -5
Mentari leaned back to look up at Tad. She blushed, turning her cheeks even more pink. Despite the cold, Mentari suddenly felt very warm. Hot almost. She felt Tad's arms still around her, and she kept her hands on his shoulders. But he was so quiet...
"Sorry..." She murmured.
Perhaps she had been a little too forward... Perhaps Tad didn't like her that way, the way she obviously liked him. Mentari didn't know what else to do, really. Apologizing was always a good thing to do, especially if she didn't know if she had done something wrong.
Ladeth poked her head out of the water hole, looking for Hers. She felt the waves of confused emotions and thoughts. She wondered what had made HersMentari so upset...
What is wrong, mine? Ladeth asked as she climbed out of the water. She would bite whoever had dared to upset Mentari!
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 22, 2011 10:01:53 GMT -5
"No, no...you didn't do anything. I just..." Tad was not one for a lot of words, but they poured out of him."I like you. I just don't know what to *do* about it."
That was the truth, and he wasn't going to lie to her. He wasn't going to try and hide his uncertainty about what he should do, what he could do...what he wanted to do. He wasn't sure any of those three matched, but he most definitely knew what he *wanted* to do.
It was just hard to admit it with her right there, looking as if he had hurt her...what did she want? Women - so hard to deal with and understand. He was too nice to simply outright ask her for what he desired...
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 22, 2011 11:58:16 GMT -5
Mentari smiled when he said he liked her. She hadn't known she was proverbially holding her breath, waiting for him to say whether or not he liked her. Now that he had, Mentari felt like she couldn't stop smiling.
She leaned up and again pressed a tentative kiss to Tad's lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him. After she broke off the kiss, Mentari leaned her head on his shoulder. She was still smiling, and she felt so happy she could jump up and down. Which would probably be a bad thing, considering all the snow and ice around them.
"What do you want to do?" She asked him quietly.
Ladeth felt Mentari's change in emotions, from upset to overwhelmingly happy. With a growl towards Tad, making sure he understood that Ladeth would not allow Hers to be hurt, she turned back towards the swimming hole. She quickly slithered back into the water, nice and ice cold and invigorating.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 23, 2011 10:13:30 GMT -5
Tad hesitated, then pulled her in for a kiss. "That. And more."
Of course, it seemed that if he ended up breaking her heart, Ladeth might eat him. Or just give poor Kimath the cold shoulder until she forgot...then again, dragons forgot very quickly. In that way, they were emphatically nothing like flying horses. Horses remembered both slights and good things forever.
"Assuming your dragon will let me, that is." His tone had become amused. Kimath, for his part, stuck his head through the ice, then childlishly blew bubbles at Ladeth.
Or maybe dragonishly, as only golds and bronzes seemed to ever really grow up.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 23, 2011 13:28:12 GMT -5
Mentari was slightly surprised when Tad pulled her in for a kiss. But she quickly overcame her surprise and kissed him back. She strained up on her tiptoes deepening the kiss as she did so. When he pulled back, Mentari couldn't help but smile up at him. "I'm up for kissing. Kissing is good."
Mentari heard Ladeth's growl as easily as Tad had, but she had chosen to ignore it. Ladeth wouldn't hurt anyone; of this Mentari was positive. At Tad's comment, however, she laughed again. "Ladeth wouldn't hurt a fly." She told him, smiling up at Tad.
Ladeth watched Kimath blow bubbles at her. She almost seemed to hum slightly before she did the same. She had no problem acting childish with Kimath.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 24, 2011 9:52:18 GMT -5
Tad laughed. "Neither would Kimath, but I have a feeling that if I hurt you, Ladeth would be mad...and possibly even stay mad."
If greens were capable of that. He definitely wanted more than kissing, but it was so cold out here. Far too cold for any removal of clothing, and he doubted anything would move their dragons for a while. Kimath, at least, was having way too much fun.
The blue blew more bubbles at the green, then dived away from her. For now *he* was the one who wanted to be chased.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 24, 2011 20:48:19 GMT -5
Mentari laughed so hard her ribs began to hurt. "If I was you, Tad, I would be more afraid of my sisters than of Ladeth. Because the worst Ladeth would do is ignore you. My sisters, however..." Mentari trailed off, not even sure herself of what her sisters would do if a guy hurt her.
If Tad had only said what it was he really wanted to do, Mentari would have been able to leave Ladeth to her fun. She wasn't so sure about leaving Kimath, but Ladeth would have simply wished Mentari well and continued with her swim. But Kimath might very well be a different story...
Ladeth chased after Kimath, swimming around him in spirals. Everytime she swam under him, she blew bubbles that would then caress his hide.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 25, 2011 10:10:41 GMT -5
"Faizah does rather give a new meaning to dragonlady at times," Tad punned. "But I suppose that's why she's the one in charge."
Somebody had to keep this asylum running smoothly.
"But it's not my intention to hurt you...although with the craziness around here, it would be rather hard to be completely loyal to the person you're with." He meant flights, and he was sure that was why the Pernese said riders shouldn't marry. But people on *Earth* made open relationships work...
So maybe there was more to it. Or maybe it was just tradition. People didn't question tradition very often...
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 25, 2011 19:10:24 GMT -5
Mentari laughed at the image Tad painted of Faizah. While Faizah could be scary, Mentari was more afraid of Lakeesk...
Mentari continued to listen. She understood what he meant, especially with Ladeth being a green. Flights were the last thing a relationship needed in order for it to remain loyal. But she didn't care... She wanted to be with Tad. She wanted to at least try to be with him.
And she would try her hardest to make it work...
"I don't care about loyalty where flights are involved..." She paused for a moment, trying to straighten out her thoughts. "But I do want to give this, us as a couple, a try. I really, really do..." Mentari finished. She looked up at Tad from the corner of her eye. She knew she was blushing slightly, and she didn't want Tad to see.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 26, 2011 10:04:11 GMT -5
Right. Like Tad's cheeks weren't colored. Of course, it could have been the cold.
Right.
"Then let's give it a try." What did they have to lose, really, and both of their dragons were now old enough to understand romantic relationships, as they had not been until relatively recently.
He moved to slip his arms around her again...wondering how long it would take to walk back to a weyr. The dragons, after all, could fly themselves.
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Post by FaizahPandora on Dec 26, 2011 13:16:37 GMT -5
Mentari smiled as she heard Tad's reply. With a large grin, she turned and embraced him. In her excitement, Mentari strained up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Tad's lips.
She was happy as a lark.
And the fact that she was still blushing was forgotten in he new found happiness. She even forgot why it was that she wasn't jumping for joy. She was, however, quickly reminded.
At the same moment Tad went to wrap his arms around her, Mentari's footing slipped. With a gasp she slipped, her arms going out to catch her.
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Post by shadowreine on Dec 27, 2011 20:07:50 GMT -5
Tad shifted position quickly, making sure that Mentari did not fall. "Careful there. It's more slippery out here than I realized."
He was in perfect position to scoop her up into his arms, and if she did not choose to resist might well do just that...he was big and strong and could easily carry the young woman. Uh oh. Mentari might be getting more than she bargained for...she was about to be swept off her feet *literally*!
(OOC: Obviously, up to you whether he actually does it).
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