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 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:53 pm
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It was Shahera’s first day at Western Weyr. She had arrived from between not three candlemarks earlier. After the initial, this is your dorm, these are the rules, meet these important people, it was suggested that she go explore the Weyr for a while. She thought they were just tired of her questions. They were all entirely reasonable. It was very important to know who could eat the most pies, and if the Weyrleader slept on the left or the right side. So she was strolling around, waving at people and introducing herself, and just itching to cause trouble. It was a regrettable habit most people said, but Shahera found it fun and entertaining. It made life exciting didn’t it?
She was still dressed in her courtesan journeyman traveler gear, as flamboyant and stylish as ever. That was one thing she would miss as a candidate. They didn’t get as nice clothing as courtesans. Plus she would miss the people, the Masters teaching them, the classes, the social events…Now she was making herself sad. She looked around for something, anyone, to distract her and remind her that this was a good choice to have made.
Was that? Could it be? Is it really…”Dol? Dolly!” It was! It was Dolmar.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:33 pm
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Dolmar wasn't terribly long at the Weyr himself by the time Shahera arrived, but it'd been long enough that he'd begun to find the rhythms of the candidate life, and to make his way. A few others had eventually been searched, and he'd felt the relief of no longer being the newest in the barracks. Now when new candidates were rumored to be arriving, he took notice. He was comfortable enough to have begun categorizing them all, making silent judgement and assessments, much as he'd done in the Courtesan Hall before. One or two he'd approached to make 'friends', determining that they had some worth to him and whatever plans he felt he'd manage to pull the strings on.
Today, however, he'd been busy. There'd been talk of more candidates coming in, but chores were chores, unenjoyable as they were, and he wasn't one to get himself into trouble if he couldn't shed them for others to do in his stead. He'd been crossing one of the halls or other to finally find some free time for himself when a voice called out, stopping him in his tracks with a hand half-raised to reach for the handle of a tall door.
No. No it simply couldn't be. The nickname itself dredged up a mixture of emotions, both happy and sad, but the tone, the voice? Irritation was the best way he could possibly describe it. It took a beat for him to gather himself back up, but when he turned to face Shahera, he'd managed a smile...even if it didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Shahera! What a...pleasant surprise. Still traipsing about in all that frippery, hmm?" A brow rose over one eye, and he released the door to extend a hand towards her. She hadn't been the worst part of the Courtesan Hall...but he'd thought her time in his life had been well and truly left behind when he went winging away a-dragonback. "Let me guess: in all of Pern you failed to find so fine a dancing partner, hmm? Or've you simply some to plague my life once more?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:25 am
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And just how had he forgotten Shahera's penchant for...this sort of behavior? She'd been ever the terror, always pushing him off balance. She danced out of reach, but needn't have bothered. His brows might have cocked sharply down at her antics, but the furthest he went towards a violent gesture was to retract his offered hand, long slender fingers coiling into a fist (a momentary flex to release the irritation, no more, surely).
"Weyrs are where people tend to go to find partners, though I'll admit I imagined my own being somewhat more...bronze, in tone. And a bit taller too." The barb was a common one—he towered well over a foot taller than her after all—though as familiar as she was, she would probably be able to tell the lack of real malice behind it. There was disdain, of course, but when wasn't there? His eyes roved over her flashy clothes, looking almost bored, though the keen light behind them belayed his actual interest. Fashion and trends were an unfortunate part of his purview, and clothes could make the man or woman after all. Alas, despite her consistently poor taste in garishly bright, vivid colors and cuts, she was not entirely unfashionable. It was not his tastes at all, but it was...a fine outfit, he supposed. For a courtesan. A brief moment imagining her trying to be at peace in the plain white robes of the candidates...that'd be a source of much humor in the coming days he was sure.
"And your movements were always too loose, if you ask me, too far from what the dance was meant to be. Fitting you'd come back—I'd expected you to go twisting away without a solid foundation to frame your outlandish twirls and high-steps." His memories of their dancing classes were...somewhat traumatic. They'd been paired intentionally, a challenge for them both. She'd always been the more creative, fluid one of the two. He'd been dead set that dances were specific dances for a reason, and out to be perfected, not adapted and modified. They had been hot and cold, and it'd been some of the most infuriating, frustrating time he'd had at the Hall, but they both had learned from it in the end. Or at least he had. She was still as flippant as ever, it seemed.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:58 am
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Shehera blithely ignored the clenched hand, completely confident now that he would not strike her. It was a reflex she knew to being annoyed that not even the most controlled person she knew, Dolly, would be able to avoid. She did raise an eyebrow though at his statement about bronze. She looked down at her caramel colored skin, so often dusted with glitter for performances, and then back at Dolmar. When that was followed by the roving eyes she batted her eyes doe like at him.
“Why Dolly,” she all but purred, “if I didn’t know better, I would think that a proposition.” He was so fun to tease.Without the malice that his voice sometimes took on with others, she knew that he at least tolerated her. It was actually a rare thing, she was aware, and she was glad for it.
“Why not add your own flair to a dance, though? Isn’t that was dancing is for? To express yourself?” It was a well hashed conversation between them and both were fully aware of each other’s arguments she was sure. Just as he was, she was remembering their first dancing partnership. It had been like pounding her head against a stone wall at times. But, they had found a medium place that worked for them in many ways, and managed to please the Master teaching the class.
With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the topic. “Anyway! Tell me about the Weyr. You, with your perchance for all things political, must know the juiciest gossip as well.” She clasped her hands under her chin and gave him an attentive stare.
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Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:03 am
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The look that slithered over Dolmar's face was one of undisguised disgust. It was also blatantly false, for anyone as intimately familiar with his actual expressions of revulsion or frustration. Alas, Shahera had been one of the best positioned to learning those faces over the turns, having seen the genuine article time and again as they stumbled and misstepped and clashed their way through their first months as dance partners. "A proposition? My dear, you'd need a step-stool to even come close to being up to my standards." A jab at her height, of course, and his tongue was as bladed as ever.
"A dance is a dialogue between two people," He chided. "It has a purpose, and a history, and it becomes a mess if those two people are speaking entirely different languages." His eyes narrowed, his chin lifting haughtily to let him stare down his nose at her (a sight she was undoubtedly familiar with). "I'd rather be honest with my meaning, or what meaning I choose to divulge. And I respect the dance for what it's meant to be. Not some spinning, sloppy, wanton assault on the senses of all present."
Despite his disparaging remarks, he did reach out to take her hand then, drawing her along and to his side. He slid her hand to the crook of his elbow, his longer stride shortening out of manners and habit—his body remembered the length of her step, how many of her footprints to match how many of his, and adapted seamlessly. "I know that my days of quiet splendor, and by that I do mean physical labor and droning lessons, are over thanks to your arrival. More candidates arrive every tenday, so fear not. You won't be the bottom of the pile for long. Not that you were ever content with being held down." He pulled her along with him through the hall, leading her somewhere, or nowhere. "I've heard a few rumors of firelizards seen cavorting on the beaches. No news of glowing golds, sadly, lizard or dragon. It's been dreadfully difficult to get news beyond the island without one of my own, but I've made due. I imagine you'll actually be a prime source for many, coming from...where were you, anyway, out wading through jungles and scrabbling up hillsides?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:40 am
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The false look of disgust amused Shahera. Dolmar was getting sloppy. Good thing she was here to make sure he kept up to his standards. “My height? That is the best that you have? Dolly, dear, you aren’t going soft on me are you? Please tell me you have better insults for the endless idiots I am sure you see around you. Even when they aren’t idiots at all.”
She allowed herself be drawn into his side with no complaint. It was rare that he voluntarily did so. She appreciated his curtesy of shortening his steps, which he also didn’t always do when she was annoying him. She did raise an eyebrow though. “Are you so wanting for entertainment that little old me is best you have?” She purposefully left that open to attack. She then back tracked in the conversation a little. “You, honest, really?” Her skepticism was both off the charts and sarcastic. “The meaning you give them is what you want them to get is really what you mean. Don’t lie to me. And they get exactly what I want them to as well. Distract and conquer and all that.” She waved a hand vaguely and smiled up at him. Truthfully they were a good pair and when they joined forces instead of bickering could charm even the most stubborn Masters.
“I was actually back at the hall, but only for a little while. Went everywhere that would take me and I wanted to go. Which is of course, well, everywhere.” With a wistful sigh, “firelizards of my own would be nice. I have to rely on them to contact me. Such a pain.” She shook her head in mock sadness.
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:49 am
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He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her taunting. In truth he had been more or less starved of sensible folk—so many candidates were either untamed younglings or sullen older young adults. Those his own age were shardingly hormonal, moody and unrefined. Many of them he knew had had apprenticeships before, but you'd never know it looking over the throng of unwashed masses he, and now Shahera as well, were being forced to live among... Shahera was blindingly frustrating, a free spirit that chafed his need for order and control, but at least she had a mind, and good taste. Within a tenday he'd revile her to anyone who asked, but for now...well. He didn't have a lot of people he personally knew around on Pern any more. Might as well indulge this once.
"As long as you're the one doing the distracting. Your charms and feats always were the type to appeal to the common man or woman." Out darted the barbed tongue again, hidden beneath a velvet touch. He was quite rusty...but she would make a fine whetstone, he was sure. "I can only imagine how the Hall is getting along without you. Why Shahera, I imagine one might actually be able to find a moment of peace there now. Such a loss, however will the courtesans learn to focus on their clients and not the chaos around them now? Though I suppose they could always bring in a wher or two. That might come close to measuring up to you."
He pulled her along down hallways, up a flight of stairs, and towards an arch. Bright light (by comparison) was blaring through it, and he slowed their pace a bit more to allow their eyes to grow accustomed before stepping out from stone passages to a wide balcony-like structure. Once the beginning of a new weyrledge, it had been too narrow to suit a dragon, and had been converted into a public space. From it, the whole bowl was spread out below them, from the highest lip of the caldera to the lowest edge, where the eastern edge had crumbled some thousands of turns ago to reveal a glimpse of the distant plains. Up on the edge on one side sat the faint but visible speck of the brown watch dragon, the starstones set slightly off to one side. As they reached the thin railing the edged the precipice, a wing of dragons engaged in drills shot past overhead, glittering and roaring in the light.
"I do hope that finally being tied down in one place will settle you. No more flouncing your way across continents, I'm afraid. Hmm. I cannot say which is the least lucky. The world? Or the weyr?" His tone made it clear that his answer would certainly be 'the weyr' in this case. But then, "I've a few connections that've mentioned spotting firelizards on the distant beach. I've made...friends...of a few riders in my time here. Perhaps I could see about arranging a ride for us. Once you're settled in and up to snuff, of course." And he eyed her garish attire again.
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:44 am
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He managed not to snort at the insinuation that he could ever be anything but uncommon. "My dear, I promise you that for both our sakes it's best you cease trying altogether. I'd feel ever so responsible if you were to fall irrevocably in love with me in the process. No, you'd best save your charms. The public outcry would be horrid, and I'd rather not have men and women alike beating down my door to lay the blame over the loss of their favorite dancing girl at my feet." Insult, compliment, both, honestly he wasn't quite sure which he meant it to be just now.
"Ah, yes, of course. The Weyr and its many wonders." The temptation to withhold all information was there for sure, but alas. The candidates were considered a unit, and any lacking on her part—tardiness or mess or hassle—would reflect on, and be given punishment for to, all of them. His slender, cool hand rose to rest on her shoulder, holding her to his side in a manner that would almost look romantic to an observer, though it lacked all warmth but that of the familiarity of two bodies used to touching and moving in tandem. "There's a bathing hall on the third level, southwest side of the bowl, that is entirely empty between the 17th and 19th candlemark. A small thing, but the barracks are...less appealing, I assure you. Though then again, you might enjoy the mass of flesh that show has on offer..." He couldn't help the shiver that traced his spine. Communal living. He'd never be so glad to put it behind him.
"Several of the candidates seem to make sport of roaming the Weyr at night, to their ever increasing misfortune. Two, and I can name names and point out bunks later, think that they've been clever enough to stash several bottles of wine under a floor tile. Nothing really worth bothering over, it looks like they just grabbed at random from the stores...though there is a lovely Benden red, from about twenty turns ago I'd not mind...liberating of them, perhaps." His eyes tracked a tiny white dragon and a slender green, making a low pass nearby. "...Rank and color seem to mean little here, compared to other Weyrs. A boon for some, of course, so take heart in that. There's word of some sort of coalition of green and blue riders hiding in the plains outside the weyr as well, so do take care if you go wandering. I'm afraid I simply couldn't bear to have to write the hall and all your fans about your untimely theft by brigands. Though it certainly seems the sort of adventure you'd prefer."
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:56 pm
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Ah yes, there it was. He'd reached his fill of the woman for the day. Blessed Faranth's own egg, but he'd forgotten how utterly aggravating she could be in long stretches. Dancing, at least, had been a (mostly) silent affair as they both struggled through working around each other. He bore her jabs and taunts with silent disinterest, the look on his face sliding slowly, smoothly between amusement and boredom. As if he'd ever cavort with another man in that fashion. No, he was fit for a woman of standing, of a good family. A bronze rider was due respect, but he was not interested in earning any sort of rank on his back or his knees, thank you. That realm was much more suitable for certain other courtesans.
Her comment on needing someone else, someone stronger? His eyes were mid-roll at the same time that his arm around her flexed, tightening to turn her against him. His other hand came around and he twisted, pivoting, grasping, lifting. In one swoop she was up, over his head in a lift they'd practiced time after time, day after day in their classes. With that same unimpressed, nearly bored look up at her, he sighed. "And if I were to toss you over the edge of the bowl, you'd just find some way to come cartwheeling back, so I won't bother." He held her aloft long enough to stuff down the bubble of irritation inside, and then...dropped her.
He caught her of course, flush against his chest, but perhaps the little thrill of free-falling just after he'd mentioned tossing her from the cliff side would cow her somewhat. Honestly, he could do with a quieter, more respectful Shahera.
He could also do with a lord holdership, a bronze dragon, and a sack of marks, but if dreams were dragons, then drudges would ride, wouldn't they?
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:22 pm
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Shahera’s eyes were dancing as the was held flush against Dolly's chest. Clearly she had caused some sort of emotion to happen in that stoic body for him to have tried, and failed, to scare her like that. She knew he was too savvy to actually throw her off the ledge. Instead she ran her hands down his sides suggestively. “No bronzerider for you? Hmm… only golds I suppose.” She wiggled a bit until she was able to shimmy down to where her feet touched the ground, though his hands were still behind her and she was still flush to him, staring at his chest.
She tilted her head to look at his face. “Of course, you could always fall in love…” She trailed off and laughed, blowing on his chest a little. “That would be fun to see. Cool collected Dolly, all doe eyes over some girl.” Poor Dolly, unable to enjoy life to the fullest in the attempt to maintain control and an appearance. “Whatever would you do? You would have no point of reference, not knowledge but what silly thing you found in a book. I, of course, would make myself available for advice, not that you would take it.” She sighed woefully.
“Well now, are you going to continue to hold me like some lover for the rest of the night?” She looked at him in mock suspicion. “You don’t actually want to do something do you? There are better ways to indicate that.” She had a feeling they were reaching the point where their conversation was going to breakdown as it had so many times before and one of them would simply walk off either in a huff or in disdain. She wondered who would go first.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:50 pm
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He relaxed his grip on Shahera enough to let her down to the ground without too much awkwardness. poor tiny thing that she was. Her fondling touches were borne with a deadpan sort of stoicism. A brief flash of—what? irritation? humor?—flickered behind his eyes at her suggestion that he fall in love. As if he would ever stoop to such emotional, commonplace banality. She would like such a travesty to come upon him, wouldn't she? What a simple mind she must have, to delight in these silly imaginings time and again, to chase a rise from him like a trained canine flushing game from the bush.
"If I am so helpless as to need to rely on you or books, then why worry over how I hold you, hmm? Or should I not be able to do even this much without the precious gems of wisdom you would cast before me into the dirt?" His grip on her tightened, pressing her flush to him, some emotion rearing its head enough to apparently make him shirk his coolness. "You'd like that, I think, to see me riled; to know I wanted, for you or anyone else, it would make your sevenday, yes?" A deft hand wove up from her waist to brush one, two fingers over her neck to the corner of her jaw, to rest against her cheek and in the shallow dip behind her ear. "What if I had, hmm? Missed you, yearned for you, hidden it beneath callous barbs to shield my precious virgin's heart?" Gentle pressure urged her to lift her chin, to turn her face up towards his as he looked down, a strange, soft look finally breaking over him ire turning to amused warmth.
...Before going ice cold again as he thrust her away from him. "You need new taunts, Shahera. Even after months apart, you're as stale as you ever were." Clear disdain was written in every line of his form as he stepped around her, angling for the archway off of the ledge. "Breakfast is at half-six. If you're determined to pilfer my belongings or make other mischief, do try to be the least bit considerate and have it done by then. You've all afternoon, after all." He, on the other hand, still had chores, and his break had come done. What a pity, to waste the whole of it in her company.
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