[PRP] Seaside Studies (Nashwa/Matotoka)

[Meepfur]

Rest days, for Nashwa, were restless days; she wasn't one to be idle, and lovely as the beach was, lying in the sun all day long held little appeal for her. Swimming was marginally better - it was physical exercise, at least - but it still felt almost too much of a leisure activity. So she'd chosen to spend her morning helping in the kitchens, which was how she'd come by the little plate of cookies that now sat on one knee while she flipped through the book on her other, brushing up for a test the next day.

In the sand beside her sat a dark brown flit, rigidly at attention and his eyes fixed on the plate of delicious treats. But he was a good boy, who knew better than to steal or beg, so all he did was wait and hope. Surely he would be given a morsel for such exemplary behavior.

x demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Cheeeeeeep?

Another little brown head poked around the plate of cookies - this one rather less behaved as he peered at the morsels curiously. He would not beg, but he was certainly not above stealing. In fact, he was all but upon one when -

"Heist, those aren't for you." came a stern, but warm, voice, which made the firelizard flare his wings out, looking up to make eye contact with the young man who now looked upon him disapprovingly. Maybe...if he moved really slo- JUST KIDDING! Heist snapped at one of the cookies about as quickly as the young man moved to snatch him up - earning a squeal of protest.

No!

The cookies!!!

"I told you no, young man!" he teased, holding an uncooperative mess of wiggly limbs above his head. "I may owe you a replacement if he got anything," Matotoka offered with a half laugh as he looked down to actually see if his little thief had made off with anything.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Why hello there, other little brown! Nashwa pretended not to see him, all the while watching out of the corner of her eye with a tiny smirk...while Altan looked on in mounting dismay, still not daring to make a move. He was a good boy. The very best boy. He would not, even if another was being naughty! Even if- even if that meant the naughty flit was going to get a cookie! All he did was creel softly, his eyes whirling yellow-gray.

The other flit's owner arrived to pluck him up, though not before he'd gotten hold of half a treat. Much amused, rather than offended, Nashwa simply laughed as she looked up to see to whom the wayward brown belonged. "He's well-named, I daresay. Did you name him knowing he was a thief, or is he just living up to the moniker?" Another sad creel from beside her, and she looked back to her own brown, patting him on the head before offering him the other half of the cookie, which he accepted delicately and nibbled on most politely. Good boys did not inhale their food. "It's alright. There are more than I was going to eat, anyway. Would you like one as well?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"I'd say he has been living up to the moniker," Matotoka answered, carefully lowering the offended pale brown to his shoulder where Heist now delighted over his little morsel. The irony of having a tiny thief on his shoulder was not lost on him - but it would be a personal amusement, known only to those who had been allowed a clear peek inside of his head, a brother, and the one person said brother had trusted the joke to.

Heist peered down from his own cookie towards the other firelizard, earning a poke in the face from his owner. "No sir, you've gotten enough," he warned, earning a look of mock offense from Heist....at least if a firelizard had enough faculties to mock, rather than look heartbroken at the idea. Still, he crouched to greet the darker firelizard. "Aren't you an image of good manners! Clearly someone needs to learn from you, little guy!"

But that would require effort Matotoka didn't exactly have the time or patience to put in. Heist had been an accidental acquisition, after all, and he wasn't about to get another.

"If you're certain you want to share with the owner of a food thief, I'll happily take one."

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"A caution to name the next one more carefully, I suppose: something like Patience, perhaps," she suggested, though her smile and the lilt of her voice gave away that she was only joking. She wouldn't judge others for their pets not having impeccable manners, as long as they weren't nasty little beasts. A stolen cookie was harmless.

Altan peeped amiably up at the young man - though he may not have understood the words, he knew tone of voice, and he knew well that he was being praised. With the other flit eyeing his treat, he held his half of the cookie closer and took another nibble. He had earned this morsel by waiting like the good boy that he was, and he would not surrender it!

"Well, I can hardly blame him for wanting one - who can resist a cookie?" Nashwa held out the plate for her fellow Candidate to select a cookie or two from. "At least we know he has good taste, even if he hasn't learned 'please' and 'thank you.'"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

He chuckled at the suggestion. "I know a Patience. I'm sure their owner would like me to find my own names," as though he actually spoke with the young woman at all. If he so much as looked at her, Matotoka could feel the radiating dark glare of him down his back. "I'm hoping he'll be my only, though," Matotoka again reached up to push the back of his hand against Heist's chest, the little brown creeling with annoyance and nipping at his fingers for threatening his cookie!

Selecting one of the cookies off the plate, he shrugged a bit - disrupting Heist's perch, much to his annoyance. "Thank you," he said, mostly un-reminded by Nashwa's words to do so. "I'd say he has a taste for trouble - off in the middle of the night doing Faranth knows what," meeting girls? Going joyriding? Did Pern even have a concept of Joyriding? Either way, Matotoka knew it was his own poor influence.

But for Nashwa, he'd put on his best face and not look like a big ol' block of naughty. "And on the note of manners...I'm Matotoka."

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"One and done for flits, is it? Maybe for the best - a whole faire raiding the kitchen for cookies probably wouldn't go over well." It would be quite the entertaining ruckus, but also quite the mess to clean up, and not everyone would be amused. As long as nothing got broken, it wouldn't bother her, but she was just a Candidate. This wasn't her kitchen they were talking about, hypothetically. "Though I'm not sure who would be more upset, the kitchen staff, or everyone who'd miss out on cookies."

"You're welcome," Nashwa replied with a wink. Though mostly polite and well-behaved herself, she was hardly the manners guard, at least not with anyone other than her younger siblings, and had a healthy sense of humor. "Altan might be a little terror when I'm not looking, for all I know. Maybe there's some poor cook somewhere who can't figure out why their bubblypies keep going missing from the windowsill and just blames the Holdbrats."

"A pleasure to meet you, Matotoka - and Heist, of course. I'm Nashwa," she offered in exchange, dipping forward just slightly in a very informal approximation of a bow.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Or getting kicked out for not being able to keep them in line - I hardly think they want to risk a dragon to someone who can't keep a couple of Firelizards in line. Or more than a couple," though it was less about a fear of being kicked out, and more about being memorable for a small herd of needy beasts. One was enough. Heist was perfect for what he needed, anyways.

Still, Matotoka laughed. "I don't know. Unless he likes bubblypies more than cookies and would risk them." But who didn't like bubblypies more than cookies? Even as he idly chewed on an edge of the cookie he'd taken, the idea was awfully tempting. Though he'd never be caught filching food. "Do you like bubblypies, Altan? Are you going to steal them so we can't have any?" he directed this question, with a great deal of joking sarcasm, to the dark brown.

"Well, the pleasure is all ours - you also came with cookies, after all, so who is the real winner?"

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"Of all the things to get kicked out for, that would be awkward," Nashwa noted with a chuckle. One expected a particularly spectacular or dangerous failure to incur such a consequence, not a troupe of naughty flits. "Can you imagine explaining that one when they dropped you back at home?" Not that her own parents would object, ultimately, as she knew well they'd be happy to have her back regardless.

"I'm sure if it came to it, he'd take the pies." Like anyone with any sense! "But if he was really going to risk stealing something, I think he'd go for fried wherry." Now addressed directly, the flit in question was happy to 'answer' with a series of conversational-sounding cheeps and peeps, with a proud little trill at the end as he raised himself up tall and flared out his wings. Though he had no idea what was being said, he had no qualms about adding in his two cents.

"Fair point. Cookies for company isn't a terrible trade, though."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

The Weyr tolerated so much behavior from the humans in it, Matotoka wasn't surprised they were perhaps less lenient on the little bonded creatures brought with them. Or obtained there in the Weyr. They were extra mouths to feed - and not all of them would sit to patiently, watching as their cookies were stolen by a little filcher like Heist.

"Really now?" Matotoka 'answered' Altan as the firelizard peeped and cheeped at him, Heist trilling in some unknown answer of his own as he teetered off the man's shoulder, holding his cookie covetously - though the other cookies were also looked upon as well. "Well that's a very thoughtful answer, little guy," Matotoka held out a hand to offer a finger. A test to see if Altan would allow headrubs from a stranger.

"You think so? I can think of a few times I'd trade the cookies to not have company - or run off with them altogether. You must like people?"

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Once he had offered his input, such as it was, Altan took another nibble of his cookie as though to punctuate the 'thought.' Once he had thoroughly chewed and swallowed the morsel, he eyed the finger now offered to him. He clutched the partial cookie close in the claws of one forefoot - he did not quite trust the other brown not to try to take it - he reached for Matotoka's finger with the other and bumped his head against it. New friend!

'Most people, most days," Nashwa answered, taking a bite of a cookie herself. "Not that I don't appreciate a little alone time, obviously." She gestured to indicate the otherwise empty strip of beach. "But if it's one or the other, I am a people person, yes. Who else would I cook for? Flits?"

Not the most discerning audience, even if they were cute.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

With his offer for rubs accepted, Matotoka scratched along Altan's cheeks and head-frills, fingers seeking out the place where the brown would enjoy it the most. If he'd guessed himself, it would have been right beneath the headknobs but....not all firelizards liked it the same.

"Oh, if you're cooking you should especially keep it for yourself. Why do it for someone else? Did they help?" He didn't particularly sound jaded, and really Matotoka wasn't exactly qualified to talk about doing things for oneself. He was, after all, trapped under the thumb of his father's will and an itch of discomfort he'd never really be rid of. "I mean, I'm sure I'd say nothing but nice things for free food."

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Altan fairly melted into the headrubs, dissolving into contented chrrs and leaning heavily into Matotoka's expert fingers. He was so relaxed he even dropped the remainder of his cookie, unable to keep a grip on it.

"And there you have it," Nashwa said with a laugh. "I happen to like when people say nice things, and compliments from myself don't have quite the same ring to them. And seeing people happy doesn't hurt, either. Food is good for that."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Heist perked up with a peep as the cookie was dropped, nearly fumbling off of his perch before Matotoka reached up to steady him there. "That's not for you, you little bandit," he chided, earning a trill of displeasure from his firelizard. Sure, he still had his cookie, but that cookie was on the ground! It was free game!!! Matotoka wouldn't allow for more food thieving while he was petting Altan, however.

Matotoka did, however, consider Nashwa's answer briefly. "I guess that'd do it. I dunno. My work never really gets compliments. My old man is a Trader, so..." that was the story, at least. Still, he couldn't help but smile. "But that's probably the difference! In our field compliments are usually looking for a discount or a freebie.....not that free food would be something to sneeze at."

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Heist's sudden interest called Altan's attention to his slip-up, and he was now torn between rescuing his cookie and continuing to enjoy his massage. So, in spite of the fact that he wasn't supposed to inhale his food, that was exactly what he did. He snatched the morsel back from the ground and shoved as much of it as possible into his maw to gulp down. The faster he finished, the faster he'd be back to receiving excellent pets!

As she watched her flit's antics, Nashwa's lips twitched up into an amused, affectionate smile. Silly little thing, acting like he never ate or got any attention at all. "I imagine it's hard to be a Trader and not at least a little bit of a people person - not the best line of work if you just want to be left alone."

demon_pachabel