"I think a dragon would like you better if you softened up a bit."

Lennik's opinion was straight to the point as he looked down at the young woman who was settled folding laundry. Her brow knit just slightly as he spoke, turning dark eyes up at him. Perhaps the darkness of them would have been lost on Lennik if she hadn't had that pale spot just around her face. Martirae was, at least as far as Lennik thought, a very striking woman after all. If a dragon had chosen solely on appearance, she would have impressed the first time they stood.

That was what he thought, anyways, but that was neither here nor there.

"I don't have to change myself for a dragon to like me. I haven't set my lifetime's worth of self worth by it," she stated in the same sharp tone she always used. "Unless that's your excuse for this sudden about face the last turn or so?" Marty continued to fold her laundry as she spoke, tearing her face from Lennik's. The last few turns had been kind to him - at least physically. He'd filled out a bit more and the handsome face of his mother, while somewhat odd on a woman, suited him much better.

Too bad he'd had to contend with his personality.

Lennik stiffened up as Martirae jabbed right into the heart of his own changes. "I'm just being honest. I think you'd be a great rider - and I know a few others who have been surprised you've been left on the sands this long I...." he frowned and trailed off as she looked up at him again, a small frown of consideration creasing her face as she leaned in.

Faranth, she was a pretty woman. She'd been a ganglier girl, but perhaps in the same way he had, she had also grown into herself. Too bad she was....that way.....

"Lennik, I appreciate that we've both been standing together all this time, but I'm not going to be desperate for a dragon that doesn't want me the way I am." Sharp. Intense. Sometimes a little mean. "That's not fair to the dragon. And perhaps that's why you're doing whatever it is you've been up to."

It felt contradictory. "So I'm allowed to change but you're not?" he said, voice coming off a little sharper and perhaps more direct than he meant. Yet completely unbothered, Marty set aside the laundry she was folding to stand up. He was a good few inches taller than she was, yet Lennik felt small next to her as she looked him down. "Ever since I've known you, you've been acting like a bratty pest whining about your mom - and don't you right me on 'she's not my mom, Marty', because she's your mom and you damn well better appreciate her. What you're saying is that person wasn't you and that's why a dragon hasn't wanted you. You're saying the person you're trying to become is worthy of a dragon and that's why you'll be chosen."

Oh, she just had to bring Danzik into it. Lennik almost instinctively crinkled his nose at mention of the woman. He opened his mouth to protest and Marty gave him a discouraging glare. "I said don't. You always do this. Your strongest personality trait is being bitter about your mom." Which of course, no dragon wants. Lennik thought to himself, folding his arms. Marty had a way of stabbing straight to the quick with her observations and this was no different.

"That explains how it's helping me. That doesn't justify you." Lennik stated roughly, "You're not better than me, so that's not an excuse." Marty could have argued that point, but she also knew there was really no point to it. "I haven't hidden who I really am for the sake of appearances, so there's no reason I should start faking it into adulthood. You've done the opposite. You're changing into who you really are. I've always been myself. That's the difference."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're an idiot."

Marty placed her hands on her hips and Lennik found a surge of anger boiling in him. One that he carefully massaged out of the hard lump it was and forced himself to soothe down.

"I came over here to try to help and-" "You've had as much luck as I have had with with impressing. You're a sharding hypocrite and don't like it when someone turns that same 'help' back upon you." Marty jabbed a finger firmly into the middle of Lennik's chest and he immediately slapped her hand away. If she was offended, it didn't show in her face.

"You still have a ways to go before you stop being a baby, Lennik. Maybe you should focus on that." It hurt to hear her say it, but Marty had a discerning eye that Lennik knew made it true. She wouldn't have said it just to be mean. Still, he didn't want to hear it from her. "Well you're just a b***h," the words came out of his mouth before he could stop them and he stiffened.

Marty's brows raised slightly.

"That's just part of the package deal," she stated with her clearly unoffended tone, which just made Lennik fumble over himself a bit. "'m sorry, Marty, I didn't mean-" she cut him off with a raise of her hand.

"You meant every word you just said. Apologies mean nothing to me. Either learn to say only what you mean when you mean it, or embrace that what comes out of your mouth will always be what you were actually thinking."

Lennik wasn't sure he was ready to do either of those things.

"I don't really think that you're a b***h...." he said, still trying to smooth the situation over.

"Perhaps you've never thought of it in that word before." she folded her arms and Lennik only felt as though she'd loaded another pile of guilt onto his very small, weak pride.

Still, she seemed to be fine with this as she settled back in to her chore. He moved to take a seat on the other side of the laundry but she gave him a sharp look. "Find your own chore to do, Lennik. This one's mine and only I'm going to finish it." He stiffened, then frowned. He'd only come over to help and apparently had forgotten that like he was trying to be, Marty was built up and supported by only herself.

Maybe that's why she hadn't found a second half.

Lennik considered this more strongly as he left her to finish her task. He'd have to find a way she'd allow him to apologize for the outburst. Because damn if she wasn't a fortress.