Introductions and Induction (Renegades)

[4horseshowgirl4]

It was early evening, the summer sun just thinking about setting, the daylight creatures returning to their dens, and those of the night beginning to stir. A large black shadow flashed into the air, conspicuous enough in the pale purple sky. It was not so dark yet that anyone would begin to doubt the sureness of their eyes, and it was unmistakeably a dragon, a Black or an extremely dark, small Blue.

There was only one dragon of the renegades possibly small enough to be that in the air, Black Thauth of M'kiru, as the others were all Sub-Kings or bigger. However, as the figure came closer, it was apparent that this dragon did not have the huge wings or stocky figure of Thauth.

Dalibor! some people would instantly think, until they saw a second, smaller figure sitting behind the first on the Black's dragon's back. Not a guard from the Weyr; new arrivals.

The two sat easily on the dragon, though his tired wings pitched them up and down rather more than they had when they were fresh. They wore straps, but they hung loose around their laps; they were there in case something catastrophic happened, nothing more. The smaller figure, a child, was as relaxed hundreds of feet in the air as the Dragonrider was, and it was apparent that she was no Candidate that had just been searched: upon closer look, they appeared mother and daughter, from the similar shape of their faces and the same expressions they wore.

Raelle, Dragonrider of Black Tossiteth, and her ten-Turn-old daughter, Xela, had been searching for a place in a Weyr for six Turns now. They had proved... not particularly suited to Weyr life, and that was an understatement. Raelle caused more trouble than she was worth, especially dragging along a child that was slightly too old now to be taken by the crechewoman and without friends. Sure, they could have tried Dalibor, which was new and desperate for more dragons to swell their ranks, but, at the same time, Raelle had heard rumors of a renegade group that had settled on this same continent. To her, the choice of where to go was easy.

Mine, I still don't see any signs of dragons down there. Tossiteth reported dully. We've been searching all day. We need to find a place to sleep for the night. Are you even sure that there are renegades? {Fine. Your eyes are better than mine. Find a place.} Raelle responded, disappointed but too excited at the prospect of a stable life (or more stable, anyway, no one could really expect a group of renegades to lead the most stable life). "Won't this be delightful, Xela dear?" she said out loud to her daughter.

Xela bit her tongue. She did not share her mother's enthusiasm for the move. She highly doubted that there would be anyone nearer to her age than her mother-- even teenagers out of Weyrlinghood would be too adult to make friends with a prepubescent child. Shells, there would be few Candidates who would deign to talk to her, even if there were any! She'd already made the mistake of complaining to her mother about that fact many times, and she simply didn't want to be shouted at again. She just made a small, affirmative noise.

Mine! Tossiteth said urgently. Raelle hardly needed to hear her dragon's voice to know he was excited about something: his body felt re-energized, carrying himself more elegantly in the air. There are dragons around! We must have found them! Raelle said nothing but slapped her dragon proudly on the shoulder, before relaying the information to Xela. "How does he know?" was her only reply, half curiosity, half hoping that he was wrong so they could go to Dalibor where there would be kids. "He can feel their minds around him; they communicate telepathically, you know, but he doesn't know these dragons, so he had to get awfully close before getting in 'range' so to speak." Raelle answered.

Black Tossiteth and Raelle of Southern Weyr asking for permission to land, he announced respectfully to any that were around and listening. We were hoping to join the ranks of your renegades.

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Sjueth was making his way delicately through the forest floor, leaving surprisingly little evidence of his passing as he tramped slowly after his Mine. The man was carrying a rather impressive load of fish, one of which was still flopping about, insistently attempting to take a chunk out of T'el's neck. The dragon watched absently as the fish flailed, the string through its mouth keeping it attached to its deceased brethren and its fatty body wriggling angrily. The fish lunged again, its toothless mouth chomping down on the youth's neck, only to go limp a moment later, its spine snapped by a skilled twist of the boy's wrist.

"That actually hurt." The blackette whined, rubbing his neck where the fish had bitten. Sjueth almost chuckled, his eye whirling with patient adoration as they made their way to the camp. The Iron paused a few moments later, however, lifting his head high to the sky.
"What's the matter, Sju?"

There is a dragon requesting to land. The name...is familiar.
A slim brow arched as the boy turned around, walking closer to the dragon, "What do you mean?"
Black Tossiteth and Raelle...
T'el paused, eyes lifting in thought for a few moments, before he gave up with a hmph. "Doesn't strike as familiar to me. You must have heard it from someone else." He shrugged and moved to walk off, planning on just ditching the whole affair, but paused, a rather devious look in his eye.

"Sjueth, darling?"
The Iron's eye rolled down to him.
"What would you say...would be our lovely boss's opinion on visitors we have no idea who are~?"
I assume he would not...approve.
"Exactly." A grin slid maliciously into place on his lips and he licked them, snickering to himself. T'el had been feeling a bit left out lately...terribly upset that neither D'ror, nor anyone else had been spending time with him. He needed attention! And sex! A lot of it! But he hadn't been getting it, and well....the results were dire. "Tell them they can land. Let's go meet these marauding intruders."

Sjueth gave a draconic equivalent of a frown, eye whirling with distaste, but nodded, continuing after T'el as the man began to walk again. Black Tossiteth...you and your Mine are welcome to land. He boomed, sending an image of His's miniature camp, outside of the main camp. Here.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Tossiteth hovered in the air for a tense minute as the small group awaited a reply. "What is taking so long?" Xela asked, barely masking her restlessness and impatience. Raelle shushed her with a wave of her hand, turning her head this way and that, ears straining for the soft whoosh of wings on the air. Tossiteth, too, moved his head to and fro. He knew he wasn't mistaken; there were dragons around, no doubt of that. The seconds dragged on like years, though, as they hung there in the air, listening for an answer.

And, finally, We've permission to land, Tossiteth said, pulling himself higher into the air. I've been sent an image of a camp. With that, he gracefully moved between, emerging at the small settlement. He touched down lightly before stretching out his fatigued wings. Xela slid off of his back the second his claws scraped the ground, eager to be able to move around again, Raelle right behind her and grabbing her hand before she could scamper off. For a minute, the mother's busy hands went over both of them, smoothing wrinkled tunics, wiping off dusty faces, and pinning back wind-swept hair. Renegades or not, they had to look presentable. Xela squirmed uncomfortably under her mother's annoying ministrations.

Despite her mother's thinking, Xela was not inclined to scamper off; she was as eager to see this renegade group as the Blackpair was. She stood a few steps apart from her mother, as straight and tall as her little stature would allow her, copying Raelle's and Tossiteth's posture, peering into the forest. All three stood still and alert.

It was Tossiteth who saw Sjueth first. He had certainly not expected an Iron, despite the power of the voice that had greeted them. Xela's eyes widened in awe at the sheer size of the dragon, but Raelle's narrowed. He reminded her a little bit too much of that Iron Xela's father rode, but it was no matter. She could still be polite. She was embarking on a new life, free forever of that man and all others, free of Weyr life.

A moment later, a man emerged from the thick undergrowth, and Raelle recognized him instantly. A strange noise emerged from her, halfway between a furious growl and a frustrated scream.

No.

No, way.

Shells, no!

Fate could not be this cruel!

Xela swiftly recognized that warning of temper on her mother's face and backed a hasty step away, closer to Tossiteth's figure. However, the dragon was now as worried as Xela-- he, too, now knew who this Ironpair was, and he knew that the coming scene could not be pretty. While the other two shifted backwards a little bit, as if to try and remove themselves from the drama, Raelle took a furious step forward, hands shaking in apoplectic rage. "YOU!" was all she managed to utter. It didn't matter to her that it had been she who had seduced him (though certainly T'el didn't take much convincing), nor that she had failed to tell him of her pregnancy, of their child. That logic failed her. She had simply made him the scapegoat of all her problems, and now, here he was, daring to be at the same place as her.

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Perhaps a bit wiser than His, Sjueth had taken the lead on their walk, the Ironrider striding lazily at his haunches as he arched his neck subtly, making himself appear even larger than he was. While he certainly didn't fear the Blackpair that was arriving, something in his gut told him that this would be an encounter that could...become violent. As easily as T'el could hold his own against a female rider--he was strong enough, for a human--Sjueth was nonetheless wary...and wanted to be the first to get a look at the newcomers.

He recognized them almost instantly. The dragon lifted his head high, the first sight of Tossiteth not striking him as interesting, but the woman a distinctly familiar face. The loud woman. The woman always ranting and yelling, who had been the last to fly with his Mine before they had left. He would know that angry face anywhere.

T'el, however, was a bit slower in recognition. While Sjueth stiffened, his blind eye whirling with a rare shade of displeasure as his working one glowed warningly, he came up to stand by the beast's foreleg, arching a brow. "Me." He repeated, a crazed half-smile in place as he absently mused over the comment, more interested in looking over the lovely woman than be bothered by her accusing stare. "Yes, yes. I exist. Rather lovely, wouldn't you say? Must say. You're rather lovely yourself. To think! Another woman wanting in on the renegade world."

He snickered, glancing at the Black boredly, before his gaze drifted, and the brow--having dropped back--shot up. "A kid?"

Bland bluish eyes blinked, a subtle frown on his lips as he glanced carefully from Raelle, then to the girl, and then to the dragon, and then back to Xela. His manic grin spread like wild-fire back onto his face.
"...Wow. Would never have thought you'd had a kid, lady! You don't look old enough to have a runt!"

[4horseshowgirl4]

Oh, she could not listen to this idiot! To think, he was so deranged that he hadn't even recognized her yet! Raelle was positively fuming, and had there been any firestone around, it was entirely plausible that she would have been able to breathe flames at that moment. Tossiteth's eyes were whirling shades of yellow in his uneasiness. It was never good news when His was in this mood. The Black met the Iron's good eye for a moment before bowing his head slightly, as if to apologize.

Xela, too, frowned at T'el, feeling quite indigent. She was no runt! She was ten Turns big, for Faranth's sake! Still, she was not stupid, and she didn't plan on introducing herself to this stranger with a dragon several times Tossiteth's weight by getting angry. Besides, it appeared that Raelle was about to express enough fury at the Ironrider to cover both of them. Though the Weyrbrat was racking her brains, she honestly couldn't think of a reason why Raelle would be so set against the renegade. Obviously it wasn't the fact that he was a renegade; they were here to join them, after all! No, there was some history between the two, that was for sure.

And there was, a story that Raelle had kept buried from her daughter. A story of petty wants and easy ways to get them; of lust and seduction; of unwanted consequences. She didn't think ahead, and look where it'd landed her! A kid to care for, and no father for her. Turns of struggle to find her niche in a Weyr, many Weyrs, that wanted no part of her. Her mind churned angrily, as she was too wrapped up in her emotions to think out the details clearly. All she knew was that she wanted T'el to feel every part of the pain and the angst she'd borne for the past eleven Turns.

Raelle was about to burst. She closed the distance between the two of them in four furious strides and slapped the Ironrider with all her strength, smiling savagely as she did, before stepping back and looking once more as if she were a Queen in Flight with no Kings chasing her. "Yes, a kid!" she shouted. "Not just a kid, your kid! Do you even know who I am?!" she bit back the rest of the insults she was dying to hurl at T'el. If he didn't remember her...!

Xela's jaw dropped. Okay... what now? Did her mother just say what she thought she said? This guy here was her father? How the heck did that happen? She knew what happened during a Flight often resulted in children like her... but both Tossiteth and the Iron were males! And it was painfully obvious that these two had no affection for each other! Her mind reeled, stunned by this, struggling with what to make out of this new information.

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[jack]

Sjueth's eye narrowed at the other dragon's look, his tail flicking slightly as he stood firm beside his, not exactly accepting nor denying the apology. The very apology, however, set him minorly on edge, his wings folding tighter as he loomed a bit more behind T'el--intimidating in his silver mass.

T'el, meanwhile, seemed far less worried, his eyes gleaming slightly as he tilted his head, watching the woman approach. He didn't make any attempt to dodge, taking the slap with a soft snicker before slowly righting his head, peering with disinterest at Raelle. "Not in the slightest." He admitted, a lop-sided grin spread onto his lips as he worked his jaw, checking for damage.

His eyes lifted after a moment, a flicker of clear intrigue in the dancing irises as he stared at the girl, his hands moving to rest on his hips. "My kid though, huh?" He slid around Raelle lazily, Sjueth moving with him as though to block the woman's path as he sidled over to Xela, looming over her curiously. "....mm."

The blackette leaned down, his nose inches from Xela's, and simply stared. It was difficult to say what exactly he was thinking, but the glimmer in his stare grew greater after a few moments, and he shot to attention, cackling. "You can't be serious. You don't look old enough, but I knooow I'm not. Besides!" He whirled around and sashayed back towards Sjueth, running his hands up the dragon's forearm lazily. "The last time I had a woman in my furs I wasn't much older than the runt! And she was psychotic!"

[4horseshowgirl4]

Raelle was furious as it was, and T'el's indifferent reaction to the slap served no purpose other than to irritate her further. Shard it, she wanted him to get angry and yell back, to be mean and frightening, to slap her or insult her, to blatantly deny Xela was his in a way that would only show that he knew the truth. She wanted an opponent! She wanted him to do something, anything, to justify her bitterness and angst from all of these Turns. Why was he standing here, perfectly calm? She wanted a conflict, dammit! Was that too much to ask for?!

What? Why was he smiling? Raelle snapped, all pretense of self-control gone (or as much self-control as Raelle was capable of exerting, which wasn't much). "You wherrybrain!" Raelle spat at him, putting as much contempt into the insult as she possibly could. "How mental do you have to be to forget someone you slept with?! By Faranth, Kingriders aren't usually so stupid! You have got to be the worst, the lowest of all the men who've shared my furs, and, shard!, I've attracted some losers!" Her face was brick red, and her blonde hair was falling out of its hastily-done bun. Her slender body was positively shaking in anger; she looked quite deranged, to be honest.

Raelle was in the throes of a full-fledged temper tantrum, but obviously T'el didn't give a sunshine to her opinion on him. He stepped right past her, and, in an instant, Raelle stalked after him, hands extended like she was quite tempted to choke the life out of him, but his Iron slid between her and her quarry like a massive stone wall. Raelle screamed in frustration, but she kept her mouth clamped closed, so the result was quite muffled, thankfully. Ugh. Men! They didn't have the attention span of a VTOL! If it weren't for the whole biology thing, Pern would be a whole lot better off without them! Raelle frowned, brows knitting together, before pinning her hair back up carelessly and trying to figure out the fastest way around Sjueth so she could grab T'el and make him listen to her.

RaeMine, please try to relax,

[/color] Tossiteth interrupted with a mental strength that was usually beyond him, stopping Raelle in her tracks. Just... give them some father-daughter time. You can throttle T'el later. Although that might not be very smart, either... he might be their leader, with an Iron![/color] Tossiteth's soothing mindvoice was the only thing that could have prevented Raelle from her plans, so she relented... for the moment. She crossed her arms and fumed silently. "She's yours, all right, better believe it," she said grumpily, but at least she wasn't yelling any more.

Xela watched T'el with appraising, almost suspicious eyes as he approached her. Part of her was tempted to flee behind Tossiteth. There was just something... intangibly weird about T'el, but Xela couldn't put her finger on it. Oh! It was the way he had coolly ignored her mother's ranting and raving. Instantly, her feelings of him turned from wariness to slight awe. He must be awfully, hmm, not brave exactly, but confident and self-assured! Yes, he would make quite a satisfactory father. Xela drew herself up again, stretching to the limits of her meager height, and tipping up her chin to look him in the eye.

He stared, and she stared back, studying his face and memorizing his features. This was a figure she would not let herself forget. She had not seen a mirror for a long time, so she honestly couldn't have told anyone whether she shared any of his physical traits, but that didn't matter. He was somewhat decrepit but good-looking enough, and he looked like a Kingrider. That was enough for Xela. When he pulled back, Xela nodded subtly, almost imperceptably. He passed her standards.

He spoke again, but Xela was only half paying attention. She knew he was her father; if Raelle was that convinced, so was she. And, he hadn't even known Raelle had been pregnant with her (or so she assumed, anyway), so what did he know? However, she felt another pang of indignition when he called her a 'runt' yet again. She'd learned enough of a temper, or inherited one, anyway, from Raelle, and two offenses were more than she could grin in bear. "I am not a runt!" she stated loudly and impertinently. "My name is Xela," she added almost as an afterthought.
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