Lament A Fiddler To Come {Open}

[Admin]

And in the pulse there lies conviction,
A steady push and pull routine,
Till cymbals swelled,
High notes fell into reach.

Dusk settled on the Weyr, the pretty dusk of a fair spring day. All was silent, for such a place, small noises creating a background that lay behind the silence. It had been a lazy day, and a possibly busier night was blooming, but everything lay at peace in the dusk. For a moment, a wind whispered. It sent a few knocked over, young leaves skittering about the rocky shores outside of the Weyr, away across the expanse of the island. The wind died down again, leaving the silence different but still about, hanging over dull murmurs and slight noises, but its reign over all around it was slowly but thoroughly ended.

It started with one note, in the distance. It grew louder, and a figure wandered along a part of the footpath into the Weyr, by the banks of the river that flowed through it. The song continued, a haunting and thrumming fiddle tune that came from the violin the stranger grasp with expert hands. The wanderer played each note with skill and with feeling, lending it experience. The song grew as the traveler continued up the path, slowly coming towards the bowl. It gained a quickness, a briskness. The player added no flourishes, but the piece had its own that she did enunciate. It had character, and the wanderer seemed to take on some of its character. It shrouded the figure in something better than a cloak.

Of course, the wayward wanderer wore a cloak as well, along with a broadly brimmed hat. It was hard to tell what her gender was, but, in the end, she was a she. It was somehow made plain in the music, even though the piece didn't sound at all feminine. Dusty, sweaty, and travel worn, bundled up in clothing, she looked like a hunched character holding onto nothing but a fiddle to keep her going on in those moments except an imperious lack of elegance that resided in her every moment, in every note. She nurtured the music out into the world, but she did it as herself, moving as only her simple self.

Finally, the song came to an end and she stopped, just withing the confines of the Weyr's bowl. She paused. Then she lowered the instrument, holding it and the bow gently into her nimble fingers. She tipped back her hat and gave her scalp a scratch, further setting her imperfectly set blond-brown hair askew. Her face looked firmer than the song had been. For a moment, she stared about, with light blue eyes. The Weyr was not as impressive as she had been led to believe. Of course, she wasn't an easily impressed person. It was a bit pretty, a bit big, but she didn't see the magnificence. It was her new location, where she had gotten a new job. It was a place, with dragons. It wasn't that amazing.

Done inspecting, she wrinkled her nose, frowning vaguely at it. Sticking her violin into the crook of her arm with love, she stuck her free hand deep into the pocket of her coat. Nose all scrunched up, she ambled forward, hat carelessly askew. She whistled as she went, a cheery tune that didn't seem to match her bored, gruff expression. She didn't know where she was supposed to go, and she didn't care. Wandering across the bowl, by herself, whistling as if life was a happy thing full of joy and sunshine, was fine by her. Meeting new faces? Tolerable, if necessary. As long as they weren't whiny kids. Darn kids.

And it's not a love, it's not a love,
It's not a love, it's not a love song,
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song,
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song.

[purnip]

The silence was bound to last a little longer, for at first there was not much ado about the place. At dusk it was fairly empty in the bowl.

Until a blue flit flew into the bowl from within the corridor. This firelizard was anxious, after all, His was restless. Lyam practically insisted he didn't stick around him for long. He understood the flit liked to be just as social as himself, and lately the boy had been surprisingly secluded. His anxiety was keeping him from sleeping in even the few hours he would get himself to sleep. So the Blue left His to his devises, until he was summoned. It didn't make as much of a difference as Lyam would have thought. Suede always felt just about the same as His.

Suede flew higher, testing his own practiced skills in flight to see just how fast and far he could rise and drop. He liked bettering himself on all counts, for he couldn't be a useful creature if he was lax and dull. In his aerial romp he spied the violin player with his multi-facetted eyes. He had never caught sight of one such as herself before. His curiosity, ever steering, peaked at the sight of a strange new human. The Blue folded his wings when high above the bowl to drop, testing his precision to drop near and not upon her.

His calculations were a bit off; the flit was young and not fully developed just yet. His awkward juvenile proportions had shifted his target about a dragonlenth away from the young woman, had that 'dragonlength' been that of Ramoth herself. He nearly crashed to the ground had he not pulled up at a shocked instant. Nowhere near as practiced as he should be. Suede slowed himself and idled once he was before the stranger, then landing upon the ground behind her and following her on foot with a gait much like a chicken's, if they had four legs to trot with. He chirped a couple of times aware that his puny size, however buff he was built, would likely leave him unnoticed even after his initial spectacle.

[zara]

A rider sat silently, watching as dusk fell, his Iron dragon behind him, his back rested against the great Iron. The metallic hide caught the last rays of sun. He had had far better days that this... Where he wasn't nearly as bored... where he had not become so used to watching what was happening around him.

K'nan.... He was always thinking and thinking he was. Day or night. He had spent a lot of the day on what duties he had as a King Rider. He raised a hand to push his hair from his eyes. K'nan took a deep breath. He watched as the flit flew past, barely moving at all. He was quiet still... and just watching... He often watched the people who came by... Expecially when he had the time off and could sit in the Weyrbowl where others were always bustling. It was a habit of his...

[Admin]

An interesting detachment,
A listless poem of love sincere,
Desire, despair,
Overlapping melodies.

Out of one eye, Paget spied the untalented antics of a young blue firelizard. A faint smirk twisted at her features and she snorted as the creature went crashing into the ground behind her. Sympathetic? Not particularly. It was amusing, and she wished the entertaining firelizard the best of luck, but she ambled on without pause. She'd never been that fond of flitters. Dragons? Fine and dandy, certainly intimidating and useful with the whole being saviors of Pern bit that they did. She'd always thought whers a bit interesting. Nocturnal beasts that could rip you apart without any effort? Definitely up her odd alley. However, firelizards? Pesky, pesky, pesky, except for the few who learned how to sing properly.

Chirping came from behind her. Over and over. At about the fourth time, she stopped dead. Her jaw clenched slightly. She looked to the sky, eying its expanse with an impatience. Then she whirled around and peered down. The blue firelizard with the lack of aerial skill had been following her, walking awkwardly and looking almost adorably stupid. She peered down at him for a moment. "I don't want your company;" she informed him, voice harsh and fierce. She addressed the pestilent creature as if a perfectly intelligent creature, and fully expected him to take her words and beat it. She didn't wish her first moments at the Weyr to be spent with a firelizard stalking her.

Thus, with that, she looked up, to begin the process of ignoring her tagalong. She found the sight of an iron dragon and his rider without any trouble. They were just sitting there, hardly being useful, hardly doing anything. She raised her head a bit more, expression stubborn, probably to a fault. She eyed him for a moment, as if considering what she might do. In truth, she was just sizing him up, barely factoring in the presence of his mighty, hulking dragon. "He yours?" She spoke loud enough for K'nan to here, meeting his eyes with a brashness that fit her oddly rough voice and the faint accusation in her tone. She nodded down to Suede as she spoke, indicating that she was referring to the firelizard.

And now the loops are reminiscing,
Recurring dreams of minor chords,
Metered time,
Muted chimes find the beat.

[purnip]

Not that he couldn't take a hint, but Suede was much unused to rejection. He didn't let her cold shoulder and icy message blow him away. He merely glanced up at her with eyes shifting in color, from blue to a lighter green. He wasn't as jovial as he was before, but he was quite intent on taking this as a sort of challenge. The girl found his antics more annoying than anything else? A disappointment maybe, but this was a reaction the Blue flit found particularly intriguing. He didn't flutter away and conveyed, the the elementary manner in which a firelizard only could, his disobedience. He was not about to depart. Suede was determined to figure out what he had done to deserve negative attention. He took it personally. Other firelizards or their antics never crossed his mind. His own kind were boring and predictable. Humans were complex and foreign. Strange...

And it wasn't as if he was attempting to be foolish before. He was simply a novice flier.

When Paget was talking to another...an Ironrider, Suede only glanced over at K'nan and looked mildly offended. That wasn't his human; he couldn't compare in the slightest. Too quiet. Too brooding. The Blue shook his little head and fluttered his wings. He wanted off the ground. He had stepped on his wings twice already.

[zara]

K'nan looked at Paget, his expression just slightly friendly. "No... I'm afraid I own none of the little flitters... They can be obnoxious... Embraeth isn't a fan either... He doesn't mind, but he does not want me to have one. That's too much." He watched the little blue firelizared quietly. He was a curious one, not at all like any other flitter that he had seen around the Weyr...

I think he is just a curious youngling... He has not mastered flight. He seems almost more intelligent than some flitters I have seen, Embraeth noted to his rider, regarding the little blue flitter with mild interest.

K'nan watched him. He didn't usually find the antics of flitts to be very interesting... and, yet... who knew, perhaps this was a change of events...
I think you may be right, Embraeth... It is something more interesting to watch than that which has been going on for much of the day, I suppose... but I don't know that it is polite to think as much he chuckled softly here Though I rather an indignant flitter than an indignant woman, man, or dragon...

[Admin]

I had a dream you went to New York,
You found new friends,
You had new work,
I wasn’t there but I came to visit.

So, the blue wasn't the ironrider's flitter. Paget glanced at the tiny creature again, who looked to be almost upset in the way he shuffled his wings about. Her eyes darted back to the rider, and his dragon, who she assumed with Embraeth. She frowned faintly at as he chuckled out of the blue, but he didn't appear to be paying attention. She didn't so much mind. It was only a breach of etiquette, to not be paying attention to someone who was talking to you, and she wasn't one for manners. She peered back down at the firelizard. She was starting to feel annoyingly responsible for the tiny creature. "Really, go shardin' away;" she said.

Hoping that swearing at the creature might make it go away, she glanced at the ironrider again. She had talked to him, and she was new. She was probably supposed to make friends. She felt like she was a new apprentice again. With any luck, things would go better than back then, not that she much cared. She would crack a few heads and set things on there head if she felt so inclined. "Well, I'm Paget. Nice to meet you and all of that, regardless;" she told him. She approached him a bit, carefully keeping her violin comfortably under her arm. After rubbing her free hand on her pants, she extended it to him in greeting.

Maybe it’s enough to know,
I never walk alone,
I get by on my own,
I’ll always be my only home.

[purnip]

Suede was not at all discouraged at the negative attention. It only intrigued him further. Absolutely astonishing! It seemed as if the Blue would not leave unless threatened to do so, because he didn't flutter far. He had taken to the air and drifted around the inner sanctum of the bowl in imperfect circles. He didn't wish to leave, and yet he did not wish to continue breathing the poor woman's scent from so close behind. Being intuitive with human emotion, he knew very well that his mere presence annoyed Paget. He had done nothing too intruding. Not even so much as a touch. Just as he knew when to land on a stranger's shoulder, he knew when not to pester. Personal bubbles were so boring though.

But the girl wasn't boring, which Suede found rather queer. Why did she find his company irritating? He didn't think the Iron would or could answer for it. He was a confident flit, yes, but he had much respect for dragons and didn't even brush their minds with anything beyond a greeting. Oh! Aside from the friendly Yellow he was greeted by once. Something like that he would be hard pressed to forget.

Meanwhile, back at the Barracks, Lyam could sense for some time that his Blue firelizard was obsessing over something, likelier someone. He sighed when the sensation did not stop. It wasn't one of his past acquaintances then but whoever it was, it was bound to be an interesting sort of person. Suede just wasn't stopping. It must be quite the individual he had sought out. The idea was enticing, to leave this stuffy room and stop trying to sleep after last night's tossing and turning and meet a new and perhaps worthwhile person. He hated trying to sleep; it was more tiring and yet he was not losing consciousness any faster. He felt as if every day, closer to Hatching, breathing became more laborious. Rising from bed, the Candidate reached for his comb and gave his messy curls a few run throughs.

Once he got a decent set of clothing on, he left his room and wondered at where Suede was located. The Blue, still rounding about in the air, conveyed an image of the familiar, dusk skies on the brim of the Weyr Bowl. Lyam made his way towards the place with a confident stride, despite his weariness. The prospect of meeting someone new gave him some of that energy he was lacking just moments ago. As he reached the entrance he could already see what might have sparked so much interest from his socialite Blue; two people and one Iron dragon were at some distance from the entrance. In the dim light he could only make out very little else.

Lyam waved up at Suede, who had actually gotten pretty high off the ground to his surprise. The Blue really went at it, learning to improve his flight skills. He needed to find out when he could expect the flit to be able to go between. That was of much more interest to Lyam. Though the Blue wasn't bound to get much larger in size, he could still deliver notes. That was the extent of what he expected from him. Suede tucked his wings to dive toward His, his eyes whirring blue and green in excitement. He hoped His was here to make friends with the strange girl. That would make his day.

[zara]

K'nan stood and took Paget's hand. "It is good to meet you as well, Paget. I hope you don't mind the rudeness of an Iron and his rider... my name is K'nan and this is Embraeth." K'nan gave her his winning smile, though still reserved... What is your opinion of a Weyr thus far?" he aksed her. He always found the opinions of those knew to the Weyr interesting. Most were impressed, but any that were different were always more interesting...

I, as well, am pleased to meet you, Paget,

[/color] Embraeth said. Embraeth rarey, if ever, spoke to anyone other than His... He saw fit, however, to greet Paget himself. She was different than most others... He was silent then. He was not a big talker anyways... And it was slightly out of character.[/center]

[Admin]

It's a shame now, baby,
You can't see yourself,
And everything you're running from.
And it's the same world, honey.

Paget blinked at the sound of a voice in her head. For a moment, she thought it was K'nan continuing his greeting, in a nonsensical fashion, but the voice wasn't aloud and it wasn't the same. It was Embraeth. She blinked up at the iron for a moment. Then she offered a nod and that was that. It was nice of the quiet but sturdy sounding dragon to offer her a greeting, but she wasn't bowled off her feet. A bit of a smile tugged at her face, but it wasn't that large. It was natural. Perhaps pretty, if it took to a liking, but utterly natural. It wasn't for anyone's benefit. She felt like smiling, because she was feeling less disgruntle, so she did. In a cynics' way, she might have never smiled in a boring life, but she found that life had its sparks. Between all the junk, it had its good bits, like handsome iron dragons greeting her openly with old fashions idioms and bits.

At K'nan's question, Paget withdrew her hand and slowly turned. What did she think of the Weyr? She inspected it, eyes grazing over the cliff faces that made up its walls. She'd only been there a short while. It had been a long trip. Her feet were sore and tired. She felt fine for the most part otherwise. Youthful despite the touches of her odd nature, she traveled well. It was useful for her job. It had merely been long, but, now that the journey was over, what did she think of the Weyr? It was big. Within its sheltering walls, there was a lake, a waterfall, fields and pens, and space for over half a thousand dragons. It looked real, though, less grand and more alive. It wasn't been built to be grand. It had been built to protect all of the west, hadn't it? She could see it, somewhere in the traces of its line. She plucked faintly at the string of her fiddle.

"It's nice. I like it;" she responded in the end to K'nan. She said no more and offered no shrug. She didn't waste her words, though thoughts of a song traced into her mind. It was faint. She wasn't a composer, and she thought the idea might have words, when she was better with instruments than singing. She pushed it aside for another time. She didn't care for composing. If it came, she'd consider it. Later. The harper's wandering gaze fell on another new arrival to their general area of the bowl. The boy was waving up at her nuisance, who had actually thought to take off and put some sensible distance between them. The blue flitter was diving towards the boy. So there was the annoying creature's bonded. If she was already getting her weyr legs, the lad had to be a candidate, or a weyrling. Probably a candidate. Shardin' kid.

The little, please smile she had been wearing faded away. Her expression became sharper. She wasn't stupid. She wasn't nice. That was made quite clear by the way she held herself. She adjusted her violin in the crook of her arm and pulled her hat from her head. For a moment, she took the time to brush bits of her blond brown hair back behind her ears. She sized up her new fish. With her shoulders thrown back firm, she looked deadly, though without grace. She wasn't feline. She was just mean, when she felt like it. "He yours, laddy;" she called, pulling out a lopsided grin of distaste. The question was partially rhetorical, but she was looking for an answer. Her feet did hurt. Chewing someone out for their annoyances seemed like a wonderful idea. She enjoyed being brutally honest and prickly. They were enjoyable character flaws she had.

It was a long, dark, sleepy morning walk.
You fell down, case and point.
It was a good start.
It was a good start.

[purnip]

"As I am his," Lyam replied, his eyes not so much as making the slightest eye contact. He was still looking to Suede with keen interest, as if inspecting the firelizard carefully.

Because he could tell. The boy had met all colors and kinds of people and had the instinct that allowed him to determine more or less what sort of person he was dealing with. Paget was preparing to chew him out. Like dawn would approach, he realized what must have transgressed here. The Blue helped with supplementary images flashing through his mind. Scowls, commands, even a hint of tone; this girl had found Suede particularly annoying.

Thing was, Lyam was getting a little bored amidst his anxiety and quite tired of putting on his 'nice' face. He felt pretty mean himself lately. With the stress and anticipation for the coming Impression {or lack thereof}, he was so humorless that he couldn't stand to even be around himself. Judging by appearances, this person wasn't vital to him, or probably never would be, and even so the effort to gain this person's trust would require the consumption of a lot of his time and energy. So he was quite willing to be sarcastic and scathing in return...until his eyes had spotted in a second the hide of large Iron in the near distance. Lyam forced a smile. Way to ruin my fun, he thought.

Suede didn't like His' attitude, but he wasn't one to argue. He trusted Lyam and wondered where exactly the boy intended to go with this meeting. Even the Blue couldn't quite predict a whole lot, but he did understand one thing; His was intending to offend at the very least. Perhaps for the sake of amusement.

Lyam looked to the Ironrider before he finally looked to Paget, as if she was merely an afterthought. "He was stalking you just now, wasn't he?" His expression was serious and his tone was drawn with weariness; he was anything but. Just being here around other people charged him up again. He cast a glance at Suede who crooned innocently, deciding to play along.