Not Your Average Day

[Akki]

Ebbeth had wanted to join his rider at the Lake, in all honesty he was nervous to leave her alone to her own thoughts. However, Akki requested otherwise and who was he to deny her pleas?

The news had reached them just the other day. R’xis and Ersith had packed up and left the Weyr – without a single goodbye to anyone. It hadn’t crushed Akki, oh no. It obliterated her. She actually fallen the boy, there was something about him that she just loved. She wasn’t exactly sure and at this point would never know. He had left; there would be no time for her to analyze him over and over. She had stayed in her weyr all that day, with the intentions of not coming out once. She refused to let anyone see her, especially in that condition. She was known for being the bubbly, loud bluerider! She couldn’t be seen fighting back tears, lost in her own thoughts. She had curled up with Ebbeth and Sargon instead.

The blue dragon had wrapped his tail around her comfortingly; acting more mature then anyone had ever seen him before. Sargon crooned sweet nothings in her ear, trying desperately to cheer the girl up. And Akki was going to spend the entire day like that except for one small detail. Priath's flight.

Ebbeth couldn't help but taking part in the flight, it was only natural for a blue to chase a green and Akki would not hold a grudge against him for it. Because of the flight she also found her brother, a pleasant surprise. But things just got crazy then. Ebbeth had caught Priath, Anassa had grabbed V'ian and Akki wrapped her hand around Q'sin. When she woke up this morning, she felt absolutely terrible. She was supposed to be mourning the fact R'xis had left, not hooking up with guys (Even though there wasn't much choice). She quickly grabbed her stuff and split.

Her original intention was to go back to her weyr but the plan had changed when she did get there. It suddenly seemed smaller than ever so she went to the lake, explaining to her dragon that she wanted the time alone. He didn’t want her to go, if she finally cried who would be there to comfort her? But her pleading eyes got to him and off she went.

So there she sat, toes digging themselves into the sand as she picked up rocks and angrily whipped them across the water. She dropped the rock that was clutched in her hand and simply let herself droop. Head resting against her knees, arms wrapped around her legs – she looked like a little kid suddenly.

-----

V’ian had successfully managed to pull on his clothes, fix his hair and sneak out of the floor level weyr without Anassa even waking up. He didn’t do so to be mean or anything, but thought that maybe she didn’t know who she picked to substitute Akki. What if he became some bitter regret of hers? He didn’t want that so he thought it better that she wake up with no knowledge of who she ended up with.

Then again, there was another reason he had left. He knew his sister was involved with someone, the drudges loved to gossip if you charmed them. He also knew that this person left the Weyr suddenly. He knew his sister well enough; she would hide for the worst part of it and just generally avoid everyone until the sadness was fully gone. He had watched her do it many times while growing up, so it was no surprise to him to see her silhouette on the lake’s shore.

He walked up beside her and without saying a word, sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He could have sworn he heard a sniffle but when his sister looked up; there were no tears in her eyes. She leaned against V’ian, head resting on him.

“Anassa’s going to be mad that you left her there alone.” Akki mumbled, trying to smile.

[Spirithawk]

Anassa stretched, feeling curiously relaxed, though she was not sure why at first. She felt for her dragon's mind and then realized she was not in her weyr. No wonder the furs felt different and she rarely, if ever, slept in the nude. And she WAS nude. Priath also wasn't nearby like she normally was. Oh she was on her ledge, but she was not alone and Anassa wasn't in her weyr.

Memory flooded back to her. "The flight!" Priath was pleased with herself and she was now curled up with her mate on her ledge.

"Shells and shards, you had to let Ebbeth catch you Priath." Anassa cursed before clapping her hand over her mouth. How awkward it would have been if she had wound up in bed with Akki. She knew that dragonlust crazed riders didn't care either way but it was after the flight that she was worried about. She couldn't remember who she had wound up with, but she knew it wasn't Akki. She hoped she hadn't woken him up by her fussing.

She looked around. Yes, she was definitely in the ground floor weyr, and other than herself, it was empty. Where on earth had her partner gone? Was he some scruple-less bronzerider who didn't care about the women he bedded?

In his defence, he hadn't tried to seduce her. He had gotten caught up in the flight and her desire to avoid getting stuck with Akki during the flight. So she really shouldn't be annoyed that he had left. Many riders did that in other weyrs. But this was Dark Moon. It was a pretty small place. People were more like family than Weyrfolk. Sooner or later word would spread, and she would look like a fool because the guy she wound up with left before she woke.

She bathed and dressed. Some kind drudge had gone to her weyr and got a set of clean clothes for her. She pulled on loose breeches and her sandals. Her boots were still in her weyr. She pulled her sun streaked light brown hair into a runner tail, still damp and headed out the weyr after grabbing a sweet biscuit and a quick drink of tepid klah. Food was always brought for flight participants.

The sun was bright, as always as Anassa made her way out. Priath was curled up with Akki's Ebbeth and her hide glinted with good health.

Priath, do you know who I wound up with?

No. Came the sleepy reply response before her dragon fell back to sleep.

[Akki]

Akki wiped the hair out of her face, and smiled a little more this time. “Seriously V’ian, she’s going to kill you.” She said with a small laugh as V’ian wrapped his arm around her a little tighter.

“Isn’t it family first or something?” V’ian retorted. Should he apologize to Anassa? He left because he thought he was doing her a favor, but he really didn’t want her to be mad at him. Things weren’t going quite like he planned.

“Ha! In this case it’s a quickie before family first.” The bluerider replied. It was awkward knowing that V’ian had slept with Anassa and that V’ian knew she had slept with another rider. While she and her brother were close, nobody needed to know those details. This was just creepy. “You did leave a note or something for Anassa right?” Akki questioned, punching her brother in the arm when she saw his face. The slight grimace gave it away, “You jerk! You can’t just leave her alone. She has no idea who she slept with!” Little sisters weren’t supposed to be the ones lecturing the older sibling.

“Ow! Don’t hit me. Shards, you got me hard. Not cool Akki. And I thought I was doing a good deed!” The bronzerider defended himself. He didn’t want to become like the other bronzeriders. Sleep with a girl and then ditch her as soon as possible. He would hate himself if he became that.

Waeith was curled up in his own weyr, debating to himself. He wanted to talk to Priath but the green was sleeping and it didn’t seem fair to wake her. He was not used to talking to other riders, it was something he rarely did back at home. Dark Moon dragons were close knit it seemed, freely talking to riders that were not theirs. Waeith found this rather…odd. But he didn’t have much of a choice. Excuse me Lady Anassa. Waeith began, sounding quite awkward but polite. It seems you ended up with my rider V’ian last night. I apologize that he left you like this. He can be found at the lake if you wish to talk to him.

[Dragon]

G'han had found himself walking around the weyrbowl. He had left his weyr without a word to Gerenanth, but the bronze got the drift. The bronze wasn't one to push G'han when he was in this kind of mood. The bronzerider had finally started to become interested in another girl, a specific one, and it seemed she was taken away all too soon.

But despite it all, G'han was trying to remain in a positive mind. He didn't like showing pain, not anymore. He thought to himself. Well, atleast I didn't know her for too long. What's a few sevenday, right? Could be worse, we could have seen each other longer. It's good this way, didn't have very long to get attached to her. But if G'han was trying to tell himself there was no pain, he was lying. There was something there tugging at him. He was even pushing such thoughts away like never finding a specific girl to settle down with. G'han certainly wasn't typical, that was for sure.

But now it seemed his travels had finally led him to the lake. He walked quietly to the shore of the lake and half expected Gerenanth to drop in before him. However, the bronze was not going to. Infact Gerenanth was busy keeping Azure away from G'han. G'han picked up a lone rock half buried in the sand and tossed it into the water. It skipped atleast once before it maked a plunk sound and went beneath the water's surface. G'han was hoping it would have skipped a couple more times, but he obviously didn't put enough effort into the throw.

He took a few steps along the shore before seeing Akki and V'ian. A smile grew on his face and he found just how he would ignore any sad thoughts that were creeping in his mind. He walked up behind the two of them and put his arms around the both of them. "Aw, how adorable. You two make such cute siblings", G'han made the cutesiest voice he could as he squeezed the two of them. He looked over to V'ian for a moment and wondered how awkward this must be for him, considering the conversations they had earlier.

He then looked over to Akki and winked at her. But that wink could have meant a number of things. After all, G'han made sure to keep well informed about Akki even if he didn't get it straight from her mouth. He wasn't the only one drudges gossiped about and G'han had ways of getting that gossip, whether overhearing it himself or otherwise. Though G'han did like sneaking around and listening in, he liked that stealthy feeling.

[Akki]

Akki looked up at G’han as his voice drifted into her ears. She grinned at him, hiding any hint of sadness that may have been in her mood. She knew that Aarora had also left the Weyr and that she and G’han were more or less something. She didn’t want to burden her friend with her tales when he had his own woes.

She picked her head up from V’ian’s chest where it was resting. “Didn’t you know G’han? V’ian and I are like, tooootally best friends forever!” Akki chirped in a rather preppy voice that did not suit her at all. She reached up, extending a hand and patted G’han on the cheek.

“Urg. Too much family love for me.” V’ian snorted with a hint of digust, pushing his sister off of him. “I’ll leave you too gloomy kids alone. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” V’ian warned with a grin, standing up and walking away from the two. Wasn’t he a nice brother, giving his sister an opportunity for a rebound!

“Like leaving him in the morning!” Akki shouted, hands cupped around her mouth at her brothers retreating figure. She watched as her brother sat down further away, content with watching the lake. She patted the ground next to her, indicating that G’han should sit. “He slept with Anassa and left her alone this morning.” She explained. You could almost hear the juicy gossip drip from her voice. “Sorry to hear about Aarora.” Akki said rather softly, a sympathetic smile on her lips.

[Dragon]

G'han watched as V'ian left. "Gloomy? Since when am I gloomy? I thought I was all about happy fun times?", G'han seemed to have a sincerely curious look on his face as he cocked his head to the side, but it was all in play. It wouldn't surprise him if half the weyr knew what was going on at the moment, considering the gossip that the drudges loved to fly around.

G'han looked back to Akki and saw her patting on the ground. He obliged her and sat next to her. "Wow. And here we were talking about not being typical bronzeriders. V'ian's probably going to pay for that in more ways than one", G'han said in a mock shocking tone. To be honest, it'd just be something to jokingly harass V'ian about.

G'han then gave another mock curious look at Akki. "Aarora? Who's that? I know of no such person", clearly G'han would hide everything in jest. He flopped down lazily and his head rested in Akki's lap. He remembered a time previous to this one when he had rested with her nearby. It was comforting to have his best friend this close. "But seriously though. I heard about R'xis. You and he had far more time to grow attached", G'han looked up at her with a genuinely sincere face.

However, G'han didn't like being serious. And tried to quickly change subjects. He pursed his lips together in a kissy motion. "You know, had I known you were such a good kisser I would have accidently kissed you sooner", G'han changed to that particular subject rather casually in their usual joking manner. "I'm probably the dimglow for thinking that green dragon meant it'd be a greenrider though", G'han admitted with a bit of a chuckle. G'han had to admit that on this day it was hard, even for him, to smile and give a genuine laugh. His heart wasn't in it. He would give it his best shot to cover everything up though.

[Akki]

“V’ian can see right into our souls.” Akki said in a creepy, deep voice before cracking up in a smile. As if. V’ian just liked to think he was always the happiest person around. Mind you, he was at this point. He had a good, ahem, sleep last night with more or less no strings attached. He had beaten them all, that was safe to say. She cocked an eyebrow at G’han. “You and V’ian were talking? Together? Please don’t become best friends with my brother, that’s creepy.” She groaned. It would take a while for her to get used to the idea that her brother would be around for a long time.

Akki rolled her eyes, especially at the kissy noises. She bent down, an awkward thing to do since G’han was laying in her lap, and planted a purposefully noisy kiss on the man. “Mwah! Honey, I’ll make you forget all about the greenrider!” Akki cooed, acting all sugar and spice. She wiped his mouth with her hand with a snort, “Not. Don’t get used to that boy. If you want lovin’ then you got to earn it.” She straightened, hands playing in G’hans hair. “Don’t worry about R’xis. It’ll sort itself out, right? I mean. I got over R’dan and the others right?” She said with a small smile, which seemed to be underlined with sadness.

Hands twisted in his hair, braiding small strands into weird designs. “Spread the word that I’m a good kisser. Maybe I can catch me a man that way.” She said with a snort of amusement. She let her hands drop, resting them on the ground behind her so she could be propped up. “I think we’re both dimglows, eh? When will we ever learn!”

[Dragon]

"Oh you know me. I'm all about creepy. Creeping around, creepy thoughts, doing creepy things, and so on", G'han said with a purposeful smile. Talking to Akki, he felt, was good therapy for him. He swore that they were intended to be one person, but for some reason got split in half. They did do so well together, afterall, that it only fueled that idea.

G'han was actually shocked he got another kiss out of Akki. If he had his wits about him, he might have half expected such a thing. G'han hummed in pleasure after the kiss. "I do think more of that will do it my sweet", G'han answered back, after taking her kiss in for a few moments. Akki was Akki, but G'han was no fool. A kiss from a girl was a kiss from a girl.

"But I hear Q'sin one upped me. I have to wonder how he earned that from you, considering he hasn't been here long. I think I deserve a bit more. I mean, we've been best buds since I became a bronzerider and that was awhile back. And you have to admit, no one sticks to you quite like I do", G'han finally touched yet another subject that he had heard. Akki didn't tell him about this, but G'han knew anyway.

"I would be hurt about this. But I can forgive you. Infact, you should be happy to know you're now head of the line when it comes to girls. What with us being a couple unattached losers now and all", G'han continued rambling away jokingly as he often did. But to someone that knew him like Akki knew him, all his jokes and witty comments would probably seem forced and a bit half hearted. Infact, G'han was using his natural joking nature to offset any negative feelings or thoughts.

[Spirithawk]

"Oh shards. Akki's brother." Anassa felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to live this down. The young greenrider realized that if she didn't want to get pregnant and wind up with more trouble to deal with she'd have to take a discreet trip between. Not that she wouldn't be going between soon anyway with her duties.


Anassa fumed. She had been a fool for thinking that V'ian and his super polite Waeith were better than other bronzeriders. V'ian had done what bronzeriders everywere often did, bedded her and then left!

Anassa shook her head, the thoughts she was having were not usual for her. Then she realized that it was not Waeith's fault that his rider was a cur. She didn't know if the bronze could hear her but she spoke up anyway. "Thank you Waieth."

Did she really want to talk to him right now? A small, very irrational part of him wanted to plant him a facer or better yet, spread it around the weyr that he had left because he had been ashamed. A wry smile tugged at her lips. That would probably go around anyway because the drudges would speculate why he had left so early. Then again, that was a double edged sword. They could also say that she had been such a bad lover that he had been embarrassed. But she wasn't a malicious person. She wouldn't spread such rumors, and she wouldn't hit him. But she was Harper trained, and therefore, she could, and would deliver an eloquent, but scathing tirade when she found him.

"The lake, here we go." She strode quickly in the direction of the lake. Her grey-green eyes scanned the shore as she drew closer to the lake, finally spotting two riders, and a third a little distance off.

One of the riders was Akki, with G'han resting on her lap. Was that who her friend had wound up with last night? She couldn't even remember who she had wound up with, much less who Akki had wound up with. It seemed that both had caught bronzeriders. Though this made it a bit awkward for her to approach. She had helped G'han unpack and had helped look after his children. Now it looked as if Akki had wound up bedding G'han.

"Oh shards, what a mess." She looked to the third rider and realized that he had to be V'ian because Waeith had said he was at the lake and she didn't think the bronze had any reason to lie to her. She waved to Akki and G'han as she passed, her face a bit pink from a blush. Then she steeled herself, drawing up to her full height and tossing her runner tail behind her head, lifting her head up, somewhat haughtily. Her eyes were steel as she strode purposefully up to V'ian.

"You loathesome, disreputable, sorry excuse for a tunnel snake with Bitran parents. I don't know how you acted in that weyr you came from but here in Dark Moon, people have manners, yes, even bronzeriders. What did you think to accomplish by slipping off with nary a word? Do you realize the gossip you have just fed the Lower Caverns? I know it wasn't your fault you got dragged into a mating flight but you could have a bit more decency. Instead, you act like some theiving tunnel snake and slink off before I wake."

[Akki]

Akki brought a hand up to her mouth, one eye closed with a large smile painted on her face. “Keh. You are all about the creepy! Especially having creepy thoughts.” Akki laughed loudly, wiping a tear from her eye. She knew she had creepy thoughts, so that must mean that G’han did too. They were practically the same after all.

She let her hand dropped and rolled her eyes. “My sweet? Well aren’t you the charmer.” She snorted. It was nice to be able to be touchy feely with people and not worry about what certain people thought. She could hug and wrap her arms around someone and not have to be concerned about possible fits of jealousy. She had forgotten how much she liked physical contact.

Akki frowned. “That’s the bad thing about this Weyr. News travels fast, news that I don’t want travelling fast.” The bluerider more or less huffed. She didn’t care if people knew she slept with someone but she felt bad that Q’sin would have to deal with the fact that everyone knew now. The poor boy – even though he was older than her. “He was a charmer. Flowers, supper, the whole deal. It was a starry night and we had the finest Benden Wine. Oh Q’sin! Q’sin! You know how to get the ladies.” Akki said in a whimsical, exaggerated feminine voice as she clutched her hands to her chest. “And by that I mean it was either him or K’dan and I think I’ve had enough of the younger lads.”

She bent down and placed her forehead lightly against G’hans. “Dummy. You don’t have to pretend you’re one hundred percent fine.” She said with a slight disapproving tone before sitting up straight once more. G’han seemed to be saying his jokes just to prove that he didn’t care that Aarora had left, or at least it seemed that way to her. “Look! There’s Anassa. Oooh, V’ian better run fast.” Akki crowed, waving back to the girl.

-----

V’ian whipped a rock across the lake, watching with glee as it skipped across the surface five times. “A new record. The crowd cheers – Ahhh! Go V’ian!” The boy lifted his arms, accepting the cheers of the non-existent audience. He was lost in his own little world. At least he was, before Anassa’s hurt and obviously mad voice reached his ears.

He threw himself away from the girl which failed. He was sitting cross-legged and managed to flop on the ground. “Don’t hit me! Please don’t hit me! Someone already hit me today!” V’ian cried into the ground, trying to disentangle his legs from one and another. He turned over, and sat on the ground – staring up at the greenrider. “My father is a tunnel snake but I don’t think that’s something that can be inherited.” The bronzerider mused out loud, a playful frown on his lips.

“How are you then Anassa? A good sleep?” He asked politely, a smile on his face. He waved away her speech with his right hand. “Why is everyone making me sound like a terrible person?” He asked with a sniff. He wasn’t a bad person at all! “I thought I was doing a good thing. I didn’t want you to wake up, see who you ended up with and I end up becoming some life long regret.” V’ian nodded sagely, trying to explain things.

“Plus this way you could have woken up and could just imagine that you had slept with the man of your dreams! Some chiseled, tall, dark and handsome guy. And not some new guy to the Weyr who just came out of nowhere.”

[Dragon]

"Oh come now, you make the poor boy sound diseased or something", G'han shook his head and laughed. He stopped and thought for a moment. "Though, I guess he's not a boy anymore. Hard to believe all these kids are growing up into men and women. That kind of thinking makes me feel old. I'll stop now", G'han finally spoke up. His words seemed a bit nastalgic at first, but it quickly turned away to something less serious.

"Oh, I don't know. Half my creeping is for weyr gossip. Whether it's causing it or listening to it", G'han admitted. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's just one of those things you have to get use to if you're to stay here. Small place means word travels fast. We could make gossiping a craft of it's own here", he continued, using his hands to put emphasis on the conversation. G'han often did use his hands for conversation.

But now G'han looked hurt. "What? Me? Not 100 percent? I'm always 100 percent", G'han tried to cover up. He flexed his muscles very obviously to point it out to Akki. G'han refused to show he was anything but happy, especially knowing Akki had to be feeling far worse than him. He smiled up at her as her forehead rested on his. He raised a hand up and put it lightly in her hair, ruffling it lightly, playfully, and affectionantly. G'han wouldn't say that he loved Akki, but she was certainly someone he cared a great deal about. He would much rather focus on making his friend feel better, because right now he just wanted to forget anything he was feeling.

He finally looked over towards Anassa and waved back with a wide grin. "Oh he's in for it now", G'han spoke in a highly amused tone. No sooner had he said it, Anassa was confronting V'ian. "I hope she lets him live. I would very much like to harass him a bit later", G'han commented, as he looked over there. But he pulled his attention away from those two, knowing they had enough problems to deal with. He looked back over to Akki, noticing his hand hadn't moved from her. "Oh, and if you won't let me pretend like everything's fine, then I'll have to give you the same treatment. I can be pretty overbearing with the "let's talk about our feelings" bit. Don't make me get all lovey dovey on you", G'han finally changed the subject.

[Akki]

“I don’t care what anyone says, they’ll always be kids to me. You too. You’re not but an ickle kiddywink.” Akki cooed in a sugary sweet baby voice, lightly pinching G’hans cheek with her fingers. She snapped her other hand in annoyance. “People like us don’t age. We simply get more marvelous. I thought you of all people would know that.” It was obvious why no one ever used the word ‘Humble’ when trying to describe the bluerider.

“I think we would be the Masters of gossip then.” She snorted with amusement. It seemed like every time her and G’han met up they were leaning in and whispering juicy details about something to each other. They were probably the reason why Dark Moon had such a rumor mill churning. She rolled her eyes, grimacing as her friend flexed. “Boy, you have nothing on my muscles. Now put your tiny things away before I whip you and forever destroy your ego.”

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the hand from her hair. “Stoooop. You’re going to mess up my hair.” She whined loudly. Her hair was normally messed up so it really wasn’t like G’han was going to be making it any worse. She got it all tangle free in the morning but by the end of the day, it always became a giant rat nest.

She grinned, still watching Anassa and her brother out of the corner of her eye. “I told him he shouldn’t have bolted out like he did. And stop being all chummy with my brother. It’s weird!” Akki scolded, shaking her head with slight disbelief. She waved her hand, a slight ‘Pshaw’ escaping from her mouth. “You know I don’t have actual feelings. I’m just here for a good time. Feelings? Pah! Don’t exist for me!” She pumped her arm into the air, emphasizing her point.

[Dragon]

G'han couldn't help but be all smiles when he was around Akki. She was good at cheering him up. Negative things didn't exist to her it seemed, though G'han probably knew better than that. She was much like him. G'han would rather ignore all that bad stuff didn't exist. Turns ago he might have dwelled, but not now. "Kiddywink? Oh come now. You can't possibly say that after what all we've done", he could only laugh and shake his head. Even he could be in disbelief at some of the things Akki would say and come up with.

"Destroy me ego? I'll have to get one of those first so you can do that", G'han told her. G'han never considered himself to have an ego, but he'd gladly go find one and let Akki destroy it. The bronzerider removed his hand and let it fall to the side. "Whatever you wish, sweets", he complied, with as much charm as he could muster. He would have never thought he'd find humor and charm so hard to do, that's just what G'han was. But now that he wore it like a mask it was a bit awkward to do. As much as his heart wanted to be in it, it wasn't.

He had to wonder if he felt a bit guilty playing the charmer after he'd spent so much of it on one girl to get as far as he did before falling flat on his face. She was gone. As quickly as she came, she was gone. G'han looked back up to Akki. "What?", he asked defensively with a shrug. "We had plenty in common and he reminds me a bit of you. I thought if I ever needed someone to talk to about you, he'd be good. Though he doesn't seem to keen on the sexier details. I'll have to work him out of that awkward shy thing he's got going on", G'han joked with her. He would love to see Akki's reaction, thinking G'han would go to her brother to talk about her. There was no telling what G'han would have to say to him and Akki could only imagine what he would say.

[Spirithawk]

Anassa snorted, a very unladylike thing to do, but something that she deemed appropriate at the time. "Hit you? It is not worth the energy to make such an effort." She rolled her eyes. "Don't try to play smart with me." She was Harper trained and could probably out talk him any day of the sevenday.

"Well learn your lesson good you , in this weyr, you cause more trouble than good by pulling a stunt like you did. I learned long ago that dreams of perfect men make you disillusioned with the reality." There was just a hint of cynicism in her voice. "Regrets happen whether you know who it was or not. I would rather face things head on with all the information I can gather."

"You know, it might already be going around the weyr that you were embarrassed to let me see who you were since you abandoned me without a word. Gossip spreads like wildfire in the weyr. I guess you'll have to find some way to remedy that. You wouldn't want a bad reputation, especially with your sister here in the Weyr." Her tone was cryptic and very amused.

[Akki]

Akki shook her head, clearly not agreeing with her bronzerider friend. “You will always be a kiddywink to me. It won’t ever change!” She exclaimed. She had no idea why she called everyone a ‘kid’ or ‘boy’. She wasn’t very old herself and some of the people were older then her. But she couldn’t stop, a habit was a habit.

“That’s a nice offer. But I’d crush your soul along with your ego also. It’s hard for me to stop.” She flashed a sly grin at G’han. She stared at the lake, thoughts churning in her head. It was weird how everything changed so suddenly. A sevenday ago both her and G’han were content with life. They each had a ‘special’ someone and now they were both, more or less, alone again. She shook her head slightly. She didn’t want to be having these thoughts – they were too depressing for her.

“Ew!” Akki almost yelled, smacking G’hans arm with her hand. “That’s disgusting! That’s my brother you know! Don’t share details with him! That’s worse then walking in on your parents.” She nearly gagged at the thought of her brother knowing the more intimate details of her life. She glared down at G’han, “If you do that I will spread the most vicious rumors about you.”

------

“Really? Gossip happens that quickly here?” He asked, eyes wide with interest. Back at Igen, whatever happened just happened and nobody really cared. Well, not if it was just some flight detail. If someone was murdered then obviously everyone would care. He had to wonder what rumors were going around about him right now. Akki’s brother ditched Greenrider last night, maybe bad performance? The possibilities were frightening and endless.

He shot a look of horror and disgust as Anassa. “A bad reputation? Akki is the one with the bad reputations!” V’ian looked completely flabbergasted. “I grew up with her; I know what she’s like! Good reputations aren’t possible for her! Did you know her blue is mute? Only she could have managed to break her dragon!” He was rambling of course; it simply didn’t make sense to him. At Derth, growing up he was the polite and nice kid. Akki was the little hellion.

Perhaps instead of arguing, you should apologize to Priath’s rider? Waeith suggested quietly to his rider. V’ian hated it when Waeith was more mature then him.

Waeith was right though. He bowed his head, “Sorry for the trouble I’ve caused! I’ve learned my lesson.” He raised his head, staring at Anassa with puppy eyes to see if she would accept or reject his apology.

[Dragon]

"If you call me a kid, just think how much older that makes you. I suppose I can take it as a compliment, knowing I have a young, attractive look. But on the opposite side, that means I will have kissed an old lady. Twice. I'll have to find some way to live that one down", G'han had his own response to Akki, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

G'han noted exactly what Akki said. He shook his head and laughed. "Can't stop, huh? Is that something I should ask Q'sin about? Will I even see him today?", G'han couldn't help but continue to snicker as he joked with his friend. But G'han had to wonder how awkward things would be between him and Q'sin now. First G'han accidently kisses Akki, then Akki and Q'sin get caught up in dragonlust, and then Akki kisses him again. Q'sin was in G'han's wing for crying out loud. He could only hope that Akki wouldn't be transferred to his wing sometime down the road. That'd just make things worse.

He had to wonder if this would be some kind of weird love triangle going on. But he couldn't see the triangle connected quite right. Afterall, he didn't think there was anything between him and Akki. Sure, they flirted shamelessly back and forth. But did that mean they had feelings for each other? G'han decided not to answer the question. He also couldn't be sure about Q'sin either. This was something that happened during a flight, these things happen quite often. He didn't think that it meant there was anything between them. By Akki's explanation, it seemed he was just at the right, or wrong, place at the right, or wrong, time. G'han decided to drop the love triangle idea for now.

G'han's mind seemed all over the place today, and he found himself drifting back to the conversation he and Akki were having. He looked up at his friend with a smile. "Like there aren't rumors about me already. With all this talk about the Bronzerider G'han, it's no surprise I'm a pretty big deal around here. All you're doing is adding to the flame that's already there", G'han admitted to her, pointing out the flaw in her plan. It's not like G'han minded, he had heard it all or so he thought. He didn't let things like that get to him, he always had bigger and better, or badder, things to worry about.

[Spirithawk]

"Yes, gossip spreads that quickly here. It's the nature of a Weyr, though it seems that other places have drudges without tongues that wag quite as long."

She frowned, suddenly feeling defensive about her friend. "Akki has been nothing but a great friend and good rider here at Dark Moon. She can be outrageous at times but she helps keep us from buckling under the strain. I would appreciate it if you did not insult her by insinuating that she has a bad reputation. And Ebbeth was born mute! She had nothing to do with that." Anassa's hackles were back up again, but this time on behalf of her friend. Akki had a champion in her that was for sure.

Anassa took one look at V'ian's puppy-eyed look and burst out laughing. "Just next time, don't try to play the hero and slip away. That makes you look more like a villain. Apology accepted about that."

[Akki]

“That’s not fair! I call everyone a kid. I’m not that old even…I think.” She paused, a frown on her face as she thought. “Oh Faranth. I am old, aren’t I?” She groaned, a hand on her face. She was already having a mid life crisis now! She was an old lady, a wrinkly old lady. She probably already had grey hairs poking through. “And there is no way to live it down. From now on everyone will know you as the old lady kisser.”

“I wonder if Q’sin and I will ever be able to make eye contact again. I mean, I was influenced by Ebbeth but that bloke had nothing influencing him! He probably remembers everything. Including how grossly pale I am.” She ranted, her head slowly shaking itself. She didn’t even know Q’sin all that well and she already bedded him. That probably just gave herself a pretty bad impression. She grinned, “Have fun being friends with him though. You guys can dish about how bad of a kisser I am.”

“I wonder who has the most rumors going on right now.” She mused. G’han had a few about being a ladies man and she had to wonder if there were some floating around about her. There probably was, she just hadn’t caught them yet. They probably consisted of her being some easy lay or something equally embarrassing.

-----

“I apparently need to keep this in mind then.” He murmured with a frown. He never liked being involved in some juicy gossip. It made him feel rather…sleazy. And yet there he was, creating rumors of his own without even realizing it. He hoped Waeith wouldn’t catch wind of any rumors. That bronze would scold him, telling him that gentlemen shouldn’t have horrendous gossip surrounding him. Waeith was such a stick in the mud.

“At times? She’s always outrageous.” He laughed softly. Really? A dragon born mute? The thought was odd to him; he had never heard such a thing before. Akki probably Impressed to Ebbeth because she talked enough for the both of them, mind you. “I guess the girl who would pick her nose actually made something of herself then.” He grinned. It seemed weird to see his sister rather grown up and he felt bad for missing out on so much in her life. He had left her behind to deal with everything on her own. He would regret it more if he hadn’t Impressed Waeith. It was nice to know that the girl had escaped and become a rider herself.

He looked up at Anassa and had a very Akki-like crooked grin on his face. It was easy to see at times like this how they were related to each other. “Next time? That means you’re promising me a second chance! I won’t let you forget this Anassa.” He spoke, amusement quite clear in his voice. “I swear I’ll get you supper before that though since I wasn’t able to last time.”