Zynth is an early riser, something his rider had always hoped that he would grow out of. Nope. Even as the dawn is just touching the horizen, the blue is away, slipping from his sandy bowl and out to his ledge. The sun rarely touches Zynth’s ledge at any time, the thing is cut deeper into the rock, a large overhang above it shelters the crevice from the elements and from preying eyes. Those unaware of the set-up of ledges in the upper cliffs might not spot that there is an opening here at all. Though, from a similar plane, this ledge can be seen easlily and like wise can see all of the neighbors. Taliveth’s ledge is not far away, lined with potted plants and a little black cat vanishing back indoors. Jedameth’s ledge can be seen with it’s stylistic pattern and though Zynth cannot see either of his neighbors, his neck streches out, looking for any of the other near-by ledges to be occupied. No? Oh well. The blue settles down anyway, his tail draping off the edge of the ledge and swishing lazily in the open air, wings help up loosely to catch the early-morning breeze.

Talya and D’ex have something in common? Someone better not tell them! Unfortunately, Talya is actually awake early and she’s not happy about it one bit. The bluerider occupant that actually lives there had gone somewhere, probably to do some drills, practice, or some Wingsecond duties— insert excuse here— and left his occupant alone yet again, which was exactly what she wanted. Golden firelizard already fed, but refusing to leave the comfort of her folded arm, is sleeping peacefully when Talya emerges from the weyr inside to walk all the way up to the edge of Jedameth’s unique ledge and just stand there. It doesn’t take her long to catch sight of Zynth, being a familiar blue and all, making her blink in surprise that way, her red eyes showing signs of lack of sleep and severe dehydration from overindulgence (at least she’s not aching too badly with a hangover if she’s outdoors). “So that’s your ledge,” she says not-too-loudly over to the blue dragon neighbor. Someone may have been wondering which was which. “Morning Zynth,” she croaks out a little louder in case he didn’t hear.

The blue notices her long before she notices him, though he makes no acknowledgement of her until she speaks. Zynth’s head turns, tendrils of frost reaching out to touch Talya’s mind, « This is my ledge. » Affirmative, though, the sharp head will tip, « Good morning my Talya, that is not your ledge. » Though Zynth does not stir, his tail flicks slightly, like a cat finding something it might like to tear apart, or at least maim and watch flop around. « Do what does Jedameth owe the pleasure? You and Jedameth’s get on well? And hello to your little friend. What might her name be? » Again, his neck stretches out, but this time to get a better look of the sleeping gold, « Congratulations on impressing, though if you are here, I assume that you do not belong to someone else now? » If this is a sore subject, Zynth does not catch on to it, though the red eyes and a mind half-fogged is one he recognizes from his own bond. THough, Th’res did make good liquor.

Talya shifts her position, moving to the edge now that is closest to Zynth’s ledge… for reasons. She is glancing between the gap and doing her best not to overbalance herself and go toppling over the ledge, as well as not jostling the firelizard in her arm. The squinting of her eyes and the wincing may be the dragon-in-her-head problem, or maybe it has to do with a different sort of headache. “Just hiding out here, so long as there’s still shine distilled to drink.” Surprisingly there is none of that in her hand, but she explains nonetheless by making a drinking motion, then using that same hand to rub at her temples. At least Zynth wasn’t HAPPY LOUD Jedameth when he spoke. Instead of replying to the dragon regarding her firelizard (and the fact that she doesn’t belong to anything else), she gives the gold firelizard an affectionate look and a little pet and scritch. “No, just Impressed her it seems. None of the dragons at Igen gave me a second look.” With a heavy sigh she stops the caressing and glances back. “But I guess I’m over that now.” Not really. Not with the way her next sigh is a little shaky. Okay, that hurt is still fresh, but almost two days later and she’s just going to have to deal (and it seems she’s starting to be more coherent at least).

Zynth may not drink, but he understands drinking and liquor. He watches her, his tail flicking again, « Perhaps it is for the best. Perhaps you will have another chance if you choose to take it. Even if you don’t, I am glad to see you back, glad you have returned to Southern. » He shifts slightly, attention turning to the gold again, « This. .. . This little one, does she have a name? And if you have one…. do you think you might have use for another? I promised you a firelizard some time ago. I can now make good on that promise. Taliveth’s gold had a clutch. » These words are more careful than his usual tone, more professional. Though Zynth is not the sort to be disappointed at the turn-down of a gift, he would still rather she accept the egg he has procured for her. « Taliveth was very excited to hear that you might be interested, I’m sorry I didn’t know you had hatched a little queen. » Again, his tail flicks, but this time he looks back up at Talya, « I realize that raising two might be a stress, but this egg will hatch very soon. Mine cannot have it. He…. does not see the beauty of firelizards. And Taliveth knows this one is for you. »

“Beast,” Talya finally supplies with a shake of her head down at the firelizard. “Because she was a beast when I first got her.” The memory makes her frown but she’ll still give the firelizard a little scritch when it shifts in her arm. “Actually, she still is.” The firelizard was still less than a sevenday old! Someone has high expectations out of the critter. But her head snaps up from looking at the gold firelizard, finally letting the blue dragon’s words sink in and she gives a loud bark of a laugh. “That’s funny, Zynth! First, I had hoped you’d forget that sort of promise.” Like most dragons would have if they didn’t have collections probably! “And you’re damn right it’ll be stressful. I named this one /Beast/,” she notes again as if that should explain everything there. She leans over a little further, looking as much as she can at the weyr as if to find the eggs there. “D’ex should totally Impress them all. I didn’t even want /her/ but I wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time and— shit, could be the very reason that I didn’t Impress at the hatching. Too shardin’ tired.” As if she’d ever really blame the firelizard. It’s probably only in front of the blue dragon she’d dare show such affection to the creature.

Zynth will listen, he will not comment until the end, watching passively as his frost runs over Talya’s thoughts, « I see. So, that’s a no then? Might I suggest you reconsider? Two is better than one, surely, and raising them together could prevent jealousy issues down the road. » Because clearly Zynth is an expert in Firelizards. Now, the blue does stand, he shakes himself and streaches with a cat-like grace, « Here, I will bring it to you and you can decide how you handle it. Give it away, or don’t, but I think you will like it. Very cute little egg. » He yawns and turns into the weyr, only to reappear moments later with a basket handle clenched carefully between his teeth, « Here it is. » Wings open, up, and a sleek jump-fly over and Zynth lands on Jedameth’s ledge. The little basket is put down gingerly and the brown and crusty fluff of an egg can be seen within. It is very hard, it could hatch at any time, but the folds of cloth arranged systematically around it doesn’t seem to be about to let it out just yet.

Nope. Talya is shaking her head fiercely at the blue. Nope.NopeNope. “Jealousy happens /between/ siblings, Zynth.” Not that she really would know, being an only child. She is about to shout out at the dragon that is disappearing back to the weyr, but then turns her attention to the firelizard in her arm. To wake or not to wake? But there’s a basket clenched in the dragon’s jaws and he’s when he moves onto Jedameth’s ledge, she scoots back enough to make room (because dragon ledges are tricky and she may get thrown down or something). The basket gets a stare, and the little egg, before looking down at her own firelizard. Instead of replying to the blue dragon that so conveniently brought a soon-to-hatch egg to her ledge, she finally decides to do the worst thing she could think of. “Hey D’ex!” her voice calls loudly towards the other ledge, moving back to the edge. The gold finally wakes, giving an angry hiss at the loud noises. “Yo, D’ex!” she snaps a little louder. It’s way too early to be dealing with firelizard eggs in front of her and no one else around to Impress it, should it hatch! She’s stuck up here after all, unless Zynth kindly gives her a ride… or she takes the climbing harness out for a spin.

« Why are you trying to wake my rider? » There is a quiet disapproval in these words. Why did humans always feel like they had to talk to his human? Why couldn’t they just talk to him? He was right here and D’ex is sleeping. « He is as- » The word stops, Zynth’s head turning toward his weyr. D’ex was sleeping. Sleeping no longer. « Hush, my Talya, my D’ex does not want to deal with you right now. And this is your’s. » With that, Zynth is turning, already starting to jump back to his own ledge, leaving the little basket behind, « Will give you some meat scraps and- » But D’ex is already there, walking out in pajamas and looking very, very tired, “W-what do you … oh, it’s you. What do you want? Please talk fast so I can go back to bed, some of us do have actual jobs that do have actual start-times and you are interrupting my sleep.” D’ex’s arms fold, aparently oblivious to his current mussed state and not looking ready to humor anything, “And anyway, you are not on my ledge, so as far as I can see, you are not my problem, you know?” Zynth nudges D’ex lightly, words passing between them quietly, “Oh, and that’s your’s. That was all? Good.” And with that, the redhead is already starting to turn back indoors.

Talya looks guiltily at Zynth, because she really doesn’t want to upset the blue but there was a firelizard egg /right by her/ and she had an angry waking firelizard baby already to deal with. “He’s got to pick this thing up and Impress it himself, that’s why,” she explains to the dragon as logically as she can muster right then. The gold gets plopped onto her shoulder, because she’s going to need both arms and the firelizard was awake anyway. Beast is not a happy morning-firelizard, hissing in displeasure in Talya’s ear and look angrily at Zynth too, because he probably had something to deal with it. She does wrap her stubby tail around the woman’s neck as much as she can and clings to the side of her head. “Yeah, me!” is her greeting to D’ex when he arrives on the scene, she gestures wildly to the basket, not the dragon. “It’s about time you wake up anyway, Th’res has been gone for a sharding long time. I’m doing you a favor! But your dragon came and dropped this. Go sell it to someone else and make marks, that’s what you do right?” /Why/ was it suddenly hers? She looks at the distance again, between her spot and the other bluerider’s ledge. “Maybe I’ll go over there and shove this thing at you and see how you like it? Zynth, I appreciate it and all but I already got a firelizard and she’s a handfull! Plus, it was to grab stuff, right? You can teach me to teach /her/. Someone else could use a firelizard from your collection— shit it’s too early for this.” Trying to plead with the blue dragon definitely is bringing back that headache.

Too late, already annoyed. Why did people always want to talk to D’ex? Why? When Zynth was the one who had it together. Here he is trying to spoil his Talya and she wants to talk to D’ex. Humans. Jeez. What’s the point in all the bother? The blue snorts, his wings folding tightly to his frame, his words coming, but far, far colder than before, « It is your’s if you do not want it, then you can sell it. » D’ex nods, uncaring, “Look, I promised Taliveth I’d get it to you, and now you have it, so there is that. That is why I didn’t sell the thing, I don’t care what you do with it, but it is definitely not my problem.” Zynth straightens, eyes whirling an annoyed orange, « I can teach you lots of things. But you have to want to learn. And someone else likely could use it. But it is your’s now. You’re welcome. » And with that, the blue is tipping, letting his body weight pull him off of the ledge, and he goes falling, plummeting for a moment, vanishing beneath them before those opaque wings open, a few beats and he is gone, blinking between. D’ew echos’s Talya’s groan, “And now you’ve upset him. Damn it, that is my problem, thank you very much!” He points after the blue, “It’s going to take him hours to cool his head! What did you do? Just telling him to give it to someone else usually would have had him accepting that and bringing your dead cats or something!”

Talya would love to get spoiled, that’s something she wouldn’t mind. But they definitely had a difference in what that entailed. She turns her head from Zynth, to D’ex, back again. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to learn stuff, just with the one I have, she’s just hatched! It’s—” But Zynth is leaving, and she did not thank him (not that she would have, but maybe to make him less annoyed at her). She winces as he leaves, and then turns to regard the basket left on her ledge before turning to face D’ex’s anger. She rolls her eyes at him and Beat helps by giving him some hissing and spitting and angry squeaks. She’s got to blame some people, and she’ll blame everyone right now. Talya’s already suffering the sounds right in her ear. She throws her arms up in the air, uselessly. “I just did tell him that and he still didn’t care, did he? They’ll forget won’t they?” She doesn’t seem so certain about this, her candidacy lessons were not as extensive as they would have been by now. “Then you can go shove this egg at someone that may be able to handle it, not a fucking useless resident that can’t even Impress a dragon probably /because/ I had a firelizard egg shoved at me just days before the hatching.” She looks pleadingly at D’ex, because they were separated by a ledge and she couldn’t just throw the thing at him. She did have some morals. With angry gold firelizard, the basket, and the raging headache, the woman finally sighs… and just drops. She curls her feet in and her small body sits down just where she was standing, placing her head in her hands. Yeah, she can’t deal with all this right now.

“Just forget? Huh? Is that really what you think of them? Really Talya? After living at a weyr for a year, and after seeing that my blue remembered he owed you a favor, you really think he’s just going to forget?” D’ex’s arms ar folded again, one foot tapping on the ground and expression dark, “I ride a blue Talya. A blue. You know what people think of blues? Dumb, forgetful, weak, and without the means of accomplishing anything alone. Do you get that? That the holders think that a bluerider is a pansy and a blue dragon barely more than a big firelizard? He remembered, didn’t he? And he clearly cares about something.” He pulls out one hand pointing at her, completely uncaring about Talya’s new station on the ground, “You didn’t Impress because your dragon wasn’t there, don’t you dare blame it on anyone or anything but that simple fact. If you are to impress, then you fucking will, but you can’t expect it to be just handed to you!” The point shifts to the basket, “Now that thing? That is your’s. Your problem, your issue, your’s. So you deal with it.”

Talya lifts her head from her hands, glaring at D’ex with as much heat as she can put behind it. “When I was helping to treat dragons after Threadfall at Igen during candidacy, I’d see them a few days later and they forgot they were even threadscrored. Yes, I fucking thought they’d forget trivial things. Or perhaps realize that I’m perfectly fine with one firelizard already,” she snaps back at him. “Don’t fucking think I expected to walk out there and have the fucking dragons frolicking at my feet, I /was/ ready.” Or well, she assumed she was, but she’ll viciously defend that especially to D’ex. “I busted my ass off as much as any other candidate just as you fucking did, though I know that doesn’t matter at the end.” She huffs and doesn’t even look back upon the basket on the ledge. “If you think I’m so fucking useless as a human to the Weyr then why not convince your dragon that yourself?” She looks off away from the bluerider, in the direction that Zynth went to. Perhaps when she was less angry she’d feel more guilty about it, but the angry rider and the angry firelizard were a terrible combination. At least Zynth was not around to hear the scathing remarks.

“Would you stop assuming you know anything about other people’s experiences?!?!!? I was there so I got fed! So I wasn’t arrested! I had started lining up a job for when those eggs hatched so I could hop a ship right away! I didn’t want this! I almost refused my searcher! And Zynth is not one of those other dragons! You can’t just lump them all together, you can’t assume you know them, or what they are or who they are, you can’t assume-” D’ex doesn’t bother keeping up the rant, Angry + Angry = Unproductive and D’ex knew it. He turns away, huffing and running a hand through his hair, the usual temper that is Zynth’s cool on D’ex’s hot head is not presant here, but he is trying to pull himself in. “Talya. You might have tried your hardest, kudos to you, but at the end of the day it matters more about who you are and what it is you need. Maybe one of those hatchlings could have been your’s. Maybe. Maybe it saw someone who needed them more. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter right now. You are what matters. Not what or what wasn’t shelled and hatched. You’re done with that, move on. If you are searched again, try agian. Took A’ndi three tries. Took some folks closer to five. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how you do about it right now.” He runs his hand through his hair again, not looking at Talya, tone still tight and tense, but still trying to swallow the anger, “You upset my dragon, I don’t know how and he won’t tell me. Look, this is going to be a problem for me for a day, but if you value his affection and attention, then you might want to do something about it. I don’t care. Do whatever you want. But that egg is still your problem and no matter who you decide to blame or what you decide to do, You didn’t Impress. And neither did a lot of other people. A lot of other people didn’t even get the chance. So move on. You walked away alone, so you are still free to do with your life whatever you want. Do you not see that? Dragons are shackles and chains. I haven’t stepped foot on a ship in years and once that was my whole identity. You are free, so do something with it! Or don’t! Get drunk, and jump. I promise that you will be dead before you hit the ground, these ledges are too high up. So grow up Talya.”

Talya may be a little intrigued at the bluerider’s background he is revealing, but she files that away in some compartment in her head instead of questioning it further. The angry man and her own anger rising seems to be a bad combination. She stands up from where she had bonelessly fallen, moving to the very edge of the ledge. Her firelizard has given up on hissing angrily at the humans and demanding attention (or silene!) and has slipped off the shoulder to flutter to the basket. This thing is much more interesting right now. It was good there was a gap between the two humans right now, her eyes glaring at the bluerider as he rants out, hands clenched, or she might have done something stupid. “For someone that expects everyone to stop assuming what people feel, you sure like to tell me what I’m thinking! I already said I know it doesn’t fucking matter! Maybe /you/ don’t have it all down if you hate your life so much as a dragon rider. I am not the only one that needs to do some growing up.” She glances briefly back at the basket, then back at the redheaded man with a huff. “All I wanted was to drink til my ears bleed, /alone/ and then figure out what the fuck to do or move back to Black Rock. If there’s still a Black Rock standing.” Because she was only a little out of the loop. She knew there were refugees, and people sick, and her old home was completely destroyed. “I don’t have enough marks for myself much less to care for another ‘lizard. And it was a problem that was thrown at me by /your/ dragon, you still have to take some responsibility for. Forgive me for thinking maybe you’d prefer to take the fucking thing back and do something useful with it.” Whether she would mend things with the upset dragon… that was not something she was going to divulge to the bluerider, since he already stated he didn't care.

“This is what I”m talking about!! The putting of words into other people’s mouths and assuming what is not true!!! I do not resent being a dragonrider! But this was not the goal!” His finger returns to out where Zynth vanished, “That thing is the best thing that has ever happened to me, Talya!” Oops, rein it in. Rein it in. Come on D’ex, we can control our emotion with Zynth here, we are an adult. “Look, Sweetie, you are back in Southern, the Bar will likely have you back and this weyr is already providing a roof over your head. But if you are that tight on cash, sell that egg. Because it is still not my problem!” Another shifting of a hand through curly hair and D’ex hisses softly back at the little gold, his eyes follow Beast to the basket and he grows tense. “Fuck. It’s going to hatch soon.” Very soon. Though there is no movement, no shaking, if another lizard was showing interest? Lady had completely ignored the thing for the past few days, but now? “Damn it Talya, the world is not ending, it just sucks right now. So suck it up and deal with it.” Again, D’ex starts to turn away, every intention to go back into his weyr if not stopped.

Talya does her best most visible eyeroll when the man goes right back to placing the blame on her. “You make it /very/ easy for people to assume the worst about you. Describing something as shackles and chains and not wanting to be locked away to begin with definitely does not sound like you enjoy being a dragonrider. Perhaps you need to work on your words as well as yourself.” Hey, perhaps the bluerider is right, because Beast even does a little hum. Soft and short, but just long enough to be heard as if to say ‘damn right it’s hatching soon’. Talya scowls back at her, then back at the rider. “As if I could fucking sell it, and you know it. There’s only one other person here I can pawn it off to.” Because she’s stuck at the other weyr all on her own, with no way down. Especially when she was supposed to ask Zynth for a ride down should she need it when Jedameth was away, and Taliveth was not one she particularly knew, especially given the situation she was currently in she probably was going to be stuck there til the current residents returned. Could she play hot potatoe with the hatching egg with D’ex across the way? Probably not, since he’s already leaving. “Fuck you, D’ex,” she adds for good measure, to get the last word in.

Though the redhead will pause, he doesn’t reply immediately. He knows how he comes off to people, but he’s not about to explain his relationship to the weyr to Talya, of all people. Zynth can be the best thing that ever happened to him, and the weyr the worst. Still, he lingers in the entrance to the weyr. At Talya’s last words, D’ex only Smirks, “Congrats on your new firelizard, Talya~” And with that, he’s gone, back into his weyr and back to sleep. Leaving Talya alone on the ledge with the soon-to-hatch firelizard.