Who

Evka, Zannen, Brayden (npc puppeted by Zannen)

What

Evka's sunbathing and ends up in the company of a Dolphineer and a Harper.

When

-- On Pern --
It is 11:43 AM where you are.
It is noon of the first day of the second month of the sixteenth turn of the 12th pass.
In Igen:
It is the thirty-first day of Winter and 34 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.
In Southern:
It is the thirty-first day of Summer and 99 degrees. It is sunny and bright. White fluffy clouds drift lazily across the china blue sky.
In Southern Mountains:
It is the thirty-first day of Summer and 21 degrees. It's really damn cold out.


Where

Southern Weyr, Beach, Boardwalk

OOC Date 23 Jan 2019 07:00

 

evka_default.jpg zannen_default.jpg

«Don’t fall asleep like that, you’ll burn red again.»


beach.jpg

Beach

An eerie mirror, the glass-quiet Sea of Azov: the clear waters stretch along the dark-pebbled shores, and along this narrow beach. Here the faintest lap of waves belies the calm beyond; here the rocks have been ground down into finest, softest sand - those observant would mark upon the similarity between it and the sands of the hatching grounds. The soft sand soaks up summer sunlight as a sponge; painfully hot during the warmer months, it is only truly pleasant at wintertime. Rocks rise to east and west, lichen-limned and green against the abyssal darkness of stone.

It is the thirty-first day of Summer and 99 degrees. It is sunny and bright. White fluffy clouds drift lazily across the china blue sky.


It’s the perfect day to be outside, sunbathing, enjoying the weather, and that is just exactly what Evka is doing. She lays on a towel on the beach, stretched out and dozing, her tan skin soaking in Rukbat’s rays while Saetyroith soaks in the shallows. She’s been swimming already, has had a meal, and now is simply time for relaxation and regathering. She’s just been lucky enough to have a few days off and she intends to spend her last afternoon off having some ‘staycation’ time.

«Don’t fall asleep like that, you’ll burn red again.»

I won’t.

«If you say so my sweet.»

Summer means that the Seacrafters are almost always outside, and the dolphineers are in the water most of the day. But it is getting to be time for some food, which is certainly important for stamina in the water. It’s also important for those who are learning to swim in order to recover more easily. Approaching the shore near where a certain wine-stained brown dragon is wallowing, Zannen finds submerged sand and straightens, stripping excess water from his hair before reaching down to lend a hand to the darker-haired man with him…who is obviously not as comfortable in the water as his friend. Though mismatched, the two still provide quite a nice view for anyone who happens to be looking. “Don’t ye worry, man. Ye’re already doin’ better ‘n ye were last seven,” Zannen encourages as the other leans over and tugs at his ear to dislodge some water.

Meanwhile, half a dozen dorsal fins skim through the surf. Tiro and company do love meeting new dragons, and the nearby brown has caught their attention. Long grey noses lift from the water and misty blasts of air erupt from the tops of surfacing heads as the dolphins draw near, clicking and chirping in greeting. A chorus of, “Hi!” pipes up around them, and Zannen peers over in amusement, still providing a brace for his friend as he looks about for the brown’s rider.

Saetyroith can see the dolphins approaching and rumbles his own greeting to the pod. Lowering his craggy, “bearded” head, he sniffs at the mammalian swimmers, blowing air at them in his own way. His tail begins a slow happy dance through the water, as if he were a canine wagging his tail. The humans on the beach are noted, but not paid attention to beyond the brown alerting Evka to their presence.

Speaking of…

The woman sits up when her brown alerts her to incoming company and looks around, klah colored eyes a bit dreamy from her repose as she lifts a hand to shield them from Rukbat's light. The white of her two piece suit is stark against her skin and the dark sand of the beach and makes her easier to see now that she's sitting up, hair falling wildly around daily her face and frame helping to shield her from blindness….or complete blindness that is. She'll wave, friendly like, but just watches the pair for the time being.

“Scarcely feels like progress,” the darker-haired man is rumbling as he makes his way to the beach with Zannen. The dolphineer is half listening, half watching his partner and the pod as they gleefully splash and fountain water at the brown dragon, attempting to coax him into playing with them.

“We’re our own worst critics,” Zannen points out ruefully. “Trust me, you are doin’ better.” Spotting a woman sitting up not far away, he shields his eyes to focus better, his smile tilting amiably into existence as he returns her wave. “He with you?” he asks gesturing to the dragon. Meanwhile, the man with him rakes his fingers back through his hair, trailing a step behind Zannen and peering ahead, a gentle smirk tugging at a corner of his mouth.

“Aye, every minute of every day.” Evka chuckles eyes moving from man to man. “Swimming lessons?” She asks, chin jutting towards the ocean, that vast expanse of open water that she herself had feared when first she came to Southern. Saetyroith is more than happy to frolic with the dolphins, his naturally playful spirit rising to the bait. The great brown sends his own waves of water at the dolphins, head disappearing underwater now and again to watch them swim.

Zannen chuckles in turn, glancing back at the brown and his aquatic companions for a second. “Guess that’s sort o’ th’ way of it, bein’ a rider,” he notes, and then nods at the woman’s question, grinning. “Aye. M’ mate Brayden here’s a Harper, newly posted, an’ hasn’t been in more water ‘n th’ baths anywhere he’s gone.” The dark-haired man scowls at his friend, lean-muscled arms folding over a broad chest defiantly.”

“I could always ask someone else for help,” he grumbles, blushing beneath the light tan he boasts. “Someone who won’t poke fun at me for a deficiency every chance they get…”

“Ah, ye know it’s all in fun,” the blond man counters, giving the other’s shoulder a shove before looking to the white-clad woman and giving a little bow. “Journeyman Zannen of the dolphineers, at yer service, brownrider,” he says, gesturing to the other man as he straightens. “This is Journeyman Brayden. Harper, as I mentioned.”

Brayden’s smile is warm as he gives his own bow. “A pleasure to meet you, brownrider.”

Evka grins, agreeing with Zannen's first with a lovingly exasperated “Mmmmhmmm.” The brown really is the best thing in her life though. After chuckling about the other man's swimming skills, Evka gives them both her own version of a warm smile. “I wouldn't sweat his teasing too much Harper. It took me months before I'd even step a toe into that water…and many more months yet before I was strong enough to swim against the current.”

She's amused at their friendly interactions and teasing and when it comes time for introductions, she bows her head in greeting. “Evka, rider for Serval, and the brown over there acting like a hatchling is Saetyroith.” There's a rumble from the brown that suggests he thinks his behavior perfectly appropriate. Thank you very much.

There’s always a faint twinge of longing whenever Zannen observes the bond between dragon and rider, being that he’s well past Search age now. But he has Tiro and the pod, and wouldn’t trade that for the world. “Better that he acts like a hatchling than an areshole, aye?” the dolphineer counters with a grin.

Brayden gives a bit of a harrumph in the wake of Evka’s advisement not to take Zannen’s teasing too much to heart, smirking. “It doesn’t bother me too much, honestly. It’s only when I’m…in company I’d rather not broadcast my faults to right away that it’s annoying,” he admits, his smirk this time rather on the shy side. “I take it you came from somewhere without such copious amounts of surging tide yourself, Evka?”

Evka’s laughter bubbles up into the air at Zannen’s query and she nods and decides to stand, brushing sand from her figure as she does. “Aye, well he can be plenty of that when he wants to be too.” Again, said with much affection. She’s amused with Brayden’s chastising and when he asks about her origins she nods. “Very much so. I’m a child of the desert. Igen has tides, tides and waves and seas of sand.” She warms to talk of the desert like the sand does under the sun, there’s longing there, in a way. Yet, she also seems quite at home right where she is.

Saetyroith is rolling in the shallows, creating waves of his own before moving out to deeper waters where he can swim freely.

Zannen stands at ease, arms folded upon his still-damp chest as the conversation carries on. Brayden, on the other hand, can’t quite seem to relax, his attention settling upon Evka until her last moments of brushing off. It’s then that he pulls his eyes out toward Saetyroith for a moment and clears his throat softly. Zannen gives his friend a curious look before his eyes go back to Evka. “What’s he do t’ make ye say that ever? He seems plenty playful.” Which the dolphins are enjoying greatly. As the brown swims further out, a few of them leap over his trailing tail, arcs of glinting silver above the steely blue surf.

The way Evka speaks of the desert pulls Brayden’s gaze back again as well, hazel eyes smiling along with one corner of his mouth. “Quite a poetic description,” he notes appreciatively. “You must still think of it fondly.”

Evka chuckles and looks out to sea, her gaze landing fondly on the frolicking brown. “He has his moments…all in good fun though, he's never truly an arse. Mischievous may be a better word for it.” As for talk of home, well, there's an air of bittersweet melancholy when she speaks next. “Aye, when you're born to the desert, it's born in you, its fires etching themselves into your veins and heart. I may have left the desert, but it's still in me.” She looks around and grins. “I love it here, too. Southern has heat and fire, too, just of a different kind. Where do the two of you hail from?”

Zannen chuckles and nods to Evka’s first, while Brayden clasps his hands behind his back. “If the desert is what is etched upon you, my lady brownrider,” the Harper says after her description of where she hails from, “I should very much like to see it for myself someday. It sounds worthy of a painting and a song, at the very least.” There’s a soft clearing of his throat again as he peers around, nodding agreement over the matter of Southern’s attributes in turn.

In answer to the brownrider’s last, Zannen grins again. “Sorta from Igen m’self. I’m from Big Bay of old. Came forward with m’ sister, who’s a greenrider up at Igen. Stayed there a while before comin’ here. Brayden here’s from…was it Far Cry Hold?”

The Harper nods. “Aye. North of Lemos. Though I’ve spent most of my life at the Harper Hall at Fort, to be honest. I’m…more of a mountain and forest man, really.”

There’s a flood of pink to Evka’s cheeks when Brayden compliments her and her gaze drops for a moment as she tucks some hair behind one ear. “Thank you.” She’s almost at a loss as to what to say in return otherwise, however, she does take a closer look at both men from under lowered lashes. “It is beautiful indeed.” She perks a bit, straightening when Zannen starts talking again, fascinated when he mentions being from the old world, though her attention seems to linger on his friend.

For a moment, Evka doesn't quite know what to do with herself, it's been some time since she's interacted with those of the male persuasion on her own. “So are you done with lessons for the day, or are you just in for a break?”

Zannen’s sea blue gaze flicks amusedly between Brayden and Evka as he notes her blush…and then that of his friend in seeming reaction. He does nod in agreement with the brownrider’s assessment of Igen, being able to appreciate the place for all he much prefers Southern. His amusement heightens further when Evka seems at a loss for a moment, his grin lopsided as he looks to Brayden to offer up his answer first.

The Harper chuckles ruefully, lifting an arm to rake his fingers through damp, dark hair. “Any more and the dolphins would have to tow me out,” he scoffs, shaking his head. “I’m very much done, and wondering just how sore I’m going to be tomorrow. This one, I don’t know about…” He thumbs toward Zannen, whose grin is now completely unrepentant.

“Tiro an’ I’ve a few things t’ do yet. So it’s lunch fer me an’ then back to th’ water,” the dolphineer answers. “As fer the soreness, might not be as bad as last time. Ye’ll find out soon enough.”

Brayden groans, rolling broad shoulders before stretching well-toned arms before him, fingers interlaced and palms turned out before they drop. “Good thing I haven’t got much else going the rest of the day, then.” Almost cautiously curious, his gaze turns back to Evka. “Are you planning on a swim yourself, or just here to soak up the sun while your dragon exerts himself?” If playing can be called exertion.

Evka can't help but chuckle at Brayden's first, and listens as the men chat back and forth. She shakes her head no when asked if she's here for a swim. “I had a bit of a swim earlier and was just sunning myself a bit while Saetyroith had a soak. There will be no getting him out now, any chance to play is one Saetyroith will take.”

Laughing, Evka shakes her head at her brown, who is now blowing massive bubbles in the water in between playing some odd version of tag with the pod. “I was actually thinking about going for a snack and a drink on the boardwalk.” Blushing lightly Evka jabs a thumb at the boardwalk and picks her sarong of the beach to wrap it around her waist. “If you'd like… you can join me.”

«About time Evka.»

Evka's nervous smile is made even more so by her brown's comment and she's sneaks a loving glare at the dragon, unable to actually be mad at him for trying to help, particularly after her chat with Amani, which had brought some peace and clarity.

When Evka stoops to pick up her sarong, Brayden straightens and Zannen drops his arms, the eyebrows of both men flickering upward at her offer. “It would be my pleasure,” the Harper answers almost immediately, right over the top of his friend opening his mouth and starting his own reply. “Er. Sorry…”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Zannen assures him with laughter edging his tone. “I was just gonna say, I’d be up fer taggin’ along. Always good, gettin’ acquainted with another dragonrider. An’ I keep tellin’ him so, too,” he tells Evka in a mock aside. “Kinda shy, this one. “

“I prefer the term circumspect,” counters Brayden evenly, though his cheeks are clearly a bit darker in the wake of the tease. He clears his throat again and then, after a moment of indecision, looks about for his shirt. Finding it on a nearby rock, he drapes it over his shoulders but leaves the front open in deference to the heat. Then he offers Evka his arm, tossing Zannen his own shirt and winding up with a laugh and a chuff of thanks for his efforts. “If you’d care to take the lead, my lady,” he says, and manages a quick wink. “Your invitation, after all.”

Evka accepts Brayden's arm with a smile. “Of course.” Evka stoops to pick up her rucksack and begins leading the way to her favorite haunt on the boardwalk, a small booth that has a bar wrapped around it. “Knowing a rider or two is never a bad idea.” Waving at the bar, she moves on and slips onto a stool, waving down the barkeep in the process. “So, is yours a permanent posting Brayden, or does the hall keep you on the move?” She waves at them both to sit and join her and orders a drink when the barkeep arrives. She also orders a bowl of fruit before giving the floor to the boys.

Zannen didn’t think it possible, but Brayden stands even straighter when Evka takes his arm. It takes all his restraint not to tease the poor Harper, and he settles for just keeping a little smile on his lips as they move to the boardwalk’s bar. “I expect I’ll know more in short order,” Brayden answers, extending his arm to allow Evka to sit before settling onto a stool to her right. Zannen takes the next one over rather than to the woman’s other side so that she won’t have to shift her attention back and forth.

Zannen goes about ordering some more complete lunch fare while Brayden gives his answer. “I think this will be a longer stay. At least, I hope it will be. The Craft’s facilities here are exceptional, the way of life is a welcome change, and…there are some rather incredible views,” he adds, a corner of his mouth lifting higher with his last. He almost forgets to order a drink of his own, supplementing it with some roasted tubers and dip.

The dolphineer claps him amiably on the shoulder then. “Somehow, I don’t think he’ll take too much convincin’,” he says with a wink, turning to settle his back against the bar. “How long have ye been here, Evka? Impressed an’ all.”

Evka listens intently as The Harper talks, nodding and smiling as he explains his reasoning for wanting a longer post here. “There are definitely some amazing opportunities here for crafters, or so I've heard.” Zannen's comment earns a quirky smile from Evka, but Brayden's compliments have her blushing again, a fact she tries to hide behind a sip of her newly arrived drink. The query about the length of her own stay has the brownrider thinking back, mentally counting the months. “About five turns or so, give or take a few months. Impressed a couple of turns back.” She takes another sip of her drink before her fruit arrives and looks to Harper and Dolphineer. “And the two of you?” She remembers Zannen's saying his friend is newly arrived, but how newly?

Zannen’s food and Brayden’s drink and appetizer show up around the same time, and the dolphineer digs in with aplomb. He apparently wasn’t kidding about other things to get to after lunch. Brayden, on the other hand, shows no signs of needing to be anywhere any time soon. “O’er a decade fer me,” Zannen answers in the wake of swallowing, while the Harper offers up an abashed bit of a chuckle.

“Just a few sevens for me. I’m still learning the way of things, and I have a feeling I will be for a while yet.” He sips his drink, making a small gesture toward the Weyr with his glass. “Did it take you long, adjusting to here from the desert?”

Evka laughs and nods her head, plucking a grape from her bowl. “Aye, it took me longer than most I think.” For reasons she leaves unspoken, for now. “I think the humidity was the hardest thing to get used to.” She sips from her glass and eats the grape she’d plucked from her bowl. “Other than that, the rest was relatively easy, once I got used to being so far from home. Is it a hard adjustment from the mountains?” She seems interested and focuses on Brayden and Zannen beyond him.

Brayden looks surprised at that, dark brows arching high for a moment. “Well, if you hadn’t mentioned being from Igen, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you aren’t native, so to speak,” he notes, dipping a tuber into the creamy yellowish sauce it’s been paired with. “You seem…quite in your element on the beach.”

“Unlike th’ new blood,” Zannen teases, which earns him an elbow in the side. The dolphineer just snickers and keeps eating.

The Harper clears his throat gently once more, takes another sip from the amber liquid in his glass, and returns his focus to Evka. “What did you do before you became a dragonrider, if I might ask?”

Evka laughs lightly at Zannen’s jab at his friend and smiles at Brayden. “I’m always at home in the sand, just less so in the water.” As to the question the Harper aims her way, well… “I was a trader, a performer, dabbled in healing a bit.” She plucks some more fruit out of her bowl and eats it down, wondering what all she should admit to these days. “And I helped here and there when I first arrived here, dabbled in this and that. I found my true purpose after I impressed I suppose.”

The answer Evka gives piques Brayden’s curiosity, his study of her becoming subtly more intent. “A performer?” Naturally, the Harper latches on to that part of it all. “How so?”

Zannen finishes his food and makes an unexpected bit of a grumble, causing Brayden to glance over at dolphineer. There’s a green firelizard with him, having just passed off a message that apparently requires the dolphineer’s attention. “Sorry, gotta push off,” he explains apologetically, digging out the marks to pay for his meal. “Some squall hap’nin’ with th’ apprentices at the complex I’d best help see to. But…” He slips off the stool, clapping his friend on the shoulder again. “I think ye’ll be fine without me. Brownrider Evka.” He gives the woman a bow, coming up with a grin. “Clear skies to ye. I’m sure Brayden here’ll do much better without me harassin’ ‘im.” He gives a wink and jogs away, leaving the Harper on his own in Evka’s company.

Brayden gives her a lopsided smile, reaching up to shove his fingers through now-dry hair. “Well. Here we are, then.”

Evka smiles when Brayden asks after her performance skills, a mischievous smile tipping the corners of her lips. “I was a dancer mostly, but excelled in contortion as well.” She winks and goes back to eating, however, Zannen's harrumph has her looking down the line of the bar with curiosity.

“It was nice meeting you Zannen, fair weather to you too!” Evka chuckles at the man's departing comment before turning her full attention back on Brayden, a little bolder in her visual assessment of him now that it's just the two of them. “Here we are….” She parrots with a smile.

Brayden’s demeanor doesn’t seem to change much, nor does he seem to relax more. He does, however, shift on his seat to face Evka more fully. There’s a glint in his hazel eyes that acknowledges her appraisal of him…and shifts with his own subtle survey of her in turn. “I…do apologize for my fumbling,” he tells her with an abashed dip of his head. “It’s just that…ah.” Blushing, he laughs a bit, giving a little shake of his head before straightening again. “So. A dancer…and a contortionist?” he asks, circling back around. “That certainly isn’t something there’s an abundance of formal training for, at least not where I’ve been. How did you learn that?

Evka smiles warmly at Brayden and shakes her head. “Don't worry about it.” She laughs when he seems to double take her comment on being a contortionist. “And no, it's not a skill often taught, but my caravan is known for entertainment. They have actors, firedancers, singers, illusionists… if it can be done in the world of the arts, we have someone who can do it.” She pauses for a drink and continues after. “I found out when I was very young that my body twists and turns and bends in ways others’ do not. I capitalized on having a unique skill.” Shrugging, she grins and digs into more of her fruit, legs crossed, one foot idly bouncing as she does. “What do you specialise in sir Harper?”

“There would be much more excitement at Gathers if the Harpers would deign to take up some of those things,” Brayden opines, clearly intrigued. “Not that the life of some Harpers lacks excitement, but…you never hear talk of the firedancer or illusionist from the Hall anywhere.” The grin that Evka fits him with earns an unwittingly roguish tilt of his own smile before he remembers that he needs to give an answer. “Ah… Well, I am a singer and artist, mostly focused on sketching and watercolor. A fair sight better at the former than the latter, I’d say. I can play the harp well enough to accompany myself, but I much prefer singing to someone else’s accompaniment.”

Evka blushes yet again when her companion opines over the lack of variety in the Harper ranks. “I have often thought the same, there were Harpers in Igen that took quite a shine to my people's performances.” That roguish tilt to Brayden's lips has Evka's smile warming a bit more, pink flaring yet again as the action makes her heart skip a bit. My, my does that smile look good on him. Her interest perks yet more when he mentions being an artist. “I love paintings. It takes talent, no matter the medium or subject. I'd love to see some of your work sometime.” After all, it's not just fashion this brownrider has a passion for. As to the music, well, she nods in understanding before finishing off her fruit filled bowl.

“Ah, well… I am always willing to let people take their own measure of my work. I’m seldom satisfied with it, to be completely honest.” Brayden takes another sip, trying his best to be discreet in admiring the lovely shade of rose that keeps appearing upon Evka’’s cheeks. It takes him a few moments to gather himself for asking his next. “If you’ve an interest, perhaps I might be able to gather together some of my smaller pieces to show you…over dinner, maybe?” He clears his throat softly once more. “If it isn’t too bold of me to ask.”

Those few moments of silence are comfortable ones and Evka lets Brayden sort himself out. The question comes as a bit of a shock, it's been a long time since Evka's been invited out on a date. Part of her squirms at the idea, until Saetyroith inserts his own opinions into her mind, her eyes going glossy. And with a burst of courage she nods. “That sounds nice. I'd love to go to dinner.” She shakes her head at Brayden and smiles. “Fate favors the bold. I don't mind.”

Brayden is still getting somewhat used to what happens when he’s speaking to a dragonrider and the dragon comes into the conversation, but he figures it out after a curious moment. When her answer comes, his grin beams full, making hazel eyes glitter. “I shall endeavor to keep some boldness in play, then,” he tells her. “Would…tonight work, or should we aim for sometime in the next few days?”

Evka's smile widens and she nods. “I've nothing planned for the evening. Tonight would be fine.” Though now that she's committed, what to wear?!? An emergency trip to Taurie's booth may be in order. “Where should I meet you?”

Brayden’s cheeks darken again as he considers where would be best. He hadn’t exactly though out where to go if Evka had said yes… “The Treble Clef, perhaps? Or the Kitten, if you’d rather go somewhere that offers more in the way of drinks. Perhaps I can finagle a quieter spot in there, in that case…” He tilts his head her way a bit conceding the choice between the two to her. “Unless there’s another good place I’m as yet unaware of.”

“The option for a drink would be definitely preferable. What's a dinner without a good drink to accompany it?” A bit of her brown leaks into her personality here, hedonistic joy is totally his thing! Evka sips down the last of her drink and smiles. “So the Kitten it is then, I suppose.” Evka takes a look skyward to check the time and then moves her klah brown eyes back to Brayden. “I suppose I should probably go get ready then.” She winks and begins a mental checklist: Shop for an outfit, baths, home to change, meet him at the Kitten. “Does around sunset work for you, Harper Brayden?”

In truth, Brayden is pleased with Evka’s choice despite the Treble Clef being a more familiar place for him. “In this case, I quite agree,” he says to her first, and starts in on a mental checklist of his own. “As will I. Sunset would be perfect. I’ll wait for you near the entrance, since I may end up finding a seat that isn’t…quite so obvious with a glance.” He slides off the stool, offering her his hand with palm upturned between them. “I am quite pleased that we happened across one another today, brownrider Evka,” he tells her at a low rumble, eyes dancing subtly as he holds her gaze.

When Brayden offers his hand, Evka gives her own as well, a subtle pink rising in her cheeks with the way he looks at her. “It's a date then. I'll see you there.” She slides off of her own stool and fishes around in her rucksack for the marks to pay for her meal. Once found they are laid upon the counter and she gathers her things. “I was quite happy to meet you myself Harper Brayden, it's been a pleasure.” She gives a bow of her head and prepares to leave.

When Evka gives him her hand, Brayden gives a rather courtly bit of a bow over it before relinquishing it. His own payment is produced and placed on the counter, and he steps back in preparation for his trek along the road to the Weyr proper. “I will eagerly await the sunset, my lady,” he says, and turns to begin his walk - a perfect thing to occupy him as he considers what to do and where to go first before the evening.

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