A Gift for Jarshan

[Ise]

(whoops this should totally be in the Lower Caverns, not Rider's Weyrs...)

D’ero worked slowly on a carving. His skills had improved greatly but even he was impressed with how his new figurine was coming out. So far it seemed… flawless. Even the delicate details of the piece were coming out with ease. It was a highly detailed fire lizard that he was working on. It was small though, it would easily fit into the palm of Jarshan’s hand. It was modeled after her own bronze lizard Torc. He had thought of trying to paint it but decided not to push his luck, he didn’t want to risk ruining it by painting it.

He held the wooden figure carefully as he took his knife and peeled slivers of wood off the claws of the flitt, making sure they looked correct to him. Once he was happy with his work he took it over to Horuth to let the dragon criticize his work. The brown looked it over

It looks good. It would be easier if you just told her you like her.[/i]
D’ero carefully took the wooden Torc away and went to work wrapping it up in cloth to help keep it safe.
“I’m pretty sure she knows I like her. Otherwise she would have told me to leave her alone by now.”
The dragon let out a slightly annoyed snort.
We are not talking about the same like and you know it. But if you are going to be stubborn about it then so be it.[/i]
The brown settled down to nap as D’ero used a little bit of string to wrap his small package up. There was no need to tell his dragon where he was going, it was part of D’ero’s habit. Every time he finished a new carving he thought was good, he would take it to Jarshan and leave it at her door as a gift.

The Weyr seemed especially quite today as D’ero strolled through the halls, giving him time to think things over. A slight frown had settled on his face by the time he reached Jarshan’s weyr. For a moment he thought of dropping the gift off and leaving like he normally did but quickly decided against that. This carving was something he took great pride in, he wanted the chance to see Jarshan’s reaction to it in person.

He knocked on her door, wondering what he would do if she wasn’t there.

[Marnark]

((LOL Jarshan is not a rider, she does not live in a weyr ))

For a long, long time ... many turns upon turns, Jarshan had kept a fairly sparse room. Her quarters were utilitarian and that was about it ... not because she was against nice things, but more because she was never in her quarters. Not really. It was a place to sleep, whenever she happened to be back at the Weyr. Her time was usually spent in the field, or training.

Now, things had slowly changed. At first the strange little wooden figures left at her doorstep had been a mystery. It had not taken her very long at all to figure out who was doing it, though. At first, she had set them atop the small chest of drawers that was one of the few furniture items she had. But quickly, that grew too covered over to hold another one, and that had necessitated a shelf. Getting the board to make a shelf had been costly, but she really hadn't had much to spend her marks on besides more or better equipment. Once installed, she had moved most of the wooden figures up onto the shelf, which was now quite the array of wooden poses.

It was quite obvious that the skill of the carver had improved greatly over the course of time, each one more detailed than the one before it, a little more anatomically correct. Jarshan appreciated both the skill and the patience that it took to create each and every one of them, and sometimes marveled at it. Carving wood had never been an interest of hers, not really.

Today, in a mere chance of blind luck, Jarshan just happened to be in her quarters instead of out and about. After just a single silent moment, the door opened without a sound, almost creepily so. It was something she had always taken care on; stealth was stealth, regardless where it was. So even her door hinges were very well greased. "D'ero." she wasn't at all surprised to see him standing there. After all ... no one else bothered to come see her. Not unless it was Eriol with an emergency mission. Jarshan smiled at him, and stepped back to allow him in.

Contrary to her usual appearance of wearing all encompassing leathers and soft soled boots, today she was completely and totally barefoot, wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. It was a very different look on her, between not being completely covered barring her hands, and it not being dark, almost black colors. Her hair tied into a sloppy knot with flyaways instead of a tight bun also helped her to look like a whole different person. Especially since now it was evident her hair had curls, instead of being pulled tight and straight. "Come in." Jarshan gestured at the front room of her quarters, which was just as spartan as the rest of it. The only break from the blandness of its emptiness was that shelf on the wall. Otherwise, there was only two chairs (simply because the crafter would not sell her just one), and a small table that did have a few parchments laid out on it, a paper-wrapped charcoal laying on top of it.

"How are you faring today?"

[Ise]

D’ero gave Jarshan a nod of greeting, a faint smile touching his lips. He was happy that he wasn’t going to have to sit outside her room waiting for her to show up. And he was happy to see her. Though it was odd to see her dressed in such casual clothing. He was use to seeing her in her Shield gear, ready to go out and fight at a moments notice.

He took a quick glance around her room, feeling a little flattered that his carvings for her had earned their own shelf. He hadn’t even realized that he had given her so many little things and was going to add another to her collection. The simpleness of the room didn’t bother him, his own living space was equally as empty of personal touch aside from the dragon and the few half worked on carvings he had laying around. He had never even kept one of his own finished carvings, they were all either given away or used as firewood if they weren’t good enough.

“I’m doing well today. I hope I’m not interrupting though.”
He tilted his head over towards the papers on her table with the charcoal on top, half wondering if she was doing something for the Shield or for herself.

“I just wanted to stop by here and give you something. I think it’s my best work yet and thought I would get your opinion on it. Just be careful opening it, parts of it are rather thin and I’d hate for it to get broken before you have the chance to judge it for yourself.”
He held out the carefully wrapped carved flitt, looking slightly nervous to be handing it off to her. He knew he had done a good job making it but was no longer so confident that it looked enough like her own flitt instead of any of the fire lizards that fluttered around the Weyr.

[Marnark]

"You're not. If you were I probably wouldn't have answered the door." Jarshan assured him, closing it behind him again. The only audible sound that it had happened was the snap of the latch. "Have a sit." she invited, gesturing at the other chair that really hardly ever saw use. Unless Torc wanted something to jungle gym around on. Moving to the other chair that she had apparently been sitting in, she sat down herself, moving the charcoal to one side.

She arched one eyebrow at him, but held a hand out for the wrapped package. Setting it down on the table in front of her with some caution, she started picking at the string to untie it. "I'm flattered to think that you think that I know something about carvings." She commented, with a soft laugh. "I ... well, you know I don't carve. I was also never a woodcrafter." pulling the knot undone, she slipped the string off the package and unfolded the material.

Once the flitter was exposed to be seen, sitting there on the table in the middle of his wrappings, Jarshan just looked at it for a moment before laughing. "It looks just like Torc!"

At the sound of his name, the Bronze came prancing into the room from the sleeping area, everything about his carriage screaming cocky confident Bronze. With a cheep, he bounded up onto the edge of the table, wings flaring for balance. Jarshan looked at him, and reached over to scratch his eye ridges while looking at the carving again. "It does look like Torc! This is really good, D'ero. Are you trying to out-carve a master carver? It really looks like it." She teased lightly, leaning back in her chair to consider the sculpture and the flitter on the table.

Torc dropped his head to sniff the wooden flitter, but was clearly unimpressed. So far as he was concerned, it was just a piece of wood. What was all the hooplah about? He was far more stunning than any hunk of wood, after all!!

[Ise]

D’ero took the seat that was offered to him, staying quiet when Jarshan pointed out that she was no expert at woodcarving. She would understand why he wanted her opinion as soon as she opened his most recent gift.

Her reaction made him smile and relax. She had instantly realized who the carving was suppose to be. He looked over as the real Torc came out to see the carving, chuckling a little as the flitter wasn’t so easily impressed by his work.
“Not trying to out do anyone, just had time on my hands and thought I would do something for you that had a little more meaning then just random critters. This one came out far better then I thought it would, even I was impressed with it. But I’m glad you like it even if the real Torc doesn’t think it looks like him.”

He leaned forward in the chair a bit, watching Torc as he sniffed and looked the carving over before glancing over to the shelf with all his other carvings.
“I’m surprised you’ve kept all of those. I know that some of them aren’t too bad but the first ones I gave you… those were pretty awful.”
He still felt a touch of pride that she had kept them all, though he would never say anything. It also sparked his curiosity a little that his gifts to her were the only non-essential things she seemed to keep. He tried hard not to let himself think too much into it but he could feel Horuth in the back of his mind, chuckling a little and coming up with his own opinions.

[Marnark]

Jarshan smiled slightly, and lifted the flitter off of the wrappings, sliding them out from under the wooden figure. "Idle hands, is it? Maybe we should look into something to fill those idle hands with?" She asked. "But thank you, this is very thoughtful of you. I can't imagine how long you have spent on it." She could probably wager a pretty educated guess, though she didn't say as much. Mostly based on the length of time between this one and the last little statuette left on her doorstep. Setting the wooden flitter down on the table again, she tilted her head to one side to consider it again. "It does look just like him. And don't mind him. He'd bronze, his head is filled with rubbish anyway." she waved a hand at the flitter that warbled at her in response. "Yes, I love you too, you pinhead."

Jarshan stood up, and picked up the flitter again, considering it before considering the same shelf that D'ero was looking at. "What did you expect me to do with them, if not keep them? Is that not why you gave them to me? And no, it's not awful. It's actually a beautiful expression of your learning and growth, those old ones standing next to the new ones." She stepped over toward the shelf, and pushed a few figures aside with a fingertip to their bases. Clearing a spot right in front in the middle, she slid the wooden Torc onto the shelf, too, proudly displayed as if leading the horde of carvings.

Jarshan stepped back to consider it, before turning it slightly to make it a bit more straight. Turning, she stepped back to her seat and sat down, smiling at D'ero. "You've real talent, and it is showing in your practice."

[Ise]

“I could always use more things to do. Especially now. I know that lessons will be replaced with wing practices but it would be nice to have something to look forward to after that. I don’t think listening to a pompous bronze rider for hours on end will be much fun.”
He knew the wing practices would be important and planned on working on in them, but that didn’t mean they would be much fun. If the wings stayed as they were with the highest ranking dragon taking charge of them, then he would be listening to that bronze rider B’ren who probably spent more time stroking his own ego then he did on anything serious.

D’ero did allow himself to take some pride in his work. If Jarshan said that the carving looked just like Torc then he must have done a good job. He watched her make room on the shelf. He had to agree that it was interesting to see how he had gotten better over time.
“Well, I figured you’d keep some of them, I really didn’t think you’d keep them all. I don’t even have anything that I’ve finished, you’ve got everything that was worth keeping. And anything that I did that I didn’t like enough I just tossed into a fire as fire wood. If I had given you all of those… well you’d probably need a second shelf then.”

The young man almost squirmed with embarrassment at Jarshan’s smile and compliments. It was one thing to think that he was pretty good but another thing to hear someone else tell him that he was good. And the fact that it was Jarshan telling him this only made it worse for him. He couldn’t help but smile a little though.
“Thanks. I never thought that I was that good but I’ve been working on it a lot. It helped knowing that every time I need more wood I could come ask you for help and get the chance to talk with you a little.”

[Marnark]

"Wing drills are important yeah." Jarshan agreed. "Those that don't attend to them don't fly as well in the wing. Theory is, those are the ones that would get scored if Thread was falling." She shrugged as she settled into her seat. "So don't neglect those. Though, while we're on the topic, have you made your plans for when you're going back North yet? Or are you? Have you decided?" She really didn't know if he had changed his mind about going back home or not. Spending as much time outside the Weyr as she did, and so little time socializing, she really had no idea what the tide with the northern lot were. If they were still aching to drag their new dragons back North again or not.

She looked up at the shelf again, and shrugged slightly. Apparently her off-duty mannerisms were far different from her on-duty mannerisms, even if a few elements remained. "I didn't think any of them were worthy of the fireplace." She answered. Not to mention she hadn't wanted to deal a backhanded insult by burning something so thoughtfully worked on and given. It was like slaughtering a gift runner and feeding it to the dogs. She laid off on the comments, though, quite aware that she was making him uncomfortable. Which wasn't what she was trying to do in the least.

Jarshan laughed a little bit. "Is that why you need so much wood, and burn so much of what you get?" She teased. "You don't need an excuse to talk to me, D'ero." Though why a young fellow of a dragonrider was so interested in talking to her was rather beyond her understanding, she wasn't opposed to his company either. He was brighter than some and had far more potential than most, in her opinion. Not that her opinion counted for a lot of anything, around the Weyr. She was, after all, in that sub-class of non-rider. There were two levels of people, she had quickly figured out. Riders, and everyone else. Unless you were in a Hold. Then it was the Lord, and everyone else. While this wasn't quite entirely true and she knew it, that sure seemed to be the base operating paradigm.

[Ise]

“No I won’t be skipping out on wing drills. They might be boring but they’re important. And I don’t plan on being the weakest link in my wing.”
If D’ero was going to do something, he was going to do a good job. He was never one to slack off or give up half way through something, no matter how unpleasant it was. He had often been the one to clean out runner stalls for that reason, he would get the job done without whining about it.

He let out a little sigh when asked about the North and could only shrug. With Essa and her gold being sent to Haven Weyr, it was going to be harder to go back to the North. They couldn’t start a Weyr without a gold. Lacking a bronze dragon had hurt enough. Other things were starting to play into it as well.
“Right now we’re stuck here. It’s not such a bad thing though, at least not any more. This place seems a little more like home now, at least more so then the Hall ever did. I… I mostly just want to let my family know that I’m still alive. They didn’t know I was coming here, I told them I was taking some trip with the Hall and the Hall thought I was going home to help care for my family. At this point letting them know what happened is all I care to do in the North.”

A bit of a flush rose up D’ero’s face as Jarshan told him he didn’t need excuses to come talk to her. A slight crease formed between his eyes as he thought heavily for a moment. Sweet words had never been his thing, he was direct about everything. It always seemed foolish to him to try and hint at things when it was so much easier to just be blunt. Of course women didn’t always like things so blunt. He looked over at Jarshan, an utterly serious look on his face. He wasn’t nervous or scared about things like this, it was just awkward for him.
“Jarshan. I really like you. And I am hoping that maybe you would be interested in having dinner with me. In public.”

[Marnark]

He was not only planning on following through with drills, but also not looking to go back home. Interesting. An unexpected turn, in Jarshan's mind. Maybe the Weyrleadership had known what they were about after all, letting the Nothern kids stand for dragons. It had seemed folly to her at the time. She nodded in understanding, though. Family ... some people had it, some people didn't. Some treasured it as they should, some didn't. "You could probably slip that direction any time you wanted, if you wanted to go in person. If not, a flitter could always take a written note." She flicked a finger toward where Torc was sitting. "Make sure it's one trained for that, though. Or the note might only end up being a nest liner somewhere." If it got that lucky!

She tilted her head to one side slightly, watching him as his complexion darkened a bit, his face drawing into itself for a little while. What that was for, she could only hazard a guess. Surely she hadn't said anything that ... problematic. She smiled at his first sentence. She already knew that ... it was hard to miss something like that. Especially given the insane numbers of toothpicks he'd been keeping her stocked with. She could probably take up potato growing and acupuncture quite easily, right now. Not that anyone would let her...

But to be invited to dinner? That was a bit beyond 'like'. But then ... maybe so was several shelf fulls worth of carvings and a gajillion toothpics. "In public?" She asked, feigning trepidation. "You mean you want to skip the broom closet stage?" Jarshan laughed lightly, then, making it quite clear she was just teasing. "No, I don't have a problem with that, D'ero. Please stop looking like you think I'm going to hit you for suggesting it." Again, just teasing. But she did understand the seriousness of the request, and how difficult it might have been for him to air it.

[Ise]

“I was hoping to talk to the Weyrleaders and ask them if I could leave for a while to do that. I don’t want to sneak off and create problems. But if they won’t let me then I’ll try out the flitter idea. I’m not sure how well that’ll work, no one in the North has seen a fire lizard in decades. I half worry that they would freak out at the sight of one. Or that someone might try to catch it and eat it…”

D’ero had been already to say that they could do dinner in the broom closet if she really wanted to before he realized it was a joke. He relaxed a bit and even let himself smile. He was pleasantly surprised that she hadn’t rejected him. He knew her feelings about most dragon riders, though he had worked hard to show her that he wasn’t like the typical dragon rider.

“I’m not worried that you’re going to hit me. I just know most girls want something a little more charming and romantic.”
He ran a hand through his hair, chuckling a little to himself and letting out a pent up breath.
I told you it wasn’t going to be that bad. Either she would say yes or you would have been mauled by her feline. I am glad she said yes, it would not be nice of you to have bleed all over her room
D’ero resisted rolling his eyes at his dragon. Horuth was happy for him though, and not just because he wasn’t being eaten by a feline.
“So are you free tonight or should I come back later in the week? I don’t want to disrupt your Shield duties.”

[Marnark]

Jarshan scratched her ear thoughtfully, before shrugging. "I wouldn't bother the Weyrleaders with it, were I you. Now, you should inform your Wingleader that you're planning on making the trip. Remember there's a chain of command. I don't report to the Weyrleaders, I report to Eriol. To go past him to talk to the Weyrleaders would be like a slap to his face not to mention being completely out of conduct. So ... just talk to your wingleader. If he doesn't think it's a good idea, he'll let you know. Or, he'll talk to them for you, and get back to you with the verdict." She shrugged. "You can't go around breaking the rules you know." just a word of caution and friendly advice to the wise. There was no lecture in her tone at all. The thought of someone trying to catch a flitter to eat it was slightly concerning, and also hilarious. "I'd like to see someone try to eat a flitter!" She laughed. They could between faster than dragons could, making them almost impossible to catch, much less catch and kill before they betweened. "I can't imagine not knowing what a flitter is, though..."

Jarshan smiled slightly, wondering how in the world D'ero had managed to wiggle past her normal front for the world. Most people would not even think that she had a side to her that was anything beyond her job. An efficient and effective defender and killer. But there was, and somehow D'ero was bee-lining right for it. It was uncanny. But she did like things charming and romantic ... even if she was very picky about it. Not just anyone would do, she didn't consort with any old body that just happened along.

"Tonight?" Jarshan asked, and then laughed a bit. "Today is my day off, D'ero. Tomorrow we're going back into the field and I can't promise when we'll be back. Some training exercise or whatever for the felines. So ... tonight is fine." She agreed. "Don't worry about my duties. They will attend to themselves. Just like yours do."

[Ise]

D’ero nodded, once he had a wingleader he would be sure to go through the proper chain of command.
“Thanks, I’ll make sure that I talk to the right person instead of just going to the top. It’s been awhile since I’ve really had to worry about something like that. I haven’t had any issues during training that would have required me to talk to the Weyrling Master much less need to speak to the Weyrleaders, figured that was still a job for the little lordlings.”
He had always known who to go to when he had been at the Beastcrafter Hall, the Weyr was still a little confusing for him. And especially now, they were about to become full fledged riders and be assigned to the real wings of the Weyr.

The young man was some what worried about how he was going impress Jarshan enough to keep her. He was not the most romantic person, far from it. He was too straight forward about everything. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he feared that he would have to actually go to one of those bronze riders and get some tips on what to do. There was more to it as well, he was a dragon rider which meant that at some point he was going to have to figure out how to deal with Horuth joining in on flights. He would worry about all those things later, right now he was just happy that she had accepted him this much.

“Then I’ll try to make tonight worth it for you.”
He stood up and offered her his arm, knowing that was a polite and gentlemanly thing to do. And well it was probably the only time he would be able to feel manly. She was shorter and smaller then him so it let him think for a few moments that if something happened he could protect her. Of course she could kick his ass before he had time to realize it but it gave him a little bit of an ego boost and some more confidence.

[Marnark]

Jarshan laughed softly, and shook her head. "D'ero, you now outrank those lordlings you refer to. It would be completely silly of you to go to them for anything." She pointed out, amused while somewhat saddened to think that his paradigm was so badly locked down to Lords being bosses of everyone. There had once been a day that Lords answered to Dragonmen, regardless of the color of dragon the man rode. Now, D'ero was one of those dragonmen ... and he still thought himself inferior to a Lordling. That ... was just sad. But, what was she thinking? She didn't really like the pomp that dragonriders carried around either. That attitude was part of why she really didn't like riders. Maybe that was part of what set D'ero apart. He didn't have the arrogance.

She looked up at him as he stood, and offered her an arm. "What, now?" She asked, startled, getting to her feet. "You're funny. You're going to have to wait at least a little while. I'm not going to the hall in my jammies." She patted his arm and chuckled a little bit before moving past him toward the door to her sleeping room. As she moved, she stripped out of her shirt, completely unconcerned for having an audience; or that she hadn't been wearing anything under the shirt. Folding it around one hand she chunked it off to one side once she was through the doorway. "Naraja! Get off my bed, how many times do I have to tell you that, you sharding furball." She scolded, her voice getting faintly distorted as she moved around the room.

A smack sound was followed shortly by a short yowl and the sound of paws hitting the stone floor in a hurry. Soon after, Jarshan's black tunnelcat came scampering out of the door and over to where D'ero was standing to scoot behind him and peer past his ankles back at the doorway. Undoubtedly, said feline was somewhat cranky after being kicked off the bed so rudely.

Far faster than might have been expected, Jarshan turned up again, this time fully dressed, and looking more like her normal self even if still oddly ... softer ... in appearance. She was dressed in black again, but it was cloth, not leather. Full length trousers and a long sleeved shirt, she was wearing her usual boots though. Pulling her hair up and back, she tied a quick knot around it to hold it in place. From the front, the curls were pulled flat as was her normal appearance, but rather than a bun on the back of her head, the rest of the curls just tumbled down in a runner tail. "Okay, now we can go." She said, taking the arm that D'ero had offered earlier.

A thump in the other room told the tale of the feline hopping back onto the bed again.

[Ise]

D’ero mumbled something about one of the lordlings being equal rank with him still but didn’t argue with Jarshan. She was right, he really didn’t have to take orders from them or go to them for anything now. A slightly odd thought but one that only bothered him when he realized what two weyrlings did out rank him. A man whore and a kid who D’ero could sit on and squish. He some times had to wonder just what the dragons were thinking when they picked someone.

“That’s what you sleep in? How do you even sleep in something with how hot it gets here…”
He trailed off as Jarshan started taking off her shirt while heading to her room. He felt slightly bad that he hadn’t pulled his eyes away from the woman as she had stripped but he was still a guy and he couldn’t bring himself to miss a chance like that. He waited for Jarshan to change, chuckling a little as the black fuzz ball dashed out of the room and behind him.

He stopped looking at the feline when Jarshan came back out, fully dressed this time. He was only slightly disappointed, it had been nice to see her dressed down.
“You look nice. For a while I always figured that you never changed out of your leathers. You look nice in other things though. And I like your hair like this.”
He let his hand lightly brush against her pulled back curls before taking her arm, trying hard to not act like some teenager going on his first date.