[PRP] A Dance With Death (Nebbi & V'tre)

[DruidTigeress]

ShinosBee

It had been a long night, filled with anxiety, and excitement. The harpers had already played several songs and were now setting up for their second set. She'd gotten encouragement from a rider, spent some time talking to a candidate, and generally made a nuisance of herself (as expected). But she still hadn't found Vitre. And that was starting to worry her. What if they had to leave before she got a chance to say goodbye?

At some point her dad roped her back into helping out.. which is what she was supposed to be doing in the first place. She didn't really mind. She liked talking about wines and describing the various selections they had from all the different vineyards that had sent some for the feast. And she especially liked when someone close theirs! Still, her uncle didn't miss the way her finger tapped against her arm or how her eyes scanned the crowd every time she had a spare moment. Finally the man took pity on the girl and released her to go back to wandering around the crowds looking for her friend.

She stopped near the edge of the dance circle, scanning the mass of people for his all too familiar face. Even if she didn't know what she was going to say yet, she knew she ought to say something to him. The way things had been left, she knew she couldn't feel settled until they had gotten a chance speak again.  

[ShinosBee]

Thanoth had found someone interesting. A girl. A special girl. One who had a face and a name and a voice that her V'tre knew so well, she felt like she knew them too. And of course, she'd seen this girl up close only a few hours ago. She'd come down from the very high stands with her boy. Had comforted him when he was afraid and confused and Thanoth had not been (alone, entirely) enough. She was Important. And so Thanoth did not leap up behind the girl who was staring so fixedly into the crowd to startle her. It would have been very funny to see how high she'd jump, but...She liked this girl. The little green slunk closer, butting against Nebbi's leg from behind and to the side, much like a particularly large feline would when seeking attention. Nebbi, right? My boy's best friend. He's been looking for you, but I'm afraid he's been distracted. So many new faces and names. But... The green trailed off, tail twitching as she reached out for her rider for a moment. darkgreen]...He's coming now. He's very excited. You might want to look out! The last of the green's words were directed to Nebbi and V'tre, but alas.

The boy came crashing bodily into his friend, latching onto her in a tight hug fueled more by the amount of pie he'd eaten than his own natural stores of energy. Nebbi! He'd been looking ALL over! "I was afraid you'd have to leave before we found you!" The thought that he'd not be going back with his mother and friend was still very daunting, and he shoved it away before Thanoth could sense his upset. He was going to be all alone, except for her, and anything that'd risk losing that one connection he had HAD to be avoided. "Weyrlings aren't allowed to drink, they wouldn't even let us near the wine stands, and by the time I snuck around to them you weren't there!" He still hadn't let her go, though he had dropped one hand to cup Thanoth's chin. Why couldn't he just have them both here with him? And maybe his mom and dad and brother too?

DruidTigeress

 

[DruidTigeress]

Nebbi was still eyeing the crowds when she felt a little bump of something against the back of her leg. She turned towards the hatchling as a voice spoke in her mind, not knowing enough about dragons to know how rare that was. She knew dragons could talk, so it didn't occur to her that it was unusual for one to be talking to HER. "Oh. You're.." she started, a look of recognition crossing her face. She didn't have a chance to look closely when she impressed -it all happened so fast- but the dark green was unmistakable as the one her friend impressed.

It took a second for her to recall the name. She was sure Vitre told her it at the hatching, but she had been a little preoccupied at the time. "Thanoth!" she said, remembering. She bent down to get a better look at her. Her markings were impressive. She was easily the coolest dragon in the clutch, maybe even in all of Pern (not that she was biased!) "He's coming here?" she asked, reassured by the prospect. Though she wasn't entirely sure what the green meant. Look out for.. "Wha?!"

With her attention fully on the Yong dragon, Nebbi didn't notice her best friend barreling towards her until it was too late. She didn't need to see who it was to recognize the one that hit her though.

"VIitre!" she said, her eyes brightening immediately. She hugged him back tightly. "No, I was looking for you!" she said, realizing they'd just missed each other. "How are you? Are you alright now? Have they told you anything yet?" She didn't even know the logistics of what was supposed to happen now.  

[ShinosBee]

Thanoth had casually but gracefully taken a step back a moment before the two youngsters collided, and the odd wheezing noise she made as they crashed into each other was as close as the green could come to laughter. Her boy's bright happiness was undeniable, and it made the dragonet's eyes whirl rapidly with happy colors as she stepped forward again, pressing to them both and wriggling with some excitement, almost like the strangest canine that there ever was. Honestly if anyone'd seen the boy getting the baby green so worked up they'd probably disapprove, but sometimes being short and a less noticeable color had its advantages.

"I'm better, we're better now, yeah." V'tre released Nebbi enough to get a hand down to grab onto one of Thanoth's headknobs (lightly of course!) and pull her in closer, letting her press between them. "Thanoth's been great. She knows more about all this than I do, I think."

Of course I do!

"And after she ate and we slept it got better. It's been a bit too much to really remember but...I'm sure I'll figure it out!" He was cheerful for all the stress that'd suddenly been saddled on his back. His largest regrets were that Nebbi couldn't stay, and that his family was going to be apart from him for a while. "The weyrlingmaster hasn't said when yet, but I heard some other new weyrlings saying it'd be at least six months until we can fly. A turn to graduate, but we might be able to visit before then?" His voice cracked squeakily as he pondered being away from all he knew that long. It was sobering, and brought the mood down just slightly...but then Thanoth chimed in, speaking to them both.

And once I'm big enough we can all go flying. I'll take you anywhere on Pern if you want! Or who knows! Maybe by then you'll be here too, Nebbi. I know V'tre'd like to have you around!

DruidTigeress

 

[DruidTigeress]

ShinosBee

"Good. You guys will figure it out, I'm sure." Nebbi echoed, smiling. "I mean, Thanoth seems like a pretty smart girl." she said, even as the dark green wriggled between them like the strangest kind of group hug. Even just seeing V'tre again, she already felt better. Thanoth could take of him. She didn't know what she was even worried about before.

Six months seemed like a long time. A turn seemed like forever. But had already talked this all out with H'sad, so she was prepared for that. She didn't expect things to be any different for V'itre. None of the new werylings would get to see their families for a while (except the ones born in the Weyr, she supposed), they just had more time to prepare for it.

"I wish I could, Thanoth." she said, looking at V'tre with her brows pulling together in regret. But Weyrs weren't like Holds. You couldn't just move there because you wanted to. Besides, it wasn't like she could leave her uncle anyway. "But maybe I can come and visit some time. Who knows? If people liked my dad's wine half as much as I do, they'll be begging us to come back again!"

Rather than trying to be serious, it felt more natural to indulge in fantasy, like the two usually did. "Heh. Anywhere on Pern sounds pretty good." she said with a grin. "We should go scouting for firelizard eggs sometime. I've heard a couple good rumors about where to find them. Or we could go the jungles in Southern. I heard the wild felines there sometimes bond to humans. Maybe we'd find a pair of abandoned babies and could raise them as our own. Only you've got Thanoth already, so too bad for you. I guess I get both of them." she laughed.  

[ShinosBee]

Fantasy was the obvious choice for V'tre too. Nebi was losing a friend for a while, but V'tre was losing everything. He had Thanoth of course, and she pressed instinctively to his legs a bit firmer, but he'd be alone with her, still so newly hatched. Mentally fast forwarding to the time they could do whatever they wanted, when Thanoth was grown and strong, was far easier. "Why not all of it? All in one day, even. Dragons can go between, so once we learn to do that we could see every continent in one go, if you wanted."

Hopefully Thanoth would grow large, at least as large as a green could. He realized he wanted to take his brother too, show his mother the southern continent and let his dad see every mountain just waiting to be mined. Of course, there'd be thread to fight too..."We'll just have to set the Red Star on fire first, 'cause waiting one turn is gonna be hard enough. I don't want to wait until it drifts away again!" He skirted the direct thought of having to fight thread, or the dangers they'd face. There'd be plenty of time to worry. Today was for celebrating.

"Are they liking it? The wine I mean." He fully believed in the product his weyr made, especially the stuff Nebbi helped with. "Did you get any of the pie or mom's cakes? She saved em a slice, but I don't have any left..." Thanoth had gotten hungry again at some point, and he'd not noticed himself gorging out of sympathy until he'd found some meat for her. "I should introduce you to some of the other weyrlings too, and maybe we should dance?" He rambled, eager to try to wedge everything into the few moments he had with his best friend.

Dance? Is that the word for what all those people are doing? I'd thought it was a sort of exercise. They look very silly!

DruidTigeress

 

[DruidTigeress]

ShinosBee

"Yeah! We could could chase the sunset all around the planet, and.. and.." She tried to think of something else to say. Especially something, anything, that could get her mind off of where V'itre's was now going. Oh.. Don't talk about that awful star! she thought, her brows pulling together worriedly. But her expression quickly hardened into a frown instead. "We'll push the sharding thing into the sun- and do it properly this time too!" she said, with more than a little resentment towards their so-called heroic ancestors who'd landed them in this bind by messing it up in the first place! Why should her friend have to pay for their mistakes? It wasn't fair. Why did it have to be them? Why did it have to be now? He could have been a rider at any other time and it would have been fine.

Fortunately, V'tre was there with a convenient distraction. "Er, I think so.." she said. She would confess to having been a little bit distracted from her craft that evening, but it was disappearing from tables at least, even if people were just too drunk to care, and she did seem to notice that it was a more popular choice among the younger people there. "Yeah! Probably.." she added, more and then almost immediately less, confident. "Too bad you can't have any for a while. I did get some of your mum's cakes though. They were good!"

"Oh, uh.." Nebbi glanced back over her shoulder towards the dancing circles. Pairs were still just starting to form on the floor as the musicians started up the next song. Dancing was among the standard list of things they taught the children at their Hold. She didn't mind it that much- even if the first time her partner tried to touch her waist she'd punched him the the nose and hid in a wine casket for the rest of the evening, and her uncle had to physically drag her back there for at least the first turn after she got to the Hold. But it could be fun sometimes too. Especially when she was dancing Vitre, mostly because he would do all the fun moves and skip all the boring ones. Though she always got scolded by their teacher for trying to lead from the follow position.

Not hearing Thanoth's comment, she looked back at her friend and smiled. "Sure! Let's dance." she said, hoping the next song was a fast one.
 

[ShinosBee]

V'tre snickered at that thought. "All the way to Rukbat! Man...I wonder how bright it'd glow...y'dthink that when the ancestors didn't see the whole things go—woosh!—up in flames they'd realize it wasn't gone." He shook his head, dark hair flying, doing his best to make a joke of the whole thing. There was no way he'd get hurt, after all, no way he'd...well. He'd be fine. Because the Red Star was just some big stupid thing, right? They'd kick it into the sun and then have a huge party, with lots of dancing, and singing, and it'd be just like tonight, only better.

If only that were true.

A sharp n** brought him up out of his maudlin daydreams, and whirling yellow-green eyes near his wrist. Poor Thanoth. Not even a day shelled and having to deal with that sort of thing. "Sorry Thanoth," He cooed to her, satisfied to see more blues come swimming up into her twirling eyes. If we're all gonna die anyway, why waste the time here being sad about it? The dragonet chimed in, and...well, wow. That was a surprisingly mature way to look at it...and pretty simple too. Well, alright then! Why waste time worrying when there was dancing to do?

"C'mon!" She'd only just agreed to dance when he took Nebbi by the hand, all but tugging her to the dance floor, with Thanoth barely a step behind. The music was already rising...aha! A quick, fun song! THose were the best! Without preamble, he swung his friend 'round, already stepping long...if not very neatly, with a green always trying to get underfoot.

DruidTigeress