The Liar and the Genius (for Zen)

[firebird]

"I can't find anything good," Dusky complained as she returned to her weyr after a good morning's exploration. She was slowly getting used to the unusual outdoors-focused structure of the place, but it meant that pretty much everything of interest was visible from dragonback. Where was the fun in back? She was used to equating the mystique of a place with how thick the layers of dust were, but Warden's Weyr was neither old enough for the rooms to develop such layers, nor enclosed enough for the corridors to do so.

You could ask someone for a map, mine. Surely you'll see somewhere you haven't been yet. Suzelaloth answered, a note of amusement coloring his words.

"And where's the fun in that? Even a hastily-dug wine-cellar would be interesting at this point. Hm... perhaps one made by a guard in order to store liquor without having to tell his superiors about it. Perhaps so he can trade it off to the prisoners in exchange for favors! Suzel, we may well come across an illegal wine-trading network stretched across the entire prison!" The last sentence was punctuated with an arm flung up to point at the sky... which quickly drooped once Dusky realized she had no idea how to find hidden wine-cellars.

Catching her irritation at the prospect of possibly missing such a thing, Suzelaloth decided to help. Why don't you have someone search with you? No one should be very busy right now, and isn't E'mor pretty attentive?

Dusky was not particularly interested in having anyone help her, and expressed this with a soft harrumph. Undeterred, the dragon called out Cazveth! Mine would like to meet with yours for some exploring! Would you please tell him to meet us at mine's weyr? Dusky's protests went disregarded, and eventually dropped off as the bluerider resigned herself to having to meet someone face-to-face that day.

[Zen]

“Why would it be called Warden’s Weyr if the Warden is dead?” E’mor mused silently to himself as he sat huddled over a Record. Cazveth, his dragon, lay lazily on the ground nearby. She did not answer his rhetorical question. “Why redact the millennia-used names of Weyrwoman and Weyrleader? He wants everyone to feel the same. He wants those who were in power, even if it was never real power. He took it all away. No one stopped him.” Suddenly, E’mor jumped up from his seat with a cry of something akin to sadness. “Shock. Some want there to be no more pain. Some are still unsure of what has happened to them.” He started to pace eagerly back and forth. He trodded on the hide he’d been using to write down his notes before noticing and picking it up. His hands restlessly wrung it out as he paced.

Cazveth’s head tilted back and forth as she watched him. No one is telling them to stop calling them that. Cazveth mewled like a hurt canine. We are new, and though I despise her, I call her that, as well. E’mor could feel the mental rage as she thought about the woman Leshta. Cazveth loathed women.

E’mor glanced up at her, his green eyes blazing with thought. “It’s just… it’s different here. So different. I’m unafraid. I’ll face them.” As you must “But there is so much that I do not understand.” And you must learn. She drawled happily as she lifted her head to stare at him proudly. Surely he must do that! She was his and she wanted the best for him.

E’mor looked haphazardly at his notes and scowled. “This Weyr is tantalizingly confusing. I must know all of its secrets. All of them.”

Suddenly, Cazveth grew agitated. She growled as she jumped up, her tail flashing back and forth. If she had fur, it would have been raised. She is calling for you. She growled with hatred lining her voice. E’mor looked up from the notes and hope sprawled across his face. “Are we going to go on an adventure?” Cazveth didn’t even comment on how he knew what she was going to say. Suzelaloth’s asks you to meet her. Something about exploring. Her eyes flashed red. She abhorred Dusky because she was female.

E’mor literally squirmed. His eyes lit up happily as he tucked the notes into his back pockets. “Exploring is an awfully good idea today. Set your differences aside, Caz. We have to! We have to go, please?” It was strange, this symbiotic relationship between the strange duo. Both were happiest when they were with each other, not to mention the fact that Cazveth would probably go insane without him. Cazveth glared angrily at the man but finally relented.

Moments later, the two landed at Dusky’s weyr, Cazveth visibly shook with hardly concealed anger. “Calm down.” E’mor declared angrily before climbing down his dragon’s back. “Uhhh, Dusky? I’d love to go on an adventure. Uhhh… though I doubt we’ll find much, the deceased Warden was serious about keeping this place in order. I suggest not getting close to Cazveth.” Nice intro. E’mor wasn’t exactly the most social of people.

[firebird]

When she heard Cazveth's approach, Dusky looked up from where she was massaging Suzelaloth's right eye ridge. "Hey Cazzy," she greeted as E'mor dismounted. Of course it wasn't foolish to use unwanted nicknames on an angry dragon! Why would it be so?

Mine.

"And E'mor," she continued as if there had never been a pause in her speech. Why, the very thought of the great and powerful, wise beyond all things, and other such self-inflating phrases Dusky failing to immediately greet a rider was shocking beyond all belief! Well, she might as well go along with Suzelaloth and pretend as if their joining forces was her idea.

Suzel, why don't you go show off for Cazzy? Maybe that barrel roll you've been practicing? If the green actually paid attention to Suzelaloth's antics, Dusky would be surprised. However, anything that might distract Cazveth from her was a good thing. Anything that would keep the blue from trying to hover was also a good thing, and he would undoubtedly start trying the moment she left otherwise. He just didn't seem to get that dragons were not made for that particular aerial maneuver.

"Wasn't going to try approaching her," Dusky said to E'mor as she stepped away from Suzelaloth. The blue was polite enough to walk far enough away so that they wouldn't be bowled over when he launched into the air. "So... Let's look for stuff! I was thinking of searching for hidden wine cellars. You can help with that! After all, you're like a dolphin. You can see through things with the power of sound." That was an incredibly clumsy metaphor for attentiveness, Dusky. Your ancestors would be ashamed.

[Zen]

Cazveth bristled as Dusky called her a nickname. She glared pointedly at Dusky before stepping away, her tail lashing. Tell her to stop. Cazveth declared disgustedly, turning her head up and away from Dusky angrily. E’mor didn’t even begin to repeat what Cazveth said, nor what Cazveth was going to tell him to say, nor what he was going to even think about what she was thinking about in that point in time.

He tried to smile happily at her, but the smile just looked like a dying herdbeast had just rammed into his stomach. “Dusky.” She had a weird name. But it didn’t mean anything for him, as his own name had been strange and he’d changed it quickly after Impression. Cazveth continued to hurl insults at Dusky, though none of them reached past E’mor’s mental ears. He attempted another smile. “Cazveth won’t shut up. She hates women—it’s impossible for her to calm down when I’m around them… err, you. Because you’re a woman. Um. Caz, please go with Suzelaloth.”

Still grumbling, the green dragon whisked around so quickly and took off with such a gust of wind that E’mor’s hair was jostled and he was about bowled over. He looked back at the green as she winged out and away from the Weyr. A pained expression crossed his face. “Uh, sorry.” But by that time, Dusky had already launched into explaining how E’mor was a shipfish. Her metaphor made E’mor scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. “Technically, shipfish use echolocation, something I can’t even hope to possess. I would love it, but I work fine without it. Besides, I’m not too sure there is anything there to begin with.

“But I digress. I might be of some use. And I could use something new. All of these downer events are certainly debilitating.” Aww, would you look at that! E’mor was warming up to Dusky! Too bad Cazveth wasn’t.

[firebird]

Dusky waved at Cazveth and Suzelaloth as they flew away, despite knowing perfectly well that neither could see her do so. So what if the green hated her? Dragons could not hurt humans, and in the unlikely event that Cazveth became so infuriated that she attacked Suzelaloth instead she was confident in her blue's ability to evade practically anything.

"Oh, I'm used to being hated," she answered in a tone carefully chosen to be as woeful as possible. To heighten the effect, she timed an exaggerated droop of the shoulders such that they landed on the last syllable of the sentence. "It comes from my days as an adventurer, you know. An evil being from between doomed me to be loathed by every third person I meet. This was, of course, in retaliation for timing it back one thousand years and overextending my welcome in its lair by doing so." Eh, that could have been better. The "evil being" had been in her last story, so she felt it was starting to get stale. Better change it up next time.

In an instant she was back to appearing like her normal, faux-cheery self. "Then let us proceed!" she declared. "I have already looked though the weyrs and the mess hall, only to find nothing of interest. The wher complex seems promising, however. It is big and enclosed, and therefore perfect for hiding things! We must keep a careful eye out for secret doors!" Without waiting for E'mor to respond, Dusky started marching off in the general direction of the complex with a complete lack of subtlety.

[Zen]

With Cazveth gone, E’mor fell easily into a stance of someone needing protection. The rider and dragon truly did fall into a symbiotic relationship. He didn’t believe a lick of what came out of Dusky’s mouth. She’d spoken to him enough for him to recognize that she lied more often than not. So he didn’t listen to her as she spoke about some random ‘evil being’ that had something to do with every third person she met. Shards, that was probably truer for him than it was for her; half the world disliked smart people like him.

So when she switched the subject with his subject, he blinked back to reality. He coughed awkwardly and hurried after her as she started away from him. “W-wait!” He called as he jogged behind her. Shards, did she have a fast gait! “You—we—wouldn’t it be better to go search around the beach?” He asked breathlessly.

He wasn’t sure if he could reach through to her. But he didn’t really want to go to the wher complex. He wasn’t about to say outright that he didn’t want to go through to the wher complex, but apparently he was going to have to. He didn’t necessarily like whers, but he knew that those bonded to humans weren’t half as bad as the wild ones that attacked humans without a care in the world. It made him shiver as he followed her. “But I guess the, the uhm whers—their complex—it might have a storage or two we, you, haven’t found yet.”

[firebird]

To her credit, Dusky did stop when E'mor called to her, though whether she did so to let him catch up or because she was seriously considering his words was unknown. She whirled around with a flourish after not a moment's pause. It was always good to face whoever one was speaking to, after all.

"I admit I haven't checked the beach yet," she answered. Now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense! An illegal wine-trading organization would have to be based somewhere out of the way, or it would risk discovery. Besides, wouldn't watch-whers be able to smell out the smugglers? "It is a bit of a walk to there, though. Should I call back Suzelaloth?"

((Sorry about how tiny the post is!))

[Zen]

E’mor almost ran into Dusky when she stopped and only prevented himself from doing so by throwing up his hands in (mock?) surprise. But he quickly regained his posture and the meager amount of composure he had before considering the female’s words. Then he shook his head with excitement. E’mor hadn’t gone to the beach besides on dragonback. He wanted to walk it.

“What do we have to do today besides… nothing? A good long walk could do us both good. Besides, we could search every possible route and under every nook and cranny—something we couldn’t do riding our dragons.” E’mor reasoned. He really didn’t want to call Cazzy back, and he had a feeling that Cazveth would hate him if Dusky called back her blue and he rode on Suzelaloth’s back. She’d probably smite him until the end of time, and he’d rather his dragon love him for as long as they both should live. Of course, she was a fickle creature and would probably demand the loving sooner or later anyway.

“There’s more probability of a stash coming up between here and the beach anyway—easier access to those in the prison and not too far away from the wilderness for the smugglers to drop it off. It could even be suspended in the trees, camouflaged from above.” E’mor was now rattling, aware that Dusky’s eyes might be boring into his back.

[firebird]

Dusky liked having the free time to do whatever she pleased, but she knew that once a squadleader was chosen the day would be filled with patrols. Boring, dreary, most definitely nonadventurous patrols. She wanted to explore as much as she could before they started. Sure, catching the outlaws was important, especially given that they had dragons and watch-whers of their own, but there was no fun in it. Just dreary dreariness.

"That is a good idea, comrade ally of mine! The secret societies of Lemos would be proud to have you as a member!" Hm, that sounded promising. She'd have to work it into a story at some point. "Let us walk down there, and search every bump in the trail!" Dusky once again spun around on the spot, and immediately began marching in the general direction of the beach.

Suzelaloth zipped by overhead, demonstrating a series of tight turns (including a hairpin). Suzel, you're going to wrench something someday, Dusky lightly chided. Be careful, dear.

[Zen]

The secret societies of… Lemos? E’mor couldn’t force himself to wrap his mind around her lies. He knew they were lies but he certainly couldn’t call her out on it. At least not now. He’d literally forced Cazveth away from him; if he were to bring back Cazveth now, she’d probably bite his head off. And dragons didn’t hurt humans. She’d be a first-case scenario, and it wouldn’t be pleasant. Just think, a dragon biting off her rider’s head and then betweening out of sudden grief. Yep, that was about it.

E’mor blinked as he kept pace with Dusky. He scratched the back of his head as he listened to her, his green eyes blinking rapidly. Oh, oh great, that would be just great. He didn’t want to peek under every single blade and bush… and then he had an epiphany. “Oh, oh! Dusky. We need to look in heavily forested places along the beach and near clusters of rocks on the beach.” At least he hoped.

Cazveth stayed high above the two. There was no way in Faranth’s shell that she was letting Hers and her alone. Her shadow fell over E’mor like a hawk before swooping away. He cringed as he looked up and then hurried to fall into stride next to Dusky. “Uh, so, is Suzelaloth okay about us walking together?”

[firebird]

Dusky wasn't one to think before she spoke. This meant that when committing dire acts of communication she tended to bounce from idea to idea in such a manner that often gave the impression that she was flighty and possibly cracked. She didn't mind this much. Of course she had to speak like that! What use was a story carefully prepared, when she could instead bounce off of the words and mannerisms of others?

She was happy that E'mor was playing along with her shenanigans. She didn't expect it to be for anything else than his own amusement, but he was following her lead and even making suggestions of his own! How fun!

"Clusters of rock it is! Be on the lookout for suspicious shapes and patterns!" To punctuate this, Dusky darted over to a sudden dip in the ground and began feeling around in it with her staff. No secret doors, unfortunately, but she did uncover some old eggshells. "An abandoned firelizard nest! No doubt hatched by the smugglers to serve as messenger-guards!"

Oh, right. E'mor had asked her a question, hadn't he? "Suzel's more than fine," she answered as if she hadn't left the other dragonrider behind at all. "He loves seeing me being social, so he's always inviting people over." She didn't seem perturbed by Cazveth's close watch on them. It wasn't like she was going to start putting moves on E'mor or anything like that, so why should she be worried about the green's hangups?

[Zen]

E’mor stood behind Dusky as she took control of the situation, poking her stick into the sand around one of the crevices. It hadn’t even entered his mind that he should probably be looking in other crevices or other knots or something. Besides, why should he stray far from Dusky? If something wild… or worse, escaped… attacked him, he might as well be safer behind the person who might as well save his ass.

He didn’t notice the egg shells but nodded half-enthusiastically at her. Well, at least she was happy. He was, frankly, not half as happy as her. He wasn’t phobic of the outside, at least not of what he thought. He was phobic of the prisoners. Why he’d even requested to be transferred in the first place, he had no idea. And why he was outside here now, with Dusky… well, he had no idea about that, either.

“Um… well, Cazveth hates women.” E’mor was reaching. Dusky knew that! He took a couple steps away to nose around in a good-looking place only to come up empty-handed. Well, at least he thought he was empty-handed, as he hadn’t actually touched the sand. He looked up at her from the crouch he was in. He really didn’t like looking for something he didn’t think existed in the first place. Overhead, Cazveth passed overhead again. He shivered again. ‘Give us some space!’ he pleaded to silence. “She might be coming around, though.

"I think...."