Dancing~

[giftwrapped]

K'bay was very drunk.

It was the first time in a turn that she'd felt safe drinking in any large quantity, and what with the beach party (beach party! When it had been explained to her it had been called something like "reintegration" but K'bay had heard "beach" and "bonfire" and that was enough for her. Beach party!) and all, it had seemed a good excuse to get sloshed to oblivion.

And Warden's banning of liquor hadn't stopped K'bay, Rodana, or any other interested Senior Weyrlings from pregaming like nobody's business. K'bay had gone to an acquaintance of hers, a greenrider with a dubiously vintner-related past who had, in exchange for a hideously-coloured scarf, had given her a few skins of liquor distilled from grain and small flasks of something that he claimed was made from "Redfruit. Or, well, mostly redfruit."

Whatever else was in it, K'bay was glad she had tried that before hitting the grain liquor. Had she gone in the other direction, she probably wouldn't be standing at the moment. As it were, though, she was drunk enough to thoroughly enjoy her evening inhibition-free but not quite drunk enough that she couldn't, with a great deal of difficulty, more or less pull herself together if questioned on it. Also she could still walk in a (relatively) straight line. And dance.

The second bit was the most important bit. Because K'bay had come to the beach prepared for a proper party. If there wasn't proper music for dancing, then shardit, she would supply it! On her own, she had a hand drum, which could at least provide a beat, but there couldn't be real dancing without proper music. So she had stolen a fellow Harper now working as a guard. The man was a talented fiddle player, just about perfect for the kind of music K'bay and Rodana demanded.

Because, as it turned out, the only songs the two young women had in common were the ridiculously bawdy ones, sea shanties, inappropriate Weyr-related ditties, and drinking songs. Hand drum thumping, fiddle humming away, K'bay was already dancing a lively two-step on her own as she belted the lyrics to a lively tune about a greenrider's unfortunate Flight exploits.

Lillath wasn't used to inebriation, and in hindsight, K'bay probably should have gradually accustomed her dragon to the idea of drunkenness, rather than gone from stone-cold sober to "not as think as you drunk I am" in one prodigious leap. Swaying slightly on the edge of the group, the young green watched with interest, eyes swirling a lazy blue-green.

[tuathade]

Rodana was not quite as drunk as K'bay, but whether this was due to quantity of alcohol consumed or respective alcohol tolerances was unclear.

Shards, she had no idea what had been in that flask she'd downed nearly in one go... But it had a distinct aftertaste of redfruit and burning. But a good burning. So she'd finished that one and gotten halfway through a second, leaving the grain liquor entirely in K'bay's capable hands. By sheer luck, she'd hit that happy medium where she was buzzed enough to enjoy herself, but not so drunk that she'd end up hitting on anyone who really didn't need to be hit on by an almost-graduated Senior Weyrling.

Now, Rodana was not a good singer. She was, with some difficulty, managing to stay in roughly the same key as K'bay, or at least in the same ballpark. But mostly, she just had volume. Damn did that girl have lungs. And a frighteningly accurate memory of every lyric to every egregiously inappropriate drinking song she'd ever heard.

And she was a fine dancer. For someone built round and burly, Rodana was deceptively light on her feet, and still coordinated enough to take advantage of that fact. A little bit flushed and breathless, she nonetheless belted out another bawdy stanza in between merry steps. Shells, she and K'bay were going to start this party off the right way!

Maeth was... Well, it was hard to tell how the green was. The rolling, sashaying sway of her gait might be inebriation, or it might just be Maeth. Either way, she sprawled out luxuriously on the sand next to Lillath, then rolled over to practically snuggle with her fellow green. As soon as a likely male showed up, her fickle affections would likely move on, but for now she was perfectly content to relax.

[nozomi]

Siata loved dancing. One did not get many chances at Warden's, even if they were working; hip shaking and humming often got her odd looks in the forge (or would, if she worked during the day anymore). Off-key humming had little to do in way of the singing and dancing going on at the - er - project of - She didn't know what it was called, all she'd been told was, hey! No wherling class, food that wasn't served in the mess hall, and juice. Siata appreciated juice. Siatask, for not the last time, enjoyed her damaged heat vision - it meant they could go to the party, and be comfortable!

Also, with dancing. While dead sober herself (Thaaaank you, Siatask), it didn't mean Siata would not enjoy the song, the dance, the horribly inappropriate lyrics, and - most importantly! - the girls doing the dancing, and singing of aforementioned lyrics.

What they doing. Siatask laid on the sands, stretched out comfortably. In the relative low lighting, she appeared an almost-black wher, all of those disfiguring pits and bumps in her hide casting all the more darkness onto her. If Pern had such things as demons... Siata rubbed her neck anyway, even scritched a little. The wher crooned softly, pressed closer in a movement so slight only she and Siata could tell.

"Dancing. And being shardin' drunk, I think." Any feeling of regret over not being just as intoxicated melted away when Siatask shoved the weight of her love (and body) against her handler, and that rough green head thrust against the curvature of her neck. Siata draped an arm over her warmth, and leaned right back. "Dancing is fun, baby girl. You should try it."

Siatask not foolish. Rider-women foolish, smell like sour. Siatask shuddered under Siata's grasp. She turned her head to nibble at the short fluff of hair near Siata's neck with teeth not fully out of her gums. She rumbled softly. Siatask's foolish. Go. Siatask watch, show how much.

The wher nudged her, hard, in what could affectionately be called a body-slam. Siatask bored of Siatask's anyway. Go be foolish Siatasks.

"I never ignore the request of a beautiful woman." Siata made the typical kissy-lips at her wher and received a chirp for her efforts. The smith laughed and clambered up to her feet, clothes sandy from sitting on the ground, hair ruffled from the earlier nomming from her wher (and thus smelling like aforementioned wher - at least Siatask hadn't started eating meat). She spun right into the dancing anyway, voice raising up to echo the other women.

So what if she only knew a few lines, every so often? She was dancing, and all was well in the world! Siatask could not see the ongoings well, quite sadly, but nevertheless did not let up on how silly and childish her supposedly adult Siatask's looked. Siata did not care and, behind the words, nor did Siatask.

"Hope y'all don't mind if I joined!" She called out in between stanza's, a wide, stupid grin on her face. May as well make words with them, being riders and drunk and all. Siatask sighed.

[giftwrapped]

K'bay would have been content with just herself and Rodana, but when another dancer came to join the fun, she laughed delightedly. She had somehow managed to miss the entire conversation between Siata and the green wher (not, perhaps, quite as surprising as it initially might seem, considering that K'bay was busy enough focusing on keeping her balance through some of the more difficult steps she was executing), so when the muscular wherhandler appeared and began dancing with them, she blinked as if Siata had appeared out of nowhere.

Well, helloooo ladies.

"Shards, no, by all means!" she laughed, giving a short bow to Siata and straightening up quickly enough to unbalance a few steps before she regained her footing and resumed dancing. "Rodana and I don't have a monopoly on dancing. The more the merrier!" Particularly when the more were attractive people. K'bay liked attractive people. "Don't think I've seen you around before, honey, but maybe I have. Can't remember right now, to be honest." She gave Siata a cheeky grin, leaning in close to the other woman for a moment before straightening up. "Think I'd remember a looker like you, though, even with the booze. What do you do here?"

Lillath, meanwhile, had managed to thoroughly entangle herself with Maeth, rumbling in a soft, purry sort of way while she gave the mental equivalent of a giggle and watched the new woman meet with K'bay. She was interesting enough, but what was even more interesting was the near-black wher who seemed to have accompanied the woman to the party. Lillath was not precisely accustomed to meeting whers, though she had seen a fair few in her time, and so Siatask fixed her attention readily. Extricating herself from her cuddle-pile enough to arch her neck toward Siatask, she trilled curiously.

Hello, wherfriend, who are you?

[S'yal]

Yari was aware of the fact her classmates were enjoying getting sloshed. Personally, the brownweyrling wanted to get sloshed herself. But she was wise enough not, considering the pure bulk of her dragon. trusith as in the final stretch of his growth, and now the dragon was ridiculously awkward when he moved on the ground... and it'd only be worse if she got drunk. Which was quite truly a shame- but Yari supposed she could enjoy watching the other girls. She wasn't gong to get close enough to touch or talk, no... at least not until they were too drunk to remember her the next morning. Besides, Trusith tended to get distressed when she tried to organize a one night stand.

Trusith was much more outgoing this his rider. The brown had spotted the two greens that had been snuggling and had practically galloped to them, his eyes as wide as a dragons eyes could be. Hello ladies! Lovely night you are! Wait. That didn't sound right. Um... Night... lovely, you are? He couldn't do this! Trusith felt like he was going to faint, but Yari smiled and lightly touched his mind with her own. This encouraged him enough that he sat his bum down. I want to cuddle! The brown had grown awkward from Yari's sheltering... but that was alright. Awkward boys were the best boys.

Oh! A wher! Hello, wher. You are looking very lovely this evening! Actually, she was terrifying but Yari had taught him to always tell a girl she was pretty. Trusith turned hopeful eyes back to the greens he was trying to 'seduce'. Like any awkward boy on the verges of puberty, he wasn't quite sure WHY he wanted them, but he sharding did!

Yari entertained herself watching the dancing girls, only slightly paying attention to her brown.

[nozomi]

Oh, by the egg, this handsome young woman called her honey! And a looker. While some women would take offense to someone flirting without first complimenting a part of their abilities or personality, Siata preferred to bypass that sort of stuff anyway - someone who wanted into her pants didn't care if she had a great personality. And, if she were going to be totally honest, she wouldn't flirt with someone who did. Sex partners, friends, those were all well and good, but she'd be damned to be in a relationship again.

Too much introspection, not enough looking over K'bay and her very appealing self. Siata flashed the rider a brilliant grin, face already flushed because she could. The smith paused her dance long enough to give the greenrider a deep, flourished bow, and one more of those bright smiles when she straightened.

"Other than attempting to keep up with handsome women such as yourself, I'm a night-time Smith and wher handler in training." The dark haired woman winked, sliding right back into her dancing though she did not quite move far from K'bay. Even if she were drunk, harmless flirting couldn't hurt anyone (unless the woman had a weyrmate and Siata ended up being chased off) (... why hadn't she thought of that?). "Name is Siata. You?"

Siatask, on the other hand, was having a much less enjoyable time. She liked to be able to make fun of her handler a bit, just a little, but when the green decided to talk to her, Siatask's thick head rose up, her eyes neutral despite the cold tone to her mindvoice. If it came to any comfort to Lillath, she did not speak the sort of chill that aimed directly for her, but intruders in general. Siatask. You foolish dancers? Siatask's foolish too. Not so eloquent as the other green, Siatask never the less acted about as polite as she could to someone other than her mother or her handler.

Until Trusith. Male. Brown. In her head, male. Talking. To. Her. Siatask snarled from where she lie, gums and half-buried teeth bared for the chatting away brown. She snapped her jaws threateningly, that lovely numbing stuff keeping her from feeling the pain on her still-sensitive mouth.

Siatask fine until brown talk. Go away. No green ever--

Baby girl. murmured Siata to her wher, even as she yelled out another round of lyrics, did a little spin. Stop. This is a party.

Siatask hissed in the general direction of Trusith, thick tail lashing. But, privately, to Siata: Not. Happy. And towards the dragons? No more words from brown to Siatask. Hush.

[fellis]

Periz was attempting to be good, which was completely at odds with any sort of party he was used to. Honestly, this "reintegration" thing seemed pretty lame. It wasn't like people could have fun with guards breathing down their necks. So far nothing too exciting had happened. No one had even talked to him, although that might have just been the result of the snarling blue flitt draped around his shoulders. Periz could have asked Faust to leave, but then he would have been totally alone, and that was just depressing.

He followed the sounds of a fiddle. It was the only music he had heard at this so-called celebration so far. A group of riders and a handler were dancing around, and it certainly did not seem like they were sober. At least the one greenrider wasn't. And her dragon looked tipsy too. Periz was amused for about two seconds before he realized that this meant the riders had something the prisoners didn't. If they got drunk, no one cared. If he got drunk, he'd probably get a week in solitary or something. Obviously, this reintegration was just an excuse for riders to live it up while the prisoners looked on longingly. Perhaps it was supposed to inspire them to rise above their criminal lives.

Well, the riders and handlers had alcohol, but they were lacking in something else important. "What kind of dumb party is this? There's no boys!" he grumbled to no one in particular.

It wasn't like he could dance, anyway, with these shackles on. This was miserable.

[tuathade]

So K'bay had found someone already! That didn't take long. And the tall wherhandler looked just about K'bay's type, to boot. Rodana let her voice trail off, slowing in her lively pace, and paused to watch the two for a moment with a crooked smile. Well, good on them. She'd give 'em a little space - no sense being a third wheel, after all.

Others had come to watch the fun, had they? But they weren't joining in! Rodana recognized Yari from weyrling classes, and waved cheerily to the girl. What caught her eye, though, was the arrival of one of the prisoners. As much as Rodana liked socializing with the rest of her weyrling class... well, the purpose of this whole party was to quit being 'prisoners' and 'guards' for a while, and just all be people, wasn't it? If Semith clutched again, any of the nonviolent sorts could end up being weyrlings themselves one day.

But the one boy was hanging out on the edges, looking sour. "Lucky you, then!" Rodana called to him brightly, sauntering over. "You're the first one. C'mon - no need to stand about like a lump. Don't need to move your feet all that much to dance." She demonstrated, shifting to a more sedate step punctuated with a little twist of the hips.

Say what you like about the greenrider, she was quite determined to make sure everyone was having a good time.

Maeth crooned in greeting to Siatask, but her eyes really lit up when her brown clutchsibling arrived. Well, hello darling, Maeth purred to Trusith, with a soft warm chuckle echoing in her mindvoice. Of course you can join in! There's room for everyone in the love pile. Reaching out, she snaked her neck around Trusith's and draped her wing over his, tugging him in encouragingly.

[giftwrapped]

Perhaps in a different setting, K’bay would have been less forward. But she had never been the type to sugar-coat her words or embellish her ideas—the only thing that kept her from running her mouth off in the wrong place at the wrong time was Lillath, and the green was certainly incapacitated. But even then, K’bay suspected, the green wouldn’t notice that K’bay had started something until she had offended someone and needed smooth-talking backup. She always did come to the rescue right around then. But that wasn’t important right now; K’bay didn’t need any rescuing and Lillath was, well. She was busy with problems of her own.

The tall foolish one is mine, friend, she answered Siatask with a soft draconic laugh, turning her head to where K’bay was flirting with the woman who must be Siatask’s handler. Well, wasn’t that interesting. K’bay was enjoying herself, and so was the wherhandler, it looked like! She had intended to snort happily and nuzzle Maeth some more, maybe even drag the little green wher into the pile, but the arrival of a clutchsibling caught her attention. She gave Trusith a happy whistle even as Siatask went apeshit at the brown.

Her eyes went from happy blues and greens to a concerned yellow as the little wher snarled, and she shifted, leaning down, looking to placate Siatask and avoid more conflict. Maeth was scooping up Trusith already, and Lillath whistled softly. He’s terribly sorry, Siatask, she said immediately, speaking for the brown. And he won’t do it again. She broadcast that aloud, then paused, lifting her head to look at Trusith and then snorting softly at Trusith. Privately, she opened the channel between herself and Trusith. Try not to speak to her again, she murmured privately to the brown. But please do come here.

Ever the politician, even when drunk.

K’bay, meanwhile, gave Siata the most dazzling smile she could manage. “Wherhandler and smith? Well, certainly more accomplished than I am,” she remarked cheerfully. “Name’s K’bay. One-time Harper, currently a greenrider. That’s mine over there, trying to make your little darling stop growling at the brown.” And speaking of browns…Trusith’s arrival meant that Yari was somewhere nearby. K’bay wasn’t sure how to feel about Yari. They had spent months together, after all, but…something was off about the woman. She made K’bay’s skin crawl sometimes.

But now, it didn’t matter because K’bay was drunk and in a good mood. “Good to see you, Yari!” she called out happily. “Feel free to join the fun!”

[S'yal]

Trusith was stunned into silence by the rude green wher, his eyes going from a happy blue to a distressed yellow within a few seconds. He only made a slight whimpering, disappointed sound in response to her words, his head drooping. Yari was not so forgiving. Had it not been for Trusith’s attempt to calm her down, she likely would have pulled out a knife and shanked something at that very second. The woman had gone from calm to shaking with rage within a few seconds, a glare focused on the rude little green. How DARE she talk to her Trusith like that? A glare was sent to Siata as well, a scowl painted on Yari’s face.

Despite her anger, Yari sighed and waved a hand to wave at Rodana, before turning attention to the prisoner. “Go find some, then.” Yari replied with some scorn, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure there are plenty to be found.” Bah. Yari was happy enough watching the girls dance, even if she wanted to stab Siata a few times because of her Wher.

Trusith brightened quite a bit when Maeth spoke to him, the dragon letting out a thrilled squeal as the smaller green deigned to cuddle with him. Trusith liked cuddles! Of course, he didn’t get to cuddle much because Yari didn’t like it when he talked to strangers. But Maeth wasn’t a stranger. He was about to reply when she touched him, and instead all that came from the brown was a croon as he returned the gesture by wrapping the tip of his tail around her ankle.

Trusith didn’t feel very sorry as Lillath spoke. Actually, Yari’s anger was sort of leaking over and it was making him feel angry. Not because he’d been yelled at, but because his rider was mad! But still, he was getting cuddles. {Alright.} Trusith answered Lillath, still seeming put off by his treatment at the hands of the wher. {I was just trying to be nice to her…}

But ooh, someone was speaking to Yari. Yari stared at her for a moment, surprised by the invite to join their fun. People didn’t invite Yari to do things, unless they wanted a tumble. The woman merely shook her head, a smirk tugging at her features. “It’s much more fun to see you lot act like drunken fools.” Yari informed her, but her tone for once was not insulting. What was the point of insulting a happy drunk? It was silly. “Trusith and I have a bet running on which of you will fall first. If you’d point me to the alcohol, however, I’d be much obliged.”

{Yarimine is shy.} Trusith teased the brownrider, who merely sent him a glare.

[nozomi]

Lillath's apology for the brown settled Siatask as well it should. While she still bristled in childish anger at being intruded upon by the male, the fellow greens were taking over the conversation and making it right again and that, to Siatask, was just fine. It was how life was supposed to go! With her handler encouraging a wee bit less wrath upon the male, and the green dragon speaking the way she did, Siatask settled a bit, and sat back on here rear.

Siata just laughed. K'bay had a dazzling smile indeed, and compliments out the whazoo. Forward girls were fun. Being one herself, Siata appreciated them, even if the laughter reduced itself to a quiet chuckle by the end of it.

"Smith by trade, kind of had a wher thrown at me. That's - oh, shards, yeah, that's my baby girl all right." Siata winced just before she blew her girl a kiss. "She really doesn't like men. The brown went hopping up in her head, I think, girl has a temper. Yours is doing a good job of chilling her out, though."

Smart green. rumbled Siatask to her handler, private as could be. The next thought was much less quiet, though directed at Lillath, as the wher swung her head in that general direction. Siatask will not eat brown. Brown is greens now. And like that, all of the annoyances of the brown dragon were passed on to Lillath and Maeth. He was not to be Siatask's concern! Ha!

Then, somewhat less acidic: Who is greens?

Annnnd then the brownrider rolled into view. Kind of. From the shadows. K'bay called Yari in, another girl Siata had no sharding clue existed (although probably because this one had attempted not to be seen). Siata blinked, and then grinned again at Yari, wide and full of teeth and maybe a little too much gum. Whatever, the smith liked to smile, Yari was pretty, and if the brand new friend liked Yari, must mean she was nice.

"Hey! I'm a sober fool, thank you very much. No booze allowed at the actual party, sweetheart, 'm sorry to say." Not with prisoners there, anyway. And, with the reminder of the alcohol, Siata swung her attention right back to K'bay, because K'bay was right there and not refusing to join in on the fun at all. "Very good thought on pre-gaming it, though, Greenrider Harper K'bay. Are you usually this friendly, or just showin' off for the dragon?"

Ffffbt. For being sober, Siata did not often act it. Especially not with music and women (even the ones who didn't want to come and dance) around. And food! They would eat, eventually.