Seeing You Differently

Writers: Anika, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 20th March 2015

Characters: Ilyssia, A'kua, Jorimi, Hoai
Description: We're not supposed to see each other that way.... right?
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 3 of Turn 7

Ilyssia

Accepting Search, moving into Dragonsfall, and Impressing had all been
something else, to say the very least. But Jorimi had gotten used to it
pretty quickly, despite being craftbred, and now she felt at home. Her
beloved little green certainly helped with that. In fact, she felt at home
enough to enjoy it when the co-ed baths got crowded, like they had this
morning. Apparently, everyone and their cousin twice removed had gotten it
into their heads to clean up at the same time, which was unusual for this
time of the morning. Some of the people in the crowd were most decidedly
not morning people.

Oh well. The amount of people made it easier to hide who she was eyeing up
as she sidled toward another green weyrling. Jorimi hadn't spoken with the
other weyrling often, but she held the trader-girl no ill will, so
hopefully that would be a point in her favor. "Good morning, Ilyssia," she
said a little hesitantly. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course," the brunette offered the other weyrling a smile, reaching for
sweetsand as she did so. She couldn't believe the number of people this
morning.

"That man who asked me where you were that night, and brought you bread,"
Jorimi ventured. "What's he like?"

"Aluka? He's the best! Thoughtful and way talented. He's a great friend!"

Such a ringing endorsement was very encouraging. "Is he courting anyone?"
Sure, the rumors said he was all over Ilyssia, but that was frankly
ridiculous. The other green weyrling showed no signs of pregnancy
whatsoever, and she had never come back from visiting Aluka with rumpled
clothing or disheveled hair, or love bites in interesting places.

Ilyssia cocked an eyebrow at that question. Was Jorimi interested in
Aluka? "Ah, not that I know of, no," she answered suddenly a bit
uncomfortable with the conversation, though she couldn't say why.

Jorimi's eyes lit up. "Could you introduce us?" she asked eagerly. "I mean,
not right now, he's bathing too," she hastily added, motioning across the
way, "but when he visits again."

Indeed, the redhead was leaning against the rim of the bath in a cluster of
other young men, elbows on the edge and head tilted back, exposing the
lines of his jaw and neck. His hair was mussed from a scrub and water was
sliding off his chest and arms as another male Candidate spoke to him.

Looking at her friend, she tried to view him as Jorimi might. She'd always
known he was handsome, but not really given it a second thought. His
reddish gold hair dripped onto skin that still retained some of the tan
from summer and his chest and waist were trim and tone. He was smiling and
as was often true his eye-teeth at this angle gave him a roguish canine
appearance that only served to make him more attractive.

"Sure," she answered without enthusiasm, finding that introducing Jorimi to
Aluka was one of the last things she wanted to do. That was ridiculous,
though! Wasn't it? Sure Aluka was her friend, but that didn't mean he
couldn't have other friends. Jorimi wasn't interested in just friendship,
though. What was the other weyrling thinking anyway? They were still
junior weyrlings! She cast another glance over at Aluka and the candidate
he was talking to.

Noticing the female weyrlings looking their way, Hoai poked Aluka. "Hey,
isn't that Ilyssia? Man I wouldn't have minded if there'd been rumors about
_me_ and her. In fact, if yer not interested..." The friendly candidate
gave Aluka a knowing grin. He was a decent sort, just recently came from
Dolphin Cove when his bluerider father transferred. Though he always
treated females with respect, he had also grown up in the Weyr and was used
to expressing his appreciation openly.

Aluka hadn't realized his friend was there at the same time. Then again, it
was pretty crowded, and weyrlings were generally up and about sooner than
Candidates were. (The only reason he was there this early was he'd woken up
about an hour ago for no reason, and after trying to go back to sleep, he
had given up and chosen to start the day.) He found himself lifting his
head and opening his eyes on pure reflex. His stare caught Ilyssia's for a
moment, and he chided himself for watching the water and suds bead on his
friend's smooth shoulders. His cheeks heated up and he looked back to Hoai,
hoping the flush could be passed off as due to the hot water. "Ya do
realize I'm protective of my friends, right?" he asked.

"Ah, you do realize she's a greenrider right? And an attractive one at
that?" Hoai responded quizzically, one eyebrow cocked.

Aluka's hands twitched, fingers flexing involuntarily. He didn't like the
implication about female greenriders. This guy was asking for a dunking.
"She's fifteen, you lout," he growled, which was the nicest thing he could
call Hoai at the moment. "Don' even think about it."

Hoai put both his hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay, I get it. Very
protective of your friends. But hey man, I'm only a turn older. It's not
like she's a little kid, I mean _look_ at her."

Against his will, the Candidate's eyes flicked back. Lys was being
addressed by that other girl, and his friend didn't look entirely
comfortable. For a brief moment, Aluka tried looking at Lys like another
man would. She did have lovely long hair, pretty eyes, soft skin, and her
lithe body was appealing. Her fierce spirit was admirable, as was her
compassion and willingness to say what was on her mind- The redhead
abruptly became extremely flustered. "She's still too young," he muttered,
and stood up to vacate the bath, forgetting to turn around first.

Jorimi broke off mid-sentence, her eyes widening and cheeks flaring red.
"Think you could introduce me at dinner tonight?" she asked Ilyssia
hopefully.

Overcoming the urge to offer a rather nasty retort, Ilyssia shrugged,
"We'll see," she answered noncommittally before turning to see what had
caused the other weyrling to blush. Her own cheeks reddened a bit as she
tried to pretend as if seeing him had no such affect. Deciding she'd bathed
sufficiently she stood bringing her out of the water to her waist, turned
and made her way to where her towel awaited her. She would introduce Jorimi
to Aluka when /between/ flowed with hot lava!

Aluka couldn't get dried off and dressed fast enough, and he almost
sprinted from the bathing cavern. Each echoing return from his boot heels
seemed to beat in time with the lines his thoughts were now hung up on:
**She's too young. She's too young. She's too young! She's my friend. I
shouldn' think of her any differently. Besides, she really is too young!
Damn it!**

**Sharding Jorimi!** Ilyssia thought as she dried herself and pulled on her
clothes. Aluka was her _friend_ and more than that her best friend. Sure
he was good looking, strikingly so actually, but she'd never really
considered him in that light. Until scorching Jorimi had to ask for that
fardling introduction. Well, she was a junior weyrling. She shouldn't be
thinking about _anyone_ in that way so she was going to push this off to a
corner of her mind and forget all about it. Yes, that's it. She'd focus
on training and forget all about this silliness that Jorimi had put into
her head.

Last updated on the March 30th 2015

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Seeing You Differently