Nice Bumping Into You (1/2)

Writers: Anaria, JR
Date Posted: 17th December 2010

Characters: J'nor, O'ryn
Description: J'nor meets O'ryn, and the pair discuss Weyrlinghood.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 27 of Turn 5
Notes: Part 1 of 2

A headache pounding at the inside of his skull, O'ryn simply couldn't
take the dining hall that evening. The cold outside and the quiet down
by the weyrlake was far preferable. Grabbing a hot sandwich and a mug
of klah for his dinner, he escaped to the company of his green near
the water's edge. With his head tilted back against Lyriath's
yellow-green hide, he was oblivious to his surroundings, other than
the chill of the wind on his exposed face.

J'nor had planned on eating inside that evening, but Zoranaith had
found a particularly interesting group of trundle bugs, and insisted
that his lifemate bring his food outside so he could see them. The
blue dragon was following the bugs around, his posture quite comical,
with head to the ground and hindquarters up in the air. As J'nor
approached, he saw that Zoranaith was so focused on his bugs that he
didn't even notice that he was about to run into a green dragon.

**Zor, stop, you're going to...** he started to warn, but it was too late.

**THWUMP** went the blue dragon as he ran into Lyriath's side.

}:Oh... Oops! Sorry!:{ Zoranaith said to Lyriath.

J'nor ran up to his dragon's side, hurriedly apologizing to the other
weyrling. "I'm so sorry, he never looks where he's going," he said.
"He's always running in to other dragons."

Lyriath had startled at the bump and was now scolding the smaller blue
dragonet for running into her. O'ryn on the other hand, had tilted
forward, his head cradled in his hands, a soft groan escaping as what
had faded to a dull thumping turned to a sharp stab in his head.
"Owww, shardit," He swore, "Can't you keep control of your dragonet?"

J'nor frowned. Of the many things that had changed since his
Impression, one of them was his easy confidence. While he wasn't shy
by any definition of the word, he wasn't as bold or quick to accuse as
he'd been before. "I... uh... no," He said reluctantly. "I haven't
really figured him out yet, I don't think." He reached out to caress
Lyriath's eye ridge, hoping the gesture would calm her somewhat.

The half-grown dragon was immediately distracted from the young blue
in favor of human attention. }: Oooh. I like him. :{ She crooned.

Leaning back against her side, O'ryn cracked an eye open to peer up at
the other weyrling, who towered over him from this position. "Kissing
up to my dragon now?" He grumbled. The headache was making him far
more testy than his usual quiet demeanor. His blue eyes were bloodshot
and slightly glazed when he finally managed to get them fully opened
to take a good look.

"No, apologizing," J'nor responded. He was tempted to return temper in
kind, but O'ryn didn't seem well to him. "Hey, are you alright. You're
really quite pale, are you feeling ill?" he asked, concerned. He
didn't want to say it aloud, but the green weyrling looked terrible to
him.

"My head is killing me," O'ryn sighed and tilted his head back against
Lyriath's warmth again. "It happens sometimes. The cold helps - sudden
bumps and movements do not." He shot an uncharitable look at the blue
dragonet, off chasing his bugs again.

"I'm sorry, he's just a bit young and still rambunctious," J'nor said,
lowering his voice to avoid causing O'ryn additional pain. "Is there
anything that I can get you? Maybe some tea or something from the
dining caverns?" he offered, figuring it was only fair after
exacerbating his pain.

A hopeful expression crossed the greenrider's face. "Would you mind?
Another mug of klah and that wintergreen tea..." His blue eyes dropped
out of sight again as he squeezed them shut against another stabbing
pain. If this didn't ease off soon, he was debating going to the
infirmary and seeing a healer, but he didn't think there was much else
they'd be able to do but feed him more tea.

"Sure, I'll go get you some right away," J'nor said, sitting down his
own plate and mug before running back to the dining cavern.

**Keep yourself out of trouble for a few minutes. And don't bother
Lyriath!** He told Zoranaith, but the blue dragon was so distracted by
his bugs that he didn't even notice.

J'nor grabbed a fresh mug of klah, and waited while a drudge got him
the requested tea, before carefully carrying them out to O'ryn. "Here
you go," he said softly.

He nearly fumbled the mugs as he reached up for them, O'ryn's face
flushing at the unusual clumsiness, but he eventually got a few sips
of the tea into him. Seeing that the hatchling blue was still
occupied, he shifted to make room for the other weyrling and patted
the spot next to him. "I owe you for this. Thank you," The mug was
cradled in his hands and kept close to his mouth so even the steam
rising from the wintergreen tea could penetrate his senses.

"No problem at all," J'nor said, studying the green weyrling as he sat
down. He was still adjusting to the concept of accepting the fact that
he found other men attractive. Despite his discomfort with the issue,
he had to admit that he thought O'ryn was attractive. He hurriedly
forced this thought to the corner of his mind that Zoranaith wouldn't
notice, but the blue was still so caught up in his own games that he
was oblivious to his rider's thoughts. "I just want you to feel
better," he said softly.

"Eh, this isn't your fault, I had the headache long before your little
one bumped Lyri. I should've asked the Weyrlingmaster to let me get
the tea candlemarks ago." It was already starting to seep into his
system, he could feel it. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, by the way."

"It's alright, no one is particularly friendly when they are in pain.
Oh, I think we didn't get a chance to properly introduce ourselves
though. My name is J'nor, that's Zoranaith over there. We've only been
together a few sevendays now obviously. I just recently came to the
Weyr from Amber Hills. What about yourself?"

"O'ryn, and this is Lyriath. Originally a miner's brat at Garnet
Valley and then a beastcrafter apprentice at Opal Cove before being
Searched." He slumped back against the green's side, dark hair rumpled
and messily draped over his forehead. "And currently wanting to chop
my head off and feed it to a wildcat. It'd probably hurt less."

"Yes, but it'd be a terrible waste of a very handsome head," J'nor
said, somewhat shyly. He wasn't really sure what he was doing. He knew
that any sort of relations between Weyrlings were strictly prohibited
until his dragon was older. Beyond that, he wasn't really certain how
to flirt with a boy. He knew he was very good at doing it with girls -
but this was an entirely new concept for him.

The greenrider's eyes cut over toward the other weyrling, assessing.
He knew what he was, had known for some time, and having Lyriath as
his was a clear statement to everyone else. However he was still
getting used to it being acceptable to openly flirt with another man,
especially now that his green was almost old enough for him to start
thinking about preparing for mating flights and such. O'ryn's mouth
twisted, "No fair flirting when my brain's too scrambled to flirt
back."

J'nor laughed, "Well, I'm at a disadvantage too, I'm Holdbred! Before
this month I'd never seriously considered ever flirting with a boy. I
guess I just thought that it was normal for men to think other men
were attractive, but it was just something they ignored or something."
He shrugged helplessly.

"Faranth, no. Shards, you'd have found that out quick enough had you
tried anything with the boys at Amber Hills." The greenrider turned a
bit so he could watch the bluerider without twisting his neck, taking
another sip or two of the tea. "I figured it out early. No surprise
when this one came calling a few months ago." He gave Lyriath's side
an affectionate stroke.

"I was.... stunned... to say the least. I always took charge in
classes, the girls always liked me, I was good at dealing with other
people... I think I never really considered that I could Impress
anything other than a bronze. But then when Zoranaith came out, it
started to make sense to me. Obviously, my family is less than pleased
with the whole situation, though."

He wasn't the first person O'ryn had run into whose holdbred families
were unhappy with their child's Impression. "They... haven't disowned
you, or something, have they?"

"Da left on the Hatching day before even saying anything to me. My
mother passed away when I was born," J'nor said. "So I guess I don't
really have much of a family any more. What about yours?" He asked
curiously.

Last updated on the January 22nd 2011

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Nice Bumping Into You (1/2)