My dragon is bigger than your dragon

Sh'nar walked into his weyr to find the ledge empty. Where on Pern had Cymrioth gone? He had been very specific about being on his ledge at midday. It was midday. The dragon had no excuse. Cymrioth?

What? Cymrioth asked in annoyance. Here he was having a perfectly good time with... whatever her name was and his rider had to go and interrupt. She would fly soon, now was his chance to impress her a little before then. Sh'nar didn't really care about the dragon's current flirtation. In fact he was pretty damn pissed about it.

I thought we had come to an agreement.

Agreement?
No more wasting our time with greens. You do want to win Jeneveth's flight, don't you?
Oh yes, Jeneveth. I do like Jeneveth.

Sh'nar rolled his eyes. "Come on, we're meeting S'jiro at the Lake. IF we're lucky, Jeneveth will not have noticed your flirtations."

Its hard not to flirt with the pretty young greens... He said in his own defense but had come to his ledge to take Sh'nar to the lake. Sh'nar did not accept the excuse at all and ignored the dragons words. He had nothing else to say about the dragon's behavior.

When they landed at the lake, Sh'nar saw Zemarith landing too. "See we're right on time..."

It had been a brutal morning at practice. As Graduation drew nearer the pair had more and more to do. So when practice was over, she had gone to bathe and take a quick nap. When she woke, she mentally searched for her dragon. The green seemed preoccupied, Want to go to the lake and swim? Lance asked her green.

I'm busy.
Busy doing what exactly.
I'm busy being admired. Raidenth replied happily. Well if she wanted to be admired today, then fine but Lance was going to go for a walk. She needed to prepare herself for what was inevitably going to happen anyway. It was only recently that Raidenth showed any interest in being admired. The thought of her looming flight was heavy on Lancelle's mind.

The hardest part about not being Weyrbred and Impressing a green dragon was getting used to flights. Since Raidenth's accident had precluded her from flying, she was late to rise. Lance had thought of it as a blessing because she had known she wasn't prepared to face any of it.

Now she was going to have to. It was clear based on Raidenth's increased competitiveness with other greens, her attention from the male dragons and her snappish retorts that it wouldn't be long. As she walked toward the lake, she wondered who exactly was admiring the green. If only the riders would pay as much attention to the rider of the green as the dragons did the green. It would make it less scary to know who was interested.

You know you are broadcasting your thoughts rather loudly. Are you angry? The dragon paused searching her rider's thoughts and feelings. Oh, you are afraid. Why?
Men take what they want and then they leave and while I'm okay with that on some level on another it feels wrong and I'm afraid that I won't know how to deal with the emotions I'll have when its over.
It will be well. I will be with you forever. Lance smiled in response to that. You will.
It's Cymrioth, since you still want to know.
WHAT!?! Okay, so not the reaction Raidenth had been expecting. Lance getting angry was never good for anyone, especially not Lance herself.
7]He had to go. Sh'nar wanted him to go to the lake.[/b]

She was going to murder him. Perhaps that made her a bad person but the minute she caught glimpse of that arrogant asshole, she was going to kill him. He was supposed to be "in love" with Belisse and his dragon was still going around flirting with young greens. Oh she was going to kill him and then if he wasn't dead enough she would kill him again.

I see the fear is gone and the anger is back. The green seemed to sigh. Someone would have to intervene before Lance met up with Sh'nar. Cymrioth had said something about other Bronzes. Eh, she would not worry about it just yet but if Lance was in trouble she would call on Nicath. Nicath's would keep Lance out of trouble.

Why don't you swim with us? What if Cymiroth's decides to get in the water, too? Will you?

I'd prefer not getting wet. Besides, I brought a book to read and getting wet would only ruin it. The Bronzerider nonchalantly patted a hand over where he'd tucked the leather bound item between his undershirt and the light button-up sweater he'd put on to ward away the chill of the cool spring breeze blowing off the lake's surface.

The Bronze's intrigue was slightly piqued though S'jiro frequently had a book open in front of him. There were many books that the young man had brought with him when he'd moved into the weyr. In fact, Seijiro had been highly insistent on being able to bring them with him. Much of his weyr now was filled with books What are you going to be reading today?

The same thing I read yesterday.

Why do you need to read it again? The puzzled Bronze blinked his large opalescent eyes curiously, turning his great head around to view S'jiro as he dismounted. The dragon's head canted to regard his rider in a curiously expressive way that was almost human.

As S'jiro slid down from the Bronze's back, he beelined straight for where Sh'nar and Cymiroth had landed so that he could join his best friend. I don't need to. That's the point. Keeping my nose stuck in a book makes it look like I'm busy and then other people won't feel the need to bother me. I'll be able to sit and think.

Understanding that his rider was simply going to do what he wanted to do, Zemarith grumbled quietly over that, resigning himself to playing in the water with Cymiroth. Cymiroth and he could keep themselves entertained. And if Cymiroth's wanted to let S'jiro get away with not getting wet, that was between them. Turning those curious orbs upon the other Bronze, Zemarith got the feeling that Cymiroth was a bit distracted today however. He would have to discover what Cymiroth had been up to soon.


S'jiro walked to meet Sh'nar, offering a wave in greeting. "Hey. How's it goin'?"

Once he was firmly on the ground, he removed the Bronzes straps and let him free. Cymrioth’s distractions were no longer something he was concerned with as he waded into the water to join his friend. The water is nice, I don’t know why they don’t want to swim. The dragon was quite irritated and not by Zemarith. All he had been doing was appreciating a pretty green… who coincidentally might fly at some point soon…but that was not the same as flying her. Seriously Sh’nar needed to calm down.

Maybe he would have his way after all. He could see at a distance that Raidenth’s rider was heading towards them. Why didn’t Sh’nar like her? She was a female. The dragon mused to himself wading far enough into the water to duck his head in. Zemarith, do you like greens?Cymrioth loved female dragons, they were so pretty, so nice to talk to, they often flattered his ego and flights were divine. Why wouldn’t any male dragon be around female dragons?

Sh’nar gave his friend a smile, “Dealing with Bronze issues. Otherwise I think it will turn out to be a good day. I’ve been working on some lines for that song for Belisse.” He knew his friend didn’t really care about Belisse but he would care when Sh’nar became Weyrleader and he was the Weyrleader’s best friend. He could do whatever he wanted to then. “I think it will be done and well-rehearsed for Graduation.”

Seeing S’jiro’s book, “Reading again?” He wondered why his friend spent so much of his time with his nose in a book but knew better than to ask. He was having a lovely conversation when he heard someone approach. The young woman was pretty, dark hair, fair skin, green eyes, her cheeks were pink with..well it looked like she might be nervous. He didn’t see any reason why he would know her. So he waited, expecting her to say something.

Lancelle wasted no time. Before long she was out of the Weyr and headed directly for the lake where she could clearly see two Bronze dragons in the water. Great, there would be a witness to this. That would only make her killing Sh’nar that much more public. When she saw them having some boring conversation she could have waited for them to finish it but she never held much stock in being patient.

Mine don’t you think killing is a bit extreme?

Perhaps. I just don’t want him getting any ideas. Other than I’ll try to murder him if he allows Cymrioth anywhere near you.

A smirk had drawn across her lips. He wouldn’t come near her again and she was going to make it crystal clear to him that if he thought he could get away with flirting with other women when he was supposed to be courting her friend who was being completely ridiculous in liking him at all, then he had another thing coming.
When she approached the men, she said nothing, her face was flushed with anger.

When she had Sh’nar gave her his full attention, her right hand flew without thinking, her fist smashed into his jaw. It felt a bit liberating, watching the arrogant smirk come off of his face. Lance knew how to throw a punch, all of that guard training came in handy.

After he realized what had happened, she went on to say, “If I hear about your dragon coming on to any dragon but Jeneveth I’ll be back. I swear on Faranth’s Golden Egg if you break Belisse’s heart I will kill you.” Her voice had taken on an edge. “And tell your precious Bronze to stay away from Raidenth.” She had nothing to say to S'jiro so she acted as if he wasn't even there.

Zemarith was just as baffled as Cymiroth was as to why the humans wouldn't want to get in the water. He waded into the water, lifting his wings to hover over the water's surface as it first reached the underside of his belly.

Greens are pretty. But their colour doesn't shine in the sun quite like a Gold.Of course, the Bronze didn't mind the presence of Greens nor their riders quite like his did. Sometimes it irritated the dragon when his rider was so avoidant of them, as if every one of them had done something to offend him. Of course that was not the case and Zemarith knew it. The dragon huffed at that.

Of course, S'jiro's avoidance of them only made it difficult for the Bronze to be around them much at length even if the rider never complained. Not verbally anyway. The distaste could be seen through his expressions and felt by the dragon in his moods. Periodically the Bronzerider might ask him, 'What ever made you so interested in a Green?', leaving it at that. Of course, talking to S'jiro about the whys or why nots of it all never really got Zemarith anywhere, so he'd pretty much given up on it and resigned himself to accepting the fact that his rider 'simply prefers the best' -Golds. Nothing was wrong with that. Golds were better suited for a Bronze anyway.



“Dealing with Bronze issues. Otherwise I think it will turn out to be a good day. I’ve been working on some lines for that song for Belisse.”

A corny, lopsided smirk became his only response to Sh'nar's words as, just when he was about to speak, Lancielle made her way over to them, interrupting whatever thought had been there. Curious as to what a Weyrling would be approaching either of them about, and even more curious as to why she appeared so upset, S'jiro cocked his chin to the side, watching her close the distance between them.

When the girl hauled back and laid a punch into his best friends jaw, he did well to hide his absolute shock. Maybe because he couldn't believe what had just happened; certainly anyone punching Sh'nar seemed out of place...rather unbelievable given his unforgiving reputation. The other part of him simply had a hard time not being completely amused by the whole situation.

As he listened to the Weyrling rant at his fellow Bronzerider, he almost laughed, rocking back on his heels a bit to contain the reaction; but that wouldn't be the BFF right thing to do just then, so he held a neutral expression, deciding that girl problems should be handled by the ones who created them.

Have fun with that Sh'nar.

Raidenth's Rider is not happy with Cymrioth's.

That wasn't necessarily anything new, Tashamoretta thought as she towel-dried her hair. She'd had to do some extra drills herself and hadn't gotten in a nap before her bath. Sionnath had continued to turn slightly faster than her clutchmates, throwing off the small formation they'd been working in, and the Weyrlingmaster had wanted them to get it right. Shard it all, she couldn't help it that her dragon could do tighter turns than the others-- why did they have to slow down? And wasn't it better to be more agile than not?

Sure, Tasha understood the point of wings and teamwork, but surely they could be switched to a different position, or something instead of redoing the same exercise over and over.

Raidenth's Rider hit Cymrioth's.

Now that was new (ish), and distracting enough that the greenrider left off her own inner musings and moved past the curtain that divided the inner and outer parts of her weyr to stand next to Sionnath.

Why?

Raidenth says Cymrioth was admiring her. Zemarith is there, too, but she said he was not admiring her and he should have been.

Of course, Tasha's reaction was not quite as violent as Lance's, but that didn't mean she couldn't work herself up there in due time. "Cymrioth?" Eyes narrowing and hands going to her hips, the towel draped around her neck, the greenrider stared out towards the lake, as if she could see what was going on from this distance.

Why would Cymrioth be flirting with Raidenth? Wasn't his rider supposed to be stuck on Belisse? Not that she really believed he was. She'd never believed it to be more than an act, and his bronze flirting with dragons other than Jeneveth sort of proved it. Not that dragon and rider couldn't be enamored of different females, she supposed... but still. He shouldn't be flirting with Lance's green. Or Sionnath, or any others from their class. Or any other green, for that matter-- Belisse would be upset if Cymrioth flew anyone else's dragon. And Tasha wasn't going to stand for the goldrider being hurt.

With that in mind, it wasn't long before the greenrider was following in her classmate's footsteps, marching towards the trio of riders and not really feeling the slight chill as the breeze blew through her still-damp hair.

He was in shock. Why in the name of Faranth’s Golden Egg would this Weyrling punch him in the face? As he was thinking the question, she was telling him why. Cymrioth! He half growled, half shouted in his mind voice to his dragon. Do you understand NOW why we DO NOT flirt with GREENS. I’m the one who is going to pay.

Who knew a few nice words could be taken so badly?

I did! And now damage control. You better be thinking of a way to win back Jeneveth’s affections because you have officially blown it.

Oh dear, oh dear. I like Jeneveth. She won’t be angry with me. I will cuddle with her and tell her I like her and that she is pretty…

He was about to open his now sore jaw to respond, defend himself and his honor when a second Weyrling showed up, hair still wet. News tended to travel quickly at the Weyr. It wasn’t every day a greenie dared punch a Bronzerider. He could handle this multiple ways, the one he would get the most enjoyment out of was the one he couldn’t actually do.

They were Belisse’s classmates and friends, he had to tread carefully. “Lancelle, is it?” He said, rubbing his jaw. “I do not think you have all the facts.”

“I don’t need all the facts. I only need one. Your dragon flirting with my dragon is NOT okay.”

“First of all, I was NOT aware that he was flirting with your dragon. The moment I became aware I told him to stop and take me to the lake. I have no interest in wasting time with greens. I’ve already told Cymrioth as much. We’re aiming much higher than simple greens.”

She wasn’t quite sure which was worse. Him allowing his dragon to flirt with her green or him not allowing it based solely on the fact that he thought her dragon was worthless. She so badly wanted to punch him again, but instead, she looked over at Tasha, who could probably tell that Lance was one teeny tiny fissure away from being a full blown volcanic eruption.

“You are so fucking arrogant, Sh’nar.” She said in exasperation. Don’t punch him, don’t punch him… “We’re actually glad you don’t want to go near greens. In fact that can go for all of your insignificant kind. Everyone knows Bronze dragons are just male breeders which is their purpose. Greens on the other hand are useful. They are fighters.” Lance didn’t care how he reacted or if S’jiro did. They were jerks. They were bullies and she had no intention of being bullied.

“Breeders?! You little whoring greenrider, don’t act so high and mighty. You have no power over anything, least of all whom you sleep with. You’re worse off than a pillow crafter. Your greens fly every couple months so you have more partners than you know what to do with. Bronzes mate to breed new dragons. Greens mate for no purpose except to make you the silliest, least desirable people in the Weyr…”

Really, S’jiro you could step in any moment now, Sh’nar thought. He was not the only Bronzerider standing here. Was the other man going to let her talk about their dragons that way? Who was she to be throwing punches and telling him how he was? Wasn’t she the one who let the rest of her wing die? Yeah, she was a selfish bitch who had no right to accuse him of arrogance… as if that were a bad thing.

Tasha had remained quiet to begin with, listening for the moment since she hadn't actually witnessed anything. It seemed like Sh'nar was going to be reasonable enough, and she figured it was better to hear him out rather than immediately jump down his throat. Arms crossed over her chest and brown eyes fixed on Sh'nar, she probably seemed far less intimidating than her much taller classmate.

'Simple greens?' the weyrling greenrider thought, her gaze narrowing. Pair that with 'aiming much higher' and it was as if he'd all but outed himself as simply wanting Belisse for her position, not because he actually cared for her. That alone she was perfectly willing to call him on, and somehow force him to confess it to the goldrider. With such a callous attitude, Sh'nar didn't deserve the affection Belisse willingly gave. How their friend continued to put up with him, Tasha had absolutely no idea.

Stupid bronzeriders.

Who really didn't know when to keep their mouths shut.

Before Lance could get the chance, Tasha had hauled back and slugged Sh'nar, right in the diaphragm since she couldn't reach his face. And there was a lot to be said about things in small packages-- looks and size could definitely be deceiving.

"Sharding bronzeriders."

Well, wasn't Tasha just a peach? And things just all seemed to be happening so fast he simply couldn't gain any control over his own inner laughter quick enough to stop any of it. Sh'nar seemed to be standing up for himself just fine as it were but...come to think of it, his friend had never had much luck with girls so maybe it wasn't such a good idea letting him try out a twosome all on his own.


Since Tasha happened to be closest to him, S'jiro went to set a hand on the top of her head, being the taller, and in an even voice addressed her, "Hey, shortie. Unless you want to see yourself become a target, you should stay out of this lovers quarrel." Meaning Lance and Sh'nar.

He wasn't sure if the weyrling would try to take a swing at him too, so he readied himself to move just in case. S'jiro wasn't an extraordinary fighter, but his reflexes were decent enough to dodge and he could hold his own fairly well. In any case, he didn't like the idea of any physical harm coming to girls, so hitting either of them was out of the picture -so all he could do was dodge or do what he could to keep the fight from becoming any worse.

No matter how this ended however, Lance was certainly on the black list as a target now, and Tasha would have to make that decision on her own, if she wanted to be or not. Sh'nar and S'jiro had plenty of ways to cow them both by humiliation. S'jiro would certainly enjoy the opportunity to remind them just why they were of a lesser class than their Bronze counterparts.

Oh for FALL’s SAKE!!!! Were they kidding? They were kidding… he could squish the short one with his foot if he wanted to. Which is why he wasn’t really expecting the short one to punch him square in the diaphragm. He gasped for air for a moment before his eyes narrowed into blue slits of ice cold determination. Sh’nar was actually not disappointed in his friend because he knew they would only get in trouble if they did anything to the two women. Karene would certainly support the greenriders over the Bronzeriders no matter the circumstances.

Lancelle was actually just as surprised at Tasha as Sh’nar was but after the shock wore off she was kind of proud of the other greenrider. They weren’t going to sit back and take the verbal abuse. Green dragons were every bit if not more important than Bronzes in the grand scheme things. Once she realized S’jiro was there to hold Tasha back, it gave her time to consider how much trouble they could get in for this. The last thing she needed was to have this be reported to the Weyrling Master. She was already teetering on the edge of being allowed to graduate due to her mental stability and not her performance.

Lance surprisingly managed to calm herself down long enough not to over-react to what he was saying now. He was calling her a whore? Fine. Fine. But he was not going to hear the end of this. Belisse needed to be told what a jerk Sh’nar was… for what felt like the billionth time. This time though she had his own words to throw at him and Tasha had witnessed it too. “Let’s go Tasha THEY really are not worth it.”

And one day when they realized there were not enough Queen flights to sate their dragon’s lusts and they wanted to participate in green flights they would find themselves very unwanted. If there were a black list for flights, the two Bronzeriders there would be on it. She didn’t look to see if Tasha followed her until they were well out of ear shot.

Sh’nar was shook his head as they walked away, looking out at the lake directing his attention to Cymrioth. You really could have handled that better. They are friends with Jeneveth’s. She will not be happy with you. I fail to see how this is worse than flirting with a green. I over reacted. Belisse is not going to be happy and we might well miss our opportunity with them.

Is it just the position you seek mine? You seem a little…upset. I don’t know. I just, I think Belisse and I could make a great team. She needs someone strong and ambitious and I really don’t like the thought that N’kyr or S’jiro might win over me. Neither do I. The Bronze liked being friends with Zemarith now but in Flight he was not going to let that affect him. He didn’t want anyone else to win what should be his and he could be rather possessive. The Bronze seemed to have his focus back but now Sh’nar felt emotionally beaten up more so than physically.

“Women.” He said, shaking his head. “Probably would have been safer to go for a swim after all. OR maybe they would have drowned me instead.”

Shortie? Tasha thought, quickly ducking off S'jiro's hand and glaring up at the bronzerider. She wasn't going to punch him for that-- she'd been offended more by the implication that they were nothing better than pillowcrafters than the notion that greens weren't as good as bronzes. Clearly, greens were far better than bronzes-- especially as most greenriders weren't full of themselves.

But why should either she or Lance become a target? As far as she could tell, Sh'nar had started it, not her classmate, by letting his dragon flirt with Raidenth. "As if Lance would see anything appealing in either of you. Why Belisse does is completely beyond me, especially when the bronzerider she's chosen could care less if he hurts her."

She didn't say anything else, instead turning to follow at Lance's prompting, though it didn't occur to her until later that her usually more volatile classmate had been the one to walk away first. "He is such a sharding jerk. Why Belisse is so stuck on him, I haven't been able to figure out." S'jiro was mostly forgotten-- Tasha didn't care whose green Zemarith flirted with, so long as it wasn't Raidenth or Sionnath.

She doubted any woman would be able to put up with him, either, since she was sure he was just as bad as Sh'nar.

Lance shook her head. "I don't like him. I never have. I think now might be a good time to talk with our friend Belisse about this. I mean once we've settled down a bit. Sh'nar is an asshole but Belisse likes him so we're going to have to find a way for her to see what a jerk he really is without making her feel like we're judging her decision." She paused ,her mouth in a customary frown.

"Lets face it she doesn't have much choice here. N'kyr is an elitist snob and he's a bit feminine looking, so I don't blame her there, S'jiro is Sh'nar's lackey and has the reputation of being little better than Sh'nar is and he has an elitist snob problem too. N'kyr's friend , I always forget his name, is not much better than any of them being that he is constantly in the WEyrwoman's office over some mishap he caused. That leaves us with L'rue who is a good enough Bronzerider, but he's got that melancholy side to him and I think he's a bit older than she would like. Last but not least, you have Sh'nar who is ambitious, a bully but she finds him handsome and she likes that he was a Harper and not a Holder etc etc. "

She looked down at Tasha trying to gage how she felt abotu the conversation.

"I'm in no way saying he is the best choice but I'm starting to understand why the Weyrwoman has Bronze problems. But we shouldn't forget the brownriders. A brown could always win right? Maybe we should find a brownrider who likes Belisse and have him start to pursue her in order to keep her mind off of Sh'nar? It could work..." Of course Sh'nar's dragon had a lot of Flight practice so it would still be a possibility for him to win.

"I think we do need to tell Belisse about what happened today though. I'm not sure she's going to react the same way we did."

Tashamoretta shook her head in agreement, looping her thumbs into the waistband of her trousers and shoving her fingers into her pockets as she walked. The hand she'd used to punch Sh'nar was smarting a little, but it didn't even register just yet.

She listened as Lance listed off the various eligible bronzeriders, having to concede that the pickings were slim. "You forgot Jah'vi," she reminded her classmate. "He's nicer at least, but not likely to be interested in anything beyond the flight. And I think to get Belisse off of Sh'nar, we need someone who would be." Then again, Jah'vi, at least wasn't the type who would be interested in the goldrider just for her position-- unlike Sh'nar.

"Browns have a better chance than blues, but I think they'd still be a long shot." Sighing, Tasha met Lance's gaze for a minute. "But I don't know. It could be worth a try." They could always ask R'quiv, but the greenrider wasn't sure their only remaining male classmate was interested in Belisse that way. "Even if it's just to get her mind of Sh'nar so she can better deal with whoever might fly Jeneveth, and still have someone there when it's over?

"You're right, though. We do need to tell her... but how?" It was a tricky situation, and she didn't want to hurt Belisse by saying the wrong thing. "I don't think she'd blame us, or Raidenth, but we don't want her super upset about it."

“Jah’vi would be happy to bed her I’m sure but he wouldn’t be happy to have the position.” Besides, handsome, charming though he may be, Belisse was hold bred and she believed that she should be with one man for a long time. Not that Lance felt much differently. She had yet to find herself with any sort of feelings toward a man or woman for that matter. She had been dealing with her losses long enough to realize she had already been falling in love once and that was over, she had moved on.

Belisse was going to be a challenge. I mean she did think Sh’nar had a couple good things going for him. One, he wasn’t a womanizer. His dragon may have been flirting with Raidenth but she rarely ever saw him with other women. And two, he was being nice to Belisse while trying to get the title he so desperately seemed to want.

The thought had not occurred to Lancelle that anyone would be blamed but Sh’nar until Tasha said it. But they were the ones who had punched him, which he had the marks on himself to prove. He was good at manipulating a story. How were they going to get Belisse to see that he was a jerk when he had everything at his disposal to turn her against them on this particular issue. Maybe they shouldn’t say anything at all.

“How do we know she won’t believe him when he tells her his side of the story?” She asked. Lance loved Belisse like a sister, she would never allow her to be hurt if she could help it. Maybe though, interfering was only going to drive the Goldrider into the arms of the man they all hated.

“Do you think R’quiv would do that? Or does he have feelings for someone else? I’d ask S’dric but it might be too much for him. He is still mourning his Weyrmate…” She hadn’t gotten as close to R’quiv as some of the others but she hadn’t seen him showing special favor to anyone.

"There's that, too," Tasha agreed, on the subject of Jah'vi. "But at least he'd want her for her, one way or another." Which was sort of a plus.

Womanizer or not, jerk or not. Stuck on previous weyrmates, or just the prestige of winning a goldflight. There weren't too many choices among the bronzeriders at Fort, and fewer still of those were 'good' choices.

But then again, it wasn't herself or Lance who had to make the choice. It was Belisse and Jeneveth's decision, and neither she, nor Lancelle, could make it for the gold pair. They could suggest, of course. Or try to promote someone else one way or another, but in the end, they could do nothing more.

Seriously considering what Lance had asked about their brownrider classmate, the weyrling greenrider eventually shook her head. "R'quiv's always been nice to everyone-- I think he prefers all of us just because it's our class." She didn't need to mention the events that had brought them all closer, and why the losses made their bonds of friendship even more precious. "He's a nice guy overall, but I'm not sure he'd try for a relationship with Belisse just because we... asked him to, or something. He'd be there to help pick up the pieces, like we all would, but that's not the same as having deeper feelings." Not that she'd seen R'quiv as involved with anyone else, though... "But I don't know. He could be hiding a crush on her behind that up-beat front?" It was wishful thinking, at least.

Glancing up at the sky as if it would yield some answers, Tasha took a deep breath. "Back to Sh'nar, though... I don't know who Belisse would sooner believe. I mean, we're her friends, but she thinks she loves him. And people in love don't always listen to their friends. And they're usually blind to the bad sides of the people they're in love with." With another shake of her head, she added, "Even if he just stayed silent and didn't accuse us of anything, she might just think we're saying something because we don't like him..." Then again, the bronzerider was more likely to be vocal in his protests-- look how he'd reacted to herself and Lance?

"Do you think he could be going to her now? Just to make sure he gets there first?" She didn't want to look back and find out...

The more Lance thought about R’quiv with Belisse the more she did not like it. They were all friends and if they were having a relationship, she felt like it would make things awkward. She could just see how bad it would be if things did not work out between them. As her mind began to come up with all manner of excuses why R’quiv shouldn’t be with Belisse, she started to wonder if there wasn’t just a twinge of jealousy.

She began to mess with the locket around her neck, rubbing the chain against her fingers, back and forth. Lance had not thought to really examine her relationship with any of the other Weyrlings. The thought that he might have a crush on Belisse already seemed entirely plausible though Lance doubted he would have held it in all this time without telling one of them. Maybe Liv knew something? Still she was coming to the same conclusion Tasha was. She didn’t think involving their good friend in that was was a good idea.

Nodding she said, “It would be better if we didn’t involve R’quiv like that.” She used to have all kinds of male friends back at the Hold and now she only had her cousin and R’quiv. It was kind of hard being around women at all the time. So maybe her thoughts were selfish, she wanted R’quiv to remain her friend for a long time. She needed people like him in her life. “I mean he could help us find someone suitable for Belisse although, like we’ve come to see, there isn’t much choice.”

Sh’nar, Sh’nar, what to do about the arrogant, manipulative asshole, who was pretending to love their Belisse. She could kill him but it was going to be hard to explain that to Weyrwoman Karene. If anyone was going to kill a Bronzerider it should be their fearless leader. She wanted to punch a wall when she spoke again, “Ugh, have you seen him with her. He is a completely different person. No way is he going to say anything about it. He is nice to her. He lets her think that he is wonderful and presents that side of himself to her. I wish she could see how manipulative he was.”

She didn’t really know how to handle this situation. She was more the grab the bull by the horns type, not so good at handling things delicately. “Maybe Olivier, Ruelane and R’quiv should be in on this? We need to have some more ideas…”

Tasha nodded at the idea of R'quiv helping them find someone suitable for Belisse. "I think he'd give his honest opinion about someone if he really thought they were a bad egg. He hasn't been all that vocal up until now about what he really thinks of Sh'nar, though. Think we should ask him?"

Then again, maybe he was keeping his distance and not commenting because of his sister? Her own brothers had tried to protect her from the advances of boys a couple of times when they'd been at gathers, but she'd put a stop to that by proving she knew how to handle herself-- and her fists. Maybe R'quiv felt the same way-- the they could handle themselves for the most part, and make their own choices? She did, however, have the feeling he'd step in if he felt it was needed-- their brownrider classmate wasn't a wimp, but he preferred to calm things down and laugh something off instead of fighting, it seemed.

Rolling her eyes in response to Lance's next words, Tasha had to agree with the other greenrider's assessment. "I don't get how she can't see it, when it's so obvious to us. His smiles seem so... fake. Too big and too nice. Like he knows she's playing right into his hands." It irritated her to no end!

"Yeah, I definitely think we need to discuss this with the others. Maybe they know something else we don't?" Unlikely, since they all mostly seemed to share, especially when it came to things like protecting eachother, but it was still possible.

“Yeah, I trust R’quiv’s judgment. He should be asked his opinion of Sh’nar.” She said, sighing. It was such a bad situation. She didn’t want Belisse to be angry with them for saying her lover was an asshole who was manipulating her but she also didn’t want to see Belisse get hurt. This was a really good example of why Goldriders were more trouble than everyone else. Lancelle turned when she heard Rue clear her throat, half expecting to see Belisse herself. Thank Faranth it wasn’t.

However as Rue took up for Sh’nar, Lance found herself a little shocked. Did Ruelane only see the good side of him too? Obviously he was very good at making Belisse happy. Should they leave well enough alone? Lance didn’t think so but then Rue did have a point. Belisse’s happiness was what they were concerned about. Was there anything to fix if she was already happy. “You do make a good point, Rue but I can’t believe he loves her for who she is but rather what she is.”

Her celery green eyes looked down and moved from one to the other of her wingmates, “Maybe we could just distract her from him until after Jeneveth flies? I mean not really get in the way but just try to create a little distance between them so if he doesn’t win or if he does and she finds out he only cared about the position she will be able to handle him not being around better?” Soften the landing in case he ended up acting how she thought he would.