The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - Printable Version +- World of Pern (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum) +-- Forum: Southern Pern (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=5) +--- Forum: Katila Outskirts (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=90) +---- Forum: Northern Mountains (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=94) +---- Thread: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] (/showthread.php?tid=1527) |
The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 21.Apr.13 After several days of debating the pros and cons of a mountainous adventure, Armath finally convinced M'din that nothing would better test his aerial stunting abilities than dropping off of a vertical cliff at breakneck speeds. The pair flew lazily west in the early afternoon, high above Katila and the surrounding wilderness, silently marveling at the view. The green foliage below spotted the brown and gray mountain like freckles, not that anything was visible when Armath decided to display his athletic prowess. The world spun in a dizzying blur, wind tearing brutally through M'din's hair and riding leathers. The mountain air was decidedly cooler. The brown had certainly earned his rest after executing several wicked nosedives and flips, muscles straining to their limit, panting with exertion and the thrill of soaring. M'din had laughed breathlessly through watery eyes, reveling in his dragon's speed, never doubting his control for an instant. They loved to fly together, and racing past the sheer cliffs of the Northern Mountains was no exception. When it came time to rest, they found a tiny valley with a hot spring surrounded by trees and bushes of all kinds. Armath had settled on spending the remaining hours before sunset basking and napping on a boulder while M'din read. The rider kicked off his boots happily, propping his bare feet on a fallen log as he lay in the grass. Rummaging his book out of his leather satchel, he asked, "You know this book about the firelizards I'm reading?" "Well, it's a wonderful story," M'din said, oblivious to the blatant disinterest of the dozing brown. "It's from a bronze firelizard's point of view, Garmish, and I've never read anything like it! The author, Terricksen Something-Something, implies that Garmish and all firelizards are colorblind. Wouldn't that be strange? How would they distinguish their hides from one another? Would they be able to see their fellows' eyes change in times of distress? Anyway, Garmish mentions-" Abruptly, Armath's long neck stretched up, eyes fixed to the east. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 07.May.13 L'varl wasn't the most adventurous man out there. He was quite comfortable within the confines of the Weyr, thank you very much, and after all these years of those habits working just fine for him he wasn't about to change that now because his dragon decided he wanted to go on a field trip. There's a reason for that, Kor. Mountains are boring. L'varl sighed, putting the book in his lap aside as he stood and moved to the door and his dragon's side. Are you actually serious or is this a bid for attention? He asked, stroking the dragon's jaw. Even if he was a decietful wherry-headed prick. It didn't take much more prodding to get Korutath into his riding leathers (as a precaution only, really. Faranth knew the two of them had been as foolishly careless as any other dragonrider in their youth) and L'varl into more sensible clothing of his own. Korutath, of course, was not above commenting on his lack of comprehension as to why humans were so fragile, an observation that L'varl was more than accustomed to and tended not to answer. With a rather obnoxious, but no less gleeful trumpet, Korutath launched himself into the air, ascending to the peoper altitude before blinking between. L'varl was already grumbling when they emerged, a fair distance from the slope of the mountain. ...Oh, you're joking. Please tell me you're joking. Korutath's off-loading etiquitte was usually exceptional, so the abruptness with which he went about doing it this time was of some concern for the bronzerider. Nothing he'd be addressing anytime soon, though; Korutath deserved better than to be repremanded in front of an audience. Besides, L'varl couldn't spoil the dragon's mood any more than he already was. There was a moment, albeit a brief one, where L'varl had to search for this particular brownrider's name, and he was faintly pleased with himself when he managed to come up with it before Korutath took it upon himself to do it for him. "Good evening." He said, pausing a moment to give an overexcited Korutath a quelling look over his shoulder. "I hope we're not interrupting. Korutath decided to land before I could get a word in edgewise." Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 07.May.13 From his place on the rock, Armath spread his wings excitedly as the bronze landed. He jumped down with a wiggle, crawling across the grass to stand nearer to his rider. He told him privately, M'din rose, dusting dirt off his riding leathers. He didn't bother refuting his dragon, knowing full well that Armath's memory was above average in recall ability. Though he had been thoroughly engrossed in his story, he said, Not a problem, buddy. I don't mind making a few introductions. Always enjoying good company, M'din was quick to welcome anyone adventurous enough to stumble upon them in the lush mountainous valley. Lightly shaking his head at his dragon, M'din waved, toes still bare in the grass. When the bronzerider called his apology, M'din recognized him as L'varl, from S'kef's Wing. He wondered, if he were in L'varl's position, how strange it would be to follow a brownrider as his Wingleader. Color issues rarely entered M'din's thoughts- a dragon was a dragon regardless of its hide- but he knew from experience that his elder bronzerider brothers would heartily disapprove of such a non-traditional Wing hierarchy. "Hello there! You're not interrupting at all; I'm glad you landed, Korutath." He tucked his book under his left arm, extending his right to shake hands with the newly arrived pair. He approached the bronze, saying, "I'm M'din, and you must be L'varl. Armath has told me so much about you both." In the back of his mind he heard Armath grumble a denial of his marginally untruthful statement, but M'din forged ahead, adding, "All good, of course." Staring at the serious-looking rider, M'din silently recounted the numerous times he had seen L'varl at Katila, though they had never been formally introduced. Scratching at his itchy beard, a constant bother in the summer months, he continued, "We flew up the mountain earlier to beat the heat, and I must say it's been quite a bit more pleasant here. Ideal for basking and reading, if you like that sort of thing." He gestured to his book with a cheerful nod. I look like a big, dumb herdbeast of a man, but I'm a reader, lightly retorted M'din. "So, please, make yourselves at home," the brownrider said, returning to his seat on the fallen log, hoping L'varl would be as interested in their company as Korutath appeared. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 10.May.13 At M'din's greeting L'varl turned his quizzical gaze from his dragon to the brownrider, nodding in greeting. "Well met, then, M'din." "Reading, I can relate to." Settling against a big rock not far from the log M'din returned to and crossing his arms, L'varl spared a moment to watch his dragon. "I was reading a lovely tale before adventure took hold and Korutath insisted it was past time for a trip to these mountains." He said, manaigng to quirk a grin and sound a lot more amused than he was actually feeling. Korutath, of course, was still prattling on, though it had deteriorated to a commentary on the avian life that was gracing them with indignant flyovers. They were, apparently, near a raptor nest, and while the birds weren't suicidal, they were defensive enough to hover. Korutath was more amused than anything, taking the occasional snap at the birds who flew too low. He thought they were pretty, but he wasn't above taking advantage of a snack. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 11.May.13 For a moment the confused bronze left Armath with a cocked head and slackened jaw. As soon as Korutath amended his baffling statement about their pre-planned meeting, small sapling sent flying in the process, the troublemaking brown snorted with amusement. He said to M'din, From his place against the log, M'din nodded at his dragon. He really did threaten to eat the children, but his bluffs met with limited success. Typically the young ones would irk him to the point of giving chase, which the brown secretly enjoyed. The brownrider turned to his companion, smiling widely when books came to the forefront of the conversation. "I understand your frustration," M'din laughed. "Armath has no interest in my stories, but we try to meet in the middle with our hobbies. We flew from Katila to the mountains- his choice- so now I get to read until sunset- my choice." The brown had pointedly ignored his rider's discussion about novels and the fact that he had no desire to talk about them, but M'din heard a tiny huff of disdainful acknowledgement behind him. Thinking of the curious book in his own hand, M'din fell back into his previous contemplation about the fictional fire lizard, Garmish, and his own grand adventure to save the gold queen's eggs from the devious tunnelsnakes. He wondered if L'varl preferred fiction or nonfiction. "If you ever want to borrow my books, feel free to come to my hut. I have thirty-two of them," he confided proudly. "This book has a fire lizard main character, which is new to me, but very entertaining. In this, they act and think like smaller dragons, which is never how I've viewed fire lizards in the past. They're always so... chirpy." After a long pause, still entranced by the legendary Garmish and his brethren, he asked L'varl, "What is your story about?" Avidly listening to Korutath chatter about the falcons (or hawks? Armath certainly didn't know or care) overhead, Armath asked the chatty dragon, Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 16.May.13 In L'varl's defense, though, Korutath had a habit of whining incessantly when things didn't go his way--as had already been demonstrated today, even in a very watered down form--until the bronzerider finally decided enough was enough and gave him a stern talking to about how he had duties to perform, so would he be kind enough to go find some nice roof to bask on or something, thank you very much (rare) or just gave up (much more common). The bronze could be sulky for days if it was something particularly important, in his eyes, or--Faranth forbid--if someone else was present for L'varl's blessedly rare outbursts. The bronzerider really tried his best to keep his temper in check--which really wasn't that hard, seeing that it was about the size of a fire-lizard. But he was only human, and Korutath could forgive him for that. Eventually. Turning pointedly back to M'din, and therefore putting an end to the debate that never truly ended (because that was just rude with company, Korutath, don't you have any manners?) "I think Korutath would enjoy some of them if he'd pay attention long enough to get a good idea of what they're about." That was a very definite jibe, and Korutath was graceful enough to accept it without comment--the birds were much more entertaining, after all, and now that Armath was involved in the practice of bird-watching as well, he didn't even need an excuse not to pay attention to the riders and their conversations! "You know, I don't think I've counted my collection in a couple Turns. But thirty-two is an impressive number!" Nodding, L'varl grinned despite himself at the thought of a book from a fire lizard's point of view. "I've read many things, but an account of a fire lizard's adventures is not one of them. Is it very interesting?" He was surprised to find himself genuinely curious, and not just asking for the sake of being polite. "Political intrigue and espionage would be a good way to describe it, I guess. Not nearly as interesting as fire lizards, I'd wager," he said, lip twitching slightly. Korutath hadn't needed to think twice about chasing something--usually he was reduced to chasing sparrows over the lake, and they tended to make a beeline for their hideaways as soon as he came barreling in (which was simply unsportsmanlike, in his opinion). These, however, seemed up to the challenge, and quite a bit better at the flying thing as well. They glided much like a dragon did, he observed, but with a great deal more agility than he himself posessed. He'd always considered himself a relatively agile individual, for a bronze, but these things could have literally flown circles around him if they'd wanted to. It was a good thing, then, that they didn't. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 18.May.13 Idly picking at the grass with one hand while his dragon wheeled overhead, M'din leaned back against the log to prop his free elbow atop it. He cracked open the spine of his book and responded, "It's quite interesting! It may suit your interests in political intrigue as well, as long as you don't mind firelizard politics, that is." As a young boy, M'din- called Midden at that time- would have been embarrassed to describe the minute inner workings of a fantasy world to an acquaintance, having been bullied far too many times by his elder brothers for his bookish tendencies. But now at forty-three turns, he was far too old and too enthused about his hobby to care. Though he was not an academic man, and perhaps the slowest fully literate reader in the Weyr, M'din had always loved his stories. He would methodically devour fantasy novels, preferring fiction of any kind, and secretly imagine his life in the plot he had most recently read. Armath was a patient, if disinterested, audience, so L'varl's company pleasantly surprised the brownrider. "Garmish, the main character, is a powerful bronze in his nest," he said. "A nest is essentially a Weyr but their leaders are the King and Queen- a bronze and gold. The King was Garmish's brother. Although, I'm not sure why they aren't called clutchmates, but anyway, the King was slain by the villainous tunnelsnakes in battle. The firelizards lost the fight and their nest was invaded. The beautiful queen was injured trying to protect her eggs, but the tunnelsnakes made off with them. Garmish and his friends, a brown, a green, and a blue, were away on a mission when all of this happened, so they're picking up the pieces of their nest and trying to solve a mystery now." He ended his rambling with, "The Queen believes they've been betrayed by a fellow from their nest, you see." Climbing higher, Armath mentally chided his rider, M'din smiled despite himself, No, you two have fun. Nobody is bored, and we're quite enjoying ourselves on the ground. We're talking about books, if you and Korutath care to join. With a sharp hairpin turn, Armath flipped his body to curve around the speeding bird, his wingtip barely grazing the raptor's tail. It abruptly rerouted with a squawk, diving straight down in terror. Armath laughed to Korutath, Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 21.May.13 Having already offered Korutath the choice to partake in their conversation (and very nearly laughed at for his trouble), L'varl only spared a moment to watch his dragon tumbling haphazardly through the air with the brown dragon, completely immersed in his falcon-chasing. The dragoon's lack of control hardly made him blink; it wasn't unusual in the least for Korutath to get a little carried away, and while he'd long ago learned his lesson about doing so in close proximity to the ground, he wasn't such a bore to not play with fire just a little. "While I can't say I've ever seen firelizards in a light that lent to the use of politics, it does sound intriguing," he said with a shrug. People had their opinions, he was well aware, and he wasn't usually the type to speak out against said opinions when there was no gain in it for him. He had an ego--what man didn't--but it wasn't so explosive as to give him the desire to poke a hole in someone else's. He listened in silence, and relative interest, to M'din's description of his story; it certainly gave him a different perspective to consider. While he had never had a particular interest in firelizards, he'd always just assumed that they were dragons, simply smaller and a great deal less intelligent. What little Korutath had told him of the flits they'd encountered had only proven to solidify that impression, and he hadn't concerned himself further. ...Well, he had a point. "They're worse off than we are, by the sound of things," L'varl said, only half joking. Firelizards did tend to come off as dramatic little beasts, that was for sure. The author obviously had done their research on that front. Sometimes he found their squabbles amusing, but more often than not they tended to occur far too close to his window (which was absurd, considering he didn't even own a lizard of his own and they therefore had no reason to be there in the first place) at the dead of night. Korutath loved the little beasts, and L'varl often found the bronze settled down outside his hut, watching as the small fairs bickered. Having that method of chasing firelizards away was obviously null and void, much to L'varl's mild irritation. Up above, Korutath paused in his attempt to catch the colorful male with a somewhat guilty look, giving Armath's observations due respect. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 24.May.13 Armath repeated his question to his rider, M'din cracked his knuckles, considering the ramifications of flights and clutching. If a bronze could be a girl, could it lay eggs? If a brown were female, would it be as large? Standing would be completely blind: it would be impossible to guess the gender of an egg before it hatched. M'din's Weyrlingmaster at Fort used to brag that he could always tell what color (and sex, by proxy) a dragonet would be based only on its egg shell, and he'd been completely accurate in Armath's clutch of twelve. No idea, buddy. Why can't human ladies grow a beard? Inspired by his inquisitive dragon, M'din turned to L'varl with a questioning look. The bronze rider appeared well-educated and intelligent (as most people did from M'din's perspective), and M'din appreciated his willingness to talk about something as trivial as fictional flit politics. He said, "This is a departure from our book chat, but Armath has a question and you seem like a good person to ask. Very knowledgeable and all." He inquired, scratching his chin, "Why do male dragons and fire lizards have to be bronze, brown, or blue? And girls have to be gold or green?" Armath replied to Korutath as they circled overhead, pleased with his answer, M'din glanced to the other rider with a sheepish look, "Uh, I think they're talking about cross-dressing now- or would it be cross-hiding for a dragon?" He amended, stumbling, "Armath is talking about being a gold." He wondered how strange it would have been to Impress a green like his older brothers said he would. They'd mocked him mercilessly as a child for being emotional- womanly, they called it- and laughed that his sister had a better chance of a bronze Impression than he did. They were partially correct, he acceeded. M'din Impressed a brown and K'dra Impressed a blue from the same clutch. He smiled at the color subversion, knowing Armath lived to foil anyone antagonistic to his rider. He was a troll of a beast, and apparently had designs to be a queen as well. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 02.Jun.13 L'varl had been listening with bemusement to the half of the dragons' conversation he could hear; it didn't make much sense--none at all, actually, because they'd gone from talking about how silly birds were to why dragons were the colors they were without much of an apparent segue. He cast a quizzical look at M'din when the brownrider asked his question before looking to the dragons in the sky. If you start acting like some randy green I swear I'll stop speaking to you. Better to nip it in the bud, so to speak. He was surprised, in fact, to find how at ease he was in M'din's presence. It wasn't all that different, he thought, to conversing with a fellow bronzerider; at least M'din and his dragon had the decency to touch on some...enlightening topics. "Well," he said, crossing his arms and adopting a classic 'thinking' posture, "I'd imagine Korutath has a point. He touched on the fact that female dragons are the ones who instigate mating rituals. I've read that birds and some mammals are the other way around, so naturally colors would be reversed as well. You have to admit, it's hard to miss a green or gold when she doesn't want to be missed." If he was less of a hard-ass, L'varl might have facepalmed at both his dragon and the play-by-play he was getting from M'din. He sighed instead, shaking his head and giving a chuckle. "I do believe Armath is rubbing off on Korutath. I think he just tried to make a joke." Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 11.Jun.13 M'din lightly laughed at the exasperated bronzerider, yet uninitiated into the Armath-has-no-social-filter club. "Tell Korutath to be careful up there. Next thing you know he'll be calling all the boys to watch him gorge." Armath snorted at him internally, giving his rider the mental equivalent of a disapproving squint. Nodding thoughtfully as L'varl answered him, M'din continued, "That makes sense. But I would think the chromatics would be male, and the metallics would be female if that was the case. Greens and blues are both bright, but they aren't shiny. Since the females instigate mating, shouldn't they have shiny hides for maximum-" the brownrider struggled to find a word besides "sexiness" to refer to a female dragon, "-appeal?" He scratched at his chin with a beefy thumb. "Maybe all male dragons think green and gold are the prettiest colors. Maybe they wouldn't find a female blue attractive. Lemme ask." Flicking his eyes upward, M'din questioned, Armath, would you chase a female blue? Do you prefer green and gold simply because they're always female, or because males are naturally inclined to like those colors? Armath sniffed, Lying back against the fallen log, M'din laced his fingers on his stomach. "Armath says he would chase a girl of any color, which is unsurprising," he told L'varl, grinning. "We need to find a more discerning male." The bearded man didn't mention that Armath preferred golds. It was a sore subject that the small brown had never managed to catch a Queen, and M'din didn't need his bonded to slip into another depression about being bested by a competing bronze. Circling his companion, Armath replied, Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 01.Jul.13 "Trust me, if he gets drawn in it's his own damn fault." Even L'varl could admit that he was just a little too tightly wound to gracefully accept his dragon suddenly pretending he was a gold--or, gods forbid, a green. And that was not an invitation, you hear me? Slightly offended at the thought that he would ever stoop to the level of a green, Korutath didn't grant L'varl the mental reassurance that a direct answer would have given him. "Kor wouldn't be able to decide if he'd like a female blue until he actually met one." The bronzerider's confidence in that statement was such that he felt he didn't need to confer (which was true, for the most part. Korutath hadn't met any female blues, after all. "Kor would be discerning if he wasn't so nice. He can't say no to anyone, unfortunately," L'varl said. Finally deigning to settle down on top of a rock, one knee drawn up with his arms linked loosely around it, he leaned back to watch the dragons for a moment. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - M'din - 29.Jul.13 M'din smiled at the playful bronze as his rider assured him he was far too friendly. Korutath was just so sweet, and completely devoid of the haughtiness found in many bronzes. M'din's elder brothers, brozeriders both, had bonded to uppity metallics totally lacking the enthusiasm and inherent optimism of the dragon circling Armath overhead. He vastly preferred L'varl's bonded, and told him as much. "I think it's wonderful that he's so friendly, and probably helpful to you too. It would be terribly difficult to have an antisocial dragon, and even harder to have a mean one," he said lightly. "Imagine if ours were testy. I'd have no idea how to ask Armath to be nice." Of course you are! M'din shot a guilty grin skyward. I was just telling L'varl it's a good thing people like you despite your ferocity. Appeased by his rider's correction, Armath turned his attention back to Korutath flying overhead, Armath cooed appreciatively as Korutath complimented him, taking a seat in the grass. Wait, was it a compliment, or was the bronze just playing back? Armath didn't handle earnest flattery well, and decided to take his comment as part of a joke. Yes, jokes were much more familiar territory. M'din cleared his throat across the valley, wondering if L'varl was the type of bronzerider who would outright punch a man for his dragon's lowbrow humor. He sighed. Re: The Northern Mountain Book Club [L'varl] - L'varl - 23.Aug.13 "He's certainly not lacking in personality, thank Faranth," L'varl chuckled at the thought of a testy Korutath. He had become solidly convinced that there wasn't much the universe could do to genuinely piss the big bronze off; offend him, yes, and make him sulk like a scolded child, of course, but truly make him angry? That was another matter altogether, and one that L'varl was quite convinced would never happen. Korutath, for his part, was quick to quantify, making noises along the lines of L'arl's safety (or lack thereof), and just how far he would go to make sure said security was maintained. It made the bronzerider's smile deepen around the edges, eyes softening slightly as he glanced at Korutath. I know. The dragon took a moment to level a frank eye on him, not having to say anything to get his point across. He did anyway. "It would make things quite boring, I think. No patience for teasing or storytelling, for one thing. It usually takes him a minute to pick up on the teasing, but he's very forgiving. Even if someone does mean something they say against him, he'll brush it off and act like they're best friends." L'varl shrugged. "At least he's not easily offended, I suppose." You're a dramatic lump. I am not that bad. |