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+--- Thread: [G] [C] [EVENT] 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine (/showthread.php?tid=3706)
738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - M'ris - 18.Dec.17
M’ris was in a surprisingly good mood considering he hated the political aspects of his position. But even though he was expected to mingle with the Holders and smile and play nice with the Lord Holder of Ista, he was still at a Gather and out of the Weyr for a bit. It was nice to get out and relax; as much as he could given the circumstances, but he felt he was doing a fine job. He was behaving nicely, though that was likely more in part of Ameris threatening him to be nice or else and he had a feeling she’d find creative ways to expand on that ‘or else’.
His mood was also soaring because he had managed to break away from the leaders for a bit to circle around the stalls and casually monitor his riders. They had worked hard to earn what little trust they did have from the Holders and a rider that got a bit out of hand and made a pass at the wrong person wasn’t going to ruin years’ worth of making peace. Then again, M’ris grinned behind the glass of mulled wine he was sipping from, it was more likely he’d be the one to get into trouble if he reverted to his old ways of getting piss-faced drunk and hitting on anyone that caught his eye. Good thing his life was mostly put back together and the chance of that scene happening was very low.
Being Weyrleader meant he had to know who everyone was, and while he found that to be a pain, even with Mosiath’s assistance, M’ris found it raised morale a bit and made the riders feel special. He spotted one of the more recently Impressed greenriders currently on his own and while he didn’t mingle with greens unless he absolutely had to, now seemed to be an appropriate time. He purchased another mulled wine as a gift for the young greenrider and wandered over to where he man was.
“Greetings, F’drel. Enjoying the Gather?” He smiled warmly at the man and offered the full glass to him, “heated and spiced just right.”
RE: 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - F'drel - 19.Dec.17
Most of F'drel's experience with Gathers came from serving at a few of the ones held in Nabol, and until being Searched he'd never attended one as a guest. They were rather nice, he supposed, in that there was always good food and drink and everyone was in a better mood than usual. He'd gone with a few other greenriders he was casually friends with, though they had disappeared for the moment. One had gone off, blushing, with some bluerider and the others had decided they wanted to dance. F'drel decidedly didn't want to dance, so he'd stayed to the sidelines.
He was starting to regret his choice, as it looked like the Weyrleader was approaching him. Hopefully he was headed towards some other - nope, definitely him. Damnit.
"Good evening, Sir." F'drel said in response to M'ris' greeting, doing his best to keep his face friendly and polite, hiding his instinctive suspicion towards being approached by someone of much higher rank. "It is well enough. It is nice to get out of the Weyr sometimes." He said mildly, accepting the drink with only slight hesitation. "Thank you, Sir." F'drel gave the drink a curious sniff. He wasn't overly fond of alcohol and didn't drink it that often, but he'd served a Lord Holder long enough to recognize a decent quality wine by scent.
"Did you require something of me?" He asked before taking a sip, curious as to why the Weyrleader had chosen to speak to him. And give him wine. F'drel's experience told him high ranking people didn't take note of you unless their intentions were bad or they wanted you to do something, but weyrlife had been different enough he wasn't sure if that rule still applied the same way.
RE: 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - M'ris - 21.Dec.17
M’ris refrained from chuckling at the obvious suspicion he was under. It was natural for greenriders to be nervous around the higher ranks – especially the brownriders that seemed to have a tendency to be assholes. F’drel had also grown up in a hold, and while it had been a long time ago when he was still Marnaris, which felt like a lifetime ago, M’ris had some memories of the way he felt going into the town for the market or gathers and how higher ranking holders viewed his poor family. So he took no offence, knowing other Weyrleaders over the ages may have felt differently and would have demanded respect or enjoyed the fear they invoked.
In fact, M’ris went in the opposite direction of that and patted the greenrider’s shoulder good-naturedly. “Relax, F’drel. We’re at a gather! You don’t have to be so formal. Call me M’ris for tonight, and laugh some more. You look like you’re counting the minutes until you can flee.” Truth be told, he sometimes wanted to be able to do that as well. He still might try to leave early if the chance arose. He did have an infant to return to and a Weyr waiting for his guidance. He also had a feeling if he stayed too late into the night he’d lose the battle with temptation and enjoy too many cups of wine and anything else that was easily flowing around the property.
“I’ll tell you what,” M’ris dug through his pocket and pulled out a handful of marks and offered them to F’drel, his expression one that clearly said he’d better not argue and to accept the gift. “Enjoy yourself in my name tonight. Try new foods, get drunk, dance with someone good looking.” Speaking of good looking, it hadn’t escaped M’ris’ notice that the young greenrider was just that. He actually reminded him a bit of K’tir and M’ris mentally chided himself for even trying to consider a quiet fling with F’drel. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust a greenrider to keep secret he was sleeping with the Weyrleader, but since having a child with Ameris, M’ris had tried to put a stop to his wandering eye and secret hook ups with the brownrider. He wasn’t sure how Ameris would react to knowing her bronzerider Weyrleader and sort of mate – they had never really discussed the term – was sometimes turned on by men as well.
“Don’t make me ask you to give me a full report of your time here tomorrow morning, greenrider,” M’ris threatened, holding the stern expression for all of three seconds before breaking into a grin and a laugh. “Truly though, have fun. That’s what these damn things are for after all! Feel free to find me later if you need a break from the wild times or need more marks.” He didn’t know much about F’drel’s life before the Weyr, but he knew this was the man’s first Gather as a dragonrider and he wanted to make sure it was a memorable one.
RE: 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - F'drel - 22.Dec.17
F'drel frowned lightly at M'ris' request to use the man's name instead of his title or 'sir,' barely managing to repress his instinctive flinch when the man touched his shoulder unexpectedly.
"As you say, then." He replied, deciding to forgo using either his name or a title. It felt safer than calling him just 'M'ris' in any case. F'drel had heard stories of a Holder who would tell the drudges to refer to him by name and would then keep track of those who felt comfortable doing so, giving them the worst tasks. He didn't feel like trying to figure out what the 'right' answer was with the Weyrleader, so he avoided it altogether.
He was completely unable to mask his shock when M'ris held a good number of marks out to him, insisting he take and use them. True, he already had more marks in his pockets that evening than he'd ever had before in his life, but his stipend as a greenrider wasn't extravagant. F'drel thought his small colletion of marks was perfectly sufficient to enjoy the Gather, but apparently the Weyrleader thought otherwise.
"I don't have to do all of those things, do I?" F'drel blurted out, still staring at the marks the other man held. Try foods was okay, that was actually a good idea. There were some really nice looking foodstuffs he'd seen in the various stalls. He'd really rather not got drunk. F'drel liked being in complete control of his actions, thank you very much. The one mulled wine M'ris had given him was already more than he'd have bought himself, and he certainly wasn't looking to risk more. And dancing? Being that close to drunk, handsy blueriders did not sound all that enjoyable in F'drel's opinion. He glanced back to the Weyrleader's face at the suggestion he ask M'ris for more marks later. Ask for more? How expensive were Gathers? Great Faranth, this was not how he'd imagined the event going.
RE: 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - M'ris - 23.Dec.17
M’ris contemplated looking into F’drel’s life before Ista Weyr. The young man seemed so out of his element at the gather and now it looked like he didn’t know what to do with the marks. He was willing to be the idea of dancing was throwing him off as well; it was always the dancing. M’ris wasn’t usually a fan of it either unless he had far too many drinks or the right person asked him in the right setting. “They were only suggestions. Do whatever it is that interests you and enjoy yourself. If you overthink it too much, you’ll end up missing most of it.”
M’ris scanned the small clusters of people near them, looking to see if anyone was taking too much of an interest in their conversation. He knew how gossip was a preferred pastime of dragonriders and wouldn’t be surprised if someone was already whispering in another’s ear about his interest in the greenrider. Deciding he didn’t want to hurt the man’s chances at fitting in and being ‘one of the boys’ and not a brown nosed little slime like J’ver, M’ris took a step back with a smile, ready to part ways. Besides, he’d probably stressed the man out enough to last the rest of the turn. “I’ll leave you to that fun before I ruin your reputation by lingering too long. No one wants to be seen with an old guy and the Weyrleader to boot!” He laughed, knowing the ‘brats at least would see him as an old man though he wasn’t even fifty yet and didn’t look at all his age.
RE: 738.12.05 | Mulled Wine - F'drel - 24.Dec.17
Relief washed over F'drel and he nodded. At least the Weyrleader wouldn't be checking to make sure he'd danced with someone. He would check out the artisan stalls instead. F'drel wasn't used to having pocket money to just spend on things, so the premise was overwhelming. Maybe he could find some gifts for his siblings, or something completely frivolous and useless he could just have with no real purpose. The possibilities that came with having marks really were endless, weren't they?
F'drel took notice of M'ris looking around and wondered why he would be worried about being seen talking to a greenrider. Was it just the dragonrider tendency to assume that if you talked to someone unusual you were sleeping with them? F'drel hadn't gotten used to the idea, raised in a place where at least half the population were considered 'non options' and just talking to someone years apart in age wasn't nearly as suggestive. The teasing if people thought you were sleeping with someone was the same though. F'drel would really rather a rumor he was sleeping with the Weyrleader didn't arise, and he'd be even more at ease if he could confirm M'ris had no intentions in that directions. He didn't know the man well enough to tell, however, so he nodded politely again, deciding not to say anything about M'ris' age, positive or negative. Either could go poorly for him.
"Thank you again. Have a good Gather, Weyrleader." F'drel said, waiting for the bronzerider to leave before heading off himself.
Time to find something to do with all these marks...