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+--- Thread: [G] [C] 741.09.03 | Moving In, Moving On (/showthread.php?tid=4662)
741.09.03 | Moving In, Moving On - Kor'is - 03.Sep.20
Taith was just days away from being eight months old. Not that he was keeping track but the Weyrlingmaster and the assistants liked to make everything into a great big milestone. Like getting their own weyr. He supposed his current home was of a decent size thanks to Taith's bulk demanding the space of what he assumed used to belong to a brown pair before the plague. It was nice having his own space again and even nicer that it was quiet--so blissfully quiet.
He had officially moved in the day before and now sat on his bed staring at the blank wall across the room. He hadn't asked for much in the way of furniture, only needing a bed, a chest or dresser for his clothes, and a table and chair in the main room--which he had actually set out on the ledge so he could paint in the daylight instead of the dreary light of glow stones. Are you going to start painting more? Taith's excitement was evident though he managed not to scream the words in delight this time.
Maybe. He had dabbled a little during weyrlinghood but it never felt right. Sometimes the excuse was too many people around, sometimes he decided there wasn't enough time to work on a project before a class had to be attended. Mostly, it just didn't feel right, as if he didn't know who he was anymore. At one point he used brightly coloured paints instead of his usual black. Black had always represented who he was and how he felt but Kor'is also knew that Taith had filled in some of that emptiness the moment they met and he had hoped it would reflect in his works.
It didn't.
Kor'is felt awkward staring at the completed piece and felt that it wasn't a genuine reflection of himself. So he had poured black paint along the top of the page and lifted it up to watch the black dribble slowly over the colourful design, a small smile appearing. The end result was almost entirely black with only hints of colour peeking through. He had thought to destroy the painting with that but in the end found that it had been exactly what was needed and fit his mood perfectly. Taith wanted him to hang it up in their new home but Kor'is compromised and said he would keep it but not display it. He kept his word and kept the painting tucked in between pages of a book he used to sketch in or write poems.
He heard Taith land on the ledge and Kor'is got up to greet him. The blue wasn't quite as chubby as he had once been but he still had an appetite. The assistants said two feedings per week was perfectly acceptable, especially given both his size and that he wasn't quite finished growing yet. So every three to four days Taith would head down to the hunting grounds and prove his worth--though Kor'is knew without even having to attend that it was more a time to play with other dragons than to show off. Taith wanted to befriend everyone and saw hunting as social hour instead of a time to impress the females.
Grabbing a cloth, Kor'is went over and wiped a bit of blood from Taith's muzzle. "You're getting better at keeping it neat," not that he expected Taith to come back spotless given the task at hand. But the first few times reminded him of the Hatching with Taith's head in a bucket and coated in everything he didn't like thinking about. Oftentimes Taith would go for a swim after feeding to clean up himself but if he'd had a particularly good meal, he was a lazy beast and came right home.
Why don't you decorate more? I heard some of the others talking and their riders have lots of furniture and things on the walls. Kor'is sighed, knowing Taith had picked up on his thoughts about the weyr and how sparse it was, especially considering what he had back in Ista Hold. His lodgings at Ista Weyr fell somewhere in between, though likely still closer to Hold than Weyr.
"Because I'm not sure if we'll stay here when we graduate," Kor'is admitted as he tossed the rag aside to clean later and picked up the one he used for oiling.
But why wouldn't we? We have friends here.
"You have friends here. I have people I barely tolerate." He started rubbing oil into a patch that looked a bit dry, allowing himself a small grin when Taith gave his version of a purr of pleasure. "Besides, you haven't seen the other Weyrs.You might love Ista. It's always warm and with a nice spot for swimming, though Casa is WeyrWoman now and I can only imagine what that's like. But Mylorah is there so you would see her all the time. And Misha," he brought up an image of his friend to remind Taith who that was. They kept in touch via letters and whatever gossip Mylorah brought between them and B'kit but they still hadn't seen each other in person since the Hatching.
Taith rumbled in agreement and then ruined the moment by adding, and your mom. Kor'is froze, hearing the cautious excitement in the dragon's voice, before returning to the task and moving to another dry spot. "My mother won't care which Weyr I'm in. She wouldn't even notice if I was back in Ista so don't get your hopes up about what it would be like meeting her, kid. There are far better people to meet out there anyway." And most of them were in their right mind and didn't resent him for being alive.
He sighed again and waved off the mumbled apology before trying to make Taith feel better. "We could stay here. Less paperwork, at least." It was also larger so he could avoid people easier if needed.
Well... would Tazikel visit more if we were in Ista with Mylorah? He really shouldn't have been surprised by that point with how quickly Taith's moods swung around but shrugged before putting the oil rag away.
"Maybe? I don't exactly keep up with their relationship or whatever they want to call their interactions." He knew they still got together sometimes and the only way he saw Tazikel was when T'ryn shuttled him and Mylorah over so it made sense the lordling would be in Ista more than he was in Fort.
I hope so! He's funny, Kor'is gave Taith an odd look and started laughing at the images presented to him.
"I don't think he's intending to be viewed that way but I, for one, appreciate that you do.” He hadn’t quite noticed it himself at the Hatching or even when they came to visit for Mylorah’s birthday, but upon a lot of reflection, Kor’is saw Tazikel in all of his awkward glory. Not that he had been any better at those times either but he felt he had gotten over it. But seeing Tazikel unsure of how to speak to a perky freshly hatched dragonet had been rather entertaining. The rest of the tension and odd interactions that Taith seemed so fond of watching stemmed from them both being weak to Mylorah’s ideas and then unsure how to proceed from there.
He had found his way after a few months of brooding and acting a bit out of sorts around his friend. Once he told himself he didn’t have a problem with kissing another man—something pretty tame compared to what he had gotten up to with Misharan before that point—it had been easier to get to the actual root of the issue. The crush he had on Tazikel when they were younger had returned thanks to them both being far more attractive and spiking his libido the right way but just like when they were younger, Kor’is knew it would be one-sided and shoved the attraction aside. Tazikel initiating the kiss had confused him and left him wondering but the lordling was impulsive and rarely thought anything through and therefore it hadn’t been anything to drive him mad for several months.
All that said, he had still seen the man naked and in the throes of some serious sexy times so that did change a friendship to some degree. He still felt he was doing better with acceptance—or at least ignoring and moving on—but who knew? Maybe next time Mylorah dragged Tazikel along, the lordling would be his usual level of flightiness they all knew him for.
“We’ll talk more about my weird friends and where to live later. We have flight lessons in two or so hours and you need to nap,” Kor’is knew he didn’t need to point that out. Taith was a careful tracker of the sun when it came to certain lessons as he loved flying and loved it even more now that they were beginning to fly together. Kor’is was still on the fence about it—both loving the freedom but slightly terrified of the responsibility and perhaps even the height.
As Taith curled up on the ledge to soak up some sun, Kor’is debated what to do. He could nap as well but it was still early in the day and he hadn’t been up all that long. He glanced at the table and chair and then back at the dragon that was no longer light blue but a dark shade that almost looked black in the right light. Inspired, Kor’is gathered up his supplies and settled in at the table to paint.