Slip of the Tongue (2)

Writers: AL, Elyriel
Date Posted: 25th March 2009

Characters: Zelle, T'marek
Description: Zelle drags T'marek back to her weyr for some socializing.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 10 of Turn 5

Iriketh moved almost as quickly as the green, though his size made it impossible to use the currents with the same skill. Once on the ledge, the brownrider slid to the ground, then stood there, riding cap in his hands, looking toward the doorway. "Zelle?" He called out, not wanting to just barge in even if she did know he was right behind her.

"Come in!" Came the cheerful call. "Do you like white or red? I've got a bottle of each."

Inching his way forward, T'marek stepped inside and hovered at the threshold. "Red." He replied, hat still in his hands as he hung out at the door, his shoulders tense, his entire body ramrod straight.

"Come in, silly." Zelle uncorked the bottle and took up the two glasses she had gotten out. She offered them both to T'marek. "Pick one, choose one, whichever you like."

Not seeing how which glass he drank out of was all that big of a deal, the brownrider reached for the closest. Two more small steps inside and he looked around, suddenly more than a little nervous. He had no reason for it, he just felt uncomfortable. "Thanks." He muttered.

"Not a problem." Zelle poured wine into T'marek's glass, filling it about three quarters of the way, then filled her own. "So what have you been doing to keep yourself busy, lately?" The greenrider made her way over to a large, plush chair and carefully lowered herself into it. She set the bottle upon a small table, then motioned for T'marek to take a seat on the settle. "Besdies avoiding me, that is?"

"Who says I'm avoiding you?" T'marek asked. He had been, but he hadn't realized it had been quite that obvious. Zelle made him feel off kilter. Made him remember things he didn't want to remember and made him want to be someone other than who he was. None of those things appealed to him.

"Oh come _on_." Zelle laughed as she swirled the wine in her cup. "You don't think your dragon doesn't talk to mine? She tells me. I didn't realize you hated me so much." The words were said with a grin, obvious that she was teasing more than anything. "You just don't like me dragging you out of your comfort zone."

He was going to have a talk with Iriketh. There were just certain things he preferred not to have spread around. "Then why do you?" The brownrider found himself asking, curious as to what motivated her to do something that would cause him to want to avoid her.

"Because, I know what's good for you and you are not good for yourself." Zelle' grin grew broader just before she took a long swig of the wine.

The sip of wine he had just taken burned as it flew up into his nose. Eyes watering as he mentally reprimanded himself for snorting while his mouth was full, T'marek looked at the greenrider with nothing less than utter disbelief. "You..." He had to pause, his nose burning enough that even breathing seemed a bit more than he could handle. Grabbing a cloth out of his pocket, he wiped it across his face. "You... know what's best for me?" He finally managed, incredulous.

"Hm." Zelle ran the rim of her cup along her lower lip. "Maybe not what's _best_...just that you shouldn't be such a hermit and such a grouch. Besides, I like you and you're just stuck with me." She grinned then slipped slowly at the wine, savoring its almost nutty flavor as she watched T'marek with twinkling eyes. Grouch and hermit, yes, but there was more to him than met the eye, she was certain of it - if only he'd open himself up a bit more.

A harumphing sound was his immediate response. "I've done just fine all these turns." The brownrider finally managed. "But I can see there is no dissuading you, you've made up your mind."

"And once my mind is set," Zelle grinned, eyes flashing. "Nothing can dissuade me. So come on, talk to me T'marek. Tell me about yourself, about who you used to be. You've told me very little. I want to know more about the man who would one day become one of the great Dragonriders of Pern!

Shaking his head, T'marek scoffed. "There isn't much to tell. I impressed, and now I'm here." He said with a lift of one shoulder. That was pretty much the extent of it. "What more is there?"

"What about your family? Do you come from a family of dragonriders?" The greenrider asked just before he taking a long, slow sip of wine.

"No." The brownrider replied. "I'm hold bred." He didn't elaborate on his family. As far as he was concerned, Iriketh was all the family he had or needed any more.

"What hold? Do you have brothers or sisters?" Zelle remembered him mentioning a sister in passing, but only in the vaguest of senses. She wasn't sure if T'marek even remembered him mentioning her.

"Small cothold, I doubt you've ever heard of it. And yes, I had a sister." He was not overly forthcoming with the information, hoping she'd just drop the subject entirely.

"What was the name of the cothold?" If it was a Southern one, then most likely Zelle did _not_ know about it unless she had, for some reason, gone to Search there.

"It doesn't matter." T'marek replied stubbornly. "It was very small, I doubt anyone has heard of it." Shells why was she being so pushy about his past. "It was a long, long time ago. I was a different person back then."

"So one sister?" Zelle decided to focus on a slightly different subject. "What was she like?"

Last updated on the March 25th 2009

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Slip of the Tongue (2)