[PRP] Best Friends! (Kindu and Dolly!)

[Thaliawen]

When a four turn old ran out of friends to play with, they looked for more. Kindu wasn't particularly sure where Adelly or Jarah was, but he hadn't been able to find either of them while under the creche workers' watchful eyes. He'd played for a while; "Look Harol, I'm a dragon!" he'd announced, arms stretched out to his sides. He'd flown for quite a while, but being a dragon was difficult when one couldn't really get off the ground. And it was tiring, running around while not really going anywhere.

He'd spotted someone who definitely looked old enough to be a candidate, though, after he'd paused to rest. Maybe that boy was nice like Jarah! Maybe he could tell him about being a candidate! Or maybe he was already a dragonrider? He headed over to Dolmar happily.

"Hi! I'm Kindu! Can I see your firelizard, please?"  

[ShinosBee]

And...now...this was...? Dolmar's first impression was that he was being accosted by a small feral animal. A moment later he determined that it was in fact a child, of course, but. More or less the same thing, right? The child couldn't be more than a few turns old, and Dolmar's first instinct was to throw up a hand to shield Half-Mark from the child's attention. The little brown was quite perplexed, feeding off his person's disdain for the kid, but was also a bit curious on his own. It was the smallest person the firelizard had probably ever seen, after all.

And then it was...introducing itself...Ahhh, this definitely was what he got for thinking that taking a break away from the other candidates (and therefor in the more quiet parts of the weyr...near the creche today...) would work.

"...Kindu," He drawled, staring down the length of his nose at the child. "Are you...meant to be here? Outside...wherever you're meant to be?" He doubted it.  

[Thaliawen]

"Can I see him?" Kindu asked again, standing on tip toes to get a better view of the firelizard. "Please?" He seemed quite eager, and he probably wasn't interested in just looking.

"Yes!" Kindu said, empathically. "I'm supposed to be here. They won't let me go any further than this and I'm BORED!" He crossed his arms, then. "Can I see your firelizard? What's your name? Will you play with me? Please? We can play any game you like!"  

[ShinosBee]

Ugh, it was just so...loud! Why were children nine of ten times like, well, this? Dolmar was absolutely certain be'd never been as overly rambunctious and noisome as this child. Though of course...Marinel had been. Once upon a time turns and turns ago. He'd never grown out of the behavior either, really...Why had it been so charming and why had it made him so happy to see the same sort of behavior from his twin, when all this child roused in him was enough irritation to start leeching Half-Mark's eyes a murky, half-orange tint?

The little firelizard was reacting to the growing displeasure by pressing firmly against Dolmar's head and neck, and letting out a low hiss that even Dolmar could barely hear. The young man lifted a hand to massage the side of his skull, where a headache was surely coming on, and sighed. "A bit quieter, please," He grouched, before snapping a finger, sending Half-Mark (with another near-silent hiss of displeasure) sliding down his arm to perch atop his wrist, just out of reach of the boy. "You may look, but no touching. He and I both are in poor moods, and it wouldn't do for you to be...bitten."  

[Thaliawen]

Kindu admired the brown firelizard for a long time, looking up at it in silence. His gaze was almost reverent.

Then, the silence was broken. "He's so pretty," he said. He didn't reach for Half Mark though, he knew what those orange eyes meant! Something had made him angry! But what? "Don't be upset," he said. "Okay? It's a good day. We can play." He looked to Dolmar then. "Can we?"  

[ShinosBee]

Well, it did seem like letting the little (weyr)brat look at the firelizard had calmed him. He himself hadn't had the same reverence for dragonkind that seemed natural in most weyr-born children, but it was an interesting note, and he filed it away as potentially useful. Anything useful was worth his time, so...

"He's handsome," Dolmar corrected the boy, though without any venom. Half-Mark didn't mind being called pretty. He'd like being called anything, as long as it was a positive adjective. His eyes were slowly fading back towards green from orange as Dolmar determined the child to be...not entirely awful, though the request to play seemed to make a brief flicker of the color pop back in and out. "Play? How would you play with him? He's a bit too small to fetch most toys yet, and if you tried to throw food he'd simply eat it..."  

[Thaliawen]

"Handsome," Kindu echoed, not understanding the difference in word choice. "He's handsome!" He paused at the question before looking up to Dolmar. He gave a small smile, then. "Firelizards know all sorts of things," he said. "They see into your heart and they all see the same thing all at once." Maybe not the best way to explain the hive mind firelizards appeared to have, but the kid was four.

"That makes them really good at guessing games!" He decided. It wasn't at all from experience, he'd never played with a firelizard before. "I'm thinking of something blue! Can you guess? Tell him to guess. He'll show you!"  

[ShinosBee]

Dolmar nodded when the boy followed along. It didn't matter so much that Half-Mark was handsome or beautiful, but it meant that the boy was listening, and knew enough and not enough to end up accepting whatever Dolmar said was fact. That was what he hoped at least. And of course, when the kid started...what was that? Such romantic notions of what it was like being bound to a firelizard. Perhaps if he was talking about a dragon, fully sentient and full of personality, but a firelizard? He certainly didn't quite get what Kindu meant about their shared thoughts.

Good at...guessing games? Where on Pern was this kid getting his information? "I don't think he can read your thoughts as easily as he could show me something he saw with his eyes." Still, he did what he could to prompt the little brown.

Half-Mark, for his part, turned and make a sort of miffed squawking noise.  

[Thaliawen]

"Not my thoughts. That's why it's a guessing game," the four turn old explained, eagerly. "You and he have to guess! I'm thinking of something blue, and you have to guess what it is!" Kindu reached for Dolmar's hand. "It's somewhere around here," he said. "I saw it a little bit ago. Are you going to guess?"

Firelizards weren't as smart as dragons; Kindu had heard that from several people in his short life. But this firelizard was pretty--er, handsome, and he had wanted a playmate. "If he doesn't want to play, it can be just you. Do you see it?"  

[ShinosBee]

Ohhh boy, did Dolmar really not want to do this. He didn't want to play with this kid, what in Faranth's name had he done to deserve this kind of attention from him? It would be so, so easy just to turn and walk away, wouldn't it? What's the worst that could happen? The kid might cry. That wasn't so terrible a thing. He didn't have endless free time to waste playing...

He sighed. Shard it but the kid reminded him of...him.

He glanced around the room, down the hall. No one else around. Nothing blue stood out to him either though. "Another firelizard, maybe?" He guessed, clearly just to say something and get the kid off his back about it. "A little blue one?"  

[Thaliawen]

"It's not a firelizard!" Kindu crowed, delighted that Dolmar had opted to play. Was there a firelizard? He quickly looked around to see. "It's much, much bigger than a firelizard," he said, happily. "Do you see it yet?"

This was fun! Kindu never really got to play with candidates. They were usually too busy. "I can see it from where I am right now."  

[ShinosBee]

Larger than a firelizard, but blue? "The sky, perhaps." Dolmar deadpanned, already tired of the game. A dragon was another option, but he didn't think there was a blue flapping about close enough to be noticed. Perhaps out a window? He glanced around (as did Half-Mark) to try to determine the boy's point of view. Blue? What on Pern could possibly be blue aside from those things? Perhaps clothing, or a wher, or someone's eyes. Was there anything else at all?

He was so frustrated that there were inanely few things it could be that he'd forgotten he was frustrated with his choice to play at all.  

[Thaliawen]

"The sky! Yay, you guessed it!" Kindu beamed up at Dolmar. He raised his eyes to the sky and admired it for a moment. "I like when it's this color best," he said. "No snow, no rain, no Thread!"

He looked around then. "Do you think Halfmark will let me pet him?" He asked, hopefully.  

[ShinosBee]

The look Dolmar spared for the view out the window was baleful at best, laced with thinly veiled contempt, irritation, and a touch of doubt. Was this really what passed for entertainment among children? Dimly he could recall playing such games with Marinel, long ago, and finding them enjoyable, but, really? Never had he been more grateful to be not only more adult now, but to have a decent head on his shoulders.

At least he hadn't lost the child's game.

Aha. An idea for an escape (and really he'd lost enough of the day's candlemarks here already). "I'll let you pet him, if you promise to be gentle, and to go back to the creche once you do. We're going to be leaving any way—important weyr business, you know." Not exactly a lie. Being a candidate was being in service to the weyr...that'd work, right?  

[Thaliawen]

Go back to the crèche? The weyrbrat seemed disheartened, and toed the ground. "I don't want to," he whined, as only a four turn could. Was petting a firelizard worth it?

"What important Weyr business?" He asked, eagerly. The boy had always wondered what adults went off to do once they left his company. They always seemed to be busy. Usually too busy to play with him; but Dolmar had taken the time to. That made him special. "Can I help? I'm really smart! Everyone says so! And I listen! I'm good at listening! Can I please help? Can I still pet Half Mark?" He rambled excitedly. Was this candidate really that important?