Different As Night and Day [Ageno]

[nineofswords]

Ah, meal times. One of Ronnie's favorite times of the day. The morning and evening meals were the only times wherhandler and dragonrider schedules reliably overlapped, so it was the only time Ronnie could reasonably expect to be able to get a good look at handsome riders. She loved handsome handlers as well, but why limit herself to just the nocturnal men when she didn't have to? And the communal aspect of the dining hall made it very easy to approach and chat up any promising looking men.

This particular morning, a good-looking man with brown hair caught her eye, and she slid into a seat across from him once she had her food. "Hello there," she said. "I do hope you don't mind a simple whitehandler coming to join you in your meal. You see, I absolutely must have company while I eat. It's far too depressing otherwise. And it never hurts at all if that company is as interesting as I hope you are, but I will not be at all offended if you would rather there be silence. I'm Ronica, by the way, Ronnie to my friends, which I hope we can be." She gave him a slightly coy smile.

[Agenothree]

A'yri had been sitting in somber contemplation before Ronica arrived, idly pushing his food about on his plate and occasionally remembering to eat it. Countless thoughts demanded his immediate focus, but a pretty lady's company outweighed them all, as she settled to sit across him. By her knots, she was a wherhandler; bonded to a white, specifically. As she greeted him and began introducing herself, her status was confirmed, her words bringing him to smile brightly. "Hello!" he returned her greeting. "I don't mind at all; in fact, I welcome company. A good meal and how it uplifts a man is meant to be shared, is it not?" A laugh left him as she stated how he hoped he'd be interesting company. "I hope I don't disappoint!" he added, his smile widening into a grin. "Ronnie," he echoed, nodding pleasantly. "I'm A'yri. My brown is Dearath. It's a pleasure to meet you! I do hope we'll be friends." Popping a cut of wherry into his mouth, he chewed ponderously for a moment before he thought to speak again. "So!" he quipped cheerily, conversationally. "Seeing as I'm new to Fort, what advice might you impart upon me?"

[nineofswords]

From pensive to smiling in only a handful of moments. Ronica, you've still got it, she thought to herself, unable to help feeling just slightly smug about it. "Oh wonderful. I never like feeling like I'm intruding. I suppose most people don't come to think of it. But I am so pleased to hear you feel the same about the best way to enjoy a meal as I do."

"I have yet to meet a man who truly disappointed me," Ronnie said. "Sometimes you have to dig a little to get them to open up, but all of you have something fascinating about you." She daintily took a bite of food while he introduced himself. "It is lovely to meet you, A'yri, and I'm sure your brown is as much a dear as his name would imply," she said. "I'm sure you can guess my partner's name, her being a wher, but my white is called Onisk. Well there, we're halfway to being friends already! I'm sure by the end of the meal, we'll be thick as thieves."

She chuckled a little at his cheerful tone. "Well there's all kinds of practical advice of course," she said. "For instance, Serapheth is notoriously prickly, so I'd tell Dearath to be on his best behavior around her if they ever have to interact. But then there's the fun kinds of advice, such as the best places to take a girl - or boy - on a date or who likes breaking hearts and who's good to their lovers." She gave him a knowing smile. "Which sort would you prefer to hear about more?"

[Agenothree]

A'yri nodded along thoughtfully as Ronnie continued explaining. "I don't suppose most do!" he agreed. "Like feeling like an intruder or reflecting on it afterward, I mean. I can speak from personal experience that it isn't a particular comfortable feeling! I certainly don't like making others uncomfortable either, but your company is most welcome." Giving her another of his winning smiles, A'yri started eating again, but gestured his fork at her in a sweeping motion a moment later. "Dig as much as you please! I'm an open book, Ronnie. There's nothing I feel particularly inclined to hide, especially from someone who's soon to be quite a dear friend to me."

As Ronnie mentioned Deararth, his smile went softer. "Yes, my Deararth is such a darling, in my absolutely biased opinion," he hummed, laughing a little to himself at hearing Deararth's embarrassed rumble in his mind in response, nodding as she mentioned her Onisk by name. "I didn't want to make assumptions, but she chose a beautiful name!" he complimented, grinning. As she moved on to share some advice, both practical and less so, but A'yri found both equally intriguing. Ronnie spoke on how Deararth should behave before Serapheth, to which he nodded thoughtfully, but he chuckled at her knowledge of good places about Fort to take a date and who was or wasn't a heartbreaker.

Though he contemplated a moment, A'yri responded soon enough. "To be responsible or to indulge in merriment..." he mused aloud, as though there was something to choose between, before huffing a laugh again. "I don't usually partake in hearing about someone secondhand, but if you've something to share, I'd love to hear it. Tell me more of these spots you know, first of all! Being new to Fort, I ought to know my way, isn't that right?"

[nineofswords]

Ronnie smiled at A'yri. "I'm glad my company is welcome!" she said. "For what it's worth, I'm rather enjoying your company thus far as well!" She gave a giggle when he offered her a winning smile. Ronnie took small bites whenever A'yri responded. It wasn't a particularly fast way to eat, but it was the easiest way to do so while still facilitating conversation.

Ronnie had a devious look when he told her to dig as much as she liked. "Now that is a very dangerous thing to say to a lady, even one who will soon be a dear friend," she told him, more teasing than serious. "Someone with less scruples than I would perhaps ask you to tell me a secret you've never told anyone else before." Her eyes danced and she smiled. "But I'll save that question for another time and simply ask where you're from originally. You said you were new to Fort?"

"Oh, I always trust the opinion of riders when it comes to their dragons," Ronnie said. "But most dragons are darling creatures, so it tends to be fact as well as opinion. Not to say that whers don't have their charms as well - I obviously have no complaints - but the only thing a dragon need concern itself with is thread. Whers so often act as guards for very human affairs as well as fighting thread, and it can make some of them a bit jaded, I'm afraid. Which is only to say that while I do love whers as much as dragons, I tend to trust the handler's opinion on them just a tad less often than I do a rider's of their dragon." She gave a laugh. "Do you think I hedged my phrasing enough there, or should I continue?" There was a lightness to her tone that made it clear she wasn't taking the self-deprecation of her words to heart.

Ronnie smiled fondly when A'yri complimented Onisk's choice of name. "Yes she did, didn't she? It's perhaps a bit vain, but while I was waiting for her to emerge from her egg, I lived in terror of all the awful ways my name can be taken by a wher. Ronsk or Icsk are my least favorite, and while it doesn't matter terribly much, I much prefer an elegant sounding name like Onisk to something with a less appealing sound to it." She wouldn't say it, but she liked to consider herself elegant, so having to call a wher by a harsher sounding name would've been something of an adjustment.

Her eyes danced once again when A'yri told her to talk about the more fun option. "I knew there was a reason I picked you to sit with," she told him. "The Fireheights are, of course, the absolute best place to go stargazing or to watch a sunset. Just be careful the spot you pick, as it tends to get very windy up there, especially from the east, so sunsets are better than sunrises since you can be sure to have a rock between you and the worst of the wind while still enjoying the view. The lake is another pleasant place, of course, and I'm certain I needn't warn you to keep away from the end closest to the herdbeast pens, but I'd also avoid the side closest to the walls of the mountain. Nothing ruins a date faster than rocks raining down on your heads." She let out a little wistful sigh. "Perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, though, because my favorite place for a date is on the ledge of someone's personal weyr. It gives a wonderful view, and if the weather turns unpleasant, you can always retreat inside to a warm fire and cozy furs." And, while she didn't say this, there was always the added benefits that privacy provided once the time was right for it.