Wine, Cards, and Terrible Company {Linda}

“As amusing as you were, the memory is terribly fuzzy in my mind. You should help refresh my memory.” He gave her a rather perverted grin. For a boy of near fifteen Turns, he was certainly bold about such things. “Don’t get too cocky there girl. You’ll regret boasting when I have you under me again.” He had to admit that watching her laugh was an interesting experience. He had begun thinking she just had no emotion other than angry, yet here she was, seeming to enjoy his company… if only because he was acting like an idiot. He crossed his arms as she started rambling again.

“You know you were enjoying it, the button pushing I mean.” He replied lazily, thinking of how compliant she had been while drunk. To be certain, whatever buttons he had pressed at that time had been all the right ones, if only because she was drunk. Of course, the last thing Firo wanted to do was flirt with a girl like this; she was all wrong. That said, she didn’t seem to be very good at dealing with flirts of any kind, and that was incentive enough for him.

“It’s got nothing to do with matching your stupid requirements. I’m just telling the truth. Besides, I could ask you the same. Why tell me your requirements if you don’t want me around? Or is it that you actually enjoy my company? I could teach you all about it you know… socializing and other things.”

Firogel shrugged, knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with his joke. His intent had merely been to annoy her, to see her get all riled up. The hands on her hips told him he was, at the very least, annoying her, though she wasn’t quite acting as angry as he had hoped. Maybe she was wising up to him. What a shame, it seemed she wasn’t going to be any fun anymore. Then, of course, she tried to act all tough and angry again, and Firo couldn’t help but grin.

“I am glad to have been of service to you, my Lady,” He gave a flourishing bow, going back to overplaying his ‘gentleman’ attitude. Though he dropped it quickly enough by dropping back to the ground and trying to unwrap, then rewrap his arm. Safe to say, he was doing a rather pathetic job at it as he struggled to use his mouth and free hand to wrap it up. “You’d be surprised how useful an act can be, idiot.” He spoke, though the words were muffled slightly as he tried to tighten the bandage with his teeth.

“It’s not about becoming something you aren’t, it’s about making people think you are.” He gave up on the bandage with a scowl and looked back at her. “Course, you probably think the only way to get something is with threats and knives huh. Idiot. Do you know how easy it is to get what you want as a girl? A pretty dress, a flirty smile… wait, you probably don’t own a dress do you? Let me guess, you don’t know how to dance either do you? Is there anything you do know how to do?”

“Can’t say I disagree with you.” Firogel replied flatly. He had always been raised around dragons; Syphraelth was as much his family as J’degar was. The idea that riders wanted to pit their dragons against each other was disgusting. Sure, Firogel didn’t particularly like the mutants, but it was a strange sort of dislike. He personally didn’t see how they were different from regular dragons; he only didn’t like them because he knew his father would be disappointed if he impressed one.

“That said, we aren’t all backstabbers you know. My father is the most loyal man out there. ” He laughed as Linda seemed to be offended at the idea of acting like a girl. “Idiot. Being a girl is a skill in itself, one that’s obviously too hard for you to even try. Pathetic, I thought you were stronger than that.” Was he goading her? Completely! The idea of seeing the rough girl in a dress was just too humorous to give up on just yet. “Why not use what you’ve got to your advantage? You seemed more than happy to use it on me.” He gave a little smirk at the memory.

“Why? Well, for fun I suppose. You know you’ll be expected to dance if you ever somehow attract a dragon. Riders have images to uphold you know.” Of course, it only really applied to the queenriders, and Firo doubted a queen would ever pick a girl as troublesome as Linda, but he would defiantly use it as an argument. “I mean, even I can dance. Of course, I’ll be Impressing a bronze so I’ll need to know how.” His grin changed from a smirk to a cocky, lopsided grin. He was quite confident that he would Impress even higher than his father. “I suppose it’s another thing I could teach you, if you stopped being such a coward.” He was simply trying to see if he could taunt her into bending to his will. He held no actual interest in dancing with her, and even less in teaching, but it would be entertaining either way.

“You have a brother? He here? Don’t tell me he’s a shardin’ candidate too. Well, no matter, Father would whip him into shape either way, like he will for you.” He crossed his arms with a confident nod, as if his words were final. Of COURSE his father would whip anyone into shape, no matter who or what they were. In truth, Firo had to admit that the thought of Linda facing off against his father was entirely too amusing. Then again, did she even know who he was? Would she be surprised to discover it?

“If I recall you were very much using your girliness against me, sweetheart. I suppose it’s only fair to tell you how much of a challenge it was to take the moral road. You were practically begging me to give in.” He rolled his eyes at her and gave a cocky grin that made it clear he was trying to provoke her. He did however, stop and blink in surprise as she not only agreed to dancing, but to wearing a dress.

“You expect me to just make a dress for free? The fabric is expensive!” He shook his head at her before giving a somewhat perverted sort of grin. “Well, I suppose I can cut you a deal… but you’ll have to stop by my weyr again. You know the place, don’t you?” He gave her an offhanded wave as his eyes roamed up and down her body. Oddly enough, the perverted look had disappeared and been replaced with a look of sheer concentration. For all that he could be a dick, he truly did love his craft, and the chance to practice it AND try to annoy Linda at the same time was just too good to pass up. “Come tonight.”

Firogel couldn't even hide the look of surprise that shot across his face. It wasn't that her brother was a rider, or even a bronzerider that shocked him, though it did cement his belief that he needed to impress a bronze himself. No, it was that she had so many siblings that shocked him. Well, in a way he supposed having so many bonded siblings would make it all the sweeter when she failed. he was about to tell her such, when she brought the numbweed lesson up.

"That's a terrible example. He had to step in last minute because the candidatemaster was busy playing hooky with her weyrmate." He crossed his arms, scowling. What did she know! She couldn't judge from a single meeting! "He couldn't even punish if he wanted to. There are rules in the Weyr you know, stupid wild girl." He blushed, it wasn't that he wanted to, and he tried to hide it, but let's face it; Firogel was a young teenage boy. Of course he would like what had almost happened between them, regardless of his feelings for Linda. He simply growled, but she seemed to be on a roll. Who knew she could speak so much!

"Look you, I'm a weaver. I'll make you a dress you'll like, no ifs ands or buts. Last thing you need is something showing off that horrid body too much." He sighed, "Give me a twirl."

"I guess it wont be long before you're listening to me then," he shot back, though his voice was almost bored. He had backed himself into a corner, and they both knew it. He was impressed she knew to take her win as it was instead of pushing it further. She had some smarts... surprising. Maybe she had what it took to survive in the social world after all.

"Oooh a few scars and you think you're something special." He rolled his eyes as she did her little spin, trying to do his craft as he looked her over. "You're in a Weyr now, idiot, its more uncommon to find a girl without scars." Sitting down he leaned back, resting against the ground and looking up at the sky, contemplating. "I suggest you wear as little as possible when you come by, unless you want to strip down for measurements." There, see? He had morals, and he could be serious when he wanted to be.