Eastern Weyr - Private Cove
Tucked behind an outcrop of verdance and safely hidden, for the most part, from view by anyone else on the beach, this quant little half-circle cove is the very image of peace. A spit of soft sand extends crescent arms towards the ocean, encompasing the little covelet of warm, cerulean water that laps quietly at the shore. Sheltered from the waves by the most part by an outcropping of rock on the far side of the cove, naught but the smallest of ripples ever make it to the shallow depression in the center of the beach, though the deeper areas further out are subject to stronger tides. The jungle forms a nearly impenetrable wall behind, and there is a constant undertone of insects droning on, the trill of one wild firelizard to another, and even the occasional crash of a wild animal passing through the trees. Back the way you came, the path is shielded from view by draping leaves and trailing vines.
A trail of Kayla's be-floured clothing marks an erratic path towards the water, where the normally cerulean waters have been turned cloudy. And wouldn't you know there's a large spot of pale brown splashing and playing in the waves as well, ridding himself of the stuff? There is splashing and sputtering as Kayla comes up for air, looking for all the world like a drowned tunnelsnake, with her now-chestnut hair plastered to her head.
All of Fiona's austere firelizards seem in evidence now, drawn by their bond's discomfort as she makes her way into the cover, "Kay?" Her eyes settle on the cloudy water and she quickly dismisses the hovering lizards and leans against the rock wall to wait.
Kayla turns just a little bit red as her sister spots her bathing, but shrugs it off. After all, this -is- the Weyr. "I'm sorry I ruined things back there. Can't cook, don't have a Craft, and Flame's not doing any mapping I could help with. So I look like a useless little kid in front of… everyone."
Fiona frowns slightly, her arms crossed over her chest, "Who said that? I sure as shards didn't."
"No, but you didn't have him laughing at you, did you?" Kayla's face goes beet red, and it's back under the relative safety of the water. There's splashing about as she scrubs at her head to get rid of the last of the flour still clinging stubbornly to her tresses. When she comes back up again, she's sputtering, and pulling her hair out of her face. "Don't see why it should matter so much anyways."
Fiona shrugs, "He's a rider. What do you expect? Compassion? Humanity? Very few have either. It doesn't matter, so stop acting like it should."
Kayla sighs a little, plopping down in the water, opting to float on her back. "Sorry, didn't mean to explode like that. Just… kind of mixed up and don't know why. It's not important."
Fiona lowers herself to sit, trying not to encroach to much on her sister just now, "I'm your big sister. It's what I'm here for. But what's got you all mixed up?"
Kayla shrugs, waving her hands about lazily in the water so she circles about on the surface. "Not sure. Something happens in front of Flame, it's funny. Something happens with him, I just want to go *between* and stay there. You tell me what's -not- wierd about that."
Fiona frowns slightly, one hand coming up to run through her hair, "Well… you were bound to get a crush eventually…" Apparently Fiona isn't oblivious to those symptoms.
Kayla turns even more red, a very comical shade on her as she sputters her consternation. "You can't be serious? Get real!"
Fiona sighs gently, her expression more forlorn than the haughty smirk someone might expect, "Riders have that effect on folks. It's really not your fault, most people'll fall for a rider at least once. You just gotta persevere until the feelings go away."
"I guess… nobody in Flame makes me all mixed-up, though." Kayla nibbles her lower lip, debating just how much to say at this point. "Ummm… sis… have you ever had a -girl- kind of try to get close to you?"
Fiona blinks, eyes a little wide, "I can honestly say I haven't had that particular problem, no." Her tone implies she'd be distinctly disenthused.
Kayla shivers a little bit. "It was… wierd. Didn't know what to think. Never got out of the water so fast before in my life." She pauses for a very long moment here. "Remember the rider who kept trying to get us to drink? It was her. I don't know if she meant anything by it but it was kind of strange."
Fiona's neutral expression shifts to a frown, "I knew I couldn't trust her. Did she hurt you?" Fiona's assumptions always seem to tend to worst case, don't they?
Kayla shakes her head. "It was just a little bit wierd, kind of had her arm around me and was trying to get me to drink more wine. I left. Nothing else happened."
Fiona's frown stays, though there's a hint of relief in her tone, "Well, thank Faranth for that."
Kayla bites her lip before she says something else she may well regret, and just smiles. "So are you just going to sit on the sand all day, sis, or are you going to come in for a swim?"
Fiona frowns more, then shucks her shirt, revealing the swimwear beneath, "I'll swim if you'll spit out everything on your mind."
"You'll probably kill me for this one… but I was ummm… well, kind of let her talk me out of my bikini that time." Kayla's face reddens yet again, just when it had begun to regain its normal color. "Guess I kind of let it happen just to see what'd happen if you walked in. Almost didn't seem real. And I -still- wonder who you are and what you did with my sister!"
Fiona's frown stays in evidence, but she sighs, "I won't say I'm proud of it. But you /are/ an adult now and you've the right to make your own choices and if you feel okay, then it's your choice." From her tone, she doesn't /want/ to say it, but it's the truth.
Kayla shrugs, and smiles a little bit. "Was it this crazy for you when you turned eighteen?"
Fiona shakes her head, actually chuckling a little, "Shards, no. But I was at Landing, not a Weyr. And the technician's hall, well, we're all more interested in machines than people."