Lost Cause?

Writers: Devin, Jelena
Date Posted: 11th October 2013

Characters: Naevyn, Z'ku
Description: Z'ku tries to flirt with an awkward Naevyn
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 4 of Turn 7

Z'ku

Naevyn shuffled into her seat with a shy glance at the bronzerider
next to it. Sometimes it was impossible to find a table all to
yourself in the busy Dining Hall and of all people around today the
dark-haired young rider seemed least likely to interfere with her
quiet dinner, seemingly lost in thought. So she turned to her plate,
quietly digging in to her meal.

Z'ku glanced up to see who sat next to him. She was in his Wing, a
recently graduated weyrling. Young ... and cute. "Hi, Naevyn."

Ah, she had guessed wrong. Naevyn instantly blushed and glanced at him
quickly before turning her eyes back to her plate. "Z'ku," she
murmured.

He smiled at the blush. "There's no reason to be nervous. I don't bite
... unless you want me to."

The blush deepened ever further at that. It wasn't the first time
someone had said something like that to her, but it only made her feel
uncomfortable. "I know," she practically squealed. "And please don't."
It was out before she knew it.

"I can be gentle, too." He slipped a piece of redfruit into his mouth,
wondering if this would go anywhere or if it would just be teasing.

"Oh," Naevyn replied dully. The thought of the young bronzerider
being.. gentle crept up on her and even though she tried to shake it
off, it stuck. "I'm sure you've got plenty of others you could be
saying that too," she tried to deflect his attentions. **Way to go
Naev, scare him off.** a little voice inside her head spoke wickedly.
**How are you ever going to get a man?** It was a good thing Eslith
was asleep, because otherwise she would have surely got another
lecture on talking down to herself.

"I could, but I'm saying it to _you_." His smile widened. "You're
beautiful, but I'm sure people tell you that all the time."

"Um. No. They don't, really," Naevyn said with a shake of her head,
feeling a little jerk at the corners of her mouth. He was just
flattering her, right? But it was still nice to hear. "But thank you,"
she blushed.

"Well you _are_ beautiful, and you seem sweet. I'm guessing you were
holdbred?" He took a bite.

"Ah. Yes. I am," Naevyn said softly, still looking a bit unsure of
herself. "Is it that obvious?" Wasn't there such a thing as a shy
weyrbrat?

He chuckled. "A bit. I'm holdbred, too." Z'ku took a bite of his vegetables.

"You are?" Naevyn asked curiously. "Seems you've taken a shine to
weyrlife. I wouldn't have guessed."

Z'ku nodded. "I accepted that I'm a dragonrider and I need to act
accordingly. I left my old life behind."

"I left my life behind alright," Naevyn said in an
uncharacteristically outspoken moment. "It's my attitude I took with
me." She blushed immediately again, feeling more than a little silly
for saying that. But he would probably be bored with her soon enough
and move on, right? The thought seemed to bother her, though she
couldn't quite put her finger on why that was.

"What attitude is that?"

Naevyn hesitated only a second before replying, almost daring him to
contradict her. "That I'm good for nothing. Well, except for Eslith,
ofcourse."

"That's a terrible thing to think about yourself. Even the lowliest
drudge is good for something." Some people were more important than
others, but that didn't make the less important people worthless.

"Well, alright, there's a difference between being useful and being
needed," Naevyn shrugged. "But Eslith needs me, so I really don't have
all that much to complain about." Realising she was talking about
herself so much triggered an immediate attempt to create distance
again and crawl back into her shell.

"And the Wing needs you, and Pern needs you," he said before taking
another bite.

Naevyn nodded, falling silent, afraid that if she'd say anything else,
she would only further embarrass herself. Time to change the subject.
"We have a good Wing, yeah. I think we did pretty great in drills
today, don't you think?"

Z'ku figured it was a lost cause. "Yes." He turned his attention back
to his food.

Naevyn sighed softly to herself as Z'ku went silent. That was her
usual routine, right? Scare away anyone being nice to her. Should she
try harder? Taking a breath to gather her courage, she looked at Z'ku
again. "It''s a shame I don't know my wingmates all that well
personally. I know I can be a bit stand-offish.. but I don't really
mean it."

He chewed as he thought of what to say. "Maybe try to have a
conversation without putting yourself down."

Naevyn nodded slowly. "Like I said, bad habits to break," she
admitted, but taking a little courage from his reply. She had to keep
going now, right? "You guys have drinks together sometimes, don't you?
Do you think anyone would mind if I joined sometime?" she asked
hesitantly.

"I don't think they would, as long as you were there to have a good time."

"I would be," Naevyn nodded, telling herself firmly that she would.
Eslith had been trying to get her out more for so long and finally a
chance had arisen. "Do you think, maybe next time you guys go out, you
could let Eslith know so I can join you all?"
"Sure." If she was too down on herself or boring, then he wouldn't
invite her again. He was willing to give her a chance but he didn't
have much patience.

"Great, thanks," Naevyn smiled hesitantly and took her last bite off
food. "Well, I need to get back to my strapwork. See you tomorrow in
drills."

"See you tomorrow."

Last updated on the November 2nd 2013

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Lost Cause?