Tiny Sass

Half Moon Bay Weyr - Tiki Lounge
As one walks onto the wood panelled flooring of the patio, they are greeted with the scent of burning oil, the likely source the various torches burning along the perimeter of the flooring. The flooring is littered with tables shaded with umbrellas, matching chairs tucked beneath when not in use.
The inside of the Tiki Lounge seems far bigger inside than outside, even when full of relaxing weyrfolk and travelers. Towards the front, in the western corner, is a small stage, generally occupied by harpers. Several tables with chairs decorate the floor and a small area is open for dancing. The bar is rather long and well stocked, glasses of different shapes and sizes hanging suspended from a rack above the bar. Behind the bar is another open window that gives one a view of the forest behind the tavern. Turning around, one is greeted by a lovely view of the lagoon. A decent breeze helps to cool the room. Up above, rafters provide a perch for fire lizards and local avians. The thatch roof, made of straw, rarely lets in any rain.


It's a rare spring day in Half Moon Bay, warm without being oppressive, skies a clear open blue, perfect for flying and exploration after weeks of heavy rain. More of the weyr is out and about than usual, and with increased foot traffic inevitably comes increased business at the Lounge. Despite wing duties, R'hyn isn't above picking up the odd shift when needed, and presently can be found bustling from table to table delivering all manner of freshly-mixed drinks and bits and bites to patrons, doing his level best not to spill anything on himself or others despite the bustle. It is, perhaps, only a matter of time!

It's likely only because it is so busy that no one seems to notice the littlest of patrons wandering in off the beach, slipping right between the legs of one particularly tall bluerider and then onward and inward quite quickly indeed. Looking over her shoulder back the way she'd come, a child who could not be any older than four or five, continues to rather efficiently dodge the adults until she comes up short. Enormous sapphire blue eyes lift upwards until she gets a nice long look at R'hyn, her gaze immediately narrowing and her tiny full lips drawn down into a frown. Hands to hips and the short and sassy style of her platinum blonde hair combined to give a fairly accurate picture of her personality. "Hey you!" she says, lifting her chin upwards slightly. "You're in my way!" That's right bronzeriderman, move it.

LOOKIT. IT'S TINY AND ADORABLE AND IT THINKS IT'S FIERCE. SO. CUTE. R'hyn doesn't have to say any of that - it shows all over his face, lips splitting in a sunny smile and blue-grey eyes lighting up at the angry little thing he's clearly intercepted. "Well, hello, there." Down he drops, six and a quarter feet of bartender reduced to a hunch to better bring himself face to face with his DOOM, surely. "Aren't you a little small to be in here?," gets asked in response to that 'hey, you!', brows tilting at odd but amused angles for hands going to hips for further challenge. "I am, am I? I'm so sorry. I'll just be going then." And because there's probably one of those stupid signs somewhere in the bar that reads 'children left unattended will be given sugar and a puppy,' R'hyn adds, "Unless you want a fizzy redfruit drink with a little umbrella in it." He shrugs as though leaving choice to Tiny McAngrypants as he stands back up, delivering a basket of tuber slices to a nearby table, gaze never quite leaving the little girl. "What do you say?"

Tiny and adorable actually scowls in the face of all those teeth and friendliness, keeping her eyes on R'hyn as he crouches down to a height that at least attempts to put him on her level. She snorts when he comments on her size, looking the much older and much larger adult up and down with a very soft growly tone that is not in the least bit intimidating, "I could take you." Fearless, an expression of triumph briefly washes over her rather delicate features once the bronzerider concedes. That's right big boy, back it up! I will END YOU! A look that falters when he offers her a drink with a tiny umbrella in it. Opening her mouth she begins to respond, but no sound comes out, expression shifting again back into a scowl as arms are crossed over her chest. One. Two. Three. "Fine." Yep, there it is. She doesn't wait to be redirected though, finding a place to sit that suits her and scrambling up and into it, straightening out her oversized, off the shoulder shirt.

Faranth, but that doesn't help; the growling only elicits an even brighter grin, blue eyes scrunching and very clearly finding teeny tiny sass to be at least ten kinds of goddamned cute. He tries, though, expression scrunching into something solemn, nodding vigorously for the claim she could take him. "You probably could. You look very strong. Do you have big muscles?" R'hyn sure does - he flexes them, less to show off though and much more to invite her to do the same, free arm lifting to curl inwards and stretch fabric over a built bicep before gesturing. Your turn, little fiest. Smugness is noted, but the bronzer has some sense, and attempts to hide a snort behind a series of gruff coughs. This is not the laughter you are looking for. Move along. "One fizzy drink, coming right up." And away he goes to have a fit of cutness-induced laughter far, far away from itty-bitty murderface, peering about all the while for the sort of face a parent or guardian wears when trying to find lost young. He returns in a few minutes' time with a cheerfully-painted wooden cup of something bright red and bubbling, replete with the promised umbrella and no less than five sweet-soaked pieces of fruit on top. Down R'hyn plops in the drink's wake, taking the seat across from the little girl with a trilled, "So. What's your name?" Friendliness disguised as around of twenty questions to find out where his mystery guest really belongs? Probably. But shh, it's more fun to hate him for being ANNOYING.

The girl stares at R'hyn long and hard as he talks to her like she was a child and then adds insult to injury by putting on show for her, flexing muscles. She does not appear to be impressed with the display, crossing her very thin arms over the flatness of her chest. "I'm not a baby you know. I'm almost five." No, she was not going to placate the bronzerider by playing along, crossing her very thin legs at the knee and grumping off at the wall instead. Yes, now she was going to ignore him completely because she remains this way in silence until he actually returns with the promised drink, giving it just as much judgement as she had to the adult who'd put it in front of her. She studies it closely and for quite a while before actually leaning over to grab a straw off the dispenser on the table and jabbing it in with unnecessary violence. At the same time her chin comes up, narrowed gaze on R'hyn as he takes a seat, as if warning him as to how very close he was to death just then, "Jemahnye." She leans over to wrap her lips around the tip of the straw, tiny hands wrapped around the cup, continuing to glare at the nice man. However, with a single sip of the beverage, those eyes of hers widen as she stares in wonderment down into the cup's contents. This finally reveals the very distinct flecks of the purest gold amongst a sea of sapphire blue, for about a second. R'hyn is then growled at for his magician-like ability to make deliciousness. Still no sign of anyone looking for her, but it was a nice day and many children were out and about along the beach just outside the bar, but the perceptiveness of the girl seems to pick up on the fact that her bearded companion was on the lookout. Those pretty eyes quickly transform into the most poisonous of daggers, stabbing persistently at the man's face.

R'hyn; completely undampered. It's entirely possible this isn't his first rodeo with a youngster wise beyond their turns, and lord awilling and this one doesn't murder him with her laser eyes, it won't be his last, either. He endures the cross correction with the same beatific smile, blue-greys twinkling, but he tries to tone down his amusement, really he does. Honest. "Of course. You're very mature. My mistake." And really it's for the best she ignores him for the time being; he's entirely too amused by the silent treatment, even going so far as to lean his chin on one hand once he finally gets settled into his own seat. R'hyn might even be a little surprised she doesn't continue to pretend he doesn't exist, smile hiking right back up onto his face when she actually offers up her name. "Jemahnye. That's lovely. It suits you." And then there's a beat. A pause. A lifting of brows and a widening of eyes as recognition hits him; chin lifts, narrow blue eyes flecked with gold, things distant but familiar enough to jog his memory — and it's no wonder she catches him openly looking for parentage, because now he's actively searching for one face in particular, seeking to the point of distraction. "Hmm?" R'hyn erroneously assumes that the daggers she's glaring are for a question he's somehow missed in his distraction. "I'm sorry. I was distracted. Do you like the drink, then?" As though the wide-eyed wonderment and growling weren't confirmation enough. "I can show you how to make it at home." Smile. Distraction tactics. This is not the twitchy bronzer you are looking for!

From the looks of things across the table from R'hyn, young Jemahnye was in fact murdering him over and over again in various ways inside her own head. The fact that the bronzerider was not put off by her sparkling personality is probably not lost on her, but she shows no signs in warming up to him regardless. Unless one counted that she was still there, but then again she still had her drink in front of her. A drink she was still sipping at more frequently than she was talking. The girl snorts and pops a piece of that sweetened fruit into her mouth, chewing it thoroughly as she continues to size the man up, actually rolling her eyes towards the ceiling when he compliments her name. "You don't even know me." she growls, but only once she had swallowed. It's the change in R'hyn's expression that does the same for her own, very slowly raising one of her pale eyebrows upwards. "What's wrong with you?" What's wrong with him, as if on cue, is walking through the door. Sure, the figure was older and considerably taller than the last time they'd seen one another, but there was no mistaking those golden eyes. Jae's six foot two height gave him the vantage point he needed to home in on that platinum blonde head and one didn't have to actually hear him to know that he was growling, a sneer revealing his clenched teeth. He wasn't quite as able to maneuver through the crowd as well as Jemahnye had, but one look in the young bronzerider's direction parted the crowd like the Red Sea. He comes to stand just behind the girl, who suddenly stiffens and hisses something very unladylike under her breath. Sure enough, the next thing to come out of her mouth is exactly what R'hyn was dreading. "Hey, Dad." Very obviously angry, J'en opens his mouth undoubtedly to chastise his daughter, that is until he finally notices her tablemate. Never in the history of expressions has one changed so quickly, mixed in the middle, but undeniably stony towards its end. "R'hyn." he says, but in a tone that was flat and utterly emotionless.

That's fair. R'hyn is pretty murderable, even from a four-turn-old's standpoint. It's something about the sunbright amusement in his eyes, or the tirelessness of his smile; it's just goddamned aggravating. Almost as aggravating as finding normally-irritating behaviors to be cute as hell, a trait dear Ryn has yet to shed even after all this time. Sarcastic snorting earns crinkles along the bronzer's nose and eyes, taking his own time to glance her over before he replies with a droll, "You're a pint-sized cup of couldn't-care-less sass who, because she is sassy and couldn't care less, has pointedly wandered off somewhere she shouldn't be." In Heryn leans, as though sharing a secret. "And I can only imagine that whoever's looking for you right now isn't going to be happy." AND BOY IS HE RIGHT; R'hyn's own expression is torn between grievance and gratification, settling somewhere right around 'damnit, but I hate it when I'm right' when J'en finally appears in the crowd, blue-grey eyes tracking the younger man's progress closer and closer to their table. "That's what's wrong with me," he answers, sotto voce, as Jemahnye tenses and hisses, lips quirking up at the sides for teeny-tiny swearing. Yep. Even that's cute. Heryn's gaze lifts from daughter to father when it's clear J'en's attention has shifted his way at last, reflexive grin hitching itself back up on his face, eyes lighting up under tilted brows as he part-questions, part-accuses, mostly-assholes through a vastly amused, "Hi, dad." Chinhand. "I didn't know you had a daughter, dad. She says she's almost five turns old, dad." And in case you thought he was done… "Please tell me you tell dad jokes now." Eyes dart to Jemahnye. "Tell me he tells dad jokes." Worst.

It seems that Jemahnye is completely immune to R'hyn's dimples, rolling her eyes again when he goes off on a lengthy description of her. Popping another fruit in her mouth, the girl leans over as well, her expression completely neutral and revealing nothing. "Maybe, if all you're using are your eyes. Though, I'm just guessing that you're prolly more than stupid goofy grins and dimples." Mean and sarcastic comment around sweetened fruit aside, she just shrugs when R'hyn suggests that someone is looking for her. "I don't think I've ever seen him happy anyway, so what does that matter?" she mutters under her breath before the straw makes it back into her mouth and she grows very quiet, that is until what is wrong with R'hyn is brought to light. A blink and wide gold flecked blue eyes slide to her father, curiosity overriding the sass for about three seconds, but for some reason she doesn't ask even as she peers long and hard at the bronzerider sitting across from her. "Dun call meh that," J'en growls at R'hyn even though otherwise his expression remains unchanged. The rest of what R'hyn says is ignored, that is until he gets to the joke part. Both father and daughter stare blankly at the seated man, until Jemahnye snorts in amusement, pipping up with a quip that gets her scooped up right quick and tossed over a leather clad broad shoulder, "You're kidding right? He hasn't smiled even once since…." And that's the end for her, because she's grumbling as she sags against Jae's body, releasing a heavy sigh. A golden eyed glare is sent to the little one's backside, considering that's all he could see of her right now, before that gaze is shifted in a long and uncomfortable silence to R'hyn. Dark lashes eventually lower though before he turns and begins to head back the way he came without so much as a single word of farewell. Jemahnye does wave though with one tiny hand before going absolutely flaccid where she hangs, she murmurs something though that makes her father stiffen and growl out a sharp "I dun give a shit." The Sea parts, and they're at the exit before too long.

"Nope," comes R'hyn's immediate response, shoulders rolling in a great big shrug. "No depth. Just grins and dimples here." Which we all know isn't true, but this is neither the time nor place nor human for such dismal philosophical discussions, and so he plays it off with a chuckle and a drawled, "Well, you got me on that one, kid. Wouldn't sweat it, though. He's just slow to come around." You know. Hopefully. BUT NOT THIS TIME. J'en is up in their business only too fast, and R'hyn can only sink his chin further into his palm, head tilting at a slight angle to match his crooked grin. "Why not? Clearly you are one." Gesture, from Jem to Jae and back like some sort of sarcastic Vanna White, but some part of R'hyn has sense, holds back from further use of the d-word; he's an asshole, but not a dick. No, instead he enjoys matching blank stares a little too much, huffing quiet laughter through his nose, a noise that becomes increasingly louder with Jemahnye's snort. "Tickle him, right here on his ribcage. Gets him to smile every time," R'hyn proclaims, lounging arm lifting to demonstrate, though honestly chances are good he's pulled that 'fact' right out of thin air, smile taking a brittle turn for implications cut off by J'en's intervention. 'Since…' indeed. And maybe that's some small fraction of truth behind the bright-eyed bluster R'hyn offers up in the face of J'en's dispassionate staring, his own version of self-defense against recent pains disguised in the form of fingers that raise to waggle cheerful hello at Jae before setting to drumming softly on the table. Wait for it, wait for iiiit… and there he goes, J'en's retreat marked by a quiet chuckle and a shifting creak of wood as R'hyn rises back up out of his purloined chair. "Bye," he trills in response to the little girl's wave, his own hand returning the gesture rapidly before he sets about gathering, adding a cheerful, "Don't forget the tickling!" hopefully before they're out of earshot and he's heading back to the bar and the throng of customers waiting to place orders.


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