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 Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:59 pm
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Erastan threw up his hands in the direction of the flitt in exasperation. "Oh come on, Don't keep me trapped here." he turned staring pointedly at Astriana. "With her." he added with a low growl. "And shut the hell up." Well that had hit a nerve. "I know damn well what me and my dragon are expected to do. But I'm not going to be their cannon fodder any longer than I have to be, as soon as the five turn contract thing us up. I'm taking Etansi and we're getting out of here. " He promised. He still had no attachment to the weyr itself. His small family was all that mattered. Etansi, Aspalath, Lolo...and even grudgingly Etan. But Astriana didn't feature. Things would of course shift again if Etansi impressed but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
Erastan, sister is here.
Erastan rocked to a standstill, cocking his head slightly to the side like a dog with it's ear to the wind.
The blue didn't mean to rat Etansi out or anything but ut didn't even occur to him that she might not want her twin to know.
...Does she seem upset?
Yes, and she is asking about a women that you don't like that scared me. I do not know who she is speaking of.
Really, people that scared Aspalath and who Erastan didn't like.....Not many in the weyr escaped that list. Erastani should have narrowed it down.
I think she means this tunnel snake. Erastan told his dragon flashing him a mental image of Astriana standing across the hall from him.
I think I know her but it is hard to recall. He replied, projecting the words to both his rider and Etansi as answer.
But Sister of mine, It would not matter if I held onto all the details. I know I am easily alarmed by most people and Erastan is easily driven to over protective tempers on my behalf. If I was braver it would be better. But I appreciate his care. The blue had slowly shifted himself so that he was stretching out and curling around Etansi in a protective crescent with his head hovering beside her at roughly head height. He gently nudged her hands to encourage them away from her face and ease her from her despair.
You know sister. I do not think you will get far with my rider by trying to force anything, he is head strong and stuck in his thinking. I think you may have to do as you wish and see how he follows. I know he may loose his temper but he would never hurt you.
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Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:00 pm
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Astriana crossed her arms in front of her, just because he was a weyrling did not mean he could tell her to shut up. Plus, in her mind, he had not earned the respect from her of those who were higher than she was. And as he went on, she really did not think he understood what he was supposed to be doing. Especially with his talk of just picking up and running off when his five years of service here was up. With Thread falling, did he really think it was that easy to just pick up an leave? Transfer Weyrs, sure, that could be done with the proper procedures, but leaving altogether just wasn't happening.
"You really are a dimglow, if you think you will just be allowed to leave when your five years are up. In case you missed it, Thread will be falling for awhile and the Weyrs do not let riders go just like that. Transfer, but I don't think you would do well at High Reaches. And you are doing a lot of assuming, aren't you? Are you going to make Etansi's choices for her all her life? I would suggest you ask HER what she wants, not decide for her. What if she impresses a dragon and her dragon wants to stay? What about your own, this is his home, his family is partly here. I wonder who is more scared, him or you,"she spoke coldly.
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Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:28 am
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Even if she had no connection to him mentally she knew what Aspalath was doing, the shade from his wing cooling her just a bit before his great nose pushed at her hands and face. His words stung deep within her, for on some level she knew that he was correct, yet they'd always done everything together. As her arms wrapped around the blue's neck she was roughly reminded of the one thing they would never do together, he would always be able to ride a dragon while she would never grace one's back. Not in her mind, not with who she was on the inside, the broken bits of her hardened battle armor against the world being nothing more than shards now thanks to the care of not one but two friends.
Friends her brother didn't have or at least wasn't attempting to make any effort to gather. Once upon a time they'd been flexible, but even then they'd never had 'friends' like she had now, just their mother who had left them and then Ma Loa who'd also gone and left, making things worse with her passing than they'd ever been. Now here she was on the ground with a dragon wrapped around her gently.
"Just want everyone to get along for once. You're a brave dragon Aspalath, you chose brother so you're the bravest around." There was no grin on her face though, just sadness, something that she was learning to get used to, something she would need to embrace if she was going to do what she had to do here in a moment. "Gonna have to pick a friend over brother. He'll hate me forever and ever, but he's never gonna learn or make any friends this way."
Her face pulled away from Aspalath's neck and she gazed up at the growing blue beseechingly. "Take care of him for me, he won't come near me for a while after this, probably gonna hate me." One hand brushed at her face, not willing to admit that statement brought a tear as she stood up and steeled her insides to be as mean as she could. If she wasn't ready to be, then she'd fall apart and the two people she cared about would fight even more about it.
Lolo seemed to flicker in the air anxiously, his eyes whirling bright yellows and oranges as he processed what his human was feeling. The processing only took a moment before he hissed square in Erastan's face, trying to force him to back up as Etan rose from the ground to join him. The darker fire lizard was angry, angrier than either around him would likely have ever seen him before and with a whirling snap he disappeared Between, reappearing on Etansi's shoulder as she strode back and stood between them, her face matching both fire lizard's expressions and eyes at one time.
"You two won't get along, so I'm going to lunch. With Astriana." Her head turned to look straight at her brother as she said it. "If you wanna come, and I want you to, then come. But I got friends now and there's enough of me to go around even if you don't both wanna be friends either. Got time for both of you even if I gotta do it separate."
Etansi didn't want to do it separately, she didn't even want to be angry, but it was a face her brother would know better than Astriana would, so she leveled it at him while her insides fell apart.
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Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:51 am
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Erastan cast Astriana a blank look, slowly letting his eyes go from head to toe as if he was looking for any sign of intelligence and finding her lacking. "So what do you think they will do when a rider refuses completely to fight?" The blue rider questioned her. "They can keep me and Aspalath trapped her with a gold command but they can't force me to fly thread if I refuse point blank to do so. Then their options become let me go quietly or make an example of me. They could lock me up, but like you said. Thread if falling. That would be a waste of resources for them. Or they could make it easier on themselves and impose some sort of banishment, in which case I get what I want anyway. For them it would be better to say. 'You have completed your five turn service with us, we wish you well' and leave it at that. So you're the dimglow here." Erastan had thought about it a lot after all.
"Etansi knows. She knows we don't have a home, we were never meant to, this is just a way station. That's how its always been. So don't interfere. Even if she impresses the longest we have to wait is 11 years. " He muttered factoring in the year or weyrling training and five years service needed even if she impressed at the very end of his own military indenture.
Aspalath seemed slightly surprised by Etansi's statement and his eyes swirled unhappy colours of yellow with tinges of grey. He was still just a baby really he didn't know why she might choose someone else over his beloved rider. But he still gently nudged her with his nose when he thought she might cry. 'My Erastan could never hate you.'
Meanwhile Erastan had backed up sharply. "Lolo?" he called to the light blue flitt, that was so unlike the usual sweet natured creature. Etan was mostly ignored, even if he was more angry than usual. Pissed was still his standard setting. He could also feel something was wrong with Aspalath, confusion and sadness. He wanted to reach out to him but it was hard to focus.
But that didn't matter because when Etansi walked around the corner and Erastan perked up like a puppy when they hear their owners voice. "Etansi..." He wanted to go to her, but then she spoke.
Erastan staggered like he had been physically hit. "What?" he spluttered in a strangled voice. His face twisted in devastation. If someone was watching closely they would see the moment his heart broke in his eyes. It would have been one thing if his twin had tried to drag them both along and play peace maker. He had almost expected that, and she would likely scold him for being a grump, that was fine. It was normal. But she had made a very definite choice. Even if she tried to include him after.
He opened his mouth to say something, spit venom and hurt as his face twisted from heartbreak to thundering anger. But he found he couldn't. Not to Etansi. He closed his mouth, glared at both of them and then turned and stormed away back towards the weyrbowl and waiting Aspalath.
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Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:11 am
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Astriana looked at Erastan like he was a disrespectful child who didn't know how to play well with others. Sure, she wasn't great at it either, but she knew she couldn't just not fight thread. Obviously her friend's twin was not of the same mind on that matter, he thought he would just throw a tantrum and be sent on his way. Whatever, he could think whatever he wanted, but she had to bite back a growl when he said Etansi didn't have a home. Oh no, that she did not believe at all and she hoped Etansi knew she did have a place to call her home now. Her eyes seemed to shoot icy daggers at the other, how dare he tell her not to interfere when he was just thinking about himself.
"You know what, you are really selfish, thinking only about what you want. Again, I ask you..have you asked Etansi or your dragon what THEY want to do? You may have no home here, but both of them do. I am Etansi's friend and I know I am not the only one she has befriended. And as I said, your dragon's mother and some of his siblings are here as well. Plus, what about Etansi's future dragon, have you ever thought maybe they will want to stay in the Weyr?"she asked in her even tone, even though she was getting quite angry. Caelia made a small sound, as if to remind the girl to keep her temper in check. Abaven added his own warning from her other shoulder, which she supposed she couldn't blame them.
She didn't have long to think about it, when both of Etansi's firelizards seemed upset. Were they picking up emotions from their bonded, she wondered to herself. She soon had her answer as her friend returned, looking none too pleased. Though, the words that came out of Etansi's mouth, shocked the blonde haired woman, even if only her eyes betrayed that to those who knew her. Did she really say she would go to lunch with her, she wasn't going to make her twin come with them? Then she watched as Erastan stormed off and she felt some guilt for upsetting her friend. She would never want to put a wedge between Etansi and her twin.
"Are you sure, Etansi? If you want to go eat with him, I am okay with it. I have eaten alone before, I can do it again,"she reminded in a soft voice she used with those close to her. If she needed to eat lunch by herself, she would do it. She may not like Erastan, but family was important to her and this was her friend's twin.
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Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:02 am
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Sadness wasn't something she showed very often and she certainly didn't show it now even if it made her heart burn like ice. Exhaustion shown on her face instead and a throb pulled her attention away from her brother's retreating back to the pain in her hand. With her good hand she rubbed the worst spot on her wound, not realizing that she'd clenched her fist so hard with her resolution that she'd damaged it just a bit. There had been anger and something close to hatred that she'd seen in her brother's eyes and Etansi, having never had a moment like this with him before, didn't quite know what to say or how to react.
She needed to eat something and to think.
"It's okay. 's time to get somethin' to eat for us both. He'll... he has Aspalath." If Etansi's voice was just a little bit rougher than her normal gravel as she spoke, it was only because despite what she'd said she still hurt. "Let's go to lunch."
For the briefest of moments a smile crossed her face and she nodded as she turned to face Astriana, her good hand beckoning as she did so. "C'mon." Even if Erastan didn't understand in the moment, he might someday and that would be because he found his own friends that he wanted to communicate and spend time with. Just as she had found a good friend. The two of them couldn't depend on one another forever and as her mindhealer had told her once, the co-dependency they had was so strong that even now she was aching to chase after him. If they were ever going to grow up to be better, they had to get past that now, for it really was dangerous how much they clung together.
With an almost relieved sigh, Etan landed on one shoulder and Lolo on the other, both entwining their tails about her neck as if to let her know she was protected and that was what Etansi needed in that moment more than anyone else's reassurance. "What do you think they have for lunch today? Somethin' good?" She started walking without waiting for an answer.
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