[PRP] Just a little sickness..... (Sa'do and Rizdax)

[stella cinere]

The flu was slowly making its way through the weyr not that Sa’do hadn’t put much stock into being overly concerned on catching anything from anyone. It wasn’t as if he slept around in other beds or even had anyone he was close to in the weyr that he was concerned of catching it from someone else that was slowly infecting others each time they swapped spit. That was why when the temperature felt as if it was slowly rising and the thudding ache in his head started to throb even louder that he figured it was just symptoms of too much work and not enough sleep. Rynnsaith had started to notice a different, giving him snide comments each time Sa’do leaned against a wall to regain some semblance of balance through the blurring vision. If he just continued to work, pulling his weight especially now that they were a little short as others started to fall ill he would be ok for the most part.

Or so he had thought as Sa’do leaned against the cool stone wall after being pointed to his bed to rest. His leather jacket slipped from his fingers onto the floor, even with the thin shirt and leggings it was still almost too hot to bear. He had considered just leaving the barracks and laying down in a bank of snow until he felt cool enough to stand again it would at least give some credence to why he was shivering. Taking a few steps he kept his shoulder to the wall before resting his back against it soaking in more of the cool sensation sliding down he slumped over onto the floor. A nap would be good, nevermind that it was one of the hallways to the barracks instead of somewhere comfortable.

Hattaki

TADA

 

[Hattaki]

His second winter at High Reaches was shaping up to be just awful, so far he'd seen not one but two people collapse, one of them a rider! Prior to that he'd believed dragon riders were just invincible and couldn't be taken down by anything, much less by a flu, how in the world could that even happen? Riders trained and were some of the hardest individuals running around the Weyr for sure, everyone looked up to them because they kept them all safe from the threat of Thread, saved countless lives.

Of course it made absolute sense that they would be the first to start falling with how hard they pushed themselves, but Rizdax had always believed that they were legends, every single one of them. Sometimes it was hard for him to remember that even though they road dragons and fought like warriors they were still humans like he was and were just as susceptible to illness as himself, though he was surprisingly healthy this season as everyone fell around him.

So it was that he turned a corner down to his barracks and nearly leapt from his skin when he came across a man that had somehow wound up on the floor of the hallway with a rider's jacket only steps from him. This being the third person that he'd found this way should have made him just a bit calmer but it was as if all the hair on his body stood on end and Rizdax fairly lunged to the man's side, hand finding a way to his forehead, it all but seared his skin with how hot this rider was. Reaching for the jacket he wrapped it around the man and rolled him over so that he could pull him up a little better in a moment.

"Hey!" He patted the rider's face lightly and held a hand to his neck, checking for a pulse even though he could feel the heat radiating off of him. Rizdax had seen enough death in his time and he wasn't about to let someone else succumb to that place where they couldn't return from. "Come on, I don't know your name but you need to help me. Wake up, come on."

Looking around frantically for anyone larger than himself the redheaded teen realized that they were all alone, even the man's dragon was nowhere to be found, but it had to know by now that he had fallen unconscious surely. They were tied together, maybe the man was just in a place that his dragon couldn't reach him, that would be especially true if it was a larger bronze or brown that would never fit down these candidate barracks. Riz had to get him to the healers as fast as he could and it didn't matter if he was much shorter he was going to at least find a way to get the man up on his shoulders and would drag him if he absolutely had to!

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you somewhere that they can help you, I promise."

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

There was a voice, or maybe voices? Sa’do couldn’t be sure between something that sounded like it was mumbling while the other was almost screaming into the back of his skull in an almost frantic manner He wanted it to stop, just stop echoing all around his head as it thudded against his skull even more.

“I hurt..” Was the only words that seemed to form on his lips as he blinked a few times at the unfamiliar face that had turned him on his back. Everywhere he touched seemed to scream with heat as the stone was rather cool against his back. He wanted to roll back over, he wanted to press his cheeks that felt as if they were aflame against the cool stone again. For a moment he tried to push against whoever it was attempting to offer help but his arm didn’t seem to want to work, instead it just brushed the teenager’s shoulder before finding the cool stone again.

“What….why…. Who?” His eyes rolled back for a moment as the screaming in his head started again, it was a familiar voice but he couldn’t think of why he knew it or at least place what was truly going on other than wanting to fall back to sleep again. Why wouldn’t they just let him sleep anyways, it wasn’t like anyone needed him right?

“Go…” Puzzlement came over his face again as he looked at the younger man with red hair, it almost look like his head was on fire. Just the thought of it made him chuckle before reaching out to pet it as if to reassure himself that wasn’t the case at all.

“Where...go..where?”

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

Having his head pet by an older man, especially a rider, was a new experience and not one that he was sure about. Given that he was so sick he was certain that it wasn't a good thing, what exactly was he seeing up on top of his head that made him want to pet him? There were no red creatures that he'd seen floating around Pern, unless somehow he'd seen his golden eyes and thought he was a fire lizard? One of his eyebrows lifted up a bit at his words and concern flooded through him once more.

This was bad, he wasn't in his right mind at all.

"We're gonna go to the Healers, can you stand up enough to lean on me?" Rizdax spoke gently and slowly like he would have to his little sister when she was sick or simply didn't understand him. "Looks like this flu that's running through the Weyr caught you, I've been told it makes you ache, if you can help me we'll get you somewhere they can take that away. Do you know where your dragon is?"

Certain that he could get him down the hall to the Healers on his own, even if it meant that he had to lug him, Riz bent over and slid slightly under the rider's arm so that he could force him upward if he had to, pulling the arm over his shoulders carefully. Running through the layout of the Weyr so he could remember where the Healers were from his current location, the redhead figured out the fastest route to take and cast one last glance about the hallway to see if help would ever come.

It was becoming clearer that it wouldn't.

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

It took a moment for Sa’do to parse together what the figure was saying, the figure that was potentially on fire yet for some reason wasn’t burning into a pile of ash in front of his face. Speaking of flame and heat Sa’do was pretty sure he had somehow crawled into one of the oven’s in the kitchen and was being baked alive, yet he was pretty sure he didn’t smell anything baking just the faint smell that someone else was there. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or maybe entirely a bad thing but he did as much as he was told by the voice.

“Flu… no… no flu… can’t…” It was hard getting to his feet, or at least he thought he was about to stand as the everything seemed to go swirl around with the change of height. It only took a minute, or maybe two as he leaned against the imaginary flaming figure that had offered to help him up pulling his arm around the shoulder. Heat, yes whoever it was was definitely too hot, they must have been burning for a long time, maybe they should go out into the snow and the cold. Cold was good yes?

“Big… too big…. Bronze…” A hand waved in a direction, or at least some indication of a direction that the rider had assumed his dragon was. His voice was echoing in his head as well but none of was making any sense, but nothing really was at that moment, no it was probably just a really bad dream. There was never any reason why Rynsaith would need to yell at him, no, if anything it was always Sa’do who had to yell at the dragon to get any sort of work done.

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

A bronze... that would explain why the dragon wasn't anywhere near his rider when the man was in such a terrible state. From what he'd heard dragons and their riders had such a close connection that the glittering giants could even tell when their rider was coming down with something, likely this man's dragon was panicking somewhere. There was no time for those sorts of problems currently though. Between his stilted and halting speech and how warm he was draped over Rizdax's shoulders, the small teen could tell that he was only getting worse as the minutes rolled on. Action was what he needed now that he knew what was happening, now that he understood the sad state that the rider was in, fighting against his sickness without his dragon, all alone in the hallway until a moment ago. It just wouldn't do.

"I'll try and find him later to let him know what's happening, but you're the one I'm worried about right now. If you can help me we're going to head towards the Healers, because you definitely have something even if it isn't the flu." Turning his gold eyes to look at the man, hoping for some sort of recognition of the spoken words in those fogged eyes. He saw none. Riz cursed in his head and began to move, his steps solid and slow with the weight and the worry of hurting the rider.

High Reaches was the strongest Weyr around, he'd been told that and Rizdax firmly believed it from the day he'd woken on a cot in the Healers wing himself. They'd saved him, they'd begun to train him, the Candidate master actually cared in a way the people of his original Hold hadn't cared at all. Sure there were always some negative things everywhere, but so far the redhead hadn't seen them in stark contrast. Never would likely with all the good that had been done for him.

No rider was going to die while they were beside him, Riz grit his teeth as the image of his brother's dying form flashed behind his eyes and he tightened his grip and strengthened his steps. No one was going to die around him if he could help it.

Not again.

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

Rynsaith was not worried, or maybe the words was no longer as worried as he had been when he could feel Sa’do completely slipping away from reality and into something that seemed to be rambling on and on about nonsense. It wasn’t until he kept yelling something about fire that it took the large bronze a minute to realize that someone had found him in the hallway. With some ease relaxed the dragon snorted to himself, the man would be sorely upset with himself when he finally regained any sense that he was babbling like a rather crazy person to a complete stranger. If anything Sa’do’s pride would suffer a little bit of wounding and the bronze would have something to make him blush with embarrassment for a few months every time he threatened to drag him out to do some sort of drill or an extra set of exercises to lose a few pounds.

Sa’do on the other just stared at the face, there was like two golden suns in his eyes something he wasn’t entirely sure was humanly possible or maybe he was just asleep laying somewhere on some hot stones imagining some sort of weird spirit that couldn’t burn.

“Help?.... Like… walk… yes… ca..n..walk.” His brows furrowed though at the word of flu again, he couldn’t be sick there was too much to do. There was no way he had caught whatever was going around the weyr that was impossible he had spent most of his life immune to such things. Too much of his life had been to work towards becoming a bronze rider, to make a name for his family in the ranks of the metallics so that his father could be proud of him and to remove the sting of being nothing more brown rider.

“Rea..lly… need… work… to….things…” HIs train of thought trailed off again, it was rather dizzying as he tried to cling to the smaller frame, not to say Sa’do was big he was rather slender himself but tall in a way that made him feel awkward. It was also hot to hold on to someone, as in hotter than it was to lay on the cold stone where he wanted to be again or maybe outside laying in a bed a snow.

There was still work to do yes?

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

"You really don't need to work on anything right now, right now we need to get you to a healer and then you can get all healed up and go to work. Later." Rizdax threw himself into walking, keeping his pace much slower so that the sick man leaning across his shoulders wouldn't have to struggle in any way.

Despite the very obvious height difference.

In fact that was making it only a touch awkward and he could tell beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could drag him almost the entire way there but he was stubborn enough to enough to push through any of the possible set backs he might have. If only the dragon had been a bit smaller and able to squeeze down the hallway. Sure it was a pipe-dream but he could still ponder the very idea couldn't he?

It would certainly keep his mind off of how concerned he was for the rider leaning on him that was sweating through both of their clothes with his fever. This was no good at all, maybe he could speed up just a little bit to try and get the man there faster but a squawk in his ear brought Rizdax back out of his own head and his face lit up at the sight of the little blue fire lizard that bobbed in the air beside him. How exactly he had forgotten all about Phin he wasn't sure, possibly because it was brand new to him having one of of the little creatures, it also could have been the panic that had settled over him at the sight of the collapsed man.

"You have the greatest timing in the world little guy. Can you please go to the Healers and get one of them to come running back with you?" Riz wasn't quite sure if Phin was trained enough for that just yet, but the little thing bobbed his head and popped away without so much as a noise of complaint and he was determined to view that as a good sign.

There was only one shot to the Healers so he knew if they came that they would have to bump right into them. And if not then at least he would continue walking there without a single thing stopping him!

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the younger man had pulled his arm around his shoulder to help hold him up Sa’do was pretty sure he would have lost his pants by now. Anything to make his skin feel a little colder than it was with all the heat crawling along his skin and the leather clinging to it. It was a good thing he wasn’t going to remember any of it later, or at least not in full detail otherwise he would be red as a strawberry.

“... Healer need help.. Ok… then I’ll help..there….” His thoughts lost himself again but he at least managed to regain his feet a little more and actually help to some extent to walk in whatever direction the younger man wanted him to. Of course it was with the thought that Sa’do was going to go work not be tucked away into some bed to finally get some rest and to recover from the dreadful illness that clung to him.

Of course when the fire lizard squawk Sa’do’s head bobbed up in complete surprise before screwing his face up as he tried to get a closer look at it before it took off down the hallway. “Little dragon…. baby?”

Hattaki

Sorry for Sa'do's state of mind!

 

[Hattaki]

Oh was this rider ever just stubborn as a solid inanimate rock, Riz kept pulling him along the hallway shaking his head a bit despite his still very present concern. He had his own stubborn streak of course so he could at least understand it, but this was such an unfortunate time for him to be in this headstate.

"Yeah, they do need help, think you can help me get down there fast enough to help them out? There's a lot of riders down there that are sick and could use your assistance." Rizdax told him as way of a start, his steps actually speeding up if only a touch. "Yeah, he's a very small dragon baby. He's going to get a healer to come and guide you back to help them. Think you can make it?"

With a whirring chirp Phin popped back in front of Riz's face and he walked right into the flapping wings, only managing to get one arm up to slap them away before he had to replace it across the rider's back once more so he was secure. All he could hope was that the small blue lizard had actually managed to do what he was supposed to and bring a healer. Sure, it would be quite hard for them to get through the stubborn man's skull, but at least if he believed he was going to help them there was a chance that they could get him back there.

The sound of running feet at least told him that Phin had succeeded, he would spoil the little lizard rotten for the help later.

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

There was a pause as Sa’do bit his lower lip before slowly nodding as his brain tried to do everything it could to connect to his feet in some way that would make him walk. If anything Rynsaith could say his rider was driven by only one thing and that was the sense of duty and work which of course made the lazy bronze groan in frustration.

“Do… my best…” Which was about all he could managed to say while the rest of his mind tried to keep putting one foot in front of the other without tripping the both of them. It was only marginally better considering it was about on par with someone who was a drunken mess, at least he wasn’t attempting to sing at the top of his lungs or make out with whomever was helping him.

It didn’t take long for what Sa’do considered a baby dragon to reappear which made him stumble only for a moment as his support shifted to deal with it. He stared at again, as if trying to make out exactly what the baby dragon was and that the word was somewhere buried deep in the mess of fever insanity. It was hopeless though but it at least kept him busy from asking too many questions or babbling on as footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Soon he would be out of the candidate’s hands and someone else’s problems.

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

Heaving a sigh, rather happy that help was on its way despite knowing that he was at least being helpful to the rider, Riz gave his back a pat and smiled. “You’ll do great helping them, they really need it down there after all. I hear one of them coming to get you now as a matter of fact so they must be really desperate to get you down there. Either that or they know that you’ll be a lot of help.”


Phin fluttered around his head quickly, tiny creels coming from him as he looked at the larger man resting on the shoulders he normally would land on. Just to be utterly unhelpful, and mostly because Riz was certain that he had no clue what sick looked like, the blue fire lizard landed on the rider’s back and nuzzled at his cheek hesitantly. Given how he was holding up the sick man with both hands and arms there was nothing for the redheaded candidate to do in order to get the fire lizard to fly away again. Really there was nothing that could be done for that anyway, the little thing was flakey at best and had a tendency to do whatever he wanted thanks to Riz having no idea how to train him.

He was going to have to do something about that! Really! But this time was not that time, this time was time for helping the man he’d found that was burning through him and it brought him no amount of happiness and relief when the healer rounded a corner and came running towards them. Just knowing that there was someone that could help more than he could, given his less than knowledgeable handle on the human form it was more than a relief really. Slowly he stopped, not wanting to jar the man by coming to an abrupt one when he was doing so well at moving determinedly, and waved over the healer towards them as if that would make him get there faster.

“Please help, he feels as though he’s on fire and can’t move very well. I think he has the fever that’s been going through the Weyr and his dragon is too big to get down here.” Panic ebbed into his voice despite himself as he recognized the man before him. Everyone from the healers had played a part in helping heal his terrible Threadscoring that had brought him to the Weyr in the first place, so Rizdax could recognize each of them right away no matter how far away they were. It was an utter joy to see that Phin had found one of the most reliable of them all and he relaxed as the man’s weight was taken off of his shoulders. “He thinks he’s going with you to help you, please make sure he’s okay.”

stella cinere

 

[stella cinere]

There was a blank look on the man’s face as he stared up at the flaming head savior, his mind was slowly trying to process every word he said but instead merely noted a few words and mingled them together in to some sort of phrasing. Regardless Sa’do gave a nod and continued to work on getting his feet to move in the same direction without stumbling or stepping on the other multiple feet he could see when looking at the ground.

“Help….” The words were slow on his lips at the blue looked up at the figure coming towards them and then slowly trying to study the man with the red hair with a blue blob like baby dragon resting on his shoulder. He dragged to a stop his head hanging down as his eyes closed, cheeks still flush with red from the fever as he could hear the voices talk. The voiced concerns were nothing more than garbled mess that he could almost no longer understand except for a few choice words.

In his head it felt like minutes ticked by as the voice yelling mine mine mine kept ringing in his head, there was some vague recognition to why but it only drowned out again as Sa’do felt the heat that was resting against him shifted to the other side. Blinking he looked at the healer and then to the other man before reaching to squeeze a hand, or maybe an arm he wasn’t sure just something. Tears welled up at the corner of his eyes, probably from the heat attempting to almost boil them whole, or maybe just because something, someone, kept feeling as if they were rather upset with him in the first place.

“Sorry…” It was about all he could muster before the healer started to move him forward at a swift pace, one that wrapped all of Sa’do’s attention into so he couldn’t stumble across the stony floor again. It wasn’t long before a few more healers appeared to help him along the infirmary for treatment and possibly restrain him to the bed from causing any problems.

Hattaki

I figured we could wrap it up here OoO