[ prp ] ink and blood (ar'din/shar/durgs)

[medigel]

While Ar'din was capable of keeping up in manual tasks and weyrling training, when it came to the written portions of their homework, his mood sank as fast as a stone in water. Despite having have almost 10 turns with his mentor before being searched, he wasn't fully confident in his ability to write anything beyond short declarative sentences--and that would have been fine if it didn't also mean he had to take scrolls and study things like history on top of that. Sometimes they required specific lengths on responses too! Shards. He had a good memory, but for things like names of past and present riders, without always getting to reinforce it with face to face meetings? It was going poorly.

Alquemieth had a better mind for things like that, but Ar'din didn't like relying on his dragon for knowledge. They were supposed to be as strong standing apart as they were together, though the majority of the month's training had been about strengthening that bond and togetherness. Ar'din couldn't help it: his independence had always been treasured ever since he had been freed from both fighting pit and mine, and the idea that he had to rely on his partner, on anyone for anything non-physical, chafed at his pride. Thankfully the bronze was patient about this stubbornness, and he kept quiet unless His was really and truly struggling.

Which he was now. Settled at a table by candlelight (for the days were all but breath lengths now), Ar'din squinted at the page he had been reading and re-reading several times now, pen clutched in an almost fist. This assignment was due tomorrow, and he could barely keep his mind on the task. He wanted to be out and about doing something, not sitting hunched over the pages like a gargoyle.

At his side, Alquemieth suppressed a yawn. Some cold water might help, he suggested, though it was quite cold enough as it was. Or we may revisit this after dinner.

Ar'din grunted and didn't make a move to get up.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

The days were flying by for Shar now that she was out of the clutch of the healers and free to stay in the dorms with her female clutchmates. Classes were exciting and new, getting to spend time with Yulaniath and learn about each other was invigorating, and every step she took was one closer to getting up in the air and fighting to defend Pern. As a Candidate she had had the same mentality even if she felt like she had been walking in circles at times - there were only so many lessons one could learn before repeating them after all - but now that she was truly a junior weyrling it was all she could do to keep from running towards her future.

It was drawing close to dinner time for which she was thankful, but having completed their chores of bagging firestone she and Yulan had a bit of time to themselves. While R'iz's bronze Bossuth was growing splendidly and Zamistai's brown Nanuth was even surpassing his bronze brother, Yulan was still barely more than a foot in length. Greens were small by nature of course, but it seemed her companion was going to be fairly small even by green's standards if her growth continued in this way. Not that Shar minded considering she wasn't extremely tall herself and it certainly made things like oiling go by much faster, but she hoped that Yulan would be large enough to carry her once they were allowed to begin flying. She had a ways to go to get there but Shar wasn't too worried just yet.

They were heading out to the bowl to play in the snow when a flickering light caught Yulan's eye and a shining hide drew her attention from walking down the hallway. She poked her small nose into the room where Alque and Ar'din sat, the former looking relaxed but stately as always, the latter looking as if he was ready to stab the parchment and table with the quill he had in his hand. Seeing another opportunity for Shar to make nice with the bronzerider, she turned to call to Hers to bring her back to the room.

SharMine, a moment of your time. It seems one of your fellow junior weyrlings is having some trouble with an assignment. Perhaps you could help? The call made Shar turn around instantly, always ready to help a fellow dragonrider or Candidate in whatever way she could. Studies were a massive hurdle for some while a breeze for others and thankfully for her things like reading and writing came naturally. She rounded the corner, ready to offer her services, but the enthusiasm died when she saw who it was. A light pressure on the back of her leg urged her into the room when she faltered, Yulan happily nudging hers into the room.

Good evening, Alquemieth, she said cheerfully but softly to her brother as she crept in behind Shar. Shar was less open about drawing Ar'din's attention, but she knew they hadn't left on a sour note a few weeks prior and it would be better to build on their short conversation rather than burn what small start of a bridge they'd managed to build.

"What's that?" she asked rather than greeting him, nodding to the paper before him. She knew there were a few assignments due in the coming days but so far the parchment was blank, offering her no clue as to what it might be that he was trying to work on.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Alquemieth turned his head to view Yulaniath with one placid, green eye. Although he felt Ar'din bristle immediately at being found, the bronze politely answered, Good evening, sister. She crept in like a child looking to bother a parent, almost, but Yulan was shaping up to be one of the less annoying clutchsibs so far. She was a credit to her color.

"Paper, obviously," Ar'din replied dryly. It was stupid, but he felt cornered, hunched over the empty page like a neanderthal. He expected pity if not sympathy about it and considered just crumbling the page and throwing it away.

Sensing it was best to pull away, Alquemieth got to his paws and stretched. We were just leaving, in fact. Better to have His try this somewhere else if he was going to be irritated about it. Perhaps the history hall would be better suited...

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

The answer was so obvious and blunt that Shar snorted in amusement even if it wasn't meant to be a joke. Clearly she could see it was paper and clearly that wasn't what she had been asking, and yet here they were.

"Really? I thought it was a dragon saddle," she returned with an equally dry tone. She had drawn close enough at this point to catch a peek at what was on the scroll beside the blank parchment and when her eyes caught a few key words and names, she knew it was the history assignment that he was attempting to write. History wasn't the favorite subject of many Candidates and Junior Weyrlings, most finding it dull, but Shar's mother had instilled a great respect of the histories of the Weyr and Pern in general and she had quite a liking for learning about the successes and failures of their predecessors.

Yulan shifted slightly to peer over at her brother who was moving finally, although it seemed he wanted to make a quick exit. Oh no, she wasn't allowing that!

SharMine is quite skilled in history studies, Alquemeith. Perhaps she could offer some help to Yours? She does like to see her peers succeed, she said, moving over to the larger dragon to try to persuade him to stay. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link, after all, While her words were said with nothing but kindness and hope, she knew it would rankle with the bronze. He was far too proud and strong to be the weakest link, but it was clear his rider wasn't confident with either writing, reading, or comprehension. Shar had her own weaknesses of course but studies were certainly not one of them.

"Is that the history essay?" Shar asked after a moment's pause. "That's due tomorrow, you know. I mean, it's possible to do in a night, but kind of stressful to have to complete it in such a short time."

medigel

 

[medigel]

Rankle, she did. I will hear nothing so insulting as that again, Alquemieth said coldly, his long tailfork flicking. Weakest link. They were holding the chain, or would be one day. Mind yourself, Yulaniath.

"Is it due tomorrow? Holy s**t, I didn't know." Ar'din finally turned to Shar since she drew near, his dark eyes glaring daggers. His hand was a fist around his writing utensil; he had a shadow of an impulse to drive it down into her hand. "If you're here to gloat or whatever, just do it already."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Her brother's cold tone and scolding words didn't affect Yulan as they might have Bossuth who was used to cowering before the dark bronze. She stood still and silent for a moment, tilting her head as if in thought, but chose not to speak. Was Alque really so stubborn that he didn't want to better his rider? Or did he think he had the answer to his weakness? Either way, she supposed he wouldn't bother to tell her if she asked. She was just a green, after all.

Behind the little green Shar's brows raised as Ar'din turned to look at her with malice, his words biting and sarcastic. It was like accidentally cornering a feral firelizard who would puff up to look large and intimidating, wings mantled and a low warning hiss leaving its mouth. Any cornered animal would bite if it felt like it had to and although she wasn't afraid of Ar'din, the man was a full foot taller than her and was about three times as broad. Still, like her dragon before her, the small rider didn't budge at the display.

"Gloat? I was going to offer to help you," she said, her tone of voice displaying her lack of amusement clearly. "I get you're not used to this whole Weyr lifestyle thing but we're supposed to be a team here. I help you, you help me, everyone wins. This isn't a solo show."

Will you stay? Yulan asked again, breaking her silence. It would do them both a bit of good to interact more. It was clear to the little green that the two riders were more similar than they probably cared to admit. Independent, not the friendliest of people out there when irritated, strong-willed, stubborn...they may not ever be friends, but with two big personalities like this it took time to get used to one another so they didn't rub each other the wrong way every time they crossed paths.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Would it? Alquemieth still doubted--perhaps would always doubt--the character of this girl his sister had chosen.

Give and take. Sure. Even a feral creature like himself could understand that. He was just waiting for the taking part, what Shar would name as her price. Kindness was never free and rarely genuine in Ar'din's life, and even though the weyr was proving to be different, it didn't mean he could put his guard down. That was when the worst took place.

This was giving him a headache.

"What do you want, then?" he prompted her. Better to know now than to leave it too vague to be taken advantage of later.

The bronze said nothing, his orange-red eyes trained on the other pair. But they weren't leaving, at least.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Shar held Ar'din's gaze, not backing away as the taller junior weyrling thought out what she said. It seemed like he was coming around to the idea of letting her help even if it seemed like it was going to physically hurt him to do so. What he finally said made her roll her eyes even though she knew that was as close to 'okay' as she was going to get.

"For Thread to go away and never return, but we can't always get what we want," she said, pulling out the chair beside Ar'din so she could sit down rather than loom over him at her 'impressive' height. She swung herself down and tossed her legs under the table which turned out to be a bad idea. Her injured shin, while healing as best as it could, was nowhere near completely better and she had just slammed it directly into the leg of the table.

"Shards," she gasped, pain lancing up her leg from the direct hit. The injury she had sustained at the hatching had been a rather deep, wide gash on her shin that had exposed the bone that sat so close under just a thin layer of skin. There had been no way for the healers to stitch the skin closed and they had to rely on her body healing itself, which it was doing fairly well in the form of scabbing over. But with the direct hit to the solid wooden leg, the largest of the scabs burst and she felt blood start to trickle down her leg despite the bandages still wrapped over the wound.

The pain shot through Yulan as well who had been ready to approach her brother a bit more to try to convince him to calm down just a bit, not liking the red-tinged eyes. She gave a cry of surprise and agony, her eyes shifting from a pale teal to grey as she turned to instantly return to Shar's side.

Mine, what is it? What happened? Why does it hurt? she wailed, her tiny body shuddering as she tried to see what had happened.

"Banged. My sharding leg. On the flaming table," Shar hissed through clenched teeth, fighting back tears that stung the corners of her eyes out of reflex.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Ar'din gave her a flat look. Was she not taking him seriously? It was supposed to be a trade, not a...Whatever. He was saved the effort of coming up with a different retort when Shar banged her bad leg against the table, possibly enough to tear a stitch or two by the looks of it. Heaving a ragged sigh, he pushed his chair back.

"Shards." Pushing past the green, he took her leg and stretched it up onto the tabletop, letting Shar lean against him if she needed. "You ever manage to do something and not piss someone off?" Ar'din asked as he leaned over and pressed his palms down on the wound to stifle the bleeding. It was at best preliminary, but it wasn't like they had access to a healer's kit here. He'd only consider moving her if it soaked through the bandages and didn't stop.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Yulan's tiny body shivered with the pain throbbing through her and she both marveled at Shar's strength to not cry out and trembled at how badly it ached. It had been a presence in her mind while the healers had been poking and prodding it but this felt as though a thousand claws had raked her skin. When Ar'din drew in close she moved away, not wanting to get in the way, and dashed back over to Alque to press against his side, seeking protection and comfort from her larger brother. She'd just be in the way by Shar, after all, and the most she could do at the moment was stay back.

Shar gave a yelp of surprise as her leg was pulled from her hands and put on the table, tipping her backwards a bit dangerously. She grabbed the back of the chair to keep from sliding off it and pitched to the side, bumping into Ar'din and stopping her fall.

"You ever ask before grabbing people?" she snarled back, the pain cutting any sort of filter she had in half. The pressure on the wound hurt, but she knew it was the best way to stop the mess she would have otherwise made. She bit down on her tongue to keep from snapping further at the bronzerider, very much aware that he was helping even though she wanted to do nothing more than shove him off. If she was also biting back a whimper of pain as well she wasn't going to mention it.

Is it bad, Sharmine? Yulan asked weakly, her eyes still grey with worry.

No, just hurts, Shar returned, even her internal voice gritting its teeth with the ache. It would pass, she knew. She just had to be patient. She gave her toes a wiggle to see if it made it worse and felt a tiny bit of relief wash over her when it didn't cause any more pain than she was in. Shins were awful to bang even when they were healthy.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Alque repressed his annoyance as best he could—but only because Ar’din told him to not be a d**k for like five seconds. One of his large wings went over Yulaniath in what could be considered sympathy, but he remained tensed nonetheless. Not for the first or last time did the bronze wonder why there had been slim pickings among the candidates that there were so many idiots in his class.

Ar’din shot Shar a baleful look that had all the authority he thought he possessed—and then he pressed down harder. “One of you, get a healer,” he barked at the dragons. “Or fresh bandages. I don’t care.”

Come. Alquemieth directed his sister with his wing, just as he so often did with Bossuth.

“What did you even do to your stupid leg to get it like this?”

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Shar stared Ar’din down as he glared at her but she couldn’t help the flinch or gritted teeth as he pressed down harder on her leg. The pressure alone was starting to hurt more than the smack originally had but she wasn’t about to tell him that. Instead she reached out for Yulan who was quietly fretting by her brother’s stiff side.

Go with him. You know where the healers ward is by heart. Just grab some gauze, don’t trouble any of them with this.

Yulan lifted her head as if to protest but a forceful shove from Shar got her to her feet. She glanced at Alque with grey eyes, although it wasn’t just from fear or pain anymore. She had been genuinely scared and all he could offer her was a stiff wing over her back? No reassuring words or even a nudge? She knew he was a proud dragon but she had hoped he might have even a drop of compassion in him.

She walked beside her larger sibling with drooping wings and head until Shar sent her a wave of reassurance. It was only a bump, the bleeding would stop, and everything would be fine. The confidence in Shar’s thoughts were enough to bolster the little green to lift her head again and tuck her wings against her back, grey eyes now a very pale yellow instead.

After the dragons left, Shar turned her focus back to Ar’din as her pain level evened our enough to speak. “Hm, I wonder. It’s not as if there was a violent hatching a few days prior.” She shifted her weight a bit to not lean on him so much, sitting up from her awkward angle to try to peer at the state of her pants.

“The reason I’m not in the healer’s ward still is because I did what you’re supposed to do if a dragon charges. Drop down and protect your vital bits.” There were plenty of people in the ward still - her best friend included - who hadn’t assumed the fetal position for one reason or another and were paying for it dearly.

“medigel”

 

[medigel]

Alquemieth had no words of comfort during the trip, and he didn't shorten his long-legged gait for his sister's benefit--time was of the essence, after all--but eventually there was a softening. A feather touch of sympathy in her mind, reluctantly given but done nonetheless. He was a dragon prone to lean more into his darker tempers, and it was hard to drum up a well of comfort when there wasn't something more palpable he could do and Ar'din's own frustration had been boiling over for over a candlemark prior.

When they reached the ward, somehow agreeing without conversation that there wasn't any point in bringing someone over, they located a roll of gauze and left without any additional fuss beyond a few curious looks; maybe it was due to the aura of command the bronze held, and the fiery gaze he fixed upon anyone who looked ready to interrupt. Alque maintained his wing over Yulaniath, if it was any consolation.

Ar'din pressed his mouth into a thin line and didn't snark a reply to that, for once. For one, he didn't want to invite retaliation about his own actions during the Hatching--shards, if he was never lectured again it wouldn't be soon enough. For another, he couldn't criticize what was sensible teaching, even though it didn't do the injured much comfort when it left them mangled. But he did maintain eye contact with that dull glare when she turned his way, in a surly bout of stubbornness.

When the dragonets returned with the gauze, he kept one hand pressed to Shar's leg and tugged at the strip with the other, working efficiently despite the awkward position. Only when he was halfway through applying the new layer of bandages did he say, "I'm guessing you don't bother with covering your head, then."

xSilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Yulan felt the very faint brush from her brother, one of genuine if distant comfort, and she glanced his way for a moment as they walked. He was a puzzle, that much was clear, and it boggled her mind how two dragons from the same shell could be so different from one another. How Bossuth could be so kind and genuine and loving but so unsure of his worth and with no self-esteem while Alquemeith was so cold and ridged and angry but so confident and strong. Even the colors of their bronze hides were mirror images of each other, Alque dark and Bossu light. She glanced away after a moment but made a point to walk a little closer to the larger dragon, accepting his sympathy but not running to him as she had before. Yulan had learned her lesson quickly: Alque was not the dragon to look for comfort from. To keep his respect she needed to be strong.

They squirreled away some bandages together with only a few baskets being toppled in the process, leaving a little mess behind as they scampered off again. Yulan was eager to return to the room where they'd left their riders despite keeping a mental touch on Shar during their silent expedition.

Shar was glad she managed to shut Ar'din up at least for a few moments, glaring at his hands on her leg that was keeping the scabbed over wound from bleeding everywhere. He hadn't been a star Candidate at the hatching, that much was certain, but he also hadn't been here that long and hadn't had the rules of standing ground into his head as she had. Shar had also suffered a lesser injury during a hatching a few clutches back, but one that could have been fatal if the dragon had been more exuberant. The light scar bisecting her eyebrow was proof of that and she had been lucky it hadn't gotten her eye.

As the dragons returned with fresh gauze Shar realized she hadn't even asked Ar'din if he was qualified to do whatever he was going to attempt to do, but with the ease of movement despite the awkward position, she knew this was almost second nature to him. Lucky her.

"Not the first time," she said, some of the bite gone from her voice as she watched him pull away the old bandages while wrapping the new, the wound not getting a chance to bleed freely. "Learned my lesson that time. This time yes, I did cover my head. Were you an apprentice healer or something before you got brought here?" she asked, tearing her gaze away from her leg to look at the larger rider beside her.

medigel

 

[medigel]

"Why? There's nothing up there, clearly."

Having to explain his insult was annoying. Shar was clearly a master at being a nuisance. He should have asked Alquemieth to get disinfecting lotion, make it really sting.

"My hands weren't washed," Ar'din told her, either ignoring or answering her question in doing so. "So you might be unlucky enough to get a fresh batch of germs in that open wound. No splinters, though. Watch that wound for the next few days; if it stays inflamed or otherwise ******** with you even a little, bring it to a healer immediately."

Tucking the end of the bandage beneath its layers, he finally let Shar and Yulaniath have space, and Alque pulled his wing back. Reaching for his cup of water, he overturned it on his hands to was her blood off his hands, mopping up on his shirt. "While you're here," he said, slapping the blank page and pen in front of Shar, "might as well do my homework."

I wouldn't, the bronze said dubiously, in private. Her handwriting might be recognized.

Then I'll just rewrite it, or whatever.

SilverLutz