Logs:Do-Gooder Doubts
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 8 June, 2015 |
| Who: Dee, Jemizen |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Dee comes across her absentee brother. He hasn't been idle with his time. |
| Where: Inner Caverns, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 11, Month 13, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: N'jem/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Back-dated! |
  |
>---< Inner Caverns, Fort Weyr(#524RJs$) >-----------------------------------<
The Inner Caverns are a winding system of tunnels and caverns, both
natural and manufactured which shows in the smoothness of their walls.
Every commonly used tunnel and passageway has niches carved at regular
intervals to hold glows that are tended by the Weyr's residents. At the
heart of this labyrinth lies the Commons Cavern, the hub of the Weyr's
housing area for both residents and crafters. A tunnel halfway between
those Commons and the Living Cavern, that feeds the Weyr's population,
leads to the Hot Springs despite its access to the Bowl. A curving
passageway connects the main tunnel with the Infirmary.
The Glass Fountain, Fort's bar and restaurant, is around the corner and
down flight of stairs off of the Living Cavern. The best way to find the
beer is to follow the trail of tipsy folks on their way home, or the
echoes of clinking glass and conversation. Well marked with a bold arrow
carved into the rock, a broad passageway dives nearly straight from the
heart of the caverns and down to the unloading area and beyond to Tunnel
out of the Weyr. She's not expecting to run into him when she does. Jem has been all but a ghost; she might even have been beginning to wonder if having a brother at all was some great imagining from a lonely childhood - only, she didn't have a lonely childhood. "Jem," is practically a breath of relief when she all but runs into him in the inner cavern. It's not even moments later that she's hugging him and then dragging him by the arm, regardless of what he was in the middle of doing or not doing, toward a spot where they can talk. "Where have you been? I was about to write to mother to send Dad and have Japieth come find you." No one would want that, would they? Her hand has lingered on his arm, an extension of her sisterly worry for him. Jemizen has been busy! No, really! Witness the sweat on his brow, despite the winter chill in the air. Jem rubs a double-sweatered arm across said brow, raising eyebrows at his own industriousness. "Dee! Hi!" He beams brightly at his sister and allows himself to be dragged away as he announces: "I've been working!" That smile quirks itself into a canny grin as he adds, "It's been awful. Everything I feared it would be and worse." Jem's perspicacity is short-lived, however, as he stares at Dee in wonderment. "Whyever would you bother them about me? I've just been helping out in the stores. You know, keeping track." here he gives an oh-so-subtle eyebrow waggle. "What?" It's a question only to be expected from Dee as her brow creases and she squints at her brother. Did she hear him right? Working? Jem? She tilts her head a little, as if he might be putting her on and her trying to discern truth from fiction (something she no doubt has difficulty with), but then he goes on. "Why would I--" she begins to repeat and then uses the hand on his arm to shake him very lightly. "Because you were practically gone. I never saw you and you've had me worried sick. What if something had happened to you?" while she was here to strictly ensure nothing does? "Keeping track?" It's a real question. She's probably just slow because he started with that outlandish claim about work. Jem waves away Dee's concern breezily. "Gone working. See what happens when you encourage me to do such things? Isn't it better when I'm lazing about and easy to find?" His grin disappears at her question, and he arches one eyebrow as he repeats, slowly, "Keeping track. Of the stores. What goes in--" He points an index finger down the cavern, "And what goes out." Now his thumb points behind him, and he frowns thoughtfully. Dee opens her mouth to answer, only then she closes it. The dawning of realization is plain enough, and so her lips settle into a small 'o' before she's reaching for Jem's hand meaning to take it and use it to leading him down one of the windier tunnels to where they might have a moment with less fear of being overheard than they might in the busy cavern. "Jem," Dee hesitates, "Maybe we shouldn't." Here are the doubts to rear their ugly heads, even if she's non-explicit about what they 'shouldn't.' Jemizen is easily led, and once they've stopped moving he answers her doubts with a shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe not," is agreed in perhaps too blithe a tone. "Maybe so." Another shrug. "But either way it can't hurt to know these things." But then Jem, who has never been particularly good about thinking things through, frowns. "Could it?" "I don't know, Jem," is with sad, uncertain eyes. "What if..." This is always a dangerous road to go down and Dee must realize that much for she stops, worrying her lower lip a moment before going on. "What if there are consequences? What if it's not saving lives, but trading them?" She looks at her brother but this time it's not with the expectation of him having answers; possibly, Dee just needs to share her omnipresent burden of worry. Growing steadily more incredulous, Jem meets Dee's eyes with a level gaze. "Well of course there will be consequences--" He appears ready to unleash a disturbingly reasonable tirade, and reasonableness isn't his look, frankly. But her last question stops him short. "Ah. Umm. Is that... Is that a possible consequence?" Chagrined, he scratches the back of his head awkwardly. It's a good thing answers aren't want Dee really wants. Jem's only reply is a helpless shrug. "Isn't it one? What if the Weyr really doesn't have it to give? What if the Holds won't help them if they need it? Would Holds let their Weyr starve?" Isn't that unthinkable? But Dee's thought of it. Granted, her experience with Holds is brief visits to Southern Hold or the outlying Holds and everyone knows the southern Holds are different than the northern ones. She sighs and then shifts to lean her head on Jem's shoulder. "This is dangerous Jem," she murmurs. "But don't we have to do something?" Do they have to? She's said so before, but... "I don't know." Jem admits, raising his hands palms-up to demonstrate his general clueless and helplessness. "I don't know much about consequences beyond beyond 'will this result in punishment or not?'" He shoots Dee a half-grin, hoping his almost-joke can allay some of her worries. He expells a heavy breath before her head comes to rest on his shoulder. "I don't know enough to tell you what's the best option." One arm wraps around her own shoulders in a brief hug as Jemizen says, whisper-quiet, "But I'm with you, Dee. You can do anything. And I'll help you. No matter what." "We'll need help, Jem," comes Dee's answer to her brother on an exhale. The words are delivered in the moment after she lets herself close her eyes and accept that familiar comfort. It may be that that restores her resolve enough to sound serious. "We'll have to figure out who we can trust." It's probably laughable coming from Dee if the stakes weren't so high; then again, the stakes have never been so high as to matter that Dee's trust is given too willingly to too many. "We can't do nothing." She's decided anew, touching her cheek to his shoulder again in an echo of the earlier one armed hug before she's straightening. "And if you vanish again for so long, regardless of how pure your intentions are," here's the bossy big sister voice, "I will get Crin," her green firelizard, "to chitter at Japieth's head until he's in a foul temper, and then send for him to come find you." It's an empty threat and surely they both know it, but the gesture needs to be made. Jemizen, lacking the necessary capabilities to properly analyze stakes and consequences, is immediately gung-ho. "Yes! We'll get help! We'll do something!" Both hands ball into tight fists, the better to demonstrate his determination. And then, with startling self-awareness: "I'm not... subtle. Or especially organized." Jem has the decency to appear sheepish as he admits these things. "But whatever you want me to do, I'll do." He laughs aloud at Dee's threats, then adds equably, "Including sticking around. And not working too hard, obviously." A wink and another one-armed hug seal the deal. |
Leave A Comment