Logs:Goodbye, Lee
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| RL Date: 22 October, 2015 |
| Who: Irianke, Jo |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr, Monaco Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Irianke seeks answers of a Jo who is unwilling to give them. It ends poorly but without bloodshed. |
| Where: Jo's Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 23, Month 13, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: R'hin/Mentions, M'kris/Mentions, Keysi/Mentions |
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| It's well into dinner time at the Weyr. Jo is on her couch in a white tank and loose grey pants, surrounded by stacks of hides that have the content of one wing. She's looking over one stack right now before a table of half-eaten food and a sturdy glass mug of something amber-colored while Tacuseth keeps guard outside on his ledge. The bronze arrives without warning, landing without invitation, and of the two riders atop, the smaller of the pair descends. "You can go. I'll have Niahvth bespeak you if I need a ride back down," says Irianke to Hailstorm's wingleader, who looks a little baffled: using one paramour to visit another. "Go," she urges, shooing the man off with a flicker of her fingers and turns to push past the tapestry and stride into the weyr. "Are you grieving?" asks the Weyrwoman forthrightly, instantly focusing on the woman in the tank on the couch. When Tacuseth finds the bronze suddenly on his ledge, perhaps he sends warning. He's silent either way as Irianke enters the weyr, finding Jo already staring at her once she's there. The hide sheets are in pause in one hand as she looks the Weyrwoman over, not answering right away. Her face drawn and guarded despite not looking like a mess like she was many days before, she carefully lays the hides down and answers, "I am," she answers simply, looking up at her. Head tilting at an angle, "Who was that?" she asks, glancing towards the ledge in indication of the bronzepair that left. "Kamornth," but that's beside the point, Irianke stands just across from the couch, a hand to her hip, planted there. "Talk to me." That's all she says, she doesn't even move or flinch, or anything really, but stand there looking at Jo with the most neutral set to her face. Jo eyes that hand on Irianke's hip with a slight frown, leaning back on the couch before meeting her gaze head on. "Wha'dya wanna know?" is her question now, reaching over to remove the stack of hides from resting beside her on the couch towards the table. "I want to hear it from you. From your mouth. Without the practiced words you're telling everyone else. I want to know what happened and how." Irianke responds, her voice quiet. "Practiced," Jo echoes that one, brows furrowing at her as she stares her down. "I know what I've told," she says quietly, arms coming to a fold across her chest. "Ya seem to know what I've told, too. From that harper?" She doesn't exactly remember his name, it seems. "From the harper." Irianke confirms and finally relaxes, a shuddering breath exhaled. "I've read the report over and over again. No, wait, I lied. From Crom. Crom passed the report over to us. He was one of ours." With the floodgates of rambling open, the goldrider seems unable to stop. "I want to know, without I don't know. Tell me, please, Jo." The plea balls her fists at her side. Looking away as she looks over the cold meal before her, "Then ya know of it," Jo answers on reports, barely shaking her head. Her jaw is tightened when she looks at Irianke again, the last getting a brief, "I was there when he died. I touched his face'n he wasn' alone. I lost someone dear to me. He was a man that understood loyalty. Do ya know how rare that really is?" The words are quietly spoken, as if the bluerider was reminiscing on past memories. Irianke's manicness pauses and she looks at Jo a little oddly, frowning. "Was he?" "When it was needed," Jo answers with a single nod. "When it came to somethin' important. I've had lil' loyalty in my life," she admits now, staring ahead. "A whole lot of judgement. He was a breath of air. A good man. I close my eyes'n I can't get his face outta my head. That last look." Her gaze sharpens on Irianke now. "His blood is still on my yellow top," she tells her, perhaps indicating that the bluerider kept it somewhere in the weyr. "They should've let Keysi see him." The manicness is completely gone now, that desperate need to know faded and in its place, Irianke is cold and standing still once more. Some of what Jo said must penetrate, but a lot probably does not. "I've known him since I was twenty-nine. He chased in Niahvth's third flight and he caught my eye even if he didn't win. We saw each other sporadically over the turns. He was interesting and, for a while, I imagined I intrigued him." Once desperation is filled with a dead apathy. "It's good you think he's loyal. But loyal men don't set out to deliberately ignore someone who's exiled from their home when they're the only friendly face she knows. He was loyal when it suited him and I'm such a fool for thinking otherwise. Good night, Jo." Moving rigidly, Irianke turns and steps towards the ledge. Jo listens, something revealed getting her eyes to narrow a fraction at the Weyrwoman. "Exiled." That's a word she picks out, watching Irianke intently as she turns to leave. "Aren' we all loyal until it serves our purpose? I knew who he was, Iri," she says, her voice a bit hollow. "Folks're loyal as long as they can use ya. I'm not a fool." Reaching for her mug, "But he could fuck'n he was the only one here for turns that didn' go out his way to fuck me over when he had plenty of sources to do so. I've known him for many turns, too. Back before Taikrin was Weyrleader." Beat. "Did'ja really come here to shake a grievin' woman down?" Irianke is pretty much at the tapestry and Kamornth has landed on the ledge when she pauses and looks at Jo. "No, I came so I could hear from you exactly what happened before I go vote in the Weyr Council as to what to do with Monaco. I wanted to hear from you what happened and not a sanitized report. But," the tears Irianke does not shed in public and not in front of anyone since that first night glisten in her dark blue eyes, "I'm afraid anything you say isn't something I could trust as fact. You love him too much to do anything but overlook what you profess to know he was. Goodbye, Lee." There's a finality to it when Irianke walks past the curtain and catches the Kamornth and B'ren train back down to the ground. |
Comments
Squishy (21:58, 22 October 2015 (PDT)) said...
I'm not one bit surprised by this, and yet, I admit I didn't expect Irianke to be so icy about it. Interesting read.
Alida (22:11, 22 October 2015 (PDT)) said...
Loyalty isn't as clear cut as most would have it. It can burn, as Alida knows.
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