Logs:Guards Against Idiocy
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| RL Date: 26 August, 2015 |
| Who: Dee, E'dre, Taeliyth, Wroth |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Dee sits in on a Wingleaders' meeting and afterward there's a discussion of bronzeriders and a request that leads no where good. |
| Where: Council Room, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 23, Month 8, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Hattie/Mentions, Ka'ge/Mentions, Lilah/Mentions, N'muir/Mentions, N'rov/Mentions, X'vin/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Back-dated. |
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>---< Council Room, Fort Weyr(#839RJs$) >------------------------------------<
The Weyr's meeting space is a long, oval space with a large stone table
placed in the middle. There's seating enough for twelve around the table:
plenty of room to welcome most of the Weyrleaders and a good portion of
the Lord Holders from the north, though additional seating might be needed
if a Pern-wide meeting were to be held here.
A sideboard stands ready to serve, regardless of the occasion and is kept
well-stocked with carafes of wine, water and several fine liquors. Fresh
flowers, appropriate to the season are changed out regularly in the vase
atop the sideboard. Tapestries depicting Fort's illustrious history from
founding, to Moreta's role in the Plague to Lessa's arrival to bring the
Weyrs forward in time bedeck the walls, leavening the omnipresence of
cool, gray stone. Well-lit, the chamber boasts glows in niches around the
room, as well as oil lamps hanging from the ceiling. The morning has slowly moved closer to early afternoon as the Weyrleader's meeting with the wingleader's of Fort finally begins to show signs of ending. E'dre glances around at those seated at the table and lifts a brow, his fingers steeple together as he asks, "Is there anything else any would like to address?" Head-shakes and murmured refusals meet a nod from the brownrider. "Very well," he stands from his chair, waiting as the others follow suit. He salutes the wingleaders', "You're dismissed. Thank you for your time this morning." Salutes follow E'dre's own and then papers are gathered and all begin to file out of the room. The brownrider turns towards Dee, holding a hand out to stall her from leaving as well. "When they've all left," he tells her, "let's talk about what you thought of the meeting." Dee was still scribbling notes in the small notebook that is her ever constant companion when she's asked to sit in on meetings as part of her goldrider training. It means that she's scrambling to finish what she's writing and stand when the rest do, lest she be impolite by keeping her seat. The salute sees her pencil leaving a faint mark on her forehead as she salutes with it in hand, meaning the need for a rub to the spot as she transfers pencil down to notebook and steps away from her observer's seat to come closer to the acting weyrleader and drop her notebook on the table. "Yes, sir," is polite answer and while the others are filing out, she busies herself fetching the pitcher of water and refilling his glass and then hers before returning the pitcher and taking the seat nearer the brownrider where her notebook and now glass of water waits. "Everything was polite," she offers as a starting observation. E'dre's brows lift as she refills his glass and he murmurs his thanks as he lifts the glass to his lips to sip from. He leans back in his chair as he watches the last wingleader leave with the door closing behind him. "Some are still not too pleased that I picked my own transfers for their wings. For the most part, I think everyone's adjusted to it now. That's the only option I gave them." He considers her notepad for a moment and then looks towards the door. "Have any," he pauses, the excuse of another sip of water filling the silence as he tries to think of the right words. "Have any bronzeriders' been trying to," he clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "To gain your favor?" He sits straighter and sets the water glass down. "Some will try. I know they were trying with Lilah. They know better than to harass Hattie. I am not entirely sure they will behave as gentlemen should with you." He turns his gaze to her then, brows furrowing in his seriousness. "I won't tolerate them harassing you. You need to focus on your training, not on what they may be promising you or trying to sed--," he cuts himself off. He can't quite say that part to her. "They're real bastards when they want something." Dee glances toward where the wingleaders were last seen, perhaps because some of them are bronzeriders or perhaps-- Her eyes don't linger. She nods slowly. "I'd gathered it's par for the course. Mostly they're just nice to me, helpful when they can be, sometimes over-eager to be helpful, but no one--" she corrects, "-almost no one has been doing anything that makes me unhappy." It's not to say that she appreciates the attention, there's an undercurrent of discomfort that's tempered with acceptance. "The hardest part," she confides quietly, "is not knowing who's being nice to me because I'm Dee and who's being nice to me because I'm Taeliyth's rider and--" She pauses to draw a deep breath, hold it and let it out before finishing with, "everything that's expected to come with it." She can't seem to resist asking, "You don't think Weyrwoman Hattie would take the knot back for good if Elaruth rises first, do you?" A girl can hope. A teenager just shy of her eighteenth turnday might make that her upcoming turnday wish even. E'dre's scowl descends as Dee mentions 'almost no one'. He reaches for that glass to wrap his hands around and holds it with more intensity than is required. It never makes it off of the table as he listens to her with a nod here and there to acknowledge her words. "No," he doesn't have the habit of proceeding with care and here he heads right into his usual bluntness, "I don't think she will. Her health--," he shrugs, "and other reasons. Hattie was made Weyrwoman young, you realize. She never truly got to ease into her knot. I think she very much wants to step down." He pauses then, finally lifting that glass up sip from before he sets it back down and scrubs at the back of his neck as he looks to her. "No one should want the responsibility of the entire Weyr. I think it's healthier to not want it. It means you realize the enormity of the task set before you." He looks towards the door, his scowl meant for those that had passed through it than for the girl seated beside him. "The same should be said about those seeking the knot I'm wearing. They shouldn't want it. Not so much as to try and force themselves on a young woman. You shouldn't have to wonder if they are helping you because you are an individual or because you're a goldrider." He shakes his head and looks back to her with a frown. "If you give me names, I'll grab them and shake them until their ears ring. You don't need that right now. You need to be able to focus on your training." Dee's expression isn't so much crestfallen as disappointed; she probably suspected as much, if perhaps not in so much detail, before E'dre answered, but suspecting isn't the same as hearing it again from someone whose experience lends credence to the words. "Then I guess I'm healthy," she says after some moments, looking sad and older than the turns she has already. She squares her shoulders in the next moment, "I'm going to learn what I need to learn regardless of any numbskull bronzeriders who want to waste my time." She pauses and then sighs, "Sometimes, it's nice to just pretend they're just nice people being nice. Thank you, Weyrleader, but I can focus. It's not like I don't have to learn to live with it at some point. What happens if Taeliyth rises and you're no longer here to shake the idiots for me?" It's a question that comes from a place of not wanting to have to fend for herself but seeing the current situation as it currently stands: weyrsecond who took up the acting weyrleader's knot. At some point, there will be change, even if the nature of the change can't yet be known. E'dre turns to her with a hint of a smile on his lips. "I'm sure you'll be able to focus. As far as I've been able to tell, you've been applying yourself well and doing Taeliyth proud. I have no complaints about you." He eases back in his chair, slouching enough to show he's beginning to fall into that easiness he more often shows his fellow wingmates. "They may not all be idiots. They're ambitious and it shows. They should have more class, I guess, is all I can say. My Hematite rider's better not be pulling anything. That'd piss me off." He rubs at his chin for a moment and glances sideways at her in thought. "Taeliyth will rise and someone will catch her. They'll need me, I guess if I stayed on as Weyrsecond but--," he can't finish his thought as he grimaces and his face grows pale. He hisses in pain as he presses a clenched fist against his temple. "Wroth," he manages. The argument that they've had seems to subside and E'dre reaches to down the rest of the water. Wroth's awareness trickles towards Taeliyth, the accumulation of clouds a steady swirl as his storms build in the distance. « Sometimes our rider's need a push too remember their potential. » He's smug with that and it may be all he will say to the young queen unless she wishes him to linger. "Some of them are idiots," Dee seems to feel the need to ensure this is said. "Not Hematite, so far, but N'rov is a friend. A real one." Whatever that means. She glances toward the exit to the bowl thoughtfully. "Sir, would it be too much to ask of you-- the Weyr, really, I imagine-- in light of this bronzerider talk," that she suddenly seems a little awkward about, "to ask if I could get a door put in? Between where Taeliyth sleeps and where I do? Something with a lock on it." This might be a reflection of the kind of class some have shown, but she doesn't seem inclined to volunteer an explanation. "I would be grateful if you remained a presence." Dee chooses the words carefully, words that address another matter entirely, but the look in her expression is earnest. "I have no way to know what kind of person is going to end up Weyrleader. I have no way of knowing now how much I'll still need to learn. What if Taeliyth gets caught by one of her clutchmates? A person who doesn't know any more than I do and with less training?" She gives him the wide-eyed look of one who genuinely worries for such a possibility. Taeliyth's attention is stirred from her let's-not-call-it-eavesdropping-even-though-it-is on the conversation to direct her mind to Wroth, accepting the words with a thoughtful silence, but it must come after some moments, « And what is E'dre's potential? » "N'rov is the sort who is a real friend. Even when he's being dense. He's genuine," E'dre agrees, watching her in a mirror of her own thoughtful expression she turns to the door. Her request turns that expression from thoughtful to angry in a flash as his brows descend and he scowls. "Why do you need a door?" he demands, straightening in his chair. "Has someone- have they really taken it that far? I'll need names Dee. Now. Who has tried that sort of sh-- who has tried it?" He can't seem to grasp any of her other comments, her earnest expression completely ignored as he begins to fall to his own assumptions. "If that bastard X'vin has tried his stunts with you like he did with Lilah--," he takes a moment to catch his breath and allow her to answer him. Wroth does not allow the full force of his personality to descend on Taeliyth, choosing to keep his storms in the near distance and his tone relatively civil for him. « He should not pander to all these bronzeriders. The bronzes have size but they lack finesse. » It is not an offered flirtation, rather a declaration of truth from the cantankerous brown. Dee visibly winces when the demand is made, her shoulders hunching and lower lip getting sucked in to be chewed as she tries to navigate this oh-so-complicated moment. She gets a brief reprieve in the form of a look of surprise, "X'vin? Did he-- with Lilah?" Then it occurs to her to say, "He hasn't-- with me." Tried? Been successful? Something. "It's..." blush-worthy. The young woman's cheeks color as she stares down at her notebook. "The one who came had reason to think I would welcome him." The one who apparently shall remain nameless despite the acting weyrleader's demand. "I'm not sure if it's about becoming Weyrleader, but it could be. I just-- don't want to worry about my privacy at night." She manages to look up at the brownrider then, "If it's a matter of cost then-- I mean-- could it be taken out of my future pay? I could pay what I could now," on a weyrling's meager salary, "and pay the rest after I've graduated?" The brown's words meet with contemplative silence on the part of Taeliyth. Her attention shifts slightly away from E'dre's potential to the matter at hand as her tail flicks irritatedly, « He should remember that in spite of her potential, Dee is still just a girl without a wealth of worldly experience. » Another flick of her tail accompanies the exhasperated: « And that teenagers are idiots. » And yet, « A door would make me rest easier, but I will guard her at night if I must. » E'dre's anger only seems to be building as he listens to Dee. He stands abruptly and gathers his notes from the table in front of him to shove underneath one arm. "I'll have to discuss it with Hattie," he tells her, turning around, "and then I'll still have to think about it. I want a name, Dee. If you feel so threatened -- if this person," he snarls that word to make it sound like he is nearly spitting out the syllables, "cannot respect your boundaries otherwise, then I will think about it. And know it isn't a matter of paying the Weyr for such things." He squeezes the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. "I'll let you know our decision as soon as I am able to." He lowers his hand looks to her, "If there are no other requests? I've got other meetings to attend." His sharpness may be misinterpreted, but he is unable to quell his irritation. Wroth's laugh is a snarly-mess of sounds that resonate against the darkness of his clouds. « They are idiots. Sometimes they do not outgrow it. He is not pleased about the break in. He will find out who it is and they will be punished. » That is not going to change and he adds, « You should tell me who it was. It will make it easier. Since Dee may not want to. » Dee looks taken aback at the rise in temper, but temper is rarely something that scares Dee so it may be no surprise that she is not cowed now. "It's for insurance and comfort. Southern has doors." The wistfulness is stolen from the young woman's face as soon as it comes, her brows drawing down as she looks at her notebook. "I'm sorry to have troubled you, sir. Please consider my request withdrawn; I'll find another way." Doesn't she always? Hopefully, she'll do it without stealing this time. « We're done giving names. » There is a dark certainty that doesn't cross the line to vehemence in Taeliyth's tone. « She asked because this spans the personal and professional, but if E'dre does this, he will end up too much in the personal. Dee may not be allowed many freedoms because of me, but her heart may feel what it wishes for whomever it wishes, » even if Taeliyth might not be thrilled by her heart's choice. « It won't make a difference to me. » This much seems to be said given the rest of what their riders discussed. « My choices are my own. » End of story. (For better or worse.) E'dre shakes his head, his aggravation falling only slightly in the wake of her apology. "It's not trouble, Dee. You have to realize. You ask me for a door to prevent people from coming into your room. Because you don't feel safe enough without one. How can I, as the Weyrleader, in charge of everyone's well-being not be bothered by that request? If you wanted a softer answer to your request, ask Hattie next time. N'muir had to handle one incident of rape at this Weyr. I will not tolerate even the inkling of some asshole's presumptions that he has a right." He shakes his head, papers gathered to his chest, and dips a look down at her. "Speak to Hattie." He turn and leaves then without waiting for her goodbye or giving her one himself. Wroth simply does not agree with the younger dragon and he lets that sense drift towards her. He isn't one to discuss his rider's choices nor is he interested in Taeliyth's explanation. He pulls from their contact with a snap of thunder. That is his choice. |
Comments
X'vin (15:49, 31 August 2015 (PDT)) said...
Excuse you, E'dre. I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fucking bastard.
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