Logs:Making a Mark
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| RL Date: 31 March, 2013 |
| Who: N'ky, Telavi |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Two weyrlings get adventurous, and it goes strangely awry... |
| Where: Diving Cliff |
| When: Day 18, Month 5, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: A layer of gray clouds covers the sky. The air feels cool and damp, but there is no rainfall today. |
| Mentions: K'zin/Mentions |
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| Diving Cliff, High Reaches Weyr Thrusting out from the shadow of the mountain, this long and narrow clifftop might once have been a ledge, but a pile of bramble-strewn, graffiti-chiseled boulders where a weyr's mouth would have been suggests a reason for its abandonment long ago. Though its views of the eastern bowl are grand, particularly the lake itself and the yawning air entrance to the hatching sands, its location makes the diving cliff unique: jutting some ten or twelve feet above the deepest part of the cool, clear lake. Especially in summertime, many climb up the narrow stairs to seek the thrill of a swift fall into the water, but those who just want to enjoy the view can take those same stairs back down: carved directly into the bowl wall, worn and crumbling and slick from use, but enough for the careful to get the job done. Up at the top of the diving cliff is one place free of weyrling dragons... at least for a little while longer. Still, Telavi's compromised, even if she is invisible from down below: lying on a blanket, under a blanket, at the cliff's very edge where she can, sometimes, look down to where her green might be. There's a glowbasket, but oriented to dimly light the notes she's set aside and no more, and she's lifted up on her elbows to look longingly at the small cluster of stars visible through a gap in the overhanging clouds. N'ky's arrival to the ledge is given away long before he's actually visible; the crunch of boots on stone is unmistakeable, especially given that he's not trying to hide his ascent to the ledge. There's the sound of footsteps stopping; a scraping of soles as he turns on the spot, then the steps pick up again - only to stop abruptly once he's able to see up and onto the ledge. "Oh." Soft surprise; he doesn't seem to have been expecting anyone up here. The little bag he's holding clinks, metal-on-metal muffled by leather, as he hides it behind his back, and his crooked smile towards Telavi is awkward, but not lacking warmth. By the time he gets up there, Tela's twisted to sit partly upright, that hint of glowlight catching her hair that's loosened for once instead of stuffed into its cap against maurading lice. Or weyrlingmasters, same thing. Visibly she relaxes when she identifies, "N'ky." Then, "What... are you doing up here?" as though it's a wholly peculiar place for anyone to be, never mind that she was here already. She's begun to smile. "Um... n-nothing." It's such a painfully bad lie that even he can't maintain it; N'ky wrinkles his nose, frowns, and looks from Telavi to the boulders at the back of the ledge. Then the little bag is produced from behind his back, and he holds it up, guilty-looking. "I, um, c-came to add my mark. There." A thumb is jerked to the blocked once-weyr entrance. "D-did I disturb you? I c-can come back later, um, i-if you'd prefer?" "You're stuttering again," Telavi observes, just this side of clinical, before glancing back where he's directed her. "I heard there was a rider here once who stopped when he Impressed, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" There's gotten to be warmth in her voice as slowly she gets up, not that her fellow weyrling isn't still quite a bit taller, but it doesn't seem to matter. "Don't worry. I won't turn you in, if you give me a turn." There's no overt ellipsis between the phrases, just the slightest of teasing pauses. N'ky frowns at the mention of his stutter, shifting uncomfortably. "Um... I've a-always stuttered," he says self-consciously, curling his fingers around the lower hem of his leather jacket; it still looks new enough to retain its supple gleam. "Cailluneth doesn't mind." He releases his jacket-hold to fumble with the bag, tugging on the drawstring top to open it. A hammer and narrow-headed chisel are produced, no doubt borrowed from the Smiths. A cant of his head invites Telavi to join him as he heads towards the boulders, walking along them to pick the right spot. "What would you l-like to carve?" "No reason why she should," Tela mentions with a reassuring glance, reaching down to steal her own glowbasket and bring it with her to light the boulders up, at least a little, for the both of them. She's still smiling, her lips not any wider but her dimples deeper. "And I... have no idea. Why did our weyrlingmasters never test us on this? We could have had to sketch it from memory, express the relative positioning of..." she pauses to look at one of those more closely. "My." Avoiding looking too closely himself, N'ky can't help but peek at what Telavi's seen, and he moves along to the next boulder quickly, hiding his blush. "Um... I-I was thinking of c-caving a shooting star, um, and a moon. Cailluneth's moon." His fingers run over a section of stone that's smooth, almost graffiti-free, and that's it - that's going to be his spot. "I d-don't think these w-would make a good lesson, but, um, I guess they're a k-kind of history... right?" "Over time, or all tonight? I have no idea what a... farrier, wasn't it? Is capable of." Tela's still staring, though she does move over to examine his rock eventually. "I suppose it could be a history, especially if anyone keeps track... just now, I still can't decide whether I'm more impressed by anyone thinking that one back there was anatomically possible, or by them actually taking the time to carve it instead of, you know, something short and sweet." Like his, perhaps. "Farrier, yes." N'ky confirms, pulling out a piece of chalk from the bag to start sketching an outline on the rock. "I've d-done a little bit of m-masonry. We used to help b-back home... I know enough to c-carve something simple." Such as what he's outlining now - a stylised shooting star, overlapping a full moon. "Um... I th-think they m-maybe used their... um... imagination? I w-wouldn't know about... about that sort of stuff." His cheeks are blushed enough to burn, and he's too shy - embarrassed, perhaps? - to look at Telavi. "Did you." He won't look at her, but even if he had, she'd still look at him once he goes on. "Well, you should," and yes, it's a little bit teasing, but Telavi lightens it even more by reaching forward to trace the star with her forefinger if he doesn't stop her. "What's that for? You? If she's the moon..." "Should... what?" N'ky's almost scared to ask. He looks sideways to Telavi, quickly looking away again at the happy distraction her fingers are. The shooting star smudges under her touch, and he reaches up to gently capture her hand in his much bigger one, stilling it almost apologetically. "I j-just like shooting stars, really. They're, um... p-pretty beautiful." He shrugs one shoulder, giving the greenrider's hand a gentle, friendly squeeze before he lets go. "Learn to use your," Telavi's pause is brief, "imagination, of course!" She doesn't protest that other greenrider's stealing her hand, though there's a certain bemusement to the curve of her mouth, watching, even before she twists her neck around to look up at him. "Hmm. I wonder how many of them you'll get to see, over here, with the clouds and all. Does it clear up come summertime? At Benden," but she stops. Maybe they've heard enough 'At Benden' by now. N'ky's dark eyes turn skywards, seeking a patch in the clouds that allows him to see the sky beyond them. He smiles, then nods to Telavi. "The skies get c-clearer when the weather's warmer. Then, the stars stretch on f-forever... especially i-if you're, um, up in the m-mountains. L-like where I'm from." He puts the finishing touches to the outline, going over the shooting star once more, then sets the chisel's head to the stone and gets ready to carve. "Y-you can tell me about B-Benden, if you'd like? Um... a-anything to... t-to distract my imagination." Telavi gets a pained sort of look, including a very shy smile, before he turns his attention back to the boulder and starts tapping away at the chisel's end with his hammer. "And where would that be? Maybe we'll get bonus points if it shows up on a make-up exam," and Telavi may rarely stop teasing, but it's more gently now. She does watch what N'ky's doing with that chisel, the angle and placement, very closely. Though instead of describing her home immediately, "I wonder. I wonder if there's anything still beyond those rocks, or if it's only rocks and more rocks all the way down. You said you did masonry. Do you know what it would take to get some of these out of the way without, you know, falling on us and crushing us to little bits?" "F-Far Reach. It w-won't show up on an exam." N'ky seems pretty certain about that. He stops chiselling to consider her other questions, placing his palm flat on the boulder beside his work, looking thoughtful. "Um... I o-only helped out a bit, wh-when they needed... I'm m-more of a metal-worker, r-really. You know who m-might know, though? Waki. H-his family are miners." The chisel is lowered, and he looks up, thoughtfully. "I w-wonder if we could... c-can you climb?" "Pity. It would make it so much easier." Telavi catches herself in a shiver, and then pulls up her jacket's collar, tucking in her long hair with the automatic care of one who does it all the time. "Of course I can climb! Do you think it's solid enough, though?" The dirt and brambles do probably help, but meanwhile she adds, "I'll have to remember that, about you and metal. And Waki, he's K'zin? All sorts of hidden talents! I'll ask, just don't you beat me to it." Telavi might find it cold, but N'ky shucks his leather jacket, lying it carefully over a smooth boulder. "Waki's K'zin, yup." The answer's short and quick, as he hauls himself up onto the boulder in front of him - it's a pretty decent way up even for someone of his height, so he kneels down and offers his hand to Telavi, to help her up if she needs it. "F-farriers work with metal and r-runners," he explains. "I made r-runnershoes, mostly. They're lucky, you know. F-farriers are meant to be l-lucky too - I th-think it's 'cos we make lucky 'shoes." "Well, then." Regardless of whether she needs the hand, it doesn't seem as though it will hurt, so once Tela's fingers and toes have taken advantage of the crannies to get herself partway up, she employs his hand to help swing over the edge. She's more solid than one might expect to look at her, though her lean muscle's nothing like what a guard or smith-- or the rider she will be?-- will have built up, but agility and balance help compensate. "Next time," she suggests, giving the remaining heap a speculative examination, "boost me up first? I could use some good luck." N'ky tilts his head to the next boulder - one behind them, the top of which is just higher than his shoulders. "H-here..." Crouching down, he laces his fingers together to form a step - not unlike what you'd give someone mounting a tall horse. "M-my gran used to say my c-curls were lucky." Not that he has them now. If Tela takes advantage of his boost, he lifts her easy enough, perhaps a touch too enthusiastically; while he may not be built as big as the other proper Smiths amongst their weyrling group, he's not exactly weedy, either. Once she's up, he jumps and hauls himself up after her. Telavi saves her reply until after she's made it up, and righted herself from hands and knees. "Did she have curly hair?" she has to ask, starlight momentarily catching her grin. "Or did your grandpa? ... One more, I think, and then it's easy from there. Next time, I'll have to remember gloves." Still, she's not shivering now, and there's exuberance to how she looks out, out and over their world. "He did," N'ky confirms, offering another boost up to the next boulder. Once he's up there alongside her, he leans back against the pile-up behind them, breathing in deeply and admiring the view. "Wow," he exhales, before climbing just a little higher, to where he can sit atop a boulder and have his feet dangling down in front of him. It puts him higher than Telavi, and he grins crookedly down at her. "If the view's th-this good from here, imagine wh-what it'll belike when we're flying." Telavi could climb even higher to catch up with him and then some, but why bother? His boots are right there, ready for her to poke at a couple of times. "Amazing," she says, though there's something beneath her tone. Assuming N'ky hasn't kicked her off the mountain by then, she reaches back beneath her and finds a pebble that she'd been sitting on, more of a rock, really, just small enough to fit into her palm. She hefts it, eyeing the lake far below, then glances back over her shoulder at him with a touch of wickedness. "Not that it's a sack of firestone, but..." Should she? Is there really any question? N'ky bites down on his lip, uncertain about whether she should or not. "Um... c-can you get it as f-far as the lake?" Because that shouldn't hurt anyone, right? "There's n-not likely to be anyone in there, n-not now." He fumbles about to find a pebble of his own, though the one he manages to get is much smaller - they probably won't even hear it hit the water as he hoys it out, putting as much into the throw as he's got. And... silence. Nothing. "Huh," he says softly. "Y-your turn?" "I won't be able to get it further than the lake," Telavi promises, which should be even safer. She gladly applauds one-handed for N'ky's toss, hand cupped on her knee, then straightens enough so she can really get a good swing and follow-through, bracing on the stone for balance. "One... two..." and this time she flings it in a flat, hard arc. And listens. N'ky laughs. "If you could get it f-further than the lake, I'd be impressed." After he's watched her throw the stone, he closes his eyes to concentrate on hearing it fall; teeh pressed into his lower lip, he catches the faint clatter of stone tumbling on stone, as if a mini rockfall's been triggered. He snorts another laugh, reaching down to pat the top of Telavi's head in a gentle, playful consolation. "Are there any m-more?" Telavi waits until she too can hear... and then shakes her fist in the air. "No being impressed tonight! I guess I can't sell myself out, work the Gather circuit, after all." But that pat makes her eyes veer up, her brows going up with them, and she says ominously, "Is your hand clean?" in a close imitation of one particular harper who keeps hinting about the state of their hidework. Not that it stops her from digging around to try and locate another even so. Said hand is held up to his face for examining; N'ky shrugs, then rubs it along his thigh. "No? B-but you stood on it, and I've just c-climbed all the way up here, so..." So how could it be clean? He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he watches Telavi look for another stone. "I th-think I'm going to finish carving up here." The rocks are smooth and there's plenty of room for it - so it's just as well that little masonry pouch is hooked onto his belt. "D-did you decide on s-something? Would you like it up h-here?" "Fine, be practical." Telavi sniffs, and shakes her head so her hair threatens to come out of its confinement. Note, she doesn't straighten it with her hand, no cleaner than his. "It's hard enough finding time to wash it properly," she admits, "so it has time to dry and not stay soggy all day. Tonight... I just wanted to let it out of its braids, for once." She'd begun to look over the remaining rocks somewhere in there, what she can see of them, and now she finally answers him. "No, I haven't decided. What I want to do is try and lever a big one down and see if there's anything behind it... but that wouldn't be smart, would it." Yet she's far too clearly tempted. "It, um, l-looks very pretty. Moonlight looks g-good on blonde hair." N'ky's compliment is a little awkward, but genuine enough. He turns to start sketching out the moon and shooting star again, much quicker about it this time and soon enough, he's chiselling away on a much bigger design than he'd worked out on the rocks below. "It would t-take a lot of levering to, um, g-get that to move. H-how would you do it, Tela?" "Thank you," though Tela's voice drifts off near the end there. She swings her legs around, balancing, so she can lean on the rock and better watch him work. "Just like anything else," she supposes after a while. "You pry it open a little, secure what you've got, and do it some more until you get what you want...." Her words are separated, though, more or less between the chisel's scrapes. A little while later, "Something like what you have, maybe, but longer, more for prying with. Not that I'm a miner." N'ky continues chipping away as he replies. "Um... f-for a big rock, you'd need m-more leverage, and... w-well, I think you'd h-have to shore up all of the others, too, so y-you'd know for sure you wouldn't end up, um, s-squashed." Tumbling rocks can do that, y'know. "Wh-what if there's something horrible inside?" He looks over his shoulder and down at Telavi, lips pursed thoughtfully. "M-maybe it's purposely blocked off?" "I do not, it's true, especially want to get squashed." Telavi stretches, then turns that into a reach, finding a couple pebbles which she flicks carelessly downhill. "It'll happen someday, but why hurry it? But I'm not worried about finding anything awful." She does peek at his expression right before pointing out, maybe a little loftiily, "Even if there's a dead body, it would have rotted all to bones by now. What worse could there be?" "I'd r-rather not see a dead body in a-any state." N'ky shudders, wrinkling his nose as he looks down at Telavi and shakes his head in distaste. The outline of his moon is complete now, and he starts working on creating a rounded, convex surface for it - there's a lot of work going into this particular piece of graffiti! "Have you s-seen a dead p-person before? It's n-not nice... it's k-kinda creepy. I h-had to help with my grandpa." "Bones aren't so bad, not when they're clean. My uncle's friend, he carves patterns into them and makes them into things, combs and brooches and all sorts." Though Tela does say quickly, "Not human bones! But what do you mean, you had to 'help' with your grandpa?" She's watching N'ky, now, more than even his work, to the extent the starlight allows. "When he died. I h-helped clean him up, and s-stuff, um, before we... y'know." N'ky shrugs uncomfortably; this makes the chisel slip, and he groans in annoyance as a chip comes out of the painstakingly-worked curve.Nothing to do about it now, though, other than to keep going. "Um... b-bodies aren't that nice, n-not when they're d-dead. Bones are ok... I don't like them, but they c-can be useful. L-like for making things. My aunt h-had a very pretty b-bone necklace." Tela doesn't say anything at first, but she does crinkle her nose. Not at the chip, though she does ask, "Are you going to do anything about that, or just leave it?" before circling back to bodies. "I didn't say they were nice, just that it wouldn't be as horrible as all that, it's not like I'd 'run like a girl,'" to quote one of the other boys, right down to his accent before mischief reenters her voice. "Though I don't promise not to scream like one! I don't have a bone necklace, but I do have a bone folder he made me, I use it for marking cloth when I can instead of chalk." N'ky's long fingers run over the chip, and he shakes his head. "N-no, I'll leave it. Um... moons have c-craters, right?" Accidental... realism? He blows dust from the rough-c arved lunar surface, stroking his hand over it once more before he sets to work adding detail to the shooting star relief that crosses over it. "You'd not be able to run, n-not from here, b-but, um... there'd be no point in running, anyway." Grinning lopsidedly, he jerks his headto invite Telavi up to join him, holding down his hand to help her up. "P-pick something for me to c-carve for you? D-do you mark cloth a lot?" "Craters?" Telavi sounds a touch perplexed, but agreeable. "I know they don't look all the way smooth in the distance-viewer, if that counts," but she's also agreeable to taking that hand up and making a different sort of final decision. Looking over the nearby rocks, "I could so run, it's the ankle-breaking and then the stopping that's the hard part... May I borrow your chalk? I mark it when I need to, I'm a seamstress, but the folder's best with straight lines because then you can put a straight edge against it and just go. If I need anything semi-permanent, I use thread." She runs her fingers over a small boulder neighboring his, this one dark but veined with white in a way that's a little too irregular to be right down the middle. The chalk is handed over, and N'ky gets back to work. "Oh, you make c-clothes, and things? That's cool. I'm awful with a needle. I c-can't thread them, n-not at all." He chisels detail into the tail of the star, tiny, fine lines running back and fading into the boulder. "At the Smith Hall, they've g-got a really strong distanceviewer. Um, y-you can see the moons much more clearly, a-and they have all sorts of dips and bumps on them." Even so, they're likely to be more smooth than his crudely-hewn surface; it's roughly convex, but needs a lot of refining. "Did you like being a seamstress, Tela?" Telavi looks at him with some concern, even when the chalk's already in her hand. "Is it your eyes?" she guesses, slow to actually put that chalk to work. When she does, it shouldn't take long, since it's just the letter 'T'... but she puts serifs on it, carefully formed and with the slants marked, probably far too ambitious. "That sounds exciting, looking at them up close, at least the first time. And I do like... wait, I see what you're getting at," unless she doesn't, but she doesn't seem uncertain. "I did like it, I do like it, I'm going to put it to work when we have time again. So many people wear clothes that aren't fitted well and they don't even notice until they put on something that's just right," but Tela stops there before she proselytizes further. "Um, no. My f-fingers are too big, and needles are too small." N'ky shrugs, chipping away as he listens to Tela. The big about clothes has him frowning, and he comes out with a quiet "Oh." A beat follows, after which he continues; "Um... i-it's hard to find stuff in the s-stores, sometimes. I'm, um..." Tall. Lanky. Awkward. A gangly colt, anthropomorphised. "... k-kinda an unusual, um, shape," he settles on, shrugging his shoulders. Hm. "What you can do is poke the needle into something that's more comfortable to hold," Tela suggests, "Even a piece of heavy twill, and then hold that. Of course, the thread's even smaller," but she's smiling again. "And you, you're a boy and pretty much a straight up and down boy at that, so you're a lot easier to fit than someone with curves, even if there's not a broad choice in hand-me-downs and it takes a lot of fabric if you don't piece and piece. Here," and she reaches for the chisel. "Show me what to do." She's been watching, but sometimes words help. "Waki w-wanted me to dress differently. Well... I th-think that was K'zin t-talking, really." N'ky apparently believes there's a difference between his friend, pre- and post-Rasavyth. He hands over the chisel and hammer, grabbing a more fine-pointed pair from his toolbag. With a gentle, guiding touch, he settles her fingers correctly on the chisel, pressing the tip of it against the stone. "H-hold it at this angle, then t-tap gently on the end with the hammer. Gently, but with enough f-force to make an impression..." The movement is mimed, and he nods for Telavi to go ahead while he watches. "S-sometimes I'd like to look a bit better, b-but what's the point? We're all g-going to get dirty, anyway. And it's n-not like anyone notices me." "There's a difference?" Telavi's obedient in accepting his guidance while trying this new skill, if nothing else, gauging the angle and performing some unvoiced calculation. Along the way, the chisel slips, and she has to reposition it before giving it that hammer-tap, doing her own miming before trying a real blow. Which is, predictably, too soft the first time. "They don't walk into you, do they?" the girl murmurs, distracted. "It's not just for looks, N'ky, it feels better when you have something that fits, you can reach with full movement but," there she goes, getting distracted some more. By the time she gets to the third time, it's a harder, more centrally placed blow. N'ky works more detail into his shooting star while his fellow weyrling talks. "A bit. Um... I-I think I only notice it because I've known him f-for so long." The tall teen shrugs, blowing along the line of the star's tail to clear away dust, revealing the little lines he's just finished. "But I th-think dragons change all of us. Do you think Solith ch-changed you?" He sets about working in more rough detail. "No-one walks into me, that's not what I, um, what I meant." His brow furrows, and the chisel is set down so he can run his fingers through his choppily-cut curls. "I'm c-comfortable how I am, b-but I think m-maybe someone will like me more if I, um... I dunno. I dunno at all." "Like how? And have you?" Has she? It's all less interrogatory than the multiple questions might imply, with that same distracted, near-breathy quality. A few chips come off in succession, and Telavi starts to flex her knees and ankles like she might jump in excitement before thinking better. And yes, there's a gash along the way when the chisel slips, but she's learning! "I don't think I changed, not really. She isn't as... prodding as people keep talking about their dragons, she's just there," and Tela seems fine with that, even relieved before she glances back at N'ky. This time, "We're talking not walking into, but being into you?" She gets a couple more chips, shallow off-center ones, concentrating. "Are you picky?" "I th-think I have, a little. Not too much, b-but I feel different." N'ky shrugs, leaning in to watch Telavi with his own tools put back in the bag - he's done with his piece, for now. The slip of the chisel makes him wince, and he holds up a hand for her to stop. "Like this," he instructs, curling one hand over hers where it holds the chisel, while the other takes an equally light hold on her hammer-wielding hand. He directs her for a few strokes, then leaves her to do it herself. "Am I p-picky about what?" Again Tela accedes to his moving her hands, and after that direction, manages by dint of careful copying to clink-tap-chip clink-tap-chip her way further along. It's painstaking work, with none of N'ky's ease and made more difficult by how demanding she is of her design, but eventually she gets to actually working the crossbar. "Like, does it have to be more than just someone else's hand instead of yours in the dark?" N'ky looks blankly at the other greenrider, his brow furrowed in confusion as he tries to work out what she means. "Um..." His brows go up, and he shrugs, giving up - "I g-guess it depends on wh-what the hand's doing?" This time Tela does look over at the taller weyrling, perplexed in her own right: can he be for real? "And that depends, how?" She blows hard at the dust she's made, and uses the chisel to push back her hair before starting in again with more vigor this time. "Don't think we can't hear the noises you lot make at night. We're just ignoring it. Or, mostly ignoring it? You boys are so lucky." Again, a blank look from N'ky; then the gears in his brain start working. Fast. "B-but I always try to be quiet, wh-when we're up..." Because the innocent mind goes straight to the fact that he's a nightowl, and is awake most of the night with Cailluneth. And then the mark drops, leaving him staring at Telavi in wide-eyed, slack-jawed horror. "Y-you mean... what?!" The fact that that has been brought up has him blushing bright red, from his cheeks to his ears. His long legs are drawn up to his chest so he can clunk his forehead down on them, covering his head with his arms as he groans in embarrassment. Slam. Is that really good for the tools? Hopefully they can withstand abuse, even if the edge of the rock furthest from the 'T' can't. It crumbles. Tela looks gratified in this if absolutely nothing else. "What did you think? That we conveniently turned deaf?" "Idon'tdothat." The words tumble out, muffled by N'ky's knees. His fingers tense and knot into his curls, staying there even as he peeps up at Telavi with an expression that says 'kill me now'. One foot begins to twitch nervously, his heel bobbing up and down anxiously fast. "I-it's not me. I d-don't." Teeth are sunk so deeply into his bottom lip that it's almost white with the lack of blood. "Right. That's what the harper said to her father." Telavi's still not looking at him, if only because there's an initial to finish, and after that the rest of the boulder if this keeps up. "So lucky." Tap. Tap tap tap. As long as he's gotten her ranting anyway, bitterly, "You lot can toss off at a moment's notice after lights out or when you change or please the first shell, not in the baths, please please please. There's no 'things are a little bit off' here or 'things are distracting' there or 'someone just sneezed, I'm going to die of the plague and Moreta's too dead to save me,' right when it was getting good." Slam. The look goes from 'kill me now' to 'why hasn't the earth swallowed me up yet?' N'ky gawps at Telavi, absolutely clueless how to respond - and not sure whether he's got the physical ability to anyway. Won't this send his stutter into overdrive? That second slam though has him jerking into life, worry for the tools pushing him forward to his knees so he can reach out again for Telavi's hands, holding them still. Not directing, not this time; just holding them as he shakes his head at her. A deep, calming breath is taken, followed by a motion to suggest she calm down with the hammering a little. This time she isn't so easily held, this time for a moment it might not just look but feel through her tense wrists and the shift of muscle as though she'd hammer his hand instead. But that's before Tela doubles over with a sudden gasping outcry as though she'd just been hit over the head instead. ... which freaks N'ky out. He cries out too, backing up on the boulder as if he's been burnt. Tensed in uncertainty he watches Telavi from his 'safe' distance of a foot or so away from her, hands held up with long fingers spread in front of him. What'd he do? What'd she do? What's going on? Anxiously, he looks down to the ledge below them, then out across the lake, looking for something - someone? - before his worried gaze settles timidly back on the green weyrling. "T-... Telavi?" Solith's not in view, not in the dark and not at this distance, but the way Telavi's curled over and holding her head might just be reminiscent of certain other weyrlings in the earliest days. Her breathing comes sharp and fast until eventually it collapses into a breathy panting, not the kind heard raggedly in a different sort of dark. She may not immediately fall off the boulder or anything, but neither does she have any thought toward hanging onto the tools. Crawling forward on his knees, N'ky reaches out for Telavi, tentatively touching her shoulder before curling his fingers around in a comforting, concerned hold. He moves to prise the chisel from her hand, then, taking advantage of the fact that he's bigger, he wraps his arms around her and hauls her against him; half pressed to his chest, half in his lap as he leans back against the boulder behind them, legs splayed out in front. "Tela! Tela? Wh-what's wrong? Sh-shall I get Quinlys?" Because he sure as shards doesn't have a clue! The chisel he can have, and for a few moment he's successful at the hauling as well despite her uncharacteristically weak protests, though with them comes a lurching sound from the other weyrling's throat like she's abruptly motion-sick. She hasn't any words to answer him with. Not until, suddenly, her push strengthens and her voice coheres and he's going to risk an elbow if he keeps hanging on because she's trapped and she's got to get down and Telavi says it, "I've got to get down. Why did she do that? N'ky," and she starts to scramble to leave. There's no risk of N'ky holding on, because that sound makes him all too happy to release her. He doesn't get it at first, until the why did she do that? And then, he thinks he can understand. "S-Solith? D-did she make you f-f-feel sick?" Extra stammering because he's nervous; he takes a moment to get his thoughts together. "C-Cailluneth does it to me, too - it's -o-ok, it's j-just in your head..." It's a nod, or maybe a shake of her head, but maybe somewhere N'ky's words do sink in for later even as Telavi's sliding down the boulders and then afterward half-stumbling down the stairs, basket and notes and blankets forgotten. The hammer's disappeared along the way, too, unless he took that as well. When he catches up, if he catches up, he'll find her some distance from the edge of the water, Solith looking at her through several-lidded eyes but not touching. Yes, Tela threw up. But at least she didn't throw up on him, and if he's at all careful, he won't step in it! Getting back to the barracks should, by comparison, be easy. N'ky, luckily, has longer legs than Telavi. It doesn't take him long to clamber down after her and catch up, flustered and panicked and absolutely clueless as to what's going on. When he gets close and sees the weyrling with Solith that he stops, keeping a few metres between them and... watching. The moonlight doesn't highlight that she's been sick until he finally approaches, and then he's all softly-softly, apologetic and sympathetic. "O-oh, Telavi," he murmurs soothingly, carefully skirting the mess. "Are you o-ok?" A gentle hand rests on her shoulder as he peers down at her, then at Solith. To Solith, Cailluneth's sleeping presence is roused, worried yellow-green whirling across the coolness of her moonlight mind as she reaches for Solith. An unspoken question asks if everything's alright, a suggestion of green appearing to represent Telavi. At least Telavi's reply is coherently garbled even in its unhappiness, along the lines of, No, absolutely not, no. Also, it seems she wants him to know, her mouth tastes wretched. Clutching for his arm, she clumsily makes for the barracks, every now and again giving Solith a wary look. For her part, to Cailluneth, the normally breezy green's instead tangible turbulence, by now navigable but every now and again jolting with another gust. She stays where she is until they're well past her, but by the time they make it further along, there she is up ahead again. And again, until they're just shy of the threshold and Tela lets N'ky free at last. "I don't want them to notice," she whispers, and she must be all right, for she even thinks to pull back her hair. "Sorry." She goes in, and Solith goes in, but Telavi doesn't touch her dragon, and she forgets to ask him not to tell. A sturdy leaning-post all the way back to the barracks, with an arm wrapped comfortingly around Telavi's shoulder to steady her. When she lets go so does he, and he looks at her with concern creasing his brow. He nods when she says she wants no-one to notice, then shakes his head dismissively when she apologises. "It's alright, T-Tela." He doesn't get to watch the pair for long before Cailluneth emerges from their couch, eyes whirling worriedly as she bounds towards him. "It's alright, Cailluneth," he echoes, soothing her with gentle fingers along her headknobs; she's big enough now to have to bow his head for him to do so. Without another spoken word, he leads his green back out along the way that he's just come in with Telavi, no doubt to go and collect the abandoned things. |
Comments
Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:58:45 GMT.
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...Oh ho ho. I have my theories, but I've been wrong before. How curious. And I loved Telavi's rant there, in the middle. XD Poor, confused N'ky.
K'zin (Wakizian (talk)) left a comment on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 07:07:49 GMT.
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I missed this scene when it got posted. So glad you mentioned me so I found it to look! AWESOME stuff! :D
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