Logs:Tea Time - No Tea
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| RL Date: 20 May, 2013 |
| Who: Vienne, Z'ian |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Z'ian and Vienne have some catch up time to discuss tithes and leadership and lies and such. |
| Where: Brickwork and Boulders Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 2, Month 11, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, Azaylia/Mentions, E'sren/Mentions, K'del/Mentions |
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| It was well into afternoon when Oswinth dropped by, a bit stiff in his carriage, in all senses. When Vienne hopped down in her usual demure attire, still clinging to her skirts as the weather turns cold, though now with stockings. She brought along the social lubricant of a snack, a small basket of mixed fruits from water climes and assorted nuts and cheese. Lunchtime was a while ago and dinner is still a ways off. And so sitting around at his table, idly munching, talking about members of the wing ensued. "Did you ever hear anything more about those tithes?" she wonders, head cocked to one side as she slices off a little sliver of hard cheese. A man can never turn down a woman that shows up with food. Isn't that a secret passage to the heart or something, the stomach? Someone should let the healers know. Z'ian chews on a piece of fruit, rolling his shoulders idly when she asks her question. "I saw Azaylia a few days ago." He answers, pausing to swallow. "She said that Aishani and Lady Edeline spent a lot of the time talking with shadows and being kind of catty with one another. At the end Tillek agreed to release the tithes, but really, we'd already secured them by that point anyway. I haven't seen Aishani, not that I think she'd want to see me at this point anyway." That's why people soothe heartache with food, right? A happy belly is a happy heart? But yes, Vienne is no dope and visits are always friendlier with a little something brought along to occupy one's hands. She should probably have brought a drink, too, since the last time she was here, Z'ian had nothing to offer but whiskey. "'Release the tithe'," Vienne repeats, rolling her eyes a little. "Was it being held hostage? Sitting on our doorstep with just a little hedge for us to jump over? Aishani mentioned that Edeline is good with words; I haven't talked to her, myself." As if the bluerider's opinion on the matter is undecided until she's seen the proof. "I guess it all worked out in the end," she supposes, if her Wingleader hasn't heard anything more. "I wonder what did Azaylia did while Aishani and Edeline were talking in circles." It's true. That's all he has to offer now too and he probably has already offered the hard alcohol. This is a bachelor weyr in every sense of the word. "Secretly that man who was leading the tithe train was a master of physical combat. He would have taken down us and our dragons." Z'ian smiles quickly for the joke, popping the remainder of the fruit into his mouth. "I met her after the fall at Tillek. She seemed upset? That's probably not the best time to judge a person." As for the role that Azaylia played in that meeting, "She mentioned feeling as if she was making the problems worse. But then I don't know that the two of them were going to come out of that without licking some wounds." Vienne whistles low. "I guess we're lucky we sweet-talked him like we did," she says of that 'deadly' man. Tempranillo, was it? And how nice of her to include Z'ian as a party to the sweet-talking. Onnly after that faux-serious bit of play does the bluerider flash a cheeky grin. "No, I'd imagine Lady Tillek is a different creature altogether when she's at her own table, when she's holding all the string and waiting for everyone else to dance. But at least it's done for the moment. I wish it wasn't such a worry. With everyone going on in the Weyr... But maybe having trouble coming from the outside can... unify things. If that's possible." She doesn't sound hopeful. "We're lucky that you sweet-talked him like you did. I mostly fumbled around and felt confused about why I was even there." Z'ian rolls his eyes good naturedly for the entire event, reaching across and chunking off a piece of cheese. "I think Holders are an entirely different beast even when they're not at a 'table'. I'm a little too common to get on with them, maybe Azaylia feels the same way. The straight forward approach doesn't always work." It should though, his voice indicates. "I wish I thought that was true. But I don't really know. That kid, E'sren. He was asking me a lot of questions the other day. I felt terrible that I didn't have all the answers. All I could do was tell him other people felt the same way, confused. But that the Weyr wasn't going to burn down." "I wonder, really, if it didn't play right into Edeline's hands. Going to see her about the tithe. I wonder what would have happened if the weyrwomen had just shrugged, asked you to sign and sent everyone on their merry way." She slips the block of cheese toward Z'ian, for an easier reach. She makes no remarks about her sweet-talking, though her quick smile is both pleased and embarrassed. "E'sren, one of the weyrlings," she says, just sorting out for herself which young man they're speaking about. "What did he want to know?" "She probably would have had a very boring evening. She wouldn't have gotten to play daggers-with-words with Aishani and watched Azaylia squirm uncomfortably." Z'ian shakes his head for that. There's nothing much that the two of them can really do about what went down between the Lady Holder and the two goldriders. "He's a bluerider. He was with us and the other two when we went to get the tithes, asks a lot of questions." There's a grin of mild amusement for that particular personality quirk. "He wanted to know what was going to happen. What people were going to do. Wanted to know what had happened with Iolene's gold and all of that." As Z'ian talks, Vienne's mouth twists thoughtfully to one side. She reaches for a strawberry to otherwise busy it, and only after the bronzerider is done, and the chewing is done, does she sigh. "I see what you mean. Not that anyone has those answers, that it's even something you should know, but just... to have someone looking for guidance, being the bearer of the news that... there is no guidance. We're all just standing on the edge of the unknown." She reaches for another strawberry. "Speaking on men on the edge," the bluerider says with a lilt of humor in her voice, changing the subject and tone with one segue. "How's K'del?" Whether she assumes they haven't spoken since the night of the big exposure or not. "I never expected myself to be having these kinds of conversations." Z'ian admits as well, shaking his head again. He eventually ends up just leaning back in his seat, his long legs stretched out under the table beneath them. There's a snort of dry laughter for that segue. "He's as good as he's ever been, honestly. He's been hiding the truth from everyone for so long that it has to feel good for it to be out. Even if it doesn't necessarily cast him in the best light. Not that he's been the pillar of excellence in other regards, but." "Never? Not even with your kids?" Vienne asks with a knowing little smile, that makes her question less of one. "As good as ever. I feel like his... pull on the Weyr is slipping, which might be for the better. I'm not sure that it was ever to anyone's benefit to have people dragged in so many directions at once," as much as she's clearly sorry for the fallen Weyrleader. "But I wish there was some way for him to heal. If not for the Weyr, then just for himself." Her mouth purses again. "I'm sorry I couldn't help him more." Past-tense. "I tried." He laughs at this, "Their questions aren't quite as tough, yet. The older one is getting there though." Reaching behind himself, Z'ian locks his fingers behind his head. The gaze he levels onto Vienne is attentive. "I think that you're right. I don't think that anyone imagined it would get to this kind of point either, you know?" The Holds, Taikrin, tithes, wings, etc... "Honestly, if there was ever a time for him to begin healing? I think that it's probably now. There's nowhere left for K'del to go but back upwards in his life. I think F'manis promoting him to Wingsecond did him good too. He's earning respect from his work with Taiga, not just because his dragon caught a gold." His shoulders lift. "So am I. We all tried to help him. Aishani told me that he turned down being the Weyrleader, that's why I went to him before. To find out why, then he told me about the whole other mess. Some of the hurts go down too far." Vienne actually has a touch of a hopeful smile for news of K'del's wingly pursuits, her head bobbling low in the process. "That's good," she agrees, light but earnest. As for that stuff about him turning down the job he supposedly wants to badly, her nod is quieter. "I tried to warn him that it was coming. I thought maybe, if he was more prepared for it, he wouldn't react only with his gut." But the long draw of a breath and its sighed release says how wrong she was. "I didn't know, obviously, about Iolene. I guess maybe he tried to hint a few times, but I never thought it was anything like that. And it never seemed like he was ready to talk." "I don't know that there was really a way to prepare him. He's been so preoccupied with everything else." Z'ian rolls his eyes up to the ceiling, studying some spot there as he leans his chair back. "None of us did. I still can't fathom how we were all so completely fooled, I've been riding for so long now. I should have noticed the difference." There's an edge of frustration there and he lets the front legs of the chair drop back down. "He was ashamed, I think. Deeply horrified that he hadn't even been able to tell the difference between the real thing and a fake." "Did he... explain at all? Was he drinking or just... that in love with her?" Vienne wonders, her head tipping far to the side, her brows furrowing for a second as she puzzles through the things to ask. "And not just to be tricked, but to be tricked by someone he cared about so much." No, Vienne can only shake her head at that. "Sometimes I wonder if he knew her at all." "He said he thought she might have drugged him?" Z'ian offers up as he looks back to the bluerider again, lips pursed together thoughtfully. "And that he can never talk to again. He can never ask her why. It makes all the ways he's been behaving make a lot more sense, now." And for that last, he nods in agreement. "That's what I'd been thinking too. How well could he have actually known her if she could do that to him? How hard it must be to look back at your entire experience with a person and doubt that any of it was real at all." Drugged. Vienne winces. "Does he really need to ask? It seems like all the answers are probably clear enough, especially to him. He just doesn't want them to be true. I think people usually know the ugly truth, having a question roll around and around in your head is just... what happens when you'd rather not see the answer." She sweeps a hand up over her arm to her shoulder, rubbing as they hunch a little bit under the weight of such unfortunate talk and sad perspectives. "Do you think it was just Iolene and Aishani? Did Azaylia know?" "I don't know. I just know that I'm glad to not be K'del right now." Z'ian breathes out through his nose, snorting then for her next. "She knew too. She found out afterwards. But she didn't want Lujayn to become the Weyrwoman, so she helped support the fraud too." His elbow comes down onto the table and he rests his chin into his palm. "It's been amazing really how people have picked and chosen the traditions the wanted to follow. How is that bucking the system working out for them all? Everyone seems pretty miserable. Gold flights are the deciding factor until they're not and you don't like the person whose dragon rose?" "Lujayn must have been..." Vienne shakes her head, finding it to hard to finish. "That they would all feel so strongly about it. I hear she came here. I don't know what the purpose was, what outcome was. I can't imagine she'd think very well of... anyone." But then Vienne doesn't know Lujayn at all. "It might not always turn out the way we'd like. It might end up that some seventeen year old boy with pimples on his face becomes the Weyrleader we're all supposed to follow. But at least we all agreed to follow the same person. At least, when the dragons choose, there's little blame to cast and we're all on the same side." Elbow to the table, she drops her chin into her hand, fingers half-covering her mouth. "I don't know what anyone can do now. I don't know if we can get back there, now that everyone is aware of these... options." "I can't claim that I knew Lujayn all that well, there didn't seem to be anything offensive about her? I think Iolene just wanted the leadership to further her own agenda. If I were to go guessing." Z'ian presses his fingers into the side of his face. "I don't know either. K'del mentioned I think that she knew already? That he told her? But that she wouldn't come back then." He can only roll his eyes briefly for that. "So we're left to our own devices still. I'm hoping that with people aware now that this can be done, that they'll be better prepared for it. They might be able to tell the difference next time someone tries to fool them. It's almost too much to think about it." "It's not just that, though," Vienne says, her gaze slipping off to skim idly around Z'ian's weyr. "It's not just the lie. It's all of it. People thinking that their preferences should be the difference between which gold, which bronze, which leader. Which orders to follow, which traditions to hold onto, which tithes to send. Not that..." Apology slips into her smile. "I don't think that everyone should just follow blindly, either. I'm still upset that they pressed us the way they did. As much as I wasn't crazy about Igen, no one ever so abused their power while I was there. But I guess that's the way they were trained." It brings something cool to Vienne's eye, a chilliness not often seen on the gentle little bluerider. "No. I never believed in that whole 'follow orders or we'll all die' mantra that some like to pull out of their pocket. You know, when it suits them." Not that Z'ian is going to name any names or anything on the matter, but. "But the framework for our whole society is there and just... I don't know. Things got way fucked up here at some point. We need the next goldflight to come sooner rather than later. I just hope that it comes with the type of results that the majority can accept, give the whole place some time to heal." He catches the chillness to her eye, his mouth quirking to the side. "I didn't expect that they would press so aggressively." "Like, how about: just one gold rises and one bronze wins, no funny business," Vienne proposes with a wide grin. Such a novel idea! Her smile is pulling into a broader smirk, though, a cheeky thing. "Maybe one gold, two bronzes, knowing our luck." At which point the conversation devolves into other ridiculous and potentially taboo ways for flights to turn out, with enough jokes coming from the bluerider to prove that Vienne isn't actually the most prim woman in the whole Weyr. |
Comments
Comments on "Logs:Tea Time - No Tea"K'del (K'del (talk)) left a comment on Tue, 28 May 2013 22:01:52 GMT.
I really enjoyed this. I suck at comments that actually, you know, have some substance to them, but... well, I think what I really like is that this was such a good take on people's roles in stuff, complete with natural biases and whatever.
Basically, I just really enjoy Vienne and Z'ian. So. Yay!
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