Logs:Helping Hands
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| RL Date: 24 March, 2013 |
| Who: Barnabas, K'zin |
| Type: [[Concept:{{{type}}}|{{{type}}}]] |
| What: K'zin confess his troubles with weyrlinghood to Bones. Bones offers advice, and an outlet. |
| Where: Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day {{{day}}}, Month {{{month}}}, Turn {{{turn}}} ({{{IP}}} {{{IP2}}}) |
| Mentions: Azaylia/Mentions, Mave/Mentions, Madilla/Mentions |
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| Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr The Snowasis is rarely quiet, and even then, the high-ceilinged former weyr is kept from echoing by the fantastical booths tucked into its convoluted perimeter. The secluded seating spaces have been shaped from the truncated stalagmites that escaped the smoothing of the main floor, and are both softened and separated by colorful hangings that are thick and opaque enough to make each corner its own private nook. Some of the smaller stalactites still roam the ceiling, their jagged teeth tracing a bumpy, inverted spine to the hearth. There, a thick rug with a low klah table and comfortable armchairs and couches sit, their upholstery and cushions changed sporadically to match the season: bright, light colors in the summer, fresh greens and yellows in the spring, warm autumnals in fall, and clear, rich hues for winter. Small tables litter the rest of the cavern, enough to fit up to four people each, while stools stand along the smooth wooden bar behind which is the passthrough window to the kitchen. Glass-paneled cabinetry behind the bar provides a clear view of the available liquors, the many colors reflecting the soft light of glows tucked into strategic niches around the cavern. The snowasis is lively this night, the cacophony of loud conversations and laughter creating a rowdy party atmosphere. The bartenders struggle to keep the drinks flowing, the bar crowded with people snapping fingers and raising hands trying to get their attention for the next round of drinks to drag off to their tables. Finding a spot to be alone at is near impossible, and so Bones has found himself entertaining a table of rough-looking riders by showing off a bit of blade skill. His knife is jabbed quickly into the wood of the table between his wide-splayed fingers, the speed especially impressive to the group of drunks with him. The secret to breaking rules and not getting caught is acting like you know what you're doing and doing it in the right place and time. This might just be the latter of those two things, and K'zin isn't half bad at the former. He's a familiar face in Snowaisis, and dressed in regular clothes instead of a weyrling uniform, beer in hand, he looks like just another 'Reaches resident enjoying the night. He's not exactly lively, and this is one of the only tells that he's up to no good, or at least, not being good. After picking up his latest mug, the route back to where he'd been sitting takes him near the table where Bones is performing his daring acts of-- well, daring! K'zin can't help but pause to peer between shoulders and watch. Bones' tongue sticks from between his lips as he focuses on picking up speed, the small blade darting around the table at a pace that has the table caught in a silent tension. Finally, after one last flurry of quick jabs, he stabs the blade into the table with enough force to leave it sticking upright, the finish earning him several pats to the back and a sudden burst of laughter and cheer. "Ha! Alright fellas, that's it for me tonight. Enjoy your drinks eh?" There's mild protest for him to stay, which he ignores as he tries to make his way towards the bar, the crowds making it difficult. K'zin's expression is as impressed as some of the others faces are sporting around the table as the display reaches its conclusion. When the big man starts moving towards the bar, the former Smith uses a shoulder to help make a gap for him, herding the other patrons aside. "That kind of entertainment should keep you drinking free all night. Have one on me?" He offers, moving to fall in step with the gardener to head back toward the bar. There's a pause in Bones' step at the familiar voice, eyes catching where it came from, and a smile soon following. "Hey, Waki!" He throws an arm over the weyrling's shoulders, more than encouraging the two to move together towards the bar. "Congratulations on getting one of them dragons eh? You'll be a rider soon." The two moving together are force enough to wedge their way up to a spot at the bar, where Bones finally unwraps K'zin. "Tell you what, you buy me my klah, and I'll get you some shots eh? Hehe!" There's something to be said for two bodies moving as one. In this case, it's that it's much easier to make headway in a crowded room. K'zin's expression for the congratulations isn't exactly the most cheerful, but that might be easily missed in the moving, and by the time the gardener is offering shot, the young man is grinning again. "I think I might be trying my luck with just the beer. But when I finish this one, you can get me another if you like." Space isn't readily available at the bar, but the bartenders are fast and so enough room for two opens up after a brief wait. K'zin's hand is used to flag down a bartender and order that klah for the big man. "How's life on the other side?" The side without dragons invading your thoughts in most waking moments. "Things back to normal since Hatching?" With K'zin ordering klah for Bones, bones reluctantly orders a beer instead of shots for K'zin, and the two are left to chat as bartender slips away to get them their order. "Hey, I barely even noticed that there was a hatching kid. That's the best part about being a gardener, you get to keep out of the way." A few heavy pats come to K'zin's back before Bones digs into his pocket to dig out a handkerchief, he starts to wrap it around his other hand. At first there's no rhyme or reason as to why, but a bit of crimson seeps through the cloth. He'd cut himself, unseen to the crowded table he'd left behind. "You know, if you feel like trading, I've got this shiny, stupidly smart dragon you could have. I'm not so good with nurturing growing things, but I think I could figure it out faster with the plants than the dragon." K'zin offers sounding half serious. The sigh that follows is more telling that the lad is struggling in this transition than his words, though isn't it said that jokes often grow from the seed of truth? He shakes his brown haired head a bit, his hair chopped to his chin rather than hanging down his back. Truthfully, it doesn't look too terribly different from the front, but for those used to seeing the runner's tail hanging, it's certainly a change. "Is that why you became a gardener? Or is it just one of the perks?" The weyrling didn't accept the shots, but he makes short work of his beer, ready for the next before it arrives. Bones' finishes bandaging up his self-wounded hand, tying a quick knot around the nicked ring finger without letting it interrupt the flow of conversation. "No thanks kid. Havin' somebody share my head don't seem worth it. I mean sure, y'get some recognition and a nice weyr for it, but I'm plenty popular as is. Plus, Zee's still letting me crash on her couch, so it's like I already got a weyr. Kinda." The drinks arive, and Bones lifts his mug of klah slightly towards K'zin, aiming for a bit of contact in a silent cheers. "You havin' second thoughts eh? What's the matter, your dragon an asshole or something? Ha!" The cut wasn't lost on K'zin - not entirely. A glance is given to the bandaging job, "Ought to let Healer Madilla take a look at that later, make sure it doesn't get infected or anything." His comment is fairly off-handed, but the way K'zin says the healer's name holds school-boy admiration, like there's no hurt she couldn't fix. "You're more popular than you know. My dragon likes to--" The weyrling pauses, drawing his mug back from the clunky-clink with Bones' trying to find the right words. "The way we would accompany words with a smile, or frown, he likes to use other people's expressions to do the same thing, in my head. He pulls them out of my memories and uses them. You're one of his favorites. He likes to tell dirty jokes, and you're just about the only one that's ever made any dirty jokes to me." Ah, youthful innocence. "I'm glad, though, that you're staying with Azaylia. I've been worried about her since the Hatching Feast, and haven't had enough time to see-- well, how she is." Beat. "Is she... okay?" He chews his lip a moment, "I wouldn't call my dragon an asshole. But he's not what I expected, to be sure. Not sure what I did expect though." So, what else is there to say? Nothing. So drink! And he does. "Ehhh..." Bones lifts up his injured hand, giving a face that combines the properties of a smirk and a wince together. "I'll wait to see how it closes up before I drag a real healer into things." His lips are pursed over his mug to blow across it's surface, knowing it's tendency to be too hot to drink for the first few seconds. He can't hide his growing smile at learning of Rasavyth's tendencies for mimicry, even as he continues to cool his klah. "Really now? Your dragon's into dirty jokes? Ha! You're gonna start seein' my face with every pair of tits now, that's horrifying! Hahaha!" His laugh turns a few nearby heads, but with the snowasis being as loud as it is, he blends in fairly well. "And yeah, Azaylia's holding up okay. She's just real swamped with work. She's takin' a break to spend some time with her family in uhh... Kerun. Yeah, Kerun." K'zin's shoulders rise and fall in a 'suit yourself' shrug to the talk of Healers. "My dragon loves dirty jokes." The weyrling replies emphatically. "You know how everyone was all concerned before Hatching about us candidates thinking about things we won't be able to do for months? My dragon made dirty jokes and inappropriate comments to me when he was two days old." Beat. "And you have no idea how disappointed he is that I don't have any first-hand experience with some of the subjects. I swear he stripped all my memories down and listened to conversations I wasn't even aware I heard to get some of his grasp and material on the subject." He lifts his beer and then drops it away again suddenly to add: "What's worse is that he knows everything I know, so he's always helpfully showing me sketches of women I've drawn at the worst possible moment. I finally got a few minutes with Azaylia when she came to meet the dragons, and the dragon thinks all these things that--" A blush touches K'zin's cheeks then, "Well, made me have a problem that would've been far less embarrassing if I wasn't a weyrling and if Azaylia hadn't been standing there with N'ky and Alida and their dragons. So I wouldn't call him an asshole, but maybe he qualifies sometimes." Bones isn't without his empathy, and K'zin's confessions are met with a slightly less intense smile, a sign that he's taking the frustrations seriously. "So basically, dude's puttin' filth into your brain when you're just trying to be a normal guy, eh?" Bones finally takes a sip of his klah, his lips smacking when he's done. "Have you tried smacking his nose or something? It works for dogs." Bones' grin clarifies his suggestion as a joke. "Honestly? It don't sound that bad. I mean if the worst he's doin' is givin' you awkward hard-ons in front of Azaylia? That's no big deal. Zee ain't a stranger to buldges, if you know what I'm sayin'." Another sip of his klah follows, this one deeper thanks to it cooling. "Just sounds like you gotta suffer bein' a teenager for a while longer. Once you can actually get some, shouldn't be as big a problem, right?" A single brow cocks up and then falls as K'zin's lips shift from side to side in a slight purse, considering the big man's words. "Well, that's not all he's doing. The rest-- well, it's just more than I can even find words for. Don't get me wrong, I love the jokes. It's just the timing." Beat. "He didn't actually think he was doing anything wrong. He thought I should be showing Azaylia that I was um-- willing and eager?" He shakes his head. "For all that he's a little adult dragon in a lot of ways, there's still some things he needs to learn, I guess. It's sort of confusing." Sort of. Ha. "Bones, do you think there's anything I could be doing to help Zee? I don't know her well enough to know what she needs right now, add to that being a weyrling with a dragon who barely needs me, I'm going a bit out of my brain feeling so helpless. Do you need help with anything?" Either he's feeling particularly altruistic, or he really is feeling useless. "Willing and eager works for Zee." There's a wink added to that one, his advice meant to imply an understanding of the girl, but hopefully not firsthand knowledge. Without the finer details of Rasavyth's mischief, Bones's advice falls short. "And relax kid. You're a weyrling, from what I understand it bein' useless is part of the program until your weird dragonling and you get a feel for one another, eh?" There's a few pats to K'zin's back, meant to be encouraging. "Just let her know that you care about her eh? I mean that you really care. Don't make it all sappy-like, because then it just sounds like you're tryin' to sweet talk your way between her legs." There's a small, grateful smile for the reassurance provided on the woman front. The fact that Bones might have first hand knowledge doesn't seem to cross the poor boy's innocent mind. Probably for the best that he remain oblivious, if the world will be so kind. "Won't she know I'm not trying to sweet talk my way between her legs since I can't even go near her lips without Hraedhyth probably thinking of squishing me out of worry for what a kiss would do to her baby? Mine's one of hers." He reaches to rub the back of his neck. "I really-- I just need an occupation. Besides learning to be a dragonrider. I mean, I spend time with him. But sometimes, he likes to be awake and alone. All the others -- they like to be with their riders all the time. Like, right now, he's just hanging out. In his couch. Thinking about things that give me a headache." Hence the mind-numbing beer, which he finishes off. "Are you sure you don't have some project or another that I could help with? I don't have enough time to do a whole Smithing project. But I could maybe, you know, dig in the dirt?" His concept of what a gardener does is apparently quite poor. As K'zin continues down his path of woes, Bones re-secures an arm across his shoulders, hoping the weight of him is at least a bit of lazy comfort. "Right right, you're not allowed to do fuckin' anything fun as a weyrling..." Bones uses his free hand to take a few more sips of klah, setting it down on the bar between thoughts spoken outloud. "I guess if you're lookin' for distractions..." Bones pauses, actually giving thought to the proposal. With some of his time already promised to Mave, does he have time to teach K'zin how to not kill his plants? "... sure, I bet I can find you some stuff to do. I'll wear you out somethin' good, hehe." K'zin's smile of gratitude is larger this time, a little freer, if by promising the lad purpose the gardener has taken some weight away. That's the thing about people who like to work with their hands. Take them and put them in a situation where their hands become idle and they'll thank any man who asks an honest day's work of them. The relief on his face is short-lived, however. There's no far-away look that some riders get when a lifemate interrupts, his brows simply furrow, and then lips purse. "Much as I'd prefer to stay, Rasavyth-" He speaks the name for the first time in their chat, "-has an itch. I'm required." He swallows the last gulp of the beer, and reaches a hand up to grasp the hand of the arm around his shoulders, squeezing it briefly in thanks before slipping out from under the arm. "I'll take you up on the offer of shots some other time. You know, once I'm allowed to have some fun." He smirks, expression in clear agreement with Bones' assessment of the fun quota permitted to weyrlings. He's quickly headed on his way: at least he can't be accused of not being a dutiful weyrling, just a confused, mildly frustrated one.
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