Logs:Uncomfortable Things
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 26 June, 2013 |
| Who: K'zin, N'ky |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: A letter from his uncle has N'ky drinking. He says the wrong things to K'zin. |
| Where: Snowasis |
| When: Day 27, Month 1, Turn 32 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Steady, today's snowfall sticks, creating dunes on the bowl floor. |
| Mentions: Alida/Mentions, Aishani/Mentions, Azaylia/Mentions, Quinlys/Mentions, Mave/Mentions, April/Mentions |
  |
| 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. Either he's free from his duties in the dragon infirmary already or he's had a day of doing not very much at all, as N'ky is already in the Snowasis without it even being dinner time yet. Close to dinner, but not quite there, and so the Weyr's bar is relatively quiet as people wrap up their day's work elsewhere. The weyrling occupies one of the booths, with the table next to him half-filled by books and scrolls, mostly on the occupation that's keeping him busy while he can't fly with the wings like the rest of Cirrus. Not that he's currently paying attention to any of them; he's sitting with his back to the wall, awkwardly curled into the seat, poring over a letter while making his way through a glass that's certainly not filled with his typical klah. From the expression he pulls as he drinks it, he's clearly still not used to such a strong, boozy flavour as whatever it is, nor is he especially enjoying it. When K'zin enters, he's not alone. He's walking, casually, beside a slender man with dark hair, exchanging quiet words. The two part ways not far into the bar, a nod and a handshake exchanged between them, but swiftly. It looks, too, as though K'zin migh be heading back out the way he came, but a glance around the room catches N'ky's presence. Coming closer, the rest of the scene is taken in, books and scrolls and booze. Coming to a stop at the end of the greenrider's booth, K'zin lifts a brow, expression a touch curious, one hand reaching for the nearest book to read the title on the cover. "Hey, Nick. How's it going? How's the arm?" N'ky doesn't see K'zin's approach until he's right there, and he's a little startled to look up to find the bronzerider so close. He blinks at him a couple of times, the booze already seeming to have had a bit of a fuzzying effect on the typical non-drinker. "Itchy. Not better. I need it to be better." The letter he's been reading is half-scrunched in his attempt at folding it and simultaneously shoving it into a pocket in his leathers, and he runs his newly-freed hand through his hair while his cast rests on his knee, which is propped up with his heel on the edge of the seat. Not his usual manners, but, as N'ky sinks back against the wall, he doesn't seem too bothered. Can anyone who might tell him off even see into the booth, anyway? He peers up at K'zin, raising his glass towards him. "What're you doing?" The smile that's offered for those words is sympathetic, a pull to only one side of his lips, while the other side offers apology. "It'll get there. At least you've got all this," a gesture to encompass the books and what goes beyond the books in the dragon infirmary, "To keep you busy. This is what you wanted to learn to do, right? Maybe the broken arm's life's way of giving you a crack at it." Not that the idea that there's a reason for the randomness of life that would make having a broken arm any more favorable, and the look K'zin has shows he realizes this. The scrunching of the letter receives a typical offer of, "Need a hand with that?" for the matter of folding, but then it's tucked away, more or less, so the bronzerider simply gestures to the booth, silently asking if he can join the former ferrier. "Just about to go get ready for dinner, but a pre-dinner drink would go down fine right now." An eye to the other man's drink, "What're you having?" The offer of help with the letter is given an emphatic shake of N'ky's head, and he shoves his hand into his pocket to make sure it's wedged all the deeper in there. His answer to his friend asking to sit down with him is held off while he finishes off what's left of his drink, coughing and wiping his hand over his mouth when he's finished; a definite sign that he's not used to it. "Another one," he responds to the question, before setting his foot down on the ground and patting the seat on his side of the booth to invite K'zin to sit beside him. "What happened to you?" This is said with a squinty-eyed peer at the bronzerider's face, while he tries to flag down someone who works in the bar to order another drink. Before the waitress can ask what they want, though, he holds up a finger to the other weyrling, suddenly looking very serious... a look that's a little diluted by the fact that he's pushing the boundaries of tipsy. "You're n-not here to make me angry, are you?" "Mmkay," comes the bronzerider's answer to the shake of the head before he drops into the offered seat, making a gesture to the nearest server - two of whatever N'ky was drinking; hopefully they know. "Developing a taste for it?" K'zin asks of the empty glass. "To me?" It seems the weyrling has almost forgotten the now yellowing bruise around his eye. "Oh," He realizes a moment later. "That." His fingers drum on the table top. "You remember that time by the lake and how you didn't get in trouble for what happened?" With the punching. "Let's just say I have more than one friend that'll swing at me if I'm a cad." His shoulders roll, as if it doesn't matter. "But if anyone asks, I walked into something in the middle of the night while staying the night with a girl at Harper Hall." That's the story and he's sticking to it; at least publically. More squinting ensues as N'ky leans towards K'zin, thinking over what he's said. "'Lida...?" It's said questioningly at first, then the greenrider snorts out an ungraceful little laugh, falling heavily back against the wall behind him as he mulls over all the potential scenarios that could've led to that moment. "People'll believe the Harper bit, at least. You... y-you're turning into a who--" It's an overly strong word for him to use, and he bites his tongue midway through, coinciding with the arrival of their drinks. "I decided," he waggles his finger dictatorially at K'zin, "that 'm gonna drink the last've my marks, 'cos then they can't take them." He reaches for one of the glasses, chinking it off the other unintentionally, which is followed by a chipper "Cheers!" as he draws it back towards himself. There's no answer for the name, nothing to confirm or deny her involvement in whatever marked up his pretty face. When the drinks arrive, K'zin's is in hand quickly. "Yeah? A whore, huh." The bronzerider doesn't seem shy to use the word. "People can think what they like. I know who I am." And who he's not. He takes a few large swallows of his drink. "Take your marks?" He queries, canting his head to one side, baritone rising with curiosity. His mood and expression don't seem incline to rise to the level of frivolity the 'Cheers!' and glass-clinking might usually encourage. His dark eyes watch the greenrider as he drinks, expression neutral. "My marks," N'ky stresses as he repeats himself, nodding his head. "Ansly," his uncle, the Smith who used to be posted to the Weyr, "wrote to me. Aaand, he said dad's not h-happy with wha' Aishani said he'd get, but it's fair and it'll take me forever to pay for, but he's angry and saying he oughta have more for losing me to Cailluneth 'cos he paid for my training stuff. Pfft." He scoffs at that, waving his hand dismissively in front of him - a clunky move, considering his cast. His glass is brought up to his lips, and his expression sinks until he's staring broodily into the amber liquid inside it. "Cailluneth'll eat aaaaall of his ovines. And him." "Wait, wait, wait. What?" K'zin's sip is curtailed to ask and the drink is set on the table. He shifts so he's sitting a little taller, leaning forward toward the table and his drink. He turns the glass in his hand. "Start at the beginning, Nick. What happened? What did Aishani say he'd get?" The bronzerider's expression couldn't be more sober, despite the drink in hand, his tone serious. "I... uh..." Confused, N'ky scratches at his curls, squinting at K'zin as if he's not at all sure why he's being asked those questions. "Th-three and a half? He's scared of her so he's not gonna write or nothin' again. Mebbe he oughta meet Hraedhyth." The greenrider snorts, amused by the thought of that encounter. Believing he's given all the explanation he needs to, he lifts his glass to drink from it again. "You sure Quinlys didn't send you? Cos I don't wanna be made angry. Wouldn't be fair to send you, anyway." "I--still don't understand." K'zin's words are stilted, his brows drawn down to study N'ky's face. "All I've got so far is that Aishani told your dad he'd get something. Marks? But you haven't said why, and you think I'm somehow Quinlys' agent for some reason or another. Does she want to know something you're not telling her?" There's confusion around his eyes but the overall expression remains neutral. And now N'ky's confused, too, ruffling his fingers through his curls and leaving them sticking up wildly. "I... um... d-didn't tell you?" Now he rubs at the back of his neck, before knotting his grasp in his hair again, looking awkward. "We went ho-- to F-Far Reach, before turn's end." The quick-change from calling it 'home' to his birth-hold's real name makes him wince a little. "Um... D-dad wasn't happy to, um, see me, and, er, Cailluneth... got in with the ewes." The wince grows, and he bites his lip. "A-and dad complained, and Aishani negotiated, and I have to pay for all of them that she got her teeth into, and now Quinlys is making people test me by making me angry and it sucks. I don't like being angry, Waki. I don't wanna be made angry and you're not going to do that, are you?" Now there's a little bit of a plead in his brown eyes as he leans towards the bronzerider, close enough for his booze-laced breath to be warm on his cheek. "D-don't do it? Please?" A shake of the head and a laxing of the jaw as though K'zin will speak answers the first question, but as N'ky goes on, the bronzerider shuts up and just listens instead. The man's brows draw even lower as he listens. His look darkens as the talk of N'ky's father, and a little squinch of his nose and pursed lips when the greenrider speaks of the ewes. "How much does he want you to pay?" The glass twists in his hand as the man's eyes fall to it, watching the liquid as it shifts just a tiny bit with the movement of that which contains it. "That sounds sucky. Real sucky. Maybe useful someday, but sucky." The bronzer doesn't look pleased to see some wisdom in the Weyrlingmaster's wacky ways. "I never make you mad on purpose. Won't start now." "Three an' a half. For each ewe and each lamb." Whatever buzz N'ky had, it's fading now in the face of less happy subjects. He cradles his cast-clad arm against his chest, and takes a significantly-sized glug from his drink, pulling a face at the taste of it. Then he leans in close again, voice dropped low and with a slight tremble to it. "I'm s-scared I'm going to lose her when she r-rises, Waki. Q-Quinlys said the, um, g-golds would step in, and... I'm s-scared. I don't want her to go up. Ever." There's a low whistle from the bronzerider for the sum. "And how many ewes and lambs were there?" Once he has all the figures, K'zin can do the math. He lifts his drink and takes a sip; only a sip this time, not a swallow. "What's been the scariest thing that ever happened to you so far, Nick? In your whole life." It might seem like a tangent, but the way the man is studying his alcohol says it's a question that's going somewhere, and probably back to the greenrider's expression of fear over the rising of his lifemate. N'ky holds up his hand, four fingers raised and his thumb flat to his palm. "An' they were pregnant, so four lambs. Mebbe more, but he din't prove there were twins, so." He shrugs, sipping again from his drink. He, too, looks thoughtfully down into his glass as he thinks about the second question posed to him, with his tongue sticking out a little way. "I dunno," he says eventually, shrugging his shoulders more emphatically. "Maybe, um, w-wondering how angry 'Lida was gonna be when I f-fell asleep on her in my bed?" "Yeah, that is going to take a while." K'zin says after a sucked in breath. "Expensive mutton." He comments after a moment, but a shrug to his shoulders admits there's nothing to be done about that part of the whole thing. His expression betrays surprise, "You fell asleep on Alida? Kudos for surviving the night." The congratulations are laced with good humor, nothing serious. "I can see why that would be frightening. I was gonna say, probably the day we went onto the hatching sands. Do you remember that morning? When everything was all chaotic and then we were on the sands and it was so hot and the eggs were busting open every which way and it was all happening so fast that you could hardly blink at it all?" He pauses only briefly before saying, "If we hadn't gotten past the fear of it, we wouldn't have our lifemates. Mating flights are kind of like that, I think. You take a plunge into a situation you can't understand until you've been there, scared to death that death or worse will happen, so you just let go and hang on for the ride and when its over, your lifemate will be there. Cailluneth would never leave you. You know that, right?" "I cuddled her," N'ky admits with a cheeky blush and a huge smile. "But don't you dare say anything, or she might really kill me." Then he settles against the back of the seat, listening quietly. "She'll never leave me, b-but if I lose control she might hurt someone. A-and she feels so guilty after she loses her temper that it hurts me here." He taps a finger roughly against his chest. "The hatching morning w-wasn't so bad. I was, um... I'd woken up with Mave in my lap, and I had you, and Alida, and I... I guess it was only really s-scary when you Impressed. I thought I'd be left alone, and Cailluneth took so long to choose..." He runs his tongue over his lips, the polishes off what's left in his glass. "'m gonna have another," he announces, nudging the empty away from him. "M-maybe she won't rise for, um, a-another turn or so?" His expression says he already knows the answer to that wishful question. There's no promise forthcoming from K'zin, but the amused curl of his lips might be enough to hint that the information is safe enough. "I don't know that it's about choosing for them so much as finding." This is mused quietly, perhaps even more to himself that to N'ky. But then, "Then you'll just have to not lose control, or live with her hurting someone. She wouldn't be with you if you didn't have it in you to give her the support she needs. Just remember that when the time comes. She's your lifemate, you have what she needs. And if she hurts someone, it's not because you didn't do what you could or because she didn't. It's because passion is intense. And intensity can spill into a few things, like sex or violence, sometimes even things like faith." He pushes a hand through his hair, "Ras is going to chase. When the next green rises. I can feel it. He's watching them. Cailluneth will rise too. It's just... it's just something that's going to happen and we all just have to do our best with it." N'ky chews on his lip for a moment, then leans into the bronzerider, pressing against his shoulder with only his partial weight. "Darcielth's chased a few times now. He won his first." In he presses a little closer, slumping down on the seat to be at a level height with K'zin. After a waved signal for one of the waitresses to bring a repeat of their last order, he makes a gentle, awkwardly fumbling attempt at setting his hand on his friend's thigh, while getting in close enough to practically whisper nervously to him, "W-would you t-take me to bed before h-he tries?" Everything was fine. K'zin wasn't getting closer to the greenrider, but neither was he shying away as the greenrider came closer. Then that question. The bronzerider tenses. His eyes flick away from his glass to N'ky's face and then back to the class. His look remains neutral, carefully so. There are moments of silence before the man makes any response. Finally, "Nick, I don't think it's a good idea. The woman that I was with my first time-- she knew what she was doing. And I've been with women since that didn't. I really think doing it with someone who knows what they're doing from experience is the right way to go." He reaches up to push a hand through his hair, a weight settling on his shoulders causing them to droop. There's no disappointment for the turndown, just a little 'pft' from N'ky. "But I knoooow." He draws it out, a touch sing-songy, a tiny bit whiny. "I've... I j-just couldn't... I c-couldn't go the last bit w-with... why're you all... y-you're all... you're not happy." A frown creases his brow, and he blows upwards to shift his curls from out of his eyes. It takes a couple of attempts, but then he leans in again to grin up close to K'zin. "I thought about it and I s-said not you, but it makes sense and I wanna do it now." Which is probably the booze talking - and along come the other drinks he ordered, a momentary distraction. "What if Rasavyth chases tomorrow n' you're with a guy then? D-does that worry you as much as, um, a-as trying? W-with me?" N'ky's lean has K'zin leaning slightly the opposite way. Maybe it's a reaction to the booze on the other rider's breath, or maybe to the argument. Not happy is a good description of how he looks as he slides out of the booth. "If Rasavyth chases tomorrow and I'm with a man, then that is something I will have to deal with. But I don't think it's a good idea for the two of us to-- do that. I'm sorry, Nick. The answer's no." He takes a breath, "I'm-- going to go. I'll-- see you around." With only a brief pause to chew his lower lip uncertainly again, the former smith is heading for the bowl. The only word N'ky says in response to that? "Fine." It's neutral, slurred a little thanks to the alcohol, and delivered with a shrug of his shoulders as he watches K'zin leave. The hasty exit means he's got those two newly-delivered drinks to make his way through, and given his low tolerance to the stuff it's no surprise when he calls upon April to help him back to his weyr once he's through with them. Someone's likely to have a hangover in the morning. |
Leave A Comment