Past actions do not a good person make
What: D'rian learns more about K'tric then he wants to. It does not go well.
Who: K'tric and D'rian
Where: Weyrling Clearing
>'>
As afternoon settles on the island, K'tric is finished with his meal and now working on Kasvatuth's. He's caught himself a small young rabbit to supplement the usual fish, selections of which are neatly arranged near the green as he feeds them to her slowly, alternating with pieces of the rabbit.
Afternoon is typically a time for eating. D'rian is not doing as much as he steps into the weyrling clearing. Taikath walks beside him with his wings splayed out to his side and dripping water as he walks. The pair cross directly in front of K'tric and Kasvatuth; the bronze offers his green clutchsibling a small whuff of greeting, D'rian offers his fellow weyrling a warning glare and little else as he moves to collect a small bucket of oil for his 'mate.
If there's one thing to say about K'tric, it's that he's persistent. "Hi," he offers D'rian simply, but not unkindly, in greeting. Kasvatuth croons too, toward Taikath as she studies him for a second, ignoring the piece of meat K'tric waves in front of her. "How're you?" the young man asks after a moment, looking over himself, and lowering the raw meat for a moment.
And if there's one thing to say about D'rian, it's that he's incredibly stubborn. So naturally he ignores K'tric's immediate greeting while he situates himself on the floor and waits for Taikath to offer up the limb into his lap. After slathering oil into his hands and then onto the elbow of Taikath's front paw, D'rian finally greets the greenrider. "Fine," Abrupt, he softens it slightly with, "You?"
Surprise surprise, K'tric scoots closer. "We're good, Kas and I," he tells D'rian. At least he doesn't get /too/ close. Kasvatuth, though, edges a little past him toward Taikath to watch, her meal forgotten for a minute. "So... how was your day?" K'tric asks next, fishing for something to say.
Taikath doesn't mind that Kasvatuth is watching him and is all too happy to return the favor as D'rian rubs more of that oil into the dry patch on his elbow joint. D'rian still shares none of his fellow weyrlings amicable nature. "Started out good," A pause to rub the back of his arm just under his nose, "Might pick back up after lunch. Hard to say."
K'tric nods slowly, frowning as he studies D'rian. Kasvatuth continues to inspect Taikath in return, while K'tric tries again. "Lunch is a little slow," he agrees. "So maybe the afternoon will be better." Pause. He continues frowning, and watching D'rian even when he does run out of things to say. Kasvatuth, though, after inspecting the bronze, reaches over to pick up an extra fish and nudge it over to him.
Taikath> Kasvatuth, voice inflected with bright blues and greens, insists, << You should eat more. You're a little skinny, I think. >>
"Maybe," D'rian agrees as he releases his hold on Taikath's limb which frees the bronze to slide on his stomach toward the fish offered by Kasvatuth. It's sniffed several times over, nosed and nudged before the bronze accepts it with a grateful rumble to his clutchsibling. D'rian, in spotting this, looks to Kasvatuth. There is, for all of a moment, a curl of his lip in distaste but then: "Something bugging you?"
Kasvatuth looks pleased when Taikath accept her gift, retreating a step to K'tric's side again to butt against him. K'tric glances briefly at her, then back to D'rian in time to catch the expression that crosses the bronzerider's face. "I... No. Nothing," he decides after a moment, shaking his head.
"No," D'rian, quite suddenly too cooperative, raises a knee and rests an arm across it, "You had somethin' you wanted to say." A pause brings a demand, not an invitation, "So say it."
"I was going to say," begins K'tric slowly, looking back to stare at D'rian again. "You don't seem to like us very much. But then I didn't see much point in stating the obvious."
"You're greenriders," D'rian explains quite reasonably, "Male greenriders. At least with the females you know where they stand and what they're good for. You've got nothing I want," He shrugs to dismiss the calamity that is K'tric's lack of usefulness, "Then there's the whole deal with how you like you're women. Should I like you?"
K'tric's frown deepens. "Why /are/ you here? Because that's the kind of thing I've heard all my life, at the Weyr, at the holds, at the Hall. On the mainland," he states matter-of-factly. "Sometimes I think we must have taken you from there for the hatching, too." The subject of his women he doesn't touch yet.
"I didn't kidnap anyone, if that's what you're getting at." D'rian counters, "Father got sent here, I came with him." There is a pause, subtle as it may be, "What else did you do, K'tric, or is knocking girls over the head after you steal them from their parents enough now a days to get you exiled with Pern's worse?"
"She didn't live with her parents," K'tric notes, shaking his head. "Not everyone is like you." He at least doesn't make those words into a taunt, just states the fact. "I... I don't think I can tell you," he admits after a moment, finally glancing away to Kasvatuth, who looks concerned again as she leans against him. "J'lor said I shouldn't. It'd upset them." K'tric glances from his green to Taikath.
"So you do have balls," D'rian notes before letting the subject on the specifics of K'tric's exile go, "Good to know." Easing out of his crouch, he exits the barrack area to rinse his hands in the stream before returning to fetch a towel at the end of his cot. "I want you to leave Lili alone." The towel is tossed carelessly - a bad sign, probably - to the front of his cot as D'rian turns to face K'tric, waiting for a reaction and quite sure that there's going to be one.
K'tric just blinks, too surprised to do more than that. "Why?" he asks.
"You did somethin' bad enough - other 'n the whole part where you knocked some girl upside the head and held her against her will - that your own 'mate can't stand to hear it. I don't want her getting messed up in that. Told J'lor I'd keep an eye on her and I'm gonna." D'rian, as though emphasizing the veiled threat behind that, crosses his arms over his chest.
"I wouldn't hurt Lili," K'tric says, looking more surprised for the explanation, as well as hurt for D'rian's suspicions of him. "She... I wouldn't. What I did to get exiled here had nothing to do with her."
"But you did somethin' bad. Could hurt her even if you don't do anythin' to her." D'rian either doesn't see or doesn't care that K'tric's hurt. Taikath, having switched his focus to his rider, doesn't look too agreeable with D'rian's treatment of the greenrider.
For several moments, silence. K'tric looks back to Kasvatuth, studying the green before he finally admits, "I smashed eggs."
D'rian's confident exterior cracks with revulsion. "You-" A crack in his voice doesn't help matters any. Dry mouthed, D'rian looks down at Taikath and takes an almost pointed step in front of the bronze. Undoubtedly all sorts of curses are running through the weyrling's mind - sick bastard not even close to topping the charts on them. It's better suited then what eventually comes: "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rare as any display of anger is his punctuated explicative.
K'tric is still watching Kasvatuth, who looks upset herself now. K'tric seems remarkably calm. "I don't think anything," he answers, though he doesn't sound very confident of that now.
"You /kidnapped/ someone... smas-" D'rian's voice breaks again, the curse of the dry mouth returning as he nearly retches, "You're sick. That's what's wrong with you. You're /sick/." Brushing a shaking fist against his mouth, D'rian looks away to the rest of the barracks. There is quite a short pause before he moves to his cot and begins reaching under it. When he resurfaces, it's with a threadbare duffel that he begins packing with items from under his cot.
K'tric says nothing this time, just glancing down at his hands while D'rian carries on. Kasvatuth, though, turns her head to stare at Taikath, not happily.
Taikath> Kasvatuth's mental voice is darker, concerned, its usual cheery colors muted. << Yours upsets mine, >> she notes quietly. << He makes him feel bad. I don't like it. >>
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath might have overlooked responding after the delicious offer of that fish, but the tentative bronze does not ignore such now. A cautious spread of his mind out toward the greens, a flicker of awareness on his behalf, and the oh-so-quiet: << D'rian is upset, >> An image of K'tric surrounded by vivid red, << K'tric upsets him. >> There is a too-quick pause - at least where Taikath is concerned, << He does not like K'tric. >>
"Sick bastard," D'rian punctuates the closing of his bag with his two favorite words and half turns to face the weyrling. Something about K'tric's posture has him hesitating, but then an angry look at Taikath has him shaking his head and swearing softly under his breath. "Why would you do something like that?"
Taikath> Kasvatuth is quiet a moment, thoughts swirling blue-greys. Then: << He can't help what he's done, >> is all she says.
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath is always quiet, but he grows even quieter in reply. << We do not understand. >> A swish of inky black doesn't quite sever the connection but rather hangs a tense air between the green and himself.
K'tric looks up again when D'rian speaks to him again, frowning, his expression a little wary still. "I... thought it was the right thing--the best thing--to do then," he explains slowly, lifting his shoulders slightly. "And I think I might have been wrong."
"You killed them," D'rian says simply, his voice of a higher pitch then normal but only because he's quite literally having a hard time dealing with the bombshell. "You're-" A look at K'tric doesn't provide D'rian with the answer he's looking for, and the allowance at the end leaves him shaking his head. After a moment there is a quiet, "J'lor knew."
Taikath> Kasvatuth hesitates another moment, then explains, << He... did things I don't like, and yours doesn't like, and lots of other people don't like. But he can't do anything about what he /did/, in the past, but it won't happen again, so I don't think... yours shouldn't hate him so much. >>
Taikath> Taikath projects to Kasvatuth, << He does not like the others, either. >> Taikath images more fellow weyrings; male greenriders top among them, << He, >> And now an image of M'uri, << Makes D'rian think that way. >> >>
"Two of them," K'tric feels compelled to say. "The third one... It survived. One of its paws was twisted badly, but it survived." He pauses again. "J'lor knew," he finally agrees.
"I don't want to hear that, any of it," D'rian bristles, quite openly and noticeably fighting back another urge to vomit, "I can't-" Unable to finish another statement, D'rian drops his face in his hands.
Taikath> Kasvatuth brightens at this, almost relieved. << Yours shouldn't listen to him. Mine has seen him, and he doesn't seem very nice to us. Yours would be better off away from him, I think. >>
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath is inclined to agree, and doesn't hide that fact. << He is unpleasant, >> Hesitancy with wording suggests another word might have sufficed, but for D'rian's sake a gentler one is used. << D'rian tries to do better. >>
Taikath> Kasvatuth, curious, asks, << Why /does/ yours listen to him, anyway? >>
"J'lor-" A cruel twist on the man's name that he only ever spoke with respect. Abruptly, D'rian stands and slings the duffel over his shoulder, "I've gotta go. C'mon, Taikath." Moving back across the barrack area, D'rian makes a point of not looking at K'tric or Kasvatuth - Taikath, contrary to D'rian's command, remains stationary.
Taikath> Taikath projects to Kasvatuth, << He is his father. It means a lot to D'rian. >>
K'tric's eyes track D'rian, while Kasvatuth continues watching Taikath instead, as intently as her rider does the other young man.
Taikath> Kasvatuth projects, << I don't understand why he's always around, though? >> Confusion colors her mind lighter greens and yellows. << K'tric's father doesn't. Even before he came here, I don't think. >>
D'rian stops when he realizes Taikath isn't following him. There's a pinch of his brows and a tense thinning of his lips. Still, the bronze remains planted. D'rian watches him for a moment, then turns his back on the bronze and continues his departure. After a short moment, Taikath draws to his feet. He looks mournfully toward Kasvatuth and K'tric both, stopping just long enough to offer a sad little croon at them before following his 'mates path.
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath might have ageless wisdom to share, but as it stands there is an apologetic: << D'rian says I have to go. >>
"See you later," K'tric offers after D'rian, not loudly, a sentiment echoed equally sadly by Kasvatuth to Taikath as the other pair head off.
Who: K'tric and D'rian
Where: Weyrling Clearing
>'>
As afternoon settles on the island, K'tric is finished with his meal and now working on Kasvatuth's. He's caught himself a small young rabbit to supplement the usual fish, selections of which are neatly arranged near the green as he feeds them to her slowly, alternating with pieces of the rabbit.
Afternoon is typically a time for eating. D'rian is not doing as much as he steps into the weyrling clearing. Taikath walks beside him with his wings splayed out to his side and dripping water as he walks. The pair cross directly in front of K'tric and Kasvatuth; the bronze offers his green clutchsibling a small whuff of greeting, D'rian offers his fellow weyrling a warning glare and little else as he moves to collect a small bucket of oil for his 'mate.
If there's one thing to say about K'tric, it's that he's persistent. "Hi," he offers D'rian simply, but not unkindly, in greeting. Kasvatuth croons too, toward Taikath as she studies him for a second, ignoring the piece of meat K'tric waves in front of her. "How're you?" the young man asks after a moment, looking over himself, and lowering the raw meat for a moment.
And if there's one thing to say about D'rian, it's that he's incredibly stubborn. So naturally he ignores K'tric's immediate greeting while he situates himself on the floor and waits for Taikath to offer up the limb into his lap. After slathering oil into his hands and then onto the elbow of Taikath's front paw, D'rian finally greets the greenrider. "Fine," Abrupt, he softens it slightly with, "You?"
Surprise surprise, K'tric scoots closer. "We're good, Kas and I," he tells D'rian. At least he doesn't get /too/ close. Kasvatuth, though, edges a little past him toward Taikath to watch, her meal forgotten for a minute. "So... how was your day?" K'tric asks next, fishing for something to say.
Taikath doesn't mind that Kasvatuth is watching him and is all too happy to return the favor as D'rian rubs more of that oil into the dry patch on his elbow joint. D'rian still shares none of his fellow weyrlings amicable nature. "Started out good," A pause to rub the back of his arm just under his nose, "Might pick back up after lunch. Hard to say."
K'tric nods slowly, frowning as he studies D'rian. Kasvatuth continues to inspect Taikath in return, while K'tric tries again. "Lunch is a little slow," he agrees. "So maybe the afternoon will be better." Pause. He continues frowning, and watching D'rian even when he does run out of things to say. Kasvatuth, though, after inspecting the bronze, reaches over to pick up an extra fish and nudge it over to him.
Taikath> Kasvatuth, voice inflected with bright blues and greens, insists, << You should eat more. You're a little skinny, I think. >>
"Maybe," D'rian agrees as he releases his hold on Taikath's limb which frees the bronze to slide on his stomach toward the fish offered by Kasvatuth. It's sniffed several times over, nosed and nudged before the bronze accepts it with a grateful rumble to his clutchsibling. D'rian, in spotting this, looks to Kasvatuth. There is, for all of a moment, a curl of his lip in distaste but then: "Something bugging you?"
Kasvatuth looks pleased when Taikath accept her gift, retreating a step to K'tric's side again to butt against him. K'tric glances briefly at her, then back to D'rian in time to catch the expression that crosses the bronzerider's face. "I... No. Nothing," he decides after a moment, shaking his head.
"No," D'rian, quite suddenly too cooperative, raises a knee and rests an arm across it, "You had somethin' you wanted to say." A pause brings a demand, not an invitation, "So say it."
"I was going to say," begins K'tric slowly, looking back to stare at D'rian again. "You don't seem to like us very much. But then I didn't see much point in stating the obvious."
"You're greenriders," D'rian explains quite reasonably, "Male greenriders. At least with the females you know where they stand and what they're good for. You've got nothing I want," He shrugs to dismiss the calamity that is K'tric's lack of usefulness, "Then there's the whole deal with how you like you're women. Should I like you?"
K'tric's frown deepens. "Why /are/ you here? Because that's the kind of thing I've heard all my life, at the Weyr, at the holds, at the Hall. On the mainland," he states matter-of-factly. "Sometimes I think we must have taken you from there for the hatching, too." The subject of his women he doesn't touch yet.
"I didn't kidnap anyone, if that's what you're getting at." D'rian counters, "Father got sent here, I came with him." There is a pause, subtle as it may be, "What else did you do, K'tric, or is knocking girls over the head after you steal them from their parents enough now a days to get you exiled with Pern's worse?"
"She didn't live with her parents," K'tric notes, shaking his head. "Not everyone is like you." He at least doesn't make those words into a taunt, just states the fact. "I... I don't think I can tell you," he admits after a moment, finally glancing away to Kasvatuth, who looks concerned again as she leans against him. "J'lor said I shouldn't. It'd upset them." K'tric glances from his green to Taikath.
"So you do have balls," D'rian notes before letting the subject on the specifics of K'tric's exile go, "Good to know." Easing out of his crouch, he exits the barrack area to rinse his hands in the stream before returning to fetch a towel at the end of his cot. "I want you to leave Lili alone." The towel is tossed carelessly - a bad sign, probably - to the front of his cot as D'rian turns to face K'tric, waiting for a reaction and quite sure that there's going to be one.
K'tric just blinks, too surprised to do more than that. "Why?" he asks.
"You did somethin' bad enough - other 'n the whole part where you knocked some girl upside the head and held her against her will - that your own 'mate can't stand to hear it. I don't want her getting messed up in that. Told J'lor I'd keep an eye on her and I'm gonna." D'rian, as though emphasizing the veiled threat behind that, crosses his arms over his chest.
"I wouldn't hurt Lili," K'tric says, looking more surprised for the explanation, as well as hurt for D'rian's suspicions of him. "She... I wouldn't. What I did to get exiled here had nothing to do with her."
"But you did somethin' bad. Could hurt her even if you don't do anythin' to her." D'rian either doesn't see or doesn't care that K'tric's hurt. Taikath, having switched his focus to his rider, doesn't look too agreeable with D'rian's treatment of the greenrider.
For several moments, silence. K'tric looks back to Kasvatuth, studying the green before he finally admits, "I smashed eggs."
D'rian's confident exterior cracks with revulsion. "You-" A crack in his voice doesn't help matters any. Dry mouthed, D'rian looks down at Taikath and takes an almost pointed step in front of the bronze. Undoubtedly all sorts of curses are running through the weyrling's mind - sick bastard not even close to topping the charts on them. It's better suited then what eventually comes: "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rare as any display of anger is his punctuated explicative.
K'tric is still watching Kasvatuth, who looks upset herself now. K'tric seems remarkably calm. "I don't think anything," he answers, though he doesn't sound very confident of that now.
"You /kidnapped/ someone... smas-" D'rian's voice breaks again, the curse of the dry mouth returning as he nearly retches, "You're sick. That's what's wrong with you. You're /sick/." Brushing a shaking fist against his mouth, D'rian looks away to the rest of the barracks. There is quite a short pause before he moves to his cot and begins reaching under it. When he resurfaces, it's with a threadbare duffel that he begins packing with items from under his cot.
K'tric says nothing this time, just glancing down at his hands while D'rian carries on. Kasvatuth, though, turns her head to stare at Taikath, not happily.
Taikath> Kasvatuth's mental voice is darker, concerned, its usual cheery colors muted. << Yours upsets mine, >> she notes quietly. << He makes him feel bad. I don't like it. >>
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath might have overlooked responding after the delicious offer of that fish, but the tentative bronze does not ignore such now. A cautious spread of his mind out toward the greens, a flicker of awareness on his behalf, and the oh-so-quiet: << D'rian is upset, >> An image of K'tric surrounded by vivid red, << K'tric upsets him. >> There is a too-quick pause - at least where Taikath is concerned, << He does not like K'tric. >>
"Sick bastard," D'rian punctuates the closing of his bag with his two favorite words and half turns to face the weyrling. Something about K'tric's posture has him hesitating, but then an angry look at Taikath has him shaking his head and swearing softly under his breath. "Why would you do something like that?"
Taikath> Kasvatuth is quiet a moment, thoughts swirling blue-greys. Then: << He can't help what he's done, >> is all she says.
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath is always quiet, but he grows even quieter in reply. << We do not understand. >> A swish of inky black doesn't quite sever the connection but rather hangs a tense air between the green and himself.
K'tric looks up again when D'rian speaks to him again, frowning, his expression a little wary still. "I... thought it was the right thing--the best thing--to do then," he explains slowly, lifting his shoulders slightly. "And I think I might have been wrong."
"You killed them," D'rian says simply, his voice of a higher pitch then normal but only because he's quite literally having a hard time dealing with the bombshell. "You're-" A look at K'tric doesn't provide D'rian with the answer he's looking for, and the allowance at the end leaves him shaking his head. After a moment there is a quiet, "J'lor knew."
Taikath> Kasvatuth hesitates another moment, then explains, << He... did things I don't like, and yours doesn't like, and lots of other people don't like. But he can't do anything about what he /did/, in the past, but it won't happen again, so I don't think... yours shouldn't hate him so much. >>
Taikath> Taikath projects to Kasvatuth, << He does not like the others, either. >> Taikath images more fellow weyrings; male greenriders top among them, << He, >> And now an image of M'uri, << Makes D'rian think that way. >> >>
"Two of them," K'tric feels compelled to say. "The third one... It survived. One of its paws was twisted badly, but it survived." He pauses again. "J'lor knew," he finally agrees.
"I don't want to hear that, any of it," D'rian bristles, quite openly and noticeably fighting back another urge to vomit, "I can't-" Unable to finish another statement, D'rian drops his face in his hands.
Taikath> Kasvatuth brightens at this, almost relieved. << Yours shouldn't listen to him. Mine has seen him, and he doesn't seem very nice to us. Yours would be better off away from him, I think. >>
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath is inclined to agree, and doesn't hide that fact. << He is unpleasant, >> Hesitancy with wording suggests another word might have sufficed, but for D'rian's sake a gentler one is used. << D'rian tries to do better. >>
Taikath> Kasvatuth, curious, asks, << Why /does/ yours listen to him, anyway? >>
"J'lor-" A cruel twist on the man's name that he only ever spoke with respect. Abruptly, D'rian stands and slings the duffel over his shoulder, "I've gotta go. C'mon, Taikath." Moving back across the barrack area, D'rian makes a point of not looking at K'tric or Kasvatuth - Taikath, contrary to D'rian's command, remains stationary.
Taikath> Taikath projects to Kasvatuth, << He is his father. It means a lot to D'rian. >>
K'tric's eyes track D'rian, while Kasvatuth continues watching Taikath instead, as intently as her rider does the other young man.
Taikath> Kasvatuth projects, << I don't understand why he's always around, though? >> Confusion colors her mind lighter greens and yellows. << K'tric's father doesn't. Even before he came here, I don't think. >>
D'rian stops when he realizes Taikath isn't following him. There's a pinch of his brows and a tense thinning of his lips. Still, the bronze remains planted. D'rian watches him for a moment, then turns his back on the bronze and continues his departure. After a short moment, Taikath draws to his feet. He looks mournfully toward Kasvatuth and K'tric both, stopping just long enough to offer a sad little croon at them before following his 'mates path.
Taikath> To Kasvatuth: Taikath might have ageless wisdom to share, but as it stands there is an apologetic: << D'rian says I have to go. >>
"See you later," K'tric offers after D'rian, not loudly, a sentiment echoed equally sadly by Kasvatuth to Taikath as the other pair head off.