[Log] I'd Rather Have You
Who: L'sen, Te'an
When: Day 31, Month 1, Turn 7, 11th Interval
Where: L'sen and Neiveth's Ledge, High Reaches Weyr
What: Te'an comes to L'sen for comfort.
Neiveth's View to a Kill Ledge
A sabre's curl of smooth, sleek rock with its jagged, violent-scarred edge and dropping walls forms this narrow and nifty little ledge. As it's tucked in tight against the naturally pillared walls and set beneath larger landing surfaces for the weyrs above, alighting here is no easy feat. However, once settled, there is a neat conglomeration of smaller ledges, four or five in all, each one set at a different height and just perfect for dragons to sit, catch some sun, and spy down on the world below. The ledges run together, rough-hewn walls a couple of feet high marking their borders; jagged stairs make the transition between them possible. There is even a precarious human-sized ledge overlooking everything, though its raised edges have trapped dirt, dust, sand, and leaves, as well as a somewhat surprising collection of sunbleached bones, a green sunhat, and an old boot. The main and largest ledge, sized for a pair of smallish dragons, is in the middle of the mess of ledges. The other ledges, none larger than for a green or small blue, are arranged above and beneath it.
For humans' comfort, some artistic hand has sculpted curved benches out of the rock face to create a semi-circle around the obsidian-fletched oval table in the middle of one of the smallest ledges, and braziers for coals and fire can be filled and lit there also against the chill of colder seasons. Rusted iron-work sconces might be restored to hold lanterns of glowlight, though they'll have to be kept well shuttered against the howling wind.
Contents:
Neiveth
Obvious exits:
Weyr Sky
It's still winter, and not the warmest evening at High Reaches, but L'sen and Neiveth are curled up together on their ledge, watching the sun slip below the horizon from that vantage point. The blue is nestled up against the wall of the weyr, his rider tucked in against his side and wrapped securely in his heaviest blanket.
Often dragons wink in and out around here, but Deneth's not really been seen much of lately. She appears out of between, and rather than making her way to -her- ledge, she seems intent on coming over to visit her favorite blue. << Neiveth, is there room there for us? My Te'an's a little rattled, wants to see your rider. >> She asks, before making the approach for the landing.
Neiveth glances upward at the voice, his whirling eyes finding the green overhead. << Deneth! Come visit us! >> he calls back easily. << My L'sen is keeping warm with his blanket--yours should join him! >>
Deneth lands easily on the ledge, graceful and all, and lets Te'an off before she wanders her way to find a nice spot as close to Neiveth as she can manage on the ledge. << It's been so long! >> Forever, if you ask her, and the chill of High Reaches isn't all that nice anymore after Igen's warmth - poor greenie. "Shards, it's cold here." Te'an mumbles with a frown - no perky greenrider today, it'd appear.
"I gotta blanket?" volunteers L'sen helpfully, lifting one corner of the quilt with a grin as he gestures the greenrider over. Neiveth croons a greeting to Deneth, curling around with her and earning an elbow from L'sen. "Neiveth didn't say nothing about you coming over," he remarks. "How's Igen? And the weyrlings? They were nice--I liked all them, you know?"
Blanket? Need more be said? Te'an heads right over to take the offered corner, and slides himself right in next to L'sen. Deneth seems just as pleased to be curled around, and croons her pleasure at his attentions back to him - oh, such an amorous green. "The weyrlings?" He asks, as though he'd forgotten completely about them. "Oh.. they're fine. I think. Delu lost her mother recently though, so.. well, you know." He says as he tries to curl up closer to L'sen. "You don't mind I came over, do you?"
Neiveth is smug in his regard of both Deneth and the two riders, as L'sen grins sideways at Te'an and moves to slip an arm behind the smaller greenrider. "Oh, that's too bad," he notes, wincing. "Tell her I'm sorry for me? And--no, course not. I never mind you, you know what I mean? Don't see much of you, anyway, now, so twice in a month is a nice treat."
"I will." Te'an says in regards to telling Delu about the condolences, and once the arm's wrapped around him, he wraps both his around L'sen. It's not long before he's sniffling a little, and while not outright crying he seems content to sit there and sniffle a while. "It's been too long! You should.. well, I shouldn't have gone to Igen."
L'sen blinks, glancing down at Te'an with wide eyes, then helplessly to their two dragons before he moves to hug the sniffly Te'an. "Um. Is... something wrong?" No, duh.
"Aislinn's pregnant!" Te'an blurts out, and keeps his arms inexorably around L'sen, poor guy. "And.. and if that wasn't enough, so's Sorra, and well.. Girls are terrible! Why didn't you ask me to be your weyrmate?" He looks at L'sen all sniffly, like that's just the answer to everything.
"Oh, really?" Excitement colors L'sen's voice. "That's great--I'm happy for them. I should tell 'em congratualations, next time I see them. Who's the--" He breaks off, blinking as he realizes those statements are the answer to his question. "Oooh, Te'an. You didn't. You did, didn't you?" He wrinkles his nose, then smiles again. "But kids are great, you--you... know?" Again, he trails off, staring befuddledly at Te'an. "Did you... want me to? Because I mean, I wouldn't have minded or anything, I just didn't... I dunno?"
"No! No! Kids aren't great! I don't have kids, I just have fun, you know?" Te'an says, flailing a bit and pressing his face against L'sen's shoulder. "Ais about pummeled me when I asked her who the father was, and Sorra.. well, I'd been staying with her. And you know.. I can't help myself hardly ever." He sniffles a little more and nods, "I /did/. But you didn't, you always seem so.." How does one explain how someone seems a little too daft.. "Well, not interested."
"/I/ like kids," L'sen defends his statements, frowning slightly. "They're fun. And, well, it's not /really/ so bad, is it? I mean... Oh. I didn't--I didn't realize." Deflated, he frowns further, hanging his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I mean, I thought--I mean, I knew you /liked/ me, and I liked you, but I thought we were just friends that liked each other? Not... weyrmate-y." He shrugs helplessly.
"I'm not a father-type, you know.. I'm just, well, lost." Te'an says with that expression on his face like he's half submerged underwater and doesn't know how to swim. "What do I do? Ais'll kill me when she finds out Sorra's pregnant too.. she already plans on leaving me, I'm sure of it. She's sort of my weyrmate, but you know how terrible I am.. At least if I'd weyrmated you, there'd never be any kids." Excuses, excuses.. he'll just always be himself, prone to flirtation and sleeping around.
L'sen ponders that a moment, then nods. "I guess not. I'm not, either, really. I'm more the... big brother type, probably. You know?" A shrug. "I'm sorry about things with Aislinn, though. She'll really be that upset, just because you slept with somebody else?" He makes a face. "She must not understand you too well, then. You're... you. That's what you do. And if somebody's gonna weyrmate you, they got to understand that's part of it, right? I just don't get all that possessiveness stuff, myself. You always come home in the end, right? Girls /are/ silly. And it /is/ a Weyr. I thought that was kind of normal for here?"
"I don't get it either! I know I like her a lot, and want to not make her upset, but..." Te'an says with a shrug of his shoulders. "She understands flights and all, but she just doesn't understand me. I guess.. I'm not likely to change. You understand me though.." Well, as best as anyone does, and he snuggles himself up against L'sen like he's all that's keeping him from drowning. "She never wanted to move in with me anyways.."
L'sen's brows knit. "What kind of weyrmating is that?" he wonders. "I mean, I thought the point was to live together?" He shakes his head, adding, "Well, yeah. I mean, I'm kind of the same myself, you know? I don't get it. Relationships are just confusing. You're always welcome to come stay with me and Neiveth, though, you know?"
"I don't get it either!" Te'an says with a bit of relief at the fact he's not the only one who doesn't understand weyrmating without living together. "Relationships are hard, I think Sorra wants to keep me at Igen, but I told her I was with Aislinn here. I could never leave High Reaches.. But, I'm sure Aislinn is going to leave me when she finds out about Sorra being pregnant too. I might just take you up on that. Wish I could drag you to Igen with me."
L'sen grins at that. "Dunno, I'm not made for that much hot weather, I don't think. I'd melt or something. I like the Reaches, you know? I'll be glad when you're back here for good, though. I miss you. Is it really leaving if you're, like, not even really together? That's really strange, you know? I mean, by that standard, we really /are/ weyrmates!" He beams at Te'an.
Te'an chuckles lightly, and appears to have gained a bit of his good humor back. "Well, I don't know. It's a weird weyrmating at best with me and Ais, I don't think she wants to share at all but.. I can't help who I am." That's his excuse, and he'll stand by it. "I just.. ah, wasn't expecting girls to get pregnant. Not that I don't know how it happens. Just.. you know.." He frowns again, and snuggles up against L'sen. "I'd rather have you as a weyrmate."
"Yeah, I know," agrees L'sen. "I guess you just don't think about these things until they actually happen? I dunno." He shrugs, then brightens again. "Hey, if Aislinn /does/ leave you, you can always move in with me, you know? If you wanna. I don't mind, and Neiveth--well, you know how him 'n' Deneth get. He'd love the company." Pause. "Well, obviously, you're kind of stuck at Igen now, with Sorra, but you know what I mean," he adds.
"Right! Besides, it's never happened to me before." Te'an complains, not that it really is a good excuse. "Really? You'd let me? Deneth would /really/ like that. I wish you were there to catch her when she rose... shards, I was with another girl because of that, too."
L'sen grins happily. "Of course I would. And hey, Neiveth tries hard, but he can't win /all/ the time. Anyway, it gets kind of lonely sometimes, you know, all by myself--I hate that, you know what I mean? I liked having all the people around in the barracks and stuff. And /I/ don't care if you go do stuff with other people, because I'm not all jealous and stuff."
"Can I stay here tonight? I need a little time away from.. well, everyone else." Te'an says with a frown, clinging to L'sen to the point of giving him very little room to say 'no'. "I'll come stay with you more. You'll come visit me at Igen when you can, right?"
"Sure!" L'sen agrees without hesitation, nodding quickly. "Like I said, I never mind having you around. I will--I liked Igen. I've never been out of the Reaches before then, you know? It was way different, but it was fun. I really liked your weyrlings, too--you're lucky, you know what I mean, getting to work with all of them?" he rambles blithely, now that the tears seem to have in large part passed.
"Thanks for always being such a good friend, L'sen. I could always count on you." Te'an murmurs as he presses his face against L'sen's chest. "It's weird, being someone they look up to. Bet you never would have thought me in that kind of position. It's real tough, especially when Deneth was about to rise and all. I've not seen too much of them since all that. I feel like I've neglected them."
L'sen smiles at that, snuggling tighter to the greenrider. "Yeah, me, too. I dunno, you seemed like you were really good at it, what I saw. I mean, you... you've done everything I think they're not supposed to, after all, so you know what you're talking about." He shrugs lightly, notes, "Anyway, don't worry about it. You're great, you know? You're doing fine."
Te'an snickers a bit, "Yeah, I guess I have. I think I'll do okay too. Hey, let's go to bed, I'm real tired - haven't slept well in days." He says, and tries to tug at the bluerider.
"Okay," L'sen agrees amiably, rising and gathering up the blanket before starting inside to the warmer bedroom. "Maybe we'll actually, you know, sleep this time, huh?" he snickers as they head inside.