The Way Of Things
Location: D'ven and Teraneth's Weyr
Time: Evening on Day 17, Month 7, Turn 2
Players: D'ven, Roa, Tialith, Teraneth
Scene: The weyrwoman pays a visit and the future is discussed. A rather specific bit of it.
It's evening, and D'ven is sitting in his weyr with his feet up on the desk. There's a half empty bottle, and a glass beside it, near his feet. He appears to be fairly relaxed, though more thoughtful than he normally would be right now.
To Teraneth: The weight comes first. Soft pressure over and around that announces contact before the words do. Roa would know if she might visit your rider?
Teraneth answers with a tone that is both respectful and affectionate, a deep brassy voice. Yours is more than welcome to visit mine.
We come, then. And a moment later, deed is put to word as the queen makes the small trip from her ledge to Teraneth's. A low warble of greeting as Roa dismounts and makes for the inner weyr. "Evening," she says. She's still knotless. Her hair is a little wild, some wisps poofing out and escaping the bun. Summer humidity. "You look well, sir."
Teraneth rumbles a greeting to the gold as she lands. With the small amount of warning he had, D'ven has pulled up an extra chair and glass. "Thank you, weyrwoman." He greets with a small smile. "The same is true of you. I trust appearances are not deceiving?"
"Not just now, no." Blue eyes travel quickly over the bronzerider before she notes, "No obvious bandages or slings or splints, so I presume your piece went smoothly enough?" The chair is accepted and the glass is left to sit. She doesn't lift it just yet.
D'ven grins slightly. "Smoothly enough, yes. She did try and pull a knife on me, and then punch me, but it was far too late for that." He expands, shifting slightly in his own seat. "It really does look like it might be over."
"Careful," Roa warns as she lifts one hand. "Saying that is almost as bad as saying 'at least it can't get any worse'. She pulled a knife? Well, then, at least we know we've got the right girl." Her gaze lowers to settle on the wineglass. "I should see her."
"This is true." D'ven replies with a nod, before sighing. "Yes, you probably should. And I'm certain we have the right girl, weyrwoman. Of that much, I am certain about."
Roa breathes out a slow sigh. "Good. I suppose, since no one's been hurt since the arrest, you're right." Hmm. That glass is starting to look a touch inviting. Roa turns it just slightly.
D'ven nods, and then chances voicing something he hasn't dared to anyone else. "Now let us hope we have the right man." He murmurs very quietly indeed, before returning to normal volume. "The evidence against him makes me sure we do logically, but...I had pinned my hopes on him. It...hasn't been pleasant."
"I believe we do," Roa agrees. "Time and Morelenth will tell. You liked him, then, before?" Now the wine is lifted and sipped, set down again. "I knew him a bit, but before I let myself form opinions on such things. He let me read his wing formations." That...doesn't *seem* to be a euphemism for anything.
D'ven considers. "I didn't really know him personally, but I felt as a popular local and a capable leader he was our best choice for Weyrleader and that him taking the role was the only way things would stop. Ironic, how right I was in certain respects." At the latter comment, he can't help but grin. "I think I have some wing formations around here somewhere..."
"Probably tucked under Susannah to even out the slightly shorter leg," Roa muses with that little hitch of a smile curling the side of her lips. A pause before she asks, "and who will you support now?"
"Probably." D'ven replies, returning the smile. At the question he frowns, thoughtfully. "I don't honestly know. I haven't had much contact with many other bronzeriders. R'vain...seems like a decent man, but I've only met him the once so far. And perhaps I should learn from this, and be slower to give my support in this particular matter."
"R'vain..." and Roa's lips press together slightly, "is not what you'd call a political animal." Emphasis on 'political'. "That could be good or bad, I suppose. He doesn't precisely think things though. Ever." Sip. "Who else have we got rattling around in the weyr?"
D'ven considers this. "Well, besides E'sere and R'vain...there's J'cor, of course, who is doing a good job for all that he's not the most popular person. There's T'vas. I don't know much about him, but I've heard the name in passing." He goes on to name a few other bronzeriders. "Plus the Caucus bronzes, of course, are around."
A small nod to each name. "The Caucus bronzes are, though I suspect that this time the leadership flight will be closed." A tiny smirk that vanishes as Roa cants her head to the side. "Are you deliberately leaving yourself out because you're not interested, or because you're trying to be modest? Or coy?"
Oh damn, she noticed. "I'm deliberately leaving myself out because every time I think the words Weyrleader D'ven, I don't know whether to burst out laughing or run in fear." D'ven replies with a grin that belies his seriousness. "Can you imagine me in that job? With the lifestyle I lead, and my tendency to be..straightforward? It'd go oh so well."
The smile, this time, isn't reciprocated. It's studied with a quiet and intent scrutiny. "I think, considering the way we get new Weyrleaders, you owe it to yourself and to the Reaches to try to imagine it. Unless you think you can keep Teraneth from chasing in a leadership flight." Roa turns away and back to the wine. "Better to wake up the follow morning and feel relieved everything's the same, than to wake up and have to face a change you've been strenuously ignoring." Her fingers flick the glass. *Ping.* "There's nothing wrong with straightforward."
"No, I no I can't do that." D'ven replies with a slow shake of his head, draining his glass in one sudden motion. "And you say nothing wrong with straightforward, but you haven't been around for some of the wonderful things I've said to people." There's a pause. "You are right, though. It might happen."
"I caught that little doozy you offered J'cor the other evening." Return of the smirk, along with a slow shake of Roa's head. "Yes. It might. Might not, but it might." The other end of the equation, the gold being chased, isn't brought up. "What would you do, if it did? What would you want?"
D'ven has the grace not to grin /too/ much. "Yeah, and that was minor by my standards." He notes, before sighing. "All I want is for my friends to be happy and safe, and to go on living the way I do until thread or my lifestyle catches up to me and I die." He shrugs. "I'm too selfish to be Weyrleader." There's a long pause, and then he at least makes an effort. "I guess I'd just want the Weyr to be a safe place, and to fly all our falls well and with as few casualties and injuries as possible. I'd like things the way they were when I was a boy, before people made turning on each other such a common pastime. If everyone here is safe and happy, and our coverage area is well protected, that'd be good enough for me."
Roa has lifted her arms to rest them on the table, lacing her fingers so she can rest her chin on the ledge they create. She listens. "If you became Weyrleader," she says quietly, "your head would hurt. Everything you want is so simple outwardly, and incredibly complicated in actuality. It's that, that worries me. Though I suppose you'd also have Br'ce and T'ral for counsel. And, possibly, your weyrwoman."
"Well, I'd /hope/ I'd have my weyrwoman for council." D'ven replies warily, still not too keen on playing let's pretend on this topic. "Because if we couldn't work together, my list of wants would be off to a pretty useless start. But yes, I'd have Br'ce and Tiv. And yes, I know it'd be complicated. And my lifestyle...wouldn't go well with the position."
"You'd have to modify it, then. Your lifestyle. Sinopa...I'm sure you could work fine together. I suspect that once she has what she wants, she won't be interested in any complicated decisions. It's not what she's after. Me?" Roa looks away and over to the wall across from her. "I would be interested. Understanding and assisting would be very important to me. But I can't promise that we'd always or often agree. I don't think things can go backwards and I dislike how they are currently...so..." Shrug.
D'ven nods. "Yes, I would. Like I said, I'm too selfish to be Weyrleader." He echoes, before laughing softly. "I'd be extremely suspicious if we always or often agreed. Even Tiv and I don't always agree. Anyone who always agreed with me would either be doing so out of laziness, or because they were hiding something from me."
"Or wanted something from you," Roa notes a little lazily. "There's always that." She falls quiet for a few minutes before she adds, "Selfishness is a choice."
"Yes, or wanted something from me." D'ven agrees with a nod, before shrugging. "Perhaps. Perhaps it's part of who I am. All I know is, I like my life. I don't want to up and change it. And as you say, it's not as if I could really get what I would want anyhow. No, I'm far better off out of that one."
"Too bad that last bit isn't your choice. It's Teraneth's and the gold he chases." Roa lifts her glass and sips, before setting it down again. "This is sort of an awful thing to ask, but doesn't that...ever strike you as absurd?"
"No, not really." D'ven replies with a shrug. "It's just the way things are meant to be. It's the way they work. And I think we all want things to keep working, right?" There's another shrug.
"I want things to work well, yes," Roa agrees as she again peers into her cup. "But you can't have it both ways. Either you like the way it works and you take up the responsibility that might mean, or you don't and you don't. Teraneth chose you for a reason. Live up to it." And she stands now, letting the motion push back her chair.
D'ven watches Roa stand thoughtfully. "Are you leaving?" He asks, his tone fairly neutral. It's an inquiry, nothing more. Her words, though clearly being mulled over, go uncommented on.
"I think so," the little weyrwoman answers. "I'm mildly irritated."
"I wish you a good evening, then." D'ven replies with a slight inclination of his head. "And I hope the irritation clears up."
"It rarely lasts long." Though the image of irritation, like a rash, clearing up, does force Roa to snicker a little despite herself. "Let me know," she adds as she steps away from the table, "when you've thought about it."
D'ven nods. "I will do. I suspect you won't like my words any better than you currently do, though." The latter is delivered matter-of-factly, with no accusation or anything much in his tone.
Roa's shoulders lift and fall. "Then we get to practice disagreeing. Good night, D'ven." She's turned away from him now, and walking back out towards the ledge.
"Practice dis.....oh." The tone turns from a confused question to one of realisation, as D'ven watches her retreating back. "I guess we do, at that. Goodnight, weyrwoman."
Time: Evening on Day 17, Month 7, Turn 2
Players: D'ven, Roa, Tialith, Teraneth
Scene: The weyrwoman pays a visit and the future is discussed. A rather specific bit of it.
It's evening, and D'ven is sitting in his weyr with his feet up on the desk. There's a half empty bottle, and a glass beside it, near his feet. He appears to be fairly relaxed, though more thoughtful than he normally would be right now.
To Teraneth: The weight comes first. Soft pressure over and around that announces contact before the words do. Roa would know if she might visit your rider?
Teraneth answers with a tone that is both respectful and affectionate, a deep brassy voice. Yours is more than welcome to visit mine.
We come, then. And a moment later, deed is put to word as the queen makes the small trip from her ledge to Teraneth's. A low warble of greeting as Roa dismounts and makes for the inner weyr. "Evening," she says. She's still knotless. Her hair is a little wild, some wisps poofing out and escaping the bun. Summer humidity. "You look well, sir."
Teraneth rumbles a greeting to the gold as she lands. With the small amount of warning he had, D'ven has pulled up an extra chair and glass. "Thank you, weyrwoman." He greets with a small smile. "The same is true of you. I trust appearances are not deceiving?"
"Not just now, no." Blue eyes travel quickly over the bronzerider before she notes, "No obvious bandages or slings or splints, so I presume your piece went smoothly enough?" The chair is accepted and the glass is left to sit. She doesn't lift it just yet.
D'ven grins slightly. "Smoothly enough, yes. She did try and pull a knife on me, and then punch me, but it was far too late for that." He expands, shifting slightly in his own seat. "It really does look like it might be over."
"Careful," Roa warns as she lifts one hand. "Saying that is almost as bad as saying 'at least it can't get any worse'. She pulled a knife? Well, then, at least we know we've got the right girl." Her gaze lowers to settle on the wineglass. "I should see her."
"This is true." D'ven replies with a nod, before sighing. "Yes, you probably should. And I'm certain we have the right girl, weyrwoman. Of that much, I am certain about."
Roa breathes out a slow sigh. "Good. I suppose, since no one's been hurt since the arrest, you're right." Hmm. That glass is starting to look a touch inviting. Roa turns it just slightly.
D'ven nods, and then chances voicing something he hasn't dared to anyone else. "Now let us hope we have the right man." He murmurs very quietly indeed, before returning to normal volume. "The evidence against him makes me sure we do logically, but...I had pinned my hopes on him. It...hasn't been pleasant."
"I believe we do," Roa agrees. "Time and Morelenth will tell. You liked him, then, before?" Now the wine is lifted and sipped, set down again. "I knew him a bit, but before I let myself form opinions on such things. He let me read his wing formations." That...doesn't *seem* to be a euphemism for anything.
D'ven considers. "I didn't really know him personally, but I felt as a popular local and a capable leader he was our best choice for Weyrleader and that him taking the role was the only way things would stop. Ironic, how right I was in certain respects." At the latter comment, he can't help but grin. "I think I have some wing formations around here somewhere..."
"Probably tucked under Susannah to even out the slightly shorter leg," Roa muses with that little hitch of a smile curling the side of her lips. A pause before she asks, "and who will you support now?"
"Probably." D'ven replies, returning the smile. At the question he frowns, thoughtfully. "I don't honestly know. I haven't had much contact with many other bronzeriders. R'vain...seems like a decent man, but I've only met him the once so far. And perhaps I should learn from this, and be slower to give my support in this particular matter."
"R'vain..." and Roa's lips press together slightly, "is not what you'd call a political animal." Emphasis on 'political'. "That could be good or bad, I suppose. He doesn't precisely think things though. Ever." Sip. "Who else have we got rattling around in the weyr?"
D'ven considers this. "Well, besides E'sere and R'vain...there's J'cor, of course, who is doing a good job for all that he's not the most popular person. There's T'vas. I don't know much about him, but I've heard the name in passing." He goes on to name a few other bronzeriders. "Plus the Caucus bronzes, of course, are around."
A small nod to each name. "The Caucus bronzes are, though I suspect that this time the leadership flight will be closed." A tiny smirk that vanishes as Roa cants her head to the side. "Are you deliberately leaving yourself out because you're not interested, or because you're trying to be modest? Or coy?"
Oh damn, she noticed. "I'm deliberately leaving myself out because every time I think the words Weyrleader D'ven, I don't know whether to burst out laughing or run in fear." D'ven replies with a grin that belies his seriousness. "Can you imagine me in that job? With the lifestyle I lead, and my tendency to be..straightforward? It'd go oh so well."
The smile, this time, isn't reciprocated. It's studied with a quiet and intent scrutiny. "I think, considering the way we get new Weyrleaders, you owe it to yourself and to the Reaches to try to imagine it. Unless you think you can keep Teraneth from chasing in a leadership flight." Roa turns away and back to the wine. "Better to wake up the follow morning and feel relieved everything's the same, than to wake up and have to face a change you've been strenuously ignoring." Her fingers flick the glass. *Ping.* "There's nothing wrong with straightforward."
"No, I no I can't do that." D'ven replies with a slow shake of his head, draining his glass in one sudden motion. "And you say nothing wrong with straightforward, but you haven't been around for some of the wonderful things I've said to people." There's a pause. "You are right, though. It might happen."
"I caught that little doozy you offered J'cor the other evening." Return of the smirk, along with a slow shake of Roa's head. "Yes. It might. Might not, but it might." The other end of the equation, the gold being chased, isn't brought up. "What would you do, if it did? What would you want?"
D'ven has the grace not to grin /too/ much. "Yeah, and that was minor by my standards." He notes, before sighing. "All I want is for my friends to be happy and safe, and to go on living the way I do until thread or my lifestyle catches up to me and I die." He shrugs. "I'm too selfish to be Weyrleader." There's a long pause, and then he at least makes an effort. "I guess I'd just want the Weyr to be a safe place, and to fly all our falls well and with as few casualties and injuries as possible. I'd like things the way they were when I was a boy, before people made turning on each other such a common pastime. If everyone here is safe and happy, and our coverage area is well protected, that'd be good enough for me."
Roa has lifted her arms to rest them on the table, lacing her fingers so she can rest her chin on the ledge they create. She listens. "If you became Weyrleader," she says quietly, "your head would hurt. Everything you want is so simple outwardly, and incredibly complicated in actuality. It's that, that worries me. Though I suppose you'd also have Br'ce and T'ral for counsel. And, possibly, your weyrwoman."
"Well, I'd /hope/ I'd have my weyrwoman for council." D'ven replies warily, still not too keen on playing let's pretend on this topic. "Because if we couldn't work together, my list of wants would be off to a pretty useless start. But yes, I'd have Br'ce and Tiv. And yes, I know it'd be complicated. And my lifestyle...wouldn't go well with the position."
"You'd have to modify it, then. Your lifestyle. Sinopa...I'm sure you could work fine together. I suspect that once she has what she wants, she won't be interested in any complicated decisions. It's not what she's after. Me?" Roa looks away and over to the wall across from her. "I would be interested. Understanding and assisting would be very important to me. But I can't promise that we'd always or often agree. I don't think things can go backwards and I dislike how they are currently...so..." Shrug.
D'ven nods. "Yes, I would. Like I said, I'm too selfish to be Weyrleader." He echoes, before laughing softly. "I'd be extremely suspicious if we always or often agreed. Even Tiv and I don't always agree. Anyone who always agreed with me would either be doing so out of laziness, or because they were hiding something from me."
"Or wanted something from you," Roa notes a little lazily. "There's always that." She falls quiet for a few minutes before she adds, "Selfishness is a choice."
"Yes, or wanted something from me." D'ven agrees with a nod, before shrugging. "Perhaps. Perhaps it's part of who I am. All I know is, I like my life. I don't want to up and change it. And as you say, it's not as if I could really get what I would want anyhow. No, I'm far better off out of that one."
"Too bad that last bit isn't your choice. It's Teraneth's and the gold he chases." Roa lifts her glass and sips, before setting it down again. "This is sort of an awful thing to ask, but doesn't that...ever strike you as absurd?"
"No, not really." D'ven replies with a shrug. "It's just the way things are meant to be. It's the way they work. And I think we all want things to keep working, right?" There's another shrug.
"I want things to work well, yes," Roa agrees as she again peers into her cup. "But you can't have it both ways. Either you like the way it works and you take up the responsibility that might mean, or you don't and you don't. Teraneth chose you for a reason. Live up to it." And she stands now, letting the motion push back her chair.
D'ven watches Roa stand thoughtfully. "Are you leaving?" He asks, his tone fairly neutral. It's an inquiry, nothing more. Her words, though clearly being mulled over, go uncommented on.
"I think so," the little weyrwoman answers. "I'm mildly irritated."
"I wish you a good evening, then." D'ven replies with a slight inclination of his head. "And I hope the irritation clears up."
"It rarely lasts long." Though the image of irritation, like a rash, clearing up, does force Roa to snicker a little despite herself. "Let me know," she adds as she steps away from the table, "when you've thought about it."
D'ven nods. "I will do. I suspect you won't like my words any better than you currently do, though." The latter is delivered matter-of-factly, with no accusation or anything much in his tone.
Roa's shoulders lift and fall. "Then we get to practice disagreeing. Good night, D'ven." She's turned away from him now, and walking back out towards the ledge.
"Practice dis.....oh." The tone turns from a confused question to one of realisation, as D'ven watches her retreating back. "I guess we do, at that. Goodnight, weyrwoman."