Straps and Scraps

Writers: Avery, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 13th March 2016

Characters: Talwynn, A'kua
Description: The first set of straps and the first steps to fighting back.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 20 of Turn 8

Lissath's class had had their strap-making class that day. Talwynn hadn't been there for the class, but she decided to show up to the barracks' common room that evening. If she was going to be flying with this class in drills, she wanted to have fighting-quality straps that would put up with that kind of maneuvering. So she picked up her straps kit and went to the common room to sit with the weyrlings and see if anyone wanted advice or company.

Zeiranth was eyeing the long cuts of leather and the tools A'kua needed to shape them with considerable apprehension. Most of the metal objects spread out on the table his partner had appropriated looked remarkably sharp and ouch-inducing. }:Do you really need all that?:{ he hedged.

"If I'm goin' to ride you, yes," A'kua said, sifting through the objects to find a measuring ribbon.

}:You're going to be careful when you use all that, right?:{

"'Course."

Talwynn smiled as she saw A'kua with the equipment. "Done your measurements?"

The weyrling looked up at her and half-smiled back. "Aye, and they've been triple-checked. Now I have to actually get to work."

}:I don't like this,:{ Zeiranth complained to Riveth. }:The tools make me nervous.:{

A'kua rolled his eyes. "Zei's fussin' like mad," he confided to Tal. "But I'm used to handlin' sharp objects." He picked up an awl in his right hand and laid his left flat on the table, palm down and fingers spread. "When the holdboys got really bored, they'd do stuff like this. They once bet me an entire Mark I didn't have to guts to try. They reneged when I did it without flinchin'. I think I scared 'em." He stabbed the awl rhythmically and rapidly between his fingers.

Zeiranth promptly panicked. }:What are you doing?! Put that down! That looks incredibly dangerous and- and-:{ His head started moving as he tracked the awl's progress. }:And how are you doing that so fast?:{

Another half smile. "Old habits die hard." The dark-eyed redhead yanked his left hand back and jabbed the awl into the table, missing his skin by an inch and leaving the tool standing straight up.

Talwynn watched his trick and snorted in appreciation. "That looks like fun," she said, briefly contemplating if she could do it to herself.

}:Your hand is already injured. You should not.:{ Riveth fussed.

"It's a good way to kill some time if you don't accidentally stab yourself," A'kua said, working the awl free and checking to make sure he hadn't dulled it too much. It was fine, so he picked up the first strap to make the needed holes in the end.

"If I do it right before Riveth rises maybe the Healers won't stare at me so much."

The statement made no sense. A'kua gave Tal a puzzled look, silently questioning for clarification.

"Proddy green," she said with a shrug. "I've wound up with strange injuries just before she rises. Broken a glass, getting it in my hand."

"Aah." That would be an example of a dragon's emotional state influencing their rider in not entirely beneficial ways. "Didn't their parents tell 'em it's rude to stare?"

Zeiranth snorted at the jest as A'kua pushed the awl through the leather carefully.

"I think their job is staring at us when we're sick. It's just frustrating though. I don't mean to injure myself, I just get this...pent up energy. And I can't spar like I used to."

The weyrling sat up straighter. "You were a scrapper?"

"I used to know how to stick-fight to burn off energy," she said. "My hand kind of ruined it a bit. Nobody really wanted to help me regain form. For awhile, I didn't either. Trying to do old things just kept reminded me of how much I'd lost."

She shook her head after a moment, wondering why she was being so honest with the weyrling. It was probably inappropriate given her position as an assistant to the class but something about A'kua was appealing.

A'kua looked down at his straps, and Zeiranth gave him a long stare as well. }:Riveth, my partner is plotting something. I'm not sure if I approve,:{ he reported.

The redhead looked up again. "I don't know what you mean by stick-fightin', but I haven't had any human opponents in a while," he said.

"Using a long staff, hitting about with other people. Sort of like guards would do, if weyrs needed them or holds trained them," she said.

}:Oh? What?:{ Riveth asked.

"Think you could teach me that?" A'kua asked. "Or maybe just scrap some time?"

}:I knew it,:{ Zeiranth moaned to Riveth. }:He's going to go from hitting walls to hitting your rider.:{

}:Hitting my rider? Why?:{ Riveth started searchuing her rider's mind.

"You got into a lot of fights, huh?" Talwynn asked.

A'kua nodded. "Most of the time, it was because someone insulted my mother. This was before I knew better. It was never the girls, always the boys, so I could hit 'em without remorse. I learned a lot from those fights. How to read and manipulate people, how to look for trouble before it started, how to win. I liked it too much for my own good. It let me release all my rage, and then there was that rush at the end, when the pain is beaten out by euphoria for a li'l while. By the time I ran away, the trouble'd been reduced to four or five boys who just couldn't leave well enough alone." He didn't know why he was telling Tal this. Probably because she could be trusted. "Several people were afraid of me by then. It was better than bein' hated."

"Maybe they liked it, too. Some people just keep coming back for punishment, what can I say? That kind of determination can be uselful. Or stupid." She felt some sympathy for the boy.Sounded like the hold had been rough.

You're not gonna have a problem hitting me if we spar, are you?" she asked.

A'kua shook his head. "You're not a vulnerable girl. You're an adult who can handle herself. I think I'd be fine." His policy of not attacking women unless they meant him harm could be bent a little here because Tal really could handle herself, or so he believed. And if she was coming at him mercilessly in a sparring match, then he couldn't afford to go easy on her.

"Good. 'cause I'd hate for you to go easy on me 'cause you think I can't handle it." Whether that was because she was a girl or because of her infirmity. She didn't handle with that.

"How about this restday? Assuming your straps are more than half-done by then - if they're not, you're supposed to work on them, even if it's technically a day off. You'll need them," she warned.

"If you can handle a bunch of gossipin' weyrlin's, you can handle scrappin' with just one of 'em," A'kua said, and bent his head back over the leather to get to work. "This restday it is. I'll get this done, you'll see."

}:This is a terrible idea,:{ Zeiranth complained to Riveth. }:Play-fighting with the weyrlingstaff is not good at all.:{

}:My rider is excited about it, so how can it be bad? She knows that there will be classes coming up in play-fighting for riders. And you will play-fight Thread,:{ Riveth told the young bronze. }:So this must be sensible.:{

"I think I'd rather the scrapping," she muttered.

"'scuse me? I don't think this strap is cut right, can you look?" a blue weyrling called over.

"Time to go rescue him. Good luck," Talwynn told A'kua.

The weyrling sighed. "Thanks. I need it."

Last updated on the March 14th 2016

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Straps and Scraps