Could It Get Any Worse?

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 11th August 2017

Characters: F'lin, Lanniya
Description: Lanniya forces F'lin to talk to her, with surprising results.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 2 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: R'ehn, K'ran, K'ale

Lanniya

Lanniya was one of the first people out if the meeting, so she waited
until F'lin emerged. Chewing on her lower lip and uncertain if he
wanted to speak to her, or honestly if she really wanted to speak to
him, she shifted from one foot to another. When he came out and waited
past her, she stepped forward to begin walking beside him. She
hesitated, then spoke softly. "I'm sorry that it didn't go like you
wanted."

F'lin paused in the hall, then gestured for Lanniya to follow him.
This was not a discussion that he wanted to have right next to the
Weyrleader's office. Or ever, really. They hadn't spoken all since
he'd seen her at the Hatching. "My regards to Anaeryth."

She blinked at him even as she followed him. *My regards to Anaeryth?
That's all he has to say?* A frown slowly grew on her face and she
felt a flare of temper. "That's it? We used to be friends, F'lin." He
knew how she felt about forced niceties. "Now it's 'My regards'? I was
actually scared to death for you at River Bluff and was worried about
if you were okay!" She had to force herself not to yell, but so rarely
did she get this upset that it was a struggle. Her fists clenched,
then unclenched. "You...you...wher's ass."

The bronzerider stopped, battling his own temper. He managed to reign
it in before turning to face Lanniya. "In these last few days I've
lost friends, my home, my Wingthird, and now--" Rapids Wing. Maybe not
today, but soon enough. He could still see the look on R'ehn's face as
the older bronzerider slapped him on the back, dismissing him with a
single gesture. "You're right, it didn't go well in there. Jaylene's
gone to Dragonsfall Weyr and K'ran can't fly, so that leaves me as the
only one left with the knots to lead them. Except that's not what
happened, was it."

"So did I!" Lanniya shot back just as fiercely. "Just because I was
here and not there doesn't mean I didn't lose anyone either." She
struggled and took in a ragged breath. " I know that. I was in there.
I thought you could do just fine and said as much. Not because we were
friends once, but because you're a good rider. But you were a jerk in
there too, F'lin. You're gonna have to work with everyone in there and
R'enh's a good man too."

The bronzerider bit back his reply, and instead scanned the hall for a
door- any door. He opened the nearest one and gestured for Lanniya to
follow him. "I don't want to have this conversation in the hall," he
said tightly.

Lanniya strode in and looked around. "This is a storage closet." It
was a large storage closet, but still a storage closet. She turned to
look at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sorry I don't know the Weyr better." F'lin unconsciously mimicked her
gesture. He felt raw, his emotions stretched too tightly beneath his
skin, and the goldrider was challenging his ability to tamp his temper
down. The last thing he needed was to make her cry again. It would
prove to everyone in there that he was exactly as incompetent as they
thought he was. "What do you want to say to me, Lanniya?"

"You're the one who wanted to come in here and have a conversation."
She took a breath. "Why are you being such a jerk to me? What did I
ever do to you? Nothing! " It wasn't where they started out when they
left the meeting room, but it was foremost in her thoughts. "I thought
you cared about me and since I was transferred here, all you are is
cold and distant and...and an ass!"

"Lanniya." F'lin rubbed his hand over his face. This was _not_
something he felt capable of dealing with now. Old grief over the
death of his father was too much to deal with over the new grief of
the loss of everything else. He took a breath. Held it. Exhaled.
"Look. I'm sorry I didn't come visit you right after we transferred.
Moving Rapids and-- everything else... it's been a lot. I haven't been
good company for anyone." Not even himself.

"No, that's not it. You've been an ass since before I came here. You
nearly ruined Anaeryth's first hatching for me." She pressed on,
taking a step forward and standing only inches from him. "What I did
wasn't right. I know that. I can't change it. But stop punishing me
for it. You were my friend, F'lin! I'm still trying to be yours!"

He looked down at her as a heavy wave of sadness washed over him,
burying his anger. She was right-- he was punishing her. He was
punishing himself, for letting her go /between/ times, for letting
himself hope... he was a rotten friend. A rotten, selfish person. The
only thing he was good at was losing people. "Maybe you shouldn't. I'm
not worth your time."

Seeing the sadness in his eyes made her heart break for him. Cupping
his face in her hands, she chided him. "Don't ever say that again."
Not thinking about anything but wanting to make that sadness go away,
she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, pressing her
cheek against his. "Not ever."

He didn't think, just turned his head and kissed her. His arms wrapped
around her narrow waist and pulled her against him, his mouth hungry
against hers. She felt like peaches and sunshine, something bright and
sweet in the middle of disaster. He hadn't known how much he wanted
her until she'd touched him.

She gasped against his mouth, unprepared for the kiss and how her body
would instantly react. He had been her first kiss, a gentle peck at
that long ago Hatching dance, but she hadn't thought that there would
be more. Her eyes fluttered closed and she suddenly clung to him with
a husky moan, her previous anger dissolving into a sudden passionate
response.

He kissed her again, the sound of her voice and the feel of her eager
body against his provoking an unmistakable response. He wanted her so
badly he ached. She was dizzying, filling his head until there wasn't
room for anything else.

Pressed full length against him, she couldn't help but feel his
response and arched against it. Her hands slid down to his chest, a
broad chest, warm and muscular and feeling so very good against her.
And not K'ale's. Not K'ale's. "Wait..." She panted against his mouth,
then moaned with a shudder as her body shifted against his again,
demanding what his was blatantly offering. "Can't."

He did _not_ want to stop. F'lin kissed her once more, then rested his
forehead against hers. Lanniya was right, though-- a broom closet was
not the right place for what he wanted to do to her. "Come to my weyr
tonight."

The following kiss distracted her just enough that she wasn't really
paying attention to what he said. She sighed, "Yes..." Her eyes
suddenly widened and she jerked herself to a stop. "No. I mean, I
can't..." She just stared at him with wide eyes, her lips slightly
swollen from the ardent kissing. She knew she should move away from
the warmth of his arms, but her body rejected that notion; it was
buzzing with awakened need and she ached to have it released. No one
but K'ale had ever kissed her with that much hunger.

*K'ale...* She did wiggle free at the thought of him and backed away.
She shouldn't want F'lin, shouldn't want what he was offering. But,
Faranth, she did! She
wanted to do things...She licked her lower lip, catching the taste of
him before it faded. She loved K'ale and her body wasn't supposed to
want anyone but K'ale, right? "I can't." She swallowed and moved
towards the door, one hand twisting at the ring K'ale had given her.

F'lin reached for her, but let his hand fall back to his side. Of
course she wouldn't. That didn't change the way he wanted her. His jaw
clenched and he let her retreat. "Come anyway."

She swallowed hard. "K'ale and me..we're..." She studied his face, her
eyes trailing down to his mouth and then lower before catching
herself. She flushed and her eyes shot back upwards. Her heart was
fluttering like mad and sweet Faranth, she wanted him to kiss her
again. Just like he just had, all fiery passion. Her cheeks got even
redder and she looked away. "I want to, but..." She stumbled over her
words, embarrassed at her admission. "I have to go." She darted for
the door and opened it, hurrying out.

It was sharding _hard_ not to go after her. F'lin took a deep breath,
then another. Closed his eyes. **Centred. Grounded.** Then he turned
and kicked a bucket over before storming out, not caring if anyone saw
him leave a broom closet looking like he'd flown through a hurricane.
This day couldn't get any worse if it tried.

Last updated on the September 2nd 2017

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Could It Get Any Worse?