Wine, Sausages, and Men

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 7th April 2019

Characters: Rorela, Harki
Description: Harki checks in on Rorela the next day
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 20 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentions: G'nir, Ma'din, Paetri, J'kri

The next day was always the same. Same drills, same lingering sense of
dread, same blinding hangover. Harki pushed through it, swallowed her
willow salic, and made a stop at the kitchens before going to visit
Rorela as she promised. "Hallooo?" Harki stood on the other side of
the privacy curtain and waited to see if there was an answer, or if
Rorela was asleep.

She was awake and as she looked up, there was a dumbfounded look on
her face as if she had just been interrupted from a deep, almost
disturbing thought. Her face cleared immediately and she smiled.
"Hey, Did you bring wine? Please tell me you brought some. Or
something harder."

Harki slipped in and opened her jacket, pulling out a crushed, greasy
tea towel and a full bottle of wine. "Sausages and wine, as requested.
I even got you the sausage rolls instead of the sausages, but if you
get crumbs in your bandages that's on you."

Rorela sat up immediately, eyes lighting with pleasure and held out
her hands. "Gimmee. " She snatched the bottle of wine and caressed it
lovingly, before kissing the glass. "My best friend."

"Rude! I'm standing right here!" Harki dropped the wrapped sausage
rolls on the little table beside the bed and sat down beside Rorela.
"So much for gratitude."

"Thank you for bringing my best friend to visit me." Rorela replied
primly, then looked at the greasy wrapping with something akin to
lust. "Sausage rolls. I'm so _hungry_ . The food here is all
vegetables and fish." She eyed the bottle, then the covered rolls. "I
don't know what I want first."

"I can't help you there." Harki was quiet a moment, watching Rorela
decide. The Wingthird looked so much better than she had the day
before. Some of the colour had come back to her face and the bandages
swathing her middle didn't look so slap-dash. They'd been redone with
a bit more care now that the rush of Threadfall was over. She had
terrible bedhead, though. "You're looking better than before."

"You've got the hangover face. You and Ma'din get plastered last
night?" Deciding what she wanted first, Rorela tugged at the bottle's
cork, then scowled at it. "Open!" She exhaled and sighed. "I feel a
bit better. They're not giving me as much fellis and I should be out
of here in a day or so as long as I keep the bandages on." She sat up
a bit straighter and handed Harki the bottle. "If you can open the
blasted thing, I suppose I'll share." she paused, then followed
Harki's gaze upwards towards her brow. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Harki did her best to look innocent as she pulled a
corkscrew from her pocket and set to work. If she said anything,
Rorela's hair was standing straight up, making the Wingthird look like
she'd been smacked in the face by a high wind. "And yes, I got myself
thoroughly drunk last night. And shagged. In that order, if you're
curious." The cork came loose with a pop. Harki cringed and handed the
bottle to Rorela. "Shells, I hope no one heard that."

"Uh huh." She didn't fall for the innocent look for a moment, but was
distracted by Harki's comment. "As much as you two go at it, I'm
surprised he's not shagged you out of your skin. You've stuck with him
longer than anyone. So does he still take longer when he's drunk? Hope
you're on your teas!" The last was given with a sly grin that
brightened as the cork popped. "Oh who cares?" She swiped the bottle
and took a long drink, ending with a sigh. "That's good..." she
reached for the sausage rolls and with relish, popped one in her
mouth. Her eyes closed in ecstasy as she chewed and handed Harki the
bottle.

The greenrider took a swig and grimaced at the taste. Her hangover
made the wine unappealing. "Yes, the man does last longer when he's
been drinking. I appreciated it last night. Sleeping wasn't in the
cards for me."

"I didn't think so either, but then they dosed me." She pulled out
another sausage roll, then stared at it. "I think G'nir told me he
loved me."

Harki nearly choked on the wine. "Wait-- what!?"

Rorela scowled at Harki. "Don't you dare laugh." She shoved the
sausage roll in her mouth and chewed longer than really necessary
before swallowing. She yanked the wine back and took a hefty swallow,
more of a gulp than a sip. "He visited and I told him I still had
boobs and he said," she took another heavy drink, "that my boobs
weren't what he loved. I told him to stop joking, that he just liked
me, and he said we'd talk about it when I wasn't on fellis."

"Shells." Harki looked down at her hands. When men said they loved
you, it never ended well. Except for Paetri and J'kri... She shied
away from that thought and looked back at Rorela. "Do you think you
dreamed it?"

Rorela shook her head. "No. I'm sure I didn't. Faranth, I was kind of
hoping he was joking at first to make me laugh, or that he meant he
liked my ass more or something. I'm not the weyrmating kind. I think
he is though." She turned to look at Harki. "I like him. I like him
lot...but...I like my freedom too." Shards, she tended to think about
the man constantly.

"Huh. Well, he didn't ask you to weyrmate, so there's that?" Harki said.

"No, he didn't." she admitted, sipping from the bottle again. She eyed
Harki. "What would you do if Ma'din asked you?"

"Fall over dead. Watch-whers will fly before Ma'din asks to be my
weyrmate," Harki said dryly. That was part of why she liked him-- she
knew where she stood with him. But her smile faltered. "But... when
B'lac asked me, I thought... I don't know, at the time it felt like
the right thing to do. And then it wasn't." She shrugged, trying her
best not to pick at old wounds and not quite being able to stop. "And
then there was P'nal..."

Rorela smirked. "Really. They would? Interesting." Her smile faltered
too at the mention of B'lac. "P'nal was an ass, Rorela. He wanted you
to be someone you weren't. So did B'lac." Her smile was wry. "I think
neither one of us are really the weyrmating kind. But...you know, I
think for all of his bluster, Ma'din does care about you."

The greenrider shrugged uncomfortably and decided to turn the tables.
"G'nir _clearly_ cares about you."

She sniffed in response. "I can't help it that I'm more adorable than
you are. But you know, Ma'din actually turned me down a couple of
weeks ago. Said he was too tired."

"He's been out of the Weyr a lot lately. Maybe he's got some holder
girl on the side?"

Rorela stared at her. "You really don't know?" She frowned. "You
really think he walked around with a black eye and a fat lip for a
sevenday because of a holder girl? And think he'd actually touch one?"
She picked up a sausage roll and tossed it Harki. "You guys need to
talk on occasion, not just boink each other's brains out."

The greenrider caught the roll one-handed. "Boinking is what I'm good
at. So when is G'nir coming back?"

Rorela scowled, then shrugged. "I don't know. I hate that he saw me
cry." She huffed and leaned back. "I'll be out of here in a few days,
so it may not matter." She took a breath. "You know what? We need to
throw a party. A real party. Invite people over. Dance, make
out...even have an orgy with a few riders with some real stamina or
something. Anything to get out of this funk."

Harki nodded. "Sure. We can use my weyr." That way, when Rorela got
tired, she had somewhere she could go. She'd seen enough injured
riders to know that the healing process took a lot longer than they'd
like. "Just let me know when you're up for it."

"As soon as I get out of here." Rorela replied with a distinct
out-thrust of her lower lip. "And don't have bandages. Then I think we
both need some fun."

Last updated on the April 16th 2019

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Wine, Sausages, and Men