Shell Shocked

Writers: Aaron, Halyonix
Date Posted: 31st July 2024

Characters: Tirraze, Oriene
Description: Tirraze was not expecting to Impress at all, let alone a blue. She and Oriene speak after the feast.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 5 of Turn 11

Tirraze was... in shock? In awe? She was not upset. Not angry, not sad. But she was having a bit of trouble really believing that this had happened. Was it real? What did it mean? Did it mean anything? She looked at her own hand and poked it. Was she dreaming?

How many people had spoken to her? Any? All? None? She was not sure what had happened or what she had imagined. Everything seemed so strangely distant, like she was not really there at all. She was back in that wallow with that goofy little blue. She grinned to think of him.

But there was one person who was thinking of her, who only now, now that the whirlwind of the Hatching had started to calm down, came to the door of the Weyrling Barracks. "Tirraze?" Oriene called shyly.

"Hm? Oh." How long had Tirraze been standing there? "Hello." She smiled at Oriene. "Didn't you go to the feast?"

Hurt flickered across Oriene's face. "You...you were at the feast with me," she pointed out. "You don't...remember?"

"I thought... maybe I dreamed it... Everything seems so... far away right now," said Tirraze. "I wasn't sure if I had really left... I think maybe I'm... broken or something..."

"Broken?" Oriene repeated, disbelieving. "Broken how?"

"Almost like... nothing is real. Like I'm watching myself from outside my own body," said Tirraze. "I thought maybe this was just what it feels like... but no one else seems to be feeling the same way."

Oriene's face crumpled into puzzlement. Every tale she had been told about Impressing was one of wonderment, elation. Not confusion. "Are you...okay?" she asked, concerned.

"I... think so? The dragon, he's..." She smiled goofily for a moment again. "He's... just... the biggest, dumbest sweetheart. There's nothing wrong with him. If I'm the only one, then I don't understand why it feels like this."

"I guess...I guess every Impression is different?" Oriene suggested. She really didn't know what to do here. She had expected something else in so many ways. She had expected to Impress _with_ Tirraze, she had expected them to be excited together. To be still the same friends but now just dragonriders. This...

This was weird.

She struggled mightily to keep her emotions in check. She really didn't want to sour her friend's amazing moment but... "You said his name is Riamorth?" she asked. Maybe, if she changed the subject, did something else, it wouldn't feel so weird. "Can I...can I meet him?"

"Of course! Oh..." Tirraze looked over her shoulder. "He is asleep, but you can still see him! Please come see him."

Following her friend's lead, Oriene approached the sleeping dark blue dragon. Dragon hatchlings were always rather adorable when sleeping so it wasn't hard for Oriene to smile softly. "He's cute," she said and meant it. "Is he...does he sound like you? That's what riders always say, that their dragon sounds like them." Maybe that would be another different thing?

"Oh, like... In my head?" Tirraze stopped to ponder for a moment. She had trouble conjuring up exactly how Riamorth sounded. She could feel more emotions than words. "I'm not sure. Maybe you would think so."

"Do you think...do you think he'll talk to me one day?" she asked. Oriene wasn't sure how she felt about that either. If someone had asked her two sevendays ago how she would have reacted to her best friend's dragon talking to her, she would have pointed out how her dragon would also talk to Tirraze. Except that Oriene didn't have a dragon and Tirraze did. Maybe hearing Riamorth would be just another weird thing between them.

"I hope so." Tirraze touched Oriene's arm. "Are you angry with me? I know we were supposed to Impress together... I keep thinking I'm going to wake up, and he won't have been real."

"What? No!" Oriene immediately said. And then regretted it. Was she angry? No, this didn't feel like anger. This felt like...hurt. Maybe it would be anger later, maybe it would morph into something else. But even as she said her next words, she knew there was a lie in there somewhere. "I could never be angry with you."

"I didn't think this would happen..." Tirraze admitted. "I always... thought I'd get too old. I never wanted to admit it, but... And now, it happened, and it's... Riamorth. He's going to love you. Absolutely adore you."

Oriene both hoped so and hoped that...no, she wasn't going to hope for Riamorth to hate her even though she felt bad about Tirraze Impressing then. "How can you be so sure?" she asked Tirraze, hopeful. "He's asleep and he hasn't met me yet."

"I... I _know_ him," said Tirraze. "Like... I've always known him. He's in here." She tried to point to her head, but she missed for a moment, as though she were trying to move based on watching herself in a mirror and misjudged the direction she wanted to go. Only for a moment, though.

"I might not know every little thing he would do... He's... he could be a little unpredictable, because he's so excited. But I know who he would like. And he's going to love you."

She'd already said that though, Oriene realized. And it just kept weirding her out, the way Tirraze was acting. Feeling like she wasn't really getting anywhere except feeling worse, Oriene mustered up a smile and said, "Okay, well, I'll come back when he's awake and you can introduce me." Maybe then it would be better.

"I'll look forward to it," said Tirraze. She hoped Oriene would, too.

Last updated on the July 31st 2024

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Shell Shocked