The Welcoming Committee (1/2)

Writers: Aaron, Heather, Iluva, Sia
Date Posted: 24th September 2024

Characters: A'ris, Varethos, M'rhas, Lemhask
Description: Aedris finally moves into the Candidate Barracks and meets the other Candidates
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 15 of Turn 12
Notes: Are the boys alright? Will the fighting continue? Will Aedris run shrieking in terror? Find out soon in the next installment of "The Welcoming Committee"!

A'ris

Varethos

M'rhas

It had taken a considerable amount of time for Aedris to learn how to
control his "gift" enough to be turned loose from the infirmary. He'd
stayed there so long that he was now on a first name basis with many
of the dragonriders and crafters who worked there. There were still
moments when extreme dragon emotions and conversations broke through
his tenuously erected mental blockade, but the occurrences were
lessening.

Taking the sack of clothing that now belonged to him, courtesy of the
Weyr's storage closets, he walked warily into the male barracks, not
sure what he would find....

Chaos. Chaos is what he found. The barracks itself looked like a storm
blew through in typical "boy first out of home" fashion, and at the
center of the storm were two boys roughhousing hard with each other. A
younger, lankier version of the Weyrlingmaster Second somehow had his
brother pulled into a headlock, despite the kid being three turns
younger and about the same size. "Just tell me where it is!" Varethos
exclaimed, "Or I'll muss up all this perfectly coiffed hair of yours!"

A sound not unlike a herdbeast erupted, a guttural grunt full of
strain and frustration as the younger candidate maneuvered with the
wildly methodical movements of a mad man, a caged animal, a cold cat
in a wet bag. A stablehand might have looked at him and called it
'spooked', though really it was just Merkaskel trying his level best
to bite his brother's arm. "Ha ha. I'm not the one who spends half a
candlemark in the bathing roo-- ah, shard it, Vare!" The kid tripped
awkwardly over someone's shoes, or pants, or pet. With his face
reddening, he yelled the next bit even louder, "And you can have your
stupid sex letter back when you admit_what_you_did!"

"I know where it is..." Lemhask was ready to bolt if necessaryâ€" not
that he was terribly fast. Varethos would almost certainly catch him
if he chased him. He also did not actually know where the alleged sex
letter was.

Having eight siblings himself, Aedris wasn't unaccustomed to noise and
rough-housing, but he _did_ wonder what a "sex letter" was. So far no
one had noticed that he'd entered the room. He scanned the bunked
beds, but couldn't tell which one might be empty and available for his
use.

"Ehem?" he cleared his throat tentatively to try and gather their attention.

"Don't try to bite me, you little _shit_!" Varethos hollered. He
nearly lost his balance over the detritus scattered across the floor,
but didn't lose his grip on his dumb ox of a younger brother. "Those
letters are _private_, and I swear you'll be in for it if you know
where they are and I catch you, Lem!" He was only barely holding onto
Merhaskel, despite being older and better. Lemhask was safe. For now.

"Argh! Lem-" Somewhere in the tight bower of Varethos' arm,
Merhaskel's face contorted with outrage and confusion. He strained to
one side, then lunged in another, awkwardly attempting to locate
Lemhask but only getting splotches of the barracks (as well as wearing
himself out even further). There was, of course, no way Lem knew where
the letter was, of that Rhas was sure. But Lem was a team player--
plus it would be easier to stomp Vare's foot if he were distracted.
"And I could give a shit about your girlfriend's sex letter-" he sort
of shouted, "just don't do it with her on my bed!"

"You'll never catch me!" Lem danced around the wrestling pair.
Varethos absolutely would catch him, but he would let him go when he
learned he did not really know anything about the letter. ... Well, he
would probably get a bit of a thumping, too, but he had had worse than
that before.

Aedris blinked at the commotion. Was this an entire family of
Candidates who had been Searched together? How did that work? Since no
one had turned to look at him, he slid sideways, thinking perhaps it
was best not to be noticed as he made toward an empty bed.

"Lem, I swear to f-, you're next!" Varethos threatened, but his
attention was shifted back to the other brother as Merhaskel finally
managed to stomp on his foot. He cursed and wobbled off balance and
decided at the last second to just let go and shove Ras' off balance
enough to send him stumbling to the empty bed. He didn't see poor
Aedris in enough time to do anything but call a warning. "Shit, watch
out!"

Rapidly nearing self-asphyxiation, Merhaskel had the distant thought
that now might be a good time to come to an unflinching halt. He tried
to take a deep breath and yank, but that was not to be - Varethos'
momentum simply jerked a loud -hrrkkk!- right out of his throat, the
sound of a canine gripped by the explosive experience of late night
vomit.

He went flying forward like a freshly fledged weyrling, a human
firestone sack aimed right for Aedris, Merhaskel with a curiously
shocked look of 'hey, man. you lost?' on his face, like his brain had
paused the outer chaos and had time to grow concerned about this
newcomer, like the sudden appearance of Aedris, a stranger here in the
barracks, was what was so unequivocally strange or noteworthy here.

Then, a good hard smack.

It put their limbs and faces in awkward first meetings, pain lancing
at his temple, and Merhaskel's boot connecting with something
especially solid -- Lem!?-- on their fall to the bed.

Lemhask let out a most undignified squeak, but he would never admit
to having uttered the sound himself. Perhaps, he may have
miscalculated trying to insert himself into this particular tussle.
But he would never admit that, either.

Aedris side-stepped the entire entanglement. He arched an eyebrow at
the boys. "Are you all alright?"

Last updated on the September 26th 2024

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

The Welcoming Committee (1/2)