The Welcoming Committee (2/2)

Writers: Aaron, Heather, Iluva, Sia
Date Posted: 23rd 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

A'ris

Varethos

M'rhas

"They won't be all right once I'm through with them." Varethos
grumbled. He took the opportunity to wade through the mess and go back
to rifling through a bunk that was clearly not his and pulling a
small, folded stack of letters triumphantly from under the mattress.
"That bunk is free, once my brothers are done with it. Ras has trouble
stopping once he gets momentum. Important to remember when we're in
lessons later."

The only proof of life from Rhas was the low groan somewhere on the
other side of the bed. His upper half had ended up on the floor,
leaving long legs splayed across the mattress like felled trees.

"Vare..." he growled, hopefully in some adverb other than weakly,
trying not to crush what he thought was Lemhask as he got to his feet.
"I'm gonna kill you. "And you don't want this bed," he told Aedris,
"not unless you want Varethos and his prickly ass girlfriend to bang
on it _all the time_."

Varethos sidestepped carefully behind Aedris, placing him between
himself and Merhaskel. "We would _not_, excuse you. There's not enough
room in these bunks to be doing it that often. I'm a delightful
neighbour when my shit brother isn't hiding dead tunnelsnakes under my
sheets."

Lemhask pulled himself to his feet once Merhaskel was no longer
threatening to squish him, using all of his willpower to keep from
crying. That had hurt significantly worse than he thought it would.
But nothing was obviously broken, and he was not about to let either
brothers or newcomer see him cry like a child.

He slinked over to the side and tried to stand up straight and look...
what, cool? He mostly just looked like he was struggling in vain not
to show that he was in pain.

"I'll just take this one then," Aedris said, moving to another corner
of the room. "Unless there's something wrong with this one too?" Were
all of the Candidates so young, he wondered, and... crazy?

"So, who're you, anyway?" Merhaskel raised a brow at him, finally
calming down enough to think again.

"Aedris," the new Candidate said, sticking his hand out.

Varethos continued to hover a little too close to Aedris, more than
happy to use him to body block should Merhaskel come at him again.
That he had gotten the upper hand the first time was a miracle. It
just meant he was closest to take Aedris' hand and flash a winning
smile. "I'm Varethos! The brute over there is Merhaskel, and the
little shit is Lemhask."

"Vare's a wimp." Merhaskel was the next to step forward and slap a hot
palm into Aedris', still too pumped to the gills with adrenaline and
endorphins to think of _what_ would be suitable retribution yet - but
the look he gave Varethos said that it would be harrowing and
_delicious_. "But you can probably see that for yourself." He smirked.
He also couldn't feel most of the pain in his shoulder just yet,
either, but that was something for him to wrestle with later as well.
A glance at Lemhask, who surprisingly hadn't protested the name
calling. "Alright Lem?"

Lemhask did not dare speak, lest his voice crack, but he nodded
furiously. From where he had creeped around beside Varethos to glare
up at him.

"Well, um, thanks for the help," Aedris said, even though the boys had
not been very helpful at all.

Merhaskel squinted at the new Candidate, who looked even older than
Varethos, and considerably buffer than... any of them (himself
included). Curiously he asked, "So, where you comin' from, anyway? You
a Smith?"

"Oh, no," a light blush appeared on Aedris' tan cheeks. "I'm from a
farm on the edges of Amber Hills' territory."

"Our Dad was Searched from a farm, too." Varethos said
conversationally, though his grin was wicked. "You'd be burly too,
Ras, if you ever put in a hard day's work."

"Yeah. Like me." Lemhask flexed. He had always taken some amount of
comfort in the fact that putting on muscle came easy to him,
considering he was otherwise a runt among his brothers.

The strain of so much social interaction was beginning to weaken the
grip Aedris had on the mental wall he'd erected to keep all the
dragons of the Weyr from flooding into his mind.

"It was nice to meet you all. I'm just going to swing by the Dining
Cavern," Aedris said, taking a step back.

"And I'm gonna go rehide that letter!" Lemhask still, of course, had
no idea where it was, but he was feeling especially spiteful after
getting smushed. He prodded Varethos in the kidney and then sprinted
out of the room.

Varethos' brow furrowed in momentary confusion as he pulled out the
folded stack of letters from his pocket, as if he was half-certain
that Lemhask had somehow managed to pickpocket him. "Sure." He said.
His mouth opened with an offer to tag along, but read the tone just
well enough that he closed it again. "We're probably late for dinner,
too. Dads will be waiting for us. Lem'll just have to be late. We'll
see you later, Aedris."

Aedris gladly ducked out of the barracks, thankful he had survived the
encounter. He was starting to think that hearing all people was much
more difficult than hearing all dragons.

Last updated on the September 26th 2024

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The Welcoming Committee (2/2)