Out In Public (1)

Writers: AL, Clancey
Date Posted: 19th February 2009

Characters: J'darin, Zelle
Description: Zelle takes J'darin out of the Weyr for Turn's End, after finding him in a sorry state.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 29 of Turn 4

J'darin

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarin!" Zelle's call rang out before she had even dismounted from her green. Her fit hit the ground and immediately she moved to the curtain that separated the dragon's area from the human's. She stopped, however, before actually going through. She wasn't going to be quite _that_ rude. "J'darin! The celebrations are starting! Are you coming or what?"

J'darin had only been in his new, upper level weyr for a couple of sevendays, but already he liked it better than the ground level weyr he and Hasaarth had started in after he'd been released from the Infirmary. Hasaarth liked it better too. It was bigger, and caught alot more sun, and it also enabled him to hide from everything going on down below.

In fact, thats what he was doing now.

Hiding.

And drinking.

When he heard Zelle yelling for him, he just curled up tighter in his couch and took a really long drink of the wine in his hand - right out of the skin.

"'m not GOIN!" He yelled back at her, sounding drunk already.

It was quite possible he was.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaarin!" Zelle's voice took on a whine the second time and she didn't bother to wait for permission but slipped past the curtain. She found him nursing that skin and sighed. "But I thought we were going to go together."

"Shards, woman!" He said in response to her whine. When she appeared, he just waved the skin at her. "Go without me, no one will miss me." His voice lowered a bit, and he looked away from her. "Besides, I can't stand their _pity_. 'Poor, scarred bronzerider who lost the Weyrleadership'. Its too much!" Of course, no one was really looking at him that way, but leave it to him to get it _wrong_.

"I am _not_ going without you." Zelle stated stubbornly as she flopped upon the couch and snatched the skin. "You promised to go with me and shaffit, no one pities you. They respect you and think you were a fine Weyrleader. Some regret that you're not still Weyrleader, but they don't pity you!"

He snorted. He doubted anyone regretted he was no longer Weyrleader, but he'd definitely seen the pity in their eyes; especially when they saw the very visible scar on his arm. It was almost as if the steps he'd made at the Hatching had been removed, or at least, were less prevalent. Probably that was the drink talking, but who knew with him?

Instead of answering her right away, he took another drink after pulling the skin back from her and putting his arm around her, tugging her closer. "Lets just stay in, Zelle." His voice changed now, not sounding quite so hornery, but now pain-filled. "I see Traelyn with him and I hurt. She seems much happier with him than she ever was with me. I see him doing things that I should be doing and it hurts. I don't want to hurt any more. And its so ridiculous for it TO hurt!" He was frustrated, and it showed. "Weyrleaders change all the sharding time! But this is _my_ Weyr and these are my people. And he thinks I'm worthless, useless to this Weyr. _My_ Weyr. I gave up so much for these people because I love them.. and it means nothing now." Clearly it was all mostly in his mind, but it didn't matter. He was too far gone into drink to notice what he was saying.

"Maybe he's right. Maybe I am useless. A scarred up good-for-nothing bronzerider who's only purpose is to hold a place in a wing and char Thread from the sky." He turned to look at her, clearly drunk. "Why would you want to go to the party with such a worthless man, anyway, Zelle? You could have any man you wanted as your escort tonight. You'd be better off with one of them, I'm sure."

"I don't want any man." The greenrider insisted. Evidently they weren't going anywhere. Zelle sighed and pushed off her shoes, then turned and lay her feet right in J'darin's lap. "And you're not worthless. If you were, make no mistake, I would certainly let you know."

He started to massage her feet almost on instinct. Taking care of women was part of his make-up, even if he sometimes did it with a superior tone and attitude they hated.

He peered at her narrowly for a moment. "I suppose you would at that, impudent greenrider."

Silence reigned for a moment, with J'darin kneading her feet with those expert carving fingers, and his eyes closing while his head tried to clear itself enough to make sense.

"Do you really want to go to the party, Zelle? I'd hate to deny the chance to show off that beautiful outfit." Even sprawled as she was on his couch, she looked lovely.

"Only if you're going." Zelle leveled her gaze at the bronzerider, crossing her arms over the emerald green tunic that she had donned that very morning. It was lovely, especially coupled with the soft grey trousers and her new boots. She had always looked her best in green and it was one of her favourite colours. Alas, it seemed as her dressing up when her escort wasn't going to even bother. "And right now, I don't think you're in any condition to go so I guess I'm just going to stay here and you're the only one who gets to enjoy it."

"Any condition!??" He scowled at her. "I'll show you condition!" He dumped her feet out of his lap where his foot massage had gone unnoticed in the wake of his .. disagreeable... behavior. He staggered to his feet without falling back down again, and turned to face her, pulling her up to him. He leaned forward to kiss her, quite thoroughly for a man that had had as much to drink as he had, and then tossed her back down.

"I'll be ready in a quarter candlemark. You just start drinking so your _condition_ matches mine!" Well, if all else failed, getting him in the pride usually worked. And to think he was so drunk he couldn't leave his weyr was a shot right where he thought he was all man.

Zelle fell back upon the couch, rather taken aback by the sudden turn of events - more the kiss than anything. "You _are_ drunk!" She stated as she grabbed a boot and shoved it onto her feet. "We're taking my dragon, not yours." She didn't want to trust his muddled mind to not leave them /between/, or even to a Hold that wasn't the right one. Who knew what sort of trouble they could get into. Well, not really, they were dragonriders, but still he was drunk.

The greenrider got her boots on and stood again, placing her hands upon her hips and watching the man stumble around as he prepared himself. "You really shouldn't be going out in public like this."

"I'll go out in public if I want to." He yelled back at her and pulled his nice gather tunic over his head. Coincidentally, it matched her top in the trim and was a creamy off white color that went extremely well with his dark hair. Breeches and boots were pulled back on correctly and came out of the bedroom, and presented himself for her inspection.

"Well?"

Last updated on the February 20th 2009

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Out In Public (1)