[PRP] Tangled (Nadry/Dr'stan+Dragons)

[Meepfur]

Slinking in late to morning tasks had been a uniquely uncomfortable experience.  She had very nearly made it all the way to graduation without ever being late, and aside from her bout with the flu over the winter, had had perfect attendance.  So much for that.  And as if being late hadn't been enough, she'd been late in yesterday's clothes (though she did try to reassure herself that since she'd only spent half a day in them, they didn't quite qualify as dirty), and she had had company in her tardiness.  On one hand, C'lusi's company was very reassuring; on the other, it was another hint for anyone with an imagination as to why they were late.

Even then, that could maybe have been easier to overlook if she hadn't then spent most of the rest of the day trying very hard not to look at him, because she knew that if she did, she would lose any hope at all of focusing.  Not that she was all that successful regardless.  She just barely managed to keep herself from being visibly too lost in thought, but she was in turn hopelessly fidgety while doing her best to stay on task.  Lunch could not come soon enough, nor dinner, nor finally their evening free time.  Which meant a stop by her weyr to grab a change of clothes, a long-awaited trip to the bathing area, and a return to her weyr for some much-needed privacy while her hair dried.  And then...she wasn't sure.  She very much wanted to see C'lusi and R'shahar again, but didn't want to overstep or push herself into their lives; they would very likely appreciate some alone time, she assumed, a chance to talk.

Maybe later, she would ask Menankith to check with Macuith - she knew the brown had been chatting away with the object of his affections all day, had felt the hum of happiness across their mental link.  Not that he had simply focused on the blue and ignored everyone else, no, he had been perfectly happy to be in the company of and speak with the rest of his clutchmates.  As the day wore on and the high faded just a bit, that mental thrum did gradually lessen as he began to grow more pensive, dwelling on how he had upset Neiveth.  How he owed her an apology.  Now was not the time, however, so soon after the Flight.  He had to sit on that need, those emotions, until the appropriate time.

For now, he laid out on his ledge, soaking in a light evening rain.  He didn't mind it at all, in fact he was rather enjoying the sensation, and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Mx Cherie

sorry for multi-quotes as I prune phone typos

 

[Meepfur]

The voice of his dearest green sister - which he had not heard all day for some reason - had him quickly sitting upright with a happy blue whirl in his eyes. Of course! Delight hummed through his words. He hadn't thought much of Cynosuth's silence throughout the day; he had noticed it, most certainly, but had assumed that she simply had her reasons. Perhaps she was tired, or had a lot on her mind, or was especially focused on their tasks, or simply was not feeling very social. His sometimes had off days that she attributed to being a 'girl thing,' so to his mind ot was very possible that it was something like that. Regardless of the reason, now that he felt the brush of her mind again, he realized that he had missed her voice. In his excitement to hear it again, there was a long pause before he remembered to ask, Are we bringing Ours?

Once he had received the answer and informed His, who was...not unhappy to be leaving their weyr already, but hadn't expected to! Is it at least done raining?

Very nearly, I think. It is barely a drizzle now. Are you coming, or do I have to leave you behind? he teased, fidgeting until and even as she mounted up. Then the lake was but a short glide away, and he thrummed an affectionate greeting to his sister as he landed.

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

You are very bright this evening! Menankith admired as he pressed himself down against the damp ground so that His could easily slide down. Perhaps it is because of the clouds, but I would swear that you are brighter than usual.

A good time...? Oh! That. The brown hmm'd over the question, searching for suitable descriptors. To say that he'd had 'a good time' didn't seem the appropriate way to phrase it - too easy, too much like it had been a game. I- It was very hard to encapsulate the feeling and give voice to it. Still, she had asked, and he would try - there was no reason, so far as he knew, to keep anything from her. I did not know what to expect, and I'm not sure how to explain it, either. But it...was good?

"Hi," Nadry returned with a dip of her head, amd brushed back her still-damp hair. She'd almost braided it back to keep it out of the way, but then it would never dry. Ah, but the question came and she blushed, and though she looked down and away, her smile was just as bright as it was self-conscious. "You mean everyone doesn't know?" There was a laugh to it, no real distress now that she'd had all day for the initial embarrassment to fade. Thank Faranth that, impossible as it might seem, there'd been no real punishment for their lateness - V'mel had certainly had it in his power to make them regret it, had he wanted to.

"It, well." She rubbed the back of her neck. Talking about stuff like this clearly remained a hang-up. "They asked, and I said yes? And I...I'm glad I did." And now she was very, very red. But he was right, she really did want to talk about it, even if finding and getting out the words wasn't easy.

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

I do, he answered simply, though those two words were laced with wonder. The realization had been months and months coming, and had struck him hard - so hard that he had been...rather inconsiderate to Neiveth, to put it very lightly. That was his one regret in all this, though he had no idea that that was about to change.

Nadry's smile softened and warmed when Dr'stan snagged her and tucked her against him. By now the older weyrling was equal parts friend and brother, and their relationship was every bit as much a part of her as her closeness with Ichta and G'ran. Even if she and G'ran were going to have a little difficulty looking at each other with straight faces for awhile. "I did," she admitted with another blush. It was probably fairly telling that the Flight had taken place at lunchtime, and they had still managed to be late the next day. "It's alright," she added when he reminded her that he wasn't a gossipmonger - as the oldest of them, he was of course more mature than that. "Even if everyone does know, it's...normal, right? Stuff like this happens all the time. So it's alright."

That was what she kept reminding herself. There were greenflights every day. Most Weyrfolk probably didn't bat an eye, and her own little 'scene' had likely been notable to very few. Right?

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

While in hindsight, he could later add up that her behavior over the course of the day had been odd, and maybe realize that he should have noticed something was amiss before it so obviously was, but as had become clear during the Flight, he was incredibly inexperienced in all matters of the heart. They were entirely new to him, as of...well, yesterday. He felt as though he had hardly begun to know his own hearts, knew now that he had much to learn and explore, and so was completely and utterly blindsided when Cynosuth just took flight.

His eyes flashed a yellow-gray of alarm and worry, and he launched after her with a creel. Not only was she upset, she was so upset that she was running away, and he had no idea why. What was wrong?! What had he said? What had he done? They'd only been talking, and then- ! In spite of having no idea what he'd done to cause this, he felt a wretched creature for it. Should he even be trying to follow her, if he had done something, if she so wanted away from him? We wavered in the air, still creeling. Cynosuth! Please...please come back! Tell me what is wrong, and I will fix it, I promise!

Oh, but if only he knew.

Nadry started when Cynosuth took off, and Menankith after her, with a surge of distress. "It's alright. Is she okay?" She stared after them, although Dr'stan didn't seem terribly concerned, so she tried to return her focus to their conversation. "However many? Faranth, I think- I think two is plenty."

How could anyone possibly-?! Just...shells. "I don't know if we're...I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to try."

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

That was...that was what was wrong? That he loved Macuith? Was it because he was a brown, and Macuith was a blue? That they were both- Was that why Neiveth had been upset, as well? No one had ever seemed to mind that Macuith flirted with all the boys, or Thanoth all the girls, but was there not supposed to be more than that? And if so, why? Menankith had completely misunderstood his sister's meaning, and those words that he mistook broke his hearts. He had thought- He had thought that they were close, and had ever held her dear, brightened and encouraged by her company, and to think now that she was so repulsed by him that she had fled the very sight of him...

He gave up his pursuit and landed hard, and curled in on himself with a heartbroken creel. He knew where to find her, but he did not want to; she hated him, and he was gutted, all his happiness bleeding away like ichor from a gaping wound. I thought that- I thought-

He couldn't finish the words, but the feelings were all there, the hurt and the betrayal, that she could judge him so for something he had no control over, hadn't even realized, after everything-!

"Young love? Wait, does she...?" Did Cynosuth have feelings for Menankith? Shards, but that...might very well complicate matters. She did know that her bonded was very fond of the green, much as he'd been very fond of Macuith, right up until he had very abruptly realized it was more than just fondness. But, as to human relationships, "That makes sense." It was, after all, much how she'd come to be in her new situation, although as for the physical logistics of more than three people...that was mind-boggling to her. "I hope it won't. I just- I hope I don't mess it all up."

And that was when Menankith's despair hit her like a ton of bricks, and she gasped.

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

He barely heard the confession at all, had hardly had time to register any of it, before she shoved back at him with more negativity than he could ever have imagined she possessed, and that hurt almost as much as the viciousness of the mental assault. He had always placed her on a pedestal, delicate and sweet and purely good, and to now experience her hatred shut him down and broke him further.

Why? he pleaded, Why have you done this? Why bring me out here to talk, just so you can hurt me? He felt tricked, attacked, lured into speaking to her as a friend so that she might coax his feelings for Macuith from him and use them against him, and throw her own in his face as though he should have known she had them, even though she had never said a word. How was I to know you loved me, when you never said? And why, just because I love Macuith, could I not have loved you?

Could have. If ever there had been seeds for that, they felt cruelly crushed to dust.

It was- shards, but it was bad. Nadry reeled, leaning heavily against her friend, and much as she appreciated Dr'stan's reassurance about her newfound relationship, it was too hard to continue what was a comparatively lighthearted conversation when all she could feel across the mental link with her dragon was pain. Come back. If you're hurting, come back to me.

"What is- what is she doing?" It wasn't accusatory, or she didn't mean it to be, but it hurt.

Mx Cherie

 

[Meepfur]

He heard His call, and he did want to go to her, but he felt so very heavy - how could he possibly fly, with mind and hearts so burdened? It took a great effort to push himself into the air, to fly low to where he had left His...and Cynosuth's. She was his dearest sister, one of only a handful of dragons capable of cutting him to the bone, and she had done exactly that. He had been so happy, and she'd caught him at his highest and thrown him down. Of all the ways she could have told him how she felt, why this? How had it gone so wrong? He understood now that he had at first misunderstood the cause of her upset, but it still hurt that she had thought him a traitor, that he had rejected her or deemed her not good enough - had assumed such things about him, when he would far rather have hurt himself than ever hurt her. And yet they had just torn each other to shreds. Everything that had been, or might have still, in tatters. What had they done?

Nadry bit her lip and fought back the urge to cry. She'd never felt anything like this from her dragon before - the way they'd felt when their straps had broken was nothing compared to this. "It's- They can fix it, right?" Because they had to, because this was horrible, and she couldn't stand the thought of this being an end, when they had always been so close. "We can fix it?"

Why...does this have to hurt so much? Menankith sobbed across his mental link to his clutchmate, for even now, who else could he ask? He came to rest almost in a heap near where their riders sat, and crawled his way close with a low whine. Nadry separated herself from Dr'stan to hug the brown's head and whisper soothingly to him. "It's alright, love. It'll be alright."

Mx Cherie