[SRP] Other fish (B'shir & Reya)

[Princess_Feylin]

It had been a rough Fall, and though he and Sakneth had been fortunate to come through it unscathed, many of their wingmates had not been so lucky. As had become his habit early on as a rider, B’shir made himself go to the infirmary to check on his wounded wingmates, though he hated being there and seeing so much suffering. It wasn’t just the wounded who were hard to see, but those who cared about them, and stayed, waiting on tenterhooks for news.

His steps brought him within sight of his wingmate T’of’s cot. That was a bad situation. T’of’s injuries were absolutely ones he could recover from, with time, but his blue had yet to regain consciousness. T’of insisted Makhmilith’’s mind was still there, and that he could feel him, but B’shir wondered if that was the truth, or if the bluerider was lying, either to himself or to everybody else, unable to accept the fact that Makhmilith wouldn’t wake.

Careful, Sakneth warned. Lots of dragons in pain with less control than usual. Wouldn’t want them to pick up on that bit of speculation.

B’shir hated that his scheming bronze was correct. Unlike his dragon, B’shir wasn’t a schemer and never had been. Nevertheless, a lifetime of practice had his thoughts tamped down in an instant and he in defiance of his own dour prognostication he went to T’of’s bedside, observing as he drew nearer that the bluerider was unconscious, but not alone. There was a familiar young woman there, tending to T’of’s firelizards’ hides. This was not the first time he’d seen her here, nor even the first time he’d seen her around T’of prior to the bluerider’s injury, though he could not recall her name.

“Back again?” B’shir asked, smiling just a little too late for his attempt at good humor to come off as he’d intended it.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Reya glanced up from her task, startled but too proud to let that show. At the foot of T'of's cot was a man with familiar knots at his shoulders denoting that he was a bronzerider in T'of's wing, so she had probably seen him before, but she didn't think they'd ever spoken. She gave him a hard stare to make it clear how unimpressed she was with his attempt at humor, if that was what it had been, and at least he had the good sense to glance toward his feet in acknowledgment that he'd misspoken.

Did Makhmilith wake up? her dragon asked, having sensed Reya's sudden shift to attentiveness. The hope in her mindvoice hurt Reya's heart, and it made her irrationally irritated at the bronzerider for surprising her and getting Raqisath's hopes up. Regretfully, she let the green know that there had been no change so far as anyone could tell.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a forbidding tone she'd learned from the proprietress at the brothel where she'd once kept the books. She lifted her chin as though that would allow her to look down her nose at him, despite being seated while he stood taller than she would even had she been on her feet. The firelizards in her lap also turned to stare at him with baleful glares, possibly displeased that he'd interrupted their oiling, or perhaps upset on Reya's behalf. Not being bonded to them, Reya didn't know for certain, but it wasn't awful to have backup, even if it came in the form of a pair of tiny flits.

You know I'm on your side, too, Raqi reminded her. Just because I don't fit into that part of the infirmary doesn't mean I wouldn't be there if I could.

Reya knew. She and Raqi had both been getting by on very little sleep since Makhmilith and T'of were brought in, spending as much time as they could reasonably spare with the bluerider pair, whether they were awake or not. It was, possibly, the least practical behavior Reya had ever exhibited in her entire life, beyond staying with Joha for as long as she did. Every time she left practice and came straight here, or brought a meal back here to sit beside her usually-unconscious friends, Reya despaired of herself, but her feet kept bringing her back to the infirmary in every spare minute.  

[Princess_Feylin]

B'shir's gaze slid downward as the woman's expression made it very clear how flat his attempt at humor had fallen.

What a b***h, Sakneth hissed in the back of his mind. You were just being friendly.

B'shir ignored the bronze's bile. He didn't agree with it and he didn't feel like engaging at the moment, not even with a well-deserved "shut up."

"That sounded better in my head," he admitted as he brought his eyes up to meet hers, traveling past the orange glares of T'of's irritated firelizards and taking in the rather pleasing arrangement of her features in the process. Of course, those features were currently set into a distinctly unamused expression that indicated he had better make whatever point he'd been planning on making, and fast.

"I'm B'shir. I'm on Burning Aces with T'of," he said by way of explanation. He considered holding out a hand to greet her properly, the way he'd been taught, but the pair of glowering firelizards in her lap suggested she wouldn't be standing up to take his hand. Unfortunately, he reached this conclusion after he'd already withdrawn his hand from his pocket and half-proffered it. He let it drop, feeling a little lame.

If you're only feeling a little lame, you're wrong. You are very lame. You ought to listen to me more. I could get this woman into your furs, if you want her. Sakneth was always like that. Had he Impressed at a younger age, it was possible B'shir would have been swayed by the dragon's forceful personality and honeyed words, but that was not they way it had happened.

"How are they?" he asked, including Makhmilith in his question. At the same time he shoved his hand back into his pocket and shifted awkwardly. He wasn't good at talking to women.

Oh, B'shir. Do you have a crush? Sakneth cooed. Maybe all that bitchiness will mean she's feisty in -

Finish that thought, B'shir snarled to the dragon. I dare you.

There was a moment where their wills clashed, but B'shir held steady against Sakneth's fast-burning fury until it burned down to embers and the bronze retreated sullenly from B'shir's mind.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"I see." Perfunctorily she introduced herself, "I'm Reya. Harbingers."

Ordinarily Reya might have been more forgiving of a stranger's awkward attempt to start up a conversation, especially if he owned up to the fact that he'd messed up his approach, but she was tired and sore from flying Fall and worried about T'of. He was usually awake at this time, but he'd not stirred the entire time she'd been sitting with him. She didn't have the patience. She just wanted to talk to T'of and hear him tell her that he was doing as well as could be expected.

Fortunately for B'shir, the next words out of his mouth were the best possible thing he could have asked, as far as getting back into Reya's good graces. Also fortunately for B'shir, though neither he nor Reya was consciously aware of it, his face remained immobile while he clashed with Sakneth, so Reya had no way of knowing the awfulness his dragon was spewing. As it stood, she looked away from B'shir to T'of as though giving him the opportunity to interject. Her face was nowhere near as unreadable as B'shir's and it was clear to anyone who looked that when she looked at T'of she was looking at someone she cared deeply for, like a best friend.

"Makh hasn't woken yet, but his wounds are healing. T'of is likewise healing, though I understand it will be some time before he's back up to fighting form." She didn't want to say too much about T'of's health, not knowing how he would feel about it being discussed with B'shir. She couldn't recall T'of ever mentioning the other man - a bronzerider, by his shoulder knots - but if she worked at it she could remember seeing B'shir's face at Burning Aces gatherings T'of had brought her to.  

[Princess_Feylin]

B'shir reminded himself to smile as he repeated Reya's name, setting it in his memory. That had been one of the things his family had insisted he learn to do at an early age, thinking it would serve him well if he ever became a wingleader (or a Weyrleader; they were very ambitious on his behalf). They'd also tried to teach him to smile, but it wasn't an expression his face made naturally. He could recognize when he ought to be smiling, but he always had to remind himself to do so, even in instances when he was enjoying himself.

"I'm glad to meet you, Reya. And glad to hear that my wingmate is recovering."

And now you can keep moving and check on the newly injured in our wing. Unless you plan to woo her after all? Sakneth prompted. He saw these visits of B'shir's as a form of campaigning for higher positions. It didn't matter to the bronze that B'shir saw them differently. They both agreed they were necessary, even though it pained B'shir to be around so much suffering.

Drop it, B'shir muttered mentally. And then, largely to spite his dragon, he decided that he would linger a bit longer with Reya and T'of. He could hear Sakneth grumbling in the back of his mind about how immature he was being, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Er...How did you and T'of get to be friends?" he floundered. The worst thing was that he had absolutely no difficulty speaking to other men, but his upbringing had encouraged a more misogynistic perspective than he truly felt, and didn't really prepare him to interact with women in a more enlightened manner.  

[Princess_Feylin]

There was something about B'shir's face and tone of voice that didn't match up, and it was an odd discrepancy, like his expressions were afterthoughts. Reya was used to being around people who lied beautifully with their faces, or else who had faces so expressive it was hard to believe they could lie without their expression giving them away. Reya wasn't sure she could trust B'shir and his delayed facial reactions, but her instincts told her he was not a bad person.

I wish I could see him making the wrong faces, Raqi grumbled. They really ought to renovate the human ward of the infirmary to accommodate dragons.

It's odd. And sort of awkward, Reya said. He looks so uncomfortable, but he's still here, talking to me. I have no idea why.

That's odd, Raqisath opined. Not that I wouldn't choose you to talk to out of everyone in the world, but didn't he not know your name two minutes ago?

Reya responded with a mental shrug. Raqi's perspective had given her cause to feel more charitably toward the man who had interrupted her evening, and so she gingerly removed Ladyfriend and Shiver from her lap, placing them on the cot beside T'of, along with the container of oil for their hide. She would finish oiling them in a bit. It wasn't as if either of them really needed it. She'd just needed something to do with herself while she waited for T'of to wake up. Now B'shir had appeared and could occupy her just as well as the flits. Probably better, since he could actually speak to her with words, even though it seemed like doing so was a struggle for him.

"You mean because we're in different wings and Impressed at different hatchings and have no reason to have met at all?" Reya replied. "I can see how a person might wonder. But how does anyone get to be friends? The short version is that he was sitting next to me in the stands when I Impressed and it turned out we both spent a lot of time looking things up in the archives and now here we are."

She glanced over at T'of's face, willing him to wake up and tell B'shir that Reya was telling the story all wrong, and then launch into a much more dramatic version of events, with voices and gesticulations and the whole nine yards. But he was still asleep.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Although Reya probably could have been significantly more friendly than she was being, the fact that she seemed willing to give B'shir a chance, rather than dismissing him helped him to relax a little bit. In truth, he would be more relaxed if they could interact with the structured, almost military formality the Weyr encouraged. He found that was the easiest way to interact with strangers, but, of course, it wasn't the easiest way to make friends, and though he wasn't sure he wanted to be Reya's friend, he didn't want to make an a** of himself, either.

"If he was sitting beside you when you Impressed, that must mean you were a stands Impression?" B'shir asked, and then immediately felt like an idiot. "Sorry, that was stupid. Of course you were. What brought you to the Weyr?"

Even I know that one, Sakneth sneered. The Hatching. Were you this stupid when I Impressed to you?

"I'm always impressed by the folks who are stands Impressions. There's so much to catch up on at first, all while having to contend with another entity in your thoughts and feelings all the time. Was that what originally brought you to the archives? Catching up, I mean."

Did you just imply she was stupid? Sakneth asked idly.

No.

Does she know that? I bet she thinks you called her stupid

You are the only one who thinks that, Sakneth, B'shir replied, tired from a long day of fighting with the bronze. He'd been unusually vicious lately, and B'shir didn't know why. He just had to deal with the fallout, and that was unpleasant.

Far too late, he remembered to smile at Reya.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Oddly enough, Reya recalled having a similar conversation with T'of early in their friendship, where he'd seemed to imply she was unintelligent. She wondered if there was just something about her face that gave that impression, which would be irritating in the extreme. The memory of that conversation with T'of made her more inclined to be charitable toward B'shir as he struggled to make conversation. Just a little.

"A dragon," she answered with a perfectly straight face. She waited to see if her joke registered with B'shir, but his face didn't change. It seemed for a moment that it had whooshed over his head like a fleeing flit, then he made a soft snorting sound which was clearly an expression of humor. Good.

"My brother's dragon," she clarified. "He's a brownrider at High Reaches. He thought I might like to come to a Hatching, so he brought me with him to Rhianth and Fianth's. Raqisath is one of Rhianth's daughters."

That was a good day, the green sighed contentedly, as she tended to do whenever Reya spoke of their Impression. It was a little silly, but sweet, too. T'of said it was probably because dragons didn't have memories as long as humans, nor did they recall with the same detail, which was why humans had to provide them with mental coordinates whenever they went between. Reya was inclined to believe him, as his explanation lined up with what her instructors had taught her when she was a weyrling, though those had not touched on why dragons liked to hear stories of their own Impressions being told.

It was, Reya agreed, though in fact there had been many parts of the day which had not been good, even after Impressing Raqi. She tamped those thoughts down, though.

"And you're right, to a point. I started going to the archives to try to supplement what I was learning in my lessons. There's a lot of theory and history that isn't taught. Usually we're told that we do things a certain way, and if there's a specific danger associated with not doing it that way we are told about that, but we're not told how the Weyr figured out that this was the best way in the first place."  

[Princess_Feylin]

B'shir had taken a moment to realize that Reya was joking. Her deadpan delivery was almost as good as his. Better, probably, since she had to do it intentionally and he always looked like that unless he made a special effort. When he did realize it, he was a little gratified to see that she was pleased to have amused him. From the dark circles under her eyes, he guessed that she had been under a great deal of stress lately, and could probably use a little levity.

"I remember that Hatching, but I'm sorry to say I don't remember your Impression in particular" he said truthfully. Ordinarily he would have done. It had been astonishingly large, and Sakneth had offered scathing commentary on the fact that one of the fathers was a brown dragon. He doubted Sakneth would remember that detail now, and so he skirted it in his thoughts rather than remind the bronze that he was talking to a woman whose dragon suffered from ignoble birth. Personally, B'shir was uncomfortable with the idea of a brown flying a queen, too, but obviously it had happened and complaining about it wouldn't change that fact. Short of requiring all non-bronze dragons to go away during a mating flight, the possibility would always remain. It was just up to the bronzes in pursuit to hold their own and enforce the natural order.

As for her dissatisfaction with what she'd been learning in weyrling lessons, and how it had driven her to the archives, well, B'shir had never considered that, and said as much. He considered adding that, having grown up in the Weyr and having more than one dragonrider in the family, some of the information Reya had sought was the sort of thing he knew anecdotally. Not all of it, of course, but there were definitely stories people told if they'd been in the Weyr long enough, and which were passed down among Weyrfolk. In the end he decided it wouldn't hurt to mention it.

"If you're still interested in that kind of thing, I was born and raised here. So was my father, and my grandfather's been here since First Fall, to hear him tell it. I might be able to fill in some gaps for you. There's probably a lot that doesn't make it into written records that is still floating around in some old uncle's brain."

Oh, nice. You've gone from calling her stupid to comparing yourself to an old uncle. I love watching you crash and burn, Sakneth remarked unhelpfully.

No crashing, no burning, B'shir replied. And you're still the only one who thinks I called her stupid. Move on.

How about you move on, B'shir? was the bronze's silken-voiced reply. There are other wingmates here - conscious ones - that you ought to be visiting instead of flirting badly with ink-stained greenriders.

Frustratingly, B'shir knew Sakneth was correct, in essence. He wasn't flirting (at least, he didn't think he was, and that seemed like the sort of thing a person ought to know they're doing when they're doing it), but he did have injured wingmates to check on. Still, this had been a pleasant and unexpected interlude in a task that B'shir always found emotionally difficult, and he was glad he and Reya had talked. He found himself hoping that their paths would cross again in the future.

A little too abruptly, B'shir said, "I should probably go check on my other wingmates. It looks like T'of is in good hands. I enjoyed meeting you, Reya."

Aw, look at that. You barely choked at all, Sakneth teased. You might even have a chance with her. Assuming she's not already warming T'of's furs. Even then, maybe if you mention you're a bronzerider she'll reconsider. Women like men in powerful positions.

B'shir did his best to ignore his dragon and departed, relieved - as usual - that he was the only human Sakneth would deign to talk to.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"You're right," Reya said, thinking of all the stories that had failed to make it into the brothel's logs, but which the courtesans and prostitutes had enjoyed regaling her with in the early hours of the morning when they were getting off shift and she was coming in to work. "It would probably be a lot more entertaining to hear the Weyr's history told as stories rather than entries in a logbook."

B'shir's expression hadn't changed, but somehow it did seem more affable than before. Perhaps she was just seeing what she wanted to see, though. It was just odd that even when he poked fun at his grandfather, clearly making a joke, only his voice altered. She wondered if he was really that uncomfortable around her, and so held his face wooden, or if he was like this with everyone, and if that was the case, why? When T'of woke, she would have to ask him about it.

While she was thinking about B'shir's lack of facial expression, B'shir and Sakneth were, unbeknownst to her, having words about what B'shir was doing and what he ought to be doing, and so it caught her by surprise when the bronzerider excused himself.

"Likewise," she replied. It might have sounded short, but she spoke it with a smile that underlined its veracity. She was glad to have met him. He had taken her mind off of T'of and Makh for a little bit, and he seemed pleasant, if awkward. "I would like to hear some of your family's stories sometime."

She thought that the smile B'shir gave her then was a little more genuine than any she had yet seen, though she was fairly certain his snorting laugh was the most candid emotion she'd gotten out of him for the entire conversation. He definitely sounded pleased when he told her they'd make that happen, then. Of course, then he'd been away, moving on to check on his other wingmates. Reya felt a pang of guilt at the realization that she hadn't given much thought to whether any of her wingmates were in the infirmary after this Fall. She probably ought to find out. An indignant peep from Ladyfriend reminded her, though, that she wasn't to go anywhere until she'd finished her most important task: oiling T'of's firelizards.

I'll do that, and if T'of's still asleep, I'll go see how things are, she thought to herself. Raqi, of course, chimed in with her agreement, but she hoped T'of would wake up before then - in truth, they both did.

Reya rubbed her eyes wearily with the back of her hands, careful to avoid getting oil on her face. Then she picked up the jar of oil and patted her lap to summon Shiver and Ladyfriend.