RhiaBlack
Wingrider
rhiact[M:45]
Resident Warcraft Addict
Posts: 328
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Post by RhiaBlack on Nov 15, 2013 10:47:19 GMT -5
Jyderin had vacated relatively quickly - the man never was one to linger around anywhere when he had something to do; probably where Z'dyn had inherited it from.
The Kingrider seemed more than content to let the silence linger between them, the easy, smooth strokes of dulled blade against hide countered only by the hard breaths from exertion in his work. Pausing, he wiped his hands on a cloth and re-bound the mass of his hair, catching several small braids that pried themselves loose before using another clean cloth to tie around them; hopefully keeping them out of his eyes. Wordlessly, he was back to scraping. This time, however, the scraps were deposited into a capped container with an opening. These hides were of a different type of herdbeast, and would be used for something else; as would the remnants from them.
So intense was his focus, and so lost was he in his own thoughts and stewing, that her voice startled him. The sharp straightening of his back foretold it, the way his hands skipped across the blade's handle before he snapped his eyes back towards her. Right. She was still here. She was so quiet he had thought she'd left.
"Hardest thin' I've ever done'n m'life."
His frame shifted, as the hide was done the same against the prop log. He inspected it, ran a hand over the surface to check for places he'd missed. A few sections were given a twice-over, before he set the blade to hang on the side, scraped the excess bits off it, and took the hide over to his father's tanning station. Laid across, he pushed it down into a bin of water to soak, before he washed his hands and went to retrieve his mug of Klah from the counter. Not much left in it, but enough to serve him until Jyderin returned.
"Hated Bai t'some extent, he first Impressed me. Was ornery, rude, real blunt. Proper, but real blunt. Had t'keep tellin' 'im to be nice, doesn't have lots'a...what's Dad call it...uh...tact, I think it was. He don't like lazy, neither do I, an' we had a couple he thought weren't workin' hard's they should. So he decided he'd take it on himself t'tell 'em so. Had m'hands full, an' only got worse, he got bigger. Used t'write t'Dad, tell 'im I wasn't cut out for it, but he said I had t'be. Can't just back out an' send 'em back, once y'got 'em. Once they hatch, an' they find you? You're stuck with 'em. Better'r worse, Thread're no Thread. They're your soulmate til the day y'Between for good."
He downed what was left in his mug, setting it aside before throwing the dirtied towel he'd draped across his shoulder to wipe his face with into the washbin. Another was retrieved, and he tossed it back across the same shoulder. He sat back down on the prop log, leaving it empty. Jyderin had a method to his worklist, and Z'dyn didn't want to preempt him and clean the wrong hides. Some of them had to keep their excess flesh on them for some reason or another. Z'dyn wasn't a Tanner, he didn't know.
"Had t'bulk up, too. Know y'seen Bai. He's forty-eight feet'a solid muscle. He wants t'go somewhere, takes everythin' I got t'make sure he don't go th'wrong way. Workin' a plow an' a couple headstrong herdbeast? Got nothin' on an Iron. Had t'learn real quick what it took t'make 'im do what I wanted 'im t'do. Some Dragons, they're real impressionable, they'll do what y'tell 'em to. Some of 'em, they got their mind set on goin' their own way. Bai's one'a th'latter. Sometimes a little in-between, but he'll tell you, he don't like somethin' you're doin'. I can't slack up, ever. Can only let m'guard down a little bit sometimes, but we're on Upper Flight. I blink th'wrong way, he turns'r banks th'wrong direction? We're dead."
He shifted in his seat, hooking his heels together in front of him and hitching his elbows back on the support for the log.
"Sounds scary, an' it is. Be lyin' if I said I wasn't terrified every time we go up. Every time I see silver, even'f it's just cloud linin'. But if I'm scared, he's scared, an' bein' scared makes mistakes. I can't be scared, neither can he. It's hardest thing I've ever done'n m'life, but ask me if I'd ever do it different, an' won't hear nothin' otherwise outta me. I wouldn't trade 'im for all the Marks on Pern. He's m'best friend, he's m'soulmate. Won't have nobody else'n m'heart like he is."
There was a muted rumble of approval from within his weyr, though Baihujinth was sleeping rather peacefully. His tail tapped in contentment against the side of his couch, and Z'dyn's thoughts shifted.
"Not everyone's got the chance t'be here. Even fewer got what it takes t'be Impressed ta, but if you're here an' you survived what you've survived, no doubt'n m'mind yer gonna have somethin' great lookin' for you out there. Not gonna be easy, but the best things? They're never easy. Fact'a th'matter is, they're gonna make you think yer not good 'nough. You're gonna doubt yerself, you're gonna say 'I can't do it', but the measure'a somebody's not if they can do somethin' or not. It's if they stand up an' go 'I'm not gonna cave, an' I'm not gonna let nothin' beat me'."
He pointed to his scars.
"Mom an' Zadarin dyin' was first time I got tested. Dad almost leavin' was the second. These were the third, Bai was fourth, Va'an leavin' Dalibor was fifth, Q'sis tellin' me weren't worth bein' a rider if I couldn't learn how t'talk was sixth. I been tested every day I get up fer patrols, an' you will be, too. Maybe as much as I was, maybe not. But it don't matter how long it takes, how much effort you've gotta put into it, you can't let yourself fail. You start givin' in, you're dead already."
Z'dyn had learned quickly from Baihujinth how to appraise people. How to size them up, how to tell what they were feeling if the initial shock of his words changed their demeanor, but he had a more difficult time with Sora. She was seasoned, he could tell. The girl had seen things, she -knew- things. It was written all over her - the way she held her mug, the way she shifted her eyes, the way she sat. She hid everything, but for some reason, she trusted his father. He was too kind to pry, and too kind to call her out, but Fort had changed him considerably. Made him more outspoken, less willing to stand for fear or cowardice. Perhaps why he was so aggressive when it came to things or people like Q'sis.
"You scared yet?"
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Rii
Wingleader
riict[M:420]
RP demon hungers...
Posts: 803
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Post by Rii on Nov 17, 2013 10:46:51 GMT -5
She’d startled him. Oops. But not so oops that she regretted asking, because if he didn’t take offense, if he did answer… she needed that answer, honest and unsweetened, not the ‘oh, it’s the best thing in your life, all the work is worth it’ that people usually told candidates. It was frustrating. She wanted to hear about the bad days, the hard times, the difficulties that made you question if you could do it because she was certain those days existed for dragonriders just like every other person. If she learned about it, she’d know for when it happened. She’d be prepared - well, more prepared than the ones who held to all the bright shiny ideals of having a loving mind-mate. It was better to know the worst than to be left wondering forever.
She hadn’t known Z’dyn long, but what she’d observed of him so far seemed to say he wasn’t much for coating things in sweetener. He was no stranger to hard work and hardship, far moreso than her with her triple-handful of Turns. And he’d gone from drudge to kingrider, you couldn’t get a bigger contrast than that. Most importantly, she already knew that when he talked, it was because he had something to say that was worth hearing.
So when he did settle down to answer her, Sora listened, and listened hard. This was more useful to her than a hundred lectures on the responsibilities of being a weyrling or dragonrider. More helpful to know that if by some slim chance she Impressed, that she could disagree with or dislike her dragon, she could wonder if they should have been matched, she could doubt everything and more than likely, at some point she would be afraid. She would be tested, and who knew how well she’d stand up to those tests?
She had to admit to herself that she hadn’t faced down nearly as much as Z’dyn had in his Turns - losing half his family and nearly all of it, being attacked by a wher, handling prejudices at the Weyr - and it reinforced her decision that she wasn’t going to complain to him about her problems. Those she would continue to hold close to her chest, the hand she’d been dealt in life, up to her and her alone to play it. And if she lost, well, it wasn’t going to be until the last card was put down.
You scared yet?
No, was her first impulse. The last thing she wanted to admit was a weakness. But his eyes were sharp, for all she knew he was waiting for that denial so he could tear it apart. If he managed to do that, then she’d be a liar as well as a weakling. So no was out. Yes was out, too. “I don’t know yet,” she answered after a few long moments of hesitation. “I don’t really get terrified at the thought of dying, and I’m not afraid of working hard. I already know I can keep going even if things get tough.” Shards, it was still a little odd to know that she did still want to live. She hadn’t found that out until there had been a wheret on her back with his claws near her neck. She still wasn’t sure what the worth of someone with so little spice was, but she’d never find out if she was dead.
Sora stretched her bandaged hand gingerly, tilting her head down to look at it, although she really was observing Z’dyn through the screen of her lashes. “I guess the only thing I’m really scared of is - well, wondering if there’s something out there that can knock me down hard enough that I can’t just shove myself back onto my feet.” Because most people in those times, could reach out to someone for a hand up. And she was afraid of trusting another to do that.
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RhiaBlack
Wingrider
rhiact[M:45]
Resident Warcraft Addict
Posts: 328
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Post by RhiaBlack on Nov 19, 2013 15:51:07 GMT -5
"Not if," Z'dyn confirmed. "Not if, when. There's somethin' out there, somethin' rough that's gonna kick y'down. It's gonna make y'think you're not gonna be able t'get back up, but that's gonna be somethin' y'got to face. Won't be facin' it alone, either. Va'an leavin' punted me square'n th'face. Didn't think I wanted t'live no more after that. Still haunts me. But I had Baihujinth, an' he wasn't 'bout t'be able t'look after me an' himself, too."
He swallowed, removing the residual remnants of Klah from his throat before one hand went across his mouth, wiped at the stubble across his face. He needed to shave. He hadn't that morning, from trying to get patrols handled and then rushing downstairs to help Jyderin with his work.
"You don't trust people easy, do you."
It was something he'd pegged from the way she spoke. How she always seemed to hesitate before she said something, most of all how she'd hesitated when he had asked her if she was scared yet or not.
"Used t'be like you. Still am, sorta. Mebbe not much's you are, but still got some issues with lettin' m'self get close t'people. Nara's m'Weyrmate cause'a that. Don't trust m'self naked with people I don't know, least durin' Flightlust. She's sorta like that, too, so worked out I guess, but...point is...somethin's gonna happen, an' it's gonna make you realize y'can't carry everythin' by yerself. Be it Dragon, 'r somebody else, there's someone y'can talk to, things get rough. Y'ever need it an' Dad's busy, m'Weyr's up on the West wall. Sun hits me first thin' in the mornin', there's some stairs up. Can reach me there, or have yer Dragonet call Bai, need be. 'Less I'm flyin' Thread, never too busy t'talk. Dad's not, either, but he goes t'look fer more hides an' such sometimes."
In the ages that Z'dyn had weathered in the time since he'd come here, much had changed about him. Gone was the man who had been easily pressured into anything, and easily moved by words. He no longer questioned who he was, or what he was good for; his braids were longer than they ever had been, and he was built with all the strength it took to control a headstrong King and a headstrong Weyrmate. Nara was no weakling, and he liked to think selfishly that she had gotten more outspoken and fearless to catch his attention. The thought made his lips curve with a smirk. That same lopsided one that came at the cost of his facial scars, and some of his heredity - Jyderin's own smile carried that same half-cocked mannerism. Pride. He radiated it, all the while with a measure of self-humility that wordlessly spoke of how much he'd gone through to get there. He was not a man easily moved, and she had moved him.
He took no shards or shells from nobody, not anymore, and sought to not intimidate but to empower those around him to the same. Unlike Czervon, he didn't see emotion as weakness - he saw it as potentially unlockable power. If she didn't trust people, it only served to mention that people she did trust were worth the effort.
"What scares y'so bad, y'don't think it's wise, openin' up t'people? Least'a all...why m'Dad, all people? Why me?"
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Rii
Wingleader
riict[M:420]
RP demon hungers...
Posts: 803
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Post by Rii on Nov 25, 2013 22:00:40 GMT -5
Sora carefully set her empty mug down on the floor, resting her elbows on her knees once more. Her fingers wove themselves together almost automatically, the teen resting her lips against her knuckles. It was a habitual posture for her, shielding part of her expression so that she could devote less concern to what her mouth might give away. Not that she was particularly effusive in her gestures at the best of times. But as bland as her blue gaze was, the wariness was there to be seen by those who looked for it. Z’dyn had planted his thumb on it just as squarely as Jyderin had in their first meeting: she didn’t trust easily. And having it pointed out put her on her guard - too many times, it was the precursor to being told that it wasn’t healthy for her, that she needed to come out of her shell, or let others in.
“No,” she answered shortly. “I don’t.” Please let him leave it at that, let it go… It was rather a forlorn hope. No one ever just let it go, but at least he had something a little more useful than the usual lecture to offer. Just a little; he still seemed to view trust as a necessity, where she persisted in seeing it as a luxury she rarely afforded. Silently she watched the ironrider, according his words the respectful attention that his rank deserved. Weighing what he said, and more importantly how he said it. There was no uncertainty in him - or rather, there didn’t appear to be. Her earlier words about it not being about being unshakeable, just about how well you could make other people believe it came back to her. Either he was that sure of himself, or he was a master of projecting it. Proud, he was definitely proud of how he stood. But grounded and humble, too.
It was interesting, to see both pride and humility in the same face, almost in the same expression. She’d often argued with herself that it shouldn’t be possible to be both, and yet she knew she was, in her own way. Proud of her ability to deal with things on her own, too proud to easily admit her weaknesses to others - but she was painfully aware of her flaws, and stubborn in her belief that in the grand scheme of things, she was entirely unimportant, not worth the attention of her betters. Shells, she actively avoided it.
Which made her extra uncomfortable with Z’dyn’s piercing gaze. Sora felt very much like he saw right through her, and she didn’t like that, even if she welcomed his common-sense words and the solid dependability he radiated. She restrained herself from shifting her weight; that was a tell of her discomfort she wasn’t going to give him. “You don’t know when people you thought you could depend on will disappear. When they do, what else can you turn to, if you were expecting them to be trustworthy?” Not if, she reflected in a cynical counter-echo of his words. Not if, when.
So how had Jyderin managed to get inside those walls? She wanted to retort that she didn’t trust the ironrider, didn’t completely trust either of them. But Z’dyn probably didn’t need that caveat, that what tentative trust she extended to the younger man was just that, a slim, uncertain thing like a leaflet poking out of the ground. He wasn’t asking about the full-grown plant, but why the seed sprouted in the first place. She wished she had an easy answer. “Well, I couldn’t exactly tell you to leave because I only came to see your father, Z’dyn, sir,” she commented dryly, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know, you seemed… like him, sort of, and obviously he trusted you. That counts for something, a bit anyway. And you don’t seem like the sort to talk unless you’ve decided you have something worth saying. You wouldn’t go tell the world what others say. I don’t think you would, anyway.”
Jyderin, on the other hand… Sora finally lowered her hands, strictly because she needed to free her fingers to delve into one of her pockets. Having done so, she rolled the small object that she drew out between her palms while she searched for the words. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I’m guessing that you have, but people make a pretty big deal out of it if you don’t act the same as them,” she spoke quietly, as if she didn’t even want the walls to hear her. “Always looking to knock you down, or pick you apart, whatever their reason. Master Jyderin was the first person to ever bother to say that I was fine the way I was. That even if I didn’t have big dreams or big feelings, even if I didn’t trust a single person, it didn’t mean I had something wrong with me, I still had a life worth protecting. That… counts a lot, for me.”
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RhiaBlack
Wingrider
rhiact[M:45]
Resident Warcraft Addict
Posts: 328
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Post by RhiaBlack on Nov 26, 2013 9:21:34 GMT -5
"Why?"
It was one word, but it held all the mirth for an explosion of discussion that he was more than willing, even looking forward, to having. She was complex, but simple at the same time, in ways Z'dyn didn't think he was even scratching the surface of. There was so much more to her than what she let on, and he found a measure of intrigue in finding out why people who were different in personality from him were as they were. Even at that, Sora had the same sort of trust issues - for obviously different reasons, however - that he had.
"They always disappear," Z'dyn remarked, one hand settling to his thigh as his other elbow met the opposite one, and eventually ended up with him leaning forward on his knees. "Eventually, everyone disappears. They die, they move on somewheres else'r they mebbe end up jus' driftin' apart 'cause'a somethin' they're doin'. Work, family, stuff's that. Sometimes they get taken, too, like how Ma an' Zadarin got taken from me an' Dad. An' it hurts, an' y'got every right t'be upset an' feel betrayed an' such, but sometime there's gonna be someone come along that'll change that whole way'a thinkin'. Mebbe it's Dad, mebbe it's me, mebbe it's somebody else, but fact'a th'matter is, Sora, yer gonna have t'trust yer Dragon. There's no question'a it. I had trust issues, still do, but I don't question nothin' Bai does. I know, don't have t'even blink, that he's not goin' nowhere I can't go with 'im. He's not gonna abandon me, he's not gonna disappear, less I'm gone with 'im. He's th'whole reason I even bothered openin' up t'Nara t'begin with. It's a buildin' process. It's not easy, jus' like bein' a Rider's not easy, but I'm tellin' you. Y'better start steelin' yerself for a rude awakenin', y'think y'can walk 'round here an' not trust yer Dragon. They're gonna be'n your head, whether y'want 'em there'r no. They're gonna know what y'feel, what y'think, every moment'a every single day. Y'can't hide anythin' from 'em. They're an extension'a you. It's all right t'not feel comfortable trustin' people, an' I'm not gonna be a..."
Z'dyn gestured. What was the sharding word. Bai opened one eye, closed it, and gave His the one he was looking for.
"...Hypocrite, an' tell you that y'gotta go off trustin' ever-body in this Weyr on account'a 'em bein' part'a the same program yer in. I don't trust half'a 'em, simple on account'a they've made no effort t'get t'know me, an' I don't feel comfortable 'round 'em. But there's some I do, an' they've been 'round long 'nough t'know what puts me off an' riles me up. They've been there, an' that's somethin' I appreciate."
He nodded at her appraisal of him with agreement. Those piercing blue eyes shifted, turned elsewhere. Not because he picked up on it unsettling her - he didn't - but because it was a natural course of action not to stare holes into people when he talked to them. Eye contact was fine, staring was not. It was rude, and Jyderin had cracked on him about the intensity of his line of sight several times since his father's arrival.
"Not one t'go blabberin' about nobody's secrets. Way I see it, somebody trusts me 'nough t'tell me somethin' personal like that, my responsibility t'keep't that way. Sure looks bad on me, it comes back to 'em I said somethin', especially t'somebody they don't want nothin' said to." He offered a wry, amused sort of grin when she told him why she'd decided to open up a little to his father. "Dad's good for that, an' he's right. Just 'cause y'don't trust nobody straight off, don't mean there's somethin' wrong wi' you. There's not. Jus' means people gotta work harder t'get'n yer good side. Nothin' wrong wi' that. Course, he's already said't, so y'don't gotta hear it twice from me."
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Rii
Wingleader
riict[M:420]
RP demon hungers...
Posts: 803
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Post by Rii on Dec 2, 2013 20:29:20 GMT -5
Why. It always came down to why. How many times had she been asked that? Why won’t you trust me, why won’t you talk about it, why don’t you express your feelings… And never once had she answered it. No. Not true. Once she had answered it, one sharding time, and it had hurt so much that she’d decided never again.
“C’mon, Sora, tell. I’ve told you heaps of my secrets,” the taller girl cajoled the smaller. Sora couldn’t help but feel a little flattered that Luanella persisted in keeping her company, even if it got a little tiresome at times to have her glom onto her every time Sora’s family was at Hope Hold, even when she wished for some quiet. The girl was five Turns her elder and sometimes seemed wholly grown-up to the nine-Turn-old recluse. Lua was pretty, popular with the boys, clever… everything a girl could want to be, right? And she confided in her, Sora, the quiet one.
Still, she wasn’t sure. She’d promised Miraguel she’d never say a word, not ever, not until he wrote home triumphant. Except that had been two Turns ago, and he’d never written. And she’d still never said anything. She wanted to keep her word, even if he hadn’t kept his, or worse, even if he hadn’t been able to for some reason. Even if it hurt her, even if she still secretly cried at night two Turns later, she wasn’t going to be the one to break someone else’s trust. She shook her head. “I don’t know, Lua. It’s not something I want to talk about, okay?”
The older girl pouted. “Oh, so you can listen to everything I share with you, but you won’t share one little thing with me? That hurts. One little thing. How come you’re so standoffish to everyone else? Even your parents.”
Sora’s resolve wavered. Now it felt stupid and mean, to always deny her friend - her only friend, Lua pointed out whenever she could - even one tiny display of trust. “Well… okay. But you have to promise that you won’t breathe a word to even one person. Not one, Lua, I mean it. Promise, ‘kay?”
“I promise. Not one word.” She looked so solemn. Sora believed her.
“Okay. You remember my big brother Miraguel, right?”
“Of course. He was cute,” Lua grinned for a moment, then grew serious again. “Except he disappeared, and no one ever saw him again. He ran away, right?”
Sora nodded, dropping her voice to a whisper. “I knew where he was going. He told me. Except I promised I’d never ever say where, so I’m not gonna. He was going to write, when he got there.” Pain filled the little girl’s eyes. “‘Cept he never did. Not yet. I trusted him to, and he never did.”
Luanelle stared. Obviously she hadn’t expected to get a secret of this caliber dropped in her lap. “And you never told your parents?” A headshake from the smaller girl, watching her friend so uncertainly with her big blue eyes. It was such a serious thing, a sad thing, a hurting thing, so… why was Lua starting to smile like that?
The words were a cold knife in her back. “Wow. You ruined your family, didn’t you?” Sora’s mouth dropped open, eyes wide with disbelief. She wasn’t hearing this. It wasn’t happening. Not again. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You didn’t really think I was buddying up with you because I liked to hang out with a reclusive little nobody like you, did you? I knew you had some secret. I just didn’t think it would take a whole Turn to pry something interesting out of you.” The teen rolled her eyes, smiling cruelly.
Sora found her tongue. “You promised not to tell, Lua. You promised.”
“I could, you know. Get you in a lot of trouble…” She paused, obviously savoring the flash of fear on the younger girl’s face. “But I think I’ll just let you sit in your own rot. You deserve it, you know. So keep your secrets. See how well you deal with them.”
She’d driven the quiet child to tears, and even as she sniffled and wiped her cheeks, Sora knew, knew in her gut, that the older girl was enjoying it. She could see the satisfaction on Luanelle’s face at having broken down her guard. Gathering the shreds of her pride around her, Sora stood up, lifting her chin even as it quivered with the desire to shed more tears. Never again. She wasn’t going to let anyone get that kind of hook in her again, not if she could help it, not one single opening. “I will. I don’t need anyone. I’ll deal with it myself.” She fled then, trying to escape the barbs the other girl hurled, but she couldn’t avoid hearing the parting shot.
“Good luck with that. We’ll see how long it lasts.”
The only blessing - and it was a mixed one at that - was that the girl never did tell anyone what Sora had told her. And Sora had never spoken to her again; she never even deigned to acknowledge the older girl’s existence. It had only proved to her that trustworthiness was a rare thing. Proved that she was better off dealing with things on her own. Nearly seven Turns later, and she’d drained most of the color out of her life in the effort to shore up the walls between her and the world, and… she didn’t even know if it was worth it. Sometimes it sure didn’t seem all that successful.
Her jaw tightened, the only physical change in her stony expression - but there was the shadow of pain in her eyes, remembered pain that she was loathe to admit. She shook her head tersely. “It’s not something I want to talk about again. The last time, the only time I did, it got thrown back in my face,” the words dropped from her lips in a clipped, embittered tone. Likely enough that the bitterly alluded-to incident hadn't done much for her willingness to trust others, either. And equally likely that only Z'dyn's status as an ironrider - and the small threads of rapport built in this very conversation - saved him from her impulse to say something irrevocably unkind to drive him away.
Gonna have t’trust your dragon. Sora looked away, some of the fight going out of her. “I know,” she answered quietly. “I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but everyone teaches us that we have to foster this trust, this bond, and if we mess it up in any way, they’ll probably between on us. Or so the lessons go. So I’ll have to trust them.” If she was honest with herself, that scared her more than facing down masses of Thread or rampaging murderwhers. “Kind of funny, that the one we have to trust, that’s supposed to be with us for good, has the chance to vanish from existence and leave a worse hole than anyone ever if we screw up. You tell me, Z’dyn, sir. Was it easy to trust Baihujinth, when you were getting used to him?”
It wasn’t a challenge. Wasn’t intended to be, at least. As neutral or doubting as she might sound, her eyes sought his again. Seeking some reassurance that even if it was hard, it was doable. She could deal with hard. But there wasn’t much she could do about impossible. Not so long ago, she’d figured that trust was impossible; Jyderin had made her consider the possibility that it wasn’t. That she could try to give just a little at a time, and see what happened. Sora rubbed her hands together gently, rolling the stone trapped between her palms back and forth. Bit by bit, she reminded herself. She couldn’t change overnight. Wasn’t sure if she even wanted to. But maybe a little would be enough.
A wry hook of a half-smirk tugged at her lips once more. See? He understood about secrets. It was obscurely comforting, and slightly amusing, to have her own philosophy echoed back to her from a different source. “Secrets are meant to be kept.” Most of the time. And who can tell what the real exception to that rule is? Was Miraguel’s? Eight, nearly nine Turns later, and I still don’t know.
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RhiaBlack
Wingrider
rhiact[M:45]
Resident Warcraft Addict
Posts: 328
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Post by RhiaBlack on Dec 3, 2013 11:20:46 GMT -5
Z'dyn watched her. It was strange sometimes, watching someone stare almost through him. At him, but not at him. Thinking about something, seemingly, though what he had no idea. Not the vaguest.
There it was. Something she had recalled, but something that she didn't want to talk about. He could respect that, and answered it with a small shrug.
"People're mean. Always have been, always will be. Always gonna be that one person gets their rocks off'a causin' pain an' such t'other people. Just gotta take 'em in stride, an' b'lieve everybody's not like that. Makes't harder t'trust people, 'course, but y'never know, you don't try't out. Most people I met, they're not that sort. Don't like hurtin' people. Might be hard t'get 'long with sometime, but not mean for the sake'a meanness."
He scratched the side of his face, running his fingers over the scars and missing half of his ear habitually, before lifting his arms to loosen the bindings against his braids, re-gather them, and rebind them. Several strayed regardless, but he didn't seem to mind.
"They tell y'that if there's no trust, they'll b'tween on you. Not true. Wasn' kiddin', said I hated Baihujinth, he Impressed me. Was rude, was blunt, was a whole shard lotta snotty t'people he didn't think was worth m'attention. I hated 'im. Always had t'tell 'im t'be nice, didn't trust 'im for shells. Not one bit. Always thought he was gonna get me inta trouble, spoutin' off like he did. Weren't til the first we flew Thread, I fig'red out he was just tryin' t'look out for me. He knew I had t'trust 'im, just like he had t'trust me, an' we were sorta at a crossroads for a while. Remember climbin' up inta the saddle, first time. Scared outta m'mind, an' surrounded by all these people. All these Riders, none'a 'em experienced Threadfighters - hadn't been Thread for longer'n they'd been livin', before it started couple turns back - an' I felt like they'd all been fightin' it longer'n me. Scared so bad I was shakin'. Here I am, somebody's more used t'plowin' fields'n anythin' else, an' now I'm sittin' on forty-eight feet'a overgrown flamethrower, about t'take wing an' face somethin' can kill both me an' 'im. I was scared outta m'mind, an' he looked dead't me, and I hear 'We know what we're doing. I need you with me on this, Z'dynMine[/color]'."[/b]
Baihujinth spoke the words at the same time Z'dyn did - not just to His, but to Sora as well. Word for word, in perfect time, in the monsterous Iron's own deep-toned voice. Z'dyn shifted, hooking his legs together at the ankles and leaning back against the prop-log.
"I had t'trust 'im. Couldn't be or go t'pieces out there, not doin' somethin' has that small'a margin for error. They won't b'tween on you, Sora, less y'make 'em believe y'don't want 'em. Surges'a emotion, stuff like havin' sex wi' somebody b'fore they're grown, or makin' 'em honest-to-Faranth think y'don't want 'em. Tellin' 'em y'hate 'em, believin' you'd be better without 'em. Stuff like that. Your dragon, it finds you? It'll know the difference. It'll know what's a trust issue versus what's you believin' y'don't love 'em. Same time, y'gotta understand yer gonna have t'be workin' on that b'fore then. I didn't trust Bai, but he knew that somethin' happened, wouldn't be any questions, I'd be there. He's m'bonded. Nothin' else matters. Don't matter what I think, don't matter what I think's right or not. He feels strong 'nough about somethin', I gotta trust his instincts. There's plenty'a stuff he knows more 'bout'n I do. I'm the first one'll admit I'm not the brightest glow'n the basket, but whatever I'm short on, he's got me covered. Always been that way, will always be that way." He glanced up towards the door.
"Was a time I didn't trust him, long while, yet, but now I trust 'im more'n I trust m'own Dad. More'n I trust anybody. You'll understand that, y'get one'a yer own."
The door swung back open, as Jyderin stepped back through. A plate of meatrolls for his son, a warm pot of Klah, and another plate of sweetrolls to split with Sora; if of course she wanted some. He recalled she'd said she was fine, but he didn't know anyone who could turn down food after extended conversation. Not to mention the two men in the room tended to occupy time conversing over some sort of snack or another. He handed the meatrolls to Z'dyn, who put it on the table nearest him and plucked about four from it. Tossed into a napkin, he refilled his mug and planted his backside back on the prop log. Mmmmm. Fooooood.
Almost on queue, Kee blinked into view on his shoulder and chirruped. If Z'dyn ever had a scowl, it was then. He narrowed his eyes at his Pink, and she returned Hers' scowl and eye-narrow. A small little 'grrrrrr', before Z'dyn lofted a half-meatroll into her face. She snapped her jaws around it, trilled through her nose, and wrapped her tail around his neck to nom her pilfered meal.
"Shardin' spy-Pink...always seems t'know when I got food."
Z'dyn spoke from around a mouthful of food, and Jyderin cleared his throat as he sat the sweetrolls down between himself and Sora on the counter beside her seat. The Klah pot joined it.
"Zykeidyn."
Z'dyn swallowed, took a pull of Klah, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand; muting a burp in the process, only for Kee to mirror it rather loudly. Z'dyn glared at her. Kee chirped, almost a literal 'what?' before stuffing another piece of meatroll into her mouth. Z'dyn rolled his eyes.
"Sorry."
Jyderin yawned slightly, shaking his head as he refilled his mug, and gestured for Sora to cough up hers for a refill as well.
"So, I miss anything good? Hopefully my son shows better manners when I'm absent than he seems to when I'm here."
He flashed a grin her way. Z'dyn grumbled, stuffing a meatroll into his mouth not unlike his Pink. Someone learned from Hers, it seemed.
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