Safe "House"

[jack]

B'rak and Shoth's weyr was...well...as big as a Bronzerider's weyr should be. Spacious, well-lit--as B'rak preferred the light these days and Shoth was more than willing to lift him to put glows in strange places--and full of nothing of extreme interest.

There were metal bars in one corner, a small pile of shining stones beside them, and a pix-ax covered in dust was leaning against the wall with them. Shoth's couch--almost shockingly over-sized for the tiny Bronze--was in another corner, the dragon liking it where he could curl up against two sides of the wall...whenever he was actually sleeping on the couch, and not sprawled out somewhere complaining of either cold or heat or humidity...or some other ridiculous thing he couldn't control and probably wasn't there in the first place. B'rak's bed was in the more private section of the weyr, and was a fairly good size, but not massive. Just big enough for two people to sleep comfortably--in other words, it was what had come with the Weyr and B'rak hadn't bothered to get a bigger one. He didn't need a bigger one anyways.

Shoth landed on his ledge with the expert precision of a very tired cat, hitting the stone softly enough, but promptly plopping completely down with his legs spread and his belly pressed against the cool stone. He let out a long breath of air, flicking his tail, and waited impatiently for the humans to dismount before he stood up and, carefully stretching out--being extra careful to stretch the skin around his scarred belly just enough to be comfortable again--before stomping to his couch and curling up to sleep.

B'rak, perhaps even more tired--and beginning to feel the stress of randomly being woken up in the middle of the night--gave a yawn and began to follow suite, reluctantly realizing he had company this evening. "Afraid you'll have to stay with us for the night," he rumbled at last, looking over his shoulder at the boy he'd dragged home, "Everyone else is asleep, and I'm not entirely sure how a random boy in the Candidate's barracks would go over."

The rider gave a soft laugh and scratched at the back of his neck, gesturing that the other should follow him. "If you don't mind sharing the bed, you're welcome to sleep in here." The youth added as he slipped into his own room, lighting a couple glows he'd been unable to before they left. "Don't really have anywhere else for people to sleep, obviously." He gave a tired chuckle and turned his back on the other, moving to dig around in a small pile of clothing. "I don't really care what you sleep in--Faranth knows I come in too tired to put on anything normal half the time--but I might have something along the lines of sleeping clothes somewhere, if you want to hunt for it."
He gave up after a moment, kicking the pile aside--it was actually dirty laundry he was too lazy to wash--before beginning to disrobe, working off his jacket with a yawn.

ooc: I think something ate my muse. xX;;;

[Nia]

Caelin had honestly forgotten just how late it was. He'd purposely stayed up after T'el had been done with him, waiting for the man to fall asleep before he left. Time hadn't been an issue, so Caelin had completely forgotten about it. But it was pretty late, wasn't it? He immediately felt bad for the rider and his little Bronze (who, after being with Sjueth all night, seemed smaller than he would normally look). He'd kept them up with his escape.... But he was pretty happy, having to spend the night on the coast wouldn't have been his first choice. Sjueth had been right when he'd said Caelin was lucky.

The Bronze slumped as he landed and Caelin slid off hastily, not wanting to bother the poor, tired dragon. He looked around awkwardly, wondering why he had been taken to the Bronzerider's weyr. One of his alarm flags went up, but he ignored it for now. It was late... he probably just didn't want to bother anyone. The blond nodded warily as B'rak pretty much explained exactly the same thing, still standing rather awkwardly, not sure where he would be sleeping. They couldn't... he couldn't expect them to sleep together, right? The thought sent shivers down the boy's spine in dread.

"S-share? I... I..." he looked at the floor, but it looked rather hard. He didn't really want to sleep on it, "Um, well, I guess, if you don't mind...." even his usual snarky wit wasn't showing through, the boy was rather... scared? No, that wasn't right. Or was it? How could he be scared? His alarm flags were ringing as he looked at the bed, it looked like it would fit two people... but it still seemed a bit small to him. His stupid heart began thudding for some reason, and he felt too nervous to walk over to the bed. He wasn't being expected to do anything, why was he reacting this way?

The final flag went up and Caelin's eyes went wide as B'rak began to disrobe, and he backed up impulsively, images of T'el flashing in front of his eyes. "N-no I... I can't, not again!" he nearly screamed, unable to even believe what he was doing. The sensible part of him screamed to stop acting like an idiot, but the side of him that had suddenly gained a fear of others taking off their clothes was panicing. "I won't let it happen again!" he yelled, finally tripping in his frantic stepping backwards, falling, landing on his butt and closing his eyes. Well, he had been fairly sure that he hadn't been affected by the whole thing with T'el... but it seemed he was very, very wrong.

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[jack]

The Bronzerider got as far as half-way removing his shirt, his jacket tucked fondly away, before freezing in surprise, looking with wide-eyes towards the boy. Sliding the shirt off of his arms, having just moved his head out of it, he let it drop to the ground, immediately moving to Caelin's side. "Hey, hey now," The youth moved forwards quickly, gently grabbing the other boy's shoulders and forcing him to look at him, his eyes searching the other's gaze as though in search of some sign of hallucinations, "Can't do what again? Calm down--you're going to break open your skull."

Completely oblivious to the fact that it was himself that was causing the issue he put a knee to the ground, scooping up the boy effortlessly and holding gently--but firmly--as he moved back into the bedroom, Shoth watching with one eye cracked open in amusement. B'rak deposited Caelin gently on the bed and, on a hunch, immediately stepped back, hands up as though to say 'look, they're both here and out of your pants.'

"Alright. Now stay there so you won't crack your head open on my floor." He said softly, remaining on his feet despite wanting desperately to plop down on the bed himself. The white-haired man frowned, eying the bed, but lifted his gaze, steadily staring at Caelin. "Do you really have to have a freak out right now?" He rumbled, more to himself than anything else, before giving a long sigh. "If I promise my bed isn't going to eat you....will you calm down?"

[Nia]

Really, B'rak taking off his shirt and approaching Caelin only made the boy freak out even more. It was happening again, he knew it, it was! He'd known T'el. He must have. He said they'd just keep it between each other, but what? He knew, and he wanted... he wanted to do the same thing! Even the sensible part of Caelin's mind was being drowned out by panic and worry as B'rak came closer. He couldn't even hear what the other youth was saying, all he heard was T'el's voice and all he could see was T'el's face. He stared at B'rak with unseeing, wide eyes.

He immediately went rigid as B'rak picked him up. The blond knew where this was going now. But he didn't relax and just spit angry comments like he usually did with T'el, instead he was panicing. He'd just escaped all that, he couldn't go back to it again. As much as he pretended like it hadn't bothered him, it had affected the boy in a great way. But he did find himself relaxing a little bit as B'rak put him on the bed and backed up. The blond forced his eyes open, he hadn't even been aware that they were closed.

After opening his eyes, Caelin was immediately ashamed. He brought his knees in close to his chest as another sort of protection, except this time it was to protect how much he was blushing in embarrassment. He couldn't even look at B'rak anymore. He had freaked out, he might have even had some sort of seizure, he really couldn't remember much of the past few minutes. He hoped he hadn't flipped out too much, but by the fact that he was on B'rak's bed he found that highly unlikely.

He was so embarrassed he was close to tears, and still didn't make eye contact even when he appologized. "I'm really, really sorry," he muttered, his voice normal and not the shrieky pitch it'd been when he was freaking out, "It's just... I.... I don't know, I've been through a lot. I'm okay now," he finally worked up enough courage to look back at B'rak and smile appologetically, feeling terrible. This man had just saved him from being pretty much stranded on an empty port at night with dangerous animals around AND had even Searched him! And what had Caelin done in response? He'd had a seizure.

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[jack]

Confused and still a bit wary, B'rak watched the boy with a worried, unhappy stare, unsure of what to do, but knowing that something had to be done. The teenager pulled his knees up to his chest and the rider moved hesitantly forwards, booted feet shuffling subtly as the man recognized the tell-tale position of distress. Forcing himself to push away the thousands of questions and dismay of an old friend causing such repercussions, he moved forwards with a soft stride, sinking onto the bed near the other, but not close enough to touch.

"I won't try to pretend I have any idea what you went through." He spoke up at last, frowning as he locked his eyes on a spot in his room where Shoth had slammed into the wall years ago, taking a chip with him, "The T'el I knew and the T'el you know are very different...but I've known since the moment his father died he had the potential for...well..anything." He gave an absent shrug, warily turning his gaze to Caelin, as though expecting an angry glare or worse--for the boy to start crying.

The smile was returned with a smile as well, a warm, relieved one that bled completely into his eyes as he gave a soft sigh. "He was a crazy one, T'el. I won't pry into what he did...but I've got a hunch. And if his nature back then is even a flicker of what it was when we were friends, and when he lost it, then I know I'm not wrong." A soft chuckle, hollow and remorseful, sounded in his throat as he stood, rubbing the back of his neck in an almost lost way. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Why don't you take the bed for tonight, hm? I'll sleep with Shoth--he's good about not rolling over at night." He glanced back at Caelin, "Tomorrow, I'll take you to the Candidate's barracks and explain things to the Candidatemaster. He'll find you someone to room with. How's that sound?"

[Nia]

Luckily for B'rak, Caelin was done crying and freaking. He just felt embarrassed now, more than he had in... well, a while. He could barely even look at the Bronzerider, and instead focused on the top of his knees, trying not nod at the appropriate points as B'rak spoke to him. They must have known each other for a while, him and T'el. And based on his reactions Caelin was pretty sure that he wouldn't have to tell B'rak for the man to know what had happened to him. The story got him thinking, though... maybe T'el just had a few problems from his past and... no, he wasn't going to think about that man for a very long time, at least until he was over his own problems.

He didn't have a problem with B'rak sitting that far away, though sleeping there was definitely out of the question, he'd fall off in no time. If he were in a righter state of mind at the moment he would have offered to sleep on the floor or even sneak into the Candidate Barracks or something to find a bed of his own, but all Caelin could do was nod and listen. Hey, at least he wasn't crying. That was a step in the right direction.

At the offer to go sleep with his dragon Caelin immediately felt guilty, but knew that there was no way he'd be able to sleep in the same bed as another man. Just the thought gave him shivers. He did look up, though, his face still rather red from the embarrassment of his situation. "I-I'm sorry," he appologized, glancing away for a moment before looking back at B'rak, "Um, that sounds like a good idea... I'm really sorry though, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble," he added quickly, looking at his knees again. He felt awful about everything, but he really couldn't see himself refusing the offer. "Thank you, for everything," he finally said with a smile that looked very relaxed.

[jack]

A soft sigh slid from the white-haired man's lips and he gave an unbidden yawn, rising to his feet somewhat unsteadily. Straightening out and steadying his position he turned, smiling softly at the boy. "It isn't your fault." He replied softly, and moved close. "I know how the story goes...and I know better than anyone how T'el can be. But you have to realize...there is no one in the world like him. No one would do to you what he did, aside from him."

He reached out and gently tucked a strand of the blond's hair behind his ear, careful to face the back of his head towards the other in a calming motion. "Its safe here, I promise. And I promise you even more, you're safest with me. I would die before I let anything happen to anyone--especially a kid." He winked and unconsciously leaned forwards, gently pressing his forehead against Caelin's, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Trust me."

And with that he stood, dimming all but one of the glows before exiting the room with a bow, yawning as he lazily shuffled to Shoth's side. Perhaps the morning would be better.

ooc: Shall we move again? He'll room with Vraellin, right?

[Nia]

Caelin's first instinct was to flinch and recoil when B'rak moved close again, but he controlled himself and didn't. He would have to get used to normal people again eventually, and normal people didn't want to talk from across the room. He didn't make eye-contact with B'rak as the man spoke. Caelin knew it wasn't his fault that it had happened, right? It was T'el's fault... everything was T'el's fault. B'rak was right, no one else could possibly be as bad as T'el and his group. Shards, even Sjueth was a better "person" than T'el! But he still couldn't meet B'rak's gaze, still feeling weirdly ashamed and embarrassed.

He did manage a sincere, if not small, smile at what he said next though, finally meeting the other's gaze and feeling less like he was going to cry now. It was safe here, and Caelin could feel that. He didn't even know why he'd been so afraid before, and now he just felt guilty about reacting that way to this person's kindness. The blond thought about maybe speaking up or saying that he didn't mind if B'rak slept in his own bed now, but he couldn't bring himself to do it or even speak. He just nodded, feeling way too drained to do anything else.

The weary boy fell asleep almost right when his head hit the pillow, thinking the same thing that B'rak thought right before he passed out. Maybe tomorrow would be better.

ooc: Okay, post in the dorms is next.

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