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[G] [C] [EVENT] 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: [G] [C] [EVENT] 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion (/showthread.php?tid=4454)



740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - R'nd - 13.Jul.19

"You're sure Mylorah is coping with everything? She seemed like she was but I know my sister can be a bit overwhelming when you aren't used to her, even after a few visits. The boys say she's fine but they're biased and would lie about it but you're an impartial party and will tell me straight," R'nd was so glad he saw F'drel earlier. He had been meaning to visit the greenrider for a while now, having enjoyed their brief conversations after the Flight. He seemed like he could be a well of fun topics and not talk in riddles. But he also wanted to know about his latest family addition and if she was happy with making the choice to out herself. Of course it had been several months since T'ryn's birthday where she surprised everyone by showing up and had come to a couple more gatherings since but she seemed the sort to hide her emotions if it suited her.

He popped another bit of carrot into his mouth, finding them sweeter than usual. He wondered if they were being spoiled that night with honey being added in. "You came on a good night. The kitchen staff out did them...selves..." the smile he was wearing from good company and carrots faded as he spotted B'jin walk in with D'hys.

B'jin had been acting weird the last several days by not seeming enthused by any sort of affection and avoiding him in general. It had finally led to R'nd feeling like a horrible person invading space and sleeping on the couch and quietly leaving before he further bothered B'jin. He wasn't concerned, though. Larrikith Flew soon and B'jin was notoriously proddy and sometimes it was worse than others. R'nd just assumed Larrikith was a bit ahead of schedule this time.

He also knew B'jin didn't see D'hys for what he really was and liked the bluerider. Perhaps he was visiting as well and B'jin took the opportunity to visit with a friend R'nd didn't think he had seen in a while.

Even the withering glare B'jin gave him as a greeting before sitting across the room didn't seem too out of place with the proddy theory. That didn't mean he liked it or wasn't confused by it. He could swear that he had been judged for something but what it was, he certainly didn't know. Loving a greenrider was rough on the senses at times.


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - F'drel - 14.Jul.19

It was supposed to be a quick trip to Telgar. All F’drel had been doing was dropping off a small gift basket for a Weyrling, the son of one of the women at Ista who did the laundry for the higher ranking dragonriders who could get away with making other people clean their clothes for them. F’drel knew her reasonably well due to the frequency with which he did his own laundry, and she’d asked him if he could bring her son, a greenrider who had Impressed the turn before and had yet to be allowed to travel from Telgar, to bring him a basket of things — food, clothes, some other things, F’drel didn’t really root through the basket to find out, so he didn’t know exactly — that she felt was a little too big for a firelizard to safely take for her. And of course, F’drel had said yes, because he liked her, and wanted her young greenrider son to get his gift and the visible reminder of how much his mother loves and supports him.

Except after dropping off the basket of things, he’d been spotted by R’nd as he headed back to Halomirth, and then invited to dinner so R’nd could ask after Mylorah. Because apparently he didn’t trust T’ryn or A’tay to tell the truth about how she felt. Did R’nd really think he’d get much better from F’drel? ‘Impartial’ his ass, Mylorah was his friend, he wasn’t fucking impartial. F’drel strongly favored Mylorah in this situation and he wasn’t about to go telling things told to him in confidence to her father, a man she wasn’t exactly on amazing terms with. He wouldn’t do it, it wasn’t his place.

F’drel listened quietly, debating the best way to respond to R’nd’s line of questioning. He really didn’t like this trend of his friend’s father’s interrogating him about their kids. Not that F’drel had a high opinion of fathers as a rule, but were they all completely incapable of talking to their kids? Did they really think a random greenrider who was friendly with their children was the best source of information? Did men become useless at communication once they reproduced? What the fuck. And he didn’t have any advance warning so he couldn’t check what he was allowed to say. F’drel didn’t want to tell R’nd anything Mylorah didn’t want the man to know, but since he didn’t know what that was, he was in the dark about what he could say. Hopefully he could muddle his way through it with statements that didn’t actually say anything like he mostly managed with M’ris until he could speak with Mylorah.

He was about to say something vague and noncommittal when R’nd said something about the food, before trailing off, looking at a point over F’drel’s shoulder. F’drel shifted to see what had caught his attention without being too dramatic about it, and froze when he got his answer. What was D’hys doing here, F’drel wondered, managing to unfreeze enough to give a tiny stiff nod in response to the bluerider’s greeting, then turned back around, no longer able to see the two men. Why was he with B’jin? Were they friends? And why did B’jin look so pissed? F’drel could understand irritation at having to spend time with D’hys, but it seemed to be directed at R’nd. Weren’t they mated? Were R’nd and B’jin fighting? Did D’hys have something to do with? F’drel had no idea, though it wasn’t like he was going to ask R’nd. In fact, considering the confused expression R’nd had as he looked past F’drel, presumably at his mate, asking about it seemed like a terrible idea.

F’drel went back to eating, waiting for R’nd to continue talking, but when it became clear he wasn’t going to and the awkward silence would continue indeterminately, F’drel went back to the original topic; Mylorah. D’hys and B’jin and whatever they were doing wasn't unimportant, and having D’hys somewhere he couldn’t see the man made him jumpy, but surely if either of them approached R’nd’s face would give him a heads up. Time to move on for the moment.

“Mylorah’s fine,” he said, as reluctant as he was to talk about his friend, knowing she liked being a bit mysterious when it came to her father, “It’s something new, it takes time to adjust. She’s adjusting.” Which was true, even if it said basically nothing. Mylorah acknowledged that things were different and she had begun to process how things were different, it didn’t really tell R’nd anything at all. How well she was adjusting was a different question. But he hadn’t asked that, exactly.


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - R'nd - 15.Jul.19

"Hm?" Oh, right, he had asked F'drel about Mylorah before becoming distracted by B'jin and D'hys walking in together. Focusing on his daughter instead of his proddy mate and questionable friend was the far better idea and so R'nd nodded at the answer he was given. He knew it was vague, like answers his sons gave him but it was still nice hearing them from a third party.

"Thank you, F'drel. I won't push for details, hearing that from you is enough for me. You don't seem the sort to flat out lie and I appreciate that." Dodging the question a bit didn't count as lying and even he did that when put on the spot or facing something he didn't want to talk about.

Another few bites of vegetables were had and savoured before R'nd gave in for the desire to give out some advice that he hoped wasn't too late. "I'm not sure if you've managed to avoid him, but stay away from D'hys if you can. He's trouble, though not everyone believes it," he shot another look of absolute confusion at the pair across the room, still unsure as to why B'jin liked the man all these years later.

"But he apparently treats those he likes well enough, so stay on his good side, I guess." He wondered if he should start casually pointing out the people to avoid when he helped Candidates and Weyrlings with other important lessons. He could call it a wellness class or maybe a quality of life class.


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - F'drel - 16.Jul.19

F’drel was glad R’nd had decided not to press him further on Mylorah, because it would have been difficult to continue saying nothing while still being polite. He didn’t tell his friends’ personal business to older men with some sort of power over them, he just didn’t. Anyone he didn’t care about’s personal business was fair game, but he wouldn’t do that to his family.

Still, he wasn’t sure how to feel about R’nd correctly reading that he rarely directly lied. It was true, F’drel much preferred to tell part truths or say nothing at all beyond repeating what someone said back at them in a way that makes them think you’re agreeing. Proper lying was more likely to get you caught or in trouble. Not that he never did it, but he’d done it a lot more when he was younger. Now he was better at talking his way around a lie, which was safer.

It took some effort to repress his scoff at the advice to stay away from D’hys, and if he couldn’t it was best to stay on his good side. Didn’t he know it! F’drel was well aware D’hys was dangerous — he didn’t need a bluerider to tell him that — though it was somewhat reassuring that not everyone thought D’hys was cool (R’dal was perhaps not a good standard, he seemed to have a very poor sense for dangerous things). It’s not like he really had any choice in being involved with the other bluerider — Halomirth and Zeianth saw to that — and F’drel knew perfectly well that involvement was likely to fuck him over if he wasn’t very, very careful. Almost certainly would fuck him over even if he was. D’hys was just that sort of person. Wouldn’t hurt to find out why R’nd thought he was someone to watch out for, he might have different reasons. Plus, he’d been around longer.

“Trouble?” F’drel asked, affecting a lightly worried curiosity — it was really a deeply concerned desire to get as much information as possible in case he ever needed it, but R’nd didn’t need to see all that. Curiosity about why he should stay away from a specific bluerider would do. That was normal for a greenrider to ask about, after all, and R’nd seemed to have been distracted enough by his mate to completely miss that D’hys had greeted F’drel, even if it was only a subtly nod, and didn’t sound like he realized F’drel knew him. “What sort of trouble?”


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - R'nd - 16.Jul.19

R’nd nudged his vegetables around with his fork as he thought about how to answer F’drel. What sort of trouble was D’hys? It was hard to pin down. It was more a feeling he had around the other bluerider coupled with things he had seen and heard over the years in Katila. It was harder to judge the man in more recent times since they lived in different Weyrs and R’nd didn’t hear as many rumours. Besides, B’jin, Rhaedalyn, and even the rather level-headed R’nya liked D’hys. Honestly, it was R’nya that made it hard to fully believe his own gut instincts. B’jin and Rhaedalyn were kind souls that were easily duped into believing the best in everyone even if they were stone cold murderers. It was a strong part of why he loved them both, but R’nya seemed to see through such things and he still let D’hys near his family and assist him in errands.

R’nd frowned at his plate and set his fork down, turning his attention entirely onto F’drel. “He uses people for his own gain and I’ve heard from greenriders and even blueriders that lost alongside him that he can be a bit rough and I believe it to be done intentionally but what do I know? Maybe it’s just me since the leadership of Fort like him and B’jin is fond of him as well. I could be reading into things that aren’t there, but be careful all the same.” F’drel seemed a decent sort from what he had seen at T’ryn’s birthday dinner and after the Flight. He was also friends with a large portion of his children which made him important to their family and R’nd didn’t want to see him hurt.

“I’m not sure what I can do against him, but if you ever need help with him or in general, please seek me out and I’ll do my best.” R’nd offered F’drel a smile, feeling a bit fatherly toward the young man. He didn’t seem much older than Mylorah and he was happy to continue believing that forever whether it was true or not. He had a feeling T’ryn would use whatever bronze power he had to protect F’drel as well if needed, but R’nd wasn’t sure how to bring that up without sounding too pushy or offending F’drel more than he possibly already had by offering assistance.


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - F'drel - 17.Jul.19

Internally, F’drel sighed. He’d been hoping for… he didn’t know, specifics, details, things he could file away and maybe use at a later time. ‘D’hys uses people,’ of fucking course he does, that was obvious, he’d know that for over a turn now. Wow, he could be rough with greenriders? F’drel would never have guessed. Not an inkling. The only thing that he could really consider to be gleaned from R’nd’s comments were that not everyone was oblivious to the fact he was ‘trouble’ and that the leadership of Fort Weyr liked him — which did not improve their standing in F’drel’s eyes. He’d never even met the Fort Weyrleader, but he grew more suspicious of the man every time he learned something new about him. R’nya was either an idiot for believing D’hys’ friendly persona, or he knew the bluerider was more sinister than he let on and didn’t care — or worse. Neither spoke well for the man, in F’drel’s opinion.

Part of F’drel wanted to inform R’nd that his instincts were quite correct about D’hys, but that would require revealing that he knew D’hys, which he’d sort of implied he didn’t — he never actually said he didn’t, as was his usual tactic, but he felt R’nd might think he’d been lying, or concealing the truth if he were to say actually, yes, he knew D’hys. If people thought they caught you in a lie they were likely to trust you less. And he didn’t really want to deal with that.

“Instincts are often right,” F’drel said, resisting the urge to turn around and look to check on D’hys and B’jin and whatever they were up to. “Worth listening to.”

It was… nice, he guessed, of R’nd to offer to help him with D’hys if he ever needed it, but F’drel agreed with R’nd that there probably wasn’t much he could do. It wasn’t like F’drel was inclined to share his problems with older blueriders anyway, so even if R’nd could so something, F’drel was unlikely to ask. Besides, R’nd could have some weird ulterior motive, or be passing on information to someone, D’hys or otherwise. He didn’t really know R’nd well enough to be sure. F’drel didn’t think he was, but better to be careful.

“Thank you,” F’drel said, after spending a long moment thinking it over. For the (far too late) warning, and for the offer, he supposed. Then he didn’t know what else to say so he took a sip of water. He really hated this trend of awkward conversations with the fathers of his friends.


RE: 740.07.10 | Midlife Confusion - R'nd - 17.Jul.19

“Indeed they are. I prefer to keep my distance but he’s still too tightly entwined in my life to fully avoid him.” R’nd hated that he couldn’t express his distrust of D’hys to those that liked him. No doubt he’d be called jealous over something or just plain silly and mean for thinking ill of such a wonderful man. Still, that didn’t mean he hoped D’hys proved him right one day and hurt B’jin or Rhaedalyn. He cared too much for them to wish harm of any variety on them, or anyone really.

“You’re welcome, but enough of this doom and gloom. Let’s finish dinner with much lighter talk over good food and drink.” R’nd picked up his glass and gave a mock toasting gesture with it as he smiled. He didn’t want to keep obsessing over his mate with another bluerider that he didn’t trust and he wasn’t going to keep F’drel on the spot with questions about his kids. So he kept the conversation fairly safe by asking after Halomirth and life in Ista, confessing he sometimes thought about living there for the beaches but had grown to love Telgar too much to consider a move unless B’jin wanted it as well.

By the time dinner ended, R’nd was in his usual good mood and glad he convinced F’drel to join him. F’drel still seemed a bit guarded about what he shared but it didn’t seem too bad and R’nd expressed his hope to get together again some time. Maybe invite him along to another family dinner since his kids also liked him and Mylorah might be more comfortable with more familiar faces.