One Down, One to Go [Erisi]

Glorious.

D'ren frowned and sipped his klah, green eyes focused intensely on the empty space in front of him. The news he'd just received wasn't terrible, but it was extremely frustrating. It aggravated him for his mornings to be so spontaneously interesting. There was rarely good news, either due to the delicacy of the situation at Katila or just because most people didn't consider good news worth reporting. D'ren was admittedly to have a heads up about this, though. He'd rather have heard about it now than later, though a less official and probably less flattering medium.

While he wanted to pop that sharding bluerider's head off his shoulders, D'ren had to admit that I'shan had handled the delivery in a more professional way than some would have. It was a bit surprising, considering the man's reputation. The man was known for being impulsive and vindictive. Perhaps the very report was an impulsive act, prompted by guilt or fear or any other number of unknowable emotions. D'ren decided not to dwell on it. He'd deal with I'shan later.

Ronarth, summon the boy please

Ronarth did as he was told, his simple mind confused but highly curious. Without a word to his rider, the bronze reached out to the mind of a sleeping candidate. Erisi the dragon said. His voice wa firm and loud, but filled with warm and gentle inflection. He didn't want to scare the poor boy. I am sorry to wake you, but D'ren wishes to speak to you. He is in the dining halls. He's asked you to come right away

D'ren took another sip of his drink and rocked back in his seat. He figured the candidate wouldn't be too surprised at the summons, in spite of the detailed information I'shan had provided. The kid was probably dreading it. Aggravated but willing to be patient, D'ren rubbed his eyes and waited.

Erisi seemed like a completely nice person... when he was asleep. Talian's cot wasn't entirely meant to accommodate two people, but at some point during the night Erisi had passed out, and once he had there was no moving him. It was likely the young man wouldn't stir awake until later in the day, considering the long and exhausting night he had gone through. The night had its lows, and its highs, both remarkable in their own way. Needless to say, Erisi wasn't really being woken up because of the good times he had last night. The young man rolled over nearly on top of Talian as a warm voice resounded in his head. He muttered something in his sleep and ignored the sound of Ronarth's voice for a few seconds. Then, the dragon spoke up again, and all Erisi needed to hear was 'D'ren' to open his eyes.

The Harper peered tiredly at the back of Talian's head, and whispered a soft curse to himself. He had expected I'shan to hold onto that information for a while longer, because he had to face it, the only reason the Weyrleader would want anything to do with him is if he acted up. Last night's happenings could have very easily been considered 'acting up', though Erisi still considered himself at least partly justified. He sat up, wondering if he should bother to get dressed properly and make the Weyrleader wait a little while longer, or just show up as he was in his crinkled clothes from yesterday.

His vanity actually wasn't going to allow for that. "I'll see you sometime, Tal," he said to his sleeping companion before slipping out of the room. He was expecting a harsh dose of Candidate Isle, and if that was the case he wouldn't be seeing Talian for a few days at least. It'd probably be longer than that, considering how stubborn Erisi could be. The Harper went to his own room, and changed into something more appropriate for a talk with D'ren. He wanted to at least look nice, so the Weyrleader may feel a slightly less inclination to pounding his face into the dining table. So, it was black pants, boots, a blue tunic and a darker blue sash. He was a Harper, he couldn't really be blamed for feeling particularly fond of the color blue.

The young man arrived at the dining hall a few minutes later, but he hadn't necessarily rushed to his meeting with the Weyrleader. He had already woken up with a migraine, likely brought on by the feeling of impending doom. That was always a good way to start his day. There were dark, noticeable circles under his eyes. His night had ended on a better note than it had started, but that meant he had little sleep. He figured it worked in his favor to at least look a little upset by what went down. He had been remarkably upset - and had also been fortunate enough to have someone around to cheer him up.

It was easy to spot D'ren, and with a sigh Erisi steeled himself for what was to come. It wouldn't be good, that was for certain. But, when did things ever go his way? That was right, very rarely.

"Yes?" he inquired as he filled the empty seat in front of D'ren. They both knew what this was about, so his inquiry was a silly way of saying 'hello'.

The situation was giving D'ren a headache as well, but for far different reasons. He turned the problem over in his head time and time again, trying to decide exactly how he felt about the exchange and what he needed to do about it. He remembered Erisi without reminder; the young man Ronarth had pestered at the gather. Of all the unhappy candidates, that may have been the most unhappy. D'ren felt bad for the kid, but Erisi's rotten attitude in general was visible without much effort. That coupled with I'shan's tendency to overdo practically anything meant the situation was entriely believable, but also problematic.

What did someone do about a candidate striking a dragonrider?

The bronzerider's mind was made up by the time Erisi arrived. D'ren waved at the boy and decided to skip the niceties. Erisi wasn't likely to be receptive and would probably appreciate a bit of directness. "Good day to you, Erisi," the Weyrleader said in a guarded tone, his eyes flashing over the boy.

Erisi looked so tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and his posture was lacking in spirit. The bronzerider resisted the urge to shake his head in pity.

"There's some food here, if you like," D'ren said motioning to some plates. He'd arranged for plenty of food to be brought for his meeting with I'shan, but the bluerider hadn't eaten much.

Without much pause, D'ren continued. "Well Erisi, I think we both know why you're here," he said, crossing his arms on the table and looking at the boy with stern pity. "I spoke to I'shan just a few minutes ago. He said he had something he needed to report to me, and well...he told me everything."

This time, a calculated pause.

"...Including how he felt like he provoked you."

Erisi glanced towards the arrangement of food, wondering whether it would indicate his nervousness to eat or not eat. He couldn't decide which was the better option, so he followed what his stomach wanted instead. It had been a long night, and Erisi imagined he was going to need all the energy he could get to tackle these next few days. The Harper knew exactly what was going on, and he knew that D'ren was going to punish him because he had to. Shells, he was sure D'ren wanted to punish him anyways, so there was really no chip off of the Weyrleader's shoulders. If he was lucky, the Weyrleader would go easy on him. Knowing I'shan, though, the Weyrleader would easily be convinced not to show him any mercy. At least this way I'shan wasn't going to hold their fight over his head for sevendays. The resolution to their argument would come more swiftly than Erisi could have hoped for. He wanted this to be over with, so he could move on with his miserable life.

He picked up a sweetroll, which wasn't entirely filling, but he liked giving his mouth something to do other than run itself until he got in trouble. Erisi wasn't the sort of person to guard his words - there may be a particular charm to the way he spoke his mind, but most of the time he was just mean about it. Now wasn't the time to trade barbed words with the Weyrleader, not when D'ren had solid evidence of Erisi acting up. He could make the Harper's life fairly miserable if he wanted to, and that was what Erisi feared the worst... that D'ren would take good advantage of the opportunity Erisi had provided him with. If Erisi was in D'ren's position, he probably would have done just that.

Finally, there was verbal confirmation from D'ren that I'shan had done his best to crawl up the Weyrleader's ass and make himself a nice home there. A small grimace of displeasure appeared on his face, but that was quickly stowed away. He knew that this had been coming, there was no need for him to even act surprised over it. Shells, he should have just stayed in bed. That may have made the Weyrleader more angry, but Erisi assumed that he was in deep enough trouble that pissing D'ren off wouldn't make that much of a difference to his punishment already.

'...Including how he felt like he provoked you.'

Blue eyes snapped to D'ren's face, and it wasn't clear whether Erisi was surprised or suspicious. He didn't think I'shan was even capable of showing mercy, so there was definitely something up. It was almost humorous that at the first sign of pity from dragonriders made Erisi suddenly suspicious of their every intention. "Well, I certainly wouldn't have punched him if he had done nothing wrong," Erisi answered in a dry tone - perhaps a little too dry for his situation. That was, however, the truth. Erisi hated physical scuffles - he usually came out the worse for it.

Cue this moment in time and one would see why he avoided fighting with his fists rather than his tongue.

D'ren didn't expect any different from Erisi, though he didn't exactly appreciate the dry tone. "Well," he said taking another sip of his klah and shrugging, "I'shan can be a little bit of a handful.

The Weyrleader wasn't ready to dismiss any part of the situation. I'shan probably was tormenting the kid, but striking a rider was unacceptable in any case. "He's prone to getting into mischief," the bronzerider explained. "Though I think you should know..he's also not very inclined to make reports like this."

It was unusual for I'shan to admit being in the wrong. "I suppose he must feel rather guilty about bringing you here, otherwise I'm certain he would have let you rot. When he was selected as a searchrider, he threw quite the little temper tantrum." That hadn't been fun to deal with. Not at all. D'ren's face hardened a bit at the memory. What a little idiot.

"Now, he said you got into an argument and he laughed at you, so you punched him. Erisi...you can't do that. I don't particularly care what he said to you, no verbal argument merits physical violence. If you felt like he was abusing you, you should have reported him to me."

"I've already had some words with him about teasing you," he continued. He didn't doubt I'shan had teased Erisi. He recalled how indignant I'shan had been, as if he didn't deserve the scolding. "He said he'd been struggling with whether or not he should report you, but ultimatly decided it was going to get out of control if he didn't. He didn't seem happy about it. Now.." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Do you have anything to add before we decide what to do about this?"

Well, that didn't surprise Erisi one bit. He was familiar enough with I'shan to know how the man normally behaved. Erisi still couldn't believe, though, that I'shan had given up his position of power in favor for reporting Erisi's actions. For a little while, Erisi had no idea what was worse, being reported to D'ren or having I'shan lord over him with the information that their arguing had escalated too highly. He was about to have that curiosity settled, though, since it was clear that once D'ren got tired of telling him what he had done wrong and how he had done it wrong, his punishment would be passed out. Great, he was looking forward to another few sevendays stuck on Candidate Isle. That seemed to be the way dragonriders handled all their problems - segregated the problem and hoped it would fix itself. Erisi wasn't sure how they ever that approach would work.

"I know I can't do that," he answered, keeping the barb out of his voice in favor for a more reasonable tone. His future's outlook was depending on how well he behaved, and so he was trying his best to do just that. "It was a slip in my judgment, and it was late at night so... Well, the situation didn't merit me with enough time to go wake you up and talk to you about it." Erisi knew what he had done wrong, but was he necessarily sorry? Not really. He knew well enough not to repeat the action, but there was no way he'd feel bad for punching I'shan now. The bluerider had deserved it, and while it was not the right course of action, it was a satisfactory one.

Erisi held back a snort as D'ren mentioned talking to I'shan about 'teasing' him. He doubted I'shan was getting as much of a talking-to as he was. That was the nature of things. These dragonriders were attached at the hip, of course they would favor their own. Now more than ever, Erisi felt like an outsider. He had never felt like he belonged, but it was becoming more and more clear to him that it was the case. "I'm surprised he came to you, he seemed very pleased with the idea of holding it against me for longer than this," Erisi admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders.

What he really was waiting for was his punishment. There was a need to know what sludge he was going to be forced to wade through. "No, I don't. I don't think much of what I'd say would change things for the better."

On the whole, D'ren was pleased. Erisi probably wasn't sorry, but he'd at least acknowledged that he didn't need to be throwing punches at dragonriders in the future. The bronzerider nodded appreciatively and took one final sip of klah before clearing his throat and continuing.

"Very well then," he said. "I hate to say this, kid, but I am going to have to punish you for this. You can't go around punching dragonriders, or anyone for that matter. While I'shan has admitted to teasing you a bit, I can't overlook it. I've already drafted a letter for your Weyrling Master assigning you to some extra physical training at the end of your next lesson. I told him to use his imagination, but I suspect it will amount to some pushups and a few laps around the gather square." Okay, it would probably be a torturous amount of pushups and a lot of laps around the square. Good. D'ren had always been fond of physically strenuous punishments over soft tasks like chores.

Besides, separating Erisi from the others wasn't going to make him adjust any faster.

"But I also think you need to talk this out with I'shan. He wasn't pleased either, but I've decided that next time his dragon needs to be tended, you will be doing it for him. It'll do you some good to learn to care for a dragon, anyhow. Ilveriath's a good searcher." Not the best in Katila, but a good one. "And he's certain you'll Impress."

Erisi knew he had to be punished - there was no hang up for him over that fact. It was an inevitability. Dragonriders didn't seem particularly lenient to physical scuffling. It was the punishment itself that had Erisi worried, punishment that left to his own imagination was horrible indeed. It could be any number of things, and if D'ren knew enough about Erisi, he'd know what was exactly the right way to punish him. He really didn't want to get trapped back on Candidate Isle, and more chores were just going to degrade him further. Shells, any punishment D'ren came up with was going to be degrading and a shot at Erisi's pride. Punishment itself could be completely counteractive against Erisi adjusting to Katila Weyr, but there was simply no option to leave him unpunished.

Erisi tried to not look displeased when D'ren said that he was handing off his punishment to G'rem. Great, he wasn't being punished, but rather was being given a death sentence! Erisi did not look like he ever physically exerted himself in well... the less obvious ways. He was the kind of person who would rather lounge about all day than get in a good workout. Because of that, his body tone wasn't exactly great enough to handle rigorous exercise. That was now probably going to have to change, if he was going to survive through G'rem's physical training. Just, ever so slowly, a scowl was returning to his expression. Yes, he was going to die, why thank you D'ren.

And the scowl was definitely back as D'ren issued a second part to his punishment. "I don't think I will, it probably wouldn't go well, considering past circumstances," Erisi said with a sort of blunt honesty. He didn't trust I'shan not to antagonize him, and he didn't trust himself not to antagonize I'shan in response. "...Okay," he said, trying very much to keep the discomfort and dislike out of his voice. He was sure that he did not do a good job of it. He'd take two days of G'rem's physical training over pampering I'shan's sharding dragon.

"Can I still opt out of that? I'm pretty sure the Blue was wrong. There are plenty of Candidates who want to Impress - shouldn't let me risk their chances." He was partially serious, but he knew the answer already. He was going to have to Stand. Why else would they have kidnapped him to begin with?

D'ren completely ignored Erisi's protests to the punishment, though a slight arch of his brow and almost-frown indicated that he'd at least heard it. He did feel like he needed to respond to the last bit, though. "Sorry, Erisi. If you fail to Impress at your first clutching, you can decline after that," he said. "But we do require all new candidates to stand at their first hatching." That was barring certain circumstances, but he didn't bother to specify what they were. The last thing he needed was Erisi chopping his hand off or something in an effort to avoid the sands.

"I'm sure things will work out fine for you, Erisi. I know it's hard to adjust, but keep your chin up. There are better ways to vent than picking fights with dragonriders." He was certain that I'shan played a pivotal role in the affair, but he still imagined Erisi was the original instigator. Erisi was developing a reputation.

"I'shan will come and get you when he wants your services. You're to follow his orders without question, all right?" He hated to put the boy under such tight restriction, but it needed to be done. Erisi needed to understand just how unacceptable this behavior was. No one was going to excuse it, no matter how bad they felt for him.

"You're dismissed. You're free today," he said as he stood. He needed to get moving before he was tempted to eat even more, he realized. "And if anything else happens, let me know."

Erisi was usually above self-mutilation to get out of things he did not enjoy, but this was a circumstance he may make certain sacrifices for. But, as a Harper he valued his hands very much, so even if he did find out the ways to get out of Standing, he likely wouldn't. Erisi would take trying to run away before self-mutilation, but from how Volfetti had fared out of it... well, that was out of the question too. He was stuck. But, at least if he survived this first Hatching he would never have to attend another. Perhaps there was a way to dissuade a dragonet from approaching him without getting himself mauled. It was something he was going to have to look into at least, discreetly so he didn't give D'ren another reason to be pissy with him. "I know, can't really blame me for trying, though," he answered with a brief, unenthusiastic smile.

No words of comfort from D'ren were going to do any good. The only type of comfort Erisi had received recently that had done well was, of course, Talian's. D'ren wasn't up for that sort of comforting, so he should really stop trying.

Erisi wanted to speak up that putting him with I'shan was only going to encourage more fighting, but he figured that even suggesting that would just earn him more of D'ren's ire. If I'shan started to press his buttons, then he would have no choice but to go back to D'ren... since obviously that was what the man wanted. Erisi was trying to ward away a good amount of trouble. "All right," he answered in a dry, not entirely enthused tone. He had a feeling that I'shan was going to take total advantage of the situation, and for some reason Erisi was going to have to put up with it. D'ren had to know this, why else would he stick Erisi with the man after what had gone down between them?

"Thank you," he said with forced politeness, rising from his seat and taking his leave. He really didn't want to be in the Weyrleader's presence for longer than necessary.