An Unwanted Encounter [D'hys]

Being assigned chore duties had Arddra going into places she would usually avoid, if she could help it. Cleaning various areas of the main Weyrfolk Hall was one of many places she worked in. If it wasn't for the fact dragondriders often come here on doing whatever they wanted to do, it wouldn't be a bad place.

Dragonriders and young children. The two things that she felt the most uncomfortable around. She could hear the sound of children laughing, not Candidate age or close to it, as she would see often in the barracks but much younger children. A painful reminder of what she would never have.

As her chores were done she quickly moved down the hall away from the sound of children. The last thing she wanted was to have a pack of young weyrbrats running around her. Casa and Quenym were different as they are almost or at minimal Candidate age. Still quite young but old enough she saw them more as young adults than children. It was less painful to her, maybe only due to the fact they were too old for her ever be a mother to. Maybe in ten years she will think differently. By then however, she hoped to be bonded to a gold dragon and at least have her many offspring to feel mother to. Arddra never heard of any queen failing to produce clutches outside of old age.

Thinking about being finally bonded to a gold dragon distracted her so much she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. Not something she usually did for she always tried to be alert to better avoid that which she rather not run into.

Bumping into the solid back of a man jolted her from her musings quite abruptly. It was only luck that she managed to keep from falling over. Looking up at who she bumped, she was ready to apologize till she saw who it was and froze.

It was him! The rider who had grabbed her a turn or so back and forced himself upon her. Sure maybe a greendragon had been having her mating flight and the man's blue failed to catch her but as far as Arddra was concerned, it was still a rape. She had avoided this particular dragon rider as much as she could, seen him around the dinner hall but it was easy to sit as far away from him as possible.

Her eyes wide with shock and fear she froze, staring at the man she had ran into. She had learned his name since that horrible first encounter, D'rys. He had never sought her out since that time either, as far as Arddra was aware but he was, in the same spot she was...and her fear made her think he must have come looking for her.

D’hys typically didn’t go to the Weyrfolk Hall unless he had a good reason for it. He preferred to spend his time around other dragonriders which had their own huts and usually better taste. However, some of the non-riders had skills that could be used in his favour while others had made a bad bet and had to pay up in some form or another. That day had been a little of both for what brought him striding into the Hall. He genuinely enjoyed Ravana’s oils but had found out others did as well. Trading a small amount to be bumped to the top of the list for getting new boots made seemed a worthy sacrifice and worth his time of coming to the Hall.

He had stopped to play nice with someone, greeting them with a nod and answering mundane questions before the person finally let him go by excusing himself and walking away. D’hys didn’t get a chance to leave as well as someone came crashing into him from behind. His first instinct was to assume it was an upset lover or even A’liran and D’hys was ready to swing around and defend himself from an actual attack but he stopped himself. It felt more like a smaller form had simply bumped into him out of carelessness; a hunch that became fact when he turned to see the woman gawking at him.

Why did she look familiar? Was she simply an admirer? D’hys doubted he had any real contact with her given she looked about the right age to be a Candidate and probably a Stolen one at that, making her whiny along with useless to him. You slept with her, Zeianth supplied after poking through some memories. His own curiosity had been piqued due to the way the girl stared at his rider. She seemed afraid of him and that usually meant D’hys had slept with the woman and something had happened; usually a broken heart.

D’hys took a moment to eye the woman from head to toe and back again. Why would I? he asked with a mental snort. She wasn’t really his type for a variety of reasons but that didn’t mean anything when a flight was involved and it likely was. “Yes?” He finally spoke, forgoing any proper greeting. After all, the girl had run into him so that seemed to defeat the purpose of using manners. “Did you need something or is it a hobby to try knocking over blueriders?”

It was a struggle to fight her panic which kept her staring at the man subconsciously she realized she had ran into. That didn't mean he was looking for at all. Then he spoke, simple words and perfectly natural for somebody who was bumped into to say, even if they were rather blunt and uncaring.

He doesn't even know who I am or simply doesn't care. the thought came into her mind. He had raped her and tossed her out and doesn't even care if her accidental bumping into her caused her harm or anything. If he had just been angry or even showed recognition, Arddra would have muttered an apology and get away from somebody she really didn't want anything to do with. But thinking he was nothing to her, just a minor nuisance, brought on an anger better suppressed.

With a suddenness that surprised even herself, Arddra stepped towards D'hys and swung her open palm at him as hard as she was able, wanting to slap him. Give him a small taste of what it was like to be attacked.

I didn't expect this reaction from her...will let you decide if she hits him successfully or not. He's free to slap her back or grab her in his next response. Her attack on him shocked even her.

While it wasn’t impossible to catch the man unawares despite normally being on guard and cautious around people, this was not one of those times. He thanked his height advantage more than anything else since why would he suspect a gawking girl to be dangerous to him? When her hand moved to strike him, D’hys grabbed Arddra’s wrist to stop the attack. Anger at the attempt to strike him didn’t show as D’hys kept his features controlled into something more neutral although a hint of amusement did shine in his eyes. “Is that how you greet everyone?” It’d actually be fairly entertaining if she did.

The thought to hang onto the wrist and drag her closer was enticing but D’hys let go instead. He wasn’t looking to win points with the girl since she didn’t seem to hold much potential for a future investment but there was a better chance she’d talk instead of scream at him if she had full control of herself without any restrictions. Should I point out I don’t know her? That would no doubt provoke quite the reaction. A reaction involving her swinging wildly at you, no doubt. Let her bring it up and you can gauge her anger. D’hys had to agree. It was better to see what area of their supposed time together irked the girl so much.

“If that’s not how you greet people, mind sharing with me why you felt inclined to smack me?” D’hys crossed his arms lazily over his chest as he eyed the woman again. She wasn’t anything too remarkable though he supposed he could still enjoy a tumble with her outside of flight lust. No doubt she was simply a prude or liked to think she had control and didn’t like the creative things he came up with in bed and that was enough to irk the girl.

Her strike never hit her intended target, instead the dragonrider caught her wrist and held it. Arddra looked into his eyes, seeing no anger in them but she could swear there was a hint of amusement. Her entire body tensed, wishing she dared to kick him next. Truth be told she was worried such an action would just trigger greater violence from the man and she knew she was no match for him. She was not able to stop him that time nearly a year ago.

As soon as he let her arm go she backed up out of arm's reach, glaring at him, a mix of emotions running through her. So much so she totally missed his first question but she didn't miss his next question.

"You don't remember me do you? Bastard, That is why I wanted to slap you, bad enough what you did but for you not to even remember? How could you be so cold and insensitive?"

If he didn’t remember her, that was more her problem than his. There was obviously something lacking if a man couldn’t recall the woman he had slept with. Of course it was likely due to flight lust and encounters in that time were often remembered as fuzzy at best. Given the way Zeianth had to dig to find out how he even knew this annoying girl, D’hys decided it was an intense flight with a massive let down coupled by a boring girl. That made for a foggy mind set when he came to and ditched his partner for a bath.

He really didn’t have time to drag out the game of playing dense with the seething girl and D’hys finally made it known he had at least a vague idea of what had her panties bunched up so much. “It seems we met in a flight. So what did I apparently do to make you so angry? Did I leave without kissing you good bye?” She probably wanted more romance. The Holder brats that were brought to them had odd ideals and D’hys didn’t care to cater to all of their romantic whims and desires. He did enough of that with V’zire but that had the pay off of sleeping with the unobtainable greenrider and having bragging rights for quite some time to come. What did this girl have to offer him?

Arddra nearly tried to slap him again at his insensitive comments. This was the sort of dragonrider she hated, arrogant, uncaring, raping bastards who in truth were little more than rutting beasts.

"You want to know what you did to make me so angry?" Arddra hissed, her voice dropping to a very cold temperature. "It was bad enough I was brought here against my will to begin with, but to be dragged into your bed against my will...be glad I am not one who would harm a dragon otherwise I would have put a knife in your heart before you woke up."

Arddra knew even then, she wouldn't have done such a thing. She hated violence in general and her recent attempt to slap this dragonrider and even her empty threat was very unlike her. After starting a new friendship with V'riy and now running into the man who raped her, was throwing her for a loop. Initially she was afraid he was going to jump her again like he did that time over a turn ago, but now that fear was coming out as aggression.

After saying what she said, Arddra felt she should just turn and walk away, unfortunately she found she couldn't move. Instead she glared at him but her heart was racing, certain he would strike her now or do some other cruel thing. Or worse, just laugh at her because she was just a silly woman and that was her purpose here, at last till she Impressed a gold.

Any sort of threat to a dragon made D’hys’ blood boil. He had once threatened some punk Candidate and still kept a close eye on the boy to the day simply because he shot the Search dragon that Stole him with an arrow. Even though Arddra wanted to kill him, it implied Zeianth’s death and that did not sit well at all with the protective bluerider. Zeianth was his everything and nothing was spared if it made for a safe environment and life for the blue. She only talks big. She would not have been chosen if she had any such true desire to kill in her.

D’hys knew his dragon spoke the truth and did his best not to smack the girl’s face or wring her neck for such talk. She still hadn’t earned herself any favour with him by wishing for his death despite not wanting to actually harm a dragon but she did earn D’hys staring at her for several long seconds. Finally, he gave her a wry grin, “I suppose Zeianth should thank you for not killing us.” He needed to talk to Searchriders and ask what exactly was being looked for. Surely they could have found better Northerners to bring back than the whiny ones and the violent ones.

“Now, was that all you wanted to say? I have more exciting things and people waiting to fill in my day that I will be getting to now.” If all she wanted to do was whine to him about something from over a turn ago, then she could be dismissed. Was he supposed to care, especially now? It was a fact of Weyr life and she needed to get over it.

Arddra was more dismayed by the dragonrider's total indifference over what he had done to her. She certainly didn't miss the sudden hardness in his eyes when she mentioned not wanting to harm his dragon by killing him.

It was fast becoming apparent to Arddra many dragonriders didn't care about anybody except themselves. They don't even take care of the children they sire, just leaving them to be raised by weyrfolk and some even complain their brats aren't even properly mannered.

"I don't have anything more to say to you...except to say you are the worse possible example of a dragonrider." Arddra steeled herself turned her back on him, not something she wanted to do but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction to think she was too afraid to turn her back on him.

if D'hys has nothing to add nor any intention to stop her we can end it here. Short post but his indifference her addra's lack of wanting to beat the living poop out of him it's good :) 

“Babe, I’m the best possible dragonrider you will ever meet.” D’hys cared more about his dragon than anything else and to him, that made for the perfect example of what a rider should be. He took care of Zeianth, bathed and oiled him regularly, made sure he ate properly, chased when he needed and wanted, and even ran along the beach with the blue. There was nothing a girl could say that would make D’hys believe he wasn’t worthy of being the best dragonrider. He hadn’t done anything wrong. It was natural to react after a flight when the lust was so high and the victory lost. It didn’t happen often with him but it did happen regardless. To blame him was to blame the dragon she was intent on not hurting.

He had no desire to show her the continued errors of her ways and beliefs and let the girl walk off. She probably thought she was brave for walking off on a man and a dragonrider but D’hys only saw it as a cowardly thing to do. If she truly believed what she had been babbling about, she would have stayed and defended it more than she had. In fact, she hadn’t done much except say he was horrible for fucking her without romancing her first. A roll of his eyes was given and D’hys turned away from her retreating form. He did have better things to do and the sight of her was starting to annoy him.

She’d have to be watched for a while though. There was no way D’hys was risking any harm to Zeianth since he couldn’t fully believe the woman wouldn’t do something to his dragon out of spite. She did also try to talk big with the threat of a knife so D’hys would keep an eye out for her lurking in shadows and at meals to ensure she didn’t ‘accidentally’ land a butter knife on him.

He’d have to find out her name as well.