Sticks and Stones [M] (All welcome)

Ronarth's voice was familiar, so the intrusion into his mind did not bother him as much as it would have. Besides, he had things to say, and he would say them. The dragon probably had a good reason to ask him to stand down, and well, Erisi did not want to be put in the same position as B'jin. But, he couldn't say nothing. So, what if he came off a little aggressive? It got D'ren's attention, at least. Maybe it got it a little too well, since there was a good portion of Erisi that was entirely about self-preservation, and knew when he was toeing the line. Erisi had been doing it a lot recently, but in his defense he wasn't outwardly trying to get into trouble. It just happened. A lot.

He swallowed down the next flurry of words that were bound to be unpleasant and get him into more trouble. The young Harper folded his arms at his chest, staring at D'ren with determined blue eyes. When he thought he had something worth hearing, he'd say it. He may not always put it elegantly when he was emotionally invested, but there was always merit to his thoughts. He was young, and thought highly of himself. He was a sharding Harper, for Faranth's sake. He was a pretty good one too in most areas. He'd have been better if he had honestly applied himself, but Erisi was stubborn and rarely did what he did not want to do.

"Look, I just don't see how this benefits your Weyr in any way. Publicly whipping someone for stepping out of line, while having some validity, is not the uh, best way to go about it. Half of your Weyr doesn't agree with how things are run already, why give them something else to chomp at the bit over? This isn't even about who received the punishment, though I doubt that is the way you want to reward someone for saving a Master Healer's life. The point is, you're already creating more division, when I think you want your Weyr to be unified and cohesive. You caused enough controversy with decreeing that the women in the Weyr need to have children, reinstating this practice, especially so soon is just going to inflame the cyst you've already nurtured." This time he seemed to have at least minded D'ren's warning. His tone was reasonable, and to a degree his own words were.

It was... an improvement to how he usually behaved and acted.

S'kef and Tyrrisath


S’kef  just smirked at N’gelt, a knowing smirk that hid his true feelings under a distant veil of civility. “I know you’ll keep him in line,” he said, turning away with mild amusement as the little bluerider buried his face in N’gelt’s neck. S’kef was content to let them go, though he couldn’t help admire how N’gelt kept a handle on his bluerider. I’shan followed along like the good little canine he was. N’gelt had done a fabulous job. Now that was a real brownrider!

Other exchanges didn’t go so well. He found himself staring Kerrin down, brown eyes practically begging the weyrbrat to start something, then Farlint’s outburst caught him. S’kef’s head snapped in that direction and he immediately sneered. “You’ve a sharp tongue for a candidate,” he commented, keeping his tone even and smooth, though once again his actual attitude was plainly visible just beneath. He reminded himself yet again that he was on duty. Let them all snark and jeer! S’kef didn’t mind. He even enjoyed it. He loved the negative attention, especially since he knew he was drawing it away from the Weyrleader.

Whatever he did, he couldn’t lash out.

He smiled at Farlint, a knowing, threatening smile, before turning to walk back to D’ren. It was then that Talian caught his eye and their little exchange took place, only to be sharply interrupted by B’jin.

S’kef couldn’t believe the audacity. He hissed and snapped his arm back, lifting his whip reflexively. Behind him, Tyrrisath let out a deep growl of distaste, though whether it was aimed at B’jin or S’kef was uncertain. “You have some nerve, slut!” he snapped as B’jin shoved him away. Oh yes, that was the last straw! The cheeky greenrider would need more punishment, it seemed. He drew his arm back.

S’kef was too focused on B’jin, too outwardly scandalized to notice the shadow looming over him.

A deep voice slammed into S’kef’s consciousness before he could attack, nearly knocking him to his knees. It was a dragon voice, different from any he’d ever heard (he’d heard very few outside of Tyrrisath, for few dragons cared for him (Blues and greens picked up on the resentment whereas bronzes tended to pity him). The voice was powerful though, and filled with anger. S’kef cringed as he turned around and faced Ronarth looming above him, with D’ren standing just underneath the dragon’s head.

After a scolding, S’kef gave the Weyrleader a deferring bow. “Thank you, sir. It’s an honor to serve you,” he said discreetly before walking away. Tyrrisath quickly collected him and the air were off.

---

Played by Bluedragon

It pleased D'ren immeasurably to see Erisi stand down. Well, not exactly stand down, but obey instructions at the very least. D'ren didn't mind hearing the complaints. Erisi's points were valid, and D'ren imagined he would be disturbed and perhaps even frighted at Erisi's age, had he been in the same situation. He was more than willing to try and put himself in the candidate's shoes, but as Weyrleader, he didn't get to be Mr. Nice Guy all the time. That much had become abundantly clear. If his riders weren't complaining that he wasn't hard enough on troublemakers, they were trying to walk all over him.

Erisi, at least, seemed to have gotten the message that such things were at an end. D'ren listened with occasional nods of the head, but he was privately quite convinced that his plan had worked on the wily candidate. "Erisi, tha-"

The bronzerider stopped harshly as his eyes snapped to the action behind Erisi. B'jin had shoved S'kef, and S'kef was lifting his whip?

Ronarth, stop him!

D'ren went, in just a split second, from his usual gentle self to extremely angry. His anger flowed to Ronarth like a wildfire jumping through the trees. Ronarth let out a sudden bellow and took several bold steps forward, red eyes focused on the scene. STOP! he snapped, his mindvoice invading S'kef and bringing him to a halt.

D'ren stepped past Erisi and frowned. "That's enough, S'kef. You did your job well, but you need to stand down now," he said sternly. Thankfully, S'kef submitted without complaint.

D'ren grunted and shook his head before looking back to Erisi. "My apologies," he said politely, though he still maintained some distance from the boy. D'ren's usual paternal, approachable demeanor wasn't showing through today. It couldn't. That was one of the hardest parts.

He walked back to Erisi and smiled wearily. "You made a lot of good points, son. That's something I considered when I first decided to do this." Both he and Tsuen had discussed and considered it, but no one else needed to know that. Tsuen didn't need this on her shoulders. "You have to take other factors into consideration, though. Our situation is delicate here, and I face controversy no matter what I do in situations like this," he added softly. "Had I allowed B'jin to act the way he did in public without consequences, people would complain that I'm weak. If I respond with force...people say I'm too harsh."

He smiled a bit. "Sometimes, hard decisions have to be made." He didn't want to go into the intricacies with Erisi. Besides, he had no obligation to...no matter how bad he felt for the boy.