Singing in the Rain - Harper's Tale

Who	Dimitri, Nika
What	Nika tries to show Dimitri the error of his ways, her fists have little effect.
When	1 turn 4 months and 9 days until the 12th pass
Where	Southern Weyr

River Clearing
Just north of the river delta, the jungle's grip loosens enough to expose the sand-enriched soil and lichen-kissed rocks as the river battles through the rapids before dumping into the gentler delta. Cacophony of sound is made through the roar of the rapids, the spray of white water as it rains upon the nearby shores, and the shrieking of birds and wild firelizards that call from the nearby jungles. Treacherous to cross, most would follow the bank to either the river's delta or the calmer river bank, but a few courageous souls find the lure of the rapids too tempting to not cross as the far bank holds the promise of accomplishment.

There's something exceedingly stupid about wandering around in the afternoon with heavy rain pouring down on everything within sight, occasional lightning touching down in the distance, and thundering booms as the cherry on top. But exceedingly stupid is what Dimitri does best as of late, it seems. Though he HAS actually been trying to behave since he was demoted to drudge, even if it has been mostly to no avail — he is, apparently TERRIBLE at scrubbing. He hadn't even known such a thing was possible. But there it is. And when he'd wandered off to go eat some lunch earlier, he'd meant to come back. But then there was a THING, and long story short, he's wandering the river banks now. Indecisive on the subject of When to Go Back. Swiping a wrist past his nose, where the rain drips from wet hair down his face, he TRUDGES. Absolutely soaked, which is what you GET when you walk outside without a coat, in heavy rain. Also, coincidentally, occasionally brushing fingers past his lower lip, where there's a small, fresh cut and where a bruise will probably end up across his (otherwise perfect, naturally) face. He also appears to be humming. Something awfully cheerful, in contrast to his completely absent, cheerless expression.

There is exceedingly stupid, and then there is trying to find the exceedingly stupid to reason with them, which might be even more idiotic but here bounces Nika down the trail through the jungle in the deluge of rain in a vain search to find Dimitri. Only there he is. At least she sees a figure lumbering in the short distance, blurry but familiar. "Mitri!?" Is shouted in a pitch that maintains it's song like trill. "Mitri! Slow down!" Because really, in this weather, near a river who else could it be.

Whaat. Rivers are nice! Even moreso when they're all coiling with fresh rain and hungry to swallow unsuspecting visitors up and into their watery thousandnumbered maws. Okay— maybe not THAT nice. Dimitri snaps out of whatever song's playing itself in his head, when a new one sounds. A familiar voice. He stops, mouth open in a confused but curious sneer at nothing while his eyes scan past all things jungle in the direction of the voice. Then, there is a Nika! Sneer gone. Eyebrows up, and the most charming smile he can manage activated! Which is then promptly reeled back a little, because ow, smiling hurts a little right now. Though he does slow down, raising an arm all the way up in a wave, he keeps walking. Maybe he's got a place to be. "Nika! Lovely Nika. Come to join me for a WALK? It's lovely out!"

As soon as the boy turns Nika is on him like a spider monkey, or whatever Pern has with equal energy levels and anger issues. "I'm GOING TO KILL YOU!" All that kinetic energy that moves her is focused with anger and the entertainer turned drudged is ambushed. With a springing attack her little fist pound into his chest, over and over again though with probably very little effect. Even an outraged and frustrated Nika is a lover not a fighter. "How could you do this to me! You ass! Why can't you just learn!" Fists of rage have stopped pounding but remain forcefully against his chest, as she stares up at him, her face one of exasperation.

She's going to kill him? Dimitri's shoulders drop instantly. Those were just about the last words he expected to come out of Nika's mouth, and his smile disappears from his face the moment the first rain-drenched, hollow thump thump of fists sounds against his chest. "Ow. Ow. Ow." Whether or not they actually hurt, each of them earns an 'ow' anyway. Okay, NOW he's stopped walking, if only so he can reach to curl his fingers around Nika's wrists in case she changes her mind and starts the BEATING again. he looks positively perplexed, eyes wide. "T-to you? Done to you? Hold on, wait, uh. There was… her, and her and possibly him and her, and…" His eyes study her face, while cogs turn in his mind. He's pissed off a few people through recent events, but he can't quite remember one of them being Nika. So then— one thing remains. The times he DOESN'T remember. "Was I drunk." He asks, perfectly earnestly, though once more the corners of his mouth seem to involuntarily curl upward. "… Did we…?" He hipthrusts — a tiny, subtle, sophisticated hipthrust — for clarity! Possibly a joke. Possibly. Though he seems pretty pleased about the possibility.

Now imprisoned, whether she would want to start hitting him again she is resigned to just speak to him. "Yah to me. You made me SAD!" Her voice as trapped as her hands, her squinted up face turns away from his gaze, his chest much less infuriating than his responses. A soft sniffle escapes her. "No we didn't have sex!" Hands tensing futilely to resume their military campaign against him. "It's worse! You're my friend and you can't stay out of trouble!" When she finally looks up again there is water filling the bottom of her eyes. "Why can't you just stay out of trouble?"

No? Oh well. Dimitri seems unbothered by anything that comes out of Nika's mouth, up until— that very last sentence. And the teary eyes. And what's he supposed to do with THAT? His fingers slip from her wrists just as his expression slips back to absolutely clueless. Though there's STILL a smile on his face, it's— a little wobbly, unsure, brow furrowed. "Oh come on, don't give me that face. I'm still in one piece! Got all my fingers!" Here, his hands go up again, right in front of Nika's face! Look, look, all my fingers. All present. This was clearly a concern. "Shouldn't I be the upset one here?"

Released Nika's aggression turns to a forceful hug, her tiny arms wrapping as far around the boy as she can get them. Her face planted in his chest as she chokes back sniffling. Unwilling to release him even as her anger returns, furrowed brows turning upward to meet his gaze. "You? No! You don't get to be upset when you did it to yourself." Nevermind she has to pause every now and then to spit out the pouring rain that falls in her face. "You made it sound like Hannah was a whore! Don't you respect women any?" Her arms finally dropping so she can just peer up at him. Doesn't he respect her?

For all his talking, Dimitri stays curiously still when there is suddenly a hug. He doesn't quite seem to know what to do with his arms, and they just end up HOVERING above that hug. At least he might accidentally block some of the rain from falling on Nika? Not that it'll do much good at this point. "I— …" The last of his smile now vanishes, and he peers right back before— FWOP, smacking both of his hands over his face. They're dragged downward (though careful to avoid the freshly punched side of his jaw) while he mutters somewhat lowly, hesitantly, and looking ANYWHERE but directly at Nika "The conversation wasn't even ABOUT her until she made it to be. I was talking about my sister." He scoffs, and after a click of his tongue, adds, "Pfh. respect. I got plenty of respect for those who've earned it."

"Hannah deserves your respect!" Nika's little fist shakes up at the man, even though his face is mostly covered. "And even if she didn't you'd have to cause goldriders are the only reason any of us are going to make it!" A finger pops out of the little fist to point at him. "And she's proddy, of course she made it about her. Ain't nobody in their right mind when they're proddy." She shakes her head sadly at his lack of knowledge. "She'll be back right soon. Soon as that gold goes up and one of the bronzes catches her." Her face falls from anger to concern, "What happened to your cheek!" The pointing finger much less accusatory, "Come down here. Let me see."

Though clearly not in his element right this moment, Dimitri cannot hold back the briefest of chuckles when that ifst is shaken. It's almost humourless in that he tries not to show it, but out it comes anyway. The finger point is treated to a look a stubborn child might give its parent, complete with a little huff and lean away. But the relief on his face when the change of subject hits is clear as day. He leans closer again, on his toes, turning his head to let her take as close a look as she wants. "Cerise happened." He looks vaguely impressed, eyebrows popping back up. "She doesn't look it but she's got arms like tree trunks." Still leaning down, he grabs his own upper arm and FLEXES. Like he's got anything but wiriness to show.

Nika kisses her finger tips and reaching up on her own tip-toes attempts to place it gently on the bruise, much like a mother would a young child, only he isn't young (even if he acts it). "Yah. Well. You deserved it." For all her softness she isn't holding back verbal punches. "You're going to get sick out here in the rain." Nevermind she's just a drenched. "You're sister will kill me if you die of a cold." Her lips curl down in a pouted frown, rounded eyes visible even in the pleats of water. "If you don't get yourself killed by a female." And there certainly a lot of him in his life right now that seem to have violent tendency towards him. "Maybe I could give you lessons!" Her smile making an appearance for the first time, and with it a bubble of energy. "I could teach you things not to say, and how to stay things." Cause if anyone can get away with being way to informal with rankers and not have a hair set out of place it is Nika. Oh well it was, before she as one of them herself.

Aaand back is Dimitri's smile, as if Nika's fingers were holding it captive and they place it right back where it belongs. His own hand lifts without thought, idly tracing where hers were as though the act is completely alien to him. But! He straightens, then. "I won't get sick. I never get sick. I'm healthy as the studliest of runners." He announces proudly, with a simultaneous sniff and a pound of his own fist against his chest. "Lessons, though?" He looks dubious again. "I don't really…have anything to offer back for them. Plus, drudge work. All day. When I'm, you know. There. Ssscrubbing." He looks the total and complete opposite of excited, jaw jutting forward.

Nika combs at her hair with her fingers, which only end up a tangled mess in the wet chaos of what were once curls, though her own natural giggle as returned. She hopes he learned his lesson real good. "You're not a runner." She chides gently before cocking her head to one side with a shrug. "Dunno cost nothing, we're friends. 'Cept maybe if it keeps you outta trouble you'll have to hang out with me." A pauses as she considers the time, finally the yanking frees her from her hair. "Like once a seve-day." That seems a fair price as her shoulders lift in a shrug. "Look if you dunno wanna that's fine. But maybe I could tell Hannah or Lendai that I was teaching you and it might help."

Hmmhm. Dimitri swaays. Left, right. Indecisively. Baaack. Forwards— and he takes a step. Toward the river, watching it carry itself downstream. Right this moment he doesn't look much like a runner, no. Maybe more like a drowned feline. He attempts to stick his hands into his pockets but they're WET and his pockets are WET and everything is wet and he just ends up— slouching forward. Arms limply hanging by his side. Eyebrows lowering at the river as he sniffs, again, and finally asks sort of flatly, "I don't know. I sort of like that you're still talking to me." He peers over his shoulder with a forced, lopsided grin at Nika. "I mean, who'm I gonna talk to when you won't either, anymore?"

Nika swallows a giggle as she watches her dramatic friend slouch pitifully forward, but his final question has her slipping up to his side. "Oh, Mitri." She sighs with a heavy shrug. "You're not going to get rid of me that easy." This time the giggle isn't stifled, "I mean, if you made me really angry, it'd probably be more punishment for you to force you to hang out with me." Her arms cross over her chest, as she flicks a tiny hip outside ways to bop him. Not that it would do much, "Not that I don't think you deserve all this." She wrinkles her nose up at him.

"I don't think you can get 'really angry'." Dimitri notes, peering sideways at Nika at the predictably ineffectual hipbop. Eyes half lidded, forced grin turned genuine smirk. "You're like a tiny little… pup. Or a bird. Just peckin' at a thing." He looks back at the river, then streetches his arms upward — until oh so classily lowering one down and over Nika's shoulders, should she stay in place for it. "I deserve a throne. You should know the stuff I used to do that I haven't been."

"I'm real angry right now." Nika's head swivels to stare at the boy, her voice low and soft, but a quality that can't quiet be named. "Dimitri. A pup? I'm a wingleader." She does shy away from the touch, being close to her friends is as natural as breathing to the woman. "People's lives are in my hands. I'm not a little girl just because I choose not to let the world jade me." Her smile returns slow and weighted with experiences. "A throne!" The woman's older-than-her-age air disipates and she's laughing, "Man, Mitri. You sure do think you've got it harder than everybody don't ya. And even if you did it wouldn't matter. You shouldn't be mean to anybody." And she leans just a bit into her friend.

"I haven't been mean to anybody." Dimitri offers in response, suddenly quite cheerfully, leaning right BACK. And in doing so, might give away a bit of a shiver. He's been out here a while, after all. "First time I got in trouble was over a misunderstanding, the second time because I was having some fun, and the third time because I was defending my own blood. And, a misunderstanding on top of that, I guess." That's HIS side of those stories, anyway. And with them said, he pulls at Nika's shoulders to try and urge her to start turning to walk with him. Right back towards where she came from. "I'm so drenched through — I think if I pissed myself right now I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference." Turning up that CHARM. "… I suppose it'd be warmer."

Nika sighs deeply, her tone warm honeyed and affectionate, "You sure are dumb if you can't make the connect between all those things." Still, she's easily persuaded to turn round and start back towards the weyr, "You can't go passing the blame forever, Dimitri. Sometimes we make mistakes and we just gotta own up to them." Still for all the anger she entered with her giggles lead the way back inside. "Eww. Please don't do that." Gross. Urine, nature's warmer. "Sides, it'd only be warm for a few seconds." And even after it wasn't warm anymore it would still be REALLY gross.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can't exactly get much colder. Either way it'd be an improvement." Dimitri ponders aloud, doing a decent enough job of making it appear like he is in fact, serious. Maybe he is! Then, swiping a wrist past his face to brush some water out of his eyes — he glances askew, smirk widening silently. Until, "… D'ya wanna race back?" His arm slips from her shoulders. "If you win, I'll take your lessons."

"RACE!" Nika doesn't even say yes, she may not even hear what the wager is. As soon as the word is yelled her tiny legs are carrying her off through the jungle. Something akin to a squeal of joy emits from the tiny woman all the way back to the weyr, the pleasure of the run carrying her easily at the fastest pace her little legs can take her.

Once a cheater, always a cheater. Dimitri, notably, is not as hasty to get going. In fact, he crosses his arms over her chest as he watches Nika take off, eyebrows all the way up as another disbelieving sort of chuckle escapes him, before he finally leeeans forward and starts into more of a stroll than anything else, really. This game might be rigged.

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