Who

I'dre, Xanthee

What

I'dre is working when Xanthee comes to the yard to check on a wingmate. Interesting conversation ensues.

When

It is late morning of the tenth day of the second month of the sixteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Dragonhealers' Yard, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 26 Jan 2019 05:00

 

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"I'm not… really anyone to you."


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Dragonhealers' Yard

Painfully elegant, a stubborn brand of cleanliness is retained in the gentle colors of faded murals and various curtains hung from the rusted metal poles meant to shelter injured dragons on spacious couches lining the permanently soot-stained limestone walls. Of a dusty no-color somewhere between brown and gold, the floor extends onward, fading beneath ragged cabinets built to withstand anything from lashing draconic tails to various medicinal spills.

It is the fortieth day of Winter and 34 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.


It's a cold morning, despite the hour edging more towards midday. The Weyr has become a hive of activity by this point, with weyrfolk going about their business despite winter's touch. Even riders may find the morning busy, though no Threadfall is slated for today. That has already passed and will come again soon enough; but there's never really 'downtime' between. Despite this, the Dragonhealer Yard is a peaceful, if sombre, nook away from the rush of active life. Several of the ground couches have their covers pulled shut ? a sign that more than a few are occupied with the injured. Mhiruth is not among the injured, though his presence here is not unusual. Currently he is curled against one of the faded mural walls and entertaining the company of another dragon a few Turns older than he. His companion is battled scarred and from the bandages still laying over his hide… his recovery is a slow (if miraculous) one. I'dre is not far away himself, crouched as he cleans up the debris and various odds and ends from the work just preformed. Another rider stands beside him, visibly favouring one side and looking to be a few Turns older than him. They're talking low amongst themselves, until I'dre pauses and mutters a little louder than intended. "You need to go rest. Don't make me call the Healers on your ass again." Barbed threat (lacking heat) and all, the other rider just smirks and shrugs their shoulders before murmuring a bemused agreement; clearly, they're accustomed to I'dre's lack of gentleness. As they turn to leave with slow, shuffled steps, I'dre's gaze follows them until they disappear. Only then does he turn back to his task, while Mhiruth and his draconic companion rumble to one another.

Even on days without Threadfall, there's things to do for your average wingrider, which includes Xanthee. An emerald form in the sky sparkles as Liowyth starts a lazy circle down towards the healer's yard, warbling and trilling her good mood to all and sundry accented with swirling rose clouds bounding along her mindscape. Landing just outside the yard, she crouches to allow Xanthee to jump down, the maneuver smoothly accomplished. Dressed in her ridign leathers, she pulls off her helmet and runs a hand through sweat damp hair, the cold having etched itself on bright red cheeks, all the hallmarks of just having come back from sweeps. Watching the interchange between I'dre and the others does bring a bit of a crooked grin to her features, and when she sees the others walk off that's when she makes her approach. "Hey I'dre! I'd heard you were working with the dragonhealers, that's so great," she asserts with a brightening, and sincere, smile, her sunny disposition not unfamiliar for those who know the greenrider. "I was just checking on a wingmate of mine, blue Oyafuth, his rider is N'rup…" she trails off with a glance around to see if she can spot the older rider pair but it's fruitless with all the covered couches.

Mhiruth is the first to lift his head as Liowyth begins to circle in to land and offers her bright greeting. Likewise, the blue reaches out with his mirrored lake mindscape; gentle and calm, but welcoming. The other dragon has since nestled his head on his forelegs and is dozing in the light sleep of those recovering. Mhiruth will provide some warmth, not that dragons feel cold the same as humans and the clear skies offer no threat. I'dre won't glance up from his work until he hears Xanthee greet him and his mouth curves into a lopsided smirk. "Guess that wouldn't have taken long to spread once I confirmed the gossip, huh?" He mutters gruffly, but without the usual edge to his tone. He does take her praise though, even if it makes him look somewhat uncomfortable as he starts focusing back on rolling up some unused bandages. "You just missed them. They were checking on him about half a candlemark ago." He pauses long enough to point to one of the distant covered couches. "Dunno about their status, but you can try to ask later …"

For her part, Liowyth croons softly in her blue clutch brother's direction before she settles with a shuffle of her ample green form, relaxing, but no more since she's uncertain to the length of this visit. Xanthee giggles brightly as she works her raven hair free from it's tie and combs through the tangles her helmet had wrought, "You know how gossip goes in a Weyr…" she trails off because it's no secret Xan is a fan of juicy tidbits of information. She notes how the praise seems to make the bluerider uncomfortable, so she doesn't offer any more to that. When he relays the information about her wingmate, a frown creases her brow in disapointment. "Shard it. I guess I'll have to come back another time." There's definitely some worry there in the young woman's emerald eyes as they dart towards the couch I'dre pointed towards.

"Uh huh." I'dre all but scoffs in feigned disgust on Xanthee's point about gossip in a Weyr but his smirk broadens slightly. "Never any respect towards a person's privacy! You'd think I'd remember." He grew up among the weyrbrats, after all. There's no further juicy details however, just him continuing his work and confirming again what she'd heard. "Figured if I was gonna be stuck in Mirage for awhile, I may as well be useful and not a burden. It's been… different." Which is code for 'hard'. He was a potter before this and a bit of a wild spirit and carefree. Becoming a rider brought out some painful flaws in him and he never expected to be sidelined as a consequence. He never thought he could be a healer either, though he's far, far away from being fully trained. "Try closer to dinner," he suggests, tossing the rolled bandage into a container housing others. Rinse and repeat, he begins on another. "Fellis usually wears off in a few hours for the riders. Was he and Oyafuth hit very bad?"

Although he may not be dropping any juicy tidbits, Xanthee falls into listening easily, and nods along appreciatively as he explains his motivations for training in dragonhealing, clearly interested in a friendly way, even though they never quite got to that point even through candidacy and weyrlinghood. "I'm sure people aren't seeing you as a burden I'dre, but it's great that you decided to make something positive of your situation. You seem…I don't know…" the greenrider tilts her head to one side as she observes the bluerider for a moment, trying to put a finger on it, "A little more at peace I suppose. It makes me really glad to see whatever it is…" When talk turns to the injured blue and his rider, Xan's gaze drops and she scuffs her toe in the sand. "It looked bad, from where I was at least. We had his right flank…I should have seen the clump coming at him…." her voice cracks a bit at that and she has to take a breath to steady herself, still averting her gaze.

I'dre scoffs quietly and the sidelong look he gives Xanthee is telling in his disagreement with her about being a burden or no but he doesn't voice further argument. Instead he just shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders, glancing down at his working hands. "It's only because I'm…" He hesitates, sounding out the word carefully less he risk sounding like an idiot. "Compartmentalizing better. That's what they're telling me, anyhow." Yet it's not enough for them to clear him and he knows it. He quirks a brow at her when she expresses her feelings towards his situation. "Why?" he asks, bluntly but not unkindly. "I'm not… really anyone to you." Also blunt but just plain, stark honesty and he looks genuinely puzzled. Then the conversation turns again and with a low exhaled breath, he'll set his work aside and shift so that he's standing more alongside her; he makes no move to touch her or gain her gaze, he simply stands there as support. "You can't protect everyone. They'll recover and maybe learn from it but you can't carry that regret forever. You'll break under all of that."

"Compartmentalizing is a big word, but if it's helpful to you, then that's all what matters," Xanthee replies, flicking her gaze up at him thoughtfully when he asks why she seems to care. "You're a fellow weyrbrat, a candidate with me, and a clutchmate. We may not have become actual friends, but there are experiences connecting us and that makes me care about you," her words are soft, but there's a creeping smile that curls her lips as she looks over at him when he stands beside her. "I know that I can't protect everyone. And we didn't make a mistake as such, but…" She ends with a shrug of her shoulders as words fail her. "I'm familiar with regret though, and wishing things are different…I guess I have old habits I need to break."

"Tell me about it. Half the stuff they chatter on about makes my head hurt," I'dre admits with a long suffering sigh. It's not that he isn't smart (far from it), it's just that he lacks patience. If he doesn't immediately grasp something, he'll toss it aside and forge ahead ? or at least that's how he used to be. For a moment, Xanthee's words make him bristle and tense and he goes to say something, only to stop himself in time and swallow whatever barbed, heated words he was going to throw at her. Instead, he just gives her a tense and thin smile but it's a smile. "Thanks." It's muttered awkwardly but no less genuine. He gives her a look of sympathetic understanding to her current state. "Habits are hard to break. I'm a walking example." He attempts to ease the sombre mood with dark humour. "Try visiting him this afternoon. You'd be surprised how much that bolsters them, even if it's just a quick 'hello, how are you'. Maybe it'll help." Whether he means N'rup or herself, he doesn't elaborate. Instead, his gaze has turned towards the entrances leading to the infirmary. "You've got someone, right?" The question comes fast out of nowhere, breaking that lapse of silence. Blinking, he looks down at her again. "A partner, I mean."

Seeing him bristle makes Xanthee raise an eyebrow in his direction, but her smile returns when he seems to catch himself and she accepts his awkward thanks with a nod of her head, saying no more about it. She doesn't want to make him uncomfortable after all. His dark humor is met with an appreciateive giggle and a bob of her head. "Well here's to hoping I can make as much progress breaking them as you have," she might be referencing the fact that he was able to bite back his words just a moment ago, but it's with sincere admiration that she says so. "I will come back then for sure, I'm sure it will help, in some ways at least." As he turns away, Xan looks about to do the same, and head back to Liowyth, but his last has her turning her head in surprise. "Yes, I do…and soon a weyrmate too. We're having an party to make it official when the weather gets nicer. I wasn't coming on to you, if that's what you were worried about…" she trails off with a bit of a playful sparkle in her eye.

"You seem determined enough," I'dre points out gruffly and with a slight shrug of his shoulders, with makes it difficult to parse whether that was just a compliment or him teasing her in the same breath. As she begins to walk away, he won't move but follows her with his gaze. He starts a bit from her retort and then he laughs dryly. "Oh, I wasn't worried! You're not my type, anyhow." Blunt truth again, but gentled by the grin he offers before his mood sobers in the next breath. Again, his gaze shifts but this time it's mildly uncomfortable but he noticeably looks back to where that older rider had left before. "How do you stand it?" he asks, though is voice is lowered and hesitant as he faces her again. "The worry and anxiety. Knowing you could… leave them." He speaks of their mortality as riders. "Or vice versa, depending. You seem to care a lot about everyone that even a wingmate being injured affects you. How does it not bother you, about your weyrmate to-be?" It comes off rough but he doesn't mean to; that much is evident. I'dre is rough about a lot in life, it's no surprise that a delicate subject is just thrown out there as though it's not something deeply personal. He wouldn't know, after all!

Xanthee may look a little offended when I'dre mentions she's not his type, her ego pricked slightly at that but it doesn't affect the contemplative smile she throws in his direction afterwards, appreciative of his bluntness. His next question though, that one needs a moment as she blink in his direction and tries to formulate her thoughts. "Well…That's a heavy question. I guess for me, I've grown up knowing that loss all too well because of my mom, but I've also cherished every memory I still have of her and her brown, Iyrith. Yes, I could die tomorrow, and so could he, Mining isn't always the safest craft either. But I'll die knowing I'm leaving people behind that I've touched with my life and care, who will cherish those memories just as much as I do of mom. The future will always bring bad things, it's so much better to face them with someone than alone." Her cheeks color a bit as she pauses for a breath. "I do care a lot about people, it's my way of feeling connected with the world around me. But that's just who I am, how I work."

I'dre's expression twists slightly when Xanthee brings up loosing her mother and the memories she has of the brownrider and even Iyrith. Something akin to understanding is visible, but there's stormier emotions there too; anger mostly and a fair share of hurt. No one knows of his father, because he refused to talk of him and how profoundly the dragonless man affected him. That is too much for him to admit in one day, to anyone. Instead he seems to shake himself out of that funk and considers her words. Whether they helped or not, he doesn't say but the small, thin smile he gives might be indicative enough. "Thanks, Xanthee. Didn't mean to lay it on thick but…" He appreciates the time and honesty. Tilting his head towards the mess still left to clean, he gives a crooked smirk. "I've got to get back to it. Clear skies and good luck!" Turning back to his task, he never clarified WHY he asked her in the first place either and she'll just have to go about the day wondering if it struck her as odd. Mhiruth gives a low warble to the greenrider, though his gentle farewell extends to Liowyth too.

Carefully studying I'dre's reactions to her words, Xanthee notes the collection of emotions that crosses the bluerider's face. When he thanks her, she bobs her head in understanding and offers him another smile. "Oh please, lay it on thick if you need to. I don't mind and…" she leans in and shields her mouth with her hand as if imparting a great secret to him, "I'm a great listener as well. So please, don't hesitate. We could go for a drink even sometime." The offer is made just as he moves on with his work, and the greenrider watches him puzzled for a moment longer before she shrugs and moves off to Liowyth and the rest of her duties for the day.

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