a morbid lullaby [PULP]

[Mystery]

x x

C'lior of Serlanth

It wasn't often that C'lior dragged himself out of his work to eat and drink with the other weyrfolk. He'd always eaten with his son before, and now, the last thing the brown rider wanted was company. Occassionally, though, Serlanth put his claw down on the matter. He didn't care if many cups of wine were drunk to get him through this socialisation, that didn't matter, he would make him talk to others. Not that it ever worked, C'lior had found himself a corner to sit in with his wine and his lists of candidate notes. Some of them were little bloody braggarts. How he was supposed to turn that ragtag lot into a bunch of prime fighting forces, he had no idea, but somehow he'd always thought he'd manage.

Some of them though... Shards, he almost hoped they didn't Impress.

Pern was doomed if they did.

C'lior paused as he realised he'd drifted off into his thoughts again, and there, still shining in wet ink was the name. Ealinor. As though he was still a candidate. Would it never cease to haunt him? His mistakes? His inability to protect the two people that had meant the world to him? Shard it all, by the first egg. How many bottles of wine would he have to down to erase that face from his mind? Just for a little while.
It would not be so bad if you made friends, if you talked to others, the loneliness would not be so sharp.

[/i] Serlanth offered helpfully, crooning softly in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. OF course, the ever steady, ever reliable Serlanth.

If he lost him... If he'd been chasing that gold... It could easily have been Serlanth that had been lost and if that happened.
I am not gone, I am here.[/i] Was the instant reassurance, and C'lior snorted as he scrubbed the wet ink off the hide and jotted down a new name. Maybe Serlanth was right and he needed to get out a little more...

... Nah.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[pulp]

Well, things have become very interesting as of late. The emotional aftermath of the queen's flight was a headache--and shards, Voskath hadn't even participated in that. A'kel had time to try and begin processing it all, and shards, the more he weighed on what was said between D'ale and him the more questions it brought up. All in all it was incredibly frustrating, and A'kel needed to get into some sort of routine so he didn't just sink down and wallow in it all. Being social would remedy that.

Being social would keep him from holing up on his own, and when in the company of others the garnetrider managed to keep all of his personal turmoil down. I do not need you to weigh on my mind. The deep voice of the garnet rumbled in A'kel's mind, and the rider huffed and changed his route. The man was planning on just returning to his weyr, but clearly Voskath was in a mood, and to keep that from developing into anything further, into anything worse, well, A'kel learned to listen when Vos gave out warnings like that. The man, instead, veered his concentration towards the dining hall, perhaps to find a nice corner to brood in until he got out of his funk.

This was where he found C'lior.

A'kel made a small detour to get a mug of klah before sitting across from C'lior in his dark little corner. "C'lior." He nodded to the man, smiling at him and relaxing into his seat. "Hope you don't mind, I need a bit of company." A'kel shrugged slightly, clearly a little uncomfortable with the topic but he didn't offer any further explanation. He leaned over a bit, offering the man an amiable smile after glancing over his apparent paperwork. "Lists? Shells, never a moment of rest, huh? How are the candidates in this batch?"

[Mystery]

It was the sound of his name that had C'lior looking up from the lists, focusing on the face above him and immediately nodding to the seat across from him. Why A'kel would seek him for company, the brown rider had no idea, but he was hardly going to refuse him. As A'kel smiled, C'lior managed the ghost of one back, but it was really only a twitch of the lips before it faded away again. Oh the brown rider knew others had problems, but he wasn't going to act all happy and bright just because someone else was frowning.
"People have always offered me company when I needed it, I wouldn't be a good rider if I refused you." He said finally, shrugging one broad shoulder and eying the garnet rider seriously.
"Something you want to talk about?"

If it wasn't, C'lior wasn't going to push it. He had no place prying into other people's affairs anyway. If they wanted his advice, he'd give it, but C'lior had never been known for giving the most stellar advice. Shards if he'd known it was a matter of the heart that had A'kel twisted up, he would have been gone and quiet before the first word. C'lior didn't do feelings anymore. Not relationships, not happiness, not anything, thank you very much.

"If they make it through the hatching, I'll be shocked." He growled, running a hand through his hair and over the stubble on his face as he allowed himself a minute to grouse about his terribe, horrible students, who were awful and ugh. Children.
"I don't remember daring to back chat my candidate master, maybe I should ban the next back talker from standing. That'd teach them I was serious. They're rotten, arrogant, full of themselves, disrespectful. One girl assured she's a queen rider, and several rank seekers." He paused, scratching at his chin,
"A couple of good kids that actualy thought beyond the hide."

[pulp]

Clearly C'lior wasn't in a good mood, but he had a feeling the brownrider hardly was ever in a good mood since the issue with his son happened. A'kel seemed content with the begrudging acceptance of company, but oh when that question was voiced the garnetrider shook his head. "Nope. Nothing I want to talk about at all. Nothing I want to think about." No, he'd rather busy himself with some other sort of conversation rather than allowing those twisting, nagging thoughts to snatch all his attention away. "Just need a bit to keep my mind busy." And, shards, it looks like C'lior could use a bit of a distraction too.

"That bad, huh?" There, see, talking about the possible misfortunes of candidates could always lighten the mood or whatever inner turmoil someone could be experiencing. "Well I can safely say I was never a candidate, but shards, you don't talk back to craftmasters, what would make it seem okay for the little brats to pipe back when you give an order?" Ah, but then again, A'kel was making an assumption. "Of course that would mean they would have to know a little sharding bit about that system. How many of them are crafters?" A'kel had never been among the ranks of candidates, and his Impression had been a fluke, a very bloody, red fluke.

It was no mistake, do not go about thinking that I made any sort of error.

"There's always going to be the rank seekers, people who think glory is dependent on the color of a dragon's hide." Ahhh, A'kel was dipping briefly back into his very steadfast beliefs, beliefs that were in place before his garnet decided to claim him as his own. "A few did? Hopefully more than just the general 'oh I'd be happy with anything' spiel some use to try and seem humble and accepting only to keep their real thoughts on things choked down." A'kel snorted, shaking his head and stretching back a bit. "Nothing gets people like behaving like scaring them, you could always shock the little cretins into behaving."

[Mystery]

x x

C'lior of Serlanth

Oh C'lior in a good mood? Nope that never happened, ever. Everrrr. it just didn't happen okay. Alyssa and Ealinor had been the light in his life, they had been everything, one after the other, and now all that was gone. Surely no one could expect him to be walking on sunshine all the time? Nope? Good, because it wasn't ever going to happen. He gave a soft grunt at the denial of talking, giving the manly nod of acceptance. Course he didn't want to talk about it. Men totally didn't talk about their issues, not like women.
"Well. I'm... available I guess, if you need advice or something." That was about as manly as an offer to listen could get, C'lior feeling decidedly awkward about this whole socialising thing. Shards had it really been so long since he'd actually done something with people. Actually had a conversation.

Shards, no wonder hte candidates didn't listen to him ever. Ever.

Another grunt answered A'kel's question of sorts, running his hand over his face with a short nod and perhaps the ghost of a grin. It had been turns since he'd complained with another rider... Or gossiped at all for that matter, but with them both needing a distraction, now might be a good time to get going on that whole gossip thing.
"I'm not sure, I don't think I ever gave off the vibe of being the playful sort of candidate master. One that might be okay with that kind of backchatting." He shrugged lightly, as though it didn't really matter to him, butreally? Shards it annoyed him.
"A fair few of them. Some are even journeyman. How the shards they got that far without getting kicked out of their crafts, I don't even know." Not all of them were crafters, understandably, there were only so many crafts and not everyone fit into those niche's.

"Hm. I'll give them points for being honest that it's what they want. And ridin' a bronze or gold does tend to give people a hand that they don't deserve. But shards, these kids, A'kel, they don't know what it is to have rank and power." Or how much of a burden it was and how much it put on one's shoulders. He hoped some of them did impress natural rankers, just so they could learn exactly what it was like up at the top. Their wasn't so much crap to shoulder, but suddenly all the crap from the lower levels was dragging one down.
"Oh there were a fair few of them too. One wants a green so he can get laid, one wants a brown because his cousin rode one. But two of 'em. Bahari and Malta, i think it was, wanted intelligence. Real cunning and stuff. I have hope." He paused then,a nd shockingly, a grin split his features.
"Not much. But a little."[/blockquote][/blockquote]