Who Dakalis, K'zre
What K'zre asks Dakalis for a little help.
When Spring - Month 4 of Turn 2725
Where Guard Training Field, Fort Weyr

 

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Fort Weyr - Guard Training Field
Separated from the guard area by a pocket of caldera, this field is enclosed and devoted to those looking to train undisturbed by regular traffic. The ground here is barren and kept meticulously cleared of any debris or potential hazards — barring the natural occurrence of mud from heavy rainfall. A noteboard is tacked up on the rock wall nearest the entrance to the ground, where notices are placed if the grounds happen to be ‘reserved’ for specialty sessions. Utility sheds rest well out of the way, no doubt housing more than enough props and other equipment for all purposes.


K'zre is not a normal visitor to the Domain of the Guards (though perhaps the guards are normal visitors to the Domain of the Healer?). That is to say, he does not often frequent the guard's training field, or really… anywhere within the vicinity of the guard barracks. It's not an intentional decision, but simply a product of having no real business in the area, seeing that he is neither a guard nor a Search and Rescue rider that might require use of the area. But now, however, he is here. And not only is he here, but he's looking particularly… certain about his presence here. Followed by a creeping green dragon who is about as inconspicuous as a giant, winged creature can be (that is to say… not at all), there's a pause at the edge of where bowl-becomes-field and a murmured, "Just say here, keep an eye out. And do not tell Nymionth!" Yeah. That will go over great. But with a snort and a little wiggle, Yasminath thumps her butt down and dutifully turns her head to face outward while K'zre continues inward toward his doom destiny. Or, you know… guards.

Dragonriders in the training field aren't uncommon, but Dakalis is still getting used to being around them in the capacity that they interact with the guards here at Fort. He'd probably prefer to avoid them, and all the rules interacting with them entail, but maybe that's why some jerk who outranks him is pointing him in K'zre's direction. Dakalis frowns, says something to the sparring recruits he was overseeing, then turns to head in the greenrider's direction. "You lost?" is not the most friendly of greetings, but at least the question sounds sincere?

K'zre is not the sort to get sarcasm. So whether the question is sincere or not, that is exactly how he will take it. Even if he frowns, seemingly perplexed that it was asked at all. "Lost?" Frown. "No." Of course, now K'zre is questioning himself, looking slightly concerned that perhaps he is lost, and so will ask, "This is the guard training area, right?" with another flash of dark eyes around the area. Probably not winning him any points here. But he carries on with, "I came to train," that might also not win him many points in the 'intelligent' division, but perhaps explains his reason for being here. A squint at Dakalis (the sort that might weigh and measure but isn't particularly judgmental) and he wonders, "You're a guard, right?" It is, sadly, an entirely earnest question.

Judging by the way Dakalis is sizing K'zre up, then glancing over at the dragon doing her own impression of guard duty, it's likely that the guard's expectations of the other man are not getting any higher. In turn, he seems comfortable enough with being weighed and measured in return. Accepting judgement, even if that's not what K'zre is doing, is basically part of his training, too. "Nobody's stopping you," says the large man with a sweep of a hand toward the entirety of the training field. There's plenty of opportunity to choose from. "Third Lieutenant Dakalis, sir," he introduces himself to confirm that he is, indeed, a guard.

The curious little wrinkles between K'zre's brows is liable to develop into a permanent feature if he keeps up with all the frowning. For a moment he looks about ready to say something. At least, the breath is taken, and the look of expectation is there, but no words actually come out before he's back to frowning once again. The sweep of Dakalis's arm nets another sweep of K'zre's gaze, sliding through the area before settling once more on the guard before him. And while the want to say something is still there, it isn't until the introduction that K'zre manages to actually speak again. "K'zre." A beat. Two. "Just K'zre." Maybe not just K'zre. But perhaps it is in answer to that 'sir' rather than simplifying his position within the Weyr. And a breath later he adds, "And Yasminath," with a tip of his head toward his guardian green. A little shift of his weight, a nervous habit rather than anything else, and he adds, "I came to spar with someone," as though that might clarify… anything. "Someone who won't go easy on me." Also, probably not explaining much. "Do you spar?" Clearly, K'zre does not know how this whole 'guard training thing' works.

"K'zre," Dakalis repeats the name out of habit, but doesn't look particularly delighted to have a name that he'll need to at least attempt to remember. Another glance is afforded the green, but he doesn't repeat her name the same way, only offers a terse nod as his blue eyes refocus on her rider. "Of course I do." There's a pause before the guard gives the greenrider another quick once over, arching a brow, "This isn't some… personal thing, is it?" So diplomatic. Do you like getting beaten up for fun, K'zre? Because that's what Dakalis is apparently assuming is the case now.

Yasminath is doing her Very Best Guard Impression. So far, it just looks a lot like laying down and peering into the beyond. Maybe a bit of huffing and sneaking peeks back at K'zre-and-Co because this is boring and not as much fun as she was led to believe it would be. And K'zre? Well. He's just frowning. All of the frowning. But at least it's not the angry sort of frowning. Just the 'thinking' sort of frowning. "Personal thing?" Unfortunately, that tactful attempt to discern the nature of K'zre's motivations flies right over his head. He's just going to frown all the more as he considers it for a moment and then decides, "I don't understand what you mean," with the tone of voice that suggests he doesn't expect Dakalis to explain. "I'm out of practice and I mean to improve." Perhaps that answers the question a bit better. "I can't improve if the person I practice with is pulling their punches."

Rather than explaining what he means to the literal greenrider, Dakalis simply moves past the question as K'zre explains why he's here in a way that answers it anyway. He could probably ask more questions here, but it seems he's decided against that route. Instead he'll focus on the apparent task at hand. "How out of practice are you? Some of our recruits might be a good match for you. I'm sure there are plenty of them who'd enjoy the opportunity to punch a dragonrider." He could be speaking for himself, too, but it's likely he assumes the leaner, smaller greenrider doesn't want to spar with him over other available options.

Dakalis may be wrong on that. The look K'zre gives for the idea of sparring with recruits is just short of insulted. There might even be a dismissive snort involved, though he won't go so far as to roll his eyes. "Not that out of practice." At least, K'zre is pretty sure he's not that out of practice, even if there's a whole lot of frowning going on. And then, well… "Is that a thing guards like to do? Punch dragonriders? Why— Never mind." He doesn't wanna know. "If you don't want to do it, I understand." And he would. There's no sarcasm in that, even if it comes with a squint of his eyes and another little once-over to size up the Third Lieutenant. "But if you would point me to someone who would…" Because he's a man on a mission durn it. One with a limited time-frame if the quick glance back to Yasminath is read correctly. SUSPICIOUS!

The indignance, however mild, earns a brief smile from the guard. He gets as far as a shrug before K'zre is never minding his own question, and Dakalis doesn't follow through with an answer to that. "I'll spar with you." A lack of want, evidently, was not part of why he was trying to pawn the greenrider off on someone else. Self-preservation, more likely. "So long as she's not going to get upset when you get hurt," he says with a nod toward the green. Because Dakalis is nothing if not arrogant about being good at his job. It probably doesn't help his ego that he is good at his job. "There's padding if you need it." He waits a moment before turning to lead the way.

"She won't." LISTEN. Yasminath is definitely not the dragon that Dakalis should be worried about. In fact, it's probably not a dragon that Dakalis should be worried about. But Kez is just gonna conveniently forget to mention his weyrmate is the Weyrsecond and may not take kindly to someone punching his 'mate in the face. Must have slipped his mind… *cough-cough-cough*. So there's a firm "She understands this is training," with a pointed look toward the green who… may or may not be watching them now, instead of the bowl like she's supposed to. A quick shake of the head and a scrunch of his nose will decline the offer of padding (because… deathwish, maybe?) before he's following Dakalis with a look of mild relief that someone actually too his offer to spar seriously. And if there's a quick little squint toward the sky… well. That bronze circling overhead is probably nothing to worry about. It's a Weyr after all.

Lucky for Dakalis, he doesn't know K'zre from Adam, or have any idea who might get upset about the greenrider getting a little roughed up. For all the guard knows, he's about to be humiliated in front of his peers by the smaller man. That's not what he's expecting, granted, but stranger things have happened. When he gets to where they're going, an area of slightly less hard ground, he turns to face the greenrider again, stretching an arm across his chest, then the other. "Is there anything I should know? Maybe what you're trying to improve on?" He takes a defensive stance, assuming K'zre isn't going to be wanting to deal with any of the practice weapons right out of the gate.

Another breath. Another squint at the sky. But a moment more and K'zre is shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it somewhere safe. Presuming there's somewhere safe to toss it. "Blocking and redirection," he answers quick enough, for the question of focus. "I don't like being hit in the face." And really… who does? "But that seems to be where people aim." At least drunk people. Always going for the jaw or the nose. Another slant of his gaze toward the sky, then a look over his shoulder to the huddled form of Yasminath, and he turns back to eye Dakalis. But if there is hesitation, it vanishes; the healer's expression falling into something calculated and alert, his weight shifted into a similar stance because defense is something he's far more familiar with than being on the attack. "You come at me," he decides. "And I'll try to dodge or counter." Try. Probably fail. But hey, that's the lesson here, right? A final flick of his gaze toward the sky before it settles firmly on the guard. "We might have to hurry this up a bit." That can't be good, right?

Dakalis isn't completely oblivious to the fact that K'zre's attention is split between here and elsewhere. He might assume this is a dragonrider trait, but he glances skywards, too, before his attention settles on the greenrider before him. "You aren't going to learn anything in a few minutes," the guard points out. But that's also when he rushes the greenrider, because if he wants to hurry, Dakalis isn't going to bother trying to change his mind. He's not good at what he doesn't because he doesn't like doing it, after all. It's a measured rush, though, gauging just how out of practice K'zre is in his own way. Whether the greenrider manages to stay on his feet or gets tackled by a very large guard is kind of up to him, though. Is that not what he meant?!

K'zre is definitely going down. His Achilles heel in this situation is not being out of practice, but rather splitting his attention. And the best part is he knows better. Which is probably why when he's tackled, the slew of colorful swears that come out of him (when he has breath again) are aimed at himself rather than Dakalis. There are definitely some choice words that might make a sailor blush. While there was a move to block, it's not enough to stop him from going down and going down hard, and is less than quick about the getting back up again. Because ow. The ground is hard. But the "Oh… fuck…" is possibly not really meant for Dakalis as it is the circling bronze in the sky, dark eyes tracking it's movement before he flashes a look at the Guard. "I'm sorry." HE is sorry? "But it's fine." Probably not getting any better. "But maybe… Look. Have you ever been a candidate? Do you want to be? You probably should be. It would… I mean. You could… think about it." All said with a bit of a wheeze because breathing is hard when tackled and Kez is still trying to get his back.

Dakalis rolls away and is back on his feet about as quickly as a man of his size can manage. If K'zre cared about the guard's opinion of him, the colorful swearing might kick it up a couple of notches. Out of everything that the greenrider could have possible said to him after that, though, that is not what he was expecting. It's Dakalis' turn to be distracted. "What?" But it's not that he didn't hear him, just that his brain is having trouble parsing the questions at all. "No. I've never— What do you mean I probably should be?" Why does it sound like Dakalis assumes that's some sort of threat when he says it back to K'zre?

In contrast, K'zre is a bit slower about picking himself up, though eventually he makes it to his feet. He even manages to keep from wincing too much, though there's a hand on his diaphragm that still says 'ow, that stung' and a scrunched-up look that says he'll need a bit more time to walk it off. The shake of his head is either meant to clear it, or to answer Dakalis's returned question over that simple word should. "Not… never mind." Which might be his default when he doesn't know how to explain. "Never mind. It's… do you want to be?" That, at least, is coupled with a squint toward Dakalis and not the sky because the guard is the one K'zre ought to be focused on right now. "It's… well. It's an honest question. Yasminath agrees." And she's definitely watching them now, big eyes whirling in happy colors despite her rider getting tossed to the floor. "Do you accept?"

Fortunately the greenrider is safe from having to defend himself while one can almost see the wheels turning in Dakalis' thick head as he considers his options. Never mind the intense blue stare fixed on the greenrider. Right up until the green is mentioned by name and he chances taking his eyes off of her rider to look at her. Finally his answer comes in a way that doesn't suggest much thought was given, despite whatever evidence to the contrary, "Why the fuck not, I guess." He must have reasons, because he still doesn't look convinced it's the right answer, but the important thing is that he apparently does accept. "You could've just said you wanted to stop," he points out, like this might all be some ruse for K'zre to get out of what he said he wanted.

Dakalis may not look convinced, but K'zre does! There's a look of almost relief about the greenrider when the knot is accepted, and a quick toss of a glance to Yasminath for REASONS. "Oh. Good. Great. Good. Thank you." A deep breath. A mild wince. "I… I'll tell the headwoman you're coming," he supplies. "And… well. You can take a day or two to… to do whatever you need to do. Then, you'll need to move into the barracks and… well. There are chores and things and… Oh. They'll go over the rules." Because apparently K'zre is not gonna. It's the subtle accusation that K'zre is searching him in lieu of stopping that has the greenrider looking insulted again. "What? But I didn't!" Want to stop. "Well, we have to now," he admits. "But that's not why—" He's going to turn pink if he keeps this up, and instead he just lets out a frustrated breath and slides a glower toward the sky. "It's fine," is said to absolutely no one before, with gritted teeth, he turns back to Dakalis. "Do you have any questions?"

Since the fun is apparently over, Dakalis is slowly relaxing, stepping toward the greenrider. "I think I can manage well enough," as far as questions go, anyway. "You good?" he asks, glancing up at the sky that had been so distracting to the other man, then back at K'zre. "I can escort you to the infirmary, if you need a hand." Even though he barely tackled him.

"No… I… no. I can find my own way." And it's not the Infirmary that he's going to, regardless. A grimace comes, but this time it's not from pain, before K'zre is nodding at… probably nothing again. "I have to go he's… well. I have to go." But before he does, there's a stubborn little jut of his chin and a firm, "But I still want to spar later." Because getting tackled totally doesn't count and Kez means to prove himself. Later.


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