Who Dakalis and Tiridyn
What Dakalis visits Tiridyn after moving into the candidate barracks. They talk about reasons to stand and other things.
When Spring, 2725
Where Fort Weyr, Tiridyn's Room

 

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Disclaimer: Adult language.


Fort Weyr - Tiridyn's Room
Quite small, this room is just what one might expect for the average, weyrfolk bachelor… if that bachelor spent his life organizing the stores. Logically appointed but lived in, this space holds a bed comfortable for one, but not for two unless personal space isn't a concern (even then…). The space has been used to the best advantage, though it's still small enough to be called, kindly, quaint. The natural dark stone of the walls is broken up only by the tasteful additions of art in various mediums. There's a writing desk and dresser across from the bed, and a single-seater wooden bench with mirror backing and hooks at the top as a dropzone by the door. At the far end of the room is an armoire set to the left of center, while a long tapestry of a blue dragon hangs to the right, brushing the floor with its fringe.

This might all be quite standard, but the observant eye would note that everything in here, from the sheets to the furniture, is decidedly a little above Tiridyn's assumed paygrade. Even the electric lights that are recessed into tracks in the wall, casting a more natural light than the green of glow baskets which are also apparent on nightstand at the head of the bed and on the desk, is a perk beyond the average Weyr singleton.


Dakalis spent his afternoon moving his things from his quarters into the candidate barracks, and making sure his things that probably shouldn't be in the barracks are safely secured elsewhere. It's early evening when he's at Tiridyn's door and actually knocks and waits for the clerk to let him in this time. This probably won't keep him from having another firelizard dumped on him, granted, but he seems to be growing fond enough of the first one that he's holding the little sleepy bastard in the crook of his arm when the clerk answers the door.

"It's open," is the call of Tiri's voice through the door. This… it may prove, is not one of his wisest decisions, really. First, a door unlocked in early evening when people are about, second that he's sitting at his desk, head bent over a ledger with stacks of marks in front of a lockbox. If nothing else, this communicates just how very relatively safe Tiridyn's life has been. Not that he hasn't gotten taken for a fool, but… clearly safe enough to count a not insignificant (if not a true fortune) amount of liquid asset on the desk.

He glances up and over when the door opens, at least, but seeing the familiar face only prompts a smile, "Hang on," is asked as the young man turns back to trying to complete whatever mental acrobatics are underway with his book settling. It really is only just another moment or two before he's setting his writing implement aside and moving clever hands to start putting the marks back where they're evidently kept. "I'm just finishing up." There's really only the bed to sit on, and maybe that's why he asks, "Want to go for a walk?" That's why Dax came, right? With his sleepy friend? To hang out?

He comes in, closes the door behind him, and wanders closer to what Tiridyn is doing while he finishes it up. He'll even reach for a couple marks to take a closer look at, but he won't keep the clerk from taking them back before putting them all away. "A walk? Not particularly," admits Dakalis. He might even glance at the bed there for a moment, before allowing, "I could eat." So they can walk to somewhere with food, anyway, if they really need to.

"Yeah, let's. I haven't gotten dinner yet." Not that they have to go get dinner, but at least as far as the lower caverns to pick up some of the snacks there. He might need energy, after all, for reasons. It's a simple matter for Tiridyn to get the lockbox closed up and locked, for him to pluck it up and go vanish behind his tapestry before returning moments later through the same hidden arch to head for the door. "Did you want to leave— did you name him Tuck after all? Did you want to leave him to nap on the bed or bring him along?" The food might wake him, after all.

Dakalis has to consider what he wants to do with the firelizard for a few moments longer than he probably should need. He decides to settle the bronze on the bed. "Blade," he informs Tiridyn of its name. "You didn't like Tuck. And I like blades just fine," he explains as he heads for the door to accompany the clerk on their hunt for something to eat.

The smile that is lifted toward Dakalis as Tiridyn pulls the door closed behind them and locks it is fond. "Tuck was alright, just… you know." What? He doesn't go on, but he does blush, subtly. He clears his throat as he tucks his key away and renews his smile for Dakalis. "Blade is good. Better." Than fuck with a T. "I heard you were searched." There's an inquiring tilt of the younger man's head as he falls into step with the much taller guard. He doesn't reach to take his hand or anything so overt, but he does move so that he's close as he walks, enough that their arms might occasionally brush. "What happened?" With the searching, he means, and for whatever it's worth, he sounds genuinely interested as they start in the direction of the caverns.

"I was." It's not like Dakalis has been trying to hide that fact or anything. He just hasn't brought it up. Those are different things. And where he probably would object to something as sentimental as holding hands, he doesn't seem to mind Tiridyn's proximity. "Some greenrider came, looking for someone to spar with. But as soon as I actually agreed, he asked me to stand and then ran away." That's obviously exactly how it happened. Or at least that's how Dax remembers it happening. "Why aren't you standing?"

There's nothing but mild curiosity in Tiridyn's expression as he listens to Dakalis' recounting. It's very thorough. At least it makes the clerk's lips quirk more into a smile to hear Dax's version. "Did you get the name? Was it the dragon asking or just the rider?" Maybe he missed something in the gratuitous detail of the guard's story and that's why he still has questions, or maybe he just likes hearing Dakalis talk. "No dragon has asked me. If I wanted a knot just from the administration, I could ask, but that's not the same." Apparently. He looks to the guard, distracting or simply interested to delve a little deeper, he ventures, "Why did you accept?"

A name? Dakalis says, "Uh. I want to say Crazy. But that's not it." You think, Dax? He thinks for a handful of moments, then notes, "I think he mentioned the dragon agreeing, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. Why does it matter what a dragon thinks? If you want to do it, you should do it." It's clearly a motto that Dakalis lives by, for better or worse. "I knew Emiel had accepted, I guess. Seemed like the fashionable thing to do." Well now he's just being kind of a dick.

"Well, sure." Tiridyn can go along with that philosophy to a point. "If that was the only thing I was interested in, I would. I thought about it a lot when I was younger, but I've been eligible for about eight turns now and…" There's a story here, but he flashes a look toward Dakalis and apparently elects to skip to the point. "It happens that people who aren't searched by a dragon impress, of course, but you're trading a lot of time in your career for it. It makes sense for you, you're almost too old," how does Tiri know? Don't mind that his eyes are looking ahead now and not at the guard, "But if I'd started standing when I was twelve, I'd have missed out on a lot of career advancement and still never have found a lifemate. I've been in the stands for almost all of them." He shrugs. "If I get closer to aging out, maybe I'll ask for a knot, but until then, I'll stand if a dragon wants me to. Even Yajdrith hasn't asked and he's known me all of those turns." There might be a brief flinch of something unpleasant there, but it's quickly covered by a smile. "Anyway, it's good that the greenrider's dragon agreed. I'll bet on you." Does that skip the entire topic of Emiel? Is Tiridyn blushing? These are questions that need not be answered now.

Dakalis only shoots Tiridyn a quick look for calling him old, at least from his perspective. And he'll just let all that dragon stuff stand, because he either doesn't care that much about the clerk's excuses, or he doesn't know if there's anything else to bother saying. "Don't get carried away. I don't know much about dragons, but I wouldn't count on one of them finding a suitable partner in a man like me." Dakalis does not have many insecurities, fewer that he'll even admit to, and who's to say Tiridyn will even pick up on this one. "You seem much more their speed, sunshine." The guard will even lift a hand to catch the back of Tiridyn's neck, pulling him closer for just a moment, squeezing, before releasing him again.

There's a smile for the way Dakalis touches him, a deepening of that blush as he looks up at the guard. "I think you're a good bet, Dakalis." It's not some bright reassurance, but an understated if very genuine belief simply being shared. "No one can say what dragons want until it happens, and even then, they say the dragons can't always explain why they picked one person over another. "I like my life. My professional life." He qualifies it because his eyes are skating across the stone floor as they walk, "If a dragon happens, then it does. If not… I'm still doing what I love." What is that exactly? Who can say. Not Dakalis, since he hasn't asked.

"You should get to know some of the dragons though. If you can. Maybe K'zre's." Yes, of course, Tiridyn would know the Weyrsecond's weyrmate's name is K'zre which has enough of the sounds of 'crazy' to make the connection. "That way if you do impress, you'll know more of what you're in for. Blade's a good example, but I hear it's not the same." He hears a lot of things, okay? If he picked up on Dakalis' insecurity, he's wise enough not to make it apparent. Then, without warning but still so casually, "Does it matter to you that Emiel accepted?" No reason. Probably just asking for a friend.

"K'zre," says Dakalis emphatically as though he's just remembered it himself. It's likely that he thinks he knows well enough what Tiridyn does for a living that he doesn't need to ask, because he's certainly not asking here. "I figure if I impress, it won't really matter if I know what I'm in for or not." And it won't, really. As for Emiel? "Not particularly. There's something about him that makes a man want to look out for him, I suppose." So very altruistic, this Dax. But he seems to assume that Tiridyn can understand the (feigned?) sentiment.

Tiridyn lapses into a thoughtful silence as Dax speaks. It starts after the flash of the smile of confirmation for the greenrider's name and then deepens as the guard goes on. "That's one approach," he murmurs, but a little distractedly. Fortunately, they're coming into the lower caverns and there's that nook with the food set out for those who don't want to go to the Living Cavern. It's a choice and for whatever reason the smaller man looks up the long distance to Dakalis' face to yield up the decision, "Here or the living cavern?" He can probably make do either way.

"I want a plate," says Dakalis, so living cavern it is, evidently. He'll lead the way, at least, to get them there, through the buffet, and into the seats at a small table that doesn't invite much opportunity for guests. Just in case anyone else gets it into their head to try being social. Tiridyn will have a hard enough time for a minute here. Food first, talk later.

Dax gets what Dax wants. This is probably not a surprise to anyone. Tiridyn moves along in his wake as they work through the necessary process to procure aforementioned plates and a place to consume the contents. Although brown eyes, look to Dakalis more than once in all of this, Tiri doesn't appear to be much of a mind to interrupt. When the initial need for silence in favor of chewing (for both of them) has more or less passed, the younger man speaks. "So, do you ever fight for marks?" Because that's not random at all? "Obviously not now, being a candidate and all, but- they do fights in the boxing ring in Shenanigan's sometimes. And maybe a few other places." If Tiridyn's eyes have wandered down to take in the guard's impressive shoulders while he talks business… well, they're topical?

This line of questioning is probably the last thing Dakalis expected Tiridyn to present him with, and his brow furrows over slightly narrowed blue eyes as he studies the other man. "I have. Not since I transferred here." But he has, and presumably that's the important part to Tiridyn? "Why?" is the most obvious question here, because it's doubtful this is something that Dakalis has ever considered the clerk having any interest in.

"Just seemed like the kind of thing you might enjoy." Tiridyn observes as his spoon scrapes his plate to get up the last of the sauce from one of the things he was eating. "That you might be good at it. It's a good way to make marks." But the clerk must expect that Dakalis knows this already because he doesn't go on. "If you're looking for places to do that here, after the hatching, I could probably get your name on the lists." He has connections, this small ray of sunshine who gets around even if he doesn't get around. He licks the spoon clean and then puts it on his plate to reach for his cup. "Do you have hobbies outside of guards stuff, or just guard stuff?" There isn't judgement there, just open, mild curiosity.

"Maybe," allows Dakalis after a pensive moment. "After the hatching." Food gone, he leans against an elbow on the table, watching a handful of apprentices moving past while he considers his answer. "Just guard stuff, I suppose. I put most of my time into it, one way or another." There's a pause where he's considering something, and then like he's just realizing it, "Almost feel like I have more time since I was searched. To just dick around, you know."

"Weyrlinghood is really demanding, but candidacy isn't so much," Tiridyn seems to understand, at least, what the guard is saying. "When you impress, you'll have less time. Right now, it's a lot about bonding with people because these are like… I don't know, sort of your partners in all this." Guards sometimes work in partners, right? "When shit get scary at three in the morning because your dragon is puking, it's the weyrlingmaster team and the other weyrlings that will be with you." His lips press together, perhaps realizing that he hasn't painted the most picturesque of scenarios for the guard.

"Anyway, I hope you're getting to know some of them. And you can always come to my room to kill some time if you want to get away. It must kind of suck to sleep in the barracks after having a room to yourself, especially since some of them," most of them, "are probably younger." He's pretty much done his food by this point and his empty glass gets tipped on its side on his plate. "Got time to walk back?"

Dakalis is sitting up straight again, away from the table, sighing at Tiridyn going into info mode. Like the ungrateful bastard he is. "It's hard to sleep," he admits. He's pushing himself back to his feet, then, and that must be his answer about having time to walk back since he's picking up his plate and only waiting a moment for Tiridyn before he's on his way.

If Tiridyn's cheeks heat with an embarrassed blush when Dakalis sighs, can the young man really be blamed? At least it makes for a quiet walk back.


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