pain and humiliation[tags Sym]

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya’s footsteps made an uneven scuffing sound on the infirmary floor. The sound of someone reluctantly limping in for medical attention they’d rather not have to get. Her body was held stiffly and hunched as if to favour hidden pains and her left arm hung limply at her side, the angle and puffiness singing out louder than words that at least one of the forearm bones was broken. Darya’s eyes focused on the floor, head bowed, avoiding eye contact with anyone who might question her.

Darya wrinkled her nose to keep from sneezing at the pervading scents of the infirmary, it didn’t matter what was actually open and out, the second Darya walked into the place she smelt numbweed and the mixture of cleaning solutions, herbs, and humans that always spelled illness to her. Just the thing to annoy her even more after the day she’d had thus far. At least her pets were still back in her weyr, no doubt sleeping happily with Azrath to watch over them.

She’d had days that kissed the runnerbeast’s bum before but thanks to those two little monsters today had really topped them all, and unless she missed her guess it was only a couple of hours past noon. She glared at the floor furiously; no way was she going to admit how she got these injuries. Well the bit where she took a header down the stairs, yes, the part where she did so because her salamandyr was chasing her firelizard, never. She’d known buying that egg was a mistake but she had a bit of a problem with games of chance, like not being able to stay out of them.

A quick look up and around, with a glare that dared anyone to comment on the shadowed patches of skin that would probably be showing splendid bruises quite soon, showed R’wign to be the only healer in the room. Perfect. Not only did she have a collection of scrapes and bruises, and a broken arm, and not only did these injuries originate from the most embarrassing situation ever, but also she had to ask R’wign, the man whom she’d attacked some days previously in a fit of flightlust induced rage, for treatment. Wonderful. Could today get worse?

‘R’wign.’ Darya spoke with a hint of an irritated growl, and quickly before she could change her mind and decide that maybe she could live with a broken arm for a while. ‘Are you busy?’ Only someone very close would notice that Darya was shaking slightly, and even then they’d probably put it down to pain.

[glamourie]

Chop. Chop. Chop. Slow day. Chop. R’wign frowned pointedly at the redwort in front of him that he was slicing through with precision. If he was half as gifted in fighting as he was at chopping, maybe he’d still have that eye…? Except he wasn’t; R’wign despised the idea of inflicting harm on another living being, even if it was in his own defense. Pitiful. He was pitiful. And to think - he was going to be a father. The very idea sent chills down his spine and it took all of his effort to keep from breaking down into a fit of the shakes from anxiety. He was frightened. No, terrified. All-consuming was the foreboding feeling that he most certainly did not welcome in the least. The more he thought on it, the more uncomfortable he became. The truth was, he wasn’t ready to be a father, but he couldn’t tell Meira that; it wouldn’t have been fair to her. It was doubtful she was any more ready to become a mother than he was. The knife slammed down on the redwort, slicing the root into two perfect halves, and R’wign tossed the blade onto the table top. The metal clanked down audibly and he brought one hand to his face to rub the bridge of his nose right between his eyes. Headache forming.

And someone was saying his name. Scrunching his nose, R’wign turned to look over his shoulder as his chorus of fire lizards broke out in startled chirps and peeps. The second he saw Darya, he responded. He absolutely leapt onto the table top behind him, clinging to the wall to put more space between himself and the woman. The very last time he saw her, she was trying desperately to take his ear off, and his response was natural instinct more than an attempt to offend. The entire process took under three seconds, and once he realized how ridiculous he was being (by noticing her injured arm), R’wign squirmed down and actually flushed pink over his cheeks. How humiliating. He mentally prodded his fire lizards (all of whom were perched around the infirmary) to calm themselves, nudged the feline at his feet out of the way (earning an indignant look as she climbed up onto the desk and stared at him) and then turned back to the blue rider.

“Uh. Hi.” Awkward. Very awkward. He glanced over his shoulder at the staring feline and reached out to pet under her chin, earning very loud purring for his efforts. R’wign’s other hand came up to adjust the eye patch over where his left eye used to be and he looked Darya over before gesturing to one of the cots. “Nice broken arm. How’d it happen?” See, he could be mature some times. He hadn’t asked if she was rabid, had he? Though, it wouldn’t have surprised him any. The woman honestly made him uncomfortable, but then, R’wign was the only journeyman on duty with Kalierre out of commission; it wasn’t as though he could turn away a patient just because they made him want to climb into a hole and never come out again. Tempting, but no. “Take a seat -- I’m not busy. Well, aside from making a fool out of myself, but that’s not time consuming…” Or unusual. He was good at that.

Twittering, Roxie flew over and landed on her human pet’s shoulder messily (translation: she slammed into the back of his shoulder and then squirmed up properly) before giving Darya an interested look. The green fire lizard flared her wings nervously and then scolded once. Once was enough: that one sound was loud enough to be earsplitting and R’wign winced before reaching away from his feline to snap the green’s mouth shut. She squirmed in agitation, eyes whirling, and gave Darya a warning look. She remembered this one as the one that tried to hurt Hers, she did, and she was not above biting her ear off if she so much as looked at R’wign wrong. Her human slave. Not that she liked women to begin with but this one was dangerous, she was, even if she had broken her wing like a dummy. Bad human. Bad.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya took her eyes off the floor again to give the firelizards she could see a look that suggested they’d been found adhering to the sole of her boot. She wasn’t feeling too fond of firelizards just now. R’wign’s reaction was a little more dramatic than she was expecting. She’d been hoping she could get away with a few smart remarks but she’d never entertained the idea that he’d leap on the table at the very sight of her. Honestly, you attack someone once, alright and possibly try and molest them as well (Darya had never been too sure if she’d actually tried it on with R’wign when Imp was after his gold flit), and you never heard the end of it.

At least he did come down, and before Darya had decided whether to make a sarcastic comment, make eyes at him equally sarcastically, or just leave and come back later. Well okay, not that last option, or at least not until after she’d raided the supplies.

Darya coloured up at the question, she had a feeling that she’d be blushing at the mere thought of how she’d ended up in this state for a very long time. ‘I went down a couple of flights of stairs. The unorthodox way.’ Darya snapped out an answer, still giving the floor a death glare. Healers were always so sharding nosy, they should be trained to be silent about their duties, and not have gold firelizards.

‘At least you have an option about making a fool of yourself.’ Darya growled, then silently cursed herself for speaking. It was just that certain subjects were weighing on her mind. Maybe it would help if she didn’t have an insane urge to apologise to R’wign for her earlier actions, which would only make both of them wish the ground would swallow them whole. Even more. She just plonked down firmly on the cot so shut herself up. Ow, maybe a little too firmly.

[glamourie]

Went down a flight of stairs, did she? R’wign could just imagine why. It took all of his effort not to snort his response, and the thought did amuse his brown dragon, who sat outside the infirmary rumbling to his heart’s content. Her gruff comment made him raise an eyebrow and he glanced over the bluerider casually. A choice. Well, she was making a fool out of herself again, in his opinion, by being so ornery. It was tempting to point that out to her, but R’wign decided to do something a little nastier. Not to be mean, but because he had very little self-control over his razor of a tongue. When opportunities presented themselves, he could scarcely keep from jumping on them and Darya may as well have painted a target on her back with her explanation… and the blushing that followed. Falling down some of the stairs in Selenitas wasn’t hard; a lot of people did it. But most didn’t turn beet red when explaining, they just huffed. She was a nice shade of scarlet; he could guess why she went down head first.

“I do hope he caught this one,” he said sweetly as he crouched down in front of Darya to check out her arm. Definitely broken, but the extent of the damage was unclear. He tilted his chin up to look at her with a more serious expression, obviously putting most of his joking tendencies aside… at least, for the moment; R’wign wasn’t serious, even when it came to treating patients, at least in how he spoke. He always took his actions seriously. R’wign was a jokester more to keep people from putting up walls than anything else. The bluerider was an exception. He liked his ears. He still had both of them. “This is probably going to sting, but I need you to try to move your wrist and fingers for me, to make sure there’s not any nerve damage. Can you do that please?”

He was definitely going to need to splint her arm, but hopefully there was no additional damage. She had quite a few bruises, so he would probably need to give her a shot of fellis for the pain and a bunch of tea for later dealing with it, but the broken arm was the only real wound worth considering. Though, while he had her there he ought to clean and bandage any of the scrapes. Somehow he had a feeling that the bluerider wouldn’t thank him for that though; she did not strike him as someone who would be happy at spending any special amount of time in the infirmary. Oh well. Not his problem whether she liked it or not. Besides, she’d tried to eat his ear. She had it coming.

“Do us a favor and stop giving Roxie that look, please” R’wign added as an after thought before shooing his flit from his shoulder. “Rox, shoo, stop upsetting the patient.” The green squawked indignantly and then flew off on her own, obviously annoyed. R’wign ignored her, then gestured to Darya’s hand. “So which fire lizard or salamandyr was it that your bronze was chasing this time? Don’t bother lying, you turned too funny a shade of red to have any hope of actually convincing me otherwise, and I’m not stupid besides. Lying will just make me inclined to tease you more.” It would, too, and he had plenty of ammunition, like reminding her that her salamandyr wanted to catch his gold flit and that she probably would’ve jumped him in a very public place, had he stayed still. That would’ve done nicely for teasing material.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya almost groaned at R’wign’s words, and the knowing look that went with them. She’d known the moment that last sentence was out of her mouth that she was digging her own grave. Still R’wign would probably have figured it out anyway, she realised, much to her dismay. If there was anyone in Selenitas Weyr likely to know just how badly Darya was affected by flightlust, or runlust as it may be, it was he. Also much to Darya’s dismay.

R’wign’s expression changed to serious, which was just as well because Darya couldn’t avoid eye contact by looking at the floor with the healer crouched in front of her, nor, once he tilted her chin to make her look at him, could she avoid his eyes any other way. Fortunately the next inquiry was about her arm; apparently he wasn’t all that interested in Imp’s exploits. Good. ‘I doubt you’ll be able to tell much from my fingers.’ Darya volunteered the information as she moved the hand around, as much to keep her mind off the pain as anything. ‘I lost quite a bit of movement in the left hand when it scarred up.’

By the first egg, was she that transparent? Darya sighed inwardly, of course she was, if she blushed any more blood would probably start leaking from her cheeks, if that was actually possible, Darya suspected not but stranger things had happened, especially around here. She quickly ran through her options, maybe R’wign had figured out that Imp had been chasing but he hadn’t worked out which female. ‘Firelizard.’ She corrected him to buy a little more thinking time. ‘That queen is the only salamandyr he’s ever chased, and I don’t think he was too happy about that.’ That at least was true, Imp usually ignored other males as much as he could during flights.

Darya had run out of thinking time without coming up with anything she could say to make the situation easier, and with the scattered mess her wits were right now R’wign could probably addle her into telling the truth anyway if she held out. ‘I’m sure you’ll be inclined to tease anyway.’ Darya looked resolutely off to her right. ‘He was chasing my green, he did catch her, and before you start that was exactly when I made my glorious stair dive. I wasn’t giving much thought to stopping so I suppose I’m lucky not to have a broken skull. I would have been fine if that fool drudge hadn’t opened the door. She must be new, and not likely to get old if she carries on doing things like that.’ Darya did her best to cover her embarrassment, which was now total mortification, by grousing about someone letting her out into the corridor. At least she’d been dressed.

[glamourie]

Darya’s words did not comfort him. In fact, they made R’wign more nervous. He turned his gaze back toward the blue rider skeptically. Part of him wondered whether or not she wasn’t just jerking his chain for the sake of it; he had, after all, cost her bronze salamandyr the Run with Brat… not that he thought she envied him Lennae’s bed space (or wrath). Maybe she was being honest. He had a tendency to mistrust some patients, and Darya struck him as the lying sort, but… considering everything, he was pretty sure she was in too much of a hurry to get away from him to try and lie just to prolong the procedure. So better safe than sorry. If she had movement trouble, it would be hard to tell if there was any nerve damage. Still, wouldn’t hurt to test before setting her arm in a splint. He’d have made up a cast, but that took longer and she looked downright jumpy - in a definite hurry to be rid of him. He hoped that a simple splint would do and held out one hand for her to take and squeeze. His eyebrows raised curiously.

“Squeeze my hand? You know what your own strength and mobility was. You can tell me if it’s any worse than before. Who was your healer, anyway?”

He needed to know who’s butt to tear into. There was a fine art to physical therapy so that scars didn’t tighten up and cost the person with them their mobility, particularly in the hands. Most healers were trained to keep on top of that sort of thing, but it was possible that he or Kali missed emphasizing the point when they were training the apprentices at the Weyr. A lot of the healers there were not formally trained -- he was pretty sure that the ones who were numbered him, Kali, and Jermayan. Maybe some of the apprentices, but he couldn’t recall any. Not Saeo, E’rro, Savitri or Meira, and S’lain was trained by the Weyr Dragonhealer prior to Kali; hardly the same thing as healer hall. Then again, if someone were to ask his loyalties, and where they lay, R’wign would always say healer hall. Dragonrider or not, healing was his passion, and always would be.

The explanation she offered actually made R’wign wince and he frowned sympathetically. “If it makes you feel any better, I woke up with Lennae. Did you know she bought me a feline? He’s roaming around here somewhere. He licks my eyelids when I’m asleep, if I’m not wearing the eye patch,” he explained, nodding in the direction of Monster. “It’s extremely inconvenient. I had to retaliate for that, you see… and I did. She kind of wants my head. I’m told she was making death threats at some other black-haired candidate; evidently rage blinds her.” He shrugged one shoulder reluctantly and looked at Darya for a moment before smiling. “At least she didn’t jump you in the closet. That’s happened to me before. Anyway, you didn’t miss much. Just Lennae tied up totally naked in the dining hall, hands behind her back, with ‘Free Rides’ written on her chest in paint…”

Yes, it was tempting to tease Darya. Very, very tempting. However, he didn’t want to let her know what had prompted the war between him and Lennae (namely, him running off and leaving Lennae to the blue rider’s mercy), so he settled for the most up to date information. He also didn’t want her fuming and not cooperating with him, so he wasn’t needling her much. He liked less-than-fussy patients. It made his job much, much easier. Patients in foul moods usually made it difficult for him to work and didn’t obey his instructions. Lessons learned from experience. “Do you prefer a splint or a cast, by the way?” he asked, meaning it; he could do either one but cast would take longer, as she doubtlessly knew.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya met a sceptical gaze with an annoyed one. What did he think she was, some whining little hypochondriac moron? She wanted to be here even less than R’wign wanted her here, she was fairly certain. If anything she’d be far more likely to understate as much as she could. Feeling quite incensed about the whole business Darya grabbed the offered hand and squeezed. Her grip was hardly bone crushing and last two fingers barely gripped at all. Darya nodded. ‘Seems about normal, and you were right, that stung like anything.’ She said thoughtfully, letting go hastily when she realised that she was still holding R’wign’s hand and probably really creeping him out.

‘You’re not to go chewing on anyone’s ass with this R’wign.’ Darya managed to look stern, probably reinforcing the fact that she was near old enough to be his mother with the expression and tone. ‘It’s my own fault.’ Darya didn’t think it prudent to mention the amount of times she’d dodged healers in the days after Benden Weyr’s retreat. To be totally honest she couldn’t stand the infirmary, which she wasn’t going to tell R’wign, and hated feeling she was wasting healer’s valuable time especially when so many had been in worse shape than her, including the Weyr’s two best trained healers. Oh irony. ‘I should have come back when it opened up again.’ Well she had confirmed her own stupidity there, but she hadn’t given the name of anyone she’d seen.

Darya snorted softly, she could guess that part, hadn’t Lennae actually removed Darya so she could get to R’wign? Well yes but once Darya had come to her senses, slunk off, and stopped Imp from savaging that brown salamandyr’s severed tail (she hoped they really did grow their tails back) she’d actually been quite glad. She didn’t really want to be known for that kind of thing anyway.

‘You did what?’ Darya was jerked out of her thoughts by R’wign’s word, which she’d almost tuned out for a moment there. ‘You did that because she bought you a feline, and it licks your eyelids? Remind me never to get anyone a pet if that’s what happens.’ Darya was totally bewildered as to why R’wign would want to take revenge for being given what was apparently a sweet natured, if very large, feline. ‘Whoa, wait she jumped you in a closet as well?’ Now Darya was utterly lost. Was she the only person in the whole Weyr not getting any action? Of course.

The sudden change of subject also totally blindsided Darya, in fact she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever lose the stunned expression she must be wearing. ‘Splint it. I want to be able to wash, swim, and possibly fall in the river.’ She managed to answer decisively. ‘And expound on the closet scenario. I really want to reverse the role of the embarrassed and the teaser here.’ Darya flashed a sudden grin that was far too cheerful for her.

[glamourie]

Her grip felt very weak against his hand, which made R’wign nervous; he wasn’t sure there was anything he could do to help it, but when she explained it was normal, he narrowed his eyes. Either a healer had completely botched their duties, or - more likely - yes, she’d tried to tough it out. Why oh why did people not come to the infirmary for the important things? Instead they’d come for stupid things like a simple headache, but when they were actually hurt - nope, let it heal wrong, lose mobility in the hand, who really needed something so trivial as that? The urge to scold her was almost overwhelming. R’wign was not, typically, a fussy healer. He didn’t usually ask a lot of questions, or delve for express detail. He asked just enough to find out what he needed to know to treat a patient. The personal details weren’t something he stressed a lot; he was a good enough healer that he could treat someone without it. By proxy, he didn’t spend that much time telling others off… but Darya was tempting him. Oh was she tempting him. Did she not realize at all what idiocy it was to treat herself for a severe hand wound…? Not a single healer in Selenitas would have refused her. Ridiculous. Ridiculous.

So busy being irritated was he that R’wign did not notice Darya’s hand lingering on his. Not that he would have cared if he had; he wasn’t adverse to physical contact… especially if it was in some way comforting. As it was, though, he was taking a conscious effort not to glare at Darya. And he wasn’t the only one. As Roxie departed his shoulder, her position was filled by a sparkling gold fire lizard (for her hide truly glittered) and Ellie flared her wings in agitation, though she didn’t make a peep. She didn’t need to. She was normally a very passive, even-tempered fire lizard. The whirl of her eyes gave away her mistrust of Darya. This one had tried to eat hers. She remembered.

“Yes. Yes you should have. If you had, you probably wouldn’t have lost mobility in that hand.”

He wasn’t going to beat around the bush. It was her fault that her hand didn’t work right. But at least she didn’t have any kind of nerve injuries. He’d been rather worried about that.

“You shouldn’t buy anyone a pet anyway,” R’wign added absently as he examined her arm. “I’m going to give you a shot of low-dose fellis to dull the pain, and then I’m going to move your arm to put the bone back into the correct position. Then I’ll put it into a splint and sling. You’ll have to keep from using it when I do that, and come back to the infirmary every three days to have it checked by healers. Broken arms take about twelve seven days to heal fully, and you’ll need to make sure you gradually work up to using it again.” He slowly stood up, and then added, “I just don’t like felines at all. I tolerate Moth but I’ve got two of them on top of seven fire lizards. I didn’t need any more pets, and Lennae knew that. She had it coming. Besides, she molested me.”

Which may or may not have been something he greatly enjoyed but Darya needn’t know that.

Wait, what? She thought it was Lennae who jumped him in the storage closet? Well - um - he decided not to correct her. Lennae would probably not care if the somewhat-less-creepy old lady thought that she was prone to jumping handsome young men in storage closets. For all he knew, she was, though Lennae struck him as more linen closet type. Just from a guess. It was easier than outing Meira, who was incredibly shy. He would’ve warned Lennae of the assumption, but he was pretty sure she still had a knife with his name on it somewhere. He was avoiding the greenrider like the plague because of that.

Shuffling over to the desks, R’wign got ready a syringe and needle thorn for the fellis shot. The entire process took about a minute, and when he returned, he raised an eyebrow.

“Just how much do you want to know about the closet incident? I’m not easy to embarrass, and talking about my sexual exploits isn’t liable to accomplish any of that, just for the record. Did I mention your salamandyr will need to nix the chasing while this heals? You might want to let him know, just in advance,” R’wign said sweetly, well-aware the comment was probably baiting. He couldn’t resist.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya gave R’wign an indifferent look as his eyes narrowed, yes she was remarkably stupid at times but she hadn’t got where she was today by giving a toss about what other people thought. Darya frowned slightly as she remembered that where she was today was sitting in the infirmary with a broken arm and a large amount of sexual frustration because her two pets had mated. Okay, never mind where she was today.

Darya transferred her gaze to the gold firelizard. Considered without Imp’s input Darya supposed that though this gold wasn’t conventionally pretty she was very eye catching. Of course she was giving Darya what could only be described as a dirty look. Darya raised her eyebrows at the flitter. ‘Look, are all of you going to come over and glare at me?’ She spoke to the firelizard rather than R’wign since she was forced to believe the creatures did have some limited understanding of human communication, though they probably didn’t listen as such, more tone and body language she supposed. ‘Because if you are could you just all come over and glare together instead of drawing things out like this? I did not want to attack him. That was entirely Imp wanting to savage that brown. Go glare at him.’ Darya could only imagine what kind of response that would provoke, probably utter rage on Bit’s part as her mate flirted with the glaring gold and green. If that brown went Imp would probably thank him for catching Brat now, she suspected part of the bronze’s problem in that run had been that he didn’t really want to participate.

‘I don’t like anyone enough to buy them a pet.’ Darya countered, paying attention to R’wign again when he spoke. She absentmindedly ran the fingers of her right hand over the scar on the back of her left, suddenly conscious of it. She’d thought it would have been the cut across the inside of her hand where she’d grabbed a benden rider’s knife that would give her trouble but that was Darya’s knowledge for you. Hrrm mabe she should be paying attention to this.

Darya made a heartfelt little groan. Twelve sevendays? Coming back every three days? Well this was the absolute last time she nosedived down the stairs.

‘Shame I was thinking of giving any eggs Bit produces to that idiot who opened the door, and not out of the kindness of my heart either. With a little luck she’d end up with a horrible salamandyr to plague her all her days.’ Darya commented, maybe she could arrange for an egg to turn up in R’wign’s bed or something too. If there were any eggs and they actually hatched. Oh never mind she didn’t really want the spawn of Imp and Bit around the place anyway, especially not since they’d probably nest in her weyr. Scratch that whole line of thought.

Oh molested him? Darya gave one of her best disbelieving snorts to that little comment. She be prepared to bet that any young man, no matter how much he protested after the fact, would be an enthusiastic participant in being jumped by someone (other than Darya) who was possessed by salamandyr lust. She had to admit though; R’wign had a unique way of protesting. Darya would actually have paid to see Lennae’s reaction when she found that she was naked in the main hall.

‘Well I am quite curious to know exactly why she’d jump you after being tied up, painted, and displayed in the main hall for everyone’s viewing pleasure?’ Darya’s intonation and expression turned the sentence into an inquiry. ‘Other than that I’m sure a discussion of your no doubt active sex life will just make me insanely jealous and depressed.’ She added sourly. ‘As for Imp, when you figure out how to stop him do let me know because I could really use the information. I was thinking of having him neutered.’

[glamourie]

Darya’s question made Ellie cock her head to the side, and then she gave an affirmative chirp; whether the others came over and glared or not was irrelevant, she thought this lady needed a good talking to, starting with an explanation on proper manners. She chirruped quietly (for all of her sounds were quiet, typically) and flapped her wings twice before shaking her head. Whether it was her salamandyr’s fault or not, she’d tried to hurt Hers, she had, and Ellie had not forgotten. She needed a good talking to, she did. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t even polite. Didn’t she know that biting people was for animals, not civilized creatures such as herself? Though, she supposed humans had a tendency to be uncivilized. She cocked her head and gave R’wign a curious look before turning back to Darya. Her wings settled at her side and she intelligently fluted. She also didn’t like the idea of the bronze non-flyer hurting Hazard. So he was kind of silly, her brown was, but that didn’t mean he deserved to be attacked. While chasing salamandyrs could hardly be considered normal behavior, she knew Hazard well enough to know he would never have done anything to hurt that bronze. Didn’t she, Darya, know that as well? Ellie’s eyes whirled curiously. More over, why did it matter what her salamandyr wanted? It was her who did it, and Ellie wasn’t about to let such an injustice go.

“She doesn’t understand the effects salamandyr Runs have on their mindmates because fire lizards don’t have the same. All she knows is that she saw you try to attack me, and she’s not happy about it. The rest will leave you alone; Ellie’s sort of their ambassador… that and Roxie just dislikes everyone collectively,” R’wign explained with a half-shrug. It was somewhat indifferent. He didn’t really mind that his flits were giving Darya murderous looks… or, in Ellie’s case, deeply disapproving gazes. They loved him unconditionally and had from the moment they Impressed. It didn’t matter whether or not Darya meant it - she’d threatened him, for better or worse, and his fire lizards remembered that and held a grudge. He was grateful to them for looking out for his best interest. What he didn’t add was that Checkoth was holding a grudge as well. If the bluerider came within distance, he strongly suspected his brown would give her a big, wet, sloppy lick. That was about as dangerous as he became, but no one liked dragon drool. Ick.

Tapping his syringe, R’wign clicked his tongue curiously. “Are salamandyrs really that bad of pets? The only one I have any real experience with is Showoff,” he explained as he gently took Darya’s free wrist and moved her arm over so that he had access to the inside of her elbow. “Then again, as far as I know, no one is happy to have one. Except the Weyrwoman.” Kaegan’s pet was probably one of the few well-behaved salamandyrs. Then again, didn’t Savitri have one too? But Savitri’s was a little white mutant, he didn’t really count that one as a salamandyr. It was deformed and strange looking; it could fly. In his opinion it was much more like a particularly tiny fire lizard with an attitude problem (as was his experience with the salamandyr). “There’s got to be a way to make your pet understand that -” As he spoke, R’wign readied the needle, using his words to distract Darya from what he was doing. If she was busy talking, maybe she wouldn’t be focusing on the injection. “- chasing could hurt you. Would he listen to Ellie? She likes Imp. She was really upset when he went over the water fall, she was so flustered and convinced he was hurt because of her. I could convince her to explain it to him; I’m sure she’d be willing. It’s you she’s holding -” He injected her, still speaking the whole time, though his gaze was on her arm to make sure he was not doing anything wrong, “- a grudge against, not your salamandyr. And there we go.”

He pulled the needle aside, and tossed the used needle thorn away. The rest of the materials were put away to be dealt with accordingly, and he grabbed a small bandage and gauze to wrap around the bend of her arm to prevent bleeding. The entire process took only a matter of seconds, but since he was neat with the needle thorn, the only blood was a single droplet that was visible through the bandage. He took to wrapping it carefully and raised an eyebrow at Darya. Her comment made him smirk.

“The closet incident was before I tied Lennae up naked, I assure you.” Which was really the truth, but he was being careful not to specify that it wasn’t with Lennae. Granted, he was also being careful not to specify that it was. Let her assume and make jumps of logic, it didn’t hurt him any and while Lennae probably would want to stab him for tarnishing her reputation, he was pretty sure he could make her understand why telling the truth was unappealing. Meira would probably have been mortified, and well - Meira had enough on her plate. “As for your groaning, you’ll be able to come back once a sevenday after the first two - the initial checks are just to make sure you haven’t jarred that arm any. The fellis should be kicking in any time, it’s a very low dose so it shouldn’t have any adverse effects but if you start hallucinating little avians, do let me know…” That was always fun.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya took the gold firelizard’s chirp to mean that every one of R’wign’s –how many did he say? Oh yes – seven firelizards was going to come over and glare at her, the sound had an affirmative air to it. Well they had probably better hurry up then, Darya fully intended to beat feet just as soon as she could. Or had they appointed their queen to speak for them? Certainly Darya got the idea from the firelizard’s sounds that she was being scolded for her actions. ‘Yes, little mother, you can stop your scolding now.’ Darya tried agreeing with the gold. ‘I won’t bite him again. Unless he wants me too.’ Darya allowed her gaze to slide slyly sideways, she wasn’t serious about the suggestion but she was filled with an urge to make R’wign blush and once she’d thought of it, the opportunity was too good to miss.

Somehow the news that the firelizard was unable to comprehend how salamandyrs could effect their bonded didn’t much surprise Darya, even Bit, who was used to Darya’s bursts of strange behaviour, had never really come to associate them with Imp chasing. Hmmm, maybe R’wign would get a salamandyr at the upcoming hatching, Ellie was bound to be smarter than Bit, maybe she would learn. It was certainly an amusing thought but she saw no reason to share it.

‘They’ve got very big personalities, so I suppose it really depends on the salamandyr.’ Darya said with an air of someone who was deeply considering what they were saying and trying to put word that made sense around it. ‘I’m sure there are other people who are happy to have them. R’fuin, that’s Ylonth’s rider, don’t know if you know him, seems perfectly happy with his brown. Even I adore Imp when he’s not chasing after firelizards and dragging me into the whole business.’ Darya paused to consider what she’d already said and sighed. ‘I think maybe a lot of people have the same problem as me, our eccentric little pets effect us as much as our dragons when it comes to mating. It’s not really fun, especially when your salamandyr is bent on catching as many firelizards as he can.’ Darya bit off the rest of that thought before a confession of how sharding mortifying it was to find you’d been running around the weyr half naked trying to jump someone you had no interest in. R’wign did not need to know that.

Darya’s eyelid twitched slightly as she realised, belatedly, that she was being injected. ‘Distracting people like that isn’t very nice.’ She mumbled a halfhearted protest, on general principles and frowned. ‘I’m not really sure how much of anything Imp understands.’ She mused. ‘I could hold out a little hope that now he’s actually caught something he might stop for a while.’ Darya sounded slightly hopeful; didn’t salamandyrs get attached to their mates normally? On one hand, that could be quite bad for Darya’s frustration level, on the other hand, it might stop her chasing down moderately innocent people.

‘Oh who exactly am I kidding here?’ Darya asked herself more than anyone else. ‘This is Imp, I’m thinking about. Will he stick to just one female? No he will not.’ Darya’s attention returned to R’wign as she got to the end of her round of questions and answers. ‘It’s worth asking her I suppose. Imp’ll certainly be inclined to pay attention to a pretty queen firelizard, if only to try and curry favour.’ Darya indicated Ellie with a nod in the firelizard’s direction.

‘On that thought maybe I’d better have a word with Azrath too, although he finds this all very amusing. ‘ She added, at least her dragon was sensible, though since the last time he’d caught a green was maybe three turns ago now, the blue wasn’t at his most rational when it came to Flights. He’d nearly gone after Calistoth despite injured wings. ‘Maybe I should just let him find us that greenpair like he’s always threatening to.’ She mused, quite unaware that she’d managed to say that out loud

Darya raised an eyebrow right back at R’wign, pretty sure the smirk was about her lack of a sex life. Well that explained something at least but another question loomed large. ‘So, now tell the nosy old lady why Lennae deliberately bought you a feline you’d hate? Bad in the closet where you?’ She shot back ignoring the comment about hallucinations, she was fairly sure it was supposed to be a bad joke.

[glamourie]

Want her to? Was the salamandyr’s mine-thing touched in the head? Ellie wondered, briefly, if she’d been dropped as a baby on the ground. She understood that humans birthed live young, so it was possible that maybe her mother hadn’t thought to clutch somewhere soft. Yes, that must have been it. She almost pitied the woman, but… dropped on her head as a baby or not, she’d hurt R’wignHers, or she’d tried to, and Ellie would not forgive that transgression. There were none she was as protective of as Hers, and this one, for whatever reason, was off biting him. And for some reason thought he might like being bitten. Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable. She peeped, but it was definitely not a pleased sound, and a hint of orange spread into her eyes, showing off her annoyance. The gold fire lizard had a sense of humor, but only on things she understood, and Darya’s statement went right over her head. Her thought process was simple: how would she like to be bitten? Roxie probably would do it, if she was so fond of biting. Silly human thing. Silly bad human thing.

R’wign, on the other hand, was highly amused by Darya’s comment, and he flashed her a playful look before raising an eyebrow. “You bite on request, hm? Maybe some of us like that. Just so long as it’s not going to take our ears off in the process. But I don’t think you’d like it too much if I decided to start biting back, so I think we should nip that thought in the bud while we’re ahead.” Though, considering the woman’s luck with people, she might actually have liked it. Unfortunately, he had a strict rule against sleeping with anyone who was old enough to be his mother outside of flightlust, and since there was no such excuse, Darya was completely out of luck. It wasn’t that he found her unattractive, he just didn’t really want to imagine where else she’d been and who with. Gross.

Her explanation about salamandyrs made him nod slightly. He didn’t know enough about them to say one way or another. For reasons he couldn’t fully grasp, he seemed to have a touch with all draconic species -- fire lizards, dragons and salamandyrs alike. His experience with whers was limited; the only one he’d encountered was a gold wher that had absolutely adored K’lir, but that was hardly an experience worth noting. The wher was aging, wild and guarding her clutch (which was on K’lir’s bed). Not really one’s typical wher experience. The thought reminded him though that he wanted to ask Meira to meet Meisk. Since she was a wherhandler, it was almost assured that he’d get the best experience with her bonded than with someone else’s. Or maybe Jermayan? He liked Meira more though - he knew her better. Jermayan tended to get quiet and weird with him… for some reason…

A slight smirk played over R’wign’s face as Darya noticed that she’d been injected and he leaned forward to whisper against her ear (and if the behavior was a little flirtatious, did she not deserve it?), “I’m so very sorry to be a distraction to you, bluerider.”

Leaning back, R’wign took her injured arm in his grasp, careful. It would take a few more seconds for the fellis to totally kick in, but once it did, it was unlikely Darya would even feel what he was about to do. Which was good, because it would hurt if she did feel it. No matter how gentle he tried to be, she’d probably scream. “I’ll ask Ellie to go have a talk with Imp later on, when she’s over her mad spell,” he said with a slight nod. “I don’t think most salamandyrs will obey fire lizard queens, but it’s worth a shot, since most salamandyrs seem to hate fire lizards anyway.” He shrugged his shoulder, and then looked over her arm, examining it carefully to locate the broken bones. Her comments about her dragon were overlooked by his distraction. It didn’t seem like she’d broken it in more than one place. Good. It’d be easier to set it if it wasn’t broken all over the place. R’wign clicked his tongue and stood up before walking over to one of the counters again to retrieve a straight wooden piece to put against her arm, in order to hold it straight; no cast meant being careful.

Her question through him for a loop and part of him was tempted (by her slightly condescending end note) to tell her exactly what he’d done. He’d left Lennae to her mercy. But the comment would’ve been unkind, and he wasn’t prone to being mean. So instead, he spun around and raised an eyebrow before replying, “Maybe I was too good, and refused her seconds. You don’t have to be jealous, bluerider. I’m sure that eventually your darling Imp will catch some fire lizard and you’ll get to bed someone soon enough. Are you numb yet?”

[Kisha-Ra]

Well apparently the whole point of her little joke had gone over the firelizard’s head, either that or the gold simply didn’t appreciate Darya’s sense of humour. Whatever the case Darya found herself being scolded by the little creature again, at first it had been endearing, now it was getting tiresome. There was one good thing about having a pet like Bit, Darya reflected, the mute firelizard never sat there and scolded her, though the green could certainly give a better dirty look than Ellie.

At R’wign’s comment (clearly he was a little more appreciative of humour than his firelizard queen) Darya sat up straighter and pulled her shoulders back, as if to display her body to best effect in flirtation, though had she been flirting it would have been a wasted effort, Darya’s body was lean and far more angular than softly feminine. ‘Oh I wouldn’t be so sure of that.’ She shot back, wriggling her eyebrows in a patently ridiculous fashion.

Darya snorted and rolled her eyes. ‘Well I am easily distracted.’ She admitted, realising with a hint of worry that she was actually entertained, if not actually having fun, it must be the fellis going to her head already.

Darya’s sense of entertainment faded quite abruptly as R’wign gripped her arm gently and looked it over. Just because nothing painful and/or humiliating was happening to her right now didn’t mean Darya didn’t expect it to at any moment, even when he left off and went over to the counters. ‘Imp would probably listen; he seems to like firelizards more than his own species, a lot more.’ This was an established fact, and quite probably common knowledge throughout the whole Weyr by now, Darya only really mentioned it for something to say.

‘Oh that cruel to her were you?’ Darya inquired with a raised eyebrow, her tone suggesting that she didn’t believe that for one instant, and also that she’d given up on digging to the bottom of it for the moment. She knew enough to quit when she was still ahead, for the moment anyway. Only for a moment it seemed, as R’wign managed to get the last word in, actually silencing Darya briefly.

‘I wouldn’t stand there laughing if I had two female firelizards.’ She finally managed to snap, though her heart wasn’t really in it. ‘Especially not after Imp has already decided he likes your little queen. He’s so upset that he fell in the river, he really thought he had a chance up until then.’ Darya shook her head for the folly of her salamandyr and experimentally prodded her arm. It didn’t seem to cause her any pain, even when she poked it a second time out of sheer curiousity. ‘Apparently so.’ She nodded in answer to the final question.

[glamourie]

R’wign spared Darya a half-glance and grin that was half-playful, half-suggestive, and entirely far from innocent. However, propriety dictated that he not verbally respond to the rest of that topic, lest it be taken wrong and -- above all else, he was a healer. Albeit an odd one, who liked to flirt with the patients, but flirting was as far as it went, and even then he was careful to stop before anything became too personal. He was professional. He just didn’t see much need in being as fussy as some of the other healers were, when being disarming got him along far better. People tended to appreciate his bedside manner more, too, since he didn’t treat anyone as helpless, or stupid… even if he was thinking it half the time. It was tempting to encourage her though if only because flirting would (hopefully) keep the blue rider from paying much attention to what he was actually doing, which would not at all feel good, no matter how gentle he tried to be. There was just no nice way to set a broken limb, and while fellis would probably kill most of the pain, he was betting she’d feel some of it. He just hoped it wasn’t enough to make her scream or something equally unpleasant. He could only imagine trying to explain to her mindmates what he was doing to make her give agonized cries. Awkward. No flirting though; he didn’t want to test his confidence any more than he already had. Playing around was easier when he didn’t think he looked hideous in the mirror…

“The fact that your healer is absolutely gorgeous probably helps with your distraction,” he offered cheerfully as he mentally jabbed Ellie to relax. The gold gave an indignant flute and then flew off to comfort one of the other patients (and stop glaring at Darya). Once she was gone, R’wign raised an eyebrow and grinned. “I’ll have her have a talk with Imp later on then. For now, she’s better off over there with the children; they’ll fix her temper in a moment or two. She loves kids, it’s ridiculous since I myself only like them when they’re old enough to amuse me… which is right around the time they start talking and walking. I like teaching them to say and do things that make their parents not want them around me. Ever seen a baby with peas? I taught my friend K’lir’s son to flick them onto walls. He was most displeased to find peas all over his walls, and I couldn’t stop laughing.”

As he spoke, R’wign carefully checked Darya’s arm over and then moved his hands into position. He waited until he was mid-sentence and then moved his hands to realign the bones in her arm. It was one quick, careful movement, and he was willing to bet it would hurt like something out of a nightmare were she not on fellis. Thankfully, she was probably numb enough to only feel part of it. Or maybe none. He was hoping for none, because most people did not like the feeling of having their bones realigned. Not at all. Which really was why he was glad he’d never broken any bones. Worst he’d done was lose an eye, which… couldn’t be fixed. And was disgusting to look at. There was a reason he’d taken the mirror in his weyr down. He didn’t like his face at all anymore. Hideous, hideous, hideous. Monster. R’wign forced that thought to the back of his mind and gazed at her hand before mentally prodding one of his fire lizards (specifically, Hazard) to bring him the straight, wooden piece he’d had earlier. Almost done… He just hoped his distraction technique would work long enough that he’d get treating her done before she realized what he was actually doing.

That in mind, R’wign decided to keep talking. She was giving him enough to talk about, at least, that he wasn’t babbling nonsense. Yet anyway.

“He did have a chance. Ellie was beyond upset that he fell. Same with that blue of Saeo’s. She was depressed for a sevenday afterwards, convinced she caused them harm,” R’wign said with a slight shrug and a roll of his shoulders that was half-dismissive; he’d ignored the comment about Lennae due to not knowing how to respond, and not really wanting to continue on the topic. “As it is, I don’t know that your little bronze can fly enough to keep up with Ellie, and I’m quite sure he can’t keep up with Roxie. She’s a nightmare in her flights, I’ve seen her. She likes to dodge around, fly through small areas, then go up high and down low… her chosen mate is Stumpy, my blue; he’s half-salamandyr himself, from the same clutch as Showoff… Kalierre’s bronze, Lust, ate his tail.” He shrugged, then smirked. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he caught one of my girls. We’ll just have to see. I’m not sure you could handle me, blue rider…”

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya smiled slightly, obscurely pleased by the glance R’wign spared her. It wasn’t that she was really after his tail (though she’d have to admit she wouldn’t be displeased if she ever woke up with him), or even that she really thought he considered her attractive. Mostly Darya was just pleased by the game.

R’wign’s body was subjected to an obvious examination, Darya’s pale blue eyes swept over every line as if he were a horse she was thinking of buying from a not very reputable trader. In short her entire manner suggested she was looking for faults. ‘Well I suppose you do have you’re good points.’ She said as if she was forced to admit this under great duress. ‘I don’t know that I’d go quite as far as absolutely gorgeous, but I do envy you your good looks.’ It never so much as occurred to Darya that R’wign would think himself anything less than attractive; he certainly acted as if he was nothing less than perfect.

Darya sniffed dismissively. ‘Can’t stand children at any age myself.’ She admitted. ‘Most of them can’t wait to cling to me and cover me in whatever foul substances they happen to be dripping at the moment either.’ Darya’s face twisted into an expression of distaste at the very thought of the things children might wipe on her. ‘And I bet K’lir was oh so amused at having his walls decorated with peas. I can really see why people don’t want you around their children, you’re a bad influence, if the next generation around here holds a pea flinging championship we’ll all know who to- You utter bastard! You were waiting until I insulted you to do that weren’t you?’ The insult was airborne before Darya even realised that she hadn’t actually felt that as much as she’d expected, in fact as having bones set went that was positively tame, and in her current fellis induced state of relaxation it was only a few seconds before she was listening to R’wign properly again rather than sulking.

Darya’s eye’s widened just a little in surprise to know that Imp had been in with a chance of catching R’wign’s firelizard, she’d have to pay a little more attention to the gold and shut Imp away next time Ellie even looked like Flying. The next comment drew a chuckle out of Darya. ‘Didn’t you notice, what Imp lacks in flying skills he certainly makes up for in determination and enthusiasm, and all the little tricks he’s learned to help him keep up.’ Darya actually sounded proud of Imp’s skills for a moment. ‘Show him a glowing firelizard and he’s suddenly got boundless energy and a bottomless bag of tricks. If it wasn’t so annoying I’d admire the little bugger.’

Twice in a few short minutes Darya was surprised. This time it was a moment before she could manage to say anything but once she managed to stop looking like an idiot the bluerider seemed to rally. ‘Why R’wign, I’m shocked at such a suggestion. The day I can’t handle a stripling like you is the day they can drop me between.’ She stuck her nose in the air as if she was truly insulted and sniffed.