What is life, after all? [open]

[Ruby]

It was distinctly harder to kill yourself at New Selenitas than Old Selenitas. Not that she'd been able to manage it at Old Selenitas, either, but at least that Weyr had big cliff that plunged down to a rocky, turbulent river. If the fall didn't kill you, the river sure would. New Selenitas? Not so much. And since the Bluerider spent most of her time with Raebeli or sitting listlessly in her room, there wasn't a lot of time to find pointy objects, either. Honestly, Serissa had lost even the will to end her life. She was simply wasting away.

It had been nearly five months since Ildyth left her. It felt like five minutes to Serissa, but the months had taken their toll on the pretty blond. She'd lost weight (a lot of weight), her healthy, shiny hair was lank and dull, her eyes were sunken and permanently red. Her leg, broken in the same battle that had taken her lifemate, had healed unevenly, leaving the previously graceful woman with a limp. Her broken hand had healed somewhat better, but she'd lost a very large amount of dexterity there. Daniel had done his best to keep her healthy and alive, and she was at least one of the two. Not that she cared.

Today, though, Serissa was actually up and mostly conscious. She'd had plenty of visitors and even more in the way of counseling from Raebeli, her pack of Blueriders, and even some of her old wingmates, and every single one of them stressed the same thing: she needed to find a reason to live, something to distract her and keep her going. She'd argued against them at first, but as it became more and more obvious that killing herself was harder than it looked, Serissa had started thinking, and she'd finally come to a conclusion. Daniel approved, so she figured it was better than nothing.

So it was that she headed for the ground entrance to their new Weyr, a small, insignificant-looking daypack over one arm and her Journeyman Healer's knots pinned to her shoulder for the first time since she'd earned them. She'd always preferred her Bluerider's knots. Daniel flew silently next to her, over-large wings keeping him easily aloft with just the occasional flap. As the light of the outside grew in front of her, Serissa picked up her pace, heading for the tunnel. It was time.

[Requiem]

No more ghost hunting. A'emi was right; if you wanted to hunt a ghost you should probably hunt for them where they'd died, and X'rx really didn't have any desire to return to Old Selenitas and spend a night in the rubble on the off-chance that he might get a chance to speak to a spirit (even though he'd never spoken to a spirit before). And if it were possible, how would he find the right ones? So many had died in the earthquake alone. The number of spirits that could be haunting that place might well be in the tens of thousands, considering how old Selenitas Weyr had been. That thought was enough to convince him that the spirit world should remain uncovered and unmolested.

It seemed that coming to this conclusion - with the addition of a very odd weyrling who had made a dress for him for Faranth knew what reason to help shock him out of his melancholy - had finally allowed X'rx to grieve properly and move on. The greenrider was back to his usual, if somewhat unassuming self. He'd always been good at making do with very little and his clothes had been tailored for the weight he'd lost recently. They were old, worn, and oft-mended, but they did fit the greenrider smashingly and with the addition of feathers and acorns and other odds and ends he'd found about the Weyr to the small decorative braid he kept in his hair, he was looking very X'rx-like again.

The slender young man was just on his way out to do some hunting when he caught sight of a blonde woman headed in his same direction. She wasn't really a contemporary of his (always a plus) and she rode blue as he recalled. Older female blueriders were always of interest to X'rx. And younger ones, too. And greenriders. Nor did they all have to be female...well, okay, so he wasn't altogether picky. He did have preferences, though, and it was about time to break this dry spell.

She was pretty enough, at least from behind, even with the limp. Many people were limping about or something right about now anyway. X'rx fell in beside her and smiled. "You wouldn't happen to be going out for a hunt, would you? I find myself rather in need of a partner... What with the recent feline attack, I could use someone else, just in case. Not that it's likely." Which was about as much as he could think to say to her at present. The whole flirting thing usually worked better once he got her talking.

[Aftershock]

Stifling yet another yawn, Max adjusted the pack on his shoulder as he walked steadily towards the ground exit to the Weyr. Maximisk was sleeping the day away in his apartment, and Max himself would be doing so as well, if it wasn't for the fact he needed to do some shopping. He was running low on clothes to use for mining, most of those he had being ratty to the point of indecency, and his boots weren't too well off either. He could get some from the weavers here, but he had a shop he had always patronized when he was a miner in Hyphen, and the owner there gave him special deals, so he always made a point to visit his old home when times like this arose.

As he walked down the tunnel, the light growing brighter as he neared the exit, he noticed he had company he was approaching. A young woman, very attractive, though a bit of a limp on her (not that rare in the post-earthquake Weyr), was walking in the same direction he was, and she seemed to be accompanied by a young man. As he got closer, he noted the rider knots on the man's shoulder, and the healer knots on the woman's. Increasing his pace slightly to catch up to the two, he pulled up slightly as he came parallel with the two, noting the young woman was attractive, indeed, though her face seemed a bit listless, and the young man seemed to be talking to her of hunting a bit animatedly, though she had yet to react to him.

Clearing his throat, having to hurry his pace a bit for his shorter legs to keep up with the normal pace of the other two, Max said, "Hello, friends. I see you seem to be heading somewhere. Care if I join you for a bit? I'm heading to Hyphen myself, and was hoping to catch a ride with someone, since my own bonded doesn't quite like the sunlight, and my legs, while efficiently short, slow my pace a bit. In addition, being a handler makes me drowsy during the day, and falling asleep on a rider can be dangerous, so companionable company would be most excellent."

[Ruby]

"They don't like to give me sharp things these days," Serissa grumped without thinking, or even bothering to do so much as glance at her sudden companion - no, companions. How did she manage this? She was willing to bet they were both Blueriders, too. Always the men, especially the ones that wanted to sleep with her. Before.... well she wouldn't mentally elaborate on before what, but before she would have flirted and teased - actually, her words would likely have been quite similar to the ones she shot at the taller of her two men, just with a flirtatious bent instead of an annoyed one. Annoyed wasn't really the word, but whatever it was, her tone wasn't flirtatious. At least not in Serissa's definition of flirtation.

When they didn't go away, and the small one kept talking, Serissa risked a somewhat long-suffering look at the two males, checking over first one, then the other. The first of her companions was approximately her own height, but he killed her bet, not that she cared. Knots said greenrider, not bluerider. Go figure, someone even more useless to her than the hordes of heterosexual blueriders that hovered around all the time. At least he looked a bit like a girl. Again, not that it mattered. Serissa had lost basically all of her fairly active sexual drive, among other things, along with Ildyth. Even Allaen or Kalierre's magical return would likely do little to change that.

The other one... was short. Very short, although attractive in a mannish way, and his proportions seemed perfectly normal. Serissa had never seen a dwarf (that sort of oddity had been bred out of the population long ago, but there was always the odd twist of fate), and she would have been quite interested, from a healer's perspective, oh, say, five months ago. Now, she dismissed his height as his own problem, and didn't bother to slow her gimpy pace to make up for his own. Didn't even look twice. Wherhandler's knots got a flicker of recognition, she'd always been far more fond of the night-kin than most riders, but this one wasn't one she'd recognized.

Daniel swooped to her shoulder, settling rather menacingly and folding his big wings around like a cloak. Was his annoyed? Should he drive off the intruders? Both X'rx and Max would get a small unwelcoming flash, but Daniel withdrew the feeling when Serissa just shrugged. Whatever. I'm fine. Would she ever break the habit of mind-speaking her firelizard, who by all accounts only picked up on the unconscious pictures and feelings she was sending? Probably not.

If she didn't want them gone, though, she should probably make at least a vague effort to be polite. She was going to have to sort out how to be around people again if she intended to try living (which was still up in the air, but she might as well try?). Glancing down at the short one, she did her absolute best to smile and sound like she wasn't about to kill herself, which generally made her look and sound strained, and offered, "Do whatever you want. I can't help either of you, since I..." Lost my dragon. Am dragonless. Am half a person, missing most of my soul. "Am a healer. Don't ride anymore." There, she could force those words out.

[Requiem]

Well, that certainly wasn't the most encouraging response he could have gotten. X'rx fixed her with a quiet sort of look (yes, looks could be noisy, too) but before he could frame a response that might take the edge off her snappish mood, another came up to them. The small man seemed pleasant enough, if a bit quick to cut in with details about going to Hyphen. That definitely wasn't a short trek on foot.

The man flashed a smile at Max, tilting his head to one side as he noted that the tiny man seemed to otherwise be built quite...impressively. Not as impressively as Serissa, naturally, but impressively nonetheless. The dwarf was fortunate. Most (not that there were many to begin with) were not born with proportionate limbs. "Well, my Eveyth always likes an excuse to fly, but we don't generally give rides to the nameless," he concluded cheerfully. Even if it was rather ballsy of Max to more or less commandeer X'rx and Eveyth on a whim. The greenrider didn't mind. He had little enough else to do.

Serissa's comment drew the greenrider's attention to her shoulder knots, though, and he bit his lip slightly. Oh. Oh. It suddenly all fell into place, the bluerider journeyman who had lost her blue in that fight over the tithes, lost him to the Wastelanders. He wasn't sure on all the details but...hm. "Anyway, I'm X'rx," he offered to both parties, though neither were likely to care so much. Serissa because it probably didn't matter so much to her and the small wherhandler because he was just looking for a ride. That didn't keep the greenrider from offering it, though.

"Maybe you'd like to come with us to Hyphen?" X'rx suggested, eyes on the side of Serissa's face as he matched her pace. "I mean, I don't know what business you have, but it's good for another set of clothes if nothing else. I think we're all in need of that." What with having lost pretty much everything they had in the earthquake. The greenrider could certainly use something. Washing the same clothes over and over was becoming a hassle. Not to mention wearing out all he had left all the faster.

[Aftershock]

"I'm Maximillian, though I prefer Max. As I say, a man's name shouldn't exceed the reach of his arms," offered the bluehandler, following X'rx's example and introducing himself to both his companions equally. He used that line a lot, but he had yet to meet either of these two, so it didn't hurt starting with a proven winner when it came to breaking the ice. "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you," he added. Watching Serissa's reactions, he easily could tell SOMEthing was bothering the woman, though he wasn't sure what. Either way, she didn't seem like someone it would be safe to leave to her own devices.

Catching the greenrider's suggestion, he nodded, responding, "Yes, er... I didn't catch your name, my dear? Either way, please, join us in Hyphen. I'm sure I'm efficient enough to let X'rx's dragon carry all three of us, and I came from Hyphen, and personally know a tailor there. She might even extend us all a discount for the business I'll bring her, and even if she does not, her work is quite excellent. Everyone can use a new set of clothing to brighten their day," he concluded, smiling hopefully up at the Healer as he continued to walk with his two companions towards the Weyr exit.

[Ruby]

"Serissa." Giving her name was habit, instinctual rather than offered out of any sort of desire for continued contact. She barely stopped herself from adding 'Of Ildyth'. The invitation to Hyphen, though; that peaked her interest. She'd been intending to basically just set off into the jungle, hopefully following a path to the lake where she would... do something (it wasn't the best thought-out plan, so what?) and try to get on with her life. Find a reason to live. At least she'd be away from the Weyr, away from dragons and the constant reminder of everything she'd lost. Hyphen might be good, except that she would have to ride a dragon to get there. Well, it was worth a try.

Her shrug dislodged Daniel, who flapped up on oversized wings to coast over their heads. As always these days, Serissa glanced up at him periodically, protectively watching him just as he did her. If not for the brown, she'd be dead, no question. "Hyphen," she said aloud, the vaguest spark of interest in her tone. "Never been there." She'd grown up at Selenitas Hold, after all, and Hyphen and Selenitas had never been on the best of terms. It would be interesting to see it, at the very least, and it would get her to a coast. She had the vauge idea to go back home to Selenitas Hold, or maybe back to the Healer Hall at Southern, but getting to either would be drastically easier from a coastal hold. If she could get away from her fellow Weyrfolk, anyway. No one was supposed to leave Burimyu.

With another spontaneous glance up at Daniel, she nodded abruptly. "Alright. Hyphen." She couldn't possibly care less about new clothes - the wrinkled set of non-flightleathers they'd given her in the Infirmary was good enough for her, she didn't give half a shell how she looked, anyway - but it would get her away, and if she could ride the dragon without panicking maybe she'd be on her way to something resembling recovery. "Are we going now?"

[Requiem]

Maximillian, or Max, and Serissa. The small man's introduction drew a small smile from X'rx, but honestly he was paying more attention to the former bluerider's reaction. It occurred to him that he should probably inform someone if she didn't go with him. He remembered something, vaguely, about her being quite out of her head not so long ago, tied down in the infirmary. Fortunately, she seemed interested.

"You didn't go to the Gather?" he questioned rhetorically. Talk of a discount from a tailor Max personally knew picqued X'rx's interest, though. Maybe the wherhandler wasn't being quite so overhanded as the greenrider had first thought. (It was just a bit strange to find himself conscripted for anything. Possibly because there were surely other people who looked more reliable than he.)

In response to Serissa's question, he smiled. Moments later, they emerged topside and the green was already waiting for them, a pale thing with incisors like sabors and wicked sharp claws. She crooned to them, though, eyes dominated by placid colors. Her straps dangled from her mouth. X'rx stepped forward and took them from her carefully, a hand running along her neck as he started securing them, mostly for the benefit of his passengers.

"This tailor. She is skilled?" he questioned of Max as he worked, trying to get the little wherhandler talking. If only to give Serissa something else to concentrate on.

[Aftershock]

"Serissa, is it? It's a pleasure to meet you," replied Max, shaking her hand in greeting if she seemed like she wouldn't be offended by it. "I'm glad to hear you're joining us for Hyphen. As for when, I think that's up to our rider friend here," he added, indicating X'rx.

As they reached X'rx's green, Max whistled appreciatively, saying, "What a beautiful creature. She looks as if she's strong enough to take all three of us, for sure. Esp. with how efficient I am," he added with a smile. Turning to X'rx as he asked a question, Max responded, "Oh, she does excellent work. Someone like myself, I wear children's clothes modified crudely for mine work, but I like to have something that fits me for being out and about, like now, which requires something custom, unfortunately. Relisia has been helping me out for a number of years now, ever since I started working in the mines back in Hyphen. This is some of her work here, though not brand-new of course," he said, indicating the well-fit dark grey vest he wore over a powder blue linen shirt, along with his darker blue cotton trousers tucked into worn, but well-maintained wherskin boots.