Manly or Disturbing... That's the Question

Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 28th February 2007

Characters: O'dan, Karaleigh, Y'sani
Description: A drunk O'dan comes to visit Karaleigh at a bad time and learns to regret it.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 27 of Turn 4

O'dan knew he was drunk. Too drunk to be at Karaleigh's door, waiting for her to respond to his determined knocking. Far too drunk to listen to his own common sense. He was miserable, he was lonely, he had lost count of how many shots of fine alcohol he'd drank, and he wanted to see Karaleigh.

The harper ran her long fingers through her short black hair. Who would be pounding on her door at _this_ time? And shards, what terrible timing they had! "Who is it?" she called as she tied her robe around herself.

"Come on, beautiful. Open the door!" O'dan could hold his liquor well enough to avoid slurring his words, but his voice had a husky quality that he couldn't quite hide.

"O'dan?" At this candlemark? "Is anything wrong?" she called back as she retied her robe a bit tighter.

He knocked at the door again. "Please just let me in?"

Karaleigh glanced over her shoulder at the bedroom where Y'sani was waiting for her. Shards, why now? "All right, O'dan... All right..." She opened the door for her friend, though she hoped this would be a very short visit. O'dan smiled slowly when she appeared, his eyes drifting warmly over her face and down. "You look lovely."

She unconsciously pulled on the tie to her robe to assure herself it was tightly fastened. "Thank you. It's late, O'dan. What's going on?"

He moved a little closer, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "I miss you. I'm so lonely."

"Uh huh," she sighed, smelling the alcohol so much it almost made her ill. Planting a hand firm in the middle of his chest she replied, "I'm sure you could find someone to help you through this downstairs."

O'dan slid a hand over hers, holding her fingers to his chest. "How is someone else supposed to make me forget how much I miss you?"

"All right," she said with an exasperated chuckle, "You're drunk and you need to sleep it off. Why don't you go back to your own bed and come back tomorrow."

With one hand trapped against his chest, it was easy to slide the other around her waist. "I don't want to be alone anymore. Please, Karaleigh... please."

This was really not funny anymore. "O'dan, let go of me."

He made a pained noise and buried his face in her neck. "What's so wrong with me? Why aren't I good enough for you?"

"Please, lets not talk about this now. We can talk about it in the morning." She pushed against his chest, trying to put some space between them, but he held her too tightly.

The lips pressed against her neck feathered lightly across her skin. As unsteady as his feet were underneath him, his arms were tight and unrelenting around her.

"Stop it, O'dan!" She cringed away from him, placing both hands on his chest now and pushing as hard she could. "Let go of me, O'dan! You're scaring me, now _stop_it_!"

Y'sani's hand came out of nowhere, tangling in the back of O'dan's tunic and jerking him back so strongly that the bronzerider released Karaleigh in surprise. As soon as it was evident that he had let go of the harper, Y'sani released his tunic and let O'dan's momentum carry him straight into the wall. "That was a very stupid thing to do, O'dan," Y'sani said in a voice that was deceptively mild as he shifted to place himself squarely in front of Karaleigh.

"Please, Y'sani, we just need to get him back to his weyr. He can sleep it off," Karaleigh pleaded quietly, though very relieved he had shown up when he did.

O'dan had recovered from his shock, however, and used the wall to leverage himself back up to his feet. He swayed dangerously without his crutches, but seemed too drunk to care. "Oh, I'm sorry, Karaleigh," he drawled, his voice scathing. "Now I see why you never have time for me.
You wanted a big, dumb man to keep your bed warm."

**Luthinath? Please tell Kizynth that his rider is ill and needs to go to sleep to recover.** His voice was perfectly calm, as was his face.
**And tell Hasaarth to tell his rider that I'm sorry for what I'm about to do.**

}:What are you--:{ As O'dan opened his mouth to deliver another cruel remark to Karaleigh, Y'sani sized him up calmly and just as calmly pulled back a fist and knocked the intoxicated bronzerider out.

Karaleigh's hands flew to her mouth in disbelief. "Y'sani... what did you do?" she barely whispered. Y'sani didn't say anything as he picked up his tunic from over the back of the couch and pulled it over his head. **Is Kizynth in a panic yet?**

There was a slight pause before Luthinath's voice returned. }:Kizynth is upset that his rider frightened your harper. He likes your harper. We think his rider needs a healer.:{
**I won't argue with that.** Sighing, the Weyrlingmaster rubbed a hand over the side of his face and glanced at Karaleigh. "He'll be fine. His dragon is fine. I'm going to take him to the infirmary and let them sober him up."

Karaleigh wavered between concern and relief as she starred down at O'dan's unconscious body. "Let me get dressed. I'll go with you."

Y'sani slid an arm around Karaleigh's shoulders and bent down to kiss her forehead softly. "It might be best if you don't, Karaleigh. I don't think you want to be the fodder for this sort of gossip, and I expect J'darin may be a bit cross with me." Though considering the current Weyrleader's feelings on the previous one... perhaps not as cross as might be expected.

She wasn't sure what to think about what Y'sani had done. O'dan had been out of line, and she was grateful that he had gotten him off of her. But did he have to knock him out? It was both incredibly manly, and slightly disturbing. "I can handle a little gossip. I'm going with you. I won't rest until I'm sure O'dan will be all right."

Y'sani sighed. "Fine. I'm not being honest. I want you to stay here because at the moment, the thought of what he was doing to you is making it hard to keep my temper. I promise you that I didn't seriously injure anything but his ego."

Karaleigh smiled slightly and caressed his cheek with the back of her fingers. "Thank you for defending me. And thank you for being honest."
She then turned on her heel and marched back towards her sleeproom. "But I _am_ going with you."

The Weyrlingmaster sighed and crouched down next to the bronzerider, checking the pulse on his wrist. "You picked an awful inconvenient time to lose your sense," he muttered to the unconscious man sourly. He dropped his wrist and picked up his arm to hoist O'dan off the ground. "This is going to be a long night."

Last updated on the March 1st 2007

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Manly or Disturbing... That's the Question