Drunken Poker (2)

Writers: AL, Elyriel
Date Posted: 3rd December 2008

Characters: T'marek, Zelle
Description: Zelle helps T'marek while he's had a bit too much to drink.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 13 of Turn 4

The thought of food made his stomach clench. "No." He replied immediately. Looking at his wine glass helplessly, he once again attempted to get up. He managed it this time but his chair tumbled and he nearly went with it. Catching himself at the last minute he straightened his shirt. "'Scuse me." He murmured. "I need more wine." With that he turned and weaved his way toward where more skins sat at the ready.

Zelle left her klah and moved over to the brownrider's side. He didn't move very fast and his movements were rather wobbly at that. "Are you sure you don't want any klah? You're about to fall over."

Mud brown eyes sparked with anger as he snapped his head toward her. "My mother is dead." He informed her. "I don't need another." Then he took a deep breath and reigned in his temper. In a much calmer tone, he said, "I would prefer wine. Sleep will be easier to come by." The last was said as a near whisper as he turned and continued on his way.

"I'm sorry about your mother." Zelle seemed unperturbed at the brownrider's sharp retort. "Juice would be better for you." She stayed by his side, watching him closely in case she should need to catch him and keep him from falling to the floor. "As for sleep, I bet you'd probably sleep pretty well if you just went back to your weyr and lay down. I don't envy what you're going to feel in the morning."

"While I appreciate your concern, I assure you I am old enough to decide when I've had enough." T'marek informed her. This young woman had an air about her that for some reason reminded him of his sister. The knowledge caused a stab of pain to shoot through him which immediately soured his mood Frowning fiercely he grabbed a skin of wine and nearly fell when he turned around to head back toward the table.

Zelle slipped into T'marek's side, offering herself as a lean to as he hobbled back to his spot. "Suit yourself, but I say again I don't envy you. The greenrider's voice was rippled with humour. To be honest, she could remember a time or two when she'd had a bit much. One of those times she had found herself in the Weyrleader's bed! Well, former Weyrleader now. Are you originally from the Weyr?"

Shaking his head, T'marek all but fell into his chair. "No." He murmured, pouring wine immediately into his cup. "Been here a long time though." Grabbing his glass of wine he drank it steadily then set it down and filled the cup again. "Longer than not."

"I was born in a hold up north. In the seacraft for a short time before I impressed." Zelle lowered herself into her own chair and took up her mug of klah. She slid the discarded one a little closer to T'marek, just in case he changed his mind. "I was hoping to become a navigator, but of course, Rillith changed all that. Were you a crafter before impression?"

Again the brownrider shook his head. "No." Clamping down on the urge to tell her to go away, T'marek made a rare attempt at being, if not nice, then cordial at least. "My life before impression was a very long time ago. It s as if it happened to someone else. All that matters now is the present."

"Ah, but the past shapes us into who we are at the present." Zelle pointed out before taking another long draw from her mug. "And sometimes, if we forget what's happened in the past...well, mistakes that were made could be made again. Not necessarily a good thing, that."

The brownrider snorted softly. "I assure you, I will not be making the same mistakes I did in my youth." Taking another long drink from his wine, he set the cup down and rolled his shoulders. "Age teaches you a few things. You'll learn that in a few turns."

"I probably know a lot more than you give me credit for." Zelle grinned over the top of her mug, "So tell me something about yourself, T'marek. If you're not from the Weyr, where are you from?"

Sighing softly, he tilted his head and met her gaze as levelly as he could in his inebriated state. "Does it really matter where I'm from?" He asked. "It was a very, very long time ago. Probably longer than you've been alive "

"No, it doesn't matter I suppose." Zelle placed her elbow upon the table and rested her chin in her hand. "Just trying to get to know you. So tell me something else about you then. What do you like to do in your spare time other than wipe the floor clean of your opponents at poker?"

That comment almost, almost earned a smile. The corners of his lips twitched minutely. "I like working with wood and spending time with Iriketh." That was pretty much the sum total of his existence.

"Working with wood?" Zelle perked up, latching onto the statement. "What do you do with the wood?"

One large shoulder lifted. "Usually I whittle it down to nothing, it never seems to come out the way I picture it in my head. But I attempt to make things out of it."

"I've always admired those who could make things out of wood." Zelle drank the last of her klah and set it to the side. "There was a guy I knew who would whittle things when he was on board a ship, during his spare moments. I was so busy with my craft though I never had a chance to try and learn from him."

Suppressing a sigh, T'marek took another drink, then lifted his gaze to hers "I'm teaching myself. Four turns now and I'm still not much better than I was." Why he was sitting here talking to this young woman, he hadn't a clue But the thought of going back to his weyr didn't appeal to him.

"That's better than me! I haven't even tried to teach myself much." Zelle shrugged and took up her mug again, not to drink from it, but to let her hands have something to do. She started twisting it around, looking down at the dregs in the bottom. "I suppose I should do something, teach myself something. Be creative. Work this silly brain of mine."

"When you're young you don't think of things like that." The brownrider replied, pushing his wine glass away. Now he'd had enough. "If you live to the ripe old age of say forty, you might find the desire burns more brightly "

"It's not a lack of desire, I suppose...well, I'm not sure. I guess I just never think about it when I have the chance to do something about it." The greenrider shrugged. "I was always crafting, then impressed, then fall started..."

T'marek nodded. "Life gets away from you." He understood that. Finally he reached for the klah she had brought to him earlier, not minding if it was cold. "Then you find yourself..." He gazed into his cup and shook his head deciding he really didn't want to go there. "Well, you just decide you want to try things you haven't before."

"Maybe you can teach me how to whittle?" Zelle suggested with a grin. "Get me started on something knew, eh?"

"I am hardly the one to teach someone." He replied with a shake of his head "I barely know how myself."

"You still know more than I do." Zelle pointed out, leaning onto the table and regarding the drunken brownrider. "You could at least set me on the right path. But if you don't want to, that's okay."

Last updated on the December 5th 2008

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Drunken Poker (2)