You're Not Helping

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 17th April 2009

Characters: J'nev, E'naer, Naraqua, I'jon
Description: J'nev gets a talking to after getting in a blue weyrling's face
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 12 of Turn 5

J'nev crossed his arms over his chest as he eyed the blue weyrling.
"Well? Which one do you want? We don't have all day."

The rest of the group shifted uncomfortably as they looked between the
bronze and bluerider. I'jon, for his part, just shrugged helplessly,
not liking so much attention on him all of a sudden. "I don't know.
Whatever you all think."

"That's no answer. We have to chose which drill we want to demonstrate
for class. So far everyone has given an opinion except you." And
J'nev's patience with the kid was already at an end.

"I said I didn't care. Anything is fine. I'll do whatever," the
bluerider reiterated. He didn't see why the decision had to come down
to him! Everyone had all said everything. What more was there to say?

The bronzerider took another step towards the boy. "It's easy. You
make a choice, then you tell me your choice. It's not hard! Just tell
me your sharding choice!"

I'jon looked at the other's for help but they were too stunned to really
say anything. "Everybody's ideas sounded good. Why don't you ask them?
I'm fine with anything you all decide!"

J'nev shook his head with a look of utter contempt. "That is so typical
of a bluerider."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I'jon asked, knowing that it was meant
as some sort of insult.

The bronzerider snorted. As if he didn't know. "Blueriders just can't
make any sort of choice for themselves. They'll just take anything that
comes along without so much as a second thought."

"Hey, J'nev, come on, that's not fair," Naraqua said softly, the only
one daring to come to I'jon's defense once J'nev had singled him out.

"Shut up! I'm not talking to you." His sights were set squarely on
their bluerider Clutchmate as he got up right in his face. "You're
pathetic, you know that? That's why you ride a blue. Blues are for
little boys who can't stand up and act like a man and make a real
choice. I mean shards, you don't even know who like to screw! You'll
screw anything that walks across your path 'cause you just can't be
bothered with making any sort of real decision, can you! Can you,
blueboy!"

E'naer had been walking from weyrling group to the other, checking how
the groupleaders handled the situation. Everything was going smoothly,
until he arrived to the J'nev's group. He certainly didn't like that
kind of attitude, especially from a groupleader. He frowned.
"J'nev, come over here," he called the weyrling. He didn't make a
habit of humiliating people in public, so he planned to pull him aside
and talk him in private.

J'nev's first instinct was to tell the Weyrlingmaster's Third just what
he could do with himself, but even he wasn't that stupid. "This isn't
over," he growled before he turned and followed the greenrider. "Yes,
sir?"

E'naer waited until they had walked outside the earshot. "Talking to
your mate in that way is not acceptable. You were insulting,
disrespectful and down right mean," he kept his voice level, although
he had trouble of not shouting at the boy.

"He's an idiot, sir," J'nev protested. "He can't even make the simplest
of decisions. If he had nothing to contribute to the group, then he
shouldn't be in it in the first place."

"He is not. Some people are just shy and don't want to voice their
opinion in front of a public," E'naer replied hotly. He had talked
often with that particular blue weyrling. He was nice holdbred boy who
had hard time settling in to the weyr's way of life. And now this.

"Then he's mindless and useless and should be put into a group with boys
like him," the bronzerider said, crossing his arms across his chest once
more. "It's no fair to the rest of us that we have to drag him around
like a stone around our necks."

"No wonder he can't speak his mind, _you_ are being a bully," E'naer
said.

"I was just trying to get him to make any sort of sharding decision,
which it seems he is incapable of! If he had just made a sharding
choice, I wouldn't have had to get in his face. It's his own fault,"
J'nev protested.

"What do you have against blueriders?" E'naer asked.

"I have nothing against blueriders," the weyrling replied, raising his
chin defiantly.

"Oh, really? Looks to me like you do. At least you should adjust your
attitude. I will pull you out of the groupleader's position until you
do," E'naer said and scowled at the young man. D'nev's son or not,
that kind of attitude towards your wingmates was intolerable.

Oh, so E'naer wants to punish him by taking away his group? Well, J'nev
wasn't going to be removed from the position. He'd rather quit! "I'jon
is a whiny, lazy, indecisive coward who wants to get everyone else to do
their work and won't pull his own weight. If the fact that I won't put
up with it makes me a bad leader, I don't want to be a good one, and I
refuse to _ever_ lead a group again!"

"I'jon is confused young man, who struggles to adjust to the fact he
is a bluerider, he is uncertain of himself and has low self-esteem. A
good leader would encourage him, not stamp down on him. Perhaps it's
best you are not in leadership position," E'naer retorted with some
heat. Shards, he spent time to help likes of I'jon and then his work
was made useless by some arrogant bully who pushed them to something
they weren't ready yet.

"That's fine with me! If he's so confused and uncertain, he should
never have Stood in the first place! How is he ever going to get
through making decisions in Theadfall if he can't even make any on the
ground, huh? I can tell you right now, I don't want a man like that in
my wing! He's going to kill someone someday with all his uncertainty!"
J'nev had had enough lecturing. He was so mad he could hit someone, and
if he didn't walk away now, he knew exactly who would be his first
choice as a punching bag.

"Do you think we really don't know how to train and help such boys?"
E'naer said.

"Well, I certainly hope you do, sir, or else we're all in a lot of
trouble."

"He is not the first one nor the last one. You are not helping it
thought," E'naer said.

"He's old enough that I shouldn't have to hold his hand. I'm a
dragonrider, not a fostermother," J'nev said with a defiant lift of his
chin. He had no patience for someone who obviously should still needed
to be tucked in at night. **They're all alike... Can't take care of
themselves, let alone think of the needs of others.**

He wasn't getting through the bronze weyling's skull, E'naer mused and
it was waiste of time to try. In his view, a good leader knew when to
hold someones hand and when to give them a push. But he obviously
couldn't explain that to him, he was not listening. "Just watch for
your own actions and attitudes," the greenrider warned.

**Who do you think you are, my father?** "Can I go back to the group
now, sir?"

"Yes," E'naer said curtly. He was already thinking who to promote to
the groupleader instead of J'nev. Maybe Naraqua. She was kind of
greenrider that might end up being a wing third.

Last updated on the May 10th 2009

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You're Not Helping