Bad day

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 4th October 2010

Characters: U'das, Honalyse
Description: U'das comes across Honalyse at just the right (wrong?) time...
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 11, day 3 of Turn 5
Notes: Mentioned: K'sedel, K'reyl

U'das left a small buquet of flowers into Honalyse's weyr. It was peace
offering of the sort. He had teased the young greenrider quite a lot. He
had hoped to sneak in and out before she returned from her wing duties.

The greenrider's eyes narrowed slightly, more from confusion than
displeasure, as she rounded the corner. Her grip tightened on the neck
of the bottle of whiskey she had "borrowed" from the kitchens to try to
forget the disaster that her day had proved to be. "U'das?"

"Ah, hello Honalyse," U'das said, looking very much like a little boy
who was caught stealing bubblies.

She looked between him and the flowers with some confusion. "What in
Faranth's name are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm bringing you flowers," U'das replied. He recoverd quickly.

The greenrider shook her head, still utterly lost as to his purpose as
she looked down at the bottle in her hands. "I know I haven't opened
this yet..."

"Want to share it?" the bronzerider's eyes brightened.

She opened her mouth to tell him that wasn't an offer, but she closed it
with a shrug. "Why not? My day can't get any worse."

"Worse?" U'das asked. "Did you have a bad day?" he asked with kind
empathy.

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe it." She pushed open the door with
disgust. Setting the bottle down on the table, she threw her riding
jacket in the corner, not caring if he thought her a slob.

"Sometimes talking about it helps and I'm good listener," U'das made the
offer seriously.

At this point she really didn't care about who he was or why he was
there. Neither was she interested in being a good hostess. "Here, open
this while I find some glasses." She never had been much good with
bottles.

U'das was, he got it open in no time. Lot's of practise.

She handed him the glasses as she picked up the bouquet of flowers and
moved them over so she could sit down on the sofa. "My wing is full of
flying wherry asses."

"Oh really? I'm sure K'sedel would appreciate that opinion," U'das
replied and filled up the glasses.

"I don't care what he thinks," she grumbled, taking the glass. "All
right, so there's this sharding brownrider, O'rol, who didn't like the
fact that I went home with his friend C'rig instead of him. But really,
who could blame me? He's friends with P'ras, and that was one of the
worst mistakes I'd ever made, let me tell you. And O'rol didn't like
being turned down for C'rig, so he decided to cut me off in the middle
of a rope drill. Childish, right?"

"Very," U'das agreed, and memorized the names. He should tip them to
K'reyl. This sounded like something a wing second should interfere.

"Of course, Gertsia said it was _my_ fault, but she would, wouldn't she.
I mean, she practically had her hand in his fly the whole party last
rest day. But of course when _she_ says something, Q'tem would have to
agree with her because he really hopes his blue flies her green again."
She shrugged helplessly. "So I had _all_ of them pointing fingers at
me."

"Poor you. Gertisia can be very... bitchy," U'das said. He know some of
those riders, having been their Wingleader for a while. Honalyse hadn't
even Impessed yet back then. Shards, the thought made him feel old.

"Yes, she can," Honalyse replied, almost sounding relieved that finally
_someone_ was on her side! "And she doesn't like me because the boys
do, but it's not my fault that she's flat chested and hooked nosed."

"Her face does look little like an avian," U'das laughed. "Thank Faranth
Zack never chased her green."

"I think she looks more like a wherry," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Whatever," U'das said. Her glass was empty so he refilled it.

"Do you know the saddest thing, though?" Honalyse stared down into the
amber liquid thoughtfully. "They all used to be my friends when we were
candidates and weyrlings."

"What happened?" U'das asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged, looking more miserable than ever. "I
never know. One minute someone will like me. The next they treat me
like I'm lower than a tunnel snake. I don't know why."

"Maybe it's not you, maybe it's them. Sometimes some inner turmoil makes
you lash out to others," U'das said with consoling tone. Although
Honalyse probably had done something too to drive them away. Usually, it was
everyone's fault.

"Yeah, well, I'm sick of people's inner turmoil. I always try to treat
everyone nicely." At least she _thought_ she did. Sure, she wouldn't
hide the fact that boys liked her better than the other girls, but it
wasn't like it was totally _her_ fault! She'd be more than happy to
share, and she didn't understand why girls would get so territorial
sometimes. "This is a Weyr, for Faranth's sake," she said, continuing
with that line of thought. "Girls shouldn't feel so threatened all the
time!"

"Some does, no matter what," U'das said with a eloquent shrug.

"Yeah, but _why_? I mean, I've gotten very good at losing a man
gracefully." Faranth knew she had gotten good at that.

"I have no answer to that," U'das answered.

Honalyse took a long sip from her glass, staring at the flowers
thoughtfully. Why did it always have to be so hard? "Thank you for
those anyway," she said with a slight nod towards the blossoms still
lying haphazardly on the table. "Wait, why did you bring them again?"

"As an apology. I have teased you a lot and I may have hurt your
feelings," U'das looked her. "I like you, I don't want to hurt you.
Sometimes my teasing gets out of hand."

The greenrider's first instinct was to summon her pride, raise her chin
and tell him that he couldn't hurt her. But the alcohol mixed with her
miserable mood made her put away her pride for a much more soothing balm
- pity. Anyone's pity. "It... did hurt, sometimes."

"I didn't mean to," U'das said soflty, remorseful.

"It _sounded_ like you meant it," she mumbled, not looking him in the
eye. Felt like he meant it, was probably more likely.

"I'm sorry," the bronzerider said softly. He reached out and lifted her
chin up with one finger. "You aren't as tough cookie as you pretend to
be, are you?"

"I am sometimes," she protested weakly, mustering up a smidgen of her
pride once more.

U'das just cocked her an eyebrown and let go of her face. He leaned
backwards, with relaxed stance.

She threw back the rest of her glass and held it out for him to refill.
"They are pretty flowers."

"Not as pretty as you are," U'das replied and refilled her glass. He
wondered where her limit went. Last thing he wanted was to be accused of
taking advanced from drunken greenrider!

But for Honalyse, alcohol could only dull the hurt so much. What would
really relieve the ache, if only for a while, was positive male
attention, and it didn't much matter who the male was. And she knew
just how to get it. Taking a long gulp from her glass, she set it aside
and turned slightly towards the bronzerider. Very deliberately, she
reached for the hem of her tunic and lifted it over her head.

"Well, now," U'das said with admiring tone. Who was he to deny a willing
woman?

At least the words coming out his mouth didn't hurt, she thought as she
moved, with only a little sluggishness, to throw a leg over his lap.
"Do you like what you see, bronzerider?" she asked in the playful tone
she knew men liked to hear.

"Oh, yes, very much," U'das admitted, sliding his hands along her sides
to cup her breasts.

She reached for his belt buckle and closed her eyes. In the darkness,
he could be anyone she wanted him to be. "Keep talking."

"Your skin is smooth and soft, your breasts.... " He knew exactly what
she wanted to hear.

Last updated on the October 17th 2010

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Bad day