You're Not So Bad

Writers: Miriah, Paula
Date Posted: 11th March 2014

Characters: Ciendra, J'ackt
Description: Ciendra and Jenackt talk a little.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 3 of Turn 7

J'ackt

Ciendra peered in carefully to the room where meat was butchered and
cut for food.

That boy was there, working. Qorri had warned her about him, which
naturally made the girl curious. She had also heard stories about him
from other candidates, which terrified her. So her voice wasn't quite
steady when she talked. "Hi, Amit...Jenackt..whatever your name is.
Are those wherries ready? The cook's waiting."

"Jenackt." The words were curt. Hands smeared with blood, he looked up
and blew his hair out of his face. It was still bruised from the
fight, but the swelling was finally fading, and the lines of his face
were returning to normal. He eyed her and then jerked his thumb behind
him. "Yeah. They're ready." He rose and wiped his hands on his apron
before walking to where the butchered beasts hung in the cold meat
locker. "How many?"

"Umh, five, she's making stew," Ciendra replied, fingering her appron nervously.

Jenackt didn't miss the nervous twitching of the girl and stopped,
hands on lean hips as he took a deep breath, his back to her. "I'm not
going to shaffing bite you. I'm not going to eat you. And I sure as
blazes am not going to hurt you, so would you knock that off?" He
stomped to the wherries and pulled off what he could carry and turned
to look at the girl who still stood in the doorway. "I can't get past
you and these are heavy."

"I'm sorry," Ciendra said and took a large step aside. "It's
just..everybody talks about you and warns me of you," she continued.

"And I guess you just have to believe whatever you're told." He walked
by her with a snort. "Don't matter. Think what you like."

Somewhere inside her a spark of old Ciendra flared up. That Ciendra

who had existed before the fire in Red Rush hold. The Ciendra who was
confident and temperamental. "Well, you're not exactly helping it,
always sulking like that," she said, hands moving to her hips.
Lugging the heavy wherries into the kitchen, he grunted as he slammed
them onto the table, ignoring some of the fluttering eyes around him
as he stalked back to the cooler room and past Ciendra. "Well, maybe I
get tired of everyone assuming that I'm going to throttle them if they
get near me."

"The way you act, can you blame us?" Ciendra asked.

"The way you all act, can you blame me?" He grabbed the other two
small wherries and carried them back out.

"And do you even _try_ to make friends?" Ciendra asked, trotting after him.

Jenackt looked over his shoulder at her and snorted. "You mean do I go
out and pester people and find out all I can about them? No." He had
sort of friends. They were more of acquaintances, really. No one he
spent a lot of time with. He just wasn't the social type and he didn't
like many of the flighty candidates he was around. The majority of
them were holdbred and once they had found out he was Holdless,
immediately labeled him. He was actually getting used to it.

Ciendra sighed. "Why I'm bothering?" she asked rhetorically and
shrugged her shoulders.

Jenackt stopped and sighed, pushing his hair back from his head.
"Because you're trying to be nice, I guess."

"You're right about that, I do try to be nice to people," Ciendra
said. "You should try it too."

"It's hard to be nice to someone who thinks I might hurt them."

"In that case, you really should be _trying_, just to prove them
wrong," Ciendra said and cocked her head. She was already reevaluating
Jenackt. Perhaps he wasn't quite as bad as his reputation. Sulky, yes,
and kind of cute when he wasn't scowling.

He wiped his hands on his apron and moved back to his area, sitting
back down at his table. He eyed Ciendra and leaned his arms on the
table. "Do I look like the nice, social type?"

"Not really, you look like ruffian," Ciendra replied honestly.

He stared at her for a moment. "Do you even know what a ruffian looks like?"

In truth, Ciendra had no idea what ruffian even was. It was just a
word her aunt had used, usually about teenager boys or less than clean
farmhands. "Someone in need of hair cut?" she sounded uncertain.

Jenackt blinked and then gave a snort of laughter. "No. And my hair is
just fine." He blew it from his brow. "A ruffian is someone who robs,
steals, beats up people..." He blinked and then considered his
statement. "Oh, just forget it."

Ciendra let out a little laugh. "Did you just describe yourself?"

He eyed her and gave a half-hearted scowl. "Oh...be quiet." There was
a spark of humor in his eyes that removed any harshness from his
words.

"I have to get back to work anyway," Ciendra said. "You know, you're
not so bad after all," she remarked and returned to her duties.

Last updated on the March 13th 2014

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You're Not So Bad