Why am I always in trouble? (Open/one-shot)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

3075.07.24 (The day after Chantrea is kidnapped) | Midday

K’tar stared at the bubbly pies and tried to ignore his stomach. He was on water rations for two days. Two of them! All because he’d tried to go to Cliffside to get Chantrea back. Never mind that he was the one who’d found the house and that no one would have known where to go without him. He resolutely pushed away the fact that the Sr. WherHandler’s wher could have easily found the house, and indeed had found the house.

Yet another person went up to grab yet another bubbly pie. K’tar closed his eyes and turned slightly, so that he was facing the wall. He could still remember the way that whole dreadful conversation had begun, as soon as they’d returned to the Weyr from Cliffside. He supposed he should have seen it coming. It could have been worse, seeing as how it was Weyrleader T'kar he'd been dealing with, rather than just D'gan.

“You’re already on two out of four night-watch shifts, restricted to the Weyr for two and a half more sevendays, and assigned to help in the kitchens. All of it, as I recall, for a lack of impulse control. Despite that, you decided to go to Cliffside without any notification, or even a basic arrangement for backup, and after already being told not to.”

K’tar had stood silent, letting the words role over him without really listening. He wasn’t expected to listen, really, just to be here until he was told to leave, likely with one more extra duty or restriction on activity. He was an old hat at such things. Then had come the surprising part.

“Water rations for two days, and we can add the first night watch to that as well.”

He’d gaped then. First night watch would leave him with exactly three hours in which to get any sleep at all. Add in the kitchen duty, and when he had to attend practice, and oiling Viarth, and… he’d have absolutely no free time at all, he’d realized glumly.

By now, he’d come to realize that that was the intention of the thing, but to do this schedule on water rations? That was absolutely sharding, thread-bait insane! Not that anyone had been interested in his opinion.

K’tarMine, why are you make-cause-bad-pain-to-self? Just come out here, it is sunny, we could fly some.

K’tar sighed. Half a sevenday ago, he’d been planning to go to Stormy Plains today, now he was not only restricted to the Weyr, but in enough other trouble that he daren’t ask for an exception, even for long enough to just go and explain in person that he couldn’t stay.

Grimacing, he took another swig of water. Drinking too much made him feel slightly sick, but it was better than his stomach cramping with hunger.

Sure. Besides, isn’t the beach within the boundaries of the Weyr, technically?

Swim?

I’ll watch and wade. I don’t want to go too deep feeling like this. Still though, K’tar felt a little better as he emerged out into the sun in the Bowl. Absently, he reached down to rub Altahyr’s ears as the canine padded out beside him.

[Shoki]

It was nice being busy. Barlow loved it. Kit didn’t agree, but then again, she hardly ever had to be busy. So when Barlow got done with the usual run around he went outside, feeling a might bit unhappy. Not truly displeased, just wishing he had more to do. Kit had no opinion on the matter, and she just let him walk. She hardly noticed him when he stopped and started observing a familiar rider walking over the Bowl.

Barlow watched K’tar quietly. He did a lot of things quietly. Unlike many people he knew, he did not have another to talk to when he was alone. Kit, as lovely a creature as she was, did not count, as she largely did not care what he said or did. At least she seemed not to care. Not a big conversationalist, was his point. So he watched K’tar move, before looking at what he had been starting at a few moments ago. Hmm.

A little while later Barlow was trotting for where K’tar was. Fortunately K’tar didn’t seem to be rushing, taking his time with Altahyr and all that. So after a little bit of convincing his short legs to work with him, he found himself next to the unhappy looking Purple Rider.

“K’tar. Are you doing okay?” Barlow watched K’tar expectantly, not really sure if the other guy was in the mood for talking. It was hard to say at the moment.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Altahyr glanced back, turning his head across K’tar’s path, ears shifted forward.

“You hear something?” K’tar asked, resting his hand on the canine’s head as he turned slightly to glance over his shoulder, even as Barlow came up beside him.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m doing fine,” K’tar answered, in a dry, dead voice that sounded anything except fine. His stomach grumbled at him, reminding him that it had been already almost a day since the last time he ate. Scratch that, it’d been over a day, since he hadn’t had a chance to eat something before or after the botched rescue mission he’d gone on.

“Except for the water rations, and the fact that I should be in Stormy Plains right now, and…” K’tar clamped his mouth shut with a grimace. Whining never helped, it was just, so totally unfair. It wasn’t as if the Weyrleader had brought a lot of backup when he came, and yet the Weyrleader wasn’t in trouble at all! K’tar resolutely ignored the part of his mind that pointed out that there were a lot of differences between his actions, as a new rider entering hostile territory without anything more than a couple throwing knives and a belt knife — both of which he’d had only because he’d fallen asleep in his clothes, and those of the Weyrleader, as a proven fighter entering enemy territory with two other proven fighters and an aggressive watchwher.

“What are you doing anyway?” K’tar asked. “Would you like to go swimming with Viarth and me?”

[Shoki]

Barlow’s eyes followed the canine, and he wondered how he might encourage Altahyr to not spoil what the candidate was planning. He suspected the canine would know. How much would be given away, well that was another matter.

Barlow raised an eyebrow with K’tar’s first response. The Purple rider sounded like Barlow right now. That was anything but ‘doing fine’. Fortunately K’tar followed it up with a little bit of complaining. That was better. Not that he really disagreed with K’tar getting punished this time around, in a small part due to a little bit of selfishness on Barlow’s part. Rather than bring that up, he moved to a more related subject.

“Next time, maybe you could give me a call? I want to be able to help you out when you need it. Relying on Kit is a… possible liability.” Kit ignored Barlow, with purpose. Probably why she accidentally flicked her tail near his face. Scratch possible. Definitely a liability. Not that he didn’t love the Pink anyway. So he gave her a scratch under her chin. She did like that. He didn’t mention how out of the loop he felt without a dragon, or how much he wished he could have the option of running off like that. He didn’t think he would ever have a cause to, but that remained in the future.

“I’m investigating.” Barlow said simply in response to K’tar question. It was true. Of course there was one other thing, but that was step two of part of his investigating. “And no thanks. Lessons and then more chores for me.” Barlow didn’t look pleased exactly, but he did seem to be in a slightly better mood mentioning what he was planning on doing. Freak that he was. He stopped and put a hand on K’tar shoulder looking at K’tar seriously.

“I am not going to pretend that getting involved in anything is what I’m supposed to do, but I don’t want to be left out just because people forgot about me. I just want to do what I can. I will figure something out either way, but I’d rather know if I was supposed to send you a grappling hook or some salve.” Barlow gave the taller boy a pat on the back and then took a step to the side. K’tar’s pocket would feel heavier now, but usually it took a little time to notice. However, eventually the purple rider would notice Barlow breaking rules for him again. After all, he didn’t really like bubbly pies. Not more than every once in a while. He rather hoped that Altahyr would ignore the tasty smelling pocket at least until Barlow was away.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar grinned and sighed simultaniously. Barlow did have a point, it would have been better to have had a second person along that time. “If there’s ever a next time Barlow, I will definitely give you a call,” he said. His words sounded hollow to him though, for he wasn’t really sure. Certainly if it was something that he thought doable or, if not easy, at least not supremely dangerous, he’d call Barlow. Shards, he’d call Holt too, why not? But if it was something dangerous, something were there was serious risk to life and/or limb? Would he call them, or just try and handle it alone?

K’tar opened his mouth to ask what Barlow was investigating, but Barlow continued before he could do so. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed with Barlow’s statement of being too busy. On the one hand, he wasn’t really in the mood for company, but on the other hand, it would have been nice to have someone to hang out with for awhile.

K’tar returned Barlow’s back pat with a shoulder clasp, then stepped back slightly.

“Yeah, I guess that would be a good thing to know,” he said. “See ya sometime later then.”

K’tar waved and resumed his heading for the beach. Altahyr kept nosing at his pocket, but then, the canine was always doing that.

“Altahyr, stop,” K’tar whispered, turning the corner and exiting the Bowl proper. The canine whined and bumbed K’tar’s leg once more. K’tar pushed Altahyr’s head away, and felt something settle back to the bottom of his pocket.

Huh?

Curious, he reached into the pocket, then turned back around to stare over his shoulder at Barlow. Somehow, the other boy had managed to get a bubbly pie into K’tar’s pocket, without K’tar noticing anything.

Smiling, K’tar broke off a small piece, then, turning back around, slipped it into his mouth and swallowed it. It was amazing, but then, perhaps one needed to be hungry to truly appreciate food. Mouth watering, K’tar snagged another piece, glancing casually over his shoulder after he swallowed it to make sure that the guy told off to make sure he didn’t eat anything was still absent.