Do Not Mess With Me (Shoki/Open)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

3076.06.19|about noon

For four months, Kel had been dodging questions, answering while giving as little information out as possible. He knew that Wingleader T’kar was annoyed, even angry, but the man hadn’t acted on it yet. He knew the Wherleader, Dalonia, suspected him, but without proof, nothing could be done. Sighing, he pushed himself up and walked across the Bowl.

You have a job to do, he reminded himself. A job for people who took you in when no one else would, and saw to it — still see to it — that your family is ok. Resolutely crushing the little voice that piped up with the observation that several of the older riders, including L’ras, had taken him in, Kel angled into the kitchen.

His only excuse was that he was tired. It wasn’t much of an excuse, but when someone came up behind him, reaching out to grab him from behind and force…

Step back, pivot, make the grab overshoot, seize the opponent and throw forwards, striking for the gut at the same time… Some part of Kel tried to remember that he was supposed to be inconspicuous, but only after his opponent lay on the ground in front of him, dazed and bleeding. Anger still danced through him, not of the present, but of the past. His and Belegurth’s anger, a feedback loop, pulsing and snarling at the suddenly restored leash of his self-control.

[Shoki]

Cyan was out and about. Knots in her pocket, she was heading across the Bowl toward the beach, when she spotted Kel. She hadn’t seen the other rider in a bit, and hadn’t really gotten to ask about his second run in with her brother. Oh, she had indeed heard about it. Cr’wean was a vocal man. She hoped that Kel and Bel (much easier for her to remember then Belegurth) were both feeling better. She decided to postpone her trip to the beach to catch up. She trotted over, following him to the kitchens. She kinda forgot Dawn and Breaker were on a beeline for the Beach, she could call them later. No trouble at all, she would just check on Kel first. That wasn’t going to be a problem, right? He didn’t seem to notice her so she reached out to touch his shoulder when suddenly there was a flurry of motion.

Something struck her in the gut, she fell to the floor and looked straight up, daze. An enactment, a final word, and a cry for help. It was all backwards in her head. Which was why for once, the voice in her head had the opposite effect it usually did.

Cyanee? Are you-

“Don’t say it. No one say it. No one is allowed to leave.” Her voice was quiet, a breathy but frantic series of phrases. The back of her head hurt. She looked, still dazed at her arms. Old scars only. She looked up, and around, confused. No. She wasn’t here. She was just in her head. In one word that would never leave her alone. It was fleeting, soon she was herself again. At least it felt like herself. Only she hurt.

The ghosts danced away. Cyan was left looking up at the kitchen ceiling and slowly sat up. Mistake. She laid back down.

“Ow.” She complained only slightly. “Um, can someone tell me what happened?”

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel froze, staring into Cyan’s brown eyes. His instincts conflicted, one shouting for him to run the other shouting for him to attack now and finish it, he simply stood there, staring into those eyes. Then she lay back down.

“I- You lost your balance and tripped,” he answered, shooting a glance around the kitchen. He hesitated another second, then took a couple cautious steps closer.

“You ok?” he asked.

Mine, getting attached is stu…

I’m not getting attached! I’m preventing anyone from realizing it wasn’t an accident!

Belegurth’s reply was a snort, which Kel ignored.

[Shoki]

Cyanee seemed puzzled, at least more than usual. She thought… Well, she didn’t know. When Kel spoke she looked up at him, her eyes drifting over to his knots. Midnight knots had some darkblue in them, Maybe that was it? Except she thought the wind was going to be knocked out of her? Maybe she was more confused than she thought, she did bang the back of her head pretty good. She breathed deep and then put a bright smile on her face.

“I’ve had worse falls. I’m sure my big brother could name them all in order. I’m just a little dizzy. You’ll have to give me a moment” She took a moment to take a breath and brush her mind against Zigbrieth, who was a little better now that Cyan seemed normal.

“I was going to ask you if you and your dragon were feeling better. Hopefully well, I haven’t seen you in a while.” She Paused then added, “Sorry Kel, this wasn’t the impression I was hoping to make. I swear I’m not usually so clumsy.”

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel hesitated. He felt a little guilty now, with Cyan swallowing his whole story without even a murmur of protest. Not guilty enough that he was gonna tell her the real story, he wasn’t a dimglow, and he had a shrewd idea of what her brother, for one, would do to him if he ever heard what had actually happened.

“We’re doing good, really,” he answered, startled into honesty by the unexpected inquiry. “What about you, you doing ok. Overall, and not just right now?”

[Shoki]

“Oh I can’t complain. Everything is pretty peaceful, at least for me.” She tried to sit up again, not overcome, but still plagued with a bit of dizziness. “And things are even looking up a bit right now. Still, I’m glad you are feeling well.” She touched the back of her head and frowned when there was a bit of blood on her fingertips. She tried her pockets but all she had on her were knots, which might be useful, but not on their own.

“I don’t suppose you have a handkerchief or something? I think a little bit of cloth would do.” Her fingers naturally started to fiddle with the knotted up string and she undid a few of them, trying to get a single thread free. Easy enough, she just had to take some time with it.

You have firelizards for a reason, mine. The Blue’s no nonsense view made Cyan smile a bit. She hadn’t exactly done a brilliant job of training Dawn and Breaker, though they usually did as she liked. However, she didn’t really have anything and if she sent either of them to fetch a bandage from the Healers…well she would be in for it. So she merely waited to see what might be available here.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

This is ridiculous!

Camouflage.

Kel pulled a small piece of cloth, which he’d ripped off a battered pair of pants at one point, out and offered it. It seemed perfectly reasonable to him that Cyan didn’t call the Healers. After all, from what he knew of things, Healers were the ones you called when you were about to die, not when you’d suffered a training accident. Well, they might treat Lord Holders for less dire things, but he wasn’t sure on that, Healers got awful annoyed when bothered over unimportant things, at least, the ones in Igen had.

“You need help tying it in place?” he asked. Wounds on the back of the head were tricky to treat alone. He’d done it a time or two, but only because it was part of training and he hadn’t been allowed an assistant. Even at the time, the trainers had stressed that it was important to have someone check your bandage, if possible.

[Shoki]

Cyanee accepted the cloth with a smile and a brief, “Thanks” before inspecting it. Okay it was clean, and it would probably fit, at least she thought so. She felt the back of her head against, trying to get a feel for how this would work. She paused to free the length of string, which was easily long enough to loop around her head. When Kel spoke up she beamed.

“I would like to take you up on that. Maybe you could set it up and I’ll handle the knot. I’m thinking of doing something quick release anyway since it will probably not bleed for long. I think.” Knots were easier for her then healing. She did pick up some things, hard not to. But she wasn’t a healer by a long shot. She was feeling more sturdy now, she might be good enough to head out soon. Probably to bolt to her room before anyone saw her and ratted her out to Cr’wean.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

A grin flashed across Kelradek’s face. For a moment, he looked like any young man, enjoying the company of one who was, if not a friend, at least a strong acquaintance. Then it disappeared, leaving behind the same serious, quiet, and tightly controlled young man, the one who people always thought was a few Turns older.

“Can do,” he replied, walking over and dropping into an easy squat, weight centered on his toes, heels up so he was practically sitting on them. With a quick, sure touch he scooped up the cloth, shook it a couple times, and held it against the injury. “You might need a couple strings to hold this in place,” he commented. “Otherwise it’ll probably slip around some.”

[Shoki]

Finally a smile. She didn’t think she had seen Kel smile before. She wasn’t the sort of person to force people to smile when they didn’t want to, but she was aware of it when they didn’t. It skittered away soon enough, but it certainly improved her mood. After all, it meant she probably wasn’t just annoying him.

Kel went around to apply the cloth, and she could feel where it was pressed on the back of her head. When he suggested multiple threads she quickly ran through the best move for it. She freed one more thread and knotted both of the strings in the middle, creating a point where they were connected.

“Hold that on it really quick.” She handed it back to Kel, and pulled the bottom strings in front of her, under her ears. The top two went over her ears. It would keep them separated enough to work for her. Then a slightly improved version of a bow knot, so that it wouldn’t slip but she could easily take it off if she needed to. “How does it look back there?”

That will have to be looked at eventually. We will make time tomorrow.

Zigbrieth…

Right before wing practice. That way it can be looked at without having your fellow wingriders worry after you.

Admittedly, Zigbrieth had a point. Fine.

The Blue adjusted his schedule for tomorrow. Everything was planned then... She couldn’t change it now.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel reached up to take hold of the knot that Cyanee passed back to him. Looked like it had four strings coming off it… giving a mental shrug, he set it over the center of the cloth. Provided she tied the strings in the right place, it ought to hold the cloth in place admirably.

“Looks ok now. You might want to wash it tonight, let it bleed some overnight.” He gave the set up of cloth and strings a quick once-over. “Cloth’s held down good, ought to be fine.”

Shifting his weight back to center, he stood up. “You need a hand up?” he asked, taking a couple steps to bring him out from behind her and far enough forward that he would actually be able to help if necessary. He felt a certain relief that Cyan was in D’gan’s Waterfall Fliers, rather than T’kar’s Sky Jumpers with him. Less chance of him being associated with her “fall”.

[Shoki]

“Thanks Kel. I think I can get up on my own.” She rose slowly, which gave her a wave of dizziness, but only for a moment. She should probably relax for a bit, didn’t want to push anything. She dusted herself off a minute and beamed.

“You sound pretty knowledgeable about healing. I’m really glad you were handy for this. Thanks for all the help.” She pushed the rest of her knots in her pocket, fiddling with them for only a minute before letting them go.

“Next time hopefully we can hang out a bit longer, but I should probably go now. Still, glad to see you are well. Tell Belegurth ‘Hi’ for me.” She took a step and felt a little less sure about heading back to her room. That was okay, she would just go slow right? It would pass quickly, she was sure of it.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel stepped back, giving Cyan room to stand up, which she did, though with the characteristic slowness of someone whose sense of balance is not quite perfect, due to such things as knocks on the head. For all of that though, she seemed to be doing ok right now, and surely later was none of his concern, right?

“You’re welcome, and I will,” he answered. He opened his mouth as she took a step, then closed it again. She was, he reminded himself, none of his concern, in addition to being a potential enemy or target of the people he worked for.

She wanted me to relay a hello to Belegurth. He’s real to her. More than just-

Kel stamped, hard, on that thought. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t, though, keep himself from glancing over his shoulder after her, as if to make sure she made it safely to her destination.

Just eat,

With a purely mental sigh, Kelradek grabbed some food and sat down. He was able to take all of two bites before he was up and after Cyan, ignoring Belegurth’s growling in his mind.

“You mind if I tag along?” he asked, pulling level with Cyan. “And… you… might want an extra strap or two this afternoon, help hold you on.”

[Shoki]

She waved at Kel, and then headed off. She went slowly, heading out before heading in the right direction. She paused for a moment as she caught sight of the red mottled Breaker and warm colored Dawn heading for her. It looked like they had picked up on her desire for a different direction. The Brick flitter was wet, which was par for the course. Soon enough the flitters followed her as she slowly made her way. However, she soon discovered they weren’t the only ones. Kel startled her a little with his sudden reappearance. Her face quickly changed into a relaxed smile and she spoke.

“Of course not. Especially when you come bearing good advice.” Admittedly, she probably wasn’t thinking that would be required, but it sounded like a prudent measure to take anyway. She continued walking for a few more moments, not entirely sure what she was supposed to talk about now. She really wanted to get away from the fact she was currently a bit banged up.

“So, what’s it like in your wing? Hopefully it’s been fun?” She liked wing practice, but mostly Zigbrieth loved it. Very structured, and of course very easy to be around and be seen.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“It’s pretty fun,” Kel answered. It wasn’t even a lie now, though his and Belegurth’s firestone skills were still a little under-par. At least now they were good enough to train with the rest of the Wing on firestone days, though it was generally accompanied by one or another of the Wing’s more experienced members pairing off with him. He’d not have minded that so much, except that they were clearly watching him to make sure nothing went wrong.

Kel raised his head slightly, seeming to realize that his answer had faded, and that by conversational mores, it was his turn to say something. He knew a brief moment of almost-panicked confusion, conversation was not his strong point, than took a quick breath: “What about you and Zigbrieth? You enjoying Wing practice?” It seemed a safe question. She’d graduated recently to being a full rider.

Reaching up, Kel held out a hand towards the Sunset and Brick firelizards.