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 Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:52 am
E'rik had actually been unaware of the audience the altercation had acquired, though he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Ista was crowded and news traveled quickly. As a rider he didn't recognize immediately helped him to his feet, E'rik suppressed the urge to glower and rub his wrist. Any one of them could have interceded at any time, and that would have been fine with him. He took advantage of the time to get a firm mental and physical grasp on Cobalt with the hand that didn't hurt. The blue firelizard squeaked his alarm at the sudden yelling, but remained blessedly still.
"I don't think so," E'rik ventured. "I was with Daramulath, feeding, when Cobalt - my firelizard - got this bright idea to go investigate someone he'd noticed. This fellow. Cobalt startled him, he overreacted and fell down. When I came to investigate I tripped over him. And that's when you found us."
He was going to be in so much trouble, but there were some rules that had to be followed. One of which was that a man simply did not tell tales. Even though E'rik could see at a glance that this was the intriguing greenrider who was also a wingleader, he was still required by the laws of masculinity to make up something that was obviously a lie but still didn't say that they'd been fighting.
Daramulath, what are you doing?
Causing a stampede, Daramulath said proudly. You won't let me fight, so I'm making it so you won't have to fight.
E'rik swore colorfully while simultaneously apologizing to Lyveana and shouting at Dara mentally: Turn the bleeding herd around. What under the Thread-scored skies were you thinking?
"I was a bit distracted," E'rik said mildly, making an abrupt shift from his display of temper. "By my fall. I think I hit my head, and Dara panicked. He should be working on undoing what he's done."
Ruinnth says I should do that, too, Daramulath replied. E'rik got a sense that the large brown had simply landed in front of the entrance to the Weyr and was putting on a show of ferocity to turn the herd. It would be nice if she would help me with that, though.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:12 am
Wow, E'rik was a smart guy. Here he was -- having been attacked -- and, yet, he was saying the kinds of things that would actually save both of them from punishment. Oh, sure, so it wasn't exactly the truth, but hey, wasn't this for the best? After all, now neither of them would get in quite as much trouble as they would of. Yes, this really was the smart thing to do. Lorrox should just keep his mouth shut and nod along.
Unfortunately, Lorrox was Lorrox. And so he ruined everything.
"He's full of shards and shells up to his eyeballs!" he shouted, jerking his arm. The rider who had been sent to pull him off tightened his grip on the boy's forearm, jerking him backward. Lorrox's face was flushed red, and it was clear that he was not nearly as good at controlling himself as E'rik was. There was honesty in his obvious anger, perhaps, but it was not something that would likely help him. "He sent that thing--" he jerked a thumb at the blue flit "--to attack me! And then, when I grabbed his shirt and confronted him about stealing my fruit, he tried to kick me in my jewels. What man tries to kick another man there?" An immature pleading slipped into the edges of his voice. Lorrox felt absolutely confident that Lyveana -- well, everyone, really -- would be totally on his side. At this point, the fruit hardly mattered! Once E'rik attempted to kick Lorrox in the groin, all chance at a normal conversation had ended.
"I was only defending my future children!" he added, offering Lyveana what he considered to be his serious face. She was a woman. Wouldn't she understand, oh, you know, how cool kids are? Come to think of it... she was a lovely woman. Just how he liked them. Female. And older than him. He straightened up a bit, trying to look less like a scrapping idiot and more like the charming man of her dreams. It didn't quite work.
Huffing and puffing, Lorrox set his jaw in a hard line. "I'm not a deadglow," he murmured, sounding more like a petulant child than a man. Having been punished many, many, many times in his life, Lorrox didn't doubt that he would be in trouble for this, but hey -- E'rik had started it! He started it the moment he stole the fruit! At the thought of his pilfered treat, Lorrox felt his stomach sink. Alas, poor fruit...
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