|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:07 pm
[Sorta PRP for now, but if there's a chance you can slot your character in later]
<Alia, did J'car tell you to do this?> Melangth asked, hovering over his rider.
"He didn't tell me not to do it." she said, ignoring her dragon's protests as she made her way to what was pointed out to her, when asked, as the 'most likely place for people to gather and complain about things'.
<Alia! I really must protest..> he started, but Alia drowned him out. She'd heard it all before.
<Blah, Blah, Regulations, Formalities, Paperwork. Yeah, I heard you the first thousand times you've given me that lecture.> she teased. The problem with Melangth was that he was a team player. He was happy to work his whole life without any credit or recognition, all for the good of the 'team'. And that was fine, but Alia wanted to be more than just a cog in the machine. She wanted to shine. The first step; getting to the bottom of the situation here before anyone else did. And there was only one way to do it.
Formal interviews were fine, but she knew half of what people thought, they didn't want to say when the words 'audit' and 'investigation' were thrown around. To get a real sense of what people were thinking, you had to go 'off-the-record'. Putting a hand on the door, she looked up at her blue and grinned. He stared back at her impassively. Melangth didn't really get angry, but his mind seethed with a frost of annoyance. <I'm going in now. I could use your eyes...> she prompted. Melangth was remarkably perceptive. It was nice to have as sharp a mind as his analysing the situation from behind.
Melangth grumbled a sigh at her.
<Fine. Who knows what trouble you could stir up if I don't assist you. >
Entering the dinning hall, she scanned the room for any potential victims informants complainants that might have something interesting to say about the recent events. She looked for faces she recognized as being at the hatching. People who looked.. disgruntled. <There.> Melangth noted, directing her attention to a young woman he'd noticed at the hatching. Alia recognized her as one of the wherhandler guards. Perfect.
She put on her warmest fake smile and approached the woman. "Hi. I'm Alia, from the Dragon Watch. Do you mind?" she pointed to the open seat next to her.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:42 pm
Stella poked her vegetables about her plate, finding the stringy offerings unappetizing. She wasn't sure why she even bothered to add them, beyond the fact Rev would have but her partner was still sleeping. Stelask was sleeping still, she could feel the heavy sleeping lump of green wher in her mind. Maybe she should have wait, but she had been hungry and her life bond partner had been dead to the world.
She paused in spearing a slice of carrot with her knife, eyeing the woman approaching them. Mmhm? Stella snorted, scooting slightly as an invitation for the woman to sit down. "It's a free bench and table," she said light. She focused on her knife and the carrot stuck to the tip before munching it, just for something to do and to kill a little bit of time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 9:43 pm
"Thanks." she said, sliding onto the bench next to her. She took a moment before speaking to consult with her 'source'. Alia never knew where he got his information from, or who made up (what Alia could only assume was) his vast network of spies, but he was almost always right. <Melangth?>
<I am told she has a green wher, and that her weyrmate is also guard, but I cannot verify that information.> he informed her.
Alia grinned. She was pretty sure only riders called it a weyrmate, but she let that slide. <Anything else?>
<Nothing. She seems to be at least a diligent, if not model prison guard.>
<Has she served at Warden's long?>
<Long, yes. Commendably.>
Good. Her opinion held more weight then. She'd know the difference between what seemed wrong to them, but was normal for Warden's, and what was just plain wrong, by anyone's standards.
"I'm sure you've heard, but they're setting up interviews for anyone who wants them.." she commented, off-hand. Her tone was casual at first, but she folded her arms on the table and leaned in, a sly glint coming into her eyes. "But I thought there'd be some things people might want to discuss.. informally," She leaned back and shrugged a shoulder, casually "No names attached?" It was an offer. A 'say what you want and stay out of jail free' card. "And of course, all of this will be off the record." She winked. "I'll just say I heard it through the grapevine."
<I do not know what you hope to accomplish here that you could not do through the proper channels.>
<Don't be daft, Melly.> -Melangth huffed at Alia's nickname for him- <No one's going to say a thing at those 'hearings'. Not if their job's on the line.>
<Ridiculous!> Melangth protested <On our Watch's honour, those interviews are confidential. To speak freely should not be held against anyone.>
Alia snorted <Yeah, let's see if the Warden agrees with that.> she thought, laughing inwardly. <Anyway, it doesn't mean a thing unless they believe it.> After all, M'onk was an old friend of the Watch. Who knew how many people wouldn't slip a name in his ear, for old time's sake?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:34 am
Stella eyed up the woman, shrugged and turned back to her plate. She or they would, as a rider Alia would likely speak for both of them. She picked up a green bean, turning it in her fingers and grunted slightly as Alia started to speak. Interviews... yeah, that would really fix things in the prison.
"Off the record," Stella muttered, turning the squeaky bean about in her fingers. "M'onk snapped more than this here bean." She broke it apart with a crisp sound, watching a seed fly out and turned it about and snerk, offering Alia half. "And about as hollow." Stella popped the second half in her mouth, chewing slowly.
She swallowed and added. "If you want the very beginning of this ********, I can't help really. I don't know T'di that well but... M'onk did drag all the candidates out of bed when Brakiheth between to watch Kaelyandra suffer." She kept her voice low, fingers of one hand picking at her meal. "That is why so many of us were at the hatching. We been guarding the clutch since Brakheth passed."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:22 pm
Alia took the other half of the bean as she listened to Stella, silently. "He did what?!" Alia asked, having to fight herself to keep her voice low. He dragged the candidates out of bed to.. what? View the spectacle of a dragonless rider like some freakshow to be gaped at?
<That, alone, is not a crime.> Melangth reminded her.
<No, but it's pretty sharding ghoulish.> she said. And it spoke, to a larger extent, of his character. Which is what she was trying to ascertain, mostly. Like she said, none of this was going on any official record. She just wanted an idea of just what kind of people they were dealing with here.
Alia shook her head slightly. "That's incredible." she said, and she meant that in worst possible way. She looked at the bean in her hand and turned it over in her fingers. "Do you have any idea what caused him to, as you say," Alia snapped the remaining part of the bean in half, before putting both in her mouth.
To be honest, M'onk losing it, she had heard. The missing blue weyrleader, she had heard. The mistreatment goldrider, she had heard (if only in rumours). But whers standing guard over the eggs? That was new. She leaned in again, voice now so low it was nearly a whisper. "Do you really think there was any danger to the eggs? I mean, in your opinion, would M'onk have really harmed them, if given the chance?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:38 pm
"Mmhm, not long after the dragons finish mourning her. V'tyai interfered and ended up demoted from second warden to candidate master. Sort of a good thing, those kids, specially the babies are going to need all the help they can get." Stella chuckled, smiling at Alia. "Well, he was pretty pissed when Kaelyandra and Brakiheth were assigned here. Kaelyandra might not have power but Brakiheth? Golds command all colors. Not that I think she ever did."
"Kaelyandra wanted the whers there. What is his name... one of the green riders, the one with the missing wing." Stella snapped her fingers in though, failing. "Anyhow, you really should talk to her. It should be easy to track him and his dragon down. They never really left the sands after Brakiheth passed. Berath, the healers dragon was there... Bereck and the green lead Kaelyandra off."
She paused, chewing a carrot slowly. She swallowed and tapped her fingers on the table. "I don't think I would be the one to ask. Whers get culled so I and my partner saw a possible threat to the eggs. A rider might see it differently. It also hard to remain unbias considering one of the hatchings was culled. Shot with a crossbow bolt, poor little grey."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:45 pm
Alia snorted. Right. As far as she could tell, Brakiheth was the definition of harmless. Who would seriously consider her a threat? But she supposed paranoia was rarely logical.
So Kaelyandra had asked for the guards? Did she have reason to suspect the eggs might be harmed? Or was she just hysterical after losing her dragon? Either way, it was too late to ask her now. But the greenrider might know..
<Melangth?> she asked, as Stella tried to remember the name.
<Now that you mention it, I do remember a one-winged green at the hatching.> Even without his powers of observation, that was kind of hard to miss. <I do not know her name. But I will soon find out.>
Alia nodded. Even without a name, a wingless green should be enough to go on. "Thanks. That's actually tremendously helpful, I think I will."
<See? I told you this was a good idea.>
Alia nodded understandingly. She had a soft spot for whers, although she was a little afraid of them, after working a gruesome pit-fighting case. She was a little surprised to hear that they were culled here too. She actually didn't know that. Now it seemed dragons could be too..
That was terrible to hear about the grey, of course, but it sounded to her (or perhaps she had just convinced herself) that it was in a state of panic from not being able to find a rider. It would probably have betweened soon anyway. "Poor thing." she echoed. But somehow that reminded her of something she'd wanted to ask. What was it..? "Oh. Can you tell me anything about the attempt on the M'onk's life?" she asked, when she remembered. "What happened, and who was the man who got killed?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:17 pm
"Ahh, that." Stella frowned, toying with the sorry remains of her food, lips tight in irritation. If it had been anywhere else and a whole lot less eyes, she would have let that sad broken man have a stab. "I'm not sure who that man was," she said, voice quieter with a tad of pity. "It is funny but I don't know most of the dragonriders except for the secondary wardens of the rows and them I just know by name. We don't mix often." Explanations, explanations, well you dragon riders consider our bond partners to be mutated murder beasts madam.
Yeah, how about not.
"Anyhow, I was attempting to talk to the man that shot the grey. Screwed up a bit getting there but egh, I didn't know about the 'we don't cull dragon hatching' thing. C'ross saw the knife first and I followed because I was peeved at him and when I figured out what was going on, I alerted my lifemate and she sent her wher to guard the eggs the and told mine to go on and hunt. Stelask loves chasing down threats. Though... the interference likely saved the second grey to hatch and the little screaming grey afterwards." Stella hummed softly. "He should be honored I guess, for that at least."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:58 pm
"Oh. Right," Alia said, nodding. Obviously, she couldn't be expected to know everyone in this Weyr, after all. And since the whers and dragons were on largely opposite schedules.. "Right. Of course. Sorry." It was a dumb question. But, moving on.
"Yeah.." she said, her voice pitched with sympathy. "And he was killed in the scuffle, if I'm not mistaken?" she went on. She didn't know about honouring an attempted murderer, but he certainly did not deserve the end he got.. Or maybe he did. Then again, the man had lost his dragon, it might have been exactly what he wanted to save someone else's life before being taken out himself.. Suicide by squadsecond, as it were.
<It is too bad. If he had a grievance with the Warden, we might have helped him with that. He needn't have resorted to violence.>
<It does make you wonder. If we'd just gotten here a little bit sooner..> And if only they'd gotten there before that little grey was shot, would they have thought twice about killing it with them there watching?
<What's done is done. It's best not to dwell on it.>
But this hatching was starting to sound like a nightmare. One hatchling killed, two more in danger, an attempted muder, and a dead man on the Sands. "Shells, it's a good thing there's so many mindhealers on hand around here. I wouldn't be surprised if half the kids are traumatized after all that." she said with a low whistle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:37 am
"Mmhm, I don't agree to his methods," Stella said softly and pushed her plate away finished with it, "but he was hurt, angry, and M'onk." She snorted, lips curling in a wide sharp smile. "M'onk doesn't have many people's sympathies now a days." She looked over Alia, raking her eyes down the watchwoman's form. "Now, you are missing one of the most important questions."
Stella paused, brushing back her helmet style hair. "What does M'onk have on all of us to make him impossible to touch? Or, what does he have on certain people to make them willing to shoot a precious baby dragon." She hummed softly. "I think some of the adults need a mindhealer more than some of the kids."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:20 pm
"I am beginning to get that impression." she said to Stella's comment on M'onk.
Alia raised her eyebrows, intrigued. Something she was missing? "Ah.. Good point." Alia leaned back in her chair, drumming her fingers on the table thoughtfully. She knew what he had on them: powerful friends in the Watch. Ones that made it difficult for her to -say- storm over to his weyr and demand answers as she would if he were any other rider. Pity. She did like storming places and demanding things. She'd assumed it was the same for everyone else. Maybe not. She looked back at Stella and grinned. "I take it you have an answer, then?" she asked.
She added the 'certain person willing to shoot a precious baby dragon' on her 'To-Talk to' list. "Hmm.." she said thoughfully. "You might be right about that."
After all, kids, she had found, could be surprisingly resilient. On the other hand, guilt often plagued adults more than anyone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
