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 Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:37 pm
Well, if any time called for a drink, this was it! Cordel was still inwardly----and outwardly---seething about Favan’s refusal of his help. And he had gotten himself kicked out of his Infirmary. His own sharding Infirmary! Alright, so his temper was a little stretched at the moment. And, ok, so maybe he had threatened a patient, but only a little! The patient had been complaining about a little cut! So, of course Cordel just had to explain how things could be so much worse. Not his fault at all, except for a little bit.
Now that the Healer couldn’t practice either of his crafts, he had nothing to do and that was a dangerous state for him to be in. Mostly, it meant he was actually actively looking for K’em because there was no way that he was going to go drinking alone. At least it was a short search since he knew the Brownrider very well. It was early evening, which really meant there was only one place for K’em to be and that was searching for someone to warm his bed for the night. Cordel stalked into the Dining Hall and caught sight of the familiar man flirting with some unfortunate----or very fortunate, depending on your view of K’em----- woman. Well, too bad for her. Cordel needed his friend now.
Putting a hand on K’em’s shoulder, Cordel said to the man’s female companion, “Sorry, miss. I’m stealing K’em for a moment. Drink, K’em.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. The Healer wasn’t a demanding type, but he needed someone to talk to and drink with. He, in fact, needed his friend.
Naturally, this didn’t do much for the rumors that Cordel and K’em were banging each other, but the Healer didn’t know that.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:34 pm
K'em was not expecting anyone to bother him this evening. W'ten had been quiet lately. He spent most of his mornings and some of his afternoons with S'kagi and the rest of the wing, and Cordel was always quite busy with his work. Even though the epidemic finally seemed to be under control, the overcrowding still led to accidents and the disease was proving difficult to stomp out completely. And now there was Favan.
The brownrider had very little interest in aforementioned goldrider. She was a man eater. Yes, he felt bad the eggs had been touched and yes, he agreed the culprit should be punished severely. However, he was in no place to do such and the damage had already been done.
That didn't stop Cordel from trying to do the impossible, though.
Honestly, K'em didn't think the man was going to come back in one piece. Or right now, while he was trying to make plans for tonight. Shardit, Cordel! Sighing softly, the wingsecond apologized to the pretty young cook, who simply giggled and nodded in Cordel's direction. K'em blinked, offered her his ten-million-mark smile and slid over to his friend's side.
"What's up, Cordel? Should I take you to the infirmary? Are you going to go into withdrawal if you're away too long?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:10 pm
Alright… so maybe Cordel felt a little guilty for taking K’em away from his date. But not very guilty. It was still certainly possible that K’em had some sort of infectious disease just waiting to happen so, really, Cordel was doing the right thing by totally blocking him. He glared slightly at the giggling woman, on the basis that a glare was rarely out of place. Besides, all of this… giggling whenever he and K’em were together was beginning to make him fardling nervous. Did these people know something he didn’t?! Were his socks not matching well enough for their liking?
At least K’em chose his friend over some girl. That was mildly soothing. “You know that only happened once, K’em and that doesn’t really count. It just occurred to me that it had been a while since we just went and had a few drinks together and talked. Drinking tea doesn’t really count.” Somehow, it just wasn’t the same. And, honestly? Cordel did miss his friends, even if he continued to put work ahead of them at times. Shards, they put their dragons ahead of him. It was almost the same thing, in a strange way.
“Anyway, if you took me back to the Infirmary now, they’d just throw me out again,” he grumped before searching for a good drink. “How do you feel about the redfruit cider? Good for your heart, that.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:55 am
K'em smiled wryly. "You lying b*****d. You didn't want to see me, they kicked you out for overworking yourself again and now you've got nothing better to do," he accused, his tone light. He wasn't the least bit bothered by the giggling, having already heard the rumor himself, but he wasn't about to spoil everyone's fun by telling Cordel. Besides, what fun was a rumor if he couldn't try to prove it true? But that was neither here nor there. It was funny how Cordel felt like he had the right to have K'em's attention only when he wanted it.
Ah, well. K'em was always in a good mood. He didn't mind indulging a friend.
"It's not good for your heart," he snorted, giving Cordel a playful shove. "You just say that because it's your favorite. Come on. I have some in my weyr, I think." That I borrowed from your stash, he added mentally. Chuckling to himself, he started walking, glancing over to make sure the healer was following. "Why the long face, hm? They'll let you back in soon. At least pretend you're enjoying yourself, okay? Being so miserable around me is going to give me a bad image."
He winked and laughed to himself. Like Cordel could really ruin image.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:08 pm
“Fine,” Cordel grumbled. “I was kicked out and I wanted to see you.” Sometimes, it felt like the only times he ever encountered K’em at all were in the Infirmary. Of course, that was partly because the Healer practically lived there, only to emerge when he was thrown out for overworking himself, but that was totally besides the point. …Ok… now he felt sort of guilty about it. It wasn’t like it would kill him to take a day off from healing, but there was a possibility that it would kill someone else.
Luckily, K’em didn’t seem to mind taking the backseat to Cordel’s job. “It could be good for your heart,” Cordel pointed out. “I am a Healer. I ought to know. I can’t help it if is just happens to be my favorite too.” It was nice to be able to count on friends to have your favorite drinks just coincidentally lying around, he had to admit. “And I don’t have a long face. This is how I look when I’m happy.”
The Healer was forced to trot a few steps in order to catch up with the more energetic Brownrider, eventually making it to K’em’s side. “Is W’ten going to be there? I'm not in the mood to have my entire personality dissected just because he can't do his sharding math problems. ”
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:44 pm
K'em wasn't buying the s**t Cordel was selling. But that was okay. They were friends and the wingsecond didn't really mind. Well, he did, but that wasn't important. He could smile and grit his teeth. It was just like whenever Cordel felt the need to do painful tests. What was important, however, was to enjoy the time with his friend while the Healer was actually offering.
"Okay, CLEARLY we need to work on your happy face. Shards, Cordel, no wonder they kicked you out of the infirmary. If this is your happy face, I can't imagine the glowers you were giving your patients." Slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulders (around the waist would probably get him socked), he ushered the grumpy young man to his weyr, opening the door and slipping inside. Fortunately, W'ten was absent.
"He's probably out getting something to eat. Or being smart. Maybe the Weyrleaders needed some statistics or something," K'em snorted. Math seemed like the only thing his roommate did for fun, after all. He moved across the room and began to rummage through a pile of...various items, some which may or may not be moving all on there own, until he pulled out the redfruit cider. No better place to hide it than where no one else would dare to look, right?
Crooning happily to himself, K'em settled in the pile of furs against the wall and motioned for Cordel to join him. "C'mere. Drinking alone is depressing."
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 4:17 pm
K’em was giving him that look again, Cordel noticed. It was the look that plainly said, ‘I don’t believe a word you’re saying, but I’m willing to humor you because I don’t want you getting all overexcited’. Well… fine. That would just have to be good enough for the Healer then. And, despite his disbelief, K’em was still trying to pretend everything was ok. The arm around his waist was something that Cordel just barely tolerated, simply because he had known K’em for years. He rolled his eyes and ruffled his best friend’s hair, simply because he could. Hey, the man was short enough for it.
“You have to glower at patients. It’s the only way they know when things mean serious business,” he said very solemnly. “And how has your foot bee, oh for the love of Faranth what did you do to your weyr? Did that pile of clothes just move?” Of course, Cordel would fixate on all the accidents just waiting to happen. In some cases, he was fairly sure that the accidents stalked as well. “Congrats, K’em. I think you’ve discovered a new life form on your desk over there…”
While it was tempting to snark a bit more about the unnervingly lively desk and piles of laundry, the lure of a drink was enough. Cordel sat by his friend, glad that he wouldn’t have to drink alone tonight. “Anyway like I was saying before… how’s your foot? Doing any better?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:50 pm
K'em sighed. "This is clean, okay? W'ten and I organized it the other night." He nodded. "It was like bonding, or something." At least, the brownrider had assumed as such. Organization was one of W'ten's things, and there had been a logic discussion (which K'em didn't lose, since he actually talked W'ten into helping him) and it had been a generally amiable experience, despite the fact he actually had to pick up everything he owned. And there was klah after, since K'em was up all night anyways. It shouldn't have been fun, but it was. Why did that sound so much like some sort of date?
Frowning, the wingsecond looked back over at his friend. "Huh? My foot? It's fine. I can walk." Actually, it still hurt like a sonnuva...well, you know what it hurt like, but there was no way K'em was owning up to that. He was already being perfectly dishonest tonight with all the right intentions, so he saw no harm in another white lie. Cordel needed to take a deep breath and relax a little. Stop thinking about work so much.
Rubbing his face, it slowly occurred to K'em that, perhaps, a drink was not quite what Cordel needed. They had drinks every time they hung out. That couldn't be healthy, could it?
Setting the cider aside, K'em suggested, "Let's play poker instead."
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:38 pm
“Yes. Bonding. I can see that. It looks like everything else has been bonding too.” Still, the Healer was grinning, so he wasn’t being completely serious. Shards, he was the last man in the world to comment on another man’s choice of décor, seeing as his room basically existed just as a place for him to change clothes. Besides, the room rather fit K’em anyway. Well, half of it did. The other half---the one that was so clean you could probably eat your lunch off of it, if you were that sort of person----was all W’ten.
“Hmm… I didn’t ask if you could still walk, K’em. I asked if your foot was alright.” After knowing K’em for so long, Cordel was beginning to get a good idea of how to actually listen to the man. “There’s a distinction between the two things…” Cordel stopped himself there because, if he didn’t stop, he’d just get into another argument. And that would lead to no booze! Unfortunately, K’em wasn’t being a very polite host and just giving the skin over.
Cordel sighed and ran a hand through his hair just a bit. He knew he was a pretty lousy poker-player, being the sort who wore his heart on his sleeve at all times. “Why poker all of a sudden? Are you tired of having W’ten kick your a** at that?” He nudged his friend good-naturedly, figuring that this would be a good reason for it. “Fine. We can play poker then.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:51 pm
"I told you. It's fine," K'em insisted stiffly. He didn't answer to all of Cordel's prodding right away, instead looking like a little lost brat for the barest of moments before he shook his head. "...yeah. I'm tired of losing to that p***k," he finally agreed. His charming smile was almost flawless, the second between expressions almost seamless. Almost. Any of the girls would never know, it'd take years of watching the smile to see anything at all.
The brownrider wondered breifly why the situation in the room had gotten so tense. Was it because Cordel couldn't leave work in the infirmary, or because he seemed so disheartened by the idea they wouldn't actually drink. It was like he couldn't leave work or W'ten out of this unless he was drinking.
...
Huh. K'em didn't like that. Eying the skin, he slowly looked back to Cordel and gave him a curious look. "Sit down over there. I gotta grab the deck." It wasn't a particularly nice deck, but it would do. He joined his friend and started to shuffle. "So, where do you get all your cider, anyways?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:20 pm
Luckily, Cordel had years of practice watching K’em and saw something… off. It was gone before he could pinpoint it. Maybe the other man’s foot was bothering him more than he cared to admit? It grated against every fiber of Cordel’s being not to just haul the other man down to the Infirmary. It just wasn’t right that K’em was wandering around in pain, if he was indeed in pain. Still, if K’em said it was ok… well, it was K’em’s right to walk around in pain if he wanted. He was a grown man and all and ought to be able to take care of himself.
While the Brownrider got up, Cordel took advantage of his friend’s absence to take the skin. As if he would let the cider go to waste! “Hm? Oh. I just save up my pay until I can buy some from the Hold. I think they get it delivered from the North. It reminds me of home, just a little. Why? Where do you get yours?”
He watched his friend shuffle the cards in silence for a little while before taking a sip from the cider and offering it to K’em. “Lot of stuff going on in the Weyr. Did you hear about that new Wingleader? She’s a Greenrider. That’s not going to end well in Threadfall…”
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