All Wrong

Writers: Yvonne, Heather
Date Posted: 21st October 2015

Characters: S'avn, Alina
Description: The aftermath of Alina's first flight.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 25 of Turn 8
Notes: Notes: Follows 'DCW: The Inevitable'

Mentioned: D'hol

Alina

It took a while to untangle her thoughts from her dragon's. Alina lay on her side, staring at the wall. The rough texture of the plaster was soothing, but there was a small dark smudge near where the mattress met the wall that made her uneasy. She tried not to look at it. But, much like the weight and breath of the person laying behind her, she couldn't will it out of existence.

Imarith had risen and caught, and she was left with the consequence. Right now, that meant a stranger in the bed beside her, someone who had-- her mind stuttered and shyed away from the memory. It was better to ignore that for now. The best thing to do now was get out of there. She reached for the sheets, which had been kicked to the bottom of the bed, and carefully drew them up to her neck before slowly sitting up.

Mayfeth was getting pretty good at catching greens, and despite S'avn's last second dash into the flight room, he was more than pleased as he woke up beside the pleasant weight, and soft skin, of a woman. **Who did I catch anyway?** He pushed himself up on his elbows when he felt the woman beside him move.

S'avn didn't immediately recognize the girl, aside from remembering seeing her in the latest Weyrling class, and so he offered her his hand to shake, with a rakish smile on his face, "S'avn, and you are?"

There was a long pause in which she couldn't quite bring herself to look at him, let alone touch his hand. "Alina." She swallowed thickly. "I... think we're in Cyclone together. I just joined."

The sound of the woman's name sent alarms ringing in S'avn's brain. He knew who she was now. He'd heard men in the Wing talking about her, saying how they hoped their dragons didn't catch Imarith because she was some "prude from the Hold" who had refused to take care of her "virginity problem" before her first flight.

S'avn lowered his hand, "You're right, we haven't really had a chance to talk before. Are you.. okay?" He wasn't a pro at this, by any means, but S'avn had learned enough about flightroom etiquette from the few wins that Mayfeth had racked up to know that he should see to Alina's needs... if she would let him.

**Breathe.** She forced her face into a relatively pleasant expression and raised her gaze. "Perfectly. And you?"

S'avn raised an eyebrow, not sure if he really believed Alina's response, but then, she was reacting far better than anticipated. "I'm great, but this isn't my first flight." He glanced around the room and spotted the water and wine pitchers in the corner. "Thirsty?"

"No. Thank you." She looked away and held the sheet a little tighter to herself. How she was going to get up, find her clothes, and leave with him still in the room seemed like too big of a problem to solve.

The bluerider's eyes traveled from her face, to the tight, death grip she had on the sheet that covered her body. It didn't take a genius to see that she was ready to leave.

"I'll get them." he said, rolling out of the bed. Although S'avn didn't have a problem being nude in front of Alina, he took a moment to pull on his pants before walking about the room, collecting the bits and pieces of Alina's clothing that littered the room. He didn't see any reason to make this any harder on Alina than it already was.

"Thank you," she murmured when he dropped her things at the edge of the bed. The awkwardness between them was horrifying. Flights weren't supposed to end like this, not from what she'd learnt in classes and from the gossip in the kitchens. She'd kept Imarith from panicking, but beyond that, she was a total failure. But she couldn't imagine lying with a stranger. Even if... she pushed the memory aside. "Look... I'm sorry I'm not... I'm sorry about this. I'm just not..."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Alina. The flight was great and so were you." S'avn said sincerely as he pulled his shirt on over his head. "I hope it wasn't too bad for you."

**Liar.** She shook her head. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

"One of my former friends was a holdbred greenrider, so I sort of understand what you might be going through." He buttoned his shirt and bent to put on his boots.

**Holdbred.** Her lips pinched in a frown. Of course that slur would get thrown at her. "Do you."

It was hard to miss the tone of Alina's voice, clearly he'd said something that she didn't make the greenrider happy. S'avn mentally reviewed what he'd said, but couldn't find anything that he deemed worthy of offense. "Look, I didn't mean to offend you, which I obviously have, I'm just trying to be nice." And yet, being nice usually landed S'avn somewhere with his foot in his mouth.

She looked away and tried to smooth out her expression, too exhausted and overwhelmed from the flight to start an argument. "I'm sorry." It was easiest to apologize. Maybe he was trying to be nice and was just ignorant. But his defensiveness rankled, and made her feel as if he was trying to bully his way to forgiveness. She sighed. "I told you. I'm just... not... good at any of this. Or at being nice." Whatever 'nice' meant.

"Me either. I usually keep at least one foot in my mouth, especially around women." He said this as he passed his belt back through the loops around his waist.

A better person would have lied and told him that it wasn't true, or turned his comment into a joke. Alina couldn't muster up the energy for either, and instead said nothing.

Now fully dressed, S'avn looked back up at Alina, "Do you want to get something to eat after you get dressed? Or would you rather just have some time to yourself?"

She was both hungry and nauseated by the thought of eating anything. Alina shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."

S'avn didn't know what else to do, he had already exhausted his feeble supply of social skills, so he shoved his fingers through his hair and turned toward the door, "Alright then. I guess I'll see you around."

Shells. She _would_. At the next drill with her Wing. And D'hol... his dragon had chased. She'd have to see everyone. Her stomach sank. "See you around."

Last updated on the October 26th 2015

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All Wrong