Worst News Imaginable

Writers: Devin, Heather, Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 11th November 2015

Characters: Alina, Saidrene, Cosani, J'ackt, Jerinne
Description: Unwelcome news comes to J'ackt.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 28 of Turn 8

Alina

Saidrene

Cosani

J'ackt

J'ackt finished the tuber on his plate, turning his head to listen to
descriptions of the last Fall from the woman beside him. He hadn't
taken part...again, but he paid attention to Cosani as she described a
particular flaming from her green to a rather twisting clump of
thread.

Across the Dining Cavern, Saidrene strolled in with Alina, chuckling a
little as she finished telling her friend how her first wing practice
with Hurricane Wing had gone. Alina was one of the only people that
knew about Saidrene's secret infatuation with the Dolphin Cove
Weyrleader.

Cosani gestured as she told the story, hands becoming Thread and flame
and dragon. Then she paused. "You want to be up there, don't you?"

He didn't want to admit it, so he shrugged. "Zith does." He looked up,
saw Alina and Saidrene come in, then peered behind them and muttered a
soft curse. He had told Jerinne that he wouldn't see her anymore, and
the girl hadn't taken it well at all. He had hoped he could avoid her
for a while, but she was here and apparently looking around the dining
cavern for him.

Her face lit up in a smile when she spotted him. Jerinne hurried over
and plopped herself unceremoniously down on the bench next to J'ackt.
"I have been looking all over for you! I have the best news-- I'm
pregnant and you're the father!" She squealed happily and threw her
arms around him in an enthusiastic hug.

Saidrene couldn't help it, like the fifty other pairs of eyes in the
Dining Cavern, she found herself looking for the squealing commotion.
Her eyes locked onto Jerinne's bouncing form for a moment and then
slid sideways to the face of Jerinne's victim- J'ackt.

"Did she just say she was pregnant with his baby?" She whispered to
Alina. A mixed set of emotions swirled inside of Saidrene. After all,
she had once been pregnant with J'ackt's baby, and she knew that he
sometimes had the annoying girl in his weyr, so maybe she _was_
carrying his kid.

J'ackt's expression was distaste at her joining him, then pure utter
horror at her next comment. He backed away from the girl, extricating
himself from her grip and moved away from the table. "It's not mine!"
He spluttered out. "You said you were on the teas!" He glanced about,
suddenly noticing that all eyes were on him and the girl that he had
been trying to stay away from for the past few days.

Joining the horror in his face was visible embarrassment coupled with
a distinct set of fear in his shoulders. He was no sort of person to
be a father and he certainly wasn't willing to share a child with
_her_. The fear of impending fatherhood made him turn pale, then green
under his tan.

Jerinne didn't notice. "I am! Or was... I must have forgotten a
morning or something, and I thought I would be upset but I'm not-- I'm
really excited! This means we get to be a family! I can move in and we
can raise our baby together!" She grabbed J'ackt's hands and held them
tight. "We're going to be a _family_!"

Cosani tried to keep her face neutral. "Congratulations." But the
girl's excitement and J'ackt's horror were too much. A little snort
escaped Cosani and she covered her mouth.

"The blazes we are!" J'ackt ripped his hand from her, his face turning
a sickly green mingled with red. The snort from Cosani brought his
eyes to her and he scowled even darker. "You're not fecking helping."
He turned his gaze back down to Jerinne and every word was bit out.
"You're not moving in. We are not a fecking family. I _have_ no family
and I don't want none." He snarled, his reaction borne more of fear
than of real intent. "You swore you were on the teas. You should have
stayed on them and for all I know, you've been with more than me." He
took a step back. "Stay the sharding well away from me, Jerinne. I'll
not be a Da. Not to any kid."

His hands shook as he turned away from all of them. His eyes fell on
the counter full of spirit bottles and he headed to it, back stiff.

"Well, you don't have a choice!" Jerinne stood up and shouted it
across the dining cavern. Her face was white, and her eyes filled with
tears. "It takes _two_ people to make a baby, and despite what you
think I've been faithful! This baby is yours!"

Saidrene winced in sympathy for J'ackt. She knew, probably better than
anyone, his insecurities about being a father or having a child, and
for Jerinne to be shouting it out to the entire Dining Cavern....

"He's going to snap if she doesn't stop." Saidrene murmured to Alina.

"Do you think we should do something?" Alina paused and put a hand on
Saidrene's arm, suddenly remembering that her friend had gone through
something similar not that long ago. "Are you all right?"

Saidrene hadn't thought about her and J'ackt's baby in a long time,
she tried not to as it always resulted in a pang of regret in the pit
of her stomach, "What would we do? You tackle Jerinne and I shove
J'ackt out the door?" She grinned a little and then her eyes slid to
the service table. "But what a shame it would be if someone
accidentally tripped and dumped their tray of food on her..."

Alina grinned. Sometimes Saidrene thought a lot like her devious twin sister.

Cosani watched the spectacle with raised eyebrows. If that girl
thought she could tie J'ackt down with a baby, she was going to get a
rude awakening.

But neither of those things happened. When J'ackt didn't respond,
Jerinne burst into noisy tears and fled from the Dining Cavern,
leaving a trail of sympathetic looks and laughter behind her.

The tears didn't get to him; J'ackt barely even heard them in his
state of shock and dismay. Hands shaking, he grabbed a bottle of some
sort of liquid and plopped down, back hunched and away from the prying
eyes. Fear and anger warred in him as he jerked out the cork and
without thinking much beyond it, took a heavy swallow. He coughed as
the liquid, he didn't know what the blazes it was, burned and choked
him, forcing him to gasp for breath. **Why do people drink this
stuff?**

But as the drink began to warm his insides, he understood. Steeling
himself, he took another swallow. Maybe, just maybe, if he drank
enough of this burning crap, he would completely forget everything
Jerinne had said. The fact that his father relied on the same didn't
register. Not at first. By the third heavy drink, he didn't care.

Last updated on the November 15th 2015

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