Back At You

Writers: Bree, Yvonne
Date Posted: 7th October 2006

Characters: J'nus, Kenza
Description: J'nus backslides in the wake of Ysanth's death, and Kenza tries to give him a talking-to. Tries.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 15 of Turn 3

Kopth had quit his nagging a little less than a half candlemark before, and it worried J'nus. In an alcoholic haze he'd slowly stripped off his crack-dust covered riding clothes and left them lying where they'd fallen, and he was scowling at himself in the polished copper plate he used as a mirror. The bronzerider in the plate scowled back. He took another drink from the bottle beside him; whisky, perhaps, or brandy. Maybe vodka. J'nus couldn't tell anymore, and he didn't care much anymore either. It was working to dull the sense of guilt that had hounded him ever since he'd known that Ysanth had gone /between/, and it was a fitting punishment for letting her and her rider down.
He'd broken a promise to them, so now he would break a promise to himself.

A knock at the door interrupted his bleak thoughts, and he carefully set the bottle aside. "Go away!"

}:I made Solith's rider come. You should be ashamed of yourself! You promised not to drink anymore!:{ Kopth hissed. The dragon's voice bounced painfully around in J'nus' skull. }:It is no good for you, and no good for you to feel so much guilt and anger over something that you cannot change. Ysanth is dead, and we must think of the Wing.:{
**You interfering tunnelsnake! I ought to chop your tail off!** J'nus shot back, half-heartedly. **Go bother someone else.**

}:You are mine, J'nus, and I will not let you go back to being who you once were.:{
**Leave me alone.** The bronzerider scowled as the banging on the door was repeated. "GO AWAY!"

The door swung open with enough force to bounce against the wall, and Kenza stepped inside and slammed it behind her. "Fine, if you're not going to be polite, then I don't have to!"

"Didn't you hear me?! I am in no mood for visitors." J'nus noticed distantly that his hands were shaking with anger at the intrusion. Of all the people at Dragonsfall Weyr, Kenza was high on the list of people he didn't want to deal with right now. "Or did you come to berate me too?"

Her eyebrows drew together as she caught the shaking of his hands, taking it for proof of his intoxication. "Don't you take that tone with me," she snarled, stalking across the room. "If you can't keep your head on straight for yourself, you fool, you could at least have a care for Kopth!"

The bronzerider glared at her. "Are you done, woman?" "Oh, no," Kenza replied, glaring right back. "I'm just getting started."

"Then make it fast so you can haul your ass back the way it came."
J'nus snapped.

She resisted the urge to reach out and shake him. "It would serve you right if I left you here to wallow like the idiot you are! But I happen to _care_ about your sharding stubborn arse."

That just made him feel guilty, and he didn't have anything to say so he offered her a drink instead. "Tastes like turpentine," he said, halfways apologetic.

It was far too tempting, so Kenza snatched the alcohol away and set it down on a table with a thud. "No! What good is it going to do?"

"The drunker I get, the worse my hearing gets." J'nus scowled at the greenrider, angry that she'd turned him down and still dared steal his bottle. "And right now, that's a sharding good option. So if you can't shut up, then get out."

"Oh, are you saying you want me to speak up?" she demanded, leaning in so that her face was a mere handspan from his own. "Sober up, J'nus. Dunk yourself in your bathing pool, do whatever you have to do... but _stop drinking_."

"This, coming from you?" J'nus sneered at her. "Come on, Kenza. I've seen you tottering back to your weyr thousands of times, you hypocrite! You have no sharding right to barge in here and tell me what to do in my own sharding weyr."

"You don't want me here?" she snapped, pulling back. "Throw me right on out. If you even can in your condition."

The bronzerider felt his temper snap. Between his own guilt and the greenrider's harping, he'd had enough. "Fine." Kenza failed to notice the warning signs. "Fine? Fine, what? Fine, you're going to throw me out?"

He lunged to his feet, planting his shoulder squarely in Kenza's middle. The greenrider gave a little *chuff* as the air was driven from her as he swung her over his shoulder like a sack of tubers. He marched over to his door, swung it open, and unceremoniously dumped Kenza into the hallway. "Don't give that garbage to me, woman!" he snapped, jabbing an angry finger at her. "Go take a good long look in the mirror before you come after me!"

Once he had retreated to his weyr, Kenza groaned her way to her feet and rubbed at her sore hip. It hadn't been the most satisfying confrontation, but at least he'd proved he was still sober enough to throw her out on her backside. Not the best sign, but she was going to have to make do with it.

Last updated on the October 8th 2006

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Back At You