Poke Poke Poke

Writers: Devin, Miriah
Date Posted: 22nd February 2014

Characters: Cosani, J'ackt
Description: Cosani questions Jenackt
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 14 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Sh'del, N'vanik

Cosani

J'ackt

Cosani spotted the Candidate and headed straight for his table. She'd
seen him before, sitting as far away from others as he could get. She
plonked down her tray across from Jenackt. "Hi," she said, resisting
the urge to get straight to the point.

His gaze shot up, staring at the strange girl through locks of hair.
He glanced around and then back at her. "Uh..hi. Do you want something?"

"There's a rumor that you were holdless. Is that true?"

**Well, that's abrupt.** Jenackt stared at her and his eyes twitched
slightly in response as his lips thinned. His eyes flicked to her
knots and then back to her face before his own expression deepened
into a frown. "That's the rumor." He picked up his eating knife to
stab at a piece of meat. "Why?"

Cosani frowned at the lack of a straight answer. Leaning on the table,
she said, "I want to know what it's like."

He went still for a long moment and slowly looked up at her, slowly
putting his knife down on the table. His voice was soft. "Why would
you want to know? Why would you care?"

"I want to know if I could've done it. Were you alone? Did you go
hungry?" As bad as life in the hold had been, Cosani had been too
afraid to leave when she was young.

Jenackt stared at her with open disbelief. "Are you insane? Why would
you even want to?" He pushed away his plate and crossed his arms on
the table to stare at her. His words were bitingly sharp. "I had to
steal. I had to kill anything I could to eat. I've eaten things that
most people would throw up at the thought of...because I was hungry.
I've gone days without food. I spent nearly two turns completely
alone...with no one to talk to and when I did meet someone they either
tried to arrest me, beat me or kill me. And you're curious?"

It sounded as awful as she'd feared. "If it was that bad, why didn't
you come to the Weyr sooner?"

"You make it sound like I wanted to come here." He ground out. "I
didn't come here by choice. I was brought here." He exhaled. "I was
sick and hurt and I was brought here and I suppose I'm grateful for
it." He spoke a little more quieter. "But now, I'm stuck here."

"Stuck here instead of starving and afraid for your life?" She gave
him a skeptical look. "Unless you were exaggerating."

He met her gaze evenly, his own narrowed. "You wouldn't understand."

Cosani crossed her arms. "Try me."

"Fine." He bit out and leaned forward, getting annoyed. She wanted to
know, so he'd tell her. "I was free. I made my own choices. I could go
where I wanted, when I wanted. If I was hungry, it was because of what
I did or didn't do. It was what I knew. All that I knew. And then I
come here and everything I do is watched. I'm told what to do, when to
do it and mostly, that it's wrong. And I am supposed to bow, say thank
you and bend over to take it because I'm potential Thread fodder."

"I guess I can see that, if you're used to doing whatever you want."
What would her life had been like, if she'd left turns earlier? "Were
you born holdless? Or did you run away?"

His jaw tightened visibly. This girl was intrusive...no one else had
dared just come out and ask him these things, just out of curiosity.
His teeth ground together. "Like I said...it was all that I knew." He
didn't want to go into what little he knew of his family history.

An idea occurred to her and her eyes widened. "Were your parents criminals?"

Jenackt rose so fast that his chair clattered to the ground behind him
with a crash. "My mother was no criminal."

Cosani arched an eyebrow. "I was asking, not accusing."

"And I'm done answering questions from a complete stranger." He picked
up his chair, righting it. Appetite gone, he picked up his plate and
began stalking off.

Cosani hesitated for a moment before she got up to follow him. "I'm
Cosani, of green Shalith. I ran away from a hold, and I just wondered
if I could have survived like you did." Living holdless had never been
her intent but she was still curious.

Bloody ashes, she was following him? Aware of the scene she was making
and far to aware that most of his actions were reported to Sh'del, not
to mention N'vanik, he didn't whirl on her and yell his reply.
Struggling to keep his temper, he emptied his plate into a rubbish bin
and shoved it into the receptacle for dirty dishes. He spoke slowly,
anger lacing his words. "If you grew up in a hold, then I doubt you
could have."

That stung, but he was probably right. "I managed for a little while,
at least. Long enough to make it to the Weyr. But you're right, it
wasn't easy." More than anything, she'd been afraid of being caught
and sent back.

"So, what...we're kindred spirits now?" He snorted.

She smirked. "More like you're a Master and I never made it past
apprentice."

He turned to look at her again. "Well, it's nothing you have to worry
about learning now, is it?"

"True. Having a dragon means I never, ever have to go back." She knew
she could have stayed even if she hadn't Impressed, but it would have
taken a long time for that fact to sink in.

"Then there's no point to these questions, now is there?"

And people said she had attitude problems. "Haven't you ever wondered
about your life, how it might have been different?"

"No. What's the point? Wondering wouldn't change anything."

"I guess there isn't one." She shrugged. "It's just something people do."

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Only if they think there's another
option."

"Well you have options now. I know you think you're trapped, but the
Weyr means opportunity." Maybe it wasn't as clear to a man as it had
been to her.

Jenackt looked at her one brow arched. "Oh yes. Opportunity. Loads of it. "

"You must think there's _some_ opportunity. You're wearing Candidate knots."

"It wasn't my idea. The Weyrleader insisted after I was Searched and
it was either wear these knots or be stuck in the kitchens all day
with the headwoman breathing down my neck. " His lips thinned. " Are
you finished trying to enlighten me on the wonders of the weyr?"

She chuckled. "All right, I'll let you go. See you around, Candidate."
He was interesting, and fun to poke at.

He snorted. "Hope not."

Last updated on the February 28th 2014

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