Unwanted
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Xanadu Weyr - Weyrling Barracks
A long and roughly oblong cavern, about a third of the space is open, used for classes or chores as required. The rest of the space is filled with couches of varying sizes, all with plenty of space between them. Some couches are obviously intended for the very young weyrlings while the largest ones at the back are for the older weyrlings.


The previous day held the weyrlings' first manned flight lesson, and the chilly weather hasn't subdued much from then, not helped by the fact of cloudless skies and a brightly shining sun that shed no heat. It's getting to be towards the evening, just when the sun is starting to set and tinge the sky a soft orange hue. Phylicia is coming in from outside, and Fauikith trailing behind her, the dark forested green licking at her muzzle at a few stray drops of blood from her recent meal. "Clean off your muzzle yourself, Faui. It's too cold to go give you a bath right this moment." The girl chides her dragon as she takes a look around the barracks to see who's present and who is still off doing other things.

The bulk of Taozyuth all but oozes out of his couch, nearly too small for the bronze now that he's reached his full growth. Indeed, there's been talk of moving him to one of the empty queen's couches, though as yet nothing has come of it. It's amazing that that N'shen can even fit in the couch with his friend, but as he has yet to reach his own full growth, his slender form takes little extra space where it's ensconsed between his lifemate's forearms, head resting on the great beast's cheek.

The other weyrlings besides herself and N'shen seem to be out doing their chores, and so its as she notes the now-young man curled up with his dragon that she recalls the expression she's seen on his face too often of late. With a sturdy pat to Fauikith's leg she sees the green settled onto her couch, working at cleaning her muzzle as she crosses the barracks, shedding that long coat of hers and throwing it over her arm. "Hey." She says softly at first, stopping tentatively before offering the bronzer a bit of a smile. "Let me know if it's not my business, but… is everything alright?" By the tone of her voice, she's definitely trying to not be intrusive.

N'shen doesn't turn to look at Phylicia, and his long silence may, indeed, indicate that it isn't any of her business. Then Taozyuth chuffs, somewhat chidingly, and the boy swivels reluctantly, deep green eyes meeting those of his clutchmate. "Hi." After another bit of awkward silence, he sighs softly and shifts, as the bronze behind him adjusts his bulk so that the weyrling can face her in a more comfortable position. "Nah, it's okay. Tao says maybe if I talk to you about it, I can find some peace." That said, he pauses, clearly picking his words carefully. "Ever wish something really bad, then have it come true and realize maybe it's not what you thought it would be?"

Phylicia offers the younger clutchmate, even if he has surpassed her in height. She doesn't make a move to sit down or anything, instead just shifting her feet and adjusting the coat over her arm to a more comfortable position. Its a wonderful thing, the amount of patience Phy has for situations like this, and she pauses for a very long moment as Nash asks his question. "Nn-well… Yes and no." She admits after a few moments, daring to come closer, and maybe even perch on Tao's arm with the other. "I don't think what I wished for turned out to be anywhere near as sour as what you got." She offers softly, pausing again. "What happened?"

Taozyuth rumbles approvingly in his chest, tilting his head so one whirling yellow-green eye can focus on the healer-weyrling. He certainly doesn't object to Phylicia perching on his arm, and if Nash's cheeks grow darker at the girl's close proximity, well, it's hard to tell with his dark skin. "Well." Clearing his throat and looking away from her, the boy focuses on some random point far in the distance. "I always dreamed of finding my father, y'know. Mother refused to tell me who he was - said I didn't need to burden him, being a flight child and all. I always wished I would find him, and he'd be thrilled to claim me." His throat clears again, this time, however, less from embarassment and more from the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "Sometimes dreams just don't come true right."

"Oh." The one word is only slightly drawn out as Phylicia makes herself a bit more comfortable on Taozyuth's forearm, only a few hands away from N'shen. And her coat is draped across her lap now, placed there as she listened to him. "I… take it you found him then." Yes, the fact that he's blushing goes completely over the young woman's head as her brow knits together in concern, leaning forward so she can try to peer at his face. "How… did things go…?" She prompts the younger man again, one hand finally raising from Tao's forearm, to - just maybe - rest between Nash's shoulderblades lightly.

That sharp intake of breath at Phylicia's touch is almost masked as N'shen ducks his head, cheeks growing even darker. Taozyuth chuffs and butts his muzzle ever so lightly against his lifemate, who reaches out to stroke a hand absently over the bronze's muzzle. "Yes. Accidentally. It was -" Enlightening. Embarassing. "Awkward. It's… Oh, Faranth, Phy, it's D'had. And Thea was there. She must hate me now." Two and two come together suddenly, and his head jerks up, dark eyes meeting hers once again. "You're her best friend." The statement is bluntly… well… stated. "And he - he didn't react at all. I mean, he's D'had. He's like… he's.. D'had." Mr. Emotionless in the flesh. "I really like him - kinda even looked up to him, but he doesn't want me…"

Phylicia doesn't seem to credit what she does hear of that intake of breath to her touch, but rather the situation he's relating to her. The hand on his back actually rubs slightly, like she's comforting a friend. Which she is. As he tells her whom his father is she blinks, a little startled. "D'had?" Is asked, per chance a little disbelieving. After all, for some reason she never got on the best with the Weyrsecond. Maybe that's changed. Maybe it hasn't. But she is still Thea's friend. "Why would she hate you, Nash?" Her tone changes from being disbelieving to comforting, her hand stopping its rubbing to lightly grip his opposite shoulder. "It's not like you had a choice in the matter of being born." Oh, they haven't even had that talk yet, and now the thought of flight-babies is running through HER head. But chocolate eyes show a sort of sympathy-pain for N'shen. "Did… he say as much?" That question is quieter than all the rest. It's not something that she really wants to ask.

"No." N'shen's voice is a touch watery as he leans against her hand, his face slightly averted from hers as that blush doesn't seem to want to subside. "He didn't say anything. But Thea ran away as soon as she found out. It's like I lost my real family because of my mother." He sighs softly, rubbing the heel of his hand against his breastbone. "I dunno. I don't want to make the two of them unhappy - maybe I should pretend like nothing was ever said. I'm almost grown, it's not like I need a father or anything, y'know? I can do just fine by myself." Behind him, the bronze chuffs and nudges him. "Okay. We can do just fine by ourselves," he corrects himself, affection for his lifemate flooding his voice as he risks a glance in the greenrider's direction. "Not like it has to be any different, does it?"

Phylicia pauses for a few moments, pondering her own words and the situation. "Thea… can be a bit emotional." The healer-weyrling says after a few moments, knowing her friend well enough to say that much at least. It's not that Phy hasn't noticed his watery tones either, but as much as she'd like to give the other a hug, she's not going to pull him in if he doesn't want one. "You may be almost grown, and I pretty much am, but a family is a nice thing to have." She comments gently, unable to think of what she'd be like without her family. As he looks at her, she first presses her lips together before giving him a sad smile. "It doesn't have to change. If you don't want it to." There's a but coming, and her tone says as much. "But…" There it is. "Would you regret it if you didn't ask? If you didn't try?" Always gentle are her words. Never anything else.

N'shen doesn't seem to be escaping that arm around his shoulders, though he's quite carefully not leaning against her. "I've never had a family," he murmurs softly, green eyes staring hazily off into the distance. "I mean, I had my mother, but she wasn't very, er… well. Motherly. She always told me it was her duty to raise me. Miss Moyra was prolly more of a mother t' me than my own, but she had lots of kids to watch. And D'had…" He trails off, rubbing at his chest again. "I really respect him. I think I'm lucky that he sired me, an' I'd love it if he wanted to be a father to me, s'long as it didn't piss Miss Thea off. I love her," he adds, somewhat dreamily, before coughing. "Not like that. Like a sister, not like…" He glances at Phylicia out of the corner of his eye, coughs again, and hastily looks away. "She's like an older sister. Or a mother," he adds quietly.

If Phylicia wasn't still mooning happily over someone not of their weyrling class, who doesn't even currently reside at the Weyr, she might have maybe caught a faintly implication of something, but as it stands it apparently flies right over her head, and the hand on his shoulder goes back to rubbing comfortingly, since he doesn't lean in for any sort of hug. His admission of love for Thea does still make one of Phylicia's eyebrows quirk upwards. She at least has the decency not to look amused, her face still concerned and serious. "You gain nothing if you don't risk anything, Nash." She says after a few moments. "Give them a few days to mull it over themselves. Then go talk to them." She pauses then, wary of saying anything else since she doesn't know the situation beyond what he's told her. Though at all of the chest rubbing and coughing, she can't help but needle him a little bit. "Are you coming down with a cold?" Well, it wouldn't do to get sick…

"No," Nash says, eyes slying away from her. A bad case of heartbreak maybe, but not a cold. "I guess you're right," he says slowly. "Tao says that the best way to confront a problem is to discuss it in a calm manner - doesn't make no sense to stew over it if you're not going to make an effort to fix it." Wise dragon is wise. "But I wouldn't blame 'em for not wanting anything t' do with me. They have their own family now, th' twins and stuff. Don't need some teenager coming in and breaking that up." Sighing softly, he shakes his head and leans towards her briefly before coughing and straightening up. "Tao says I'm being silly. I probably am," he admits candidly.

Phylicia's arm tightens for that moment he leans towards her, though by no means does she keep him there as he straightens back up. Taozyuth gets a look from her and a bit of a smile before her attention is back on N'shen. "You should listen to him. I think a nice calm talk would do the three of you good." She shakes her head just slightly, offering Nash another smile. "I don't think they'd cut you off." And now, with the major part of the trial over, she does try a small tease to see how his mood is. "But they might conscript you into babysitting, if you're not careful."

"I wouldn't mind," Nash replies, somewhat shyly. "I like kids, and the twins are great." He doesn't get that from either of his parents, for certain. "And I bet Tao and I could keep 'em entertained. But that only depends on if Thea wants me 'round. I guess I'll talk to 'em when they come back - Tao says neither Seryth nor Siebeth are in the Weyr." Tilting his head, he gazes at Phylicia out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks for listenin' to me snivel, Phy. Sorry for bein' a girl and all. Well. A silly girl, not a real girl like you an' Thea." He has an interesting concept of what a 'real' girl is.

"Like I said, Nash, I don't think they'd cut you off." Phylicia insists again, glad that her little tease went over well. And as he appologizes for acting like a girl, both of Phylicia's eyebrows shoot up towards her hairline and she gives him an incredulous look for just a few moments before she starts laughing. "Some people wouldn't exactly call us 'real' girls." She says as that laughter quiets fairly quickly, though she's still amused by the concept. But she gives N'shen a light shoulder-bump with a slightly more subdued grin. "You weren't being a silly girl anyhow. You were being human." Oh, he probably has never seen Phy break down, especially since the girl losing her control is an uncommon thing.

N'shen shrugs a shoulder slightly, then flings his hand up barely in time to catch a yawn. Clearly, the emotional sharing has left the boy a bit drained, and in the nature of the adolescent animal, once he's tired, he's -tired-. "You're better girls'n those silly clunches like that Avani girl," he says, somewhat primly. "At least you care about more'n your hair or some marriage. I like girls that know how t' live." He offers her a slightly shy smile before his eyes slide away, and he deliberately leans into Tao. "Thanks for listenin', Phy. I hope I can return th' favor someday - or rather, I hope there's never a need, but if there is, I'm here for ya, y'know?"

Phylicia definitely wasn't a fan of Avani by any means, and the healer-girl can take a hint as N'shen leans into Tao. She lets her arm slide from around his shoulder before she's sliding from Tao's forearm, headed back to likely echo the position - or be found in a rather similar one - with Faui. His shy smile prompts another, broader one from her and she gives a small nod of her head. "You're welcome, Nash." She murmurs, letting the young man settle for either sleep or a nap. "And I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." And then she's moving back across the barracks, to her own (smaller) couch. There's a welcoming whuff from Faui, whose muzzle is now free of dinner.

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