See Me After Class [D'rew/Joia]

[Zen]

D'rew, No'va :: Brown Alduntulath

Other than Joia and Tellamuth’s… mishap, all the other first Betweens had gone just fine. None of the weyrlings had been lost and D’rew was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after the lesson came to an end. He had sent most of the class on their way. The rest of the day was theirs, but a couple needed speaking to first. Having set No’va some additional visualization exercises to be worked out with his dragon, on the brown’s own suggestion, he let the pair go and made his way toward where Joia and Tellamuth were waiting. His final private talk of the lesson.

No’va hesitated, watching D’rew walk away toward his friend. Do you think we should wait for them? I don’t imagine they would like an audience for this conversation. No’va frowned, but figured the brown was right and climbed up onto his back once more. D’rew’s words of warning were still heavy in his mind. Betweening during Threadfall, when there are an incredible amount of distractions, can be the only thing that saves your life. He would need to work hard on his visualizations, being able to keep them up despite outside distractions and internal ones, or he and Aldy weren’t going to last very long as Threadfighters. Running one hand over the black hide on the back of his dragon’s neck, he gave a mental prod for him to lift off and return to their weyr, leaving D’rew and Joia some privacy. Tell them good luck for me. Aldy rumbled, half amused, and reached out to Tellamuth to Joia both, Good luck.

D’rew had calmed down quite a bit since the incident. With no other issues, it helped. So when he reached the white and his rider, he was no longer pale and wild eyed, and he was able to approach the conversation with a much clearer head, and calmer tone. First and most importantly, “Joia, are you and Tellamuth alright?” The girl had appeared shaken initially upon their return, and he felt a bit guilty he hadn’t exactly checked up on her right away. Maybe he should have. But he then again he didn’t think he’d have been half as calm about it if he had. “What happened? Where did you both go?”

Alyx

[Alyx]

Joia and White Tellamuth

Neither Joia nor her dragon had paid much attention to the rest of the class as they’d finished their turns in the lesson. Joia for her part kept her attention firmly locked on Tellamuth’s eye ridges, her fingers shaking as she traced the curve of them over and over. I’m sorry. The voice threaded among her thoughts, and she smiled in spite of herself. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong.’ But I got you in trouble. ‘You only did what I asked of you, Tell… no one can blame you for that. You just did it more… literally? Right?’ The dragon chuckled in her mind, but it was halfhearted at best.

The pair waited, silently, as the class got the last finishing lecture from D’rew, then were freed to do whatever. Joia could almost feel the eyes on her; E’san, Muze, the others… how many were seeing her as a screw up right now? It wasn’t until Tell told her D’rew was talking with No’va that Joia remembered she’d planned to find out what had happened on his flight before she messed hers up. The White pair talked, softly even though no one could hear, trying to sort out some explanation or defense for the scolding they expected to get.

As the teacher turned their way, she felt Tellamuth rumble against her back. Alduntulath says good luck. Joia gave a soft snort of laughter. ‘Tell him thank you. And will catch up with them later.’ Thank you. Joia says we’ll come find you later. She looked up; the brown already in flight, and D’rew was closing the distance to them. She braked, but when he reached her, the tones were much softer then she expected.

Were they both alright? Joia managed a little smile but didn’t stand up, Tellamuth’s head still in her lap. “I think so? It was... more than a little scary, I guess. I thought I was going to throw up when we touched down, to be honest, but… I think we are okay now? I mean, it didn’t bother Tellamuth at all, he was fine the whole time.” The Dragon lifted his head, eyes spinning at D’rew slightly. The next question was a little harder to answer, and Joia should have thought faster.

Perhaps it would be better to ask ‘When’ rather than ‘where’. Tellamuth’s casual answer made Joia laugh, looking at the White for a moment, then back to their teacher. “That’s what he told me too when I asked.” Joia shifted to pull her feet under her, then stood slowly; her knees were numb from sitting as long as she had, but she got her feet fairly steady. She looked around like she expected to see someone else, but they were still alone. She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself, and finally looked back at D’rew.

“We were talking about that… while we were waiting for you to finish with the class, and then No’va, and.. I think the best explanation I’ve figured out is that Tellamuth took the image you had us memorize very… literally?” She tilted her head, watching the man’s face. Tellamuth turned his head, looking in the direction of the man’s Blue. I asked Sabanth where you were when we came out first; he said you were speaking with the Goldriders. I assume it was the meeting before the lesson you gave us the image at?

The White was so casual about the whole thing, which made it so much more maddening for Joia. She uncrossed her arms and made a noise in her throat. “It wasn’t on purpose, I promise, D’rew. I would never risk Tell like that, ever ever ever! I mean, I after the last hatching, and Riyobith and Aleni and all that… I didn’t even...” She drug in a breath, fighting the instant rush of tears. Tellamuth flooded her mind, making her feel stronger then she knew she was. She took a couple of quick breaths, and then managed to look at D’rew again without crying. “I am sorry if we messed up. We’ll try not to do it again?”

Zen

[Zen]

D'rew :: Blue Sabanth

D’rew was glad to hear that Joia had at least recovered from her venture, wherever it had taken her. He was just intensely relieved, and also a little surprised, that they had made it back on their own, especially if what seemed to have happened had indeed happened. Sabanth had compared them to how the rest of the Weyr felt to him, back in their normal time. Had they gone back to then somehow? That had been his first thought, anyway. “I’m glad you’re both okay,” he told them, waiting to hear just where they had gone.

His gaze shifted to the white as the dragon decided to answer the question, in a sense, instead of his rider. When. So they had indeed timed it. Joia laughed and D’rew frowned as the girl finally got to her feet. His brow furrowed slightly at her explanation. Tellamuth had taken the image literally…? The white offered more to the conversation and D’rew wasn’t sure if it was better that they’d gone back instead of forward or not. It had only been a jump of several days, rather than turns. He ran his hand over his face, wondering about just how it had happened. If Tellamuth had taken the image literally, as Joia had said… she had given him an image she had kept in her mind from days ago. Was it really that easy to accidentally time it? He would think there’d be more of it happening if that was the case.

Sabanth, do you remember Tellamuth asking about us? No. Perhaps it was too long ago for me to remember, the blue offered apologetically. Don’t worry about it. It likely had been too long… yet Tellamuth recalled details from that day. He studied the white dragon momentarily and once again wished they were back in their normal time so he might find some records or resources about white dragons. He disliked flying blind. He was meant to be their teacher and he had nothing to go off.

As Joia explained that they hadn’t meant to time it, looking to be getting upset once more, he sighed and shook his head, “It’s… alright, Joia. I don’t believe you would try it on purpose. I’m just beyond relieved it worked out and you’re both… still here.” He cleared his throat a bit, mustering up a bit of a smile, “Perhaps, in future, do try to amend any visualizations to be more current?” He glanced between the young rider and her dragon, “To be honest… I’m a bit surprised you managed to make it back on your own. Your first time Betweening tends to be stressful and scary enough. That you were able to pull together a successful return image is impressive.”

Alyx

[Alyx]

Joia and White Tellamuth

Joia was both surprised and relieved at how well D’rew took their explanation. If the rolls had been reversed, Joia wasn’t sure she would have been as understanding one of her students giving her such a wild rabbit story. She leaned back against Tellamuth’s side, feeling the penned up stress drain away as D’rew continued to muse over the whole incident. She nodded gently, wanting to forget it for the most part, but also knowing it was possible could keep her from doing it in the future. Well, doing it unplanned in the future, at least.

“Perhaps, in future, do try to amend any visualizations to be more current?” Joia couldn’t help the little outburst of laughter that escaped her lips, her eyes dancing at the Bluerider. “Oh, trust me, I’ll be putting as much current into any images I give Tellamuth from now on as I can. I don’t want to suddenly end up jumping days again. Here it thought my biggest worry was that horror story of the weyrling jumping himself into a wall. Now I have to worry about that and time too?” As if it wasn’t complicated enough.

Tellamuth rumbled softly, his voice threading into the minds of the riders. I will remind you. Joia gave the dragon a smirk. “Much appreciated.” Sometimes, having a dragon with a better memory then you did come in handy. She shrugged softly when the man said he was surprised they came back out, her eyes uncomfortable. “Well, I mean… I am too, kinda.” Joia shifted from heel to heel, her eyes on the ground for a long, tense moment before she could even look at D’rew again.

“It wasn’t a very good image coming back, honestly. I was rushing, and I wasn’t thinking. I just… tried to remember what it looked like when we left, then pictured you and Sabanth in the sky over the rocks and Tellamuth did the rest?” The White didn’t seem bothered by his rider’s confession, calming watching the exchange with that wise old man look Joia was starting to get used to.

Zen

[Zen]

D'rew

With Tellamuth including him in the conversation, D’rew eyed the white curiously, not for the first time, as he assured his rider that he would ‘remind her’. Under normal circumstances he would have found the white’s words amusing, perhaps taken them as a joke. Dragon memory was notoriously short, but with Tellamuth he just wasn’t sure. There was so much he didn’t know. Were white dragons really that different from the rest of their peers?

Joia had seemed like she was starting to relax, now that she wasn’t in any real trouble over the ordeal, but suddenly she seemed a little off again. Her explanation that her return image likely hadn’t been anything he would have approved before they’d made the return jump had him frowning and brow furrowing, both in concern and confusion. If it was a rushed image, only their second jump Between, by all rights they should have been lost. Not that he wasn’t grateful they weren’t.

More than that it was her statement that Tellamuth had ‘done the rest’ that really had him baffled. He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that, but he had a guess, and it didn’t make sense. Dragons needed their rider to give them proper coordinates to come out of Between. If Joia hadn’t given Tellamuth a proper image then… she was saying the white had filled it in himself? Part of him wanted to test that and another could hardly justify the risk. Particularly not today. Joia had been through enough of a scare.

D’rew cleared his throat lightly, “I’d like to talk to you both more about your experience, but as long you’re not going to try something like that any time soon, I think you should try to enjoy the rest of your day off. Our Between practice is going to be more intense than it would usually be for a weyrling class, due to our circumstances. Rest up and try to shake it off, and remember the lesson you learned today to apply to our future practices.” He offered Joia a genuine smile then, “I really am glad you’re both alright.”

He might have to bring the goldriders into their next conversation, as he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the information, if what Joia had insinuated was true.

Alyx

[Alyx]

Joia and White Tellamuth

If Tellmuth noticed D’rew’s looks, he didn’t seem bothered with them this time. The White regarded the man back with the same gentle, serene aura he used often to calm his rider, taking the whole conversation in a way that felt like he’d done it all before. Joia was more relieved than anything else that she didn’t get more than a surprised look when she commented on their ‘sloppy return’ image, and secretly swore she would do better to both remain calm and not screw up again.

You didn’t screw up. Tellamuth’s voice slipped into her thoughts, quiet and supportive as always. ‘I know, I know. But it feels like it?’ He gave her that, the warm rush of comforting arms pulling her into a hug washing over her as D’rew prepared to send the pair on their way. While the thought of talking more about the whole mess still made Joia’s stomach twist a little, she nodded. Probably better to talk it threw before it happened again. Better controlled then accidental. Right? Correct.

“I promise, D’rew. I won’t try it on my own.” Joia gave the man a smile, hoping she looked as sincere as she was trying to sound. Relaxing the rest of the day sounded great, actually. As soon as the man cut them free, she was reaching for Tellmuth’s straps. We should go to Alduntulath and N’ova. They will want to know what happened. And that we aren’t grounded. ‘Right. Okay, Let’s go then.’ Tellamuth watched for D’rew to be clear, then opened his opalescent wings into the sun.

With a shove, the pale dragon launched into the sky, folding over himself, and winging it toward the Brown pair’s weyr. Joia felt the stress drain away as the wind whistled past them, tugging at the freed strands of brunette hair. ‘Hey Tellamuth?’ Yes? ‘Do you think we could do that again? On purpose I mean?' The Dragon’s momentum slowed. Possibly? Why do you ask? ‘Just… a memory, I suppose. Something that didn’t make sense before, but does now? I’ll explain later.’ As you wish.

The White was curious, interest still vibrating between the pair as he glided into land near the painted Brown. N’ova was going to have so many questions, Joia hoped she could answer them when he stopped long enough to breath. Smiling, she freed herself from the straps and dropped off the White’s back, slipping into the weyr to find her friend.

(Zen All done!!)