Informational {tags C'rin}

[Nai-ru]

((-weeps for joy at being able to put {tags C'rin} in the title-))

Theo was going to beat the crap out of C'rin. Or she could have been going to do so if she could move more than a few inches at a time. Or see properly. Or think coherently.

...Meh.

She didn't need much brain function to be aware that it was time to kick the crap out of him. She sends him off to make peace, and what does he do? He gets in a knife fight. Lykath had nearly given her a heart attack (as if she needed any other health problems) suddenly screaming that her Mith-squish had been stabbed by some horrible, psycho Holder.

She had tried to sit up and scream "WHAT?!" Mostly she had succeeded in giving herself a coughing fit she hadn't been able to recover from for twenty minutes.

When C'rin came back, he hadn't come to tell her about it, leaving her chafing instead. She got a semi-story from Lykath, who got it from Mith, who got it partially from his own brain and partially from fairytale land. It was hard to tell with Mith.

Anyway.

But eventually she had (sort of) beat the story out of him, and it was not helping.

But then she gotten some interesting information. And she needed to share it with the lovely Weyrleader, who had blatantly refused all requests by Healers for him to stay out of the sickroom.

Theo was not happy. For herself, she was in a lot of pain and incapable of doing anything much more than thinking about that pain, and for everybody else she worried that they were entirely lost without her.

She wanted to squish her baby. Where was a sickness-proof Teydrin when you needed her?!!

Ahem.

But it was time for an informational session, and C'rin was bloody well going to listen like the civilized human being he most certainly wasn't.

[blacklight]

Of course C'rin had gotten into a knife fight. What else was he supposed to do when there were annoying, smelly Holders getting all up in his business? Honestly, he didn't know why Theo hadn't thought of it herself. Maybe she was only angy at him because she was jealous she didn't get to attack them herself. Had they stabbed her dragon, he wouldn't get upset at her for bringing about the slow and painful deaths of many men. No. He would have helped her quite gladly. Stupid Holders. Stupid, smelly Holders blaming everything on the dragonriders. Pah!

Deeeeep breath, Mith cooed, though he sounded a bit off. He had been acting a little odd. Well, more odd than usual.
What? C'rin's mindvoice was as deadpan as ever as he stalked the halls on his way to Theo.
Take one. You're getting angry. Again.
So?
It's unhealthy!

C'rin just rolled his eyes and decided to tune the Darkness out as he rambled on about...something. He swore the dragon was spouting nonsense more than half the time now. There wasn't enough room in the man's brain to listen to everything. Nooo, there was already enough things in his head that he was ignoring. Disturbing things. Things that invovled-

"Theo," his voice was as deadpan as his mind. He might have been happy to see her, but that was something he was repressing. As usual. "I'm going to enjoy seeing how you try to sound intelligent today," oh there, he sounded chipper now. If one thing never failed, it was his love of other people's pain. And seeing Theo try to talk was enjoyable.

Right? Maybe....no, it was! C'rin nodded sagely, assuring himself that's what it was. The way his heart squeezed when she went into her fits was joy, nothing else.

Mith snorted.

[Nai-ru]

Theo made an attempt at a decent glare. He was just lucky she couldn't throw anything at him, because there was a very convenient potted plant just here by her bed that would be very helpful. She was propped up on a pile of pillows because she had stared at the Healer until he did what she wanted, regardless what he thought of it. She missed Baran. He always worked away like a good little slave and never did stupid things.

"Bastard," she muttered, voice hoarse. Why was it that the longer she knew him the worse he behaved? It was like he was deliberately worsening his behavior. That, and the better he knew her the more ways he discovered to bother her.

"I just got a message in concerning your little.... escapade." She paused. She was trying so hard to be civil to him. She wasn't going to go crazy at him for it again. It was sharing politics, but the bloody man seemed incapable of understanding the term "diplomacy."

"Apparently, not a one of the men who were there have died, or even gotten sick. Those who were sick got better immediately. A rather-" she stopped, trying to remember what she was talking about as she turned her head to the side to cough. The Healers had been horrified upon finding some of their patients coughing up blood, but it had been determined that this was only the effect of coughing their throats raw, and nothing to do with the lungs. Which was a freaking relief.

"A rather insistent message came in from the Masterhealer," she continued stubbornly, "questioning me on any reason for this. Apparently the local Healer mentioned it in a missive, and now the sharding man thinks we're hoarding antidotes. Do you know anything about it?" Faranth, she could barely hear her own voice. If he taunted her, she'd drag herself off her sickbed by her fingernails if she had to in order to strangle him.

[blacklight]

He just smiled brilliantly at her when she started off with name calling. It was the most charming he could or ever would look - when someone paid him the attention he wanted. Like something a kid would do. And C'rin seemed to keep regressing to childish tactics to show his affect-...disdain for being around Theo. He really was worsening his behavior. There had been moments in the past when he'd gotten lax in his jerkish image, but now that Theo wasn't around to throw him off his game, he had plenty of time to refine the image back to what it had been.

When she mentioned his 'escapade' he brightened even further. Though he'd been furious at the time (and still was when he really thought about it) he had gathered some pride on the subject. He could have taken those Holders if Mith had let him. And of course, the news that none of them had died...

"What?" he sputtered on the word, face twisting unhappily. None of them were dead? None? Not a one? But he'd wanted all of them dead so badly! Perhaps he hadn't done a good enough job. Perhaps he needed to go back, pay them another visit. His mind wandered off while Theo was busy coughing. He didn't seem to notice what she was doing or her pain as he grumbled about his rotten luck. Mith himself took a bit to recover from the knifing, so why had all of them survived? Too bad he hadn't Impressed a dragon with a mean streak. Oh yes, he grinned. That would have been nice to see Mith angry and tearing through those pesky men.

She's talking again...
What would C'rin do without Mith?

Okay, what had she just said? Something about antidotes, the Masterhealer, hording and knowing something. About the antidote. There was an antidote?
She's asking if you know anything about why they healed up so quickly, Mith supplied.
Again, what whould he do without him?

"Uh...I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just sharding mad that none of them died," he snorted, arms crossing. "They deserve to, after what they did to Mith...can I go back and make sure they die?" It sounded like he was begging, really it did. He didn't care anything about antidotes or Masterhealers. He was frustrated about...things...and needed to release some energy.

[Nai-ru]

"No," Theo said sharply. "This is serious, C'rin. If something happened at that gathering that could be important, you need to tell me. People are dying, C'rin, because no one can find an antidote. This is not the time for childish games."

Honestly, she just wanted to kill him. MOVE, LIMBS! But, of course, they wouldn't. Lykath was relieved about that, because a non-moving Mine was a Mine who wasn't hurting herself or her squish-Mith/Mith-squish/whatever, but Theo was definitely not having any good feelings about this particular side effect.

"What's wrong with you?" she said, frustrated. "I understand that you're upset about Mith- you know I was furious, and I'm still very angry that that happened. But..." She trailed off, unable to express the enormity of her disgust for his flippant view of the lives of hundreds of innocent people.

Of whom she was one!

Indignance. Though probably he wouldn't much care if she died, except it would dump more work on him. She wrote off his less-than-mocking behavior earlier as surprise, or maybe as a new game for toying with her. Maker her think he gives a shard, and then yank it away for a laugh.

Ha-bloody-ha.

Look at her laughing.

She sighed.

"If there's anything," she repeated, hopelessly. If he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't, and that was that. It didn't matter to him, after all. He wasn't getting sick, and, that being the case, the only two in the world he cared about were safe- himself and Mith. She wasn't really sure if he cared about Minnie.

[blacklight]

Sometimes C'rin wondered how he felt about Minnie. The little thing was like Lykath, only a little more sane. And more quiet. And less annoying. The tiny Mist liked to hang around Mith, so as long as he stayed away from his beloved Darkness he didn't have to think about his feelings for Minnie. Of course, it wasn't so easy with Theo. She kept calling him in to talk about things, which meant he had to see her. Which meant he had to think about her. He tried not to think about her on a regular basis, really. It was easier to care when she wasn't around as much.

But he was thinking about it now, and so C'rin took the effort to stop thinking about her and think about something else. Like how angry he'd been when the Holder had stabbed Mith. All that ichor had gotten evereywhere. As angry as it had been, it was amusing seeing those Holders covered in it.

He snickered, not at all listening to Theo. As usual. C'rin knew what she was saying anyway. Not a game, blah blah blah, this is serious, yak yak yak, I need an answer because I'm so high and mighty. She probably even asked him what was wrong with his attitude in that exasperated way she did. He flipped a hand at her to signal his not caring - a move practiced well through years of not caring.

Not that it meant he didn't care about Theo - he did, though it would still be a long time before he admitted it or even realized it - it just showed that he wasn't paying attention to her.

"I guess I can let them get away with it," he grumbled, lips pursing slightly. "The indignity of be covered in dragon ichor was bad enough for them. I bet those clothes are ruined now," again he sounded entirely pleased about this turn of events. At least he was making an effort to let go of the idea involving killing.

[Nai-ru]

((-hugs C'rin- I MISSED HIM SO MUCH! >=DDDDDDDDD))

Theo's eye twitched, but that was about as far as she was going to get in expressing her fury. He had flapped his hand at her. Again. Where was a pointy weapon and the ability to use it when you needed it?! Totally unfair.

Just as he knew what she was talking about, she knew at least the gist of what he was thinking. Oh, no reason to listen to Theo, she's just giving me a responsibility rant, who cares anyway? I've never met any of those people, and I don't particularly care about the ones I have, so why should it bother me if they're dying in horrible ways?

Yes, strangling him was sounding really good about now.

She made a face. "C'rin," she said, but didn't add anything else, because there was nothing to say.

There was silence for a moment.

"I'll have someone send a message back to the Masterhealer talking about the ichor, if that's all. Who knows? Maybe there's a component that could be helpful. We're grabbing at straws, anyway.... you're sure there was nothing else?"

[blacklight]

(( >w< ))

It was nice how well they knew each other. Perhaps this was why he deemed Theo tolerable. She understood what he was thinking without him having to put forth the effort of explaining it. It was always so troublesome when he had to explain things, especially when someone was pressuring him to. He prefered to do things in his own time. What he wanted, when he wanted. That sounded right.

Yes, it was nice that Theo could read his mind dead-on.

Dead. C'rin pursed his lips further when the word repeated itself in his mind. If he couldn't figure out what made the Holders well, Theo would be dead.

But...why should he care? He didn't. Right. Moving on.

...

But maybe he could volunteer to take the message and then go visit the Holders...ask them a few questions...

No. That would be helpful. Theo might suspect something; if he was going to do something nice, he certainly didn't want anyone knowing about it.

"That was about it. Yelling, fighting, stabbing, bleeding. Mith roared," he added, as if that was something helpful.

It hurt. Of course I roared.

[Nai-ru]

"Somehow I doubt being roared out helped anyone," Theo informed C'rin primly. "You're making strange faces," she added. He did a lot of weird things, but he didn't usually make faces. Oh, well. It really wasn't any of her business if he wanted to make faces.

I'm sorry you got hurt, Mith, she put in to Mith directly. It really isn't fair that you had to go. How are you feeling? Is it all healed up? She felt guilty about that- after all, she had been the one to send Mith and C'rin. And, what with the disease, he had only ended up having the briefest visit from a Healer.

She sighed. "You can leave," she told C'rin. He obviously didn't want anything to do with her, so she'd do him a favor. Plus, he was annoying the shard out of her.

[blacklight]

"Well," he propped a hand on his hip, a little upset that she had just disregarded his effort to be helpful. He went to the trouble of trying to do something good for once and she just made him feel stupid. That was why he never tried to be helpful or nice. Theo just made him regret it. He made another face and crossed his arms. See if he ever tried to be nice again.

"Sor-ry," he snorted. The apology was more about the strange faces than anything else. "I guess I wont bother you any longer." She obviously didn't want him there. She called him in, got what she wanted and dismissed him. Even if he'd wanted to stay and see how she was doing, she was kicking him out.

He made another face and purposefully stayed where he was. If she wanted him to leave, he wouldn't do it. C'rin huffed and pulled up a chair, leaning back against it and enjoying his mobility. "It must be horrible, that whole not moving thing," he commented lightly. He did mean it, but it probably wasn't the most considerate thing to say.

I am fine, thank you for asking. C'rin tells me I will have a scar, but not to worry because scars are cool. It was doubtful that C'rin had actually used the word 'cool' but Mith seemed to enjoy it. It only hurts from time to time. Not now. I feel fine now.

[Nai-ru]

Theo scowled at him.

"Yes, it is rather awful, thank you very much," she said. Lucky bastard, couldn't get sick. She wasn't sure why that was, but he was lucky for it anyway. He seemed intent on being horrible to her. Also, he didn't seem to be very willing to leave.

Fine. If he didn't want to leave, she was going to talk to him. It was horribly boring sitting there. She couldn't even do paperwork. Which sucked anyway.

"Have you..." she hesitated, aware that he was probably going to mock her for asking about this, "...Have you visited Teydrin recently?" She missed her daughter, and people probably wouldn't even tell her if the little girl was sick, for fear of upsetting her. Of course, the fact was that she would probably do something stupid and would indeed be very upset, but logic didn't count.

The uninfected children, under the care of Bel, who was also apparently one of those luckies who couldn't get sick, had been moved to a small house just inside the Weyrbowl wall to avoid the sickness. As far as she'd heard they were all healthy, but she couldn't be sure.

[blacklight]

Oh great. She was going to insist on chatting him up as if she'd wanted him to stay all along. That's why he hated women. They were always manipulating people and making them do things. Oh, it started out innocent enough. She told him to leave, knowing full well that he wouldn't. Maybe she'd manipulated him. Curse that woman! He was already sitting, so it would just be dumb to stand up and leave. And he wasn't about to look stupid.

You always look stupid, Mine. Because you act it, Mith informed him nonchalantly. C'rin ignored it. He'd been ignoring Mith a lot recently. The dragon had gotten mouthy.

"They wouldn't let me see Teydrin the last time I tried," he mumbled. He had tried more than once, as he had refused to let the child go. He still felt as protective over his little girl as he had when Theo suddenly appeared with her. "Something about carrying the sickness on me, even if I'm not actually sick."

He was being fairly serious about the matter, which might have been surprising. There were few things he was serious about, and his child was one of them. How could he make fun of Theo for wanting to know abouot Teydrin when he was constantly trying to find ways to break into the little house? Bel was a clever one when it came to keeping the children safe.

"I'm sure she's healthy, though," he read the concern in her hesitation fairly accurately. "Bel isn't one to let our child get sick." He still referred to Teydrin as their child, even if he wasn't supposed to. Even if it was a little weird with how he treated Theo. What a weird...family?

[Nai-ru]

Yours is astonishingly stubborn, Mith, Lykath said to her mate. She didn't talk much now, lapsing most often into pensive silences. Is he incapable of behaving himself? Sure, the man wasn't acting up this very second, but it was only a matter of time before he started in again.

"Oh," Theo said, disappointed. She hadn't thought of that. But if that was what was best for Teydrin... "I suppose that makes sense." She certainly didn't want Teydrin to get sick. The thought of it made her want to curl up and die now rather than later. Or kill something with her bare hands. At the moment, the first seemed a more reachable goal.

"No, she isn't," she agreed- a historical moment, she was agreeing with C'rin. She wasn't sure if she wanted to smile or frown at C'rin's use of the word "our." Scratch that count of people who mattered to him- she supposed it was three. There was no doubt that he cared about Teydrin, despite the fact that the little girl was, in fact, half Theo. She'd been worried about that, but it didn't seem to bother him.

[blacklight]

Indeed. Though he is less astonishingly stubborn now than he was when I first chose him, Mith would never say anything absolutely negative about His. He can behavior himself when he wants, but usually people like that less than when he is not behaving himself. Which was true. Seeing C'rin act like a gentleman was just weird.

C'rin nodded. Of course it made sense that he couldn't see Teydrin. In general, of course it made sense because he said it. Everything he said made sense. To him. There are times when Mith didn't understand him.

Finally, someone agreed with him on something. Despite the fact that he was being reasonable for once, he was glad that Theo had the same view as he did on this matter. His eyes dropped to his hands, which were playing with the hem of his riding jacket. Was he...nervous? Maybe. No. He couldn't be. There was no reason to be, but he was fidgeting. C'rin tended to fidget while having civil conversation for extended periods of time.

"So..." he searched for something to say, as Theo hadn't helped bring up a new topic. Okay C'rin, think. Don't ask how she's feeling, because she's obviously not feeling well. Don't try to be nice, she'll just be upset about it. He didn't know what else to do, so he just sat there, staring off and away from her, fidgeting with his jacket.

C'rin was a bit of a social recluse. He didn't know how to handle conversation.

[Nai-ru]

"So?" Theo asked, raising an eyebrow. "So what?" People generally didn't just say 'so' and have nothing to follow it up with, especially not people who refused to leave a room. Then again, this was C'rin, so maybe logic wasn't a factor.

But he was fidgeting. What was with that? Did C'rin fidget? Theo tried to think through the incredible annoyance of being terminally ill. She had for the reason of function refused all painkillers, because, frankly, she had seen C'rin on painkillers, and if he was that bad then she never, ever, ever wanted to take painkillers.

Ever.

But, no, she couldn't really recall that C'rin fidgeted constantly. Huh. Maybe it was a result of being in charge for too long. Even if the charge was mostly nominal, since she doubted he actually did much of anything.

Lykath snorted, still upset.

Well, I wish he would stop. Mine and I are going to die soon; could he not at least try until then? It was only courteous. And how much of a strain could it be to at least pretend to be a decent person for the few sevendays it took someone to die?