Torti's Pastas

[Tortellini]

Index here when I have a spoon

[Tortellini]

Untitled - Saji and Veototh transfer to Semaca

Saji had grown to like Fort during his weyrlinghood. Tuckal was a strong Weyrwoman, and his classmates were mostly good sorts. But his only real friend was in Semaca, and that was where his heart belonged as well.

"You'll be meeting Soran and Qanth soon," Saji said for the thousandth time, with his excited grin somehow still intact after packing.

You have told me much about them. It will be a good meeting. Veototh was nothing if not patient with his rider's childish excitement. It was good for Saji to be going home, and Veototh would follow where his rider went.

Saji patted his dragon's neck, giving everything another once-over. He took a moment before mounting to look back at the weyr he'd lived in since Veototh had outgrown the barracks. Bare and empty, it would likely be filled by the next pair with a large dragon to need a weyr. Still, Saji would miss it.

But there was Molly to see for the logistics, and then Soran to awkwardly hug and Qanth to actually hug. Saji fixed the coordinates of his new-old home in his mind, sending them to Veototh once he was sure.

Black, blacker, blackest...

The sun hit them in the face, warmth and light overwhelming after the sensory deprivation of between. Saji whooped as soon as he caught his breath, throwing up an arm to shield his face.

They were home.

[Tortellini]

TW: depression?, dragonlessness, alcohol mention, drug abuse mention

Untitled - Gino

Gino had mostly gotten "better" by compartmentalizing.

In the daytime, he could shove the darkness into a loosely sealed corner of his mind, smile and, though rarely, even laugh again. Being around Akira and Auruth helped keep the darkness at bay.

But at night...Gino had been banned from the infirmary except under close supervision after trying to beg fellis off a pretty, but sharp, young apprentice. He'd also been banned from alcohol, watched especially closely by a greenrider for some reason.

So he tried to work himself to exhaustion, and drink the herbal tea that was the closest thing to a sedative he was allowed.

But some nights...some nights, the seals on his mind broke, and the darkness closed in, reaching, grasping for the shreds of light he'd worked for so desperately.

There was a piece of him missing. A gaping hole where his heart should have been. The wound had torn open. Gino clawed ineffectually at his chest, gasping for breath, insensible to Tristan's increasingly panicked shrieks.

Nothingness. Pain. A bond he could almost feel again, but couldn't grasp. Because it was gone, torn from him by meaningless wrath. Excise the darkness. Make himself whole again by tearing himself apart. He had to. He had to--

Tristan must have gotten help, or Gino's body must have mercifully given out, because he awoke the next morning in the infirmary.

He gave a cocky smile and a wink to the same apprentice who'd gotten him banned, pretending that he was all right.

And he was. He would be. Until the next bad night.

[Tortellini]

A New Start - Emaran, Almarask, and Emarsk transfer to Semaca

Emaran didn't consider xirself particularly radical when it came to politics, or anything really. Xe liked High Reaches' democracy but wasn't as directly affected by it as xe would've been if xe were a rider. It was wonderful having Zeara represent xir, for sure, but otherwise life seemed little different than it might have been for a handler at any Weyr except Semaca.

Emaran had resisted moving to Semaca to join Liyanel for a while, wanting to learn to grow without xir big sibling. And xe had - xe had made a few friends, and was otherwise occupied with xir whers and duties.

Semaca hadn't stooped so far as to steal eggs, though. That, Emaran could not forgive. Stealing eggs from an allied Weyr, and then begging eggs from another Weyr. Xe could not live in such a selfish place anymore.

Almarask rumbled from beneath Emaran, long since used to being utilized as a mattress. Is Emaran's decision. Almarask follow. Almarask also not like egg-stealing. Is not right. Worth moving? Maybe. Maybe not. But Almarask always follow.

Emarsk nosed his handler's leg. He knew that Emaran loved him, just in a different way than Almarask, who had come first. And Emaran used him as a mattress, too, sometimes. Emarsk think worth moving. Clutchsibling of Emaran at Semaca. Semaca warm. Not led by egg thieves. Emarsk not see why not move.

"Well, that settles it." Emaran would take care of the necessary papers tomorrow. Zeara would hopefully be sad to see xir go, but xe was sure she would understand. She had her own ties at Semaca.

While Semaca had its own problems - Liyanel wrote about pirates, though ae seemed surprisingly neutral about them - Semaca had not yet desecrated the Hatching Grounds of another Weyr. It was time to begin anew.

[Tortellini]

Untitled - Anaiya transfers to Semaca

Anaiya had to admit, she was sad to leave High Reaches. She would miss some of the people, though she knew that many would be glad to see her go. She had tried to change the Weyr, she had, but in her eyes neither of her two terms as Weyrleader had brought anything more than a rise in traditionalism.

She'd spent most of her time at Semaca studiously avoiding the metallic riders, despite some of them actually trying to befriend her. She still winced a little as she remembered how she'd literally ignored Liyanel trying to politely introduce themself in the dining hall. She'd never get along with the goldrider on account of their dragon, but she was done actively antagonizing metallic riders. She'd done enough of that and gotten nowhere.

By all accounts, Liyanel and Alayna showed no inclination to aim for power, and what interactions Anaiya hadn't been able to avoid didn't contradict that. Nebulaeth didn't like Wyzeth, that much was clear, but the younger gold at least let her mother be instead of asserting her dominance through force.

Since returning from her...hiatus, Anaiya hadn't heard anything about Toki or Aldoeith plotting a takeover. But the nearly full-grown gold was a painful reminder of how her authority had been overruled.

At Semaca, she wouldn't have any authority, and she preferred that immensely to looking around and seeing people who had once called her Weyrleader while simultaneously going against everything she stood for.

Yes, the move would be good for her. No one had seen her in action as a failed Weyrleader. The golds were more tolerable, if such a thing could be said. It would be a fresh start, of sorts.

Perhaps one day, Pern would see sense. But for now...Anaiya was just one person. And she had tried her best.

[Tortellini]

Thancred transfers back to Fort

To say that Thancred felt incredibly old would be an understatement. Perhaps not the understatement of the Pass, but certainly the understatement of the decade.

He'd changed Alphinaud and Alisaie's sharding diapers, watched them take some of their first shaky steps on small legs, and the twins were both fully graduated riders now, fighting Thread alongside the best. His hair had been white for more of their lives than not. He really was an old man.

Ryne was of an age with the twins, too. It had been so long. He'd have heard immediately from Moenbryda if she'd gotten a girlfriend, or boyfriend, or whatever partner caught her fancy...but it still felt so strange that she was more than old enough to have one.

But what made Thancred feel especially old was the transfer papers sitting in front of him, all filled out except for his signature. He'd thought long and hard about this decision, knowing that Semaca needed dragons more than Fort. He wished L'soix were still alive. The man would have had an answer ready. He always had.

But L'soix had been taken by Thread, and Thancred found himself having to make this decision without his wisdom.

On the one hand, he had made friends during his time at Semaca. There was even a farmcrafter girl he'd talked to quite a bit - not gone beyond talking during weyrlinghood, obviously. She was certainly a compelling reason to stay, as was his duty to the Weyr that had given him the dragon he'd wanted for Turns.

On the other hand...being a world (he knew it was only a continent, but still) away from his childhood friends, his true home? Only getting to visit Ryne and Minfilia a few times a Turn, if that? He couldn't do it. Guilt made his hand shake slightly as he picked up the charcoal to sign his papers.

This is right. For you, for us. Mayuth was the most confident she'd ever been. Her twin was at Semaca, and Mayuth would miss her, but dragons could communicate with a thought, whereas humans had to scratch out their words on animal skins and get firelizards to carry them. Thancred needed to be with his family.

"Yes," Thancred found himself saying aloud, despite being well used to mental communication by now. His hand steadying, he signed his name. He would turn in the papers on the morrow. Perhaps this evening he could finally convince his almost-beau to come back north with him...

Good luck, Mayuth said innocently.

"Oh, hush. Thirtieth time's the charm, as the saying goes." With a spring in his step, he headed out the entryway. Was it the thirtieth? Thirty-first? Who knew.