Raring for a Fight [Nine]

[Fel]

Spensa was in a Mood. It happened sometimes. Everything just seemed horrible and awful and terrible and ugh. People thought that becoming a rider meant that life was perfect and wonderful, but how was anything supposed to be wonderful with Xanneth, little Miss Prim and Proper Everything Must Be Correct. And lazy. She wanted it to all be correct, but she didn't want to put in any work, she wanted Spensa to do it all for her!

Well, Spensa wasn't having it. Not today.

"Make my bed your own bloody self if you think I'm doing it wrong, then!" she shouted at the garnet, slamming the door to her weyr as she stormed out and saw the very last dragon she wanted to. Mesomelath. The green who should have been hers by right, but which instead went to the very worst Candidate of the lot.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped, crossing her arms.

[nineofswords]

Mesomelath had been preening, and perfectly content to mind her own business as Br'on was fretting over something silly and useless again. She avoided him when he did that. She had bigger fish to fry, after all, Weyrs to conquer and schemes to plot towards that particular end. She couldn't waste valuable moments of her short memory on Br'on's latest crisis about what his gender and sexuality were meant to be now that she was in his mind.

She also didn't have a lot of time to waste on temperamental children who weren't her bond, and she was more than a little annoyed that the small spitfire had dared to address her in that tone of voice. Currently? I'm looking at an insignificant little bug that I could crush without a thought who is wasting my precious time. So why don't you go find someone else to bother who's more your speed, sweetie? I have more important things to consider than how to pick your remains out from between my toes. Her voice was condescending and sickeningly sweet as she said this, her eyes swirling with irritated yellows at having to be interrupted by this...creature. With a bit more spite, she reached out to garnet Xanneth. Make yourself useful for once and control your creature, would you? She actually spoke to me. Ugh. The audacity.

[Fel]

Spensa glared at Mesomelath. "Crush without a thought? What do you think you are, a warrior? You're just a baby. A clumsy, gangly baby. You've never trained for that sort of thing at all! You wouldn't even manage to lay a claw on me if you tried! I'd be the one having to clean up your splattered ichor from all over the place!"

She listens about as well as you do, my dear. Which is to say, not at all. Do keep your asinine ideas to yourself please, Mesomelath, Xanneth said from safely behind the door. She wasn't about to antagonize her sister when she was actually in reach of her. But with a nice, solid barrier put between them, well. It would be fine. And Spensa was a more than adequate distraction.

"And I'm not a creature. If anyone is, it's your rider. He's useless! At everything!"

[nineofswords]

Mesomelath preened. Who do I think I am? Why, I am Mesomelath, born to destroy and conquer, of course. I will be greater than any gold, mark my words. She snarled, showing off her fangs. And you? You're nothing. Shorter even than a white, no claws nor fangs of your own. I don't need training to crush you without a thought, you worthless brat!

ASININE? Mesomelath roared, rising up on her hind legs and flaring her wings out in her anger. Come out here and I will show you the meaning of asinine! That didn't make sense, but she didn't care. She had been slighted and she would have blood!

Ugh, the annoying human was still chattering at her! He may be useless but he serves my purposes, she snapped. And in that regard, there's more point to his existance than there is to yours! Now be gone, before I end your pathetic life!

[Fel]

"If you were born to conquer, you wouldn't have chosen Br'on of all people!" Why yes, Spensa was in fact still bitter about the fact that this dragon hadn't chosen her, had left her to Xanneth. Xanneth who didn't want to get her claws dirty. Xanneth who, when the time came, would probably want her to join Healers Wing where the workload was lighter instead of finding glory in the skies—Spensa would never, ever consider honoring that request.

"And I don't need fangs or claws to win!" she snapped, utterly unimpressed by Mesomelath's bared teeth. Her own dragon's were bigger but she wouldn't use them. "And oh yeah? What purpose is that? Blubbering like a baby when he doesn't get his way? Being too scared to fight for glory? He wouldn't even try to prove himself against the whers, he just let Ogatath take him away!"

And that, Spensa decided, was exactly why she needed to prove herself here. She could take Mesomelath. She didn't need a knife, because fighting one's allies—even annoying allies—wasn't about really hurting them. It was about proving a point. Of course, she didn't stop to consider whether the green was of the same mindset.

And with a wordless yell, she launched herself at her, trying to grab one of her wings.

[nineofswords]

And why shouldn't I have chosen him? Mesomelath demanded. Br'on is perfectly fine as a rider. Every great conqueror needs a handy stooge. She smirked to herself. He's hardly the cleverest or strongest, after all, but then I didn't need someone extraordinary, did I? Can't have someone trying to eclipse me in brilliance, after all. Mesomelath was aghast. Well of course he wouldn't try to fight whers. He has a sense of self-preservation! Something that, apparently, Spensa lacked. Because she threw herself at Mesomelath.

JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? the green roared when the small woman launched herself. Mesomelath flapped, trying to batter Spensa with her wings, or at least make them harder to grab since that was clearly what the human was aiming for. She slashed at the human with her claws, more out of reflex and startlement than with the intent to do damage, but her surprise would be short-lived.

Oh, you MISERABLE little creature! How dare you? How DARE you? I am Mesomelath, rightful Queen of Fort Weyr! How dare you attempt to lay your hands on me! I will eviscerate you without a second thought unless you beg my forgiveness you worthless little worm! She was no longer just projecting to Spensa, but to everyone in the surrounding area. Br'on was startled from his own matters by the shout and her sudden flash of anger. "What the shards is going on?" he demanded aloud, as if Mesomelath would respond. He started scrambling to throw clothes on (no, he had not been wallowing in his room in the dark in just his underwear, that would be ridiculous, how could you even suggest such a thing?)

[Fel]

"I'm going to win, that's what!" Spensa yelled, though it came out more like a screech as Mesomelath's wings flailed out of her grasp. She was absolutely not deterred by her failure though, jumping up like a sand flea in an attempt to grab onto... she didn't even know. Strategy went out the window once she was actually in a fight. But something.

Of course, that was when Mesomelath's startled claws caught her across the ribs, leaving a flash of pain in their wake. Not that Spensa cared beyond a brief notice. She had a glorious battle to win. And there was nobody who could stop her from doing so. Not even Xanneth, who was battering away at her to stop inside her head.

"Beg your forgiveness?! You're a green. Even if Xanneth is a weird mutant, she's above you. And that means I'm above you! And golds are above us, and they're the only rightful queens!" On second thought, perhaps Spensa was glad she hadn't Impressed this dragon, who didn't seem to understand the proper order of things. A green declaring herself a queen, please. She shifted her focus to just trying to grab Mesomelath at all, kicking out at her front legs as she did so. She had to defend the honor of all things that were right!

And, you know, win some glory for herself.

[nineofswords]

Mesomelath let out a wordless screech of indignation when Spensa lept to try to grab at her again. The green reared up, trying to keep her delicate wings and neck - any handholds, really - out of the Spensa's grasp. At least the slash had caught her, but the wound was not deep enough, not deep enough by far.

I am not A green, I am THE green, and you will respect me before I paint the walls with your blood! She shot out her claws, trying to rake them deep into Spensa's flesh. The girl was squirmy, but not for long! Soon she wouldn't be moving at all!

Br'on was trying to put both his pants and shirt on at the same time, and that was going about as well as anyone could expect. He was not about to leave his room with his pants falling down, but he didn't look good enough shirtless to pull it off, and he wasn't going to embarrass himself by trying. But in his rush to get out of his room quickly, he had managed to tangle himself up in the fabric. But at least he'd gathered enough of his wits to snap mentally at his bond, Mesomelath, I forbid you to kill anyone!

BITE ME, she snarled back. ...actually, that's an excellent idea.

Do NOT bite her! Br'on snapped, but Mesomelath was already lunging with her mouth open.

[Fel]

"You are just a green! You could never defeat me, and I will NEVER respect you!" Spensa shouted, lunging at Mesomelath again. She'd been right, she needed a good brawl to work off some of her frustration, and Xanneth was certainly never going to give it to her. The garnet was so prissy, so prim and proper and unwilling to do anything that could be described as hard work. She was lazy, and somehow that was a worse sin even than not being a brown, not being willing to fight, or trying to convince Spensa to wear horrible impractical dresses.

Thinking about her own dragon only made her more frustrated again, so she made the only move she really had in her fighting playbook when she couldn't wrestle a larger opponent to the ground: she got low, inadvertently ducking Mesomelath's claws in an attempt to... bite her. In the leg. One claw still caught her cheek but she was too caught up in the moment to register the pain. She was too busy still trying to win--and being thoroughly convinced that she could. The green's next movement caught her eye, and she instinctively raised an arm to block the incoming teeth.

Xanneth, completely unable to get her rider to see sense, changed tactics. She switched from trying to batter through to Spensa's completely nonexistent sensibilities to trying to batter down the door to get to the two of them. It was a rather sturdy door though.

Mesomelath, love, do you really think she's worth your time? she asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice. Her rider could discard the sensation of pain in favor of fury. She, on the other hand, could not just ignore it that way. Why don't you have this squabble with someone closer to your own size? I'm sure Rhinusleth would oblige you, and it would be a far more interesting fight.

[nineofswords]

CW: Blood, description of hypothetical maiming

And you are a mere human! Barely fit to take on any task! Mesomelath screeched, her pride wounded mightily by this gravest of insults. You are nothing without a dragon to ride upon, and you know it! Meanwhile, we dragons can push our humans to rise to greater heights than they were destined to without us! You need us!

The horrid little monster was dodging her attacks easily. She growled, beyond furious at this point, and didn't hold back from her bite despite Br'on trying to clamp down on her with his will. Her teeth sunk easily into the human's flesh.

Annoyingly, though, that was when Br'on burst through his door and came running. "Mesomelath, stop," he commanded, bearing down on her with the full force of his willpower. She growled around the arm in her mouth, fighting back with all her strength. She wanted to shake her head, to tear the limb from its socket with her power, or at the very least break bone, but between Br'on's mortification and fear at seeing a fellow rider being attacked by his dragon and Xanneth's incessant natterings in her ear, she was just distracted enough that Br'on was able to keep her from performing a killing action.

Br'on quickly approached the green and put his hands on her head. His presence would make it harder to hurt Spensa further without injuring her own rider, and by extension herself. This is all your fault anyway, you stupid cow! she snapped at Xanneth, for want of an easier target. If you had kept a better leash on your pet human, she wouldn't have provoked me! I have no interesting in fighting, but I'm not just going to sit there and be insulted like that! I am the rightful queen of this Weyr, I will not be spoken down to!

"Okay, um..." Br'on, meanwhile, was desperately trying to remember his first aid training. "Uh...Spensa? You okay? We...we should call the healers, I think, before we let Mesomelath let go." He almost asked the green, then thought better of it, blushing in embarrassment at her behavior, then because he had been about to ask Spensa to ask Xanneth to summon them. He really was not in a position to be asking her to do that right now. Faranth, why had Mesomelath made such a mess of things.

What do you mean why have I made such a mess of things, this stupid girl is the one who started it!

He winced as Mesomelath projected to everyone in the immediate area a response to his thought. He sent Apolline to the healers to fetch them, trying to coax her into projecting the image of this very precarious image of the two humans and dragon to them so they'd understand the urgency.

[Fel]

TW: Blood, injury

As the teeth sank into her arm, grating against bone, that finally got a reaction out of Spensa. Briefly. She shrieked, a short yelp that was almost immediately cut off as she forced herself to be silent. Heroes didn't scream. Heroes certainly didn't cry either, and she blinked away the watering in her eyes that was more a physiological response to pain than actual crying.

And of course Br'on had to show up. Probably to gloat because Mesomelath wasn't letting go now. How was it supposed to be a fair fight if she was being held against her will?! She snarled right back at the growling green, mostly because the idea of forming words just then was... what were words, anyway?

My fault? Xanneth asked, equal parts indignant and panicky as she continued to fumble with the ridiculous human door opening contraption. She didn't have the mass yet to break the door down herself, and lacked both the knowledge and forepaw dexterity to manipulate such a little thing. You are an ill-tempered, short-fused megalomaniac. Don't blame your response to that feral child on me. Or even on her. The correct response to a yappy little canine is to ignore it, not to eat it.

Spensa glared at Br'on, the cut on her cheek giving the expression rather more weight than usual as it oozed blood. "Do I look okay to you?!" she hissed. "Your forsking dragon doesn't understand how a civilized fistfight works! No knives! No teeth!"

And at being called stupid, she did the only logical thing: she kicked Mesomelath.

[Jabberwoky]

ENOUGH!

Mikazuchith landed hard outside of the barracks, projecting his voice to the fighting pair. Lexien strolled in through the door like a normal person, and she was not pleased.

"What in the name of the EGG are you idiots doing?! Mesomelath! Release her. Spensa, get away from the pair NOW. The four of you are going to get to enjoy significantly more chores in the next day, and you're going to do them without complaint."

She was certainly to the point, and she was not going to entertain either pair trying to explain their way out of this.

[nineofswords]

CW: blood

I don't know what sort of dragon you THINK you are, but if something annoys you, biting is the appropriate response. If it's snack-sized, then I'm absolutely eating it. It is my right, as a protector of Pern and the one true Queen of Fort! Mesomelath snapped at Xanneth. Honestly. The garnet was a fool. And this is absolutely both of your faults. Mesomelath had only been responding in kind. If somoene poked a dragon, they had better expect to get teeth in response.

Br'on looked appauled at Spensa's response. "Sorry, you tried to fight her?" he asked. He hadn't been paying attention when things had started. "And you thought, what, she was going to just concede if you slapped her hard enough?" Faranth, no wonder this had happened. Spensa had tried to fight a wher and a brown dragon. He should've known she'd be stupid enough to try to fight Mesomelath. Why had he left the green unsupervised again? Oh, right, because she was being stubbornly unhelpful with his problem in deciding whether to be a gay guy or a girl. Ugh. Mesomelath was the worst dragon.

And then Spensa kicked Mesomelath and the green started growling in earnest and Br'on had to focus on the power play going on across his bond all over again and couldn't reply.

And then of course Lexien showed up. Br'on lowered his head, mortified, his face bright red, but he couldn't move. He could still sense Mesomelath's bloodlust, knew if he backed away for any reason, the green would immediately escalate her fight with Spensa.

I do not answer to you! Mesomelath snapped in response to Lexien's order, and Br'on felt like crying he was so horrified with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Weyrlingmaster," Br'on said quickly. "I'll...I'll get her to let go, I was just worried Spensa would bleed out..." He shut up, sensing that Lexien was not in the mood. He might actually have been crying a little, he wasn't sure. This was worse than his impression, worse than getting chewed out by his mother afterwards, he should've just rejected the green and damned the consequences.

"Mesomelath, please," he hissed at the green, pleaded with her. "Just do what she says, just for now. You're still growing, and she can make our lives miserable, she can send us away or worse. We have to play nice with her, do what she says. Once you're grown up, that's different, but for now we have to listen to her."

Mesomelath considered this carefully. She wouldn't dare chase the rightful queen from her domain, she said, but finally her words were only spoken over their bond, and Br'on could sense her uncertainty. She could see that he was right, could see the sense in her bond's words. Slowly, she opened her jaw, Spensa's blood staining her teeth. She shifted, and for one horrible moment, Br'on was afraid she'd lunge at Spensa again, but instead it was like a switch had flipped for the green. She huddled in on herself, making herself look as small and cute and pathetic as possible. I'm...sorry, Weyrlingmaster, Mesomelath said, voice small and quiet. I...I don't know what came over me. This human wouldn't leave me alone, and... She turned away, almost as if she was ashamed.

Br'on was ruining the act somewhat by gaping open-mouthed at her. Where the forsk had this dragon come from? Did she seriously think this was going to get them out of trouble?

[Fel]

One true queen? My, your megalomania truly knows no bounds. Have you no idea who birthed you? Though truth be told, Xanneth wasn't sure which of the golds it had been. But which it was truly wasn't important; the main point was that she had been gold. An actual queen. Spensa had at least that part right, even if she didn't seem to understand... anything else. Golds were queens, and Xanneth? Xanneth deserved to be treated like a princess. The fact that she wasn't was a travesty.

She pushed harder at the doorknob, trying to somehow will it open. Her rider needed... well, surely not her intervention. Xanneth had no intention of fighting Mesomelath or anyone else. But her presence, at least. That had to do some good, right? She wanted to do... some good. At least some.

Let me out, please, she demanded of the humans. Any of the humans. All of them, if that was what it took to make the horrible door contraption work.

Spensa glared at Br'on. Of course he wouldn't understand the point of fighting. He didn't seem to understand most things. "Yes, you dingus," she hissed through gritted teeth. "And I didn't try to fight her. I fought her. And then she decided to cheat!"

Which of course was when Lexien showed up. A brownrider who wasn't Daphne, and therefore one of the few people who deserved respect around here. Some respect, given that her weyrmate had a mutation freak of a dragon.

"I'm not going to bleed out. It'll barely be a scratch when she lets go," Spensa snapped, but the lie to her words was shown almost as soon as the green did so. Spensa clutched her wounded forearm, which was soaking her sleeve with blood at a slightly alarming rate. She would have followed Lexien's instruction to back away, but really, they were outside her door. Why was she supposed to be the one to back off?!

Plus she was distracted by Mesomelath's performance. And by how much her arm hurt... which was quite a lot.

"What?! You were the one in the hallway being grumpy!" Okay technically so had she, but still! Mesomelath had been right there in front of her, being all not-hers. "And what came over you was being an absolute psychopath who thinks you rank above anyone even though you're a green! Plus, you told me to 'come here and fight me'." Maybe those hadn't been the green's exact words, but they were close enough for Spensa's purposes.

[Jabberwoky]

I SAID ENOUGH!

"I said ENOUGH!"

The combined force of the Weyrlingmaster and her brown was a force to be reckoned with. Lexien would not be swayed by Mesomelath's attempt to plead her case, nor by Xanneth being... Xanneth. She glared at them with the fury of Serapheth herself. If her eyes could change color, they would be whirling reds.

She watched Mesomelath let go, and try to shrink down into something smaller, but she wasn't fooled.

"Spensa, to the infirmary. Starting tomorrow, you will be cleaning the baths, and scrubbing every pot in the kitchens. When your arm heals, you'll be drilling like you're already in a wing. Am I clear?" Her words were very firm, looming over the garnetpair.

There was going to be thunder brought down on Mesomelath next.