Into the office [Firebird! :D]

[nozomi]

Normal people would not go to work while under the influence of FlightLust so powerful almost all nerves in their brain had burst open. Thankfully, Warden never considered himself amongst those sorts; what sort of Bronzerider didn't want a quick tumble every so often, or disdained the idea of being in charge of an entire Weyr? In Warden's humble opinion, he was perhaps the most disappointing Bronzerider in the history of Pern.

Another thing normal people cared about, really, and Warden just, well, didn't care. Yusuth was perhaps the best thing to happen in his life, even if his dragon cared as much as his rider about life in general. So instead of cloistering himself in his bedroom or finding a willing partner (never), Warden fled to his office. He felt safe there. Unfortunately, Warden's place of sleeping and his office were very close, and he managed to get there without really seeing any prisoners - only a slightly lessened guard force. Made sense with all of the flightlust he felt, nevermind the people with actual preference for sex.

He only looked up from his wine and fellis mixture when the first scream cut through the air of his office. Warden's head jerked up, face gray, and his throat tightened.

"What?" He heard a whisper, a tight voice, and stood with the realization that it was him. Warden groaned, hand down into one of the drawers of his desk. A knife, thick and wicked and probably not something anyone wanted to see in the hands of Warden. "Rordyn! Hunte!"

His guards did not respond. Warden went to his door, shivering and a scowl on his face as something was happening but all he could think of was wings and brightness and

"Yusuth!"

[firebird]

Senar was running in a blind panic. He wasn't thinking about where he was going, only that he had to get away. There were people running and screaming and- shards, those men were armed. Where had they gotten knives in a prison? No matter; just run. Quickly, quickly! Don't think about where Desert went; he's smart, he'll be fine! Ignore how badly you want to be with someone. Bury the lust in fear; fear will keep you alive!

Senar had not even heard a whisper of the breakout previous to it occurring, likely due to his choice in conversational partners. While he had been startled and nervous about being woken up by the strongest feeling of pure lust he had ever felt, he had outright panicked when the door to his barracks room was opened and the other prisoners started flooding out. Prisoners shouldn't be out at night. That was how things worked, so what was going on?

Well, he had figured it out pretty quickly after the fighting started. Shards, he hadn't even known the human body could hold that much blood. While he would have liked to say he carefully thought out his options and went with the most painless one, he actually just reacted. Trouble always meant "run away." Always.

After running far enough that his lungs burned, and after catching the back-splatter from a fight between a prisoner and a guard, he found himself near the Warden's office. The Warden was authority. He would know what to do, right? Authority figures always knew what to do. Or at least that's how he would say his thought process was later. What actually happened was that he saw a recognizable place of safety and immediately ran for it.

"Warden? Warden, please let me in!" Senar shouted as he banged on the door. "Please! I don't want to be outside during this!"

[nozomi]

Poor Senar got himself a doorway full of Warden and a knife once it opened. The older man stared down at Senar, eyes wide and wild. They glazed over and blanked momentarily, and then the Warden drew his mind back in. His shoulders straightened, and that knife he tucked away between belt and side.

"Get inside." Warden opened the door wider, pulled Senar in if the boy didn't move fast enough. The bronzerider threw the door shut and then a chair tucked up against the handle. Maybe it wouldn't work to the extent desired, but it would help. "What is going on? The Opal is flying, and I come in here and then there are screams--"

He actually stuttered when he saw that blood on Senar. Warden's mouth clicked shut, and if his eyes ripped over Senar in a hungry way, a good portion of it was not flight lust. He kept a good arm length from the boy anyway, lips pursing tight.

"Who's blood is that? What is happening?"

[firebird]

Senar choked back a yelp as he was dragged inside the office. Some of the panic eased when he saw that the door was blocked off and none of the other prisoners could follow him, but he was still mostly focused on the situation at hand. "Fighting! Everywhere!" he cried out, arms flailing wildly. A few drops of blood were flung off his arms and splattered against the floor.

"There are prisoners all over the place! With knives! And there's fighting!" Stop, take a deep breath. Don't speak so incomprehensibly. Senar went over to sit down against the wall as he finally started to notice the burning sensation in his legs. In a few seconds they would start shaking uncontrollably. "S- someone opened the barracks doors and started passing out weapons. People started leaving, first just a few and then a lot at a time. I ran for it when the first few guards were cut down," he explained, neglecting to mention the feelings that had been rising up in him since he first woke up. It was probably just him, so why mention it?

"A guard and a prisoner were fighting near a doorway and I had to squeeze by them," he said as an afterthought. "I don't know who won."

[nozomi]

Fighting. Prisoners.

Crackdust.

Even the Flightlust seemed to ease with the knowledge that there was a sharding mutiny going on in his prison to the extent where the nervous ones could escape. Warden stood by the door, his knees wavering and small eyes narrowed as Senar blathered in the way he did. Only when Senar described the fighting did he walk over, and crouched in front of the younger man.

"Senar." Warden cupped the prisoner's face in his hands, though it meant his hands crackled with the heat of his cheeks. Crackdust. "Nothing is going to happen to you. Calm down, boy. Just breathe. You're going to stay here in my office and if anyone tries to get in here, you hide in the small closet where I keep my scrolls and the like. Understand?"

Warden squeezed the boy face and stood. He waved his hand, sighing, "If you need to get drunk, there's some wine in my desk. Feel free to dull your senses."

Warden made sure he had his own dagger on him and moved to the door. He stepped out, half turned to call back at Senar, "Put something out to block it." He closed the door, and turned straight into a tall pale figure with blazing brown eyes.


(And then this happens. If you want Senar to respond to what goes on outside, just put it here! )

[firebird]

Senar leaned into the Warden's hands and let out an embarrassing noise before he knew what he was doing. Okay, he shouldn't be reacting like this. Especially not to something as simple as having his face clutched, though he had to admit that the heat from the Warden's palms felt nice. Senar carefully felt out a sensitive spot on his arm and pinched it as hard as he could until the fog in his head cleared. Concentrate on safety first.

Senar stayed sitting where he was as he watched the Warden leave. With his legs shaking as they were (exhaustion, not good), he doubted he would even be able to stand unless he got a fresh shot of adrenaline. Unfortunately for what little capacity for clear thought he still had, he got that shot of adrenaline when he heard something slam into the door not seconds after it shut.

He would deny he squealed loudly when he heard the slam, or that he nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get to the chair so he could block the door. He could hear fighting on the other side of it, and he didn't like it. Whoever would fight the Warden of all people would undoubtedly not hesitate to stab Senar where he stood.

When Senar heard Yusuth's scream of sorrow, he let out a shocked -and terrified- screech of his own. Moments later he was mentally cursing himself out because of it; what if whoever was out there heard him? Well, if he did hear and was willing to seek him out, Senar was hiding in the closet clutching a wineskin to his chest in the hopes that he could use it like a club.

[nozomi]

Someone definitely stayed inside of that house, letting Warden take the fall and die for them. Machi glared at the door from under his brows and stepped over the twitching body of the former Warden. He tried the handle of the door - unlocked. Wonderful. Still high on the scent of the man's blood and with a wild smile on his face, Machi shoved the door open. It struck the wall with a clang, shuddering at the brute force of the pale man.

"Here, kitty, kitty." Machi stepped gently into the room, Warden's knife in his hand still. He looked around, humming contemplatively. Around the desk and a quick look told him, no, nothing there, and Machi grabbed the chair. It flew through the largest of the windows with an earsplitting shatter, scattering shards when he stalked to the next most obvious hiding place - the closet.

Maybe if the person begged pretty, he could kill them fast. A mercy, of sorts. Machi stood to the side and pulled that closet door open, a sneer twisting his lips.

[firebird]

Senar shuddered when he heard the door slam open and tried to edge further back where he stood in the closet. Shards, but it was crowded in there. Don't make any noise and maybe he won't find you. Keep your hand on your weapon just in case. He was cornered, and he didn't like it. It would be stupid to try to make a break for the door, especially since there was no stealthy way to so much as open the closet.

Oh Shards the noise- Why were all the people here crazy?! What possible reason could there be to break a window? How did he break it anyway? Senar wasn't skilled enough to identify objects by the sound they make as they are thrown through stuff, but at least he recognized the sound of breaking glass.

Senar carefully held the wineskin slightly to the side of his hips as best he could in the cramped space, admittedly while continually adjusting his two-handed grip on the thing. The instant the closet door opened, he swung it up as hard as he could in the hopes of smashing the other man under the chin.

[nozomi]

People were crazy because people were people, Senar. Machi found a sick pleasure in making things cry, and bad people beg. Oh, he knew just how bad of a person he could be, and knew one day he would die for it, but that didn't mean he would not live out his life the way he needed to. And going after the small and the weak helped with it all.

When that door swung open, and the wineskin shot up. All Machi saw were the pale flashes of skin and scared eyes. He jerked away, just barely fast enough to keep his chin from being cracked in. His arm moved, though, in an instinctive mvoement to guard his face. No crack, no telltale sign of anything breaking, but he felt that pain, and shards, it hurt. It hurt.

"You little--" Machi's snarl died on his lips when he caught sight of the boy. Albino. Another hiss of pain and scooted back from Senar, and the closet, and that sharding wineskin. "You. She said not to hurt you."

His lips peeled back for a grotesque growl, and the serial killer continued to edge away. "Stay here." Machi turned, and he ran. Runnerbeasts to be had!

[firebird]

Oh Shards he missed how did he miss shards shards shards shards SHARDS. He was going to die, he knew it. The man was covered in blood and was that a knife he had and wasn't he one of the ones he had been warned about? Senar squeaked and tried futilely to squish himself further back in the closet, while waving the wineskin in front of him as if it would do any good.

Wait, why was the man leaving? Someone didn't want him hurt? Senar wasn't entirely sure this was a good thing. It was nice not to die, but he didn't really want to think about any ulterior motives that might have been in play there. He had no problem with staying in the office, and most definitely had no interest in following Machi out. So he guessed he'd stay right where he was. Maybe he'd wake up and find out it was all some horrible nightmare.