out and about (tag Nikkel!)

[tuathade]

"You've got to be kidding." Arkady waved a shackled hand, indicating the plate of food in front of him and the prison mess hall at large. "Clearly, I am a danger to myself and others," he said wryly, mock-serious. "I am going to take over the whole prison with this very dangerous piece of bread."

He took a bite of the very dangerous bread. Stale. Any harder and he probably could have used it to hurt someone.

The guard he was talking to did not look impressed. As a new arrival at Warden's, and a dangerous criminal to boot, Arkady was not permitted the same levels of freedom as the nonviolent criminals. Not that the ex-Harper was expecting otherwise. But still, this was getting silly.

He was shackled hand and foot, as if they were expecting him to pounce on one of his fellow prisoners at any moment. The restraints were loose enough that he could drop his hands to his sides, if he pleased. And he could walk, with an awkward kind of shuffle. But it was still frustrating. And it didn't help that the stoic-faced guard refused to actually respond to him.

Well. Maybe he'd be able to coax another prisoner into sitting with him. Unlikely, but anything was possible. He kept his head up, crooked smile in place, watching the others. Even just observing gave him valuable information... Who sat with whom, what alliances were made and broken. Humans organized themselves into packs by nature. Like whers, really. Either you found a pack or you were prey.

[Nikkel]

Prison food. That was the one thing about prison Nikkel could never adjust to - the food. Herdbeast scraps that were fit more for a firelizard than a human - and indeed, Flake was sniffing at them thoughtfully - and klah that tasted like hot watered-down piss.

Still, it was this or starve. He took his tray with an internal sigh and glanced about, seeing who else was here. Prison staff and obvious psychos, mostly. As a general rule, he kept away from both. Then, from a table nearby, he heard a very sarcastic voice.

"You've got to be kidding. Clearly, I am a danger to myself and others. I am going to take over the whole prison with this very dangerous piece of bread."

Nikkel grinned. This sounded like his kind of guy. The shackles marked him as 'violent', but with those and the guard right beside, there couldn't be much of a threat... right?

Well, let it never be said that teenagers put any great amount of thought into anything. With little hesitation, Nikkel sat beside Arkady. Flake, perched on his shoulder, screeched in protest, but Nikkel just glared at him before addressing the other prisoner. "Don't mind my flit there. He's kind of... erratic. Now, who might you be? I'm Nikkel."

[tuathade]

Arkady eyed the bread, then dipped it in his bowl of soup to let it soak. The soup was lukewarm and mostly tasteless, and the bread was hard, but maybe the liquid would at least soften it enough to make the combination edible. Why did prison food have to be so awful? He couldn't imagine that someone deliberately planned to send only the worst cooks to Warden's. And sure, they had to cook for a lot of people, but so did any Weyr. Maybe it was the quality of ingredients available - no one was going to send good supplies after bad.

But - what was this? Well, now. Another prisoner, probably a fellow relative newcomer to judge from the haircut. And sitting voluntarily with Ark! "Oh, brilliant," he lilted at Nikkel, waving cheerily. "And here I was thinking I'd have another lunch talking to a brick wall!"

The blue screeched at him. It didn't surprise Ark. Flits on the whole tended to dislike the erratic ex-Harper... for some reason. No idea why. "Handsome little fellow," was all he said aloud on the matter. "Nikkel, hmm? I'm Arkady. I'd offer to shake your hand, but, hah..." He jiggled one shackled wrist. "I'm a little tied up."

[Nikkel]

"Oh, brilliant. And here I was thinking I'd have another lunch talking to a brick wall!"

Nikkel chuckled. This guy was quite a character, even if he was dangerous. "Think nothing of it," the boy replied playfully. "Everyone deserves some good company, I think."

"I'm Arkady. I'd offer to shake your hand, but, hah... I'm a little tied up."

"No problem." Nikkel grinned and outstretched a hand, shaking one of Ark's. "That should do. So, why the shackles, anyway? You don't look dangerous." Even as he said it, he knew it was a stupid thing to say. Few dangerous people actually looked dangerous. Still... he had to wonder.

[tuathade]

"You're a nice guy," Arkady said, returning the handshake with a firm confident grip. He was pleasantly surprised by Nikkel; he had been starting to think there was no one in the prison worth talking to, except for Jessan. "Most people don't appreciate the value of good company."

Arkady did. Four turns in solitary confinement tended to make you appreciate the value of any company at all.

"As for the shackles... Eh, it's a long story." He made to wave a hand dismissively, but in mid-arc his wrist jerked to a halt, reaching the end of the slack on his shackles. He quickly, smoothly turned the motion into reaching for his drink, but it did little to cover the awkward motion. Arkady clearly wasn't used to having his movements restrained. "But you're right, I'm not dangerous. I did a bad thing, pissed off the Watch by running instead of surrendering myself quietly like a good boy, and I end up in here."

"He murdered someone," growled the guard.

Arkady made a face. "...Well, there's that. But only once. And for all you know, it might have been self-defense!"

[Nikkel]

Nikkel was certainly aware of what good company was worth, even if only in the 'strength in numbers' sense. That was probably why he was talking to Arkady instead of instinctively shying away. Flake was scrambling from shoulder to shoulder, as though he couldn't decide which one to sit on.

The guard's grunt of 'he murdered someone' made Nikkel a little uneasy, but Arkady seemed nice enough, even if he was insincere. Probably a playful trickster. Exactly Nikkel's kind of guy.

"...for all you know, it might have been self defense!"

"Doesn't matter now, I guess." Nikkel chuckled. "Whatever we did or didn't do, we're all locked up here together, so we gotta make the best of it, right?"

Then he changed the subject, his eyes twinkling with youthful energy. "At least there are dragons. I hope to Impress at the next hatching... whenever that is." He wasn't really certain; although he'd been here for a year, he still wasn't 'in the loop' enough to know what was going on. He looked at Arkady again and asked, "What about you? Are you a Candidate?"

[tuathade]

"Dragons are pretty fantastic," Arkady agreed with a grin. "Better than whers, anyway. Dragons I like - but don't screw around with whers. They'll mess your shit up, and ending up in the infirmary tends to ruin your day."

Arkady had only been at Warden's for a short time, though he'd been imprisoned well before that; he was new to the way that the curious prison weyr worked. Frankly, it had surprised him that they allowed prisoners to Impress at all. Then again, a dragon could be a pretty potent influence on your behavior, he supposed. Give a nonviolent prisoner a big flying lizard, tell 'em they could be a guard now instead of on the bottom rung of the totem pole. Positive incentive to behave themselves by offering power... And a negative incentive to keep them in line, what with the constant threat of having their weyrling dragon crippled if they rebelled. Clever system, although with quite a few obvious ways it could backfire.

"Nah, I'm not a Candidate. They don't let my type Stand," Arkady explained without much trace of regret. "Too much of a danger or something... I bet they'd let you, though. Unless I've completely missed my guess and you murdered your granny with a hammer or something. Can't tell anything about someone by appearances alone."