Reunion [Tyto]

Leaving the hold was… a lot.

That there was little denying, especially when Shouto wasn’t exactly given much choice. If it weren’t for the never ending pressure, pressure, pressure his father had been putting on him practically as long as he could remember… would he have come?

It was hard to say.

Being searched was an honor, that he couldn’t deny, but leaving his lifelong home, his mother, his siblings was… well, overwhelming was a suitable word. Especially not knowing when-or even if-he’d see them again.

The slim, pearl firelizard was at least a small comfort. At least it meant he had a better way to keep in touch with them than he did when…

He frowned as a familiar face and disheveled blond hair came to mind, simply reaching up to gently scratch at the side of Vitali’s jaw when the shift in mood briefly distracted her from her curious exploration.

She’d flown from his shoulders to the upper bunk as soon as he’d stepped in and set about exploring, and for once he had no complaints. If she was interested in the Barracks then maybe she wouldn’t get in trouble.

At least, he certainly hoped so.

“I’ll be back in a while,” he assured, earning a curious chirp-and quickly having to block her when she tried to hop onto his shoulder, pushing her back onto the bunk. “Stay here. I won’t be long and I’ll take you exploring later. Promise.”

She huffed, but didn’t make a move to try again, letting him go without a struggle.

When Shouto left, Vitali still wasn’t pleased, but managed to distract herself looking around, climbing the furniture and peeking into pretty much any crevice she could fit.

There was another scent here, other than Shouto’s and she was especially curious about everything it covered, following it’s traces until she found a box where it seemed especially thick. Nosing at it, she eventually found the crack separating the main box from the lid, nudging and wiggling till she could get the front half of her body inside, back talons keeping her perched on the edge while she pilfered through the contents, uncaring as more than a few things she got her claws on eventually made it to the floor

Faranth, he was tired. He'd been busting his backside just trying to stay on top of lessons with the sudden influx of Candidates--especially since most of them liked to look to the existing ones to interrogate for information. Ever since Tsuneath had had her flight, it felt like Searchriders were showing up every other day with new faces. He knew it wasn't quite that dramatic in reality, but it sure felt like it sometimes. And it was probably only going to get worse from here. Fair enough that he knew he'd been one of those fresh-faced newbies at one point, but after Turn at the Weyr he felt like old blood.

It had been pretty surprising to get to the Weyr and not actually have a clutch on the sands, though. He'd apparently been Searched between clutches, so he hadn't actually gotten to Stand for one yet. His robes were practically untouched since he'd last fussed with them, buried under his frequently-worn clothing in his trunk.

Katsuki pushed the door to his room open, letting out a soft groan as he scrubbed his hand over his face. He just wanted to lie down for a while--at least until the free period was over. What he wasn't expecting, though, is to catch movement out of the corner of his eye as he let his hand drop, and he froze for a beat, zeroing in on whatever it was.

Ah, a firelizard. He relaxed a little. If it had been a tunnelsnake, he'd have had a problem on his hands, though they were pretty rare to see in the rooms that people were in a lot. However, he was the only one assigned to this room since he'd gotten here, so he'd actually spotted one once fleeing into a crack in the far back wall. Said crack was currently blocked by a pretty solid, heavy rock he'd found to make sure it didn't come back in and crawl into his bed or something.

He let out a frustrated noise, rolling his eyes and stepping up to where the little pest was digging around in his trunk. "Oi!" he snapped, making a swipe for the pink-and-off-white pest. He'd be surprised if he actually managed to grab her--firelizards were usually pretty quick to between out of reach when they were caught getting into something. "Get outta there!"

Instead of going between immediately, the firelizard tumbled forward into his trunk of belongings. He wasn't sure if she vanished right away or not, but he wasn't going to just let some strange animal go through his things. So he stomped forward and grabbed the sides, flipping it up and open. He wasn't planning on hurting it, just making sure it knew not to go through his things.

So wrapped up in the fact that his things were being rifled through, he didn't immediately notice the various bags and satchels on one of the other beds. Once the firelizard was no longer in his sights, he let out an annoyed click of his tongue, looking at state his clothing was in. At least it didn't seem as if she'd done any serious damage, though he could spot a couple poke-holes from claws in the topmost shirt. Good thing that self-clothing-maintenance was something pretty much everyone knew, even if they couldn't all make their own from scratch.

Flipping the lid closed again as he pulled out the shirt to give it a better once-over, he paused as he caught movement from the corner of his eye, surprise flickering over his face as his eyes fell onto the firelizard perched on several bags. "What're you lookin' at, ha?" he snapped, scowling at the firelizard. He was pretty sure they could understand humans, even if they couldn't really talk to them. But they were usually decently smart.

His attention fell onto the bags, pulling his lips into a frown. Looked like he was getting a roommate, finally. There was still room for two more people, but it wasn't like he'd been complaining about being lonely. He'd gotten decently acquainted with several Candidates while he was here, though he wasn't too close to any of them specifically. "Where's your owner?"

Vitali's head tilted once more at the question before she was giving a low warble with a glance towards the door and hopping off the bag, back onto the floor. She began her little exploration anew, going under the beds to poke around now that she was fairly sure the human was no threat. After all, Shouto wouldn't have liked him if he was.

She did get close to him more than once when he wasn't looking, more than a little curious considering she'd never seen him before, and otherwise she'd been around everyone Shouto liked. Or at least, she was fairly sure Shouto liked him, even with the edge of sadness when he thought about it. He made him sad somehow. but it wasn't the same way Shouto's dad made him sad and... there was still like there.

It was hard to tell if she'd grown bored or simply explored all there was in the room by the time she climbed the bedpost and perched there, returning to just watching the stranger, but regardless.. it wasn't long after that the door opened once more, immediately drawing the firelizard's gaze and earning an excited chirp.

When he opened the door however, excitement was far from the right word. Oh, it was fine at first, a chuckle escaping as his eyes followed the sound, but then they were drawn to motion, to the other person in the room. For a moment he was sure his heart stopped beating, his eyes widening to the point it was almost surprising they didn't pop out of his head.

"K...Katsuki?"

Katsuki squinted at the firelizard as it stared at him. He wasn't really expecting any sort of answer--it wasn't like they could talk like dragons or whers. But maybe she'd be able to call her human back to the room or something. Not that he imagined she'd be too keen on Katsuki telling said human that their pet had been going through his belongings.

"Whatever," he finally muttered under his breath, turning to his bed and collapsing heavily onto the linens with a grunt. As prudent as it would be to mend his shirt, it wasn't like it was going anywhere. He proceeded to ignore the creature as she began to poke around the room, decisively ignoring her as he tried to relax while he had the opportunity. Not that he was lazy--not by a long-shot, but he was definitely drained. It sort of came with the territory--he was far more introverted and dealing with all the new people was taking a lot out of him.

With one arm slung over his face, he didn't move at all until he heard the door creak as it opened. Only then did he pull his arm away, turning to look at the door. Words of displeasure about the pest that had gone through his things died on his tongue the second his gaze landed on the other young man.

For a solid ten seconds or so, he just stared at Shouto like he'd sprouted a second head the second he'd walked through the door. He--was honestly pretty sure he'd never actually see him again, and the mix of emotions churning in his gut was something he didn't quite know how to deal with. Especially as the first thought to pop into his head was--well. Shouto was--pretty.

Forcing himself to focus on literally anything else, he clicked his tongue, snapping his eyes away and hoping that Shouto thought maybe the redness on his face was maybe due to the temperature of the room rather than anything else, or maybe he'd been exercising and was resting or something. "Your stupid brat was going through my stuff," he grunted. "That what hatched out of that egg I gave you?" Trying to act like it wasn't--weird, that they were suddenly roommates after not seeing each other for a Turn, or talking for months.

Shouto could practically hear his own heart pounding in his ears, hammering away at his ribcage as he stared at the blond, looking all the world like he'd seen a ghost. In a way he had, as far as he was concerned. After all, there was a reason he'd been nervous at even the thought of running into Katsuki, and now he... hadn't just run into him. He'd be living with him.

So focused on Katsuki, it wasn't until Vitali was flying the short distance from the bedpost to his shoulders, tail wrapping around his right arm as she looped around his shoulders with her head on his left side, that he finally tore his gaze away, glancing down at her. She nuzzled affectionately against his cheek, only causing the frown to deepen as he failed to figure out if this was a greeting, her kissing up to try and get out of trouble, or a mix of both.

He quickly settled on the third option, the click of the other's tongue and his tone telling Shouto she'd done something before he even got to it. Though, he couldn't exactly be sure it was directed at her and not... well. There was likely a reason Katsuki'd stopped writing back and Shouto had accepted that. He'd already planned not to force his presence on him any more than he could avoid when he got here.

Seems there wouldn't be much avoiding it, after all.

"Y... yeah. Unfortunately she inherited her mother's determination," Shouto replied after a moment, one hand lifting to scratch gently at her jaw. "She just puts it towards trouble rather than chasing kids."

Vitali gave an almost sad trill, and Shouto had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, already knowing she knew exactly what she'd done. Just because that had worked on his mom and Yumi didn't mean is generally worked on him.

"Apologies. I didn't realize there was anything for her to get into aside from my bags. I expected if anything she'd go for them if she finished exploring."

Sitting up, he grabbed his damaged shirt and held it up almost accusingly toward Shouto. "Yeah, well, I ought to make you fix my shirt. Her claws left a million holes in it." Pulling it back before the other boy could make any sort of move to take it, he folded his arms. "Knowing you, though, you're still terrible at sewing and I'd be better off asking her to do it." He had no idea how Shouto was going to manage to make his robes.

Even if Katsuki knew he'd end up helping him.

Grumbling softly, he swung his legs so he was facing Shouto properly, though instead of setting his feet on the floor he left his knees bent and folded. "So... you got Searched," he said plainly. He was--trying really hard not to think about the butterflies in his stomach, or look too long at Shouto lest he start to question why Katsuki was staring at him.

Reaching up, he rubbed the side of his neck. He sucked at small-talk, and it was even worse now with Shouto. It was like meeting him for the first time, even if he'd only moments ago been talking to him like things hadn't changed. Like he wasn't a Turn older and having all those uncomfortable feelings churning in his belly all over again just as strong. He wanted to run and hide, but--it wasn't like he could just do that.

Finally he settled on what he thought might be a relatively... safe topic. "What did you name her?"

There was an unsettling tension in the room, one that honestly he wasn't sure whether he wanted to enforce or strangle and rip out at the root. He hadn't liked it back at the Hold, and he didn't like it now. Back then, he'd been geared up to run and had taken the first way out--being Searched. He'd been able to escape Shouto while at home, periodically. Here, he'd be...

"Yeah? He try sayin' you couldn't go?" Katsuki hadn't been too terribly fond of Shouto's father after getting to know him. He acted like he was going to suddenly become part of the Blooded just because he was previously a leader of a little cothold. A cothold had been nowhere near the size of a proper Hold, and Southern and Jungle Holds were probably even bigger, considering they harbored whatever people didn't live at the Weyr proper.

He was way too ambitious for his own good. Honestly, Katsuki wouldn't be surprised to hear at some point that the old man had had something horrible happen to him.

"Could be worse," he shrugged a little. "Somebody probably has a brown named 'klah' or 'dirt' or something." 'Vitali' sounded kind of like it came from 'Vitality' which was... probably a nice name. He wasn't sure if Shouto had put quite that much thought into it, though.

"Not gonna get far not knowin' basic stuff like sewing. No mother or sister here to fix clothes for you, and Faranth knows I ain't gonna take care of you." It wasn't like they were all on their own, though. There were the Candidatemasters and other Candidates, plus the Weyrfolk who might be willing to help, and drudges--though Candidates were usually doing a lot of drudgework as their chores. Riders relied on each other during Threadfall and it was instilled in them as Candidates. Probably even moreso if they Impressed. But a Weyr was built on the backs of those who lived in it.

"Ah," Katsuki said quietly, actually looking properly chastised for a moment. "Guess I forgot you don't really do sarcasm." The icy look actually caught him off-guard, though maybe he should have really embraced it instead of being... upset. It meant that he could have an easier time of pushing him away, right?

Regardless, he found himself looking pointedly away, rubbing the side of his neck. "Didn't really figure he'd have any capacity for looking or sounding less like he'd recently gotten a needlethorn bush shoved up his backside." He didn't think the man would be happy about losing Shouto to the Weyr after his older brother had disappeared. Then again, most people were very happy about sending their kid off to potentially Impress. His departure with his parents had been somewhat bittersweet--they hadn't had any other children, what with his father being so focused on his craft to make sure that his wife and son had a good life after everything had fallen apart.

He continued staring at something on the far side of the room as the other continued, trying to embrace the sick feeling that had settled into his stomach. He'd always sort of wondered why the letters from him had stopped coming, even if he'd agonized over responding to them in a timely manner. Obviously he must have just lost interest in their friendship.

Swinging his legs to the floor, he stood up, immediately walking toward the door and brushing past Shouto. He was still exhausted, but he didn't really want to be in this room anymore. "Whatever. Don't try to do everything by yourself around here, though. You'll drown."

Shouto couldn't have missed the way Bakugou looked away if he tried, though he could scarcely bring himself to wonder if it was at the reproach or just... because he had an excuse not to look at him. This entire thing... awkward didn't even begin to describe it. Painful was likely more accurate if the pressure in his chest were anything to go by because either way... it only drove deeper how much things had changed.

Especially when Katsuki didn't say... anything to actually counter him. All but confirming what Shouto had already concluded-he'd already inconvenienced him by coming here. A quiet trill and a nudge to his hand drew his attention away from the blond and back to Vitali, the slim firelizard immediately nosing her way under his palm and prompting him to pet her. Trying to get his attention away from what was upsetting him.

It was far from that easy but... he still pet her head, along her neck as she looked up at him in confusion and concern.

"Why do you care?" Shouto found himself asking as the warning seemed to register, voice low, so quiet it could likely go unheard if Katsuki didn't bother to pay attention. "I'm not your problem anymore."