Love, Laughter, and Lumbago (PG-17)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Duskdog, Sia
Date Posted: 18th March 2025
Characters: E'tariax, Nidre
Description: E’tariax suffers an indignity. A proper warm-up would have prevented this.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 20 of Turn 12
Rating: PG-17
The heat of Dolphin Cove was nothing compared to the heat of Nidre's weyr. It pressed in around them, thick and heavy, but E’tariax barely noticed, too caught up in the way Nidre fit against him, the way she moved with knowing precision.She was all confidence, all hunger, pinning him beneath her with a wicked smirk as she rolled her hips against his. He hummed into the kiss, half a laugh, half a groan, tilted his head to chase the taste of her. She let him for a moment, teasing, before pulling back just enough to breathe against his lips, fingertips dragging down his chest, nails just sharp enough to make him shudder.
And then it hit.
A sharp, twisting pain shot through his lower back, sudden and vicious, like a hot knife wedging itself between his spine and his pride. His muscles seized without warning, locking him in place mid-movement.
"Nidre." He groaned, "I can't move."
She chuckled breathlessly, the words registering in her brain but the meaning really only skimming the surface. “I’m not pinning you,” she said, her voice low and husky, hands kneading into his shoulders and trailing down his chest as she sat back up astride him. “But I can if you want…”
She trailed off as the stricken grimace on his face finally put his words into focus. “Wait, are you okay?”
"No." E'tariax wheezed. "My back. I pulled something."
“Shite,” she swore under her breath, momentarily at a loss for what to do. Would moving hurt him? Well, that was stupid -- she couldn’t just _stay_ here.
There was actually no sexy or graceful way to dismount a man, as it turned out.
For the sake of his health and safety, though, she did it anyway. She looked him over in concern. “What can I do to help?”
The sound the greenrider made was half a laugh and half a pained groan. "This doesn't happen often, I swear." E'tariax said. He tried to sit up, but the spike in pain had him gasping and sinking back down. "You don't, by any chance, have any anodyne lying around?"
She frowned. “I don’t right now. Haven’t needed any for a while. Is that really enough…?”
There was a short pause before the greenrider answered, "...no. But it'd relax the muscle enough for me to lie on my own floor and minimize the embarrassment of this particular moment." He carefully tested lifting one leg and then the other, slowly moving into a more comfortable position. "If I wrote a note of what to get to the Weyr stores, would you be too mortified to bring it to the Infirmary?"
Nidre smirked. “No. But I wouldn’t be telling them what I need it for. Do you think they’ll guess just from the list?”
He winced again as he shifted slightly, still not trusting his back enough to sit up fully, but he couldn't stop the sheepish grin that crept up despite the pain. "It's rather obvious that it's not for you. Try not to look so smug, at least. I have a reputation to maintain."
“Just think: you could get a new, entirely different reputation. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Her smirk didn’t fade one bit as she got up to rummage for something he could write on. “Here, jot it down while I get dressed. And anything else you’d like. I owe you a biscuit at least, I guess.”
"Miss, what do you think I'm worth? I'll send you my invoice."
“Fine, two biscuits.” She didn’t feel like getting fancy; the Weyr would just have to deal with her slogging down to the infirmary dressed like she would rather be lounging in her weyr. When she looked semi-presentable, she turned back to E’tariax, her expression softening a bit. “Are you _sure_ you’ll be okay until I get back?”
"I'll be fine enough." E'tariax said as he handed her the messy healer's scrawl of a note. "I'm only in danger of expiring from the indignity. If I do, make sure my eulogy is suitably dramatic."
“‘Today, we mourn the loss of one of Pern’s finest sons. The man -- nay, the legend! -- E’tariax will live on forever in our hearts. He died as he lived: under a woman, crying.’”
E’tariax let out a bark of laughter before immediately regretting it, pain lancing up his spine. He wheezed through it, wiping at his eyes. “I take it back,” he gasped. “Let me perish in obscurity.”
She leaned down to pat his shoulder. “Not a chance. Now be still and don’t hurt yourself. I’ll be back as quick as I can. I promise not to humiliate you when you’re not in the room to defend yourself.”
The healer at the Infirmary Stores, however, took one look at the slip of hide and gave Nidre a knowing look. "If you could be so kind as to remind him that he should be stretching before and after strenuous activity." He said with the air of someone too long suffering.
Last updated on the March 19th 2025