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 Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 1:37 pm
((Setting: Post the hatching of the Second clutch.))
The irritable, humorless blue-rider paced back and forth with his arms behind his back, watching the Candidates shuffle in, many most likely confused, some dazed and some hung over, and... some hoping that he would have forgotten what had transpired the night of the Hatching Feast.
When he was reasonably sure they had all arrived, or at least would be able to hear his harsh, clear voice as they tried to sneak in the back, he began (As if he wouldn't notice their creeping. FAH.)
"Well..." he began, his voice cool, and not at all pleasant in tone. "I trust you've all had a fine and lovely night, carousing at the Weyrs expense." He let his brown eyes, which, for their color, were still no warmer than ice, drift over the room, the corners of his mouth quivering with his barely checked irritation. "Some of you... more so than others."
He let this hang again, continuing to pace back and forth like a hungry predator. "Some of you... especially. More so than others." He added for emphasis. "Since SOME of you... stole from the Weyr."
Again, he let this hang, waiting for the shock to hit them. This was a drastic and serious accusation, and people had been sent home for such charges. "Now I don't know what you belly-crawling grubs were thinking when you decided to steal from our wine cellars and have yourselves a nice, pat yourselves on your worthless back, pity party while the rest of your friends were rightfully celebrating the new riders who found their partners during the hatching, but you're going to wish I'd had you sent crawling back home." He snarled this with great relish, eyes flashing again.
"As a result of their outright criminal behavior and breech of trust, ALL of the candidates, will be on Latrine Duty. I'll be assigning shifts later, so other tasks are not to be abandoned, but for the next week, we will have the cleanest sharding latrines on Pern!! After that week, the Candidates actually responsible for the theft will hold that duty until the next hatching!"
He then held up a hand forcefully, to make sure he wasn't interrupted, and even if he was, continued, only raising his voice to be heard above the assembled. "And before I hear one SNIVEL about 'But I didn't do it, I sharding well don't care. Consider this your first damn lesson in learning to act as a wing. You will watch each others backs, you will keep each other OUT of trouble, you will STOP rules from being broken or you WILL be punished! No one's lives were at stake last night but I'll be twice damned and wherry-bred before I let you whimpering flits think you can get away with doing any tom fool thing and impressing a dragon! It is an HONOR to be here. It is an HONOR to be allowed to stand, and you'd better sharding remember that while you all polish those latrines till they shine, and thank your fellow candidates for what they did."
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:14 pm
He had come to stand at the front when the gathering of candidates had begun, so that the candidate master could glare at him full on if he pleased. He could feel his body trying to tremble with rage, but his muscles were far too tense for that. Of course he had done nothing, and how could he keep people out of trouble he didn't know they were causing?... But it didn't matter. He had made an error in judgment. He had trusted a thief. He would do his penance, and shard it all he'd be more careful in future. It was an honor to stand. He had known that all his life, and his honor, his integrity had been tainted by stolen wine. Nehren, who he had discovered truly had been given his food and wine, was tainted too. For all that it was unfair, he and Mal and Nehren were brought down by Veyes and Firyal.
It made him sick to even think their names. Thieves living in the Weyr itself. The girl was the worst - she had taken so much! - but it was Veyes he felt the most loathing for. He was only human. He couldn't help it. The crime was amplified by his feeling of betrayal. He had trusted Veyes, believed him to be a person of integrity. But no. He had stolen. He could have asked. It would have been given, but he had preferred to take on the sly. What else might he think it was alright to take, if nobody would notice?
Very soon, the other candidates would know the names of those involved. It would not go well for them, he was sure. Some would be furious merely on the grounds of missing the hatching feast. All of them, rightly, would be furious about the theft, and about being punished along with the wrongdoers. He supposed it was a good thing he had never had friends among the other candidates; none to lose. Save Nathail. He hoped Nathail would not hate him.
He had confessed what had happened to his blood parents and his foster mother already. They had assured him that he had not been at fault, but they were kind and would say that. He'd been stupid. Too trusting. He had always been fairly open, willing to like people, and until now that hadn't really come back to bite him in the face. He'd be getting a few other things in the face soon he expected; fists mostly. He wasn't yet sure how to deal with any violence offered to him. Should he take it as his due, or fight back? He didn't want to further blacken his record by harming other candidates, but he didn't want to just stand there and take whatever people threw at him either.
Still pondering this, Conomor waited patiently for the storm to break.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:51 pm
Veyes said not a word nor betrayed not a single emotion. There was nothing to say if even as bad as he felt about the situation. Not to this man, who carried the cruel gaze that mirrored the reflection his own brutal father had when he lived. Inside a slow loathing started to simmer in his being as he continued to listen. After a week anyone that was anyone would know...then maybe the real terror would begin? He watched the rider as that thought roamed his head. Oh yes, the rider before him was just the type to savor that sort of play. It was easy to see as the man's lips quivered hungrily over each word that spat out of his mouth. From those lips he was certain names would slip...it was only a matter of time.
He didn't take wine from the wine cellar but that didn't matter too damn much. However, he supposed the two skins he had gotten from the kitchen was enough to seal his fate as anathema to this man. It was his hope Firyal and the others would be ok. Well, maybe that wouldn't be enough in a crowded place like this....he'd have to watch his back from this day forward.
Glancing around carefully, he spied Conomor. It wasn't hard to envision what he was thinking and that saddened him the most but there was nothing he could do to change what had happened. Apologizing would never help or change Con's mind. In many ways, he felt truly a failure because Con really had been the first friend he had found around his own age. His eyes drifted to his calloused hands feeling like the "silver platter" had falling from his finger tips. So many dreams....well where one door closes a new one opens. Yes, in time...
As he continued to listen, he doubted anyone here would or could "act like a wing"; shards...several candidates preferred slacking to working. It was best just to lay low...find places to hide away from people if possible. He'd been through hell from life with his father, so maybe he could survive this just as he had before. Hell had many forms and this Candidate Master was only one version of it; one he knew very well.
After the final words he really had to wonder if anyone in this room understood the "Honor" of being here - including the Candidate Master; whose last 9 words gave Veyes full knowledge of his fate; a Fate he'd endure...change...then one day....Karma would find the Candidate Master.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:11 pm
Nearer the back of the chamber and mostly invisible, Firyal held herself stiffly separate from the majority of the Candidates, though it was a tight squeeze and her efforts weren't wholly successful. When she had taken the bottles she hadn't been thinking very clearly. Certainly there was no way she could have consumed all that alcohol on her own, and she contained no gift of prescience to tell her that there would be others on the shore seeking what solace they could find in their various ways. To be honest, she rarely gave the other Candidates much thought at all, and didn't really consider herself one of them under ordinary circumstance. She tended to consider herself one of the weyrfolk who happened to be allowed to stand at Hatchings.
Likewise, Firyal had not given any thought to the consequences of her actions, except briefly when the pair A'kor and his friend arrived and took disapproving notice of the goings-on. By then, of course, it had been too late to take back what she'd stolen, and there had still been the possibility that the pair would be too drunk to remember what they had seen on the morrow. When Z'nal appeared she had been sure he would send them all away on the next dragon, maybe without even allowing them to gather their belongings.
As far as she was concerned, privy duty was unpleasant, but not so bad as that. It was filthy, fould-smelling work, but she'd prefer to be physically smeared in s**t than suffer the humiliation of being sent home. The other Candidates would probably wish that she and her accidental companions had been sent home. For one thing, it would probably have meant that they wouldn't have been assigned to clean the privies. For another thing, it meant less competition at the next Hatching. There were nearly a hundred Candidates, and the group had been small, but even a few less people would probably give someone the hope that their chances at Impression had improved.
With Z'nal shouting and the Candidates looking around surreptitiously, trying to seek out the guilty parties who had earned them this unpleasant chore, Firyal forced herself to keep her attention on the Candidatemaster and stand up straight. No, she wasn't proud of what she had done, and she was even less proud of being caught at it, but she had been screamed at before, and she didn't care what the Candidates thought of her by and large. She had some friends among them, and she did feel bad for getting them unearned punishment, but it was only for a finite amount of time. A week. Of course, the duration of her own punishment was also finite, but in a more nebulous way. Until the next Hatching.
Still. This would be an incredibly unpleasant week.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:28 pm
Stood with the rest of the candidates, even as one of the younger ones his lanky figure seemed to stand above many others and he hunched himself wilting under the harsh gaze of the candidate master. He dared not look up, he felt awful as it was but each cruel word spat from the mans lip seemed a lie to him. As far as he had gathered one candidate had taken from the wine cellar. If that. And it had been their misfortunate to take one of the better skins. If they had picked up one of the usual skins that everyone else drank most of the time he had a good idea it would have not had been noticed.
And it had not been a pity party! They had just found themselves in the same place at the same time and had started talking…it was all wrong.
But what he really hated was the man sounded like he was enjoying dispensing punishment. Gentle Ren would never speak up, he didn’t have the courage to stand up to him and risk getting thrown out of the weyr. He knew all to well what an honour it was, what an oppitunity to one like himself who otherwise would have just ended up as a fisherman, But he was starting to strongly dislike the man, in the tight nit small community he had come from he had disliked some people for their crudeness or sometimes they could be callous and unfeeling but he had not come across someone he had reason to hate before, and even that growing realisation made him feel a little sick. It was not in his nature to wish harm on others but he was almost praying that the misery the man was laying on them would turn back on him.
He had not even done anything wrong, he had asked for some food since he did not feel up to attending the feast and large crowds made his stomach churn with anxiety and nausea. All he had from the kitchen that night was half a skin or corked wine and some left overs. But of course he was guilty now. Guilty just by being there , attempting to come out of his shell in a smaller more manageable group. He looked down at his feet and quickly closed his eyes before any tears of humiliation and worry could get past his hazel eyes.
Making a small vow that whatever happened he wouldn’t complain, not to this man, or anyone. And he would not try and slack the load on his own shoulders by turning on Vesyes or the others who he had thought to consider friends, no matter how bad it got he wouldn't do that. But Z’nal…he didn’t even think he could think of him with any good feelings anymore, let alone the respect and awe which came automatically when he looked upon any dragon rider in the past.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:38 pm
As Z'nal raged, Rinfala's expression went from shocked surprise to fuming anger. The tall girl's fists clenched and unclenched at her sides, and her chin lifted defiantly. At whom, she didn't know. She sure as hell wasn't going to talk back to that grumpy old b*****d, not when it meant her punishment would simply be worsened to match those that had brought this upon everyone's heads. No, her icy blue eyes glittered with resentment for those that had done this.
Once she found out who they were...their life would be hell. She'd make sure of it.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:40 pm
Kiriwar's mood had been high and happy since the Hatching, but as soon as he came into the meeting, he knew that it would be ruined. He blinked slowly as he shuffled into the crowd, looking around to see if anyone knew what was going on. When things were rather simply and shortly explained, he started blankly, trying to wrap his mind around this idea. Someone had stolen... and they all were being punished? Oh, Kiriwar understood the need to act together, to support and rein each other in, but... this just made him mad. The Vintner grit his teeth and pursed his lips, glancing around for the faces of those who were guilty. He would be happily avoiding them for quite some time...
---
Bevan had followed after his brother, ignoring that that braid was that of his brother's and that Kiriwar was so close. He kept his distance in the crowd, blinking slowly and crossing thick arms over his chest as he waited to see what this was about. The answer made his fists clench. "What?" he asked, before groaning and rolling his eyes, looking aside in irritation. This was all such a pain...
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