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 Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:57 am
Pursing her lips Tala suppressed a groan that the fun had been cut. But remembering who was with her she decided it was for the best. Hadn't she just been trying to keep the girl as calm as possible? Wanting to wipe that crooked grin of the boys face but deciding there would always be more time to do it she stood and grinned wickedly turning so that the girl behind her couldn't see...didn't want to ruin the illusion that she was a nice person.
"Maybe we were...what about you? We seemed to be the only living things up at this house besides the watch. What brings you out of bed so early?"
She moved around again until she was back by the mare and colt. The mare tossed her head at her so she reached down to scratch her ears.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:07 am
Well good, that was over, and now she saw him she recognised the tall young man; he was another weyrbrat. She'd never really talked to him before, she didn't really talk to many boys if she was honest with herself, but she was pretty sure she knew how he was.
"Yea, I was sent down to scoop the poop," Layla smiled slightly, feeling faintly awkward; she wasn't good with boys in general let alone fairly attractive ones... A bit too tall really, for her tastes, but otherwise very nicely made. Layla blushed slightly. "You're Kaatan, right?" she pressed on firmly, trying to ignore her own silliness; Tala was doing just fine so there was no need for her to get flustered. "And it is early... umm... just getting a good start on things, or could you not sleep?"
Oh, and now she'd made herself think about why she couldn't sleep again, so she was worrying about that at the same time as feeling unsure how to act around Kaatan. How could any one person be quite as silly and skittish as she was?
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:43 pm
Seeing the grin cross the nearest girl's face, he raised a brow, not really sure how to take it. The smile fell from his face as he spoke, looking out over the pens for a moment before falling back to the nearest girl first. "Figured I'd start here early so I can finish it before it gets too hot is all," he admitted, glancing over her shoulder now to the nervous figure outside the pens. "Yeah, that's me," he said, searching his mind for a moment to connect a name to her familiar face. "Layla, right?"
He was fairly certain they'd never met formally, but he was sure he'd caught glances of her here and there for as long as he could remember. Probably about the same age, I'd guess. No wonder we know each other... It's just that there are so many Weyrbrats. Shame... His thought idled and dropped off as soon as it came to her features. She was relatively pretty - certainly not nothing to look at - but they had just met, and there was plenty else to think about.
The other girl... he was not so familiar with. Have I seen her before? I think the other day, at dinner. He returned his attention to this girl, cocking his head to the side. Asking very simply in a casual voice, he said, "And you are?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:38 pm
Tala stuck her hand out for Kaatan to shake. "Tala. Just got here recently." Dropping the grin she relaxed. "Haven't really met that many people around here, and I just generally do better around the runners. I came in this morning to see the new colt and thats when I met Layla. But good work never hurt anyone!"
Looking back at Layla she noticed that she seemed to have retreated into herself again. Frowning to herself, she motioned to Layla and the colt. "Layla here was just learning how to keep her fingers from being chomped on. She's pretty good at it actually!"
Hoping to relax the other girl she dropped back a bit and began scratching the mares ears again. Maybe if I just keep things low key she wont scare as easily, she thought. I kinda like this girl, I don't want to scare her.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 4:40 am
"Hehe, yea," Layla grinned and nodded, "just keep your hand flat and it's all fine... Speaking of work, I should get back to it." Nodding for emphasis, she moved back to her barrow and shovel and got stuck in at the dung... but she didn't want to seem antisocial. What to talk about? Well, there was one obvious thing she supposed.
"So, were you two at the touching?" she asked as she scraped up an especially impressive heap of herdbeast dung. "What did you make of it? This is the first one I've ever been to, because there's a gold egg this time and I won't get death glares from everyone for daring to set foot on the sands."
She was still a bit worried about Impressing a fighting dragon, about how she would be treated if she did in any case. She would have her lifemate so she supposed it would be bearable in the end but... but she didn't want to be an outcast. Not that she knew how she'd cope if she Impressed the queen either, gold riders were supposed to be strong and bold and all of those things that she wasn't. Either way, if she found her dragon life was going to get harder in some ways and yet who could pass up the chance at finding their dragon? Sometimes you had to make yourself do things even if you were scared, sometimes it was worth the risk.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:13 am
Kaatan accepted the shake, smiling at her name. "Tala, hm? It's a pleasure, sure - I'm Kaatan. You were Searched then, I assume?" He came out of the stall and walked back around to the one he had been working in, wielding his shovel again. "I didn't go," he said simply, and looked over to Layla. "But I've been to a few in the past. What are the eggs like this clutch?" The topic panged him a bit, but he didn't show it. It just hadn't worked this time around, and he had accepted that. Still doesn't make it that much easier... Though I plan on attending the hatching anyway. I wouldn't miss the Impressing of a queen, sure and I wouldn't.
There was nothing he wanted more than to Impress, and he wasn't picky of color. His father had ridden a brown, so of course he felt a certain affinity to them - not that he knew who exactly his father was - but he wasn't picky. We don't get a choice anyway. All colors have their merits, surely. They're our lifemate... He was reminded of his desire every time his shovel struck the ground of the pen, the force tugging at his muscles and he moved the dung into his barrow.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:51 pm
Tala nodded enthusiastically. "It was my first one! Its strange seeing the eggs for the first time though...almost scary. To know that there is something inside that will one day, if your lucky, become you lifemate."
Tala grabbed her shovel again and threw herself into the work as she talked.
"And as for being Searched...I had a dragon muzzle thrust in my face and the Rider almost died laughing he thought it was so funny...But things are the way they are. At least I'm here now."
The sharp smell of dung was always comforting to her, as strange as that was. It reminded her of home and her eyes pricked at that thought. This was home now, but her home...That was something she missed. Not so much the people, oh she missed her family alright, but the familiarity of the place and just the feeling of...being home. She mentally shook herself and reminded herself that that would come in time here...just give it time.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 1:04 pm
Layla tossed another shovel full of dung into the barrow, relishing the hard labor for once. If she was busy thinking about her tired body, she couldn't worry too much. Chatting about eggs would help too, even though that did conjure up its own concerns and insecurities.
"They seem like a good bunch to me," she said as she bent to scoop again. "Only a couple seemed like they might even possibly be violent, not like the last hatching." She turned to face Tala at this point; having only just arrived she wouldn't know. "The clutch before this one was the last grasp at power by our former senior weyrwoman," she explained. "It was very short, and there were only four eggs. They all hatched out into violent greens, tore the candidates on the sands apart, and one of them even went between..."
Even though she'd been in the stands the scene had affected her deeply. So much waste, so much pain, so much death in return for three greens who seemed to hate everything and everyone save one another. This clutch couldn't be a repeat of that, not with such a calm little queen to hold her siblings back should the need arise. It would be fine... provided they didn't all die of plague before the shells cracked. Shards. She'd been trying so hard not to think about that.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:24 am
"Ah, those Searches are often the best, I think," he replied to Tala, emptying his shovel again. Growing up a Weyrbrat gave you the chance to watch a lot of Searched Candidates come through the Weyr - both the good and the bad. "Coming here must have been a pretty big change though."
The memory of the previous clutch quieted him. He had nearly stood on those stands, but through a few twists and happenstances, had ended up watching the scene from the stands. It was one of the reasons - one of the more personal - that he was not Standing for this clutch. Certainly it wouldn't happen again, especially not with Caveth having bared the eggs. Still, it was fresh on anyone's mind who had witnessed it, and he was fairly certain he wouldn't be the only one thinking of it come Hatching day. Still... Next clutch...
"I'm glad it'll be a good clutch then," he said, pulling the cheer from somewhere behind the memory. "That always makes Hatching exciting!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:00 pm
Tala nodded, oblivious to the distress that crossed Kaatan's face. "It was a big change...but a welcome one at that! I still get to be around runners! Although I'm not sure how that will change if I impress..."
Home was so far away at this point that there was no point in worrying about it anymore. If she didnt end up impressing...well she could make a life here...Mentally shaking herself she began shoveling again with enthusiasm. "So what about you Layla? How'd you come to be here?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:39 am
If she Impressed, her whole life would be about her dragon for quite some time, surely that was obvious... Well, maybe not to somebody who hadn't been born here. Things that were obvious to her, things that seemed every day, might be really quite mystifying to Tala. Exciting, perhaps, or maybe frightening... It would be frightening to her, probably not so much to most. Most would probably just be a bit nervous, maybe a touch homesick. Most people were tougher than she was.
"I was born here," Layla said after a moment, shooting a slight smile to Tala and tossing more dung into the barrow. "My father was a rider, I don't know what colour he rides let alone his name, and my mother worked in the lower caverns, probably still does. I was brought up by the creche like most weyrbrats until I was twelve, when I was placed with my foster mother. She works in the lower caverns too, mostly she works in the creche but she does bits and pieces all over." That was her life story. Not really very interesting. Safe, quite comfortable, but not interesting. Would she be happy to live like that forever if she didn't Impress? Would she even be safe if the plague was coming back? Too many questions with unhappy answers.
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Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:39 am
Kaatan smirked as he worked, moving into the next stall over, his first being completely dung-free now. "Growing up in a Weyr isn't a glorious life," he said to Tala, stopping his shoveling for a moment to move his barrow closer when he realized that he'd have to carry the dung further than necessary. "We've been doing chores like this since we were old enough to, plus others that are more Weyr-specific. It's really only the riders who get to have any fun!" Because aside from us, it's un-Impressed drudges who do all the work! But once you grow up with dragons, leaving them for a hold would be... tough.
He went back to shoveling, and he could feel the muscles in his shoulder and back pull and tense with every movement, the first slick gleam of sweat beginning to shine on his skin. It's not even that warm out, sure and it's not...
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