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 Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:49 am
The boy nodded, resting his thumbs in his pockets in an effort to look casual. "I spoke to her once she got back. And she is. Head over heels, I mean. I think she would be very pleased if I Impressed." Though it would be unlikely to Impress at such an early age, Kadayon couldn't help but smile at the thought of his mother's praise. Not that she had ever seemed disappointed in him but he was willing to soak up any compliments he could get, especially from her.
With a final not to the Candidatemaster, Kadayon made his way over to the rest of the candidates, choosing his seat carefully. Some of them seemed to be already acquainted and thus the boy slid in beside one of the quieter girls. "Are you new here?" He asked Tia, tipping his head to get a good look at her. Blushing? How cute.
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:22 pm
"...Sort of..." Tia admitted, twisting her thick braid in her hands, clearly a bit embarrassed about her slightly delayed arrival. She didn't know many of her fellow candidates well, and she had to admit so far she hadn't made much effort to know them.
She expected to not impress and quietly slip away into her craft... somewhere else, or even at the Weyr, it didn't really matter to her, since she assumed it was the inevitable outcome.
It was beginning to feel a bit self defeating though to not get to know -anyone-. Dragon or not could it really hurt to know people that might someday be dragon riders?
"Tia. Nice to meet you." She offered, as quietly as she could manage. There'd be more time to actually talk to people when they wouldn't get in trouble.
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:09 pm
Kadayon tilted his head. "Sort of? You were Searched though, right? How long ago?" His mother had said she'd done a few of those recently, what with the upcoming clutch and all. Perhaps this girl was one of the ones his mother had brought in. It would be interesting to see who Yvoth favoured, if only for curiousity's sake.
"Kadayon. And the pleasure's all mine." He smiled, glancing up at A'air to make sure that the Candidatemaster wasn't about to call the lesson to order. Thankfully, he seemed to be busy with others, which meant that he could talk to Tia without interruption.
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:35 pm
Having picked up on the quiet conversation, Winderick glanced in Kadayon and Tia's direction. Winderick didn't know Kadayon - he didn't even know he was the son of the rider who Searched him, but he felt a little resentful of the new girl who had his attention. He was new, too. Kadayon was probably talking to Tia because she was a girl. He looked down and started picking his fingernails.
"It's okay," he said to Tia after a moment. "I'm new, too. My name's Winderick."
He knew better than to address Kadayon directly because that would make it seem like he was interrupting. If he got involved in the conversation with Tia maybe Kadayon would notice him too, not that he planned to take advantage of Kadayon's attention. He didn't really have a plan at all. It just bothered him that he had only one friend in the room. Kadayon happened to be close enough to carry on a conversation without shouting. Maybe Kadayon's good looks had something to do with it, too. Not that he'd admit to that.
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:23 am
Glancing about himself, Antigonos noticed that he wasn't the only one greeting Templath; a girl stood close by, and not one he'd delt with much yet. She might not be of any importance now, but you never knew when the next gold egg might be laid, and who might Impress to the little queen inside... Besides, she wasn't unpleasant to look at, and girls like that had other uses too.
"Good day to you," Antigonos opened with a friendly smile, but not his very most charming, he didn't know what kind of girl she was and some were put off by too much right away. Some girls thought that if you were too friendly with them right off the bat, you were false. How right they were. "My name is Antigonos," he went on, "only recently arrived from Harper Hall; pleased to make your acquaintance."
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:21 am
It took a moment for it to register in Sil's mind that the "good day to you" she had heard had been addressed to her. Not too many people seemed inclined to draw her attention, even with something as simple as a greeting. Good manners didn't seem to be particularly important to most of the weyrfolk. It was probably because they figured they had dragons, and thus no need to be polite. Sil was often tempted to remind them that having a dragon only meant they needed half a brain for their mind to be complete.
"And to you," she replied, frowning very slightly. He should have made it more obvious that he was addressing her. After all, he'd just been talking to Templath, hadn't he? It wasn't likely he would greet the dragon a second time, but he could be bidding him farewell that way. People did. The way he had done things, it seemed he had been expecting her to eavesdrop on his conversation. As if he would say anything worth overhearing.
"A harper. That explains your voice. And your somewhat unctuous good manners." Sil was very proud of that word. Unctuous. She'd heard it a few days ago when a brownrider was describing a trader to one of his friends while Sil served wine.
"I'm Sileny. I've been here since the last hatching, but before that I was apprenticed to the vintners."
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:37 am
"A month or so I guess." Tia offered, she hadn't done a great deal to keep track, she'd just been concentrating on getting into a rhythm at the Weyr. There was a huge amount to take in, especially the culture of the Weyr.
The way the Weyr born thought was so... different, in ways great and small, to the holds.
"Winderick and Kadayon huh?" She noted, making note to remember those names. And Winderick was searched like her, so that meant that was at least one person she could talk to about how surreal the differences were.
"Were you born in the weyr or searched, Kadayon?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:08 pm
For once, Canoake had not drawn any attention to herself as she had entered the room. Most of those here were familiar to her though she only knew one or two by name. The weyr brat wrinkled her nose before turning to look up at Templath. Such a lovely shade of blue, she almost sighed. Dragons were the only subject really that brought her down from her high runner and the girl had high hopes of Impressing this time around. In fact, she was already thinking about when she would get the time to look at the eggs.
Oh everyone looked at the eggs, sooner or later. She wouldn't do anything so stupid as to touch them before they were ready. Smirking, she looked over the group. Why were they are in their gather beast? Who knew what lessons would be about? She had worn a simple split skirt as well as one of her hardier tops and boots. As usual, her hair was held back with one of her many bands. Settling down, she waited for the actual lesson to start.
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm
Winderick had been correct in his assumption; Kadayon was only talking to Tia because she was a girl, but nobody needed to know that now. The other boy only received a simple, appraising glance before the Weyrbrat returned his attention to the young lady. Tia was far more attractive that Winderick could ever be – sorry Winderick – and unless the Holdbred candidate produced something of interest Kadayon would much rather work his charm on somebody else. Still, politeness was key, and the former smith earned a slightly mumbled, "Winderick" in acknowledgement.
"Well, you certainly seem to be doing quite well for someone who's only been here a month. Have you found everything to your liking?" He smiled wider in an attempt to disguise his self-justified wandering eyes. Kadayon had never seen a girl so sharding tall before in his life and it was really quite charming. It would probably be impolite to ask if she was going to keep growing. The girl would probably tower over her dragon for the first bit, providing she got one.
When Tia asked the question he started nodding the moment she said 'Weyr' but added, "Born here. My mother is a greenrider."
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:20 pm
"That must have been really different." She noted, clearly wondering what it must be like to have a mother who rode a dragon. Especially one of the swift greens, who seemed to be able to turn on the edge of a blade.
"I haven't had to really do anything that complicated yet." She admitted. "Mostly it's been chores, anyone can turn a glow or change bedding." She dismissed the tasks faintly with a wave of her hand. "If I wanted challenging I'd carve portraits into the potatoes." She joked.
She was horrible at portraits. Human portraits anyway. Animals were simpler, since you could mentally fill in the details on an simple Wherry or Feline, but you couldn't really fill in the details on a smooth shape that was supposed to be your late uncle Suchandso.
"It's some of the... way people think that's hard to get used to." She didn't think she had to particularly explain what she meant by that. She'd seen two girls holding hands, and had almost thought nothing of it except that they'd started kissing. Kissing. She was still wrapping her head around that. Hearing that it was acceptable in the Weyrs was a little different than seeing it, and she was still so shocked at the memory, she wasn't even sure she could have said how she personally felt about it. Some things about the weyr were just like that, so surprising that you felt as though they'd wiped your thoughts clear like a hand over a slate.
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Dragonflight Pern Captain
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 6:25 pm
More have come in while you were wandering around talking, A'airmine. I believe most of them are ready.
Templath gave a gentle rumble to his rider through their mindlink, A'air off milling about the Candidates again, and the man turned to look at the group that had managed to gather about the blue. For the most part the dragon seemed happy to have his little group, though the rider could feel a bit of impatience leaking into all of this. The weather wasn't exactly cold, but that did nothing for the ache in great beast's wing.
Now, having addressed his rider, the blue set about bespeaking to those that had spoken to him. As a Searchdragon he often spoke to those he felt had potential to be riders, which was the reason now for why he had little to no trouble speaking to anyone. A'air liked that, even if some riders felt that it weakened the close bond each pair shared.
Antigonos, be careful. Sileny, don't worry - A'air is not as simple as he looks.
( there was a sound of protest from A'air's direction, but the blue ignored it and continued on )
The one called Galeia, be patient. We are almost ready. Winderwick, greetings as well.
The dragon didn't even move his head as he spoke, instead keeping it level and his eyes constantly whirling with joyous blues and greens. He liked watching A'air scurry about to rustle the rest of the Candidates towards the table, and when the man finally got them all rounded up the dragon gave a rumble which sounded like clearing his throat. Clearly he wanted all of their attention now, conversations needed to stop. It was an easy thing to do, and A'air chuckled before starting his conversation.
"It looks like most the stragglers are here, if not all of them, so how about we get this lesson started? For those of you most recently brought to the Weyr, my name is Candidatemaster A'air, but you can call me A'air. This here is my partner in crime, Templath, whom I have no doubt you are all excited to get to poke in prod here in a short few ticks of a candlemark."
A'air reached a hand over and patted the leg of his dragon with a gloved hand, the blue giving a satisfied croon at the interaction.
"Today we're going to be covering basic care for a dragon, at least in terms of assisting a Dragonrider with caring for theirs. For many of you this is nothing but review but for those who are new please pay attention and don't be afraid to ask questions. We'll be using Templath as our test Wherry for certain things since he's all but numb to the pokes and prods of today's Weyrbrats and Candidates."
Being grounded has its advantages.
"After that, we're going to do a bit of discussion on the upcoming clutch. I know you've all heard about the eggs hardening on the sands, seeing as many of you were brought here just for that reason, but there's a few things we need to talk about now that we've got a new Weyrleader and some of you don't know our traditions."
The Candidatemaster paused, scanning the faces of the group. Everyone looked excited, though so many of them all had different agendas. Templath had been giving his impression on all of them to A'air during the course of their entrances, and the former Searchrider was keeping a strong note of it.
"First off, are there any questions? If not, we're moving on. Can anyone tell me what's the most important thing to care for on your dragon?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 6:56 pm
When Templath spoke into his mind Winderick froze for half a second. It was the first time he had experienced such a sensation but he recognized the voice in his mind - it wasn't a 'voice' really - for what it was immediately. He smiled at the blue.
"I know what you mean. I worked at a smithy with my uncle until I was Searched but now with all the chores they give me I have hardly any time to practice," Winderick said to Tia. Even the metalcrafter at the weyr rarely gave him any interesting work to do. It was enormously discouraging. At least the dragons were interesting. Kadayon was interesting, too. If he was persistent in the conversation Kadayon would have to talk to him sooner or later.
Suddenly the lesson was starting. Winderick quickly shut his mouth and faced forward. He had a few questions, but was too anxious for the lesson to start to ask. They would probably be answered during class anyway.
The most important thing to care for on your dragon... hmm. "Their skin," he ventured. He always saw riders putting oil on their dragon's skin, so he figured it must be important, not that he understood why.
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:48 am
"Unctuous," Antigonos chuckled softly, and allowed a grin to spread across his features, "I think I like you already, Sileny, it's always good to speak to somebody with a good varied vocabulary..." It looked as though the lesson was being called to order now, not much time left for chat. "If we've time later," he murmured softly to the female candidate as Templath rumbled deeply, "you must tell me something of vintercrafting; I enjoy wine a great deal but I don't know much at all about the process of making it."
Having said this, Antigonos turned his attention back onto the candidatemaster, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow as the man spoke. What was most important?... He didn't know. Might as well join in the guessing. "I'd have to either agree with you," he put in as a younger candidate piped up about skin, "or suggest their diet?... Or is it something more intangible, their happiness and your bond with them?" All wild stabs in the dark really, but given he had only recently arrived he couldn't be expected to actually know; showing a willingness to guess and be wrong (and indeed to think) was important at this stage.
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:26 am
Sil managed to hold back her blanching just long enough for Antigonos to turn away and direct his attention to A'air and his opening remarks, though she did smile at Templath's evaluation of his rider. "Not as simple as he looks," eh? Well, coming from someone like Sileny that would be a compliment, but surely the blue was a bit biased, and simply good at reading people. Wasn't he supposed to be a search dragon?
She stepped back and began to surreptitiously work on disappearing into the crowd. She noticed Tall Tia, the too-sensitive girl, and Canoe, whose name she knew but preferred not to use because she found her annoying. She also noticed Witless Winderick, whose name she had learned after their run-in. As she was noticing these people, A'air asked about the most important thing to care for in dragons, and Sileny was unable to stop herself from muttering, "Their endless appetite." She'd seen how the hatchlings ate at the last hatching, and afterward, and it seemed to her that they were appetites with skin stretched over them.
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:34 am
Galeia blinked and glanced toward Templath surreptitiously. She knew the blue had a reputation for speaking openly when he cared to, but she hadn’t known a dragon before to pay so much attention to other people. In a dragon that could sense so much, it was an awing thing. Though the blue didn’t seem to be looking, she gave the slightest of nods that wasn’t likely to be noticed and tried to think of assent and patience instead of the burning curiosity Templath had struck up in her. How much could the dragon infer from those who weren’t His, emotions or even thoughts? How much did proximity help? And dragons were notorious for pretending those they didn’t care for didn’t exist, even forgetting their names, but could a clever dragon overcome that? How immensely useful could that sort of thing be in relation to all the rumors she’d caught wind of?
Too many questions, and A’air had his own. She was sure he had a specific answer in mind, but the phrasing of the question made it an arguable point. She said something about skin into the consensus, remembering all the tediously explained need for oil in past lessons. Also, Candidatemaster A’air had been right about her memory. If he’d already said they were going to be touching his dragon (Did skin contact heighten the connection? No, focus now.), skin seemed an appropriate topic.
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