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The newcomer didn't look like a Candidate- not one bit. Peradan could recognize when someone was well dressed, and Xan certainly was so. Envy was instant- Peradan hadn't had a chance to dress so finely, or wear jewelry so nice in too many sevendays. She wouldn't either, until she was a full fledged rider. The price one had to pay! For a dragon, it was worth it, but it was hard for a formerly spoiled Candidate to get used to.

"I'm not letting anyone bet marks, because I don't think many of us have some to spend. But it's open to everyone, and a skin of nice wine to the winner." Peradan gestured to Xan and to the paper in one broad sweep.

Then Narisa had her attention again, and Peradan was off playing the hostess. This was something she truly enjoyed, both from being so sociable and from having control over the situation. For now. Things could turn out differently once the Candidates got some wine in them, though Peradan hoped none of them would make poor decisions.

"I would love to compare vintages with you some time. It's a bit busy tonight, but maybe after the Hatching, if we're not too busy. But hopefully we are!" No room for thinking of not Impressing tonight. No room for extended conversations either- Peradan had to move on to the next flurry of questions. There were still people trickling in, and things were really starting to go pleasantly. Music would have been nice. Hmm... There could be Harpers in the audience.

Standing on a bench, Peradan managed to bellow out, "Can anyone play some lively music for us?" before stepping down to talk to Balt.

"No one is late- you're just on time! I had no clue so many Candidates would show up, but I guess we all need a little break from life. Feel free to write down your guesses or take some food and drink. Talk and socialize and get to know people- I have so many names floating around my head right now, but I'm sure they'll all still be there on the morrow." Hopefully.

Ruven rubbed Peradan the wrong way. He had a look to his face- it was slightly cocky. Was he trying to steal her thunder? Oh no. He would NOT be doing that. Peradan wasn't all honey- there was vinegar there too.

"No marks. Not all of the Candidates come from a position of betting marks, and we don't get enough spending money. If you want to bet marks, bet with the older riders, but not here." She shoved his mark back towards him. "This skin is worth about half a mark anyway." She shrugged, but was clearly disgruntled now.

"I'm writing down the littlest egg as a white," she announced again to the room at large.

The declaration of her dragon color startled Cetalese into looking at Xan. Here was one of the famed female riders of male dragons. Eliza had told her it happened at times, but this was the first woman Cetalese had seen who had a male dragon partner. There was a new level of intensity to her appraisal now. Since they couldn't be certain of what color they would get, Cetalese had the chance at getting a male dragon as much as any of the boys, but considerably less understanding of what a position like that would be like.

She didn't want to intrude on the conversation between Xan and Ruven, but she did move a littler closer. If the opportunity arose, she would ask Xan if she could answer a few questions. Was it the same as a male riding a male? Ceta imagined it had to come with some of the stigmas that riding a dragon of an opposing gender did for males who rode Greens. However, there it implied something about their sexuality as well, whereas females who rode Blues or mutation males didn't have that same aspect of Flights and taking partners of the same gender.

She redirected her attention briefly to Peradan's pushing away of the mark. The party just started and already there was trouble. Still, it looked like there were too many cooks in this kitchen already. There were so many strong personalities vying for attention or the center stage that Cetalese opted to keep her mouth closed and instead ease herself into place next to Xan so that she, too, could get a look at the sketch.

"It's rather well done," she commented to Peradan as the girl walked over. The loud announcement about the White made Ceta think for a moment. It was certainly possible, and Narisa's comment about the Mystweed was true enough. "I think I agree with you."

She smiled slightly again, then looked past Peradan to offer Ruven a comforting smile of his own.

Oh, it was Xan! Blue Opeth. That would certainly explain why Lena'd lacked the name. Female blueriders more often than not preferred the company of men, and the greenrider males who preferred women...well, it made for an easy match. Given the supposed laidback temperament of most blues, Lena supposed there was a fair chance she might Impress blue, were she to Impress at all...

Gauden's confusion surprised her greatly. He didn't know? She'd thought it'd occupied most of Pernese attention but then again... Well, it was mostly important to the weyrs and dragons, wasn't it? Since he was from who knew were, really, perhaps the theories and news simply hadn't been of interest to his craft or hold. "Something that affects dragon fertility, more like. It helps with gold and bronze eggs, or so's the story, so it's not really sure if it'll minimize atypicals or...something else. I suppose we'll see, though?" She shrugged. "But it's a plant it feels like we've spent ages looking for. Before the riders figured out a better way to bring it back, even weyrfolk'd would go out with riders to search the environs around here for the stuff. Then it was annoyingly hard to transplant...really, I don't think you're missing much by not knowing!" Lena finished with a wry smile. After seeing too many failed transplants herself, her desire to work with green things was greatly diminished. She supposed that probably ruled out Healing as a potential fallback craft, unless she could make someone else deal with delicate medicinal plants... "Though, if I may ask, where're you from? Craft or Hold?" It didn't seem to be a rude question to her, but Lena'd been told she wouldn't know rude if it introduced itself to her. She was pretty sure E'lai had been exaggerating though, it wasn't like he could talk, not with his dragon.

Hmm. That would likely explain it; no dragonrider wanted their dragon really being thought of in the same instance as a runnerbeast, or an ovine, which was likely the first thing a beastcrafter'd tend to do. From what she understood of the craft, anyway, which admittedly wasn't much. "Oh, no, Benden's had success with it, but they've never been ones to encourage atyps, so..." It was really only luck that'd been with the one crimson they did have from a bit back; wasn't the story she'd Impressed through her shell? Lena certainly remembered hearing that news. "Percentage-wise? Greens and blues usually make up about half a clutch, and browns are more somewhat likely than bronzes. A clutch this size, with the queen egg...I certainly wouldn't expect more than two bronzes, personally. I'm guessing two bronzes, two browns, plus the queen, and that's nearly half the eggs right there." Granted, she was no expert on these things, but given the size of the eggs, a fair guess of how things'd go. "And of course we might get a crimson or silver or both, they'll hatch tiny like small greens but grow enormous." And they were an awful lot of work, as Gauden ought to be vaguely familiar with if he'd been here long enough to catch any of the frequent Candidate lessons.

"Still, with the Red Star and all, we need a bit of everything," Lena said cheerfully, which might strike some as odd. It was the Red Star she was mentioning, after all. But really, a Pass was a Pass and it wasn't like they could stop the thing from coming, so might as well be prepared for it, and perhaps even a little goodnatured about the inevitable to come. "A wing of all bronzes is just as impractical as a wing of greens." Even if bronzes supposedly carried more prestige, and certainly probably some girls would be devastated to miss Impressing a queen, it was really all a bit silly to Lena. If there was a dragon who wanted to Impress you, it wasn't like you were going to fuss about the color of its hide.

Overhearing the talk of bronzes, Xan nodded slightly. "Yea, bronze dragons make up about five percent of all dragons so a clutch this size sometimes might not have one in especially with how the numbers of golds and bronzes were dropping. With the success of the mystweed at some of the old Weyrs though I'd be prepared to bet that one or both of the big eggs is bronze... Maybe that one," she tapped the position of the rocky band egg, grinning and adding; "I hate to stereotype but from what I've picked up of the gossip of what most candidates got from it, it seems to have a bronze sized ego!" She knew some pretty nice bronze riders, but she also knew plenty who lived up their own tailforks. Still, nobody was perfect.

"If I were betting I'd wager any of the ones that seemed grumpy to you guys were blue," she went on with a snort of amusement, reaching up to stroke her flitt as he nosed as her ear, "but maybe that's just because I think it would be nice for Opeth to find a blue of kindred spirit to grumble with."

"You malign me in front of strangers. Again." Out soaking up the last of the sun's rays, Opeth humphed. "You should not speak of me so to anyone, let alone little dragonless brats. I expect half of them are deadglowed, and the other half set on bonding to something large and shiny. Watch them at the hatching, you will see the lust in their eyes when the metallic dragons hatch." It was always the way. People claimed they had no preference but they did, oh yes they did and if it wasn't for a metallic dragon it was for an atypical dragon. People were all the same.

"Brighten up, grumpy-tail," Xan grinned, looking vaguely unfocused as she addressed her dragon, "I still love you best."

"Humph."

"Did someone mention grumpy blues~?" a new voice piped up as its owner entered the kitchen with another in tow. She wasn't particularly tall, and neither was she particularly distinguishable as a 'she' aside from perhaps her face. G'brel had been coming to the kitchen along with her friend Akaya to grab a snack, but the sight of the gathered persons (most all of which appeared to be Candidates) was too much to resist not joining in on. "So what, is this a party no one invited us to? I am so hurt." Her eyes rested briefly on the semi-familiar faces of Balt and Lena, as well as a few others, but most of the people gathered she didn't believe she'd really met before. Of course, that certainly didn't mean she couldn't just meet them ~now~, and since she was about the same age (if not younger) than most of them, surely they wouldn't mind the intrusion.

You can't know that for sure.

Oh, hush, Lifth. Let me have my fun~ Besides, a little social interaction wouldn't hurt your either.

... I'm going back to our weyr now.

Have fun with that.

"Hey G'brel!" Xan beamed at her fellow bluerider: she might not know her all that well but Xan was given to being friendly even with casual acquaintances. "Seems the two of us have stumbled on a candidate party! They're guessing at the eggs right now." She remembered the bets that had floated around the clutch she's Impressed Opeth at. She'd guessed his egg contained a crimson, assuming that spitfire temper she'd felt had belonged to one of those reputedly spitfire-tempered red-hided dragons.

Then turning back to Ruven, she said; "I'm from Wycom Hold. It's not especially big or well know, though of course grandpa is forever trying to change that! Keeps him busy I guess but I don't think we're ever going to be a shining star on the map of Pern." It had been a good place to grow up though, beautiful beaches and thriving fishcraft. For all that it might not be the very most glamorous place in the world she was still kind of proud of the place and how her grandfather handled it... She really should go see him sometime soon, since the start of the whole Timing thing she just hadn't had the... well, the time.

Lena had to chuckle at Xan's suggestion of assuming grumpy blues; it was true the weyrgirl had met a few in her Turns. She presumed by the look on the bluerider's face her dragon might be objecting to the claim. She smiled at Balt's joining of her and Gauden's speculation. "Likely? Malvren has one now. But I don't think it's particularly likely myself, no. Perhaps a black though?" she suggested, thoughtful. Unlike some of the others, she hadn't been quite so phased by the egg. Probably because doubt was something of a foreign concept to Lena, so all it had done was dampen her mood a bit.

G'brel and another girl's arrival [Akaya]--Lena couldn't remember her name, just that she'd been a Harper and she was fairly sure the girl was now a greenrider--set Lena to grinning wider. She knew G'brel fairly well, and she'd always liked the girl's sense of humor. "Of course no one invites you to the candidate parties, dragonrider," Lena teased. "Seeing as how we appear to be collecting riders now though...feel free to give us poor sops some tips or something."

***

"Tips? I was even worse than G'brel at guessing," Akaya offered, having hung back slightly while the blueriders exchanged greetings and presumably amused the candidates in the process. The greenrider herself could be a bit shy sometimes, unless she was attempting to recruit for weyr-choirs or her other nearest and dearest hobbies. "But if we're going by experience, the sweetest in temperament were greens, I think. Sleeth was lovely even as an egg, I do remember. I hadn't the slightest idea what she was at the time though!"

And speaking of Sleeth...Akaya's lips curved into a smile as she heard her dragon call after Lifth. Waitwaitwait! Lifth, I will come too!