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"Got it from your story," O'asis informed her with a grin. "Your dolphin friend, right? Argentina?" She'd probably caught the reference already, but... shards, it was just strange, seeing Kyllae so mopey as she was. He wanted to see that smile, those dimples - what would it take?

But of course, he knew, there wasn't much he could offer. Because she'd made her mistake, and it had changed things. And he didn't know how far they were going to change, but O'asis was certain that it was nothing he could do anything about.

And he hated that. He was a fixer; he was a doer. He was the one that worked his hands late at night, because he couldn't stand to be idle. And he was the one that knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it took some sort of power to fix a problem - and here, he was completely empty-handed and feeble. If he could make her laugh, maybe he'd help for a second, but beyond that....

Instead, all he could do was to be earnest, honest, and supportive. "It's okay," he insisted. "Hey - it's okay, all right? Yeah, you did something dimglowed. Spectacularly dimglowed, actually-" okay, pull back a bit, I'm sure she's heard that plenty enough recently, "-but you know, the fact is, probably half the people here would do something just as bad, if not worse, if they could. But they can't. Because they're too scared to take the risk, or too timid to break away from what everyone else says they ought to do. People like you, you know - they want more. They're willing to risk for more. And sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes they don't pay attention to what they're doing, and all they can do is pray they didn't hurt anything, but in the end...."

Shards, in the end what? Where was he going with this? O'asis didn't know. For all his usual eloquence, here he felt out of his depth. Jabbering on without knowing what he could say to make it better. The pause hung long, and a tiny bit of panic, a scared voice that was telling him you're messing it up, you're messing it up! invading, entered his eyes.

Only those who risk can become great, Uktenath offered.

"... Only those who risk can become great," he agreed softly. "Doesn't excuse what gets hurt along the way, but it's the truth."

E'si leaned back, a little smile of satisfaction gracing his features, because he was sure that his brother had noticed him enough to be rightfully scared, as the little wherry should be. E'si had sharding GONE to the Weyr to ESCAPE from his family, and now they were cropping up again. E'si was going to show them just how much he disapproved of it, having them following him around like a plague. His blue eyes narrowed with an intensity that said 'Avoid, or Approach at your own Demise'. But his brother was already turning away, and it did little good to glare at him through his back. So with a sigh, he turned his gaze away, letting his eyes sweep over the Stands. There was Kyllae (he was wondering when someone would finally get the guts to beat the bloody snot out of the dimglow), and the guy-who-wanted-to-tap-that. There was S'van... and J'ri, both of whom he liked just enough to want to get up and talk to.

But in the end he settled for a 'Ah, no, don't feel like going out of my way', and reclined further back in his spot, taking up as much space as was humanly possible with a very feline-like stretch.

* * *

The brown and the blue had Impressed, and both to Candidates Silute did not know. Of course, he hardly knew anyone at the Weyr, having arrived only recently. The one person he did know seemed to avoid him like he had caught some wretched disease that disfigured his face. Honestly, he hadn't expected E'si to refuse to acknowledge him, he expected to be scolded somehow.

Maybe his brother was saving it for later. Silute glanced cautiously over his shoulder, and then decided better and turned his gaze back to the Hatching Sands. Dragonets had to be safer than his brother's gaze, right?

S'van actually smiled at that point, relieved to have something else to concentrate on besides the fact that he was pretty sure his best friend was being dimglowed over that girl. It wasn't as though he could hear them or anything. "Nice to see you. And yeah, I was, actually. From the very start, even. Saw Rin Impress." Well, and all the maulings, but aside from one in particular, those weren't terribly important. Thinking silently 'I hate her I hate her I hate her' wasn't going to make things any better. He was acting like a wherry. What did he care if O'asis had another friend that he wanted to spend time with? It wasn't like O'asis had ever had a lack of friends.

He tried on another smile. "A nasty temper, huh? Don't think I've met him. Does he really?" Paired with that even tempered dragon, too. Huh. Who would've thought? "Seems like there's a real variety at this Hatching," he commented idly. Oh, that is very good. I'm glad that you have company. The Brown seemed to be in high spirits, despite his rider's current childish behavior, though there was an undertone of worry in there somewhere. I am well. Why were you frightened?

There was that moment where she seemed to open up, and O'asis knew that he'd managed to say the right thing. There was some spark again, a bit of that delight that made Kyllae so exuberant; a bit of tease, a bit of flaunt, a bit of laugh and delight and life. The Bronzerider himself picked up a bit on seeing it, like his own load was lightened. Whatever might be going on, it was clear that Kyllae was dampened, but not broken. As long as that was true, he knew, she would get through all this just fine.

"Ach, well," he told her secretively, "truth is, I haven't got the common sense of a wherry. Thought most people had figured out by now, that's what Uktenath does for me!" The blonde chuckled and, as daring as he thought he ought to be, put a hand over Kyllae's gingerly. Human contact, support, certainty; three things, at least, he could give her, and maybe she could use them to keep herself strong.

Then, O'asis couldn't help but comment: "You know, you ought to take that hat off. You look pretty silly with it." He was glancing at her sidelong now, fighting to keep a smirk off his face - knowing full well that he was being a wherry to Kyllae, of course, but unable to resist the chance to tease her anyway.

The striped blue was quick when he got going and, just as Tideal had predicted, he turned the other way and passed right by him. Disheartening again. There where about... four eggs left, as far as he could tell. Four eggs, four chances. He may be standing here again a fourth time, whenever that might be. Tideal hated not having something to take his anger out on. Bottled up he ended up just being sad. Attempting to stifle these moods he watched the blue for a bit longer before turning back to the other eggs, a collection of beautiful shells preparing for their own debut. The tall candidate wanted so badly to know the outcome now, rather than being forced to wait. His patience had already come and gone. He turned and poked Rumir.

"Can you see how many are left?" He asked a bit tiredly.

The blue - it's moving! the thought woke her up a little, and she tensed again, watching the dragonet move towards to boys. It had foudn it's lifemate, after taking its time. Santhea grinned, watching the boy walk off the sands - by the sounds of it, his blue was pretty hungry after that show! She smiled at the dragonet's behaviour, and glanced back at the four eggs - still unhatched and unmoving..

Santhea yawned. How late is it? she wondered, glancing over at the stands. She could see groups of spectators wondering about leaving - but surely the four eggs had life in them? She wondered if the dragons would know. The dragons knew an awful lot after all - they were awesome.

Santhea felt sleepy, but still jazzed - she felt like jumping up and down on the sands, not only because they were still hot. The other candidates looked kinda sleepy, but Santhea knew herself to always feel like this - except until it got too late, and then she'd probably fall asleep where she stood. She cringed slightly. My ability to fall dead asleep won't help here - I hope the other eggs hatch before that point.. she whined slightly in her head, wondering how long it was going to take. Hatch, little dragons! C'mon!