|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:05 pm
There were so few things that could get Astrisabe's blood pumping enough these days. Or, at least, life had been that way until a few days ago, when things had taken a dramatic turn for the better. Prior to those few days, she had viewed her life with extreme pessimism, seeing it stretch before her in a never ending daze. What she loved had been taken from her in a cruel twist of hormones, and the alternate path she wanted to take seemed like an impossibility. If wishes were runners... Those were the words she often muttered to herself, trying not to appear as resentful of her work as she actually was.
Three days ago, Astri had risen as early as was typical for her. There was work to be done, and she had lessons on top of that. It was going to be a cold day, so spending time in an overcrowded classroom wasn't entirely an unwelcome prospect, though she knew many of the little children still didn't grasp the importance of bathing. So what if the water was cold? It was certainly better than smelling bad.
She had risen with another resigned sigh, and gone to the fields. There were a few mares due to foal any day, producing a new crop of leggy racers who would hopefully have the stamina of their father, with the refined look of the mother. If she couldn't race, she could, at the very least, have some career related to the racing of runners. It was this, her very lowest point, that the dragon had burst from the sky like some divine messenger, had Astri any concept of religion.
The dragon had been a stalwart blue, rather grumpy looking. His rider had been considerably more charming, flirting freely with both men and women, making Astri lift a corner of her mouth up. I guess what they say about dragonriders is true then. She didn't have any issues with that, though her personal preferences lay towards those of the male sex.
All those between the ages of twelve and twenty-one had been called out that day, lined up before the dragon. Some grumbled, but most stood in frightened awe, the wedge-shaped head of the dragon wavering before them as he one by one would either push one back, or look one square in the eye, silently communicating to his rider. The dragon did not speak to anyone, least of all Astri, but he looked at her for a good long while, and when the presumed Search was over, Astri had been pulled aside with a few others, and asked if she would like to go to the Weyr. Would she? It would be her wildest dream! There were no second thoughts in the mind of that young women, as she packed and bid her family and her previous life behind. She would miss them, but this was far more exciting, and she would not be young enough to be a Candidate for much longer.
With that fond memory still in her mind, a smile again tugged at the corner of the Candidate's lips, as she faced her newest object of conquest. Ever since she had flown in on dragonback, stomach in her mouth, she had wanted to dive into the lake. It looked cold, but wouldn't it feel good?
Muscles tensed, Astri dove in, shrieking as she hit the icy water and exhaling and inhaling rapidly as she bobbed there, laughter finally breaking free. Now this was what life should be about- the shock of the cold water opening up her mind so that the horizon was limitless.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:43 pm
Rayale grinned at the sound of the shriek as he approached the lake, thumbs hooked in his belt. He'd been eying the chilly waters himself, since his arrival, missing the chance to swim in the busyness of being a candidate. It was certainly a bit more...hectic than he had originally thought, with things to do even before you ever stood on the sands, and he was glad for the chance to break away.
The laughter was encouraging as he stepped into sight, lifting a hand to wave at the person in the lake and calling out. "Hey! How's the water?" And after a pause he added. "Is it alright to join you?"
If he'd realized who it was, the relatively attractive and notably....developing young woman, he probably would have been stuttering, or tripping over his shoes instead of approaching so openly, but he really wanted to go for a swim.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:56 pm
"WHOOHOO!" came a rather excited yell from one weyrbred boy as he ran towards the lake. It was a dare this morning; several of the older weyrbrats claiming that you wouldn't be able to stand the cold of between if you couldn't last in the lake for a bit.
Greloren was not one to easily turn down dares and thus was headed towards the lake at a sprint. As he drew close, he managed to shuck off his clothes, passing another guy butt naked and jumping into the cold water.
"SHARDS!" He cursed as he surfaced, sucking in breath to fight off the shivers. He couldn't let the other boys see that he was cold...
Only then did Greloren realize that there was someone already in the lake. "Oh, hey! You take up the dare too?" He didn't seem to mind his nakedness in front of this older girl. Raised in the Weyr did much to a child's personality and outlook upon things. He glanced back over to Rayale. "Come on in! The water's wonderful!" He laughed, moving his arms and legs to keep blood flowing in an effort to stay a bit warmer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:46 pm
At least Astri could say she wasn't totally unfamiliar with the male anatomy, and at least she wasn't naked. She was, in fact, rather clothed, not too worried about how damp they would be. They would always dry, and she was fortunate enough to possess another set of clothes that would be just as serviceable given the circumstances. Plus, both the young men present looked younger than herself, at least by one or two Turns.
"It suits me fine. The water is cold though." Astri shrugged, trying to shake the water out of her short hair. It stood on end, looking out of place and comical. She tried to flatten it, but soon realized she was fighting what was essentially a losing battle, and left it as is.
"You two look familiar. Are you both Candidates? I'm Astrisabe." She started to thrust her hand forward, but realized that she couldn't shake both at once, and shrugged once more. Astri spoke witha firm, almost authoritarian voice, though she did at least attempt to tone it down for the company involved.
"I was only brought here a few days ago, so I'm sorry if we've met once already." The first few days had been such a blur that all the names of those she met were gone. Astri only knew a few of the girls, and that was solely because she shared a room with them. Well, she would have to change that. She didn't have to meet everyone, but she would at least have to be familiar with their names, and maybe their past. She had heard that many of the Candidates for this clutch were weyrbrats, which made her slightly on edge. Did they stand more of a chance at Impression than she did? Shard it, there was no protocol for this!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:31 am
Rayale, blushing furiously, tugged at his necklace, an small thick shell on a leather cord, and offered the girl an sheepish smile.
"I'm Rayale. Also new. It's a big change isn't it?" He asked, wondering if it had been as dizying and busy for her as for him. "Yes, I'm a candidate too. Hard to belive." He examined the water for a moment, glancing at the naked boy uncertainly and finding a spot to wade into the water, rather than plunge head long. He splashed out through the cold water with determination, though the surprising cold did make him gasp, and he gave a comical shudder even as he determinedly moved foward. "Shards!! That is cold!!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:12 am
Greloren nodded excitedly. "Yeah, the Weyrwoman said I could stand this Hatching. I'm finally old enough!" Which was saying something considering he was the youngest Candidate in the group so far. He shook Astri's hand, grinning. "I'm Greloren."
"Being new's nothing bad. I've seen Candidates arriving right before the Hatching Impress." He gave a sigh and glanced towards the Hatching Grounds. This time he wasn't just going to be stuck in the stands with his fostermother keeping a close eye on him. No, he was going to be standing down on those hot sands with the other Candidates!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:21 pm
Astri smiled at the two boys. They both seemed quite nice, and at least Rayale could understand the confusion and unending joy she was feeling. Would this dream ever stop? Oh, it would, once Astri finally got to doing hard chores. And if she Impressed, there would the 24 hours a day care of a young dragon who could not yet go between to use the restroom, and would do little more than eat and sleep. It was like having a new baby, if new babies were as wonderful as dragons (which in Astri's mind, they weren't. Not half as good).
"It's such a big change. It smells so different here. It's not like runner or like herdbeasts. We have them here, but the scent... It's different. I suppose that's a strange thing to notice though, isn't it?" Astri couldn't be sure if she was making up the new smells in her mind, or if that sharp, slightly spicy smell was that of dragon. Did dragons have a smell? Was she going delirious from happiness? She couldn't be crazy though; she would have never been Searched if she had not been in her right mind.
"I did warn you it was cold!" laughed Astri, splashed a bit at Rayale and bobbing under the water once, popping up and making large, comical arm gestures, like some sort of water monster. Turning her attention to Greloren, she grinned, propping her head just so it floated on the surface of the water.
"You grew up here? I'm so envious. What's it like growing up here, among dragons?" She could see the pluses and minuses to that sort of lifestyle. Could she have ever waited twelve Turns to Impress a dragon? It would have been the wait of a life time, and Astri would have missed out on so much. Like her runners. And her racing. That was still an almost physical pain, and she squashed it down by going into the bracing cold once again. She was at the Weyr now, and life was full of all sorts of new adventures.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:57 am
Rayale gave a combination of yelp and laugh, throwing up his arms to protect himself from the sprays of water, which only made him trip and fell backward, vanishing briefly under water and coming up gasping again, spitting water.
"Augh! Cold!!" He announced again, shaking his head vigorously. "Y-you did." He admitted to the warning, then ducked again and swam out like a fish further out into the lake, forcing himself to acclimate, bobbing to the surface and back stroking lazily. "Feels good though." He glanced sidelong at Grel expectant and curious.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:21 am
Greloren laughed as the girl splashed Rayale and the boy ended up going under for a moment. "Huh? Oh... well, I guess it is different here." He'd never really thought about it before. He'd never really left the Weyr, so he hadn't seen life anywhere else. He'd just heard about it from riders that had been Holdbred.
"Well, almost every kid is fostered. Dragonriders don't have time to raise a kid. So we all grow up together as a group. And we get to watch Hatchings and drill formations and such... if we sneak away from our chores." He grinned, hinting as to who may have done that. "But... you also haven't been here for when a dragon goes between forever..." His expression sobered some. Even growing up in the Weyr, you never got used to that terrible sound.
The boy shrugged. "It's fun, though." He wouldn't have left the Weyr for the Hold ever. He bet that Holdlife was really boring.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:20 pm
Astri could not contemplate Weyr life ever being ordinary. Greloren described it so nonchalantly, as if every aspect of his life wasn't some fantastic adventure. Well, perhaps to him it wasn't. Things were so new to Astri still, and she had to remind herself that in time, perhaps this place would hold a degree of normalcy for her.
"I went between when I was Searched. It was the most awful and wonderful thing at the same time... Nothing was there, and it was so cold. But in that moment, I thought I had perfect clarity... But then it was gone, and I saw my new home. Does riding on a dragon ever get old? It's so different from a runner, and so much better." She instantly sobered up again, not wanting to go into that painful place. No, this was much better. The muscles moving beneath her were far larger and warmer, and the broader back was more comfortable. Truth be told, she never wanted to get off that dragon. It would only get better if she Impressed. When she Impress. To be one with such a beast was her ultimate dream.
"I suppose I shouldn't let Greloren do all the talking. I used to race runners." Astri sounded both proud and wistful. "I'm too large now, and I don't think I could put myself in that degree of danger again for such a meaningless purpose. If you're going to put your life on the line, it may as well be for a bigger cause. Right?" Ah, how altruistic of her. Truth be told, Astrisabe had done a great deal of maturing since leaving the track, and this was all part of it. She was still dominant and prone to being assertive and ambitious. But perhaps those where characteristics that had gotten her here.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to lie in the sun," pronounced the Candidate, as she hauled herself out of the frigid water and lay on the sandy shores. It stuck all over to her, but she didn't seem to much care.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:30 pm
"I've never ridden a runner." Rayale admitted. It had just never come up, though she had probably never worked rigging, so maybe it was a fair enough trade off. He went silent for a few moments, contemplating what it would be like, since almost inevitably they would someday hear a dragon go 'between' and not come back. It felt far away and sort of terrible right now though. "I can sail though." he added, although it was almost completely unrelated to his thoughts. "And fish." He added, with a certain pride. "And do some repair on the nets. Not as well as my father though." None of it as well as his father. Maybe he never would be. Would he go back if he didn't impress? God, the twins...they'd never let him live it down, but there wasn't much place for him here if he never impressed. If he got too old for it he'd have to think of something else, and probably go back home.
"...Water's not so bad once you're used to it." He added, which was half a lie. Mostly he was just half numb from it, but it made the sun feel nice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:17 am
Greloren shrugged. "I've only ridden a dragon a few times... my blood father takes me up sometimes on his bronze. It's never gotten old so far." He grinned.
"Race runners? Wow..." And here the weyrbrat sounded just as excited about the girl's "normal" life as she'd sounded about his. He'd never ridden a runnerbeast before. The things didn't like the smell of dragons and... well, when you lived around three hundred plus dragons... "Me either," Greloren admitted to Rayale.
"I've never sailed either," he added. Well, it seemed that not all the Holdbred had boring lives. And here he'd thought they all just sat around, living under a rock. The boy gave a sigh and glanced around the Bowl. He couldn't imagine having lived anywhere else. The Weyr was his life. He couldn't even make himself imagine what would happen if he never Impressed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
