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 Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:57 pm
It would be soon. Jaidev knew it. He could feel the tension in the air, the restlessness. Those eggs...they were ripe for hatching! In a matter of days the shells would split and reveal the little dragonets inside.
But he knew this Hatching would be different from the last four he attended. He thought that not in a optimistic 'I'm sure to Impress this time' manner but in an almost ominous, nervous way. Oh, Hatchings had always made him nervous, true. But right up until he heard of the unofficial 'Touching' conducted by a curious Candidate...he'd felt pretty at ease this time around. Working with the ILA had made him feel more bold and more outgoing. Oh, he wasn't going to be a social butterfly anytime soon but he was certainly less of a shrinking violet this Turn. This Turn was supposed to be different, right?
But the minute he heard it through the Candidate grapevine that there would be no Touching since someone had bothered the eggs before they were hardened...he felt all bravery and ease evaporate.
No Touching! Oh, that was no a good omen.
The last Hatching, after all, had three maulings and that was with a Touching! Jaidev took deep breaths as he headed to bed. What would happen now with no Touching, an angry Queen and even more Candidates than before? Jaidev did not want to be mauled. He wasn't too traumatized from his unfortunate event in the first hatching he attended, but he sure as Shards did NOT want a repeat event to arise.
Maybe it would be okay, though. In the end...he could only hope that for the love of Faranth, things wouldn't go TOO badly. He looked around at the other boys getting ready and wondered how they felt. He couldn't be the only one that was so unsettled...
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:36 pm
Sometimes it was hard for Jisken to pick up on the true gravity of the situation, and most times, the level-headedness that came by his ignorance was helpful. Herdbeasts got away again? No big deal, he'd grab a Runner and handle it. Tannery profits have been down the last few months? No problem, they'd just have a better stock for the winter season. This Hatching wasn't going to have a Touching involved? No problem, he'd see the eggs just fine at the actual event.
Perhaps it was because he had missed the last Hatching, where maulings had become more common, or perhaps it was just his thick head, but he couldn't seem to understand why the rest of his bunkmates seemed so out of sorts as they got ready for bed that evening. Normally, the hall was alive with raucous chatter, but it seemed that everyone was far more interested in cleaning their spaces, or making smalltalk to eachother in hushed tones.
He noticed one boy who seemed to be particularly jittery (and somewhat familiar from around the weyr, though he'd never spoken to him before) and approached cautiously, watching from under his brown mop of hair. "Everyone else aware of something I'm not?" Jisken asked Jaidev curiously, his eyes scanning around the room. "No one's been like this since we all had latrine duty."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:56 pm
Jaidev usually hid his unease well but so close to night, his emotions seemed to play out a in a little more evidential manner. He jolted a bit when he was approached, but he quickly pushed it back as he turned to face the other Candidate.
He furrowed his brows a bit as he listened to the other talk and noted his calm and somewhat clueless manner, wondering if this was a new Candidate or someone who had just missed out on the gossip and chatter somehow. He was guessing the second one because he was sure he'd at least seen this face around before (though it was hard to be positive with such a mass amount of Candidates).
"The Hatching's going to be soon; can you feel it? The eggs must be growing hard enough by now, anyways. I think everyone gets a little antsy before a Hatching." he replied. The he sighed and shook his head. "It's made worse this time around, though, since there's going to be no Touching. I just hope no one gets hurt because of it..." He just didn't see how anyone couldn't be even a little uneased by that!
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:05 pm
Jisken's brow furrowed under his messy bangs, and he shrugged off his shirt as he crossed to the next bed over (evidently his) and began to change into his sleepwear. "Well...yeah, yeah, I can feel it," he said, giving a look to his stowed-away Candidate robes. "And I heard about the whole Touching thing, but that's how they did it in the old days, right?" The boy carelessly threw his nightshirt over his head, taking a moment to pull his hair free from under the collar. Despite all the lice, he had still managed to retain a clean scalp, meaning an unshaved head.
"If that's all it is, then people are getting in a huff over nothing," he finally responded lowly, rubbing a hand through his curls. "The only way you get hurt at one of these things is if you're acting stupid."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:06 pm
Jaidev frowned, his lips pressing together into a thin line. How could he be so nonchalant? And it was true that Touchings weren't done in the way back when, but things were also different back then! He didn't know how, per se, but...they wouldn't have started Touchings in the first place if they didn't think they'd help any, right?
"But these aren't the old days, if you haven't noticed." he said, sounding uneasy still. "And they wouldn't have started Touchings if they didn't think they'd help reduce the chance of mauling. But...I guess we'll see how effective they've been now that'll we'll have a standard to compare."
It was all a matter of logic to him. Touchings didn't hurt any...they could really only help.
His serious and largely impassive look melted to a outright frown when the other boy insisted that maulings were a result of being stupid. Yes, acting stupid and noisy on the Sands could cause maulings...but that wasn't always the case! He huffed irritably. How dare he act as though he knew it all!
"You know nothing about getting mauled." he said, hand subconsciously straying to his thigh where his own maul-scar was. "So don't you even start, you deadglow." he said sharply, speaking a little more harshly than he normally would. Generally, he was so demure and polite when addressing other but this...was a sore topic.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was acting like a sun-crazed Wherry. He needed to settle down. "Maulings can happen regardless of ignorance of Sands behavior. All it takes is a boisterous dragonet or overcrowding..." he said, gesturing vaguely as he began to likewise ready himself for the night. "Did you see what happened last Hatching? After a mauling like that, people aren't just getting in a huff over 'nothing'. There's plenty to worry about if it does happen, regardless of the cause."
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:46 am
Jisken raised a brow at the boy's over-the-top reaction, but shrugged it off, figuring that he must have known someone who'd gotten mauled pretty bad. Most everyone knew someone who had been hurt by a dragon's first clumsy steps if you were around a weyr, but Jisken was the type of person to accept that such things happened to other people, that it was a distant and isolated incident away from people who had the slightest amount of sense.
"I wasn't here for the last Hatching," Jisken explained, neatly folding his linens (which seemed counter-intuitive, considering how he was getting ready to go to bed). "Family troubles and all that, so I had to head home. But I'm back, now. Maybe permanently. Can't afford much more of this travel stuff." His last statement bore with it a sense of melancholy, although much of it was lost due to his nearly-hidden eyes.
"Is that why everyone's all nervous? Did something happen at the last Hatching?" For someone who had been there for as long as Jisken, he sure didn't seem to get out much. Maybe he needed to get introduced to Nan.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:51 pm
Oh, he'd missed last Hatching. Well, that explained a few things. Jaidev took another breath, feeling himself settled back to his normal state of emotion ('normal' being 'slightly anxious').
"A few people got mauled pretty good by a startled green. It was a disaster." he said, recalling the incident. "And that was with a Touching. Things are just getting too overcrowded here...between the bodies packed together, the emotions and everything else, who can blame a dragonet for getting mixed up? Frankly, we need all the help and good luck charms we can get." he answered. Maybe, though...maybe it would be okay. He just couldn't shake the unease, though.
"I'm sorry you had family troubles, though." he said after a few moments of silence. He wondered how his family was doing. Were they proud he was at Ista? Worried because they didn't know where he ran to? He did sort of leave the Hall abruptly. He felt a lump of familiar homesickness harden in his throat. They're all right. You'll see them again some day...whether you Impress or have to return to the Hall, he told himself. You've other things to think about now.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:10 pm
Jaidev's explanation of the situation seemed to enlighted Jisken somewhat, and he nodded, though he didn't explain exactly how he had come to agree with the other boy. It didn't change his perspective of the way things would go, but at least Jisken now understood why everyone else was so jittery. Somewhat. He still felt the whole affair was rather silly on everyone's part, but after the other boy's last outburst he wasn't about to say that alout.
"It was nothing all that important, really. The tannery needed help, I've got a sister with child...If you ask me, hoping for a dragon takes a backseat to what's really important." He shrugged, an implied 'in my own humble opinion' tacked onto his last speech, and with that the boy rather unceremoniously flopped on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.
He was quiet for a moment, and then he looked back to his newfound companion, suddenly preferring that he talk to being left to his own thoughts (which had decidedly gotten worrisome, since he was determined not to be worried). "...Your family's at Ista?" Jisken asked, hardly able to think of anything else to talk about. Of his many qualities, Jisken was not, nor would he ever be, loquacious.
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