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 Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:05 pm
I itch, Mine, Redhath said testily, whacking his tail against the side of the alcove just to make his point. The Blue dragonet so detested waiting for anyone else, but he was willing to forgive M’al this time. Just this once… Miiiine! Are you listening? I itch! Again, the spirited dragonet set to making as much noise as possible, trying to wake either of the other inhabitants of the alcove.
Meanwhile, M’al was determined to have some very strong words with the next Searchrider he encountered. All of that stuff about the glory and glories of being a dragonrider… he had no idea that ‘glory’ loosely translated to ‘wake up so early that even the crack of dawn hasn’t yet arrived’ and ‘clean up dragon poop’. It was false advertising, that’s what it was.
They also didn’t warn you, ‘oh, by the way, your roommate is going to be a guy with girl troubles. Mostly, his girl trouble is that he looks like one. Oh, and he’s angrier than a wher in heat. Have fun!’. M’al sighed and figured he ought to get up before W’in did. “Fine, Red. I’m up, I’m up! Just be quiet, for the love of the First Egg…” The weyrling rolled out of his cot and got dressed hurriedly, ushering Redhath out. On the way out, he managed to snag the oil and a brush.
The neediness of baby dragonets was another thing M’al was completely unprepared for. As soon as M’al sat down outside in the Weyrbowl, Redhath clambered into his lap, effectively pinning his rider down. Oil! I want to be oiled, Mine! he commanded again, nudging his wedge-shaped head against M’al’s hand.
“Shards… did you have to wake me up this early?” M’al complained, even as he smoothed some of the oil on Redhath’s hide.
Yes! If I had woken you up any later, there would have been others out here. They would have tried to touch me.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:29 pm
After so many mornings as a Weyrling, O'asis was coming to relax into the routine - though that didn't mean he particularly enjoyed rising with the sun, anymore than he ever had. Uktenath was not a pestering dragon child, but he certainly was demanding - there were things to be done, ways to do them, and only so much time to do them all! He found that klah was beginning to smell better all the time, but he couldn't bring himself to drink the wretched stuff; but oh, on those early mornings, how he envied those that did.
As soon as the sun rose, he would wake up to Uktenath's stern request, take a few seconds to stretch out - glare at his more fortunate roommates, if they should happen not to be awoken by their dragons, and innocently find some way to make a great noise before leaving the room. Uktenath liked to take a quick dip in cool water first, and O'asis would help him to clean off any dirt clinging to his dark scales. Then they would go and oil, then they would go eat, and then the day would begin.
Today, O'asis was dragging behind a bit. The events of the day before were weighing heavily on the bronzerider, and even though Uktenath urged him not to think about it, reminded him sharply that they were doing things and he should pay attention only to His while they were doing things, the blond youth was troubled. There were so many people now that he needed to visit, inquire after, support....
They were only midway through their schedule - after the water bath and onto the oiling, when they ought to be preparing to eat already. Uktenath grumbled to himself, but did not voice any complaints to His, only the same firm reminders as he'd been saying all morning. O'asis was only moderately surprised to see a dragon-rider pair there already. He plucked up what precious little energy he had - Stop being melodramatic, Mine, Uktenath scolded him for his over-exaggerated fatigue, to little avail - and waved to the new pair.
"Morning! How's the Weyrling life treating you?" O'asis asked in a muted, friendly manner. He began to start over to set up near the duo, but a timely reminder from Uktenath of the blue's aggression on the Sands the day before caused him to change course, setting down his oiling supplies a comfortable distance away.
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:41 pm
There was something soothing in oiling a dragonet. It was simple, just the same motions over and over again. This, combined with the fact that M’al hadn’t sleep a full night in the last few days, meant that the Weyrling was drifting off. Redhath decided not to wake him, on the basis that he could plot quietly when M’al was unaware. The Weyrling jerked back awake when a non-Redhath voice spoke out.
“I’m not sl… oh… morning,” he said between yawns. “Guess that answers your question, right? You’re… O’asis, right? S’van’s friend?” Hm. He wasn’t sure how he ought to react to him. S’van had been pretty much abandoned by O’asis, and for that b***h girl.
He is friends with the egg-toucher? Now Redhath was interested. The Blue sat up completely and regarded the other Weyrling and Bronze curiously. His eyes swirled with green, a sign that, for once, his interest wasn’t aggressive. He was simply curious. By now, he had forgotten the traumatic events of the Hatching, but he knew that something Bad had happened and that That Girl was responsible for it. Greetings! I am Redhath! he said to the Bronze, sounding downright friendly for once.
M’al was rather suspicious about his dragonet’s sudden interest in someone else, but he was willing to play along. “Gotta admit. It’s a disappointment, seeing you out here. Means that the dragonets don’t stop waking us up. Redhath says ‘hello’ too.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:59 pm
O'asis was a bit surprised to be referred to as 'S'van's friend'- hey, he was O'asis. People usually recognized him on his own merits!... or demerits, as the case may be. Mostly the former, he liked to think.
But all things considered, being known as S'van's friend wasn't a bad way to be, so he grinned and nodded. "That I am! And what are you going by these days, now? M'l?" O'asis worked his mouth a moment, uncertain of the sound. Shards, there were just a few vowels too few in that name of his, weren't there?
Uktenath inclined his head slightly to the blue. He hadn't quite gotten his measure of the members of the new clutch yet, and as such, he was not going to start tripping over himself to seem warm and friendly - as though he ever did! Greetings, Redhath. I am Uktenath, the bronze replied in a cool, formal manner.
Now, at this point, His had been telling him, it was polite to follow-up with a general question; how is your health?, or, are you enjoying your day? But it all seemed so silly to Uktenath! He wasn't concerned that the blue was feeling unwell, and he seemed happy enough. Inquiring was... redundant, and unnecessary. If he had to ask a question, it would be about something he did not know, and found it desirable to know. As in the example currently being tested: Why did you pick Yours? Not spoken condescendingly, but simply curious - what did this blue value, that brought him to choose M'al, and was it something Uktenath would wish to associate with?
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:39 pm
“M’al, actually. Can’t go too many ways when your name is only three letters long. My mom never planned for me to be a dragonrider, obviously. If she had, she should’ve stuck in a few dozen more random letters. Possibly a Y. I would’ve liked that. It’s a vastly underused letter. Oh! Or even better, an X!” Actually, Malx sounded sort of like some sort of medicine, possibly for an upset stomach… but, M’al was prepared to ignore that in favor of using the least loved letter of the alphabet.
Well, best to at least pretend that he was doing something. M’al went back to oiling Redhath, partly to keep the dragonet distracted and partly because he felt like the Blue deserved some sort of a reward for being so well behaved. He wasn’t even being negative!
Content that he was still the center of M’al’s universe, Redhath stretched out slightly and considered the question carefully. Because he’s very smart. He gets people to do what he wants them to what he wants and they don’t even realize it until it’s far too late. And they can never prove it either. Why, yes! Redhath was being decidedly smug in this, with pride positively dripping off of his mental voice.
Like the firelizard eggs, he added helpfully, only too happy to talk about how glorious his Mine was. His firelizard had eggs with another. He didn’t want to keep any since he was certain they’d be mean like their father. But he also knew that people wouldn’t take the eggs for the same reason. But he still got other people to pay him for them.
Ok, so maybe it wasn’t the most glorious plot ever, Redhath admitted. Most people would willingly take a firelizard egg, even if it was from a firelizard like Aeron. But… M’al had still gotten his goal AND some more besides.
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:00 pm
Ah! Now Uktenath was far more interested in the Blue and his conniving rider. M'al certainly sounded like a valuable acquaintance to make, and Redhath himself must be worth quite a bit as well!
Not that the Bronze would make a show about this realization, of course. Uktenath merely thought the matter over, hummed his approval, and stored the information away for later. That is good, he stated firmly. I am happy for you and Yours.
"Ah! M'al, of course," O'asis echoed. Yes, that sounded much better - it was silly of him not to have guessed it in the first place, he supposed, but he had his reasons for his assumptions. Shedding a few letters was supposed to be a symbolism for leaving behind the life that came before a dragon, wasn't it? It was a shame that M'al couldn't do the same, but in the end... it was only a small symbol, and likely meant nothing.
"Oh, I don't know. I've always been fond of the letter K myself. Just think of it- you could have been M'lk!" The bronzerider chortled, pronouncing it with the obvious i-vowel sound near the apostrophe. What other letters were there.... F, of course....
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:28 pm
Redhath drew himself up proudly under the Bronze’s words. Even though the dragonet was well aware of how truly awesome he and His were, it was still nice to see others acknowledge it. Now that he knew Uktenath could recognize this simple fact, Redhath was feeling more inclined to be social. Why did you choose Yours? he asked, his curiosity now piqued. In his mind, no one asked a question like that without being expected to answer it themselves.
“Now there’s a name I would have been proud to bear. All would respect the name of M’lk! And the dragon would have had to be Dairyith, of course. That goes without question.” Except for the question of ‘Whhhhhy?’ perhaps or, ‘So… how much did your parents hate you, exactly?’ or maybe ‘and how many times were your parents dropped on their heads as children?’ and similar inquiries.
“And this would be Uktenath, huh? Shards, but he’s gorgeous.” But, of course, not nearly as gorgeous as Redhath, or at least that was what M’al let the Blue dragonet believe. Not that there was anything in the world that could shake Redhath’s beliefs there. Sometimes, that level of pride in one so young was a little worrying… but then M’al remembered that, yeah. He was pretty amazing.
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:15 pm
Truthfully, Uktenath had not been convinced that Redhath would have the curiosity or interest in others to ask him. Certainly such a thing was a cultivated skill for the bronze, one which he was still working to develop, and it was easier to assume that certain others would have the same troubles as he did - but the blue, clearly, did not fall in this group. I chose Mine because he will become great, Uktenath answered firmly. Together, we will not stop until we have achieved what Mine deserves to have. And to Uktenath, that was the simple truth - their rise was inevitable as the Red Star's return.
"Dairyith, eh?" O'asis repeated, trying to picture such a dragon. It would have to be a gold... a very very large gold... who had an odd penchant for grazing and making odd loing sounds....
Mine, Uktenath put in, very disapprovingly, you should not think about Queens in such a manner.
There was no hope of O'asis maintaining a straight face through Uktenath's stern defense of an imaginary gold. The bronzerider began laughing helplessly, unable to quell himself even at the confusion and annoyance he felt from His. "Sh... shards, Uk, it's... it's a joke!" he sputtered. "Not a good one, but...."
It is not funny, Uktenath sniffed. Making fun of dragons like Reneneth and Yansanth and Arioth? Hardly laughing material!
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:52 pm
Will he now? Redhath mused thoughtfully, rolling this idea in his mind. Truthfully, as amazing as he and His were, neither of them had much ambition. Why bother proving themselves when they already knew they were awesome? But, getting friends in high places… now that would be important. He already had Arioth on his side, of course, but a Bronze would be a useful ally. And why do you say that?
Hmm… M’al’s mind was following a similar path as O’asis, but it had diverged at a rather important fork. Mostly, M’al was imagining a rather patchy queen, bloated and constantly mooing with rage. Especially if her food was taken away, actually… as O’asis was berated by his dragon, M’al had to bark out a quick laugh.
“Uk? Really? Is that his nickname? I’ve taken to calling Redhath Reddy on occasion, but he hates it.”
The Blue dragonet snorted in a decidedly elegant way and drew himself up proudly from M’al’s lap. My name is Redhath. Not Red. Not Reddy. Not any other corruption that you can think of, Mine. Redhath. I know you can say it. You are intelligent enough for that… Now get back to oiling me. I still itch.
Demanding little sod, wasn’t he? M’al rolled his eyes and went back to catering to the demanding little dragonet’s wishes. “So, S’van told me you were a trader before being Searched. What was that like?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:15 am
Even though O'asis was likely deserving of more stern reprisal for his unflattering rendition of a gold, Uktenath was willing to let it slide once His mentally promised, still laughing but sincere, that he would refrain from such jokes in the future. The bronze grudgingly returned his attention to the worthier topic of conversation with Redhath. Mine is strong, and determined, and smart. Mine has goals, and he will achieve them. And I will help them come true. Thoughtlessly, Uktenath flexed his front talons, scraping their tips against the stone floor. They made a brief, terrible noise, before he relaxed them again and asserted simply, It is what we are meant to do.
"Ah, well," O'asis waved his hand at the subject of nicknames, "S'van's Gallaith was the same way. It's always the full name in thought, but when speaking, it's just more practical to drop a few letters, right?"
Efficient, Uktenath agreed. Though I should not like it if you referred to me like that all the time.
And I won't, O'asis assured him reflexively, and the bronze was pleased.
O'asis didn't answer immediately when M'al asked about his life before the Weyr. His eyes went fleetingly to the bluerider, his smile still there but slightly faded; then his attention redirected to the work he was supposed to be doing. A moment later, when his hands were busied and on-track, he turned his face toward M'al again, smiling more strongly. "Before I became a Rider, yeah, I was a Trader. It's a better life than Hold life, not so soft. You'd never believe the things you have to learn when you're out there, between places, really having to survive on what you've got!" There was an unmistakable pride in his voice, sure enough. "Keeps you from getting too dependent on things, for certain. Weyrs, too; you know, I haven't seen a single other Trader come for Candidacy since I came here. Guess you've got to be pretty odd out of an odd bunch to be a Trader and then a Rider!"
Chuckling a bit - not much, but a bit - O'asis grinned back at M'al. "How about you? Where'd you come from?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:12 am
Everyone had a point at which they wisely backed off, preferably with all of their body parts attached. For Redhath, that point was when Uktenath began gouging brief lines in the stone. It wasn’t that he was intimidated, not at all! Who in their right mind would be intimidated by a much larger and slightly older Bronze dragon? Oh. Right. Anyone with half a brain, that’s who, and Redhath certainly had that. Still, he stored the information in the back of his mind where it would remain for… oh, probably another few hours before he forgot completely.
“They drop a few letters from our names. I don’t see why they shouldn’t get the same treatment,” M’al pointed out. “Besides, some of these names are sharding long! Like Red’s clutchmate? Mitsuqitzith or whatever the name is… I don’t even know where to begin spelling it!”
It begins with an M, Mine. That’s the letter with four slanted lines in it, Redhath spoke up helpfully with more than a bit of bite in his words. That was another reason he had chosen His, because few others would have the patience for this back-and-forth sort of thing. In between chuckles, the dragonet yawned hugely and huddled down for a brief nap.
“Now, O’asis, that’s a pretty complicated philosophical point. Where did any of us come from and where are we going in this world? Now one theory is that we just ar… OH! You meant me specifically! Well, sit back and I’ll tell you a tale, my newfound friend, and what a tale it is!” Ok, so maybe it was a little obvious that M’al had been among the legions of Harpers gathered for the Hatching. Just a little. The story was even punctuated with exaggerated gestures, because flailing around always made a better story.
M’al awaited an appropriate amount of time before saying, “So I was Searched in Ista Hold. Your turn.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:56 am
Ah, shards, a Harper. I could've guessed! O'asis thought to himself. Though he would admit, M'al was at least somewhat entertaining with his narrative - better than some of the dried-up Harpers he'd met, whose idea of story-telling involved being grave and dramatic at every point. So, he would allow, at least M'al was a good Harper; but O'asis was willing to bet, his Trader stories were still better.
Do we not like Harpers, Mine? Uktenath questioned. Also, more to the left.
Doing as the bronze instructed, O'asis grinned silently. That's not it, he assured the dragon, but there's flaws in the system they grow up in. That's a talk for another day, though.
"Quite a tale there!" O'asis answered, taking advantage of the storyteller's pride in order to stall. He hadn't really intended to get the bluerider's whole life story out of him - and especially, hadn't anticipated needing to reciprocate! But it was a bit late for that, of course, and so now he needed to decide what edition of his story he was to tell. A decision of which he generally made by guessing how loud-mouthed the person he was talking to was.
He had a feeling that M'al registered as at least an 8 on the loud-mouth scale. He would tell a very cropped version, then.
So, O'asis told M'al about growing up among the Traders with his parents and older sister; having the run of one Hold after another with his friend, Jaenel, and getting into constant mischief wherever they went. He boasted about the reputation of his caravan, chuckled about how, because of that, they could get in anywhere in spite of a reputation for bad manners, and finally explained that he'd been Searched while trading not so far from Ista Weyr. "That was... a bit over a Turn ago, I'd suppose," O'asis mused. Actually, it had been his Naming Day recently then, hadn't it? Shard it, with everything going on at Hatching, he hadn't even realized....
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 2:23 pm
Admittedly, M’al had told a rather condensed version of his history. Only S’van knew the… more complete version so far, and the newly-made Weyrling was happy to keep it that way. But, sometimes it was fun to sort of… make up things. He listened with interest to the ex-Trader’s tale, eagerly absorbing any information that might be useful in the future. Which was pretty much everything. Traders were sharding brilliant in their own way.
Redhath snored lightly on M’al’s lap before trying to curl up into a delicate little ball. He always looked so cute and innocent when he was sleeping…
“Gotta admit… being a Trader sounds exciting,” M’al said, trying not to grin too much. It was a secretive sort of smile that said, quite plainly, ‘I know something you don’t know~’. Yeah. It went without saying that he loved that grin. “So, you Impressed early on in your stay? Lucky you. If Redhath hadn’t found me, I would’ve aged out next Turn.” And what a pity that would have been! Harper Hall was great and all, but it wasn’t a patch on Ista Weyr intrigue. Speaking of such…
“So… I hear you’re friends with that Kyllae girl. What’s her story?” he was careful to keep his tone from sounding angry or accusative. He was simply a curious Harper for the time being, albeit one with a dragon sleeping on him. Judging by the tingles, M’al’s legs were also falling asleep. Ah well… “I want to hear about that now rather than when Redhath is awake. It distresses him.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:10 pm
Uktenath's head turned at the mention of Kyllae, orange-eyed and disapproving. He already felt the immediate wave of exasperation and anxiety from His, and barely realizing it, his sharp teeth peeked out from between his lips. It was just as well that M'al was approaching the subject in such a neutral tone, or else the bronze might have felt a need to interfere!
"Ah... well, she's a tricky subject with anyone just now, isn't she?" O'asis answered, his tone a bit sad, his smile less than sincere. "So far as I know, she just didn't know any better. Kyllae grew up with dolphins, you know, not dragons, and I guess she never learned that the eggs had to harden. Seems like something they ought to have told her in lessons, but with so many Candidates these days, doesn't seem like everything that needs to get said, gets said."
The truth was, there was still a lot about Kyllae's motivations that he just didn't know - which made things difficult, when he seemed to have to answer for them so often. He wasn't sure if what he was saying was fully accurate, or just wishful thoughts. But he did know, for certain, that she'd made a mistake, that she hadn't injured any dragon intentionally, and that she regretted it. And that was all that he could try to express for her.
"Haven't seen her since Hatching, anyway," the bronzerider sighed. "She wasn't doing so well after... you know. Can't pretend that she doesn't know what she did in the end, anyway, and I don't know. I don't think she's ever going to really be the same again after it. That's not the sort of guilt you really recover from. Nor anyone else, from what I've seen. A lot of anger about it around the Weyr."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:53 pm
There were certain things that a person had to keep repeating themselves. It wasn’t so much that the horrible things were likely to happen. It was just nice to be reminded that such things were unlikely to occur. Like being stuck between or being caught by a Feline. When Uktenath suddenly looked at M’al, the young weyrling could only remind himself of one thing: bonded dragons do not hurt people, bonded dragons do not hurt people, bonded dragons do not hurt people… his leg gave a twinge as he remembered being mauled by that unbonded Brown. Ugh. So much for thinking he was over it…
“No offense meant,” he said quickly, raising his hands to demonstrate that he meant no harm. “It’s not like I’m unfamiliar with how… unforgiving some people can be. I dunno if you heard about it----probably haven’t, you were probably busy celebrating with S’van since he had just Impressed at the time----but I was involved in the wine incident.” Yep. Harper, through-and-through, with a knack for making small things sound much bigger.
But, since he knew it was such a small event on the Weyrscale, M’al explained anyway. “It was shortly after S’van had Impressed as I recall. A few Candidates who weren’t so lucky happened to steal some expensive wine from the kitchen. I was there. I didn’t steal anything, but I still drank the wine and all that. All the Candidates were punished. Remember the week of latrine-duty? Yeah. Sorry about that… what I mean is, I know that small things can go out of scale very quickly.”
Yeah. He was pretty much lying through his teeth by this point. Stealing a wineskin from the Weyr was one thing, but dragon eggs were another… well, M’al decided to back off from the topic of Kyllae anyway. He wouldn’t get any help here. She had traumatized many Candidates and deserved to pay…
“Ah, overcrowding has gotten pretty bad. Even when I first came here----that was two turns ago----it wasn’t too bad. At least I could depend on a good cooked meal without having to pick out the burnt bits first.”
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