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 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:44 am
A new Weyrwoman, and not only that; new riders, new crafters, new candidates. Yisenkar moved quietly up to the serving hatch and accepted a plate of tubers with a slice of meat from the serving woman. He smiled at her, because it was always best to keep the people in charge of dishing out food sweet. This done, he turned to scan the room for unfamiliar faces. It took him a while, but he spotted one eventually, a candidate by his age. Good, maybe a new ally could be made here, this one might not have chosen a faction just yet. Adjusting the red bandanna at his throat, the scrawny youth set off towards the newcomer. The group had only arrived yesterday (it was now evening) so it was quite possible the boy hadn’t had the factions explained to him yet. If he hadn’t, then there was a golden opportunity to make the Flying Wherries sound good, and everyone else sound bad.
Now he was standing on the opposite side of the table to the new candidate. Yisenkar smiled. “Hello there, you must be one of the Ista transfers. Do you mind if I sit here?”
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:01 pm
"Huh?" Arolon looked up, startled from his thoughts. He recognized the guy as one of Igen's candidates due to the bandana that seemed so popular to wear here. He didn't understand why, though he noticed certain colors sat together and wouldn't allow other colors near them. He was surprised this fellow sought him out.
"Sure, go ahead." He nodded his head yes in answer to the question. "We must stick out like sore thumbs." He grinned good naturedly. He didn't know anything about the Shunned so he just assumed everyone without a bandana was from Ista.
He had a plate of his own, meat and eggs. He ate slowly, getting used to the change of not having seafood for once. Food was good here though, not as crowded too so he was happy.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:12 pm
Yisenkar gave a slight smile, nodding as he sat down. "Yes, you do rather. I'm sure you'll settle in before long though, it'll be easier once you're a member of a faction. My name's Yisenkar by the way, welcome to Igen; it's a pretty good place to live so long as you know the ropes." He doubted that thos of orange or purple bandanna were bothering to poach the new arrivals, but that was just too bad for them, opportunity missed. Besides, most of the newbies would probably find it hard to get into the more prestigious factions; what need had great ones such as they for idiots from a wet little island? None of course! The Flying Wherries, however, could quite happily take more under their wing, he was sure.
"Do you have an alcove yet?" the skinny youth asked as he swallowed a mouthful of meat. "Must be nice not to be sharing anymore, I heard things were getting pretty bad at Ista." He could hardly imagine a place that rained so much, let alone that vast body of water, the ocean. He had never seen more than an oasis in his life, and just couldn't wrap his head around water that stretched as far as the eye could see.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:07 am
"Thanks, my name's Arolon." He introduced himself.
He looked confused for a minute while Yisenkar spoke. Aclove...? Faction..? The barracks! "Oh, yeah I'm set up. It's heavenly not having to sleep on the floor anymore." He was determined to keep that way too! That bed was his.
"What's a faction?" He had never heard the word in his entire life before now. He was grateful for any information about Igen weyr. He obviously had a lot to learn if he wanted to fit in here.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:03 am
Good, a blank slate to work with. Yisenkar set down his cutlery, holding his silence for a few moments as he pondered how best to begin. "Factions," he began eventually, "groups of like minded - fairly like minded - candidates who stick together for protection, friendship, and so on. Which faction you join is important, it will affect pretty much every aspect of your life, and not having one is a social death sentence. Each faction has a signature colour, all the members of that group wear a bandanna of the colour at all times." To demonstrate, he raised his left arm and nodded to the red bandanna tied about his wrist.
"At the moment there are only three big enough for joining to be sane," Yisenkar continued smoothly, "those are The Rising Sun, Sandstorm, and my faction," he gave a small wry smile, "The Flying Wherries. The Rising Sun are the most powerful, and think most of themselves. Mostly lazy idiots who think that because their daddy had a bronze, they'll have one too. If you don't have a pedigree or some way to endear yourself to the group's leader Theron chances are they won't want to know so much as your name. Rising Sun are the ones with the orange bandannas. Next is Sandstorm, who wear purple. They're run by the candidate master's daughter who fancies herself a queen rider, and the son of Ioreth's rider; he got uppity after daddy's dragon flew the junior queen. That faction's pretty full of girls, because Iathe goes on about how girls should have as much chance with greens and blues as boys do. Lastly with red there's us, the Flying Wherries. We," Yisenkar lent forward with a slight smile, "are the nobodies. We don't have bronze riding parents, or any nice connections to smooth the path for us. We get where we're going by our own merit, we don't judge people on where they came from, just where they're going. Fanigan's our leader, he got to that position because he deserved it you notice, not because he has important parents like in the other factions."
There, he felt he'd spoken up for his people pretty well. If Arolon turned out to be some useless, empty-headed fool then he could keep away, but if he had potential it would be good to be able to introduace him to Fanigan as a potential initiate.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:11 am
"Ista's so different. No groups, and so many people that it's hard to remember anyone." Arolon explained.
He wanted to join a faction, he just wasn't sure which one yet. Hasty decisions were often regretted. He had to think about this. "Thanks for telling me about it all. I'll pass it on to the other transfers to let them know what's going on." He promised, nodding.
"Seems we'll all split up into factions soon then." He realized that Allende, Dayo, Gakere, they could join other factions and then what would happen? Would they be pitted against eachother? Would they all soon wear a bandana too?
He finished his meal and set his dish aside for now. He'd return it up to the cooks when he was done talking with Yisenkar. "Do they control certain areas of the weyr?" It was a reasonable question, the orange wouldn't let reds near them and so on. It made since they would have a place to gather and protect.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:42 am
Yisenkar shook his head. "Not really, not inside the Weyr... Well we have our favoured gathering places, but it's not so very rigid. You'll notice though that in the dorms members of the factions don't mingle; the Rising Sun all sleep in one area, the Sandstorm in another, and we another again... Of course there are a few scattered around without bandannas, but nobody pays any attention to them."
Idiots. Why would anyone put themselves in a vulnerable position like that by choice? He remembered one boy he'd asked, a hold bred candidate, who had cited morals. Morals. How very... idealistic of him. That one hadn't lasted long, after failing to Impress first try he'd scurried home with his tail between his legs. Yisenkar had found that oddly satisfying, survival of the fittest as it were. Anyone stupid enough to opt out of the faction system because they didn't think it was 'right' clearly lacked a brain and didn't deserve to be so much as sneezed on by a dragon.
"Outside the Weyr though, Rising Sun like to think they control the best area for flitt egg hunting," he went on. "Anyone they catch on that patch without an orange bandanna is in serious trouble, not that their threats stop us. We do pretty well out of their 'territory', and it really really annoys them, which makes it all the more fun of course." He'd never had any luck on one of their raids himself, nor the marks to get hold of an egg when somebody else was, but one day he would have his own firelizard, he was determined of that. Aloud he would say he wanted one for the status symbol, but if he was honest with himself he just wanted a friend.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:18 am
Okay, so at least he wouldn't be jumped for wandering into the wrong parts of the Weyr. That was a sigh of relief. Outside though he'd have to watch out for those with bandanas...
"Flitts DO live here! Great! I thought so with all this sand around." He wasn't willing to admit he had an unhatched egg to Yisenkar. He didn't know the guy and didn't want his precious egg stolen.
"So wait, if you refuse to wear a bandana your ignored?" He asked, thinking about all the Ista transfers not wearing one. We were going to be shunned? Unless we joined a faction?
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:21 pm
Yisenkar nodded twice. "Yes, they do. I hear they're a lot more pleantiful by the sea but we get a few. I expect most of the clutches come from pairs who belong to people who live here... Secondly yes. Ignored, shunned, pushed around, generally given a hard time." The scrawny youth paused to eat a mouthful of tuber before turning his attnetion back to Arolon, a serious expression on his angular face. "I suggest you make your choice soon, and tell your friends to do the same. Tell them to join the same faction as you, too, or you won't be able to talk to them anymore."
Join the Wherries, go on new boy. More members meant more power which meant more comfort; just what he wanted out of life, other than a dragon of course. If he didn't get one though, if he was never chosen, he wanted to be allied with a group doing well for itself. A little injection of fresh blood was just what they needed, even if some of it was female and thought it ought to ride a fighting dragon. Ideas like that could be got out of their heads over time, probably, and if not, well crazy members were still members.
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:50 pm
Arolon finished his meal and stood with the dish. "I got to go, chores to do." It was true but he was still using it as an excuse to get away. He liked the guy, he just didn't want to make any hasty decisions right there.
"I need to think about everything before I make my decision." Hey, honesty didn't hurt! Why lie to him? He'd see through the lie. Surely he'd understand his reasoning.
"Hope we meet again!" He'd really think about joining the Flying Wherries. They were kind enough, despite Arolon being an outsider. If he chose not to join that faction though then this may be the last time they talked together on neutral grounds.
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:42 pm
Yisenkar smiled and nodded. "Of course, it's a big decision, best take a while over it. I'm sure you've got a sevenday or so before anyone starts getting really nasty. See you around." As soon as Arolon turned his back, the friendly smile dropped and the light brown eyes chilled. Well, maybe had had a sale there - as the traders said - or maybe he didn't. Either way, time would tell. It would be good if the Istan joined, but if not he was just one more boy, a drop in that great big ocean he had just left. Unless he got really lucky, as an outsider of no consequence he would never rise high even if he managed to get a bronze for himself.
The angular-faced candidate watched his potential ally, potential enemy until he left the dining hall. Once the friendly boy was lost to sight, he swiftly returned to eating; the more time he spent over this, the less he had to spend elsewhere. There were things to be done with the day, far more important things than giving any more thought to one new boy. Gulping down the last of his food, Yisenkar returned his plate to the hatch before shrinking quietly in on himself and moving almost unnoticed out of the dining hall. The rest of the day's opportunities awaited.
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