|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 12:34 pm
It was one of those rare and unfortunate days where Gabriel had finished her chores far earlier than the rest of her Candidate peers and therefore had nothing to do. So, unable to accept a feasible moment of boredom, she gave herself something to do and decided that today might be a nice day for a swim. Sure, it was cloudy and windy and looked like it was about to rain... but that would just make it more exciting! And perhaps if she was lucky she could catch a fish or find some other neat little trinket in the lake. So, with mind made up, the young teen snuck out of the candidate barracks and made her way over to the nearest lake.
Once she arrived at the lake, she ran straight into the water without even bothering to take off her clothes. Ah~ This water always feels so good, she thought contently to herself, taking a moment to dunk herself under. Perhaps having nothing to do wasn't so bad after all.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 1:06 pm
The girl who just came splashing into the water probably didn't notice that there had been someone standing about waist deep in the lake, not wearing another over their top except for wrap about their torso. They were idly splashing the surface with a hand as though amused by the ripples, and every now and then a giggle would escape their lips.
Ofelia hadn't been to the lake before, Faranth she'd never even seen an open body of water before, so her childish actions were hardly worth blaming her for. The water was cold, the water was clear, and she loved every bit of it. Only problem is she couldn't swim at all, she never thought about learning while at the Crafthall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 1:22 pm
It wasn't until roughly half a minute later that Gabriel finally noticed the older girl in the water with her. "Oh! Hello! Didn't see you there," she said, wading back over to more shallow water to greet the other. "I don't think we've met before. My name is Ga- Whoa! What the hell happened to your arms?!" she exclaimed, amber eyes wide at the sight of the horribly miscolored limbs. It looked as if some wretched disease had taken hold of the poor woman. "Do you need me to get you a healer?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 1:42 pm
Ofelia looked up as someone surfaced from the water and started talking, and her brows slowly lowered themselves into a pensive look at the mention of her arms. She'd taken her wraps off to prevent them from getting soaked and therefore her patchwork skin was showing, the different hues of red and yellow swirling around and indeed making her look diseased. There were large patches of brown too, and they spread almost nearly onto the young woman's chest. Her torso for the rest of it was free and clean of the tainted colors.
"Eh? No, I'm fine. My skin's naturally this color, comes from years of doin' my trade. I'mma Tanner."
If this girl had been worried she might have upset Ofelia she needed worry at all! The Tanner was probably one of the mellowest people she'd ever meet...so long as she didn't push an issue.
"Name's Ofelia. You're Ga? That's an odd name."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 1:50 pm
She was a Tanner? Ah, that explained it then. The teen relaxed considerably at this revelation, relieved that the other wasn't actually ill. "Huh? Oh, no. My name is Gabriel," the teen replied, finishing her earlier introduction. "It's nice to meet you, Ofelia. So, you're a Tanner? What brings you to Trine?" She didn't often run into many people who were not from the Weyr (not counting other Candidates of course), so she was rather curious about this stranger's story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 11:22 am
"I'm on sabbatical, wit my brother. I'm slated ta walk the tables when I get back, so for now I'm enjoying different Weyrs. We stopped here at Trine first since m'brother had somethin' he needed ta do here."
Ofelia didn't step any closer to this other person, seeing as if she moved her position in the water would change and she'd likely end up not being really happy when she started to drown.
Drowning would not be cool since she'd have to give up a few things, and almost instantly at the mention of 'things' a green flitter popped from between before splashing into the water. It surfaced with a chirp, climbing up Ofelia's torso.
"Were you born here? I'm from the Tanner Crafthall."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:03 pm
"Oooh, I see. Well, that's pretty cool. It must be nice to travel around like that." Gabriel was slightly surprised when the green firelizard appeared out of no where, but it was quickly clear that the flit belonged to the Tanner. Well, she's cute. I wonder what her name is. At Ofelia's question, the teen smile and nodded. "Yup, born and raised here. And a Candidate for Impression." It was clear that she was fairly proud of this. In the young teen's mind it was only a matter of time after all before she found her life partner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:23 pm
"Ah, so yer a candidate? I'm not really one, but I'm gonna be in the stands when the eggs start ta hatch if I'm here for a clutch. I think my brother picked this Weyr because that other 'en...Malvren? They just had a hatchin' and we missed it so we're here for this one."
Ofelia finished helping the Green flitter move up to her shoulder and she rubbed the little creature on one of her eye ridges until two of the proper lids closed and a croon escaped its mouth.
"And this here is Puck, she's my Green. I found her egg one day at the hall near the tanning vats. Only egg ta survive, but that's in the past. Tell me more about yer being a candidate."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:33 pm
Gabriel grinned when Ofelia told of her and her brother's real reason for being here. "Hoping for a stands Impression, eh? Well, good luck on that. I'll be rootin for ya. Might be a while before Brakiath has her next clutch though; just sayin." The teen listened with interest as the Tanner explained how she had come across her flitter. "Puck is a cute name," she remarked. "And what exactly do you want to know about Candidacy? I'm don't know what you already know and don't know."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 2:25 pm
"I dunno a thing about candidates and the like - I've never been out the Crafthall before. I know Candidates stand and such when there are eggs on the sands, but that's it. Anything else you do is beyond me, though I have gotten letters before from some of my friends from the Hall who joined yer ranks by bein' searched. I was never around when the dragons got 'en, but I dunno if any of 'em woulda looked at me anyway."
She'd been told before that she just wasn't really much of a dragon material type, which suited Ofelia just as well. She liked being a tanner and doing tannery things, so a dragon would probably not really...be good for her. Maybe a dragon who liked tanning? Was that even possible? That would be pretty damn cool.
At the mention of her name, spoken by the other person, Puck lifted her head and chirped happily, her eyes swirling a mixture of colors. She was saying hello, she knew her name!
"What kinda chores do ya do?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 5:28 am
"Well, when we're not Standing, we're mostly doing chores and lessons," Gabriel explained. "And the chores are pretty much anything and everything-- we get thrown wherever help is needed. And for lessons we go over Weyr history and ranks and how to take care of dragons and the like." The teen almost giggled at the firelizard's chirp. "I suppose you've had a small semblance of practice with Puck here at least. Flits are rather like dragons in miniature, right? Only more gossipy and not quite as bright."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:36 pm
"We do chores at the Crafthall too, though I mostly spend all of my days actually tanning and doing other things. I almost have my own apprentice, ya know, but the kid's a bit..flighty? Dunno why anyone would wanna be a tanner and not like the smells."
Ofelia shrugged her shoulders, rippling the water. Puck moved with the shrugged and chirped again, the pair very vocal with one another. It was obvious a friendly conversation always was running between the pair so neither were ever at a loss for sound.
"As for caring for Puck, she was pretty easy so I guess yer right. Dragons should be smarter than flitters, but I hear that flitters can remember way way better than dragons. Depends on how ya think for smarts."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:40 am
"Yeah, I would think you'd have to be able to tolerate the smells for that kind of work," Gabriel agreed. At the flit remark, she simply nodded. "True enough. Although I believe the general consensus is in favor of the dragons."
"Say, why don't you swim around a bit more?" she asked curiously. "It's no fun just staying n the shallow end the whole time ya know."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:16 am
"I'd swim if I knew how ta swim. There aren't any open bodies of water out at the Hall and I've never been to an ocean or anythin' like that. Never even seen a lake before this."
Ofelia splashed her hand in the water and swirled it around, taking a step forward as she went. The water rose up and she visibly shivered, the water temperature cold on her skin since she hadn't quite gotten used to it just yet.
"My brother says I'd sink if I tried ta swim, so I dunno if I wanna even learn proper."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:14 am
"Aw, it's not actually that hard," Gabriel replied. "You can even practice here in the shallow waters so that you don't have to worry about drowning. Look, all you basically do is kick your feet and push with your arms. Like this." The young teen demonstrated the action, swimming in a small circle around Ofelia. "There are other ways to paddle too, but that's the basic one. Why don't you give it a shot?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
