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 Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:10 pm
It was early in the morning, so early in fact that the moon had yet to set and still hung in the sky like a full silvery pearl reflecting off the sea waters. It's mirror copy on the oceans surface hanging like a pendent around the Weyr's neck as it shimmered in the bay. There, sockless, shoeless with her toes squishing in the sand was Cyrci as she lounged on a dune staring up at the gradually dimming stars in the velvet blue night sky.
To a normal human it would soon be morning, but to a girl raised like a wher and just as nocturnal as one the raising of the sun might just as well be her night. Over the short time she'd been at Malvren though she'd gradually begun to adjust to her new time schedule. This didn't stop her from still rising at what others would call an ungodly hour to enjoy the peace and quiet the dark offered.
Cyrci had never quite gotten along with the sun. Her fair skin seemed determined to ignore her carefully crafted toughness and burn within a short period of time as though she were some fair hold lady and not a hardened apprentice wherhandler. For goodness sake she'd stared down angry watch whers, helped wrestle a young rogue blue, and in general ate slept and lived around the dens. She was by no means some fragile flower though from a distance and in the silver light of the moon to someone approaching along the beach she could do a fair impression of one.
Rising to her feet she wandered down to the water line and stood just within the waves reach, her boots left behind by the dune. What a strange figure she must cut. Her small form standing at the waters edge, the white crests bubbling over her feet as the calm night wind tugged at her plain clean garb and tossed her wavy wild mane of red hair about in the breeze like a child would a favored play thing.
Others would rouse soon and the peace she had found standing here staring out into the distance would be broken with the waking of the Weyr. At this moment though she savored the welcome embrace of the dark, the night welcoming her like an old and favored friend. For now she was alone.
Or so she thought.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 7:51 pm
There was no going back to sleep now. A yawn was muffled as Kazairl dragged his hand over his face, and he stared blearily across the sands. He wasn’t much of a morning person, but when he’d sprung out of bed too early on the belief he had early duty in the kitchens to help with breakfast. It wasn’t until he’d dressed himself and was halfway to the kitchens that he realized his mind was working on yesterday’s schedule. But with Volya to feed and the unpleasant jolt of wakefulness stirring him, he went on to the kitchens to tend to his firelizard and find himself a cup of klah. Cradling the hot mug, he’d let his feet lead him out across the beach, not too far from where he and some other Candidates and riders had followed a wher’s tracks some weeks ago.
Now there was no wher, no tracks, no group clustered confused in the moonlight – just someone he at first mistook for an older child. As strange and ethereal a figure as Cyrci made on the shore, the older candidate far behind her was just as out of place. At eighteen turns, the ex-fisher apprentice had only put on height and muscle since coming to the weyr, though he’d never been able to pack enough food down his gullet to look anything but slightly underfed. He was a good looking fellow despite this – at least he thought so. Even shaking off the last remnants of sleep, his dark eyes carried a spritely spark, and his elbow-length was died back in its usual braid. He squinted at the young woman’s figure and glanced down at the boots she’d left behind. He sipped his klah.
Suddenly Volya, his small blue firelizard, popped into the air over his ear, chittering nonsensically. The creature flew about him for a moment then swooped away, circling well over Cyrci’s head.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:01 pm
Cyrci's back remained turned to the boy, but she spotted his firelizard sure enough as her chin rose, tilting her head back to look at the creature. Then an odd sound rose from the girls throat, a crooning soft sound. A Wher speech greeting for those who knew what it meant as she offered an arm out to the blue trying to coax the beauty down as she chirrup and clicked at it.
"Now what are you doing out here? And such noise? Hush little one or you'll wake the whole lot of the candidates." She teased the little creature with a smile and a soft chuckle. Cyrci would need to get back to the kitchens soon if she were to get her food and be off to chores before the morning rush. Turning to fetch her boots her eyes widened startled slightly at the sight of the older boy not far from her. Steeling herself slightly she frowned eyeing him with a low curious series of clicks.
"What are you doing out here? I thought I was the only one with a rather untimely penchant for the dark of the morning?" Cyrci asked, her voice a low light, but commanding soprano punctuated with little bits of wher speech here and there giving her an odd accent to her words.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:32 am
The firelizard circled a moment more before dipping and coming to land lightly on Cyrci’s arm. He gave a scolding sort of noise before carefully tucking in his wings and staring almost critically at the girl.
Kaz sipped his klah as the young woman turned back. Over the rim of the mug, he offered a grin. “You are. This one didn’t feel like letting me sleep in, so I thought I’d go for a walk.” He nodded to the lizard perched on her forearm. “ I see my little traitor’s taken a liking to you, but if you try and pet him hold out your hand and let him rub against it first. He nips sometimes.” He cocked his head to the side. “And what are you doing out here?”
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:49 pm
"I see." She spoke blinking for a moment as she composed herself once more offering the other boy a small smile in return. "He's such a handsome blue." Cyrci complimented offering her hand to be sniffed by the firelizard as instructed. Not that she wouldn't have done the same even without instruction, but it was the boys firelizard and it could differ. Still it never ceased to amuse her how similar the little creatures were to whers in their habits.
"As to what I'm doing out here. Well I'm nocturnal and by the shells it's not easy switching to being a regular daydweller like the rest of the Weyr so I still tend to rise earlier then I should. Sides the stars and moon are so beautiful this time of morning and look." She pointed to the horizon that was just beginning to grow rosy with dawn. "You can see the sun coming up."
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:39 pm
The blue flitt sniffed the proferred hand and then eyed it so long it seemed he was preparing to take a bit from it. Then he suddenly thrust his head into her fingers. The command was clear – scratch! “He knows it too,” Kaz answered with an arched eyebrow.
He glanced along the sky and to the warm rising sun. It was lovely, but he wasn’t much interested in it now. “What is it you usually do that keeps you up at nights?” he asked, looking back at her.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:51 pm
Cyrci paused wondering if indeed the blue would decide to try and latch his little fangs into her hand, but was pleasantly surprised when it instead insisted of scratching. Chuckling softly Cyrci shifted the lizard closer settling her hand to rub and scratch the creatures eyeridges with a soft amused smile. "Yes quite the prideful little thing." She hummed chirping at the little creature in wher speech with an amused smile. Firelizards were such wonderful little creatures.
Glancing up from her work scratching the blue's eye ridges she offered Kaz a grin. "Before I was searched I was an apprentice wherhandler. So I didn't have to try. I was so busy running chores and the like that it was easy. Mostly I kept the dens clean and helped the new journeymen with their whers or assisted in some of the socialization for those whers who would be sent to guard caravans." Cyrci explained having to tilt her head back to look up at him, careful not to miss a beat in her scratching lest she upset the charming blue.
"Is he always this insistent or does he just take after his owner?" She teased with a warm grin and an arched eyebrow.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:15 pm
Claws prickling, the blue started to climb up her forearm and to her shoulder, where he burrowed into her hair and pressed against her warm neck. Thought he firelizard wasn’t typically overly social, it was a cold morning and Kazairl’s bare neck would have offered no protection from the chill sea winds.
Kazairl raised his second brow to match the first. “You were to handle whers?” he asked, taken somewhat aback. “I wouldn’t have imagined – I mean, you’re small for a handler aren’t you?” He was too much taken by surprise imagining the slight girl facing off against an agitated wher to be considered about his firelizard abandoning him for the girl’s hair.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:28 pm
Indeed Cyrci's thick red curl offered a much greater protection from the sea breeze then just her arm. The girl herself shivering as the blues cold hide pressed against her, but was far too pleased to truly complain. Shifting her arm to better continue spoiling the blue she glanced up at Kazairl at the note of honest surprise in his voice.
The smile she gave him next was practically predatory. "Oh it's not the size of the wher in the fight, but the size of the fight in the wher." She replied, the fact that she'd been one of the more capable apprentices a thing of pride to the girl.
"Actually being small is a distinct advantage a lot of times. I'm very dexterous, quick, and flexible. With whers the whole idea is not to get into a face to face fight with them. Instead if you want to survive a tangle with a wher you've got to hold your ground till the very last second then dodge. Hopefully the wher will run into a wall or something else, but if there's no good walls handy then you want to slide and take them out at the knee." She spoke bending slightly, careful not to disturb her new friend and tapped the upper part of the knee in show.
"It takes nerves of steel though. You've got to hit the knee or high on the knee or else you'll get raked with their claws or get caught by a tail. Since I'm one of the younger apprentices of my batch I was used to socialize newer whers and sometimes they got a little over enthusiastic you know?" Cyrci replied with a soft grin her eyes distant in recollection of her times at the dens. She had grown to miss her family keenly, both the human and hided members of it.
"Really most of the times whers are very sweet creatures. Half the ones we had were all bluster and no bite, but a thief doesn't know that." She continued calmly not wanting to play into most holderbred's views of the lovely beasts as being monsters.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:57 pm
Kazairl shook his head slightly and downed the rest of his klah in a swift gulp before it could finish cooling in the chill air. He was a typical hotblooded young man by nature, so the air didn’t mean much to him, but even the warm drink didn’t do anything for the chill in his blood at the thought of squaring off against a wher. “I’ve been out after curfew a few times since coming to the weyr, and there’s nothing worse than knowing there’s a wher chasing after you. I learned the patrols for a little while, but a friend thought it would be a good prank to give me the wrong schedule for the night, and a blue wher caught onto my sent. If it hadn’t been so big I wouldn’t have been able to get away from it.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:04 pm
Nodding at Kazairl she smiled. Even if Cyrci didn't exactly share the same cold blooded fear of whers that many a sane man would she could still understand the terror having one after you could cause.
"Whers are fast, but the bigger ones can't turn well once they pick up speed. Really the best thing to do is just use your head. The younger whers don't even like moonlight half the time or glows for that matter. I'd suggest some sort of flare, but you'd just be pissing off the handler then as well as the wher. A hurt wher is even more vicious then a regular one. They are from what I've heard a lot like dragons in many aspects. They like their eye ridges scratched and enjoy being talked too. Most of the ones I know are extremely vocal." She advised wracking her brain for what knowledge she could give the boy to help ease his fears a little.
"Really though the best thing to do is too not run or be where you shouldn't be. If you run the wher thinks you're a thief or someone bad and chases you down. If you stand your ground and act non-threatening then no harm will come to you. The whers at my hold were taught not to attack or kill without order." Cyrci explained glancing up at her new close friend lifting a hand to very carefully adjust to blue to keep him close to her skin without him jabbing a wingtip into her neck. Then once done resumed her scratching shifting her hair to shield him a bit. A particularly cold chill had the candidate shivering as well. The conversation and her own thoughts had distracted her so far from the cold, but as she stood there fully exposed to the sea wind she decided she certainly preferred Engova's warmer tropical climate.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:53 pm
Kazairl chuckled and shook his head. “The better thing to do is to attend to mischief in the day. I’ve been at the weyr long enough now that I don’t have to stay up nights to run personal errands anymore. And usually if I do need something done, Volya, my friend on your shoulder there, is rather good at carrying notes about. I’m not sure whers bother to tell firelizards apart, and even if they did it’s hard to keep track of something that goes Between. I don’t think I recognize you from around the weyr, so if you’re new you should find some friend in the girl’s barracks with a flitter. Some of the clever ones can steal rolls out of the kitchen at night. I can’t get Volya to unless I’m really hungry.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 10:39 pm
"Yes I've recently made friends with Orlina, she's one of the younger girls and sadly doesn't have a flitter. She is however a weyrborn and knows a good deal bout mischief making. Whers I think can tell flits apart, but I don't think they bother with them much unless they're their handlers. I'm not entirely sure though." She spoke pausing in thought only to return to the scratching in case Volya, as she learned the flit was named, became upset. Pondering the problem a moment she smiled.
"Well maybe she'd get better at fetching things for you if you reinforced the action. You know give him a treat and praise every time he does well. Then again I mostly just know whers. I don't have a flit of my own and usually just interact with those belonging to others. Though there was a good deal of them in our wher dens because they're such good messengers they could alert the hold should the whers notice anything odd much faster then a runner could. Though of course runners are a bit more reliable." Cyrci replied, "Not that they're not wonderful creatures." She added not wanting to insult the blue currently taking refuge in her hair. Deciding it might be wise to follow the flits example she turned to Kazairl.
"Care to head towards the dining halls? Breakfast should be served soon and it'd be nice to get out of the wind. Is it always this chilly here?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:42 pm
“Orlina? I know her, and about her mischief,” he grinned fondly. He had first met her when two bullies had been intent on giving her a thrashing, but he’d saved her and fought the two Candidates off. In fact, Orlina hadn’t exactly been helpless and had kept one of the lads from striking Kazairl down, but that wasn’t a bit he really remembered to her credit. The girl had needed a champion, and he’d enjoyed lending himself to the need. “You’ll find a good friend in her, I think.”
He shrugged at her advice. “He’s not very old yet. He’s fairly young yet and as selfish as they come, so he tends to get distracted, even with treats and praise. I’m hoping it’ll just be a phase, but even if he never works up to being reliable with messages he’s a handsome thing…” He cocked his head at the girl slightly and gave a slight nod before falling into step with her. “Breakfast would do us both a good turn, I’m sure. Even in the season it’s not usually cold for long, but the air’s humid here and the wind keeps the cold air rolling over you. I used to be fishercraft, so I’m pretty used to the cold. Some of the better catches only come at in the evening or at night, and being out on a rickety boat puts you in the center of much worse wind than this.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:28 pm
"Yes I've found a good friend in her. She's helping me get used to some of the Weyr's traditions and in turn I'm teaching her a bit of wher speech." She replied with a smile tilting her head and very gently nuzzling the little blue crooning to it gently.
"Certainly a handsome thing indeed. I'm sure he'll get better with age. Come on I hear they've got fresh rolls this morning." Cyrci spoke picking up her speed to match Kazairl's long legged stride the breeze wrapping around them and kicking up sand. Soon they'd be within the shelter of the Weyr and the warmth of the dining hall.
"Oh fishercraft? Interesting. I guess I'll eventually get used to the cold." She replied then shivered tucking her hair around the firelizard a little tighter to keep the creature warm. "Or not." Cyrci mumbled hugging her arms around herself and picking up her pace.
"Ah finally. . ." The woman sighed as they stepped into the hall reveling in the warmth and lifting her hand to scratch the little blues eyeridges.
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