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Post by Spiffy .th ! on Mar 14, 2009 11:35:34 GMT -5
First on the left... he muttered as he approached the first door, the one he had been told led to the candidates quarters. Sure enough, as he entered he found himself in what looked like a communal area, with two further door leading off. Assuming these were separate quarters for boys and girls (he couldn't see them being put together) and so headed toward the one marked "male." Entering this door, he found a room filled with bunks. Satisfied that he had found the right place, he looked around for a bed to take as his own, at least temporarily, and noted with relief that there were bunks that looked occupied, though no-one was in the room at present accept himself. Deciding he picked one a few bunks away from the door, not quite next to but in between two of the occupied bunks.
Dumping his small pack at the foot of the bed, he took a few more steps around to sit in the middle of the bunk, not wanting to throw himself into a lying position on it like he did at home until he was sure it could take the weight without breaking. That would be a good thing to do in your first hour in the Weyr, he thought sardonically, break a bed. He grinned at that thought as he bounced gently upon the bed, testing its strength and, satisfied it would hold a decent thrashing, flipped his legs up and round so that he was lying out flat. He wriggled around a bit, getting comfy, pushing himself up a little further toward the wall and pounding the pillow into shape with his head. Happy with the new arrangement, he pulled his knees up, put his head in his hands on the pillow, and began contemplating his new home.
Among his thoughts then were things such as I should unpack, I should see the Candidate master, or whatever he's called, Q'tris, I wonder what the other boys, or girls, will be like, and largely, mmm, I can't be bothered right now, it can wait.
(ooc: DO DISTURB xD You know you want to ;])
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Post by M'kel on Mar 18, 2009 16:33:46 GMT -5
"Lunch was tasty today, hm?" Retivor murmured to his petite green flitter, Sprite, while reaching up to stroke her cheek. The green chirruped in agreement, squeezing slightly with her tail, which was wrapped firmly yet gently around his neck. She was riding along on his shoulder, her favourite perch, while the amber-haired lad strolled along an empty corridor towards the Candidates' Barracks.
Luckily for Retivor, he was free of chores for an hour after lunch, and he had decided to spend that time resting in the quiet of the Barracks. There were few candidates in the Weyr at the moment, and the lad was fairly pleased about that. It gave him a chance to adjust to Weyr life without the additional stress of navigating through countless social encounters; the Barracks were actually quite peaceful on occasion!
This afternoon may not have been shaping up to what he had expected, however. As he entered the Barracks, Sprite dug her claws into his shoulder slightly, signaling her heightened alertness to the presence of others. The little green had never been very trusting of anyone but him, and he couldn't blame her. She hadn't been exposed to the best of humanity the day she Hatched.
Pausing, Retivor scanned the nearby bunks, gaze alighting quickly upon the only other lad in the room. He squinted slightly at the figure lying down, rather confused, until he realized that this must be a new candidate. Ah...so that was why he didn't recognize him. "Hello," he called softly, unsure if the other lad was sleeping. Moving further into the Barracks, he realized the boy was awake, and said more loudly, "I'm Retivor. Did you just get here?" Sprite sniffed the air, still wary, whirling eyes fixed on the other.
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Post by Spiffy .th ! on Mar 19, 2009 6:47:34 GMT -5
Not hearing the other enter the room, he was a little surprised to hear a tentative "hello" come from the door. He peered at the intruder from an opened eye and raised eyebrow for a second, before the boy introduced himself to Larikev.
Larikev, he said, introducing himself as Retivor had done, before hauling himself up to sit cross legged on his bunk. Yes, I got here only a few minutes ago, he nodded. I take it you've been here longer then? He paused for a second, before continuing, You a candidate, too?
Looking at him closer, Kev noticed that the other was perhaps a little smaller than he was, thinking it would be better to stay sitting dow in case he inimidated retivor, which he hated doing, but was sometimes inevitable. He wasn't particularly well built either, more like Larikev himself.
He then noticed the little green flitter settled on his shoulder, looking at him with small swirling eyes. that reminded him of how people said hat is eyes wer the colour of a green flitter. Nice firelizard, she looks healthy. He nodded with approval,of course knowing little about firelizards, but basing his jusgement on dolphins, and looked back at Retivor. Can I ask what her name is? Knowing that some would rather not tell him, having only just met him, he felt better asking, at least that gave Retivor the option of declining.
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Post by M'kel on Mar 20, 2009 16:07:58 GMT -5
As the other boy hauled himself into a sitting position, Retivor stepped forward. Larikev, as the new candidate declared his name to be, didn't seem bothered by Retivor's intrusion and even appeared willing to converse. Thus, Retivor felt comfortable seating himself on the bed of the bottom bunk directly beside Larikev's, the one he and Sprite had claimed for their own. He brushed back his amber bangs, smiling and nodding slightly in response to Larikev's inquiry.
"Yes, I've been here for about a sevenday now. It's a lot to adjust to, being a candidate. I still don't feel settled in, to be honest. The idea of Impressing a dragon..." Retivor paused, letting those thrilling words hang in the air. "I was just an Apprentice Herder, you know, and now I could be a dragonrider?" He shook his head in disbelief. Then, feeling slightly embarrassed by this open show of emotions, he quickly added, "What about you? Were you in a Craft before they brought you here?"
Sprite had begun to relax, not sensing any antipathy from the new human, and fluttered her wings with a smug chirp in response to his compliment. Retivor grinned, reaching up to stroke the top of her narrow head, while the green preened under the two lads' attention. "Her name is Sprite. She was a gift." He stopped before adding who that gift had been from. "I'd offer to let you hold her, but, well..." Retivor drifted off, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "She wouldn't be too thrilled if I forced her to go to someone else. Sprite's pretty cautious around others."
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Post by Spiffy .th ! on Mar 21, 2009 8:22:10 GMT -5
His eyes followed Retivor as he sat on the bunk opposite him. At least he looked comfortable in his presence, friendly even. Relieved that the second person he had met at the Weyr was friendly at least, he was quite happy to have a conversation with Retivor. After all, he desperately needed some guidance to Weyr life, if it was really as different as Retivor made it out to be. He should be reporting his presence to Q'tris, as Myra had told him to do, but that could wait.
He nodded and chuckled as Retivor mentioned Impressing, pulling an "I can't quite believe it myself" face as he did so, as there was nothing he could really say to it.
The lopsided smile stayed as Retivor continued on, about himself, but even Kev noted his hastiness in stopping and enquiring about himself. Fair enough, he thought, he's not to know that he can trust me yet.
Yes, he said, flicking his head to get his fringe out of his eye to better look at him. I was an apprentice Dolphineer at our small hold on the coast. Nothing like dragons though, I'd imagine. The gaze of his emerald eyes shifted to the floor as he remembered what had happened only that morning, berating himself for not even saying goodbye to the pod. They'd probably be wondering where he was by tomorrow.
He was jerked back to the present with a chirp, vaguely thinking there couldn't be a dolphin here, but realised it was the little green flitter as he looked up again, seeing Retivor pet her. Again he caught the other stop himself as he talked, briefly wondered why, what wasn't he telling him, before forgetting it on account of it's irrelevance to him.
He was startled at the other offering him to hold her, and knew it must have showed in his face. Everything did, he was hopeless at concealing anything.
I wouldn't dream of holding her against her will. Anyway, she'd yours, there's no reason for her to trust me, at least not yet. He grinned, and winked at Sprite, wondering how she'd react, remembering how the pod always liked it because they couldn't do it themselves. It's up to her wether she decides to like me or not. I hope she does, he thought to himself. He liked Retivor already, and Sprite was cute too. He knew he wanted at least one friend around here, if only because he didn't like being alone all that much.
Realising he had run out of ideas now, he cast about for something to say, to try and keep the conversation going. He'd already said about Sprite, what he was before a candidate, which hadn't been his idea anyway... Candidates?
Uh, so are there many other candidates about at the moment? Other than just us two. Glancing about he realised how stupid that question had been, as there were a couple of other bunks around him, besides his and the one he assumed must be Retivors, as he was sitting on it with that kind of air, that looked occupied. Oh well, at least he had managed to say something. In fact he was surprised he had got this far in the conversation before getting stuck anyway.
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Post by **Auria (etc)** on Mar 25, 2009 17:01:00 GMT -5
A sound foreign to the candidates barracks drifted from somewhere down the long hallway. It was high, shrill, nearly as mournful as the keen of a grieving dragon. It was the sound of a crying child.
Rannell kicked and sobbed, little feet aimed at the hands of the drudge, his chubby arms wrapped in a strangehold around his auntie's neck. For all his hysterics, however, Auria's cocoa eyes still held the blank chill of grief, despite her body's efforts to cling to the two-turn toddler.
"I simply don't understand, you can't separate us now! They let us stay together in the lower caverns!"
"But missy," the drudge said, trying to appear sympathetic while all the while attempting to unwind the child from the teen's grip, "Headwoman says you have to move to the can'date barracks now, and that the child can't sleep there. You can see him any time--"
"He's MY responsibility!" the girl said, with dark tears flooding her insides, though none leaked from her eyes. She shook her head, and her long brown hair reflected the glowlight. "He's all I've got left!"
In truth, Rannell was, for their entire family, and all their belongings, had been taken by Thread. They had amassed a small collection of necessaries as payment for Auria's work in the laundry caverns, and the overseers allowed the girl to keep discarded items of clothing. As a result, the willowy dancer was draped in a tunic and trousers much too wide for her, and the little one looked like a sack child in the clothes of a boy at least a turn his senior.
But the drudge would not let go. "Headwoman will have MY head if I don't return with this child. He can not sleep in the girls' barracks, missy. It's just not proper in a Weyr!"
Briefly, Auria wondered if this drudge had come through time, or was just someone from her own era pretending she actually knew what was "proper in a Weyr". She didn't voice her thoughts, however -- though she had been bright and chatty at one time, Auria now rarely expressed herself. Life had become a series of meaningless chores intermingled with the obligation of taking care of Ranny.
"No, I refuse to move into the barracks, then. I don't know why we can't just stay down below."
"Cuz that Rider told the Headwoman that you was supposed to be a can'date, and that she'd put you in the wrong place," she lowered her voice, "An' no one scolds the Headwoman without the rest of us hearin' 'bout it, too. Now hand me the boy, you can see him any--"
The woman had moved quickly, grabbing Ranny and pulling him from Auria's arms. However, at that moment the child, who was already crying, screamed and kicked back.
The woman grunted as her breath left her, little feet hitting her square in the midrift, and the toddler slid from her arms and ran, screaming, down the hallway!
Both females stood in shock for a moment, as the banshee-shriek of the child echoed from around the corner he'd turned. "No NO NO!" the little voice reverberated back, "NO go buh-bye! MY Aury!"
The sound of Rannell screaming her own name rattled Auria from her shock, and she took off like a sprinter after him. She followed the sound of his cries, "No No NO!" and could hear the pudgy servant woman panting and grunting a fair way behind her.
Fortunately, the legs of a two-turner are relatively short, and it was only a moment before Auria caught sight of her little nephew vanishing through a doorway.
She rushed in after him, caught him up, and scooped him, still screaming and hiccupping with despair, into her arms. "Shush, shush, dearie, Aury's not going to let that woman take you away from--"
"Hi!" the child's tone suddenly turned playful, belying the mess running from his nose and the screams of a breath before.
Auria, startled, looked up to see who Ranny had greeted.
There were two young men sitting on beds in the room.
Oh, dear. This is the boys' -- oh dear.
"Hi hi hi HI! Pretty, pretty, pretty!!" Rannell squirmed and kicked, trying to get down, reaching for something near the two male candidates, for that was whom Auria assumed they were.
It was only then that she noticed the green firelizard.
The sound of gasping breath halted several lengths behind her, and she heard the drudge wheeze to herself, "Oh, forget it! I'll let Headwoman deal with this one herse'f!" As Aury struggled to hang on to the laughing toddler she heard the heavy footsteps of the servant fade away.
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Post by M'kel on Mar 26, 2009 22:46:37 GMT -5
((So sorry Spiffmeister! What a week... >.<"))
As the other lad described his own past, Retivor listened attentively, and his eyes widened slightly at the mention of dolphins. Beasts were beasts, Retivor had learned that much at the Herder Hall. But dolphins...they were the only other creatures on Pern, besides dragons, that could speak. Working with them could hardly have been similar to the herdbeasts he was familiar with.
"Dolphins...that's something," he murmured appreciatively. He smiled thoughtfully, glancing up at Larikev. "I wonder if they might follow you here. I would really like to meet dolphins, if they ever did..." Retivor grinned and then shook his head. "Well now I just sound ungrateful. I've barely met dragons, dragons! And here I am wanting more." As if he hadn't done more in the past sevenday than he'd ever imagined possible in his life: Searched for candidacy, flying on a dragon, and now living amongst those saviours of Pern!
Sprite flitted down to Retivor's knee now, using it to edge forward and closer to Larikev. She sniffed experimentally, whirling eyes shifting all over the other boy's form in careful study. Her tail flicked back and forth on Retivor's lap as she considered this new fellow.
Retivor was watching Sprite, smiling to himself and wondering if she'd actually venture over to Larikev, when he realized that the other lad has asked him a question. He glanced up quickly and grinned apologetically. "No, not really. There are a few other boys and one or two girls, but the Barracks are pretty empty right now. Which I suppose is okay, since there isn't a Clutch on the sands yet."
And it was then, of course, that one of those two girls decided to make an appearance. But not before the screaming toddler came racing into the room. The building keen was the only warning Retivor had before Sprite, momentary complacency gone, dug her claws into his knee and launched back to the safety of his shoulder, clinging to his amber locks and hissing at the piercingly loud creature who had suddenly appeared.
Retivor grunted in pain and flinched, both from the stinging clawmarks left in his knee and from the particularly shrill screams of the child. He moved to stand, ignoring Sprite's screeching disgruntlement, but was stopped by the appearance of the girl. Gazing with mouth slightly ajar, Retivor realized suddenly that the screaming had ceased. As the young toddler now began thrashing and crying, 'hi hi hi hi!', the candidate awkwardly raised a hand in greeting. But 'pretty pretty pretty'? Oh, Sprite.
"Um, are you all right?" he asked the girl, reaching up to try and calm his flitter. Even if Sprite wasn't too impressed by the toddler, at least she had, unintentionally, gotten rid of that noise! "Do you need help with anything?" Briefly, he wondered if the child was hers, but she seemed too young, right?
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Post by Spiffy .th ! on Mar 27, 2009 14:34:44 GMT -5
( ;] No worries, I know the feeling xD )
So apparently dolphins were more exciting than he had thought they would be to the other boy, he actually seemed quite keen. But Larikev could see where he was coming from, dolphins were, and always would be, more than a herdbeast, or even a runner. Well, at least now he knew that he had a solid basis for further conversation with retivor, something he could talk about for hours on end. The dolohing formed the very basis of his life. Or they had, he reminded himself.
He pondered for a minute, thinking over the possibilities.
I don't reckon that my pod would come this far west. And even if they would, I have no way of contacting them now. Though I've heard the seas around the weyr do have some local pods. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch if we...
Seemingly on awkward cue, Larikev uttered a mental d**n, maybe going as far as to muter it out loud as he turned abruptly to look behind him to the door, where a screaming toddler had come rushing through, followed by a flustered looking girl. He heard, though didn't see, someone else beyond the door, also muttering, yet coming no closer, she seemed to have gone. He scowled at the girl at first for cutting off what he was about to say to Retivor, knowing she shouldn't be intruding in on the boys quarters, but softened a little when he saw the girl looking as surprised as they.
Presently the shrieking of Sprite interrupted his thoughts, accompanying the screaming of the toddler until he seemed to quiet, also noticing the flit, his persona changing abruptly to excitement. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, suppressing it out of politeness to the girl still standing there, as his ears stopped ringing.
As retivor seemed to be dealing with the girl, Larikev turned his attemtion to the small child clutched in her arms.
I don't think little Sprite likes being held, little one, he said, smiling at the toddler and shrugging his shoulders as best he could, being turned around from where he was facing, thinking ironically how he was devoting more attention to the toddler and not the girl, couldn't work it out, but also found himself not bothered by it.
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Post by **Auria (etc)** on Mar 30, 2009 18:21:47 GMT -5
Auria tried to think, but the squirming, giggling child in her arms made it nearly impossible. From the looks of things, she had not only broken into the sanctity of the boys' barracks, but interrupted a private conversation!
"I'm so-- uuf," she began, but Ranny shifted and kicked, catching her in the thigh. She struggled with him for a moment, trying to switch him to her hip, but he hung backward, bending like a tunnelsnake, and continued to reach for the little green flitter, upside down. She sighed, and attempted to haul him upright again. "--sorry," she went on through gritted teeth, "--we, I mean I, didn't mean--
"Pretty! Pretty! Ranny wanna KISS the pretty! Ranny wanna KISS him!"
"No, Ranny, you're frightening the little firelizard," she whispered, though since she was whispering loudly enough to be heard over his grunts and whines, it was certain that her voice must carry. "And HE is a SHE, see? What color, Ranny, what color is the flitter?"
Anything to distract the child, which it did, for just a moment, and then backfired. Badly.
"GEEEEEN!" He screeched and kicked. Aury lost her grip, and the child fell halfway to the floor before her flying hands caught up with him. She grabbed him by the tunic, which effectively flipped him, and he hit the ground feet first and running--
--right for the two boys and the flitter!
"KISS KISS KISS THE GEEEEEEEN PRETTTTY!"
The child, adorable as an overgrown spit-canine puppy, twice as loud and five times as clumsy flew out of his auntie's reach as she lunged for him.
He danced around Retivor and Larikev, grabbing trouser legs and tunic edges as he'd stumble and right himself again, and singing "KISS KISS GEEEEN PRETTY!". Every time his enthusiastic bounding brought him close to Retivor, he'd try to climb onto the bunk, fall backwards on his bottom, and jump up again just as his aunt was about to capture him.
Auria bobbed and wove, trying not to run into anyone, reaching for the child while trying -- and failing -- not to impose upon the two young men any more than she already had. She found herself half wishing that sweeps rider had left her in the little cavern by the lakeside near where her family had died.
"Ranny!" (How does one shout in a whisper? thought the girl, who's previously grief-cold eyes were now dark with horror and embarrassment) "You're scaring the pretty!"
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Post by M'kel on Mar 31, 2009 22:40:20 GMT -5
As the child's thrashing continued, the strain evident on the girl's face, Retivor turned helplessly to Larikev. There wasn't really much either of them could do, it seemed. The girl had her hands full, but the lad doubted he could calm the child down if she couldn't. If Sprite was more cooperative, he might be able to appease the child that way, but...well, he couldn't force the green! And she was already wary of the toddler for that screeching earlier.
Still, it was something to try!
"Here, maybe if I can get Sprite..." he began, starting to coax the green down his arm while looking up to Auria. However, his glance up caught sight of a most disturbing scene unfolding. The toddler was slipping, Auria was losing her grip, and then...
Rannell had launched himself at Retivor!
"Oh no," was all he had time to mutter before Sprite was entangled in his amber locks, screeching at a pitch similar to the toddler's earlier cries. She gripped his hair and pumped her wings all at once, a most uncomfortable situation for the poor human, for every time the child lunged closer to her, she was torn between taking off and clinging closer to her protector!
While having his hair yanked and pant legs tugged, Retivor managed a surprising amount of dignity, for he resisted the urge to join the cacophony by howling his own discomfort.
"You...you..." he grated through clenched teeth, struggling to sound nice despite it all, "...need to calm down." The candidate reached forward to try and catch the toddler and hold him still for a moment. Briefly, he wondered if the girl would be offended, but Retivor really didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. "If you want to pet the pretty fire lizard, you need to stop scaring her! Don't you see that she's upset?" He didn't have much experience with children, but it was worth a try.
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