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Post by meah on Sept 12, 2008 18:35:10 GMT -5
Tan slid down onto his cot, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the wher candidates' quarters. If you could even call it quarters. It was a bunch of cots smashed together. Not that he was complaining. If the flimsy cot broke, he would just sleep on the floor. He preferred that to the mattresses in the candidates' quarters. After all, this actually moved under his weight, versus being stiff. And he got to know his cohorts quite well. So far that was a good thing.
In fact, he was beginning to wonder where said cohorts might be lurking. People did tend to notice them wandering around in the mandatory-dress burlap sacks. It seemed like they kept an eye out for the wher candidates, who were placed in such a position as a punishment or to get them out of the way of the leadership. That was probably why each of the wher candidates seemed to spend more time in their collective quarters as they spent more time as a wher candidate.
It was more than just unusual to find their quarters completely empty. It was perhaps the only non-meal time he'd ever spent there alone. It was silent. He wondered briefly if he should go looking for his comrades to make sure nothing was wrong, but he brushed off the worry. They were probably all off enjoying the nice weather. He was just lonely.
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Post by Cilnah on Sept 12, 2008 22:56:14 GMT -5
A small figure walked quietly down the dark corridor that lead to all things wher, or perhaps bounced was a better way to describe the motion of the young girl moving down the path. Her skin seemed to give off it's own light as she went along, her skin so extraordinarily pale that the darkness could not shut her out, even in the dank attire she was forced to wear. Not that it really mattered, it was easily discovered as she lithely skipped over a protruding rock that would have caught her foot had she continued to walk at her normal pace. Though really it was just a shadow, and her movement had been from falling over the thing so many times in the past. Naive she was, but not immune to the learning aspects of a scraped knee!
It wasn't a moment before she entered the wher candidate's quarters, though she did slow her pace as to not scuffle or plod, as a courtesy to her next-door neighbor, the beautiful golden wher that had started this entire hustle and bustle about the weyr. It was beyond Raina's ability of thought to figure out why the creatures were shunned by the dragonriders and the weyr residents who weren't candidates for the wher hatchlings that were supposed to be arriving soon. But then again, why was anyone shunned? This was what she was thinking as she half-skipped, half-danced into the candidate's quarters.
She hadn't really been paying too much attention to her surroundings, there was little to see after all, but the lack of mutted sound caught her attention. Lifting her head, her sight slightly disorientated as her eyes adjusted to the relatively large increase in light, though it really was rather dim by most standards, the girl shook her head, and after blinking, saw why it was so quiet. There was only one other person here! "Tana!" Raina cried with absolute delight, though not too much surprise.
At that, she moved swiftly down the room, flopping onto her own cot about half way down, which gave a groan of protest even against her slight weight. "What are you doing in here all on your own, Tana? Where are your friends?"
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Post by meah on Sept 18, 2008 18:43:22 GMT -5
Tanawic shrugged at the girl's question. It was easier than telling her that she was the one he cared about most. He didn't really know where the other wher-candidates were, in any case. He hoped they weren't getting themselves killed by those who considered wherries to be a sub-draconian species of no value. One day they would learn, and then they'd stop ridiculing his friends.
The fleeting thought that they were her friends, too, drifted across his mind before fluttering away to be replaced by an obsessive fondness for the girl. He knew she would be happy with her wher, because her wher was going to be the best of the bunch. Her wher was going to be better than Tan's wher, even, and he already held his wher in high esteem.
A little alarm bell went off in his head, reminding him that when all he did was stare at her, he got boring. Right. Small talk. Their future whers were as good a topic as any, since they were on his mind.
"So what color wher do you think you'll get?" he asked, resisting the urge to start blathering on about nothing in Raina's presence. Her hair was distracting him, though. It was the most beautiful hair in all of Pern. And her eyes were the perfect colour.
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Post by Cilnah on Sept 21, 2008 0:37:38 GMT -5
His pauses were rather long, but that had never bothered her terribly much. Raina had always been a patient person. And besides, whenever he said something, it was generally worth it to listen. His words were sound, if blunt. And for that reason she had no problem with leaning back in her cot, her only answer to her question a half-hearted shrug. A soft hum began deep within her chest, a tune her mother had sung to her when she was terribly ill, and something she reflected upon often.
She was distracted though, when he brought up the whers. "I really couldn't care less, as long as it is happy with me as a partner," the girl answered, before realizing how silly that was. Of course it would like her, if it had picked her as a partner! Raina laughed, and waved away the thought. "What about you, Tana? Do you have a color that you want more than the others?"
It was hardly noticed that he was staring at her anymore. She'd been rather self-concious when she'd first been brought to the weyr a year ago, but now she hardly ever noticed when she encountered new people for the first time... And they stared at her for long moments before realizing what they were doing. With him though, she got the feeling it wasn't really her coloring he was looking at. Maybe he was lost in his own thoughts when he looked at her? Well, regardless, he was welcome to it, if that's what he liked.
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Post by meah on Sept 26, 2008 18:33:57 GMT -5
He looked into her eyes, and the perfect answer came into his head. One he would never say, lest she find out how much he needed her and run away. He wanted a wher the colour of her eyes. She would just laugh at him for that, certainly. Or she would tell him he was being silly. Which he wasn't.
Instead, he just said "Brown. The most perfect colour in all of Pern is a brown."
He didn't mention that it was her eyes, which looked almost purple in the distance between them. He'd studied them enough times to know they were brown, but he'd seen lots of people disturbed by her supposedly purple eyes. Shards, most of the other wher candidates had been disturbed by them. It made him so angry to see people that dumb. They couldn't appreciate such beauty.
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Post by Cilnah on Nov 12, 2008 14:36:02 GMT -5
A soft laugh pressed from Raina's lips, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, not wanting to offend her friend. But, after her small bit of amusement about the way he decided on the perfect color, she stopped to think about it, and slowly nodded. "You know, Tana. I think you're right. Brown would be a good color for you." She didn't bother to explain that she thought it matched his personality: Strong, but not overbearing, and often overlooked. But Browns were note worthy creatures, and one of them would fit in very well with the boy.
And no, it hadn't occurred to her that perhaps it was because brown was the color of her eyes that he wanted one. Because, after all, her eyes were not normal, and most people wanted normal colors, though variations were accepted willingly enough. "Well, I hope you get what you want Tana," she added with a small grin, as she sat up and folded her arms over her legs, watching the boy curiously.
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Post by meah on Nov 18, 2008 23:55:06 GMT -5
Well, I hope you get what you want Tana
Tan smiled. Raina was always so good to him. She was just the most amazing person he had ever met. She was absolutely darling, and it seemed like she always knew what to say to him. A little wistfully, he smiled at her. "Thanks. Same to you."
It wasn't like she would ever know or care what he really wanted. He really wanted her. He wanted to hold her and protect her from all the evils Pern had to offer. He wanted to beat the snot out of anyone who even considered hurting her. But she would never want to hear that. She couldn't possibly have any interest in even looking at him like that, let alone doing something as loving as holding his hand.
He had forgotten, in that moment, that he had really wanted a blue dragon when he was a kid, because blue had been his favorite colour. That had changed quite quickly with the introduction of Raina into his life. Now everything seemed to revolve around her. Not that he would admit it or she would see it.
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Post by Cilnah on Dec 23, 2008 23:52:49 GMT -5
The girl giggled at that, a happy smile tugging even wider at the edges of her lips. It wasn't often that she was given the hope of getting what she wanted. Admittedly that was because most of the time she didn't know what she wanted, as with the case of the Wher color she would like to Impress. But still, it was a kind gesture, and it meant a lot coming from this particularly blunt boy. So for once she nodded, and there was a note of sincerity in her voice when she answered with a simple "Thank you."
There was a small silence as she pondered what, exactly, the slight wistfullness in his voice had been for, but as quickly as it had shown, it was gone again, as she realized she would never figure it out on her own, and there was no way he was going to offer up the information unless she pestered him. And this wasn't something she felt the need to pester about. So it was best to simply leave it be.
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Post by meah on Jan 2, 2009 20:12:21 GMT -5
Tan watched Raina for a while, not saying anything. Even the silence was more than enough to please him. Just being around Raina gave him the odd, contented feeling that all was right with the world. Which wasn't particularly good because there wasn't much right with the world, and he couldn't even explain why he felt the way he did. He wanted to come out and say what he was thinking, but somehow, even the outspoken youth knew that what he wanted to say would sound silly. At least to his ears they would. Even if they were the truth.
He couldn't help that he loved Raina, and telling her would only chase her away. She was the one person who really meant something to him, and even Tan wasn't frank enough to want to throw that away on the small chance that he might be made slightly happier.
The boy was so wrapped up in his internal conflict that he didn't notice much of anything for a moment. When he ran into arguments he'd already made with himself in the last three minutes, his attention was yanked back to reality. Raina looked so alone.
"Raina..." he started off, unsure of what he actually wanted to say. Well, he knew what he wanted to say. He just didn't know what exactly he was going to say.
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