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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 17:34:16 GMT -5
Aleiph doesn't like the way her hair falls in her face. It annoys her. She thinks she has it tamed, but it keeps falling in her face. She growls as if she's more animal than human, then tosses it out of her head. Her little Green flitter cheeps, almost mocking her, but Aleiph swings out, trying to knock Ceria out of the air.
"I've got everything under control," she hisses. And she takes a strong strap of leather and ties her hair up in a messy bundle on her head.
Being cooped up in the Weyr is stifling. She's used to running with the runnerbeasts, out in the grass and the fields. Days without thread are the best days because she can see forever and she can be outside without anyone to restrict her. She almost wishes she could Impress a Dragon so she could pass between and find a place where the wind will set her free.
Out in the wind, her hair doesn't bother her. But as she changes the linens on her bed, she can't help but hate everything. Does everything need to be stone instead of grass and wind and sky? She's a child of the earth and she's used to curling up with her father's hounds, letting their beating hearts soothe her rather than the artificial chill of death.
Four years and she still can't get used to it. If a dragon isn't worth it, she's definitely not going to stay. She's tired of the way the men stare at her. She doesn't miss the chaste Hold mindset much anymore, because no one ever complained about her running and jumping and climbing. Women are allowed to keep beasts, too, and even if she has to marry, she won't mind just one man, that maybe won't pin her down and claim him for his own--
But these are thoughts that get her mad and she's thinking them a lot more lately, like maybe she's made the wrong choice. She's being lazy with the linens now. If her mother were here, Aleiph would be scolded for her carelessness.
If her mother were here, though, Aleiph wouldn't mind. She'd take all the lectures in the world just to see home again.
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 17:46:32 GMT -5
Candidacy is boring.
Once, she kept herself busy. She worked in the kitchens, she worked out in the fields of runnerbeasts, she worked by the water helping riders wash their dragons. She worked from dawn to exhaustion, then fell into bed, only to start again the next day.
But candidates aren’t to be subjected to that level of stress. Candidates need to be well-rested, ready for the hatching to start at any time. And so her usual habit of throwing herself into her work has to be set aside.
So by mid-afternoon, she’s done with work, and she’s sent from the kitchens to get something to eat. With that accomplished, there’s nothing to do but wander the weyr. She greets riders, weyrlings, and candidates alike as she passes them, she nods to her fellow workers, she casts a warning eye on children cavorting in the halls. She shoos Kujoi, who won’t stop pulling at her hair, off to go feed with the dragons outside. She runs out of things to do with her time.
Actually, a nap sounds promising.
Leaving behind the bustle in the main area of the weyr, she makes for the candidate area. But rather than finding it empty, she comes across another candidate, who’s changing the linens. Aleiph. The woman’s been a candidate for a few hatchings already, by now, Zayin knows her name.
“Hello,” and she swoops in to neaten a crooked corner of the linens. “Would you like a hand?”
Hopefully you do, because Zayin’s already decided she’s going to help.
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 18:29:03 GMT -5
Aleiph almost hits her, because Aleiph tends to lash out when irate. But it's a girl she knows and starting fights isn't good. She's heard about getting barred from hatchings. If she were to have to stay here and not be able to Stand, she'd probably go insane.
Zayin's already helping, so Aleiph doesn't really bother shooing her away.
"It's annoying," she says flatly. "This work. This waiting. I hate being inside."
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 18:33:53 GMT -5
Zayin nods, half-listening as she works on tucking in the sheets with precision. Each crease is perfect, Zayin's always been rather tetchy about things being done /right/.
"Where are you from, again?" a hold with a nice outdoor environment, she assumes. Wouldn't be longing for the outdoors if she lived somewhere with a miserable climate. "I've always thought the weyr was a lot more open than most holds- all the ledges and such for dragons to fly in and out. It's almost like being part of nature, instead of closed off from it."
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 18:40:47 GMT -5
"Garnet Hold isn't closed off," Aleiph says defensively. "There are fields for the beasts for miles, and you can run anywhere so long as it's a day with no Thread. It's a lot easier to get around if you don't have wings." And maybe Aleiph wants wings. She wants to feel the wind again, and the closest she can get is out in the bowl. But it's not big and she doesn't feel nearly as free.
"My brother takes me flying on his brown, sometimes. But he's been really busy as of late, and hasn't had time to take me flying." And it's exhilarating, really, being up in the air. Truath is fast and strong and powerful and she thinks that maybe she wouldn't mind a brown, really.
But girls don't get Browns, do they? Maybe she'll get a nice green. And then she and her green can go flying with L'ei and his Truath.
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 18:51:01 GMT -5
Whoops, Zayin hadn't meant to offend. Best not to get on the bad side of another candidate, particularly one who's been around so long. Who knows, they might be commiserating together after the next hatching. "That sounds nice," she says, and maybe it's a little wishy-washy of her, but at least it doesn't sound argumentative. "I've gotten to go up with my parents a handful of time- they're both riders- there's really nothing like flying."
She finishes the last corner and steps back. "I bet we could get some of the riders to take us up, if we help out washing dragons."
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 19:03:43 GMT -5
For a while she almost laughs at the thought, but decides that maybe, just maybe it won't be that bad of an idea. "Yeah, maybe it'd be great. And we can see what other dragons fly like. I've been told they're all different, though I wouldn't really know." She likes her brother's brown.
"...What dragons do your parents have? My brother's L'ei, of Brown Truath."
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 19:15:12 GMT -5
The words slip from her tongue easily, because she’s said them so many times. “Z’rel of Crest Zinlyth, Yina of Breath Sziluth, and my brother’s of orange Nythoith.” It runs in the family, it does. Aside from her younger sister, everyone’s a rider- uncles, cousins, her grandparents were as well.
“It’s always seemed the same to me. Well, except Zinlyth, he’s kind of rough. Doesn’t turn too neatly, since he’s so big.”
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 19:18:48 GMT -5
"Oh, so little dragons turn easier?" Maybe she would want a little dragon. They look so quick and easy to clean, too. She picks up the basket of clean linens and proceeds to the next bed, pulling them off. Her hair is still a mess, but at least it doesn't fall into her face. "Maybe a little dragon would be nice, then. Maybe a Green. I want a dragon that can be out when the sun's out."
Because being stuck to the night forever would kill her softly.
"Do riders get personal kennels, or do we have to keep canines in the Weyrfolk kennel like everyone else?"
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 19:21:33 GMT -5
"I just want to impress," Zayin says with a wistful sigh. It's the first time she's admitted impatience at how many hatchings she's stood at, but it is slowly starting to get to her.
Canines. She's never thought to ask about them. She's never had much interest in anything but dragons, and maybe fire lizards. She's kind enough to her Kujoi, but certainly not enamored with him in the fashion of the some of the candidates she's seen. Kujoi comes by for food and some company every so often, but they don't spend every waking moment together. "I'd... imagine you can get your own kennel, but I can't really say. I've never liked canines much." Indifference might be an apt term to describe her feelings towards them.
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 19:25:03 GMT -5
"Oh," she says, not sure what to think. In Garnet, everyone usually had at least a tolerance for animals, because it was how they made their living. "Well, my parents breed and train canines, so it sort of runs in the family. I hope I get my own kennel. I have more work to do with Bowser and there are just some days where I'm so tired I can't be bothered to head out to the kennels and get him."
Why's she even bothering holding onto her Hold craft, anyway? "Beastcrafting is just... something we do. If I hadn't been Searched, I would have been a Journeyman Beastcrafter right now."
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 19:35:52 GMT -5
She's not unaware of the crafts, but she'd never really considered one. Never bothered to be trained in anything, really, aside from the most rudimentary of kitchen skills. Zayin finds it interesting to meet those who did have other plans, who did leave something behind when they came to the weyr. "Do you ever regret leaving that to stand for candidacy?" she asks. It's a sort of idle, curious question, but perhaps that's because she doesn't understand how important crafting is to some people. "I can't say I've ever wanted to be anything but a rider."
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 19:42:57 GMT -5
Does she regret it?
"No. Well, I'll regret it if I get left Standing, because... because I really want to be a rider. I think it'll be fun, and-- and my brother tells me that his dragon is his favorite thing in the entire world. That it completes him. I'm almost jealous of L'ei and Truath. But I don't think I could stay in the Weyr without a dragon." She pauses. "And I don't see my family that much, either. I really miss them."
It almost brings tears to her eyes, thinking of home and admitting that, but Aleiph holds herself together. "...One thing I've seen is that Hold families are closer than Weyr families."
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Post by moonchilde on Oct 24, 2012 19:55:32 GMT -5
"There's nothing like it," she speaks with a tone of authority, even though she can't possibly know. Well, she's heard enough, seen enough, no? Having a dragon... Having someone who knows your mind, who believes in you, who's always with you....
Families. That's a separate issue. Holds are so strict about them. You're beholden to your family there, really, until they... send you to learn a craft or be married, she supposes. She's never really seen much of the holds, only been on the rare visit. "You don't miss it," she says with a shrug. "In a sense, we just have bigger families. All the kids I grew up with are my siblings- I don't know my blood ones well, but who's to say blood makes much difference? I don't see how it matters."
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Post by ASTROLOGICAL!! on Oct 24, 2012 20:00:39 GMT -5
"...But I do miss my parents," she argues, puffing out her cheeks. "I want to be able to visit them, or see them. They raised me. They're my family." It's probably something a Weyrbrat wouldn't understand, actually seeing your parents every day and knowing who they are. "I just... I miss home. I don't know if I could stay here... I just-- I just hope dragons are everything everyone says they are. And I really, really do want to fight Thread for the Holds. Thread damage could ruin our livestock and-- and if I can do something to stop it, I will."
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