Empty Rooms (Tags: Open)

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

It was oddly quiet here.

Shmee walked into the candidate barracks with Shei on arm and a satchel on the other. She frowned, looking at all the empty bunks. Now this would be odd. She supposed she could buy a little crib with the few marks she had, or she might be able to see if anyone had brought cribs here. Until then, Shmee would have to sleep with the baby on the same bed, which would be... an interesting experience, to say the least. These beds were made for children, and Shmee was not exactly short. This presented Shmee with yet another downer. She bet that every girl that came here would be tiny, skinny adolescents, with upturned noses and an ego shoved into each nostril. Shmee smiled wanly. How would they take to living with a babe in the barracks?

On cue, Shei wriggled in her mother's arms. "Yes, yes," Shmee murmured, and set the flame-haired babe onto the stone floor. Shei immediately wrinkled her nose, but as soon as Shmee handed down a small toy, the girl was sated. She let out a gentle coo, and promptly stuffed the toy into her drooly mouth.

"Did you enjoy the dragon ride, Shei?" Shmee warbled to the babe, who wasn't even listening. "The big green dragon who brought us here? Maybe Mommy will have one." Now there was an idea. Riding a green dragon... Shmee's blue eyes went dreamy for a minute. A dragon would be the perfect start to a new future for her and Shei. Then Shei could be the true daughter of dragonriders that she was!

Shmee sighed, and sat on the bare bunk, her mind brought back to the problems at hand. The emptiness of the barracks. She hadn't expected to spend the beginning of her candidacy alone.

[Luna]

Luna smiled and barely contained the little hop in her step. They had Candidates! All right, just one, but she had a Candidate. After spending the past few nights waking up from nightmares where all the eggs hatched and went between she couldn't be happier.

Stop right there.

Luna stopped and frowned, What?

If you walk in there like that she's going to think you're a dimglow drudge not the Weyrwoman.

So, I'm smiling? A Weyrwoman can't smile and be happy to see a Candidate. I thought you'd be happy too.

You're skipping. Important people don't skip. Little hatchling skip.

Luna reddened and glanced around the tunnels she'd just went through. Had she really been skipping? For once Raineth didn't answer. She cleared her throat and straightened her clothing before proceeding in a more stately manner.

And so, with the properly stern appearance, Luna passed through the Candidate Barracks archway. Her eyebrow arched slightly as she saw a woman sitting on a bunk with slightly hunched shoulders, "Already tired of living here?" She asked as she leaned against the wall.

With a frown she tilted her head forward as some movement caught the corner of her eye. "Is that- is that a baby?" She glanced around, "Did one of the weyrfolk leave it here you to tend?" The slightly dejected stance of the Candidate made much more sense now.

[Lucius]

Patroling the Weyrhalls was one of S'las's duties as a Bronzerider. His presence kept the peace, as only a look from dark eyes could keep things under control. He wasn't as large as some of the other riders, no way he ever would be, but Tugenth was enough to secure his position of respect.

And, of course, no chaos would come to Surion under his vigilant watch. The Weyrwoman, Luna, would help with that effort; of that, he was certain, as Raineth was a good, noble queen.

The man turned a corner, smiling with the freedom patrol allowed him. Walking was medatative, and it allowed him to sift through his thoughts, a rare opportunity when being one of the only bronzers in the Weyr.

And then, he came upon Luna and the candidate. He paused, observing the situation. Then, he strode in, waving a greeting to Luna. His eyes fell upon the child, and after a moment of thought, he said, "It might not be a child of any weyrfolk here. I do believe that women are allowed candidacy if they have children, but not if pregnant. And she is of age..." He cut it off, deciding not to say anything extremely awkward. "Candidate, your name, please?"

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Hearing someone else enter, Shmee lifted her head, gazing uncertainly at the woman who entered. She was young, so maybe she was another candidate? She had the youthful appearance of someone young, so Shmee automatically marked the girl as younger than she was. In a way, Shmee was jealous. This girl still had a nice figure. Shmee used to have a flawless one, but now, it was marred by stretch marks, and it was curvier than before Shei. She wasn't fat or anything-- she had made sure to never become fat. Still, this girl had the glow of youth, and that alone made Shmee treat the girl with wariness. "Shards, no," Shmee replied slowly, shaking her head. "I'm certainly not tired of being here. It's a good change from my old life." She forced a smile. Shei looked up at the woman with equal wariness. She dropped her toy, and slowly got to her stumbly feet, and grabbed onto the bunk.

Her second question made Shmee even more defensive. "No, no," Shmee said firmly, picking up the tot. "She is my daughter." Shei wriggled closely against Shmee, looking away from the other woman nervously.

She paused. "So, who are you?" she asked hesitantly. Shmee was uncertain if she should introduce herself first, but since this woman had barged in here, she decided that she should make the first move. She sighed. She should probably be nicer to people if she ever wanted to have friends. Maybe this girl just made bad first impressions...

And then this man walked in! Shmee looked at him with even more uncertainty than the girl! "Yes, she is my child," Shmee said coldly. She wasn't sure if she liked him-- he certainly liked to rattle off the rules as if she were completely ignorant of the weyr ways. It bothered her even more as he not asked, but almost demanded her name. And addressed her as "candidate." She glowered.

"My name is Shmee, sir, and my daughter's name is Shei," she replied bitterly.

[Luna]

It took quite a few moments before Shmee's wariness cut through Luna's sheer happiness at finally having people come to her Weyr. By then she'd already made a rocky first impression on the girl. Well, maybe not girl. Shmee didn't seem that much younger than her and she already had the responsibility of a kid to deal with.

She nodded to S'las as he came into the room. A dependable bronze, one she didn't know extremely well, but he'd been willing to come with her from Benden and that had helped more then he knew...well maybe he knew. He was the one who came in and seemed to be doing things properly. Although with how Shmee reacted it was probably best that Luna hadn't.

She couldn't be running off her Candidates, even ones with children, or she'd never get those eggs to their bonded safely. She wasn't sure she was okay with it, but in the end it wouldn't harm the dragonet. Unless the child took too much of her time away from the dragon. Luna sighed mentally, she'd cross that hurdle if the girl was chosen.

"We didn't mean any offense, Shmee. I'm Luna of Raineth." She smiled at the child, "I'm just not used to the idea of Candidates having children. Although as S'las pointed out, there is nothing against it. I just wouldn't want the weyr folk to be trying to take advantage of the Candidates here. You're here to learn about dragons in the hopes of Impressing one, not hired help when someone doesn't want to see their child any more."

[Lucius]

Such bitterness! S'las did not expect anger from the candidate, when he was really only trying to be polite. He did say please, and he did not refer to her as "woman" nor (as some other despicable folk would) "wench". He was not intending to sound condescending, and her wariness towards the Weyrwoman... What, did she not trust Luna?

None-the-less, S'las did not allow how offended he was for being snarled at show on his face, and he controlled his tone best he could. "As Luna said, we are not here to offend nor to make you feel uncomfortable," he said, slowly, choosing his words with care. "As a candidate, Schmee, you are here as a guest and a possible resident. As a guest, you get the best treatment we can give you, and should you Impress, you become part of our family. We only want to make you feel welcome, and I'm sorry if I offended you."

Going to lengths, aren't we?

Tugenth's awakening startled the bronzerider, as he had not been paying attention to his dragon. Yet as soon as S'las recovered his stance, he replied, I'm trying not to be rude to my future riders. I can spare the length.

Ah. With that, the bronze settled in his weyr and sent S'las a wonderful image of the outside. A soft smile came to S'las's face as he thought about the peace in his dragon's mind.

"I am S'las, of bronze Tugenth. Should you need anything, I would be more than happy to assist you."

[Risa]

Alone, thinking... He needed to think. How was his sister? More pressing, was his mother recovering? Shaking his head, Aenoth tried to let that go. He had to let that go. There was nothing else to do but let go. After all, they wanted this for him, and he had wanted this as well. Aenoth had nothing left there besides them, and his mother had wanted him to be here.

It was still a bit of a shock really. He was here, in the weyr, and had the chance at being a dragon rider. He heard voices, but at the moment Aenoth didn't really feel like being social. Maybe once he calmed down he'd go meet the others. Then again, maybe someone who was quicker to get used to things, or a weyrbrat might come stumble across him. Never knew really, and Aenoth wasn't one to guess.

He was glad though that the search dragon that had brought him back here was a green. Had it been a blue, like his fathers, Aenoth had a feeling his mother would have been hysterical. That was the last thing anyone wanted if she was going to recover...

"NO! Stop thinking about home. You're here now!" Aenoth growled to himself.

[Khell]

Khell had been dropped off from a nice bluerider that had offered him a ride to Surion. The ride was quite appreciated and he was quick to shower the man with thanks before sliding off of the blue beast. Okay, he probably overdid it with the ‘Thank You’ but the man was pretty good looking and Khell wanted to make some sort of impression on him. Apparently Khell didn’t leave one big enough to make the man stay here with him forever, where they could be the cute gay couple of the Weyr. The rider told Khell that he couldn’t stick around and as soon as Khell’s feet had touched the ground, the blue dragon was off. He watched as the beast winked Between before hoisting his bag of worldly possessions onto his shoulder. Adventure, begin!

That was about an hour ago.

He had been stuck wandering around looking for the candidate barracks. He didn’t think it would be this hard truthfully, but the barracks seemed to be hiding from him. It was quite bothersome. He had found the Kitchens, walked into a storage room but still no barracks. He had been walking down a hall when voices reached his ears, the word Candidate making him perk up. Oh Faranth! Please let those people be candidates and that be the barracks. He was sick of walking around, he just wanted to throw his bag onto a cot and rest for a bit. He followed the voices, getting happier with every step as the voices grew louder and louder.

He peered into the room and saw three people. He had heard parts of the conversation, apparently the woman with the kid was a candidate. “Oh! You’re a girl. Am I in the wrong place?” He interrupted, slightly confused. Oops, was this the female barracks? Well he was definitely not female – he knew that much! He looked at the woman on the cot and realized there were actually four people in the room; he had overlooked the little one. “Is that your baby? Can I play with her? I won’t break her, promise.” Words bubbled out of Khell’s mouth as he smiled with delight. He was the youngest in his family and had always wanted a younger sibling.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Shmee raised one dark eyebrow at the woman's introduction. This was the Weyrwoman? Shells, she was young. Then again, she supposed many were-- there had been so many queenriders that they had to branch out to other Weyrs. "Oh," she replied, unsure. "Well... nice to meet you, Weyrwoman." Come to think about it, why was the Weyrwoman in the Candidate Barracks? That certainly made no sense. She might understand the Weyrwoman being at the Touching, or even a speaker at a candidate lesson, but it was very, very odd for her to randomly saunter into the candidate barracks! It was even unheard of back in her home! Shei looked over from Luna to the man, still seeming as though she was investigating this situation.

Shmee let out a forced laugh. "Believe me, nobody is going to be taking advantage of my motherhood," she reassured Luna. She still didn't like how Luna was speaking. She knew that she was here to be a candidate. She would've just been a normal weyrfolk if she was here to be a babysitter! She resisted the urge to glare. "And I very well understand my responsibilities," she added bitterly. Was she honestly getting lectured here for no reason? If this was the only reason the Weyrwoman was here, she didn't think she liked her. If she was here to boost her own ego, Shmee was definitely not interested in the slightest.

And the man... He was a bronzerider. Shmee knew it wasn't right to hold a grudge, yet she found herself doing so anyway. She couldn't trust bronzeriders, after what happened with K'dei. She didn't meet his eyes, and instead, she nodded dismally.

"Who's that?" she asked suddenly, looking around. She could have sworn she had heard a voice, maybe coming from the hall. "Is somebody talking outside?"

Before she could excuse herself to investigate, yet another person barged into the barracks! She start blankly at the boy for a moment, confused. Then, a smile slowly broke out onto her face. "Yeah, I don't think this is the boys'!" she told him, amused. She bounced Shei, beginning to feel some light-heartedness returning.

His question, however, threw her off. She wasn't used to letting Shei be held by strangers. She had always been told that she was far too protective of Shei. Still, he seemed like an amusing kid. "Well... er, have you ever had experience with babies?" she asked uncertainly. She wasn't going to just hand over the babe, but she wasn't going to alienate everyone in the room!

[Luna]

Luna sighed, this certainly wasn't the happy, bubbling scene she had envisioned when her first Candidate arrived. Then again, she'd imagined a small boy, or bright-eyed girl practically bouncing at the chance to even see a dragon, not this wary-eyed woman holding a baby. She supposed she had to remember not every one had her past and shared her views. After all, if the Weyrwoman couldn't be diplomatic, who would?

She was about to reply to Shmee when another person walked in. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. This was more her type of Candidate. All excited to be here. Practically glowing with positive energy.

She frowned as she heard another voice. She shrugged to Shmee, "Not sure, although I do have a few Candidates set to arrive today that could be them." She glanced at S'las to make sure he had the ... err, little get together in hand, before leaving to investigate the voice. Since she lacked a proper Candidate Master, it was up to her to gather all the names of the Candidates and make sure they were informed before the Hatching. Usually this could take place over many sevendays, sadly these Candidates didn't have that long. Good news was, there was only one big rule you really needed to know.

She glanced into the boy's barracks, figuring he'd have to be in there. She gave a warning knock so she wouldn't startle him, "Hello, welcome to Surion Weyr. I see you found the Barracks all right. I'm Luna of Gold Raineth, you are?"

[Risa]

Aenoth jumped, surprised by the sudden introduction of... the Weyrwoman? She introduced herself as a gold rider anyway, so she had to be. A bit of a surprise really, that she would come to speak with him. Still, it made him calm down slightly to have anyone to talk to. It would keep his mind busy, and the longer he could do that, the better off he was to keep from thinking about home.

"I'm Aenoth, thank you. It's nice to meet you Luna of Raineth. I'm honored to be here." He was being polite, of course, as he was expected to be, but he really didn't know why she was there. It confused him, just slightly.

[Luna]

(( I'm going to break the cycle since we're in our own little room atm. ))

Why was everyone acting so odd today? First the wariness in the mother and now he was slightly nervous/confused. Well, he could be home sick. She remembered the first few days she spent at the Weyr. All bustling energy and hardly a second to stop to show a newcomer the ropes. Only the Candidate Master ever stopped ... well, that cleared up a few things.

Luna had never even seen a gold or bronze rider until the Hatching and then it had been at a distance. She probably wouldn't have even have known them had it not been for her Impressing a gold dragon. And now here she was hopping from one person to the next, just introducing herself. Even as a gold rider, she hardly ever talked one on one to the Weyrwoman. The woman was just too busy running such a large Weyr.

"Until we get a Candidate Master appointed or transferred I'll be taking on that position." She replied in what she hoped was a small enough pause that it sounded as if she'd meant to tell him from the beginning. "I suppose I'll also be your Weyrling Master too unless someone shows up for that." She quirked half a grin, "The Search dragon did tell you that this is a Weyr that's just begun right?" The grin grew, "Yep, just about any other Weyr and you'd be sharing that bunk with three other boys."

[yankeegeek]

Jarev had been impatient and eager all day to get where he was going. The time spent at Benden Weyr hadn't been wasted, in any sense, but he felt his chances of Impressing would be better in a new place. He couldn't have explained why, just a hunch that wouldn't go away.
A friend of his, a young green rider who had been a Candidate at the same time as Jarev's first Hatching, offered to convey him to Surion. The offer was gratefully accepted.
The small load he brought with him was easy enough for a green to carry. He handed it up to the rider, then murmured a greeting and thanks to the green as well. He didn't hear a reply, but her eyes whirled bluely in amusement before she shifted position to let him mount behind her rider.
The flight was terrifying and exciting all at once. He stared down at the people and buildings far below, amazed. The cold of /between\ jolted him back to paying attention.
They emerged directly over the new Weyr's bowl, and winged in to land.

Jarev slid down onto the hot sands. Taking his belongings, he waved goodbye to the pair, then made his way inside. It took some searching to locate the area that seemed to
be the Candidate Barracks. He was grateful not to be the first one there. The sounds of voices, and mention of the words "Candidate Master", drew his attention to a particular doorway.

[Risa]

Aenoth grinned slightly to the weyrwoman. "Got a handful there, huh?" he asked, gaining a bit of humor. He had quickly taken notice of how empty things looked here, and had wondered why that was the case really. Though he had heard a few more voices, so there had to be more canidates trickling in. More people to talk to, more people to keep his mind busy.

He would get used to things here, and let home go soon enough. After all, he had only just left, and still missed it. Besides, who said that he'd never see there again? If he impressed a dragon, eventually, he could fly back. He would show his sister what she had never seen of their father, and maybe even bring his mother a smile.

SHELLS, he had to stop this! Home would wait. Aenoth was here now, to make his own life. Thought like that would only hold him back, something he couldn't allow.



~Sandra~
She'd been told this was where she needed to be, but beyond that, not much. Airheaded Sandra somehow managed to be lost even now. Then again, she wasn't in a hurry really. She was here, but the hatching couldn't be so soon that she needed to rush. After all, what kind of search would bring in last second canidates. No, now was her chance to look around and get to know new people.

Then again, there seemed to be only a few people so far. Another boy, who seemed to just enter the barracks as well. "Hello there." she said, unable to cure the distracted tone that carried in her voice.

[Khell]

A sheepish grin appeared on Khell’s face as Shmee asked him a question. He hooked his hands behind his head, “I was a baby, but that’s about it. But I turned out fine.” He gave a hearty laugh before letting his hands drop to his side. He waved away the whole situation with a hand of his, “You can answer later though. I need to find the male barracks, I don’t think I can pass off as a girl. Be back in a tick though, I want to meet you and the others formally!”

He slipped through the door that he had just come through, beaming as a girl past him. “Hello.” He said happily before disappearing from sight, he was on the prowl for the male barracks. He had wandered down a hall when a voice reached his ears, a male voice this time. He followed it and finally found the male barracks – the woman was in the other room, now in this one. He walked into the room and swung his pack off of his shoulder and onto his cot. “Oh shards, did I miss introductions?” He asked with a friend as he perched himself upon the cot.

“I’m Khell.” He said to Luna with a lopsided grin and a nod. He turned his attention to the other boy and pointed to himself, “Khell” as if the first introduction wasn’t heard by Aenoth. He secretly eyed the boy, he was pretty good looking. Clearly Khell made a good decision when he came to Surion.

[yankeegeek]

Jarev had reached the doorway of the occupied room. There was quite a crowd here already. He stopped to size them all up. Huh.
Leaning against the doorway, he listened to them talk, not saying anything yet. He'd found that keeping quiet among new people often was more productive than chattering.

A voice from behind him, made him half-turn toward the speaker.
He found himself looking, unsurprisingly, up at a redhaired girl who seemed nervous. So far, two out of three times, any adult would be taller than he was. Hopefully, that wouldn't be a lasting state of affairs. Both of his parents had been taller than that.
He raised an eyebrow. "Hullo," he replied, smiling. "I'm Jarev, one of the Candidates."

[Luna]

Luna shrugged, "Right now, there aren't many people, by the time there are I would hope that a CM or WM would be here. Who knows, it may be you one day." She turned as more people walked up behind her. It seemed her friends from Benden had talked to more Search dragons than she'd thought. That made ... five in one day. Quite a good start and definitely one that would make Luna finally sleep a full night's rest. It wasn't enough for the clutch, but if they were coming in this strong before the clutch had even hardened she had high hopes for the rest of the sevenday.

At least some of the Candidates were making it to the right gendered Barracks. "You've made it to the Boys Barracks. The Girl's is just down the hall and to the right." She said pointing in the general direction. She paused as the boy from the girl's barracks breezed into the room and introduced himself twice.

Turning slightly to include all four Candidates she introduced herself for the second, third time? "I'm Luna of Gold Raineth. I'll be acting as your Candidate Master until some one qualified can take up the position." She glanced at the others waiting for names to fit to the faces, it'd be important to remember later.

[Risa]

He couldn't say he was shocked to see the new boy, but he was a bit startled to hear him introduce himself twice. Was he addled in the brain, or did this Khell think he was deaf? Well, some were dropped on their heads as infants after all, so it wasn't something to overlook. Still, as the weyrwoman introduced herself to the others, he looked to the other boy. "I'm Aenoth."

There, introductions done. Now, he would simply have to hope he wasn't expected to say so twice. So long as they kept a respect between each other, things would go well. If Khell was a dimglow, well, then Aenoth would just avoid him. Simple enough.

~sandra~

"Nice to meet you Jarev. I'm Sandra." she replied, her wide eyes searching his features quickly. "I'm also a canidate." This was as far as she got though, before another woman started speaking to them. This was the weyrwoman? What was she doing among... oh, nevermind. She would have to start listening better, and she would catch things like the fact the weyrwoman would be the canidate master before starting mental questions.

"Hello Luna of Gold Raineth. I'm Sandreline, but most shorten it to Sandra." Again, that dreamy, lost tone to her voice took effect. It happened when Sandra tried to think and talk, but always gave her away. Well, it did back in the hold, maybe not so much here. Looking past the weyrwoman though, Sandra spotted two more people and smiled slightly. More people to meet...

[Khell]

Khell grinned as he moved from his sitting position to laying down on the cot. “I already found the girls barrack.” He laughed with a slight bashful grin. He raised his head slightly, this girl was the Weyrwoman? Well, it was a new Weyr and he was already told not to be surprised by the youth of some of the people who lived there. He layed his head back down, “Oh, sweet deal. Now I don’t have to hunt the Weyrwoman down to introduce myself.” Definitely made things easier on him and he’d probably just get lost again.

He turned over onto his stomach and grinned at Sandreline-shortened-to-Sandra. She was quite pretty and almost as tall as him. Oh yes, Khell was definitely proud of his decision to come here. Now if only he could convert some of the boys into liking other boys…but that was a mission for another time. “Are we allowed to visit the girl barracks? I told the girl there with the kid I’d come back so I could actually meet her. I think I scared her off when I asked to play with her daughter.” Khell gave a lopsided grin at the last part, fully aware that he probably had unnerved the woman.

He figured it was probably best to ask before he went off and got in trouble. He’d be scolded by not only the Candidate Master but the Weyrwoman considering the fact they were the same person.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Shmee smiled at Khell nervously. Before she could answer, however, the boy had already excused himself. Her smile turned thoughtful. Even though he was inexperienced, he seemed eager enough that he might be a good student to learn how... It would always help to have a babysitter around in case the need arose, and it was much better to choose someone who seemed nice from the very beginning. Of course, Shei clearly didn't show any favorites among the crowd. She cowered from all of them by wriggling deeper into her mother's chest. Shmee couldn't help but chuckle, and she bounced the babe gently and rubbed her back, murmuring shushing sounds to her. It would be bad if Shei started bawling with everyone around here... It was bad enough that everyone was making bad impressions left and right, and she didn't want poor Shei to be hated by everyone at first sight! Then they would never tolerate her in the barracks...

And... suddenly, everyone seemed to be leaving. Except, of course, the bronzerider. Shmee was caught between relief at having most people leave, but discomfort that S'las remained. She sighed, and chose that she would ignore him. Settling down on the bed, she continued to bounce Shei thoughtfully. Fortunately, she had remembered to feed Shei before leaving, so she didn't have to worry about it at the moment. The babe ate both adult food, but still suckled when she got antsy, so it relieved Shmee that the babe wouldn't be hungry now. There was far too much hubbub right now for her to feel comfortable doing so. "Wanna play with your toys, Shei?" Shmee cooed. Stirred by her mother's voice, Shei looked up, only glancing briefly at S'las, her curiosity overcoming her fear.

"Do you have any children?" Shmee asked the man casually, pulling out a stuffed toy for Shei to play with. Well, she could at least try to be courteous. It wasn't as though all bronzers were players.