Never thought I'd be here

[Lucius]

Ingasa was laughing like a maniac when she collected her things from the candidate's barracks and laid them out before her on the bed she had chosen as her spot in the Barracks. Not much, but it was enough. With a sigh, she turned to Yinideth, who was laying on the cot near the foot of the bed. The dragonet's eyes were half-closed, and her green hide was scrubbed clean by Ingasa's tender ministrations after the ordeal.

"Oh, Yini," she whispered, stroking the dragonet's nose. "Yini, I've waited for so long. But it's worth it... It's so worth it..."

Scratch my eye-ridges, please. The dragonet opened her mouth and yawned, her skinny tongue sticking out.

With a soft smile, Ingasa stroked the eye-ridge of the dragonet until she fell asleep. Then, quietly, she went over to change into the nice blue skirt and white tunic she had set aside for the feast. She was attending! And not as a failed candidate, but a dragonwoman!

Ahh, Ingasa of Green Yinideth, Rider of Surion Weyr! It had such a ring to it.

[yankeegeek]

J'rev would have echoed Ingasa's sentiments. He'd gone to the
boys' section of the Weyrling barracks, to claim a cot and sleeping area for Aoryth. The satiated brown hatchling had dozed off in the Barracks' relative coolness.
He changed out of the white robe and sandals, into a new outfit that his parents had brought him, and boots that felt comfortable already.
Hearing Ingasa's laugh as he walked out, he turned. He'd been on his way to the Hatching feast. He peeked through the doorway. "Congratulations," he grinned. "You did it!"

[Wangri]

Many a candlemark after the Hatching, Pasine and Sphinith were finally released from the Infirmary after a full examination and allowed to go pick a room. However, since they were a mixed pair, niether had any idea which side they were suppose to inhabit. So they ended up wandering the halls with their luggage while chatting mildly. Sphinith was tried, though, and Pasine's injuries were bandaged so tight she swore they were cutting off circulation to her limbs, so the conversation was very meager.

Shifting her luggage so she could tug at her arm wrap aggrievedly, Pasine mentioned, "Sphinith, as much as I do love you and your name, I do think it is too long to continually pronounce. You even shorten Pasine-mine to just 'mine, do you not? And all the other Weyrlings seem to have nicknames for their dragonets as well."

I do...[/i] the dragonet agreed reluctantly, There is a scratch behind wing.[/i] Obviously this was a bad attempt at changing the subject, and since Pasine was the master at awkwardly changing subjects, she saw right through it. Of course, she still managed to reach down and relieve his itch, but continued on.

"So, I was thinking I could call you Sphin, or Muse," she stated as she leaned over to stratch the itch. The blue leaned into her hand in a trance of bliss. Mhm... wait, what?[/i] He shook his head out of the mist, and his eyes changed from a pleasent blue that mixed with his hide to a surprised green-yellow. 'Mine, you want to give me a new name?[/i] His voice seemed disappointed, even a bit sad. Pasine hurriedly hugged him and reassured his sadness.

"It is from Legends of Old or something similar to that, which I read before I met you. There were all sorts of weird creatures, from half-humans, half-herdbeasts to dragons that grew two heads when one was cut off! One of them was a water-woman, or something made of water. I do not remember so well. But apparently they went around and inspired artists everywhere to create masterpieces! And I know you will help me to create the best weave ever!"

Sphinith was too perplexed and blushed to point out that he wasn't from water, nor was he a woman (or at least his half of him wasn't a woman; but Pasine was a woman and he considered her apart of him as she did him now). Instead he crooned softly and gently head-butted his rider with affection. He almost fell asleep there, but his mine awoke him as she stood once again.

"Wonderful. Let us go find a room now, before you pass out in the Hallway" Pasine sighed contentedly, and continued down the hallway. It wasn't long before she found a boy poking his head into a Girl's room. Hoping he was another mixed pair and knew where to get a room, she approached the doorway and peeked in past the opposite frame. "Hello? Does anyone know where there's a free cot for my Blue and I?"[/font]

[Luna]

He was completely and utterly lost. R'dyn almost wanted to glare at the little blue trotting at his side, almost. It was because of Zayth's choice that he was here in this predicament. A fairly dimglow drudge's version of helpful had been to spew ten different turns at him and expect him to remember them all. He got past the last two by guessing and listening to voices. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but meeting a person was better than dying in these tunnels. He couldn't think of why a person would live here, honestly!

He sighed as he spotted a girl peering into another doorway, a blue at her side. Well, good, he'd found the place where blue riders go. He'd never thought much about organization in a Weyr, but sticking all the blue riders in one room sounded good. And from her backside, well, she wasn't too bad a roommate. Curious he peered in the room, "What? Are we all supposed to all live in here?" All different color dragons and genders were already in the room. Was he supposed to share this room with ... 11 people? His father would have something to say about this.

[yankeegeek]

J'rev heard a familiar voice, and turned back toward the hallway. "Pasine?" hoping he remembered her name right. "Congratulations." There was none of his usual mocking or sarcasm. "Ah, I think this is probably going to turn out to be the girls' side, similar to how we had it in the Candidates' quarters." He knew the rules for new Weyrlings, too, so separating the sexes made sense to him...but he'd let Luna or one of the older riders raise that particular subject.
"How's your arm?" he asked, noticing the bandages, a slight frown drawing lines in his forehead.

Another boy approached. J'rev vaguely remembered seeing him at the Hatching, but no name came to mind. Right, right; this was the one who'd Impressed from the Stands.
"What? Are we all supposed to live in here?" The newcomer didn't sound too pleased with that idea, though that didn't stop him from eying the girls.
J'rev shook his head. He wasn't minded to keep repeating himself, however. "Hullo," he said instead, his tone polite, if barely. "I'm J'rev, and you are...?"

[Wangri]

"Oh, Jarev!" Pasine practically chirped, glad to see the boy once more and doubley glad they had both Impressed, though she already knew that. What she did not know, however, was his new name. Thus the rushed apology came, "Or Jar'v, or J'rev. Sorry."

"The Healers say I will survive, though if Sphinith had taken much longer that would be up for question. Plus I am not allowed to do anything active for a few fortnights, otherwise the stiches will come out. And even after all that they say I will have scars." On and on the Weyrling rambled, her exhaustion getting the better of her. She only stopped to nudge her blue with her foot, since he seemed to be nodding off again. "How are you bites?"

Pasine looked with disdain upon the other bluerider. Obviously she held no loyalty to those of her dragon's color, only Sphinith. Besides, did he honestly think that they'd jam all the Weyrlings and their dragons in one room? Great way to breed great riders, that was! Dryly she replied, "We each get a room, just like Candidate Barracks. Why would it change now that we have partners?"

[Luna]

"R'dyn" he nodded towards the brownrider? Greenrider? He couldn't really tell with all the dragonets milling about. Once they got knots, all proper like, he'd have no problem sorting them out. He glanced back at the girl, what a little tunnel snake she turned out to be? Back home, no one would ever brook that tone with him. He was the Lord Holder's son for Farenath's sake!

"And my dear Lady, how many runnerbeasts are at Fallwynne right now?" He glanced at the others in the room, "Anyone know? Anyone? I guess not since you live in a Weyr and I in a Hold. Twenty-seven by the way." He turned his cocky sure gaze back to the blue weyrling, "As I am Hold-born I can hardly know what petty differences are between Candidates or Weyrlings so I thank you and that tone away from me." He sniffed and shifted his glance to the other boys in a sheesh girls kinda way. First the drudges and now her. He dearly hoped his Weyrling Master wasn't this 'helpful' or the Weyrwoman would have a nicely worded letter sent to her on the morrow.

[Wangri]

Ooooh no. Nu-uh. He did not just do that. He did not just brush Pasine and excuse her faults for her gender. Now, she wasn't the most feminist of types, but she certainly knew how to stick up for herself too. And if J'rev thought he had had it bad when they first met, they were in for a surprise.

"I'm sure that information will be of the utmost use for you during Threadfall," Pasine snorted sarcasically and rolled her eyes before turning to give the pompous boy a look that could freeze over the entire Oort Cloud. Her arms slid into the familiar posture, crossing against her chest, and Sphinith hissed sleepily. "Besides, if you're so intent on being tied to a Hold, you should have never came to the Weyr in the first place, nevermind Impressed a dragon. Isn't blue a pathetic color for boys, anyway? Or better yet, you should go back from where you came from."

It was all quite funny, really, that the two set off on the wrong foot, since the two Weyrlings shared so much in common.

[yankeegeek]

"J'rev," he replied, smiling. He was rather dragon-besotted, and no, making no effort to hide it. "Sphinith's his name?" He glanced at the drowsy blue, offering a smile. "Hello; a pleasure to meet you," he said, entirely serious.
"They'll be a bit scarred too," answering Pasine's question about the bites, "but not all that bad. Keep in mind to give the arm some exercise; being completely still will be as bad for the muscles as overdoing. They'll stiffen up otherwise." He spoke from experience, waving vaguely down at himself. The tunnelsnake's bites weren't the first time he'd gotten hurt, by far, nor the worst occasion.

R'dyn's smug little speech didn't have quite the effect the Holdborn weyrling might have hoped.
J'rev stared at the self-proclaimed "Holder", then couldn't quite manage to smother a laugh. Honestly, the other weyrling was either completely thickwitted, or...he didn't know what. He waited until Pasine got in her reply, before he said anything himself.
"Not anymore," he pointed out, cheerful contempt underlying his words. "That's what Impressing a dragon means. You're no more a Holder than the rest of us."
He shrugged, and turned his back on R'dyn, casually dismissing him to speak to Pasine and Ingasa."My family's here for the Hatching; were any of yours able to make the journey?" Of course, with dragonriders' help, anyone could have come, unless they chose not to, but for once he managed to phrase questions with some tact.

[Lucius]

She was spooked as someone poked his head into her room, and she whirled around to see Jarev. Or J'rav, right? "Jarev!" She grinned. "I guess it's J'rev now. A rider too, huh? A brown, I think--great job!" Then Pasine arrived; Ingasa didn't know the girl, but she nodded at both.

And then the Holder arrived. Ingasa almost slipped back into her private room out of fear. The argument was not one she wanted to get involved in, and she was grateful to J'rev for changing the subject. "My family... They..." She sighed. "They aren't coming." She still hadn't told anyone she was a runaway.

She wanted to speak to the Holder and ask him to leave. But fear held her back, and she wasn't quite brave enough, not with Yinideth sleeping.

[Luna]

Oh no she didn't! Did she really just imply that anything that fell from R'dyns lips wasn't the most important bit of information she'd heard all Turn long? His eyes darkened as they narrowed to study this female ... creature. "And I'm just as sure knowing where to run to hide will aid you during Thread fall." Oh yes, he'd went there. It was probably the biggest insult to give a dragon rider, to say they'd run from Threadfall instead of fighting their enemy. "And I never wanted to be here permanently. This was just another stupid shardin' social thing!" He was practically yelling now. R'dyn had been elated at first to have a dragon, the novelty and all. Then, reality had set in. He had to live here, forever. A muscle in his cheek twitched, "Pathetic? You're calling blues pathetic? You RIDE a blue! You, a girl! What, are you really a man in girls clothing? How pathetic is that?" He didn't even really register that J'rev had spoken to him, much less had started to ignore him and talk to the other girl. He probably didn't even see the other girl yet. Pasine pretty much had his complete attention. He got like that sometimes, he was a very focused individual, so some details just slipped through the cracks.

(( Sorry, didn't notice you guys were waiting on me. ))

[yankeegeek]

"My family..." Ingasa sighed. "They...they aren't coming."
J'rev frowned, concern flickering in his eyes for a second. She looked unhappy as well as ill-at-ease. Nor had he failed to notice that the uneasiness had started when this former Holdbrat showed up.
He reached out, taking her hand in his, gently squeezing before he let go. "Their loss," he said flatly. It wasn't pity, but a simple fact as far as he was concerned. "Are you and...is it Yinideth? coming to the Feast? I was just about to walk over."
R'dyn's tantrum drew a cold stare, but J'rev kept silent. The fool was likely to get the sharp edge of Pasine's temper, and he had to admit that there wasn't much he could add to that.
He glanced at the little blue that accompanied the other weyrling.
He felt almost sorry for any dragon that got stuck with such an
idiot, but he supposed there must be something good in the other boy, for him to have Impressed.

[Luna]

(( *uses magical modly powers to summon Wangri* Come to meee! ))