Xanadu Weyr - Candidate Barracks
A long, low ceiling room opens off the entrance hall to the arena, one wall slightly curved as it is set against the outer wall of the arena itself. Cots are set evenly the length of the room, in two rows, each with its own small press at the foot, for personal belongings. Wide windows are spaced along the outside wall, letting sunlight in, while other lights are available for the night time hours.
For many nights Briana has been restless, sleeping little waking up at odd hours from fitful dreams. The last two nights though people might have noticed her finally sleeping through the night. What has changed? Just exhaustion? Has she finally settled in here? Even now as dawn approaches the girl is contently sleeping in her cot. Her firelizard curled up on the pillow next to Briana's head. There is not the tossed about appearance of a fitful sleep to her sheets, finally a restful calm night of rest for the forever sleepless teen.
Karona's cot, in a far corner of the barracks, is today vacant, no candidate, nor a blanket. The smith candidate seems instead to have spent the night on a vacant cot near some holder boys. She's under two blankets - hers, and the one from the cot she's on - face down, and drooling onto a stack of papers, pencil long since fallen to the floor beside the cot she's occupying. "Nzz, mrff, mnrrrf." she's mumbling, in her sleep evidently.
Olarya has reconnected.
Blade is the first to wake up from Bri's corner of the barracks near the door. The little green lifting her head and giving a look around. Then she rises in sensous movements lifting her wings to stretch each in turn before extending her head and giving Briana's nose a little nip. There is a mutter from the girl as she lifts a hand to push away the offending creature. Which earns a fingernip from the green. Finally Bri opens her eyes slowly and looks for the source of the attack, "Go to the kitchen yourself.." She mutters as she rolls over and draws the blanket over her head.
Karona rolls over onto her back, and there's a great sound of tearing paper, as the papers she's using as a pillow come away with her face, at least in part. The woman sits bolt upright, tearing the papers all the way, leaving half a sheet stuck to her cheek. "No, no." she murmurs, twisting around to grab the papers. "No, no no no." she repeats, squinting at the paper. "Augh!" she lets out, in frustration, tearing off the top sheet of paper and crumpling it up, tossing it in a random direction. She sits there a moment, then blinks, "Oops." she murmurs, shuffling to her feet - dragging the blanket with her, around her shoulders, for warmth. She moves slowly off, after that tossed bit of paper, to clean up after herself. Shuffle shuffle, shuffle shuffle.
Olarya is sprawled upon her own cot, blankets wrapped about her legs and arms hanging off the edges on both sides. She's wide awake, eyes looking a tad bit on the heavily shadowed side. Infact, the candidate is so tired that Cunning is making a proper nest, or mess, rather out of her golden curls. She takes in a deep breath and sighs, glancing down one way to the next to see who else is awake at this hour. The little bronze begins to tackle a bouncy curl that keeps popping up and getting in his face, chirping with agitation. "Shush you," she says quiety, shrugging her shoulders just enough to send the firelizard off balance for a moment of peace.
Blade seems most persistant as many a young flitter is and pounces upon where Briana's head is. This gets another muttered sound from the woman as finally she pulls back the sheet and sits up in bed. "You, I am told, are old enough to be dealing with this yourself you know." She says to the creature as Briana shifts in bed to set sock footed feet onto the floor. There is a look around the room for anyone else awake, "Anyone else need some meat for helpless firelizards?" She calls out in a loud whisper as she grabs up a cloak and slips her feet into her workboots. Otherwise just wearing a night shift.
Karona is less than chirpy this morning, having stayed up very late trading mutters with one of the holder boy candidates. Though, honestly, she's not /ever/ anything that could be described as 'chirpy'. She's fussy, quiet, neat, a bit of a nag, but chirpy? No chance. It takes her several long shuffling minutes to realise that a question was asked, and she peers blearily in Briana's direction. "Mrh, 'm fine, feed mine in the evening." she answers, voice hushed. "But if you're going, breakfast'd be nice." she adds, dropping to her knees to peer under a cot. That bit of paper can't have gotten far…
Olarya glances over to a familiar voice and a warm smile manages to find it's place upon those tired and haggard features. "I sure do over here," she says with a raspy voice, coughing for a moment to clear her throat. She pushes herself to an upright position, running fingers through her scalp in hopes of dislodging the little stomach with wings upon her head but to no avail. She sighs, resigning to brushing the little bits that tried to get into her mouth instead as those bi-colored eyes peer over to Karona. "There's a sheet just under you."
Briana nods to the various requests as she wraps her cloak about herself and grabs up her carry basket from atop her footlocker. Her footsteps are quiet as she heads out as to not awake another. For whatever time it takes her to cross the bowl and back, and beg of some bits from the kitchen, the dark skinned teen finally returns. Her basket carrying a few small bowls of raw meat for the lizards and another larger bowl of fruit. "They wouldn't give me cooked food for the barracks." She murmurs as she walks around distributing her gains. Setting a red fruit on Karona's cot as she moves over to Olarya's cot and passes over the bowl of meat and a redruit as well. Blade the meantime is perched on her shoulder giving little incessant chirps so Briana settles on the floor near Olarya's bed to start to feed her.
Karona furrows her brow slightly at Olarya, and glances down. "Oh." she grunts. "Thanks." is offered quietly, as she picks up the scrap, and shuffles back towards the cot she'd spent the night on. The pad of paper is grabbed, and the pencil on the floor. "Thanks." is offered to Briana, sheepishly, as she picks up the redfruit. Not another word is spoken, as she shuffles back to her little corner cot, to eat and re-write whatever she was writing last night.
From afar, Olarya nods. Seriously, it took me a moment, moreso cause I only know maybe 5 people and you're the only one I'm able to RP with. XD
It was so cute and adorable when the little flits as teeny mouths with wings used to peep and cheep and chirp for little tidbits of food from their caretakers with little glistening eyes in brilliant colors. Cunning, on the other hand, has to peer at the bowl there with bright huge eyes flashing red and his head lowered as he, yes, stalks the bowl. Here, is the bowl of meat resting comfortably in it's native environment, unknowing of the great predator hiding within the golden refuge in the region. Slowly, carefully it begins to creep from it's concealment while the unsuspecting prey merely sits there and rests out in the open. There, in a moment, the little bronze flit tackles the bowl, tilting it off to the side with such force that the vessel looses it's contents in midair and sailing throughout the room. Olarya sits upright, straightening out the bowl before sending her own red whirling eyes to the little firelizard. "Clean up. Now." HISS. Cunning ducks his head and quickly begins to pick up the morsels around the room, with the help of any awoken flit hungry and willing for a bite. One piece manages to fall into Briana's lap, the other sails in Karona's direction.
As the food flies her way Blade is quite content to snatch up the morsel as she climbs down into Briana's lap for food. The girl can't help but smile at the bronze's antics. "Well at least he seems to know how to hunt.." She offers helpfully. There is definately something more relaxed about the girl today that was not there before. She holds up the other bowl for her own Firelizard, letting the green daintily pick out each morsel. The green giving an eye though to the bronze in case he might wish to steal from her.
Cunning gobbles up the last little morsel in his bowl before climbing into it and coiling into a tight yet plump little ball. He tucks his head under a wing and immediately begins making the sound of a snooze-croon. The little bronze rises his head, tilting it from side to side before peering at Blade and offering nothing more than a little long croon before he's settled for sleep. Olarya rises off of her cot long enough to make sure there isn't any morsels left in her own bedding before settling down and taking up the offered fruit. She sighs, taking a bite from it and resting her elbows onto her knees. She glances down with tired eyes to the little green, a light smile forming upon her face. "They're so cute when they're so small. The dragons are going to be more than a handful, they're going to be an armful… Yet, I think whomever impresses is going to do fine." Well, in the end after all is said and done, she's heard stories but nothing is really going to prepare them come hatching day.
Blade eats up half the morsels from her bowl quite greedily before she sets to finishing off the rest in contented fullness, still eyeing off the bronze even as he falls to sleep. Briana shakes her head a bit before looking up at Olarya, "Yeah, only need bowl fulls for these ones, will need bucket fulls for the dragons I imagine. I can not even imagine how much food would fill a baby dragon…then as it gets bigger…" She shakes her head at the thought before nodding at the woman, "Yeah I think so too. The way I hear the riders talk…there is little grudging it for what they give in return."
Olarya tilts her head to the side in thought, scratching at the corner of her mouth before moving to lick the little bit of juice that trickled down the side of her hand. "The food, I'm not too worried about. It's what comes after the food. My parents told me that until they're old enough to go between, we'll have to muck after them. I've cleaned up after smaller beasts but I couldn't imagine the mess a baby dragon would be leaving behind." She can look on the brightside, as long as she maintains her 'eyes behind the head' bit, she shouldn't have to worry about her little brother shoving her in. That is, if they were to impress together if at all, of course.
At the mention of Dragon scat, Briana wrinkles her nose a bit, "Maybe thats why they have us mucking stables for the practice, eh?" She asks the older woman as she gently strokes along the spine of the little green. "The last touching was not so bad. I ..stood up to it and didn't let them feed on my fears. It was easier.." She starts before taking a little breath, "My father visited…I think that is what made it easier. I feared my family wouldn't approve."
"You'd think in times like these, people would get over the fact that bonding with dragons is something that didn't just start yesterday. I'm lucky, my parents are riders so I've grown up with it. I don't know what it would be like if the shoe were on the other foot but I'm glad some weight was taken off your shoulders. This, this is /our/ future from here on out, no matter the outcome. Gotta be ready to stand on your own." Atleast, this is what Olarya has been telling herself for turns. The girl matured quickly for her age and missed out on all of the adolescent mischief her peers enjoyed. So far, this candidacy has offered her some hint of what she passed up in favor of responsibility. She giggles a little, glancing down to her flit in a bowl as she takes one last bite of the redfruit, minding what falls out of the corner of her mouth. The mess of a nest that Cunning made of her hair is still very much there, the discheveled golden curls looking more like she shoved her head outside and the avians went crazy with it. At this hour, it's the least of this candidates worries. "Touchings were something else, I'll give ya that. One egg pumped me up and another wanted to pick a fight with me. I'm curious how the dragons are going to be outside of the shell."
Briana listens to the woman and nods a bit, "Well…" She starts before taking a breath and looking down to her flitter, "My family are… holdless. They don't give much thought to Weyrs. He wasn't happy about the dragon thing, but he said I fitted in better here than at home. " She says with a quiet voice, uncertain how the woman will take what she says. One of her first admissions, though it is clear she is not giving all the details. "Well…either way, took a weight off like ya said." At the talk of the dragons she nods in agreements. "They all felt like they wanted to challenge us in one way or another."
Olarya tilts her eyes over to Briana before glancing at her own hands while in thought. "Well, you do fit in here, you're a good friend, too." She smiles before nodding her head, chewing at a bit of dry skin on her lower lip. "And you being here now, that means you're onto bigger things. I'm sure, in the end, no matter how it's put, they're gonna be happy that you're alive and well, thriving. Might not like the rest of us but you'll always be good in their book." Now, she's grinning, reaching up and touching the mess on her head. She sighs, leaning back on her cot to her press and plucking up a hairbrush to work out the mess.
"So many seemed to be weyrbred…that I wasn't sure. Perhaps I worry too much over it, I just…its not easy. I wasn't raised like you guys." Briana says in that same low voice, "But I remembered what times I have been in weyrs as my happiest and when I was given the choice, even if it meant leaving family…I had to take it." She gives a little smile about family and nods a little, "He scares me sometimes, but well he has always been good to me when he has been around. I am ..well he won't visit if I impress, but its likely better that way." She says as she finally shifts up to her feet. "I should get ready for the day..thanks for being a friend."
Olarya manages to get one side of her neat neatly brushed into golden waves than a golden disaster and through the neater side, she peers over with her green eye towards Briana. She rises off her cot and settles down on the floor right beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder without disturbing the little lizard horde that resides in the barracks with them. "Well, dragons pick who they want based on whats in here," she begins while tapping Bri on the shoulder. "Not where you're from so don't let the ratio get under your skin any. They've surprised me on occassions with the hatchings I've viewed over the turns. They take you who never would expect because you're who they need. You'll be lonely now, but your friends will fill that in until they do." Oly leans back and glances over to the direction where her brother sleeps, snoring and shuffling in his blankets. Well, at least he hasn't started sputtering nonsense in his sleep yet. She rolls her eyes with a snort before glancing back at her friend. "I'm sure you'll have family come cheer you on?" Hopefully?
end log