Xanadu Weyr - Observation Level
Dark blue seats form a semi-circle around the sands below, the lowest row separating from the sands themselves by merely a railing. The seats climb upwards, each row a bit higher then the previous, and they are broken up into sections by 3 sets of staircases. Lights are evenly spaced along the outer wall, lighting the seats and the sands easily, though they tend to be dimmed unless a major event is taking place. A large balcony looms overhead, darkening some of the seats, providing a place for observers of the draconic kind to watch without obstructing the view for others.
When one looks over the railing, the oddly hued sand below can be seen easily, the circle-shaped area of the sands spread out to the far walls, the sand itself a unique mixture of red and white grains.
Flandynn has a penchant for taking steps two at a time, and tripping at least once during this process. This time is no different than any others, for exuberance once more nearly brings him to his knees at the top. A hand slaps out to strike the wall, catching himself before suffering the scuffed knees of a ten turn-old. Fingers trail along the railing as he follows the curve where observation is just shy of the sands below, lowest level. Dark eyes look out onto the sands 'til he pauses dead center. Throwing chance to the winds, he vaults that railing, only to sit his arse right upon it with legs dangling over. Hands plant to either side of him as the anchor, keeping a grip on that railing his butt is planted on. "Hey, eggs."
Normally the Weyrwoman would be sitting in that first row of the level, in fact, her little work table is set just a little ways off from that railing Flandynn has just so carelessly vaulted. This afternoon, however, she's gone up to the very back top level for some reason or other and is lost to the shadows. Two pairs of eyes have observed his entrance and feat of daring. However, since his fall would be nowhere near her eggs, Seryth just chuffs softly and remains relaxed. Thea, in the process of making her way down as the boy seats himself and greets the eggs, merely chuckles, shaking her head as she draws up behind him. "I'll have to say, I don't think I've seen anyone talk to this batch of eggs quite so cheerfully."
Flandynn's feet swing back and forth, walking the air in an aimless movement that still leaves him quite settled upon that railing. "So, do anything exciting today…" His query trails off, leaving the teen to twist around and look back towards Thea. One hand comes free, leaving his precarious perch even more chancy, ushering off a salute to the woman along with a bowed chin. "Do people often talk to the eggs, ma'am? Candidates past? I… did you?"
Thea is close enough to reach out a hand and grip the back of the teen's collar, though what good she'd do if he fell other than either hang the poor guy by his shirt or be hauled over with him is besides the point. Calmly, "Careful! Ah…how about sitting on -this- side of the railing, hmm?" Her expression is carefully schooled to keep amusement at bay, though there's the merest bit of dance to her ice green eyes. Tilting her head to eye the lad, "They do when they're touching them, yes, quite often. You… didn't?" Releasing his collar, albeit reluctantly, she lowers herself into one of the seats, "I did indeed. But maybe it was more to myself than the egg. I… it was disquieting enough, the experience was, that it seemed they wanted something from me."
Flandynn is collared, instantly mentally transferred back to a time ten or so turns back when he was a 'bad, bad boy', less than half his size, and shamed for leaving the door to the paddock open to let all the domestics loose, or the time he cut his younger sisters hair with gardening sheers, or the time stole that pie that was cooling on the windowsill or…. "Yes, ma'am." Balance continues to be precarious as he sort of swings his legs over, wobbling still. "If I admit that I did speak back, that doesn't make me crazy and in need of a session with a mindhealer, does it?" His smile returns, a thing of good-nature and a touch of rider-tweaking. "Aye. And did you find out what was wanted?"
A day off has Kiley about doing various tasks that are craft related and some that are not. One of these tasks brings her to the observation level once more with a empty journal and pen in hand. Her steps come to pause at the entrance as she spots both Weyrwoman and Flandynn there at the railing. She ducks her head slightly and makes her way in further, settling down upon one of the seats and then she begins to write. A thoughtful frown works onto her brows as she peeks at the eggs before returning to her papers and continuing this as she writes. However, attention is drawn to Thea and Flandynn for their conversation. Her mouth opens then closes and her gaze returns to her writing, where she focuses her attention for a little longer so not to interrupt.
Firmly, "No, it makes you normal. Sitting on the railing like that on the other hand…" Thea's grin is a touch malicious, mostly teasing while waggling one hand and shrugging. Her smile turns lop-sided while her eyes drift towards the eggs down there on the sands, though by the far away and unfocused gaze she's likely seeing a clutch from ten turns back rather than the present one. A breath or two later she answers thoughtfully, "They seemed to ask rather than answer if I recall correctly." She turns a bright-eyed look at him, tilting her head inquisitively, "Did you not hear anything at all when you touched them?" Kiley's entrance is noted, of course, the movement of another person drawing her eyes, if only to see who it is, eyes flickering from the girl to the journal. Her greeting is a simple, "Hello Kiley."
Flandynn's murky dark eyes find Kiley's tall form the moment she crosses into the observation area. There goes his manly image, collared by a goldrider, plucked from the railing like a naughty 'brat. Unfortunately, it doesn't get much better despite the smoothing of fabric over his front, because he is getting hand-waggled at as well. "It wasn't just hearing. I felt something too. That I did. Different things. I had heard tales, but like anything… you don't really believe 'til you've been there, done it." His voice lowers a touch, "Nothing I imagined really quite prepared me at all." A breath later and his voice lifts quite louder, directed towards the further-off Kiley, "What did you feel when you touched them?" The word 'touched' gets an added hand gesture, both hands coming out with fingers splayed as if to squeeze the air, looking almost more accidentally suggestive than 'touching an egg'.
Kiley smiles at Thea when the greeting comes her way and she nods, "hello ma'am. How are you?" It is a polite question before her eyes are drawn back towards the sands to study, then dropping to write something in the journal. A few more notes are written before her gaze lifts. "I don't think they know what they want yet, they're still babies.. I spoke with Amelia and K'ael about them yesterday.. They'll know when they Hatch, is what they said." The pen comes to rest briefly on her chin, tapping once, then twice before dropping back down to the paper and scrawling a few more notes down. Her gaze is drawn to Flandynn once the writing is done, listening to the other candidate with a tilt of her head. "I never really heard much about touching eggs before I touched them." She admits before he speaks towards her, brows lifting for his hand gesture before cheeks flush a dark shade and her gaze turns instantly back to the sands. "They were testing.. Most of them were. It was all different, reach egg was different and yet they all had something in common. Except the one that felt like love." This draws a shudder from the woman.
Collar-snagged he may have been and in front of a girl, but at least he's not getting eye-rolled at. The Weyrwoman is taking him seriously, at least for the time being. "Seryth's egg rained on me," she offers briefly. "But no amount of telling quite matches the experience, you're correct there. That's fairly true in most things, not just with those eggs." His hand grope-gesture garners a twist of lips and a soft snort - more of a whoosh of air through her nose in amused fashion. Teenagers! "I'm well, thanks Kiley," Thea answers easily enough. As Kiley shudders, a hint of perplexity shows on the Weyrwoman's face, but she merely notes, "I think it's more their personalities that you feel rather than their knowing anything. After all, they haven't been out in the world yet. They only know there's something more-" Her fingers make air quotes, "out there."
Flandynn drops his hands back down to his sides with a dull thap of palms against the fabric of his trousers. "Testing is a good word," he follows after Kiley, Keroonian accent playing in his voice. "Made you ask questions of yourself." He peels away from the railing, pushing off from leaning against the thing to take a couple of steps to the side, clucking his tongue towards Kiley, "Don't discount love." His smile turns at his lips, laced with teasing. Eyes return to the Weyrwoman, "Cramped up for all of their known life, left to bake in the heat, getting rolled around hither and back, and then having strange people put their hands all over 'em? Sounds like a fine time at this hole in the wall I've been to in Igen. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to think about that either."
Kiley blinks and looks at Thea with wide eyes. "You remember her egg? What was it like? What was it colored like?" Her eyes focus on the Weyrwoman as she turns a page in the journal to take down notes should the woman answer. A smile forms easily on her lips and she nods, "that is wonderful to hear, ma'am." Her observation of the eggs is met with a thoughtful nod. "I suppose that is true.. Then most of them seem as if they want to test their riders if that is a hint of their personality." Brows draw into a thoughtful frown before she glances over at Flandynn to nod her agreement. "They made you question yourself and your reasons." However it is the clucking of his tongue that brings the computer crafter to turn a darker shade of red, "love is complicated and unnecessary, entirely too hard to understand. I prefer to avoid it." To her journal is where her attention goes as she scribbles a few idle notes, "why would there be a hole in a wall? That seems inefficient. Nonetheless, I spoke to a few people and they speculated that they were all probably scared or grumpy that we were waking them."
While Flandynn speaks, Thea listens, quietly alert to the nuances of his voice, accent noted but then he mentions Igen. "You seem to have gotten around quite well for a person without wings at his disposal," she notes mildly. No mention of Keroon in there, no outright questions. "Confined like that and increasingly aware? Perhaps they draw something from the contact - I've always thought they did anyway." His chide to Kiley draws a lift of one dark brow, but her attention shifts subtly towards the girl. "Her egg? I… barely recall the shell." A soft smile of reminiscence curves her mouth, fingers flutter vaguely, "Khaki and gold with olive swirls I think. But it was… lonely and longing. It made me want to go home but there was a feeling that home was something intangible, unattainable all at the same time. I… wept." Her clear-eyed gaze refocuses on Kiley's face, this time her puzzlement is obvious. "Love isn't something you approach with the mind, but the heart. There's really no logic involved." Her smile is a touch mischievous, "Watch out, it can sneak up on you."
Flandynn looks towards Kiley once again, his smile broadening at her last words, "A figure of speech, but it did… pretty much well look like one as well." His chest expands with a breath, head ducking towards Thea, "I have feet. They get me to where I need to be, but I won't turn down a ride either." Grin broadens enough to flash teeth ruthlessly, just as bad as those well-used dimples. He does boyish well. "I'll leave you ladies to talk of love, for I've a date with a chore for the afternoon. Faranth forbid, I stand her up." With that said, and another sketched bow, the teen heads out the way he came in.
Kiley hmms softly, Thea's theories drawing the sound from the woman but it is her talk of the egg that draws her full attention and gets her writing. "Mm. This is why I want to make a program. But then you'd have to watch carefully for what dragon came from what egg." Her brows furrow as she continues to scribble down the notes the woman gives about her dragon's egg, likely making a format of it before she gives the woman a look of concern. "That is.. Rather.." At the loss for a word, she uses her hand to fill in the blank. The look of puzzlement from the other woman has her brows lifting considerably. "I.. Well, perhaps that's true.." Cheeks color once more before she gives a slight nod. "I'll be watching." Flandynn earns a curious look but she nods slowly. "Right.. Figure of speech." Her hand lifts to wave a farewell towards the departing boy but her gaze does not linger longer than necessary as she turns back to the Sands. "I want to make a program to keep track of what eggs hatch what so that the riders may go back and look to see. I think I could also get statements from those who touch the egg to express what they felt when they touched it.."
By the look on Thea's face she is totally lost, but she is interested enough to ask, "I'm sorry? Make a program? For what end?" Flandynn's cheeky comment is met with a dryly skeptical, "Your poor feet." But he's off on them again and she is left to headshake in his wake. "He's a restless one," is her only comment as her attention turns back towards Kiley. She'll…be…watching? With a rich peal of laughter, though not directed -at- the computercrafter, is certainly prompted by her comment. "From behind, as well?" Her hand lifts, one finger waggling in an ah-ah motion while her eyes dance merrily. "Isn't always possible to fend off love. And by the time it's got you, you don't always want to." On the elaboration of what sort of program, she give a little, "Huh." Obviously still not quite following. "That sounds like a lot of… work. Using a… computer I'd imagine." Now she shudders.
"He does always appear to be moving whenever I see him." Kiley chuckles softly, closing the journal and resting her hands upon the cover. The laughter startles the woman and she casts Thea a wide-eyed look before cheeks color darker and the flush begins to color her ears and down her neck. "Ah.. Perhaps." Though the final statement of it has her shrugging. "I don't really want to experience it. It is all complicated and it doesn't make sense, and it isn't easy to deal with. Computers are easier to understand compared to people and emotions. Not that I don't feel anything, ma'am." Her gaze drifts up to the woman sheepishly. "It actually should be easier than.. Well, a talking computer. Something I also wish to work on. It'll make it so that you don't have to touch it to enter things. But, the actual creation of it will be… Hard."
"He's a teenaged boy." The Weyrwoman's shrug says it all, fingers flicking the energetic and fickleness of such creatures away as if they were nothing more than the fluff of Spring's seedpuffs that float on Xanadu's mild breezes. Her hand drops to her lap, quite relaxed as she settles back into her seat, giving Kiley a shrewd look. "On the contrary, love does a great deal to soothe and sort through human relationships. It's the oil that eases the friction between people, for without it, we'd never put up with one another." Her talk of understanding computers draws a glazed look. "I find them complicated. But talk to D'son about the talking one. He tinkers. Ah… studied some sort of smithcrafting I think? Anyway, he adores computers and I'll bet he'd love to work on that with you."
Kiley blinks and looks to the direction that Flandynn took off in, considering with a tilt of her head before looking back to the Weyrwoman. The look she gives her earns another sheepish look as her gaze drops down to her journal. "That is true.." She mumbles, "love makes children and such. But, still.. It is hard to understand." Fingers trace along the pages of her journal before she opens it and writes the name down. "I'll have to speak with him.. I've wanted to do more tinkering and to make some more computerized things." She lifts her gaze and smiles at the woman. "Thank you, I'll remember his name for when I want to attempt starting the project. I'd have to check with Landing first to see if they have anything started already."
Thea coughs, working -very- hard to keep a straight face. "Ah, no. That is sex. When I speak about love, it's something deeper. A total commitment to the other person, to their welfare and needs above your own. Respect, kindness and giving rather than taking. That sort of thing. It does start with attraction and desire, grows into fondness." She rises, one hand sweeping the heavy fall of hair back from her sweaty forehead. The look she gives the Candidate is kindly, "Hard to understand? Absolutely. But nothing to be afraid of." She watches Kiley write the name down, allowing herself an amused smile while the other girl's head is bent. "You'll find him in the Weyrleader's office. And now… I need to cool off. I'll see you later." Her leave-taking is unhurried, a gentle pat on the shoulder for Kiley as she passes by.
Kiley colors darkly and listens to the woman though she does not meet her gaze. A slight nod comes for the woman's explanation before she peeks up shyly. "Yes.. I'll… Remember that." Another note is added before shock comes to the woman's features and quickly schools it to something more relaxed despite the coloring of her cheeks. "Yes, ma'am. See you later." And there she remains, casting a look towards the Sands and staring intently at the eggs.