Being emo in the Weyrbowl....

[Pheonix]

V'rel was depressed. For quite a few reasons, and he had every right to. He had lost the only woman he ever might have had romantic feelings for, and worse, he had lost her and the position of Weyrleader to his arch-rival. He clenched his fists in anger at the thought of C'ero, especially the thought of C'ero being Weyrleader. Weyrleader! In his little fit of crazy rage he laughed maniacly, before quieting down and just staring out at the empty Weyrbowl. Weyrleader. That thought just kept swimming through his mind and he couldn't just forget about it.

Kaloath and V'rel were sitting up on a grassy ledge at the edge of the Weyrbowl, looking out at the emptyness. Kaloath was just as depressed as V'rel, though he was able to get over it a little easier, and was now attempting to console his rider. V'relMine... please, calm down,[/i] the Onyx attempted to comfort the blond, wrapping his tail around where V'rel sat. The man sighed and leaned back on his dragon's tail, looking up at the sky with the one eye that wasn't hidden by his messy hair. Well, this was sort of calming. It was a nice day, a kind of lazy day, with just a few clouds drifting overhead. Vyrzen didn't have that many dragons to begin with, so there weren't too many others around. In fact, it was empty, there was no one out except V'rel and Kaloath.

Looking out at the Weyrbowl again, V'rel frowned, just staring. He couldn't help but feel kind of lonely now, even with Kaloath's comforting presense. He never felt this way before, and it made him angry. Why was he feeling lonely NOW? The flight was long over, and the weyr was starting to get used to C'ero as Weyrleader. 'I don't see how that sharding man could ever actually be Weyrleader,' he hissed to Kaloath, who had nothing to say. Secretly, the Onyx actually thought C'ero might make a good Weyrleader... he was calm and level-headed (except when V'rel pissed him off too much). The only problem was Sephiroth. He was way too violent. They'd be at war with everyone.

So each had their own reasons for being hateful. V'rel smiled wistfully and shut his eyes, leaning back on to Kaloath's tail. 'Why couldn't you have been an Aqua?' he said with a bit of an amused tone. Kaloath rumbled softly, looking up at the sky. You wouldn't have liked that,[/i] the dark dragon responded, and V'rel also managed a soft laugh. Perhaps it was just the horrible depression that was making V'rel regret everything he'd ever done. Maybe if he'd been a better person things would be different.

We should just... forget about it,[/i] Kaloath said after a little while, and V'rel opened his eyes slowly. 'Kind of hard, since he is Weyrleader,' the angsty blond muttered mentally, shutting his eyes again. Kaloath looked back out at the empty Weyrbowl. Oh well, it had been worth a shot.

[min]

Aurelie had been quite the lucky Weyrbrat, even though she knew her biological parents quite well, she had been fostered under the tutelage of a kindly old man that was in charge of the fodder for the dragons back at her birth Weyr. Peri had been a nice fellow, that had really doted on Aurelie but made sure that she learned his trade. Although it had not been the best of jobs out there, as a child the energetic girl had much fun running between the goats and sheeps, petting and cooing at them. Feeding them hay and fodder, so they would grow plump and healthy and then watching great shadows appear from above, fade into a dragon swooping down to grab one of Peri’s healthy beasts and sometimes even leave a trail of blood.

Although this might seem rather sadistic, Aurelie takes a rather pure sense of joy whenever she sees one of her beasts make a dragon really have to try to catch their prey. A mixture of joy and adrenaline she is always left with a sense of exhilaration at the sight of a swooping dragon. The ending thoughts of how wonderful it must feel to be atop such a magnificent beast is what leaves her dreaming day in and day out.

And even now transferred to a new Weyr, candidate cords across her shoulder, Aurelie still had that unusual pleasure of watching herdbeasts that she took care of take flight. As a candidate she had been designated certain chores, the standard set of cleaning and errands, but due to her previous experience she had been allowed to help supervise the herdbeasts.

Although her official duty was to help take care of the herdbeasts as a chore, most of the manual labor was handled by the actual herders. She was left with the delicious portion of running errands here and there, having good chunks of free time to simply find a good perch and watch with awe as the giant shadows littered the ground below.

And that was where she was now, leaning against the fencing that held some of the sheep in the right pasture. As she fed one of the younger animals with a piece of vegetation, she absent mindedly sighed as she saw the occasional shadow fly by causing her vision to darken and the animals to stir with fear.

Aurelie had gone as far as to name the little one in front of her, Chippy. Being rather attached to the baby, she’d always kept it herded to a far corner where it would be hard for a creature the size of a medium sized diamond to swoop down and attack, not to mention the larger dragons. But as today it was a rather slow time, not yet feeding time and not the time when many dragons come for snacks, she had let it wander off on its own toward the middle of the pasture.

She’d also been silly enough to dress it up slightly, tying red ribbons against the white fleece here and there with the main ornament being her candidate knots strung with crimson and pale gold ribbons tied around the creatures neck.

Cooing at the sheep, she muttered, “Aren’t you just the cutest little thing, all white, red, and gold.”

She watched as the creature gently sidestepped some rocks as it nibbled the grassy green beneath its feet. Once again another shadow flickered by, and Aurelie did not think much about it. Until it swooped back around and got larger and larger.

Looking up the candidate saw a lithe diamond going in for the dive and pulled out her wings just in time to not crash into the poor sheep, with easy movements of her wings she was airborne, bleating dolled up sheep in hand.

In a panic the girl started screaming her head off, not sure if the dragon would understand or not. And if it did it was ignoring her, as the beast flew higher and higher till it was at one of the higher ledges, unreachable by foot.

The Sharding Dragon was going to eat her Candidate Cords! Never mind the hours spent decorating the sheep, her sharding cords were on that thing!

She took to running toward the edge of the Weyrbowl where at least a flight of stone stairs crawled up the side of the bowl ending at a few of the lower ledges, while screaming her head off all the way.

“HEEEEEEY STOOOOPP!!!! DON’T EAT THAT SHEEP! MY CORDS ARE ON THERE!” was echoed around the bowl as the young candidate ripped her way up the stairs to find that she was quite a few hundred feet below the green’s ledge. What was so great about a higher ledge anyways?!

Completely regretting using her Candidate cords as decoration, Aurelie was furious at both herself, the Diamond, and the absent Diamondrider. Finally breathing quite hard and wheezing, she appealed one last time, “SOMEONE PLEASE STOP THAT GREEN FROM EATING MY CORDS OR I WON’T STOP SCREAMING!”

Simply because if she couldn’t get them back in time, by the time they came back out she wasn’t so sure she would want them anymore. Face the wrath of the Candidate Master and maybe ever Weyrwoman versus wearing dragon dung cords. That decision wasn’t the easiest to make.

[Kisana]

Bored. Bored, bored, bored. R'kah, sprawled on the stone floor beside Gyra, was immeasurably bored. There was nothing to do in the summer heat! The beach was boring, oiling Gyra was boring, running around was boring, sitting here doing nothing was BORING! He wanted Weyrling Lessons to start, so he'd have something to do. Shi and Suu nuzzled him gently, trying to help him relax. "I don't want to relax," he growled. "I want to do something!" Gyra stood up and started bouncing with excitement. Can we go exploring, Mine? I want to go to the Bowl. We haven't been to the Bowl yet! Bowl Bowl Bowl! I don't think there'll be people there, Mine! Can we go? Pleasepleaseplease? He gushed, eyes whirling in a flurry of excitement. R'kah nodded with a smile, standing up in his weyr. The muggy air motivated him to get up somewhere high, where it would be cooler.

Walking along the paths somewhat nervously, he stared at his little family beside him. "Do you all get as bored as I do around here?" He asked them. All three nodded. A chuckle echoed through the air as he reached a grassy ledge above the Bowl. There was someone sitting there, with an Onyx. V'rel! He realized with a start. That Rider had pissed him off immensely at the Flitter Hatching, and had gotten him grounded in his weyr for three days. That was terrible! And he blamed V'rel.

But then again, the man had just been denied the chance to be Weyrleader. Surely he was depressed, and R'kah wouldn't make that worse. He sat several feet away and turned his head towards the Onyxrider. "I'm sorry about the Flight, V'rel. I believe you would have been a good Weyrleader," He murmured without emotion. "Kaloath looks well." He added, bowing to the dragon. Hopefully, the spiteful Vrel would believe he was sincere ... which he was. V'rel would have been a good Weyrleader. Not the best, but good.

Shouts echoed up from the Bowl, where there was a girl standing on a ledge below them. There was a Diamond diving after a herdbeast that seemed to be decorated with ribbons. The foolish Candidate had decorated a sheep with her Cords and now a dragon was diving after that same sheep! He couldn't help laughing under her breath. It was the girl's fault for risking her Cords so foolishly, and besides, R'kah couldn't do much to stop the Diamond because Gyra couldn't really fly well yet.

[Pheonix]

Of course, V'rel wasn't allowed to be alone and depressed for long. Especially not today. Usually, his naps went undisturbed, and he was able to rest contently on his favorite ledge. But no, on the one day where he really needed to be alone with his thoughts, every sharding person and their dragons decided that they wanted to come to this particular ledge. The odds of that? Slim. But V'rel never did have the best luck.

Still, he glanced at R'kah as he approached, then turned his gaze back to the empty Weyrbowl... which was starting to get less empty, which annoyed him. Watching other riders out there having fun just made him envious. Sharding... well, maybe R'kah wasn't going to say anything and just continue on his way. He looked sort of familiar, though he couldn't remember where. Probably just one of the many he'd pissed off in the years, though judging by the size of his dragon he was just a Weyrling. An Aquaweyrling. He had to stifle a laugh at one of his own inside jokes, and Kaloath merely shook his head at V'rel's diminishing sanity.

However, his eyes snapped open and he turned around to face R'kah as he started talking. Of course, it wasn't a normal flight. If it was, no one would have known of his failure, especially since it had been late at night. But now the entire Weyr knew of his failure, and it was humiliating. "I don't care. Apparently I wouldn't have made too great of a Weyrleader, obviously C'ero does it better," he snapped irritably. This boy was just trying to rub it in his face that he lost. Kaloath, however, felt otherwise. He's just trying to help. Can't you see that?[/i] he said with a mental sigh. Turning his large head to R'kah, as even though Kaloath was small for an Onyx, he was still a very large dragon, he said to the boy, Don't mind him, he appreciates it, really. He's just in a mood where he hates everything... which isn't much different than usual.[/i] Hey. It's true.[/i]

In fact, V'rel had almost been getting into a better mood than before, company tended to do that, it was true that V'rel was just a lonely old man at heart, until he heard the shouts from below. Something about a Diamond and cords. He narrowed his eyes into an angry slit again, leaning on Kaloath's tail and managing to stand up. The sharding Candidate's cords were apparently on that sheep, and the Diamond was going to eat it. Scowling, he looked at Kaloath, who was one step ahead of him. Put that sheep down, it has a very unfortunate Candidate's cords on it, and I don't think cords would taste very good,[/i] the Onyx said, his usually mellow voice rather commanding. Kaloath still had a rather high rank in the Weyr, even if he wasn't a Weyrleader's dragon.

The Diamond, thankfully, had not started to eat the sheep yet, and safely put it down, not wanting to be the first to anger Kaloath. The cords were still in place, and the sheep was still in tact, if not deathly frightened. V'rel walked over to the edge, leaning over to see the girl who had stupidly tied her cords on to a sheep. "There, you have your sharding cords back. Stop screaming," he snapped. This girl had ruined his mood, and for some reason he had saved her cords, and saved her a yelling from the Candidate Master. Somewhere, deep, deep down, V'rel was actually happy he did, as he really did have a heart. Somewhere.

[Sintarith]

Zetairen almost fell over himself running as he heard the commotion coming from the Weyrbowl - a girl screaming about a sheep and a dragon. Although he knew that there were probably other people there to help, it was just in his nature to try to help as much as he possibly could. So as he rounded a corner and found that the offending dragon had put down the sheep, his hopes were inevitably crushed - helping someone would have alleviated the intense boredom he felt that day.

On his own, he had little else to do than make silly little tunes up with his pipes and wallow on self misery as past events repeated themselves over in his mind. Which would be the reason that he tried to be as sociable a creature as he possibly could - solitude brought pain. As he slowed, the boy realised that his pipes were still banging softly against his thigh, suspended about his neck from a braided thong he had made himself. He stilled them with a steady hand, then proceeded down to the Weyrbowl anyway - there seemed to be the beginnings of a small congregation of people. Maybe they would be in a conversational mood. Or maybe they would care to listen to his playing for a little while.

Tyrr popped from between, screeching her anger at being displaced so quickly from Zetairen’s lap. They had been sitting together and the little litter had been enjoying a good scratch when she had been unceremoniously dumped from the boy’s lap as he ran off to assist whoever was in need of help. So naturally she was annoyed and was going to make damned sure he knew about it! She flapped her wings in his face, and when she landed on his shoulder, dug in a little harder with her talons than was perhaps necessary. The lad winced as she did so, and tried to soothe her by rubbing the curve of her eye ridges, doing little to placate the small creature.

Sighing, he made his way over towards the onyx dragon, being as that was where the group seemed to be. He approached with caution, if only because he knew that V’rel was still upset about losing the flight to C’ero. And that V’rel had a fairly short fuse at times. He made a mental note not to bring it up. Waving to everyone there, a smile beamed from his face. “Mind if I join you? I have no idea what just happened, but I’m rather bored. Thought I might come see.” He chuckled to himself slightly, as he realised he probably appeared to be the nosey uncle at this precise moment in time.

Luatyrr was rather brave, alighting from her bonded’s shoulder to more closely inspect the dragons. She didn’t know who the onyx one was, and uttered a quizzical cheep as she flittered between his nose and the nose of the small Aqua dragonet - whom she also didn’t know. The copper flit rather enjoyed meeting new people, even if they were considerably larger than her. It was company after all.

[min]

As the sheep bleated in a panic from under the Diamond’s claws, the sound of this cry for help from her personal favorite, and the current little baby of her heart, the doting adopted mother was echoing each cry. The Diamond peered down at the curiously decorated creature, perhaps the first time it had seen or tried to eat such an overly decorated beast. Maybe it was even wondering how it would be able to devour the sheep without getting some of the ribbon stuck between its teeth.

Aurelie sucked in her breath sharply when the beast opened its maw, heading down toward the crying herdbeast, and just as suddenly as it had appeared to swoop the sheep from the pasture, it suddenly stopped. The girl looked around, choppy black hair swinging wildly around her person, as she whirled about to find the solution to her problem. The only other living inhabitants in sight was a mixed group on the ledge above her current position. Over the ledge a blonde rider was talking to her and apparently he had been the to stop the terrible diamond, or at least his dragon had done the stopping. Craning her neck, she saw a splash of onyx against the vibrant green of the grass growing on top of the ledge.

An Onyx rider?

There were only two in the weyr, one of which had caught the Queen so recently. The expression upon the man’s face didn’t seem to be one of jubilant happiness, nor ecstatic excitement and so she could only assume one thing. This was the other one, the one that had lost. V’rel.
Aurelie stifled a shocked cough at this rather slow realization, as she had been staring with an rather quizzical expression painted all over her face.

“Well I thank you, kind sir.” She started with a slight bow of her head, but continued with a rather sarcastic tone, that one might use to talk to a dimglow. “But my sharding sheep is still on that ledge and By Faranth, unless I can sprout wings I can’t reach it. “
From the rumors, this was not a man that she should ask for help, and as foolish as she may have been while doting on the baby herdsbeast, she wasn’t stupid enough to risk the wrath of an high ranking dragonrider.

But upon hearing voices she felt hope rise within her, as she piped up again, this time with a rather sweet tone, “But I do wonder, if there is a kind soul up there that might help a girl in need? Alas, my cords are tied to that poor baby herdsbeast. On that far up ledge. Alas, what shall I do?”

[Kisana]

R'kah nodded at Kaloath with a smile, bowing to the Onyx dragon. He was a little surprised; he hadn't known that dragons could speak to any person they chose. But that just showed how much more he had to learn. "I believe you would have done this Weyr proud as our Weyrleader," He murmured, half to himself. V'rel probably wasn't listening to him, as he was occupied with trying to distract the Diamond from the sheep. Kaloath succeeded, and the Diamond dropped the decorated herdbeast on a high ledge, out of reach for either himself or Gyra.

Gyra was excited now; a newcomer had brought a curious Copper flitter who was fluttering around between the Aqua and the Onyx. R'kah nodded his acknowledgment.

"That girl down there tied her Candidate Cords around a sheep that promptly got preyed upon by a Diamond. Kaloath made it drop the sheep, but now the herdbeast's up on that ledge there. I can't get up there; neither can Gyranoth. Do you have any bright ideas?" He murmured shyly, not telling his name. The stranger hadn't, so he wouldn't either.

The Candidate down below was asking in a sugary voice if they could help her. He looked at Gyra with a smile, then turned his head back down to the girl.

"I would if I could, miss, but I really can't get up there, and Gyra can't fly yet." His voice was happy, and slightly mocking of the silly, irresponsible girl.

[Pheonix]

Kaloath was rather enjoying this new arrival, the boy with the Copper flitter. If only for the fact that the flitter was rather brave, and was fluttering between him and the little Aqua the Weyrling boy had brought. However, V'rel wasn't paying attention, otherwise he probably would have snapped something about stupid little flitters and started another incident. Kaloath was rather happy for the girl being there, even if it made V'rel angry, if only because he got to see the little Copper. With his rider's violent nature, flitters weren't something they were often around, especially since that thing at the Fire-Lizard Hatching. He watched it with amusement, and hoped V'rel wouldn't shoo it, or the boy, away.

Meanwhile, V'rel was too occupied with the stupid girl who tied her sharding Candidate cords on a sharding sheep to notice the newcomer. He frowned at her, watching as the quizzical expression on her face change to one of realization. Of course, she knew who he was. Most of the Weyr did. They knew him as the failure who had lost the Queen's flight, or the angry Onyxrider that snapped at everyone. Neither were very good things to be known for, but V'rel was pretty used to failure by now.

Still, he disliked how she talked to him, like he was stupid. His eye twitched involuntarily, and he looked to his side. "Oh, of course." V'rel hated being talked down to, especially by a stupid little Candidate. What, she thought she was somehow better than him because he'd lost a flight? Sharding brats, he hated arrogant little kids like that. "I guess I'll just drop it down to you," he said with a smirk, beginning to push the sheep towards the edge. "It's not like it's the sheep you want, anyway. It's the cords, right?" he continued, enjoying this. Despite his angry nature, it was rare that V'rel got into a sadistic mood, but really, he just didn't care at the moment.

Luckily for Aurelie, Kaloath did care. He swiftly turned towards his rider with a draconic frown. V'rel, stop that. Don't give yourself an even worse record,[/i] Kaloath scolded his own rider with a sigh. Really, what would that man do without him? Whatever. I wasn't really going to do it. He muttered, pushing the sheep away from the edge. He looked over at Aurelie again, with the same annoyed scowl as before. "Alright, alright. I'll come get you," he snapped. She was going to eventually need a lift up to their ledge anyway, so he might as well get it out of the way. "You two, get back," he said, noticing Zetairen for the first time. Great, another person come to bother him. Deciding he had warned them enough, he climbed up onto Kaloath, who took off, despite if the two boys were ready or not.

This is so pointless, V'rel thought as Kaloath landed on the lower ledge. You're doing something nice, so there is a point.[/i] Kaloath responded, even though the thought wasn't really meant towards him. The Onyx managed to land as gracefully as possible, despite is rather large wingspan being a bit too much for the ledge. Slidding down, V'rel helped Aurelie on (sorry, a bit of powerplaying, if only to make this move a little faster, heh) though he wasn't very nice about it, and Kaloath took off again. Landing up on the higher ledge, V'rel slid of the Onyx again, but didn't bother to help Aurelie off this time. She could do it herself. Gesturing towards the sheep, he wordlessly sat back down. Kaloath relaxed again as well, wrapping his tail around V'rel so his rider would be able to lean on something as he watched the three teens... perhaps a bit enviously. It's not like V'rel was very old himself at 20... but he was a little envious of their social skills... for V'rel had none.

[Sintarith]

Tairen ducked backwards a little abruptly as he realised that Kalaoth was about to take off, and narrowly avoided being caught by an out spread wing tip. Thankfully, his reflexes were relatively quick; although that didn’t stop him from falling over. He bumped down to the earth quite hardly, but not even a scowl crossed his face, in fact, the lad barely even noticed it. He was too mesmerised with the dragon’s flight. For perhaps the millionth time since arriving at the Weyr, he thanked his lucky stars that he might have the chance to stand at the next Hatching, with hopes of becoming the bonded of one of these beautiful creatures.

Luatyrr on the other hand, didn’t realise that the big black dragon was going to take off, so the updraft caused by her wings sent her wheeling though the air to land pretty much on the sheep. Well, at least it was a soft landing. The miniature copper dragon squawked her indignation as the sheep took off, with her on its back. The shrill cacophony of her screeching caused the poor creature to balk in terror, it’s eyes rolling as it tried to shake her off of it’s back.

Zetairen stifled a laugh as he saw the commotion with the sheep; the situation was actually quite serious. The girl who had put her cords on that sheep would be in severe trouble with the Candidate Master if she didn’t get them back. Whistling, he attracted the attention of his flit, who then cheeped and disappeared from the sheep’s back, appearing from between right in front of Aurelie’s nose. By some sheer stroke of luck, the flitter had grabbed onto the cords before she had transferred and they were dangling from her claws as she hovered eye-to-eye with the girl. The fire lizard’s eyes whirled a mixture of greens with a slight hint of yellow – the poor thing was still a little nervous from riding the bewildered sheep.

This time Zetairen did laugh, and offered a hand to the girl. “I’m Zetairen, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He jerked his head to the flit, who was still staring at the girl intently. “And this monster is Luatyrr.” His face was all smiles as he waited for the girl to offer her name in return.

[min]

Aurelie had been attempting to formulate a plan in her mind, while waiting for the reply of the lucky people that were on the right ledge, already starting to think that those sharding dimglows above wouldn’t have enough honor and gentlemanly dignity to help a poor maiden in distress. In her imagination each action flowed into each other smoothly and accurately. With the perfect timing that one could only dream about, she would scale the rocky outcropping that led to the ledge above, of course she would lose her footing twice as even the most expert climber came into dangerous conditions. The first would be a simple tripping of the foot and she’d quickly grab hold of an extended rock that just happened to be there to save her. Nothing to exciting or exhilarating, but it was the second misstep that would be filled with danger and adrenaline, as she’d lose her footing and her grip of an arm, ending to dangle precariously with one hand clenched tightly over a quickly loosening rock. With an a panicked look in her eye, she would dangle for a few more seconds, adding more suspense as time clicked on. Then with an athletic swing she would kick her body up to a far up foothold and swinging the other hand down hard on the rock face to conceive a handhold in her hand magically, she would save herself from the dangerous situation. From there, she would scale up the to the other ledge with the speed of a dragon in flight. Finally, with a heave she would send herself up over the edge and land with a rather snappy pose.

That would show them!

Chortling to herself as her amazing plan seemed fullproof in her mind as she ran it over and over again in her land of imagination, Aurelie was rather miffed when she was in mid-replay of her amazing swinging feat when a rather happy voice cut through her thoughts and shattered the daydream into a hundred million thousand billion little pieces.
The mocking was lost on her ignorant soul and she happily smiled up to the boy and chirped, “ Well that’s okay, My Good Weyrling. It’s not your fault.” And after a pause she enviously added, “But it must be nice to be a Weyrling, huh?”

And through her crinkled smiling eyes she turned her head just in time to see a unpleasantly scowling face that was directed at her person. What was his problem anyways? What exactly had she done to him personally to deserve such a face made at her?
Apparently those questions didn’t matter with V’rel and Aurelie simply returned the displeased expression with a bright smile, aiming just to anger the man even more, since obviously he wasn’t going to help her anyways.

But this vengeful smile was also lost along with her happy dreams at the sight of what the onyx rider was doing. Her expression stuck in the permanent state of a fish gulping for air and wide eyed disbelief she stared up at the baaing baby that was nearing the edge of the ledge.

“Y-y-you wouldn’t dare….!” She accusingly screamed at the rider, “ That’s just a baby! How could you do something like that!”

The poor baby sheep she’d fed from the very first day from a milked rag, then a bottle, then actual food, grains and hay and such, was about to be shoved off the ledge to fall to its doom below, right in front of its pseudo mother’s tearing eyes. And just as suddenly as he had started the sadism the higher ranking man had stopped and even offered to help her get up the ledge.

With narrowed eyes, Aurelie attempted to drill holes into the man and his dragon alike as they took off and gently landed on the ledge she occupied. And even though she had been steeling herself, she still took a step back when the magnificent beast landed, somehow it just felt like she should give the creature more room. It’s mere presence seemed to command this barest right in the least.
In the next few moments, Aurelie was too shocked at what happened to respond with other than a red face, a stiff body, and an awkward little squawk as she was not so gently placed on the back of the dragon and off they went.

Oh, it was exhilarating, even for such a short time, flight atop the back of a dragon was simply exhilarating, something no other creature or thing would ever be able to reproduce.

As the onyx landed, Aurelie was left atop the dragon while the rider slipped off with ease. Although its not like she wanted to get off, she just knew she was supposed to.
In the process of thinking of getting off she ignored the commotion that was going on with the sheep and the flit until the firelizard was hovering right in front of her eyes holding her cords.

Beaming at the little creature she tugged her cords out of its grip, “Aren’t you the smartest little Copper ever?”

Taking the young man’s hand Aurelie awkwardly tripped her way off the back of the onyx and beamed, “Nice to meet you, my name is Aurelie.”

With a pause, the girl snidely added, “ I’m glad to see at least one kind soul in this weyr.” While pointedly looking at the onyx and its mean mean mean rider.

[Dragon]

Sh'ven had been peacefully laying out on a ledge a slight distance above the one the crowd seemed to be gathered on, or rather taking a nap out there under the shade of Minth's Scarlet wings. Both Rider and Dragon had simply fallen asleep out there, as they had nothing useful to do. Much as the pair had hated being the Stand-in Weyrleader until Amath rose, it had given them something useful and mildly amusing to do. Now, however, they simply lay there sleeping out in the sun. If not for the cover of Minth's wings, Sh'ven would have gotten a sunburn already.

The first thing to stir the pair from their nap was the shouting drifting up from below about Candidate cords and a sheep. The Scarlet rider gave a soft moan and rolled, ending up with his face burrowed in the soft hide of Minth's belly. Feeling the hide against his face, Sh'ven blinked his eyes open to see nothing but Scarlet. Jumping back, and out from under the dragon's wing in sleepy surprise, he stared at Minth. The great Scarlet was still sleeping soundly.

-Shard it, why were we asleep out here? Get up you great lump. We should be doing... something.... Shouldn't we?- Sh'ven normally calm and patient voice rang through Minth's head with a frustrated tone to it. Minth blinked open an eye to look at his rider with confusion. -Mine, we must do nothing.- He stated, also rather annoyed. He shifted, pulling himself up and shuffling his wings. The sound of voices was still rising from the ledge below, although not nearly as loud as it had been just moments ago when the girl was shouting about her candidate cords.

Sh'ven frowned, moving to the edge of the ledge to peer down at the occupants of the ledge below them. "What in the sharding world is going on down here?" He asked, glaring at the others. Really, why did they have to make such noise and wake him up in the first place? -Mine, you do not have to be angry at the world because you have nothing to do.- The Scarlet stated carefully, also moving to peer down at the others.

It was this moment Zorro chose to appear, fluttering right in front of Sh'ven and cheeping angrily. Apparently the pair's bad mood had rubbed off on the little Onyx, who almost sounded like an angry mother cheeping angrily away like that. Sh'ven grumbled something that sounded more like a growl then words, and waved his hand at the little Flitt, who then proceeded to perch on Minth and cheep at him in the same manner, as if telling them off for falling asleep on the ledge. Minth, quickly falling into his usual good natured self, simply rumbled in amusement as Sh'ven continued to glare down at the others, waiting for a response.

[Pheonix]

V'rel was starting to block the sharding little Candidates out of his mind, and fall back into that "peace" he had before they arrived. Of course, there was still that buzz of annoying conversatioin in his ear, but he could ignore that. As long as they weren't bothering him, V'rel didn't care. They could do whatever they wanted. Yawning he leaned into Kaloath's tail, and the Onyx dragon moved his tail closer to his body, and consequently moving V'rel with him. What are you doing...? V'rel asked, opening his eye and looking at the dragon. Kaloath rumbled, You're being too distant again.[/color] The ansty blonde had no response to this.

Sighing and leaning back into the dragon, he looked over at the Candidates, watching them with a narrow gaze. They weren't leaving. Why weren't they leaving? It wasn't like he was interesting. In fact, they seemed afraid of him. Or at least, they should be. Especially that girl. He would have pushed her sheep off the edge if it hadn't been for Kaloath's intervention. Really, he would have.

Hearing Aurelie's comments, he snickered, lifting himself to his feet. "I don't think you'd be in the best mood either if you were in my situation, kid," he said, with a dark smile. Still, V'rel had been this way for... well, since he was a little kid. It was just his personality, the situation had nothing to do with it. Well, perhaps it did a little. He was feelig more sadistic than usual in his attempt to make someone hurt as much as he did. Clenching his fists to try and control his anger, and to resist punching this girl in the face.... Besides, if he did actually hurt her or something he'd be locked up forever because of that sharding....... yeah. Because of the reason V'rel was currently very angry.

Not like his conscience would let him do something like that anyway.

However, before he was even able to go over and talk the kids down, he heard a rather familiar voice. Sh'ven. Rubbing his temples angerly, he turned away from the kids and looked up at the Scarletrider. "I was trying to relax here, alone, when these two," he gestured towards R'kah and Zetairen, "came along to bother me. Then this girl," he gestured towards Aurelie, "started screaming about how she had stupidly let a Diamond get some sheep she liked and she wouldn't stop screaming so I had Kaloath stop the Diamond and give her back her sharding sheep." He said it quickly, though with an annoyed tone. He also wasn't sure why he hadn't mentioned Aurelie's Candidate cords, perhaps it was because after all the effort he went through to get them back, he didn't want her getting in trouble about it. Not like Sh'ven would care anyway, but you never knew.

He really hoped no one else would come along, explaining what had happened to various newcomers was just annoying. He hated explaining things. People just just pay more attention to their surroundings. But he didn't say it. Sh'ven was close to the Weyrwoman, so this was one person he didn't want to start a fight with. His submissive nature sure was annoying at times, but he would deal with it. Kaloath sighed and looked up at Minth, his eyes whirling with slight amusement at V'rel. Hello, Minth,[/i] he greeted the other dragon calmly, unaffected by V'rel's anger.

[Kisana]

R'kah watched the rescue of the almost-eaten sheep and the Candidate's cords with detachment. None of them were being particularly kind to him, least of all V'rel. But V'rel at least had some reason to be unkind; he had just lost a Flight and R'kah had gotten him in minor trouble at the recent Flitter Hatching. But mostly, they were ignoring him. Before, that would have satisfied him, but now he felt a strange panging deep in his chest.

Loneliness. The world's most drawn-in, reclusive teenager was feeling loneliness for the first time he could remember. Before there had been an ache like this when he was around people. And now, being so detached was hurting in its own way. Shiro and Suunra curled themselves around him, creeling concernedly. He smiled slightly as they comforted him - his little family. Gyra, not wanting to be left out, butted his head gently against R'kah's leg, eyes flashing happily. ~Are you happy, Mine? The sheep's okay!~ Gyra told him. R'kah nodded with a laugh.

He looked up at the former substitute Weyrleader, still half-smiling. V'rel still seemed to be in a bad mood, but not as bad as before. "I didn't come here to bother you, V'rel. How was I supposed to know that this ledge would be occupied?" He said good-naturedly, bowing his head slightly towards Minth. Gyra turned his head up towards the Scarlet, eyes whirling with slow blue contentment, as Shii and Suu fluttered up to hover around Minth's nose. They cheeped happily, poking their noses against Minth's scarlet hide. R'kah smiled tentatively at Sh'ven. "Are you having a good day, Sh'ven?" He asked politely.

[Sintarith]

Luatyrr let go of the cords readily enough when the girl in front of her took them. She chirped happily when she was called clever, her pride swelling within her. Such a vain little flitter! The miniature dragon did a few loops in the air in front of Aurelie’s face then resumed her staring. She wanted to see if this girl would get shifty, or if she was brave enough to withstand the whirling gaze. Most people would either bat her away - a sign that they didn’t respect her enough - or get scared - a sign that they weren’t courageous enough for them to be of any consequence to the flit. Tyrr knew that humans all reacted differently to her, so it was good to see the ones whom she could keep company without them treading on the small copper ones dignity, or running away.

Zetairen chuckled softly to himself. Aurelie’s entire disposition towards V’rel jut made him laugh. And then he realised Luatyrr was doing it again. Plucking his troublesome fire lizard from the air in front of the girl, he scolded her, and got a querulous cheep from the creature in return. It had scared people in the past, the way she just hovered there, staring. Made it look like she was sizing them up for dinner, they had joked. Tairen wasn’t entirely sure why the copper flit did it himself, but after a while, it did get annoying, and he had to stop her. Flicking her nose gently, he released the struggling flit and smiled kindly at Aurelie. “Ignore V’rel, he’s just in one of his moods again..” He let his voice drop to a whisper to say that, he had had enough of the pointed glares coming from the rider. Onyx rider or no, it didn’t do to be so mean to the new candidates.

Unexpectedly, he gave Aurelia a quick hug, not entirely sure why. He did that sometimes, just go a little bit random, almost too happy. “So.. How long have you been here? And, where were you living before?” It was the best he could think of to start a conversation, it had been a while since he’d actually had the time or chance to talk any of the other candidates. He was often doing his chores, or taking care of Luatyrr. And then of course everyone else would be busy, and he didn’t like to interrupt conversations anyway.

Whilst he was waiting for a reply from Aurelie, he glanced around the weyrbowl. V’rel was still scowling, and Sh’ven had apparently come to join him in doing so. He kind of ignored the candidate master’s shouts down from the higher ledge, someone else would surely explain, if V’rel hadn’t already.

Luatyrr still hadn’t taken her eyes off of the dark haired girl. She was intrigued, after all, this girl had called her smart! The little flitter had been flying around in lazy circles whilst Zetairen had been chattering away, but now she came to rest, hovering near Aurelie’s shoulder. She cheeped quizzically, as if asking permission to sit on the girl’s shoulder. Which was weird, with everyone else, she would usually just do it. The flitter actually had some respect for this girl, for even as she seemed a little wherry-brained to have put her candidate cords on the sheep, she also seemed like the sort of person you could get along with. And she knew that her bonded sorely needed someone, anyone that he could talk to.

The poor little flitter bore the brunt of it when her Mine was in one of his depressed moods, when he was reminiscing about the past. He had spoken of it to no one, and it was left up to the little fire lizard to cheer him up. And all she knew to do was to curl up with him on his bed, and stay there until he felt better. No, even her small, not overly intelligent brain could tell he needed some more human company.

So she sent flashes of sad feelings to Aurelie, and indicated her bonded with a flick of her tongue. Maybe the girl would understand this? It was a long shot, but the flitter hoped that the girl would realise that she, Luatyrr, was trying to tell her that her bonded, no matter how happy he seemed, was a broken mess inside.

[min]

Noticing that the flit had not left her presence, Aurelie gave it a hard stare before realizing that it was doing airborne acrobatics in front of her. Amused, the young woman laughed and slapped her thigh with a whooping yell, nearly missing the firelizard. What an amusing little creature! The young woman felt a pang of jealously, not being one to have ever attended a flitt hatching, luck being against her in all occasions, she wouldn’t have mind stealing someone else’s flitt if that was possible. This little creature before her was not bad either. A nice coloring painted across its little body, and with that great
attitude Aurelie was sure she wouldn’t mind having this little creature around her at all.

Although the stare that it was giving her was rather odd, especially in the behavior for a flitt that belonged to another. Unsure of what to do, Aurelie responded with the first instinct that jumped into her mind. Making a face and sticking her tongue out at the little dragon she tried to overpower the little beast with full blown childishness. Ending the rather immature expression with another laugh, when the flitt was plucked from the air right before her face by its bonded, Aurelie nearly issued an sputter of protest at the sight of the boy slapping it in the face. Sharding boy was maltreating his firelizard!

A dark expression had started appearing across her face, that is, until he agreed with her opinon about that displeasing oynx rider. Nodding feverently, she gushed, “Yes Yes! Isn’t he just the sharding worst!?”

In her mind a rather dark and sadistic scene began appearing slowly, materializing in a rather eccentric fashion. As the colors floated in, the images poured clearly into her mind, and she imagined herself on the back of a dragon. Her dragon, her bonded, and there they were, dangling V’rel in the middle of the air, hanging on loosely by a riding strap, in that same nonchalant fashion that the man had produced with the sheep. Boy, would she have her revenge!

Smirking and decidedly evil, she was startled out of her reverie with the feeling of being suddenly crushed in a pair of arms, and released just as quickly. Blinking and surprised, she felt a blaze of color and heat rush across her pale face. What was that? Unsure of what to do, and feeling quite awkward, Aurelie could only answer his questions in short responses.

” Uhm….I’m from Benden Weyr. Uh uh uh…..mms….I’ve been here for a few months, maybe…?” For once, Aurelie could almost feel the confident air leak out of her being, as she was being put on the spot, in her personal point of view.

But one moment later with the inquisitive cheep of the flitt as it hovered over her shoulder, the girl broke out in a smile again giving it a quick nod, while bracing herself. Thoughts moving away from the situation at hand, she quickly began formulating a plot where she would let the flitter land on her shoulder, getting a good hold, and taking off with it. Gleefully, she cracked a wide mischievous grin. Finally! She, would have her own dear creature. Even one, just this one was enough to make her feel like there was something out there that truly cared for her, something that she could depend on. And finally she would have it.
Although, oddly, the previously happy creature started to send flashes of lonely sadness into her mind, odd as it was she realized that it had to be this creature when the feeling of the boy in front of her was shoved into her cerebrum as well. With a sigh she realized that no matter what, she could not take this creature away from its bonded, its care was apparently great enough that it wanted to help him make friends.

But that was okay. Giving the boy an encouraging smile she chirped, “My name is Aurelie. What’s your sharding name? I don’t suppose it would be something really really neat like Xkgirhf?”

And in time, perhaps making friends with this boy would mean having the chance to make off with his very attractive firelizard.