New Friends. Pt 1

Writers: Rochelle, Stacey
Date Posted: 6th August 2006

Characters: D'rue, C'ran
Description: Candidate's meet and talk over mending.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 5 of Turn 3

Cerran was making the most of some rare free time before dinner. His fractured wrist meant he'd been taken off the roster for kitchen duties which had made him very happy and in the mean time he got some time to himself. Time to yourself when you were a Candidate was almost as rare as free time itself so he was determined to not take it for granted. Sky was curled at the end of his bed keeping him company, his slowly whirling eyes watching Cerran with lazy interest. Cerran had chosen to use his free time efficently and was doing some much needed mending. Life for a Candidate was not just hard on their bodies and minds, but also on their clothes Cerran had realised. He'd also been so busy that he hadn't had time to mend his clothes in a seven day.
So he pulled out an old, very worn leather bag from under his bed and he withdrew the neatly folded pair of pants and two tunics he'd put in there. Then he reached into the draw in his bedside table and pulled out the small leather bag that contained his sewing things. Getting out his thickest needle and thread he carefully threaded his needed and pulling the pair of pants he began to mend the long, jagged rip in one of the legs, making sure to keep his stiches in a straight, neat line.

Vree was happily chattering in Daiirue's ear, transmitting images of pretty green and gold flits and lots of water. Daiirue smiled. At least Vree was enjoying himself. He felt totally disoriented by the weyr. Women not only crafting, but treated as equals. The blatent, open sexuality everywhere...

He turned into the candidate barracks, scanning down the rows of cots.
They were mostly empty right now. He spotted one boy from the candidate classes on his cot, doing some mending. Before he could decide what to do, Vree chirped at the blue curled at the end of the cot.

Sky chirped back in a friendly way, rousing himself as he spotted the other flit. Since he and his person had become Candidates he hadn't seen many other flits close up. Cerran's was cursing softly to himself, trying to sew with an injured wrist was making his job nearly impossible. Hearing Sky's chirp of greeting he looked around for the source and saw the other Candidate. He recognised him from their classes and from the odd duty they were assigned to together and he smiled a friendly greeting, calling out to him. "Did you get time to yourself as well?"

"Not exactly." Daiirue admitted with a congenial smile. He touched his knots as he approached, and Vree nipped lovingly at his fingers. "The weavers just set me free. I've spent the last six candlemarks untangling a loom, so they thought I deserved to go early. It's... Cerran, right?"

"Yep, used to be a mere Journeyman Beasthealer who just came to visit his dragonrider brother. I was all set to go back to my duties and things after the visit but my brother convinced me to stay on here and used the lure that if i was a weyr resident i could stand for for Hatching." He replied grumbling good-naturedly, happily using the excuse of the other Candidate to throw down his needle and sewing in disgust. He would be sharding grateful when his wrist healed, it was amazing trying to get through the day with such an injury. "If your also a Journeyman and your allowed to keep to your craft then i must speak to somebody about that. I would much prefer to be helping animals in some way, instead of peeling tubers."

"I recognise you a few recent classes, you're Daiirue right? You've only just come in the last seven day or so haven't you?" Cerran asked curiously as Sky crawled into his lap seeking attention as he seized on the fact that his person's hands were currently empty.

Daiirue blinked, tracking the rant carefully through his head before deciding which parts to answer. "Yes, I'm Daiirue." He said finally. Vree hummed in his ear, apparently taking his cue from the blue and trying to get more attention out of him. "If you want to keep with your craft, I think you need to talk to the headwoman. At least, that's what I was told." He raised an eyebrow, stroking Vree absently. "May I ask what happened to your arm?"

Cerran grimaced slightly at the question, something he'd been asked frequently in the day or so since he'd injured himself. Giving into Sky's mute request for attention he began to gently scratch Sky's eyeridges. "I had an unfortuante encounter with a puddle in the kitchens." He replied sheepishly, his rueful grin inviting Daiirue to be amused with him as Sky began to hum softly, nearly vibrating in his lap from his pleasure.

Daiirue decided it was probably okay to relax with Cerran. He certainly seemed friendly enough, but then, most of the weyr did. He still wasn't used to it. Vree obligingly hopped down from his shoulder as he reached over and picked up the mending, inspecting the rips carefully. Cerran had done a fair job for someone with only one working hand, but the rips needed sturdier work if he was working with animals.

"Why don't I do these for you instead? It won't take but a quarter candlemark or so." He suggested, and nodded at Vree, who was sitting at the end of Cerran's cot now, trying to stick his head in Cerran's mending bag. "If you don't mind watching him. I could use some conversation that doesn't involve knots or scolding."

Cerren regarded Daiirue for a moment and then handed him the leather bags that contained his two shirts and mending gear. But he was laughing as he once again picked up the pair of pants to have another go at mending the tear in them. "I bet you, like me, was expecting to have seen the end of your lecturing days. It feels really odd to be back in classes, they treat us like the youngest apprenticies. But i guess that's what we are at the moment." He commented his amusement still evident in his tone as he worked.

Daiirue shrugged, more because Cerran had apparently decided to do things his way instead than to answer the question. "It is odd, but I'd prefer that than to be set lose in the weyr without any idea what is going on."
He admitted, swiftly threading a needle and lining up the sides of the rip. "Do you think we'll ever get used to it? The weyr, I mean."

Sky noticing that his person was now occupied let out a soft noise similair to a sigh as he climbed into Cerran's lap and curled up there forcing Cerran to shift his mending.

"I'm not sure, i've been here several weeks and i don't feel any closer to getting used to it. I imagine it will get worse before it gets better. But do you think it will be worse settling in after we Impress or do you think we're going through the worst at the moment?"
Cerran replied as he concentrated on keeping his stitches neat and evenly spaced. Every time his wrist really started to hurt he stopped to let it rest and the cast was really getting in the way.

"I don't know." Daiirue admitted. He'd dreamed about this, but now that he was actually here... "I guess it would be worse after Impression, because you'd have less time to get used to things." He knotted the ends of the thread, and started sewing. "Do you... really think we have a chance to Impress?" He asked hopefully. He hadn't dared think about it too much, for fear that he would be disapointed and the dream would die forever.

"I hope so. Sky is great but i know from my brother and from being around his blue that Impressing and having a dragon is a totally different thing." Cerran replied wistfully as he stroked the now drowsing Sky, giving up on his mending for the moment. "I've been thinking about it alot recently actually and i know from our classes that who a hatchling impresses to can be really random. So i would say we have quite a good chance of Impressing."

If it was as random as he thought, Daiirue thought glumly, his chances probably weren't that good. What dragon would want him? He wasn't anyone special. He sighed, tugged gently to make sure his stitches were tight, and tied off the first rip. "Your brother has a blue?"

Cerran grimaced realising that he just wasn't going to get any more mending done today, his wrist just wasn't up to the job and he felt bad about the other Candidate doing it for him. His stomach rumbled quietly signalling that it must be dinner time and Cerran brightened.
"Yeah he does. If you want my stomach tells me that it's time for food and since i always have dinner with my brother you could come if you want and meet him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind introducing you to his dragon, he doesn't mind the excuse to show him off." Cerran offered with a friendly grin, Sky at the mention of food was creeling softly indicatiing he was hungry too.

Daiirue finished securing the needle, and carefully folded the tunic away to work on later. He sort of liked the idea of having such talkative company after a long day of untangling knots. Vree hopped up to his shoulder when Sky began creeling, cooing softly into his ear. "Dinner sounds good, if you're sure your brother doesn't mind. We can finish these later. Lets go feed these botomless pits."

Last updated on the August 7th 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

New Friends. Pt 1