Lazy Morning (Jack)

[Reky]

It was lazily that Lin had rolled out of bed that morning, surfacing from a pleasant dream, quite later than she normally would. The sun had already risen, and was working its way up to solar noon. Dressed comfortably, she had stumbled out of the candidates' barracks and into the open air, and then to the dining hall, where hopefully some food was left waiting for her breakfast. She hummed pleasantly to herself, taking her own sweet time. There was no hurry today.

As she sat down with a couple rolls and a mug of klah, at an empty table, she thought of something she needed to do. That is, write home to her family. There wasn't really much to tell, but she probably should anyways. She could say something about the Weyr being so different, and so full of people compared to Deep Hold, and about all the excitement she was beginning to feel, and she could ask them how they were doing. Were the animals fine? Was everything okay without her? What did mom and dad think of it? And Nivin? She was itching to know their opinion. Surely they'd be proud of her. She missed them, though. She missed them lots.

In no rush, she took her time with her rolls and klah, watching the people going in and out, and the people sitting at the other benches. The middle of the morning, not quite noon, most people were already out and about, leaving the dining hall mainly empty. In an hour or two, though, it would get busy again as lunch rolled around. She was glad her scheduled chores did not start until around then. It was a rare treat, to her, to sleep in.

[jack]

Late in the morning as it was, Lin wasn't the only one only just rising. A Bluepair as well, the Blue lazily content and the rider barely awake, also had made their way to the dining hall. Just after Lin set herself down at the table, Socordiath landed gently outside, his mouth already open for a wide yawn as a scarred figure slid from his straps and hit the ground agilely. Already the cloudy Blue was stretching out for a nap--even though he'd only just woken--but he kept one eye open as his rider approached his head, gently rubbing his eyeridges lovingly.

Go on and eat, V'linMiiiine. Socordiath drawled, nudging the young man with his muzzle, I'm not very hungry. We can hunt together when you get back. The brunette nodded and patted the dragon's skull, peering sheepishly into the dining hall for a long moment before shuffling along in. It was rare for them to actually be this late to eat. Usually they woke up quite early, he and his dragon, and took care of breakfast before a mid-morning nap. It was Socordiath's favorite time for snoozing, aside from in the afternoon...and at night. But late as he was--and embarrassed for letting himself sleep that late--V'lin was hungrier than he was shy.

Quickly gathering himself a few meatrolls and a large cup of klah, he set to searching himself out a table. He'd been willingly eating more these days, Socordiath's constant bickering about the boy being hungry finally getting to him. As if to prove the dragon right, he'd been eating more and getting hungrier, discovering a few days prior that he'd actually been growing. Unafraid of getting more than his share--he'd caught some of the boys half his size eating twice their weight about a week ago..he figured a few meatrolls couldn't possibly be that bad--he quickly stuffed one of the rolls into his mouth as he walked, chewing on it absently.

Distracted by the taste--as well as his own absent thoughts--he found himself taking a seat at what he thought was an empty table, only to glance up and find that...a girl was in the space he was pretty certain was supposed to be empty. Confused, he blinked wide-eyed for a moment, before--with a subtle blush over his scarred cheeks--he stuttered out an apology. "Oh. I was not paying attention, I did not know this table was taken. I..will move if you would like, miss..?"

[Reky]

In her game of people-watching, she had seen the boy come in and move to the food-laden tables, before turning her attention to the other people filtering in and out. It was a surprise, though, that he came to sit down at her table. She swallowed her mouthful of klah, peering at him. It was hard not to notice the scars on his face. She immediately felt bad, though, and dropped her eyes. It was rude to stare. When stuttered out words, though, she looked back up.

"Oh! Naw, it's no problem," she said. "Really, don' worry about it." She gave a curt nod to add to her words, and took a quick sip from her mug. She set it back down, and realized something. She had better introduce herself. It wasn't something she had had to do often before. No one new ever came to the farm. It was just the same old people, all the time. She stood and leaned over the table, a few dreadlocks of hair falling into her face, and held her hand out to V'lin.

"Name's Lin," she said. Inside, she was itching to ask about the scars, but again, that was rude. He must have been through quite a lot... and they didn't look like accidents, either. Not all of them, at least. Faranth, she didn't even want to begin to imagine. Sympathy welled up inside of her, but she didn't let it show. Instead, she just gave a warm smile to him.

[jack]

A quiet smile slid into place as his presence was accepted, and he settled a bit firmer on his seat, taking a careful sip of his klah. Just as he was giving a sigh, pleased with the flavor as it rolled down his throat, warming his chest, a hand appeared in his line of sight and he lifted his blue-gray gaze carefully, blinking at the appendage and then at the owner.

The girl introduced herself and a more noticeable smile appeared over his other as he straightened--standing slightly--and grasped her hand, giving a firmer handshake than he had in years. His backbone had been growing. "V'lin of Blue Socordiath." He chirped in quiet reply, noticing acutely that her eyes weren't always on his. It took him a moment to figure out just what she was looking at, but as he sat back down, taking another sip of his drink, he figured it out.

"Oh. The scars...are...are those what you're looking at?" He mumbled, a light frown on his lips as he reached up, fingering one of the longer ones, "I apologize...they are..not pretty to look at."

[Reky]

She was amused at the similarity between their names. One 'v' off. And he was a dragonrider! Blue Socordiath... Oh, it had to be something else to be bonded to something so wonderful. She was still smiling, at him so shy and quiet, until he pointed out that he knew she was looking at his scars. Of course he knew. He probably got it all the time. Blushing, Lin dropped her eyes and took a gulp of klah.

"'m sorry," she apologized. "Pro'ly get a lot of that, don'tcha? Sorry. Didn' mean to. It's like... it's one of those things y'kinda can't avoid, yeah? Sorry. I'm not even gonna bother you about 'em anymore." And she gave a nod to reinforce that. "So, I'm just Lin. Nothin' else to tack on there." She didn't bother to add on that she was new -- he could probably tell. She just had this gut feeling that she exuded an air of... new.

[jack]

With a smile--rare before, but so common these days--V'lin shook his head, taking a sip of his own klah as he did, "Its fine." He rumbled, Socordiath's firm existence at the back of his mind giving the courage and confidence he needed to relax, "People stare, but..." He lifted his eyes towards the ceiling, his smile broadening very slightly as he imagined the young Blue peering down at him in his happily-lazy way, "I'm almost proud of them."

With a laugh, light and clearly unused, he looked back down, eyes a shade brighter, "They mean I survived." A soft hum thrummed in the back of his throat as he took a bite of his food, chewing absently even as he listened to her speak. "Uhm...are you a Candidate?"

[Reky]

It wasn't the sort of answer she'd been expecting. No, she'd been expecting maybe a shy mumbling to brush the subject off, or a weak 'It's alright' and nothing more. This answer, though, was far better than those predications. It was heartwarming, even. His little smile, little laugh, and how he took it all in a good way. She knew it took a strong person to do that.

"Yeah, I em," she said, giving a single laugh. "Bran' new. Shakin' in my boots over here, but hey, that's normal." An amused, lopsided smile spread across her face, and she drained her mug and set it down on the table. She shoved the last little bit of her roll into her mouth, and then remembered her manners (manners didn't matter much when you had two brothers and worked with men all the time), and politely covered her mouth and chewed slowly before swallowing.

"'m sorry, this is probably one of the most overused questions," she started up, laughing and shaking her head, "But... what's it like? I mean, Impressin' an' all..."