curse at the wind, [open!]

[heytarsar]

It was one of those days; she just needed to be alone. Her head was pounding, her chest hurt, and god the light was so bright. But it was beautiful out. Kjara took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled as she realized she was alone. It was the perfect timing for a swim, and she eyed the pool of water before her, unsure if she should go swimming alone. There was always a danger of getting hurt, but she knew how to swim. What could possibly happen? She stepped into the shallow end and laughed quietly before stepping through the water in her loin cloth and breast band before fully submerging herself into the water with a dive. She stayed under water for a few moments to get used to the cool water, but was soon up and gasping for her; it seemed, as if her random migraine had ceased slightly. When she surfaced from the water, she floated on her back, her eyes closed, and her thoughts deep as she remembered the good time she had spent with her mother. Being transferred to Dalibor had been a life changing experience, and to be honest, she was frightened.

Her life begun at Fort Weyr, and now she was…here. Kjara was surprised she found this place by herself. Leaving Kadassh behind had been hard on her, but she needed the freedom to be alone without the worry of her dog running off and hunting. He was well trained, but a new area always had him excited and occasionally on edge, so she left him in her room to get used to his new surroundings. And, she wanted to explore on her on, you know? Being nineteen turns old was a big deal. Didn’t wanna be followed by your best friend everywhere you went, but Kjara felt quite lonely without him by her side. They had been through much together, and he meant more than anything to her, besides Derra. She found the puppy all alone soon after her mother had died, and he was exactly what she needed to recover.

A soft smile pulled at her lips and she closed her brown eyes, swimming through the water on her back for a few more moments before turning over and diving once again. The water was amazingly crystal clear, but she realized it wasn’t all that deep. With disappointment, Kjara surfaced once again and took a nice gulp of air before treading water. Soon, Kjara felt water logged and climbed out of the water, ringing her long dark hair before finding a nice flat rock to sun bathe on. But soon, her peace was disturbed; the sound of distress and barking caused her to look up in confusion, but soon her questions were answered when Kadassh burst through the foliage, his tail wagging excitedly. He joined her up on the rocks and Kjara glared at him intently before laying back down a soaking up the sun as Kadassh sat at attention, his keen nose sniffing all the new scents before leaping off the rock and exploring the shallow shore before him. With a soft sigh, Kjara dosed off into a peaceful sleep.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Reky]

( Quick note: Yeeesss Winter gave me permission to shove time along a little. :'D )

The sun was painting the sky orange and pink as it set. It was late, now, far into the evening, and Lin was wandering outside. It was beautiful, the sunset -- it must be even more beautiful from the sky, on dragonback, with the world stretching out below with long shadows. Still, the mountains of the Weyr silhouetted against all the brilliant colours was stunning enough, and she smiled. The colours were dancing off the surface of the lake, as well. No doubt the water was getting chilly now, though, as the day drew to an end.

In her sight-seeing, though, she also noticed something a little out of place. A girl was lying on some rocks not far away, fairly motionless. Lin's worry was enough to get her to move closer and make sure the girl was alright. As she neared, she noticed the girl was only wearing her undergarments, and her hair was formed to the rock and her face. She could tell it had dried that way. At least, though, the girl's chest was also rising. It was getting late, though, and cold. Someone shouldn't be sleeping outside when night came.

Her better judgment convinced her to speak. Hopefully loud enough for the girl to hear, but still fairly quiet, Lin said, "Miss? Miss, you a'right? It's gettin' cold..." She hoped, quite intensely, that her wake-up call wouldn't be taken harshly. It wasn't her intention to be rude. Personally, she would be happy if someone had woken her from an unexpectedly long nap so that she didn't wake to darkness and cold wind. Only way to find out, though, and that was to wait.

[heytarsar]

It was Kadassh’s growl of warning that made Kjara open her eyes. He had slowly made his way towards her, his hackles standing on end as he was intent on protecting her. She sat up and shed away from the girl who had asked if she was alright, and telling her it was getting cold. Kjara looked around and cursed under her breath, scurrying to find her clothing and rushed to put them on. She was trying her best not to glare in fear at the girl, but she couldn’t help it. Her eyes were puffy and red where she had began to rub them to actually wake up, her mass of wild hair was sprawl all over her face and in many tangles, and she even tripped while slipping on her foot coverings. “Am I late for class?” she asked in panic. “Shards, is there even a class today?” she huffed more to herself than anything, looking to the girl and hope that she wasn’t offended by Kadassh’s growling. Speaking of; Kjara motioned her hand and snapped her fingers, and Kadassh instantly stopped his growling and sat on his haunches, his eyes intent on the stranger in front of him.

“Sorry,” Kjara sputtered. “He isn’t really mean. He doesn’t like getting spooked and is real edgy around people he doesn’t know.”

She flashed a smile of misunderstanding and hoped she didn’t take anything to heart. In fact, she was surprised she was out here in the first place. Kjara turned her gaze up to the setting sun and cursed again, wishing she had been smart enough to leave after her refreshing dip in the lake. Kjara has realized that she has become semi-reckless since being transferred to Dalibor Weyr; and that was something Kjara despised. She didn’t like the idea of being reckless, but it felt as if this were a break from her life at Fort Weyr. At the thought of her old home, her heart flipped and she took a deep breath. “Um..” she said quietly, scoffing her foot against the ground. “I don’t know how to get back..” her eyes shifted back and forth across the area, her heart pounding in her chest. “And..thanks for waking me up. I probably woulda slept out all night..” she looked away from Lin for a moment, looking over her shoulder out of habit and cleared her throat. Here was the chance for her to make a friend; hoepfully. “I’m Kjara…I just transferred here.”

Another pang of homesickness ran through her body and she sighed quietly, looking down at her feet at the memories she spent with her mother and Derra, and Kadassh and Derra after had mother’s death. Now, it was just Kadassh and Kjara. She turned to look at the lithe male canine and gently stroked his ear, smiling down at him as his tail thumped the ground. “He’ll play fetch with you, if you want,” she said quietly, hoping to at least try to make a friend while she was here.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Reky]

The growling was a surprise. She hadn't seen the canine at first, but she definitely saw him now, advancing slowly with his teeth bared. He was an odd-looking thing... The dogs at the farm were quite different. Stockier, with more mass to them, and more fur. Like she would do with the farm dogs, though, she held her ground and ignored Kadassh, and kept her eyes from the girl as she woke and hurriedly and clumsily dressed. The poor thing looked far too startled, and the words that came out of her mouth were worried ones.

"No, no, there's no class today," she said, eying Kadassh as he sat obediently. It didn't take a brilliant person to notice how devoted the creature was to his master, and it wasn't like the farm dogs. The farm dogs obeyed because it was bred and trained into them. This dog... Lin had a hunch it was just all out of love. "Ah, don' worry about it. He's just makin' sure I'm not gonna eat you. Good dog." She gave Kadassh a kind smile, and then gave one to Kjara in return.

Lin hadn't had much intention of going back so soon, but she figured she could help the girl back to the candidate barracks -- or, well, that was assuming she was a candidate, which she was pretty sure she was by how new she said she was -- and then come back to see the lake under starlight after. (It must look gorgeous.)

"No problem," Lin said, smiling again. "Wouldn't've done you good to be out here at night like that. I'm Lin. New, too, but... I'm figurin' my way around. I could take you back, if you like." This Kjara seemed like a nice girl, after all. If anything, they could relate in how new they were to the Weyr. It was still an odd sensation to wake up in her bunk in the barracks, instead of in her bed at home. Very disorienting.

She smiled mentally at the girl and her dog. "Will he, now? Must've trained him good. Plays fetch and protects you!" She gave a little laugh. Well, she was definitely in a good mood today. Usually, she didn't like people around, but it was probably because of the fact that she knew no one so far that she was so comfortable with it right now. Itching for social interaction, she supposed. She didn't have Alvo and Nivin around to talk to, after all.

[heytarsar]

Kjara let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I don’t wanna be late again,” she admitted, smiling at Lin, thinking she had found a friend. When the conversation was flipped to Kadassh again, she smiled and patted his head as he waged his tail, licking her hand quietly before turning his piercing eyes back to Lin; he was intent on keeping his eyes there until Kjara gave the go that she was a friend, not a foe. Even Kjara was unsure if she was a friend or foe; humans were challenging to figure out their emotions. “It’s nice to meet you Lin. And,” she said with a smile. “I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather stay here.” A small embarrassed laugh escaped her lips as she looked down at her feet. “And it’s good to know I’m not the only new one here. It’s different than home, but I gotta get used to it, I guess.” She mumbled, looking towards the way she entered the lake. Kjara didn’t wanna leave at all. Her eyes shifted nervously, but thankfully, the conversation turned to Kadassh again.

She looked down at her down, shaking her head in shame. “I started training him when he was young; he was very...wild at the time.Oh yeah. Don’t let his face fool you; he loves attention. He plays hide and seek too,” she added bending down to where she was level with him. Kjara put her arm around him and pointed at Lin. “Lin.” She said simply, letting him look at her and then back at Kjara. “Get a stick.” With that, Kadassh let his tongue roll out of his mouth and he dashed into the woods, as Kjara laughed playfully, turning to see if she could find him. “If you throw the stick,” she said while she waited. “He’ll love you forever.”

And with that, he busted through the foliage and dropped a stick at Lin’s feet, his whip-like tail wagging with excitement. He barked playfully, his body trembling as he waited impatiently for Lin to bend down and grab the stick. He leaned down and grabbed the stick in his mouth before scooting closer to Lin and dropped it once more, this time closer to her feet. “He’ll get bored after a while though.” she told Lin, leaning on one leg as she crossed her arms, smiling slightly. “Hide and seek is his most favorite though. We used to play for hours at Fort Wyer. He’s a bit more cautious here, so I have to be careful. I don’t want him being put down because he bit someone…” her thoughts trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at the begging dog.

She then looked over Lin, her eyes questioning. Kjara began to wonder where Lin was from and if she was a Candidate, like Kjara. The sudden thought of being chosen caused Kjara to shiver slightly; and she wasn’t cold. The image of riding a dragon was fearful and exciting at the same time; she knew, deep down, that being chosen was what she needed now. It would bring her closer to her mother, even though she was dead; she would be stepping in her own footprints and following her path. Of course, she didn’t want to die…but no one knows what happens. Her lips pulled back into a bigger smile as she looked at her new friend.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Reky]

"Mmm," she said. She definitely understood the 'different than home' part. But Kjara was right. Generally the best way to figure things out was to feel around in the dark yourself. Eventually it'd all sink in and end up like the back of your hand - memorized. Then, it'd become home again. She remembered that feeling from when her family had moved to Deep Hold. That feeling when it stops being some unfamiliar, and that word comes to mind. 'Home.'

She smiled lazily, again at how obedient the dog was. Smart thing. And attention-loving, apparently, as Kjara proclaimed. It wasn't long before the red-nosed hound came bounding back with a stick, dropping it at her feet. Highly amused, she bent over and picked it up in her calloused fingers. "No one can run f'rever," she said, a slight laugh on her voice. Here eyes were turned to Kjara, still holding the stick. She didn't mean to make Kadassh wait, antsy as he was, but she was a little distracted. "Ah, well, see... I'd blame it on the person, not 'im." She looked down at the wiggley Kadassh. "Whoever went 'n got bit pro'ly would've been doin' somethin' real stupid."

Grinning wide, she pulled her arm back and, with the momentum of her whole body untwisting behind it, threw the stick hard as she could. Oh, she knew how to throw. She would have never been satisfied with throwing 'like a girl' with brothers like hers. Years of getting technique down pat and pointless, boyish competitions had landed her with a pretty impressive arm. She'd always liked proving the hold's boys wrong. "Ha, I bet you through like a girl," they'd say. But they'd take that back pretty fast.

With the stick thrown, she relaxed back and looked at Kjara. "Learned that from my brothers," she explained, giving a laugh. "They'd always do stupid boy stuff. So, o' course, I had t' too." There was a quirky, lopsided smile on her face. "Plus, I mean, I don' think my dad ever thought he had a daughter. Naw, always had me doin' the farmwork, too. Still would be if I hadn' gone 'n got Searched." She heaved a wistful, awed sighed. "Still kinda can't believe it."