A Lazy Summer's Day (Open!)

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven had just recently arrived at Dalibor, not even a sevenday ago. He had been around long enough to learn the basic layout of the Weyr by now. To be honest, it wasn't difficult, as most Weyrs were built in much the same design. There was the Bowl, of course, and always a lake in the middle for bathing the dragons. The weyrs themselves spiralled up the towering stone walls of the Bowl, while the rest of the Weyrfolk were safely hidden in its bowels. It made sense. There was a reason for everything, and an explanation for why everything was. The order of it all made it quite easy for even new Candidates to find their way around.

This was fortunate, as there wasn't much of a structured lifestyle for Candidates at the moment. The barracks weren't filled with anxious, chattery young people, Candidatemasters weren't dashing to and fro, organizing lessons and roommates and chores and new arrivals and whatever-else, and there was a sense of peace and quiet in the Candidates's quarters that meant only one thing to Luven: the eggs hadn't been clutched yet. It didn't take long for the gossiping drudges in the kitchen to confirm his suspicions.

It was shortly after lunch. Luven had occupied himself in the kitchens that morning since dawn, helping prepare breakfast, clean it up, prepare lunch, and clean that up as well. Finally, the noon sun had begun to bake the kitchen, its heat aided by the many small fires that were kept burning continuously for warm water and cooking. When Luven thought he was in danger of drowning in his own sweat, he knew that it was time to leave. He had promised to come back after dinner to clean ship for the night before slipping out of the kitchens.

He was striding along the Weyrbowl in his purposeful way of his. Though Rukbat was, if anything, more ferocious out in the open, the lackadaisical breezes that wandered lazily through the Weyrbowl felt as cool and refreshing as any northern snowstorm to the overheated Candidate. He adjusted his track slightly to head to the lake. It was surprisingly empty, of both dragons and people. He supposed that there must be wing drills going on or something at the moment because it was a rare sight to see any large body of water with no massive, colorful dragon body dominating the scene.

Luven picked up a jog as he approached the water's sandy, sloping shore, pulling off his shirt and throwing it in the general direction of a rock as he did so. He took three running steps before splashing noisily into the water, pushing his legs to keep moving at the same speed just as the water tried to slow him down. Finally, he was able to swim, and swim he did, diving below the surface and relishing the cool caress of the water on his skin.

Luven bobbed to the surface and floated on his back, noting once again how unnervingly quiet it was here. The inactivity nonplussed him a little bit, and he forced himself to relax.

Just floating.

It was nice to be enjoy such a lazy summer's day.

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Unfortunately for Luven, he wasn't the only one who had the idea of swimming in the lake on the warm day. Grescan had been working as well, cleaning here and there and generally making sure he pulled his weight around the Weyr, and had finally decided it was time to take a break outdoors.

That in and of itself wasn't too much trouble. He saw the other fellow coming and only grinned a little, not bothered by the company as he stroked his arms through the water lazily, moving a little out further, into the deeper waters.

However, where he was, Sweep was assuredly not far away. And she did not really feel very generous today. She didn't feel like sharing space at all, in fact.

And so, with a whistling screeching, she dive-bombed the floating Luven, bouncing off his chest and landing in the water with a plunk. Shrieking and flailing about, she latched onto him with her short but sharp claws, climbing up onto him and using him to get herself out of the water.

As if it was all his fault, she promptly began hissing and squeaking at him, scolding him loudly as she clung to him, her wings spread out to let the water drip off.

"Oh shards, I'm sorry," Grescan spluttered, finally swimming over to snatch Sweep, pulling the enraged and dripping Orange off of her victim's chest. "She's a little, uh, unfriendly sometimes. I'm sorry."

[123notit]

Meta, done with her bothering of P'nay and Felicia, had wandered out into the Weyr Bowl, instantly to feel the heat. "Shards..." she muttered, crossing her arms over her overly-flat chest. She sighed, not wanting to go back into the Candidate Barracks. She needed to find something to do, something that wouldn't cause her to be too hot.

She slowly ambled about the Bowl, unknowingly toward the Lake, not paying much attention to anything about the heat. She wondered if it would be deemed inappropriate to walk around with only her vest on. The essentials would be covered, she guessed, but where would she be able to change effectively? She pondered over this for a moment, sweat slowly trickling down her forehead.

She wiped it away, annoyed. Oh, who cared? There was nothing there to see. She looked around, finding a small shack of some sort, probably storage or something, and ducked behind it. Her change was quick and efficient and she came strolling out, her dirty white shirt sticking out of the back of her trousers and her vest sufficiently covering her chest. While on girls of the more.....feminine nature, it would probably be extremely sexy. On her....it simply looked like an effeminate male who was hot. The vest only suck out slight in the breast area, definitely not enough to tell.

This is how Meta continued her "exploration", though it was merely more of the aimless walking. She wasn't brought to attention until she heard a shriek and splashing. She ginned- water would be nice and cool. She quickened her pace as she saw the Lake ahead of her. There were two boys already swimming. Good company in her opinion. And no dragons, except for the firelizard, meaning that they could be fellow candidates.

She approached the edge with a wave. "Hello there! Mind if I join you?" She obviously didn't care if they minded for she pulled her shirt out from behind her and threw it away from the water and promptly jumped in, creating a surprisingly large splash for such a thin girl. When she emerged, she glanced at the firelizard in curiosity, wondering what she had missed since it was obviously upset.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven heard a few noises somewhere far off in the water that could only mean that someone had decided to join him, or that that person had already been out here and Luven had been oblivious to his or her presence. He resisted the urge to see who it was; instead, he concentrated on maintaining his floating position. It was difficult, as Luven had never been formally taught how to swim. He struggled to keep his chin and his chest above the water level, even though he had to flounder a little bit to do it. He forced himself to relax, to cease any movement. Contrary to his belief that he would sink like a stone it he stopped moving his arms slightly to keep himself afloat, the water supported his weight.

The Candidate tipped his head back, letting the cool waters of the lake slosh against his ears soothingly. Again, he heard the small sounds that reminded him that he did not have this lake to himself, but he ignored them. The other person was doing no harm, and, after all, it was a pretty big lake for only two people. Perhaps he would go meet the other person in a few minutes, but for now, he was enjoying the pleasant prickling sensation of the coolness of the water against his hot skin and fatigued muscles. The wind played with the water, creating small ripples. Luven closed his eyes, at peace with everything for the moment.

And then, pain. Confusion. Shoots of pain were piercing his chest. The Orange! The infuriated, antagonized Orange!

Luven's bare chest was covered in small rivulets of blood from the Orange's claws. He forced himself to think, and his well-trained mind jumped instantly to attention. In just a second, he realized that the Orange's dripping wings were causing it to be angry. Luven gasped for breath, stopped floundering in the water (his attempts at floating on his back had pretty much been abandoned the second the deranged creature had started shredding his chest), and let himself sink, letting the waters close above his head. That firelizard wouldn't cling to him underwater, would she? No, flitters flew. She would do that instead.

He stayed under as long as he could hold his breath, but, when his lungs were screaming for oxygen, he was forced to surface. Thankfully, the firelizard's owner (and presumably the person whom Luven had heard earlier), had grabbed his pet and was apologizing. Luven treaded water, using one hand to splash water against the clawmarks. He didn't say anything for a few tense moments, as he was struggling not to yell a string of curses at that Orange firelizard and her owner.

"No-- no problem," he said. "But still, you're sharding lucky that it was just me she shredded. You'd better keep her under control!" His last words rang out a bit harshly. "Well, I guess it serves me right for moaning about how quiet it is here." It wasn't quite an apology for being a bit hotheaded, but his tone was considerably warmer. "I'm Luven, a Candidate here. Who're you?"

He then noted the arrival of a third person. "Hello. Sure, there's plenty of lake for all of us!" he called to her, having to raise his voice slightly to project it to the shore. Well, he shouldn't have bothered, as she soon made herself at home. Still, it was nice that she had asked. Maybe the firelizard would be distracted enough by the splash to leave Luven alone.

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Sweep was currently a little orange ball of rage, first at having been almost drowned by the stupid who'd gone underwater when she jumped on him, and now because someone else was splashing around and Grescan wouldn't let her go! Flailing like an angry feline, she was making it very difficult for her owner to keep a handle on her.

"I'm so sorry," he said again, just for good measure, "I didn't think she was going to go that crazy." The Orange finally began calming down, though she was still hissing and baring her small teeth at the other two less-familiar people.

"I'm Grescan," he at last introduced himself. "I'm a Candidate here too. Just arrived recently. And uh, this is Sweep. She's... she's not exactly nice most of the time. But she's usually not this bad."

He glanced over at the other person approaching them, uncertain. He was pretty sure they were a girl. Maybe they were a girl. The face made him think so but it was hard to judge sometimes. If they were a boy they were certainly a pretty one.

He grinned. "Hi!" he called to the new person, figuring it didn't matter one way or another right now. He had other things to worry about than pretty boys. Like keeping Sweep calm, which generally took a lot of petting.

[123notit]

Meta gently swam over, diving under quickly before she arrived to them and popping up, closer to Luven than Grescan. She had seen the flailing Orange firelizard and quickly decided to stay away from it for now.

Though she had missed most of the introductions, being too far away or underwater at that point in time, she decided it was time to introduce herself. Mostly this was because she wanted to make friends. Obviously, she hadn't befriended the other two. That's why girls just didn't make good friends. As soon as they liked a boy, they got all weak and defenseless.

"Hey!" she said to the two with a smile, "Name's Meta! Not sure if I caught your names. Or the name of that fireball you got there." She laughed lightly. Though her voice had a distinctive feminine quality to it, there was also a gruffness that came from hanging around with lots of males, living in the country with no formal education, and working constantly on a farm. Thus, you still couldn't really tell if she was female. However, the closer you got, the easier it was to look down her vest and see slight cleavage.

She wouldn't care if either boy did look or if they even asked. It had been done before. She had laughed and punched the "offender" playfully in the arm. She definitely wasn't like normal girls. Surely, they would take offense to such a thing and make a fuss.

Meta gently treaded water as she looked over the two. Both obviously male since they had their shirts off. One chest was spurting blood. Most likely from the firelizard. She grinned slightly as she thought of the angry little thing. Most fire lizards she had seen, which weren't a great many, had been happy, hyper things. It was amusing to see one that didn't fit the stereotype.

Though she was in no way examining them for attractive features, she did notice the boy with the scratches had very striking gray eyes and the other had hair much longer than her own and striking eyes as well. Both not unattractive men, though neither suited her specific tastes. Those tastes she had not yet discovered nor put much thought into. Though only was she discovered she found females more attractive than males was when she heard her older brother talking about a girl he was dating and she ended up seeing the girl.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven's heart rate was returning to normal after being attacked, and the adrenaline that had rushed through his body was slowly fading away. Much of the irrational animosity that Luven felt towards Grescan was likewise fading away. It was replaced with a natural curiosity and a slight feeling of sympathy for having to deal with that deranged firelizard on a daily basis. In addition, Luven didn't know but a few people at this relatively empty Weyr, and it would be nice to get to know a few people well enough to eventually pave the path to friendship, or, at least, have someone next to which to sit at Candidate lessons, whenever those came around.

"It's fine," Luven said firmly. "Will she go /between/? It might be easier for you if she goes off by herself to sulk for a while," he gently suggested. While he had no firelizard of his own, he'd been around the beasties long enough to basically know how they operated. Actually, he was rather surprised that she hadn't /between/ed as soon as she had got wet. Firelizards were curious creatures, he thought. He wasn't entirely sure whether he wanted to try and bond to one (or more) or not. He was thinking that he would at least try, but looking at the psychotic one in front of him, he was on the verge of changing his mind.

"Meta," he greeted. He would have offered a hand, but it was rather difficult to do that while treading water. "I'm Luven. Are you a Candidate, too? How long have you been at Dalibor?" His second question was aimed at both of them. He was making small talk, something where he'd found it was nearly impossible for him to inadvertedly insult someone. They were still possible friends, after all, and he wanted to get to know them a bit better. Of course, having someone's firelizard attack you was not the usual way people met each other, he thought with a small, wry smile.

He was feeling the usual small itchiness in his muscles that complained of remaining stationary so long. Luven's mind picked up the impatience, too, and Luven felt the urge to go do something, to prove himself to these two in front of him. He waited for a few moments, allowing the other two a chance to answer the questions and introduce themselves.

"Race you to the opposite shore!" he challenged, again, giving them a few seconds to react before he ducked back under the water and started swimming off. It took him several strokes before picking up any real momentum when he finally figured out how to get his hands and feet to work in tandem. The young man fell into a strong freestyle stroke, discovering a rhythm and pushing through the water easily. He wasn't the fastest of swimmers, and if either of the two were good, they would beat him, but he would hold his own.

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"Oh, right, my name's Grescan, and this is Sweep," Grescan repeated for Meta's benefit. The Orange was starting to calm down now at least, her mad flailing calming into a sort of snaky, discontent writhing in his hands. Finally he felt it was safe to let her go, and she just climbed up onto his shoulder and curled about his neck, glaring sullenly at Luven, still blaming him for everything.

"Ah, no, she generally prefers not to go off by herself... she's just too attention hungry," he said, stroking the sub-queen's snout lightly with a fingertip, making her trill softly. "She'll behave herself after a little bit. She just gets excited when new people show up and well, she wants to keep them in line." He laughed a little. "She thinks she's the boss and forgets how small she is."

Now that she was calmed down she seemed a little nicer, at least, behaving herself and just sitting still and quiet, even if she was watching the other two very closely and tended to arch her back whenever anyone made a sharp movement.

Grescan grinned a bit at the both of them. "I haven't been here long at all. S'part of the reason why Sweep's so upset yet... she's not used to the new place and it's got her all on edge. Seems like a nice place though. What about you?"

He glanced over at Meta curiously, but he was fairly sure she was a girl now. Why else would she wear a top in the water at all? It was surely uncomfortable, so it just made sense.

And then Luven was racing off with some quick-shouted contest and Grescan was caught by surprise. Also startled, Sweep rose into the air with a shrill twitter, chasing after Luven, skimming over his head but not actually attacking him, just buzzing him in irritation.

Grescan chased after him, partially for the spirit of competition, partially so he could get Sweep to stop before she tried to rip out some of the other Candidate's hair or something terrible like that.

[123notit]

Meta managed to answer, "Yeah. I'm a Candidate! I just arrived here a little while ago." before Luven took off with his challenge. Instantly, she smirked, the thrill of competition in her head. Being raised with so many males, daily life was some sort of contest and Meta wasn't one to let people outdo her so easily.

As she dived after the boys and the firelizard, adrenaline pumped through her, pushing her arms and legs to thrash in and out of the water in a way that seemed to propel her forward in a very adequate way. She was soon caught up to Grescan, unseen muscles rippling under her skin.

This was fun. She was glad she had left the stuffy Barracks with the stuffy secret love birds. As she managed to pull a little ahead of Grescan, Felicia and P'nay left her head. She thought of winning now. Winning for the best prize of all-momentary bragging rights. She grinned at the anticipation of that. For what could be better? Playful bragging was usually a quick way to make new friends anyways. At least with her. A new person would brag, they'd get playfully pushed or splashed or thrown dirt at. And soon, no one cared about the trivial differences. It was all fun.

[4horseshowgirl4]

When he raised his head from the water to take a deep, gasping breath, Luven couldn't help but notice the very satisfying splashes behind him that could only mean that the two were following. A small smile flitted across his face before he ducked his head back under the water, forcing his arms to make their strokes ever the faster, lest the two catch up to him. No, he wasn't going to let them win so easily! Back to the surface again, gasp for a breath of air, and sink back beneath the cool caress of the water; all in rhythm, all synchronized, a certain grace to it all even if it wasn't elegant.

It was a few seconds before Luven realized that he wasn't alone. He had heard something first, a... hissing? Who was catching up-- Grescan or Meta? Luven tipped his head sideways out of the water to check behind him, but there was no one near. Then, he saw a flash of orange out of his peripheral vision. That accursed firelizard was after him again! Luven dove beneath the water again, paddling frantically in his eagerness to get away from the shelling creature before it could attack him again. What did it have against him? He didn't do anything to it!

It wasn't exactly fear that Luven was feeling, more of a reluctance to willingly let himself be scathed again. This apprehension of sorts pushed him yet more swiftly through the water, but it wasn't long before he heard the sure strokes of an able swimmer at his side. He looked over: Meta. Grescan was not far behind, either.

"Is that all you've got?!" Luven shouted teasingly, holding desperately onto his slim lead. In a few seconds, Meta and probably Grescan as well would overtake him, but for now, he still held onto first place. It was sheer folly to keep his head out of the water for long enough to hear their responses, so he did the sensible thing and swam normally, grittily forcing his tired muscles to hold out for a few more seconds. The opposite shore was approaching rapidly. They hadn't crossed the entire lake at its diameter, but Luven had led them to cut off most of it into a shorter chord, which was a far more manageable and quicker swim

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Sweep was still scolding Luven loudly for whatever foolishness she thought him guilty of when Grescan finally caught up with him and her, lunging up and sacrificing the possible lead in favor of catching the little 'lizard again. He kept a hold on her as he watched the other two go on past him. He didn't mind too awful much. His main worry was Sweep.

"Why d'you gotta be this way, huh Sweep?" he asked the little Orange with a sigh, shaking his head and stroking her snout to try and calm her down. She responded by hissing in Luven's direction and he sighed.

"You're just jealous, aren't you," he mumbled to her. "You're a jealous little thing." He couldn't help but smile faintly when she just stared back at him without response. "Yeah, don't even try to deny it."

Once he released her she simply took off and flew to the edge of the lake, perching there and watching the people swimming about in it with a bit of royal disdain, cheeping to herself and tucking her wings in neatly.

[123notit]

Grescan's heroic act of "saving" Luven from the Orange gave Meta a chance to shoot past him and get even with Luven. She didn't waste her time and energy to respond to his challenging call and simply grinned at him, forcing her arms and legs to go a bit faster.

Much to her satisfaction, she saw less of him as she looked towards his direction. She was slowly getting in front of him. Victory- she could taste it. And to her, victory was especially sweet. The only person she regularly beat in anything back home was her younger brother. The rest usually beat her, since they all had the same upbringing and all had the chance to work and develop their muscles. Now that she was in a new place, she had the chance to win.

Meta refused to let her arms and legs, which were growing increasingly heavy, to quit. She closed her eyes tight as a burning sting rushed through them. She was determined to win though. That meant a little pain.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven was so absorbed in swimming, in winning, that he hardly noticed when Grescan snatched the Orange menace out of the air. He had momentarily forgotten that the accursed thing was chasing him as soon as Meta had nosed ahead of him. Or, rather, his reluctance to let Meta beat him with any sort of ease had overlapped his fear, shoving it aside. It was a mixed basin of emotions, the flight swirled around with the chase. He was conscious of nothing but going faster, faster, away from his foe and after his rival.

Luven's lungs were burning, and his heart felt like it was going to beat a hole right through his chest. His limbs were leaden, his throat throbbing. Again and again he forced his body through the water, straining to maintain an efficient form though he would like nothing better than to paddle haphazardly through the water that slowed him down so and rest his fatigued muscles, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't! The other, her slim form well-suited to swimming, was still ahead, but Luven struggled to close the distance. Just an inch... an inch more.

Meta's shoulders were but a foot ahead of his now. Luven all but hurled himself out of the water, taking a huge, desperate lunge. For a moment, they were tied, and then Luven's exhaustion and Meta's superior ability decided the winner as they hit the sandy bottom of the opposite shore. Just six inches had decided who was victorious. Luven threw himself against the shore, lying on his back, his chest heaving and the sky swimming in front of his eyes. He had overexerted himself, he knew, but the satisfying ache in his muscles seemed to rationalize that decision. He'd pushed himself, and though he'd lost, he'd surely swum the hardest.

"Con-congratulations," he said, spitting a bit of water out of his mouth. Still on his back, the Candidate absentmindedly ran his hands over the cuts in his chest, glad to feel that they had stopped bleeding. Luven put his hands behind him and sat up, shaking his head slightly to get the water out of his eyes. "Where's Grescan?" he asked, suddenly noting that the Candidate was not where he'd been a moment ago, swimming right on their tails.

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When the pair reached the shore, Sweep hissed a little, lowering her head and staring at them, puffing herself up a little in her best attempt to look threatening. Grescan sighed at the likely upcoming catastrophe and swam for shore, at a lazier pace than the two others.

"I'm right here," he said when he heard Luven inquiring as to where he'd gone. That was silly, he hadn't noticed him? Well, he supposed they were just over-absorbed in their competition. Which seemed a little ridiculous, how hard they were both pushing themselves, but he supposed it didn't matter terribly. Nothing bad had happened, after all.

Instead he just pulled himself onto the shore and clucked at Sweep lightly, coaxing the little Orange into hopping onto his shoulder, thereby calming her down somewhat so she didn't go and attack Luven again.

[123notit]

Meanwhile, Meta was giving herself a minor victory celebration. This involved a rather awkward, ungraceful dance. It was finished by a loud announcement of, "I....am the winner!!!" For added effect, Meta imitated the sounds of a crowd cheering for only a couple of seconds.

She then laughed and turned to Luven, offering him her hand. "You ok? You almost got me there! Grescan, you were close too. If you hadn't grabbed that crazy little thing, you could have won!" She grinned up at Grescan, hoping her statement wouldn't offend the Orange into an attacking frenzy on her.

Her vest now clung to her body, wet and dripping. The slight curve of her chest was now evident, clearing up any doubts the two boys might have had. Meta, however, didn't seem to notice or care. She was having a good time and what did gender have to do with that anyways?

[4horseshowgirl4]

"I'm fine," Luven said to Meta, accepting her offered hand and pulling himself upright. The Candidate brushed the sand off of his shoulders with a lazy, deft flick of his hand. The stuff had been cooking in the furious sun all day long, and, shells!, was it hot! Luven shifted his weight uncomfortably from one scalding foot to another before taking a few steps forward and soothing his scorched toes with the cool, welcoming water. The ground was almost hotter than that of the Hatching Sands! Luven cast a quick glance to the shore they'd just left, just to ensure that his thin sandals were still waiting for him back there. He didn't want to hike across the hot stone in bare feet, no, sir.

Luven took a quick note of Meta's physique. He didn't make a big deal out of the fact. The fact was that the Weyr had a habit of acquiring many people whose gender and sexualities were not so clearly spelled out, and one couldn't do anything but get used to that fact. People were people and friends were friends. Luven couldn't ask for a clearer guideline than that. These things didn't matter-- weren't allowed to matter, in fact-- until they had Impressed and graduated Weyrlinghood, if they managed to do that. Until that day happened (if it ever did!), Luven wasn't worried about finding a relationship.

He just stood there for a moment, relishing the smooth contrast between the pleasant, full-body warming of the sun and the chill of the water flowing gently between his toes. He generally wasn't one to 'live in the moment,' so to speak, but he was tired from his swim, frustrated because of his long occupancy as a Candidate, and stressed by his recent move. It was splendid to have a moment to simply enjoy one of life's small luxuries. A summer day, with nothing to do and no one to see, no lessons to attend and no chores to finish up; who wouldn't wish for that?

Well, actually, he should be working on making friends. He needed to make connections here at the Weyr, so it would be easier to work with these people if they all managed to Impress. It would also keep Luven significiantly more relaxed, especially right before Hatching. "So," Luven said, turning back towards the two (he had checked a moment before to make sure that Grescan's Orange was not about to dive-bomb him or something). "How you two Stood before? I am hoping that Kalith's is soon-- she's rumored to Fly soon, isn't she? Do you know any of her suitors; who do you think will Catch her?"

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Grescan stayed with his feet in the shallow water, not really wanting to experience the heat of the sands for himself. Sweep chittered a bit and watched the other two Candidates, but she seemed to be finally calming down, probably because she was getting sleepy. She curled up about his neck and dozed off.

"I've never Stood for a Hatching before," Grescan murmured in answer to the first of Luven's many questions. He was grinning faintly, stroking the sleeping Sweep's neck lightly. Crazy as she was, she was pleasant when she was asleep.

"I've heard she's going to fly soon... I don't know, I haven't been here as long as some, they'd probably know better than I would if she's really due to fly soon or not. I'd think so though. More Candidates keep showing up, so they're obviously trying to build up a good number before the clutch is here..."

He could only shake his head at the following two questions, both a little amused and a little annoyed at his own particular lack of knowledge about the Weyr's kings and sub-kings. "I don't really know any of the dragons or their riders yet. Just seen 'em around..."

[123notit]

Meta stood on the hot sands with little disturbance. She stood lightly on one foot and then would switch it when it got too hot. She preferred as a younger girl to not wear shoes while she played and worked so the soles of her feet were rough and not much affected by heat or terrain.

"Same here," she answered Luven's question, agreeing with Grescan, "I've never stood before. And I just got here, so I don't really know much about whatever's going on here. I've only met one or two riders so far and I don't believe they'd chase or catch the Queen. But I hope she flies soon! Just think, your own dragon!" She grinned wide and toothy, eyes closing with the size of the smile.

"What about you?" she asked Luven, "Have you Stood? Or do you know any of the suitors?" She looked at him curiously, a mischievous sparkle coming out in her eyes simply from the excitement of all the events.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven was rather surprised that neither had stood before, and yet he wasn't. On one hand, he found it rather unusual that they would send new Candidates to a new Weyr, instead of those more experience, that knew the ropes and didn't need to be hand-held so much. On the other, no one could really control who a dragon Searched, although Luven didn't know if Dalibor had any official Searchdragons. The older Candidate was still trying to figure out whether a first-time Candidate or a more seasoned one had a greater chance of Impressing, as the first-timers were usually the most promising Dragonriders, and the more seasoned ones were less nervous.

He supposed it didn't really matter, though. A dragonet always found its perfect person anyway. They were never wrong when making Impression-- if Luven had faith in anything, it was that. Of course, that particular belief didn't help Luven's own self-confidence in his own future as a potential Dragonrider, as, after seven clutches, perhaps the fact that he had always been left on the Sands after the last Weyrling had left the Grounds might be suggesting that he wasn't any dragon's perfect person?

I will Impress. I will be some dragon's perfect person. The Candidate quickly said to himself, filling his mind with some of the forced confidence that he pretended to exude. No dragon wanted a pessimist. No, no. Dragons wanted an optimist, someone who would lead them fearlessly into battle against Thread. And with the supposed date of Thread looming closer, that boldness was even more important, even if it was feigned.

"Yes, I've Stood," Luven said, lifting his chin just enough to make it seem like he wasn't bothered by that fact plus the one that he was still a Candidate. "This will be my eighth, actually. I guess my dragon just hasn't been shelled yet, if I'm destined to be paired with one." Although it rather pained him to say these words, Luven looked at ease. There was truth in his words, after all. And he did believe them, to an extent. He just thought that his life would be far easier if he'd had a lifemate of his own already to lend him the confidence he didn't always feel, instead of having to force it out of himself like one wrung water from a cloth. But, then again, if he'd already been paired, there wouldn't be that same hungry gleam in his eyes, that same thirst to prove himself to everyone who'd secretly whispered that it was time for him to give it up. What Luven lacked in confidence, he made up in determination.

"There's Daidoroth, the big Bronze of our Candidatemaster, O'sho," Luven said, stringing out what little information he had. "He's got a mighty good chance, I reckon. He's certainly big enough, and he was one of the first Bronzes here. Um... I don't know of any others, actually. Oh, there's Kerath, a Purple, but I'm not entirely sure if he'll chase. From what I've learned about Purples, they're usually not much serious about anything." Luven said, somewhat uncertainly. He didn't want to predict anything that would prove to be incorrect later.

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Meta moved herself closer to Luven and aimed a playful punch on his arm. It was a trademark of hers that she had picked up from her eldest brother. He did that to all his younger siblings and Meta, striving to be more like him, had started doing it as well. "I'm sure you'll find your dragon...or it'll find you. You wouldn't have been Searched if not, ya know?" she said. Her voice was confident and encouraging. He seemed like a good guy and she was sure there was some dragon who would find him and proclaim him as his or her lifemate.

She thought over the different dragon choices, running a calloused hand through her dripping hair. The wet strands clung to her face, again making it more feminine in appearance. However, after she pushed it back with her hand, it laid back like a slicked-back male's cut, emphasizing her masculine appearance in a matter of seconds.

"Well," she spoke up thoughtfully, "In the regards of the flight... I don't know much about the flights and different colors and what not, but I know Bronzes are one of the top male colors. Considering Kalith's a Queen, I'm sure she'll want the best dragon possible." She shrugged her ponderings off and dipped her feet into the water like the others, kicking up a bit of water with a grin.

As Grescan further concerned himself with the firelizard, Meta aimed a def kick of water spray in his direction. She kept the splash small so it'd only hit his feet and not the firelizard. Last thing she needed was the orange after her too.