Put Your Party Hats On!

[4horseshowgirl4]

It was late evening on one of the last days of summer. Rukbat was sliding slowly towards its bed in the oceans of the Western Continent, but, for now, it was content to rest with its tip on the horizon. Most people were wrapping up their days, eating a leisurely dinner, or settling into their furs with their weyrmate. However, three Candidates were running around like crazy in the Weyrbowl, putting the final touches on the setup of their party. A large enough section of the Weyrbowl was isolated with decorative rope, which was tied to large poles which supported bowls of glows (unfortunately, no one could host a party by starlight). There was a table with bowls of klah (one of which that had been spiked with quickal) and sweetened water. A large firepit with an equally impressive pile of logs in the center of it was waiting for night to fall so it could be lit, with another table of toastable foodstuffs nearby, along with a stack of thin metal rods.

Two of the three Candidates were bickering with each other.

"You didn't tell me you were going to smuggle alcohol into the party!" the young man said, rubbing his forehead anxiously.

"What did you expect? It's a party!" a shorter, plumper girl retorted cheerfully, clapping the other on the back.

"Pratyba! It's still a rule that we shouldn't have alcohol! I don't think I would have agreed to organize all this for you if I knew you were just going to put quickal in the klah!"

"Oh, shush, Luven. You would have agreed to run it anyway because you have some sort of strange incapacity to relax, and this is way more fun than studying for hours on end!" Pratyba quipped, adding, "And, besides, it's not like I'm forcing the stuff down your throat!"

"Then won't you at least tell me which one you spiked...?!" Luven called after her retreating back, but it was of little use. He sighed, frustrated at the girl and silently vowing that he'd stay far from the klah that night. The Candidate turned back to the colored parchment and cloth Pratyba had made for the occasion before starting to hang them, grudgingly admiring the fact that they were rather well done. The mysterious, abstract shapes would seem rather ominous once Rukbat set.

Pratyba dashed off to find Sol, who had also agreed to help her run this thing, and was probably way more enthusiastic than stick-in-the-mud Luven. "Sol! Thanks for helping!" she greeted, showing far more gratitude for her friend than Luven. "We'll give everyone about half a candlemark to get here and chatter, and then I'll get the dancing started. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Flaet, Durian, and Anima. They'll be dancing, drumming, and singing, respectively. Now I just need to tell them that they'll be doing that..." Pratyba grinned, turning to go attend to something else, before whipping back around to say a last thing to Sol. "Oh, Sol, would you remove the bowl of spiked klah for the time being? I don't want people getting drunk while the Riders can still see us from their weyrs... we'll put it back after the dancing when most of them are asleep."

With that, Pratyba saunted merrily over to the 'entrance' of the party, or, at least, the part that wsa closest to the Candidate Barracks, from which she expected the majority of the invitees to come. A few fourth-mark pieces clanked together in her pocket. She would pay anyone willing to perform music for them at the party. Once she was standing still, leaning against one of the posts (gingerly, as it wasn't exactly the most stable thing in the world), she pondered what she had just told Sol. She did want to enjoy herself, yes, but she had enough sense not to want to be tossed out of Candidacy for letting some of the more responsible 'Riders, or, especially Fajra or O'sho, catch them with alcohol. It wasn't the strictest-kept rule, but Pratyba honestly didn't want to give anyone an excuse to strip her of her little rank (she'd given them enough reason to doubt the sanity of the dragon that had Searched her, after all)!

So, she waited for people to come. She bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, as she was liable to do whenever she got excited. It was about time that someone besides the Kingriders at this Weyr had something exciting to do! Besides that, she wanted to get to know her peers better as there weren't any lessons or official chores going on at the moment.

It was party time!

[/font]

[wirevix]

Alalbar knew about the party that was set to go on, of course. He knew and he was... not so sure he really wanted to attend. After all, parties were big social events usually. And since he'd so far been avoiding every social event he could, including so much as eating with other people regularly, he didn't know very many people to actually talk with.

But Shobie was terribly excited, because he'd been flying all over the place and had been seeing the party preparations go on when he periodically zipped out into the cooling air, chirping and cheeping in amazement to Alalbar when he got back in, and Alalbar knew his little pet would drive him absolutely insane if he didn't go out to the party. Shobie wanted to meet everyone and play!

At least it would be dark. He didn't mind the dark. It obscured things and that was always good in his book. And so here he was, coming down out of the Candidate Barracks. The girl from the tunnelsnake hunt--that figured, she was absolutely crazy after all.

But, well... maybe he really ought to try and actually enjoy himself for once. It would only be Candidates, at least, so that was somewhat better. And he'd already insisted to a couple people over time that he was a boy, so maybe he wouldn't have to get into that at all tonight. That would really be for the best.

Shobie went spiraling about to land atop one of the poles set up about the party, peering down over it at everything below and trilling to let them know just how excited he was.


Grescan was heading that way as well. Mostly because, what else did he have to do? He definitely didn't want to hang out with the ever-irritable Sweep sitting on her eggs all the time, she didn't want him there anyway. Until they were hard enough to move about so other people could have them, there was nothing he could do there except bother the moody Orange.

So now he went to a party. He didn't expect to have a whole lot of fun--he didn't expect to not have fun, he just didn't think about it at all, the thought never even really crossed his mind. He was more or less thinking about keeping an eye on things, because who knew what kind of chaos would break out here?

And when he saw Pratyba at the entrance he knew some real chaos would be going on, but he just nodded and smiled faintly at her.

"Hey Pratyba," he greeted, nodding to her politely and worrying that if she was the one planning the events, things were going to go seriously weird before the night was through.


Edwa wasn't going to the party just yet. First she was frantically searching for Flaet, because she needed to talk to him! What about their plans?! She was pretty sure they hadn't even come up with anything solid, and they needed the last-minute talk just to make sure.

But she couldn't find him--well, really, she didn't look all that very hard--so she figured she could talk to him at the party, and they could decide something to do while they were there. After all, it wouldn't be much of a party if it didn't last for at least a few candlemarks! Preferably until the early morning. That would be great.

It wasn't like the Candidates had much better to do... chores, yeah, she hated those, she had been sort of avoiding taking care of hers lately, but she didn't think anyone would catch her. Yet.

So for now she strolled onto the party grounds and grinned broadly at the girl at the "gate," springing up to her and leaning in, assessing her quickly with a huge grin.

"Hi! I'm Edwa. You're the one throwing the party? That's awesome! I wish I woulda had the idea but you know I just got here not too long ago," she said. "So, yeah."

[Admin]

We'll drink, and drink,
And drink, and drink,
And drink, and drink and fight!

There was going to be a party tonight. Parties weren't really sort of thing that Kimber normally did. Well, unless they were held by dolphins, and, yes, dolphins do have parties. If one thought teenagers could be crazy, one had never meant a proper set of juvenile dolphins. Groups of people weren't really his sort of thing in any situation. However, since being searched, he was making an effort to try to make friends with people, like with Okeris and Durian and R'ish. So, he'd decided that he was going to attend. It was for all the candidates; he should try to make friends with them, and there couldn't be a better opportunity. The knowledge that he needed to learn to work with these people was what fueled him to mandate himself to attend. It couldn't do any harm, could it? Having some fun would do him good, a nice break from the candidate life and his thoughts dominated by dragon eggs. Over thinking things would just make him nervous; he was going, and that was that.

One had to dress appropriately for a party. He wanted make a good impression, after all (when the statement came to mind, he smiled, finding the horrible pun in it amusing). However, style and clothing were not his thing either. He'd laid out his small collection of clothes, besides his swimming gear, on his cot and was busy staring at them. They lacked any real color and were all very simple cuts. It was a display of the fact most of his time was spent in the water, where fashionable clothing was a hassle and not something you had to think about very much. Finally, he gave it up and just got changed into the only thing he could think of - black dress shirt, black dress pants, black wherhide belt, black wherhide boots.

Staring up at the bits of his dark brown hair once he was dressed, her frowned slightly at them. They had grown longer and unrulier again; they hung about and stuck off his head in the oddest of ways, showing no interest in being combed into any semblance of order. He ran his hands through it, and then gave up on that too. He wasn't one who particularly liked giving up on anything, but his battle with his hair had been one that he had always been losing for turns and turns now. Stepping out of his room, he checked the time with the candle in the hall; he seemed to be just about right. Perhaps a little early, but that would be nice. That meant there wouldn't be all twenty-some candidates there, bustling about and shouting, when he arrived. That would probably be for the best; he'd probably just end up leaving if it got to loud for him later on.

Out in the bowl, where the party was going to be located was painfully obvious, decorated with glows that made the entire affair shine like the sun amongst the deepening darkness. He approached at his typical amble. The girl who'd come with the idea of the party was busy being greeted by other people, so he slipped past her with a curt nod. There was only a handful of people there so far, and none of them looked that familiar. Trying to think up some wait to start a conversation with someone, anyone, there, he approached the table with klah and water on it. Getting himself a cup of the caffeinated drink, he turned back towards the others as he took a sip of it. Something about it tasted off; it had an odd bitterness and bite to it. Not wanting to complain or waste it, he ignored its oddness and continued to take small sips as he looked around. It was soothing for him, he found, as he drank it. He poured himself another glass and drifted over to a sever looking young man. He seemed like the sort he could manage to talk to.

"Hello. I'm Kimber;" he introduced himself with a small smile, inclining his head to Luven. "Did you help set up the party? It's very well thought out and organization." He was trying to be conversational, and was doing a pretty good job for him. He'd actually managed to come up with something to say that was directly needed and important for him to. Feeling awkward simply waiting for a reply, he took a very slow, large sip of his drink, careful to keep himself composed as it burned down his throat. Perhaps next time he'd just get some of that water . . . Though this stuff did have its own odd appeal, though he couldn't quite place it.

We'll drink, and drink,
And drink, and drink,
And drink, and drink and fight!

[4horseshowgirl4]

Now that the party was underway, Luven was wandering around rather aimlessly, quite unsure of what to do. Random, seemingly urgant little thoughts kept popping into his head randomly, making the young man rather anxious and worried that he'd made some sort of gross oversight. However, as soon as one of these thoughts appeared, he was able to mentally wave it away with the sure thought that he had already done whatever he had momentarily fretted he hadn't done. However, the thoughts left behind their own small trace of anxiety, and they started to build up. As he ambled around the small area of the party, each step sure and deliberate-- he wanted to assert himself as intelligent enough to stay sober, after all!-- he couldn't help but let a few of these thought sneak in through the mental barrier he was setting up.

Argh, he needed to get his mind off of things! Just as he thought that, he wondered whether he had remembered to arrange for kindling for the bonfire. Yes, yes, of course he had. How could he forget that? Now, perhaps he should go find someone to which to talk for a bit; but even as he began to look around, he was overcome by yet another worry, this one concerning whether the glows would last long enough. He shook his head, antagonized. The party wasn't going to last twelve candlemarks! Besides, there were extras in a box under one of the tables for the slight chance that the glows began to extinguish. He shook his head-- he was being ridiculous. He'd pretty much set up this party (with Pratyba giving him vague instructions on what she wanted to have there), and, now, he should enjoy it, eat the fruits of his labor or something like that. Only a few people were here now, but they should be trickling in at a steady pace, now. Luven amused himself for a moment by imagining who'd be the last to arrive. He actually didn't know very many Candidates, but Flaet seemed like he'd forget until the last moment. That boy always seemed to be somewhere other than where he was supposed to be (though Luven didn't imagine the exact nature of his absences). Riori was another plausible choice, Luven thought with a slight grin. He was another one that was always all over the place.

Luven finally saw someone he knew. By 'knew,' Luven's only qualification was that he had exchanged words with the person. Grescan qualified. Luven finally had some sort of purpose, so he began to stride over to the other male Candidate, but he quickly realized that someone was introducing himself to Luven. The Candidate turned, a pleasant enough smile on his face. He didn't recognize the other young man (who he presumed must also be a Candidate), but, then again, a lot of Candidates had been arriving over the past few days, and Luven knew very few of them. Then again, Luven did recognize him, remembering his face vaguely. After all, it was pretty hard not to remember the face of someone with whom you shared a room.

"Luven," he replied, nodding and offering a hand to Kimber. The name didn't ring any bells, but the other seemed nice enough. "Thank you. And, yes, Pratyba enlisted me to help her run this event. I'm the reason that it's actually running." Realizing how egotistical this sounded a moment after the words left his mouth, Luven hastily changed the subject, catching sight of the cup of klah in the other's hand. "I'd be careful if I was you, with the klah. Pratyba spiked one of the bowls with quickal, but she refuses to tell me which one it is." Luven didn't know what Kimber's opinions were on alcohol, but Luven was already wondering whether he should put up a sign: would that discourage people from drinking the klah or encourage them to drink as much of it as they could to get drunk? Luven was guessing the second one, as teenagers weren't particularly mature when it came to quickal, and the last thing Luven wanted was a bunch of drunks running around the party (he nearly called it 'his' party in his head, though he knew it was Pratyba's-- though she would actually enjoy it and it was her idea, Luven felt he had a significant role in it).

"So," Luven said, uncertain of where this conversation was headed. He really did need to try and make more friends here; this awkward chatter was the worst. "Um, you haven't been here long, have you? I don't think we've met before, and I've been here long enough. I guess this party was a pretty good idea of Pratyba's: we all do need to meet some of our future co-wingriders, eh?" Luven chuckled tensely, but there was no real laughter in his voice. "Knock on wood," he added quickly, rapping on one of the nearby poles. It was always difficult to think about Impression-- on one hand, optimism was the best course, and on the other, no one wanted to get his or her hopes up and end up jinxing his or herself. Luven usually picked neither of these two options and chose to think about how he would get to Impress rather than if he would.

[/font]

[kia]

Lynx had heard some commotion going on. And the commotion attracted her like a mouse to a feline. Especially considering her nickname-sake. She giggled when she looked around and saw there were boys there. Riori had been interesting. But he had not fallen to her flirts. And just recently she had heard some little rumor about him. Riori was nice, but she would back off him now. Better to stick as a friend than cause some future problem for them both in the future. She sighed slightly. Riori had been cute and very tempting. It was soo hard to let go of her prey once she had gotten her claws in. But he did not "fight" back enough to keep her entertained. She liked to "play" with her prey first before going in for the final move. And based on that final move determined whether she would stick around with the person or leave as friends. Yeah...

She looked around once again. Better not be a stranger. She did not want to appear like she was stalking. She giggled at her own analogy. Why was she this crazy when it came down to people? It was the strange things in her mind. So she slipped out from her hiding spot and walked up pleasantly next to Kimber. "Hi Kimber, Luven, everyone," saying the names that she heard, though she felt bad that she did not know everyone yet. "My name is Lynx. Did I hear the word party? You can count me in on the fun," she said, smiling at everyone and then flashing Kimber a flirty smile. He was the closests, so she would start with him and see where that went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They cannot hear you anymore. They can`t see you anymore. They can`t touch you anymore. Nor smell you. You are here. And they are there. Whatever you do here, they can no longer ruin just for the sake of a laugh. You are free. You were always free, but now you can truly feel it....

"Lira!" Okeris shouted, following his crazy little Green Fire Lizard. The Green had heard something or picked up on something and started chirping at Okeris. And after flying around his head for several moments, she had taken off. And here he was and following her on foot. Why was she always so fast when she got so excited. The crazy bugger was going even crazier tonight. And why was that, he wondered. It had not been that long since he had gone swimming and gotten lost in the Lower Caverns.

He stopped and noticed the party. A party? For whom or what? He saw Candidates everywhere. Well, he would not feel left out after all. Would he see he new friends tonight? And sure enough there was Kimber. At least Kimber was the first he reconized. Lira chirped happily, glad her Mine had not lost track of him. The boy grabbed the Fire Lizard and cuddled her against him. He was not about to let the creature go. He was worried about losing her in the crowd. And if worse came to worse, Lira was his only anchor to safety. And he would need if that occurred.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Pratyba was buoyant when she saw so many people arriving already! What, three... four... five, no, six! Considering the party had only been underway for able two minutes, that was pretty good, good enough for Pratyba, anyway! She simply couldn't wipe the massive grin off of her face; she doubted even news that Abeneth had come for revenge and stomped all of Kalith's eggs could destroy her cheerful mood at the moment. Well, it was difficult for her happy mood to be wiped away on most days, as she was far too optimistic for her own good, to a point where it caused most people to wonder why tragic events didn't sadden her more. There was nothing more than this Candidate liked more than a good party. At the moment, there was little more going on than idle chitchat, but she was waiting for Flaet, Anima, or Durian to arrive so she could tell them to get some music and dancing going!

She saw two people approaching her, and she immediately straightened up, taking her weight off of the pole. She recognized Grescan right off of the bat, though she didn't know Edwa. That thought didn't bother her in the slightest. After all, this was a party, and this was why she'd thrown it in the first place: to get to know all these new people! "Hey, Grescan!" she greeted enthusiastically. "It's nice to see you again! Thanks for coming! How is Sweep? And her eggs? I want to go see them, but I'm afraid she'll eat me! You must be so good with firelizards to be able to handle her! Do you know when they're going to hatch? I'm going to be there for sure! Is it an open hatching, where anyone can bring meat and hope to Impress, or are you giving away the eggs?" Pratyba halted her chatter, smiling at Grescan to give him a chance to reply to her torrent of questions. Everything she said was heartfelt and sincere, honestly wanting to know the answers, more than just some polite questions she'd asked to fill the silence.

To Pratyba's delight, the other girl decided to approach her as well. "Hey, Edwa! I'm Pratyba. I've been here long enough: my dad helped to build all the weyrs, so we've been here almost from the start. I thought it was about time to throw a party! It was just too quiet around here for my liking, you know?" She returned Edwa's brilliant smile, taking a liking to the other Candidate almost immediately. Shy people were no fun at parties, and this girl was anything but! That instant, Pratyba decided that Edwa was a new friend, and the mere thought of that made her cheerier, if that was possible. See? Her party idea was working already! Everyone had found a friend or possible new friend to which to talk for a few minutes until the festivities really got underway, except for poor Okeris, of course. What was wrong with that boy? He was such a recluse! That was no fun!

"Okeris! How are you doing?" Pratyba called to him, gesturing for him to come talk to them. There was no reason for him to be off by himself! She immediately felt sympathy towards him: how awful it must be to not have the courage to introduce yourself to people at a party where everyone else was having fun! It took Pratyba a few seconds to realize that it was the Candidate's firelizard that was causing the problem, but, still, a crazy firelizard could be fun, too, right? Pratyba was a good party host that made sure everyone was having a good time. She'd even taken the time to make sure she knew everyone's name, and, more than that, she'd actually got someone who was competent to organize the party! If that wasn't effort, what was? Anyway, Pratyba was not one to dwell on such things. She could gloat on how well everything turned out later, but, for the moment, she was just concentrating on enjoying herself. And Pratyba was darn good at doing just that!

[/font]

[Admin]

I'm everywhere,
I'm flashing lights,
They stop and stare,
I'm fire red.

Kimber filed the name away - Luven, brown hair, light gray eyes, slightly taller than average, lean build, pale skin. He took the offered hand and gave it a firm little shake, thus snapping the name and the face to his memory forever. It was like a search and rescue mission; the information that you got couldn't be forgotten unless something far more important forced it out. The egotistical reply he go to his question he let go; the other boy quickly moved on in their little conversation anyway. And the next bit he gave was far more worrying. Apparently, some of the klah was spiked. "Oh;" he started, but then trailed off and allowed Luven to continue, still staring at his drink. He wasn't one to swear, but, for some reason, he finished the thought anyway when he replied to the other candidate. "Shit. And yeah, I'm new and it's good to meet everyone;" he said, shaking his head to clear it. He was enjoying himself, even if he'd been drinking spiked klah.

Someone popped upside him and he turned, blinking, as she announced herself to the party. He saw the flirty smile that she gave him. Normally, he would have ducked his head and said absolutely nothing. However, for some reason, he returned the smile. It wasn't exactly flirty, but it was a big, bright smile nonetheless. His inhibitions had gone off somewhere. He had no alcohol tolerance to speak of, apparently. "It's nice to meet you, Lynx. It seems to already know my name;" he said to her quietly. He bowed her, a slight inclination of his body towards her with his head low. It was a sign of respect, not a real attempt to be charming or flirt, just something that came to mind to do. Something in his mind went 'she's a girl' and thus the series of actions followed as they did. The part of his brain already doused in alcohol also added 'she's pretty', but that didn't really have any natural reaction for him. He was not someone who flirted.

I'm the perfect disaster,
You can't stop me,
Coming faster and faster,
You just watch me.

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven couldn't tell that Kimber was drunk. As he didn't know the Candidate before tonight, he didn't have any point of comparison. He didn't see the shy, reclusive Kimber that was generally who the other was; instead, he saw a friendly, easy-going young man. Luven was somewhat surprised at Kimber's choice of curse; certainly that wasn't a word he heard often. Still, as Kimber ignored Luven's poorly-thought-out statement, Luven ignored Kimber's vulgar language. Personally, he didn't see why Kimber was upset. Did he pick up some of the spiked stuff? It didn't seem like it was having any affects on him. Then, why had he found it necessary to seem so irrationally irritated? Luven quirked an eyebrow, trying to figure out Kimber and analyze his motives.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of another Candidate, yet another person Luven didn't know and needed to meet. "Yes, it's nice to meet you. That's an unusual name," he said, echoing Kimber and offering his hand again. "How did you know our names?" he asked, more curious than malevolent or defensive. He certainly couldn't have guessed at hers until a few moments ago. He beamed her a small smile to show that he didn't mean any offense by what he had said, but he was fairly certain it had gone unnoticed, as she was flirting with Kimber.

Oh, but he wasn't being a very good party host, was he? He'd taken special care to make sure that there was enough good food to last everyone for the entirety at the party, and it was a shame to see that it had gone untouched so far. He nodded at Kimber and Lynx, excusing himself, before grabbing a tray of assorted munchies, nothing substantial. In a moment, he was weaving through the crowd, offering the snacks to the partygoers. Approaching Kimber and Lynx again, he stretched out the tray to them. "Please take something," he said.

[/font]

[Birdy]

Chelo stepped out of the barracks, she wasn’t dressed up, wearing a simple white top and brown pants. She was rather excited for the party, meeting the other candidates, who if she impressed, she would probably spend the better part of her life with. Pushing her hair behind her shoulder, she headed in the direction of the party. She had gone to gathers and such at the hold, but this was different. There were only candidates here, which meant no adults. She grinned to herself, spying the entrance.
She slipped past the girl at the entrance with a small smile, not pausing to talk as some were. Pouring herself a cup of klah at the table, she sipped it, looking around. She spied a group of other candidates, since hadn’t been here long , she knew no one. Chelo stepped up behind Luven with a friendly smile.
“Hello there,” she said with another smile. “I’m Chelo.” She looked at the group, two boys and another girl. They seemed friendly enough.

[kia]

Lynx chuckled at Kimber as he said "It." She would not have gathered that he was drunk until she listened to him talking next to her. And there was Luven too. Oh how rude of her. She should give him one of those flirty smiles. And she did som flashing just as flirty as she had done with Kimber. Two males and this seemed like better odds than what she had tried with several days ago. And despite how much she had flirted with Riori, she figured she would leave him to the other guys. After all, he seemed interested in them.

"I happen to over hear your names. Sorry if that seems so rude, but I could not help it. I wanted to get to know some other Candidates since if many of us Impress than we may be in the same wings," she replied, smiling her flirty smile even more at Kimber AND Luven now. Of course the approach of another girl now meant that she would have to step her came up a notch. "Hello, Chelo," she said friendly. No, it wasn`t that she did not like the girl, she just worried she would lose the attention of the males.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okeris looked up at the sound of his name. It was a girl, Pratyba he believed her name to be, that had called to him and invited him over. He looked around at everyone else and ssaw that everyone was enjoying themselves. And they were all Candidates. He definately would not feel out of place here at all. But it still lingered in him on whether to join or not. But maybe he should try to have fun for once. He was always so serious that he would let things pass him by in life. And he did not want that to happen to him. And he would need to get use to random things because once he Impressed a dragon, there was no going back to normality. Then again, his life had never been normal.

Lira chirped and squirmed out of Okeris` arms finally. The boy looked up ad watched his Fire Lizard fly over to the girl. The Green chirped happily, as if saying hello to Pratyba, and trying to lure Okeris over. And it worked. The boy walked over, a concerned look overcasted on his face, as he looked at Lira. "Sorry about Lira. She tends to get a little too excited at times," he replied a little quietly.

[jack]

"I can't believe how late we are!"
"No kidding."
"Why didn't you come get me?"
"Excuse me? It isn't my job to get you."
"....nnn!"

Flaet bit his lip and increased his pace, agily bolting through the hallways with a determined stare. Durian was right on his heels, her usual boy-cut hair hidden by a soft blond wig. "Do you know the way?"
"Of course I do!" Flaet chirped, Run and Ram soaring in front of him, "Er..well...Run and Ram do!"
Durian snorted and shook her head, but charged after him, giving a soft curse when she nearly tripped around a corner. Reggae was perched on her bonded's shoulder, clinging for dear life as she gave soft chirps of distaste, mixed in with an enthusiatic cheering on.

And at last! there it was! Flaet slowed to a halt as he encountered the small-crowd of people, giving a sigh of relief as he put his hands on his knees and took a moment to breath. "Uh-uh, no breaks now, bub." Durian interrupted, nudging him forwards with a foot. Flaet gave a whine but moved forwards, slowing his breathing to a more relaxed pace as he let a smile slip onto his lips and he sashayed into the crowd.

And there was Pratyba. "Sorry we're late!" He chirped as he came up beside her, giving a light bow, "I had to hunt down my dancewear." Not that it wasn't worth it. The placid blues and soft greens that made up the partially-see-through pants and and the soft hip-scarves made his hair seem even darker, the silver metals attached to various bits of cloth, on his chest, on his arms, and ankles making him shine whenever he moved.

Durian snorted as she came up behind the boy, arms crossed and her favorite drum wrapped in a 'bag' of string slung over her back. "He was asleep." She corrected with a grin, "I woke up up though."

[4horseshowgirl4]

"Hey, cutie pie!" Pratyba said cheerily when she saw the little Green firelizard hovering near her face. "You're so adorable, aren't you? Who d'you belong to, hmm?" She reached out a finger to stroke Lira's tiny eye ridges, cooing like the flitter was an infant. Pratyba honestly couldn't understand why people found flitters annoying or bothersome. She simply loved them! They were all so cute and affectionate and funny... hey, Grescan's firelizard clutched, didn't she? Maybe Pratyba could get a flitter from Sweep's clutch! After all, Pratyba was Grescan's friend (kinda), and there was a chance that Grescan would give out eggs to his fellow Candidates! And even if he couldn't, if the more important people in the Weyr had claimed them, it couldn't hurt to ask, could it? Of course not!

"Grescan, Sweep clutched a while ago, didn't she? Do you, erm, know who you're going to give the eggs to? If you haven't decided, is there any way that I could, maybe, have one? I'd take good care of a firelizard, I promise!" Pratyba smiled brilliantly at the other Candidate before she heard the soft voice of another behind her. "Oh, no problem, no problem at all! I love the flitters; she can come bother me whenever she wants! Who are you? I'm Pratyba, the one running this party. Whadaya think of it so far?" Pratyba certainly had no issues with shyness, that was for sure. She was in her element at the moment, among lots of her peers, her sole job being to make everyone enjoy themselves. She was quite good at that: her energy and peppy attitude were contagious.

"Oh, Flaet and Durian! Finally, you're here!" she took a few steps away from the four, before whipping back around. "Green-flitter-boy, this is Grescan, Alalbar, and Edwa," she said, pointing to each of them in turn. "You all should be friends. Well, I have to go get the music started! You will come dance in a few minutes, right?" Without waiting for a response, Pratyba grabbed Durian's and Flaet's hands in each of hers and none-too-gently hauled them to an area where Luven or Sol or someone had set up a small platform for the musicians. Pratyba surveyed it quickly, unsure if Flaet would have enough room to dance. Well, he could always jump off the platform if he needed to, right?

"I'm glad you finally showed up! Will you two start the music? Anima was supposed to sing with you, but she's not here yet, I don't think, but I'll send her over the moment I see her. You can make do with just a drummer, though, right, Flaet?" Again, without really giving either of the two a chance to speak, Pratyba hopped onto the slightly-raised makeshift stage, stuck her pinkies into her mouth, and whistled shrilly to get everyone's attention. "Hi, everyone!" she shouted, clapping her hands happily. "I hope you're having a good time so far? Well, the music's about to start, so everyone get your butts over here and start dancing! Let's make this a real party!" With that announcement, she jumped down, letting the real performers do their thing.

The Candidate went to go hunt down Sol and tell her that she could put the spiked klah back out now, but it seemed that she never had done that in the first place. Pratyba shrugged. No one seemed to be acting too drunk at the moment, so everything was fine. She lightly skipped over to the table and grabbed herself a mug of the stuff, chugging it down quickly, nearly gagging at the bitter taste. She pondered about whether to make another announcement about the quickal in the klah, but, again, she just shrugged and did nothing. People would figure it out soon enough; it wasn't like that stuff tasted like anything else besides spiked klah. Grinning, she wondered who would be the first to be obviously drunk. Besides her, of course.

With that, Pratyba decided to start the bonfire while she was still sober enough to do that safely. It occurred to her that she should have done that before drinking the quickal-spiked klah, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. With a piece of flint, Pratyba started the fire. It was a rather small one, burning cheerily. Suddenly realizing how hungry she was, Pratyba grabbed a small piece of bread from the table, along with one of the metal rods, and quickly went to work toasting the bread. She would dance after her stomach shut up!

[wirevix]

Grescan offered a faint smile when Pratyba started babbling to him about Sweep's eggs. If she had given him a moment to explain in he would have answered her, but she was really going on high-speed it seemed--not that he could blame her, it was a party, it was only expected people would be excited, even if he in particular wasn't--so he just waited and didn't want to interrupt.

After the second run of questioning about Sweep's eggs, he finally said, "I'm not sure Sweep'll let me just hand out her eggs as I want anyway. I'd suggest you just come to the Sands when they hatch and try to get in around her. She's been on full alert lately so it won't be long before they hatch, and when they do she's going to be really crazy I'm sure."

Then she was gone, and he wasn't really sure if she'd actually heard him or not, but oh well. Whatever happened with those eggs, happened. He would do his best to get them out to people but it would mostly be based on whoever showed up in time. Sweep would go nuts of he tried to hand them out too soon, she would go and attack everyone that had been given one and it would just be general madness all through the Weyr.

He meandered over close to where the dancing was supposed to happen, but didn't jump right in or anything. He glanced about and then meandered over to the klah instead, figuring to just keep an eye out from there. Seemed like a sensible enough plan.


Shobie spotted Reggae and trilled loudly, flying out to greet her, spinning in the air about her excitedly. Alalbar managed a faint, nervous smile as he was introduced to some person or other, holding up one hand, and shuffled away to the klah bowls so he could have an excuse not to talk to people yet.

Of course, Grescan was at the one, so Alalbar went to the other so that he wouldn't have to sidle up beside him--leaving Alalbar at the spiked bowl, unaware of that. At least until he took a drink and winced from it. What in Faranth's name was that?

He'd never tasted anything alcoholic before, so he wasn't sure what it was that caused the klah's taste to change. But still, it was either drink or stand there and do nothing but stare at people, and he didn't want to look weird so he drank what he'd gotten.

And then he started to wander amongst the people quietly, keeping an eye on Shobie while the Purple tried to entice Reggae into a game. Alalbar focused mostly on not running into people.


Edwa was thrilled with Pratyba's enthusiasm, grinning and nearly hopping up and down. Finally, someone who seemed to be as generally excited as she was! And then the other girl was running off and Edwa huffed.

Ooh, dancing time! And there went Flaet, and she was running after him because they still needed to come up with a plan! But it didn't look like that was going to happen because he was apparently being hauled off so he could do dancing for the party.

Well, she could do that too! After all, she didn't want to just vanish into the crowds. She was flexy and good at tumbling, and sure she might not really know much about following a rhythm, but that wouldn't matter too awful much now would it? She ought to be able to impress them with just some acrobatic skills, right?

So she followed after Flaet and headed for the platform. Hmnn, maybe kind of small. But that was okay, she would come up with something! Maybe they could drag some tables out to make it bigger or something. Or... well... maybe not.

Either way, tonight was going to be exciting! She jumped on up onto the platform, fully confident that she belonged there, because hey, they could do a duo performance!

[Admin]

Now we're kickin' back and we're sippin' beers,
And there's a man telling stories about his inner fears,
We was all choked up and too close to tears.

"One cannot help what one observes;" Kimber replied to Lynx, to show that he was not at all offended. When Luven fetched a tray of food, he politely accepted a small piece off off of it and took a bite, washing it down with a bit of the klah he was growing more and more certain contained quickal. Unfortunately, the more he tried to test that by drinking more from his cup, the less able he was able to and the less important it seemed. He returned the flirty smile that Lynx was giving him and Luven then with one of his coy ones. They really just came off that was because of his shy nature.

Another person, another girl, had joined their little group. "Hello Chelo. I'm Kimber, in case you didn't hear Lynx's announcement of my name;" he greeted the blond. Like he had done with the first, feline-like female arrival to the conversation, he gave her a slight, polite bow. There was actual amusement in his voice at the last part of his introduction, which was a little out of character, but no one here knew his real character, did they? Oh, wait, there was Durian. He gave her a little wave, but then focused back on the group he was actually with. She knew how he tended to act.

Another bit of food, another sip of laced klah. "So, where are you all from?" Another bit of food, another sip of laced klah. "I'm from Crescent Hold, though it was Eastern originally." Another bit of food, another sip of laced klah. He was trying to be outgoing, friendly, personable, conversational. That wasn't who he generally was, but it was who he was trying to be for the better of something (himself, the Weyr, Pern, he wasn't quite sure) and just constantly returning to one action made it easier. And easier. And easier. Klah with quickal in it tended to have that effect on people.

Well I said hello about an hour ago,
And we were headed on down to the big brass show,
But we did not see the gas was low.

[Birdy]

Chelo smiled at the boy, "Hello Kimber, Lynx," she said, nodding to each in turn. She sipped the klah, frowning at it's strange teaste, she was about to mention it but thought otherwise. Perhaps their klah was different? She doubted that, she'd had the stuff every morning since she'd arrived. She shrugged it off, sipping it again. "I'm from Ista," she added with another sip of klah.

[kia]

Lynx smiled at Kimber as he seemed to rant a little, but he seemed nice in general. She liked that quality in a boys and girls. Though there had been a few girls in the past that she seemed interested in before, she never got far with them. But she did have some experience when it came to guys. She loved to flirt and tease with them, give them a kiss, and move away to see if they were truly interested in her. But she was fickle and because she had grown up in Ista, Ista Weyr boys were too much like the boys at Ista Hold, so she say them more like friends. But the people here at Dalibor were very interesting nd very different. And she liked this. Maybe she could play a little cat and mouse here. She needed to stretch her claws a little.

As the boy spoke and then the girl, Chelo, spoke, Lynx moved in a little closer to Kimber like she had done with guys previously. She smiled as she listened to them, but her eyes kept going back and forth on Kimber and Luven. She only moved closer to Kimber because he was the closests to her. If Luven wanted a little attention, she would be more than happy to give him the attention he wanted. But if Kimber showed interest, she would return the interest as well. Picky, picky. She would wait a little bit longer and see who was more interested before she made her move. And even if she was not looking for an over night, she was interested in spreading the seeds of interest where they may be a future relationship, possibly.

"Wow, I am just meeting people all over from Ista," she replied to Chelo. "I was from a smaller hold that was too small to be its own hold, so they just refered to us as a branch of Ista Hold. Of course, the last two years I have been at Ista Weyr trying to Impress. And after standing at 9 different Hatching, because the Queens seemed to be very fertile there as well as here, I figured it was time to move on and that my dragon may be here at Dalibor," she replied, smiling friendly at Chelo and still flashing her flirty smiles to Luven and Kimber. The males were not bad looking. Cute even. It was hard to choose one. Just be patient, she told herself. One will show enough interest. She reached over and grabbed some klah, taking a sip. There was a small spike to it, but she figured it must be the difference in the different continent`s klahs. She continued to flirt with Luven and Kimber.

[jack]

"Whoa.." And faster than a dancer's skirts they were being yanked away, Flaet's wide-eyed gaze thrust upon the crowd as he was roughly dragged from one place and pushed towards a stage, nearly stumbling right into it. Fact of the matter was, he did stumble into it when Durian--with a squeak--tumbled towards him. Cringing in pain he straightened, giving a quick bow to Pratyba, "Oh yes, a drummer will dooo.." He trailed off as Pratyba was off again, and Durian was already setting up, seeming a bit better adjusted to the girl.

"Like a spooked flitter." Flaet mumbled absently, looking blankly at the retreating Candidate's back.
"Yeah...she's an odd one. Nailed her head to the bottom of her bed once."
"Wha..? By Faranth, how'd she do that?"
"Don't ask me. I had to get her out, but i'll never figure out how she got in." Shrugging, Durian set down to the side of the stage, beating out a gentle beat to warm up. "Hurry up and get up there, y' wherrybrain."

Flaet scoffed but gracefully flipped onto the stage, a drumroll filling the air as Durian immediately set into work. And there was Edwa. Flaet grinned and tapped over as the drumroll folded into a lazy pattern, Durian's eyes on Flaet as she watched his movements and adjusted her beat to suit the subtle hints of an ad-libbing performer.

"Think you can keep up?" Flaet whispered as he executed a gentleman's bow to Edwa, grinning broadly, "I can avoid you well enough, but you'll have to keep a beat, sweet." The dancer winked and suddenly whirled to the side, performing a partial flip as Durian's drum beat took a tropical--if pronounced and edgey--sound to it.

Her foot was keeping the average beat, Flaet mused as he felt the vibrations on the platform as she tapped against it, the hollow dance floor acting as a make-shift drum for the basic rhythm. It was clever and simple, allowing both him and her to keep in tune even as her hands turned her tall drum into a playground of different feels. It was a good mix.

Reggae rose into the air as Durian and Flaet began a slow, simple dance that--while Flaet's atheltics couldn't be easily matched--was easy enough to sway to. She darted towards Shobie as his cries filled the air, her own echoing in mix with Durian's drum. Eyes whirling with happiness she dive-bombed the purple mid-air, cheeping her pleasure even as she barrel-rolled away.

But while Reggae was eagerly enticed into a game, Run and Ram were setting to business, flying around their bonded and betweening as they darted between his legs and in the air milliseconds before his arms whisped through. They hummed as they flew, matching his beat and Durian's beat with the careful attention of fire lizards raised by a dancer should have.

[Kila]

Sol had been around helping set things since mid-day, following Pratyba’s orders good-naturedly and running hither a thither at her bidding. It had turned out quite well, she thought, considering she had only been roped in that morning. She’d had no part in the planning, just the execution, but she didn’t mind at all. Now people were arriving and she and Pratyba could stand back proudly and survey the fun to come. But not for long.

In short order Pratyba had disappeared, turning back only to order to remove the bowl of spiked punch. Sol frowned. They’d gone through so much trouble to get it there. She didn’t plan to partake, personally, but she had no protest to seeing the others make fools of themselves. Ah well, she was sure, as Pratyba affirmed, that it would be out later once darkness began to fall.

Wandering back over to the makeshift table that held the punch bowls, Sol noticed that the level was lower than when they had left it. She snapped her fingers half-heartedly, a grin playing on her face. Shells. Looks like someone had already gotten into it! The girl loved seeing other people happy, and happy and drunk usually coincided. Nonetheless, Sol picked up the large bowl and began to toddle over to some nearby foliage, intending to hide it as inconspicuously as she could and sashay away. As she gathered the container in her arms, though, she paused. After a brief consideration during which she stood, looking down into the bowl pensively, she set it wordlessly back on the table and slid into the crowd.

Her work and damage here was done, so perhaps now she could finally begin to put names to all the faces around her. [coughcomeinteractwithhershesadorablecough]

[fidelli]

my eyes are open wide and by the way,
i made it through the day
i watched the world outside
by the way, I'm leaving out today

;;it was a volcano moving, and she watched him with amusement. he may not have seen it himself, the way he carefully held himself, so sure, so confident. he could have been a harper, the way that everything was done with thought, the words carefully pronounced and thought out, the elegant twist to every gesture. but to her, everything seemed just a little too controlled, a little too perfect. it gave him a wooden quality that she didn't like. she loved the intensity she saw under his skin, the powerful way he carried and held himself, the seething explosion of emotional energy just under his skin. she wanted to tap that, and let him feel like it was to be free. but she realized, even as he turned to her with that powerful lopsided crooked grin, brimming with mischievousness, that only a few people could see the way he harnessed his aggression, the way he reined in the forcefulness that was as apart of him as his words. he was a hypnotist who didn't let you notice, except to draw you closer and make you want to find out what made him the way he was. it was the eyes, she decided, letting callused fingertips run up and down the stone subconsciously, just to feel the roughness. it was the way that he held your eyes with his own clay colored ones, the sparks shooting off like thread in the distance. it was the way they seemed to bleed right through you, eating away your exterior and baring your soul to the world.

;;kanamar glanced at the girl who was sitting across from him, and didn't mind that she caught him watching her and then looked away again, content on studying him. he studied her as well, leaning against the rough wall with his arms crossed and thick lashes lazily dropped so he had to peer out from them. even as she sat there she didn't sit still, her hands running back and forth, her face set in concentration. there was something about her that made him want to grab, the way that she seemed untouchable. she was unbridled emotion - she was a young filly that wouldn't be tamed, running up and letting you pet but never would a rope be allowed around her neck. he wanted to capture that energy, but there was something in the way that she held her narrow face, the way that the scars on her knuckles stayed white and taunt, that made him realize messing with the girl was probably a bad thing. she rose, suddenly, and he knew he had her, even as he looked down his long - and slightly crooked - nose at her. it was nice that she wasn't as tiny as other girls her age - he had to crane over to see any of them. "well?"

;;it broiled her that he had guessed, and on impossibly long legs she bounded away. "well what?" he followed, pushing from the wall of the weyr to laugh in her face. "well, are you going to go exploring with me or not? or are you chicken?" she turned her head towards him, jutting out a narrow chin and lifting one gold-brown eyebrow. "i" - and the emphasis made it all the more amusing - "am not afraid of anything." he taunted her now, even as the white and black beast she called her best friend came wagging over, long tail happily whipping back and forth to see what was going on. "well, then prove it. come exploring with me. see what it's like to be a candidate." they were a mixed pair, the two of them.

;;she bit at her lower lip, throwing him a glare from the only thing on her she thought was pretty. the dark sapphire eyes met his own balefully, and she knew that the pools were hardening into chips of ice. she would not be a candidate, would not stand - a'mor had noyth, f'del had altith, two amazing dragons. she loved them, loved everything about them - but she would not stand, because she would not impress. she wasn't good enough for the dragons.

;;kanamar watched as doubt filled those eyes, as she hid them with anger, and knew that he had her. he didn't understand why this girl hid herself under baggy clothes, didn't understand why she chopped off gorgeous thick tawny hair to a ragged mess that was as short as any boys. she hid a beautiful body, hid a wonderful face behind bruises and hid the prettiest personality under a brash and cocky attitude. he had seen what was under there, when they had begun to talk - he wanted the rest of the world to see it to. even now, he reached out and brushed the scabbed over slash down her face - it would heal without scaring - and asked her, "does it hurt?"

;;anima, or nim, blinked at the random change in topic, but only tossed her head and danced out from under his hand. "`course not. `sides, i paid him back for kicking the feline." now she considered him, trying to figure out the motive behind getting her to go see the candidates. he didn't want to impress, had told her as much - he was upset that the bronze had just snatched him up and deposited him here. but he didn't leave, and when she asked him why he shrugged, and muttered duty. she understood. he had been forever an apprentice, and even now a journeyman - it would be years before he came near masters, and years before he would take over the caravan his trader family owned. why not see if he could make his own way in the world, become something more than following in the footsteps of another? he was molded as he grew up, and now he wondered if he was where he was because he was that good - or because of his family. she understood, and sympathized. even more, she was happy, for it was the starting of a new gang.

;;"nim. bring that monster, find that brat, and lets go meet them." she turned on him severely, and he only laughed in her face and raced down the stairs that led to the bowl, leaving her alone. shaking her head, and laughing anyway, she brought two fingers to her lips and blew through them - an ear splitting whistle and aren, her canine, was by her side. klepto, her bronze, was through the air from between, chattering excitedly and showing her images of people and colors, young ones. she smiled at him, but raced down the stairs behind him, yelling, "attack!" anything his wanted from him, he would do, so he put away his pictures of the party to show her later and flew after that tall stick, bugling loudly. aren came up, already at her thigh and only six months old, barking loudly and tripping over too big paws, as kanamar laughed and led her towards the group.

;;they were walking together now, him in a black tunic, gray pants, and riding boots and looking quite dashing, her in a pair of far too big breeches and a shirt that was large enough to fit a very heavy person inside, and going barefoot. the shirt was tucked in the front and hanging out the back - the pants were held up by a piece of hide that served as a belt. the large bronze was cradled around her neck, peering out at the world in general, while the canine danced around their feet. he had taken her a long way around, letting the forestfire dim to a campfire, and now she only gamboled instead of sprinted around him. a beat from nearby was playing, a heavy drum, and he surprised her by opening her throat and singing the words to the beat. it was a simple melody, a softer lullaby, and he led her into the party without her realizing it, even as she sang. only when she realized that she had just been brought among a bunch of people did she snap her mouth shut and blush a ragged red, bringing her hand up to run through her hair and the other backhanding kanamar across the shoulder.

;;the tall male only laughed, proud of the fact that she was going to make friends - her brother and he agreed, on that aspect. she needed to make friends that weren't just guys... and speaking of not just boys... "my fellow candidates - this is anima." she glared at him, and he fixed his mistake. "nim. she's a tagalong with her rider brother. perhaps ya'll can be nice to her... or make her sing. you have a dancer, and a drummer..." he smirked at her as she flushed red again, and was off on his own, bearing down on the pretty girl slipping away from the punch. he did enjoy flirting with girls as pretty as that... "now, now." he grabbed her hand as she turned away, a smooth motion that should spin her around and allow him to bring the hand up to his lips to kiss, even as he tried to bow over it and hope that he succeeded. she could be gay, after all. "surely a lady as pretty as yourself isn't off to leave the party? after all, it only just got started."

;;nim, meanwhile, was staring blankly at the people she had been shoved next to, and while aren was happily asking for scratches and klepto was sliding off her shoulder to find something shiny, she was feeling like an idiot. ah well, only one thing to do at that point. sneak away really slowly while pretending to look at the nice party, mumbling excuses like, "ah, sorry about him. he was dropped on his head at birth." she was going to kill kanamar.

i just saw hayley's comet, she waved
said why you always running in place?
even the man in the moon disappeared
somewhere in the stratosphere

[4horseshowgirl4]

Luven returned Lynx's smile rather uncertainly, a toothy, small grin. It wasn't exactly flirtacious, but it wasn't exactly discouraging. Luven wasn't entirely sure what to make of this girl: he knew he wasn't the best with people, but it usually wasn't difficult for him to get a handle on others' characters. She seemed fun and easy-going enough, and she certainly was pretty, but Luven wasn't entirely sure how serious she was with her advances. The way she treated every male present the same (except Kimber, on whom she seemed to be aiming most of her efforts for the moment), and her manner of being almost too... too casual with her flirtaciousness. Small things, yes, but it didn't take much to plant a seed of doubt concerning how serious she was in Luven's mind. He was cautious with making friends and possibly finding himself a girlfriend, and the last thing he wanted to do was to jump recklessly into a relationship with someone he hardly knew.

The next moment, he felt rather ashamed of himself. Poor Lynx wasn't having much luck with her efforts, as Luven was too nervous to react and Kimber didn't seem much interested. Besides, he was an eighteen-Turn-old male, and one of the longest-Standing Candidates here. Wasn't he supposed to be at least somewhat comfortable around women? This was ridiculous. So, slowly, his smile brightened, strengthened, and Luven winked subtly at Lynx, putting a little sincerity into the gestures. He relaxed, standing more at ease, looking far more confident than he felt. Internally, his heart was pounding rapidly in apprehension of her reaction. He wasn't experienced at this game, after all. What if she blew him off? What if she laughed? No, thought Luven to himself, a stronger voice overcoming the silly, wimpy one that questioned himself before. Everything will be fine, I'm sure. The statements weren't much, but they were enough to fill Luven with some of the quiet bravado and cockiness that he was displaying on the outside.

"I'm from Fort, originally from the Harpererhall," Luven replied to Kimber, supplying the last bit of information with a twinge of inward regret. Hopefully, no one would ask him about it. Well, if someone did ask, he could always say that his parents were a Journeyman and Journeywoman and Luven had become a Candidate instead of following in their footsteps. It wasn't a lie, after all, it just wasn't the entire truth. He still didn't like thinking about his roots-- his complete and utter failure as a Harper, despite the effort he'd put into that craft, still shamed him. It was an uncomfortable thought in his mind which seemed like something he should be able to ignore but somehow wasn't able to. Any reflection on his time at the Harperhall was like a pebble in his leather boot in that sense, except for the fact that a pebble was, mercifully, removable. He didn't like to admit that there'd ever been something at which he hadn't excelled; he liked a position at the top of the totem pole, fleeting as the position could be. Top in Candidate lessons, top in party-planning, top in... well, there wasn't really much else he could add to the scanty list at the moment. One day, there will be, he vowed silently to himself.

He couldn't help but feel slightly drawn to Lynx when she said she'd stood at nine Hatchings without Impressing. It was a small comfort to know there were others like him who had stood at such a large number of Clutches that they nearly numbered in the double digits, though Lynx had Stood at more than Luven's eight. Somewhere in the most logical part of Luven's brain, he knew that Standing for so long didn't necessarily mean anything if it took longer for His to be clutched, but in the emotional part of it, where he carefully guarded his pride, his ambition, his intangible but undeniable desire to succeed, to come out on top, the number of clutches at which he Stood was also a strike against him. What if some of the others thought the same way? No, no, he wouldn't give them an excuse to belittle him. Better keep that quiet, too.

Luven's ear caught the faint sound of drumming. Whoever the drummer was, he or she was quite talented. It took skill to coax music (or, at least something that wasn't just a mere rhythm, something that had some sort of depth to it) out of a drum. Oh, had the dancing started? His foot began to tap quite of its own accord. Though he lacked any and all talent when it came to music, he was still born for a love of it, even though that love had been rather diluted by his bitter memories involving it. If there was one thing he had taken from his years at the Harperhall, however, he was pleased to know that he had at least learned how to dance properly. True, he was far from graceful and deft like Flaet or acrobatic like Edwa, but he knew all the steps and how not to stomp on his partner's foot. That had to count for something, right? "Lynx, Chelo, would either of you like to dance?" he asked suavely, setting the tray of food down back on the table and offering a hand.

[/font]

[Admin]

I hope you never fear those,
mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance,
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin'.

Ista, Ista, Fort. All of them were from the the Northern Continent, where he'd never been. Kimber had always lived by warm or temperate oceans. He supposed Ista would be a bit like Eastern, but there wouldn't be the rain forests and all the tropical plants, would there? So what would it actually be like? He couldn't even image how Fort would be. Crescent, and here, was the coldest place he'd ever been and the weather around here tended to be fair. Fort had colder, harsher seasons, or at least so he'd been told. Perhaps one day, after he'd Impressed, he would actually visit one of those places. If he Impressed. Even if he didn't, he'd like to go to the north sometime in the future. If he could manage to at some point. Whatever.

Despite some slow musings, that sounded just a bit drunken to even him, about where the others were from and how he wished to go there, much of his attention became fixed on Lynx and Luven. The girl had moved closer to him, which he was perfectly happy about. But the boy was winking and smiling at her, which irked him for some odd reason. He wasn't normally an angry or aggressive person. He also normally didn't act on any interest he had towards someone. As the half-finished cup of spiked klah in his hand suggested, he wasn't exactly under normal circumstances. Alcohol had an interesting effect on him, not that he really knew. It broke him out of his shell, which meant he acted more normally since it brought out many normal emotions. Unfortunately, it also brought out jealousy, playing off his normally loyal and protective nature.

Then the dancing was starting, and, in the background, someone was introducing someone new to the party, but that didn't really matter to him. Luven was asking Chelo and Lynx if either of them wanted to dance, which just wasn't cool. He didn't care about Chelo. Well, he did, as she seemed very nice; he simply didn't care all that much that the other candidate was asking her to dance. That sincere, shy little smile he'd had on since Lynx had joined them faded for just a flash of a moment. Then it came back as a very simple idea came into his head. "If Lynx doesn't mind, I'd like to have this dance. I'm sure Chelo would have to dance with you, Luven;" he said. The start was emphasized. Both of them were more than free to object and dance with who they wished.

However, he proceeded to down the rest of the contents of his cup and set it on the nearest available flat surface without a care. With a smile that actually looked vaguely flirty now, but mostly confident and a bit mischievous, he took Lynx's hand and gently started to lead her towards where the music was. He didn't move fast or tug or pull at her, but simply took the lead and made an attempt to get Luven out of the picture. Inhibitions, rationality, and sensibilities thrown out the window, the part of him that would normally be classified as actually part of him left her a room to escape but the new part of him, fueled by alcohol and his low tolerance and inexperience with it, wanted just to move forward. And to dance.

I hope you dance, I hope you dance.
I hope you dance, I hope you dance.
Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years,
nd wonder where those years have gone.

[Birdy]

Chelo watched Lynx, wondering if she would accept the invitation. But it was Kimber who decided that, to her slight annoyance, choosing the dance with Lynx and leaving her to dance with Luven. Not that she didn’t want to dance with Luven. She flashed a friendly smile at him, “I’ll dance with you,” she said, taking his hand. She sipped the klah again, suddenly remembering what the strange taste in the klah was. Quickal, she remembered, frowning slightly. Maybe it was her annoyance with Kimber, or the alcohol was starting to take effect, but she really didn’t care if the klah was spiked, the point of this party was to have a good time right? She flashed another smile at Luven, “Shall we?”

[kia]

Lynx listen to Luven as he told them where he was from. HarperHall? She wanted to ask him if he played an instrument or something. She loved music and the way it flowed. She could even hear music in the wind, she would swear. She loved to listen to music and dance around. Or at least her version of dancing. No one had seen her dance before because she would not allow it. She worried that she did not have any rhythm and that her "dancing" was just a bunch of weird movements. Movements that looked like someone was trying to run away from a bunch of stinging insects.

She then heard the drums and the music before she could ask Luven her question. Music. It was so beautiful. Why could she have not been born with some unique ability? Like dancing or singing or playing an instrument? Maybe she had been born with some ability, but because he parents were always trying to control her and turn her into some future man`s wife that she did not have time to find her tru ability. She sighed, wanting to curse her parents. But she would not. They had been parents and were only interested in her best.

Then she heard Luven ask her or Chelo to dance. She smiled. She had noticed his winks and smiles. Those had definately not gone unnoticed. This made her feel better that he was still interested in her. But what about Chelo? Was he also interested in her? She was about to take the offer when Kimber said he wanted to dance with Lynx. He took her hand and started leading her onto the dance. She looked back at Luven. "Next dance, I promise to dance with you, Luven," she called back, wanting to give each guy a chance to show their interest in her. But, depending on if Kimber was wanting Lynx to himself, she may have made a mute promise. But she did want to give Luven a fair chance too.

~~~~~~~~~

Okeris whistled and called Lira back to his shoulder. The little Green did not want to leave the people. It was so interesting and so many things to see. But Okeris was feeling a little out of place and he wanted her nearby. She sensed this and came right to him. She knew Hers was not a coward nor would he run away. But there were some cases where he was not comfortable with things. And maybe the fact he was not near anyone was making his uneasiness increase. She chirped and nuzzled his cheek, letting him know that she was there.

[4horseshowgirl4]

As soon as Kimber said that, Luven nodded slightly in agreement. It was almost of a relinquishment, but it shamed Luven slightly to think of Lynx as no more than an object to be subtly traded between them. Coming from the Harperhall, where the girls were as talented as the boys, Luven lacked the sexism that was prominent in other, more physical, crafts. He tended to be warier of those of the opposite sex for that, as they had emotions no more lucid to Luven than anyone, and he had never been good about dealing with people in the first place.

He felt a small burn of shame inside. Well, his attempts at flirting had hastily tanked. He really did need to improve at this! Or... maybe he was better than he thought, and that was why Kimber had said what he did? As he thought this, Luven nearly laughed aloud. Surely he hadn't become that cocksure of himself! No, no, he wasn't; the mere idea that his suavity (or lack thereof) with women had caused jealousy in another was ridiculous. An almost imperceptable blush crept onto his cheeks, and he quickly swigged a sip of klah, so if anyone noticed, they could attribute it to the alcohol. Of course, Luven had oh-so-carefully checked that his was not spiked. This might be a party, but he was not taking the chance of getting himself tossed out of Candidacy right before the Hatching.

It lifted his heart for a second to see her smile back at him. It wasn't that he was attracted to her (though she was nice enough; if Kimber hadn't taken her already, Luven was sure that he could learn to like her beyond friendship), but it was the fact that his attempts at acting flirtaciously had not gone unnoticed or unappreciated by their target. "Oh, no, thank you, Lynx, but you two enjoy yourselves," he called back to her with a hurried nod to Kimber. He hoped that she would understand that he was just trying to keep the waters from being stirred and not shunning her.

Luven turned to Chelo, smiling graciously. It was good of her to agree to dance with him, though she hardly knew him. He squeezed her hand warmly. "We shall," he returned, leading her to the impromptu dance floor. The drumming was quite good, but without instrumentation or singing, it was still unlike anything to which Luven was used. "Do you know how to dance?" he asked curiously, taking her hand again and gingerly placing his other hand on her waist.

[/font]

[Birdy]

Chelo watched the pair walk off, Luven seemed a bit put off, she noticed, that Kimber had chosen Lynx. Well, she thought, Lynx had been there first, and she was quite pretty. She fought back the jealous frown, threatening to appear on her face.

Forcing another smile for Luven, she followed him to wards the dance floor. She watched him, as he prepared to dance, smiling more genuinely at his question. "I've danced a few times," she replied, a mischievous grin replacing her smile. She was telling the truth, back at the hold she'd danced with other boys at Gathers and other parties.