Who

Talya. Th'res

What

Th'res finds a Southern bartender-turned-candidate for a friendly visit and to give encouragement.

When

It is late night of the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Standing Stones

OOC Date 25 Feb 2018 07:00

 

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Standing Stones

It is perhaps a pity that the Standing Stones lie in quiet isolation, half-forgotten in the Weyr's easternmost corner. Or perhaps it is inevitable: the grandiose beauty of these red rocks is ill-suited to Igen's coarse grit, and maybe only their loneliness allows them to survive unmarred. Whatever the reason, it cannot be denied that the Standing Stones, a lonely jumble of ancient boulders, have a glory about them. The tumbled field of pillars and arches has been shaped by eons of wind and water into strange shapes, twisted and rutted. The going is treacherous: only the Weyr's half-feral herd of caprines navigates the terrain with any ease. To the northwest, the lakeshore glimmers; to the east, rough-carved steps lead towards another ancient pile of rocks - though the Star Stones are less haphazardly placed than their Standing cousins.


It is hot, but it is a dry heat.. That is a phrase Th'res, the blue riding wingsecond from southern never really understood until he visited Igen. Unlike the humidity where you feel like your drowning in your own clothes. Here at Igen it is HOT, but he takes it in stride, but where is a visiting rider to go in a Weyr so foreign to him it might as well be on the Red Star? Why to an ancient rock out cropping because he is still a miner at heart and maybe has a few rocks in his head.

Talya seems to approve of the dryer heat of the desert Weyr, enjoying the outdoors much more often than the indoors. Or perhaps it was that the indoors was getting crowded with candidates and she had just a little time to herself to run away— er, get some fresh air. She's actually clambered up on the standing stones to find a higher perch, finding small handholds into the rock to pull herself up. Her hands have a few bandaged fingers, she looks worn out, and is enjoying some meatrolls she snagged from the kitchens. And nothing else. No wine skin, no flask, nothing. She's gone as dry as the weather. From her vantage point she should notice Th'res, but the young woman's lost in her own train of thoughts.

TH'res is short it is true, easily missed in the red rock sea as his hair actually might help him blend in. So it will come as a shock as he pops his head up over the side of the stone and say to the candidate "OH SHARDS THE EGGS ARE HATCHING WE GOT TO GO!!!!!" Yeah he might get kicked in the head for this but he is pretty sure she would do the same. He has a firm hold on the rock in case she does take a swing at him.

Oh, it is funny. Really, it is! If it was done on anyone but her. Talya does not know much about Weyrs, even having lived at one for a Turn now. And so when she hears the words 'eggs' and 'hatching' in the same sentence, the girl nearly has a heart attack. She does actually stand up on the stone and swings around, nearly tripping over the edge. She does in fact fall back when she sees Th'res instead, onto her ass and hands. She hisses at the pain, though thankfully the bandaged fingers helped prevent any scraping. There is definitely a glare for Th'res. "They're not /really/ hatching, are they?" The smushed meatroll she discarded is snagged and she throws it at the red head. At least it is not a rock.

The red head has been meatrolled and he just can't stop laughing "No no, trust me when they do this whole Weyr will sound like a humming storm." Th'res climbs up and kneels down next to the candidate saying "Sorry.." He is sorry she got hurt but still smiles happily as he talks with his best friend "How are you doing?"

Talya is only going to glare even more at the man laughing at her now. "I think I heard something about that," she mumbles and does her best not to look embarassed at her own ignorance. She does not take the man's help, sitting up herself but staying where she remained. "I'm doing— oh." A sudden realization comes to her mind as she glances around them, then actually focuses on him. "What are you doing here? I mean… I didn't really have time to go and find you and tell you." So she may have tried to pass on a message. To someone. Whether Th'res heard from word of mouth or by actually having to find out himself later, she didn't know. But she at least tried. She waves a hand out towards the unfamiliar Weyr. "I'm cut up from peeling tubers and probably smell like the latrines, but I'm good." There's an actual smile she shares with Th'res at that fact.

Th'res chuckles and nods saying "I been there, the secret is to do the latrines before the tubers then the cooks send you off to do something else and you don't loose your fingers." Ah sharing the wisdom is nice right? He moves to sit down next to her saying "Well I came to see my friends, concidering two of you are candidates now!!" He seems as excitable as his blue is, but he does school his features to be more relaxed as he askes "How you feeling? I know they don't let you drink here.."

"That… that is actually brilliant," Talya says with a chuckle. "Of course it still means I have to do latrines, but I think that's the best thing I've heard all day." Her mind is going to start planning, and she reaches out to give the redhead a pat on the shoulder as he settles down beside her. "I won't hurt you for that trick you pulled now. Thanks." As if she really was going to, besides the meatroll she lost. She tilts her head to one side, regarding him curiously as she puts two and two together. "Would that be Xanthee then? She mentioned you and said she stood back at Southern." When it comes to reminding her about the no drinking, she makes a face. "At least they keep us busy that I don't have to think on it too often but… Shit, Th'res, it's /hard/. I really could use a drink to just get over the shock of being asked to stand. It's like a weird dream."

Th'res nods "Yup Xanthee and I go back a ways, she got asked to leave candidacy right before the hatching…" It is a sad look that goes over his face before he shakes it off and grins at her, "I hear you though about the drinking, I really do. And if you get the dragon you will be dry for at least two turns.. I swear I thought I was going to die." Because to befair he had a lot of help from D'wane and his obstacle course. He looks over at her and gives her a winning smile "You can do it though. WE know you can…"

Talya smacks one hand into the other the moment some connection is made in her mind— and then she winces, remembering her poor damaged hands. "So she /is/ the one that got kicked out of candidacy. I suspected it when she warned me off of trouble. Pretty serious, that one, I'm actually surprised." This candidate is not making any friends yet at Igen. She sighs, big and heavy, at the reminder. "It would be worth it, though, finding… finding a lifemate." Any laughter in her face disappears when she turns to look at him again and that smile. "I never thought I'd actually be given the chance. But I will miss you and Jedameth." Though having a dragon would also mean instant travel to go visit, which makes her bad mood slowly disappear. "How have you been, anyway?"

Th'res just keeps smiling saying "you won't miss us for long. Do you really think my blue will NOT come up here every chance he gets to see you and your new life mate grow?" Because Jedameth would totally camp out in the bowl if he could. He looks over at the landscape saying with an amused tone "Besides, be too mad at you for leaving with out a good bye. I mean if you get to join the ranks of riders then you will finally get to see what me and Jedameth have been telling you for a while now.. That you are amazing."

"You two have your own lives to live too," Talya points out with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Not that I would complain. It's nice to have an actual friend around. I even made Xanthee cry." She follows his gaze out at, taking in the unfamiliar scenery with a rather warm smile on her face, regardless of the fact she wasn't getting along with her fellow candidates. It's not a very common sight to see. "You aren't going to start yelling at me again for not saying goodbye now, are you?" She turns back to the bluerider with a raised brow. "You keep saying that, but there are bad riders too, you know."

Th'res actually is taken back when she says she made Xanthee cry, there is that sudden urge to talk to her like he is the over protective dad or brother, but a gentle nudging from the blue stops that train of thought. "No I am not going to yell, but please try not make my friend cry as much." Because that is Th'res trying to look out for people all the time. When she talks about being a bad rider he laughs saying "I know I am friends with most of them it seems." Because there is F'kan and D'ex for sure on that list "You will do fine. WE will be here when the hatching happens."

Talya goes back to picking at the bandages to give her something to look at other than the bluerider when he mentions not making his friend cry. "Not like I did it on purpose." This time at least. Though making people cry really was not her thing. Embarassment and playing jokes, that was something different. "I just mean I'm not doing a good job at making friends with the candidates here. But that ain't really a surprise." Her dark eyes lift up to give him a look. "You're friends with everyone it seems, Th'res." But the idea of him being out there cheering for her makes her smile yet again, only to have it completely wipe clean from her face as something seems to cross her mind. "And if anyone from Black Rock want a ride to the hatching, do not give it to them. I have no idea what they're doing back at Southern with the homeless holders, but there's no face from there that I'd like to see in the crowd." Because if there is anyone nice enough to a ride to a drunk stranger or two to a hatching halfway across Pern, it would be Th'res.

Th'res nods and says "ok I won't give your dad a ride up here, but if you impress you know he is going to come a visiting." See Th'res isn't as simple as people, and himself, make him out to be. He knows the score between the candidate and her family and is wholly on the young womans side. "And making friends will happen, I didn't really start making friends till Jedameth came into the picture."

Talya's smile disappears, face dark, when her father is pointed out. "Only to get a bag full of marks from me to pay off debts," Talya growls out regarding the idea of her visiting old man. It's a good thing she had left Southern when he may end up there at the end of it all with their old home underwater. "But really, no one else either. There's no one good that came from home that would know me." She makes sure to meet his gaze, to make him know she was serious about that. Big happy times like hatchings and Impressions should be shared with people she liked. The expression turns to surprise at his admission on his friendship skills. "I probably would have been your friend without Jedameth, you know. Though he does help." Because she actually loves that dragon, being the first she finally got comfortable with.

Th'res shakes his head "actually with out Jed I would be well on my way to my Master knot burried in some deep cave somewhere." He leans back slightly "I was a workaholic.." he stops and then adds with a grin "Ok a worse one than I am now. I would go days with out breaks till a project was done, no fishing, drinking, seeing people." He looks over at her saying "A Dragon will change your life, you will find parts of yourself in them. Desires will show up that you never wanted before, but they will be there."

Talya opens her mouth quickly and then snaps it shut when Th'res corrects himself, giving him a smirk. Yeah, she was totally going to point out his work habits now. "That I can see," she says with a firm nod. "Though you really haven't changed all too much, putting your nose in one project after another. What's next?" There is one meatroll left behind, not smushed at least, which she finally picks up and holds up to the visiting bluerider in offer. "I never thought someone like me would stand the chance. I never even got a sniff from any dragon that visited Black Rock, not that I was ever near one til I went to Southern. But the thought that I'd always have someone there every moment, someone to trust wholeheartedly… " She shrugs her shoulders and actually looks a little embarassed for once, eyes staring off in the direction of Igen's hatching grounds. "Well, it's a nice thought."

Th'res takes the roll and splits it giving the larger half back to her saying "well next, is a nice long work out of learning your place in the weyr by doing all those fun duties. And in each duty there is an actual lesson that you will learn when having a dragon." He grins at her saying "And don't forget the feeling of no sleep. But yes in the end it is worth it, and you are special I know Jedameth has told you just as such.." Yup that is as close as the blue rider will get to an I told you so.

Talya takes the larger piece without argument, giving it a bite as he goes on about the chores and the lessons. "I still don't see see where cleaning latrines has to do with learning your place as a dragonrider," comes the reluctant growl. "The lessons, the PT, the more heavy manual labor— /that/ is great, and understandable. Peeling tubers is just torture." She lifts her one hand, bandaged up as it is, to show the man while her other is feeding her mouth the rest of that meatroll. And when she swallows it down she gives a roll of her eyes. "Fine, fine," she reluctantly admits. "You're never going to let me live this down now, are you?" There will be subtle I told you so's for the rest of her life.

Thinking about it honestly, "Well if you ever out rank me then maybe. But not till then" comes the answer from Th'res. The red head grinning over at his friend saying "if I tell you now what the lesson is you will be bored all through candidacy." He stares off towards the hatching sands asking "you touched the eggs yet?"

Talya had not even considered that idea, and her eyes widen quickly. "There is the possibility of outranking you someday," she says in surprise… and with a cackle. As if that very idea may never have occurred to her. "But I have a feeling that ain't going to happen, Wingsecond." She lifts a finger and none too gently pokes the shoulder that has the knot. The one that she never really got to congratulate him for appropriately. The mention of egg touching makes her get a funny look— it's part in awe, part discomfort. "I still sometimes get weirded out by dragon voices just popping up in my head. But eggs making me… /feel/ things. And not always pleasant things." She does not look in the direction of the hatching grounds, and instead studies Th'res. "Do you remember what egg Jedameth came out of, and what it made you feel?"

Th'res nods and reaches into his jacket to pull out a small pendent from his jacket, lodge inside what could be rough glass or amber is a piece of blue shell. The coloring of the blue is..Glossy glass shelters painful darkness: the night encapsulated in glittering brilliance. Piercing blue resonates within, malevolently. He hands it gently over to Talya saying "He came from the egg that reminded me most of the ice and snow of the barrier. See I came to love being there in the cold, before I met Jed that is." He shivers again as the memories came up in him "Everytime I touched his egg it felt like I was waiting for something, on watch and on guard, both fear of the unknown and excitement of the adventure."

Talya takes the pendant as carefully as Th'res hands it over. She stares at it for a time, turns it over again and then hands it back with a grin. "You remembered to keep a piece of his shell, that is awesome. Did you make that yourself?" She tilts her head at him as he reminisces about his blue's egg and the feeling. "It sounds like him, some part of him. Do you think the feelings you get from the eggs are… sort of what you feel what the dragon in there is seeking and what they are like?" The question itself makes her uneasy, and she hands back the pendant to him before looking back at the sands. "Can't say they were all pleasant feelings there for me." There's a note of concern to her at the thought.

Th'res takes it back and nods "I kept it but my older sister made it for me." He looks over at her saying "They are just learning about themselves so sometimes the personality can shift dramaticly." He reaches out and gives her a hug around her shoulders before he even thinks about it saying "some times they have to dig deep into our dark hidden pain to really understand us. There was this one egg who felt like it was trying to chase me like i was prey.."

"If it isn't too crazy, I'm going to have to remember to grab a shard too." Talya's feelings seem to shift from confidence of Impression to uncertainly rather quickly. She gives a chuckle as she leans into Th'res's side embrace. "Well, which dragon came out of /that/ egg? There was one that made me incredibly paranoid in there, and another that seemed to know I was trouble. I mean, trouble… me?" She lifts her head up to the man, brows raised, as if daring him to say otherwise. There's a grin teasing at her face though. She does know better. Her arm snakes around him and she gives his side a squeeze. "You still never answered how you've been doing. Did you end up in trouble for that stunt you pulled?"

Th'res nods and rubs his chest where she hugged him saying "Still sore, banged my self up pretty good. Though serves me right I know. and M'noq had a talk with me too." He looks up at the sky with that storm rolling in the distance "He is having me and Jedameth run Threadfall for the wing as he is injured as well." He looks over at her and chuckles "and the dragon that came out of that egg was Rekitryth."

Talya's eyes narrow at that rubbing and then turns into a full blown glare at his mention of being banged up. "You're an idiot sometimes." She emphasizes this by giving him a smack where he says it's supposed to hurt. "If you weren't so drunk the last time I saw you I would have given you a good shout 'bout it." Because it's no good when she wasn't the drunk one and the person in question probably wouldn't remember anything. "But it sounds like your Wingleader at least got to do that." She would hope there was angry tones involved there. "Just take care of yourself up there during Threadfall, too. Don't run yourself ragged." Another poke in empasis. "You seem to want to take too much burden on yourself, but if you're hurt you can't come see the hatching." She shakes her head at the mention of Rekitryth, quirking a brow in curiosity. "Is he some mean dragon now?"

Th'res chuckles "Oh he is Rh'ysar's dragon, and not really. At least not to me or Jed he just has a low tolerance for stupid." Which means Jed probably annoyed him to know end growing up, he he nods and says "well you weren't to gentle the last time either, unless there was a reason I had a fist size bruise in my shoulder and thigh.." he looks at her and leans in to kiss her forehead like an older brother "I will be fine, trust me, D'ex may not like it but I am going to start passing on some of my work." He is enjoying the moment there when says "This not drinking thing is killing you isn't it."

"I think I remember a name like that at the graduation, but can't say I mingle with riders outside of… well, you and Vani and a handful of others." Which should actually change, all things considered, if she was about to become one of those ranks. "If you want gentle, go find some shallow gal in the caverns that can fawn all over you for being a big brave heroic dragonrider." The kiss on her forehead gets a wrinkled look from her, but it is quickly replaced as a wicked grin spreads across her face. "Oh, that is perfect. I wish I was there to see how he'd take that." And then Th'res has to go bursting her bubble of cheer. She leans heavily against him with a big depressed sigh. "I'm /dying/ sometimes, Th'res. A little wine never killed anyone, at the end of the day."

Th'res chuckles and hugs again before saying "It will be ok, luckily for you there is plenty to do to help you dry out. I would however suggest you drinking a jug of water and bringing it around with you. It will help the shakes when they show up, might also saver your fingers too" He holds up his hands with one long scar down the knuckle on his index finger "It gets bad about the first sevenday in… trust me." He will take his arm from her and stand up stretching "But again you can do it dear, Jedameth has faith in you after all.."

"I am definitely not used to the amount of water a person has to drink in these parts," Talya agrees. The desert Weyr was nice, but still had its differences to adjust to without the humidity keeping her hydrated as well. She smacks her lips at the mention of it and, when Th'res gets up, she follows him. "Was that a really bad tuber peeling incident during a case of the shakes?" she questions regarding the hand, waving her own that obviously has seen better days so far. "I never did take you one for a heavy drinker, but I suppose I should know better since you're making it in your own weyr." There's a small shake of her head, but she'd be even more of a hypocrit if she scolded him about /that/. She moves to the edge of the rocks, getting ready to make her way down, but not without looking over her shoulder at Th'res first. "Tell Jedameth thank you for me."

There is a large shadow cast over the two of them as the pair is buffeted by strong winds. Th'res Yells over the sound of the flapping "JED SAYS YOUR WELCOME AND NEXT TIME WE WILL BRING YOU A FISH". When she looks back she can see he is currently holding on to a pair of hand holds attached to the dragons under straps. He gives her a grin and a wave as the blue takes to the air and drops him him safely on the ground. Because walking is for chumps!

When there is suddenly a shadow over them, Talya crouches down, careful not to get blown off and keeping her balance. She stares up at Jedameth in surprise at his arrival, then snaps her eyes to Th'res. She opens a mouth to yell back at him before he starts to climb, but he's up and already mounted. The only thing she can manage to get out is a loud "SHOW OFF!" after him. Hopefully he heard. She's got to do things the old fashion way, getting down and walk on her own two legs back to the bowl. But there's a smile on her face and more relaxed than she's probably been in a Turn.

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