Home Sweet Home [Ceela/Muze]

[roz]

Dorvlo :: Candidate

This was it, he was actually at a weyr as a candidate. He had always imagined it would be Ista but in the end, that wasn’t where he was meant to be. Yes, he knew that Mavros didn’t have the best relations with the other weyrs but again that didn’t matter either. Nothing could shake the excitement he had at being searched. He had long ago given up on the very idea even when it had been offered to him. Good thing his mother was so stubborn.

Upon arrival, he had slipped from the back of the blue dragon that had brought him here. Makeshift bag in hand he had been taken to meet those in charge. It all seemed like a dream still and frankly he was still not completely sure it wasn’t. Part of him expected to wake up on that old fishing trawler being assaulted by that wicked little gold firelizard that seemed to hate him so!

Now he had taken a seat as directed and was waiting for someone to come and show him where his new quarters were going to be. He hadn’t been given a name and that was likely because they weren’t sure who it might be. He didn’t care whoever it was, was going to be his favorite person in the weyr he was pretty sure of it. He was still allowing his mind to wander when he heard someone speaking to him. He looked up and smiled at the young woman standing there. “Oh sorry I was lost in thought. I’m the new candidate Dorvlo. Please tell me you're here to show me where exactly candidates stay.” he said cheerfully.

[tovaana]

Ceela;

She came humming to her corner of the candidate barracks, stroking the tawny stripe of fur on the back of her one month old gemglider. The dark green gemmie looked up sleepily at her human, making a questioning tone. Ceela smiled, “sleep – sorry Sandy girl.” She had just come to drop off a bauble to amuse her new green pet while she went off to the next thing. Her eyes trailed to the duo colored green flit that was watching her curiously. Flutter was only a few months older than the gemglider, but had already showed signs that she was interested in the welfare of their new family member. “Watch her, will you?” Flutter chirped and Ceela grinned. It was a ritual of sorts, she wasn’t sure how often she needed to tell Flutter to stay and not wander, or at least if she did wander, she would hopefully wander with Sandy-Shore to look after her.

Ceela trusted her sweet flit, so she didn't worry about it any more, twisting on her toes and skipped off to figure out what her chores would be in the kitchen, when she was stopped by S’bol’s blue asking her if she’d come show a new arriving candidate around. It took her a moment to get over the excitement of having a dragon in her mind - that was always exciting to her. Then she finally got around to realizing that she wouldn't have to do chores, not the boring kind anyways. Why, this would be far more interesting than chores! She hummed to herself, thinking of the eggs that would be forming in Sularenth’s body after the flight. She tried not to think of the flight itself – but rather on the positivity of having another batch of eggs to touch and impress. It would be her first at Mavros, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her dragon would be in one of those eggs.

She found the new candidate easily enough, since he was alone and seemingly waiting for something - her. Her eyes looked over his handsome features, curly dark hair and tanned face – why, she definitely wouldn’t complain about having another pretty face to flirt with. He had a more rugged attractiveness than say – Kekoa, whose handsome features were younger looking, boyish even. But why was she thinking of Kekoa? Shards that man and his charm, she cursed him mentally, though he didn’t normally haunt her thoughts – only when he was in the same room or with the gold flight that had just happened. Boys were fun, that was all there was to it, no need to complicate things with anything else. 

She shook her head a little and skipped toward him, “Hiya there, I’m Ceela.” And he seemed a little lost in thought, looking up at her with a delayed reaction and started to speak. She chuckled and shrugged off his distracted manner- she knew too well about getting lost in thoughts, though hers was usually her imagination.

She did a curtsy that would have made a Lady Holder shudder, and dipped her head in a sort of bow, “at your service!”

“Dorvlo, cool name. I’m Ceela, well met! Follow me.” She gestured dramatically out of the Dining Hall. She glanced briefly toward the direction of the kitchens – as much as she enjoyed cooking and learning new things, she was far more glad to not work, showing the new candidate around was more like socializing, more fun.

“So, that was the dining cavern, if you hadn’t guessed already. This main tunnel here will be your lifeline, if you can make it here, you should be able to find your way where you’re going.”

She glanced over at him, admiring his dark curls, they resembled her own messy loose curls, but inky dark instead of pale sun bleached. “So, where’d you come from? I from Southern, this will be my first hatching at Mavros, but not my first standing ever. So, if you have any questions…” She shrugged, not specifying what questions he might have, be it Mavros or dragons, if he’d grown up around a Weyr, he might not have so many questions about dragons and more so about Mavros. Not that she’d been there that long, but you hear enough news and rumors that mill around the kitchens. She smiled, "...ask, I guess!" She giggled, filling what could have been awkward for someone else as she stumbled over words, with her amusement. 

[roz]

Dorvlo :: Candidate

Dorvlo was lost in his thoughts but he was also a young healthy male. So he did his best to take in the young woman before him without being too obvious. He was without a doubt a flirt if the occasion hit him and well it was fair to say it was looking a bit like the occasion might be standing in front of him. The young woman was very nearly the complete opposite of himself. Blond and fair-skinned it was like the two were night and day. That hardly mattered since she was pretty. What man even a newly made candidate could miss that? He knew she was looking him over but it was likely more in that way one does when meeting someone new for the first time. Ah but there was time for such things later for now he had to hold onto his focus and get settled into his new home.

As she got closer, curtsied, then spoke he found his feet giving her a warm welcoming smile. “Ceela, that's a pretty name,” he said forcing himself not to add like the pretty lady it belongs to. He was not here to flirt. Oh in fact it occurred to him in that instant that as a candidate he had to be a lot less free with his… um attention than he’d been in the past. That was sad but then getting a dragon seemed like a fair trade-off right? Didn’t mean he couldn’t flirt. “At my service? Well lucky me,” he added before offering his own name.

Oh, she really did make it hard with her innocent words. Be good, be good… he told himself “Gladly.” he finally managed. That was safe and not overly forward wasn’t it? He fell into step next to her rather than behind and shortened his stride so they could keep an even pace. “Yes I gathered as much.” he said with a chuckle “Lifelines are good,” he added as they walked.

He noted her glancing at him and smiled at her question. “Ista born and bred and this would be my first time in a weyr period. I always thought it would be Ista but Mavros is just as good,” he said cheerfully. “This will be my first candidate-related anything so I’m not really sure how any of it works. I did hear someone talking about a touching or something but they didn’t really explain what that was. Hmm frankly I’m surprised he managed to say anything between his bouts of complaining about being celibat…” he paused and looked at her. “Well restrictions of certain behaviors.” he finished carefully. “Maybe explain what touching is as you show me the way to the candidate barracks. Oh, and will I have one or more roommates? Honestly, how much time do you have because I have a lot of questions.” he said with amusement, clear in his tone.

[tovaana]

Ceela;

She shrugged and smiled at his compliments and small flirtatious comment. Lucky him, more like, lucky her and the other candidates. She was sure Yvinka would enjoy flirting with him too. She simply took each comment in stride, listening as he responded to her own words as they walked.

Ceela couldn’t help but laugh at his comment about whoever ‘he’ was that was complaining about ‘restrictions on certain behaviors’, but realized he was just regurgitating information that had been given to him, and she supposed there was a lot of information to swallow. She’d grown up around Weyrs, so she couldn’t really fathom that, but she flashed him an apologetic smile. “Certain, eh? I suppose you mean sex.” She didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable, but she had heard holders felt a lot more hesitant about such things. She giggled. “I think he was probably complaining about when you actually impress to a dragon. They’re sensitive to strong emotions when they’re young, like intimate ones – especially if one was to get pregnant, the pain of childbirth could send a young dragonet to between. So, yes, as a Weyrling, and also when eggs are on the sands, we're asked to abstain from... certain behaviors.” She said, purposefully using the same term he had used at first.

He did have a lot of questions and she smiled, enjoying the chatter, very grateful to be doing this rather than food prep. “The egg touching. You’ve come in good time – Sularenth just rose and will be laying eggs on her nesting sands in a few months. When they’re hardened, we’ll have the opportunity to touch the eggs. It’s said that touching the eggs can influence what happens when they hatch, but I’ve touched many dragon eggs – so who knows. It is cool though, and they sort of have a way of talking to you through the shell.” She thought briefly about Sularenth – many golds were already hesitant about who touched their eggs, she couldn’t imagine trying to touch one of the temperamental dragon’s eggs under her red whirling gaze. She’d never seen her up close, but she’d heard enough stories and rumors to make her wonder, but supposed she shouldn’t scare the new candidate, especially when he was so excited.

She made another turn and they came to the candidate barracks. “These are the candidate barracks.” She gestured to the side where the males slept, to answer his last question. “You share with all the other guy candidates.” Her hands pointed ahead of them. “There are more caves that way, some even flood at high tide. The last one of the end is the biggest, and we have lessons there.” 

She smiled as she thought to his inquiry of how much time she had, but nodded in the direction of the cave where they had lessons. "That's where the most of your questions will probably answered, better than I can. But we can hang out until the next meal, if you want." She turned to Dorvlo, her face shifting thoughtfully, “you can go pick a bed if you want. I’ll wait here while you get settled.” Her easy smile reappeared, her hands tangling behind her back, then thought of her two pet greens. Half of her wanted to make sure they were okay, but she didn’t want to wake Sandy if she’d fallen back asleep. As her mind thought this, Flutter had heard her voice and had come gliding out and letting out a soft inquisitive chirp. “Flutter!” The green landed gently on her shoulder, then showed Ceela an image of the sleeping green gemmie and Ceela reached up to scratch above her eye ridge appreciatively.

“Flutter, this is Dorvlo, Dorvlo, this is Flutter.” She used her hands to gesture to either flit or man, depending on the name she said aloud.

roz

[roz]

Dorvlo :: Candidate

As they walked he rambled and probably said more than he should have. He had no real experience beyond some very superficial meeting with Weyrfolk. He knew most of the holders like his family were more than a little uptight about such things. Hmm, he was a bit more free, being a fishcrafter did not really lend a hand to being overly genteel. It was safe to say he was far less pure than most of the people he knew thought he should be.

Still, he hadn’t really expected her to go there so boldly “Yes I suppose I do.” he replied with a soft chuckle. She went right into explanations and he was very pleased because he really felt out of his element here and didn’t want to offend anyone. Some part of him was rather pleased with the information provided, he wasn’t sure how good he would be at staying celibate. “Hmm I didn’t realize just how fragile that bond is,” he confessed, very amused with her use of his own words. Words he had chosen carefully so as not to embarrass her. “So I don’t embarrass easily and it seems like you don’t either. I just wanted to put that out there.” he said mostly to let her know they could both relax at least about this subject.

Moving on to the egg touching he was very focused on her every word. He was finally living his dream and he didn’t want to miss or mess up anything! “Really! I had no idea.” he said, clearly excited. Oh if only he had been here for that! He had of course heard stories about gold flights and wondered about that too. Pft, he wondered about everything but baby steps… he didn’t want to overwhelm her in the first 5 minutes of meeting her. “Hmm so we’ll actually get to go on the sands and touch the eggs? I have to say I rather thought… well heard a gold might be very protective. I didn’t think she would allow it. Ha, I really do feel like an idiot right now but it's okay. I mean getting to touch a dragon egg, and having them talking to you through the shell. I really had no idea.” he said, shaking his head as all the information rolled about in his head. “How many times have you stood?” he asked but put his hands up. “No sorry that was rude you don’t have to answer that,” he said catching himself.

He was a bit wide-eyed as they arrived at the candidate barracks. It was huge! Well to him, he had spent the better part of his life in the small home shared with his mother and siblings or in the cramped quarters of a fishing trawler. Hazel eyes glanced down at the indicated male quarters. Taking her all the details about possible flooding and such. “Lessons, right. I assume they want you to know as much as possible before letting a dragon bond with you,” he said amused. Oh, he needed lessons that was sure.

“I see, so I can save the big dragon-related questions for the lessons,” he said with a smile. “Maybe I will just go pick and empty and toss this stuff in there,” he said, turning to move quickly down the hall to choose a bed. It didn’t take long, they all looked pretty much the same so he just tossed his stuff on the first clearly empty bed he found and headed back out to Ceela. He was not however completely prepared for what happened next.
He rounded the corner with a smile on his face. “Where else do I really need to...” he started but suddenly there was a flit there. Bamn right in front of him… Eyes went wide and he let out a startled little yip of a sound even as Ceela was introducing the green flit. Green... green it's just a green, they are small… You can do this! He told himself and yet he stepped back without thinking. “Hell…” he started but his voice cracked slightly. Clearing his throat he tried again. “Hello Flutter.” he managed but made no move to step closer. “Are you a pretty girl.” he added hoping Ceela might somehow miss the flush of embarrassment that found his face now.

[tovaana]

Ceela;

Ceela only laughed at what could have been an awkward admission of not embarrassing easily. “No, I don’t suppose I do. Having lots of older siblings is enough for that.” For any kind of embarrassment, even though she guessed he was talking about the intimate sort of embarrassment. He was no soft holder, but perhaps something with a rougher life – a miner perhaps? Though they tended to lean toward wanting a wher, than a dragon. Maybe a sailor or fisher, or someone who worked with metals. She’d noticed that the rougher jobs around in the holds around the Weyr had produced people just as calloused, though not always. He didn't seem like a calloused sort of person, just not quite as worried about the way holders thought of intimacy. 

She was enjoying how talkative he was, it fed her own excitement of dragons and the idea that there were going to be eggs on the sands in a couple of months. “They are protective… just don’t do anything stupid, and you’ll be fine. Dragons can’t hurt humans.” She grinned at his question and even more at his apology. “Nah, I’m excited for my dragon to find me one day, but I’m in no hurry. I stopped counting a long time ago.” She hadn’t stopped smiling as she told him so. It was true too, she realized, knowing very well that dragons weren’t just dragons – but responsibilities and a job to char Thread from the sky. She was able to live freely now – especially without her family’s reputation labeling her as something before anyone actually got to know her. Ceela was enjoying Mavros and the way she was able to be herself before anyone could realize she was the daughter of a certain bronzerider who had died to save many.

It wasn’t long that he was gone and she was so distracted at the appearance of her little flit that she hadn’t seen his initial reaction. His swearing brought her eyes up in curiosity, then taking in his discomfort. Her brows creased momentarily, puzzling over his reaction and glancing up at Flutter. “She won’t hurt you… she’s actually very friendly. Most are…” Didn’t he want to impress to a dragon? Just an over sized flit? She hadn’t had anyone, especially candidates, that had been frightened of flits, maybe wary of them. “Well, Lounessa’s flit is very loud in the mornings, I should warn you of that. And, Treyvin’s flit seems like a little troublemaker, but they’re all practically harmless. Did you have a bad experience with one…or something?”

[roz]

Dorvlo :: Candidate

He was more than pleased that she didn't seem to embrass easy and if she was any indication of how everyone was within a week he felt like he would fit in well here. "Older siblings huh, that must be different. I've always been the big brother." He said smiling at her. This was nice, how could one go wrong walking with a beautiful woman in a new place? Still he had only just arrived it was probably best to focus on other things for the moment like getting settled in. Who knew this firecracker of a young woman probably already had a fella or two on the line and he didn't want to muddy the waters one his first day!

Safe subject, egg touching. She was more than willing to talk about this, and there was a hint of fire and excitement as she spoke everyword. He listened as she explained how it worked and how not to get hurt on the sands. He wasn't so sure what qualified as stupid to a gold dragon so he was pleased to know the rumor he'd heard about dragons not hurting humans appeared to be true. Never the less accidents happen. He tried carefully no matter how excited he was."I'd heard that but wasn't sure it was true, good to know. Still I imagine respect is in order." He said a touch of awe in his tone at the very thought of a gold allowing anyone to touch her eggs. "Stopped counting huh? So just once then." He said teasing her thankful she was being so open. He was much the same and didn't deal well with those that were secretive about themselves.

The trek to choose quarters was quick, mostly because he wasn't use to much and therefore didn't need or expect much. He could check the room out later. Now he wanted to see everything else he could while rukbats rays still shine from above. His gosto however was cut short when the small green firelizard appeared. Oh he knew his fear was ridiculous for the most part but, he'd been conditioned by the rather unpleasant gold for several years and he couldn't help himself really. He didn't cover well and felt really silly now. "Yeah, that's what cap always said about Queenie but many a finger was lost to her." He replied slowly but forced a smile. "Sorry it's a learned reaction." He offered but made no move to get closer beyond saying hello to her.

They really were pretty, and useful he imagined but yeah he wasn't getting to close. Of course he had been prepared he could have covered better. "Wait how many flits are in here?" He asked trying not to sound to freaked out. "Yeah okay you could say that yes." He said rubbing absent mindedly at an old scar on his arm. "No it's really okay. I just didn't think about there being here. Hmmm, silly I guess. Yep I'll be fine." He said clearly trying to convince himself. " Do you think she'd let me… umm pet her without biting me?" He asked knowing he had to get this ridiculous fear under control all things considered.

[tovaana]

Ceela;

She only chuckled a little at his comment about it being different being the oldest. Her older siblings – especially the very oldest, hadn’t seemed to mind to be in the lime light… because they’d been first. As she’d gotten older, people had identified her as sibling of so-in-so, or daughter of the bronze rider, it’d been stifling… but it didn’t mean all older sibling stifled their younger, right?

Distracted away from the subject to the egg touching, she only grinned at his word ‘respect’ and then nodded firmly. Her grin widened and her mouth opened a little to laugh at his tease, “yeah, once.” She agreed, stifling her giggles.

Her eyes widened at the idea of fingers being lost to a firelizard. She’d never heard of a firelizard that aggressive. Sure, prone to biting or scratching, aggressive in their own ways, but if he’d met a firelizard like that, she didn’t blame him for his fear.

“Yeah, of course you can pet her.” She shifted her sleeve and directed Flutter to her arm. He wants to scratch your eye ridge. She told her flit and then looked at him. “You could pet her, or she likes eye ridge scratches as much as most flits, which is a lot.” Flutter moved to her arm and tilted her head at the boy, leaning forward in anticipation of getting her eyeridge rubbed.

“Oh, and…” She pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to think of all the flits in the class. “Uhh, maybe half the candidates at least have one? None that’re aggressive, not like the one you described anyways…some possessive and moody, trouble-makers and such.”

She looked at him, watching him curiously and trying not to keep Flutter still for Dorvlo to pet if he wanted.

“I also have a gemglider, if you wanna see her. I’d never heard of them before Mavros. And Seaspitters – I’d only heard of those, never seen them before Mavros either, I don’t have one of those, not yet.” She grinned, thinking she wouldn’t mind a little sea flit.