Settling in- Open

[Deleted]

    Kylori's jaunt through Mavros was... It didn't happen. She'd considered making the run into the Hold but had decided against it at the last minute after parting with Mollin and Daltilith. She'd bolted off before she could even listen to whether or not Mollin meant to show her around first. She'd gotten lost no fewer than twelve times just trying to make it into the lower caverns that she'd heard anyway, was where new Candidates were posted up. 

    I got too excited and now I'm freaking LOST! She screams at herself internally. No doubt she looks like a scared flit wandering aimlessly as she is, trying to find something at least partially recognizable that'll take her back to Mollin so she can see if she'd have the brains to at least ask for directions this time. She huffs indignantly at herself, already thinking up the ways Kirin would taunt her. "Just had to tease the Rider, didn't you, sis?" 

    "It wasn't my fault," she replied internally. "She was the one that was talking about my trousers."

    "You're just being a scaredy-flit because she was makin' eyes at you."

    Her internal screeching intensifies.

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

“Shipfish? Shipfish! Sharding creature.” He let out a sharp sigh of frustration. He stopped and closed his eyes, trying to mentally command his young flit back to him. ‘That’s not yours Shipfish! Bring it back!’ He felt the resistance, but felt like the connection was close enough. The problem with searching for the creature was that he had to open up his mind a bit more than he was used to. He had been practicing trying to close out others' feelings – not open himself up to the chaos. Every time he passed a person in the tunnels he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “Shipfish, get out here right now!” He hissed.

He paused for a moment, leaning on the side of the cool tunnel wall and closed his eyes. It was tiring to be so vulnerable for so long. He was on the edge of hysteria and just giving up on his thief of a firelizard, when a girl passed him by and went down a random tunnel that he wasn’t sure where it led. The feeling of confusion shocked him so much, that he just stood there for a moment stunned against the wall of the tunnel. It took him a moment to focus on his own feelings and separate them from the strangers, before he was able to breath normally and mostly close his mind to the outside colors that bombarded his mind.

Treyvin glanced in the direction that the girl had gone. Even with his defenses up, he could feel her anguish getting louder. She had been alone. And she was going down a tunnel he was pretty sure didn’t go much of anywhere… he didn’t have the weyr memorized by any means. He had his usual routes that had less people that traveled them – but he had started by taking the normal routes that everyone else took. In the morning he would follow the feeling of hunger to the dining, he’d find recognizable sailors and follow them out to the docks – and at the end of the day he’d follow the feeling of exhaustion to the bunks. Now that he knew his way around, sort of, he avoided the crowds – just like he avoided loud emotions…

It felt a mixture of sympathy and stunned empathy at the loud color of emotion that emanated from the nearby girl. He took a deep breath and plunged down the hall and with a quick pace caught up with her. Treyvin kept his distance, not daring to touch her to stop her from her wandering. “Uh, hey there.” He cleared his voice, trying to keep his mental barriers up. “You… you okay?” Of course she wasn’t. But his mother had taught him queues to appear ‘normal’ even though he wasn’t.

@kylori

[Deleted]

Dead end… HOW IS IT ANOTHER DEAD END!? Anger flashes in Kylori’s mind, combined with her confusion and panic. This is it, she thought. I already failed my first test. Anguish. Her drive to succeed had done her no favors in looking at everything as some form of challenge. Something she had to win. The voice in the empty tunnel echoes in her ears, startling the poor girl very nearly out of her wits and causes her to spin and press her back to the wall with a startled yip.

A good thing her complexion is so dark already, as she could feel her face heating with a blush; eyes scanning the tunnels for the source and her head whipping around; totally oblivious to the young man that was, despite being a fair distance away from her, also in her mind practically right on top of her.

“Ye-” she started to say and immediately thought better of it, her blush deepening far enough she swore her embarrassment was setting the tips of her ears aflame. “No,” she finally admits with more shame than she knew she had any right to feel.

Silence stretches on for a moment as she works to overcome her nervousness. For all she knew, she had been intended to be led down to the Candidates quarters by the Rider that’d brought her here. “I’m a… New arrival,” she begins before taking a deep breath. “MynameisKyloriandRiderMollinjustbroughtmeindromCharinHoldandItookoffbeforeshecouldtakemetowhereI’dbestayingandI’mlostandIdon’tknowwhereIam,” she finally says without pausing for breath or punctuation. She pants, having run herself out of breath in speaking quickly enough to not let her nerves get the better of her a second time.

She could swear she felt judgmental eyes upon her that made her want all the more to sink herself against the wall and curl up into a ball. Anxiety. Panic.

tovaana

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

With his arms tight at his side, his fingers started to rub against his thumbs, working to distract him from the sudden sharp burst of flavor when he surprised her. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you.” He managed to get out, eyes squinted in concentration through the throbbing in his mind. He peered at the girl who seemed to be still trying to admit that he was there.

She seemed to be calming down, or at least her feelings seemed to ebb, rather than crescendo. So, she was new to the weyr, that made sense – that wasn’t surprising… her next string of words, or sounds – did take him off guard. His eyes widened and he just stared at her, his mind was busy enough with emotions that he hardly took in the sounds meshed together. The only thing he understood was the last part, or part of the last part – something about not knowing where she was, which made sense since she was new.

“Hey, uhm. It’s okay…” He made effort to make it not sound like a question. He took a deep breath, clearing his throat. He assumed in this situation someone might reach out and try to calm them with a comforting hand… but he imagined he wouldn’t be much help to her with his emotions even more heightened.

“My name is Treyvin… I’m not so new, I can help you. You’re not lost anymore.” He kept taking deep breaths, hoping if anything his words could calm her down.

@kylori

[Deleted]

You’re not lost anymore, she thought. Deep breaths, Lori. Deep breaths. Action echoes thoughts as she pieces herself back together from her near meltdown. She peels herself away from the wall with a quick rear-thrust of her hips and takes a bow to Treyvin. I’m sorry about that, she murmurs just loud enough to be heard before she recovers and adjusts the strap of the knapsack over her shoulder.

”It’s nice to meet you, Treyvin. I’m Kylori, Candidate just in from Charin.” Now that her emotions are finally back in check, her voice is back to having her femininity and confidence, rather than trying to choke everything out around the lump of fear she’d had firmly lodged in her throat. Hungry. The primal emotion makes itself known at the same time her right arm flies into motion to cover her stomach as though she could physically quiet the angry gurgling of a stomach that’s been empty since breakfast back at her logging camp.

She blushes, but doesn’t let her embarrassment over a growling stomach get to her. Hungry is a feeling with a simple solution. ”I don’t suppose there’s anywhere to eat that don’t mind big stomachs that isn’t too far from where I’m staying?” Shit. I don’t even know who I’m supposed to talk to about my room assignment.


tovaana

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

He shrugged at her apology; she had done nothing wrong. It wasn’t her fault he could feel things so heightened… though he did realize that wasn’t why she was apologizing. The colors in his mind that bled over from her mind finally dulled enough for him to feel in control again. He took a deep breath and blinked at her in the dimness as she pushed herself away from the wall. After the loud emotions and colors had quieted, there was another emotion that was uncovered. In the moment he thought the hunger was his own.

Ah, a candidate. He felt a sharp pang as painful memories jabbed at his consciousness. Treyvin pushed them from his mind quickly, trying to focus on the present. “Welcome to Mavros.” He said in a quiet voice, realizing at that moment that the hunger wasn’t his own – the faint rumblings from the candidate attested to this.

“The dining hall, yeah, follow me.” He turned to move, glancing back at her to make sure she was following. It was strange that the candidate was so new and by herself. “Did you already get settled? Talked to the candidate master?” Other than Ceela or Yva searching him out, he had been pretty separated from the candidates. He hadn't wanted to make connections with friends and then get them torn again when he didn't impress to a dragon. He had isolated himself by finding work on the docks, and yet the candidates kept on finding him - or he found them, in this instance.

@kylori

[Deleted]

        Kylori

Kylori flushes a bit with the questions and shakes her head to both, hiking the knapsack containing her change of clothes and father's notebook over her shoulder enough for Treyvin to catch a glimpse of its top. "Uhh, no. I ran off before Rider Mollin could take me anywhere," she says, peering curiously at the young man that seemed to be having a harder time than she was despite living here already. Of course, she didn't have the benefit of special abilities that let her peer into ones emotional states, nor could she know about his.

Instead, she focused on how Treyvin had been acting. Deep breaths. Fidgeting. "Sorry, I don't wanna be rude, but should I be the one asking if you're okay?" She kept a pace with Treyvin not but a step or three behind. Amusement flashes across her thoughts just before she speaks. "You kinda seem like you're more out of it than I am and I just got here."

She sincerely hoped he wouldn't take offense at her commend, knowing full well that sometimes her mouth would run off ling before she'd made any conscious decision to speak. Between old habits and having an antagonistic brother- well. Maybe all brothers were like that. She'd only ever had the one. 

tovaana

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

Rider Mollin? He glanced at her bag and then back to the girl. He wasn’t surprised at the state he had found her in, but it did make him feel uncomfortable that he should be the one escorting the new arrival. He had been at Mavros long enough, but he was just a candidate – not really even that, he supposed. He was content to be working the docks, ticking off the days until his father came back. He even had a flit of his own – which reminded him of why he had been wandering the Weyr in the first place. Ah, well, he’d take care of that problem after helping Kylori.

He took a turn onto a central pathway when she started to apologize. He glanced over at the candidate who seemed to have quickly recovered and was suddenly curious about him. The tall boy still felt tense, but he was finally able to think as clearly as he usually did. “…and I just got here.” He glanced over at her again, brows furrowing slightly and only momentarily at her phrasing. She had obviously noticed his distress while he had still been recovering after she had regained composure. Was she assuming he was uncomfortable because of his surroundings, for some reason? Or perhaps she had heard rumors about Mavros and thought he had been sarcastic in welcoming her? Again, he wished he had also been given the ability to hear thoughts and not just vague emotions.

“I’m fine.” His tone wasn’t unkind, but it was quick and toneless. She had said she didn’t want to be rude; perhaps she was trying to return a favor? Still, his mother had been clear on the importance of at least seeming normal, and he couldn’t come up with an excuse off the top of his head for how he had acted. “You’ll get used to things. If you can find this hallway it’ll help you find other main places in the Weyr… For right now the Dining Hall – just ahead, and the candidate barracks are behind us. After we grab a bite I’ll help you find S’bol. He’s the candidate master.”

Smells wafted toward them as they neared the Dining Hall. Treyvin made sure to tack a question for Kyorli, hoping she’d stop worrying about him. “So, where did you get searched?”

@kylori

[Deleted]

'I'm fine,' he says. She keeps her snerk internal, but does absolutely nothing to hide her disbelief. Talking like you've been working for three days straight without a jot of sleep and drinking nothing but cold klah isn't 'I'm fine.' She fumes a little, a puff of air blown up her face to clear her bangs from her forehead. She knew something was off. She just didn't know if it was her, this place, or if Treyvin was just... Weird. Then again, the only reason she was so bothered was because there'd been virtually no secrets where she'd grown up and wasn't used to people being closed off. 

She listens to his instructions attentively, making little notes in her mind about where things were, though the approach to the dining hall and the smells within only further served to both interest and upset her already angry stomach. Her face flushes to the tips of her ears with her embarrassment once more when her stomach announces itself to seemingly the entire Weyr and she lets out a pitiful whine of, "Why does wherry have to smell so good...?" 

"So, where did you get searched," he asks.

"Oh, uhm," she pauses a moment, reaching up to scratch an itch behind one of her ears before running her fingers through her short hair to smooth everything back over into into its prior unruliness. "Lumber camp out at Charin Hold, actually." She rubs her ear a moment. "I honestly have no idea if that's even why Rider Mollin was in our neck of the Redwoods. We only ever really hear about dragons. Nobody's seen one since long before I was born." Her nose twitches, upper lip sweeping across her teeth like a herd animal scenting a predator. "Kinda funny, actually. I think she only found my brother and I by accident because she followed us to the Healers tent when I fell out of a tree." She laughs, high, clear, and pure in her amusement. "Needless to say, having a Dragonrider show up when you're less than dressed and getting your ribs wrapped wasn't exactly how I'd have imagined a Search going." No embarrassment in the admission. No shame. Just amusement. And pride.

tovaana

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

She didn’t believe him, from the look of her expression. And there were angry vibes that pulsed off of her as well in that moment. He sighed quietly with a closed mouth and shrugged even more subtly. Treyvin was also used to people not understanding him or not quite fitting in with certain crowds. He had avoided crowds in general… but it was nothing new. The only thing that bothered him was that this girl wasn’t just a stranger, but a dragon candidate. It was possible that they’d be running into each other again.

Her story about her search distracted him from his worries, especially as the story got stranger by the moment. He glanced at her face multiple times and surveyed her emotions to see if she was lying – but there was no guilt. Perhaps she was exaggerating? The colors of being pleased and proud swirled around the story and it was possible she was adding drama to the story to make it more interesting… more interesting than being searched by a dragon? Especially having not seen a dragon before in her life? The pride could have come from just being chosen by a dragon. The amusement could have come from the strange way she was found by Rider Mollin. It was hard to know.

“Sounds strange, almost so strange to be true.” He offered a wry smile, watching her face to see how she reacted to his teasing yet probing way to see if she was being honest. “I guess a life of a rider seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up, then?” He knew that feeling. He remembered what it had been like to be approached by the dragon rider and dragon. He remembered the thought that he’d be able to go on adventures like his father had… and now his father would be able to tell him some of those stories in person. He felt out of breath for a moment thinking of this, thinking that perhaps he was feeling lightheaded because of the crowds eating – at least they were mostly all similar feelings. Like the way something melts in the mouth – satisfying hunger and chatting with friends. It was the occasional poking of other emotions that didn’t go with the flow and the feelings in bulk that wore at him. He usually avoided the dining hall during busy times for this reason.

As the talked he walked to the line to get food, getting served his portion of wherry stew and opting for just a roll to go with it. The faster he was done eating, the faster he could be out of there to show her to the Candidate Master.

@kylori

[Deleted]

        Kylori- Candidate

Kylori follows Treyvin through the line, though not without eying everything and everyone in the dining hall. "Almost strange enough to be true, huh? You don't believe me," she asks, teasing Treyvin before she herself gets her own portion of wherry stew and holding up the line when she asks for a second bowl of stew and an extra roll, the server giving her a disbelieving look that she assumed was because of how small she was and told they'd be very cross with her if she didn't finish it all before relenting and she moves along, guiding Treyvin with a renewed sense of confidence over to one of the far tables where they'd have some piece and she wouldn't feel so crowded.

"I mean..." she begins, settling in and breaking apart her first roll and using her fork to fill it with some stew meat and vegetables. "As for whether it was too good an opportunity to pass up, I dunno. Rider Mollin said she'd take either me, my brother, or both, but Kirin... He's a lumber man to his bones, same as our dad." Any hope she has of at least appearing like the delicate young woman she resembles is lost when she bites into her overstuffed sandwich, juice from the stew dribbling down her cheek and chin. She clearly hasn't a drop of shame about her if the appreciative pleasure rolling off her emotions is any indication.

Any remaining illusion is dropped when she continues speaking, her mouth still full and smiling while she does so. "I hink-" she frowns, frustrated with her inability to speak clearly and eat at the same time and so chews and swallows. "I mean- I'm pretty sure anyway, dad never wanted me to follow in his footsteps like my brother did. He wanted something different but circumstance..." She shrugs, awkwardness flashing inwardly. "Circumstance didn't really allow it. Dad kept saying it was men's work. I kept telling him that if he could do it, so could I."

She takes another bite of her sandwich and shovels the biggest piece of wherrymeat into her mouth, chewing happily and making appreciatively pleased moans of satisfaction. Finally her stomach had stopped being angry with her, even if it was giving her a renewed sense of urgency that she fill it. "I think I went with Rider Mollin because I couldn't say no to the challenge. She said it'd be hard and I had a hard time imagining being a Dragonrider could be harder work than working the Redwoods around Charin." She pauses, looking pensive for a moment and dropping her gaze to her stew. "Just because we've never seen dragons in our neck of the redwoods doesn't mean we don't treat them with reverence though," she adds as though anticipating another doubt to her story along the vein of 'well if you've never seen dragons before then why.'

"I wonder where Rider Mollin is, anyway," she muses, once again settling in to scarf down as much food as she can before Treyvin asks another question that forces her to stop eating for a minute.

tovaana
Hiko 

[Hiko]

Shells, the girl was fast. Mollin had barely had time to help her dismount before Kylori had seemed to disappear from their landing on the coastline. Well, it couldn’t have been helped; the blue rider still had to see to Daltilith and then her sister’s husband. Playing messenger still grated on her at times, but at least the trader’s efforts wouldn’t go in vain - and what was good for his pursuits would in turn be good for the Weyrhold.

As it was, by the time she’d finished her errand running, she was voracious. A trip to the dining hall, she thought, then a long soak in the communal bathing pools. Training would be on the docket for tomorrow, and she wanted to feel bright and refreshed for K’ton’s best scowls.

It was after the third or fourth time she’d heard her name that she finally felt a need to seek out the speakers; the last time she’d heard so much talk about her, it had been in a worse time, and frankly, she’d thought her existence had finally gone under the radar of the churning rumor mills within the caverns. What had she done this time?

“Kylori?” Mollin frowned and glanced between the two candidates once she’d located the voices, her full tray in hand. “Did I make that much of an impact that you can’t keep my name off your tongue? And it’s not “Rider” anything, just yet. You say that too loud, it’ll get back to my Weyrlingmaster.”
She took a seat beside the two candidates and immediately began cutting her redfruit into slices. To Treyvin, she offered a curious appraisal.
“You came back with the rest of the timers, didn’t you? One of Kenessia’s searches?”

tovaana @kylori

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

“You don't believe me,” to which he answered with a half grin and helpless shrug. “I mean, it is strange.” He muttered and followed her to the table she picked out. He was glad it wasn’t so crowded - but with a glance at her platter he wondered if they’d be longer than he had hoped…but then she started eating, and he wondered if she’d finish before him. The smallest smile of humor touched his lips as he ate quickly, glancing every once in a while at Kylori. He was glad she filled the silence, but he didn’t add any more input or ask her any more questions – focusing on spooning food into his stomach. Since she was the only one really near him, her feelings were more potent than those at tables surrounding them. Her story felt more real than how she had been searched – though he recognized the familiar feelings that people felt when talking about family along with other nuances that were a tad more subtle – but they were dulled since his blockades were still up to keep the Dining Hall feelings from caving in him.

When she mused about Mollin it was like she summoned the rider up. He glanced up at her – a familiar face, but he couldn't recall if they had spoken at all. He glanced at her knots and saw that what she was saying about ‘rider’ being true. But… she had flown to a hold, searched a candidate, and brought her on dragon back to Mavros? He hadn’t known weyrlings were allowed to do such things, not that he knew that much about dragons, especially weyrlinghood.

Treyvin was glad that there was another to keep Kylori company – maybe he could leave, now that he was almost done with his food. He swallowed his last bite, glancing at Mollin with a bashful glance. His stomach churned at the direct connection she had made between his face and the timers. He had so far been able to stay away from talking about himself. “Uh, yeah. Treyvin.” He offered his name, so she wouldn’t have to identify him as ‘one of the timers’. Or as a candidate. Besides, there were no eggs on the sands.

He took one last large bite and chewed it quickly and swallowed and looked up at Mollin. “Kylori still hasn’t seen S’bol. I found her while training my firelizard. Would it be alright if you showed her to S’bol when she’s done eating?”

@kylori Hiko

[Deleted]

        Kylori- Candidate

Kylori speaks long before her brain has a chance to register who had spoken. "You'll have to make me dinner if you wanna find out what I can or can't keep off my tongue," she says with a healthy level of snark as she pops another spoonful of stew into her mouth Realization crashes over her expression like a tsunami, a blush flushing her face from her neck to her ears and embarrassment crashing through her emotions in similar fashion.

She gulps audibly around her mouthful of stew, spoon still sticking out of her mouth and her eyes bugging out of her head. "WAH!?" she yelps around the spoon and coughs, the young woman picking the spoon out of her mouth and putting it back on her half-eaten second bowl of stew. "B-but you ride a dragon. What do you mean you're not a 'Rider?'" Shock flashes across her emotions first. The more she speaks, the more her voice rises until it finally cracks and she can do little more than squeak out, "You-!?" She cuts off, at a complete loss for words. Shock gives way to confusion, then further embarrassment. Is that attraction, or lust? It's buried so far underneath everything that Kylori herself misses it anyway.

"You... came to Charin... Saw me naked. And... claimed me in Search?" Clearly she's having a hard time processing what's just happened. "And then you brought me here... Talking about getting me into your trousers..." Her stomach rumbles, angered with her pause in filling it and she stuffs her remaining roll into her mouth while her eyes boggle and her mind reels. WHAT IN THE CURSED NAME OF THE RED STAR IS GOING ON!? In her shock, she'd never even registered that Treyvin spoke. Her eyes were focused squarely on the not-a-real-rider seated beside her.

tovaana
Hiko
@kickflare (OOC: Whenever you wanna jump in)

[Hiko]

At Kylori’s sputtering, Mollin offered the young woman a napkin, shrugging at the response. “Daltilith has Search abilities, and I’ve been long enough a weyrling that I’m offered certain opportunities outside of Mavros. No Weyrleader in their right mind would deny a grown dragon their abilities to Search, even if we still haven’t graduated.”

She took a slice of the redfruit and popped it into her mouth, toying with the next piece in her hands.
“It’s hardly my fault I hadn’t known you weren’t fully clothed, and for what it’s worth, I offered you a change of pants in case you shat yourself. If you thought that was me flirting, then I really am rusty,” Mollin replied, severe frown on her face. How long had it been since she’d last truly tried a good pick-up line? And it was true that G’rett had not reciprocated any feelings; perhaps she’d grown too accustomed to shutting that part of herself off? Well, no one would fault her for it, not after everything. Still, it was a shame to think she might have lost her touch, after all.

It was clear that Treyvin felt uncomfortable, though whether that came from Kylori’s explosive reaction or from something else, Mollin was uncertain. Still, she understood the need to just escape at times, and didn’t fault the candidate for shirking responsibility back to the blue rider. She offered him a wave of the hand, a gesture she hoped he would take as acceptance of his leave.
“No, that’s fine - I’d intended to in the first place. I’ll get her to S’bol, no worries there.”

After finally eating the slice in her hand, she continued to Kylori, “I know better than most to try and bed a candidate - as far as I’m concerned, you’re off the market until you graduate from weyrling lessons. Besides,” she added, casually taking a sip of klah, “I’d like to keep what high ground I have on the Weyrleader.”

tovaana @kylori