Logs:Preparation
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| RL Date: 27 February, 2013 |
| Who: Brieli, Nicky |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Brieli gives Nicky the heads-up about hatchings, being the veteran of two and a little ray of sunshine. |
| Where: Hatching Galleries, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 9, Month 2, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: A blanket of cold, dense fog fills the bowl with its oppressive presence and obscures vision. |
| Mentions: Azaylia/Mentions, Alida/Mentions, Suireh/Mentions |
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| There's always someone in the galleries; there's the guards, for one, even though there's been no threat of stolen eggs - but there's usually some knot or the other of candidates hushed and gawking, some group of caverns workers that have brought their work into the warmth, some people looking for a bit of privacy in the shadows. Brieli isn't often in the galleries or on the sands, but she's there this foggy night in the seats by the railing, long legs kicked up on it to cross boots, slouched down in her jacket like she's closer to teenager than young woman. It's only really the knot at her shoulder that might tip someone that doesn't know off. She has a flask in slender hands, but she's not drinking. In the category of someone looking for a bit of peace and quiet, Nicky pads into the galleries on feet purposely placed to be as quiet as possible. He walks somewhat tentatively in his efforts to be silent, hands slipped into his pockets, eyes darting across to the sands and the eggs as he makes his way along the first row of seats, towards Brieli. When he's within a metre or so of her he pauses and clears his throat gently, running a hand through his curls to sweep them back from his forehead. "Miss Brieli." The greeting comes with a crooked little smile. "M-may I join you, ma'am?" Not unkindly, Brieli immediately corrects, "Weyrwoman. Azaylia or myself. The proper form of address for a goldrider is weyrwoman or goldrider or ma'am - as you said - but not 'miss'." Apparently, etiquette is the order of the day. Wonder why! Always observant, she'd likely spotted Nicky on his way in, despite efforts to be silent, sharp, dark gaze always restless. "And yes, of course. Please." It's almost gracious; she offers something close to a smile, sidelong. "They are no more interesting than the day before.' "W-Weyrwoman Brieli. S-sorry, ma'am," Nicky corrects himself, blushing in embarrassment as he folds his long limbs to settle awkwardly down, leaving a respectable space between himself and the goldrider. He gazes out over the eggs with his hands resting lightly in his lap, fingers knotted together. "Th-they don't, um, /do/ much, but I f-find them... p-peaceful?" The candidate squirms uncomfortably, his gaze flickering quickly to Brieli before he looks straight back ahead at the clutches. "It's n-nice for relaxing in here, even th-though it's a bit t-too hot after a while." Sighing, "Don't be. I've just been thinking that, in all of this, we haven't been paying particular attention to the specifics of what the candidates are told and whether they're listening or not. It's nothing personal, it's simply... setting things straight. I don't expect you to be an issue." Brieli looses one hand from her flask to rub her forehead briefly above fine brows. It seems she has some issues in mind. Glancing at the candidate sidelong briefly from behind her fingers, "Peaceful. I suppose. I suppose you could see if you noticed how much they move. Iesaryth is bored with them not talking back." A pause, then a lift of her chin. "Hotter down there." Nicky leans forward to look more closely at the eggs, resting his elbows on his knees. "I b-bet it's /much/ h-hotter down there, ma'am. You can s-see the heat - it's all shimmery!" It's probably the hottest the Reaches youth's ever seen anything outside of a kitchen. "H-how do they move, ma'am? Only when they're n-nudged by Iesaryth or Hraedhyth, or c-can they move on their own, a little?" Because clearly they aren't going to be rocking and rolling around down there! He looks thoughtful, which causes his eyes to narrow a little. "We n-never used to leave the ch-chicken eggs long enough for me to see if they were m-moved, but I remember seeing s-some hatch, once. They s-sorta... sorta j-jerked about? Will these do the, um, same?" Hand still massaging her forehead, seeming a bit pained for some reason, "Have you ever spoken to the Healers about that? Your speaking? Or do you lose it sometimes?" Brieli gives up on her headache or whatever's bothering her and just goes straight to uncapping the flask, taking a sip before, in a voice roughened by (presumably) alcohol, "Only when either of the queens move them about. Otherwise, they don't move until they're about to hatch. And they don't talk back, though there's some consensus that they may listen." Glancing Nicky's wave briefly, "They run too. And they're really quite big. Hraedhyth wounded a few girls, Azaylia included." The question about his stutter makes Nicky blush once again, and his gaze drops to look at his fingers, where they're laced together in front of his knees. "Um..." He bites back the stutter that threatens to rise, making a tangible effort to speak clearly. "I-- it's only when I... um. Only when I-I -- it goes, ma'am." And that painfully slow attempt at stutter-free speech was probably one of the most fragmented ever. He chews on his bottom lip, looking embarrassed. "If I m-may say so, ma'am, you, um, y-you make me a b-bit... n-nervous. That's why I... um... it's h-harder to speak around you, Weyrwoman." "As long as it does, I suppose." There's some relief for that, perhaps as much because he's standing as because Brieli's speaking to Nicky at the moment. She considers the silvery flask in her hands for a moment, the quirk of her lips amused, before she has another drink. After, "You certainly wouldn't be the only one. In your particular case, it's not all that purposeful." It's not so much an apology as an explanation, but even so; "The eggs sometimes fall into each other. That will often knock them both open. It goes quickly. You... ought to be prepared." She sounds like maybe she thinks he's... not so much. "Th-they do?" That they could move so much when it's their time to hatch surprises Nicky - perhaps confirming that he really isn't all that prepared for when that day comes. "I've never, um, n-never seen dragons... h-hatch. But I've heard, um, stories... l-lots of stories." Perhaps even the one about Hraedhyth that Brieli just shared. "Wh-what's it like, ma'am? When y-you're down there, and th-they're all... all c-coming out?" It could be nerves that cause his voice to crack on that last syllable; it could just be that he's still got that awkward teen thing going on. "Sometimes. They do need to get going to get through the shell and... everything else." Brieli doesn't say what else, but the delicate wrinkle of her nose says it's unpleasant. Her dark gaze flickering sidelong to the candidate again, she considers the toes of her boots, before, "It's very fast. And they move awfully fast too. Some of them listen for you, so if you don't pay attention to what you're hearing it could... slip away." She makes a little gesture with her free hand, like motes of dust blown on the wind. "Over before you know it, as well. There's not much time to think or breathe, really. No matter where the hatching is." "Wow." Nicky leans back, crossing his arms over his chest. "I d-didn't think they'd be, um, /fast/... m-most babies are slow, when they're newborn? And there's, um... lots of eggs. W-will it s-still go fast? Will they all c-come out at the same t-time?" The thought of 24 little ones on the sands has his eyes wide, and he leans forward, just slightly, to get another peep at them. "A-and they can, um... h-hurt people, too?" He looks to Brieli with eyes wide, lips drawn in a line of concern. "You j-just have to be... alert? To avoid them?" "They have two things on their mind, and one has to happen before the other: impression and food. The need to find their other half, then get food. It gives things a certain urgency, I'm to understand." Brieli's long legs swing down from the railing, if only so she can look at Iesaryth, now dozing on the sands, as the heat often has the sunburst gold doing. Her expression has none of the fondness that other riders might be willing to show for their lifemates, but her gaze is softer. "It'll still go fast. And they clutched at the same time so hopefully they'll hatch at the same time. I can't imagine... Anyway." A shake of her head. With a look Nicky's way, "Yes. Alert and fast, but don't... run off on them either. Sometimes, they don't mean to do it, they're just clumsy and talons are sharp. If it's the worst thing that happens to you as a rider, you'll be lucky." Nicky, too, looks at Iesaryth, following the Weyrwoman's gaze. "I-Impression, then food," he echoes her, looking back to the eggs. He clears his throat, brushing his fingers through his hair after running his palm across his brow, where there's the slightest sheen as a result of the galleries' warmth. "W-Weywoman Brieli? Wh-what happened when you were a c-candidate, ma'am? I-I think I might l-like to ask more, um, p-people about their experience, so, um... so I'm more pre-p-pared? It s-sounds kind of... kind of scary, in a w-way." Iesaryth doesn't do much but breathe rhythmically, but she's intimidating in her size; both queens are. There might be talk in the caverns over which one is bigger, but the difference must seem negligible to most. They are gold dragons. They're massive, even in the gigantic hatching cavern. Brieli's gaze returns to her lifemate, there's a faint, wry smile. "What happened," she echoes. "How do you mean? And I might ask which time. I was a candidate at Monaco after here, before we came... home." After a little laugh, "It is scary. I'm not trying to frighten you, but I like to let people know what they're getting into. Everyone sees the romance, no one sees cleaning up the shit, having their leg ripped open on the sands." "B-both times, ma'am, if you've the time to tell. It's easier to d-deal with things if you know wh-what to expect." The corner of Nicky's lips tweak up in a half-smile. "Even b-being scared is more manageable, when you know wh-what's going to happen." His grin grows a little, showing a hint of teeth. "I can g-guarantee, ma'am, I'll be t-trying my best n-not to speak out there, c-cos I'll be s-stuttering more than e-ever - all the n-nerves, and the e-excitement, a-and.... a-and the being sc-scared, too? It'll m-make things worse than e-ever." With a little sigh, "When I stood here, I think I almost got into an argument, but the girl I was telling off decided she wouldn't risk impressing Hraedhyth, and left the sands. Azaylia almost ran, but I tried to keep her there - she shoved me behind her, and Hraedhyth must have taken... two candidates out and raked Azaylia besides before she realized she wanted her. It all went pretty quickly after that." Unaccountably, Brieli's smiling warmly, like she can't help herself - and she glances down and away from Nicky before something like that ruins her rep. "At Monaco, the girl I argued with here punched another candidate there. And I heard Iesaryth before she came to me." A pause. "Impression can make you feel terribly defenseless." She has another quick drink before capping the flask, tucking it away in her jacket. Abruptly, "I should probably go." Nicky listens to the story with definite interest, that's coloured by more than a hint of both surprise and fear. "F-Faranth," he breathes when the Weyrwoman finishes, blinking his brown eyes. "It sounds... like th-there'll be a lot going on. I-I won't run though, ma'am. No matter h-how bad it gets, I won't run, n-not unless I'm told to." He seems quite resolute on that point, nodding his head to emphasise it. And, as the conversation has continued, he's actually seemed to relax a little more, too - if only visible through the gentler curve of his shoulders, which are no longer ramrod straight. When Brieli mentions going, he nods his head and smiles crookedly at her. "Th-thank you for sharing with me, ma'am. W-would it be alright, um, if I-I stayed here a wh-while longer? Only, um, Alida w-was being..." He winces, hoping that will more than explain how he feels without him having to actually say it. "It's m-my understanding that sh-she's not allowed here, ma'am." Making the galleries an ideal refuge! "Don't run, but... dodge, yes? Be sure to be ready to dodge." Brieli seems to want to be sure to get that much across, given how determined Nicky is not to run. As she slowly rises to her feet, then to her full height, hands in her pockets, "Not at all. I would rather you know than anything untoward happen. And I am particularly adept at thinking of the worst thing that can happen in any particular circumstance." There's a ghost of a smile for that, her tone wry; she know what a ray of sunshine she is. Smirking, "Not unescorted, no, she won't be. Please. Enjoy your stay. Don't mind if Iesaryth stares." She lifts a hand in farewell, then walks towards the exit and into the foggy night. |
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