Difference between revisions of "Logs:Not a Candidate"

As the candidates trickle steadily in from every corner of Pern, the barracks get steadily more crowded, more chaotic, more noisy, especially at night. Then morning comes, pressing chores are tackled, and the room empties out - good times for anyone to savor the relative peace and quiet, and that is just what Evanthe is doing. Well, actually, she's changing the sheets on her cot, tugging on the edges to try and smooth out those stubborn middle wrinkles, shoving her hands under the sides of the mattress with her lips pressed as it does little to accomplish her goals. Finally she just grunted and dumps the blanket on top to hide the lack of neatness.

Which is when a greenrider wanders in, not a terribly unusual occurrence-- even if the candidates are mostly residents of the Weyr, there are some brought in by dragonback, primarily from Nabol but a few from the aforementioned corners-- except for the part where she doesn't actually have anyone in tow. She's not loud; it would be easy to miss her until she's right there, and not doing very well at hiding a smile. "The sheet won, did it?" By her accent, she's not from around here either.

Evanthe isn't the most observant under the best of circumstances, and distracted with her fussing at blankets, tucking it in so unevenly that the mattress is kind of lumped up on one side. She's just stepped back to scowl at the more-or-less finished picture when Telavi speaks, causing the young candidate to twitch in surprise. It only takes a moment for the scowl to return though - directed not at the newcomer, mind, but at the bed still. "Damn thing. Think it wasn't made right. They made the sheets the wrong ffff..." The expletiv trails off with a wrinkle of her nose as she remembers herself, and the unfamiliarity of her new companion. "Flipping. The wrong flipping shape." She rolls her eyes and then sits on the said bed, as though her relatively small-sized behind could do anything to cover up the fact that, if anything, it looks worse /now/ than before she made it. "Who're you?"

"Maybe if you flipped it over, it would behave better," the longer-haired blonde teases the shorter-. "Oh, I'm Telavi. Who're you?" She steps to the side for a better view of the cot as well as the girl.

Evanthe narrows her eyes at the mattress below her as though half considering the suggestion, then her expression turns faintly suspicious as she looks back at the strange blonde. Is she being laughed at? It's always a possibility. "I'm Evanthe," she offers grudgingly, tucking her legs up on the bed, giving up on the project entirely for the moment. "You... you're not a candidate." It's a statement, proof that she's at least observant enough to take note of knots.

"'Evanthe.'" Telavi says the name consideringly, like maybe it should mean something heretofore unknown. In the end, though, she pulls her lips close on whatever she might have said, as a secret; instead, moving on to survey the room though she stays within conversational range, "Not any more, thank goodness. Though I only spent a night, well, part of a night here; that's not so bad. Have you been here long?"

Evanthe still has that expression of faint suspicion, whirring mind reading all the possible things that /could/ have come out of Telavi's lips before they cut her off. She watches the rider with narrowed eyes, though she relaxes back on her cot as the conversation continues - it isn't entirely unwelcome, see, despite her faintly gruff demeanor. "Just one night? Firstly, you're fucking lucky-" Oops, she forgot that time, and fails to notice until too late. "Secondly, how did you manage that? Not that the resident dorms are a grand and sweeping domicile, but this is so much more /close/. Been here a weekish. Seems longer though." Grouse, grouse, the role of the antisocial candidate.

"So lucky," Telavi sighs; maybe she didn't even notice Evanthe dropped the f-bomb. She picks at someone else's wrinkly cot before moving on, neatening it just because she can... but only half of it. "Well, except for the part where everyone else knew each other and I had to learn everyone's names all at once plus their dragons'-- but I got over it. It didn't drag on this way, you know? I know how you feel about a seven seeming forever." Tela glances back over her shoulder at Evanthe, smiling, her near cheek briefly showing a dimple. "See, that's when there was more Searching outside this place, I think? and we'd been celebrating, and she brought me in the middle of the night, ish." As you do.

"Oh man," Evanthe says, a groan elongating the words and her hand muffling them all at once as she drags it down over her face. "Of /course/. Why the hell didn't I wait to ask until the freaking day before? Didn't even occur to me, I got all worked up and-" She waves her hands expressively, chaotically. "/Twitchy/. Just ran into it without logicking it out." She sighs, but the look she gives Telavi is decidedly more friendly. As far as she's concerned, they're bonding now. "How long ago was that? And, if I can ask, how d'you like it? 'Cause I've gotten some pretty mixed reports of the glories of dragonriding."

"Well, they could have filled up," Telavi reasons sympathetically, if not necessarily accurately. "You asked? Who did you ask? It was... oh, Faranth. Nearly four Turns ago. Ish. So not that long except that's forever too." She begins to wander back towards the younger girl, if indirectly so with her fingertips nearly grazing the other bunks as she walks by. "How did I like which part?" There's so much.

"I asked Aishani," Evanthe says, eyes widening faintly to lend appropriate import to the words. "Acted like a total moron, but I asked her... or told her I wanted to... and she pretty much said yeah, ok. /Days/ of stressing over it, and that's all it took." Still disbelief, even an interminable seven days later. But the actual rider is far more relevant to the moment - at Telavi's question, Evanthe shrugs, waving her hand to encompass everything. "Do you feel trapped? Is your dragon your forever onetruelove soulmate who you never tire of? Do you ever regret it, or wonder what-if you hadn't done it? Does it... does it ever feel /normal/? It's all so /huge/."

"Aishani?" Telavi has such wide eyes. "Just like that? Oh, you lucked out. I've heard people having to do things," things upon which she might have elaborated if Evanthe hadn't continued. But she did. The greenrider's face grows solemn, something that suits her less than that charming smile, but what emerges is no less genuine; "I... we're more separate then most of them, I think. Which is just as well; too close can be really hard."

"Just like that." And it would be difficult to miss that note of pride in Ev's voice now, inspired by Telavi's gratifying reaction. Yes. She has impressed someone. Or at least surprised them, and that's almost as good. The smile that was just quirking at her mouth fades though as Telavi moves onto the deeper topics, mirroring the rider's more serious expression. "Yeah. Really hard. That's what they keep saying, but it can be hard to tell if they /mean/ it, or if they're just trying to weed out the wusses." She considers, picking at a slightly frayed edge of her blanket - which is now getting only more and more frayed. "Has anyone ever just... failed at being a dragonrider? Like, not just /not/ impressed, but impressed and then just sucked at it?"

"Some of both," Telavi supposes with a more offhand shrug belied by her long glance. Even more lightly, make that melodramatically-- "Yes. Oh yes. I could name names but I shouldn't." Melodramatic, but not without a kernel of truth. "Listen. Evanthe," and with that she's coming right to the girl, one hand lifting with the intent to touch her hair in sisterly fashion. "Good luck on the sands... but especially before the sands, all right?" With that-- and without a voiced reason-- she's liable to retreat.

Evanthe's eyebrow arches, curiosity piqued beyond all reason. She would ask. No, she would /press/ for more information, if at that moment a cluster of candidates comes shuffling, providing noise, distraction, and inspiring a close-eyed face of exasperation. Then Telavi is there, and Evanthe looks up at her thoughtfully, only nodding her appreciation for the gesture. "Good to meet you, Telavi."