Difference between revisions of "Logs:Weyrling Prospects"

Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr

Stalactites hang high above this enormous cavern like a jagged chandelier or an inversion of the Spires themselves, but shadows cling to them instead of light. Below lie great tables arranged in rows, each large enough to serve a fighting wing, while in the nooks and alcoves around the cavern's edge sit more sensibly-sized tables, from six- and eight-seaters down to intimate spots for just a couple of diners. The only really open space is around the kitchen entrance, smelling of food and rarely quiet, and by the nearby serving tables with their long buffet of the day's offerings.

Tapestries on the smooth walls -- some faded and others newly woven -- only slightly mute the sea of sound when a meal is in full swing, but they add cheerfulness augmented by the glowlight from wall sconces and the centerpieces of each table. Still, shadows always creep along the ceiling and into the mouths of the exits -- the myriad small hallways at one end of the cavern and, at the other, the twisting tunnel to the bowl near an array of coathooks and and hatracks -- and late at night, when the glows are allowed to dim, the chamber can seem very dark indeed.

It's lunch time. With their dragons' bellies full, the weyrlings are beginning to meander over to the living caverns to get food of their own, and N'ky is no exception. Once he's filled his plate he takes a seat at the weyrling-filled table, opening up a book on dragon anatomy to flick through as he slowly eats the food he's piled up high, separating every few bites with a sip from his klah mug.

D'kan is a couple minutes behind N'ky, after leaving Kazavoth out in the bowl where he's managed to find an older dragon to pester with all sorts of questions. When the weyrling takes a seat across from N'ky, he does not have any study materials with him, just a mild chip on his shoulder. "You know, I get the whole mentor thing, but just once I'd love to get an answer that isn't just a story about himself." He goes about filling his own mug of klah, intent on combatting the bone-weary bags under his eyes. "How've things been going with yours, Nick?" he asks in tired, glum tones before his gaze lands on the anatomy book. It remains there a moment, but then he's tearing into some roast wherry.

N'ky looks up from the page he's studying on wing structure to smile at D'kan when he sits, taking a sip from his klah before he answers. "Oh, um, C'ter is k-kinda nice. Um... he's holdbred too, h-he's teaching me a lot. I like him." No complaints there, then! The teenager marks his page with a bookmark, then flips the tome shut to concentrate on his lunch and conversation."C-can't you learn anything from his stories, Kae? Maybe there's, um, s-something to be taken away from them?"

"Didn't say I'm not learning," D'kan replies in a murmur, shrugging a shoulder as he stirs some of his other food together. A bite later, he pauses, perhaps about to say more, but instead he takes another bite. When he does speak again, it's to ask, "Harper classes going okay?"

"Oh! They're... well, they're ok." It's N'ky's turn to shrug now, his nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought of the extra work he's slogging through. "History's easier than maths, still. I think it always will be." Another little shrug, and he skewers a forkful of food. Before it's popped into his mouth, he returns the question; "How're yours going?" Then, a beat later, "Um, d-do you think you'll get into the leadership programme, D'kan?"

"Screw leadership," D'kan replies darkly, the tone probably a carryover from whatever it is that set him off that morning. "Have you seen what it does to riders around here? Let the sharding heroes have it. Kaz and I are fine." He tries to spear a round bit of veg on his fork but misjudges, and the little ball of green goes flying off the table. Exasperated, D'kan drops his fork onto his plate and rests his face in his hand for a moment. He takes a couple slow, measured breathes, then resumes eating before he looks up at N'ky again. "Sorry... man, this gets hard sometimes. I just want to punch stuff, but I can't even let myself get angry, 'cause of him," he adds with a jabbed fork toward the bowl. "Meanwhile, he's happy as a barnacle attached to some poor blue's hide right now."

This angry D'kan is an unusual beast, and N'ky watches him warily, trying to figure him out. It's certainly been a seven of unusual weyrling behaviour! The green weyrling catches the runaway vegetable before it falls to the floor, setting it underneath his plate. Then he spears his own food far more gently, chewing over it as he listens to his friend explain. "I'm s-sorry, Kaed. Is there n-nothing you can punch? Um... there are punching bags that the guards use, right? M-maybe that would help."

Perhaps just having vented his frustration a moment earlier was all it took, because as N'ky asks his question, D'kan seems to relax, at least a little bit. Or perhaps "deflate" is more accurate. He manages to eat some veggies and another bite of meat without flinging anything off his plate, before he looks over at the other weyrling again. "Sorry, Nick. I didn't..." He stops to take another calming breath, then forces a thin smile. "What about you? Destined to be a wingleader someday?"

"I-it's ok." N'ky smiles with lopsided reassurance over at the brown weyrling, giving him a quick thumbs up. "Everyone seems to be, um, k-kinda... touchy lately. Or acting weird a bit. Um... you can r-rant at me, if it makes you feel better." He spears more of his lunch, wiggling it about on the end of his fork as he continues talking. "Not a w-wingleader, um, no. But I th-thought I'd maybe like to get into being a weyrlingmaster. I, um, think I'd like helping out new weyrlings. Though K'del said about me being, heh, Weyrleader. I-if women can be Weyrleader, then, um, a g-greenrider will maybe have a shot... right?"

Time for lunch! With Ilicaeth resting outside no matter the weather, Alida paces into the 'cavern on booted feet that step smartly, her near-militaristic march arrowing the blonde towards mess and whatever's offered up for consumption today. As she threads through the heavy crowd, alert green eyes espy a table where N'ky and D'kan sit, and a bob of head is offered to them, though whether they notice such in the mass of humanity is likely coincidental.

D'kan and N'ky are seated across each other at a table with some of the other weyrlings, having all gathered there for the midday meal. Out in the foggy bowl, Kazavoth is still playing Twenty Questions with Jaeharath, one of the blues from the Equinox wing. D'kan quirks a grin at N'ky at the bit about Weyrleader, just in time to spot Alida's bob of the head. He lifts the hand not holding a fork to give the fellow weyrling a casual salute, then goes back to the roast wherry. "Weyrlingmaster sounds good, too. No extra leadership classes for that, are there?"

N'ky shrugs. "I dunno? N-not that I need extra classes... I've been s-so tired from everything I'm doing now that I've, um, a-actually been sleeping." A beat, before he clarifies with: "At night." Which, for him, is unusual. Alida's arrival is noticed, because hair that blonde is hard to miss. He raises one hand to wave at her, then turns back to his lunch. "Have you thought any about wh-what you might do in the future?"

Indeed, that crown of white-gold atop her head is a standout, and said head and attached body are currently side-stepping through the line, Alida appropriating her mid-day meal. Once she's through it all, the bluie cranes her neck, searching high and low for a small table with nobody else at it. Good luck. Finding nothing along those lines, the young woman shrugs lightly, then works her way over to the weyrling table, where her tray is set down beside D'kan's, her rump lightly meeting with a leftover chair soon afterward. A grunt of greeting to both males quickly transitions into food being neatly sectioned up by knife and fork, then fed into her pie hold.

D'kan lifts his mug slightly toward Alida when she joins them, then shrugs a shoulder when he turns back to N'ky. "I don't know. Sometimes," he answers, though withholding the details. "Mostly I just want to get through this right now. Get back to being a real man again, and not this... this..." He gestures vaguely with his empty fork, which is then set down onto his likewise empty plate. "I feel sharding muzzled half the time. Don't feel what you shouldn't. Don't think what you shouldn't. Don't overexert yourself! Don't be a lazy ass. Don't be stupid. Don't let down your guard. But relax! Oh, for sweet Faranth's sake, relax!" Over dramatic much? Yeah. Overtired, too. D'kan pushes his plate toward the center of the table so he can fold his arms in front of him, where he soon buries his face. Perhaps to sleep.

"Hi, 'Lida." N'ky gives the bluerider a finger-wiggling hello when she joins them. But it's D'kan who has his attention as he goes off on one again, and the green weyrling bites down on his lip thoughtfully. "If you want my advice," he starts, in that tone of voice that says even if you don't want it, you're getting it anyway, "maybe you should just relax. Um... t-try tea. Nice, hot tea with sweetner. That's the b-best, I think." His eyes glaze over, and he gets lost in thought for a moment. "Cailluneth's awake." His half-full plate and his near-full klah mug are picked up as he stands, and he smiles to both weyrlings. "Relax, t-trust people, and it'll all be f-fine. Maybe." And that's it in terms of words of wisdom; N'ky's used all of his up, so he dashes out to his needy lifemate.

As she ingests, Alida cannot help but listen to D'kan and N'ky, a subdued expression of dark humor settling upon the ex-guard's features, in her clear green eyes. After clearing her mouth with a small swig of klah, the blonde opines low and offhanded as she lifts a forkful of chow, "Sounds like this weyrling class needs ta' take over the runnin' of this Weyr." Then it's back to eating again while her heavily-lashed gaze sneaks a peek out of the side of eyes at D'kan. And then N'ky's speaking, and finally retreating to take care of his green girl, a silent wave offered to the gangling guy while she contemplates his words. Nom.

D'kan raises his head to look at bleary glumness at N'ky as he takes in the green-riding weyrlings' words of wisdom. He doesn't reply, except to wave when N'ky gets to his feet to leave. Alida's comment gets a wry laugh out of D'kan as he raises his mug to his lips to drain it. Slumping back in his chair, he stares at the mug for a long moment before leaning over the table to give himself a refill. "Aiming for leadership yourself, then?" he asks Alida, glancing at her as he raises the freshly steaming mug to his lips again. Can't get enough of the stuff today, it seems.

Gnosh-nom. A quirk of head aside to D'kan when he inquires that of Alida translates into a laconic, "Shit, son; who'd wanna' be a Weyrleader?" A rough snort for the thought is followed quickly by, "Look'it all the crap K'del 'n Taikrin go through just ta' claim that bullshit right." Eyeroll, smirk. "Weyrsecond, however..." Cue an eyebrow waggle, followed by more food, drink, and a swallow of such. "Wingsecond 'n Wingleader ain't bad, either. Weyrlingmaster... ugh. I'd skin at least half uv kids before they ever made it through." A dark chuckle for the thought transitions into a laconic, "You?"

"Yeah, that's what I told N'ky, too," D'kan replies as he leans back in his chair. "Seems a job for chumps, if you ask me." He stares down at his klah for a moment, then looks up long enough to nod to some of the weyrlings head back to the bowl, where Kazavoth has finally ended his questions game with the older blue, and has instead decided that drawing designs in the fog-damp bowl's floor is fascinating. So much so that he's narrating his designs to the other dragons nearby. "With your sights on those, though," D'kan speaks up, glancing over at Alida again, "you'd still want to go through their leadership program thing, right?"

A soft, low chortle is all for D'kan's answer, Alida nodding a few times as she consumes more chow, lets her gaze slice through the crowd to notice whatever's taking place. "At this Weyr, anyway..." is murmured quietly. As for the other things her fellow weyrling speaks of... "Not necessarily. Gonna observe, feel out various situations. Y'know; see if it's even worth my time." A roll of once shoulder eases into a bland look over at D'kan. "You didn't really answer me." Another long drought of sustaining klah allows the palest-blonde time to take in yet another question from the brownie, time to frame an answer. "Don't see any harm goin' through it, even if I never really use it." A raised brow and a peer at her classmate again silently inquire such of him.

"About the program?" D'kan responds with a tired sort of frown. "Nah. I'd rather focus on other stuff, to be honest." He sets his mug aside and turns to look toward the bowl. Kazavoth has moved on from creating his own designs to critiquing those left by others' footprints, whether draconic or human. "Besides, if there's one thing this crap around High Reaches' leaders has shown us, it's that there's definitely a thing as too many leaders." He lets out a brief sigh and starts to get to his feet. "I'd better get Kaz away from the others before he annoys a bronze into beating the shit out of him. Besides, getting retested on local history in an hour," he adds more quietly. "Promised Kaz he could swim in the lake if he doesn't distract me during the test. See you around?"

"No... but fair enough," Alida mumbles around a half-mouthful of food, her gaze shifted to something likely from Ilicaeth, as her eyes grow somewhat disfocused. A sudden, sly grin and shaggy snigger are followed by a bob of her fair head at the brownie's comment on too many leaders, the bluie following such with a clipped, "Too many, 'r too conflicted, 'r too untested." A rather rarer, loud snicker-giggle are awarded to D'kan for his words of Kazavoth, the guard then sighing and rolling her eyes. "Yep, I gotta' retest coming up myself. Damned history...most uv' it's boring." A lift of her hand in silent farewell soon transition into more eating and watching as the brown weyrling moves off.