Difference between revisions of "Logs:How To (Not) Get Searched"

It's been a pleasant sort of afternoon; the sun is out and the sky is clear of autumn rains. At Fort Hold, it's business as usual, with apprentices and students scurrying between between Healer, Harper and the Hold on message duty. Less hurried are the holders, even the young ones - with no masters to pressure them their pace is rather more leisurely. There's a handful gathered near the small, dark green that's set down on the road just in front of Fort Hold; Reesa stands out in her bright yellow sundress where she lounges against the dragon's side. There's some commotion or other - at least, the holders seem fairly vociferous about /something/.

The bronze that lands a short distance beyond is clearly here to drop off a passenger; once the dragon has settled onto the ground, his rider dismounts to help down the messenger they carry. The messenger hurries off into the Hold proper, intent on whatever business has brought him here to begin with. The rider, now off-duty after his final errand, makes his way over towards the commotion to see precisely what's going on.

"But we want to come to the Weyr!" one of the younger girls is saying, visibly pouting. "Yeah, we hear you guys eat a whole flock of herdbeast every night for dinner!" one of the boys chimes in, and the girl nudges him, "Stupid. Avians /flock/, not herdbeasts." The boy looks momentarily disgruntled, but their attention is soon distracted by the arrival of Liesanth. "A bronze!" the boy says, rushing towards C'stian. "You'll search us, right? Being searched by a /bronze/ is much better than being searched by a /green/." Behind them, now mostly abandoned as the others crowd around the bronzerider, Reesa's rolling her eyes. "Oh, go shove it up your-" her teeth snap together for a moment, as she grimaces towards C'stian, half apology, half relief.

To Liesanth, Khiabeth projects « They are annoyingly persistant, » the green confides. Or doesn't really confide so much as gleefully shares. « Reesa is glad you are here. »

Whatever C'stian was expecting, the sudden transfer of Reesa's mob scene to him was perhaps not it. "Ah, I don't know who told you that we eat a whole herd of herdbeasts for dinner each night, but I can promise you /that/ part of rumors about Weyr life is definitely false." He glances over at Reesa, eyebrows raised. How did she manage to collect so many of them in one space? Meanwhile, Liesanth touches Khiabeth's with the zephyr that so often characterizes his own mental presence. Pragmatically, the bronze offers, « If there are that bad, we could run. They can't fly! »

« Good idea! » replies Khiabeth, cheerfully, and does just that - spreading wings and pushing up into the sky. The abrupt movement disrupts Reesa's careful lounging, ending with the greenrider on her behind, rather disgruntled looking indeed. Picking herself up, the rider gives a narrow-eyed stare skywards, then towards C'stian, puzzled. The boy's pouting at C'stian's correction, but the girl's smiling at him, easing past him to eye Liesanth like she's trying to get the dragon's attention. "Wherry, then. A herd of wherry! And baklava!" that earns an appreciative "oooh!" from the group, one of the girls reaching to tug on C'stian's sleeve. "I'm really good with animals, you should take me!"

« Though we are supposed to make them like us, aren't we, » Liesanth remembers, perhaps a bit too late given Khiabeth's abrupt departure. Meanwhile, C'stian offers Reesa a sort of shrug in answer to the green's departure; Khiabeth's not his dragon, after all. When the girl tugs on his sleeve, however, C'stian turns to regard her with raised eyebrows. "Are you suggesting that dragons are just like the animals you work with?" He rests a hand on his bronze lifemate's neck, as Liesanth lowers his head to regard the girl curiously.

« But I /am/ likeable. I don't have to /make/ people like me, » Khiabeth counters, like this should be obvious. Since the decision is made the green goes on in: she wheels, gleefully, overhead, making a couple of the holders look up enviously. Not the girl at C'stian's side though, she's frowning, as if she's not sure if the question is a trick or not. "...yeeees?" she tries, tentatively. Reesa's dusted herself off, and so she's grinning now as she moves to the back of the crowd to watch, apparently just as pleased that half of the group's attention is on her dragon as wanting to see how the bronzerider will handle the group.

"They're not," C'stian assures the girl, shaking his head. "This is Liesanth. From the moment we Impressed, he's been in my head; he can speak to me. That changes how you work together. After all, you wouldn't treat..." He glances around, and points to the boy who was trying to get Liesanth's attention. "...him the same way you would a wherry, right?" Presumably, anyway. Liesanth, for his part, stretches his neck out, preening for his fascinated crowd. It's a choice the bronze may well regret soon.

The girl squints at the boy C'stian points to, "He /is/ a wherry, though," she protests, to the giggling reception of the rest of the group and the menacing step of the boy, though with C'stian's gaze on him, he stops. Along with the girl, a couple more of the fascinated, more daring holders step towards Liesanth, and when nothing happens (at least, no roaring or fearsome reason), they get bolder, stretching out hands towards the dragon as the others crowd behind to watch. "Uh-oh. You've done it now. You'll never get rid of them," Reesa predicts, with a grin, as she steps up alongside C'stian.

"Really? He doesn't /look/ like a wherry to me," C'stian remarks, glancing in that direction. Evidently changing tactics, he continues, "What if you found a wherry who could talk to you? Who could tell you if they felt unwell, or were hungry, or bored or tired or wanted your attention? And they could talk to you wherever you were, no matter how far away you were? Would that change how you worked with that wherry?" To Reesa, he shrugs. "I'm pretty sure I can take them if I have to run." Liesanth shifts position, lowering his head now to regard the various Holder children. Shower him with his due adulation!

The girl's nose wrinkles at the very /idea/ of a talking wherry. "But they /smell/," she protests, like that's reason enough not to want to associate with the creatures. "Dragons don't. Plus you can't ride wherries," a hasty look over at the other kids who are gathered around Liesanth. "So," she says in a low whisper, "You're going to take /me/, right? Not those other wherries?" C'stian's shrug and response earns a laugh from Reesa. "I don't know about that," the greenrider says. "They're pretty fast. Plus, they have Liesanth pinned down." It's by no coincidence that Khiabeth does a look swoop over the group, to try and steal attention away from the bronze. /She's/ far more interesting! Look at /her/!

The bronze tilts his head towards the girl, momentarily distracted from his adoring public by her remark, and C'stian laughs. "Liesanth says he most /definitely/ isn't a wherry," he informs her. "But you can see that it's not the same thing as being good with animals. Dragons aren't like us, but they aren't animals, either. Saying you're good with animals, that's a good way to become a stablemaster, but it doesn't mean you'd necessarily be a good /rider/." To Reesa, he adds as an aside, "If I really needed to leave, I'd be willing to bet a few marks that if Liesanth roared they'd back off to give him enough space."

Reesa's curious, asking, "Would he?" Roar, presumably. "I'd front a few marks to see that," the greenrider adds, sotto voce. One of the boys has grown bold enough with Liesanth that he's now trying to climb up onto the bronze's foreleg, though he's a little too short to be able to do it easily. The girl, meanwhile, is frowning. "Not a wherry. But still, they're not /human/ either," with her hands on her hips. She's looking between the two riders.

Liesanth's attention is drawn to the boy trying to climb on him, as his head swings over that way. He is /not/ a toy. C'stian, however, nods to the girl. "Exactly. Not a wherry, but not quite like one of us, either. So, if 'good with animals' isn't necessarily what makes you a rider... what about you would?" It doesn't sound like an accusation; he is, instead, genuinely curious how she'd sell herself. Maybe it's because she at least made an effort to argue her case, rather than just 'I want to be a rider! Search me!' Liesanth, meanwhile, informs Khiabeth, « Tell her that if I wanted to roar, I would be the Loudest and Most Frightening. » But right now, perhaps he's enjoying the attention. (Mostly. Except for that whole 'being used as a climbing toy' part.)

The boy's attempts draw not only the bronze's attention, but his fellows, who try to do the same. It's a contest! "Whoever gets up first gets to be searched!" the boy's declaring to the giggling delight of the girls, mostly as their attempts fail. The girl talking to C'stian's watching the group by Liesanth with a frown, or maybe the frown is just in response to the question. "I, uh... I'm not afraid of heights!" she declares. "I can climb trees higher than most of the boys!" « I bet I'd be more so, » counters Khiabeth, that but doesn't mean she doesn't pass the message on, given Reesa's making a face. "Guess I get to keep those marks then," she murmurs, attention drawn by the girl.

Liesanth shifts position, getting a little irritated now, and spreads his wings to flex them once. This, it seems, is cue enough for C'stian to turn his attention now to the boys. "That is /not/ how you get Searched," he notes, a bit more sternly. "That's how you annoy Liesanth until he roars and flies away." To Reesa, he notes more quietly, "You might still get to see him in action, at this rate."

When the bronze spreads his wings, the girls scream and scatter, and the boys hastily back away, though the way they're eyeing Liesanth suggests maybe they're just waiting for him to settle before trying again. The girl that was by C'stian has backed way back, wide-eyed and uncertain of expression. "Persistent, though," Reesa says, in a tone that might well be faintly approving. "/I/ was pretty persistent, too. Paid off for me." Not to encourage the holders or anything, though...

"Oh?" C'stian asks, turning his attention to Reesa. "So, you're saying that you know how to convince a dragon to Search you?" This, perhaps, is said loud enough for the Holders to hear. Not, of course, that he's passing them /back/ to Reesa or anything... but that's when Liesanth launches himself into the air as well, moving to soar overhead where he can be adored by not /manhandled/. As a result, /both/ riders are left temporarily stranded on the ground, among the children.

There's a roll of eyes from Reesa, like she knows exactly what C'stian's trying to do. Casually, she says, "In a /Weyr/, you just /ask/. As long as you've been putting in your fair share, most Weyrwomen won't say no. For /Holders/, though..." she snorts, like it's a lost cause for them, eyes lifting to watch Liesanth head upwards with a grin, just as Khiabeth passes low enough overhead that the wind from her sweeping wings stirs the air around them. The children look disappointed, staring upwards mopingly.

"Hey, not all of us were weyr-born," C'stian retorts, watching his lifemate overhead, and forgetting for a moment that this admission -- that he was found on a Search, not born in the weyr -- will likely turn the attention of the children towards him once more. Still, glancing to the 'good with animals' girl, he adds, "Persistence may count for something. But think of what you could do to help the Weyr, and to be a good partner to your dragon... show /that/, and that's probably the best way to be found as a Candidate once Searchflights start."

Reesa gives a slight shrug that could be apology, or simply waving it off. She makes a bit of a face at C'stian's advice, as she says, "You oughn't encourage them. Poor Liesanth will get mobbed, assuming he has any sense for search at all." She definitely sounds more sympathetic for the bronze than the rider, even when the group of kids gathers around the bronzerider again, "Tell us how it happened! Yeah, did you make friends with the riders first?" Khiabeth wings back around behind the group, and with a grin, the greenrider starts to back away, apparently intending to leave C'stian to his 'fate', heading for her green with quick steps.

"I actually didn't do anything; I was at Healer Hall, as a Senior Apprentice, and I figured I would be a Healer the rest of my life," C'stian informs the children, almost apologetically. "I'm not certain why they picked me." Something about that rings slightly false, but then Liesanth swings low as well. "He and I have to go; it's almost time for us to get to practice drills with our wing. But when Search comes back this way, I'm sure you'll have plenty of ideas to tell the riders flying it." And if C'stian's one of them, he'll doubtless regret this entire interaction.

"But, but!" the holders are all protesting at once, crowding around C'stian, some begging him to tell them /more/, others begging him to come back. But, finally, they let him go, however reluctantly, excitedly talking amongst themselves about what they'll do when he comes back with a /search wing/.