Some help you are [open]

[Taylor]

"Please? Would be much easier if you would just fly, Pria." How hard could it be to send off a message? Not hard. Not hard at all. Shells, it was what firelizards were for, wasn't it? Jallis had brought her little white flitt out here, hoping she would pay more attention when all there was to focus on was her and some waves. It was too distracting closer to people because people meant food and attention, and the white would much rather play and eat and get scritches than do work.

Pria gave Jallis a very brief glance then hopped out of her hands, spreading her wings just long enough to glide safely to the ground, then tucked them tight against her back and went loping off down the beach. Jallis made a low growling sound in her throat, brandishing the note at her retreating pet. "Should I just fly it there myself, then?"

Normally this would be amusing but right now she was sort of frustrated. She didn't want her parents trying to send a message to her. If the firelizard looked for her in Apolla, they would find out that she wasn't there anymore. And if the firelizard came here, it might report her surroundings back to them. She knew she couldn't hide the fact that she was here forever but... Well she wasn't sure what her plan was. Wait until the hatching, at least. If she Impressed, she could delight them with that and avoid the politics. If she didn't Impress, she might be headed home anyway.

Everything would be fine if Pria would just deliver messages periodically so that everything seemed the same from the outside.

"Okay Pria. I'm going to count to three." She started walking towards the flitt, a very serious look on her face, making sure the white knew she meant business. Pria gave a little cry of fright and turned to run away. Unfortunately, she ran straight into the water, where a wave smacked her in the face and caused a louder cry, this one more genuine and panicked. As the water receded, it tugged the teeny, stunned firelizard with it.

Jallis rolled her eyes, not overly concerned, and continued at her normal pace. She would reach Pria before anything too terrible could happen. Pria seemed unconvinced of her safety, though; she made a frantic attempt at flight, wings slapping against the turbulent water until she finally got a bit of air beneath them. She rose straight up, zipped away from Jallis-

And then sneezed on a bit of saltwater in her nose. The sneeze was instantly followed by a keen of distress as, having stopped flapping her wings while sneezing, Pria plummeted once more towards the water. She hit the water, this time further out, and Jallis started moving faster.

This time the flitt actually could be in danger, if she didn't calm down. Jallis ran into the water, arms slapping at the water slowing her down. Waist deep and soaked, she scooped Pria out of the water and held the gasping, frightened flitt until she calmed down. "Faranth, Pria. You are the least competent flitt on P-" She stopped, because the firelizard was giving her a very sad look. "Sorry. Will you please just-"

Not letting Jallis finish the conversation, Pria plucked the rolled message from Jallis' chest pocket where she'd stashed it. Gripping it in her front paws, the white shook herself a little, flicking water droplets onto Jallis' face, and then launched herself skywards, wings beating the air twice before she popped between.

Jallis looked at where she'd disappeared for a moment or two, sighed, then turned and trudged towards the beach. She sank to the ground, salty, wet, and cold. Might as well add sandy to the mix, right? She frowned at the ocean, waiting for her flitt (why oh why didn't she have one who did what she said?) to return.

[Kitsuneko]

B'den, it is far too hot. I should go take a swim, yes? Kohenkyoth's tail twitched as it hung over the ledge of her weyr, the only sign of her agitation. The green was otherwise calm and collected, though he wouldn't deny that it was hot, even for late summer.

B'den's eye brown raised slightly, though. "...Yeah, I suppose." The fact that she had bothered to tell him at all and hadn't simply gone off on her own told him that there was something else she wanted, though. "Are you suggesting I should come as well?" He was a good enough swimmer, he supposed--he wasn't going to drown, anyway--but he wasn't particularly fond of the water and rather disliked getting wet. He'd have preferred staying inside to work on his instruments, despite the heat.

Kohenkyoth's response was a growl. Clearly, she wasn't having it, his staying there. If you stick around this weyr much longer, I'm afraid you're going to get heatstroke, the green said. And what would I do then? Come on, the sun isn't going to kill you.

The young rider gave a roll of his eyes, but decided it wasn't worth the fuss. He climbed to his feet, setting the pipes he'd been constructing on his desk, and stretched. "Alright then, Kohenkyoth, let's have it your way." The green lowered a foreleg obligingly so he could climb onto her back, and she stepped to the edge of the ledge. Their young gold fire lizard Dione chittered and jumped in the air as well, clearly not willing to be left alone, and she followed the green dragon as she soared away toward the beach.

The green gave a snort as she landed. They were not alone; it was not something that was particularly surprising, after all. It was a little strange, though, watching the tiny white flitter towards the water and then back to its owner. What exactly was it trying to accomplish? By the time Kohenkyoth landed and B'den climbed down from her back, the fire lizard had disappeared between, though the young woman who was apparently its owner stayed where she was.

The green wasted no time with conversation; as soon as she was free, she made her way into the deeper water for her swim, ignoring humans and fire lizards both. B'den was less eager to get in the water; he settled in a spot somewhat near Jallis and addressed her in a polite but curious tone. "What exactly are you trying to do?" Dione latched onto his shoulder, chirping curiously at the new person, but soon hid her head shyly behind his back.

[Taylor]

Jallis turned at the sound of splashing, jumping a little in surprise. Caught up in her Pria drama, she had completely missed the arrival of a dragon and her rider. She watched Kohenkyoth wading into the water, looking much more sure of herself than her little flitt had. Jallis found herself riveted. She had a firelizard, sure, and her brother had one that was even bigger. But comparing a firelizard to a dragon was like comparing a piece of sand to a mountain. She hadn't had much time around dragons close up and still wasn't quite used to it.

The rider's words snapped her out of her revery and she looked over towards him. After a second of thought, trying to quickly run back and figure out what he'd said and make sense of it, she gave a little laugh. "What, you mean it wasn't obvious?" She gave him a sheepish grin. "Clearly I was sending a message in a professional and dignified manner."

She turned her gaze once more to glare in the general direction of the spot where Pria had disappeared, as if the white would feel her displeasure a continent away. She shook her head, trying to forget that whole frustrating affair. Difficult when she was hot and all of her clothes were sticking uncomfortably to her but... "My firelizard isn't the most eager messenger. She prefers to eat and be petted. And told how adorable she is - she likes that, too." She was silent for a second and then it occurred to her that he might ask where she was sending the message. Turns of embarrassment kicked in and, heading him off at the pass, she swiftly blurted out "my father is a healer. He heals. I was sending him a message about that. He'd told me a story about one of his patients so I was replying." She blushed a little, aware that she now sounded far more strange than she would have if she'd just waited for him to ask. But then what if she had stumbled over her words or accidentally said he was a tuber farmer or...? Oh well. Nothing to be done now. She eyed B'den, trying not too look too expectant as she waited to see if he accepted her tale.

[Kitsuneko]

B'den grinned as he watched the girl staring at Kohenkyoth, even though the green was oblivious. Well, at least someone appreciated her besides B'den, though he could tell she wasn't a rider. Probably a candidate then, and one who hadn't been around too long, since he didn't recognize her at least by sight.

His words had drawn her attention, though, and she seemed a bit sheepish when she answered him, obviously being sarcastic. Hmmm, it must be rough, having a fire lizard like that. Metrodora was demanding, but at least she was learning to follow orders, and Dione was really easier to take care of than a gold fire lizard had any right to be. She'd already be carrying messages for him if she wasn't so small, still.

He made a small, sympathetic sound, but the girl was already blurting out something else. About her family, apparently. Imagine that, B'den. A healer. Who heals, came Kohenkyoth's dry words. Apparently she was not so preoccupied with swimming that she couldn't pick up on their conversation as well.

Hush, you, B'den told her good-naturedly. As for Jallis, he just stared at her for a moment before replying. "A healer, aye? A respectable enough profession...though not at the same level as a harper, perhaps." He gave a small smile--he was joking after all, mostly anyway, and he assumed her nervousness came from her father's profession. "I come from a long line of Masters and Journeymen, myself, but it's been turns since I willingly talked to my family. I'm much prouder of bucking the family trend and being a dragonrider. The name's B'den; the green in the water is Kohenkyoth, and the gold is Dione." The last brought a trill of acknowledgement from the fire lizard, though she didn't move from her perch. Still shy as ever, obviously.

[Taylor]

Jallis couldn't help looking back at the green a few times. She was gorgeous, and Jallis still wasn't used to all this dragonflesh on display all the time. At B'den's comment about not speaking to his family in turns, however, the Candidate's attention was snapped swiftly to him and caught there. "W-wait you...you haven't spoken to your family?" She couldn't tell if she was horrified or jealous. "Why not? Can you do that? You just...became a dragonrider and left?" She stared.

Would she want to, if she could? Not like she was particularly fond of most of her family. Kyprioth she liked, of course - they had always been closer to each other than their other siblings - but would she miss the rest of her family if they didn't speak again...? Certainly not her father. They hadn't always seen eye to eye on things and...well, there were some very strong reasons she was glad to be among dragonfolk, now, instead of on a tuber farm.

She realized he'd introduced himself and his companions and she'd done nothing but stare thoughtfully at him for several seconds. "Uh...s-sorry. I'm Jallis. You're all very pretty." She'd been going to compliment only the dragon, but there was no denying the firelizard was gorgeous. And while she was at it, she figured she'd just go three for three - B'den certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, after all. "Are you from a line of healers, then? Or harpers?" She hadn't quite been able to tell which he meant.

[Kitsuneko]

B'den was a little surprised at how much attention she seemed to pay to his offhand comment. He smiled, as little curious as to why it seemed so important to her, and gave a shrug. "Well, more like I left, then Impressed a dragon, but it pretty much amounts to the same thing. That didn't sit too well with my father, with him distrusting riders, but..." He gave another shrug. "Like I said, I haven't talked to him since before I Impressed. "

He wasn't normally quite so open to talking about himself, but she had seemed interested...though he wondered whether her family was part of the Rebellion as well. If not, that might go a long way towards explaining her interest in his family history. "Harpers--on my father's side, at least. That's why I was raised in the Harper Hall. But anyway, why not leave? Once you've got a dragon, it's not like there's anything they can do about it. Are you a candidate, or are you at Rindell for some other reason?" He'd assumed she was, but you never knew with people...

[Taylor]

Jallis stared at B'den, her expression suggesting he was some magical creature, or perhaps Faranth back from between. Surely no regular human. "Just like that? Just...left?" Yes, yes of course just left. He'd said that. But the idea was so strange. "I... I don't get along with certain members of my family very well." Calling the tubers and her background "members of the family" was a bit of a stretch, but it was close enough, right? "I'd love to leave them behind as easily as you did yours but..." She shook her head. "I can't believe you just did that! Though why did your father dislike you Impressing? I would think he would be proud of you!" Her family would certainly be proud of her if she wrote home that she'd Impressed. And then she would be able to leave that part of her life behind, right? Right! She found herself smiling, the prospect of Impression seeming even more appealing than it had before.

She realized he was still speaking - or speaking again, rather - and snapped herself out of her fantasy. "Did you want to be a harper? Before you were searched?" She had so many more questions - how did his family feel about the Rebellion, how had he been searched, how far had he gotten in his training - but didn't want to bother him too much. Better to let him answer one question at a time. As he asked about her candidacy status, she nodded, unable to keep from smiling again. "Yep. I'm a Candidate. Was just searched not too long ago. Though if I don't Impress I'll stay on and try to help in other ways - I'm a tanner. Well...a tanner apprentice."

[Kitsuneko]

Ooh, B'den, I think you have an admirer. Kohenkyoth was lurking just underneath the waves, only the top of her head and snout poking up above the water, crocodile-like. B'den scowled mentally at his green, but outwardly he kept his expression calm. He was a little unnerved by the way Jallis was looking at him now, but that didn't mean he wanted her to be aware of it.

It was as though she'd never so much as thought about leaving home before, and B'den briefly wondered what had brought her to the Rebellion. "So, if you don't like being around them, don't be. You've what...eighteen, nineteen turns?" He asked a dangerous question, he knew, but he did it anyway, running a quick glance over Jallis's face and body. "I'm not saying you should cut all ties completely, unless they really deserved it, but...you're certainly old enough to strike out on your own." He gave her a reassuring smile and settled down at the edge of the sandy beach cross-legged.

Her question about his father was waved off. "Ah, he's hated dragons and their riders for turns, thinks they're parasites, but I've long since stopped listening to his rants. I was a harper first, actually, a journeyman. I requested a transfer to a Weyrharper post just to spite him and got Searched from there.

"Seems like you've got as good a chance as anyone of walking away from the hatching with a dragon," B'den added after her last comment. "But even if you don't, you shouldn't have to wait too long, with three obsidians in residence." It was a pity the topaz had decided to go back to Trelis; Faranth knew they needed the eggs. He was afraid if they didn't have some clutching dragons rising soon, some of the riders would resort to less savory methods of gaining weyrlings.

[Taylor]

Jallis nodded. "Nineteen, yes." She hesitated, unsure about her next words. Did she want to give him information about her family and past? Anyone could have a lot of children, of course - not just farmer-types - but what if he somehow guessed and then he knew where she was from and told everyone that she was a tuber grower's kid. After a small pause, she continued - might as well make her concerns about leaving make sense. "I've got four brothers and I'm my mother's only daughter. She's a bit...possessive. I think I'd break her heart if I "struck out on my own", as you put it. Of course, she wants me to get married and settle down young, like she did. That's...not exactly what I dream about, at night." If it weren't for her mother, Jallis would likely have no trouble leaving her family and past behind and following her own path. With so much talk growing up, though, about being her mother's "one jewel in all these rocks" she was hesitant to do anything that might disappoint her.

She laughed a little at the idea of choosing your posting just to spite your parent. It was so different from how she operated. "He doesn't think harpers are parasites? I mean...they're useful and all, but if he objects to dragonriders recieving food without producing it...harpers don't exactly sprout tubers and sing herdbeasts into existence." Ashamed as she was of her family, she was at least proud of their product. Dragonriders and farmers kept people alive; tanners and harpers just made those lives easier and more pleasant.

As he said she could get a dragon, she beamed. "Really? I mean I haven't been here long...wouldn't they prefer someone who's lived with dragons and knows them?" His comment about obsidians prompted another question. "The Rebellion has no queens though...right? No golds? Is that bad? Do people want a queen?" She wasn't used to these new colors yet. Thousands of turns where golds were the only clutching dragons, growing up with that lore, made it hard to adjust. The idea of a weyr with no gold was strange.

[Kitsuneko]

Well, looks like he'd been pretty much spot on with his guess on her age. B'den listened to her talk and gave occasional sympathetic noises, though he wasn't quite sure he fully understood her reluctance. He was an only child, after all, and there was certainly no love lost between him and his father. It had been extremely easy to cut ties with the old man--he'd sent letters and demanded to see his son at first, but after he learned about B'den's Impression, even those had stopped. "Ah, but the harpers are an old and prestigious lot, dedicated to preserving and passing on knowledge as much as their music. Perhaps he's become a bit less outspoken since Threadfall started, but I wouldn't count on it. Don't ask me how his mind works." B'den sighed, rolling his eyes skyward.

He wasn't particularly surprised when her questions turned to the dragons. They were the sort of questions he'd heard before. "Ask ten different people how the dragons decide who to Impress to and you'll get ten different answers. Who knows; sometimes they go to the candidates who touched their eggs, sometimes they take the ones who hung back, or even go into the stands. Previous knowledge of dragons doesn't seem like the most important characteristic."

The mention of a gold brought him to a pause. From the deeper water, Kohenkyoth gave a derisive snort. Queens are over-rated anyway. They spend so much time flying and clutching eggs they're next to useless for anything else. We're better off without them.

That made B'den chuckle. "Well, Kohenkyoth certainly doesn't care much for golds. I can't speak for everyone in Rindell, but personally, I'm not bothered by the lack of a gold. There are sub-queens and smaller dragonesses that can provide us with eggs, and the lack of a queen has led to a change in the power structure which I think is for the better." Not quite as "better" as he'd like, perhaps, since he still wasn't sure of ever obtaining a first knight position or higher. But at least it was a possibility here.

[Taylor]

Jallis gave a little chuckle at B'den's words. It was clear the dragonrider was not entirely fond of his father, and it was strange seeing that so clearly expressed. Sure, she may dislike a large portion of her family, but she would never say so! Just the thought seemed impossible. "So much of their knowledge is about how important dragons are, though..." She shook her head. "Sorry. You said you don't know how he thinks. I shouldn't talk like I'm trying to convince you on his behalf. Sorry."

No one knew how dragons Impressed? It was something she'd heard before, a common enough thought among Pernese, but to hear someone who had Impressed express the same level of bafflement...well, it was odd. She looked over at the mostly submerged green. "Well how did you choose? Why him?" It was part curiosity, part desire to become a more appealing candidate so she could Impress a dragon of her own.

The pair surprised her once again as the green snorted at the idea of a gold. Jallis stared at her. "B-but isn't that...I mean that's their point, isn't it? Is just to make lots of babies. Isn't that enough?" Didn't sound like a particularly pleasant existence but...well, that's just what happened with some, wasn't it? It was like cutting up a tuber to use the eyes to grow new ones...you didn't eat everything you grew. She avoided saying that, though, not wanting to reveal any knowledge about tubers or how they worked.

Jallis nodded in understanding at B'den's words. "I suppose I can understand that. Liking the changes, I mean. But didn't it just shift? Now you name a new color "queen"? I just...I don't understand how something that doesn't lay eggs could be in power." Which was odd, now that she thought about it. Why did you need to reproduce to take control? But it...it was just how things were done!

[Kitsuneko]

Kohenkyoth's head raised up fully out of the water as she looked at Jallis. She wasn't normally a talkative dragon, but since she had asked, the green answered her directly. He was the only candidate who matched my ambition. I knew he wouldn't be satisfied with a normal greenrider's position, and neither was I. That was the most important thing to me; for others, it is different. I do not claim to know the minds of other dragons.

B'den nodded. "See, there you go. I guess it's different for each dragon." He was a little amused at her defending golds. He supposed it was possible she felt more strongly about it than he did, seeing as she was a girl and actually had a chance at Impressing one. Then again, she was at the Rebellion, where there was no gold. He gave a shrug. "Okay, so they lay eggs. That's a good thing, I certainly won't begrudge them that. But why should that give them and their riders total authority over the workings of the Weyrs when there are now so many other colors that can do as good a job, and lay eggs as well, at that. There's not really anything unique about them or their riders now."

[Taylor]

Jallis was somewhat surprised that Kohenkyoth answered the question she asked. Surely it was a very personal question, one which they a dragon would hesitate to answer, particularly to a stranger? "So did you... Well you said you want to be more than a normal green and he wants to be more than a normal greenrider. Did you get what you want? What is your rank?" It was strange to her, the idea that a green could have any position but...well, being a green. She was trying to adapt to the rebellion's way of doing things, but it was difficult to oust nearly two decades of thought.

Jallis gave a rueful smile as B'den said Impression criterion were different for every dragon. "Guess that means there's really nothing you can do to...prepare or make yourself better, huh? Just have to wait for yours." Which was a difficult thought to come to terms with. She wanted to get a dragon now, not in a turn or two. The more time she spent here in the rebellion, the more impatient and eager she became.

She considered B'den's words about golds carefully. "Well I suppose... Hmm. I guess they don't need to be the leaders, because...because others can lead, yes. But it just seems strange not to have one at all, just for faster reproduction. Because...y'know. Amethysts and stuff can't lay as many eggs." But there were more of them, of course. "It would be interesting to have a weyr full of amethysts. Or whites, or whatever. Fighters who can clutch. You really wouldn't need queens or even sub-queens, if you had enough dragons to lay one or two at a time." It almost felt sacreligious to say that, but the thought was certainly an interesting one. Imagine a weyr with only fighters...

[Kitsuneko]

(Ooc: I don't even remember now if this was before or after the gather...I'm going to assume before. XD )

Kohenkyoth gave a small snort. The girl had asked, so why wouldn't she have answered? It wasn't like ambition was anything to be ashamed of, after all. B'den, on the other hand, gave the green a look before answering. "Well...we haven't exactly graduated, yet. We've done all the training we need, but we won't find out exactly what position we've earned until the gather. That's when we officially graduate." Though curious, B'den wasn't exactly breathless with waiting; even if he didn't have a special position right away, he was patient and prepared to wait turns to earn his spot as First Knight. He was sure it would be more satisfying that way, rather than it being handed to him.

On the topic of dragon eggs, B'den gave a shrug. "Well, clutches are only good as long as we have candidates to Impress the hatchlings, and herdbeasts to feed to them. Neither of which we are particularly over-flowing with at the moment. We have enough trouble feeding the dragons we have now, do we really need a gold and the sort of clutches they lay? Your fighter-clutches idea is an interesting one. It would definitely be a better way of controlling our population than a few large clutches."

[Taylor]

((Haha it was before, yep.))

"Oh, you haven't graduated...? But she seems so grown up. Like...like you're proper adults." Silly of course to think of weyrlings as not really adults - people Impressed in their twenties, after all - but there was something about being a graduated dragonrider which felt much more mature than weyrlinghood, even if the dragonrider was sixteen and the weyrling was twenty-two. "Is there a chance, though, that you would get a high position right from the beginning? Can that happen?" She imagined a young bronze, just a year and a half, as the weyrleader's dragon. Of course, that wasn't the way this community was set up. "The more I think about it, the more it makes sense here. Why shouldn't you be able to lead? Why is everything based on who has sex with who?" Because really, that's what most of society seemed to be based on, when the male leadership was determined by who could catch a certain pretty female. She'd jumped a bit, from age restrictions back to color restrictions, but hopefully he wouldn't get too lost.

B'den brought up yet another thing Jallis hadn't thought of. Feeding hatchlings. Feeding them and finding bondeds for them. Neither were things she'd thought of too much - holds tithed, holds sent candidates, everything worked out. But that didn't work here, did it? "How does the rebellion get food...? No one tithes to us, do they?"