[open] A Visit to the Candidates

[Rust]

2.03.3189

The touching had been yesterday, and it reminded N'rak that he hadn't been talking to the candidates as much as he would like to. He knew who they were, for the most part. Maybe not by name but a least by appearance. He had watched them at the touching, which honestly hadn't been as interesting or informative as it really sounded.

Instead, he finally got around to taking the matters into his own hands. Around evening, after chores should have been done, N'rak figured that a least one candidate would be in the barracks for him to speak with. If he didn't get to know them all, it wasn't a huge deal. He had plenty of time to get to know the ones who impressed after the hatching anyway.

"Do you need me there?" Keth asked from a perch outside the weyr where he was sunning.

N'rak shook his head and said, "Not right now," out loud, despite the distance. He shuffled a few sheets of paper and, procrastinating slightly by pretending he was cleaning up instead of putting off the visit. Once he ran out of things to try to tidy, he moved to his clothing chest and carefully looked through it. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but he figured he should look right. Not powerful or old, nor weak and young.

"They're kids. Don't worry and just go."

With a sigh, N'rak set a shirt aside and glanced at a wall in the vague direction of Keth. He was right, of course. Still... N'rak reached back into the chest and pulled out a lighter jacket intended for a warmer sort of chilly weather. It was dyed dark brown and reached his knees when he wore it. He had decorated it with cloudy glass beads down the shoulders and arms in a straight line, and along the hem by his knees. He threw it on, carefully placed his other clothing back into the chest, and left.

It wasn't too long to get to the candidate barracks, although the walk was a hassle at N'rak's age. Not that he acted like it bothered him. Couldn't show that much weakness, especially around kids. He paused and straightened up, trying to look like a young bronzerider before he pushed the skins aside and entered the candidate barracks.

[azure]

Who was this? Prinner wondered, straightening up from sorting through his belongings. It was a rider by his dress, at least he thought so.

He hadn't been in the Weyr long enough to know all that many people or to get all the rules. What was he supposed to do? Best to fall back on normal manners, he guessed.

"Good evening Sir. Are you looking for someone?" Prinner straightened up to his full, almost 5' height. AS usual, he wore his riding boots, putting him over 5'2". At his height, a boot heel helped. He wore a couple layers of clothing, even in the barracks. Having no body fat to speak of meant he was cold often.

[weetia]

Kolaris was sitting on his cot trying to scrub at the soles of his boots when someone came in. He didn't look up at first, assuming that it was one of the other candidates. He needed to get rid of the mud, so that he didn't spend the next day making people angry by tracking it around the Weyr. It was frustrating, when the landscape was mostly snowy and white, that he still managed to get covered in filth when he was doing his chores. At least the boots were the last thing he needed to clean.

Of course, he didn't know that he had missed a smudge under one eye, since he hadn't had a chance to see his reflection since his quick cleanup. Still, that was the only sign other than his boots that he had slipped on ice and fallen in the mud.

He heard Prinner greet the visitor, though, and glanced up, before jumping to his feet. "Hello, Weyrlingmaster," he said, respectfully, standing in his stocking feet next to his cot. His hands were still full, so he could probably get away with not saluting. He thought back to the last several days...he had behaved pretty well, actually. No pranks since moving into the Candidate barracks, no significant mischief. There was no reason that the Weyrlingmaster would be coming here to punish Kolaris, and he relaxed a little. He was well used to getting into trouble, even though his little stunts never hurt anyone. Sometimes people got so offended at such little things.

[Rust]

N'rak looked between the two candidates with a slight smirk on his face. He had seen both of them but didn't know either of their names. For a moment, he saw them as potential bronzeriders: young men who would outrank him and have glory and youth, but the jealousy part of that thought never really came (except when it pertained to their youth, of course) so N'rak stopped thinking about it.

He waved dismissivly at them both. He appriciated that they knew how to be formal when needed, and gave him proper respect, but it didn't need to go past greetings.

"I'm just here to meet the candidates," N'rak explained, putting his arms behind his back. He looked between the two standing boys for a second. "I'll probably be teaching at least one of you, and I usually like to know who I'll be seeing around before it happens."

[azure]

He really needed to learn people and quickly. This man was potentially the most important person in his life for the next year or so.

"I'm Prinner sir, from Telgar Hold. I was an apprentice beastcrafter but with thread startimg I thought I'd be of more use here."

As best as he could tell a smaller size on a fighting dragon was a good thing. He was wiry and tough, he'd been called the perfect runnerbeast rider. Why shouldn't this hold true for dragons?

[weetia]

At the Weyrlingmaster's wave, Kolaris went back to cleaning his boots. After Prinner's introduction, he looked back up. "I'm Kolaris, sir," he said, unsure if the weyrlingmaster had heard much about him. His little stunts like drawing vaguely offensive doodles with the harper's chalk were surely not significant enough for the man to know his name. He hoped. And he hadn't had time for things like that since moving into the candidate barracks.

He put that boot down, satisfied that he couldn't see any more mud on it, at least until it dried, and he would look again. Picking up the other one, he focused on it. He would just brush the dried mud off his clothes before sending them to the laundry, and it wouldn't be too much extra work, but he needed his boots again tomorrow.

[Rust]

N'rak nodded, hoping to remember both the names of the boys. Shouldn't be too hard, right? The older man let Kolaris deal with his shoes; it was good to see that someone who seemed pretty young was willing to take care of their clothing. Sometimes it seemed uncommon, even among the seasoned riders. Not that N'rak could judge; he had clothes that desperately needed patches or care too. Still.

This Prinner seemed like an interesting boy and perhaps good rider by the sound of it. Even if he was extending the truth, it was still good to hear now and then, as annoying as the complimentary say-what-you-want-to-hear types could be.

“Beastcraft, huh? I’ve had good experiences with beastcrafter weyrlings in the past. I don’t like referring to dragons as anything as simple as animals-“ For good reason! “-but weyrlings who know how to care for a runner seem to adjust to taking care of a dragon quite easily.”