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Post by wonder123 on Oct 15, 2009 14:28:02 GMT -5
Kor should be in bed.
But he had always been a bit of a prowler.
But it had been a bit overwhelming lately. From being confirmed, finally, as an official Candidate, to the clutch that now laid on the hot sands. He had a chance. No more watching in the Sands with that dead-glow dream of a hatchling stumbling his way. This was his moment.
And so, after so long from abstaining, Koriam had procurred a bottle of wine from the cellars. Not one of the best years that would surely be looked for, but a younger wine. Not quite mature, but on the brink of greatness. Kinda like him. He watched the wine swirl in the bottle as he thought over his actions just one more time, that careful side of him almost getting the best of the old argument. The candidate hardly let the liquid touch his lips at Feasts -- he'd made a fool of himself one time too many -- but there was no one around tonight.
The bottle was brought to his lips carefully. The dark wine - one of Benden's, naturally - filled his mouth, coating his tongue with that old familiar sweetness. The one that always brought home to mind. Kor relaxed, and a second mouthful quickly followed before he could remember to pace himself.
He didn't want anything bad to happen, right?
(I can edit if any of my facts are wrong.)
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 17, 2009 6:41:22 GMT -5
Weyrlings were not supposed to be out of bed this late but Ph'yn was restless today. Ganymeth was sleeping and while he was celebrating the great success of having slipped out of the Barracks unnoticed he had plans to go back to his old Weyrbrat haunts and find some way to enjoy the night. Bedding anyone was out of the question, he could not risk anything to happen to his Bronze. As usual Ph'yn did not think about the consequences of sneaking out.
He was heading down to the cellars to grab a bottle of wine when he heard something. Quickly moving his head inthe direction of the noise he saw a young man drinking from a bottle. Ph'yn almost laughed but stiffled it. "Looks like you could use some company." The dark youth said smiling. It was evident the boy had not yet impressed a dragon but he was certainly of Candidate age so Ph'yn assumed he must be.
"Drinking some Benden red are you? Thats something they will miss..." He knew better than to steal any of the Benden wine. The Weyrleaders and Head Cooks kept a close eye on the Benden's since they were harder to come by. He'd be better off having a Tillek. Red or white was the question.
"Red or white... hmm."
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Post by wonder123 on Oct 18, 2009 22:03:18 GMT -5
Kor supposed he should have known better that he'd spend the night alone. In this Weyr, if someone wasn't crawling about either drunk or on some sort of quest for pleasure, you had to worry. He had hoped more people would be too busy with the latter to come to Night Hearth.
Well, at least this...Weyrling by the look of him....wasn't crying. That was a vast improvement over most of Koriam's company. And he seemed to know his wine on sight. That was a skil that always brought some degree of admiration to Kor's eyes.
"Depends on what you're looking for." Koriam knew the argument over red and white wine, he'd been hearing it since he was a babe. It was one of the main topics among the adults he'd been underfoot of, as his father, father's father...father's father's fa- yeah you get the idea....had been vinters. "...what you're tastes are..." Was he more of a red meat eater or did he prefer the finer dishes, that is, when he wasn't sucking down klah? In Koriam's personal experience, the riders of bronzes and browns tended to go for reds more. Greens and golds? White. Blues were too interchangable to really make a rule.
"Of course, you can never go wrong with Benden." He took another swig, the liquid already loosening his tongue.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 18, 2009 22:11:45 GMT -5
There was nothing wrong with having a drinking buddy for the night. In fact it could be enjoyable. The other boy couldn't be all that much younger than himself and he seemed to want to drink wine that could very well get him into trouble if caught. What could they possibly do to him now that he had Ganymeth? He chuckled to himself.
"I could argue that color would also have to do with the company one is keeping. If one is drinking with a lady, white is preferable but with a man, red is more likely going to be the choice." Ph'yn reached for a well aged Tillek wine. He didn't mind Tillek's that much, not as smooth as Benden's but it did have a nice kick to it.
"Honestly Tillek or Benden is good with me, depending on my mood." Tonight he wanted something sharp and he had certainly found it. Taking three gulps of the wine he grinned over at his new companion. "I'm Ph'yn by the way." The Weyrling never had trouble making friends. His white smile stretched across his face as he leaned against a wall and slid to sit on the floor.
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Post by wonder123 on Oct 18, 2009 22:23:29 GMT -5
Somebody knew their wine!
"I'm 'pressed." Koriam grinned widely, a touch more than he would have regularly. It had been a while since he drank and, in all honestly, he hadn't really been pacing himself well tonight. "Red it is!" He held up his bottle in a friendly salute as his new friend joined him on the floor.
"I suppose Tillek is a good alternative," There was that pride in his voice, whenever he compared wine to Benden. Tillek was good, but was fermented differently. To each his own. It meant more Benden for him so he couldn't really complain. "I'm Kor..." He wiped his mouth after realizing his lips must be stained red. "Uh, Koriam."
Ph'yn, not a name he knew. But he'd been right about the weyrling then. "What color'd you get?"
He meant dragon, but for all anyone could tell, he could still have been speaking about wines.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 19, 2009 7:20:14 GMT -5
"Its nice to know more than one man knows about wine aruond here." He grinned. Ph'yn was apt to smiling without reason. He had always been an outgoing, good natured sort. Although some women thought him to be a bit of a cad, that was all in the past now. He had Ganymeth to worry over, women were nothing compared to dragons.
"Don't get me wrong I like a good Benden but every now and again I desire the sharpness of Tillek wines. I like that it has a bitter kick to it." The dark youth looked at his half empty bottle and frowned. He did not remember drinking that much. He took a swig and wondered why it should be that he liked a wine most people didn't prefer. He supposed that meant more aged Tillek would be available to him and people who like Benden would have to drink younger years. He personally preferred his wine aged.
A confused look spread over his face as he tried to discern what exactly Koriam was talking about. What color? Had they not decided on red? Oh oh, wait. His mind cleared a little. "I impressed Bronze Ganymeth in Adeloth's 13th clutch. I'd introduce you but he's asleep and he can't fit in the cellar. " He sighed. "One turn left of training and I'll be able to join a real wing! We are learning to fly right now and of course Ganymeth excells at flying. I told him all dragons do, thats why they have wings."
Ph'yn was a bit of a chatterbox on a regular day but when drinking it could be worse. At least he was a happy drunk. "What color are you hoping to impress Koriam? I heard that Sheluth just laid a nice sized clutch..."
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Post by wonder123 on Oct 19, 2009 12:50:20 GMT -5
IF his new friend had just noticed half his bottle missing, Koriam was beginning to wonder where all of his went. "Hold tha' thought," He slurred before stumbling to his feet. The room tilted a bit to the left before righting itself and allowing Kor to retrieve another bottle. In the dark it was hard to tell what the labels were, but he was past the point of caring just about then. He just wanted more.
Attempting to sit back down ended up more in him throwing himself back on the floor near Ph'yn. Kor held the bottle to the light and read its label aloud. It was another Benden, but was much younger than his last vintage. It would be much sharper going down. Kor made a face at his new friend and tilted the bottle up, into his mouth.
Sighing, he just caught hold of the last thing the weyrling was saying. 'Course dragons had wings. How else could they fly? "I was 'sposed to be a Harper, you know that?" He glanced around like it was a secret, and if anyone overheard they'd realize their mistake and ship him out to the Harper Hall right now. "Shhhhhhhhh!"
"Harpers don't impress dragons. So I can't let them know." Despite that his foster mother was well aware that he had originally been destined for the Hall (and could be if he didn't impress), and yet he'd been allowed to stand as a candidate, didn't matter in the moment. "I just need one." He didn't even seem to notice that he wasn't answering the right question.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 19, 2009 20:50:20 GMT -5
Ph'yn tilted his bottle back along with his head until every last drop was gone. Hmmm. Now that would not do. He got up, albeit slowly and took a shaky step toward the Tillekian wines. Looking at one then the next. He figured it would be better to be picky and enjoy himself. AHA! There was a good turn. With a silly grin on his face he walked back over to the spot he had chosen and slid back down to a seated position.
"A HARPER!" He laughed and seeing the other's suspicious glances, he too looked around. Well there was not a single person there that he could hear or see. Maybe another swig of wine would help. Ph'yn brought the top of the wine skin to his lips and drank deeply. Ahh, this was not what he was used to anymore. Ganymeth's care was too important for him to be drinking when he was younger. Now they were flying and he was old enough not to need Ph'yn to be completely there.
"Oh, right. Fort would not be a nice place to live and harpers are a self important lot if you ask me. You'd be much better off on a dragon. I should know. I have one." If his speech was beginning to change, Ph'yn could not tell but he was starting to feel a slight tingling in his fingertips. Good stuff this Tillek wine. "Trust me, one is plenty. Doesn't matter what color. Even a green would be better than going to that Healer Hall. Personally even if I had talent I wouldn't go. Too many wonderful things to do at the Weyr. Not to mention beautiful women." Oh, this celibacy thing was a curse.
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Post by wonder123 on Oct 20, 2009 12:35:54 GMT -5
"Harpers...who needs 'em?!" Kor raised his bottle to Ph'yn's and drank to that. The other young man had a point. Having a dragon trumped anything else. And if he could just do everything right - chores, lessons, caressing the egg - maybe he could get one of his very own. But then the horrible thought occurred to him...What if he did something wrong?!
What if he touched the egg in the wrong spot, whenever Candidates were allowed to visit. Or stoof the wrong way on the Sands during the Hatching? Surely dragonets looked at that kind of thing. Then he would have no choice but to go be a Harper, and his new friend Ph'yn would despise him. Koriam was getting paranoid.
But then there was a distraction when Ph'yn mentioned girls. Of course, that didn't quite pacify Kor. "...'ouldn't kno'. Never been with a girl." In a weyr full of lustful women and riders, Koriam was still a virgin.
He took another drink.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 24, 2009 11:18:26 GMT -5
"Well theres something I've never heard!" He laughed and drank some more. At least not from a straight man and he was fairly certain Kor was straight as an arrow. "I am going to make it my personal mission to introduce you to some very nice young ladies. They are very eager to meet future dragonriders." He winked and laughed some more. His brother would have fallen backwards from a statement like that one.
He raised his skin and began to make a toast which would be the first from a long line of ridiculous toasts. "To beautiful women!" He drank a few gulps. "Here is hoping that they don't want more than we want to give!" He chuckled and then raised his wine skin a second time. "To Dragons! Who always have the good sense to say what they mean." Yes if people were like dragons the world would be so much better.
A third time he raised his skin but now it was close to empty and his voice was becoming louder. "To Friends! May they always drink and be merry with us and help us back to our prospective places of dwelling." Ugh, big words, he must be pretty toasted. Funny, he felt fine.
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