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Post by brimstone81 on Jul 28, 2007 13:33:33 GMT -5
Elisha had invited the candidates to come and touch the eggs while her Adeloth was out hunting with Bristith. While she kept the queen at bay, the candidates would be able to come in and touch the eggs of their choice. The Candidate Master would be bringing them in any time now, and she stood by the queen egg, the most noticable one in the clutch. There were three large eggs that rivaled the gold's size, as it was a touch smaller than expected, but still impressive.
There was one gold egg, three visibly larger eggs, most suspect bronze in them, and two that were visibly smaller, though the rest were very, very similar and almost indistinguishable. 34 eggs total. The female candidates will be able to touch the gold egg only.
(unless otherwise told)
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Post by kayla on Jul 28, 2007 13:45:38 GMT -5
V'nes had the Candidates assembled, "Weyrwoman Elisha has arranged for you to be able to not only see the eggs, but to be able to touch them. Adeloth has gone hunting, and you are going to be able to take advantage of the Queen's absences."
He sighed as he had different set of instructions on this point. He disagreed with the Weyrwoman, but he would not countermand her instructions. "Lads, you will be allowed to touch any egg you want, except of course for the Queen egg. I will warn you against assuming that touching an egg will guarantee that the hatchling inside will impress you when the time comes. Sometimes it works out like that, sometimes it doesn't."
He then turned his attention to the young women, "Lasses, the Weyrwoman has decided that you will be allowed, only, to touch the Queen Egg. Do put forth an effort not to break this rule."
V'nes grinned then, "All right, following tradition, you will have your first experience of feeling like the soles of your feet are going to be burned off. You will take your shoes off at the entrance to the sands. I suggest you use this experience to learn to ignore the pain so that you can focus on the eggs and in the future on the hatching. Your feet will survive, I promise."
He then gestured, "Let's go. We'll go orderly and respectfully. If you can't do so for this, I'll talk to the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader about not letting you stand this time at all. All right, off with ya."
V'nes then lead the Candidates out onto the sands, having taken his own shoes off as the Candidates did. "Weyrwoman Elisha, the candidates for this marvelous clutch."
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Post by kayla on Jul 28, 2007 14:03:52 GMT -5
Neory tended to appear calm and collected, and most of the time she very much was. The shiner had finally faded from where Dyleon had punched her, but even then she had not felt the pounding of her heart that she felt now. Her heart was racing, and she was finding it awfully difficult to stand still. She barely noticed that she was bouncing on the ball of her feet.
She nodded as the Candidate Master spoke. While the restriction to the Queen egg bothered her - though she was not interested in touching any other egg - that was completely drowned out by the fact that she was actually going to get to touch the Queen egg.
When they reached the sands, she quickly removed her sandals. She waited for the Candidate Master to lead them onto the sands. At first the heat was all she could focus on, but then she saw the egg and her feet no longer registered in her mind at all. It was so beautiful, and if a little smaller than "normal" that didn't matter.
When they reached the eggs, and the Candidate Master introduced them to Elisha, she turned her attention to the Weyrwoman, waiting for the slightest signal that they could actually approach the egg and touch the gorgeous egg.
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Post by hrsegrl on Jul 28, 2007 14:28:41 GMT -5
The Retired Weyrwoman was seated in the stands, close to the actually Sands, where she had sat many times watching her own Hatchings. This day was an egg touching and she very much wanted to see who touched what. It made the Hatching more interesting for her. There was an ongoing tally of hers to see who impressed if they tiouched an egg versus who didn't.
She made no movements, content to watch and listen to the Candidate Master, Elisha and the excited Candidates. Beynath would be on her ledge and would inform Mari if Adeloth were headed back their direction. Queens were so finicky when it came to eggs.
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Amneris watched and listened as Candidate Master V'nes. Well, when Amneris listened it wasn't so much committing it to her memory so much as her pretending to pay attention while thinking about other things. Sure she knew she was only allowed to touch the Gold Egg. She wasn't sure what was so great about egg touching. It didn't mean the dragon would bond with you necessarily.
Tipp and Note were lucky to be missing this. At least she had shown up for her lesson today. Actually it wasn't so bad, this whole seeing the eggs. Not many harpers had seen one up close. She would get a chance to feel them and describe them to others. That at least would satisfy her.
The other nice thing about being here was seeing all the people she had met. Hoping that they would impress wouldn't be so bad. Though that Dyleon guy, said he didn't really care... she bet he wanted to, deep down. The blonde looked about for her friend Rael. She was probablyon the other side of the large group of Candidates. Amneris would find her later.
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Post by darkaire on Jul 28, 2007 18:57:04 GMT -5
The brothers were not standing together, though that came as no surprise to anyone. After being caught by R'net for landing a nice punch on Neory, Dyleon had been pretty much forbidden to get near either her or his brother. Also on the list to avoid was that one girl he'd mistaken for a drudge...whatever her name was. It wasn't important to him, so he didn't bother remembering it. The boy wasn't exactly in good graces with anyone at this point, but he wasn't too affected by it. He didn't need the approval of anyone, and he would keep telling himself that until it was true.
Kaelsah, on the other hand, was assimilating just fine into a group of Candidates. Due to his extremely passive nature most people found he was quite easy to get along with. Most of the time he just sat or stood around, responding to the things the strong-willed boys did to impress people. They appreciated it, and in turn he appreciated their company. He was a little lonely without the constant harassment of his brother. Which isn't weird at all.
Dyleon kept his eyes off the eggs and on the Candidate Master as he talked. He couldn't deny he was a little excited about this, though that was about it. Sure, the idea of Impressing a dragon was a grand one, but not one he'd be brokenhearted over if it didn't happen to him. He was perfectly fine without a dragon, even better off without human companionship...all in all, he was quite content with being utterly and completely alone in the world. No one understood him, anyway. Not that I want to be understood, he amended his thoughts quickly, denying his basic human needs as usual. He slid his sandals off as instructed and set them to the side. As soon as he stepped onto the sands, the intial burn caused him to hiss. The more he walked, the more it burned, and the darker his mood swung. He was not happy with the burning. All this pain just to touch some eggs? He'd heard it wouldn't even effect the outcome of the dragonet's choice, so why was he wasting his time in the first place? He sighed and rolled his eyes, hoping he might have the option to not touch the eggs and just go back to napping.
Kael, on the other end of the emotional spectrum, was all starry-eyed and short of breath from the build of excitement in his stomach. There was so much build that he thought he might be sick, though he wouldn't let himself before he got to touch at least one egg. The nearly tangible excitement and hope radiating from the others around him was soaked into the boy and regurgitated as even more build up. He gasped softly at the burning sand, but soon grew to ignore it as they approached Elisha. He smiled politely to the Weyrwoman as the Candidate Master introduced her, but couldn't stop his eyes from shifting eagerly to the eggs. He wondered breathlessly what each egg held, and if one of them held an eternal partner for him.
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Post by effluo on Jul 29, 2007 7:43:32 GMT -5
Glepgh had been in the room where they were suppose to meet for the lesson since he had found the room, which was about a half an candle mark ago. His dark figure leaned against the wall looking more like a large shadow than a man. Even so he had made sure to wake early enough this day to both wash, eat and get lost as he knew he would once again inside the stone walls.
Half a candle mark gone now, he had watched many of the other candidates come in and he was beginning to feel more and more out of place. They didn’t look nearly his age, all older kids, yes, but still kids none the less. There was one who seemed to have a little bit of an older appearance, but his messy hair only shot down that hope in Glepgh. Was anyone near his age within this class?
Finally seeing the man who worked as the candidate master walk in – V’nes he thought the name was, why couldn’t he remember it? – and he listened carefully to the mans words. His face lost its naturally dark look to a look of surprise. He’d only been here a few days and already they were taking him to touch those eggs the girl had shown him? Had he come late or did things always move this quickly when dragons were involved?
Following the rest of the class, not really walking with anyone as he already felt out of place, he too took off his sandles where the sand began. Stepping onto the sand, however, brought the memory of the hot sands of Ista to his mind, walking along the sun heated sand that burned un-calloused feet. Pausing after his first step, he wiggled his toes and smiled. Even if the stone of the Weyr was so unnatural to him, he could finally chase off the cold summer wind with the heat of this sand. Finally.
After a moment of comfort in the heat that was missing even in the middle of summer in this northern Weyr, Glepgh finally followed the male candidates toward the clutch. He was more comfortable walking barefoot in this sand than he had been yet in the Weyr.
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Post by brimstone81 on Jul 29, 2007 21:06:23 GMT -5
Elisha nodded respectfully to the Candidate Master. He was always a good judge of character, and never had before challenged her rules. Females were required to help with other parts of the Weyr, and off fighting dragons. Some people started rumors that Elisha hated greenriders because she had caught one in bed with her man. This was not true, laughable, actually. Elisha did have greenriding friends, though the one in said situation was completely ignored by the queenrider.
It didn't matter now. She looked approvingly at the candidates, most seemed to be of good stock. The ones that weren't well, the dragons knew best! Elisha went to talk to V'nes. "Hello there, Candidate Master, I bet your candidates are pretty motivated with their chores now!"
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Post by kayla on Jul 29, 2007 21:16:55 GMT -5
V'nes disagreed with the decision, for multiple reasons. One of which was that he knew that many Brown and Blue riders did not prefer men to women and worried what the lack of female green riders would do to those individuals' morale. However, as much as he might privately disagree with her decision, his job did not include sowing dissent among the future riders.
The Brown Rider smiled warmly to the Weyrwoman, "That they are. They've also been informed that if they act disrespectfully at this time they will not be allowed to stand when the Hatching comes. And that's as much for their safety as for the dragonets."
He then grinned over to the gathered Candidates, "I ask permission, formerly, on their behalf for them to be allowed to touch the eggs now, Weyrwoman, unless you wish to address them all first."
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Post by brimstone81 on Jul 29, 2007 21:24:36 GMT -5
The Weyrwoman looked at V'nes, unsuspecting of his secret disagreements, and smiled lightly, "Of course your candidates may touch, I doubt that even I could stop them now." The queenrider looked fondly at the gold egg, the first of hopefully many. She looked back at the Candidate Master, "The Search, I see, was sucessful? My queen lessons were satisfactory I do believe the little gold will have a sufficient choice of girls."
She tried to make polite conversation, as the two would be the only ones not touching eggs. They might as well being able to kill time some how. (And this is a big HINT HINT to the two people I notified earlier about touching eggs.) Elisha was a little distracted, only looking at the queen egg ever so often.
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Post by kayla on Jul 29, 2007 22:35:07 GMT -5
V'nes saw no reason to express his disagreement. He doubted he would sway her, and he did have respect for her. He would move over to speak with her while keeping an eye on the Candidates, mainly watching for any who would need to be removed from standing.
*
At the go ahead, Neory did not run to the egg. Though everything inside of her wanted to do so. Instead she moved as quickly as she could towards without racing the other girls or doing anything to impede their getting to the egg. When she reached the egg, she reached out to gently stroke it. "Hello, beautiful one. I look forward to seeing you come out into the world. I know you will be magnificient."
She grinned to the other girls, and if any seemed hesitant to touch the egg, she'd encourage them to do so. It was not a competition. The truth was that the choice was the Dragons.
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Post by darkaire on Jul 29, 2007 22:40:30 GMT -5
As soon as they were released to start the egg touching, Dyleon waited a moment as the Candidates surged forward. The boy kept an eye on the Candidate Master and Weyrwoman, and as soon as they seemed to be distracted with each other, turned on his heel and left. He didn't want to be there, and so he wouldn't be there. There were too many people in there, and he'd be too tempted to hit one of them for looking at him the wrong way - and doing that would get him banned from standing for sure. Not that he wanted to, anyway.
Kael watched his brother leave, then turned his eyes to the eggs. Well, they made a slight stop on a certain person before moving on. He felt his face warm and quickly moved over to the eggs, stopping in front of one to run his hands over it. He moved through the eggs until he felt safe enough to kneel behind another and turn light eyes to the Candidate Master, merely watching him as he talked to the Weyrwoman.
(short, don't care. bleh!)
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Post by thedreamerlady on Jul 29, 2007 22:42:54 GMT -5
Nisha didn't bother to slide her sandles off. Sure, it would be accordingly proper to take them off, and would "focus" her, or whatever they'd said, but she had no intention of buring off one or more layers of skin on her feet just because the candidate master decided so. She still would attempt to keep it hidden, and felt her long skirt would hide her feet. Sliding into the crowd seemlessly, she walked toward the Queen Egg.
However, on her way over, she couldn't help but slow near a small egg. She remembered her aunt- a Greenrider- and wondered if a mistake could be made by one of Elisha's Green's could grant her that same pleasure. Only one Queen, and more than enough girls- perhaps, maybe?
With one small hand, she paused and carressed the egg. Startled at her own boldness, she continued on toward the line in front of the Queen egg. But another egg- this one much larger- came into her path. This one was given a caress, much more fleeting, and Nisha continued into the line for the Queen Egg. After waiting her turn, she was given a few minutes to stroke the large egg, alongside another girl, before she faded back away, and simply watched how the eggs looked in the bright light, and the heat of the sands.
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Post by kayla on Jul 29, 2007 22:55:57 GMT -5
V'nes frowned as he noticed Dyleon leaving from the sands. However, he saw no reason to intercept the lad. As much as he would wish that the boy would loosen up and drop his hard shell, the touching of the eggs was much more a privilege to prepare the Candidates for the Hatching, to help them to be comfortable around he eggs.
Feeling eyes on him, V'nes scanned over the candidate and smiled warmly at seeing Kael. V'nes felt protective of all of his Candidates - though some gave him more gray hairs than others, but he felt a little more protective towards Kael, knowing that his own brother was one of his bullies and seeing how he was around the other boys. He nodded encouragement to the boy and then went back to talk with Elisha.
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Post by effluo on Jul 30, 2007 6:45:46 GMT -5
The comfort he had found in the warmth of the sand was the only thing that helped him keep his composure as he followed the younger boys toward the eggs. If he had been feeling older and out of place since he got here, well the eggs so close in front of him let age no longer matter. They were there and much larger than any sort of eggs he had ever seen.
Finding quite a few moving towards the larger eggs, Glepgh naturally sidestepped toward a more secluded area and found several of the smaller eggs around him as well as a medium sized one. Reaching out to the medium sized on, he did not notice how badly his ever steady hand was shaking. His entire mind was lost in wondering how that egg would feel…
It was not long until he had one hand on that egg and a hand on a much smaller egg, mixed emotions leaving him breathless. In the end he let his hand fall from the medium egg and after another gentle caress finally from the smaller one as well. Even if he didn’t impress he knew this would be an experience he’d never forget, even in the endless voyages at sea.
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Post by darkaire on Jul 30, 2007 12:45:22 GMT -5
He hadn't expected V'nes to catch him staring, at least not when he was half hidden behind an egg. When their eyes met and the Candidate Master smiled, Kael felt himself warm under that look and tried to smile back. Oh shards, why did he have to catch him? He couldn't suspect...could he? The Candidate fretted over being found out, and continued to do so even when the older man's eyes slipped back to the Weyrwoman.
Kael pressed hands to his flushed cheeks and sat, resting his back against an egg and staring somewhere else lest V'nes catch him staring again.
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