A Night Like Any Other [Open]

[Zirin]

*Takes place shortly after the first lesson but before the gather I guess*

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Gray whined as the hunter and his canines walked around the Weyrbowl, once again utterly bored with weyr life. He was a hunter, he was used to spending every waking moment on his toes, waiting for any sign of movement from the animal that would become his next meal. Yet, here in the Weyr, food was provided for him, shelter and safety were too. He could already feel himself getting lazy and sloppy, and the canines were showing the same signs. Enough was enough, he needed to get out and do something.

And so Korvin, with Gray and Boar once again leashed at his side, made their way slowly around the ‘bowl, hoping a tunnelsnake or small critter of some sort would cross their path. Hell, he was almost considering heading outside the Weyr to go hunt bigger game. Coming close to the lake now, Korvin decided to stop and take a break, to reflect on life and whatever else crossed his mind. Stretching out, he looked up at the moon, his silent companion, and thought of all the things he could do if he got himself a wher. Grimacing, he recalled the first lesson he had needed to attend, for all the good it did him. He felt he was lacking the information he needed to raise the damn thing, and he wasn’t fond of the idea of sticking around the Weyr to raise it. He hoped the next lesson would be more fulfilling.

Finally tiring of sitting there, Korvin decided he might as well head back to the barracks. He had nothing better to do. He stopped into the communal area of the barracks, knowing before he got there that at least one of the other idiot candidates were there; Boar’s growls had told him so. Stepping in, he dropped himself onto the couch, slammed his somewhat muddy boots on the table, and leaned back to relax some more, though his grip on the leashes did not soften in the slightest.

Boar continued to growl at whoever else was in the room.

[Lark]

Abetzi didn't balk when the dogs started growling. The man however turned out to be that guy at the lesson she really hadn't gotten along well with. He was....less than desirable to say the least. The canines were cute though, that was sure. She eyed the shier of the two, smiling in her direction before meeting the owner's body again. "Hello there. Easy Dusk....you're fine." The dark blue flit was shivering against her skin, once again tucked away in her shirt up against her side. Crooning, he peeked his head out for one moment before he tucked it in again. "Nuh! No! Come 'ere you little pest." Grabbing onto his tail, Abby pulled Dusk out from her clothes.

"There, not so hard right?" The flit crooned unhappily, but otherwise agreed. Shaking her head, Abby wondered how her sister was doing. Not that she was here. The younger sibling had stayed with their parents and family. It wasn't easy for Abetzi to get along without her either. The candidate was often found crying at night for the loss, not that she would let anyone know. Even though the barracks were communal and not too seperated like the dragon ones, she had perfected the art of crying silently. After all, her father used to say only children wanting attention cried aloud. The ones that really were upset cried silently. A chirp brought her attention out of her thoughts. Dusk had tried to hide himself in her shirt again.

It was overly large as most of her night clothes were, and he burrowed into the excess fabric. "Fine. Do what you like." Rolling her eyes, Abby looked back to the other boy, or was he a man. She couldn't tell from here, but she didn't particularly want to know either. "Do you think Risk will run and clutch soon? Waiting for the eggs.....it's kind of hard. I think I finally understand what my grandmother was trying to tell me. I wish she would just get it over with already!" Laughing lightly, the young woman pulled her white blonde hair over her shoulder. It was long and tumbled down in waves, comparing with her gray eyes nicely in her opinion. "What do you think you'll get? Oh! What are there names? I'm Abetzi, and this is Dusk." The candidate might as well make conversation right?

[Akira]

Loba sighed as she walked through the hallways. It was going to be another long, boring night of walking around making sure no one was sneaking around doing something they shouldn't be. Lobask suddenly stopped walking, and Loba looked down at her green wher. What is it Lobask? The green wher sent Hers a picture of shadowy figures talking when Loba asked her question.

Loba held her fingre up to her mouth, a motion that the green wher had learned meant that she should be quiet. Then, the two of them made their way to the candidate barracks. She listened quietly, and realized that it was just a couple of canidates, getting to know each other. Good evening young ones. She said as she came around the corner, and faced them. Lobask happily trotted beside Hers, and sniffed curiously at the two canines.

[Zirin]

To say he wasn't impressed by the lack of fear Abetzi showed towards his canines would have been a lie; people normally had a tendency to shy away from the obviously aggressive Boar. As it was, she had just gained some respect in his mind. Then his eyes narrowed. He would have obliged and been friendly towards her, if she hadn’t opened her mouth and started chattering away like a naïve brat. He scoffed, stupid, useless Weyrfolk had gotten too used to living a carefree and safe lifestyle. He had the feeling this girl, like many of the other candidates, had likely never gone through hardships of any kind.


He rolled his eyes as she spoke to the little blue lizard. Geez, he had seen fish with more courage than that pathetic thing. No wonder he didn't like flits, he had yet to see one do something useful. Was it that the creatures themselves served no purpose, or was it that these people didn't know the first thing about properly training animals? Finally, after what seemed like ages, though it had only been mere moments, the girl finally gave up her ridiculous fight with the creature and turned her attention back on him. He glared at her as she asked him question after question, as if she expected him to just spill all his thoughts to her; a complete stranger. Idiot, but it didn’t look like she was going to leave him alone. Fine, he would humour her for now, but his expression clearly showed his annoyance at being bothered. Picking up on his owner's feelings, Boar’s growls deepened.


"Set'le Boar," Korvin commanded. The canine did as commanded, lying down at the candidate's feet, though he continued to growl lightly. Gray moved towards her tentatively, her nose sniffing the air as she moved closer. "Gray." Korvin said her name aloud as the female looked up at Abetzi. There, if the candidate had an ounce of intelligence then she would not require anymore for an introduction, and he sure as hell felt no need to share his own name. Then he thought about her initial question. Why did he care if this 'Risk' character ran soon? He didn't care about races, he just wanted an egg and that was it. That was why he was here, what a stupid question. He decided to ignore it completely.


"Wha' I'll get?" His voice held a questioning tone, but it was more a query to understand the question than anything else. "I'm 'ere for a wher, ya git. Ain't you?" The question unnerved him a bit. The answer was obvious, so why had she bothered asking? Unless… he thought back to the lesson, recalling the two beasts that had been there. Was it gender that mattered, because he knew both males and females of any species could be equally as powerful if properly trained. Then was it their colours she was asking about? Gold dragons, he knew, were treated more importantly than the rest, but did that also apply to the whers? Realizing he would probably look like an idiot if he didn’t expand his answer, he finally finished. "A wher's a wher, ain't nuttin more to it." It was a truthful answer. Korvin knew next to nothing about the whers, but in his mind, as long as he had a trainable creature, he didn't care what colour it was. He was a bit curious about her though, since she seemed to know more about the whers than he did. "You?"


It wasn't long after that that one of the lesson's teachers arrived, he assumed she was on guard duty or something like that. He would have been happy to ignore her - that wher of hers was simply not the ferocious beast he had been hoping to meet - but she said something that annoyed him. Young ones? He was obviously older than her, and if he wasn't mistaken Abetzi was also older, though he couldn’t be entirely sure. Did she think that just because she had a wher and he didn’t she could treat him like a child?


"I'm surrounded by idiots..." He mumbled to himself as the green thing dared to sniff his canines. Gray shied away from Lobask, accidentally bumping into Abezti while Boar growled. The male snapped his jaws at the wher. If it dared to come closer he would bite, simple as that. "Get yo' pet away from 'im unless you wanna get bitten, 'Young One'." He replied with a bit of a snarl, still annoyed that the woman had looked down on him at all.

[Lark]

Abby listened half-way to the other candidate's words. So, he obviously didn't know much. The way he acted was enough to tell about that. It was like a man coming in to buy a runner, but knowing nothing of them. She was going to answer, but the dog, apparently named Gray came up to her. The owner's voice was forceful and direct, something she recognized having used it herself many a time. "Hi there." She crooned as she looked at the canine. The candidate didn't touch her though, simply held out her hand for the shy female to sniff. She could decide for herself it seemed if she wanted to be touched or not. As for the responses to her questions about the whers? Abby was less than thrilled. The other candidate had obviously not been paying close attention. She hadn't either, but she knew this stuff from her grandmother already.

"I'm hoping for a green like my grandmother's perhaps. A brown would be interesting too. They're usually calm and more sensible. Bronze, Blue, dare I say Gold, are all nice as well. It depends I suppose on what Risk clutches. They're dangerous as dragon hatchlings though when they're first out of the shell. Not to mention they need a blood bond. I'm not thrilled about the idea of cutting myself, but if it needs to be done... It's not like I haven't hurt myself before. That happens a lot when you train runners and breed 'em." Dusk hissed at Boar as he growled. The blue flit had seemed to peak out from behind whatever place he had been hiding in. Shushing him immediately, Abby sent him some scolding thoughts.

That was around the time Loba came in with her wher. The candidate wasn't entirely thrilled with Young Ones either, but she kept her mouth shut. "Hello Loba. Hello to you too Lobask." Abetzi reached out, hoping that the friendly green would come and meet her. "It's strange seeing her and Mavrisk. Even Carosk, my grandmother's wher, wasn't as...tame perhaps would be a good word. Though the other handlers sometimes had interesting bondeds. Some were downright horrible though, I remember one Bronze that would snap at everything and hunted all the felines out of the quarters."

[Akira]

Loba knew that she was younger than most of the candidates here, since she was only eighteen turns old. Yet she felt older than she was, and had felt that way ever since she had impressed her green wher. She raised her eyebrows at the man when he mumbled something to himself, but her attention was quickly diverted when she heard a canine growling. She turned just in time to see one of the man's dogs snap at Lobask, which probably wasn't the best idea in the world.

Lobask NO! She spoke to the wher just as the green started hissing, and snapping her own jaws at the canine. When she heard Hers' words, she backed off though. I don't think Lobask is the one that would get hurt. Wher's are stronger than they look. She didn't mean to offend anyone, but she was telling the truth. Some people believed that green whers were nothing more than weak pests. Loba knew better though, her own green had taught her that.

I'm sorry, I think we've all gotten off to a bad start. So, let's just start over ok? She tried to make her voice appologetic, and was glad that she actually did feel sorry for the way things had started. Lobask turned her attention on the girl when she spoke, and started waging her tail when she held out to her. She slowly walked over to the girl, and rubbed her leathery green head against her hand. Lobask Loba's Hi. The green tried to sniff at the creature she had smelt in the girls clothes as she spoke.

[Zirin]

[[OOC: Please note that Korvin's opinion in no way reflects my own. I am actually quite fond of both Lobask and Mavrisk!]]

Gray wagged her tail as the girl offered a hand to her. Though she was first and foremost shy, the young canine was still a very friendly creature and loved meeting new people and creatures. She reached her nose forward until she was almost touching the hand and sniffed at it. Pleased that the girl would not cause her harm, she nuzzled the hand gently, but only for a moment before she pulled back and laid down, her tail still wagging and her eyes watching Abby. If the girl wanted to, Gray was still within reach for petting.

Korvin grimaced as the other candidate launched into lecture mode, though he had to admit that the information she gave, while a bit know-it-all, was definitely helpful for Korvin. Letting out a humph, Korvin crossed his arms as the girl went on about the different colours, and there was that ‘Risk’ name again. So that was the female who would be bred for the wher he was going to get? Interesting. He nodded slightly as the girl finished her speech with a comment about breeding runner, a comment that automatically gained a bit of respect from Korvin. He had been raised by a hunter and a canine breeder, and had learned a fair bit about breeding from his mother. It was definitely not an easy task. Maybe this girl wasn’t as useless as he had originally thought? He would never tell her that though.

Korvin grinned at the comment about a snappy bronze. That sounded exactly like what he wanted, and the knowledge that not ALL the whers were as.. Well.. Pathetic as the green and blue he had met. He gave the green a disdainful look, and actually let out a chuckle as Loba defended her wher. As if that happy-go-lucky blob of ugly could actually take on both his canines without getting injured. The thought was ridiculous. He wasn’t completely cocky though, he could tell that a fight would likely cause some serious damage to his canines, and he saw no need to endanger their lives. He let out a click like noise, which immediately caused Boar to back down, though he still growled lightly at Lobask. Korvin didn’t like Loba, didn’t like her belief that an apology would make everything better, and he was sure the look he gave her would send that message. He looked again at Lobask and her handler, and thought back to the blue before turning his head to Abby.

“Not Blue or green then. I need somethin’ fierce.” His voice was quiet, thoughtful, but held obvious contempt for Lobask. He couldn’t stand the idea of having a creature as un-fierce as Lobask and Mavrisk had shown to be. The bronze from Abby’s story.. that’s the personality he needed. Bronze, Brown, even Blue or green if he had to… in the end, it was a strong, vicious, but intelligent creature that he wanted.