Very white (Wolflover/Therion)

[ShadowReine]

The smallest dragon at Nyocia backwinged to a neat landing in the bowl. Tyrth was tidy in everything he did, as was his rider. Pern's only white rider unhooked her straps and slipped down, patting the small dragon on his shoulder once her feet touched the ground, then starting to turn to remove his straps so he could go jump in the lake.

As she did so, she noticed that she was not the only person in the bowl. There was a Candidate present. At least, the young woman was wearing a white knot. The white rider smiled at her. "Are you doing anything right now?"

If the Candidate had any sense, she would answer yes and flee to an imaginary chore. Gwen had done that several times during her own Candidacy, when she had thought that it would be a gold or violet that would choose her.

Not Tyrth. Nobody had predicted Tyrth.

[wolflover1458]

Therion was not in a good mood at the moment. But then, she never really was. It had been Turns, in fact, since she had really, truly, been happy. Oh, sure, she'd felt better upon realizing she would be leaving her home, a home where no one cared about her anymore, and going to the Weyr, getting away and realizing that she was going to be a dragonrider, and not just any dragonrider, either, but a Weyrwoman. She'd felt better, certainly, but not good. There was no good at the Weyr. There were chores, instead. It was silly to give a future leader of the Weyr chores, yes? No one else seemed to agree with her, though. Well, Therion didn't care what they thought. She was destined for greatness. And if no one else could respect that, then it was their problem. She'd get her payback, eventually. Oh yes, one day she was going to make all of them pay for this. She might have to drudge through work now, but when she was standing on top of the Weyr's social structure, no one would be telling her to do chores. Not one person. And then she would be able to get back at them for everything they'd done to her.

That, however, was going to have to wait. And Therion found she didn't really have the patient for it. But she couldn't not have the patience, really, because there was nothing she could do about it. It didn't suit her to be unable to do anything, but she couldn't do anything about it now. All she could do was hope that there was a Queen egg in the next clutch, because as soon as there was, she was that much closer to the destiny that Therion knew she was going to reach.

This musing was interrupted by a dragon soaring overhead. Therion was almost starting to get tired of the constant dragons zipping around above her. She wasn't even sure why she didn't like it. It was kind of like pillows. There was no obvious reason for her to hate it, but she still felt unable to stand it. And she didn't know why at all. Oh well, nothing to be done about it.

Therion was prepared to just ignore this slight intrusion into her thinking, but it seemed the dragon and its rider were not. She didn't even bother to look at them when they landed, but then the rider spoke to her, and she turned to look. "What's it to you?"

She didn't know this person's name, but she was definitely familiar. Most people knew about the white dragon, Tyrth. Some were impressed. Some were confused. Some might even be jealous. But not Therion. Therion recognized the dragon for the freak of nature that he was. And his rider. She probably thought she was so cool, being the only one with such a dragon. But if he was going to be unique, surely he could be larger? Seriously, even the smallest Green could outsize that silly dragon. Therion would be absolutely appalled if she ended up with such a dragon.

Some people thought he was neat, but Therion found the whole thing more freaky than anything else. And she wasn't jealous in the least. This girl might be riding on a unique dragon, one there would most likely not be another of in her lifetime, but Therion was going to be a Weyrwoman. Her dragon was going to benefit the Weyr far more than that little white one did. She was lay clutches and bring more dragons, and Therion would help to lead the place. And what would the little white Tyrth that everyone was interested in be doing? Fighting Thread, and having to give out halfway through because he didn't have the stamina to last the whole Fall.

Oh yes, that was very impressive. She cared so much. In fact, she was almost dying from how much she cared. And from sarcasm.

[ShadowReine]

There was something familiar about Therion's tone. Oh yes. She definitely reminded Gwenduinne of somebody.

Of somebody who basically hadn't existed since Tyrth broke shell. "You do realize that as of right now I outrank you, right?"

Tyrth lowered his head to regard the Candidate. His eyes whirled a soft green, and a rumble of amusement came from his throat.

None of which was likely to improve Therion's mood. Gwenduinne, perhaps catching it, forced herself into a more relaxed stance. "What's your name?"

The young woman would learn that arrogance got you nothing but, maybe, an arrogant dragon. Sooner or later. Gwen had stopped removing the dragon's straps. "And has anyone shown you how straps fit yet?"

She might or might not have actually LOOKED at fighting straps, but Gwen knew that the sooner she learned about them, the better. And the sooner she learned that riding a dragon was hard work, the sooner she'd lose some of that immaturity. Just as Gwen had.

[wolflover1458]

There she went, pulling that rank thing on her. Everywhere she went, it was rank this, rank that. Well, Therion was going to rank above all of them soon enough. What did they think of that? Nothing, of course, because she wasn't there yet. Still, it wouldn't do to be rude to a rider, even if Therion could really care less. She needed to form some kind of apology. And that was something she was quite good at. "Of course you are," she responded. "I just get tired of people asking me what I'm up to when I'm alone. Pardon my rudeness." Well, maybe that was a bit much, but she didn't need even this rider, who, according to ranking rules, should be the lowest ranked rider in the entire Weyr (feel the jealousy). But even at that low position, she was still above Therion. For now, at least. And when she wasn't, then Therion could get back at her. She would just have to wait for that. But it would happen soon enough. Hopefully.

She ignored the dragon who had turned to look at her. He wasn't impressive. He needed to live with it. Therion had better things to gawk at. She just hoped he wasn't expecting a lot of attention, because he wasn't going to get much. "My name is Therion. And yours?" She may have heard of the dragon, but that didn't mean she needed to know the rider. And if not knowing was a problem, then this whole Weyr was one giant mess. The only names she really needed to know where those of the Queens and their riders and all the Tans and Bronzes and their riders. Everyone else was just muddled into the 'other riders' category. The less important ones. Therion wasn't going to end up there, though. She would be on top.

"I've seen the straps (who hadn't?) but I haven't seen anyone put them on yet." Which didn't come as a surprise to Therion. To Therion, no one seemed very interested in teaching Candidates anything. They just used them as slave labor, and if they were lucky enough to Impress, then they could actually start to learn all the things that a dragonrider really needed to know. Did Therion want to learn about riding straps at that moment? Not particularly, but if someone wanted to bother showing it to her, they could just go ahead. At least it meant they thought she actually would end up Impressing. She would, of course, but it sometimes felt as though the people around her doubted that she would. Well, they would see soon enough.

[ShadowReine]

"Gwenduinne," the white rider supplied. "And right now I need to take them off, but I doubt Tyrth would mind if I showed you both. You'll need to know once you Impress."

Yes, there was definitely something haughty about the girl. As far as rank went, Gwenduinne...didn't care about rank any more. "You'll be standing for Jorindath's clutch, then." The violet's *last* clutch had included a weird bronze who had Impressed to a girl, so who knew what she would throw this time. Of course, one could never predict dragons.

Gwen moved over to the straps. "It's easier to show with Tyrth than it would be with a bronze, at least. They work the same way, of course, but you need quite a bit more leather for the big guys."

[wolflover1458]

Therion was glad to see that this Gwenduinne girl, at least, seemed to think that she would end up Impressing. Perhaps she didn't believe would Impress a Queen, but it was going to happen anyways, no matter what people thought. Therion was just glad to know that there was at least one person who thought she stood a chance, even if what they thought didn't matter in the long run. She just needed to bide her time, and hope that Jorindath would reveal shiny golden egg in her next clutch. Would it happen? Therion didn't know, but she sincerely hoped that it did. She wanted her Queen as soon as possible. Gold, Violet, she wasn't picky, she just wanted the dragon, and the status that would come with it. Sure, she would be a Junior Weyrwoman, but it was many steps up from being a Candidate, and if Kora ever stepped down, then she would have a shot at being Senior Weyrwoman. And that was definitely something to go for.

"Yes, I'm here for Jorindath's clutch." No one even knew how large it would be yet. Therion didn't quite as much about how many eggs there would be as to whether or not the egg she was hoping for would be there. If it wasn't, she would have to wait that much longer, which would just be irksome.

Gwenduinne then proceeded to begin her little lesson on straps. She glanced over as the rider started to explain the concept, although found the notion of bigger dragons needing larger straps just a bit too obvious. She wasn't dumb. But it wouldn't do to point that out, not right after that other ranking issue. She'd get her vengeance eventually.

She assumed it wasn't really that hard to put riding straps on. But being shown the concept could hardly hurt, so she pushed away the dullness coming over her mind and reverted back to paying attention. She could at least show a little bit of interest. That probably wouldn't kill her.

[ShadowReine]

"Always check these points here," Gwen noted. "Where the straps meet in front here...if it's going to rub your dragon, this is where it'll happen. Not that the dragon won't be pretty fast to tell you, but that's why we have the extra padding. And up here...is the most common break point."

She didn't point out to the girl that the last thing you wanted was your straps breaking during a Fall...and it had happened. Wings drilled to catch riders who were dislodged in fall or even drill, of course...this girl would learn that. Gwen had her pegged as likely to Impress a barred from first impression...she seemed a little too haughty for green...but one never knew. There might be another sky, too...would be nice if there was, the one they had was reasonably useful. Not quite the same personality as a brown.

"Oh, and don't bother buying or making GOOD straps until your dragon is at least eighteen months old. Two years if you're lucky enough to Impress a queen...they stop growing a little later than others. They might *seem* like they've reached their full growth, but they kind of creep upwards for a while."

[wolflover1458]

Therion glanced at the spots that were pointed out to her. She supposed it made sense, although she still had to wonder. Straps that could break just sounded like a faulty design. True, she wasn't an expert on them, but surely someone could think up a design that wasn't going to give out while the rider was soaring hundreds of feet up in the air? Well, if they could, this rider wasn't likely to now about it, so she didn't bother to mention it, even though she was wondering. So the straps hurt the dragon if they weren't padded, plus they might break. Perhaps it would be best to learn how to fly without them. That would be a solution, although considering that there wouldn't be much to hold on to, especially with her dragon (once she Impressed her) that wouldn't work either. But if the straps were dangerous too, then Therion didn't see why someone wasn't fixing them, or at least trying too. Maybe they were, and simply weren't succeeding.

As for making her own straps... well, someone would have to teach her that, and buying them sounded like a better idea, although considering her dragon, maybe she could find someone who would happily just give her some good-quality straps. And if the dragon wouldn't stop growing until she was 2, then shouldn't she not need straps until then? But it sounded like she would need some before that. How very bothersome.

Still, that was useful to know, and she nodded. "Two Turns. Alright." She'd twitched slightly at the notion of 'lucky enough'. There was no 'lucky enough' for her, at least. It was simply going to happen. Why could no one accept that? Perhaps they were all simply jealous that she, Therion, would be one of the top people in the Weyr, while they would still be beneath her. So they just made up for it by trying to convince themselves it wouldn't happen. How silly. That wouldn't stop it from happening. And it was going to happen.

[ShadowReine]

Gwen nodded. "Generally, the smaller dragons stop growing faster. Greens and barreds also mature sexually before golds, violets and we assume skies, although there's only been one sky so far." She shrugged a bit, then unfastened Tyrth's straps...doing it slightly slower than normal so that the girl could see, and lifting them off. Even the white had to crouch a little so she could do so. Then he struck a pose. "Oh, Tyrth, stop being silly. I don't think she's impressed."

She got the impression Therion wouldn't be impressed by much, although at least she wasn't showing too much attitude towards Gwen herself right now.

"Sometimes, I wonder how my dragon's wings are large enough to get his ego off the ground," she added, wryly.

[wolflover1458]

Therion supposed it seemed natural for smaller dragons to grow faster. Not that she cared about that in particular. How fast the dragon grew wasn't what she was concerned about. She was just planning for actually Impressing the dragon for now. Besides, her Queen would grow at the same rate that all the others did. How fast the other colors grew didn't concern Therion. Maybe someone that planned to Impress one of those other colors should be concerned, but she would not be doing so. And since it hardly applied to her, it wasn't knowledge she really cared to absorb. Of course, the Candidate Master was likely to start asking questions about things like that, so she would have to know it anyways.

The silly white dragon was acting ridiculous now, and Therion was glad to note that his rider, at least, could tell that she wasn't impressed in the least. He wasn't an impressive dragon. He needed to get over that. He was tiny and weird-colored, a mutant. That didn't make him impressive. It just made him weird. He shouldn't have hatched. He shouldn't have even lived. But here he was. It wasn't what should of happened, and that bothered Therion a bit too. Not that she had been here when he hatched, but she was sure his entire hatching had just been an accident of sorts.

As for his ego, well, he hardly deserved to have one. He was, if anything, the least-impressive dragon in all of Nyocia. In all of Pern, for that. The Greens deserved to have an ego more than he did. Therion couldn't look at him and tell if he really thought that highly of himself (and she couldn't fathom why he would) but if his rider said he did, then he probably did. Not that he should, and it certainly wasn't impressing Therion. But if he wanted to act weird and out-of-place, then that was his problem, wasn't it. "Maybe he uses it to fly," she suggested.

[ShadowReine]

Gwen hrmed. "Are you implying his ego is, in fact, full of hot air?"

Tyrth snorted! He was all insulted now and he was going to pout. Which he did...so pointedly it looked utterly ridiculous. Especially as he was clearly treating this entirely seriously.

"I hope you don't end up with a horribly vain dragon. Well, unless you *want* one like that, and I can't imagine why."

Tyrth snorted again.

"Never mind us, we banter like this all the time. Some pairs do. Some pairs agree on everything. There's really no right way, I think. I came to a realization a long time ago that we don't get the dragon we want. We get the dragon we need."

She didn't mean so much color as personality...the dragon that would complement the rider, fill in their holes. However, it could well be taken that way...and taken badly, by somebody like Therion, as clear as it was that Gwen didn't mean anything negative by it.

Fortunately, neither she nor Tyrth could hear Therion's unpleasant thoughts...or the Candidate might have ended up being dumped in the lake fully clothed!