Looking for something I lost (open)

[ShadowReine]

OOC: Well, I could let you call which of them would be good.

"Hrm. I think...she's very quiet, she's a little shy, almost. I have to nudge her self esteem sometimes. But that means she'd be a lot less likely to scare some holdbred kid who's never been close to a dragon before."

He kept petting the kagen, so she would not be tempted to run away again. "It's whether she has the sensitivity I'm not sure of."

And he was pretty sure Freyjath would *like* to do it. It definitely might be worth finding out if she could. Besides, it would be a more interesting duty than the cycle of sweeps and drills. On the other hand, it would also be more work. It wasn't like Searchriders were spared drills, although sometimes they did at least get shorter sweeps.

[Sparrow]

OOC: I think Freyjath would be far better… Tinth, I’d imagine, would find someone he liked and then change his mind or something. xP

“That doesn’t sound like a Green at all.” More like a Blue, female and green because of it, maybe. Most of Tirasha’s experience with dragons was with hatchlings, which were just hungry. The Threadscored dragons she occasionally tended to didn’t share much personality-wise. Most of what she had to go off for how each color acted were what she heard and what she observed in fire-lizards, Tianthe and Willow especially.

“I suppose it would be better for a Searchdragon though, less scary. Just so long as she doesn’t question her own judgement, I guess.” If that was what he meant by her needing his help with her self esteem, anyways. It wasn’t something she generally had trouble with, and seemed odd to imagine in a dragon.

Of course, there would be no helping the fright of that ride over to the Weyr, no matter how small or friendly the dragon. Maybe it was good to give new Candidates a taste of what they could be in for the rest of their lives, but not only making them ride a flying dragon, but going between seemed a bit cruel. Tirasha had hated every moment of her journey to Nyocia; the prospect of having to do the same thing to get home again was a big factor in her remaining.

Dragon riding… she didn’t know how the riders could do it.

[ShadowReine]

"Well, we'll see." T'mar flickered the healer a grin. Had he known her thoughts, he would have noted that if one could not handle Between, one would not make a very good rider anyway.

As harsh as it seemed, it was good to expose the potentials to it as quickly as possible. But yeah...he would have to ask, too, if Freyjath wanted to be a Search dragon.

If she didn't, he wouldn't try to find out if she had the knack. He wasn't going to force anything on the other half of his soul.

"And her self esteem is better than it was. I do keep telling her how gorgeous she is." Which might be a bad thing in a bronze or a tan, who already had enough difficulty taking off under the weight of their egos, but for Freyjath...emphatically a good thing.

Besides. She was gorgeous. He was glad she wasn't a bright, in your face, glowing green, at least. He wouldn't have minded a green like Amirinth either, who was on the darker end of the spectrum. But no. Freyjath was absolute perfection with wings and should know it.

[Sparrow]

The rider, Tirasha imagined, would see long before she did though. If they happened to meet up again after this, maybe she would ask, but how far in the future would that be? And considering that Tirasha often saw riders because they or their dragon were injured in some manner, the next time she saw him the situation quite possibly wouldn’t be a good one to go asking, “So, are you a Searchrider now?”

Tirasha chuckled as T'mar continued. Did men ever think of other things than appearance? Not much in her experience. “I’m sure there’s more to compliment her on than just being gorgeous though. I hope you thank her every day for being a sane Green.” Even if being slightly different from the rest of her group left her unsettled, everyone else would appreciate it.

If Freyjath was ever Threadscored, Tirasha, or whatever Healer had to tend to her, would definitely appreciate it anyways. Even Greens were generally sensible about their injuries, but she had known them to jerk away or just move around restlessly and get in the way despite. Anything quirk that led to them being more patient would be nice.

[ShadowReine]

T'mar considered that. "Sane? I'm not sure any of us around here are sane. She's just Freyjath."

And he wouldn't trade her for a bronze...even if he could. "So I just thank her for being her. If that makes any sense."

Yes, he was glad sometimes that Freyjath was more sensible than most greens, even if it meant he had to flatter her regularly to keep her from getting down. She was still a *good* green. "Of course, she's just as capable of silly stunts as any other green...about the only ones who can outfly her are Amirinth and, of course, Tyrth. And I don't count Tyrth."

Because, after all, Tyrth was in a league of his own.

[Sparrow]

"Well, I mean compared to the average Green." Tirasha glanced at Tianthe, who was now occupying herself peeling slivers of wood from an old crate. The Healer didn't look forward to picking out every pointy bit the fire-lizard would end up getting stuck in her paws, but the Green would mindlessly stick to her project for all of two minutes, and that was plenty of time to get herself hurt.

“And personally, I prefer thinking that sanity has a range, based around the ‘average’ person, rather than calling everyone insane.” Greens, in her experience, generally lay outside it. “There are people who actually are, anyways.”

“But that does make sense.” She hesitated again as T’mar continued, a slight frown touching her lips. “Does flying ability depend on smaller size then?” She wouldn’t have thought so. Maybe some things could only be pulled off by smaller dragons, maybe Greens were more daring than Browns, but… well, it was another thing that just depended on the comparison.

[ShadowReine]

T'mar considered that. "The larger dragons have more stamina and less agility. So it's a lot easier for the greens and blues to pull the crazy stunts. Greens are often more inclined to than blues, though. Tyrth, from what I've seen, is just a shameless showoff."

He did not really envy the white rider. People stared at her dragon more than at the other mutations simply because there was, after all, only one of him. But then, T'mar was somewhat glad he had bonded to a traditional color of which there were a lot.

No extra, special expectations of a greenrider, other than the assumption that he didn't like girls. He did, but he *preferred* guys. "Freyjath is at the small end of the green size range...I think Amirinth is a little smaller, but not much."

[Sparrow]

"Well, I suppose. But the larger ones can fly higher, get more room for tricks." But it was true, a Bronze would be flat-out cumbersome attempting things that even some of the smaller Browns could manage. "I think the Greens still get the short end of the stick though, stamina would be more important."

Thread fell for several hours at a time, and Greens and Blues flew lower where there was less of it after the bigger dragons had flamed out the majority. What they would need, in her opinion, would be the ability to make quick darts to this clump or that rather than to be able to spin and loop. Tirasha knew for a fact that sprinting was hard, doing it while flying surely wasn't much, if at all, easier.

"Do you go around comparing them?" Tirasha laughed. She knew K'laon liked to make deal about having the smallest Green in the Weyr, so maybe this rider had gotten caught up in it, but Tirasha didn't think it was all that great. She had no appreciation for being short. "Which one is better at tricks then? Or will be, since I'm sure Freyjath is far younger than Amirinth?"

If the older Green decided to make Freyjath some sort of apprentice to her talent, supposing dragons even did that, the younger dragon would probably get better. It was how things tended to go. If not... well, Tirasha really had no say in the matter, and T'mar, with all his biases, likely didn't either.

[ShadowReine]

T'mar considered. "I think Amirinth will always have the edge, because she likes tricks more, from what I've seen. And some people do. But Freyjath will, I'm sure, come up with some knack of her own."

He had to keep saying things like that...how had he got a dragon with self esteem problems? Then his brow furrowed. "Trouble...for...guess that's why you didn't come down here."

Now, his firelizard had no self esteem problems at all. Or self discipline. "Bronzes," he pronounced, then exaggeratedly ducked away from Willow's location.

Willow was a different shade of bronze from Trouble, of course. But he had been wondering where his bronze had gotten off to. Now he knew.

Sigh.

Firelizards.

[Sparrow]

Tirasha laughed. "What, someone Rising? Not a Gold though." She glanced at Willow, who had done nothing but give T'mar a quick glare and then relax into one of his his self-conscious preening rituals. "Willow's above chasing anything but them." She rolled her eyes.

Willow seemed to prefer wild Golds too, maybe he thought them tougher than the domestic ones. Tirasha didn't know for sure, she just knew she disliked it when the Bronze disappeared to pursue them. In the summer he often left for days at a time, and there was no relying on Tianthe when her clutch-brother was missing.

"I'd guess yours is well named." He had called him Trouble, right? That would be a fitting name for practically any fire-lizard.

[ShadowReine]

"Definitely," T'mar grinned. "He hatched trouble and he's been nothing but ever since. And no, I got the impression it was one of the barreds."

Which would still mean a decent clutch...barred firelizards were not queens, but they did clutch better than greens. Especially if Trouble caught her...although, if he did, it would be the first clutch he had sired. It seemed, thus, unlikely that he would.

But possible. "I know some bronzes are like that. But there haven't been many golds lately anyway...and he's never caught one, maybe he thought he could try something easier."

If a barred classed as easier. T'mar wasn't sure a violet wouldn't be better.

[Sparrow]

"Well, I don't know about Barreds being easier, past that they'd tire faster. I've seen some that look capable of being just as picky as a queen." Tirasha laughed. If Willow ever did chase another color of female, it would be the the posh Barreds. But even with them drifting around, it wasn't likely.

"What I wonder about Barreds is whether they're smarter about laying their eggs than Greens are. I haven't seen a lot of their clutches even though there are plenty around, but I also have a hard time seeing them dropping their eggs in cooking fires like Tianthe does." Supposing she even lay her eggs at the Weyr; as of lately, the Green had apparently decided they made much better tunnelsnake bait than potential fire-lizards.

It was only when Tianthe buried her eggs at beaches that she shared their clutching place. The little Green knew Tirasha would never put in the effort to hunt them down outside Nyocia's grounds. Why she even tried to rescue them when Tianthe did leave them here was worth asking too. She didn't think anyone really wanted any of Tianthe's offspring, although people did show dutifully- mindlessly, more like- when the eggs hatched.

[ShadowReine]

T'mar considered. "I know Gwenduinne's barred laid a good clutch and she found it. Beyond that, no idea. I mean, they're closer to greens than to violets..."

He was, of course, basing that off of the fact that the barred dragons were no more fertile than greens were. Which was probably a good thing...they were almost as randy as the greens and the Weyr only needed so many dragons.

"Greens just...don't have a properly developed maternail instinct, or so I'm told. Like there's something wrong with it."

He shrugged a bit. "Fortunately, I don't have to worry about *that*." He was so glad men could not Impress clutching dragons. At least, not so far. Who knew what might change.

[Sparrow]

"A lot of Greens will clutch in a spot that's set up for them too, I guess," Tirasha added absently. Not hers though, and there were still plenty others. "And they are definitely closer to Greens, but they do have colors from both."

Barreds were just odd, in Tirasha's opinion. They stole traits from the highest and lowest ranks of dragons, and the mixes tended to turn up in odd combinations, as far as she had observed.

"That sounds about right." Tirasha laughed and glanced again at Tianthe. Hers was definitely an underdeveloped maternal instinct, or at least very twisted. "Either that or just an attention span to match their comparative size, but I have seen rare moments where they've seemed focused too."

"Me neither," Tirasha agreed with a smile. She imagined he wasn't counting fire-lizards, and probably not kagen either, although those didn't clutch. One day his could have young though, but they didn't look much better about raising their babies than Greens were. They at least didn't care a bit if they were taken away.

[ShadowReine]

As it happened, T'mar only had the bronze. And the kagen, but she had yet to produce young...perhaps looking for the right male?

He was not sure. "Barreds are very pretty, though. That sort of silver hue they have to their green parts. Almost like they're trying to be a metallic, for all that they're only the size of a blue. Freyjath is prettier, though."

After all, she was listening, and the only draconic other than he he was willing to admire in her hearing was Trouble...whom she thought of as as much her pet as his. He was good for scratching bits of dragon the dragon couldn't reach when her rider was otherwise occupied.

"Freyjath has a bit of a short attention span herself, so I think size is definitely part of it." Of course, next to any firelizard Freyjath was huge, but she was still small for a dragon.

Well, there was Tyrth, but whites did not follow the same rules on intelligence, or so it seemed.

[Sparrow]

"Little dragons, big goals. It's been the mentality lately, far as I can tell." Hadn't there even been a couple Blues trying to chase queens over the past few Flights? Willow had looked about ready to go hunt them down himself when they heard that, but Tirasha had assured him they would be sore enough from even attempting that he really couldn't make things worse for them.

"Maybe the Bronzes and Golds just have so much bulk to heave around that they just gave up on being active and took up being vain instead." Fire-lizards, though, were small enough that they hadn't entirely done that. Even Willow had his moments. "Probably a good thing though."

A whole Weyr full of dragons with short attention spans, always flirting or Rising or whatever else they could come up with to do, would be pretty bad.

"Although I do wonder a bit about Tyrth. White's just get to be the exception to every rule, I guess." He, from what she had heard, was far more like a Bronze in personality, although she imagined he could still be as wild as the smaller dragons, what with all the agility his being small apparently gave him.

[ShadowReine]

"You'd have to ask Gwenduinne. She did tell me he could be a handful." Then T'mar laughed, as the first thing she had said registered.

"They *are* vain. Which makes me very, very glad I don't have one. Of course, I knew I wouldn't. I pretty much knew I was going to Impress green, maybe blue." He could have got a barred, too, there was one male barred rider...but barreds appeared to prefer women even more than greens did.

Being a greenrider was exactly right for T'mar. He neither wanted nor was suited to lead anything, and would probably turn down a wingleader's rank if offered. He was exactly happy where he was, and where he was worked for him. He realized his thoughts were going around in circles and focused his attention on Willow. The little bronze was cute, although he preferred Trouble. Naturally.

[Sparrow]

"You knew?" Tirasha raised her eyebrows a little. "That's impressive." From what she had heard, there was little knowing with dragons. Gwen and Tyrth were a prime example. But, obviously Tirasha didn't know a whole lot about their mannerisms.

What she did know was plenty enough to do her job though. When it came to anatomy and how to treat in injured dragon, Tirasha generally felt she knew a lot more about dragons than their riders did. On both sides, the knowledge was understandable. Riders needed to know their dragon's minds, while Healers had no place there.

She wouldn't ever mind them knowing a bit more about how to treat injuries though. Nyocia was low in Healers, and if a Rider wasn't injured it would be nice if he already knew what he could do to help out. But her wishes rarely ended up as actions, and unless someone of her trade ever took the initiative, the riders had little reason to make any progress.

[ShadowReine]

T'mar shrugged. "More, I made an educated guess. I'm not very straight and I'm not very well suited to being in charge of anything...and there's only one male barred rider, so that seemed unlikely."

He shrugged again. "Besides. I'm probably better off than somebody who thought he *was* going to get a bronze and ended up with a blue."

Although Gwenduinne had been sure she was going to be a queenrider. Then again, Gwenduinne had a most unusual dragon.

"Sometimes, you can make a good guess as to what somebody will get. Then you get the ones that really surprise you. And I hear whers are completely unpredictable."

Gold whers even picked guys sometimes. Not often, but they did. Whers just...whers didn't care who their partner was as long as they were treated well, or so the handlers said. T'mar would not have wanted a wher...simply because they could not fly. Most of the wherhandlers seemed quite happy, though, so he supposed it suited them.

[Sparrow]

“Ah.” Tirasha’s thoughts wandered absently to K’dric and his Barred; she couldn’t help but wonder what Minervath had thought, or what it was about him, that made him be the only Barredrider. But maybe it was just that Barreds still had a lot to be learned about them, and just needed more chances to Impress to a male. It was hard to say, especially with new colors still popping up.

Tirasha laughed. “Yes. I’ve dealt with a few very angry weyrlings who ended up in that situation. I think they did always end up accepting it and liking their dragon though.” It was something rarely seen past the first few days after Impression. Dragons were just irresistible.

She nodded. “And that’s really saying something, considering how hard it can be to guess dragons sometimes. Fire-lizards take the cake though, but I’m not sure they really count.” A fire-lizard’s goal at hatching was food, not a lifemate, as anyone could guess from the multitudes of wild ones. She had heard that from some about whers too, but had never quite felt like she could agree with the statement. A wher didn’t have to be cared for as much as a dragon, but they still seemed to rely on humans in their own way.