Stop to smell the...something (open)

[ShadowReine]

Kari shrugged. "Nothing important. I wanted to be a Harper, but I don't have the right kind of memory...I can handle the teaching ballads, but there's no way I could memorize something like Moreta's Ride, and you have to be able to do stuff like that."

She paused. "My aunt was teaching me to manage a household and run a farm, and I always figured...she never married, had no kids, liked girls best...that I'd end up inheriting from her. Then the dragons showed up and I had to tell her to find somebody else."

[Sparrow]

Jackie might have suggested that she do the memorizing and she could just whisper in Karisna's ear or something and then the other Candidate could do the rest of the Harper stuff, but she hadn't set the best example memory-wise thus far. It would be a funny picture though.

It sounded like she had at least started though, or maybe tried on her own time. "Well, at least you could do some of it, I guess? I'm a hazard to anything musical." Quip was better than her.

"Dragonriding is way better than working a farm, I'll bet." She probably didn't even have to bet, there really wasn't a question there. Dragons were better than herdbeasts, that's why they ate them. "I wonder who your aunt'll find though, I imagine that was kind of short notice."

Dragons did seem to be fond of doing things suddenly.

[ShadowReine]

"She's fine. I checked with her before I left." Kari let her shoulders fall. "She understands...that when the dragons call, its best for the rest of us to answer."

Of course, her aunt would be far prouder of her when and if she actually managed to Impress. Of course, her aunt thought blues were the best dragons...at least she said that had she ever been Searched, that would have been her preferred color.

Kari did not see herself with a blue at all. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but...they were boys, after all.

[Sparrow]

"That's good." Jackie hadn't really checked with her mom. She had come home, announced she was going to Nyocia and needed some clothes and maybe some snacks, and was gone again practically before her mother could say anything.

She had mostly stammered, now that she was thinking about it. But the rider hadn't wanted to wait, especially not for Jackie to decipher whatever her mother had been saying. Off to Nyocia.

Maybe when she got a flitter she could send a letter home. That, like getting a dragon, was going to be a ways in the future though.

"How much further?" Come to think of it, Jackie had already made the journey from the Weyr Bowl to the kitchens, but she was getting hungry again.

[ShadowReine]

"Almost there," Kari said, cheerfully. "Listen to your nose."

There was, indeed, a pleasant smell drifting out of the kitchens. "They're even cooking in the middle of the night here, although the wherhandlers have their own complex and staff...they're kept away from the dragons."

Kari wrinkled her nose. NO way did she want to end up bonded to a wher...they couldn't even talk, so what good company would they be?

"I smell herdbeast stew. Spicy herdbeast stew." It smelled like it might almost be *too* spicy, for that matter. Which would be unfortunate.

[Sparrow]

Jackie laughed. "Right."

Now that she was paying attention, she could smell the scent of food drifting from the kitchens. "I'm glad I'm not a cook." Although she liked to stay up late, staying up late working was not what she had in mind. "And the whers live elsewhere... because the dragons don't like them, isn't it?"

Not that she blamed them. There had been a couple whers at her old Hold, and Jackie had snuck a few peeks at them. They were scary, and one had tried to rip her leg off, she was quite sure of it. That was when she stopped trying to spy on the whers. They were big, ugly, and brutish... not a combination of things she was interested in.

"I like spicy." Jackie didn't have Karisna's worry; she had yet to find a food too spicy for her tastes.

[ShadowReine]

"I think its more so that the rest of us don't get woken up in the middle of the night by wher runs," Kari muses. "And vice versa. I mean...the wherhandlers need to get a good day's sleep, and I wouldn't fancy trying that in the main Weyr.

It was probably as much that as anything else. "I like spicy until its so spicy you can't tell what its supposed to be." Kari headed towards the stew, though, as if drawn by her own twitching, sniffing nose. "Lightning, don't even think of stealing any stew. If you're patient, I might give you a piece."

The tan looked hurt, stopped halfway in the act of flying towards the stew pot, and settling on the edge of the counter instead.

[Sparrow]

"Maybe." Either way, Jackie was plenty glad there weren't any whers living at the Weyr. It wasn't like it needed them anyways- they were used as little more than guard dogs, but who needed guards when you lived with dragons?

Jackie didn't think she had ever had anything so spicy it had lost its taste to the extras. That seemed like a bad idea. "Looks like you're still interested though." She laughed. Karisna looked no better than Quip at the moment. The kagen's nose was twitching away too, although Jackie knew herdbeast stew wouldn't be something Quip would want a bit of.

Quip wiped at her nose with a paw, as though the spicy scent was getting to be too much for her, and then looked up and squeaked sharply to Lightning. He was obviously young and needed advice. She would advice him against that meal.

[ShadowReine]

"This smells just the right amount of spicy," Kari noted. "Try a bit, and if its too much...remember, milk."

Milk was the cure to spicy food, and there had to be some around here somewhere. Not that the Weyr was able to keep many dairy animals...the dragons tended to run the weight off them and heck...the ones in the corrals suffered sometimes.

When they weren't becoming supper for something with wings and talons.

Lightning gave Quip a look and a sharp chitter, but did fly back to Kari's shoulder, speaking firelizard across her at Wave.

"Two of them. Why did I ever accept *two* eggs?"

[Sparrow]

"You have a better nose than me, I guess." Or maybe it was just that Kari seemed to care about how much spice was in her food, whereas Jackie hadn't ever decided on a preference. "But I'll see when I try it." Kari could be wrong, anyways.

"If there's milk around, maybe." There were other solutions, like eating other food... which was what Jackie usually did since she didn't really like milk. Not that she had tried something too spicy very many times in the first place. She had... still liked them too. Maybe just the daring side though, not the burning your tongue off part.

Quip snorted as Lightning flew away. Well. If he didn't want her advice, he could suffer the consequences.

"When Quip has another litter I can give you a pup and then you could have three crazy pets." Jackie laughed. Kagen weren't as active as flitters, but they had just as much personality.

[ShadowReine]

Kari laughed. "I think two is more than enough, especially as I'm hoping to add a dragon into the mix...and any dragon that picks me might well be just a bit crazy herself."

She didn't really know what kind of dragon personality might be compatible with her own, but it sounded good. Maybe an unusual one. "Quip is adorably cute, though. There's a few of them around...I think I saw one a lot like her with a greenrider the other day. They're attractive little fluffballs."

Which they were. But she preferred the draconics...she just didn't want to insult Quip by voicing that right this second.

[Sparrow]

"Good point." Jackie grinned. "Although I worry I might be the one attracting the crazy dragon."

There was a fine line between really fun and nuts, but she was hoping a bit more for the former. The only thing she had ever cared for was Quip, and a crazy dragon was an intimidating idea. Although... from what she had heard, that was about what Greens were expected to be. Shoot.

"Really? Maybe I should take her to meet her." Quip would probably be happier with a little company. Another Peach to complain to might be just the thing.

Well, either that or they would both end up grumpy.

[ShadowReine]

Kari grinned. "Well, there's a good chance we'll both end up with greens, and you KNOW what they say about greens."

It wasn't always true, of course, but she was rather glad neither of her flit eggs had hatched green, even if it would have been nice to have a girl rather than two boys.

"Maybe you should. I think the greenrider's name is T'mer or T'mar, something like that. Kagen, bronze firelizard, very pale colored dragon."

Kari grinned at Jackie again. "Of course, you know what they say about male greenriders...they're supposed to be the *really* crazy ones."

[Sparrow]

"If we both get them, then I figure I'm the one better off." Jackie laughed. Less pets. That was supposing that she hadn't gotten a fire-lizard by then, which was an... unlikely idea.

Keeping an eye out for a fuzzy pink rodent and a pale Green probably wouldn't be that hard. Knowing what to look for was probably better than a name- well, until she had to greet him. But that was done easily enough, especially when they already had a couple kagen in common.

"Oh, right." Jackie laughed. "I'll be sure to watch out for that."

[ShadowReine]

OOC: Starting to wonder if we shouldn't tie this off and start something new, then get Liliana to join us? It's gotten kinda...long.

"Watch out for the white, too. He's an arrogant thing, from what I've seen, and his rider!" Kari grinned. "Although if you need beauty tips, I'm told she's who to go to."

She'd avoided the white rider so far...the woman struck her as too stuck up. Maybe it was a way of making up for having the smallest dragon on Pern. Or maybe she had always been...like that. Kari resolved never to be like that. Not that a green or barred rider had much of a chance of ending up that way.

[Sparrow]

OOC: Probably a good idea. Maybe they should just... actually get lunch and quit. xD

Jackie couldn't think of when she would ever need beauty tips... and getting them from a stuck up rider didn't really sound like the best idea either. "I'll watch out for them."

A White dragon was definitely easy to recognize. Arrogant women were generally pretty easy to pinpoint as well. It wouldn't be too hard.

Standing in position to grab some food, especially considering the breakfast Jackie had missed that day, was starting to get distracting though. "You want to grab some food and run before the cooks catch us and make us work?"

It was just as risky as standing still... but with more potential for reward.

[ShadowReine]

OOC: Okay .

"So...let's grab some lunch. We're a lot less likely to be put to work if we're eating." Kari had found that to be the truth. She grinned as her words crossed over Jackie's.

She liked her, and she did hope they both Impressed and got to go through training together, especially as they had a good chance of acquiring the same color of dragon.

Anything other than green or barred, of course, did not enter into the girl's mind at this point.