[PRP] Two for a Chance (Soui & Tsuyat)

[Hattaki]

Excitement had been boiling around High Reaches for the past few weeks and now it was starting to bleed over into Western as the messages were passed and the candidates were getting psyched up. Even the riders were beginning to feel the excitement coming off of the ones that were participating in the swap, but the excitement had washed over Tsuyat and had left him rather... worn.

He'd found out that his baby cousin was participating in the High Reaches Candidate Swap and while he was extremely excited for her he was also a bit sad because if she Impressed up there it meant he wouldn't see her as often. Sure, if he'd been simply a wingrider he would have the chance to go and visit her as often as he wanted but with both himself and Yudueth being wingseconds there was less of a chance and even less free time. Upon his finding out about the double clutch that was about to grace High Reaches the bronze dragon's mood had dropped even a little bit and his rider had been doing everything that he could to cheer him up for his goofiness.

Even now he was laying with his yellow eyes peering out across the Bowl in a sulk and it had Tsuyat laughing at him. "You know that just because she goes to High Reaches doesn't mean for one second that she's gone forever. She might not even Impress up there and she's only been here for a few months anyway you big lump, most of Soui's life we barely saw her."

We saw her quite a bit when she was very young, but over the turns it's been less and less. Besides, that's not at all a good reason not to be upset, if anything it's even worse because that means we really didn't get to see her much at all. Yudueth grumbled as he lifted his to look back at the man standing behind him with his arms crossed. "We need to be excited for her you big wherry, she'll be so pumped for the chance since it's her first time officially standing as a candidate! Come on you silly beast, we need to go find her and help her any way she needs."

I am glad to see her excited and happy, it'll be truly a good day to see her find her her partner out on the sands and it would be even better to see it happen the very first time she officially stands. With a sigh the bronze rose to his feet and adjusted as his rider climbed on. Do you think she'll be extremely excited? I don't know what candidates feel as they walk on the sands, just what you were feeling.

"I'm fairly certain she'll be excited and if she's not yet we can get her there together, right bud?" Tsuyat patted the dragon's neck as the leapt down from the weyrledge and began to circle.

houllow

 

[houllow]

From what Soui understood, there had been two Queens to rise at High Reaches and, apparently, that meant there would be two clutches on the Sands there. Apart from wondering how it was going to all work out, the little teen honestly found herself....excited. The thought of going to see dragonets up close as an official candidate was absolutely thrilling, even though she knew the likelihood of people being injured was extremely high. If the eggs hatched at the same time there would be an enormous amount of confused babies who, if the stories she'd been reading were correct, weren't always as calm as the last hatching she'd seen. Apparently that hatching had been an exception, not the normal, and so Soui wondered if she'd need to find a way to sneak bandages out on to the Sands with her.

The very idea that she might not ever come back to Western had not occured to the teen, who very much doubted she'd Impress. Dragonets, from what she'd heard, were looking for specific people and knew ahead of time who they wanted. Soui understood she wasn't very Impressive (pun intended) and therefore any dragon of sense wouldn't want her. Atop her head Remedy gave a chirp of disapproval, sending an emotional wave that clearly stated he thought she was worth the world. The tiny bronze was given an affectionate pat as the candidate paused in her work, glad that her time today could be spent outside in the sun.

Suddenly a massive shadow passed overhead, coating the teen in darkness, and she looked up to see if she knew the figure. " . . . . oh!" Maybe it was her turns of familiarity with a certain shape that had her knowing, or maybe it was Remedy immediately becoming super happy over the thought of his brother being nearby, but Soui knew who was casting down upon her and she grinned. I'm down here. She sent the thought to her twin as loudly as she could, hoping he'd find her. The little firelizard on her head took off as he soared up, apparently unable to wait. Remedy is coming. Get ready.

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

Slowly they circled through the air above the bowl, watching dragons come and go, weyrlings training below on the ground, senior weyrlings training in the sky, and even the running of caverns workers to and fro. It was comfortable and something that both of them knew very well after all the turns they'd been flying and training and even defending Western Weyr against the return of Thread. Thinking of that he ran a hand across the newly acquired scar on his shoulder, the one he'd gotten the first day that Soui had come to the Weyr when the small bronze had been beside himself at his rider's injury as the thread had burrowed deeper and deeper into his shoulder and near to his heart by the time the healers had gotten it out. A sigh pulled from him at the memory and he closed his eyes for a moment until a loud creeling chirp came from beneath his shirt and a pale shimmery head popped out of his neckline. Little claws climbed up his torso until Preserve was free of the cloth that had kept him tight against his bonded's body for the trip, something that he was content to do quite often. It was this reaction that had Tsuyat perk up a bit as the little lizard leapt from him and down towards a dark dot that was streaking closer and closer to Yudueth's larger form as it floated in the air, circling still even if it was lazily.

Remedy. Yudueth stated, his voice level with just a trace of amusement as he tilted one large yellow eye down towards the ground and began to descend. If Remedy was flying up to meet Preserve then that meant that Soui was down there and while Tsuyat couldn't see her he knew full well that the bronze dragon could do just that with his sharp eyes, so much bigger in his head than most other dragons. It was a dramatic sweep that he did around the bowl that brought the small bronze to land in front of Soui just as Preserve was guiding Remedy down in a twirling dance that had him landing on the little teen's shoulder with yet another burst of chirping. Hello there little twin, it's a good summer day to be out and about isn't it? What has you wandering through the Bowl today?

Laughing as he slid from the straps that held him tight to his dragon, Tsuyat landed on the ground and patted the bronze's strong leg gently. "Why wouldn't she be out here on such a gorgeous day? There's been so much energy since those two queens rose and they haven't even clutched yet. Just wait until they do, then she'll probably be bursting at the seams and ready to get up there and touch some eggs! Right little cousin? I heard you were taking part in the candidate swap between here and High Reaches, so you'll get the chance to meet your partner even sooner than I ever dreamed." The man winked at her cheekily and sent a pointed mental shove to his wherry brained dragon who's eyes had already begun to turn yellow again with a slight tinge of gray around the edges. That isn't going to help, will you be more positive you pessimistic thing? She's got to be excited, you know that as well as I do.

A snort met his jab but the bronze leaned his head down and pressed it firmly against Soui's chest with a deep outrush of affection to go along with it. You might meet your dragon Soui, it's finally time to see what Candidate's experience on the sands for yourself.

Wanting to break the odd feeling that he was getting from his bonded's large dragon, Preserve gave an offkey shriek of joy and nosed at Soui's ear playfully for attention, his tail wrapping firmly about her neck as he worked to make her laugh.

"See? Preserve's stoked!" Tsuyat exclaimed happily, reaching out to scratch the little one's neck with a gentle hand.

houllow

 

[houllow]

Her shoulders now decorated by two bronze firelizards, Soui couldn't help but giggle at the waves of love that were washing over her. Of course they weren't directed at her, since Remedy really only had eyes for Preserve once his brother was around, but that didn't mean she couldn't bask in the warmth. Yudueth's voice held even more of that love, and whatever nerves she may have been holding in her heart slowly vanished over the sight of her twin and her cousin. "There you are." She couldn't exactly say she'd been waiting for him since their arrival wasn't in her plans, but since the last time the group was together happened to be the tea party there was no need to doubt.

The friendly banter between her cousin and his dragon, all directed at her, prompted a smile to her face - as did Preserve's nipping of her ear and his tail about her neck. Remedy followed the pattern of his brother, and so it looked as though she had a wonderful necklace made of dark and light bronze around her throat. Thankfully the lizards were light and careful, their touches not even remotely dangerous to her, and Yudueth's massive head against her chest had her hands reaching up to hug him as best she could.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're sulking Yudu." Soui lovingly stroked along the head of her twin, her fingertips soft and gentle. "I'm just going over to stand for a hatching and get a chance to see dragonets up close. You and Tsu are going to be there too, right?" She turned to look at her cousin, eyes searching him over for a sign of affirmation. Really, Soui wanted him to be the one to take her there for whenever this event started, and she wanted him to be the one to bring her back home to Western when it was all over. This talk of her finding a dragon was almost laughable, seeing as she was barely fourteen turns and hardly knew a thing about being a candidate. There were so many, many others who had knowledge and skills and everything; Soui was simply along for the ride.

"Besides, even if by some amazing miracle I did Impress a dragon, that doesn't mean you'll never see me again. From what I've been reading and hearing we can meet any time, since you can fly anywhere and dragons can talk to each other even across distances." Right? The teen had been spending so much time studying and was honestly thankful that she enjoyed doing so - perhaps that was why her uncle and others told her she'd make a good healer. "And even then, it'd only be for a turn or so until I could fly, but still this is all theory. I'm not going to Impress right away, I'll be coming back here with the two of you right after the hatching and go back to work as a candidate."

There was no negativity in her tone, no cases of Soui feeling she didn't deserve a dragon or that one really wouldn't want her because she was awful. No, it was more about her age and her inexperience and how she felt a dragon wasn't quite right for her yet. But, of course, she also knew that dragons did whatever they wanted and if one wanted her? She'd become a rider and life would be very different.

Very, very different.

Hattaki

 

[Hattaki]

A series of happy hums and quiet chirping emanated from the little bronze fire lizard as his neck was scratched by his own bonded, eyes twisting into dozens of aquamarine and amethyst colors like the little gems that they resembled, showing how upbeat he was and happy to be around his darker brother and his. Just seeing how happy the little thing could get boosted Tsuyat a tad and he reached up to grab Yudueth by one of his large headknobs and took the time to playfully shake that giant head to and fro, never losing his smile or the deep wash of affection he felt for the stubborn and pessimistic creature. "Don't you worry about him too much, he's just being a wherry out of concern for you, give him some time and he'll come around, especially once you're sitting astride your own dragon!"

Having allowed his head to be rocked the bronze lifted it gently, pulling his rider up from his feet slowly until the man was dangling from the considerable height that the dragon's long neck could reach. One brilliantly yellow eye kept an eye on him before he reached a claw up and wrapped it fully around his rider, using care as he pulled him from the headknob he still held and placed him firmly on the ground. It only comes from a place of concern, that this one shares but won't vocalize since we hadn't seen you in so long. I suppose though there might be distance it can be bridged between your future dragon and I communicating but duties tie us to Western far more than freedom allows us to take to the skies. So it won't be as common a sight for you to come across us in such a way.

Wobbly after being placed on the ground from a heavy dragon's claw, Tsuyat shook his head briefly to clear it before letting a grin cross his face once more. "Oh don't you worry about that, you know we wouldn't let anyone else ferry you to High Reaches, not when we could be there to help you. The eggs should be laid soon and then that means that there'll be a touching coming up. You haven't gotten to participate in one of those yet, should be fun to see how you fare with so many eggs on the sands under the gaze of two golds." But the wink that he gave her was full of confidence in his small cousin, she might have been to a very calm hatching her first time but this would be different most likely, hopefully not quite like the debacle that had befallen the last clutch Western Weyr had given the skies, but there were still healthy dragons that came from that as well, would just mean that they'd need to be careful, extra so. Even with that, he was rather amused at how she described it as 'just going to stand for a hatching' when others were beside themselves at the opportunity.

Well they'd have to see to that then.

"You've been studying quite a bit on hatchings and the like since you became an official candidate, still you don't sound very excited for the opportunity." He couldn't help himself, the rider reached down and placed a hand heavily on top of Soui's head and tilted it back just a bit so he could get her to look him in the eyes. "Don't let this sulking brat get you down in any way Soui, you're a Candidate and you get the chance to stand officially for the first time, who cares what Weyr it'll be at, you should be excited! There are some really awesome things that are about to happen in the next few months and someone as devoted to study as yourself can't even deny that this is a new chapter in your life."

Was that a very subtle text book pun? Yudueth reached out with his tail and smacked it against his rider's back lightly in retaliation. "Oh what? You can be a sulking baby herd beast about things but I can't try and crack a joke?" Tsuyat rolled his eyes and tried to avoid shaking his head at his own dragon, but there was nothing there but love coming from both ends as they ribbed at one another.

houllow