Promotion Dinner

[antinanco]

More and more people filed in, most of which W’ri recognized. Knowing almost everyone (besides the constantly-changing Candidates) was a side effect of being at a Weyr for over a decade. Idly he waved at a few random people, but for the most part he settled down into his creaky chair and waited for the main event.

As T’rid began his speech—and what a precise and serious speech it was!—the bluerider settled down into his chair and listened intently throughout. At the end he nearly broke out in applause, but he was too rushing to see the lists before a crowd formed.

W’ri rapidly scanned the list for his name, wondering whose wing he had been jostled into now. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to find his place, especially since it was so close to the top. The rider stopped and stared at the splotch of ink that represented him, his mouth hanging slightly agape.

Him? The top bluerider?? In the Weyrleader’s Wing???

That meant… that meant was the manliest bluerider in the entire Weyr.

His heart fluttered in his chest and for a moment he thought he was going to cry with joy. It was like a dream come true! Awkwardly he skipped back to his seat, an odd and jerky motion for a man of his stature and age to be making, but he was happy and didn’t care who saw! This was the best day in his life!

Angth, sensing his mines’ happiness, began congratulating his on his job well done. W’ri’s star-filled gaze extended deeper into the horizon as he focused on the incoming words.

I am so happy you’re so happy, ‘Ri-love! It’s the first time in a long time! he cheerfully chimed in, by now settled back on his couch in their Weyr, Perhaps now your fear of heights won’t matter.

[/i]

Oh. W’ri had almost forgotten that. Almost. But no, his other half had reminded him, and now all the bubbly joy that was boiling inside of his chest suddenly froze, expanding and reaching to the tips of his fingers with their icy tendrils.

Suddenly his legs felt like jelly. The bluerider plunked down into his chair, steadying himself with slightly shaky hands. This was terrible! Now the Weyrleader was going to find out what a wuss he was! This problem needed fixing, fast. But he had no idea how!

You could wear a blindfold like Adith! Or his glasses-thing, but those look silly![/i]

Thanks, Angth, but no.[/b] W’ri sighed, rubbing his brow. Obviously the answer was not coming from any part of him, dragon included. Quickly he scanned the occupants and gauged who to approach.

Augh! He didn’t trust anyone here! Guess that was just karma for being so tough that he hadn’t formed many friendships over the years. Finally he brought himself to the painful conclusion; he had to tell T’rid.

W’ri made his way to his target and, as he lightly touched the other’s arm, questioned, “Weyrleader T’rid? Could I, uh, talk ta ya for a minute? Ovar there?” He pointed to the quietest corner in the room. “Just for a sec?”
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[Tashe]

Getting out of the way of an overly happy looking W'ri, the young Bluerider took her turn at the lists, locating her wing quickly."Hmph. I'm in the Weryleaders Wing... again."

"I would think you'd be proud that you hadn't been moved around."

"Its not a matter of Pride as much as it is chance and 'ard work." Now for Gina, F'con and that Healer's wings. Dragging her finger down the list and stopping at each of the names and memorizing the wing titles. Two in Cyclone and one in Blizzard. Nodding to herself before moving away from the list so that F'rah and the next people in line could find their names, the Bluerider started slightly as her two Flitters popped into existence in front of her. "Sharding eggshells! 'Ow many times 'ave I told you /not/ to do that?" With a growl, Saraina extended a hand so that the Flitters could land on her arm like avians. "I bet the only reason you are 'ere is to get fed." Two individual chirps confirmed her suspicions, sighing, she headed back to her seat to feed her Firelizards.

--

Watching as his old pupil leave, the Brownrider frowned as he turned to scan the chart for his name. It wasn't at the top, nor near the middle, but he found it once he got to the bottom. He was in the Weyrwoman's wing, at least he wasn't a mere substitute anymore. Running through the names once more before moving away so others could get their chance, F'rah quietly returned to his seat, saddened greatly at the lack of a certain Greenrider's name on the list.


(Fail's. .___. My Muse = failing to cooperate.)

[archenstone]

X'vier had entered the hall shortly before T'rid made his speech. He ate as he looked over everyone there. He had been greatly troubled with recent happenings and was stumped as to what he could do to alleviate things or solve the mystery of poison. He silently glanced at the women in attendance and then the men. Feeling Passion stir around his neck he offered the blue meat. The little guy snapped it up before gazing at those in the room.

Lovelies? See Lovelies? X'vier gave him a little rub. "Yes...see lovelies. Look, not touch okay? Maybe touch later..." The blue was happy to eye the females in the room for now. And when the opportunity arose...he's find a lovely to hop on.

I think little cousin is right Mine. You have been completely despondent. X'vier scratched his head. Where did you learn that word? Your parchment stories of course....you read them often. X'vier sighed. How can I be merry when anyone of us could be poisoned? I need to keep an eye out for everyone.
Not everyone. They are not your responsibility to protect. You must stop this stressful worrying Mine. We can only do our best each day. Now go see who we are flying with.

X'vier walked up to the table, giving T'rid only a glance before seeing who he was assigned under. Cyclone Wing...

That will do well, see? Now go find some company Mine. You will feel better. With Passion curled on his neck admiring the ladies he found a random seat near a random female. Passion, who had noticed, posed on X'vier's shoulder. You Lovely! Me Lovely? He spoke towards the woman near them. X'vier looked from his shoulder to the person Passion had spoken too. "Don't mind him...he's good in company."

[Avu]

Lack of enthusiasm, was it? T'rid smirked at Savitri, though he didn't bother to reply, as she was obviously busy with Ka'rys and K'roi, merely shrugging and leaning back in the chair -- as far away from the swell of people that had come to check their wings as possible. Well, obviously there was a lack of enthusiasm. A good actor he could be when he wanted to be, but he didn't care enough to try and he wasn't enthusiastic about it. Far from it, he was actually considering leaving. They could rip apart the Wing plans for all he cared -- they were preliminary, after all. There'd be a few Wing Drills, and then he'd make the Wingleaders report back to him on who needed to be moved, and who ought to be switched or rearranged or whatever. Quite obviously, he wouldn't get it perfect first time, considering he barely knew -- or cared to know -- the Riders of the Weyr. He knew their names, perhaps, and their dragons' names, and that was it.

He was momentarily distracted from his escape plan as Sel'n's Salamandyr started prancing up and down the tables, screeching something or another about bad wings, bad Weyrleader, etc. T'rid didn't care. Did she expect a reaction? She wasn't getting one, though he would look into seeing if they could cull the more horrible of Salamandyrs somehow -- mostly because he agreed with what she was saying. He didn't like his own wing much, and he was absolutely certain that neither Ka'rys nor K'roi were particularly satisfied either. (He'd thrown the Riders he knew to be ex-Bendenites on Ka'rys's wing for more than one reason, though he'd only admit to one.) Bad Weyrleader, was he? Yes, he did agree. The response Vanity recieved was a wry grin and an arched eyebrow, and then the Weyrleader turned his attention back to the crowd gathering in front of the table.

Flitter ahoy! One eyebrow jumped up as Ophelie snagged Ka'rys's knots, the Weyrleader unaware that Ka'rys did indeed have a flitter. He might have tried to stop her, but there were several things that stopped him. First, if it was Ka'rys's flitter and he did stop her, he'd have accomplished absolutely anything. Second, if it wasn't, it would at least be funny to see Ka'rys chasing after his knots as they flew away from him. And third, it took too much effort. So he refocused his gaze on an entirely too happy W'ri as the bluerider...skipped away from checking the Wing List, T'rid staring incredulously after the bluerider and then snorting softly to himself as he let Kaegan sit down without bothering her. He did have to talk to her, but...not now. Later.

"Er -- what?"

Startled, T'rid raised his gaze at W'ri's question, following the bluerider's finger. It was nice and near the door, and maybe he could slip out afterwards...! "Sure, I guess." Pushing his chair back -- his glass was empty, he noted with amusement, which meant the Candidate hadn't filled it. Probably she thought it was a punishment. She'd missed the point; he hadn't wanted wine, hence the sniping -- T'rid slid through the crowd and headed towards the corner, trusting that W'ri had followed him and wasn't planning to stab him. As soon as he reached it and leaned in relief against the wall, he quirked one eyebrow, swinging back to face W'ri. "Something wrong?" he asked curiously. There generally was, after all, so he'd come to assume that there was always something wrong when people started talking to him.

[dragon]

Dorava sat still and watched and listened as everyone moved around in the hall, and then as T'rid issued a speech. She wondered a few things about it, but paid attention anyway. This was important information, regardless of how it was delivered. People milled around, people walked, talked ... one bluerider was skipping around like a loon, and then subsequently looking rather sick for it...

What a weird gathering.

But ... oh well. She made her way across the room to peek at the lists to find out where she was. Now that Aonith could fly again, this was very important. She could finally participate in drills, and take part in the ongoing battle with thread.

She started at the bottom and worked her way up, looking for her name. She was a greenrider, thus she figured it was the fastest way to find her name. But, no ... despite riding green, she was in the Weyrleader's wing! How in the world had that happened??? She shook her head in bemusement, though a small smile played on her face for a time. The weirdness of life never got old.

Leaving the table, she glanced around to see if there was anyone she knew. There were ... but they were all busy already. Savitri was busy talking to several bronzeriders... Dorava doubted the goldrider even remembered her anyway. T'rid was talking to the sick looking bluerider now, over in a corner ... and there really wasn't anyone else there that she knew.

For some reason, she'd been walking in the weyrling and candidate circles more than the rider circles. And Dorava couldn't really put her finger on why. Shmee wasn't here, of course. And she had been one of the few other riders she had met and talked to. She really needed to make more acquaintances!

Val wriggled down her sleeve and peeked out from under it at the world, tail wrapped around her bicep to hold him in place. He peeped once, worriedly, eyes glittering at the other flitters and 'mandyrs rolling around the room.

Deciding there was nothing for it, Dorava acquired herself a small plate, and put a great deal of consideration into what she selected to place on it to snack on. She had been compliling a list of things that people had eaten before coming down ill as she had healed them from the poisoning. As such, she was starting to get a fair idea what items were contaminated.

There was always room for error, however. And for that, she spread out her selection a bit. less of each. Though this did increase her odds of picking up something toxic, it did cut down on the odds of ingesting a lot of poison. And a body did have to eat.

Once she had some food, she went back to take a seat at a table ... this time deliberately near someone else. Who they were, she had no idea at all. But they didn't look terribly busy. "Hello." She said, with as much cheer as could be considered appropriate, considering the situation in the Weyr.
~~~

E'yan listened to the reordering that was spoken, and then breifly looked over the lists to find out where he was. And then he walked out again, not at all interested in talking to anyone or in partaking of potentially fatal food. He had taken to preparing his own food, though he wasn't a very good cook. And a great deal of it was protien he had killed himself. There was no other way he could ensure that he wasn't putting his life, or that of his dragon, in danger. Finding Kindrith outside, he leaned on the blue's shoulder, and stared up at the sky idly, thinking.

What was going to happen next?

[antinanco]

W’ri followed T’rid faithfully to the corner, treading on his heels like a loyal mutt. Only he was a hound without teeth; useless for hunting, useful for more sentimental reasons. Obviously, W’ri preferred to be functional for the first, and the fact that he was not made him highly uncomfortable. In fact, any hint that he was ineffective in any way made him twitchy, as he now fiddled with his own fingers and avoided contact with the Weyrleader.

There were very few things that W’ri hated, but he felt like a little kid fessing up for some unintentionally wrong-doing, and he hated it with all his being.

“Er-ah, the Wings-they’re good, really good,” the bluerider faltered every few syllables, “but-umh- I dunno, well, ta say I can’t…”

“I’m afraid of heights so I won’t be able ta fly in yer Wing!”

There. It was done. A huge weigh lifted off of the man’s shoulders, and he noticeably stood a bit straighter. Sure, he was still short and squat compared to the tall T’rid, but it helped his battered ego just enough to keep him from bawling. That really would have been the end of him. But it wasn’t, so he wasn’t. All that left in the end was one bland bluerider standing at attention in front of a figuratively and literally slacking Weyrleader.

Hopefully the manly rider would get it over quickly to save W’ri from public humiliation. His ego was small enough, plus he didn’t want his fear of heights getting out.

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