Consign to Oblivion [Tags Req]

[raii]

Karou wondered where the rest of the candidates were. Chores, perhaps? Karou scoffed at the very idea. Chores, the tasks of imbeciles. Why would she, a fully matured woman, resort to mere unpaid drudgery? Most candidates were foolish, obedient morons, blissfully unaware of how superfluous their very existence was the majority of the time.

Yes, one day, they would be important. Eikask's quickly approaching hatching, and dragon hatchings after that. For now, however, they were ignorant children employed to do harsh jobs with no pay under the sugarcoated title of "chores." Yes, let's work our children as drudges, why don't we? Truth be told, she had little sympathy for those children. They were young and still stupid. Some would never grow out of that annoying trait. She, however, refused to do such tasks.

Perhaps the little beasts were at lessons. Karou never attended the first lesson. It was a show of rebellion and scorn towards authority. Later on, she might attend lessons, mood permitting, of course. She would, however, be late. No need to rush through her routines to learn things she already knew.

As a result, she took refuge at the drum heights. Not a particularly wonderful place, but it tended to be quiet, especially on such a windy day as today. In fact, she doubted any drums could be interpreted over the hash winds. To her happiness, no one was here. Rather pretty place, she supposed. Over a waterfall and all.

The wind whipped her hair against her face with a snap. Karou's hair was usually limp and controlled, but now it had a life of its own. Karou stood there with a surprisingly serene grin as the monster of hair danced around her. She tied it back with a ribbon in her pocket. Strange, she never wore ribbons. She wondered when this ribbon had found its way into her pocket. Didn't matter. She tied back her hair, humming lightly, unable to hear herself over the wind.

[Requiem]

In a window, in the tower, one leg dangling down, the other drawn up on the ledge to support the board and the scroll. The greying bronzerider etched the river curling away, the arcing, broken crack, dragons lounging on their ledges, in quick, sure strokes. No, it hadn't originally been a sketch. Not until he realized that the map he'd been working was going to have too large a scale to be of much use. His cool greys swept over the line of the drumheights, pausing on the young woman standing there, dark hair whipping around her. A brow rose, and in a flurry of strokes, he just barely managed to capture her before she tamed the hair with a ribbon. Curious...but he liked how it suited the sketch. Really, though, if she wanted to shirk chores it would have been better to get rid of the knots and not come where Salenth made his throne. He chuckled, shaking his head slightly at the foolishness of the young. Perhaps more amused because he'd done the self-same thing, once upon a decade.

To be fair, he wasn't so old as all that, but he'd been a candidate some...shards, almost thirty turns ago? Young candidate. Impressing a dragon at twelve wasn't precisely common, especially with the infrequent clutches of the pre-Fall turns. The little one you are amusing yourself with has usurped my spot, Salenth commented, his great, long body momentarily blotting out the sun as the queen-sized bronze curled lazily around the tower. She'll move. Unless she hasn't the sense to avoid being squished, you mean. S'rei rolled his eyes, though Salenth couldn't see. He gathered his materials up, slipping the scroll back into the carrying case at his thigh and adjusting the plain tan tunic. No knots. Those who needed to know him did, and otherwise he wasn't too fond of unnecessary formality. Or brownnosing.

The bronze settled, curling around the tower and nosing at the candidate with an amused huff. S'rei emerged from it not long thereafter, striding for the girl. He drew up a short distance away, glancing sidelong at Salenth. Behaaave. The male apparently decided not to poke at her to see if she'd fall on her butt. For now.

He nodded toward her knots. "Have to love Selenitas colors...they stick out like a sore thumb, even from a distance." A mild smile played across features that would have seemed young if not for the grey at his temples and the fine lines tracking from the edges of eyes and mouth. A man of good humor, or so his face hinted. "A word to the wise." Glancing over his shoulder, just to be sure no one had managed to sneak up on him. "If you want to get out of your chores, you should lose the knots." The man winked. "Emoyan comes up here on occasion. To find muse for his harper spirit, I would guess...that or just to get away from the whining and drama of a bunch of teenagers in close quarters."

Helping her get out of chores? The Weyrleader? Possibly. Truthfully, though, he had enough responsibilities far more pressing than this, and didn't need to be doing Emoyan's job as well. She'd get caught eventually; they always did. Not really his concern. Still, it would be interesting to see how long she got away with it. Salenth's tail flicked, sliding to curl just the very end around the legs of His. S'rei swatted at it, shooting a playful half-glare at his bronze. Salenth made a show of studying the gorge below...

[raii]

Karou moved indeed. She glared up at the bronze. What was with rude bronzes (and, though she didn't know, both the queen-catching kind)? The dragons rider strode up to him. Karou's gaze turned to the man, her expression boldly daring. She looked quite confused at his speech. A bronzerider...helping her avoid chores? Strange, strange indeed. Of course, Karou didn't care if she did get caught. She craved confrontation and argument, but was grateful to his advice anyways. She took off her knots, stuffing them in her pocket.

"I don't really care, of course," she said either way. What would they do? Have her do more chores she wouldn't do? Refuse her the right to stand in at the next Hatching? She'd been a candidate long enough that such consequences didn't really upset her. She looked up at the large, pale bronze, and back to the bronzerider. What was with her and attracting the attention of these bronze dragons? First that golden one at the river. She'd been singing to herself when that beast usurped her, sending her into the cold water.

Exaggeration, maybe.

Now this dragon pushed her out of his way and nearly nudged her to the ground. How rude! She looked to the older rider, who didn't seem to be as wretched as his dragon. The man actually seemed decent. For now. She just hoped he didn't ruin her opinion of his decency. There were enough wretches in this Weyr as it was. Regardless of her semi-positive opinion of him (again, for now), her tone was blunt and callous. "Karou. Who are you?" She demanded. Would he understand that Karou referred to her name? Maybe. Did she care? Of course not!

The wind picked up again, catching her hair in the wind. Karou smirked as her hair struggled to free itself from its binding ribbon. Silly wind, trying to muss her hair up. She was too smart for it, of course. No, it would not whip her hair around anymore. She focused back on the rider, analyzing him slowly. She'd never seen him before. She had no idea who he was. He could be the sharding Weyrleader for all she knew! Little did she know, he actually was.

[Requiem]

It is a cheeky one, the bronze commented, ever-so-amused as his tail tightened imperceptibly around the legs of His. Pull me over, and... You will be most displeased? Hit my tail again? Terrifying. I almost felt it last time, Salenth returned lazily. The large bronze brought his head a little closer at the female's sharp tone, sniffing at her and then huffing slightly, to add his own breath to the wind already buffeting her. Smells pretty normal to me, Mine. Thinks she's a goldie though, I expect. S'rei rolled his eyes. Yeah, sure, just cause they stole the male's throne...didn't make them a 'goldie' in personality.

Nevertheless, her personality did amuse the Weyrleader. Watching her shove her knots into her pocket, he didn't bother to keep the amusement out of his voice. "No, no, of course not." A small, wry smile. Which was why she was here, away from the Weyr proper, and currently shucking off her knots. They'd had K'lir to deal with. K'lir didn't care; he'd walked right up to the weyrlingmasters and told them he wasn't going to do chores, and probably wouldn't be coming to half the lessons either. Couldn't really hold a candle to that one.

"S'rei. This is Salenth. He prefers to spend his time on the drumheights where he can see everything. I told him that you likely were not aware of this, but he is under the impression that huge dragons daily sprawled on the drumheights would be noticed. That or you lack observational skills. He's ever so generous in that respect - attempting to usurp his spot or lacking in the ability to discern that it is his. At least he does not have the habits of certain other metallics, however; he will not attempt to lick you or pin you. Yet. He informs me he's considered it if that makes people notice gigantic dragons better."

There was a decided playfulness in S'rei's tone. Salenth was a light dragon, just as his rider wasn't particularly serious the majority of the time. The older rider glanced past Karou, then let his eyes fall on her. "So tell me...what exactly is it you do with all this free time? I'd imagine taking in the scenery would grow dull after awhile."

[raii]

Karou mocked a bow towards the huge bronze. "I'm dreadfully sorry I don't take the time to memorize the hiding spaces of every single dragon to grace this Weyr," she said with an eye-roll. Hmm, this...S'rei was not a bad man...for the moment, anyways. The dragon, however, had the makings of a giant pain. Pretentious, vain, with a huge superiority complex. Familiar? Of course! Desirable? Never.

She seemed to antagonize every human, dragon, and even fire lizard she met. There was that awful bronze who had nearly drowned her. There was that rude, intruding candidate. She'd intruded on him, of course, but that was merely a formality. The rude rider and fire lizard at the beach. It seemed everywhere she went there were horrible living creatures. Forget that she had been the instigator. They were the bad ones. She smiled.

He had asked what she did during her free time. "I sing. I think. Mostly sing." Ah, the talent that had kept her sanity. Let everyone else have their foolish pastimes. Hers was worthwhile. Let them have drawing, playing, weaving, owning pets, and other silly hobbies. "And what of you? As a rider, don't you have responsibilities or something?" She was blissfully unaware of who he was. In fact, she didn't even know who the Weyrwoman was. Kirin of Milth or something like that? Kargin of Melloth? Why should she waste her time memorizing the names of those people? Rank meant next to nothing to her.

She had no qualms about how she spoke to a person of rank. Respect was not to be freely given to regular people simply because they had Impressed a shiny little dragon. No, respect was to be earned. Who did she respect, in fact? No one alive at the present moment. No one alive seemed deserving of her kindness, much less her respect. She, as a nineteen year old candidate, was naturally just as important as the, what, thirty turn old Weyrleader beside her?

[Requiem]

She thinks I'm hiding. Another amused rumble. "I'd call it trying to provoke you, Sal, personally," S'rei responded aloud, flashing a brief smile at the girl. "He's far too arrogant to take offence by you, Karou. Though you're welcome to try." The bronzerider staggered slightly as Salenth shifted the tail wrapped around the man's legs, innocently adjusting the lay of his wings and resting his head on his forelegs. The Weyrleader then decided that since his dragon was determined to keep a hold on him, he might as well take advantage; he seated himself on Sal's tail, ignoring it as the dragon lifted the appendage and shifted it to one side to see if he could unsettle His.

"Singing. A worthy pasttime. I should think you'd be able to do that almost anywhere, doing almost anything, though. Unless you happen to be one of the people like me who can't talk and walk at the same time without stumbling over myself." The words were...rather funny, coming from a man more or less being slowly waved through the air by his bronze. He seemed completely unperturbed, however. And unaware as to how odd it might seem to be talking to someone that way. Her question, however, provoked the man to tap on the section of tail next to where he sat. "If you don't mind, ancient one," he prompted teasingly, to which Salenth responded with a huff. Nevertheless, he did set his tail back down. We have already established that you are the cryptkeeper.

"If you promise not to squeal on me...I did come up here to work, but then decided to shirk my responsibilities myself. Supposed to map further back into the gorge, you see, but distracted myself." He withdrew the map-turned-quick-sketch from the document holder at his thigh, extending it toward her. Leaning back on his makeshift tail seat, S'rei smiled wryly. "If you sing, do you also dance? I didn't see any harper knots, but they don't have the monopoly on the skill, as far as I'm aware. Good dancing partners are hard to come by."

What are you up to, Mine? Being quite sneaky, too...not telling her who we are. S'rei didn't answer him directly, the crooked smile broadening slightly.

[raii]

"Ah, an arrogant bronze is he? Much like that rude beast who talked to me through a mere salamandyr? If that's so, I'm glad I'm I have no chance of Impressing a bronze." Not that she seemed to have much luck Impressing anyways, having attended several Hatchings. "I am quite skilled in the art of multitasking--" as well as many other things "--but I prefer singing in beautiful places such as this, for the inspiration. If there's an echo, that's an added bonus."

It was a strange thing to speak to someone sitting on dragontail, so Karou was a bit releived when the rider was let back to the ground. "I have no desire to be a harper. I sing what I like, and a couple ballads if it so pleases me. It's a freedom, not a constraint." She shrugged. "But yes, I do dance. Not nearly as well, but I make do." This bronzerider amused her. He seemed a bit pretentious, maybe, but certainly not a moron. And certainly not an antagonizer.

(She turned to observe the view pensively. That was, of course, not the reason she had never pursued a harper apprenticeship. Of course, this rider and his rude little bronze did not need to know about the young harper-to-be she had once called her sister. She turned back to him. "But I should warn you, if you are the type to try and take advantage of me, I am skilled in several fighting styles and currently have a few throwing knives on me." Her tone wasn't serious, but light, almost playful.

Was Karou actually joking?

Of course, it was a nice day, and she was in a good mood. Not too hot, and rather windy. He had found her in a relatively peaceful mood--that is, if you counted joking about knives and fighting as peaceful--so she supposed it was to be expected. Besides, he seemed halfway decent. So far. She thought to herself for a moment, staring out at the tower. Yes, he did seem halfway decent, and, as she had said before, not a moron. This made her wary of him. After all, there was no threat in idiots and goody-goodies.

[Requiem]

Salenth rumbled in open amusement at Karou, S'rei voicing the thought that had leapt to mind in both parts of the partnership. "There's such a thing as a humble bronze dragon? If you know of one, we'd both like to meet him; it would be a first for us." The large bronze stretched his neck forward and nuzzled Karou. I really like this one, Mine. Can we keep her? Preferably chained to the foot of your bed so we can nudge her any time we need a jester. S'rei snorted, rolling his eyes at Salenth. The dragon let out quite the gusty sigh. What's the point of leading the Weyr if we can't have any fun?

"Hm, yes. I can see the allure...used to play the gitar. Ages ago. Before the big arrogant bronze leech decided to steal my attention," S'rei commented easily. "There are some other spots you might be interested in that yield far less traffic and interruptions."

S'rei laughed outright at her comment about the possibility of his being the 'type to take advantage,' gesturing to himself in a clear 'who, me?' motion. He hadn't even been the type at her age - though, yes, there was a time when S'rei was a definite womanizer. Though that wasn't the reason for his amusement so much as the fact that Karou would 'warn' a northern - southern-born maybe but he'd spent more time as a northern dragonrider than half the northern transfers here - bronzerider of her fighting prowess. "Duly noted. I'll keep my hands in appropriate safe zones lest I lose my fingers, when we dance."

He flashed a roguish smile at her, one that suited him rather more than it probably should have."That is, if you'll agree to let a man so old and down on his luck as myself enjoy a dance with you next Hatching Feast. It should be Jingth who Rises next, and, given her size...a brown, I think. Dsoleth. I'd wager a pretty mark on that." S'rei cocked a brow at her. "So, is it a date, then? No funny business. I promise." Salenth's amusement was rolling through his mind in waves. You're not going to tell her, if she agrees, that she just agreed to dancing with the Weyrleader, are you? That's important? S'rei responded innocently.

[raii]

"Oh? What other spots? I know of plenty, but I am always looking for more. You never know when you'll run into a stuck-up bronze and his insane rider," she said, her voice somewhat teasing. Did Karou just make...a friend? No, an ally, maybe. Karou didn't do friends. He seemed so sure that she would be flown by a brown, likely Dsoleth. Karou, of course, had no idea who this brown dragon was, but that was to be expected. Why bother learning such foolish people's names.

"If you're so sure this Dsoleth will fly her, how about wagering a pretty mark on that? I could do with some more money." She grinned. The chance that one specific brown--especially when bronzes flew most queens--would fly this queen were quite slim, at least in her mind. True, she didn't know Dsoleth, or Jingth for that matter (though she would no doubt be standing in that hatching), but she felt her chances were pretty good. "How much do you believe in this brown's abilities? 5 marks, 10? Or is this just a guess on your part?"

Karou was always up for risks. She remembered her first ride on dragonback, when she was searched. She didn't hold on, and remembered screaming into the rushing air, much to the rider's annoyance. Gambling and drinking were among her favorite hobbies as well, so she was hopeful that the man would accept her challenge. Even if she didn't win, it would be fun. Of course, she would much rather win. Perhaps at the next gather she could get some new clothes, perhaps some riding gear for good luck at her next Hatching.

She certainly was cocky. He hadn't even accepted and she'd been planning what to do with the money she would, of course, reveive. "And sure. I haven't had a decent dance partner in Turns. Also, might as well grant you your request, old man. It'll be my good deed for, what, the turn? My life time?"

[Requiem]

"To be honest? Pretty much anywhere a short way from the paths, within ten minutes' walking distance of the Weyr. One of the nicer glades is used by the Legatus Wing, though. Ka'rys. He's not entirely friendly - or partial to interruptions." Though it was actually the wing itself that was more dangerous. Pretty much anyone a little - wilder - or of questionable loyalty from the northern wars had ended up on that wing, one way or another. Ka'rys was certainly the one to handle them, and S'rei did not envy him that. "More than twenty minutes' walk and you risk wandering into feline territory, something I wouldn't chance. There are enough living, walking examples of why that's a bad idea around here. But there's one glade in particular that's a nice one, impossible to see until you're right up on it, and of course the lake, though that'll get some traffic. Several people know of it."

A genuine enough answer. S'rei didn't think Karou was the type to care overly much for suggestions along the lines of taking others with her or getting a pet in case she ran into trouble. In fact, she seemed just the sort to go wandering off on her own and discover the hard way the boundaries of the felines' territory. There were some relatively safe areas of the jungles, and if he could direct her there...the likelihood of hearing from the Candidatemaster that another one of their little adventurers had gone missing was lessened. Not that he'd openly admit to aiding Karou's rebelliousness in order to keep it from getting her killed. Nope.

He considered Karou contemplatively. "Well, I think that rather depends on whether or not the young rebel has ten marks to her name. I know I didn't when I was a candidate. I'd hate to beggar you at such a young age," he teased, his confidence in his assessment of Jingth and Dsoleth clear enough in his voice. (It might well be wishful thinking, actually. T'san was a brownrider blatantly favored by the Weyrleader, even if he didn't let that bleed over into unprofessionalism.)

"Old man?" He tsked softly. "Not so old as all that. You like bets, don't you? I'll bet you a mark I can run down this hill and reach the stables before you can. We'll see who's old." S'rei wasn't a sprinter, but he ran often enough to hold his own. Win out against youth, probably not, but...eh, it was something fun to do that wasn't paperwork, and she was amusing both him and Salenth, as evidenced by the rumbling laughter coming from the dragon. Such a responsible Weyrleader he was, encouraging candidates to play hookie and gamble. S'rei arched a brow. "Or are you too afraid the old man will beat you?"