Wide Eyed Wonder (Open)

[Kayla]

(Yeah, yeah, starting a thread right before leaving for the weekend, oh well ;-) )

Dakian had been at the weyr for a day. The Candidate Master had gotten him settled in, and the boy had not yet gotten used to the wonder of the weyr. There were dragons everywhere, at least it seemed that way to him, and more than once he had ran into couples who were not hiding their relationship - men and women, men and men, women and women - and he was constantly blushing!

He knew that he must appear to be a bumpkin to most of the residents of the weyr, but he could not help but to stare at everything in wonder, amazed by what was around him. This was his new home, and already, in the one day that he had been here, he had decided that he would make a place for himself here, whether he ever impressed a dragon or not.

Now, he had come to the weyrhall, to get dinner. He had spent the day in chores, not that different from life at the hold, and was now ready to eat, and hopefully get a chance to know some of the other candidates as well.

Finding a seat, he smiled, "Evening!" While he craved attention, and could be quite talkative, he found himself a tiny bit shy in this incredible place.

[TheDreamerLady]

Ili had been deep in a conversation when a small, never before seen boy entered the circle surrounding his- well, his group's table. The boy was pretty, no doubt about it, though younger than Ili tended to be interested in. He liked his boys(and girls) old enough to know what they were doing, and willing enough to let him be the leader.

With a smile on his face, and his blue eyes politely interested, Ili smiled at the boy, and was the first to welcome him. The rest, many of whom were older than Ili, ignored the young boy.

"Evening, stranger. I'm Filipek, and who might you be?" Ili scooted over a tiny bit to give the boy a place to sit. He felt sorry for him, and remembered his own coming to the Weyr. It was a scary place at first, and as Holdfolk, doubly so.

[Kayla]

Dakian smiled. Someone was paying attention to him, and as he got a good look at that someone his smile grew even wider. The man - Filipek - was gorgeous. Dak took the offered seat, "I'm Dakian. It's nice to meet you, Filipek."

He smiled and looked around the table, but the smile faded when he realized that most of the others were ignoring him. However, that smile returned when he looked back to Filipek. Someone was paying attention to him, and for now that would have to be enough. He was sure that he'd find plenty of company before too long. Maybe even he would find a bed to share rather than the cramped quarters of the Candidates Barracks.

His eyes grew wider when he noticed the food that had been set out. He was not one to eat much, but the food was much better than he'd gotten, even as the son of a master craftsman. "Do they always serve food like this?"

He was in awe, but shook his head slightly, not wanting to be rude or seem too simple, and he blushed a bit, wondering what the older, gorgeous boy must think of him right now. "Um...I mean... I um... I..." he blushed more not being able to think of anything to say that would not make him sound like some simpleton.

[TheDreamerLady]

Dakian- it was a cute name. He smiled at the young boy, probably a new candidate, and noticed one of his friends further up the table smiling at him knowingly. He shot her a dirty, look that didn't fade until after she was done giggling to her friend about it. Sometimes all of the Weyr gossip got to him. He supposed it was his own fault for showing interest, but what else was new. One couldn't always do the right thing.

"Serve food like what?" Ili replied, staring at the boy. He didn't really put much thought into food. Staring at the food on the table didn't bring enlightenment to him either.

"You mean just put platters on the tables that you serve yourself from? Yeah, usually. Least at night. Mornings not as much, because of the different times people wake up."

[Kayla]

Dak blinked at the older boy, unaware of the girls giggling at them. "On platters? No... I meant... meat and so much of it... it's... there's just a lot of it." His father was successful as a master, and his children ate well, but there were several of them, and so food this copious was something that the boy never saw, and fresh meat was, at most, once a seven day, if that.

He smiled to the other boy, though he was talking about food, he had not really made a move to put any of it on his own plate. He did not know what the protocol was, but since no one else had any, he figured there must be a signal or something that they all waited for.

"Are you a candidate too? I think the Candidate Master told me that there has just recently been a flight. Do you think that you'll impress one of the eggs?" He could not imagine that a dragon would not want the handsome young man beside him, but all he knew about dragons came from the teaching ballads.

Dakian did not usually ramble, but he so wanted to keep the other boy's attention, and he was nervous in this new place without any friends.

[TheDreamerLady]

"Oh!" Filipek nodded. "Yes, we usually do have this much food." Ili was used to this much food however. He'd been raised sitting at the tables of the Lord Holder of Igen himself. And then he'd moved into the Weyr. Scrimping on food was an idea that he had yet to experience, and one he was unlikely to experience, unless he really didn't Impress and moved out into the Holds to breed children for the Weyr.

"Yes, I'm a candidate." Ili tried not to sound a little sad, but this Flight kept reminding him how little time he had. "And Sheluth, the senior Gold just flew. She hasn't even Clutched yet, but apparently her line's known for large clutches."

A motion from someone down further on the table meant that everyone could start piling their plates full. Filipek went for the closest platters, putting a little food on his plate, and then turning back to the Holder boy.

"And I'd like to think I'll Impress. How about you?"

[Kayla]

"Oh." He'd never gone hungry, but he'd never imagined having this much food on a daily basis. When he saw Filipek and the others start to fill their plates, he did the same. Or rather he tried to. Every time he reached for a piece, someone else got it, and he was beginning to wonder if he'd manage to get any food on his plate at all.

"I'd like to. Maybe a Green like the one I came here on. I didn't know how beautiful dragons were. Or how... incredible." He had been absolutely captivated by the green that had searched him. He also did not understand the fullness of dragon hierarchy.

He grinned as he managed to get a piece of meat onto his plate, but then he turned to look at Ili, not sure if he had imagined the note of sadness he'd heard or not. "Do you not like being a Candidate?" He'd learned that they had to do chores, and had done some already that day, but that did not seem that bad to Dak, no worse than being back at "home," and with no one calling him names or beating him up, it actually seemed a lot better to him.

[TheDreamerLady]

Ili tried not to laugh when Dakian commented about the Green. Greens were beautiful, of course, but they held little attraction for Ili. He turned the laugh into a credible cough, and took a drink of juice. Ah, lovely Nova with it's juices.

"Of course I like being a candidate. Just miss my family s'all." And that he'd never be able to see them again, whether he Impressed or not.

"And what exactly do you know about dragons?" Ili asked, unable to keep himself away from the question. If Dakian wanted a Green, knowing what Greens were, then that would be interesting. If it was just because he'd been Searched by a Green, Ili might want to tell him about the way dragon's were ranked. Some Candidates had strong opinions about boys who wanted Greens. And while those tended to have their opinions changed, it took a little bit of time.

[Kayla]

"Oh." Dak briefly wondered if he would miss his family. His mother perhaps, but on the whole, he knew that he was better off here. Besides, maybe one day he could visit her again. Dakian was completely in the dark about the secretive nature of the weyr that he had been brought to.

He blinked at the question of what did he know about dragons. He felt like he was in a class where he knew that he could answer but his answer would not be good enough. "Um... well... they fight thread. They breath fire and burn thread out of the sky. Though it hasn't fallen in anybody's memory. The harpers say that its due to come back any time now."

He took a bite of his food, using the moment to think. "And the Golds are the Queens and they mate with Bronzes and lay the eggs. And Browns and Blues are male and Greens are infertile females." He thought trying to remember if there was anything else that he really knew about dragons.

"And we tithe to the weyrs because they keep us safe and need to be fighting thread rather than growing food..." He blushed, that was all he knew really, or at least the gist of it.

Well, at least "dimglow" or "bumpkin" would be a better label than what he had worn back at home.

[TheDreamerLady]

So he had known what Greens were. Ili looked at the boy with a little more respect. Few were that brave, that young. He, himself, had dreamed of a Bronze, and leading his own Wing over Chezwe's Hold, defending his family from deadly, shimmering Threads.

Knowing that the Candidate Master would be the one to describe what kind of Weyr they were, Ili didn't tell the boy that he'd seen Thread himself, and the charred remains many times.

"Good." He said instead. "You know all the basics at least." And then he took a second bite of food.

[Kayla]

Dakian beamed at the "good." Feeling like he passed some kind of test. Of course, he had no idea what it was that Filipek thought he knew. The fact that Greens were females did not mean that much to Dakian, but he did think they were prettier than the others he'd seen, though he'd not seen that many. Of course, even if he had known, it would not have changed anything, more realized that it was rather fitting.

"What color do you want to impress? Do you think that we'll actually get to fight thread?" The boy had not had good attention for so long that now that he found someone who was talking to him and seemed interested in him, he was eating it up like a starving man.

[TheDreamerLady]

"Bronze." Filipek said without hesitation. Yes, he realized that he liked boys, but he also liked girls, and if Impressing a Bronze meant liking girls, Filipek would do it. He wanted a Bronze, he wanted to be a Wingleader, and protect his family's land, even if they never knew it was him. It was what he'd always wanted. Maybe to be practical, he should want a Brown, but why not dream big?

"I want to be a Wingleader. Or Weyrleader. And as for Fighting Thread, the Candidate Master will explain about it. And we'll learn how, that's certain."

Filipek poked at his food. He really didn't feel all that hungry, and wanted to go have a look at Sheluth, if he could be sneaky about it. He'd heard all sorts of things about Telgar Bred Queens, and wanted to see if they were true.

[Kayla]

Despite having passed the earlier "test." Dakian did not know the insides of what different dragons tended to match with with a Rider. So hearing that the older boy wanted a Bronze did not affect Dakian the way it would have if he had known that Bronzers were all heterosexual (at least outside of Green Flight).

What he did know was that Bronze Dragons were the leaders of the Weyr. His eyes widened as he looked at the young man who had ambitions for leading. "Wow." He had just met the other boy, but he could completely and totally imagine that this young man would make a good leader, there was something about him, that seemed to speak to an innate leadership ability and hearing the other's ambition caused him to look at the other with a new found respect and perhaps even some hero worship. This boy wanted to be a leader and was still taking time to talk to a lowly Candidate who only wanted attention and to be loved.

He nodded a bit at the bit about the Candidate Master going to talk to them about Thread. He supposed that made sense. After all, Thread was a big scary thing - an adult would probably be the best to handle such a topic.

Dakian finished what he wanted and noticed that Ili was not really touching his food. "You're not hungry?" He frowned, a bit worried that he was bothering the older boy.

[TheDreamerLady]

Ili smiled a little bit at the young boy's expression of surprise. Filipek was hardly the first, or the last boy who would proclaim interest in the largest of the male dragons. However, it wasn't the wish that should earn him respect. It was the actual Impression. Crushing Dakian's ideas could wait. This wasn't really the best place for the discussion, after all.

"No, I'm not really." Filipek stated with a sigh. "I want to go have a look at Sheluth. She'll be clutching in a few days, and I wanted to see how large she's gotten."

He smiled at the thought of eggs. Maybe this time he'd Impress- there was always hope.

[Kayla]

Sheluth, clutching. Dakian might not have all the knowledge that someone who'd been at the weyr for a while would, but he could do simple logic. "Sheluth is the Queen?"

Dakian's eyes widened as he thought about what a Queen Dragon heavy with eggs would look like. The fact of the matter was that he could not fathom how she would appear. He tried to imagine the Green and Brown he had seen, but with a Gold color and a distended belly like a pregnant woman.

He shook his head, "I've never seen a Gold Dragon. Can I go with you?" Of course the fact of the matter was that as much as Dia wanted to see the Gold dragon, he had also grasped onto Ili as someone who was giving him attention. Even though the handsome older boy had not shown any indication of finding Dia attractive, he was feeding his need for attention, and for now, that was more than enough for the younger boy.

"I mean, I've heard about them. We get all that kind of stuff in her lessons from the Harpers. But I've never actually gotten to see one."