[PRP] Unsettled (Nadry/Goran)

[Tsunake]

Goran shook his head when she apologized again, looking a little uneasy. They'd both been talking, hadn't they? If he hadn't wanted to stay, he wouldn't have. Her hand was quite soft, and he was careful not to squeeze too hard for fear of harming her. "Nadry," He mumbled to himself, committing it to memory.

For a moment, he lapsed back into silence, allowing his hand to drop from hers. Naturally, he assumed that everyone knew more about dragons than him... and while he knew that, once bonded, dragons did not speak to others--he could not help but wonder.

"Do you think they will remember us?" He asked her quietly, focusing on a spot behind her, rather than her face.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Not introducing herself properly was a Serious Breach of Etiquette, one her mother would have scolded her over - especially since she was talking to a young man, so of course impressions were of the utmost importance - but her mother wasn't here, and fortunately Goran didn't seem to mind it any more than he had being bumped into. Maybe every little thing that had been so important at home wasn't quite as important here...then again, given her cothold's impression of Weyrs as hives of debauchery, that should perhaps not come as a total surprise.

"I hope so," she answered, fingers going to fuss at the fabric of her skirt again, an idle habit of checking to make sure everything was in place. "If what we feel from them means so much to us, I'd think that what they get from us means something, too. Maybe not as much, but something."

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

What the eggs got from them... Goran lifted his head after a moment, his features twisting with mild surprise. "Maybe that's why we have Touchings," He said slowly, "To help them learn who's right for them, when they hatch." Because dragons always just knew who they wanted, didn't they? And if the right person wasn't there... He shook his head, not wanting to think about it.

Muffling a sigh, Goran unconsciously glanced in the direction of the Hatching Grounds. "...I hope they hatch soon." Even if his hopes would be dashed... there was always a chance he'd get lucky. He and Nadry, both.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"That's probably it," she agreed, "And it's no wonder they get exuberant, if that's the case. I wonder if...if they really think about it, if some of them have already decided by the time they hatch, and they just have to find the person they felt before." But sometimes they even resorted to picking someone out of the Stands, she'd heard, because none of the Candidates were right.

"Me, too. The waiting wasn't so bad before, but now that we know them, even just a little, it's so much harder. Is there one that feels right to you, more than the rest?" A bit of a personal question, perhaps, but she had admitted to hers...and it was so nice to have someone to talk to about all of it.

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

"Maybe." He agreed, his brows knotting. "And maybe someone didn't touch the egg long enough... or at all, in some cases, so the dragon has to look... 'n that's why there are accidents." Frustrated, angry, and hungry, a baby dragon could lash out at all the people that weren't right for it without much care at all. It made a lot more sense to him, now--and they were trained on how to stay out of the way....

Goran stiffened with surprise at the question, and the time it took for him to answer came from slow pondering, rather than reluctance. She'd shared her experiences, and he intended to do the same. "The dark green one seemed to know how I felt," He said slowly, "....but the big striped one. I felt--" He hesitated, then continued. "Like I understood it. When it was angry..." He knew how that felt, to be so angry, and-- "...I understood it. And it calmed down." The egg had known about him, known his struggles... and knew there was so much more to him. Like it believed in him.

He had a thoughtful, distant expression on his face. "I don't know that it will pick me..." But he hoped it would, were the words unspoken, and he felt a strange, painful sort of longing in its chest.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Nadry nodded in agreement. She hated to think about such 'accidents' the potential for violence between hatchlings or against Candidates, intentional or accidental injuries, it was an unfortunate reality of Hatchings. When they Stood, they accepted the risk - frightening as it was, everyone on the Sands was willing to accept it for the chance to Impress a dragon. To soar.

She worried, for half a moment, that her favorite would also be his, but if it wasn't her dragon and had to be someone else's, Goran seemed like a good person. She could be happy for them. But it was the striped one who had caught his heart. The girl nodded again - she might not understand the specific feelings, the anger, but she knew the connection, or at least what they perceived to be the connection. Did the dragonets or was this all in their own heads?

She knew the hope, and the longing, but with it a sense of shame, almost, for having such a strong preference. That unhatched dragon in the egg didn't belong to her, there might be someone who needed it more, or someone it needed. It was selfish and even presumptuous to covet one certain dragon so much. "I hope it will," she said finally, with a much more decisive nod. "From what people are saying, that one's probably a bronze. And there should be more bronzeriders who are- who don't think they're everything."

How many metallic riders would have taken her daydreaming clumsiness so well?

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

He actually gave a sharp start when Nadry mentioned the rumors surrounding the dragon, giving her a wide-eyed, owlish look. "I... I didn't know." He said lamely, looking incredibly awkward. It was the challenge emanating from the egg that had drawn him initially, not its size or the potential color... "The color doesn't matter." He finished with a sudden savagery, shaking his head. "It could sharding be a green, for all I care. Color shouldn't matter."

But then she sad such things, and Goran's indignation and outrage sizzled out abruptly. He stared at her, his shoulders slumping slightly. That... was probably one of the kindest things that anyone had ever said to him.

When he finally spoke again, his words were a low, awkward rumble. "....I hope the green egg picks you, too. No matter what color it is." He meant what he said. Color shouldn't matter. If a dragon decided that you were its life partner.... wasn't that enough?

It should be more than enough for anyone, he thought.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

The vehemence of his reaction was startling, in a Weyr that seemed so preoccuppied with biggest, shiniest dragons, where boys mostly dreamed of bronzes and girls of golds and the opportunity that came with them. Faranth forbid a boy just Impress a green, or a girl Impress a blue or brown that should go to a boy. She suspected that was among her brother's reasons for not wanting her to Stand, a fear that she would Impress wrong and embarrass him. It was enough to make her want to, to show him that she could do anything. And once she had a dragon, it wouldn't matter what her family thought of what she did or who she became; shards, depending on the dragon, some of them might never speak to her again. That thought...didn't bother her as much as it might have a few days ago.

"I wish more people thought that way," she said sadly, but her expression brightened when he hoped for her to be chosen by the green egg, lit by a real smile, not just a polite one. No one ever wanted for her what she wanted, only what they thought was best. "Really? I- Thank you. My family wouldn't like it, but...I don't think I care anymore."

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

Goran nodded empathetically at her words, grunting. To think someone might be ashamed of the color they may or may not Impressed was infuriating to him. Shards, he would wholeheartedly accept a Green dragon choosing him rather than go back to the mines! They were the fastest of the lot, and most importantly, they protected Pern like all the other dusted dragons! Rather than hold onto those thoughts and let his rage boil, he forced himself to let it go with a growl of annoyance.

Nadry was given an incredulous look. To be fair, he didn't have any family to speak of, but... "You'd find your bonded. What's not to like?" Only an idiot wouldn't like it, he was about to say... but remembered she was a lady, and so he held his tongue. He nodded approvingly at her, his lips twitching in a faint smile. "It's the dragon's choice anyway, not ours. If they don't like it, they can go tell Uridith that her dragonet isn't good enough for you."

A snort expressed what he thought of that.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"They'd rather I not Impress at all." Hands clenched in the fabric of her skirt only to smooth it out again. "Especially now that Thread's back, and it would be dangerous." She was just a girl, after all, delicate and defenseless and not made to fight anything, and she could get hurt! She could get scars. Worse still, she could bond to a green and turn into a shameless hussy. Because of course that was how it worked. But she'd made it through the gold Flight without doing anything...untoward. Surely she could manage even if the dragon was hers.

Nadry couldn't help but laugh at Goran's suggestion of what she should tell her family to do should they disapprove. M'yk would die before he did any such thing, and the thought was priceless. If she did Impress, she just might have to do as her fellow Candidate suggested. "My brother would never step a toe out of line in front of a gold or her rider!" She snicked a little, actually snickered. That was not a sound she made, well, ever. "And poor Dobrokhoth would die of embarrassment."

Tsunake