klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Aug 25, 2010 21:37:31 GMT
((Official introduction of Viril))
All was quiet that early winter-morning as Viril opened her eyes. The sun had yet to peek over the horizon, and she shivered in the pre-dawn chill that penetrated her blanket. She yawned, then threw off the blanket as quickly as she could, practically jumped out of her mattress into her soft boots, and slammed her new tunic over her head before the cold of the morning found her or the other sleeping children in the room woke up. Viril straightened the blanket on the mattress, then looked around at the sleeping holdfolk. She sighed. Ever since the attack of the basilisks, every hold child had been moved into a large, empty room at the center of the Hold proper for protection, and for some reason that included her. Frowning, she wove between the mattresses and sleeping mats and slipped out into the hallway.
Once out of the children's room, she navigated the halls expertly and came into the kitchens. Here, the quiet of the morning was utterly shattered by the hustle and bustle of the servants trying to prepare breakfast for an entire Hold. She ducked and bobbed, avoiding first a man with a hot pan, then a woman with longs skirts and a long fork. She stepped aside to avoid two boys not older than fifteen Turns -- each carrying one end of an enormous skinless herdbeast, still dripping blood from its tongue. A young girl pulled the door away from the open-flame oven, and the boys put the herdbeast on a metal rack inside. The girl replaced the door, and Viril slipped out of the kitchens and into the dining hall.
Through the room, out the door, into yet another hallway, and out the front door, and she was outside, breathing the cold air and watching the sun peek over hills to the east -- it'd be morning at Fort, she thought.
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Post by Spiffy on Aug 30, 2010 20:33:07 GMT
(yay for random NPC ;D)
N'solm of Blue Jierth
The bluerider splashed cold water on his face, blinking it from his eyes. It was an early start for him today. Aside from the fact that there was a clutch soon to be laid and candidates that needed to be found, he needed to get out. Out of the Weyr and away from that creature that had killed his friends and their dragons.
He shook off the thought, towelling his face dry before making his way unsteadily out toward his dragon. Jierth was at least more awake than his rider, which N'solm then proved by yawning expansively. Running on automatic, movements ironed out by two decades worth of practise, he removed Jierth's riding straps from their rack and slung them around his dragon's neck, buckling them in place.
After a quick dash down to the dining cavern for a mug of early morning klah and a bowl of porridge he directed Jierth out and above the Weyr Rim, saluting the Watchrider before sending himself and Jierth between to Horizon Hold.
Emerging high, a little ways from Horizon proper, he noticed that the air here was a little warmer than back home at the Weyr, though still cool enough for him to be grateful of the thick fur lined wherhide jacket that he'd invested in before heading out West. It was still efore dawn, so there was little sun to warm his back as Jierth circled down to the Hold courtyard.
Backwinging lightly, Jierth settled onto the stoned yard wit barely a bump to his rider - the advantage of having a smaller dragon. These bronze and brown brutes these days - golds too, were just as bad - were about as smooth as a slammed door when it came to landing. Enough to break a neck, some of them. Unclipping himself from the riding straps as Jierth ruffled his wings into place along his sides, N'solm followed his dragon's gaze up to the East, where Rukbat was just beginning to show above the horizon. Aptly named, the Hold, he thought.
But he was startled out of his reverie by the sound of a footsteps in the otherwise deserted yard, snapping his gaze over to the huge skybroom doors that were the main entrance to the Inner Hold. A figure, female by the looks, stood in the doorway, also looking up at the sunrise, but otherwise as unaware of the existence of the bluerider as Jierth was of her, so absorbed as both were in Rukbat.
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Aug 30, 2010 22:08:17 GMT
((Yaya!))
As the sun's lower edge broke free of the hills, so did she break free of the sunrise's spell. Viril pulled her eyes away from the east and began to turn back to the Hold, thinking to go back to sleep before any of the servants found her awake and pushed chores at her. Before she opened the door, however, a rustle of cobalt blue caught her eye.
A dragon was stading in the ungroomed grass in the yard, and his rider sat mounted. He was watching her, not creeping her out just yet, but definitely interested. Viril had a sudden suspicion she knew what he was doing here.
"Might I ask your name?" she queried.
((eep. I'm so sorry.))
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Post by Spiffy on Aug 31, 2010 21:59:40 GMT
((Ok, thanks for cooperating ;D))
The girl moved, spell finally broke, and turned toward him. She finally noticed him and his blue watching her and stood, as if uncertain what to say. Jierth finally seemed to notice that something was happening, swinging his head around to look at his rider before following his gaze and spotting Viril with what amounted to a surprised 'ooh!' eyes whirling a sudden green.
"Might I ask your name?" she spoke up suddenly.
N'solm's eyebrow shot up at her query, even as he straightened his shoulders in readiness to answer her.
"N'solm, rider of Jierth," he said, a sardonic grin spreading across his face, though it was due as much to his trying to hold back a yawn as it was to irony. He briefly considered that he should be speaking to the Lord Holder before doing anything else, but he had long since ceased to care about such pointless formalities. Besides, what Lord Holder was up a this hour of the sharding day?
The grin was still there as he continued speaking. "Now that's over, you can tell me yours, young lady."
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 1, 2010 12:34:14 GMT
((I suppose I just am unused to the NPC system we have here. At another forum I frequent, NPC characters are essentially property of the roleplay and anyone can play them since they're essentially 'background' characters that happened to be on screen a little more often. Here, it seems, any character you create, you own, and you need permission to use any character that someone else has created. So you can understand my confusion. )) "Viril. Don't you need to talk to the Lord Holder before you can begin your Search?" She crossed her arms, trying to look slightly more intimidating than her bare arms and mussed hair suggested. The image was shattered, however, when she yawned, exposing her less-than-white teeth. Trying to regain her composure, she continued, "But I doubt he's up at this hour."
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Post by Spiffy on Sept 1, 2010 16:05:17 GMT
((Ah, that could explain it. No hard feeling then I was just a bit miffed about you stealing the only chara I had in the thread Dx)) "Viril. Don't you need to talk to the Lord Holder before you can begin your Search? But I doubt he's up at this hour."N'solm leaned back in his seat, exhaling as he crossed his arms across his chest, mimicking the girls own movement and fixing her with his still sardonic expression. "And who says I'm here on search? Why, I could be here to transport some good-for-nowt scallywag to some unknown island on the Eastern Ring for all you know." He stopped, considering what he'd said. "Actually, a Ring Island doesn't sound so bad right now," he added, mock shivering in the crisp morning cool. He stopped again, looking thoughtful. "Nah, I don't think I'll bother the Lord Holder." Jierth, who'd up until now been staring intently at Viril, chose that moment to suddenly start forward toward the girl. "Jierth, what the..." N'solm started, only stopping when the blue did. Jierth leaned his head down, sniffing Viril. "Ah," was all that N'solm said.
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 1, 2010 16:22:25 GMT
((No hard feelings. I dun like stealing. *gives char back*))
Viril smirked. He'd confirmed her suspicions. "If you're taking a ruffian to the Eastern ring, then where is the scallywag, hm? No, you're here on Search, and -" She stopped talking and stared at the blue, who'd lunged forward and begun sniffing her. What was he doing?
Oh...
Jierth really was a beautiful dragon, with whirling, swirling eyes that she knew could gleam all sorts of different colors. She found herself staring at the hypnotic eyes that were so, so beautiful. She'd never seen a gemstone so radiant, so sparkling. She smiled at the blue, relaxing her arms and feeling much more calm. Goodness, did dragons have this effect on everybody?
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Post by Spiffy on Sept 1, 2010 16:45:39 GMT
N'solm shook off his surprise at Jierth's silent proclamation into his mind to answer the girl.
"Oh, he's waiting in solitary confinement in the Hold there," he joked, indicating the skybroom doors with a tip of his head. "That Lord Holder of your's hasn't let him out yet."
He looked her up and down from his perch atop his blue. She didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he was talking down to her, in fact was pretty eager to talk up to him, by the sounds of it. And she'd realised pretty soon why he was here, even if the idea hadn't been fully formed in his own mind until then. Jierth certainly realised her potential and she seemed to like him. That was good, not being scared of dragons. Mind you, she may have taken a different view had it been either of the bronzes looking down at her.
"Say, you got much family here, Viril? Doesn't seem like anyone's missing you..." he asked, glancing around the still oddly deserted courtyard before looking back to Viril, eyebrow raised in query.
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 1, 2010 19:34:25 GMT
'Oh, he's waiting in solitary confinement in the Hold there. That Lord Holder of yours hasn't let him out yet.'
Viril tore her eyes away from those of the blue, and grinned up at its rider, who was sitting very smug atop his perch. Oh, I'd love to wipe that smirk off his face.
"Funny, I haven't seen any vagabonds around," she joked back, adding, "And I've been here a while. Were your scallywag much older than twelve, you'd be looking in the wrong place." She tossed a stray lock of hair back over her shoulder, but it flipped down again and proceeded to attempt to strangle her. I'll have to go back inside sooner or later, to get a comb if not to get away from him!
His next question put a bit of a dent in her so-far-good mood. Scowling, she replied, "None of my family came West. I'm glad of it, too." Actually, she wasn't so sure she didn't want her brothers with her at the Hold, but that was beside the point. This impudent rider had no business poking about in her personal affairs, especially if he was on such important business as Search!
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Post by Spiffy on Sept 3, 2010 16:14:06 GMT
"None of my family came West. I'm glad of it, too." she replied with a scowl. Oh, so he'd offended her then, so this girl did have a sore spot!
What she hadn't realised was that the question was quite relevant to his Search, and had been calculated to not sound as if it was. Sometimes it proved to be quite a useful tactic, but on a couple of occasions, as it had here, it had elicited less than favorable responses from the potential candidates. But quite often it was the parents wishes that meant a candidate stayed home, away from the Weyr and their potential lifemate. Such was the way of the world.
But she'd given him the answer he'd been looking for.
"So no-one minded you running off to the edge of the world, then? No hang on," argh, scratch that, he should have been able to phrase it better than that. "What I meant was that you've got no-one stopping you from disappearing again?"
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 4, 2010 0:07:52 GMT
((OH HO HO I spy with my little eye something beginning with "potential future relationship".))
"What I meant was that you've got no-one stopping you from disappearing again?"
"If I had anywhere to go." Viril's frown deepened. What was it with this man? He showed up, supposedly on Search, but he didn't seem interested in talking to the Lord (who was probably still asleep anyway, but still), and instead seemed interested in talking to a supposedly unknown girl who hadn't even been there but two turns. It all seemed so - wait a second...
"I do have somewhere to go, don't I, Mister Hotshot." She uncrossed her arms and jabbed her finger at the rider, leaning forward a bit for emphasis. The wind picked up a bit, throwing her hair in all sorts of crazy directions. "You show up -- blazing early in the morning, too." Her voice rose. "Your dragon starts sniffing me like I smell like a dead herdbeast -- which I don't, by the way -- and now you're sitting up there grinning like a stuffed wherry! I know what you're about, N'solm, and I-" She suddenly stopped with a sharp intake of air, and her eyes went wide.
"And I don't want to stop you."
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Post by Spiffy on Sept 4, 2010 14:04:24 GMT
((What? lol, I was thinking nothing of the sort! He's in his thirties anyway xP
I think I'll keep him though, he's growing on me xD))
N'solm looked down on her from his perch as she responded. He couldn't help but grin when she called him hotshot, jabbing her finger at him as her hair blew in her face. She was right, in a way. He was cocky but nowhere near as much as he had been as a candidate, so much so that several people had wagered him to Impress a bronze. He couldn't have asked for any better than his blue, though.
"You show up -- blazing early in the morning, too. Your dragon starts sniffing me like I smell like a dead herdbeast -- which I don't, by the way -- and now you're sitting up there grinning like a stuffed wherry!" He could have sighed in exasperation. The girl still wasn't getting it, was she? "I know what you're about, N'solm, and I-" She paused, realisation dawning as clear as day on her face.
"And I don't want to stop you."
Then he did laugh, but soon managed to stifle it down to a chuckle and a wide grin. Even Jierth, catching onto his riders thoughts, rumbled quietly. So there was someone at home up there in her head then. Still, he couldn't resist ribbing her just a little more.
"Don't want to stop me doing what? that could mean an aweful lot of things, young lady," he said, suggestively raising an eyebrow. He wasn't serious, of course, and she probably knew that. Probably.
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 4, 2010 20:51:53 GMT
((Hehe. Whoops. )) "Don't want to stop me doing what? That could mean an awful lot of things, young lady."Her face reddened. Oh, she'd love to snap his neck right about now. "Don't fool with me. You're on Search, and you're here to spirit me away, off to the Weyr where I'll stand, hoping that one of those eggs will split and the dragon inside will come out all ready to love me and be my best-friend-forever. That's how it works, isn't it? You take me away, and I'll wait a little while, and the eggs will hatch and one of them was born to do nothing but love me. Yes, that'd be nice, wouldn't it?" She laughed sardonically. "Someone intelligent enough to hold up a conversation, but not someone who agrees with your every word; someone who loves you, who cares, who would do anything to make your tears go away. A dragon's the perfect friend, wouldn't you say?" Her eyes began to fill with angry tears as she pulled her wayward hair away from her face. "Not everyone gets a perfect friend, you know. Not everyone is lucky enough to find one." She brushed away the moisture in her eyes. "I never had one." "Search? It's too good to be true. But if I'm to be whisked away to the Weyr, I really can't stop you."
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Post by Spiffy on Sept 6, 2010 22:08:26 GMT
N'solm nodded half-heartedly during her rant, grimacing every now and again at the super-sweet image she painted of Impression.
"Actually," he corrected when she was done, "it's more of a matter of being leapt on by whichever dragonet claims you first. Some people get pretty messed up by their dragonets," he continued, thinking of V'lor's blind eye. But then he looked back down to her, noticing the sudden change in her expression.
"Not everyone gets a perfect friend, you know. Not everyone is lucky enough to find one. I never had one," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. Oh shells, now she was crying.
"Hey, hey..." he said, hastily unclipping himself from the riding straps and slipping down Jierth's shoulder, but she was already speaking again.
"Search? It's too good to be true. But if I'm to be whisked away to the Weyr, I really can't stop you."
That gave him reason to pause, only a few steps from her. With a sigh, he took the last few to stand in front of her, but not too close. The last thing she needed now was for him to crowd her.
Now what was he going to say? He'd not had one burst into tears like this on him before. Well, not this kind of tears anyway, he'd had plenty of happy tears.
"Well, actually, you can stop me just fine. Yes, Jierth has told me that I should search you, but seeing as this Search isn't exactly official yet all you have to say is no and I have no obligation to take you," he finished, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, if she'd let him.
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klinneah
Weyrling
Derp derp ^^
Posts: 26
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Post by klinneah on Sept 8, 2010 1:41:14 GMT
"Well, actually, you can stop me just fine. Yes, Jierth has told me that I should search you, but seeing as this Search isn't exactly official yet all you have to say is no and I have no obligation to take you."
Viril closed her eyes and let her body shudder as sobs began to choke in her throat. She kept them quiet as best she could, but there was nothing she could do to stop the shuddering, or the tears.
"But I do want to go..." she mumbled, putting her face in her hands as she said it. Yet, at the same time, she wanted to stay at Horizon, wanted to have that some semblance of normality she'd lost in the neck of her brother-in-law's wineskin. It would be normal there, she tried to convince herself, but the tears wouldn't stop.
She continued to cry until there were no more tears, only salty, puckered tracks running down her cheeks. She was only vaguely aware of N'solm's reassurances, but was comforted by them.
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