Settled down (open)

[shadowreine]

Thaddeus' life had a new sun around which to revolve. The somewhat simple-minded blue to whom he was bonded was also the dominating force over his time and his emotions.

As much as he loved the pale colored dragon, he was rather glad that Kimath was currently fast asleep, giving him time to catch up on the world. In fact, the former ranch boy was sitting in the common room rather half heartedly watching the news.

Half heartedly, because there seemed to be nothing of interest going on. But he was also wondering. Was it really fair to keep these dragons secret and locked away in the mountains, given the good they could do?

No. He knew why. The US military wanted to make sure no other country or...worse...terrorist organization found out about this weyr, sneaked in and stole half a clutch of eggs. It would be what he would do if he was such.

Right now, though. "Wow. There is totally no news today," he murmured.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari's entire exsistance depended on the little green, Ladeth. The proud and sophisticated green that Mentari loved.

At that moment said green was soundly sleeping in her half of the weyr after a good bath and oiling. So Mentari was catching up with the rest of the world. The common room was the best place to start.

Mentari walked into the common room, not expecting to find anyone there. So imagine her surprise in finding not only someone there, but the same person she had spoken to before the hatching where they both Impressed. Thadeaus.

[shadowreine]

"Hey there, Mentari" Tad greeted, quietly.

He was learning the names of those going through training with him, learning how to handle the great beasts that were their partners. Well, they would be great, anyway...even the small greens were pretty big. Blues were a little larger, and Kimath seemed to be about average in size. If not color. Mentari, though, he had met before.

She struck him as faintly interesting, if a little on the young side. Of course, he had been warned about what he would have to deal with when Kimath matured.

Cobweb appeared from between, the black-specked white dropping to Tad's shoulder, where he looked ridiculously small.

"How's...Ladeth, right?" Dragon names, those he struggled with more.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari smiled. "Yeah, Ladeth. She's growing practically overnight, and such a dear. She's napping currently." she said. She looked at Cobweb, then wondered where Christopher happened to be. That blue seemed to never sit still.

Mentari plucked a picture of the lake from her blue flit. So he was playing at the lake. Sounded like her blue. Her smiled broadened.

"How's Woruth?" Mentari asked. She was getting good at putting the dragon's names with their bonded. Faizah had been helping her.

[shadowreine]

OOC: If the mistake was OOC, let me know, and I'll correct it, but wrong character ).

Tad laughed. "Kimath is fine. Woruth is...the one with the black girl." Not that he could keep track either. "He's growing pretty well...faster than a horse."

Unfortunately, Kimath seemed to break the general dragon rule of smarter...in all honesty, he thought he had known horses smarter than the pale colored blue.

Then again, he had known horses smarter than their riders, so he supposed it was not that difficult. He reached up to rub Cobweb. "And this little guy's growing as well, but from what I hear he'll never get bigger than 'pretty tiny'."

[FaizahPandora]

((-blushes- So sorry. I can't believe I did that. But no, it was totally an in character mistake.))

Mentari blushed. "Sorry!" She hurriedly said.

Mentari couldn't believe she had mixed them up. It wasn't like she had seen the other blue today. She hadn't really seen any other dragon except Ladeth today. Or any day, really. Maybe one of Faizah's flash cards was wrong? It was possible. As much as the weyr residents didn't know it, Faizah did often make mistakes.

Mentari was sure that was it. One of Faizah's flash cards was wrong.

In an attempt to change the subject to something else, she heard his comment about his white flitter. She smiled slightly. She knew fire lizards, alright!

"I don't know. Have you seen Surth? And Sasask? They are very large for whites. Maybe Cobweb will be bigger than other whites." Mentari said.

[shadowreine]

(( Well, they're both blue and both belong to the same player ))

"I don't think so. I've been sort of trying to compare his growth with some of the greens around, and he definitely seems like he's going to be small. But nothing wrong with small...except that it might allow him to get into more trouble." Tad grinned.

"Whites are actually asexual, though, right?" The 'he' for Cobweb might well be quite arbitrary, if he wasn't interested in mating, but calling the little firelizard 'it' struck him as highly rude.

He wasn't about to be rude to his own firelizard.

[FaizahPandora]

Asexual? "I guess they are. Most seem to refer to their white as male, though." Mentari thought about the other whites she had seen. Surth hadn't really begun to grow past the limits of white until he was almost two. She didn't know about the white wher, Sashask, but it couldn't be that different.

She could actually remember the first time Faizah introduced their mother to Surth. Mentari could now look back on it and laugh, but at that time she had run and hid in her room. She had only come out later to see the strange white creature her eldest sister had brought home.

"He could still grow. Surth didn't spurt until he was nearly two. Maybe by the time Cobweb is a year he will get bigger...?" Mentari said.

Just then she heard an elated chirp behind her. She turned to look and sure enough, there was Christopher. The dark blue flit landed on her shoulder, still warm and damp from his play time outside. She smiled at the blue before turning back to Tad, her fingers scratching that soft spot on the eye ridges that drove Christopher crazy.

"This is my blue flitter. He is from Reyna's first clutch."

[shadowreine]

Tad laughed. "I really don't care how big he grows. Although I suppose if he gets a bit bigger it'll be easier to keep track of him. As much as one can."

The firelizards were everywhere, and he couldn't tell them apart... "At least I can pick him out of the flock."

He was even distinctive compared with another white, with the black markings that so resembled a grey horse. Particularly the one he had named the firelizard after. Fortunately firelizards...like dragons...lived longer than horses. Cobweb would be with him the rest of his life.

As would Kimath...and he understood now why the Pernese had warned that a broken bond could result in the insanity and suicide of the rider... He could no longer imagine life without the blue dragon.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari nodded. "That's true. Christopher is a little much though. And I can't pick him out of a flitter flock!" She smiled brightly, joking along with her fellow Weyrling.

((Sorry for the fail. Don't know what's wrong with me tonight...))

[shadowreine]

Tad grinned a bit. "There aren't that many whites. Kimath tries to be one in certain lights, though."

Although the rather simple-minded blue was just that...blue. It didn't matter what shade he was. "Cobweb's seriously cute, though. Knowing my luck I'll end up with several of the critters."

Which was not a bad fate. They needed a lot of looking after when young, but were independent as they grew older, even the tiny white was likely to look after himself for the most part.

[FaizahPandora]

"True. I only want a few. Three at the most. Hopefully some a little calmer than Christopher, though." She nodded in understanding, still stroking the blue flit.

She thought back to Ladeth. She was such a dark colored green that in the dark she could be mistaken as black. But the little green was perfect for Mentari.

[shadowreine]

Tad considered for a moment. "Isn't yours the really dark green? Maybe she stole Kimath's color." His grin indicated he didn't really believe anything of the sort.

"Still. He's a pretty good dragon. If not particularly well endowed with brains." Tad could deal with that, though. He wondered if whatever instinct they chose by took things like that into account. It was so hard to tell. Kimath certainly didn't understand it and Tad wasn't sure he wanted to.

Dragons. But they were certainly worth having around.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari laughed. "Yeah. Ladeth is so dark she tries to be black sometimes. But I dont think she stole his color. I think he gave it to her." Mentari went along with the joke.

She thought about Ladeth and her almost aristocratic temperment. The girl smiled. She loved her green, even if she seemed a bit stiff at times.

[shadowreine]

Tad considered that. "Likely. Kimath isn't exactly the most forceful dragon out there. Ladeth is pretty, though."

The thought that, given dragons cared nothing for incest, Kimath would probably try to mate with Ladeth did occur to him. Not much to be done about it. He'd been fully briefed on the matter. Before not so very long, Kimath would hit puberty and start chasing females.

The dragons competed for the privilege of mating in tests of agility and endurance. At least they didn't *fight*.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari had already considered the thoughts floating through the other weyrling's head. She knew Ladeth would choose only the best male that would chase her. And whether that dragon was her brother, or any other relation to her, didn't at all matter. Mentari only hoped the rider of that male was also male.

Mentari ruminated over Tad's comment for a moment. Ladeth liked some of the more simple-minded ones. She claimed they were more easy to understand; there weren't any underlying current that even the defaulted blunt spoken dragons possessed.

"We should get Ladeth and Kimath together sometime. They would make some good friends I believe. Ladeth absolutely adores others." Mentari said.

[shadowreine]

"No reason why not. Kimath's...not the smartest dragon out there, mind." Tad wasn't entirely sure Kimath wasn't the dumbest dragon in the Weyr. Not that it mattered. Honestly, he was rather glad he hadn't Impressed a dragon smarter than he was.

Which had, in his mind, been a very real risk. Tad was...not stupid, but he was hardly a quicksilver academic mind with a high IQ. He was a simple and practical man, a farmer. A simple dragon made sense.

They did seem, he thought, to make decisions that made some sense.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari shrugged. "Ladeth wouldn't care. She likes the simplier ones. Less confusing conversation and debates in my opinion." Mentari smiled. It was always better to understand the conversation you participate in.

[shadowreine]

Tad laughed. "Fair enough. I have to admit I've been too focused on Kimath to pay much attention to the other dragons."

He had to explain things to the pallid blue in words of one syllable. It took longer. "And then I have Cobweb to keep out of trouble too." He gave the white firelizard an arch grin.

Not that he was complaining. Certainly, he'd never had a dog as loyal as the tiny white.

[FaizahPandora]

"Ladeth insists on knowing each of her clutchmates. Even some of the older dragons and the whers are known by her." Mentari mentioned.

[shadowreine]

"So, she's a pretty friendly dragon?" Tad considered that. Greens were supposed to be more outgoing. Of course, it was unlikely...it was no surprise he had not Impressed one. When greens Impressed to men, they chose men who were effeminate and often homosexual.

Tad was emphatically neither, although he had to admit that from what he'd seen, those male greenriders were the best advertisement for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell ever. If their existence could be revealed, of course. Which it...really could not. Not yet.

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari nodded. "But she doesn't like the snobby dragons. She truthfully can't stand Eturynth." Mentari laughed, recalling the conversation that had followed the question of Ladeth's distaste for her fellow green.

"What's Kimath doing now? It's not often a pair are apart." Mentari wondered.

[shadowreine]

"Sleeping," Tad admitted. "And Eturynth caused so much trouble at the hatching. I thought I was about to witness a dragon catfight between her and that hatchling...was it a chimera?"

He thought he'd seen a bluish sheen on the green that had Impressed to the pretty girl. Definitely a female dragon, though. "Seriously. We may have to keep those two apart."

[FaizahPandora]

Mentari nodded. "Yeah. Green dominate, blue recessive chimera. And I think those two are going to be immense rivals rather they are seperated or not." Mentari shuddered at the thought. "Ladeth believes a dragon should act with more integrity. She wanted to rip Eturnyth apart for acting like a 'petty dog', as she said."

"Ladeth is sleeping too. She stuffed herself full today." Mentari offered the information willingly.

[shadowreine]

Tad laughed. "Kimath just thinks they're silly."

He thought of his blue...then again. Maybe greens were just sillier, but he didn't want to voice that thought in front of a greenrider and it sounded like Ladeth was a reasonably *sane* green.

"They do eat, don't they."