Busy weyrling (open)

[shadowreine]

Tatsuya made it into the common room and collapsed into a chair. Between his dragon's demands and training, he had had a long day.

It wasn't even over yet, but he could take a break. As long as he didn't close his eyes. If he did that, he knew he would fall asleep and likely not wake until next time Choccheth needed him.

He didn't want to fall asleep. He just wanted to bathe in the blessedness of having a few minutes to do nothing. He eyed the television, then shook his head. No way would he get through an entire show even if he could find anything decent on.

The world was ending and all he could think of was that. And he couldn't escape, either. Choccheth couldn't go Between to Pern yet.

The rain that started on the roof reminded him.

But he was alive...and he had a few minutes of blessed laziness. Rather than worry about what he couldn't prevent, he chose to appreciate it, much like a dragon sunning.

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan had escaped to the common room, trying to escape the hysterics of the kitchen workers. They didn't have dragons, so if Isle escaped to Pern, they had to depend on the kindness of a rider to take them too. For some reason, a few of them had decided to follow him around.

They didn't know that Tith couldn't go between on his own yet. And they apparently refused to see that Nathan was as trapped here as they were. Yes, he was a weyrling. Yes, he would likely be given the option of going to Pern. But he was a whiterider. He was the lowest of the low in Rider standards.

Seeing the bronze weyrling already there made Nathan's temper slightly worse. Even if they could go to Pern, Nathan had few options. Tith was white, and he had heard the biasedness against the whites there. This boy, though, was a bronze weyrling with a healthy dragonet. The Weyrs would fight for him...

Nathan didn't understand his sudden animosity towards Tatsuya. They had never argued. They didn't have a reason to. In fact, they had gotten along rather well during their candidacy. As much as two guys who keep to themselves can get along...

[shadowreine]

Tatsuya caught the glare. At first, he assumed it wasn't personal. Of course, he had even more people hunting him than Nathan did...after all, Choccheth could take more people.

IF the bronze was fully grown and trained to Between. He wasn't...and while he was sure that if Aurora did decide to evacuate she wouldn't leave the weyrlings...

Or would she? The greenrider was a bitch. And she wouldn't evacuate, anyway. "Shard it," he said out loud. "The woman wouldn't leave if the planet was falling apart."

On Earth, Aurora was a Weyrwoman.

On Pern, she was a greenrider. There was no way she would be accepted by any Weyr as anything but a wingrider. And her pride would never allow it. Shard the woman anyway. Who had put her in charge? Tatsuya had never much liked her, now he found he was angry. And not even caring if she heard him.

She wouldn't, anyway. She was still weak from her difficult pregnancy and delivery and kept mostly to her weyr. The bronze weyrling shook his head. "Don't mind me. I'm frustrated."

He did want to go to Pern, at this point...but there was no way he could without the help of an adult rider and the idea of leaving everyone else behind stuck in his craw. Bronzes were supposed to be leaders and examples...not flee at the first sign of trouble.

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan was surprised when he heard Tatsuya's gruffness. And frustration. Then he half smirked. The man seemed more frustrated than he was. Which, he had to admit, he found just a little bit entertaining.

"I'm assuming you're talking to yourself about Aurora?" He asked. Nathan, while he didn't know the bronze weyrling's thoughts, could wholeheartedly agree with them.

Aurora had power on Earth, as a Weyrwoman. And she wouldn't be able to take the demotion from Weyrwoman to Wingrider. Not to mention, Nathan couldn't imagine any Weyr wanting her. Faith's ability was useless only on elder golds. Which, as he could imagine, couldn't be that many. Last he checked Pern was going through a slight power change.

A lot of the older Weyrleaders were giving up their leadership to those younger.

[shadowreine]

Tatsuya shook his head. "I'm worried she'd rather keep us here until the planet blows up than go to Pern and take a lesser position than the one she holds."

A pause. "I can't see her going unless the Pernese are willing to give her space for her own Weyr and I don't think they have it."

And he couldn't see most of the riders staying with her. She was Weyrwoman only because she would be satisfied with nothing else and, as far as he knew, nobody liked her. That could just mean he hadn't heard anyone like her, but it was still what the young bronzerider knew.

Any Weyr on Pern would take him and Choccheth. A healthy young bronze, no sign of defects, and a rider who was intelligent and as well-trained as a Weyr with no Thread could make him, whilst being young enough to learn to fight Fall. No, he would have no problems, surely, finding a place there.

But he could not go on his own. Choccheth wasn't old enough, even if not inhibited by Faith or one of the golds.

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan nodded in understanding. "I completely agree." He muttered.

Nathan shook his head. "But I have to wait for her orders. Even though Tith is healthy and can fight Thread, no Weyr is going to take a white." He muttered.

The fact that they wouldn't take a white, even though it was healthy, made Nathan's blood boil. Tith was small, granted, but not that much smaller than a green. Not to mention, it seemed that whites had more stamina than greens. Even from the drills it was obvious that whites had more stamina than the greens.

But Pern didn't seem to care. They liked nothing that was against tradition. And Benden Weyr, the one Weyr that might take a white, would turn him away simply for being a Pandora. The Weyrwoman, Lessa despised Faizah.

[shadowreine]

"Choccheth isn't old enough to Between yet." Maybe he could appeal to Rocky, but it would have to be done very quietly, so Faith never found out.

They said like dragon, like rider, although there were definite differences between him and his bronze. "But you should go. Screw whether they'll take you. You have a better chance on your own on Pern, the way things are going."

He wondered if the green could stop them *all*. If the entire Weyr mutinied...although he doubted they would. But it would not take that many of them. And if they were an entire Weyr, with clutching females, they could...

"I wonder," the boy mused. "Does anyone have a *map*?" Of Pern, he meant. But he was still trapped. Trapped by his dragon's age.

By Pernese tradition, all he would have to do to take over would be to get the Weyrwoman's dragon to favor his, but he would be too young for that, too. If things were not as they were, he would not even consider doing it. Aurora was annoying, but she hadn't really done anything to hurt anyone directly.

Yet.

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan nodded. "But Tith isn't any older than your bronze. So either way, we are screwed." He said bitterly.

He hated that Aurora was keeping them here. It wasn't right. She should be in contact with Pern, asking them to take the riders. And some of the workers here. Pern had more than enough space to take a few refugees. But Aurora simply refused, saying that everything was being taken care of.

Taken care of by who? Nathan wanted to ask. But he didn't. He already knew who. Tamahome and Faizah, probably with a good dose of help from Kain and Samira. All of this while Aurora sat back and relaxed. Well, perhaps relaxed wasn't the right word. Apparently their Weyrwoman was pregnant again, this time by the Weyrleader of Rocky. And she was playing it up, milking it for everything she could.

Nathan sighed, then nodded to Tatsuya. "There should be a few of them in the library. Why?" He asked, suddenly wondering what this weyrling's plans were.

[shadowreine]

"If none of the existing Weyrs on Pern will take us...and there will likely be riders from Rocky in the same boat...then perhaps we'll just have to build our own." Tatsuya smiled at the whiterider.

"Pern isn't, from what I hear, *that* heavily populated. We'll have to find somebody who's from there to talk to." Obviously, somebody who wasn't Aurora. Tamahome wasn't from Pern...he would have shortened his name otherwise.

Who was here from Pern, or would he have to try and send Yin and Yang to Rocky? He wouldn't trust Mimi with an errand like that. The green would forget what she was supposed to be doing halfway through, as per usual. She did things like that all the time, the little ditz. He loved her, of course, and she was adorably cute.

But still a ditz.

[FaizahPandora]

Tamahome wasn't from Pern, no, but he had spent a great deal of time there. At least, that's what Nathan had heard. Tamahome had been sent back to Earth because of Jackaloth's severe Thread scoring.

Nathan nodded to Tatsuya. "Samira and Z'ran are from Pern. As is F'tem." Nathan supplied.

The idea of making their own Weyr on Pern was fine by him. At least then they would all be relatively safe, and have a place where they could stay. Even if they had a defective dragon. Or a white, in the case of Nathan and Tith. Nathan regarded Tatsuya slightly. Was this why he had impressed the bronze? Because he was clever?

[shadowreine]

Tatsuya nodded. "Samira would be a good one to talk to." Given the color of her dragon and, although he didn't really know her, he'd heard good things about her.

He mentally noted the other names. "It's honestly the best way. That way we aren't forcing ourselves on anyone, aren't pushing in a place we aren't wanted. Really, we have enough dragons...and if we end up merging with those from Rocky. We can make a refuge for the misfits."

He flickered a grin at the white rider. "Yes, including any whites that want to join us. I don't have a problem with whites. A little small, but there's nothing wrong with that. I actually feel sorry for Faizah with her huge white. They have to show all the dirt."

They really did...

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan smirked, a rare gesture. "True. I do not envy my cousin for that white behemoth."

((Sorry. Muse is failing))

[shadowreine]

Tatsuya grinned. "At least bronzes don't look too bad, although mine does LIKE to be clean all the time. And he's getting big, too."

They were supposed to be big, but for all that he'd seen them around, he hadn't successfully imagined what caring for one of the bigger dragons would have been like. On the other hand, at least nobody thought he was gay any more. Bronzes didn't generally choose gay men. He grinned inwardly at that.

The responsibility, though...and if they went to Pern. Another Weyr would take him, but they'd expect a lot of him.

Then again, he was quite willing to start his own if he had to. With or without Aurora. They'd need a gold, though. Green clutches could theoretically sustain a Weyr, but...only golds could produce other golds or bronzes, and you really needed the full size range. And the greens as fighters, if there was Thread.

[FaizahPandora]

Nathan nodded in understanding.

((Sorry. My head is killing me.))

[shadowreine]

(( Shall we just let this one die? ))

[FaizahPandora]

((Unless you have anything for it?))

[shadowreine]

(( I don't. I think we've established the mood ))

[FaizahPandora]

((Alright))