Enter the underage lover.

[echo]

It was a strange feeling. The icy cold trying to submerge him completely. The feeling of nothing, not even himself. The inky blackness that would not even allow him to see the rider who was barely an inch before his eyes. The emptiness which would not let him breath. But Derek refused to be scared. He didn't get scared.

And it was over. He could feel his lungs expand gratefully with a fresh gulp of air. He let out an involuntary gasp. The rider before him turned back. His face was old and his eyes were so narrow it looked like they were closed. Still, he had this incredible lovable-grandpa feel to him. "Y'all right, son?" Derek couldn't help a slight glare, wrinkling his nose in a down-right adorable way. He quickly replaced it with a kind smile.

"I'm fine," he said pleasantly. The old blue rider nodded and looked foreword again. He was muttering something under his breath but Derek could not hear it over the wind rushing past his ears. No wonder this man was left with searching for candidates; he was crazy! Derek gave a huff as he turned his head to the side. He looked at the ground below. They were a little bit away from the Weyr but rapidly approaching. The dragon had tilted down slightly and as the reached the weyr he spiraled in wide circles to the ground. By the time he reached it there was so little momentum he didn't even need a second step. His hind legs fell gently to the ground and then his tail whacked the ground. Derek felt as if it shook. Derek wasn't very dragon savvy but this Blue was large for its color.

The old man slid off and then held out a hand to help Derek. The teenager declined. He would figure it out. He stepped on the slight bend of the dragons leg and slid down. The rough hide scraped his calves a bit as his pants came out from his leather boots. He made a gentle pat as he hit the ground. The old man bowed his head. "Oi, I am not as young as I used to be," he said airily."

"You can say that again," Derek muttered under his breath. But he would never be so rude to his face. "Sir, you can go back to your home and sleep, if you like. I'll find my way. I'll be just behind you till I get into the... you know." Derek had only a vague idea of what he was talking about. He knew close to nil about Weyrs. The old man wandered away, his dragon took off and left for his ledge. Derek tousled his hair as if it wasn't messy enough and looked around. Once there was sufficient space between him and the man, he began to follow slowly.

[Akki]

Akki's greatest weakness was new people. She couldn't help it, she loved meeting them and getting to decide whether or not she would like to be friends with them. Of course, she would like to be friends with anyone, but she pretended that she was picky even though it was quite obvious that she most certainly was not. So when she saw a big old blue dragon, his rider and a boy arrive in the Weyrbowl, she just couldn't help jar her own blue awake. "Ebbeth." She said, turning to face her blue who lazily opened a whirling eye to stare at her. "That's a new person down there." She said in a whisper, as if she thought if she talked to loudly, the stranger would disappear suddenly. That's nice The big dragon rumbled. Unlike his rider, he was used to people coming and leaving the weyr everyday and didn't feel the need to go quiz someone endlessly about who they were.

Akki frowned slightly, "You're a spoil sport. I'm going to go meet this person whether you're coming or not.". Ebbeth responded with a I feel bad for this person. You're going to annoy them. I can sympathize with them about that. I'll come down later, perhaps. Akki rolled her eyes and twirled and danced her way out of their weyr and headed for the stairs that led to the weyrbowl. Soon as her feet landed on the first step, a green flitt popped from Between and wrapped himself around her shoulders. "See Sargon, you have the right idea. You want to meet this new person. Ebbeth is so lazy." Akki confined to the flitt who crooned in response. She filed down the stairs, blond hair flying behind her as she went as quickly as she could without full out running.

Soon as her foot hit the ground in the Weyrbowl, a giant shadow passed over top of her. Lifting her eyes to the sky, she scowled as she saw Ebbeth spiral down from their weyr and landing right beside her. "That's very chivalrous of you. Wait until I go down all those stairs before coming down with me. Couldn't even give me a ride." She said, sniffing as she pretended to be hurt. The dragon looked at her, smiling draconically, You needed the exercise, you gelatinous blob. She shook her head, not bothering to even respond back to that because she knew she would get some witty and sarcastic reply.

"Come on then." Akki said with a defeated sigh as she walked toward the newcomer, who she could now tell by the short hair was a boy. Now, if the guy was walking any faster than he was she probably wouldn't have been able to catch up to him and he would disappear into the abyss of Dark Moon and she would never see him again. Thankfully, he seemed to be walking deliberately slowly. So with Ebbeth a few steps behind her and a green flitt wrapped around her neck like a scarf, she walked up behind the boy, and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Ooc|| Ahaha:c Bad post I know.

[echo]

Derek couldn't help but jump and let out a barely audile gasp. He spun around, making sure to step back so he didn't bump into the person who had so kindly snuck up in him. He straightened his head and looked foreword. It was a woman. He scrutinized her inconspicuously. Her hair was long, very long, and it was a pretty blonde colour though he couldn't help but notice the few shimmers of silver. She certainly didn't seem old; her face was free of wrinkles. Perhaps she had dyed it or maybe it was just natural. He had noticed that people with blonde hair tend to have many differen't colours mized in. She was slim but not incredibly so and it was obvious that she was strong from the training she was given. Finally, he locked eyes with her, his green with her multi-colored. Her skin was pale and she hadn't said anything when she tappen him on the shoulder. He would have guessed her shy but something told him he was wrong. He wouldn't judge right away.

The whole process took barely a moment.

"You gave me a bit of a fright," he said congenially. He had a broad smile on his face, revealing a dimble on his left side. It was an odd thing because his sister had one on the right side of her face. "My name is Derek I'm-" It was then that he noticed the green creature resting atop her shoulder. He couldn't help but get side-tracked. "I've heard of those," he said distractedly and then added, "It's a... f- fire lizard! Right?" Nobody in his extremely large hold had a fire lizard and this was very odd. However, his cousin, who lived elsewhere, did and he was giving a couple eggs to Derek's Hold.

[Akki]

When the boy turned away, she couldn't help but admire his features. He was clearly one of those people that did that to you, the kind that made you stop and look. His bright green eyes stood out against his tan skin and his short hair couldn't help but bring attention to those eyes. She had the faint feeling that she too was being inspected, but she was used to it, everyone stared at her because of her loud and boisterous ways. Even Ebbeth noted the boys good looks, and silently with a laugh told Akki that the girls of the weyr should prepare themselves.

As their eyes locked, Akki tapped the side of her chin with her finger, deep in thought as she pushed her lips to one side of her face. She placed a hand on her hip, and waggled her finger at the boy. "Are you aware of the fact you're good looking? I'm not saying that in a 'Ohboy, come back to my Weyr' context but more of a 'Wow, gosh. Has anyone told you that before' kind of way.". She scratched the back of her head and laughed, "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

She stuck out her hand, "I'm Akki of Blue Ebbeth. Nice to meet you Derek.". She looked down at Sargon who cherped happily at the attention. "Yup. This is Sargon. Don't be friendly to him though, he'll attach himself to your side." She said as she sadly shook her head down at the green critter. Sargon unwrapped his tail from around her neck, and flew onto Derek's shoulders, perching himself. Akki wrinkled her nose, "See? Told ya."

[echo]

Derek stood straight after his little outburst about the what's-it-called on the -what he assumed was a- rider. He listened politely to her and could not help but notice the bluntness of what she said. Still, it wasn't in a bad way. He gave a little chuckle and a wide, warm smile. "Thank you. You are as well. Your're eyes are very pretty, very original. Not that you had a choice in what they looked life but whoever's-out-there must have been feeling creative. You're hair is also pretty but, and I hope I don't offend you, I think it would look even better a little shorter. But not too much. Now that I've seen you this way it's a part of you." He closed his mouth and raised it together and more to one side as his eyes looked up at a cloud in the sky.

Derek didn't gaze for long, though. That would be rather rude. He looked back to who he now heard was Akki. "It's funny. I mean, I've had almost no experience with anything dragon but... the way dragonriders introduce themselves. They say they are of their dragon. They don't say master, though I wouldn't say they are masters of their dragon, and they don't say partner of or anything. Do you know why that is?"

Before Akki even answered, though, the whatchamacallit flew over to him, resting on his shoulder. This was very exciting. He scratched it carefully on the head with his finger. It didn't even occur to him that a male green might be odd.

[Akki]

Akki grinned at Derek's compliments about her own features. "If Sargon wasn't around you right now, I'd sling my own arm around your neck." She said with a laugh. "Thanks for the compliments though." She said with a large grin. She never really liked her eyes, she wanted a nice, normal, solid color. She gathered her hair into her hands and stared at it frowning. "Yeah. It does need a cut. It kinda looks like it's trying to eat me or something. But I can't bear to cut it short, I'm funny that way." She said with a giggle.

"Oh. Hm." She said, thinking about it. That was a good question, why did the introduce themselves like that. She never really thought about it before, but now she was awfully curious about it. "We don't say masters becaue we don't own the dragons. They could easily whack us off if they wanted too, and we definitely do not own them and we are not greater then them." She said, at least that was her opinion of that part. She shrugged with a grin, "I guess I just assume everyone knows that we're partners. And my guess is that it's just tradition that we say 'Of Blue Ebbeth'.". She sighed with a smile, "You're asking the wrong person though. Everyone knows you don't want to ask me for the right answer."

"If he begins to annoy you, just saw him a few times. He's the worst and most annoying fire lizard you'll ever meet, believe me." She said as she stuck her tongue out at the green flitt who crooned as he was being scratched. "Where are you from then?" She asked, wondering how long it would be before the boy got sick of talking to her like everyone else did.

[echo]

:: Frick, I didn't pick what Hold he's from. Well, I'll make it up but pretend it's popular and big. ;;

Derek was rather good at dishing out compliments but they were almost always true or somewhat base on truth. He really did think Akki was pretty but she was a bit old for him. He wasn't really thinking about that, though. Sure, for the first few seconds of their meet he decided but he knew she old for him so he was satisfied with just being friends.

"Well.. I suppose that... makes sense," he lied. He would have to ask the person in charge. Surely she would know. He decided his education would be entrusted with someone else right then. Akki had said it herself that she not to be trusted for that sort of thing. She did, however, seem like a good friend. Sure had to looku p a little to meet eye to eye but at his height he was doing it all too often already.

Derek wouldn't dream of hurting the little mini-dragon but he gave a very slight, polite chuckle. "Hold? I'm from Druman ((Truman, xDD)) Hold."

[Kestrez]

Another blue dragon appeared high above the Weyr Bowl, beginning a slow descent. The two passengers he carried seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, the younger of the two looking startled while the blue’s rider appeared amused.
“…and you did that on purpose!” Radim said loudly in the riders ear. Some Searchrider he was, because Radim was sure that most would have warned someone in case it had been their first time Between. It was, at least, his second time, and he had attempted to silence the yell of surprise that had risen in his throat when he had suddenly lost all feeling and was plunged into darkness. Then again, he could not have made a sound anyways. Still, he knew that the bluerider had given the order right when he had been abut to speak, and that Radim had been caught off guard when they made the jump.
The young rider chuckled, and even the dragon snorted in some sort of amusement. Radim had barely known the pair for two days, but they had been friendly to him. The rider had repeatedly made comments against Radim’s quick tongue, but he was used to that. This topic had been the cause of their previous conversation. The rider had mentioned, however, that his dragon did not seem to mind it, and had stayed true to his opinion on taking Radim back with them to Dark Moon Weyr.

This last memory caused Radim to forget the conversation, and he instead leaned over to the side slightly to look at the area below them; his new home. Fragile and yet powerful wings spread wide, the blue spiraled down closer to the ground, letting out a bugle to the Watchdragon when they were low enough.
“Look, I had him come in high enough so you could have a good look.” The bluerider commented, his voice smug. He seemed to have caught Radim’s curiosity.

“Thanks.” The new Candidate replied.
The dragon was quite low now, and Radim could see several people below them. That was good; he could find someone to direct him to wherever he needed to go as soon as possible. He had known his way around Fort well enough, and he assumed that however small it was, Dark Moon would have the basic areas of a Weyr. Radim shook his head as the blue turned to land near the edge of the Bowl, dislodging any dirt that had managed to cling to his hair during their descent. With a quickness and accuracy that only came from practice, the blue landed smoothly, wings remaining half open for a moment as his rider unclipped Radim’s bag.

“He’s really hungry, mind if we leave you here? You should be able to find your way around easily enough, since you’re used to being in a Weyr.” The bluerider pointed out as he handed the bag over. Radim only nodded, because he was concentrating on not falling as he dismounted from the dragon. With the rider’s help, he managed to not end up on his backside. Hoisting the bag over his shoulder, he gave a final wave as the dragon took off once more.
How often was it that a dragon landed, dropped someone off, and then took off again a minute later? Radim guessed that it was common enough in any Weyr, and so his arrival was most likely not immediately taken as the arrival of a stranger. Looking around, his gray eyes squinted to peer at the few people nearby. A rider, assuming the blue behind her was her dragon, looked to be talking with a boy a little younger than himself. Maybe another Candidate, or an Apprentice receiving a request from the pair. After looking around the Bowl once more, Radim set off to get closer.

“Excuse me. Could you tell me where I should report about being a new Candidate?” He asked when he was a few feet away.

[echo]

Derek was looking steadily into Akki's eyes when he heard a flush of what he assumed correctly were wings. He turned to the dragon which had just landed. It was another blue. The first three dragons of this Hodl that he had seen were all blue! Were they the most common? He had seen another come to his hold once. It was a green and he distinctly remembered it being a girl. He had heard that different colours were different genders but he wasn't sure whether it was true.

A boy, older than Derek, got off the back of the amazing reptile rather ungracefully. Derek couldn't help but cock an eye brow up when he looked the boy over. His hair was a fiery red and looked as if it was dyed. Derek knew only one other person with such bright hair. The teenager quickly recomposed himself. It would be rude for him to stare. As could be expected, the boy walked over to him and Akki. To his annoyance, Derek had to look up a bit to make eye contact. Oh the woes of being short.

"Wait," Derek said as the boy finished, "We are supposed to check in? I'm sorry! Where is that?"

[Akki]

"It doesn't make and we both know it." Akki said with a laugh. It made sense in her head, but when she tried to move those thoughts into words, well, things got jumbled and confusing. She shook her head with a grin, "Like I said before. I normally give wrong answers. Ask anyone else, and they'll probably give you the right one." She snapped her fingers, "Druman. I've heard of that one. If it was smaller though, I would have been lost.".

Akki frowned as she noticed Derek was still staring at her eyes. "Is there something wrong with them?" She asked, going cross eyed in hopes of being able to see her eyes, which clearly was not going to happen. "Oh man, is there a bug in my eye? Because if there is, you have to get it out.". Akki looked upwards, using her hand to shade her eyes so she could see better. She grinned toward Ebbeth, "Awww. You big brute, look at all the blues that are coming and going. You're not very special now, are you?". Ebbeth sniffed with pretended offense and said for everyone to hear, If I was pretty like Hasima's yellow or Wolf's Gold, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

As another person approached Akki shivered with excitement, "Gosh. I love meeting people. I really do. You guys just don't know how much this has made my day.". Sticking her hand out at Radim she introduced herself, "I'm Akki of Blue Ebbeth.". She paused for a moment, remembering the previous conversation that had followed this introduction. "Or partners with Blue Ebbeth? I'm not sure which one it is now, but when I figure it out I'll re-introduce myself to both of you.". She waved off Derek's apologies. "You more or less already checked in. I'm like, the official unofficial candidate greeterperson. If you met me, then you can be sure I'll spread around your name within the day. So no worries."

[Kestrez]

"Well, I just sort of assumed that I couldn't go wandering around without telling someone who I was." Radim replied with a smirk and a shrug to the other boy. The statement had answered one previous question; he was in fact a Candidate as well. Either he had just arrived, or there were so many new people arriving every day that he had somehow managed to not be noticed or questioned. Radim had not heard about a clutch on the Sands that would draw so many newcomers, but he assumed that his first guess was true.
He glanced his fellow Candidate over briefly. He was shorter than himself, but his gaze was drawn to his eyes. They were a very vivid green, probably something that got him attention like Radim's hair did. With a smile he turned to the rider just as she reached her hand out.

"Thank you for answering my question, Akki." Radim replied, hand grasping hers as he met her eyes. He couldn't really pick out a color for them, which he thought was interesting. He had never seen a mixture of what he could see as at least three colors before. And he was also surprised at how long her hair was. He did not remember seeing hair as long as hers since he had been in the Caravan.
As to why Akki went on a little about how she had introduced herself, Radim had no idea. That was how he was used to being introduced to Riders, whether they added an actual rank or not.
"That actually lifts a sort of worry off my chest." He added in response to her last comment. "I had no idea who I was going to talk to. My name's Radim, by the way."

He had noticed the green firelizard on the other Candidate's shoulders, and peered at it for a moment. He had seen quite a few before, though no one in his family had had one. Still, he considered it lucky to Impress a flitter, no matter the color.
"You've already got a leg up on me, if she's yours." He commented, nodding at the flit. "You've already had a taste of caring for something that only eats and sleeps at first."

[echo]

Derek smiled and exhaled, his shoulders dropping. "I was taught to make eye contact when I speak. That way the person knows I'm listening. Though it could be perfectly simply to zone out anyway, I suppose. Just to make you feel better then?"

Derek held out his hand to the new boy. "My name is Derek," he said with a grin, trying not to look at the boy's hair and instead look at his face.

Derek looked at the little fire lizard resting on his shoulder. "Oh, no, he's not mine. He's hers," and he pointed to Akki. He paused a few moments. Then added, "Oh, and like I said, it's a he. Not a she. Sargon, right?" he asked, looking at the blue rider.

[Akki]

She waved her hand, indicating it was no problem answering his query. "Haha, yeah, I guess Dark Moon can be confusing if you don't know the right people to talk too." She said with a grin, remembering the first time she came here. She was rather cold to the other candidates around her at first, unsure of how to act, but before long she was bounding around, all over the place. "Nice to meet you Radim.". She placed a finger against her lips and narrowed her eyes at Radim, thinking. "Did you know you have really bright hair?"

Akki tried to supress a giggle as her flitt was mistaken as Derek's. She didn't mind of course, the more people who knew she had no connection with the hyper creature, the better. "I'll remember that next time, that you're making sure I know you're listening and not staring at something in my eyes." She promised to the candidate with a nod. She sighed as Sargon's gender was brought up. "Yeah, he's a he. Odd critter, just woke up one day and decided to be a guy insteal of a girl." She shook her head sadly, "Poor gender confused flitt."

[Kestrez]

((ooc: please excuse the shortness, my brain seems to be dead after work today))

Radim glanced back at Akki as the other boy spoke. They must have been having quite the interesting conversation. Akki seemed very social, just as she claimed, and he was happy he had met her. He knew first hand that not all Riders were exactly sociable to everyone, especially those new to the Weyr. The other boy seemed friendly too. Seeing as some Candidates seemed to see themselves above their fellows, he could consider himself twice as lucky.

"I'm surprised I met another Candidate so quickly." He said as he shook Derek's hand. "I'm assuming that by your earlier comment." He added with a smirk, meeting Derek's eyes and then looking to the green firelizard again.

"I thought that being a green would automatically make...him...a female." He mused. He had heard of the mutations in the Weyrs, but he had thought that it had not applied to the flits. He chuckled at Akki's last comment; he supposed anything was possible.

[echo]

::ooc:: Pa-lease. They are way longer than mine. School has destroyed my =creativity, *tear* ;;

Derek glanced back at Akki as she commented on Radim's hair. He frowned a bit. He understood being blunt but that just seemed stupid. He shrugged and brushed a bit of hair from his eyes quite model-like.

The Candidate honestly couldn't be more confused. It seemed there was a lot for him to learn about the Weyr. His mind worked furiously to try and organize what he was learning and what he had learned from the other blue rider.

"Wait... greens are girls? Are other dragons certain genders as well. I do know the colours... green, gold, blue, brown, and bronze. Right? Oh! And there have been mutants."

[Kestrez]

((ooc: ...AND I totally missed what poor Akki said...*runs away* But school tends to do that to people ))

Radim had been so caught up in thinking about the male green firelizard that he had not even responded to Akki's comment over his hair. Seeing Derek brush hair out of his face brought it back to his mind, and he had to suppress a laugh as he replied.
"You must get attention from your hair, too. It's...really long, and if I'm not mistaken there's even a silver in it somehow." He tilted his head to the side in order to change how the light was affecting its color. He had a feeling that, as talkative and rather random that she was, Akki wouldn't care about his comment.

He turned back to Derek, then, not wanting to look idiotic by staring at the bluerider's hair. "I don't think there have been any gender mutations among the original colors..." He trailed off, looking to Akki and her dragon.

[Akki]

Ooc|| The lack of school has sapped away my literacy xD I need LA classes :c

Akki reached out and scratched the green flitts eye ridges as she laughed, "Yeah, a normal green flitt would be female. Not sure why he isn't though. Probably too stupid too realize he's the wrong gender." She finished with a laugh, no matter how much she teased and poked fun at Sargon, she loved him, but it was hard not to laugh at the creatures denseness. She glanced at Derek's frown that followed her comment about Radim's hair and smiled slyly and shrugged at him. "I know, I know. I point out the obvious. It's what I'm known for." She said with a roll of her eyes and a wink.

Akki held out five fingers and waggled them in the air. "There's five colours of dragons, not including mutants. Gold, bronze, brown, blue and green. Now normally, golds and greens are female and the others are male. Mutants are always a surprise. We have a couple mutants here, a moonstreak, a yellow and a copper." She explained as she named off the dragons using her fingers. "We might have one or two gender confused dragons around in the Weyr, but I'm not telling you who or anything. It's more fun when you find out yourself." She said with a grin, thinking of Ersith. "But I'll help you out. Ebbeth is most certainly not a girl. But that probably didn't help you much." She mused out loud.

Akki lifted a hand to her hair and wrapped a few strands around her fingers. "Yeah, I'm not exactly a fan of getting my hair cut as I'm sure you can guess." She said with a bashful grin. She stuck her tongue out slightly as the silver was mentioned, "The silver makes me look like an old lady, I swear in a turn or two people are going to mistake me as someone's grandmother.".

[echo]

Derek was a little ashamded. Akki had caught his frown. He looked sideways for a moment, his face mostly blank but with a tinge of a frown. He looked back up at Akki but he wasn't quite sure what to say. Thankfulyl she commented about dragons.

"This is so much to learn for one day. I suppose you know more the me, I guess," he said, glancing at Radim. This candidate seemed to know a bit of what he was talking about. Derek wondered if he knew the least of any Candidate. He frowned, his brow furrowed. He would have to remedy that and soon.

Derek couldn't help but grin about Akki's comment about her hair. "Don't be silly," he said, "It doesn't look old. It looks cool! Both of you have hair much cooler than mine. It's just a boring brown colour. I should really just die it bright purple so people can see it!"

[Kestrez]

Radim listened quite intently to what Akki was saying about the dragons. He thought it pretty odd that a dragon could be "gender confused", as she put it. However, with more mutations popping up every few Turns, he supposed he would just except it. Akki was also pretty much telling them that Dark Moon had a few such mutations, and he merely shrugged in response to having to figure that out himself.

He shook his head at the bluerider when she criticized her hair color. "I agree with Derek. It's unique, and it doesn't make you look older at all." He commented, running a hand through his own hair again. "A lot of people immediately assume that I dye mine, which I don't." The Candidate scowled slightly. "It's always been this color."

Catching Derek glancing at him, his smile returned. "Learning the basics of dragons and Weyr life is pretty easy to catch on to." An image of Fort rose in his mind; of the friends he had met there, of the first Hatching he ever saw.
"I only know a few things because before I searched for Dark Moon, I was living Fort Weyr." He finished. "And it's not that much, really."

[Akki]

"Haha!" Akki laughed as Derek seemed exasperated over what she had tought them. "Give it a few days, keeps your ears open and you'll have Weyr life knowledge in no time." She promised the candidate. It was pretty easy to catch on too, especially at Dark Moon where nothing was over complicated. She smothered a smile as she thought of Uslanee, wondering what would happen when she met these two boys. Uslanee had a tendency to do startling introductions, maybe she should give them a warning. She looked at the boys out of the corner of her eye and smiled, nah, where would the fun be in that?

Akki shook her head at Derek, "I might have nicer hair, but you have better eyes.". She scrunched up her face and made a box with her fingers, one that she made so it framed Derek's head so she could imagine him with purple hair. "Now purple, that would be a cool color." She said with a large grin as she pictured brightly colored hair pointing in every direction on top of his head. "Know what you do if they ask you if your hair is dyed?" Akki asked Radim before giving him the answer. "You smack them." She said with a laugh before placing a finger on her lips in a 'Shushing' motion, "But you didn't learn or hear that from me. Rhia and Christae would kill me."