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 Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 5:42 pm
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Vitre had heard a rumor, and that made it a good day. The rumor, as it happened, was about dragons, which made it a great day. The only thing to do of course to make it the Best Day Ever was to run and tell Nebbi about it, and to be lucky enough to be the first to do so.
Of course, if she had heard, that would still be alright. They would still get to revel in all the squealing and wondering about it, after all!
Black hair only half tied in haste whipped behind the sturdy young boy as he scampered down the halls of the hold, slate eyes wide and glittering with eager interest. It was a bit of a distance to get from the smithing area to the vinting area--fire and alcohol didn't mix or play well in close contact of course--but he didn't mind at all. At his age energy was boundless, and it felt good to run and scramble around passers by and leap over crates or items left sitting along the way. He skidded to a halt only when he neared the rooms he knew Nebbi usually worked in.
Juicy rumor or not, you didn't just burst in on someone else's training lessons. But she should be free soon...!
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 9:34 pm
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Vinters loved to gossip. That was what her uncle had told her once, and if any stereotype was true, then surely this must be it. From winery to winery word traveled, by mouth and letter and firelizard, from casual conversations in the fields, to whispered notes passed during lessons, to bawdy gabfests in the tasting rooms. And Nebbi wanted a piece of it all. She loved to know (or feel like she knew) what was going on around the rest of Pern. She liked to think she was a worldly person, playacting at politics with opinions borrowed from traders she overheard on things she couldn't possibly have formed an opinion on. And today there had been a bundle.
Apprentices filtered out of the distillery slowly at the end of lessons. Heads shorter than the others, it was impossible to see Nebbi though the crowd, nor her anyone else. One of the smaller crafts, there were only a few apprentices stationed here at High Reaches Hold (there were only a few journeymen!) and nearly all of them were older than her. Maybe it was different down in Tillek or Benden, where the weather was more forgiving to the Craft. But up here, on the mountains, there simply weren't that many Vinters. It made lessons kind of lonely..
Now that she was too old for the group classes taught by the Hold's Harper, agemates were in short supply for her. Fortunate, then, that some were willing to make to trip to meet her. As the crowd thinned and she waved goodbye to the older apprentices, Nebbi spotted a dark haired boy from across the hall and perked up instantly. She called him her 'source'. Teasingly. In reality, he was her closest friend. Taking off towards him at a run, Nebbi knocked into his side with a good-natured bump. "Heyy Vitre~! What's the news?" she asked in her usual greeting.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 10:00 am
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As energetic and young as they both were, being nearly tackled by Nebbi was just what Vitre had been expecting. They'd come to an age now where wrestling and tussling was less well thought of (proper apprentices and all aught act as young adults and not wild children, he'd been told more than once) but they still had far too much zest for life to clamp down in moments of excitement like these.
"Nebbi, you're never gonna believe it!" Well, probably she would. All things aside, flights and clutches weren't that rare—once a year, or every year and a half, at least—but this had been the new gold up at HR, and off-schedule to hear tell of it. His own parents had been quite surprised, and he'd been set to mind his younger brother for the night, both to keep himself out of trouble and to give them some suddenly much-needed privacy. "Remember we heard the headwoman talking about a newer gold up at the weyr? Well, she had her flight—I'm sure you knew that—but I heard that there were weyrless riders involved! And one almost won! And something about a pirate...?" He trailed off, brows furrowing as he tried to think on what that might mean. "No idea what a pirate's got to do with anything, but I heard Nalton down by the traders' area talking about one in the flight and you know he's too dull to be imagining things like that."
"But more than that, Mom says she's making cakes to send for the gather! I guess since it's off-schedule they're having to plan ahead as much as they can? Oh! Maybe she'll let us go, if we help? D'you think?? Nebbi I've never seen a hatching before, not in person!"
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:05 am
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Vitre's head was fit to rattle off his shoulders at the speed and intensity he was knodding along with Nebbi's observations. "That has to be what they came about, yeah! It takes a lot of food to have a gather, and for a hatching you know there'll probably be guests too." Hatchings hadn't really drawn much in terms of crowds over the last few centuries, but thread was in the sky again now. Dragons were vastly important again, if you asked Vitre. And in High Reaches the worth of dragons had never really diminished like it had in other parts of Pern. Odds were, there'd be all sorts of important folks in attendence, from all the holds their weyr presided over.
"We should make a deal. If my mom goes, I'll talk her into taking us. If your dad goes, you talk him into taking us. One of them's gotta cave in, right?" And here Vitre paused to glance around the hall, making sure no one else was about or listening too close. "I mean, we're both still pretty small. If you don't mind a scolding we could probably always sneak into someone else's cart going up to the weyr..." He really wasn't the type to get into mischief, but he really wanted to see the hatching!!
"I'm sure we'd find out even if we don't go, but I haven't ever seen a baby dragon." He'd asked his parents to take him before, but his mother hadn't been tapped to join the groups taking food up before so it had never panned out. "Since it was the new gold, I wonder what they'll be like..." Some hatchings he'd heard were very violent. Others had a lot of duds, and others still were unusually small or large in number. A new gold meant anything could happen!
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 5:06 pm
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"I hope so." she said, with a soft smile. It would be great feather-in-the-cap for their small vineyard to have done a real hatching feast. And even if she didn't particularly care about that, she knew it would make everyone else happy.
"If dad's going, we'll be there!" she said with a confident smile. She could play her uncle like a Harper's violin. The dear sweet man didn't stand a chance. But that was mostly because the two of them usually got along so well. He was the sort of person who'd always wanted a family but just never found the time. So when he was finally able to adopt Nebbi, he did tend to spoil her a bit. And, of course, Nebbi was utterly devoted to him as well. But that didn't mean she wouldn't occasionally use her powers for evil.
Nebbi smiled cheekily, lowering her voice before she answered. "I'd take a scolding for that!" she agreed. Her uncle was a softy anyway, even if she hated to disappoint him. But she would've taken a thrashing from her father if it meant she got to see dragons up close like that! And babies too! She almost sighed out loud. She was picturing puppies to a canine- all paws and big, round eyes and heads too big for their bodies. There was no way she'd let an opportunity like that slip by! Consequences be damned.
"You know~!" she said, her voice still low, as she leaned an arm against Vitre's shoulder. "I heard people can even impress from the crowd sometimes." She looked at her friend with a sly smile and winked. This was insider information here. Only the best. "It's true! One of the old apprentices went up to watch his brother Stand and never came back. They said the dragonet was climbing the stands trying to get to him!" And wouldn't that be a sight! |
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:40 am
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Vitre's eyes went from eager to almost non-believing, widening comically at the idea that someone from the stands might impress. Was it even possible? Sure, he and Nebbi both might stretch the truth from time to time, but never to each other, and not about stuff like this... "Shards, imagine it Nebbi!" His voice was low, and not just because he'd sworn (something that would get him right in trouble if word got back to his mom or dad!) as he pictured it. "Your own dragon...coming to find you!"
Now Vitre had never been dead set on being a rider like some, but he did love dragons, and he knew, when he bothered to remeber, that his mother at least...his real, no, his birth one (his real one was the one that had raised him!) had been a rider. Still, could anyone be unhappy to be picked like that? "That means it could happen to us!" His mind was pumping out more and more vivid images. "You'll get a shiny gold, and I'll get the biggest bronze ever!" There was a hint of over-imaginative silliness there--in all honesty he couldn't even imagine himself on a bronze, and thinking of Nebbi as a weyrwoman? The Nebbi that ran and jumped and spied and gossiped with him? His best friend in the world, Nebbi? Man. That'd be sooo cool...
"We've got to go, Nebbi." She enjoyed her wine-making, but now that he knew even in the stands people could impress...wouldn't she love a dragon? It was all they usually talked about anyway, he had to get her to the weyr!
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:50 pm
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"Yeah." she sighed, smile curling as she thought about it. That would be something. A real live dragon.. Her dragon. It was something she couldn't even really imagine properly, if she was honest. Hers would be.. what were the colors again? Ah, who was she kidding, any one would be amazing. Maybe a green. Little like her. And fiery. Of course, she wouldn't be too happy to leave the vineyard, or her uncle, but she supposed she could always come visit. Or maybe he would come and see her at the Weyr. She grinned at the fantasy, though it likely was just that.
Hmm? Oh, gold was good too! She thought, at Vitre's fanciful declaration. She was secretly pleased that he would chose the biggest and (so they said) most powerful dragon for her. She could be a weyrwoman, and Vitre would have to call her 'lady'. Hehe. But that would be so weird though!
"They say it's pretty rare, though." she admitted. She didn't want to spoil the fun, but she felt it wasn't fair not to reveal that crucial detail. "Everyone was very surprised when it happened to Harton. Or... what is it? H'ton now, I guess. Still, it could happen!" she added. He got lucky, whose to say they wouldn't as well. And if not.. Well, it was still just fun to think about!
Nebbi turned to Vitre nodded determinedly. "We'll do it! I'll work on my dad tonight, you do your mom. We can meet back tomorrow and figure out who we have the best shot of convincing." And if that didn't pan out, they could start planning their escape.. |
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:14 am
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"It could happen." she agreed cautiously. She didn't want to get his hopes up, but it was, at least, a possibility. After all, Harton impressed, he wasn't even the least bit interesting! It didn't seem that far fetched that a dragon could be swayed by one of them. And how wonderful to think, how utterly satisfying it must be, that out of all the candidates from the Weyr a dragon would turn their nose up at them all just for you!
She laughed softly to herself, thinking about it. She tried to picture H'ton's dragon strutting about the Weyr like a fancy Holder Lady, going 'a regular candidate? Oh no, I couldn't possibly. Only dreary old vinters will do for me.' Coming out of her daydream, she nodded at Vitre's idea. "Sound like a plan!" she said. "I'm sure I can convince my dad that it's 'educational' anyhow." Weyrs were important now, after all. Especially now that thread was back.
Nebbi grinned broadly. "Heh. I'll have to practice my card hustling then." Not that she didn't already make a killing on it, whenever someone was dumb enough to see the doe-eyed looking girl as an easy target. In truth, she knew they really weren't going to get themselves a dragon. But a firelizard was a different matter, and that was almost as good! |
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 2:21 pm
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"Card hustling, and maybe betting on the eggs?" Vitre was nodding like a wherry, head bobbing eagerly. "They say no one knows what'll come out of each, but if anyone could suss it out I'd think it's us. I bet by the time the hatching itself is on we could ask half the weyr, and, well..." He wasn't quite sure how knowing what everyone else thought could be translated into what bets they should place, but he could sense the seed of the idea. And Nebbi was far more clever than him. She'd have it worked out easy as stomping grapes. That was easy, right? Well, it sounded fun at least!
"Maybe on the way back if mom doesn't have to give all the cakes we can have those too! y'know how much she hates letting them get hard or spoil." He foresaw many feast-like moments in their near future. They were going to gorge at the feast itself too, on so many nice treats that were only for 'special occasions' here. Oh, he was getting so excited! He reached out, taking Nebbi by the hand and tugging back down the hall. "We should go ask them now, don't you think? More time to convince them if they say no!" He already could think of nothing but the hatching, of their future adventure.
Which made it much harder to reign himself in when one of the holders came by, a stern look at the ready over the ruckus they'd been kicking up, and during work and lesson hours too.
"Oops..."
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Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:02 pm
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"Oh yeah! Maybe we could win enough marks to buy an egg!" Nebbi agreed. She'd heard they did that in the Weyr sometimes, but she didn't know much about eggs or odds of each one hatching what color. She'd have to read up on it before the hatching if she wanted to win enough to buy them two firelizard eggs! "If anyone can figure it out at can!" she echoed confidently.
"Sounds good!" she agreed to asking their parents now, running after Vitre as he pulled her by the hand. Sure, she didn't think it would be all that hard to convince her uncle, but she was far too excited to wait anyway! As they went around the corner, though, Nebbi bumped into Vitre's back as he suddenly stopped moving.
She lifted her eyes slowly, taking in the man in front of her. She was still too used to her old hold, the kind of place where you'd run into someone and tell them to watch where they're going. Granted, she was a little less rough around the edges now than she was when she first got here. But not even the turns she'd spent in polite society could stop her from scowling when she looked up at him.
"What?" she asked belligerently. If he didn't want to get run into, he shouldn't have been standing in the way. |
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Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:10 pm
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"Nebbi!" Vitre scolded, but it was half a laugh as he did it. She'd always been a wild card, just as ready to throw down as he was, which suited him just fine. She was tough! But still, trouble meant possibly no hatching, so he was quick to duck around the man, pulling her after him once more. He called out something after them as they fled up the hall, but Vitre had no idea what it was over the sound of his laughter. There was absolutely no way that they would miss this new adventure! And they would have SO many stories to tell once they got back! In his young mind nothing could go wrong. They'd get to go, and either they'd both magically impress, or neither would. He had no way of knowing that soon enough they'd be kept apart, and he had no real thoughts on how very trying the life of a rider would be once he attained it.
DruidTigeress Good spot to wind down, since we've got a new RP going?
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