School Never Ends [Future Designs Weyrling Class. Open!]

Considering how many weyrling lesson nightmares Talian sweated through while awaiting the hatching, the lessons themselves had been decidedly not-awful. They involved getting up early, which he could do; oiling a dragon, which he could do; and listening to a teacher talk, which he could definitely do. Talian had been in school for most of his life. Listening to lectures and performing the same menial task over and over until it became second nature was, well, natural.

Initially, Talian had put forth great effort in totally ignoring his classmates, as well as the fact that Khaduceth would grow up and become a horrifyingly big dragon that he would have to strap himself to and ride around in the sky. Not cool. These efforts were starting to crumble, though. Since the other weyrlings were intent  on befriending him for some reason, Talian found himself locked in unpleasant conversations with them on most days. That was part of life, though.

Watching Khaduceth almost double in size in a month? That was impossible to ignore.

"Stop growing," Talian groaned as he stepped out of the barracks, heading towards the center of the gather square where the others would soon accumulate. Talian had gotten up early and had some breakfast before Khaduceth woke up. Then, a short jog (which he greatly resented having to do) and a little bit of alone with with Khaduceth rounded out the early hours. Now it was time for a couple hours of lessons before lunch, and then hopefully B'jin would have some mercy on him and he could go do a shift in the infirmary or something.

He glanced over his shoulder. Probably not. Khaduceth was still a baby, after all. No matter how much Talian wanted to go back to his craft, he didn't want his poor baby to wind up with scars like Larrikith's.

That is very important to you, isn't it? Khaduceth said, poking into Talian's mind and examining his memories of the healer hall. It matches many of your dreams he pointed out.

Talian smiled and slowed his pace, allowing the proud little creature to trot alongside him. It was amazing how quickly the ungainly dragonet got control of his limbs. At only a month old, Khadueth's wings folded easily and he was able to run, though he grew tired quickly. Swimming was his favorite, though. Talian actually felt quite bad about that; he hated swimming, so Khaduceth didn't get to swim nearly enough.

I forgive you the dragonet said cheerily. Talian was bewildered for a moment. Sometimes he forgot Khaduceth could eavesdrop on him! The dragonet's presence felt so natural that it was getting easy to forget. Talian wondered if all dragoneriders felt the same way.

Soon enough, they arrived. Talian seated himself in the grass and Kkaduceth curled neatly beside him. Soon, he gained a blue patch on his back; Fellis appeared and perched gently, crooning with joy.

Talian eyed his dragonet. "B'jin is supposed to start teaching us to talk to you with our minds today," Talian said. It sounded easy enough. Khaduceth quietly agreed, preening a bit in the warm sunlight before stretching out. As the others started to arrive, Talian reached out to stroke the brown dragonet's side. "You really are getting big.." he said as he admired the glossy, splotched hide.

This isn't required, FYI. Just for funsies.  Anyone else is welcome to come on in, too

Sejin had gotten up early enough to bath and oil Araith. It was beginning to finally be a routine in his life now. Taking care of Araith first and then taking care of his own needs. She always had to look her best and after grabbing something quick for breakfast himself they headed off to Lessons.

We will take them by storm! Ara said happily. She was excited as usual more so then Seijin about class.  "Just remember beloved you gotta let me listen to class and don't interrupt the teacher when he talking. Wait to ask questions afterwards. " Seijin cautioned her softly. I know I'll remember araith replied back just as softly. They had talked about it all before.

When they got to the gather square he noticed that Talian and brown Khaduceth were already there. " Hello Talian." Seijin said softly " and hello Khaduceth."  Hello Talian Hello Khaduceth Araith echoed.

Seijin couldn't wait till todays lesson He was more then ready to talk to Araith with his mind and to stop feeling subconscious about looking like he talking to himself all the time. Even though he knows people really aren't thinking that cause he usually with araith when he is talking.

"Growing fast aren't they?" He said softly to Talian.

B’jin was in a high mood as he made his way toward the gather square where the kids were gathering, bickering good naturedly with Larrikith as the pudgy dragon walked along beside him. With their being assigned as Weyrlingmaster, they’d been dropped from their wing, and Larrikith had quickly put the weight back on that she had turned into muscle tone during their work outs. She was a hungry little dragon, and had never gotten over the need to eat far more than she physically required. Another ‘don’t do what I did’ that B’jin had pointed out to the class. His own Weyrlinghood had been traumatic, with the Harper making every mistake there was to make, and doing them tenfold worse than anyone else. He had ended up in private lessons and gotten more than his share of lashings when the Weyrlingmaster had picked up exactly how much the young man didn’t care for his dragon.

In contrast to Larrikith’s increase in weight, B’jin had retained his (albeit) questionable level of fitness. It was only fair, if he was going to make the brats run every day that he did similar. It certainly didn’t hurt that he had good company, and early morning swims usually ended in far more delightful activities. Such may or may not have been responsible for the damp hair, good mood and subtle smirk. His modesty preferred a bedroom, his situation preferred the beach. Larrikith made a sly comment, causing B’jin to laugh as they closed the distance to stop before the Weyrlings. B’jin considered the class for a moment before flopping down on Larrikith’s foreleg as she lay down, eyes swirling contentedly.

Clean dragonets and shiny oiled hides were pleasant and B’jin was pleased with the efforts being put forth, though the inter-mingling scents of everyone’s different oils was not quite as pleasant as it might have been. Most of the class had taken to using the lavender oil B’jin and Larrikith preferred, but the rest had decided to create their own concoctions, with variable degrees of success. B’jin didn’t mind at all, but the combination of scents was why the greenrider had taken to outdoor lessons, where they wouldn’t be over powered by the smell of dragonets, oil and each other in a small room.

“Morning, Kids.” Despite the fact that all of his candidates were definitely adults of various ages, and some were closing in on thirty, B’jin continually referred to them by the collective title of ‘kids’, as he had done during their Candidacy. B’jin didn’t do it to be insulting, but it was a nice general way to refer to all of them without having to think much on it. ‘Boys’ was also used regularly, the greenrider leaping on the fact that there were no girls in his class to get pissy over the use of that collective. “So, we’ll start you off on mindspeaking.” B’jin smirked at the group. Learning to mindspeak wasn’t hard, but getting used to it was a small hurdle that could be hilarious to watch. Most people figured it out within a week or so, depending on how much they actively practised.

People like B’jin took months, but that was neither here nor there, and certainly not something B’jin was going to share with them. “Dragons have this shit down pat, as you will have noticed since Impressing. They can get into your mind with little to no effort and poke around and talk to you. The idea now, is to learn how to talk back without sounding like a dickhead.” A grin spread across the greenriders lips. “Once you figure it out, you’ll just look like a dickhead.” Larrikith gave a chirp of amusement. B'jin was rather eager to see what humorous expressions this group came up with. Frowning, scowling, scrunching, and dream land were pretty common.

“It’s generally considered bad manners to hold a conversation with your beast in the presence of others, unless the dragon is including them. Depending on who you are with, you can hand wave it and essentially tell them to go fuck themselves, or include them by speaking verbally. You’ll see most dragonriders do that if you pay attention at your next meal. However, for now most people will encourage you to speak mentally to your dragons. It’s really not all that hard; it’s simply getting the hang of not blabbing. Our natural response is to speak out loud, because that’s how we’ve always been taught to convey our thoughts. Now you have your own brain bug, so you don’t need to.”

The greenrider grinned. “It’ll take a little bit. But you can get into their brain as easily as they can get into yours. That’s really what you want to do, as opposed to simply projecting your thoughts for the world to hear. Larrikith is going to be correcting projectors; she’s sensitive to loud thoughts and will be able to pick up who isn’t on the right track. Now, different things work for different people. Get your dragonet to help guide you.” B’jin leaned back against Larrikith, lifting his hands as an indicator that they should start giving the exercise an attempt. He wasn’t sure he’d given them enough instruction to go off, but Larrikith was likely to be far more use in this class than he was. His mind was a brick wall for dragon thoughts.

"Shards, they're coming this way,"

Seijin and Araith talk to everyone. They are both very friendly. Khaduceth understood the reservation, though. Excessively friendly people made Talian uncomfortable; the healer had trust issues that ran deep, and he generally regarded optimism as a trait of the unintelligent. Tal didn't know enough about Seijin to make such a cruel claim, but optimistic dribble bothered him just the same. He couldn't understand it, and no one else could understand him.

Well, no one but Khaduceth.  The yound dragon's outlook was more positive than his bonded's, but unlike those silly idealists floating around in humanland, Khaduceth knew that lecturing Talian about it didn't do any good. Khaduceth didn't want to change his poor bonded, who so few took the time to understand! Instead, khaduceth preferred to supply silent support. He may not have shared Talian's trust issues, but he understood them, possibly more than even his bonded realized.

Therefore, Khaduceth did nothing to discourage Talian's attitude. Talking him into thinking differently wasn't the solution. Tal's mind was fascinating but very rigid. It was hard to convince him to use the other side of the pillow when he slept, much less anything else! If any one law distracted it's workings, it's that Talian would remain Talian no matter what happened to him.

I'll take care of it Khaduceth said sweetly. Talian shook his head and proped his elbows on the reclining dragonet. "No, don't worry about it," he whispered, not entirely sure what Khaduceth meant by that...and not intending to find out. Talian suspected the dragonet was willing to go to unnecessary extremes to appease him, but he'd yet to see it. If that was going to happen, it didn't need to be aimed at an innocent!

Besides, Seijin wasn't a bad guy. Talian just wasn't sure why he wanted to be his friend so bad, or why he was so damn happy all the time. It was unsettling! It didn't necessarily occur to the young man that some people were just wired to be cheery and friendly.

"Hello," Talian said as they approached. He sighed a little at the comment on size, looking Khaduceth over and frowning. "Disgustingly fast," he said. The faster they grew, the sooner lessons would progress to less-nice things. Khaduceth remained quiet, though he did purr a soft greeting to his sister.

Tal was admittedly fascinated. Araith hadn't been much smaller than Khaduceth on the first day, but now the brown was noticeably bigger. Talian had no idea what to do about that. He wasn't supposed to be a dragonrider at all, much less the rider of a big dragon. Brownriders had power; not like a metallic, but they outranked greens and blues...And it just so happened that Talian's only dragonrider friends fell into those categories.

He wasn't so stupid to think that it wouldn't cause problems one day. He didn't want it too, though. He didn't want to make anyone feel the way he felt when his friends became riders and he remained the lowest of the low. He didn't want to be trated as superior to anyone, but from what he'd seen of weyr life...

Ugh.

He cut his eyes back to Seijin and frowned. "She's cute," he said, referring of course to the green dragonet. Before he could say much else, however, B'jin arrived.

Talian immediately fell silent and turned his attention towards the greenrider, watching attentively as he spoke. The lesson sounded simple enough. A mental exercise? No problem.

This will be easy Khaduceth said with almost too much pleasure. Talian smiled at him and gave him a light pat on the side. "Okay. I guess we're giving it a try." He arranged himself in front of the dragonet, who lowered his head to meet his bonded's gaze.  They stared deep into one another's eyes for a minute or so before Talian so much as twitched.

He had a problem, though. He wasn't sure what exactly B'jin was trying to get him to do. Get into Khaduceth's mind? How was he supposed to do that? Tal had always been a visual learner, and B'jin's descriptions were vague at best.

Talian knew he had loud thoughts, too. He wasn't looking forward to being scolded by Larrikith, but well...Here goes nothing.

That was probably wrong. Khaduceth, can you hear me?

I don't think I'm doing it right

This is stupid


Khaduceth rumbled softly and nosed Talian's arm. Keep trying. You do not have to reach far; I am right here

Talian frowned. "Easy for you to say," he said, putting his hand on the brown's nose and pushing it back so he could better see into his eyes. Talian took a deep breath and leaned forward, peering into thew dragonet's eyes and trying to place himself inside the creature's head. It was hard for someone so linear to comprehend something so abstract, but Khaduceth's encouraging presence was enough to keep him calm. How long had he been trying now?

All right, Talian...you can do this. You can cut someone open and rearrange their guts and bring them out of it alive. This is nothing.

Shards, he was getting a headache. But Khaduceth was right there, mentally caressing him, doing everything he could to ward away the pain. It was so comforting, and so easy to drift away in, like some sort of wonderful waking dream.

Talian closed his eyes and slumped a bit. I love you so much

I love you, too

Talian gasped.

Seijin smiled as Talian said hi back.  "yeah little ones tend to do that fast I've been told." He reached over and rubbed Araith's eye ridges as she cooed a reply to khaduceth.  "That she is my beloved cute little green" Seijin agreed.  They both feel silent though when Talian noticed B'jin joining the class to start the lesson.  Seijin looked up to listen He was excited about this  lesson.

Course Seijin though he as ARaith were very close and that he hoped it would be easy to reach her but he was not so foolish to think that he would learn it any easier then the others students. He knew that B'jin was right having always spoken out loud was a barrier that he would have to overcome cause his natural reaction was to speak out loud. He looked down at Araith during the weyrling master lesson.  Could they really connect that close were all riders as close to their dragons or where there different levels.

Seijin know that the two of them meshed well in both feelings and personalities. He wondered if that helped the bond and could make them talking together much easier.


He listened quietly to the lesson as B'jin explained about mindspeaking.  He knew that it wouldn't be easy. But B'jin was right seemed the dragons had it right from birth and could communicate well the moment they hatched. But for them it was probably instinct but for the riders it was learned. You can do it Seijin, I know you can. Araith sounded quite sure of her young rider.

He sat in front of Araith and leaned his forhead against hers. I wish I could be as sure as you are beloved. Silence was his only answer.  He frowned softly. He tried again several times. He even started to get a little worried. Though Araith noticed he looked worried that he wasn't able to connect. You can do it . Araith repeated encouragingly

Seijin got a more determined look in his eyes and tried again. Can you hear me beloved. I can Seijin I can hear you. . Seijins smile widened  Yessssssss He said a little loudly and blushed softly ummm sorry about that. He looked around at the others to see if they have gotten it as well.

B’jin grinned with delight as his dragon relayed the success of the young weyrlings before them, though her words were not really all that required as pair after pair gave small crows of their own when they managed to complete the task the first time. Expressions of wonder and determination were aplenty as they set about the task that B’jin was very pleased to see many of them seemed eager to undergo and master. It is a good talent to have, love Larrikith said lightly, the smile in her voice and eyes as she sprawled out pleasantly.

Indeed, B’jin returned, a smirk on the edges of his voice at using mind speak to agree with the awesome of mind speaking. Larrikith gave a chirp of amusement, the pair in a clearly pleasant mood, something that wasn’t always a reality for the Weyrling class that had found themselves under B’jin’s instruction. More often than not moody, and additionally prone to extreme proddiness, the class had at least gained a ‘master that would keep them entertained with how often he was the cause of entertainment. Larrikith, ever delighting in making her rider the butt of all jokes, seemed to thoroughly enjoy being given a weekly audience and went out of her way to increase opportunities for laughing at her bonded. Today, she simply seemed pleased to be alive and to enjoy it with her human. B’jin was thoroughly content with that!

I do believe they have all succeeded at least once now, she put in mildly, gazing around at the group before focusing once more on B’jin. Talian does well, love., which turned B’jin’s brown eyes on the young Healer and his brown monstrocity. B’jin tried not to let it show in class, but he was less than pleased by the addition of a brown dragon to his son’s mind. Brown dragons bonded to the scum of the planet! (That was, after all, why they were brown, right? The colour of shit! Larrikith laughed.) Not sweet young men like Talian, who should be on bronze or not on a dragon at all! It is what it is, B’jin. Leave it alone, her tone was amused, more used to the internal rant than she probably should have been but B’jin was being careful not to share his disgust with the entire class, or worse, Talian himself! But really! Brown?!

Moving through the group of Weyrlings, B’jin congratulated them each in person as he paused by them, questioning them about how they had managed the task, and if they’d managed to do it again. Watching as some tried to prove they could do it a second time and failed but became even more determined to do it again because of that. The greenrider was rather pleased his class wasn’t a slop bucket full of quitters and whiners. He really couldn’t have stood that. His pet bluerider was enough trouble, the young man seeming to not comprehend a lot of basic dragon knowledge. B’jin was still dumbfounded by the boy’s question of browns flying blue.

“Doing alright, boys?” B’jin asked lightly, finally making his way over to Seijin and Talian, the warm smile on his lips almost as bright and cheerful as the sun that was hanging in the sky above them. “Think you can do it again,” he challenged, cheerful and teasing while his tone was warm and encouraging, brown eyes bright with affection. He really did love his class, even his pet blue was adorable in his tendency to ask brain killing questions.

Since when did you start keeping blueriders as pets, Larrikith questioned teasingly, laughing with a chirp of delight when all B’jin did was flash her a winning smile over his shoulder.

A horribly contrary part of Talian didn't want to be congratulated for any accomplishment regarding dragonriding, but an incredibly vain part of him refused to be anything but the best at anything concerning schooling. Therefore, the boy was pitifully and inescapably trapped by B'jin's question and challenge. His eyes flickered to his father figure and he frowned, displeased at the trap, though the greenriders's warmth and kindness was as soothing as ever.

"I think I can," he replied, reminding himself to be modest as he reached out to stroke Khaduceth's nose. Tal smiled at B'jin, confidence bolstered by a soft reassurance from Khaduceth. The dragon purred sweetly and nosed the boy as he began a second attempt, closing his eyes and thinking at the beast, but taking care not to try so hard this time. Maybe that was his problem. He always had been a forceful thinker.

You are most welcome the dragon said in reply to something Talian hadn't even realized he'd said. Talian's eyes widened and he suddenly let out a delighted laugh, throwing his arms around Khaduceth's nose in joy. How amazing! The dragon was able to understand him so seamlessly that Talian didn't even have to force his thoughts into the beasts's mind, as he was so sure he would have to. Khaduceth understood just fine on his own, and the bond between them was so smooth...it was amazing! Talian was purely loved, and that surely merited a giggle and a hug.

Khaduceth purred and licked the back of the boy's neck, though his glowing eyes did flash towards B'jin for a moment. Khaduceth wasn't yet sure where he stood on the man, whose mind was so openly hostile towards him, but Khaduceth loved everything Talian loved, and it would remain that way. There was no reason for Talian to know about the greenrider's attitude, though...Khaduceth figured that was best kept..not exactly a secret, but just not-talked-about.

Seijin looked up as he noticed that B'jin approached. He smiled brightly having succeded in talking with Araith it was one of their biggest accomplishments so far. Course they will be having many more as they learned more and more things together.  He always loved the sound of her voice in his head and it was nice to finally be able to talk without everyone hearing what he was saying. He did start to feel a little foolish as people looked at him when he was talking to araith and knew they were wondering sometimes what he was speaking about  being outside the conversation.

He nodded softly " I might be able to do it again.  It will probably get much easier after I have practiced more. But I believe I understand now the principles." He knew he was still shaky and his mind a bit erratic his thoughts are not flowing as smoothy as they could.  He would still need to practice more before he would be satisfied but the hard part of doing it the first time and understanding how  was at least out of the way. 

He was careful not to shout this time. He was way to loud at one point to Araith last time.  Course he was glad that no one else had heard him before. I heard you Seijin and I agree

B’jin smiled warmly at the positive response he got from both the young men, watching with eager amusement as they both tried again, and the delighted manners in which they responded to their dragonets when success was, once more, the result. “Yes, you’ll find it gets easier as you practice,” B’jin agreed, placing a hand lightly on Seijin’s head for a moment before lifting it and lightly petting Araith’s pretty head, his touch gentle on the young green dragonet. It was, without a doubt, easy to tell B’jin put a little more favour on the young greens within his class than the other colours. While he didn’t specifically go out of his way to treat Seijin or any of the other new greenriders any better than the rest, it was his actions that gave him away – pets to the young dragonets, and a lightness to his voice when instructions were given. The greenriders would find themselves being treated heavily later in life, and he saw no need to alienate them from their own kind.

The fact that he was only encouraging a jealousy amongst many of the new blue and brownriders was not something B’jin was consciously aware of, though he likely wouldn’t have been surprised nor done anything in particular to stop them. After all, a greenriders’ proper place was below that of the blue, brown and bronze fellows and while B’jin wouldn’t treat his young greenlings unfairly, eh wouldn’t scold the others for doing so. They needed to learn their place, preferably before they ended up in a painful situation!

In contrast to the way B’jin could often be seen petting the green dragonets, he rarely pet a blue and never openly touched the brown dragons, almost always keeping what he considered a respectful distance from the creatures, though it was fuelled mostly by his own fears and insecurities, though he was, again, almost entirely unaware of his actions and the odd undertones he was using to educate the class in the dragon hierarchy.

“You should keep practising every day,” B’jin continued, smiling lightly at Larrikith as the pudgy green dragon trotted over and fluttered her wings before sitting down just outside of the two dragonets and their young riders-to-be, tail wrapping around her feet as she watched them. “But not so much that you get headaches, which will be a pretty clear indicator that you’re concentrating too hard.” He grinned, and tossed a wink to Talian. “You’ll probably get a few before you really get the knack of mindspeaking, but once you figure it out, you’ll find it pretty effortless.”

Then your only headaches will come from babbling companions, Larrikith put in cheerfully, chirping with amusement when B’jin shot her a dry look. What? You think very loudly, for someone with such a thick skull.

Snorting, B’jin stuck his tongue out at her.