The Match is Met! (Open)

[Missa]

Kai was angry, understandably in his mind, his stupid brat of a sister had gone off again! Without his permission! No doubt she was getting herself into trouble, or weeping to people how cruel he was. Ah well, who would believe a weakling like her over someone like him? Jai hissed in agreement from his shoulder and Kai merely tossed his hair out of his eyes.
"Brat." It was seconds after this that he ran into someone, smaller than him but strangely, he was the one the staggered.

"Watch it you pathetic-"
"Say another word and I'll make you swallow it." Had he ever heard a woman's voice so cold? Looking down, he met the coldest gaze he'd ever seen, but there was something there as well, a sadness? Huh, well, she was probably just some weakling that didn't understand pain. Coward.
"Who the shard are you?" He snarled, only to step back as the woman's eyes flashed with anger.

Zadari wasn't used to anger, she'd kept to herself mostly, now, staring into this candidate's eyes, she couldn't help but feel a surge of it. What a rude little ... Something. It was good though, to feel something other than that emptiness that haunted her most days.
"Who am I? Who the shard are you?" She asked, eyes narrowing dangerously as he puffed up. Oh how dearly she wanted to hit him, it would just make all her misery go for about three seconds.
"I'm Kaiser, a candidate, and this is my bronze Jai." He seemed rather proud, until Zadari gave him a non too gentle shove.

"Really? Well, I'm Zadari of Sitath." She was too, no lying about that, in Zadari's mind, she would always be Sitath's rider. Sepearated or not. Thinking about it brought on a surge of grief, and it was hard to keep that angry glare on the boy infront of her.
"You're a rider?" He asked, scoffing slightly, as Zadari raised a brow, there was no way out of this one.
"I was. I'm still your superior though." Hah, anyone and anything was superior to him.
"Excuse me?"
"Not very smart are you?" A fist swung, such a silly boy, she'd said she was a dragon rider no? Ducking swiftly, Zadari merely danced out of reach, cold eyes on him.
"What you won't hit back?"
"I'd rather not get my hands dirty by dealing with dirt."

[K'tran]

M'zil just wanted a mug of klah from the lower caverns, but instead, he walked in on a fight. Just as he walked through the door, he saw a candidate boy throw a punch at a woman. She ducked with surprising agility, even giving the boy a perfect comeback. M'zil smiled slightly and stepped into the room, coming to stand beside the woman.

"What gives you the right to hit anyone, candidate?" He asked, emphasizing the last word. Candidates were below everyone in the Weyr until they earned their dragon. "I think it's my duty as dragonrider to report you to the Candidate Master."

Shards...do we even have a Candidate Master? He shrugged that thought off. If they didn't, he could always report the boy to the Weyrwoman, which would be even more fun.

"What do you think, my Lady?" He asked the woman, hoping she didn't mind that he had interrupted their fight.

[S'cyn]

As it so happened, L'cos came up right after M'zil. As soon as he heard the words hit and candidate, he was not very happy anymore.

" What is going on here...ah...M'zil right?" He recognized the other Blue rider easily...well because there weren't that many around yet. He looked at the two...both Candidates actually, yet one with a special circumstance. He could see it in her face. Zadari. Was all he heard from Endath.

" Fighting? Really now...It's a beautiful day and someone should be trying to put a smile on your face Zadari, not punch it out." He went over to her side, glaring at the boy. " And you are? Come on now, I could really use a name to tell the Candidate Master...or I can ask Endath."

[Missa]

Someone walked up, and Zadari bristled at his words, she was handling this jsut fine! She wasn't some weak minded little girl that needed big men to come help her. Even as she opened her mouth to say this, she was forcibly reminded of Sitath's absence. She was only a candidate, the lowest in the ranks. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't be sour about it.
"He didn't hit me rider, I ducked." Saying this as though it was the most natural thing to miss, Zadari's eyes held no gratitude for his intervention.

Candidate Master? Pfft, what would that do? He'd lie his way out of it, he'd sulk and whine until the candidate master let him off with a slap on the wrist and no more. Zadari merely shrugged, before speaking in a low voice,
"I'm no lady. It matters not what I think." She muttered, eying the boy with a look that clearly spoke her desire to hang him off the heights.

How did these people know her name? Looking at the other rider with shock, Zadari was quickly reminded they had dragons. Wasn't L'cos a blue rider? Yes, he was. She made a point of avoiding them like Thread, but no matter what they seemed to find her, she only smiled tightly in response tot eh comment about smiles. Huh, she hadn't really smiled since she lost Sitath.

Kai was smart enough to know when he'd met his match, new when someone was of higher rank than he, and he immediately became the bashful, apologetic candidate.
"I'm sorry sir, I lost my temper, I'm working on it really, I'm sorry sir." He murmured, smiling in an almost friendly manner,
"It's Kaiser sir, Crysania's twin."

[S'cyn]

L'cos looked at Zadari for a second. His smile faded as Endath reminded him of the color of her lost dragon. His eyes immediately swam with emotion. If the circumstances were different, he probably would have brought her into a big hug...and got a slap for it or something to that effect.

" Dear Zadari, forgive me for being a reminder." He murmured into her ear.

Now he looked over as the male Candidate spoke up. Kaiser? Crysania's twin...hmmm. L'cos may be a gentle soul, but he didn't feel too gentle around this boy. There was just something about him that did not sit right with the Blue rider.

" Well, Kaiser. The Candidate Master will still hear of this, she will be very happy to help you....control your anger...before it gets you laid out by someone more experienced like this young woman here." L'cos let a touch of rare venom leak into his voice.

[Jasmine]

"Kaiser, huh? Just the candidate I was looking for. You will be coming with me immidately young man. Do not even try to worm your way out of this,"Jasmyn said, her voice was cold when she spoke.
She had her arms crossed over her chest. She was angry, that was clear, but she was keeping herself in check. Her eyes were cold as she watched the candidate.

Tidalwave say on her shoulder bobbing up and down with his wings flared. His eyes were bright red and whirling quickly. He was hissing softly, aggitated and having caught his mistress' anger toward this human-thing. He may be small, but he was a couragous thing, when it called for.

[Missa]

As it was, L'cos was lucky that Jasmyn showed up at that moment, or she would have slapped him, rider or no, pleasant or not. She was sick of them all offering their flase apologies, it wasn't like they understood the emptyness that losing a dragon caused. Dear Zadari. Oh faranth, he couldn't have just said that. All the little colour in Zadari's cheeks fled. No one had called her that for so long, not since Sitath's parting words, after the first time she'd screamed at them for speaking to her like her dragon would.
I love you Zadari, remember you were always Mine, I will always love you dear Zadari. In those last calm words, her beloved blue had jumped between, escaping her grasp forever. L'cos hadn't known that, he couldn't possibly understand the sudden crumbling of Zadari's mental walls, of the sudden slow tears trailing down her cheeks, eyes bleak with pain.

"More experienced?" Lashing out at L'cos, he'd caused this sudden crumbling, caused her to feel that raw pain, she was going to yell.
"You mean a man of course, I could take that good for nothing anytime, you- You-" She broke off, her voice catching on the smallest sob, if you could even call it that.

kaiser on the other hand, had paled the moment the weyrwoman showed up. Shards, Shards, Shards. He was dead, very dead. Glancing at the weyrwoman with what he hoped were innocent eyed, he forced himself to bow to her, bending slightly at the waist as Jai snarled at the blue. How dare that blue pipsqueak hiss at him?

"Have I done something wrong weyrwoman? Is Crys okay?" It was hard to hide the hope she wasn't, the malicious intent behind those words masked with an attempt at brotherly concern. Oh if he had anything to do with it, if she'd told someone, Crys wouldn't walk for a week... Or however long it took to heal after the beating he'd give his sister.

[S'cyn]

Oh shards! What have I done to this poor girl!? L'cos was in pain at the sight of what Zadari was going through. He was torn between two options as well.

Mine, she is in pain...constantly. You cannot know of this because I am still here. Endath was right after all, but L'cos had to do something.

The Weyrwoman had Kaiser under control, the rider could see that. The only other thing on his mind was Zadari and how it was his fault she had started to cry.

Suddenly, he was hugging her. He didn't care whether she beat him into a pulp or not, she needed someone to express her feelings on or toward.

" Zadari, please...I'm so sorry. I never meant to do anything to cause this, beat me if you like but I will not stop hugging you until you are not crying anymore or my arms are broken." He whispered this to her, tears glistening on his cheeks as well.

[Missa]

Naturally, Zadari's first instinct when she was hugged was to squirm away, was to fight this comfort that she'd denied herself. She didn't need him, he was a male, he was just like everyone else. She didn't want him anywhere near him. Thus was her reaction as she sent a panicked look Jasmyn's way, no one hugged her, ever, she didn't know how to react to this, her hands wouldn't move to push him away, they weren't curling into fists. They weren't responding as she squirmed.

Finally she cracked, she didn't want this man holding her, she wanted her dragon curling about her, she didn't want her Sitath to leave her completely. If she cried, he was really gone, if she grieved her dragons death, he was really dead. He couldn't come back... She froze, he couldn't. He wasn't coming back. If this hadn't sunk in before now, it was obvious it did now as Zadari made a sound that spoke so clearly of the torment in her soul, even Kaiser gave her concerned look.
"Bring him back." What ever sense those words made, didn't really matter as Zadari ( for the first time in her stubborn life) leant against someone, and cried.

Denial was a wonderful thing, it could last so long, and in Zadari's case, denial was probably better, she hated appearing weak, but more than that, like any rider, she wanted her dragon.
"Sitath, oh my baby, I want him back, my darling. My dragon, oh shards he's really gone." How it had taken the young blue rider nearly a turn to really realise this, was a mystery, though this was probably the least of poor L'cos' worries.
"Sitath.." the broken whipser of her deceased dragon's name...

[S'cyn]

L'cos was ready for fists, ready for kicking...he had made this choice. She squirmed at first, naturally resisting the hug. Then she had stopped and like a shock-wave she had begun to cry.

L'cos tightened his hug on her, tears on his face as well. " I know, I know Zadari. It's ok, I'm here to help you. Always here for you...I promise."

A hand reached up to stroke her hair reassuringly. " You can live Zadari...it's what he would have wanted, isn't it? I can't begin to understand your pain but I can help you." He smiled at her, looking into her teary eyes.

" I can be your friend. Endath can be your friend. You can Re-Impress, though a part of you will always belong to your first dragon. You don't have to deny your feelings." He wiped away some tears from her face, though he knew that she wasn't done crying.

He heard her whisper the dragon's name, heard Endath keen outside in rememberance. He continued to hold her.

[Missa]

No one had ever held onto her when she cried, she'd never cried for L'tarn, her weyrmate, nor her parents, nothing had struck her world so forcibly that she'd broken down like this. She didn't care that the candidate was watching her with the utmost disgust on his dark features, she didn't care. She wanted to just cry, she wanted to hear Sitath's voice echoing in her mind, filling those dark empty spaces with the love he'd brought so long before.

"Y-yes." She mumbled, Sitath would want her to live, but from the deadened tone in her voice, it would obviously be a matter of getting her to want to. More than anything, she would do absolutely anything to get Sitath back, to be with him again. Whether that meant waiting, waiting so many years, only to feel just as empty at the end, or to end it whenever she had a chance, she wanted Sitath.
"I don't want to!" She cried unhappily, almost tugging her head away from him in a burst of unhappiness, "I want my blue, I want my dragon! I don't want to live without him. It's just one bleak day after another..."

"Friends are all very well and good, they can be there when you're ready to cave, but I won't re-Impress. No dragon would choose me, I'm an ex dragon rider, I couldn't look after him, I let him die." Voice broke on another sob, Zadari's green eyes growing dark with teh emotional pain one with a dragon could only imagine. Reaching for that comfort that's never there...

[S'cyn]

" That's enough of that talk." L'cos said firmly. " You can re-Impress because you are strong, a dragon would be delighted to have you as its rider! And you will not let them die!" His eyes flashed with passion.

L'cos softened again. " You know he's gone now, but only in body. He will always be with you in memory and in your heart won't he Zadari? So as long as you live, Impression or no, he will live." He stroked her hair as he spoke.

" As for the constant sorrow you feel precious Zadari. Friends can help you to keep it away, being here at the weyr can even help! Now come on, give me a little smile...a real one." He smiled at her, holding her close. He wondered when anyone had last done anything remotely nice for this girl.

[Jasmine]

Jasmyn looked at Zadari, her expression breifly clearing before she turned her attention back to Kaiser.
"Come on, outside, now."She said.

She rested a hand on her blue to calm him. She sent him reassuring thoughts. Slowly he calmed down, but his eyes kept the red in them.

[Missa]

For a moment, Kai's expression was that of the darkest hatred anyone could think of having turned on them as he thought about his sister. From the tone in the weyrwoman's voice, he could tell. She'd told. She'd told the Weyrwoman and as soon as he got away from her, Kai was going to make sure she apologised. It was only the many thoughts of how he could accomplish this that got a smile back on the candidates face, albeit one that smacked of malicious intent.
"As you wish Weyrwoman. I'd like to know what's gotten you so angry though." His tone was pleasant enough, it was the way Jai was being restrained by his handler that showed the boy's anger, the bronze growling low in his throat with whirling red eyes.

Zadari could only shake her head, really, hr mind was in such turmoil, why would they choose her? Of all the more stable candidates, why her? She was standing as a favour to Jasmyn, as an extra body for the dragons to look through.
"I can't!" More than anything, Zadari was terrified to Impress, what if she couldn't do her duty as a rider again? What if that dragon, too, left her for the bleakness of between? Could she even survive that?

For a moment, she was silent, slowly relaxing witht eh gentle words and strokes to her hair, slowly, she was allowing the comfort to at least try and soothe her anguish. Slowly, she nodded,
"I'll never forget him." Or anything he'd taught her, or the feeling of love when she'd first looked into his eyes, and every time after ward.

The weyr, yes, her constant torture chamber, he was right in a way, she'd learnt to at least try and harden her heart to the sounds of happy dragons and their riders, had gone as far as to try and lock herself away until someone had to come and get her. A smile? She hadn't done that in so long, Zadari wasn't sure her lips were able to remember it. Slowly though, her lips curved, and she sniffed, scrubbing at her tears with one hand.

[S'cyn]

" Now see? You are so pretty when you smile." L'cos slowly reached up to move her hand away and wipe away her tears.

" But please listen to me Zadari, you can and will Impress because you are this strong! Look how strong you are! If I had lost Endath, I'd be dead by now. I admire you." L'cos wiped his own face a little.

" And if you don't, well then, you didn't fail. You still live. You are strong Zadari, and I wish that I knew someone like you a long time ago. You inspire me to do better." He smiled. " Even though we've just met."