Brotherly Love~ (Lellen and Salar)

[Zen]

It was an exceptional day considering it was closing in on winter. Lellen had actually left behind a heavier wherhide jacket in favor of a lighter overshirt, and lying here in the sun he was almost tempted to remove that was well, until a chill breeze swept over and reminded him it was indeed midautumn and not midsummer. It sure felt good though, and there were nice fluffy clouds out and about as well, dashed with color here and there as dragons flew overhead in practice drills or other Weyr business.

He reached up to trace shapes out of the clouds as they floated by, off to some other part of Pern... most of those shapes turned out to be dragons. His head was so filled with them, even more so when there was a clutch on the sands. The memories of past hatchings that he'd stood for were replaced by each successive one, and by daydreams where he had actually Impressed. It was hard to remember just how many he'd stood for, though he at least knew he'd been standing for around three Turns. If he wanted he could estimate just about how many hatchings there had been in that time, but who wanted to think about figures when it was such a nice day...? Who wanted to think about figures ever really?

He gave a light snort of laughter at that. He hated figures. So boring... and he'd always forget what step he was on and have to start over again when it came to the more complicated stuff. Bronze Greth flew over with the old Weyrleader G'brel on his back, interrupting his unpleasant thoughts on figures. He'd met the older man on a couple occasions and found him rather stuffy and old fashioned. If he was going to be a dragonrider of Western he was glad G'brel wasn't going to be his Weyrleader any more, though he couldn't say he really knew the new Weyrleader at all... maybe he was worse? He sighed and closed his eyes; it didn't really matter. He just wanted to enjoy his free time before A'zael called them back for more chores or some candidate lesson he'd already been through.

[brete]

Wiping sweat from his forehead Salar made his way to the weyrbowl. He'd been working in the kitchens again and his mother wanted him to find his flighty brother. She hadn't seen him all day and was convinced he had forgotten to eat. So it was up to Salar to reign him in and get his mind out of the clouds and back to earth. Salar really did love his brother but Lellen was just always out there, it was hard for Salar to understand him sometimes. Lellen was the kind of guy girls went crazy for, he was sensitive, dreamy and a bit too sweet for his own good. Salar wished he could hold so much charm with the ladies, even if he held his own it was no where near Lellen's ability.

Spotting the other twin laying out in the sun looking at the clouds Salar laughed and shook his head. He should have known Lellen would be up to some such silly behavior. Walking up quietly he reached down and poked his twin on the forehead. "You know someday I'm going to just dump dragon droppings on you. You leave yourself open you egg brain. Speaking of which have you ate today? Mom is convinced you have yet to get around to such a mundane task." Grinning widely at his brother he sat down next to him. Lellen may be his opposite but he was one of the few people Salar knew he could talk to and not be ridiculed. "I'm a bit nervous about the egg touching. I heard today it should be happening in the next day or two. How do they feel? Do you get any connection with the dragon inside?" he asked happily. The one benefit of having a brother beat you to search is that you could ask him what you needed to. Lellen was calm and usually just said whatever he Thoth so Salar knew he could ask him and get an honest opinion.

[Zen]

He’d almost started to doze when he felt a prod on his forehead, his eyes opening slowly, sleepily, to his brother’s face peering down at him. He blinked a few times as he reconnected with reality. “Dragon droppings…? At least make sure my mouth isn’t open if you do,” he gave a soft grin and yawned. Scratching his stomach, he glanced back to his brother as he asked if he’d eaten, “Mmf… I had breakfast… I think.” He scratched at his chin, trying to remember what he’d eaten if indeed he had… but he didn’t really feel hungry so that must mean he was right. Who cares what he’d eaten as long he had anyway. He shrugged, “Pretty sure I had breakfast… I’m not hungry now.”

When you got down to it Lellen was a pretty simple guy with a rather simple philosophy: eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired, try and have some fun in between. Some called him lazy for it, he wasn’t about to argue with the title. He knew he wasn’t the most productive person around and many times there were things he would much rather be doing than chores and lessons… but at least he did them. He wanted a dragon and being a candidate meant chores and lessons until you Impressed, and after that there was even more work and more lessons….

Salar was talking again and he looked over at him curiously. “Nervous? S’just a bunch of eggs, nothing really to be nervous about,” he chuckled, “You can be nervous at the hatching, that’s where things can go bad.” He chewed his lip lightly, thinking about past egg touchings, trying hard to separate fact from fiction. “I dunno… might be my imagination sometimes… but mostly they feel smooth… maybe a little rough, depending on the egg… warm… sometimes bumpy… and every once in a while it sorta seems like… maybe… one or two might just be calling to you….” He trailed off, gazing up at the clouds again, drifting off a little, but then he blinked himself out of it and laughed, “Like I said though… maybe it’s just my imagination… I mean, I haven’t walked off the sands with a dragon yet, why would one call to me and then not Impress to me?”

“Anyway, most you gotta worry about at the egg touching is the mother, and Orlaith’s pretty easygoing so long as you’re nice and polite. A’zael told us before her last egg touching that she can’t stand rudeness and just might kick you off the sands for it, I’m sure he’ll give the same little speech before this one.” He rolled toward his brother, onto his side, and started drawing in the dirt unconsciously, trailing his finger through to make little scribbles. He grinned up at Salar, “I’m sure you’ll Impress high… the Bronzes and Blacks always seem to like aggressive types like you. I’d be happy enough with a Green… could make for some fun.” His grin widened as he was of course referring to how often Greens rose to mate. Lellen was quite the ‘typical’ young male when it came to such things, though he couldn’t care less if he was with a female or another male. Either one could be fun.

[brete]

Ah Lellen! His school of thought consisted of do what you want when you want to if you can. If he was in the mood for a nap he did so no matter the place or what else could be done. Lellen was the care free brother. Which was probably why everyone loved him so much. There was no pressure to Lellen, he was just easy to love. You didn't have to worry about competing with him, or making him upset, or really doing much at all to get on his bad side. Not like with Salar, Salar was the resident difficult egg. It rubbed him a bit that others thought of Lellen as the nice one and Salar the hard headed, over achiever. Lellen of course never thought these things so Salar knew it would be bad to hold it against him. Lellen was just who he was and Salar had to deal with the fact that everyone preferred him. It was good in a way it actually drove Salar to work harder.

"Well you can be the one to tell her you 'think' you ate. You know she can be a clutched queen when we do things she thinks are detrimental to our health. Mother is the queen of our hearth and it's best to just appease her." he chuckled at this. His mother was a bit over protective.

"As to being nervous, well yes I know they are a bunch of eggs but they are filled with little baby dragons that could be our bonded. I want this more than anything. ...so you think there might be a connection though. Maybe you struck a chord with the ones you felt but it just wasn't the right one yet. I think a fun dragon is going to pop out of one of those eggs and head right for you and knock you on your rump." Salar said grinning widely. It would be great fun to see his brother flattened by a dragonet.

"I am a bit aggressive but I can see a brown liking you as well. You are fun and at the same time people listen to you. You'd make a great wingsecond. As to me impressing high ....I don't know I hope I do..I'd love a big smart dragon, but like you I'd be happy with a little blue as long as I could fight thread and bond. I have this hole in my soul that just tells me a bonded is waiting for me. Don't you feel as if you are missing something and that a dragon is the perfect fit for your heart?" he asked earnestly. Salar had just had this conversation with Zyika and it still stood true.

[Zen]

Lellen only smiled when Salar told him he could tell their mother himself whether he’d eaten or not. Chances were she’d probably shove some sort of edible at him just to make sure he had eaten and give him some sort of scolding about it. She scolded him a lot for his spacey, forgetful nature, but he knew it was only half-hearted, “Yeah, I’ll tell her. Later.” If he didn’t forget.

“Trust me, Salar… there really is nothing to be nervous about at an egg touching. The hatching… the hatching is where you’re nervous. The eggs can’t choose you are deny you… they’re just…,” he waved his hand in the air, “There. It can be kind of… I dunno… amazing though, if you do feel that pull toward any certain eggs… but it can also be disappointing… when they don’t choose you later.” He shrugged and yawned, then laughed at the image Salar’s words gave him of some overly eager dragonet of an unknown color romping right into him and knocking him off his feet.

“A wingsecond huh?” He rolled over onto his back again, pillowing his head on his arms, “Mm… too much work,” he shot his brother a silly grin. Lellen was not all ambitious, he just wanted a dragon. Honestly, the lower color the better, less responsibility and less work to do. He couldn’t imagine how long it would take to bathe and oil one of the larger colors when they were full grown. And his memory wasn’t much better than a dragon’s at times; he figured that wouldn’t be such a great trait among wingseconds.

“Anyway I’d rather have a smaller, faster dragon… one I could maybe do some fun aerial maneuvers with. Though… Browns are supposed to be stable most of the time right? I mean… feet planted firmly on the ground and all that. Might be good for me,” he chuckled and looked over at Salar to see what he might have to say on the subject. Lellen knew well that his head was in the clouds more often than not, “And I’ve heard a lot of times dragons sort of balance out their rider, so maybe I’ll Impress one anyway.”

He was quite for a little while, thinking about the ‘hole’ Salar had mentioned. He watched another cloud float by overhead that to him looked distinctly like a dragon, its wings slowly moving in a downward motion as the cloud shifted its shape. He reached up as if to pluck it out of the sky, closing his hand on nothing and holding it there for a moment before dropping it back to his side, “A longing… a yearning… an empty place that… needs to be filled with… something.”

He shifted uncomfortably and glanced over at Salar once more, “Sure…. Honestly if I never Impress… I don’t really know what I’ll do. I suppose I could try and be a Harper,” he grimaced at the thought, “But I’m not… good… at anything else. I don’t want to do anything else.” He was rather like a stubborn child on that point, one of the only times he would ever show any sort of stubborn nature. He did not want to be anything but a dragonrider, and so that was what he would be… or he would be nothing.

[brete]

So Lellen wanted a smaller dragon? That didn't surprise Salar very much, Lellen liked to have fun and wasn't big on responsibility. Salar could see him on a Blue or Green just as easily. Probably more so the Green for the pure fact that Lellen was a bit of a horny dragon tail of a guy. Salar had known for a long time that Lellen probably didn't care much if it was a male or female who paid him attention, so the choice made perfect sense. Salar looked up at the clouds as he imagined what dragons he and his brother might impress. Salar would love a bronze of black, he had always thought it would be nice to chase the rising dragons. Salar may not be as horny toad as Lellen but he had his fair share of female admiration in him. Looking back down at Lellen he grinned from ear to ear.

"I can see you riding Green...you always did prefer fun over achievement. I'd be not a bit surprised if you impressed Blue either. You were always the fun loving twin...'Salar is so serious....Lellen is so sweet and full of life.'...remember when everyone would say that? It used to drive me shell crazy that everyone seemed to like you better. Now though I understand that it's more that you are just easy to be around and I'm a pain in the hide. I don't mind though, I want to impress high and if my ambition impresses a dragon then I'm even more glad for it."

He knew that if Lellen and he did not impress his father would be very upset and let them know very adamantly that no son of his would be left dragonless. Salar hated that his father was even more obsessed with them impressing than they were themselves. It put undue pressure on him and he was to the point now that he was ready to tell his father to shard off and find a new hobby. It was a good thing it took so much for Lellen to be upset or pressured. Salar would never have kept his peace for so long if he felt their father was harassing Lellen. Lellen was a free spirit and didn't need any undue pressure or fear. It would seem almost unnatural for Lellen to be worried about something. When Lellen said he didn't know what he would do if he didn't impress Salar knew how he felt. Their whole lives they had dreamed of this and had expected it to happen...like all young do. So now that it was coming down to the wire they were in even more trouble for not having prepared for the alternative.

"I'm right there with you brother. I really only ever saw myself as a dragonrider. I mean I know how to do all the things around a weyr that a dragonless person would do but still I don't think they would suit me or you for that matter. The simple thought of you as a Harper is amusing Lellen. You have always hated class. I'd be more suited to that than you would." he lightly punched Lellen on the shoulder and laughed ridiculously. "Can you imagine having to sit with a bunch of children around you for the rest of your life teaching the same ballads over and over again?"