Mentorship Woes [Ageno]

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza was pacing the halls of the lower caverns, fretting. Eggs were on the sands now, it couldn't be too much longer before they would hatch. The Candidatemaster had told them they should seek out mentors, experienced riders to help guide them through weyrlinghood. The problem was, Costanza was still pretty new to Fort, and he had largely kept to interacting with just the other candidates. The few riders he had met were all incompetent in his mind, and the last thing he wanted was to get stuck with a rider who was barely qualified for their job.

"Oh, what am I going to do?!" He moaned as he walked down the hall for what seemed like the hundredth time. Babu was perched on his shoulder, not sure how to handle his human's anxieties. The flit had opted for gently nuzzling Costanza's cheek periodically, but it wasn't helping much.

"How in the world am I going to find someone who will mentor me? It's not like I'm just going to stumble over a mentor. I guess I could try sitting with random riders in the dining hall, but that seems like so much work! Can't they just assign someone to me? Make it easier for all of us? I swear, if I was in charge--"

The thought was cut off as he rounded the corner and crashed into someone. He fell backwards, landing on his rear. Babu let out a distressed squawk.

"Hey watch where you're going! I'm walking here!" He yelled at the other person.

[Agenothree]

Though nothing in particular had put her on edge, Tess was in a downright foul mood. Perhaps she woke up wrong, perhaps her weyrmate looked at her funny, perhaps Kazeroth was feeling like she might rise soon, but regardless what reason was behind her attitude today, it would be a terrible thing to cross Tess. And that's exactly what Costanza did. Rounding a corner at a fast walk, Tess crashed into someone she didn't see coming, though she had heard some muttering and moaning she'd mistakenly chalked up to a faraway echo, staggering a few steps before recovering herself. A vicious snarl twisted her face as she glared down at who'd bumped into her, secretly quite glad he'd fallen on his ass so she could look down at him, and made an incensed noise at his complaint. "Watch where I'm going?!" she seethed, her voice shrill in fury. "Try putting a little more focus into where you're walking and less on complaining about what it is you're complaining about." Tess glowered some more at Costanza and crossed her arms, not offering to help him up as a dragonrider should, clearly adamant on continuing to fight.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza slowly climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. Babu nuzzled Costanza's neck, trying to soothe his bonded. "Jeez, if you're going to get that angry running into someone, you should be the one watching where you're going! You're lucky I wasn't holding anything valuable or fragile."

As he stood, he realized he was significantly taller than the woman who had managed to topple him. It was a small comfort to know he had her beat on height, even if he couldn't go blow for blow with her on temperament. "Besides, you'd be complaining too if you were in my shoes! They want me to find a rider to be my mentor in case I impress, but I don't know any riders! I only transferred here at the beginning of the turn. How do they expect me to know anyone when all my time is spent doing drudge work or getting attacked by whers?! It's insanity!" He was starting to get hysterical, gesturing as he spoke and captured Tess in his pit of despair.

[Agenothree]

"Fragile like your ego?" Tess countered in amazing speed, narrowing her eyes as he got to his feet and stood quite a bit taller than her. As often as she had to look up at others, given her height in contrast, she always found it made her uneasy, which didn't help her mood. As Costanza went on to explain his predicament, she listened in growing irritation, her frown morphing into a sneer of distaste. "Sounds like that's your issue to get sorted," she spat, clearly not interested in listening to Costanza further. "Being a Candidate isn't all sunshine and rainbows, you know. Being able to work hard and face adversity is all part of being a dragonrider, seeing as we fight Thread, so a Candidate needs to be able to manage both. It's supposed to give those like you a chance at being fit to Stand, but it looks like Searchriders are really lowering standards for who's an acceptable Candidate."

Trying to calm herself before she got herself into trouble, Tess sighed harshly. "Look, I'm not your Candidatemaster and I'm not your mother, thank Faranth for that," she went on, arms crossed on her chest as she regarded him unpleasantly. "But one word of advice? Crashing into dragonriders isn't going to get one to mentor you."

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza had a very fragile ego, but he didn't like being called out on it, especially by some random person he had literally bumped into in the hallway.

"I'm aware that being a candidate is hard work, trust me, I know! I've got enough chores and homework going on right now to keep me busy for the rest of the turn. But now they want us to be networking? I'm not a Holder trying to make political allegiances. I'm trying to be a rider, and if you're any indication, I don't need to have immaculate social skills to be one."

He did a doubletake as he processed what had been said by both of them, then quickly glanced at her knots to confirm. "Wait a minute! You're a rider! You can tell me how to get a mentor!" He was suddenly excited, cheerful even. He changed his tone to be softer, more polite.

"So tell me, what did you do to get a mentor when you were a candidate? I bet a rider like yourself can provide some great pointers to your junior."

[Agenothree]

Tess' face twisted into a snarl as Costanza commented on her social skills, unwittingly driving his point home. "That's ridiculous," she retorted. "Getting a dragonrider to mentor you involves you not being completely socially inept, something you clearly need to work on." But as Costanza switched directions and made note that she herself was a dragonrider, alarm and horror made her chest tighten, though her eyes narrowed rather than widened. "Are you as deaf as you are graceless?" she hissed. "I told you, I'm not your Candidatemaster or your mother. I'm not going to hold you hand and tell you what to do!" At his softer voice, she growled to herself in disgust. "So quit trying to cozy up to me and get an easy ride, understand?" she added curtly.

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Oh come on!" Costanza yelled, flopping his hands against his thighs in frustration. "Are you really so heartless that you'd let your clearly struggling junior wallow in misery? Can't you give me anything? A hint, a tip, anything to help me out?" He was red in the face and sweating now, completely flustered.

Did everyone in this weyr want to see candidates suffer? That had to be it. Between the camping trip and now needing to find a mentor, the older members of the weyr clearly had some kind of unspoken agreement to make the candidates as miserable as possible. That was the only explanation that made any sense.

"If you don't want to help me, fine! I'll find someone else. Clearly you're not up to the task of providing aid to your junior. I'll find a better rider to help me." He turned to storm off.

[Agenothree]

Tess said nothing, arms crossed on her chest as she let Costanza rant to his heart's content, though her expression steadily soured as he went on. But her thoughts went to her own time as a Candidate, how adamant she was on going solo and how hard it was as a result, no matter that she ended up okay today. Perhaps she could spare Costanza that struggle, though her gut told her to let him discover through adversity what he ought to do. As he started to storm off, she sighed loudly. "Wait." Tess' voice was flat as she called him to stop, regarding him from where she stood in a look that spoke of how conflicted she was. While she wanted to let Costanza go sulk, to move on in her day and forget about him completely, something told her to give him, at minimum, a basic suggestion. "Really, you should find a better dragonrider," she admitted, frowning as she spoke. "I'm no shining example to live up to and no paragon of greatness to emulate, that's for forsking sure. But you want some advice? Do something about your miserable attitude. That's how you get someone to consider mentoring you. Clearly, you need to work on that, but seeing as someone like me managed to pull through, I guess it's possible you might too."

[FirebrandPhlox]

Costanza turned as the rider called for him to wait. He was hopeful, maybe she was coming around to him! All she had though was a bland piece of advise about fixing his attitude. He already knew he had a miserable attitude, and an off-putting personality to boot! That wasn't helpful, it was just stating the obvious.

"I'll try to not be panic-stricken as I fret about the entirety of my future, thanks," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Time to lie and just pretend everything is hunky-dory until I can sucker someone into mentoring me. Thanks for the advice!" He called to Tess as he turned back to leave. Honestly, what had he even expected, trying to butter up someone like that? He'd have to find a nice person who could act as a mentor. Maybe he could start watching different groups of riders at meals, find the ones who seemed pleasant enough and try to get in good with them.