Hiding Your Fear [Merry & Atlas]

[nineofswords]

Yuelith was perfect. She was sweet and kind and wonderful, and Ry'n was terrified that he was going to ruin her with all of his anxious thoughts. His fellow weyrlings were nice enough, but the few times he'd tried to ease into the subject they hadn't seemed to feel the same. And even if they had, they knew as much as he did and wouldn't be helpful. And the weyrlingmasters...well. They seemed nice, but...well, Camilla had a confidence to her, so even if Ry'n was comfortable with her, he suspected she wouldn't really understand his problem. And K'ora...K'ora intimidated him a little. They didn't think she meant to, but even if she hadn't, she also had a big personality that made them think she wouldn't get his problem either.

So he'd sent a message to his old candidatemasters, Pomegranate and Thalia, asking if he could meet with one or both of them. They were both nice, neither had quite the big personalities that Camilla and K'ora had, and most importantly, both had experience with Ry'n. They'd know what he was like, they'd know that he'd keep worrying about this even if they told him not to. He'd given them a general sense of what he wanted to talk about: He was worried about negatively effecting his new partner and wanted to ask them for advice and possibly techniques to keep her safe.

Before his meeting, he'd made sure Yuelith had eaten. She always got drowsy afterwards, and he usually had to help her stay awake, but today he let her nap. It would be...easiest to talk about this without her there to assure him that he was fine. He needed to hear it from someone who wasn't going to be affected by his constant negative thoughts in the long run, who'd successfully gotten their dragons through weyrlinghood, presumably unscathed.

When he was facing down the door to the weyrlingmasters' office, though, his heart was in his throat. What if they didn't take this seriously? What if they didn't help him? Then I'll have to suck it up and ask Camilla or K'ora, he told himself, savagely shoving away the anxiousness "what ifs" his brain kept circulating. And if they won't help me, I'll go to the healers, or look through the records for something to help. There's always options. With this reassurance, he knocked on the door.

[memerina]

It felt like relief, after an almost perfect hatching, to Thalia. Nothing had gone wrong.

Well - some of the Candidates had been hurt, but that was par for the course, for dragonets. Nobody was damaged to a point that would be come horrifically debilitating for anyone involved; bumps and bruises were recoverable. And - miraculously, she supposed, especially as a complete far cry from her days as a Candidate, nobody threw a fit about the dragon they impressed, whether it be due to colour or anything else. Which, spectacularly, even with this many eggs?! Two thirds of which were blues and greens?? It was, quite honestly, a miracle that never would've even been thought of five turns ago.

Galdeneth was a far more relaxed gold than Aldoeith had been, though. She'd first chosen a garnet as a sire, and then a blue; whereas Aldoeith made her intentions clear from the start. She was always going to pick browns and bronzes, she was a regal, traditional sort that stirred the Weyr simply by existing. Galdeneth had simply brought nothing but calm. That wasn't to say a paranoia didn't lurk deep within her, just waiting for something to go wrong. Something to flip the entire Weyr on its head again - moreso than something like an influx of holders or holdless.

She startled to attention when the door knocked; not long after the hatching, of course, it was more than likely going to be a Candidate upset they didn't impress, or perhaps... were they looking for advice to secure an impression in the future? Maybe someone wanted to quit...?

But, no, surprise marked her expression as she opened the door to Ry'n, who-- had impressed. Without his brothers, nonetheless, even with nineteen eggs. Perhaps it was a force of habit on his part, coming once again to the Candidatemaster rather than the Weyrlingmaster?

Oh, well, she best see what it is exactly he needs. He wouldn't have made that mistake. "Ah, er, Ry'n, is it, now? Is there anything you need?"

[nineofswords]

Ry'n blinked a few times in surprise at Thalia's question, then shrunk in on themselves a little in embarrassment. "Oh...uh, yeah, actually. Sorry, um...I'd sent a note, but I guess Pomegranate didn't tell you about it." Did that mean she didn't think this was important, wasn't worth either of their time? Had she blown him off? Was he going to be told he was overreacting?

Abruptly, Ry'n straightened, throwing off any bashfulness and shaking his head to clear it of the worries running through their mind. "Right, um...well, you know how I impressed a green, yeah? Her name is Yuelith, and she's...she's everything I could ever want in a partner. But I'm worried..." Shocker of the century there, really. "I'm worried, because she's so sweet and upbeat and I'm...well...I mean...you know how I am. And I just...I don't want to ruin her somehow."

He took a deep breath. "I...I want to learn some techniques that'll protect her from...well, all the stuff in my head. I know I'll learn them eventually, but I just...I feel like I need to know it now."