[PRP] Legacy (Dehka/Dorok)

[demon_pachabel]

A gold had risen over High Reaches once again - something that Dorok's father had been more than happy to remind his son, again and again. A few more stones to add to the pile he carried on his shoulders. He'd failed, as far as E'rok was concerned, to impress from the previous clutches he'd stood for...but E'rok had some opinions as to why that may have been better for him. There were opinions about brown sires and favored mates being blue (even if the father had been bronze) - things that Dorok didn't necessarily agree with.

But the bottom line had been the same - he had to shape up or have the man breathing down his neck.

Needless to say, the young man looked as harrowed and burdened as he usually did when he was set to his chores. It was just helping wash a dragon, but....it was a bronze and that meant something. Even if that made his chest a little tighter and his heart thump a little harder. The weyrlake wasn't the worst place to spend chore time, though.

Tsunake

If you're guessing 'is it Meigth?' u right

 

[Tsunake]

"I can't believe Zenobiath rose!" Dehka was saying excitedly, talking to both fellow candidate and the dragon he was assisting in bathing. His father would not be exempt from the conversation either, if the man was listening. "Her mother came from outside of the Weyr, but her sire, Takarath was from Eveleth's fourth clutch. I wonder if how large her first clutch will be.... Maybe Thread's influence will give us a larger number of eggs than we've seen from other queens and their maiden flights."

With yet another clutch on the way, it was almost impossible for him to contain his natural enthusiasm when it came to dragon lineages and the like. His first Hatching, though leaving both him and Kahbrohm scarred and a person dead... being able to interact with the young dragons within the shells and watching them then go on to Impress their destined riders had been incredible.

It had been a whole Turn, he realized with a start. Those 'young dragons' were now adults... and fully fledged protectors of Pern. Dehka made sure to be especially gentle as he carefully bathed the scar tissue that stretched onto the bronze's chest. "Tell me if I'm being too rough, Meigth." He murmured, pausing to pet at that soft, glittering hide before he resumed. "I can't wait to see what happens." He peeked at Dorok, knowing the other had... well, expectations that he'd been (unfairly, in Dehka's opinion), burdened with.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

She is a fully matured gold - it would have been surprising for it to take longer, Meigth reminded, well aware that what Dehka actually couldn't believe was less about plausibility and more about what was to come. The bronze bumped his snout against the top of the young boy's head, then looked to Dorok - who stiffened uncomfortably under the dragon's gaze. After a moment of consideration, Meigth booped him as well.

"What about that clutch from the Beach? Couldn't you use that one as a standard of comparison?" Dorok asked, trying to escape from the doting of the paternal dragon to scrub along the base of his neck. Meigth's rider wasn't any more calming in presence to him, standing on the large bronze's back to scrub between his wings. Were all bronze riders so......much?

Would I be able to be that much? Would... Dorok's shoulders tightened as the words of his father loomed over him. Would not impressing a bronze mean he wasn't enough of...anything?

"We all know what the best thing that could happen is, right?" N'ori asked with his beaming smile, waiting to see if either of the boys would give the answer he was actually looking for.

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

"I know, I know!" The boy acknowledged with a laugh, reaching up to lovingly place his hand against the side of Meigth's snout once he was booped. "I just... I remember watching when they were hatched. It feels special, somehow..." Dehka's smile broadened when Dorok received some of Meigth's attention as well, pleased that his dragon dad liked his friend.

Dehka's eyes widened briefly at the mention of the beach clutch, and for a moment, he looked... well, completely stunned. "Of course! Dorok, you're amazing!" He groaned, thumping his palm against his forehead. "I don't know why I didn't think of that! Susrinth and Cordrath had twenty-eight eggs.... so a little higher than average, but certainly not as many as Rhianth and Fianth... Zenobiath should fall somewhere between twenty and thirty eggs, if that's true." The boy was thinking hard, pausing briefly in his scrubbing...

He lit up again once his father spoke, grinning up at him. "That all the eggs hatch, the dragonets are healthy, and they find Theirs without issue!" He answered promptly. That was, of course, the best outcome he could think of.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Not all dragons from her clutch made it - it makes you appreciate that she did, Meigth hummed deeply in his chest, a somewhat mournful sound for the little blue who had been lost Between those turns ago.

That Meigth even remembered that - cared enough to consider it - struck Dorok oddly. Did they really have the time to mourn such a thing even now? Why did they even remember? It felt so...uncharacteristic next to what he grew up with. "Rhianth and Fianth are experienced clutching golds, and they had their clutches farther into Threadfall - so maybe even up to thirty two I'd say if Threadfall's progression means anything for a clutch's size, right?" Thirty two did feel like an awfully large clutch for a Maiden Flight - and one with an inexperienced father.

"Tha-" Dorok had begun to awkwardly answer N'ori when Dehka spoke up, giving his answer without any hesitation in it. The young man stared at him for a moment.

"That's right! And we know the easiest way to help with that, right?" N'ori beamed approvingly at Dehka's answer, leaving Dorok floundering under the whiplash of expectations compared to what he was used to.

"We...follow the candidatemaster's rules?"

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

Dehka's exuberance dimmed briefly at the reminder, his nod more solemn. Nothing more needed to be said, and he quietly sent a private thought for the blue dragon. Yes. He did appreciate that she had--that so many of her clutch had. Just like he was grateful that no more than two had been lost Between for the double clutch...

He was jerked back from his increasingly melancholy thoughts, glancing at Dorok with a startled expression before it grew thoughtful. "Possibly, yes!" Thirty-two eggs for a Maiden Flight.... that'd be incredible, wouldn't it? "But I guess we'll only really know when they've been laid." He grinned, knowing all of his speculations didn't mean much in the end.

A flash of sympathy raced across his face, seeing how off-balance his friend seemed, and Dehka quickly grinned at him with encouragement. "Right." He agreed with a decisive nod. It was.... shameful, knowing that they as Candidates had acted so embarrassingly during past Hatchings. Their inability to remain calm and positive had resulted in upset dragons, maulings.... even death. "We need to be in control of ourselves and welcoming. And we should help our fellows, if they seem to be struggling."

Even if that meant, for Dehka, leaping in front of an angry dragonet and its intended target.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Dorok squared up his shoulders, pushing away the feeling he was intruding upon something between Dehka and his father - a man worlds away from his own father. His lips tightened slightly as he instead focused his attention into scrubbing into that bronze hide. The pleasant rumble of the dragon under his hands was soothing, at least.

"It isn't so bad to hope, though," even if he'd tied his heart into knots over hope. What was he really hoping for? Oh, he could have sent himself into a downward spiral toying with the question too much - nothing he did was good enough.

At least one of those girls shouldn't have impressed at all - running at baby dragons, crying off to the side on the sands.......there were better people for it. His chest tightened and a tense frown threatened to tear his face apart when - boop! Dorok nearly startled as Meigth nudged his snout against the boy's head again. It is not so easy. Even yours will have made the choice with great deliberation when the time comes. Perhaps they would be curled up in their egg, dreaming about it following the touching.

But first they had to be laid.

"I know. I just...." he frowned again. He wanted them - and maybe for all of the wrong reasons.

Meigth hummed and gently nudged his snout against Dehka's head in turn. There is no need for either of you to worry.

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

"Oh!" Dehka blushed with embarrassment, shaking his head. "No, no, of course not! I... I hoped a little, at one of Fianth's eggs..." He grinned as though ashamed to admit such a thing, thinking wistfully of the feeling he'd gotten when he'd touched Izdubath's egg. Luckily, the bronze had found his lifemate after valiantly trying to protect others from his upset green cousins.

Of course, he knew that even his own behavior had been... less than stellar, and though it chafed at him, all he could do was learn from it and do better. He had to. He saw Dorok frown and found his heart clenching with worry, only for the pressure in his chest to alleviate some when Meigth reached down to gently boop the top of his head once more.

"I think it's just.... We all want to do so well, and we all... want to hope that the dragon for us is there." He admitted, reaching up to press his hand against that warm, bronze snout. I know we shouldn't worry but..."

There was so much to worry about it.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Meigth rumbled into Dehka's hand for a moment before he turned his attention back to N'ori, who dutifully started scrubbing around the dragon's headknobs. "I can't imagine there not being a dragon in High Reaches for either of you - or your brother," while things had been admittedly tense for a while, Kahbrohm and N'ori had been.....working on it.

"Hope the best for the babies and the one for you will come to you," he assured.

Dorok's lips twisted into an uneasy mix of a smile and a frown. It was....a lot to want. "As long as it wants me for the right reasons," and not just because of some nonsense he was filling his head with. He was being ridiculous and he knew it. "High Reaches has long shadows to stand in," and he tormented himself with it.

Then shine! Cast away the shadows of others!

Tsunake