The More the Merrier }{ OPEN; Caelen and Sharkal

[lredd011]

Kolben was glad he had run into Caelen, for the lower cavers were still somewhat of an endless labyrinth to the boy. He followed Caelen into the dining hall to find it was pretty quiet, though there were some early-risers like themselves milling about. One boy in particular stood out to Kolben with his unusual light blonde hair. Kolben hadn't met him yet, which wasn't all that odd. There were a lot of Candidates, so to have met all of them, especially with Kolben being pretty new to Solace himself, would have been quite the accomplishment. He recognized the boy in passing, but they had not yet been formally introduced. Turning to Caelen, he suggested with a subtle motion of his head that they might join the other boy over there.

After grabbing a plate of food and some drink, it was Kolben who led the way now, across the dining hall floor, and over to the blonde boy. "Hey," he said casually. "Mind if we join you?"

His gitar, though light, was starting to get uncomfortable on the harper's back, and he was itching to sit down and remove it. He hoped Caelen was ok with adding another to their company. He hadn't thought to even ask. But somehow he figured Caelen wouldn't mind. They seemed to be pretty similar in many ways and Kolben had enjoyed the time spent with the older boy thus far.

[spades]

It took several moments for Sharkal to respond. Continuing to pick at his breadroll, he didn't seem to realize that Kolben had been addressing him at all. As a known tattletale (and even if one didn't know, which would be a bit hard to fathom, considering how long the weyrbrat had been running about and turning in the other children), it was rather rare that other folks showed interest in him. Well, unless they wanted information, or they wanted to rough him up. Usually, when boys about his own age approached him, it was not the former. Glancing over his shoulder, the blond gave a bit of a start when he realized the voice had come from directly behind him. He recognized the pair as fellow candidates - but that's as far as they went. (Though, given the instrument hanging from Kolben's shoulders, he could take a stab where the brunet had come form.)

"Yeah, whatever," he growled. Well, it sounded like a growl in his head. In truth, it probably came out a little more like a squeak, the youth ducking his head and trying to size up Kolben and Caelen all while looking entirely too fascinating with his meal. Wait, did they want to take his meal? That didn't happen very often, considering just about anyone could waltz into the kitchens and try to sweet talk the cooks into something delicious, but still. Worry began to gnaw at Shark's good sense and the young man shoved the rest of his bread in his mouth, swallowing it whole and nearly choking on it in the process. As he tried to recover from the sudden bout of stupidity, he glanced between the other candidates again.

"...what do you want?" Sharkal asked warily. Better to get it over with, right?

[danaphantom]

Caelen hadn't been paying much attention after they had arrived within the dining hall itself - the unanswered questions of earlier still hung in his mind coupled with the delicious smells of breakfast caused his mind to wander elsewhere as they walked through a room he knew like the back of his hand. He hadn't quite caught Kolben's gesture as his gaze was, instead, on the row of serving tables and the bowls of food set atop it. His inquisitive nature and the attempts to ignore Grenth's litany had managed to distract the candidate from the hunger that gnawed at him until just now.

Content to let Kolben lead the way - after all, if the Harper chose where to sit, he'd be able to chose who they sat with, hopefully leading to more acquaintances? Caelen could only imagine how lonely it must be surrounded by people you don't know - Caelen instead went to wondering for a moment about the clutch, how it would be for the holdfolk since this would be such a unique case. Riderless dragons were more rare than... well, pretty much anything he could name.

It was then that Caelen realized who they had approached. The slightest frown graced his features, it growing deeper as Sharkal attempted to play the tough guy.

"Just looking for someone to sit with, is all," the candidate said gently, trying to mediate and keep Sharkal from going off the deep end. Caelen knew all too well how the other boy could react if he felt backed into a corner - indeed, they were born only a few months apart and had practically grown up together. Not that they were close by any sorts. "Sharkal, this is Kolben. He arrived recently." Hopefully the three-word sentence was enough to assuage the fears Shark had.

[lredd011]

Kolben was a little taken aback by the defensive and somewhat abrasive response that he got from the blonde youth. It wasn't really a "no" but it wasn't a "yes" either. And the "What do you want?" left Kolben wondering if he had said or done anything in their extremely brief encounter to have offended him. He exchanged a look with Caelen to see how they should proceed. He figured Caelen would know most people around the Weyr by now, so he would likely know how to respond to the other boy.

And indeed, it seemed that Caelen was at least acquainted with the boy from the way he spoke to him and introduced them to each other. Kolben offered a sort of half-hearted smile. "Hey, Sharkal. Nice to meet you." He wasn't really sure yet if it was, indeed, "nice" to meet the other boy. So far Sharkal didn't exactly come off as nice. But oh well. Company was company, right? And everyone wanted company, no matter if they put on a tough act or not. That was Kolben's personal belief, anyways. So Kolben pulled out a chair and put his plate of food down, placing his gitar down next to his chair.

He took a couple bites of food and a sip of his drink, taking wary glances at Sharkal every so often. Maybe he was just tired. Kolben could understand that. Having to listen to the babblings of a crazy, riderless dragon all the time did put one on edge. It was definitely not pleasant and it was putting everyone on edge. So perhaps Kolben would try not to judge Sharkal so harshly. He decided he would attempt to address the boy again.

"So, um, Sharkal? Were you born here at Solace?"

So maybe it was a lousy attempt at conversation. But the question was harmless enough. Surely there was nothing the other boy would find threatening in that question, right?

[spades]

He was going to die, wasn’t he? Two. There were two of them and one of him, that was four fists to his pair. They could both give him a black eye before he could so much as-

Oh. Someone was saying something.

Sharkal blinked owlishly, gears whirling as he tried to process what Caelen had said. He knew the other candidate - well, sort of, in so far as weyrbrats knew other weyrbrats, especially when they ran in different crowds - but that didn’t mean they were friends. It had been turns now, but the blond still missed having Gavril around. G’vril. Whatever that sharding, cotton-brained, no good dragon rider was going by. He had an Iron dragon, a truly gorgeous thing, practically custom made for the man. And what was this little candidate left with? He was left with two boys, two boys in cahoots, and he was all by his lonesome. Maybe if he choked on a bit of his breadroll, he’d be sent off to the Lower Caverns to see the Healers and this lot would leave him alone.

The thought was discarded quickly (it was rare any of the candidate’s thoughts were actually acceptable plans of action) and he glanced up at Kolben. “Okay, okay,” he muttered to Caelen quietly, making a quicj assessment of the third candidate. The up-and-down once over was something every new comer was given, the stranger being logged away in the recesses of the blond’s mind. (Now, if it ever got dredged back up again was another question entirely.)

The harper’s second attempt at conversation went a little better, though Shark still shied away and ducked his head down. “Mhhm. Been here forever,” he admitted, talking down at his plate. It was fascinating, the way the bread sat right next to a meat roll, stacked just so, he tried to tell himself. “Gonna be here forever, too. Where you from?” A poor attempt at best, but the young man was never known for his mastery of his social skills. “Harper Hall?”

[lredd011]

Kolben raised his eyebrows as Sharkal gave Kolben a rather blatant once-over, and evidently deciding he was not a threat, continued to study his meal. The blond continued to study his meal even as he answered Kolben's question. Well, at least he was talking and not looking at Kolben and Caelen like they were about to beat him up. It made Kolben wonder what kind of company Sharkal usually kept to have his guard up this way.

Though Sharkal wasn't even looking at Kolben, he nodded politely in response, more out of habit than anything else. He wondered for a moment what the boy meant by, "Gonna be here forever, too." The Harper wasn't quite sure if the comment was meant to be negative or positive, but Sharkal was moving on, so he didn't have much time to dwell on it.

"Yeah. Fresh from the Harper Hall. How could you tell?" Kolben said with a chuckle and a glance towards his gitar, an almost permanent accessory. Kolben now focused on his own food, not exactly sure where to proceed with the conversation. He was afraid anything he might say to the blond youth beyond small talk might be taken the wrong way. But now that his food was almost gone, he felt like he had to say something.

"I'm looking for my crawler. She's green. You haven't seen her by chance have you? I know they're pretty small, so I know you probably haven't..."