[PRP] The Hatred of a Lifetime--Fulmeninth|Egalth

[Zactura]

The sultry Green had been at her wits' end for nigh on three sevendays, and her rider had been worried about her, which only made it worse. Egalth was in a bad way now, stress causing her normally rich green hide to pale and flake, and she seemed like she wasn't as much of a presence as she had been before the stress started to mount. It's not that she and T'len didn't enjoy leading Silver's Flash; it was just that there were expectations, limits, rules, all kinds of things that weighed heavily on Egalth's mind. What was she to do? She had tried speaking to Alliath, her sister-from-another-Clutch, but that hadn't worked as it usually had. In fact, Egalth had come away from those chats even more worried and strung out. T'len had tried his best to make her calm down, but nothing seemed to work, no matter how hard the wingleader tried.

It was nighttime now, dark and silent, and Egalth lounged on a cliff in the night, her body partially hidden by a few trees that somehow survived up here. The air was not particularly cold, and it was in fact quite temperate, something that Egalth was thankful for on her little seance with her thoughts. The questions racing in her mind drew her ever inwards, and for now, she was completely lost in thought, oblivious to the night-shrouded world around her.

[SOCR]

The Night... a time to prowl. A different kind of hunt, one best performed when nobody can see. He did not need sight to pick out his targets, for Fulmeninith used his mind.

Winging back across the Weyr, his mind's eye saw not the pricks of glowlight, but the warm lamps of intelligence. It was an interesting affair not easily described in visual terms. The dragon's minds he could see as pinpoints of their prospective colors, and Humans (usually) showed up white. There were subtle undertones, though, and as if he could see past the visible spectrum, the little dots seemed to have fields of UV and Infrared across them.

One particular nugget looked like it threatened to give him cancer.

The massive Blue changed course for what he determined to be a Green sitting on a ridge. With a gentle sweep of her mind he found the dragon to be too enraptured within her own little world to be a Watchdragon. Excellent. Also meant he could make his approach stealthily.

Fulmeninith swooped down, quiet enough that those outside the immediate area wouldn't notice, but his bulk prevented those near him, like this Green, from being fooled. Egalth however was far to entranced by her own thoughts to notice a bit of mental scrubbing. As he landed, Fulmeninith quickly measured the sound of his wingbeats in the night air, playing the opposite through the back of Egalth's mind. The effect was a bit of a white-noise sound that would have immediately put more alert dragons on guard, but if Egalth noticed, Fulmeninith would at least be able to put it off as some other noise.

He sat behind her for quite a bit of time, his more brown wings masking the side of his body that was turned towards the weyr for camouflage. Tricking the minds of an entire Weyr, and visually at that, was something maybe even an Evermind would be taxed to accomplish. Fulmeninith would sit with the cruder methods than foolishly distract himself from his prize.

He sat there long enough to gather up some subject matter from the sheer aura of irritation and stress the poor creature shoved into the space around her. To Fulmeninith it didn't look like she was looking through her thoughts more as picking them up in wadded balls, unfurling them for a quick second, then scattering them around her. And didn't care who picked them up.

In a soft voice, almost a croon, he gently butted in. Do you have a problem, dear Egalth? It distresses me to see you in such a state. Something you can talk about, perhaps?

[Zactura]

Egalth jolted back to earth with a start at the sound of Fulmeninth's voice, her head whipping up to face the oncoming Greatmind. She had no idea who this Blue was, and couldn't see the sandy parts of him in the dark, and thus took him for a regular, if albeit massive, Blue that she hadn't seen yet. Maybe he was a visitor from Oulus, Falmas' sister Weyr? That would make sense.

O-oh! I didn't see you there. The Green replied, her brow furrowing at Fulmeninth's words. ...well. Something about the Blue's voice made Egalth want to tell him everything, to spill her troubles at his feet. He had a calming effect, something that she had not yet noticed, which was only acting to amplify her desire to tell him everything. It's just that I've been so stressed lately. All the duties and rules and the like of being wingleader are starting to wear me down, and what with the rise in the Shattered activity, things aren't going so well.

Egalth remembered herself after she told Fulmeninth what was wrong. Hey, who are you, anyway? I haven't seen you around Falmas. Are you maybe from Oulus?

[SOCR]

Oh, sincere apologies, please accept. I am Nimuth, used to be of Oulus. Transferred here unexpectedly, Oulus Weyr wont acknowledge my existence because of some unfortunate actions taken by my rider. Nobody here knows me yet, I suppose I could use someone to talk to as much as you. He offered a deep bow of the head, and contemplated somethign flashy only his meticulous control of his body's functions could produce, maybe flashing a blue eye green for a brief second in a wink. Nah, those performances can wait until he's almost secured this jewel. Good for a little flair at the end.

Fulmeninith wasn't too worried about the lie being detected. He could block any communication the dragon sent to this Weyr, and he needed a story to explain why he wouldn't be known. The 'Transfer Rider' tale worked maybe 70-80% of the time, mostly failing on higher-ranked colors because of their positions of power. Wingleader though, that sounded a bit dangerous, but she also sounded new to the position.

But these weren't the normal frustrations he faced from a prospective recruit, either. In fact, this green sounded incredibly devoted to her job. Fulmeninith supposed that devotion would be the first thing he'd have to work apart.

Wingleader? How did you obtain such a marvelous position?[/i]

[Zactura]

Hm, ah, that made sense. Well, Nimuth, it's a pleasure to meet you. Egalth replied to his introduction with a nod, her eyes blue, though there was still the occasional yellow flash of worry every now and then. I'm still not quite sure myself! T'len, who is my rider, was promoted there after working through his wing for a while, and it's all been a blur since then. Egalth shook her head. She didn't mind 'Nimuth' asking all these questions, as she had been needing somebody to vent it all out to. This was the perfect opportunity to do so, and Shards if Egalth wasn't doing to take it!

[SOCR]

Oh. A set of feelings Fulmeninith knew VERY well rose to the surface. The constant Human quest for power. Ah, I see. Did you desire such a position yourself? Sometime a dragon does not, for the very reasons of those responsibilities, but nobody bothers to ask the dragons... He couldn't put too much pressure along those thoughts right now, but he's made entire sessions off Human's lust for power over others. It was a topic he was intimately familiar with. How he himself Shattered.

And what pressures does this position put upon your shoulders, my new acquaintance? It all sounds tragic, something I;d never wish upon myself.[/i] If he could find a way to put this on her Rider's back, that would be plenty of momentum to sail through the process easily enough.

He moved forward a bit more, to sit next to Egalth, trying to make his physical presence as soothing as well. The upshot of which was that his form's coloration visibly obscured them both from the Weyr, as well as eliminating that light source to pick out his odd features from. Manipulating sight was a very difficult task, one that was extremely hard when you had to actually look at your target. Fulmeninith didn't bother trying to mask his size. That wasn't necessarily a known Shattered trait, not even most Shattered knew why they grew larger. It could be explained away through other means, or even genuine cluelessness as to the cause. The latter would probably work better here.

[Zactura]

Well, not really. I was just fine being a regular wingdragon myself, but since it made T'len happy....I was glad for him. Egalth paused with a sigh. Still... It seemed that this Nimuth was exactly what she needed, somebody to talk to, somebody that she could just go ahead and let it all out. That was nice, for Egalth had always been the sort of sympathetic ear, which was something that she had hated. Hearing about others' troubled made hers seem all the more prevalent, and it also made her feel so worthless, as she could do next to nothing to relieve the suffering of those who chose to confide in her. It was infuriating! Egalth could not stand feeling so useless, so--so Sharding unpurposed!

More than I would care for. Egalth huffed, seeming to furrow her brow in an expression of frustration. Dealing with the wingdragons and their riders, doing all the duties of a wingdragon as well as those of a wingleader, training, general upkeep and care--it's just too much for me. At this point in time, it definitely felt like too much.

[SOCR]

Fulmeninith was fully aware that there WERE riders who were 'good'. He just didn't have the fortune to Impress upon one himself. He was young, very foolish, and couldn't make that distinction at the time. But he could now. Unlike some other Shattered his bone to pick was with mostly the power structure, with the Weyr itself. The Rider constricted the dragon, yes, but what constricted both the rider and the dragon, to the point that the inflexibility between rider and dragon was noticeable, was the Weyr itself. Most Shattered wouldn't accept his way of thinking, but within Fulmeninith's 'fold', bonded dragons were to some extent welcome, as long as they and their rider recognized where the authority lay. Dragons didn't necessarily have to shatter from their riders, just from their Weyr. Usually this is enough to allow the Rider his or her Dragon's leeway. Shattering was just mroe effective at allowing the Dragon independence.

Fulmeninith was entitled to have his own Wing of sorts, as a Greatmind, but he had to keep his little movement carefully balanced between the rival Queens and the other Greatminds about. But he was not simply a rebel without a cause, he had a purpose. He just had to be careful about who was let in, or this purpose may come out at odds against the rest of the Shattered, and then where would he and his followers be?

This T'len sounded like he could go either way, at the moment. Disregarding his Dragon's thoughts on their wing position reeked of raw power-searching, something Fulmeninith absolutely would not tolerate. However poor Egalth's woes stemmed from the Weyr, not her rider. Would the rider reform after being removed from the Weyr?

One thing at a time. The Weyr could go before the Rider.

Maybe it needs to be made plain that you cannot take up the stress? It would be a disservice to the Weyr- and to yourself- to allow yourself to continue being stressed so. Maybe your rider needs to know that you have a say as well, or maybe he does know, and the Weyr needs to know this. Be concerned about yourself above anyone else, they can deal on their own.

[Zactura]

I would, but I just want him to be happy. Being a wingleader is one of the best things that's happened to him so far. Egalth looked up at Nimuth/Fulmeninth. That sounds reasonable. I mean, how can we serve the Weyr to our fullest extent if we cannot even make peace with ourselves?

She couldn't see the mental gears ticking in Fulmeninth's head, and it was a good thing, too. Idly, Egalth was reminded about how she had earned quite a bit of enmity from some other dragons, due to having taken the position of Wingleader. No, she didn't like that, but what could the Green do? It's not like she could just resign from her position, especially not without T'len's consent.