You walk into a weyr near the rest of the candidate's quarters, somewhere on the second or third tier above the lowest area. Though it's cozy in here with numerous pieces of furniture put to good use, there are plenty of extra items scattered around. Broken boxes, clothing, not sure what that one bit in the corner is. Fortunately it doesn't appear that anything living or dead or rotten is around - they're not leaving food out and that's--

"Craaaaaw!" you hear and have to duck! There's a big black bird flying right at you! It swerves at the last minute, but continues to bomb at your head angrily.

"Poe! Get away! Go back to your shelf!" Cries a young girl's voice, just as angry and blustery as the crow's. The black bird lands on a bookshelf, which doesn't disturb any books - as there aren't any on the shelf to speak of... "I'm so sorry, he's really protective of me. That's Poe, I've had him since I was little. He's an old bird, sometimes I think he doesn't know better."

"Well," you say brushing off your shoulders and checking your hair, "he obeys you pretty well. I'm doing the surveys of the new Candidates here at Dragonhope. Do you mind answering some questions?"

"Oh you're the one going around..." She says, a little put off. "Well I guess everyone else has had to go through it, I might as well get it over with."

She doesn't 'harrumph' but you sense that she could have. It's not like you're pulling teeth and asking really intimate questions! Well, sometimes you might... but only if --

"Well?" She says, sitting kind of rudely on a chair with her one leg over the arm and slouched back. Before you start asking, you look around once more just in case there are any obvious clues to her background. You see one.

"That's an interesting painting there, is that Snow's Breath?"

She glances at the square-shaped painting hanging near the dresser. "Oh yes, it is! That's where I'm from. I'm a local girl, basically. Snow's Breath is where my mother comes from, she's a cook here now at the Weyr."

"Oh, did your family move here when you were searched?"

"Well my father's a rider," she snorts, "so sort of I was already here and already searched. But we lived on Snow's Breath until about two years ago. I think it was because my dad couldn't find a good place to land with his bronze."

"A bronze rider! Well, that means you might have a very good chance at Impressing!"

"I think so, I mean, it's in my family." She stands up and though she seemed at first pretty put off, she does get chatty and warms up quickly to you. She shows the tapestry off to you. There is a brilliantly illustrated island, Snow's Breath, which rests in the large bay beside which Dragonhope Weyr is situated. Over it, however, are faces. The painting must have been made over time, because certain faces are smaller than others. The edges are a bit worn, she obviously cherishes this painting. It's pretty large and holds many, many relatives.

"That's my mom, and my dad - and those are my two sisters and brother from that side of the family... And then the rest of my dad's family - I have a lot of half-sibs, you know. Most of them were fostered, and some of them came to live with me and my mom. And my mom, well, she had a couple kids already when I was born, I think she's had ... around eleven kids. But not all of them are alive any more."

"I see. That's a lot of family to keep track of."

"We all have one of these, I like mine the best though, it shows my dad the best I think."

"Yes actually I think I've seen him around." You comment, he is familiar looking. "Did you always think you'd be a rider?"

"Oh yes, always. I mean, I'm a lousy cook, so my mom always let me go look at the dragons as they flew. I'm really good at recognizing the patterns they fly and stuff."

"Do you take notes about it?"

There, she pauses, and glances at you with a scathing look. "Well, not really, I don't write very well." What it looks like she means is, she neither writes nor reads particularly - you see only a few things in the weyr that are written at all.

"Well, you will probably need to write a little when you're a rider. They do have to keep notes, though you're already one up on a lot of Candidates if you've been able to watch the exercises. You'll know them when you read them I think."

With that boost, she nods, and says, "yeah I know. I'm behind on my studies, there's always something better to do though! The scribes are really nice though, so I think I'll have enough reading and writing by the time I impress. There are other folks who can't do even as much as me, so I'm not too worried."

"You're a bright girl, I think you'll do okay. What sort of dragon do you think you're going to impress, you sound very confident you will."

"Well there's always the chance I'm too young," she replies. "I'm only twelve turns, and that's kind of young for a girl I guess. I don't want to ride a gold though - that's way too much work!"

"Too much reading and writing, the Weyrwoman complains about it a lot," you laugh and she lets off a giggle too.

"Yeah. I want a fighting dragon, really. A green, or maybe if I'm lucky a blue. I'm not sure I want to get into a brown or something, because they're a lot bigger. Not like my dad's bronze, but they're big and slow."

"Oh, now, that's not always true!"

"Well, they're slower than the blues, and way slower than the greens. Those greens just whoosh in and out!" She makes dramatic whooshy-swishes with her hands. Poe caws loudly when she does so. "Whoosh!" She says, and the bird calls again, and she laughs.

"Well I think I've got enough information. Unless there's anything you want to add? This will be a record for us to learn more about who we've Searched lately."

She looks around, blinks, shrugs. "Not really. I'm pretty sure that I'll find a dragon some day, if not this time around. If I don't impress now, that'll give me a little more time to learn more and practice my writing." She deflates, knowing that she'll have to do that anyway. You bow to her, and take your leave. You wonder if the bird will follow you, but you don't feel it pecking at you even though it's cold yellow eye continues to follow you as you leave.

You walk into a weyr you know is above the Candidates quarters.  This candidate's weyr is strewn with junk. It is very cozy in this weyr. Looking around a bit, you see a well-kept but worn painting of a complicated family tree. You cannot help but notice the free-flying bird coming straight at you in attack!

Name: Paysli

Status: Ranking Rider's child (born to a Bronzerider and his cook partner)
Age: 12
Gender: female
Siblings: many full and half siblings, their parents were all over the place
Born: in the middle
Legitimacy: a bastard child
Childhood Health: iron constitution
Adult Height: quite tall, unusually so
Adult Build: average
Skin Tone: ruddy
Hair Color: dishwater brown
Hair Style: fluffy
Hair Length: cut to scalp
Eye Color: clear amber
Literacy Level: can't read, they are illiterate
Politeness Level: everyone knows them as a rude person
Focus: as they look around them, their focus fades
They are attractive
Given a gift or item, they won't share often

Values and Goals
Values immensely: their pet bird
Is very happy with: being being with people
Low goal: build or create
Average fear: the opposite sex or having intimacy
Feels Extremely strongly in favor of being a dragonrider like parents
Odd Skill (learned outside of craft if any): town crier/announcments

Originally From: island community
Location size: kind of large
Location climate: snowy
Searched: privately, to avoid any trouble, not too long ago