Falin was having quite a nice sleep tucked away in a shadowy corner when he was slowly brought back to conciousness when he felt a strange growl emitt from the pit of his stomach. Glaring at the offending midsection, the young candidate stretched and stood before slumping against the wall, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to bring everything back into focus once more. He'd been having such a nice sleep too. Sigh.

Taking a few moments to pop creaky joints, he was soon limber enough to walk his way to the kitchens where he could hopefully grab something off of the stove. It was a little after what was considered the normal lunch hour, but there was still a little left to choose from. Deciding on a simple bowl of soup and bread, Falin acquired his food and slunk to one of the tables, plopping down and grabbing his spoon. After a few bites, he felt his head drooping and his eyes slipping shut. He jerked awake, not wanting his face to end up in scalding soup. But surely it wouldn't hurt just to rest his eyes...

Wiping at the soot and grime stains permanently rubbed into his trousers from the slew of candidate labor he had been doing that morning, Waparvan had veered towards the Lower Caverns after he had been dismissed with a few other candidates for a late lunch break. He was starving. Sure, the Weyr fed everyone well enough, but with the constant work his body was doing, he was constantly hungry. Growing boy? Probably not anymore, but the itching in his belly for grub powered him on.

Pocketing a few meat rolls into his pocket for later snacking, he grabbed a bit of bread and some stew, which had been left on the pot to simmer over the hearth. Pausing to scan for an open seat, he waved his head back and forth, giving the room a scan over.

Wait... What was that?! The sight of a tall young man caught Waparvan's eye, and he saddled up closer towards him to get a better look. Wait... was? No? Really? The man's face was dangerously... oh, so dangerously close to that bowl of soup.

Waparvan didn't want to say anything. He was biting his lip. He was biting his tongue. Oh... but he couldn't help himself.

"Well I've never seen that technique used before to eat anything..." he said to himself, loud enough for Falin to hear him.

So close. Sleep was just within his grasp...

"Well I've never seen that technique used before to eat anything..."

The suddeness of a voice, even one not spoken too loudly, was enough to jolt Falin from his dozing and, unfortunately, on the floor. He had simply jerked back so hard from surprise that when he tipped back, his chair decided to go with him, creating a pile of the floor. Groaning, the tall candidate, pushed the chair off of him and stood, eyeing the shorter candidate who had, while saving him from a burn, cause him to get several new bruises.

Not sure whether to thank the candidate or yell at him, Falin decided on a simple, intelligent, "Um, hi?"

It took a moment for the earlier sentence to register in the still dazed mind of Falin, but it eventually processed enough to allow him a response. "Oh, that. Yeah...it's a technique I certainly wouldn't recommend...not until I perfect it anyway." he said with a trademark grin while sheepishly running a hand through his shaggy hair.

Instinctual, Waparvan stepped away as Falin fell, slightly startled at the fact that such an awakening would cause such a dramatic effect. For a few moments, he stared, raising the hand that held the ripped piece of bread in it up to his mouth to take a bite. He chewed thoughtfully, spending those few precious seconds thinking of a reply. He wasn't good these unexpected social happenings. He had to be warned...

"Um.. Hello?" He mumbled back at Falin slightly amused, slightly taken aback. He couldn't read Falin really; the boy about his own age seemed torn between gratitude and rage, and towering over Waparvan by clearly a few hands, the young harper didn't want to risk it.

"You tired then?" he asked quizzardly, "I mean, if you are, honest, I can guarantee soup won't get you to sleep any faster. Know what I mean?" A slow, amused smirk slowly crept across his face and his shoulders slacked slightly.

"Sorry for the interruption anyway. I'm Waparvan." he paused and looked down at his foodstuff, "I'd extend a hand, but you know, they're full."

(Haha, I just noticed your icon. Needs a 'WTF are you doing?' text thingie. =D)

Chuckling slightly, Falin righted is chair, plopping back down into it. "Tired? Well, I suppose I am just a little." He glanced down at his soup before glancing up at the candidate. "You must be new, or you'd have heard of me by now. It is very hard for me to sleep at night, so I usually prowl the weyr and sleep during the day when I can." he explained between taking bites on his soup.

"It is nice to meet you, though, Waparvan. Got a nickname that goes with that?" he asked, since 'Waparvan' was just a tad bit of a mouthful. Well, if the guy didn't have one, it could be certain that by the end of the afternoon he will have acquired one.

"My name is Falin, by the way." he added, quickly realizing he'd yet to introduce himself.

((I love this icon. XD To me, it brings to mind the "O RLY?" owls. Glee.))

Watching Falin sit back into his seat, Waparvan followed, hesitantly at first before setting his meal down and saddling into a chair himself. "I've been here a sevenday at least. But nothing longer than that, no." he took a scoop of his stew, blowing on it carefully before taking a tentative bite. It pleased the pallet, so he continued to eat.

"I haven't met many people yet. I'm not what you call a social butterfly. And I sleep at night, like a normal person." He waggled his empty spoon at Falin jokingly, "So I guess that's why we haven't crossed paths."

'Got a nickname?' Almost instantly Waparvan stalled, taking a few minutes to shovel another mouthful of stew into his speechless mouth. Sure he had a nickname. No decent Apprentice male at the Harper Hall didn't have one, but clearly, it wasn't anything the young harper liked. Or wanted to divulge.
Sure, his mother called him 'Wappy' from a young age, and even up until leaving, many of the girls he'd neck with, hands pulling skirts up to their knees, would breath heavily into his ear his child nickname.. "Oh Wappy."

Just the thought of having anyone know such a title would send Waparvan into fits of hysterical embarrassment. Already, a slight blush was starting to run its way across his face.

"Nope.. not one. Never had one."

Falin nodded sagely, stroking an imaginary beard. "A wise deduction, my new found friend." Shaking his head at his own antics, Falin focused his brown eyes once again on Waparvan. He noted the candidate's odd behavior at the mention of nickname, his harper-trained eyes catching the small nuances on his body-language.

At the blush on Waparvan's face, Falin grinned, but didn't push for an honest answer. "No nickname, eh? Well then, let me see. I suppose I'll have to come up with one for you then. How does that sound?" Without waiting for a reply, he continued on. "Let me see...we could just go with Wap...no, not that. Parv? No, too much like perv." This pulled another chuckle out of the candidate as he continued to think. "How about, um...Apa? Ha, no. Maybe we should just go with Van."

Mmm, nice monologue....yes...

A quick snort came from Waparvan, and he shook his head, heaping more food into his mouth. It was better to say nothing than stare at the other boy with a lax jaw and look of disbelief on his face. For a moment, he said nothing, staring down Falin with a mixed emotion of disbelief and lack of amusement. He just met this guy! Really?

"Or," Waparvan said blandly, spinning his spoon round and round his bowl of stew, "We can forget the whole nickname business until I impress a dragon. Right? And then, my horribly awkward name will be shortened significantly." He smirked, rolling back his shoulders with a soft chuckle.

"Hey you works wonders too. I respond to that." he leaned forward slightly, "But between you and me Falin, unless you're a pretty little thing with soft features, some nice breasts and an attentive eye, I'll sock you for anything else." His smirk spread, into a playful grin and he leaned back in his chair.

"Have you been here all your life at the Weyr bothering people, or is this just a new occurrence?" he raised his eyebrows playfully and continued to stir the contents of his bowl.

Hmm, it was safe to say he had surprised Waparvan. Well, he was rather good at it, or so he had noticed during his turn here at the weyr. He then shrugged. "Well, I suppose if you want to wait that long. What would it be shortened to, anyway?" he asked, rather curious. He knew his own was rather boring, since it could only be shortened to F'lin.

As the fellow candidate continued, Falin chuckled. "Well, I have been called pretty before, but that's besides the point, I suppose." He could imagine Waparvan trying to woo all the girls, though, short as he was. "Actually, I've only been doing that at the weyr for about a turn. I've been here since the last hatching. We'll be having a new one soon, though, so maybe this'll be my lucky one, eh?"

Suspicious towards Falin's overall motives, Waparvan pondered carefully before answering. He hadn't really given any great thought about what would become his honorific if he ever did impressed. The dream of being the bondmate of a bouncy, baby dragon was normally beyond comprehension, so normally, the young man didn't think about things extensively.

"I haven't given it much thought, you know?" he quipped, furrowing his brow. "I guess there are a few options I could choose. W'van, W'prvan, Pr'van, P'van. I didn't know if it was my choice or the dragon who chooses it anyways though... right?" he shrugged again.

"A year?" he responded, tracing the wood grain with a finger as he listened to the other candidate, "That's an impressive amount of time. I hope the Weyrwoman's gold clutches soon, right? Then we don't have to do all of this repetitive waiting. I think it'd relieve a lot of anxiety of if any of us are going to impress or not."

Coming from the Harper Hall, Waparvan was used to a already implemented regimen. You knew what to expect, what would be the next rank once you hit all the requirements. Now, he felt he was waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen. He'd never been to a hatching at a Weyr... wait, correction, he'd never remembered any of the hatchings he'd attended when he was young. So everything, was way too foreign for his tastes.

"Did you stand at the last one too? I've never been to a hatching really... so I can only imagine the whole process in my head. Or what other people tell me. And sometimes, it's sounds a bit far fetched."