Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman 
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
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Post by Azhdarchid on Jan 6, 2012 21:37:51 GMT -5
With an informative farewell to the watchdragon, Q'sis steered Unath beyond the Rim. A few light wingbeats and Dalibor had shrunk into an unsightly pit at the corner of its own island. There were other dragons aloft, but no Thread today. Just bright sun, and the heat of early Autumn running down Unath's wings. Q'sis stretched the membranous appendages as his own, and looked with his dragon's eyes to a distant smudge of green shadows. It was only when directly overhead that even Unath's faceted vision could spot the trickling glimmer of clay-stuffed streambeds.
The center of the valley lay open beneath him, ringed by tree-laden hills. Poor hunting now, in the middle of the day, despite the claim he had made to the watchdragon. The wild wherries were all bedded down beneath what larger foliage did haunt the vale, and not easy targets for a swooping giant. After searching the scenery a while for other prey, Q'sis swung Unath down and plucked a Turn-old wastrel at the edge of the flock's protective cover. His Tan did not even land to make her kill, and shot away again without disturbing the main flock beyond a few ruffled feathers. The animal was small, but sweet, and Unath was not even hungry anyway.
With the carcass in-claw, Q'sis migrated to the island's less-traveled shore, almost a day's walk from Dalibor. He reached it in minutes, Unath's speckled wings billowing full of foamy sea air. Despite her challenges at altitude, the surface waters were much calmer here than down by Dalibor's docks. The brisk wind only cut across his scarred skin till he landed his beast on a golden beach, and somewhere in the last twenty feet of the descent the breeze dissolved.
His control of the dragon eased, and her blunt snout pointed out at the sea, jaws opening and shutting in short, giddy peeps, like a hatchling at her first meal. Q'sis could feel each peep pulsing through her neck as he dismounted. Once his own feet touched the sand, Unath started to scamper toward the ocean. She tripped, and landed on her keel. Q'sis' back remained to her as she prised her limbs back into order, only to discover one of them clutching a wherry.
Thank you, she told Q'sis as she popped the wherry into her mouth.
The ex-trader prowled up the shore, away from the strokes of the tide's fingers. He stopped at a mound of rocks and shifted them aside, then dug into the sand. From the bed of the beach he pulled a hefty branch with a sack of stones at either end. The sacks had equal weight, but he added one additional stone from the mound to each before he raised it over his shoulders. He turned around slowly, and as he was finding his grip on the branch he noticed Unath scooting closer to watch him. The wherry's legs were still sticking out the side of her jaw.
He had once thought Unath settled this account, but it had come back to him lately. And when there were no other pursuits to be had... The Tanrider hauled the branch up above his head with a grunt, lowered it, and lifted it again. Mindless as an ox. He locked eyes with Unath as he worked, even if she was not challenging him. Eventually she pulled the rest of the wherry in with her tongue and Q'sis chuckled despite how it wasted his breath.
"I thought you were going swimming," he wheezed between lifts.
If you drop it, I will catch it.
"I won't drop it."
You are small, the dragon said. Q'sis had taken his eyes off her for just a moment, but now his attention snapped back to her rounded snout and her gaping green eyes beyond. He had just hit the apex of his current lift, and then he let the branch descend just a little more rapidly than usual. Unath tilted her head.
"Yep." Q'sis tried planting one boot up against her lip as the branch lifted again. It was another candlemark before he had gone through the whole routine, and Unath laid nearby regarding him the whole time. There wasn't an ounce of concern in her though, when he looked for it. As he unwrapped his fingers from the branch, his hands shook, and he turned his palm up toward his face for examination.
But the wherhide glove he peeled off served him at more than dragonriding. He ran his hands over each other, gripping one wrist and then rotating it carefully before repeating the same with the other. Q'sis had to apply a lot of pressure before he started to feel anything. "Now we can swim," he informed Unath, and she finally rose from the beach. She bounded ahead while he was still stretching out each of his leaden legs. He had only worn his jacket and his lightest riding trousers out. The jacket he had already stripped for the work. Now he removed what was left and pinned it to the sand with a rock.
Unath was always confused by the low tide. For a while they only walked through the ocean. Or rather, Q'sis walked and she went in gallavanting orbits around him, sometimes dashing off in some direction or even taking flight for short periods. He pointed out spiderclaws for her to nibble on when they unwisely scurried out of their burrows at his approach. Just as the water began to seek above his toes, Unath landed behind him and sucked up a great bolus of muddy shore waters, then dropped it over his head. Unlike when she was young, this prank now easily knocked her rider to the wet ground. "Thanks, love," he muttered as he separated his muddied self from the tidal pool.
You're welcome, Unath replied, happy to know she was helpful. Q'sis entered the deeper waters at last, sliding under long enough to see his hair and face cleaned of sludge. Then he tipped his head back, counting the rises his chest, and the width of the cove he was using for his cool-down. A storm had broken down the natural levies at one end a few days ago, so he supposed he would be doing fewer, but longer laps.
With a deep breath, the Tideturner submerged and kicked off toward the closer end of the cove. Unath remained on the precipice of rising waters, looking after him curiously.
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Cathaline
Lady Holder
cathct[M:50]
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Post by Cathaline on Jan 10, 2012 2:34:02 GMT -5
Unath is going somewhere![/i]
This report came to Delilah from the ledge of their weyr; she could see nothing herself, for she was deep in the lower caverns, hard at work in the infirmary. Thank you for the alert,[/i] she said wryly. Peoplewatching was a typical Agnith hobby when she found herself with nothing to do, and further reports came in as Delilah rolled bandages and packed them onto shelves, then moved on to filling jars of numbweed. Mindless busywork, but it needed to be done. This was the tradeoff for the time she spent assisting with "real" healing, or learning from those who had time to spare for her; she would be no healer at all if she were too much of a snob to do this.
Still, those occasional reports were more of a joy than she cared to admit. When, over a candlemark later, she emerged blinking into the sunlight, Agnith crooned, Unath is still gone, you know. She went on a trip. She went to the beach, I think. I went up to the Rim and I watched until I couldn't, um, see her.[/i]
Agnith's enthusiasm for her rather dim clutchsister did not match Delilah's feelings for the tan's rider, but she could easily see what the pink was getting at. Stretching her arms above her head, she said, Oh, all right. We've the rest of the day off anyhow.[/i]
Agnith trilled and kicked off of her ledge, making a wide circle and coming in for a beautiful landing right in front of Delilah. She had brought her straps - only the bare minimum, not full harness for flying Threadfall - and Delilah quickly put them on her before mounting.
It had been awhile, she realised as her blonde hair whipped back from her face and her eyes teared up, since she'd gone flying without helmet or goggles. A stern thought had them landing on the ledge again, Agnith slightly abashed for forgetting, and Delilah fetched them, both for comfort and possible safety. They stopped to alert the watchdragon, and headed off.
It was fortunate Unath was so large; they spotted her without difficulty once they entered the vicinity, and Agnith called her usual loud greeting. Unath! We have come to see you! Oh, are we swimming?[/i]
She landed not far from the tan, and Delilah slipped from her dragon's back. There was no need to rush, despite how antsy the pink was; she did not intend to bother Q'sis unless he wished to be bothered. Far back from where the tides could reach, she made a neat pile of helmet, goggles, boots, socks, and straps. With Agnith laid bare, the pink charged happily into the water, and Delilah paused, glancing up at the sky.
The last time she'd gone swimming in the ocean, a terrible storm had broiled out of nowhere, and she was not well-satisfied with the appearance of the clouds. Storms could roll in fast out here. Last time, it had been farcical how clothing had been lost, and depending on how long they stayed, there might not be time to dry her undergarments. The idea of returning to the Weyr in wet underthings was...not promising.
With a shrug, she stripped down to her skin and headed into the water, only mildly uncomfortable. It was like a very cold bath, that was all.
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Chek
Weyrlingmaster 
chekct[M:-15]
I'm so magical I vomit rainbows
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Post by Chek on Jan 11, 2012 3:25:03 GMT -5
Valha was not really surprised anymore by how far you could travel underwater without noticing, when you could hold you breath for minutes at a time and had a dragon willing to pull you along. She swam along the bottom, used to the chill by now, carefully using a blunt knife to pull pear clams off the rock that served as a clam bed. Each clam was neatly tucked away into the bag she had tied to a the simple piece of rope around her waist, serving as a belt because she'd rather not have to get all her clothing wet, not this late in the turn. Every little while, a pale blue shrimp would make a break from under the clam she was prying up, and they, too, went in the bag. Blueshells were good eating, after all. Mith, go up and make Meili breathe.[/b] It was the worst part of this diving that she did, having to keep track of her own breathing, Mith's, and now Meili's. The blue wasn't able to stay onshore with Fenis – no, he couldn’t between, so he had to stay with her. But he also had to be made to hold his breath, and then told to breathe again when they surfaced – otherwise he'd suffocate himself on accident. Mith, from a few yards away were she'd been curiously nosing a rock along the ocean floor, looked up towards the surface, and then twisted her head to look at Meili, tied firmly to the netting that served as straps for the tan that day. <3, he went at her, almost chirping before Valha absently forced him not to. Yes. Mith stated, and then headed towards the surface. She noticed the shadow of something near the surface, though, and hesitated, swimming closer and nosing at a dangling bit of it for a moment, before backing off and letting the top of her head surface so she could get a better look. It was Q'sis. Oh! She sank back underwater, There are people. I am here, too.Valha put one last clam in her bag and powered towards the surface, releasing her stored air slowly as she went, and sucking in a deep breath as she passed her dragon and bobbed up to the surface, Mith following her back up and surfacing fully. Good thing, too, because Meili, upon seeing that there were people, started chittering like crazy. ?  ! !!! ;DValha quickly untied her rope belt, it having started to irritate her bare skin, and tied it to Mith's neck netting alongside the other two rather more squirmy bags already there. “Hullo, Q'sis.” she called to him, just loud enough for him to hear her over the sound of the water, and then, spotting Delilah making her way into the water as well, “HELLO DELILAH!” she called out, significantly louder than her call to her fellow tanrider had been. The beach looked unfamiliar – she must have wandered a long way along the bottom. She knew she should have paid more attention to the beach when she came up for air. |
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Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
Posts: 1,627
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Post by Azhdarchid on Jan 13, 2012 19:34:25 GMT -5
One arm after the other. Legs almost straight as they kicked. Face turning out to the limitless horizon to take a breath on the first half of the lap, then toward shore on the second. Keep the hands low, the motions tight, like swimming through a Thread storm, where every excess of motion exposed him to more danger. This simple pattern scratched an itching scar at the back of his brain, and though he used the ocean as his medium Q'sis could not see much beyond the forward charge of his own body. Once he had touched a landmark rock at either end of the cove, he only had to count his paces to know where he was amongst the waves. He did not deviate.
But even his stoic pattern was not immune to the hyperactive flash of Pink descending the beach. Breath. Delilah was with her dragon. Breath. Her skin had a pale cast all over, like the sand. Breath. Q'sis lost sight of her as a wave swelled between them, and then he'd made contact with his touchstone and turned around. His gaze went out to the mindless sea with each breath, and he could let his thoughts drift out into it again.
Then the push. From below. Q'sis' pace stuttered, but he was almost unwilling to stop before the great pale island of Mith's head surfaced in front of him, and he had to or risk swimming right into her nose (again). After rather obviously peeking at him, the Tan sank back out of sight in what he could construe as a shy retreat. The corner of Q'sis' mouth twitched, and with Mith out of the way, he started back toward the opposite end of the cove. Only he got about one stroke in before Valha floated up to block him, followed by Mith's entire netted bulk.
He flinched as Meili started up, looking around at the Blue knotted onto Mith's back. What little angle Rukbat held on them at this hour aimed its rays squarely into Q'sis' face, and he had to squint at girl, dragon and flit alike. Though he did not respond to Valha's greeting, he started a second time when she barked across the waves at Delilah. The Tideturner shook his head- more like he was tossing off a fly than disagreeing with Valha's sociability -and treaded his way forward, laying a hand to Mith's side and pulling himself around behind her. From there he swam the remaining feet to his stony lap marker, touched it, then circled back around to Valha.
We? Unath peered back at Agnith. She considered Agnith, then Delilah, then Agnith, then a spiderclaw just ducking back into its burrow at the Pink's earthquaking landing. Then Delilah. Her wings unfurled by a couple feet and waggled in sudden, comprehending excitement. That is right! Then I will show you me. I am swimming now. But the Tan seemed content to wait for Agnith to be set free of her straps before waddling out into the water. She swung her thick tail to propel herself after Q'sis, toward where Mith would surface. There I am, she informed the Pink.
She swam around her and Mith's riders so that she could line up with her twin, laying her wet neck against Mith's and closing her eyes to blissful green slits. "Hello Delilah," Q'sis said when the Pinkrider got near enough for a semi-conversational tone. "Going out of the Weyr again, I see." He was still ignoring Valha, and he sounded tired- well, he was tired, considering. He had worn himself down far enough that his typical protests came out halfhearted for once.
Unath was far more energetic at this meeting with Agnith, however. After a moment of caressing Mith's eyeridge and cheek with her muzzle, she chirped at the Pink: If you want to try to get away, I will... She looked down at Q'sis briefly. 'Tag' you. It is a game. I am a dragon. You are the tag. Go! She shimmied delicately around the human swimmers, then launched after Agnith once she had cleared them.
She got a few frothy semi-underwater flaps of her wings in before she slowed, looking around herself as her wake rocked the human swimmers up and down. Um... she mumbled to herself, glancing between the dragonriders and the other dragons present, trying to piece the whole setting back into a cohesive whole. She felt like she had forgotten something.
"Valha has done all the fishing for us today," Q'sis continued, capable of ignoring both Unath's triumphs and setbacks. "We can eat the spoils..." He raised his chin. "...later. When we're ready." He looked aside at the other twinrider, soaked jaw set. "Enjoy yourselves for now. But go back to where your feet can touch the bottom. I can't keep track of you out here- and I need to finish what I started." He turned toward the stone marker at the other end of the cove, brows furrowed and lips thinned against the notion that he was enjoying this back-and-forth race of the oceanic gauntlet.
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Cathaline
Lady Holder
cathct[M:50]
Posts: 3,279
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Post by Cathaline on Jan 21, 2012 5:24:13 GMT -5
MITH'S HERE![/i]
Agnith's voice was typically rather louder than your average dragon, and her squeal of joy on realising both tans were present nearly deafened Delilah from the inside. She physically flinched back, up to her waist in the ocean by then, and sank down into the water up to her chin, shivering as the cold prickled her sun-warmed skin.
She remembered, with a wry smile, coming swimming not so long ago, yet still over a turn - she'd been a different person then. Experience had taught her that dry clothes to go back to were more to be desired than extra protection against prying eyes; age and maturity had taught her to meet any staring with scowls rather than blushes. And Agnith had taught her how to live.
Still, she had to admit it was a bit more welcoming to be naked in the water with Valha and her entourage than it was with just Q'sis. "Hello, both of you," she said, swimming closer. Her blue eyes twinkled at Q'sis, and she said, "But I did not leave the Weyr unescorted; we came looking for you, dear Q'sis, so you can hardly object." It was teasing, lighthearted but not precisely friendly - it was silly of him to think he could have any say in what she did or where she went in the first place. Yet despite the occasional off comment he flung her way, she had to admit to a certain curiosity about him, and a bit of sympathy. She well knew that some in the Weyr - probably more than she knew of - spoke in hushed whispers about him, being the first male subqueenrider in all of Pern. Threatened masculinity would make the most understanding man fight back in irksome ways.
Her pale eyebrows went up at his order, and she gave Valha a mirthful look. She had no intention of returning to where she could stand, as that was no exercise at all. Their dragons would protect them from encroaching sea life or snatching weeds. She did, however, strike out to tread water a bit out of the way of his presumed path. "It's good to see you here," she told the other girl. "Having a nice afternoon?"
Agnith, meanwhile, had puzzled over and then ignored Unath's strange speeches, hightailing it after her. It was so lovely to play with her tan clutchsisters, and so good to see Unath doing something more than lazing about or acting Q'sis's puppet. I'm the tag?[/i] she gasped, and immediately took off, her bright form slithering through the water with ease. She zipped behind an underwater rock and lurked, holding her breath, peering out through the dark water. Where had Unath gone? Where was Mith? Was Mith a dragon or a tag? Questions, questions, but at least they wanted to play.
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Chek
Weyrlingmaster
chekct[M:-15]
I'm so magical I vomit rainbows
Posts: 1,091
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Post by Chek on Jan 25, 2012 14:54:39 GMT -5
Mith returned her sister's caress absently, still deeply, intently focused on making sure Meili continued to breathe as he chirped and flailed about with unspeakable excitement. Finally, he worked himself loose from the netting he was secured to, rolling off Mith's neck and flopping gracelessly into the water. Valha glanced over as Mith made a breathy sound of distress, but the blue bobbed up a few seconds later and began frantically padding over to Delilah, peeping in adoration.
“<3! <3!”
Valha laughed, then rolled her eyes at Q'sis's order as he continued on his swim. Ignoring him as he did her, she grinned at Delilah, “Oh, I'm very well. I've been on the bottom since morning – I couldn't even begin to guess where I left my clothing. But it's been productive!” She motioned at the bags secured to Mith, who was looking off after her twin and Agnith, making soft, anxious sounds, but not joining them. She was working still.
“Shallow water my rear – I'm going to go unload Mith, and I'll be back in a moment, Delilah. Can you keep him,” she tilted her head at Meili, who now having reached Delilah, was frantically attempting to rub his face against her cheek without bobbing back underwater, all while peeping wildly, “afloat? He'll accidentally drown himself, given half a chance.”
Not waiting for an answer, Valha heaved herself out of the water and up Mith's neck, holding on tightly as Mith paddled off a few dragonlengths towards deeper water, and reared up out of the water, beating her wing and getting airborne.
They were on the beach in seconds – Valha had gotten the bags of her sea plunger off Mith in record time – and was quickly joined by the swirling flock she called her own, Hati shrieking orders as the fair popped between their original base camp and their new one, bearing all the supplies Valha had left behind – clothing and cooking utensils alike.
Leaving the fair to their task, Valha was back on the unloaded Mith and flying back towards Delilah before Q'sis had even finished his next lap. They went wide, past where Delilah floated and circled back, slowing and dropping low to the the water.
Valha jumped off her flying dragon as Mith re-passed Delilah's position, tucking her legs up and curling into a ball as soon as she got clear of her dragon, and crashing into the water, sending up a massive splash from which she surfaced laughing a few seconds later.
Now free to join the other dragons, Mith folded her wings closed mid-air and dropped into the water, sinking easily a dragonlength before she was gently reminded what she was doing by her rider. She hesitated for a long moment, eyes shifting between green and a mild yellow, before settling down all the way to a steady, calm blue.
She dove deeper and walked awkwardly along the bottom, hidden in seaweed and craning her neck to look towards the surface every so often. Another gentle reminder as to what she was likely looking for had her arrowing up under Agnith a few moments later, mouth opening in anticipation of closing over the end of that very pink tail.
She was not sure why biting was the proper idea, but Hati insisted.
You are Agnith.
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Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
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Post by Azhdarchid on Jan 26, 2012 16:47:48 GMT -5
For all his talk, Q'sis made little effort towards any sort of protection for the girls. He was, instead, hellbent on finishing the next lap. The wakes of dragons diving and flapping around him shifted his course from side to side, but he always doggedly corrected himself so as to keep on the straight between one marker and the other. Only Valha's plunge from heaven attracted any attention. At first he thought she had fallen, but the shape of her fall was rather distinctive. He grunted and finished his lap, grazing his knuckles on the rock instead of tapping it. Saltwater stung his hand all the way back to the other marker.
Unath zipped about just under the water's surface. Mith's sinking introduction was ignored, except for a silent conference with her twin on the location of the Tag that consisted mostly of images and sounds. Then Mith paddled off somewhere and she was alone again. Q'sis crossed by overhead, and as she rarely saw him above her Unath paused to watch him go by, big head tilting after him with considerable fascination. Q'sis, quite capable of sharing her view, did not bother trying to comprehend it. That would just slow him down.
When Mith spoke, her darker twin twirled toward the source and roared out a bubbling squeal of triumph. Then she poked her head out of the water because her noise had taken all her breath. She ducked down again, then motored her wings to carry her into the depths toward the pink and the pale blobs of the other dragons. While Mith tried for a grip from behind, Unath held up her front paws and prepared to seize onto the fighter bodily from the front.
T-aaaaaaaag-nith!
That undeniable urge left Q'sis four laps later, and with it his adrenaline. He sank in the water down to his nose, treading only limply for a time as he looked over the other two Tideturners that had joined him. They were hovering in close proximity, hair and faces wet. The adrenaline made a faint return, and he reached out to touch the rock marker again. The rock's surface was coated in sharp grains of mineral, not like the smooth-coated stuff at the shore. He could rub his fingertips raw just by pressing too hard.
He pressed. A little. Then he swam in toward the other Weyrlings, though he stopped somewhat short of a conversational distance. A look downwards granted vistas of coral-lined seabed and of distant dragon flesh. Only a few patches of sunlight descended unfiltered to the dragons' depths, but the water was running cool and clear today. He closed the distance with the other Weyrlings, remaining just a short ways off this time, respectful enough of the great sweeps his arms made to keep him aloft and how far he had to be to keep them from connecting with the others.
As during his laps, his movements remained almost entirely beneath the water, no splashing. With his strength exhausted, though, there was no longer rigorous uniformity to the motions. He was relaxed, in a fashion.
"I didn't see you at all last Fall." This was a statement, or a demand, of Valha. He hadn't seen Delilah either, but she was not the one he checked for every time Thread was faced. She might very well have grounded her fighter and been messing around in the healer tents again anyway. As stonebearers they could pass through any wing, in any level of the Fall. And they were in-and-out like shadows; many times Unath's fighter-sized snorts of flame did not even have to be utilized. The last Fall, though, had seen changing winds at each level of the atmosphere, and a thick front. He'd gone through six bags on his own to keep his Tan equipped. "Was it alright?"
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Cathaline
Lady Holder
cathct[M:50]
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Post by Cathaline on Jan 30, 2012 2:49:07 GMT -5
Delilah stretched out her hand so Meili could grab onto her fingers as soon as possible; he didn't seem overly capable. She squinted a bit and turned a questioning look on Valha. "Is he - hearting at me?" It was the only way she could think to describe it. Love was one thing, adoration, affection, there were all sorts of words, but none of them seemed adequate to describe the feelings Meili projected. Now that she thought about it, Agnith had "hearted" her sometimes too, when she was very tired and not thinking all too clearly.
"Productive is good," she agreed. "You can make a picnic of it when we've done swimming. I'm sure we'll find your clothes when we fly back - unless of course they've been stolen by a wild animal to make a nest. Or bandits." This suggestion was facetious, naturally, and her lips curved in a smile.
Meili having made it to her without incident, she brought her arm around under him, to buoy him up if he started to sink. "Shallow water," she agreed, glancing over at Q'sis as he sliced through the water. "But of course, we haven't his muscles, so we must be incompetent swimmers."
The girl was far too dignified to shriek at Valha's resounding splash, but she did laugh, bobbing along in the wake of the waves thrown up by the impact. She kicked over to Valha as the water began to settled, towing Meili lightly along. "And here he is, not drowned much at all."
Q'sis joined them, and she glanced quickly at his face, falling silent as he was not speaking to her. It was always interesting to watch the tanriders interact. One never would have thought them for friends before they Impressed the twins; maybe they weren't even friends now, but there was something far deeper than the camraderie between dragonriders there.
Oh, oh, oh! Agnith was caught! Well, not quite: she gave a shriek and flashed upwards, her tail whipping away from Mith's teeth just as they would have closed over the tip. She was large for her size, but the tans had left her behind long ago, and she successfully dodged out from between them, striking for the surface. She burst out of the water in what she considered a particularly glorious leap, like a shipfish, spraying the humans with water before she dove again. Catch me catch me catch me![/i]
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Chek
Weyrlingmaster
chekct[M:-15]
I'm so magical I vomit rainbows
Posts: 1,091
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Post by Chek on Feb 7, 2012 13:02:23 GMT -5
Back in the water, Valha held out one arm for Meili – the blue pushed off from Delilah once he noticed her reappearance, only the tip of his snout poking out from under the water as he paddled frantically to her, letting out ecstatic, watery little chirps. He reached her without drowning, and crawled up her shoulder, twisting around her neck to nuzzle her face, “<3!”
“Sorry Delilah, I lit off there before I could answer your questions, didn't I? But yes... hearting is about as good a description as anything – Mith does it too, every once in a while.” She patted the dim blue affectionately – he quickly decided that paddling around her in circled was the best thing to do. “Thank you for not letting him drown. It can be a challenge.” As if to punctuate that statement, Meili abruptly stopped swimming, and Valha had to reach for him and lift him back above water.
“<3?”
“No, no, I have an army of vicious guard flits to protect and carry my clothes, thankfully. Otherwise I'd be looking forward to a very awkward trip back to the Weyr – cold, too,” she glanced over at Q'sis, now on the approach, “And here he comes to see what the womenfolk are up to...”
Mith whipped around when Agnith's tail whipped out from between her teeth, powering after the smaller dragon , mouth open slightly and she pursued the wriggling tail tip. When the punk made her shipfishesque leap from the water, Mith let the top of her head rise up, as she had when examining Q'sis earlier.
She paused, looking at the humans grouped together, and then lifted herself up so she could exhale some of the water she'd taken. She looked back and forth towards open sea and shore, forgetting what she was doing until Agnith's mantra pushed through her confusion. That had her rising from the water and diving straight down to the bottom once more, the movement sending waves towards the trio of riders.
Any pursuit of Agnith was once again wiped from her mind as she stepped on an odd creature hidden under the sand. It was large, flat, and Valha told her it was a fish. She pursued it, pinning it under her forepaws and then staring at it in befuddlement, her mouth opening and closing in turns as she chirped, I have a fish.
Valha let Mith's confusion be for the moment – two other dragons could help her figure out what to do with a fish, if Hati didn't first. Q'sis's addition to their group - even at the range necessitated by his long arms, and the splashings from the dragons did little to dissuade Meili from his relentless circling, though he widened the circle to include Delilah and Q'sis as well. “<3! <3! <3!”
The twinrider eyed her fellow for his... directed questioning, but answered regardless, “I was mainly stocking the top flight – Mith can carry a lot more than a blue or green, after all, and with the way that Fall went?” She shook her head, “We had a close call, but the fair warned us of a shifting clump in time to get away. Skadi took a score on her tail though, sweet thing that she is.” She, unlike Q'sis, deliberately turned to the other woman in the group, “Delilah, what about you? You could have been alongside me and I wouldn't have noticed for as wild as the winds were.”
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Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
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Post by Azhdarchid on Feb 8, 2012 12:20:22 GMT -5
Unath proved the more faithful chaser. Even Mith's announcement did not dissuade her from the chase, and she plowed into deeper water after Agnith, the embankment dropping away beneath them till even she could not spot the bottom. When she poked her nose up for breath, it was a brown dot barely breaking from the water's surface, and twin streas of bursting bubbles when she ducked under again. Only in the interim she had lost sight of the fighter. She turned herself around, floating vertical so that she appeared to be spinning on her tail-tip. Underneath her the water dropped away into blackness, but the areas nearby filled with quivering beams of light as the ocean's surface undulated, admitting the sun in patchwork.
Q'sis grit his teeth as the swells of seawater rocked the three of them like buoys, but it was not the wave-making that upset.
"You know I don't like that," he warned the other twinrider. "Make him stop or I'll get Unath to do it." Meili earned a swat from one scarred arm when he swam in too close, Q'sis' palm landing just to his right and effecting a small wave to shove the flit back to Valha. "I've found him hanging around her before too. Get your fair under control." He pushed his wet, Summer-brightened hair back from his face. "You're a fool to fly with them. You're going to get distracted when one dies. Everyone else can fly with only themselves and their dragon, so why can't you?"
Rebuke delivered, he looked over to Delilah, awaiting her report as well now that someone had bothered to ask.
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Cathaline
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Post by Cathaline on Mar 12, 2012 22:46:55 GMT -5
How was it possible for a sentient creature - for any creature of the world - to be this dim? It was really quite astonishing to watch Meili's progress, and occasional lack thereof. Weren't firelizards supposed to have some sort of survival instincts? Meili apparently had few instincts of any sort, including the swimming kind.
There was something endearing about him, though, and Delilah grinned. "And your vicious guard flits can protect Meili," she suggested. In some ways it was good for Valha to have her fair; they came in handy sometimes. In others...well, Delilah couldn't personally imagine having a single flit, much less a whole gang. She had a hard enough time being bonded to Agnith and having half her heart outside of her body like this.
Agnith was not at all ready to give up the game of tag, but when she spotted the flat, fluttering creature under Mith's paws from a distance, she immediately became enraptured. Powerful strokes of all of her limbs brought her to the tan's side, and she said, Oh! Is it a fish? It doesn't look like any, uh, fish I've ever caught![/i] Unath's pursuit was momentarily forgotten.
Delilah's pale eyebrows rose at the argument between the twinriders, and her answer to Q'sis was polite. "Upper flight, most of the time," she said. "We were being buffetted the whole time - Agnith was exhausted by the end of it. But we took no damage. Her stamina is growing." The pink would never be capable of staying on wing as long as the tans, but Delilah was proud of her anyway. She might be large for a pink, but she was still one of the smallest dragon colors, yet she did so well.
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Chek
Weyrlingmaster
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I'm so magical I vomit rainbows
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Post by Chek on Mar 14, 2012 15:13:33 GMT -5
Valha bared her teeth at Q’sis in something that wasn’t a smile, bristling as she gathered up her confused flitter, the blue sending a heartbroken “♥?” at Q’sis as she did so, “You’ll leave him be – he can’t help it. You know as well as I do he can’t tell the difference between the girls – if he bothers you that much, just have Unath nudge him back to Mith.” She stopped there, though, not wanting to give her aggravating fellow tanrider the pleasure of knowing that she was, in fact, weaning Mith off needing the firelizards present during Fall.
Valha coiled the blue around her throat like a living necklace – for his part, Meili flicked his tongue out to lick some water off her skin, only to flinch back at the taste of saltwater. A few seconds later, he repeated the act. Valha stopped him before he could do it a third time.
“See, we were both with the Upper Flight, and I swear I never saw you once. Good on you and Agnith, though – how much of the Fall can you last now?”
Below them, Mith turned blue eyes that practically glowed in the dim underwater world on the pink now at her side, and then to the fish under her claws. Slowly, slowly she tightened her grip on the fish, lifting it off the sea floor once she had a firm grip she could keep, no matter how much it flailed around.
Very slowly, very purposefully, Mith raised the fish and very carefully bopped Agnith on the nose with it, Tag fish.
Then she shot past the pink as fast as she could, heading towards the depths and her twin, the tag fish flopping in her paws.
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Azhdarchid
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Post by Azhdarchid on Mar 16, 2012 13:19:36 GMT -5
"If he doesn't know what's right, you tell him. Or did you forget what color you ride?" Glaring at the other tanrider seemed to occupy him for some of Delilah's answer, even if he'd previously looked genuinely interested in it. Eventually Q'sis regarded the pinkrider more steadily, frowning as Valha joined her in nattering about the upper flight's conditions. A large swell coming in at the side gave him an excuse to duck his head under, getting his hair fully drowned again so he could run his hands along the sides and top of his head and push it all out of his face.
He came up in time to hear the tail-end of Valha's question. "You're rude," he informed. "Fighters are put in the most danger when they're tired and trying to outdo each other." His broad hand opened under the water, then flipped up to send a dollop of ocean through the air at Valha. "Try and think a little next time. I know it's hard." The bombardment was a bit smaller than he had planned- water had an unfortunate tendency to slip through one's fingers -and he had choke down the start of a smile. To do this it was easiest to look back at Delilah, whose presence lent itself to gravity.
The expression leveled at her was almost apologetic, eyebrows lifted. "Not that I expect such stunts from you." He looked at Delilah steadily so that he could leave Valha's expression to his imagination. "But she should know better." He grinned. "Going to go in and start collecting what's needed for the cookfire." And thus escape all repercussions!
Q'sis.
Yeah?
Forgot what I was doing. Unath was more insistent about getting a reminder from him than normal, and as the Weyrling's gaze drifted while he spoke to her, his eyebrows wrinkled together.
You have to catch Agnith- no, you have to run from Agnith. With Unath's own senses he registered the paradigm shift of the game, and spotted Mith barreling toward her twin. Mith was carrying something, a fish, but he did not feel Unath needed confusing with that detail.
Oh! Okay! Unath cheeped, uncommonly happy with being told what to do. She lurched out of her midwater standstill and undulated her entire body in dark arcs to get into formation with her sister, and from there twirled in the same direction as Mith to get away from their pursuer. Her behavior towards him gave Q'sis paused, and he took a moment to review what few thoughts rattled around his dragon's skull.
...you didn't forget, he concluded.
No. But forgetting is what you expect. Unath's blunt-snouted head bobbed alongside Mith's. I can hide there, she suggested to the other tan, directing Mith's attention to how the seabed had opened into a sandy plateau dotted with a series of cave mouths, some of which suited even a dragon. The two of them were very like the color of the ocean floor here.
Q'sis, abandoned with only that answer, refocused on the women around him with a bewildered blink. He hadn't made any good on his effort to bow out before Valha could rail at him again.
"Unath," he murmured in explanation to Delilah, even if she probably knew what man-to-dragon conversations looked like by now. Man-to-tan conversations just had slightly more confusing results than the rest. He glanced at Valha.
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Cathaline
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Post by Cathaline on Mar 19, 2012 5:13:19 GMT -5
"I didn't see you either," Delilah told Valha. But Threadfall was a busy, rapidfire affair. She never had time to glance around for those she might knew; everything was a blur of colour and sound, her eyes seeking out Thread so she could escape it, Agnith listening for the call of dragons who needed the precious firestone they carried. Someday it would be them yelling for weyrlings. "We lasted over half before we dropped out - I went straight to the infirmary, of course." This was her typical routine, and probably would continue to be even when she was a proper wingrider. It was expected, for the longer overland flights, for the smaller dragons to swap out toward the end at times.
Delilah opened her mouth to defend Valha's question and reassure Q'sis of her own lack of stupid stunts, but she too received a dragon message. It's a tag fish![/i] Agnith squealed, beside herself with joy, and Delilah quickly reviewed the pink's slightly-confused memories of the game. Her conclusion was unavoidable: the dragons did not know how to play tag and they were corrupting her poor, precious girl.
Agnith...[/i] She blew out a sigh. We've played tag before, remember? As weyrlings, for a game to build stamina and speed and everything? 'Tag, you're it,' means you're doing the chasing.[/i]
No, but...Unath said...that she was a dragon, and I was the tag. That I had to run. She didn't, um, say I was it. She said I was the tag.[/i]
Did somebody actually catch you? No. I guess maybe the runner is called the tag, but you were not it. Unath was supposed to catch you. How could the fish get tagged if...[/i] Finally, Delilah gave up. The whole affair was too confusing, and she might be missing something vital. Besides, this was making Agnith sad, and even if the tans were a bit dim and were not playing tag correctly, her happiness was more important.
But who's the tag? Is the fish the tag, or is the fish, um, it?[/i]
I don't know what they're thinking, darling. Why don't you go catch Unath?[/i]
Agnith rose to the surface for a breath, then dove again, keenly searching for either tan or the fish. She had no idea what she'd do if she found them now, and she wasn't even sure what game they were playing, but one thing was certain: she wanted to see the tag fish.
Delilah's blue eyes refocused, and she gave the riders a rueful smile. "Agnith," she responded to Q'sis. "What were we talking about? The dragons are doing something mad down there. I half-expect to get hit with a fish at any moment."
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Chek
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Post by Chek on Mar 21, 2012 16:57:56 GMT -5
Upon Q’sis’s comments regarding Meili and the discipline thereof, Valha quickly reached out to her dragon, pausing only a moment when she realized that Mith has somehow totally twisted the game the three dragons were playing with the inclusion of… a tag fish. Was… did that mean that Agnith was to chase Mith and Unath, or did Mith plan on them all chasing the fish? She posed that question to her tan, momentarily losing track of why she’d reached for her in the first place.
But… I have the tag fish? Mith looked at the tag fish, pausing, then quickly moved onwards towards Unath again when she spotted Agnith, arrowing through the water behind her. Valha was puzzling that answer when she was interrupted.
A little burst of water in her face brought her back to herself, and she blinked as she gathered the strands of the conversation she’d missed from Meili’s uncomprehending memory. That, at least, he was very good for – he remembered sounds, but had no idea of their meaning, but Valha did. She scowled at Q’sis, cupping her hands under the surface of the water and shoving a small wave up and out of the water with the full intention of splashing him viciously.
“You’re incomprehensible sometimes, Q’sis. What do show-off fighters have to do with sensible Delilah? Nothing, that’s what. Except that she inevitably ends up having to fix them, of course… which leads to the other part of the question,” she turned back to Delilah, “Are you resting before they throw you into the fray of the Infirmary, Delilah? Because you need to. It wasn’t so bad when we were up for a quarter Fall, but if you’re up for that long now…”
Joined down below by her twin, Mith angled her head and looked when Unath indicated, angling downwards with the added comment of, That is a good place for me to hide. Soon, she was belly down on the sandy sea floor, squishing the tag fish between her body and the sand while it wriggled helplessly in her grip. Looking upwards, she could see the silhouette of Agnith as the pink surfaced for air, and thought about going up for air herself. But if she did that, the tag fish could be revealed.
Valha provided the answer, If you… give Unath the fish, the game will be keep-away. You will keep the… the tag fish away from Agnith.
Oh. That is good. She rolled a nearby rock onto the tag fish, and called out to her sister, I must keep-away the tag fish. I will guard the fish while I go breathe? She didn’t wait, the need to breathe starting to become urgent.
She surfaced under Valha, lifting her rider out of the water with her head, just in time to register Delilah’s comment, asking the pinkrider, shyly, …does Agnith’s wish to be fish tagged?
“Oh! I remember!” Valha patted Mith lightly, “Q’sis is being mean to Meili, Mith, about him being around Unath.”
Mith turned her head and tilted downwards to look at Q’sis, forcing Valha to cling to Mith’s eye ridges to not fall off, Please do not be mean to Meili. He has nothing in his head, but it is too small for anyone to fit inside to help him. It is very sad.
That said, she submerged very quickly, racing towards the bottom and the tag fish once more and dragging Valha a little ways down with her, though the tanrider quickly rejoined her companions at the surface.
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Azhdarchid
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Post by Azhdarchid on Mar 22, 2012 12:04:43 GMT -5
Q'sis shut his eyes to protect them from the salt in the splash. The sea drained off his face in an erratic cascade from the hair of his beard, and he spit out a small intrusion that had gotten him right between the lips. It was certainly difficult to tower over Valha when they had no ground to stand on, but he tried.
"Now there's a contest you will certainly lose, girl," he growled, pulling back one thick arm till it hovered ready to aim a small tsunami over the other tanrider. "And any struggle you put in would not change the fact that you are rude and foolish. I saw Delilah working at the infirmary myself the Fall before last. She was fine. If you ever thought to make yourself useful in the area you would know that."
Mith burst from the water beneath Valha, drenching Q'sis and pushing him back simply by the passage of her skull and neck. He relaxed his arm, blinking as glittering cascades rolled off his head, looking up to the pale girl uplifted by her pale dragon. In the full sunlight, both their hides soaked, Valha resembled a simply extension of Mith, a strange spirit that blended in where her toes and hands pressed to the dragon's hide. Q'sis could never pull the same act: he was a bit too light to match Unath, even after soaking in the swarthiness of Summer.
When Mith spoke to him, responding cleanly to Valha's command, and in full sentences, the man grimaced in surprise. He stared at the reprimanding twin; he could only be sure it was her because he understood the context, and because Unath was busy eating the tag-fish she had been given. It was safest in her stomach. Q'sis looked from the tan to her naked mistress, features twinging toward insult, but unable to overcome his shock. Mith had not sounded like Valha's voice in a dragon cloak. She had sounded like herself, fully comprehending, with a phrasing Unath rarely managed.
Q'sis stared at the faint whirlpool left where Mith had sunk away, though not because he was seeking the return of Valha. Without taking his eyes from the vanishing point, he spoke to Delilah: "I'm going in to start gathering material for the fire. Return to the shallows." He finally regarded the pinkrider instead of the vacant swirls in the sea. "Like I told you."
He abandoned the notion of contest with Valha, cutting a path to the shore. His feet arrived to the sandy bottom earlier than most, and he walked the rest of the way out, arms and legs netted in the discolored patchwork of old, poorly tended wounds. The muscle was there, underneath, but the surface had never been usable for exhibiting its tone, save on the untouched trunk of his body. He headed to wear he'd pinned his clothing, but only pulled out a towel to dry his face.
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! !!! ;D