Restday [open]

[Maykat]

Who: R'tel and Ineth
What: Enjoying the day off
When: Afternoon
Where: Beach

But then I thought, why smash it and make a mess and leave a nasty smell? So instead I snorted at it and moved it a little, and then snorted at it again and moved it a little again, and snorted again and finally it fell off the ledge. Ineth finished her story, sounding a little smug at having such a good idea. R’tel, only half awake and having no real idea what his green was talking about, something about a stinkbug maybe, still made the appropriate noises, sounding very impressed by her cleverness.

Both R’tel and Ineth were floating on their backs in the warm water, rocking as gentle waves passed them by. He held on to her wingtip gently to keep them from getting separated. It was the day after a Fall, a particularly good one for the Weyr, and a day to do nothing but the barest necessary duties. After running a few messages for some of the Weyr’s crafters, the pair had packed a picnic bag and taken to the beach. R’tel let go of Ineth and back-stroked his way to her head. Are you going back to the beach now? she asked, looking at him through her inner eyelid. I’ll have nobody to talk to.

“Wherry-head, you can always talk to me.” R’tel grinned and scratched under her chin. “I’m just going in to get out of the sun.” He took a deep breath and swam underneath her, resurfacing at her wing tip. He gave her wingsail a tweak before heading for the shore. He rode the waves onto the shore, almost losing him short pants as he hit the sand. He kicked through the sand and flopped onto his blanket in the shade at the base of the cliff. He looked down the beach, watching the other weyrfolk. In the sevenday since their transfer to Cerulean, he had managed to not get in any trouble, mostly because he had kept to himself. He flopped back on the blanket. It had been the most boring sevenday of his life.

[Kaemi]

It was much too early for him to be awake, but he was restless. Toven wandered around the Weyr, making his way (eventually) towards the beach. It would be candlemarks before Tovsk woke up, and he would make sure to be back at the apartments before the brown noticed his absence. The sun was shining brightly, and he turned his face up to meet the rays. He got out often enough, for him, but he was still a handler to a nocturnal creature, and couldn't be expected to spend too much time soaking up sunrays or walking with the hot sand beneath his toes.

As soon as he had walked onto the beach, he had shaken his boots off and left them behind a rock barrier. Toven enjoyed simple pleasures, to say the least, like the sand between his toes. It reminded him of when he and Isya used to--. Abruptly, he cut his own thoughts off. No. Anger brimmed to the surface of his mind, but he ignored it with a stubborn mindset, and instead focused on Rukbat and the sand in between his toes. There were other people on the beach, but they were ignored in his determination to keep his temper.

He ended up at a cliff, leaning his back on the base. It was shady, but still warm, and he stuck his feet out into the sunshine so that his toes could curl in the hot sand. Only when he was strictly comfortable did Toven bother to look around (as he probably should have before sitting down, but... you know). There was a man, a dragonrider if he read him correctly, also at the base of the cliff. He didn't know him personally, but that didn't mean a single thing. Not wanting to be rude, Tov turned his torso- although refusing to move his feet from the sand- and offered his hand.

"I'm Toven, handler of brown Tovsk," he greeted quietly. "You're a rider?" It would be interesting to see if he was correct. The man just... held himself like most riders; not to mention there was a dragon in the ocean without explanation. It would make sense if that was his own.

[Maykat]

R’tel sat up when he heard someone nearby. He reached out for the man’s hand. “R’tel, and that’s Ineth out there,” he said, pointing to the green still floating in the water. He hesitated a little before admitting his real rank. “We’ve graduated,” the word was sharp, almost a snap, “but I’m too young for the fighting wings yet.” He looked away from Toven, out over the ocean to watch Ineth.

“We’ve got about another Turn,” he said, his voice a little more gentle. “We’ve been ferrying firestone and carrying messages in the mean time.” He pulled some meatrolls out of his picnic basket and offered one to Toven. “Isn’t this awful early for you? I thought wherhandlers only came out at night.” R’tel was ambivalent about whers; he didn’t think he’d spent enough time with them to form an opinion other than that they were ugly.

They smell, too, Ineth added, picking up her rider's thoughts.

When have you ever met a wher? R'tel asked, his eyes going unfocused and his lips twitching into a brief smile.

I don't know, I just know they smell. Ineth had a similar complaint about wherries and canines. R'tel shook his head and focused his attention back on Toven.

[Kaemi]

Too young? Toven gave the man a considering look, and, noting his gangliness, merely shrugged. "Well met, R'tel," he said brusquely. He looked a bit youthful, but there was nothing against that in weyrling rules, was there? He'd never extensively gone over them... but if dragons matured in two turns, wasn't that what counted? After all, if they Searched for boys age twelve and up, it was odd that they didn't allow them to graduate until the boys mature. "You ride Ineth, so you're a rider," he decided. That meant that he could be right, and so Tov nodded decisively.

"If you don't mind me asking..." like that really mattered. He wanted to know, whether or not the man- alright, young man- minded. "Why are you still ferrying those things around? If you've graduated, that is." And the dragon, just from what Toven could discern, looked full grown. So what was the problem? He took the roll offered by R'tel with a thankful nod. This was, in reality, his breakfast, and he would enjoy it. Of course he hadn't thought to bring his own food.

Toven began slowly eating the roll, an honest smile developing on his lips as the inquiry was made. "I like Rukbat, same as every other sane human. Just because my wher's photo-phobic doesn't mean I have to be." Words that may have contained a sharper tone were softened: after all, hadn't he been thinking the same thing? And wouldn't Tovsk ask him just the same thing, once he knew?

[Maykat]

R’tel huffed, took a bite of his meat roll and leaned back on his elbows. “I’m not sixteen yet,” he said. “And even though Ineth could out fly every one of those dimglows we graduated with, they held us back. You oughtta see the stuff she can do. Turns and rolls that would snap a queen’s wings right off her body.” Knowing she was being talked about, Ineth swam closer, stopping where the waves started to break. “Wait till you see her Flights.” R’tel grinned wickedly and shook his head.

Ineth preened, arching her neck and tossing her head. Tell him I would come up and meet him but he probably smells like a wher and I don’t want to stink too.

“Uh, she says hi,” R’tel told Toven. This wasn’t the first time the boy had been forced to selectively edit Ineth’s side of a conversation.

The green smacked her tail on the water in irritation. That isn’t what I said at all, she told Toven directly. Turning her head away from the beach, she looked like a pouting weyrbrat. But now you’ll never know.

“Sorry about that.” R’tel blushed a little. “She likes to talk to people. I’ve tried telling her not everyone wants their mind invaded by a talking lizard.” Ineth snapped her head back to look at R’tel, then chirped disapprovingly and turned away from his again. “But she doesn’t listen.”

Realizing he, and especially Ineth, was hogging the conversation, R'tel tried to turn it back to Toven. "So, uh, have you been at the Weyr long?" He could feel Ineth rolling her eyes at his lame attempt.

[Kaemi]

A slight nod followed R'tel's words, but Toven still didn't quite understand. "What does the age of sixteen have to do with your weyrlinghood?" he pried, confusion riddling his brows. "Obviously, if she can do all of those things- which I have no doubt, as she seems to be capable- then I see no reason why you cannot fly with the rest of the wings. You should be of no importance, as long as your dragon is able-bodied." He didn't mean it offensively, but it was true. What they needed were fighting dragons, and if they were keeping this young man back due to age, then they were fools, the lot of them. As long as he was of stable mind, and didn't lead his dragon between, then it was her that mattered.

She seemed to be a pretty dragon, too. "Express my greetings to your Ineth, as well..." his voice faded off as the green bespoke him, directly. Toven actually blinked, unseeing in his shock for a moment or two. He had only had a dragon speak mentally to him a handful of times, and it was always with a great purpose. R'tel's green seemed to have no problem with it, and he marveled at that before the words. Once he did get to the words, however, he narrowed his eyes at the weyrling. "What did she say, exactly?" he asked. Although his words weren't harsh, they were obviously expecting an answer, and Tov made sure that they conveyed his unhappiness if he didn't receive a suitable one. "I don't mind that she bespoke me, mind you, but I would wish to know what she said to you in the first place."

But R'tel looked uncomfortable now, and Toven could only hope that he did answer. He couldn't force anything, or even tell if he was lying- the latter was just a human lacking, and the former was because he had no authority (other than the basics of being a higher-ranking person, which didn't really mean anything) over anyone except the future wherlings. So he would answer his question, if only to make sure that he wouldn't make things uncomfortable. Despite the considerable age gap, the young man was a dragonrider, no mind to actual rank, and dragonriders and wher handlers needed to work together on some basic level. Conversation, as much use as it did, could be a building block.

It probably wouldn't help here, and Toven knew it. So, alright, the real reason was because he liked Ineth. She had spunk.

[Maykat]

R’tel just waved away Toven’s demand. “Don’t worry about it. She’s forgotten already.” No way was he telling a wherhandler that Ineth thought whers stunk. In his experience, handlers were very sensitive about things being said about all whers, not just their own. He let Ineth know the man was interested in talking and the green instantly perked up. She turned her body, angling it across the waves and swinging her head to look at Toven. She spread her wings wide, then settling them on her back with a rustle.

What color is your wher? She asked, including R’tel on their conversation. Is she a green wher? I think green really is the prettiest color, don’t you? It’s such a good contrast against the white of a cloud. Not that your wher can fly, but it could lay against the white sand and you could see how pretty green and white look together that way. Unfortunately for Toven, Ineth didn’t have to stop for breath. Ever. You know, I hear that something or someone has been attacking people at night. And some herdbeasts. Does your wher know what it is? R’tel, as customary, Ineth showed Toven a mental picture of her rider rather than say his name, says it’s a feline but I heard Felath tell Pyfeth, another mental picture of two bronzes gossiping, that it’s actually a wild wher. I didn’t know that whers could even be wild. How strange is that? The idea of a wher just running around the forest by itself. Ineth clearly didn’t approve of such nonsense. She chirped and wiggled her head from side to side. I’m glad my weyr is up on the cliff face so no whers can get to it. Especially not wild ones. I don’t like having other animals in my weyr. Actually just a bit ago I was telling about how I don’t like things in my weyr so I kept snorting at this stinkbug and eventually blew it right out of my weyr. Do you think if I snorted hard enough I could blow a wild wher out of my weyr? I doubt it, it would probably catch its claws in the stone and hold on and not move. My weyr doesn’t have a very smooth floor so there’s lots of bumps for it to catch on.

R’tel was trying not to laugh at his green’s mile-a-minute ‘conversation’ with Toven. The boy was used to Ineth’s style of communicating but it was always funny watching someone else get a full dose of it. “If you want to answer her just talk out loud,” he said. “If you can get a word in edgewise, that is.”

[Kaemi]

Although he would have protested, wanting to know what had been said, Toven didn't have enough to time to order his thoughts before his mind was absolutely bombarded. Bombarded with incessant ramblings of a dragon, he could do nothing but blink and nod as he slowly digested the words tumbling into his mind from an over-excited green. Every time he managed to form a reply he was thwarted by A. lack of time in between sentences to get his word in and/or B. unknowing how exactly he could reply to a dragon who was talking into his mind.

It was only when R'tel finally told him how to respond that he nodded, spared a blink, and then opened his mouth to try and speak. Cutting in, Toven took a deep breath and began began, "My wher, Tovsk, isn't a green- he's a brown. But green is a very nice color. So I've never had the opportunity to see the contrast between green and white." He took a breath. "I'm not sure who is attacking the the herdbeasts and people, but the Night Watch is working on it, trying on surveillance to see who the attacker is. It could be a wild wher, but I doubt it." Another breath. "Although violent, wild whers don't tend to attack so close to the Weyr. Granted, neither do any wild creatures- they tend to stay away from dragons, as big as you lot are." And yet another breath. He wasn't as lucky as Ineth, to not be able to breath.

It was an interesting debate, though. He truly wasn't sure what creature was attacking this close to the Weyr, as it seemed quite foolish to do so and wild creatures acted on instinct. If he hadn't seen the after-effects himself, Toven never would've believed it. "You'll be safe, though, whether or not you've got a weyr facing the jungle. You're a little too big to mess with," he promised Ineth. "And no, I'm not too sure that snorting would rid your weyr of a wild wher, However, you are considerably larger, and you could fling them from your weyr with a well-aimed wing swat. Probably."

He ended this diatribe with a long sigh, and a grin towards R'tel. Never before had he been more glad that he had Impressed a wher- not a dragon. For one thing, whers were much steadier. For another, they couldn't rattle on and on in their mindmate's mind. It was nice.

[Maykat]

Ineth smacked her tail against the water, considering Toven’s words. She lost interest in his wher, and all whers in general, when it turned out his wasn’t a green. She warbled and swung her head around, peering into the water. A fish keeps tickling me and I can’t find it. Ineth closed her inside lids and slid her head under the water. I don’t want to eat it, at least not right now; I just want to play with it. Fish can be a lot of fun to play with, if they let you. Dolphins are really fun to play with but I usually don’t go out deep enough to see them and they rarely come up close enough to play with us. I think they do other things in other places and don’t have to come around the Weyr’s waters a lot, you know? She flopped over on her side, half submerged in the water. Her head floated up until just the eye ridges were exposed. Ineth slowly swung her head in a semi-circle, still hunting for her fish.

“Oh yeah.” R’tel was trying unsuccessfully not to snicker. “I forgot to tell you. She doesn’t really care about an answer; she just likes knowing she has an audience.” He took another meatroll from the basket and stuffed it in his mouth. He leaned back on one elbow and tugged at his shorts with the other hand. The damp fabric stuck to his legs as soon as he let it go. “Anyway,” he said, remembering Toven’s question from before Ineth interrupted. “We can’t join the wings until I’m sixteen because that’s how the rules are. A rider has to be sixteen to be tapped into a fighting wing, don’t matter how old their dragon is or how good they are.” He shrugged, trying to down play how much it rankled to still be a weyrling. “Got a problem, take it up with K’roi, not me.”

“So what're whers like? I've never been around any much." R'tel knew whers were useful, especially in the south against feline attacks, but had picked up the slight disdain for the creatures that many dragonriders held. "Do they talk like that?" he asked, motioning with his thumb to the ocean, where Ineth had started blowing bubbles in the water.

[Kaemi]

Discussing things with Ineth- or, to be more correct, having things discussed at him by Ineth- was interesting, to say the least. Toven watched her from the shore, smiling at R'tel from time to time as she said something amusing. “If I were a dolphin, I would be frightened of the large dragons such as yourself, like wherries are. I hear that most aren't, though, so I assume they do other things in other places, yes.” He didn't know much about the dolphins. Mainly, the only thing he really understood, was that they used to be called shipfish, because they guided ships home. More recently (although, truly, not recently at all) their true name was discovered to be dolphins. And there goes the extent of his knowledge. Despite his massive amounts of hide-bound knowledge, the slippery water not-fish weren't his area of interest, and so he stayed away from most of it.

R'tel's late comment was sufficiently unhelpful, but Toven just shrugged and let a small grin slip onto his face. “I answer what I can, and hopefully she won't mind it,” he responded to the much younger boy. He settled back with part of his head turned towards the water, and the other part angled towards the weyrling. “Personally, I think the rule is ridiculous. And useless. But that's fine- I'm sure you've already taken it up with K'roi, so I won't need to.” The wherhandler liked this young boy: primarily, he was sure, because Toven liked Ineth. She was charming in an overtalkative sort of way. Also, R'tel was fairly well-spoken for a person his age. It earned him a few respect points.

The wher question was one that was often more... grudgingly given, if at all. Not many people knew a whole lot about whers, them being unattractive to a fault, and gawky, and not well-publicized. R'tel seemed, not direly interested, but more of politely. Which, quite honestly, was good enough for Toven. He would take quite a few excuses to talk about whers, especially. “They're intelligent creatures... and photophobic, as I'm sure you knew.” He wasn't entirely sure what all the weyrling wanted to know. There was a vast amount of information on whers as a whole. Mm. Communication processes. “Sort of. They're telepathic, but they can't ramble in words like your Ineth. Rather,they convey feelings, much like firelizards, and distinct images.”

[Maykat]

“Oh yes, we talked it over all right.” R’tel said, nodding his head seriously but mentally rolling his eyes. He refrained from calling Toven a dimglow under his breath. He liked the man, even if he seemed out of touch with how the Weyr worked. R’tel had resigned himself, grumpily, to waiting out the next Turn by putzing away in the weyrling wing.

R’tel grunted and thought about Toven’s description of whers. He hadn’t expected whers to be as articulate as dragons, but he was surprised to hear them compared to firelizards. “So, anybody ever try to Impress a dragon and a wher at the same time?” he asked, looking out over the water. Ineth quickly raised her head and glared at R’tel, who just grinned. Calm down, I’m just asking, he said. Ineth lowered her head back to the water but continued to watch the two warily. If Toven was going to try to tempt her R’tel with a wher, then the green would have to re-evaluate her opinion of the man. She rumbled, the vibrations scaring off the small school of fish around her.