Xanadu Weyr – Beach
The unerring range of subdued white rises and falls in a multitude of sandy dunes, creating an endless amount of tiny valleys constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of a dragon. Smoothing out as it slopes gently to the edge of the deep blue water, the sand darkens and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect. The beach itself is set along a low cliff - the height lessoning as one heads eastwards, blocking a portion of the beach from direct access.
The wide wide stretch of water opens up to the east, the far distant shore way beyond the horizon and the beach curves ever so slowly round to east and west, distant arms of land embracing the wind-ruffled Caspian Lake. East leads up to the mouth of the Rubicon River, where the protecting cliff is merely an arms length higher then the sand, and beyond that, a winding road leading out of Xanadu's territory. Westwards, the beach narrows as the cliff swings out, leaving a path wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to the sheltered cove designated the Weyrling Beach. However, cut in the cliff face to the north are a variety of rough, wide staircases, providing access to the clearing and to the meadow.
After the clutching, most folks have gone to the caverns for the feast and the party. But not this boy. After watching the eggs appear on the sands, one young teen made his way to the beach, to sit near the water's edge and watch the moonlight play off the mellow surf. Scurrying around him is a very young bronze firelizard, the creature darting here and there as it tries to trap a trundlebug. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee….
Wandering into the area, Qirin thought he'd get away from the crowds for a bit. His slate blue eyes scanning the area still so much a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar; nostalgia from Turns past. The rapid movement of the glittery firelizard caught the youngster's attention and he starts wandering over with slow steps, whilst his focus remains on the flitter. It's moments later that he sees who it is attached to. "Hey…" There's no umph to the greeting, but he does give a bit of a smile Muir's way.
The Weyrwoman is looking for someone. Totally not keeping tabs on her son on this beautiful moonlit night - honest! Her form emerges from the shadows of the dock - she's been out on that but hasn't found anyone - just as Qirin draws near to Muir. "Ah there you are, Qirin! I tried to catch you at the clutching Cook found me first." She's got a woven grass bag over one shoulder, stepping carefully through the sand as she moves closer. "How's he doing?" she asks Muir lightly.
It's a standoff, the firelizard crouched down and eying the trundlebug, his tail flicking sharply back and forth. And then he /springs/, pouncing forward, but his youthfulness is just getting used to his limbs and he overshoots (by a lot), watching the trundlebug skitter by beneath him and away to freedom. Then there's a face ful of sand to congratulate him, and Muir's laugh. "You're an idiot." But it's said fondly? Glancing up, he nods to Qirin with a return, "Hey," looking away before he can really get a good look at him. His mother's arrival has distracted him, and when she says his cousin's name his eyes flick back to the other. "Qirin?"
"Oh, hey, Thea," Qirin replies with a faint smile. Pink touches his face through an internal debate directly thereafter in whether he should refer to his cousin by title, like many would, but his lips simply thin and curl up and his greeting is not corrected. Glancing back to the boy and his 'lizard, Qirin nods, "Yep. …Muir? Quite a hunter you have there."
Thea blinks at Muir. "Didn't I tell-" She didn't! She facepalms, her hand sliding down past her eyes pauses there massaging her temples briefly then resumes its course until it drops off her chin. It's been one of those kinda weeks for her. "Qirin is your cousin," she says apologetically. "He's come from near Fort to visit. Qirin, this is Muir." She seems to have no problem with informality, as should be no surprise, really if he knows her. But this is new for him, seeing her here on her own territory. Even though she's visited Harper Hall, it has, thus far, been few and far between. "I have something for you, Qirin. Hold out your hands."
Muir scrambles to his feet, scooping up the pouting firelizard and depositing him on his shoulder. "My cousin?" he asks, eying the other youth closely. "But how…" Is that possible?
Qirin's smile twitches slightly. "Hi," he greets Muir again, not quite sure where to go from there. "…From my mother's side. She's a journeywoman Harper." As if that explains everything… or at the very least, the Fort area. Looking over towards Thea, he gives a quick inquisitive "Oh?", but obeys and places his hands out, first slightly separated, but then running together as he debates the size of gift.
Hastily, "I meant your second cousin…err or is that cousin-once-removed? I never can remember how it goes." Thea isn't sure so she just adds firmly, "He's my and Uncle Tharen's cousin but easier for you to just call him cousin, yeah? My mother's- Shards!" She's been reaching, meanwhile, into that grass-woven bag of hers and quickly takes another step towards Qirin, placing something warm and moving into his hands. "It's going to hatch any minute," she breathes while pawing for something else in that bag. "Don't drop it now!"
| ~*~ Buried, Treasure Erupts Egg ~*~ |
| A riotous tumble of hues bloom across the surface of this egg, green vines tangle with azure trumpets stealing color from the cloudless sky while lilac shades marigold and rose clustered above mounds of violet and pinks – all sprung from earth. Who sowed the seed? It doesn’t know - it’s just an egg, after all. |
While Muir tries to work out the family dynamics, his firelizard lifts his head and trills softly, before he begins to hum. It's very soft, but it's there just the same. "Oh! Hey, congrats! What else you got in that bag, Mom?" the boy asks, edging closer to his mother with a quirked grin.
Eyes wide, the young man stares at the newly given egg. "Oh shards, I don't have anything to feed it," Qirin's first thought comes, already in worry and cradling the little egg carefully as though he might drop it in his sudden move to excitement from his shy awkwardness. He drops to his knees slowly and moves to a kneel, lessening the space between hands and ground, in case of emergency.
Tocha is there, tired but there, perched on the Weyrwoman's shoulder. Brown Shep is on the other. Both join in the humming. Lazily gliding (vulturelike) overhead is a silent dark form. Ruin never makes happy sounds, but he's come to gloat over his progeny. "More eggs," says Thea shortly in reply to Muir, producing another packet of meat and peeling the paper back for Qirin. "I don't suppose you have some friends who'd like a firelizard, do you?" Is that a faint note of… desperation in her tone? Why yes. Yes it is. "What'd you name yours, by the way?" She asks Muir as she too, kneels. She holds the packet, which is heaped with shreds of raw meat, where Qirin can take from it.
Buried, Treasure Erupts Egg wobbles, rocking precariously in Qirin's palm. A fracture begins in the middle, then slowly widens until the egg cracks neatly in half, spilling the occupant into the hands that holds the egg.
| ~*~ Just Hum Along to the Music Green Hatchling ~*~ |
| Tiny, that's what this dainty green creature is. While there is nothing long or large about her, the word 'stubby' cannot be applied here. Birdlike in form and movement, this firelizard is graceful and quick as she flits here, there and everywhere, never still for long. An iridescent bottle green, peacock shimmering with tints of teal feathers across her hide, the opalescence of her underbelly paling to robin's egg. The wings are merely a whisper of luminescent green thought; an auroral cloud ghosting across a midnight summer sky. |
Muir shrugs, "Soriana? Kale? Idrissa? I don't know if any of them need a firelizard tho, but…you could ask them? And he doesn't have a name yet. Still trying to think of something awesome. Like…Sting. Or Strike. Or something." Manly. "Ooh, a green! You'll have your own eggs."
The hums make Qirin calmer as he stares intently at the egg. Removing one hand and placing his other gently towards his chest to help cradle it during his action, he snags a piece of meat in time for the egg to break open. The young little green causes him to gasp, catching him by surprise at her tiny, precious, almost fragile appearance. Food in hand, it's not yet offered as he's fixated on her looks. He gives a glance up towards Thea and Muir… are they /seeing/ this girl?! Oh shards, Qirin's being a dimglow, as he sees the packet of meat and remembers to place the meat chunk in hand before the young green.
"I don't know that anyone needs a firelizard, but I certainly don't," states Thea with a brief, slightly, panicked look up and down the beach. "Or three more even." Please Faranth no more! She already has three. "Sting sounds… sorta scary. How about KickBox since that's what he did to you when he hatched?" She's kidding, the merriment in her tone attesting to that. "Feed her!" gasps Thea to Qirin but indeed, she peers in the moonlight to see his tiny firelizard better. "She is a delicate little thing, isn't she?"
Muir grins, taking another little step back. "Yeah, feed her. She's really beautiful." Glancing at his mother, his grin is crooked and amused. "KickBox? No."
Just Hum Along to the Music Green Hatchling inhales the meat, latching onto Qirin's fingers with dainty paws to keep them there. *lick* *lick* *lick* She's going at his fingers with her tongue rapidly. At least so far she hasn't used her teeth?
Qirin is quick to grab a second helping for the girl, and offers that as well. "She's not going to choke, is she?" he comments quickly, voice slightly breaking in youthful transition and excitement, after the first piece disappears from his hand as swiftly as it had been offered. "I mean… I'm not sure she even chewed it." His other hand is already posed to grab another piece as he watches what the small green does with the second piece. The babe-flitter's intent to lick his fingers clean, however, do cause the boy to chuckle deeply.
"Hi-yah?" Thea tries again, smirking over at Muir this time. "How about Bruiser?" A soft chuckle follows that suggestion even as she shifts to reach for a shred of meat and helpfully drapes it over Qirin's finger that the tiny green is licking, while the hatchling has him tied up by clinging to them. She shifts the packet closer so he doesn't have to reach so far. "I don't think so," she answers, "but if you can think loving, calm, slow down sort of thoughts to her, it might help?"
Muir shakes his head with each one of her suggestions, absently rubbing a finger against the bronze's muzzle as he watches the green and Qirin find out about each other.
Just Hum Along to the Music Green Hatchling chitters then chirps sweet, silvery bell-like notes as more meat magically arrives in front of her. She's voracious, feeding like there is no tomorrow for her at first, but she does seem to slow down after several hastily-gulped bites enough to chew and look up at Qirin. Her vocalizations are now meat-muffled, with a hint of questioning. She takes more - possibly eating her own weight in meat and then some - all the while peering up at the boy - until, with a carol of several clear warbles she launches into the air, her swift flight a dim green blur in the moonlight to hover right in front of his eyes. Then she stretches her neck and gives him a lick on the tip of his nose.
Just Hum Along to the Music Green Hatchling looks into Qirin's eyes. Impression!
"Oh, oh yeah. Yeah," the nervous boy replies and takes a breath, which swiftly calms his anxious nerves. As his feeding hand frees, he moves to rub the little green's head nobs gently, careful with the pressure - like a soft tickle. Gently, he sings out a tune, recollecting one of the songs about firelizards and exchanging the words out for 'la's. Despite his unsettled voice, his tone is pretty clear and right-on for the young teen. Piece after piece is grabbed, and then that hand back to rubbing the young girl before UPWARDS. "You're so precious!" he announces, even though her belly is quite swollen with her meal. Mouth raising in a wide grin, he replies, "Thank you, thank you."
"You're welcome and thank you", says Qirin's cousin with a dry chuckle, because if he'd refused Thea'd probably have had to shove it at Muir or risk impressing it herself. Peeking into her bag, then feeling the eggs left in there, she breathes a sigh of relief. "The rest are still for the time being, but I'd better see if I can find someone else who wants them." So they don't get woken up in the middle of the night by another impromptu hatching. Which reminds her, "Muir, don't forget, to put some meat close by tonight when you go to bed." And so saying, Thea hands Qirin another packet of meat for later and start off to find other hands for those eggs.
Muir grins, wide and genuine, at his cousin (second? Half? Who cares) and his new firelizard. "Congratulations. Now the whole family has 'lizards from that clutch," he says, grinning at his mother. "You /suuuure/ you don't want one? You can be cool like us!" He knows how tempting that is. Then he's nodding, with only a /slight/ rolling of his eyes. "Yes, mom. I won't forget. Hey, Qirin, let's train them together okay?" he asks, taking a step away - in the opposite direction of his mother.
Qirin grins, the awkwardness of initial introductions now melted into a flittery little green with beautiful little eyes. Taking the offered meat, he thanks her again and then turns his eyes upon Muir. "Sure. I have no idea what to name her, though." Oh no, back to naming talk! "Did you hear her sing?" Is that the best way to describe it? "Mother's going to love her."