D'son and Osric wash Inimeth and talk about whether or not you can shut a dragon out of your head a little.
The current time for zone 9 is: 2684.1.13 14:18:25
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.
Summer's in full swing by now and the beach is a popular destination of a sunny afternoon. D'son is occupied in that most typical of dragonrider occupations: washing his dragon, standing waist deep in the shallows and working away with bucket and brush, though Inimeth's tail sends waves rippling now and then that threaten to make the bucket of frothing sand float away now and then. "Would you sit /still/ you big galoot?" the rider tells the large bronze fondly and thumps on his shoulder with one hand.
A day of mending is guaranteed to bring one thing for Osric, and that would be pain. As he wanders down to the beach, enjoying some time away from chores, he has the majority of his attention on his hands, counting the pin pricks and needle holes that now lurk there. With a frown he rubs two fingers together, then pauses to squeeze the tip of his left index finger before putting it in his mouth. And so, finger in mouth, he looks around for some distraction, nodding as he spots D'son and heads in the bronzerider's direction.
Scrub-a-dub-dub, big bronze in the tub. Or er, lake as the case may be. Big lake at that. D'son pauses to catch at the bucket again on Inimeth's next tail-swish and looks up to spot Osric's approach. "Hey there," he says with a friendly little wave. "Cut your finger?" Given Osric doesn't look young enough to be a chronic thumb-sucker.
Osric waves his free hand, then shakes his head, "Not quite, got enough holes to strain soup though." He holds his hand up as if to demonstrate his point, but at the distance the little pinholes would be almost invisible. "I don't think I'm really cut out for mending." Covering the last of the distance relatively quickly he stands slightly to one side, out of the way of the bronze himself, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
D'son squints up the shoreline, shakes his head. "Can't quite see from here, but I'll take your word for it," the bronzerider answers and chuckles wryly. "Yeah, not everone is. HOw about dragon-washing?" he offers up an alternative with a grin then lets the brush slide down Inimeth's flank. "Sure, depending on the question though, might decide not to answer," Dels teases a little.
"Washing?" Osric pauses for a second, then shrugs. "Sure, not like I've had a bath today yet anyway." He takes a moment to remove his boots, rolling his trousers up as much as he can before crossing the last of the distance towards D'son. "Anywhere he doesn't like being touched? I learned that the hard way the other day." He pauses, and grins, then adds quickly, "That wasn't the question by the way, that was just a before we start sort of thing."
"Better than sticking your fingers in your mouth for all those pinpricks," D'son notes. "Nope, he's really easy-going," the bronzerider describes his bronze and laughs, passes over the second brush that's perched on the dragon's forelimb. "So, what is the question?" Grinning still.
Osric takes the brush, weighing it in his hand for a second before aiming it at the bronze. His first touch is a little nervous, clearly unsure how the dragon will react, but soon gaining in confidence. At D'son's question his brush stills a little, then he focusses all his attention on it. "We've been out to see the eggs." Statement, not question. "And it was a bit…." Here he pauses, thinking how to word the question properly. "Can you shut them out? Once they're in there I mean. If there's something you'd rather not share with, well, anyone?"
Inimeth lets out a quiet whuff, maybe a welcome and shimmies down a little in the water. Clearly, not troubled by having someone else touch him. D'son scrubs up along a shoulder, nudges Inimeth again as he starts to sink down a little too low. "Oh, yeah, that," Dels makes a little face. "Pretty disconcerting, isn't it?" But then he nod a few times. "Yeah. You can learn to. Not necessarily cut the whole connection, but you don't have to share /everything/. It' a little harder early on though, when it's new."
Osric scrubs on, only taking the briefest of glances at D'son and seemingly feeling a little awkward at asking such a question. "How do you do it though? Just in case, I mean. It was really weird with the eggs and it's not like I've done anything really horrible I just… private's private, you know?" He pauses a second, concentrating on the jjob at hand, before turning to glance at D'son, "They can't tell anyone what they found, can they?"
"It depends on if you impress or not and well, if you do, on you and our dragon and how your heads work," D'son explains. "With Inimeth I just kind of … make things cloudy. Think about clouds and pull them across what's going on in my head," he continues and looks over at the candidate. "The eggs? No. A dragonet could. Sometimes young dragons splash all kinds of interesting stuff around. It's part of why there's rules about intimate stuff. M'nol's brown shared some um … stuff last time around I think."
There's obvious relief at the eggs not being able to share, Osric finally relaxing enough to smile at D'son. "Guess I'll try the cloudy thing next time I'm out there, just in case. Not that my life is half as interesting as some of the other candidates." He pauses while he dips his brish in the water, then goes back to scrubbing, "Does that happen a lot then, the young dragons telling people what goes on?"
"Yeah, or you know, things like that. Drawing 'curtains' or throwing up fog or smoke or closing a door." D'son ducks under Inimeth's neck and starts scrubbing upward under there with a pause to reload his brush with froth. "A fair bit, yeah. Especially if they get upset. I guess they're more likely to talk amongst themselves, but when they get all agitated about something, they don't have much of a filter and can wind up broadcasting to the whole Weyr."
Osric laughs and nods, "Is it bad I can think of three people I hope get one that's really talkative?" Reloading his brush once more he gives another sideways glance at D'son, "You used to be the weyrleader, right?" he pauses to get a reaction of some sort, then asks quietly, "What's it like?"
"Dunno about /bad/," D'son says with an answering laugh, and shoots the candidate an amused look. "Maybe just a liiittle questionable," he answers, winks and reaches up higher, probably tells Inimeth to drop his head as he completes the curve of the dragon's neck and starts to work on Inimeth's jaw and delicate parts of the bronze's 'face'. "Mmhm. For a couple of turns. We were out of the Weyr the day Kilaueth went up last time and … basically missed it," he adds on, voice neutral. Hazel eyes slowly lift back up to Osric's face though. "Well. It's kind of interesting all the things you have to do for the job. But it's also stressful and it can be hard if you weren't ready for it. Or if you're really young and you've never had that responsibility before. I was pretty young when it came my way, I've got a lot of sympathy for R'owan, catching it even younger and without being a wingleader first. Niva's a good Weyrwoman though."
Osric shrugs, grinning the whole time, "What? You never had someone you were sure was up to something but you couldn't find out?" To the rest he nods, scrbbing becoming a little less intense and directed as he listens to what D'son has to say. "R'owan's my age isn't he? I don't think I could even dream about Weyrleader, not just now, definitely not responsible enough. Guess if it happens it happens though, not like you really get a choice. Do you ever regret it?"
"Sure, but I don't really pay that much attention unless it's something serious. Like criminals and other assorted nutcases, like Kefai," D'son says with a little shrug. "Yeah, he is. I think he was just a few months younger than I was when Inimeth caught Kilaueth the first time when Nyunath caught her." Working carefully around INimeth's headknobs now, D'son's fingers are slow and gentle as he eases suds along shining hide. "Yeah, there's not much of a choice to it. You either step up to the plate, or duck it and leave the Weyr scrambling to come up with another solution." Dels is quiet for a little bit, probably considering. "It's … complicated. I guess in some ways yes, because it dicked around with my personal life pretty badly, but in the end, it wound up being a good thing. And to be honest, even though I'm enjoying being master of my own time, I miss it. I miss working that closely with Niva and Thea and the others."
"I guess I'm just nosy." Osric grins, then adds with a laugh, "Or jealous, one of the two." He moves down a little more towards Inimeth's tail, scrubbging as he goes, "Has anyone ever done that? Run out on the position?" He pauses a second then grins, "Guess I still have a lot to learn about Weyrs, not been here long enough to know all the ins and outs of things. You got on okay with Niva though? She's not as scary as people say?"
"Jealous?" D'son queries, brows lifting as he moves to Inimeth's other brow ridge. "Careful around the end of his tail," the bronzerider notes mildly. "Not that I think he's going to poop on you or anything." The bronzerider chews on his lip thoughtfully and shrugs. "I don't really know, I never looked it up. Though I probably could query the databases and check it out. But people told me I could when it happened. I mean, when Inimeth won." With Inimeth's head done, he movesaround to the opposite shoulder. "She wasn't happy that we won at first but I think for the most part, we got it figured out after a bit. If you can impress her with good work, she's smart and realizes it."
Osric just shrugs a little at the 'jealous' repeat, not willing to expand on it, though his head does snap back round to stare at D'son at the 'poop' comment. It certainly has the effect of making him far more cautious than he had been previously. "Good work." He nods again, "Something else to remember. It's funny really, had thought that being a candidate was always a bit more about fun. Guess that's what most people who aren't actually weyrbred think. Not been a single party in the barracks late at night or anything."
Grinning at that reaction, D'son just ducks down a little, scrubbing at Inimeth's shoulder all the more. "Fun? Candidacy? Are you kidding me?" And then Dels laughs, pops his head up so he can look towards Osric down the length of Inimeth's side. "It's work, yeah. And so's weyrlinghood."
Osric shakes his head, "Not kidding at all. Back home we… some of the kids used to pretend to be candidates and it was all sitting around eating and waiting for eggs to hatch. I know now, but it was a bit weird at first. Definitely realised it was work the first time I had to go muck out the runners. That job stinks, and not just literally."
"Wow, talk about misperceptions," D'son says with a laugh. "Makes me think we're really missing the boat on outreach to holds," he says with a comical look on his face. "And uh, at least horse manure doesn't stink the way the latrines do."
"Kids are kids." Osric replies with a laugh, "Doesn't matter how much you tell them it's work, until they actually do it they're not going to believe that it's anything other than fun that people want to keep for themselves." His nose wrinkles a little at the mention of latrines and he nods, "They sort of tie equal for least favourite chore."
"Heh. Yeah, good point." D'son says and scoots on down Inimeth's side, scrubbing as he goes. "I liked mucking out in the stables. Liked the runners. The smell in the stables I think is kind of nice really. Latrines though. " visible shudder. "Almost done here. Want to go for a bit of a swim when we're done? Unless you have to get back to mending. Could be fun to do a little bit of racing. Speaking of fun."
Osric scrubs a bit more, but the offer of a race distracts him somewhat. "Hate the runners, or really they hate me. I always get the grumpy one." A slight pause follows as he looks over at D'son, but he nods. "I have a feeling I'm about to get my backside handed to me, but sure I'll race. Mending was the morning, got the afternoon off other than I'm supposed to go see the healers at some point."
"All right then," D'son says with a laugh and gives Inimeth' side one more swipe. "Go rinse off, you," he tells the bronze audibly, fondly. Then holds a hand out for Osric's brush and collects the bucket to stow the washing gear back up on the beach. "And only way to find out about win and lose is to actually race." He grins brightly at the candidate and trudges up to the sandy shore, drops the bucket there, stretches and nods towards the end of the pier on the docks. Shall we?"
Osric hands over his brush willingly enough, though is quick to move away from the bronze in case he gets swamped before he's ready. He grins back at D'son, "I'd guess you're fitter than I am, but yeah we'll see." Osric heads back to where he left his boots, moving them to beside D'son's bucket and then tugging off his shirt and adding it to the pile. "I know I'm going to regret this but… what's at stake?"
"No stakes, just some fun,' D'son says with a shake of his head and waits on Osric. Already having been doing dragon-washing, he's already in old shorts and that's it. "Okay? Ready? Here we go!" and he jogs over to the pier to lead the way into the water after a moment to start off the 'ready, set, go' for the racing that will hopefully lead to some laughing fun, though yes, Dels is fitter and more used to swimming likely.