Xanadu Weyr - Coastal Road
This coastal road runs parallel with the edge of beach that stretches endlessly beside the Caspian Lake. From coast to inland the dunes of the beach grow smaller and smaller until they eventually peter out into nothing but small moguls in the sand. The path is eventually seen to be blocked by a river that reaches the lake just south of the point where the road turns west and crosses a grassy meadow towards a sturdy wooden bridge that can be seen in the distance.
It's that time of day between dinner and sunset, the quality of light when the sky is bright but the sun and heat are not oppressive and glaring. Seryth lies relaxed upon the ground while Thea, dressed in shorts and an old shirt sits astride the queen, working oil into the golden hide, whistling a plaintive tune while dipping a sponge into a bucket of oil and moving her arm in large, circular motions to apply it.
Maybe he's looking for Zevida. Maybe he's just going for a walk. Or maybe there's some strange chore that has Satoris walking down the road, watching the water and the light reflecting on it. There's a look of consideration as he draws nearer Thea and her lifemate, but he doesn't specifically change his stride or aim to evade her.
Siebith is in the water, or under it currently as the case may be. D'had on the other hand has found this time to sit out in front of his weyr. The chair he's settled into rocked back onto the two back legs, his feet propped up against a post that holds up the overhanging roof. Half asleep from the looks of it. But then he just might be trying to be inconspicuous in watching the girls that might be happening by.
He's walking. Not working feverishly or haranguing an apprentice. This is enough to get Thea's attention. She pauses mid-swipe to watch the Miner-cum-Candidate stroll for a moment a thoughtful look on her face. Her oil container is strapped to her waist and she looks down, holds the sponge to it and replenishes the sponge. Back to the swabbing, with a few glances from between the dark strands of hair that hide her face as she bends to her task. D'had has not been noticed yet, but the occasional ripple in the lake does draw Seryth's attention, for the dragon’s head turns in that direction to watch the… current.
Satoris grunts slightly as his bronze 'lizard appears from between and starts harassing him. Mostly by grabbing at his hair. "I wish y'all would just /hunt/," the miner grumbles, pulling some jerky from his pouch. The flying stomach lands on his shoulder and happily gobbles up what he's being offered. In the process, the man's strides have slowed, but not stopped.
D'had likes his view just fine where he is. Siebith on the other hand is keeping himself entertained in the waves. The blue stays down for quite awhile, creating ripples across the surface of the water every so often before finally breaking back to the air with a fish in maw. This is, perhaps strangely, brought and presented to Seryth.
Thea continues her oiling, crawling up the base of Seryth's neck since the gold has her head up. One bare foot is braced on a neckridge, toes curled over it to keep it from slipping. She's busy for a moment, focusing on getting the oil as high as she can reach. Her eyes flicker back towards Satoris and she grunts a soft sound of impatience. He's not coming any closer, so she calls, "Satoris!" So much for waiting. Siebith comes, dripping from the lake and the offering is presented upon the ground. Seryth trills her pleasure and dips her head to partake. Thea, obviously not expecting this, goes sliding down that oily neck, arms ahead of her, sliding uselessly down that slippery slope until she winds up in an undignified heap on the ground between the two dragons. The fish… is underneath her.
Satoris looks up at Thea's call, eyebrows raising slightly. He exhales in a slow sigh before starting in her direction… and then she's falling. Disrupting the bronze 'lizard from his shoulder, Satoris breaks into a swift run. He may not get there in time to try catching the goldrider, but he's there shortly after, kneeling to help her to her feet. "Are you alright?"
Keziah wanders down the road. Taking an opportunity of free time to get out of 'confinement' and stretch her legs. Sure, she can't head out into the wilderness, but a nice walk should help clear her head somewhat of being stuffed in with people. Course, it's really hard to get away from people in a good sized Weyr, but open space around you works. For awhile. Course, when amusements abound, it can do quite well. And when there's no amusements, well near mayem can do it as well, and watching Satoris race after Thea, Keziah stops in her tracks, her eyes widening at the sight.
Siebith is rather proud of himself for that fish, returning a croon to the gold as he hunkers down in front of her. D'had nearly falls out of his chair as he drops his feet, the front legs of the chair falling to the ground as he tries to stand at the same time when Thea begins to slide. Of course he's too late and looking rather foolish for it all. "…You alright?" he echoes Satoris, turning a glance towards the candidate. And the blue, he just watches with interest.
As Satoris reaches her, Seryth has reached her limit of waiting, and gently noses Thea off the fish so she can get at it. This rolls the goldie to one side and she's now on her back, blinking up at Satoris through a mess of dark hair. She sits up, frowns at Seryth, then peers at the Candidate, "M'fine, thanks." She swipes the hair off of her face with her forearm and spots Keziah, calling, "Evening, Kez. Did you find yourself a gown?" D'had's voice reaches her and she's blinking his way. Where'd he come from? "Uh, yeah?" Siebith is given confused look, then it's back to D'had. "Does he do that often?" Meaning fish for other dragons.
Gown? Satoris blinks, confused, and echoes his thoughts: "Gown?" This as he extends out an arm to help Thea to her feet, straightening to his own.
Keziah just watches the mayhem and then shakes her head a little. She moves closer "Well, it's a better smell than what Ro found." she notes commenting on the fish. She then nods "I found one. Need to take it in some but it's not bad." She grins at Sat "Yeah, a gown. Didn't you know about the upcoming dance and all? You're to be the guest of honor." Keziah notes, her eyes twinkling merrily. There's a glance at D'had, and a bit of a wave, but she's not as familiar with the rider as she is with others.
D'had nods, arms crossed loosely across his middle, one reaches out to offer the goldie a hand up. "He likes fishin'," he replies to that question, which doesn't exactly answer the whole thing. A glance is sent between the two candidates. "Think they might mean the hatching." This of course noted towards the miner.
Thea accepts the arm Satoris offers with a muttered, "Thanks." She stands, taking a moment to swipe at her shirt with an oil-slicked hand. It leaves a nice, dark smudge in an arc down the front of her shirt. Good thing it's an old one. Keziah's answer causes her to snort, then snicker for a minute, "Yep, dance." She eyes Satoris, "You…haven't heard." She pauses, "Required Candidate class. Better snag Zevida. They're partnering all the dancers." She tries to catch Keziah's eye and winks slightly. D'had's answer, for some reason, doesn't really surprise Thea. "Does he always give away his catch?" Not letting it go just yet. Her lips quirk in a teasing curve as she is back to Satoris and she nods once, "Oh, that's coming up too." The hatching. "You'll need a gown for that too. But for the dance, good gather clothes for the males will do."
"A dance. You're requiring a dance." Satoris snatches his arm back fairly quickly, taking a few steps back. "Why?" His voice has gone fairly flat.
D'had gives a snort of amusement for the girls needling of Satoris. As for Thea's question, a shoulder raises in a half shrug, "Some days he does, not always." Thumbs hook into pockets as he rocks back on his heels.
Keziah is staggered, for a brief second and then the smile is spreading across her face. She could really come to adore Thea. She then shakes her head saddly at Satoris "Think about it, if we Impress, we'll be riders, big time representives of our Weyr. It wouldn't do for us to be found lackin' now, would it? We need to learn how to interact at such gatherin's and not be disgracin' anyone." she smiles and then she eyes D'had again and then the blue. Can't be the gold they be talkin' about that be Thea's. "Maybe he's soft on her?" she offers as way of explanation.
Thea has't retained hold on that arm, but the movement Satoris makes has her taking a half-step back with a blink of surprise. "Well, it's part of the culture and diplomacy training, you know?" Her gaze lifts to D'had there on the porch and she hrms but does not comment. Back to Satoris, "Riders will be representing the Weyr you know? So we can't have you clumsy when Hold Ladies require a dance…" A dark brow lifts as she says it in a sweetly reasonable tone, nodding in agreement with Keziah. Until she mentions Siebith being soft on Seryth. At that a soft flush spreads across her cheeks.
"I don't dance," Satoris responds, simply. "And joking that I'm a guest of honor isn't nice." This clearly has him perturbed. "Why would you spring a dance on a group of candidates? I doubt even half of us know how. If the dragons Hatching will care so much that I know how to dance than I suppose my chances of Impressing just hit rock bottom." The more the girls tease him, the more flustered he's becoming.
D'had chuckles, "Who knows." It is an interesting idea though, one that he seems to consider is silence for a moment. Perhaps non-verbal sharing with the blue in question, but nothing is said. "Doesn't hurt to know a few steps though," he points out then, dark eyes turning back on the miner. "No one said ya had to be good at it."
Keziah rolls her eyes at Satoris "It ain't the hatchlings that be lookin' for dancin'" she notes and shakes her head a little "That's the point, those that don't be gettin' a chance to learn. What iffen you Impress a bronze? And the Lady of a Hold wants a dance with ya? Ya gonna disgrace us all by either sayin' no or steppin' on her toes? Sides, even iffen you don't Impress, tis always a good thing for them of rank to be learnin." she notes. Course, she's eyeing Thea thoughfully, or the blush. There's a thoughful look for D'had and then back to Thea again as she speculates.
"Precisely why the classes are needed." Thea points out to Satoris with a roll of her eyes. "Teasing aside, Satoris, the classes are needed and have actually been scheduled. We were talking about them the other day." She doesn't say who the 'we' happened to be. "It's not for the dragons and if you want to Stand on the Sands, you'll be there." She points this out to Satoris with a calm voice that invites no arguments. A look towards Keziah has her giving the other like-minded woman a smile of appreciation and she's nodding in agreement with her, missing any thoughtful looks whether purposely or not. Hard to tell.
Satoris clenches his teeth, all but glaring at Thea. But he's polite enough. It's obvious, however, that he feels quite put-out by the whole thing. "Lovely. One more chance for everyone to make a mockery of those of us who have better things to do with our time than put on airs. Unfortunately for you, I have no gather clothing, so this," he gestures at his clothing: well-worn, but clean. "will have to do."
D'had chuckles, "Well looks like you have this under control," he comments towards Thea, turning on heel to head back the way he came. Likely so that he can hopefully retreat before she has him roped into that dancing class too.
Keziah rolls her eyes at Satoris, but she's looking at Thea curiously. Especially on her talk of some of them actually talking about it. Creepy. Is it actually true then? Then there's a thought "But Satoris, there's loads of people who can sew. Thea… Even Jessa. They could make you gather clothes, and there's plenty of cloth in storage." They saw a bunch of it after all.
Thea rolls her eyes at Satoris, "We all have to do stuff we aren't used to Satoris. You obviously accepted Search knowing that new experiences would be a part of it." Cue another eye-roll, then a long-suffering sigh, "Check with Stores and Zevida if you don't want a Candidate partner assigned?" D'had's escape has her stifling a snicker. She can find him later, and rope him in at her leisure. Once again Keziah has her nodding in agreement. Then Seryth starts off, heading off towards the meadow. "Hey! I'm not done with your oiling!" And she's off in pursuit, sponge in hand, oil bottle thumping against her side as she runs in the wake of the disappearing gold.
Satoris grits his teeth a bit. There's suspicion in his gaze. Plus, asking Zevida to dance? Probably won't go over well. Then again, his luck, they'd assign him to someone like Vivian and he'd spend the whole evening wanting to claw his eyes out. "Fine," the miner-turned-candidate states, dryly, before heading back in the direction of the Weyr. Maybe to invite Zevida? Or maybe to find a way out of the embarassment.