Xanadu Weyr - Weyrling Beach
With a gentler slope to the water from the main beach and the way it is cut in like a cove, this is the most sheltered spot for bathing. The sand is the same white hue, there are just as many — or perhaps more — scattered shells. From here, one has a beautiful view across the lake, a scene more often tranquil than not.
The cold isn't quite so bitter, but there is still a layer of ice that clings to the tops of snowy areas. Bits and pieces float in the water like miniature glaciers, lighted by the sun. With his riding jacket pulled tight around him, R'owan is out on the weyrling beach, sitting on a rock and working over some hide strips that may someday start to resemble riding straps. Nyunath, having eaten recently, is contently lounging on the ground nearby, his whirling eyes fascinated by the play of ice and water. « I wish to swim. » "If you promise not to get me wet." Ro' replies without looking up, but the distraction causes him to nearly poke himself with the large needle. He draws his hand away quickly. « Hmm. » A thoughtful rumble of drumbeats accompanies the bronze's thoughts. « If it is on accident… » This causes the boy to look up, and smirk. "Try." Nyunath gets to his feet, giving only a stormy skyscape with determined rumbles of thunder as a reply, moving towards the water. « I will catch you. Ice. »
The pale-tan riding-jacketed Weyrling who wanders down the beach could almost be any other of them. But no — the jacket is familiar. Tali might be growing upwards, but she's probably still noticeable, hands stuffed in pockets and eyes roving the beach. She takes her time, though, stooping every now and then to pick up a shell, smiling faintly to herself. Eventually, the girl is joined by her lifemate, the bounding cobalt streak of dragon, who ambles along once he reaches her with all of the pomp of a parading prince. The girl's path takes her on a path towards one Weyrling sitting on a rock; hesitantly, she approaches, offering a tentative grin to her friend. "Ro!" A hand is lifted in greeting as she pauses a few paces away, clasping hands behind her back. "Can I sit?" « You sit. I am going to go talk with Nyunath. » Cid nudges the girl with his nose and whuffs a warm breath over her, laughing. "Cid, you're getting too big for that!" Tali laughs, eyeing the blue as he strolls off towards Nyunath, eyeing the water. « There are fish as long as Tali out there, Nyunath. She says I mustn't eat them, but I think they look like they would be a challenge to hunt. What do you say? »
Nyunath is single-mindedly stalking the piece of ice, swimming out towards it with just his head sticking up out of the water. Eventually, he manages to catch it, chomping down and then lifting his prize up high. « You are mine. » He rumbles posessively, "Great, you've hunted ice." R'owan says dryly, rolling his eyes. It's during that eye-roll that he catches sight of Tali, and his head tilts a little as she approaches. "Sure, come on. Plenty of butt room." He pats the rock beside him, "Cid keeping you on your toes?" He asks, trying to keep his tone light, although there is still a lingering worry in his storm-gray eyes. Nyunath seems to be ignoring whatever troubles his rider, his attention turning on the blue as the prospect of hunting huge fish seems to appeal to him. « I would like to see such fish. » He steps out of the water, dropping his chunk of ice as if he were saving it for later. « Why must we not eat them? Do they taste bad? What do they look like? » As always, the bronze's mind is a rumbling roll of questions, each one drummed out with a hunt of curious fluting played harmoniously above it.
Ontali's eyes turn to Cidheoth and Nyunath, a little chuckle offered for them. "I worry about letting him around others. Think he's a bad influence." She jokes faintly, then smiling and flopping down on the rock gratefully. "I swear, my legs are going to fall off, one of these days. I thought we had it bad while we were Candidates." The girl giggles, situating herself so that she can watch Ro at his work curiously. "He's…" An amusing play of emotions surface in a display across her face — annoyance and affection, worry and amusement. "He's a handfull. I wish I didn't have to be close to him all of the time to keep him from doing something stupid." She snorts and sighs. "I miss you." Added faintly, some sort of explanation for the impulse to /not/ spend all of her time babysitting the crazy dragon. "Is Nyunath behaving himself?" She quirks a little grin. Cidheoth considers Nyunath's ice for a long moment before brushing it off; so not worth it. Cold stuff, ick. « Me too. » Is, instead, agreed heartily. « I…hold on. » A pause, and silent conference with Tali, it would seem. « Because they /talk/! » Comes the startled bark. « I must see the talking fish! » His mind sparks in an excited cascade, as he starts into the water keenly.
Nyunath gives himself a bit of a shake, even though he has every intention of going back into the water. Luckily for both riders, his spray doesn't sail quite that far. « Talking fish. » Nyunath seems confused by the prospect, looking out at the water with a confused expression on his face as he turns to follow the blue. « How do we find talking fish? What would they say when we eat them? » He swims along, content to follow the apparently more knowledgable blue. "Bad influence, huh?" R'owan asks, looking out at the two dragons before turning his gaze back on Tali. "He does seem energetic. Not a bad thing." He shrugs a bit, trying to smile but it comes out kind of lopsided. "Nyunath is curious about everything. Questions questions." He laughs to himself, and pulls a thick thread through the attempt at straps, and then pauses, seeming more serious. "Mmm. I've missed you too." He admits, sighing a bit to himself. "Funny thing, all of this. Used to worry you'd go back to your hold, to whomever you had waiting there. Now I'm more worried you're going to run off with some girl." He laughs once, a hard sound. "Sorry. I'm being stupid."
Cidheoth's claws tense and untense in the damp sand under his paws, not seeming to mind the bitterly cold water. « I don't know. » The blue admits, before chuffing a low, spark-laden laugh. « I suppose something like 'don't eat me!'. » It comes out a little darker than he would perhaps like, but the dragonet just snickers, sending a wave of iridescent bubbles. « She would probably be very annoyed if we ate one. I want to, though. » Huff! Tali just nods, apparently missing the exchange between dragons, crooking a little grin at Ro. "The sharding dragon has enough energy to not stop for a whole sevenday if he wasn't equally as lazy." The girl laughs weakly, then nods, smiling out at the bronze. "I guess that could be annoying in its' own way. Cid's more…don't ask, just do." The strap-making is watched curiously, but the next has her ducking her head, almost shamefaced. "I wish Cid didn't keep me so busy." Muttered, but then her eyes are widening faintly, then comes a blush that's definitely not cold-chapped cheeks. "Uhm." An attempt at a giggle fails miserably, but she seems to work up a little bit of non-embarrasment after a moment. "I'd never go back home, Ro. Ever. No matter what." Stated first, before she's eyeing Cidheoth like he might be poisonous. "And. Uhm. I don't like girls. Cid says he doesn't care." Her eyebrows furrow fiercely. "You're not stupid."
Nyunath's head stays close to the surface of the water, skimming along as if he were a bronze boat moving through the waves. Every now and again, the water splashes up onto his muzzle, but he seems to ignore it for the most part. « I do not see fish. » He ducks his head down, sending up bubbles as he looks below the surface. « Small fish here. Too small. » He swims towards a school, watching as they quickly move around him. « I wish to see the talking fish. Perhaps eat later. If it's tasty. » His head bobs up again, blowing water out of his nostrils. "Maybe the tech folk can figure out a way to wire up your blue to the weyr's power grid like a generator." He suggests, his tone obviously joking even if the mental picture is terribly amusing. His eyes drift back to the leather, working with it as he listens. His face brightens a little bit though, as if some of the weight that's been pressing on his shoulders eases. "You're sure?" He raises one eyebrow, seeming a little surprised. "Guess, I always heard that girls that impress to blue…" He trails off, clearing his throat and feeling a little embarassed for his train of thought. "Kept telling myself I was the stupidest guy in the world. You know. Fallin' for someone who wouldn't even like me that way." As his eyes look back to hers, he tries a half-smile. "Glad I'm not the stupidest guy in the world at least. It's comforting to know."
Cidheoth is more cautious, for once, apparently finding the water slightly less entertaining to move through than land. « I see none. » The blue agrees in a faint field of color and candescent bubbles, thoughtful and measured. « We could eat the small ones. They go down easy. » He suggests, ducking his head under and snapping testingly at one — it darts off before he can eat it, and the dragon harrumphs. « Okay, » Focus, Cidheoth! « Here's what we should do. You, go that way, » Head lifts, points left down the shoreline. « I'll go this way. We'll cover more ground. » And, so saying, the blue sloshes off to the right, head low over the water like some stealthy semi-submarine.
Tali's eyes flick to the dragonet and narrow faintly, but she's busy and he's not screaming or causing any real trouble, so she ignores him, for now. "Ha!" The girl barks a laugh, eyes dancing. "Good plan. We can put him on a…windmill or something." She giggles, watching the bronzeweyrling curiously, still slightly sheepish. "Very." A quick nod and slightly high-pitched giggle. "If I ever got caught with a girl at home? Faranth, I don't even want to think of it. Plus, I dunno. Just seems weird to me." Cid is eyed again, this time warily. "I don't know how I ended up with him, Ro, I really don't. I just know it's…right? But He ain't gonna be chasin' much greentai —" Here her mouth clamps shut and she coughs faintly, giggling. "Uhm. Right." Cough. But thankfully, distraction comes quickly — her eyes soften and a genuine, non-sarcastic, non-sheepish grin slowly spreads. "Well," After a moment, the girl drawls. "Seems pretty smart to me, I dunno about you." The attempt at playfulness is faint but she still tries! "You're not dumb at all, Ro. Promise." The girl's expression is almost comical; she's clearly trying to say something that's not just that he's not an idiot, and failing just dismally. "Yeah?"
Nyunath seems to consider the prospect of eating the smaller fish, but then his drumbeats cut off short. « Too much trouble. Bonvine tastes better. Wooly things taste better, too. » Apparently he'd gotten to eat one of the infamous ovines of Xanadu, one less to terrorize the weyr. More curious than anything else, the bronze doesn't question the orders he's given, his thoughts returning with a steady thump thump of interest and a twittering of some woodwind above it. Turning to the left, the bronze continues down the shoreline, looking for the mythical talking fish. « Are fish cousins? » He asks of the blue, not wanting to interrupt his rider. « Seryth said lizards are cousins. Perhaps talking fish are cousins. If they talk. »
"Hey, for all I know that's why you came to live at the weyr in the first place. I hear it's pretty common among hold girls like that." R'owan hazards to say, with a distinct feeling that he could be sticking his foot in his mouth by making comments like that. "Then again." His eyebrows furrow and his head ducks a bit. "That's why males come here too. My butt still hasn't recovered from that creepy healer trying to grope me." He shivers, sticking his tongue out, but trying to keep the mood of things light. He slowly puts down the riding straps that he's working on, and looks more seriously at Tali. Hesitantly, his hand reaches out to softly take her chin between thumb and forefinger. "Listen okay?" His voice is gentle as well, lifting his eyebrows. "I'm just going to get this out of the way, so you know." There is a heartbeat, a moment's time before he speaks again. "I like you. Well, more than like you." He quips the last part on quickly, and then lets his hand draw away. "I can't do much about it. Not allowed to anyways, but I thought you should know." And with that, he leans in and places a boyish kiss to her cheek.
« More fun. » Cid's voice rumbles in a spark-filled, amused growl, low and pleased. « The challenge. You must test your skills. How else do you get better? I will catch them some day. Soon. » Confidence seethes in a shower of rainbow sparks, as he creeps along slowly, quite intent upon this whole catching a dolphin thing. The next idea is considered for a long moment, slow and cautious. « Hmmm, » The blue considers. « You could be right. They could be. We shouldn't eat them if they are, you know. » Reluctant bubbles drift. « I'd rather they weren't. » A beat, and glance over his shoulder. Distracting humans. Huff.
Tali kind of gapes at that, blinking. "Huh. I…never thought of that." The girl admits slowly. "Good point. But um. Still no." A little nervous giggle, before her eyebrows shoot nigh into her hair — quite a feat, as it's tied back today. "Really." Her jaw works in an attempt not to giggle, but she fails, and has to weakly after a moment. "Oh my." Cough. But the giggle fades quickly, and she watches him put down the straps, tilting her head. As he moves towards her, the girl holds stock still, expression curious, then sincere. She nods once, then listens quietly, face slowly shifting from curious to…happy? Well, that's the best way to describe it, really. Her eyes soften and a smile stretches, though she's quiet for a moment, eyes flicking to study the rock like it's the most interesting thing in all of Pern. Finally, she glances back up, expression caught in almost-sheepishness. "I — me too, Ro." Finally admitted, quietly. "I dunno how to say it. And…I was gonna, but then Cid, and…" She shrugs, then the grin expands at the cheek-kiss — is that a blush? Aww. "Aw, Ro," A one-armed hug is offered quickly, with a wary glance to Cid. "We won't be Weyrlings forever, yeah? And I think Cid's starting to settle down. We can talk lots more from now on, I promise. I won't do that again." The girl wrinkles her nose and pulls on her best half-shamed look.
« Small fish are fun to watch. Not to hunt. » Nyunath seems quite sure about this fact, not considering them any sort of challenge. His mind briefly shows an image of one huge wing sweeping to pull up fish like a net, depositing them easily on the sands. Not that this is what he intends to do, simply that he could. If he wanted to. « I still wish to see the talking fish. Cousins or no. » His mind projects the strait, empty ocean, no sign of any talking fish, but there does seem to be something jumping now and again near the rocky edge of the beach. « They will be better. » He comments, but otherwise seems to ignore the humans.
R'owan's eyes are searching, watching the girl's every motion as if trying to make sure he isn't mis-reading anything. Finally, though, his face spreads into a smile. He chuckles at the one-armed hug, and then lightly nudges at the girl with an affectionate look in his eyes. "It's okay. Guess I knew anyways. Just kept worrying." He admits with a small shrug. "Thea's all screwed up about things, 'cause of 'Kav, and then you and I didn't get to talk so much after the hatching so… I'd thought maybe you'd changed your mind." He pauses, and then runs a hand through his hair, smirking wryly. "You're right though. We won't be weyrlings forever. Not as if I can't behave myself or anything. Stupid silly rules." He mutters, and then picks up the straps again with a sigh. "Just glad to have it off my chest. So you know 'n all." Yep, he might have had the guts to say something, but he's still no prince charming.
A cunning flash of mossy green fire flickers lazily through Cid's mind, amusement dancing in the sparks that flare around it. « Ah, but the bigger ones are too slow to be any fun. » The blue murmurs, voice a low rush of bubbles mingled with bright green sparks still. His mind flashes in a vague image of a tiny fish darting away while a bigger one is snapped up by a blue maw that looks suspiciouslylike his own. « I do too. We will find them. » Cid then murmurs confidently. « We just have to be sneakier. Feel the water around you, don't let it splash! » Where he got this advice the world will never know, but the dragon seems convinced, slowing his pace to a bare crawl, with the briefest of glances to the shore once more, before his eyes scan the water again for signs of the dolphins. « Mine thinks about that one often. I think she is unhappy with me. » Amusingly, this only makes him smug. « I am not boring. » Huff.
Tali grins less sheepishly after a moment, gently prodding the boy's chin. "S'my fault." She mutters faintly, then winces, eyes widening a little. "Oh…shells. No, Ro." Her head shakes sincerely. "No, no, definitely not." She might not have been spending much time away from Cidheoth, but that situation isn't exactly a secret to her. "I'd never do that. I'm gonna scalp him if I ever find him, scalp him and then maybe poke him fulla holes." She mutters faintly. "Thea's too nice to be sad. I'm sorry I made you sad, Ro. I didn't…" A hand scrubs at her face faintly. "I'm sorry." Never mind that she's possibly at a sorry-limit for the day! After a moment, though, her expression clears just a little, even shifting towards impish. "Well, I already told Cid I'd flay him within an inch of his life if he ever said anything about what I was thinkin'. Oh well." A beat, then a little grin as he picks back up the straps. "Need any help? Think I'm better at those than mending. Um…yeah. I'm glad too. I just hope we get done with this soon. Shells. I like having my legs'n my brain still attatched!" Never mind that there's still a long, looong way to go! Muhahaha.
« I see something. » Nyunath's mind fills with the image of something silver jumping among the far rocks. He slinks closer against the surface, moving like a serpent with his tail swaying back and forth behind him as if it were his only form of locomotion. He seems to put the thought of his rider's issues out of his mind, drumbeats steady, determined, almost obsessive to a point. However, as the bronze draws closer, the silver thing seems to notice him, even with his stealthy movements. There is a click of sound, and then it vanishes under the surface of the waves. « Come back! » The dragon calls, to no avail. The waters are still. « It was here. » He looks around, spinning in the water and ducking his head underneath. When he can't spot the silver flash again, the bronze grumps and makes his way towards shore. « It is gone. Perhaps we can find it again next time? » Once out of the water, he walks over to his rider, reaching out to nudge him lightly.
R'owan's face lifts a bit, smiling gently but not showing too much surprise. "Well, guess I've seen how screwed up Thea's been getting over 'kav leaving. Figured maybe you didn't want to get that attached." He tries to explain without sounding like he's accusing her of anything. "Don't get too mad at 'im though. I'm sure he has his reasons. Hate the fact he's hurt her, though." Ro' grips the needle a bit too hard, still in that stage of pre-manhood where emotions like anger are quite hard to control. "Heh." He seems to defuse a little bit, shaking his head. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. I understand now so it's okay, really." He seems about to say something else when Nyunath nudges him. Having not been paying attention to the dragon, this comes as a surprise and the needle ends up jabbing into one of his fingers. "Gaaah." He shouts and shoves slightly at the bronze's nose. Shaking his hand out, he looks at a small, steadily bleeding hole in his finger. "Nyu…" But already the bronze is withdrawing, looking as if he did something terribly wrong. "Shards." He mutters, and tries to wrap the finger in his shirt. "Tali, Sorry." He mutters quickly, arm shaking a bit from the pain. "I'll talk to you more later, I promise. Tell the weyrlingmasters I'll be at the healers, alright?" And then, he's off racing across the sands.