Man-to-Man, Co-opted by the Women
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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.


As heavy grey clouds hover over the rain soaked Weyr, it has at least tapered off for the last few hours. In such weather, most take to the warm caverns of the Weyr, personal or otherwise. For Lan, he's never been much of a wuss, and has always been seen conditioning himself regardless of what the weather has been. As such, over the last Turn, he's gained a significant increase in muscle mass, shedding any hint of fat from his body, arms thicker, shoulders broader, chest large, torso cut and trim, legs big. The beach has informally become his personal gym over the course of weyrlinghood, as it offered resistance from the sand and water training, along with cliff climbing and the such. Currently, he's on the beach, sprawled on his back doing sit ups with a towel underneath his constantly moving form. He's wearing a wife-beater type of shirt and shorts, feet bare, along with a folded up bandana around his brow tied at the back of his head. He's caught in the count of his sit ups, striving for some number of perfection. Zhaoth is also tuning himself up, launching himself from the water again and again, building up the power in his wings and haunches from the exercise.

M'nol is not accompanied by his own hulking, mountainous brown as he makes his way down the beach. No, he's dressed simply in as weather-resistant clothes as he can. The short, broad assistant weyrlingmaster just strolls up alongside Ers'lan as if it were his right, and in many ways it is. After a moment his voice comes out softly, "So… Kezi, huh?"

Ers'lan does notice the approach of the weyrlingmaster, though this alone does not stop him from his reps, as he keeps the count just murmured underneath his breath as he hoists himself one way and then the other, working out not only his core but his sides. His eyes flicker toward M'nol on the upbeats, continuing to sink back down onto the towel to prepare for another rep, which he does again with another glance spared the brownrider. Sweat trickles down his forehead despite the cool air latching onto the Weyr, a bead of sweat rolling down his face after an uplifted brow triggers it. Huffing, his one arm comes from behind his head, hooking around a leg as he narrows his eyes on M'nol. His second hand snatches the water canteen, of which he takes a refreshing pull from. There is a silence that ebbs as he goes through the motions of sealing the said canteen, before he seems to acknowledge the words from M'nol with some in return, "Narh, Laera. Keziah be peculiar, iffin ya askin fer me personal opinion, iffin fer my professional, she be my teacher and we be narh allowed ta even think it. Reckon she made that clear when she canned me." His lips twitch a bit, "Ain't no 'huh' bout it. Iffin ya interested in her, ya dun narh need my approval fer it." Then back to the reps as he sinks back down, quiet 'chuffs' of air made in his continued effort.

M'nol arches one brow at the brown weyrling and shakes his head slight, "Naw, I've got a weyrmate, thanks though. Kezi and I impressed together." He rolls his neck slightly until it pops before looking back at the man on the grown. Most would call your decision to kiss her without her permission a reason for me to be… concerned. I know you did well on /between/, but I keep hearing tell of you being grounded or punished for one reason or another, including not listening to a direct order from an assistant weyrlingmaster. So I have to ask. Are these behaviors going to continue?" He's not threatening, but there's a serious edge to his tone as he asks that.

Ers'lan stops again, if only because M'nol shifts from his commentary about Keziah to one that is backed by the authority of a weyrlingmaster rather than just a relationship advisor. This time he stops on his back, with his head pillowed now by his arms, dawn blue eyes peering upward at M'nol, chest heaving from the effort of his reps and continuous workouts. "Reckon I be tryin ta charm my way outta somethin, dun reckon I be doing it -ever- again," he pushes himself up to sit now, hunching forward into his knees, arms loosely wrapping around his calves. The last has Ers'lan's face drawning down as he shakes his head, "Nay. Kinks are worked out, I reckon." Flexing his jaw, he half notes up to M'nol, "Tis all a learnin process, aye? Can narh expect us ta be perfect. A man fouls himself up in the riggins more than not before he be learnin ta traverse them smoothly."

M'nol nods once and murmurs a soft, "Good." before his eyes get a momentary far-away look. After a moment, he nods again, "Please see that the kinks /stay/ worked out. Overall you've done very well here and I look forward to handing you your wingknot when the big day comes. But if there are any more incidents of you not taking orders and obeying your leaders we won't be able to graduate you with the rest of your class." He's quiet a moment, letting the unfamiliar seamanly metaphor roll off him with a slight shrug before he adds, "You're one of the more mature members of this class. Make me proud."

Ers'lan shifts his gaze up without moving his face, staring up at M'nol from underneath his eyebrows, giving him a naturally stern if not disapproving expression. "Aye…" is what he ends up responding back with, a formal reply of obidence, at least from the former-sailor. His jaw flexes again at the other's words, mulling over them with some irritation showing in his features, such as the fidgetting of the fingers and tightening of the jaw. Only after a moment with a clearly deadpan tone about it, he remarks, "Aye sir. T'will do me best sir."

M'nol's face cracks into his usual boyish smile, "Good. Now that that's covered." He stretches his arms over his head a bit, "How're you doing with other stuff? Found a weyr you like yet? Picked a preferred wing?" He pauses a moment, then, "Anything you need help with?"

Ers'lan rubs the heel of his palm against his forehead, scrubbing at the soaked bandana strapped around his forehead. As muscles already are cooling down from the halted exercise, the brown weyrlingrider doesn't appear ready to start again, drinking up the water in his canteen until it's nearly entirely consumed. A brow arches up at M'nol, his answer delayed by the general moment it takes to ponder a sufficient answer, surrending the information as requested, "Nay, to all." He frowns a little at the last, clearly not the type to ask for help, at least not in such a direct manner. Rubbing the bandana knot situated at the back of his head, he rolls a shoulder, "Nay. Narh really. Be a rider from the galaxy wing that did give me a herb mix ta help with me stomach when flyin." A beat as his eyes are drawn up toward the heavy grey clouds, full of moisture yet again, although paused from dispersal of.

M'nol rolls his eyes just slightly, then shrugs, "Well, if'n you don't need anything, I'm sure I can find something to do." He smirks slightly as he watches the body language in the former seacrafter, "But thinking about wings is important at this point. Soon you'll have to tell us so arrangements can be made." His brows pop slightly, I did my first four turns in Galaxy."

"I reckon it be the wingleaders who be handin over the knots, aye? T'would I really be needin ta think bout it when I jus be goin ta who ever be needin me?" He doesn't sound at all enthusiastic about the prospect of being posted under a wing, matter of fact, his tone was dry as he spoke of it. There's a light cant of his head toward M'nol, for the last comment made about Galaxy, "How be that?"

M'nol looks clearly surprised at Ers'lan's words, "Shards no, Lan. At least not here. Here each wing has its own purpose and duties and you can request your wing. We can't guarantee the wingleader will accept you, but it's rare that new riders don't go to their wing of choice." Morl's quiet a moment before he answers the next question, "Hard, but rewarding. It's probably the most physically demanding wing."

Ers'lan only makes a soft noise of realization as the choice is thusly thrown onto the feet of the weyrlings. Fingers scrub through his slick hair, nodding for the most part in response. The last has him snorting, "Aye, sounds fit fer me…" The man was in impeccable shape, he did spend -most- if not all of his free time some how working out and building his strength, stamina, and endurance.

M'nol shrugs slightly, "In our case it was right for Faraeth. When I failed to save someone, I had to step down from it for a while. Transport was dull as all get out, honestly." He runs one hand through his short-cropped hair, "It's not like you're picking your career forever right now, too. You can change wings later. Since you don't ride gold." ONe corner of his mouth quirks slightly, amused at his own comment, "I think you'd be good for S&R, though. It takes stern stuff, though, to do it long-term."

"Reckon I be narh able ta continue with the sea craft…" he gives a shrug, "be it a good purpose." A purpose, a reason to continue on. Not a dream, not a goal, not an ambition. He rolls his shoulders forward, looking rather disinterested in general, until M'nol mentions not being able to save someone. A brow lifts, geninue interest now in his tone, "Whar happened?"

M'nol shrugs right back, "So long as the craft allowed, you could. But you'd probably be stuck either on desk or search duties, not sailing. Just like I couldn't go back to the mines." His gaze is almost bleak as he looks over his shoulders at the forest, "A fire. A bad one. My… weyrmate at the time. She barely survived. Her mentor in her craft suffered some brain damage and lost a good deal of his memories. And then we flooded really bad. After all of that I couldn't fly Galaxy again for a long while. Ended up leaving for several turns."

As often as she has done for the last few months, Briana has come from the direction of the Junior's offices this evening. Equally as usual she has a notepad in hand as she heads back to the barracks. Already she has started her work as a junior and as the youngest junior, it is worst of the paperwork, but she seems to have settled easily into that routine and without complaint, though of the last few days she seems rather distracted and keeping to herself again.

Ers'lan listens to the telling of the tale of with a respectful bow of his head after the story has been retold, empathic eyes raking down M'nol until dawn blue eyes fall toward his own toes. He starts with the easier conversation, "Nay, tis narh whar I be wantin. Narh, iffin I can narh be on a ship, tis over fer me…" A conclusion that he has accepted by the tone of his voice. It was the manner of which M'nol was cut from the galaxy that has him nodding, unable to really comment on it since his own experience with loss causes him to understand the pang of failure - which shows easily on his face. Attention drifts toward the arrival of the junior, regarding her distracted trek across the sands without word or means of wanting to take her from her thoughts.

M'nol nods slightly, "I spent a turn at the Harper Hall after that." His gaze comes down from the distant forest, the signs of that long-ago fire invisible now, and settles on Briana with an almost quizzical expression before he raises one hand in greeting to her, "Briana. How were your duties today?" A much less painful topic for the man than that particular piece of his past.

Briana seems quite oblivious at first of the others here until she hears her name and she pulls up short and blinks at first, before her gaze focuses on the two men. "Oh..um…they were fine sir. I worked with one of the assistant headwoman and how food orders are done and managed." She says as she slips her notebook under one arm as she salutes M'nol with the other hand. She looks up to Ers'lan with a more relaxed look, but still he would at least note the truobled look of her gaze. "How is everyone tonight?"

Ers'lan was about to comment to M'nol about one thing or another, as his mouth slips open his jaws flex, yet, he stalls it when Briana becomes the other brownrider's focal point. The comment is contained with a clink of teeth as his mouth closes. As an internal debate seems to plague him, he ends up not speaking a word until Briana asks of how they both where. Ers'lan turns his eyes toward M'nol first, letting the weyrlingmaster speak first before he answers with a quiet, barely audible "Fine.." Whether or not he notices is not currently apparent, except for the constant attention he gives her as his gaze follows.

M'nol smirks slightly at the young queenrider and nods, "Very important duties indeed. Espcially since we'll likely be rationing soon if we're not careful." He returns her salute, a little more formal now, "How's the food from Eastern working out? I heard it was a pretty large shipment?" He glances at Ers, then shrugs slightly, "It's an evening, nothing spectacular, nothing horrendous."

Briana pulls out her notebook as M'nol questions her, "Very well indeed. I was with the cooks yesterday and we were working out some new recipes for what was sent." That at least does brighten her eyes, "So should be an interesting menu for the next little while, I hope people appreciate it." Says the girl who is also in Bakercraft and she seems quite excited about that fact. She settles in place next to the other weyrling, looking up to him for a moment, "How is Zhaoth going?"

The grey clouds threaten further moisture in the area, with a lull in the thrashing rain for the last couple hours allowing people to get some air without getting drenched. Ers'lan was never one to let the rain keep him from conditioning his body and that was what he had been doing, by the look of him upon the towel, where some form of exercise had been taking place. Interrupted by the weyrlingmaster who had walked over to him and then the addition of the weyrling junior. His scarred chin lifts toward Briana as she engages him in conversation, despite the lack of energy he seems to bring to the table, "Zhaoth is fine. He be working his wings in the water today." A point of his hand outstretched toward the distance where the brown looks to be launching himself out of the water, glides a wing length or two then lands back only to do it all over again.

M'nol looks between the two for a moment, then nods, "New recipes are always good. Take advantage of the opportunity to taste test, trust me. Some of the best stuff never hits the tables." A light smirk plays on his lips as he watches the interaction between gold and brown weyrlings before he inclines his head to Briana, "And how fares Sahazyth today?"

"Sahazyth is doing well, starting to fill out. She has been getting some images from Thea's dragon, working on imaging until I can do it without distractions." She says with a note of chagrin to her voice. She looks up to Ers'lan then out to the water, "I reckon he will be the strongest in our class for all he excercises." She can not help but grin at M'nol's comment about test tasting, "Well the cooks need to reward themselves somehow." She laughs lightly at that before looking up at the arrival of the greenrider and she lifts a hand up to salute to her.

"Strongest, aye… reckon he still be rangy…" Ers'lan comments at first, interjecting when it was fitting for him to sneak in a word or two. Rubbing his hand through the top of his curly hair, eyes close as he itches the sand out of it. Otherwise, he keeps furtre commenting to himself, drawing his face up with a final itching of a finger sliding underneath the brim of his bandana.

M'nol Nods once more, "That's good practice even if you'll still have to play a little catchup. That's normal, though, really." He glances at Zhaoth again, then nods, "He's one of the largest of his color." Morl should know, Faraeth is too. He glances at Kezi as she lands, then moves that way. He leans up to mock whisper at her, "They're all yours." Then turns to wave at the other two, "I need to go see how my weyrmate's day went. Have your dragons bespeak Farry if there's an emergency."

Keziah does have a smile for Briana, quite a large smile in fact. Then there's a frown as she eyes M'nol. "Hey, wait a minute." She states and then looks over at the two. Then there's a smirk as she leans forward and whispers to Alo. « Kezi's pregnant. You can't leave. » There's a look of shock on the greenriders face and she stares at Alosynth. "You were not supposed to say that. Not yet. « Why not? You said I should say something shocking. » There's a groan and the greenrider, smacks her forehead with her good hand.

Briana nods to M'nol, "Yeah, we gave ourselves and others quite a fright and…well it could have ended badly." She says with a quite tone to her voice. As the one comes in and the other leaves, Briana gives her salutes. Her eyes widen at the broadcasted comments she gets from her lifemate, "Oh Congratulations…" She calls out to the greenrider, before looking back to the brown weyrling as the WLM's converse about them. "Oh didn't think she had a weyrmate…" She says with a whisper to ERs'lan.

Whether or not it was supposed to be said outloud, it was. Alosynth's remark on the greenrider's condition has Ers'lan angle his face toward her rider, his eye studious as it slips from top to bottom, as if half expecting to find the woman bloated with baby already. Yet, there is something else in his eye as he turns his face away, something akin to understanding with a touch of resentment mingled in. As M'nol starts to head off, Lan is given the necessary space to train further, in which case after the green dragon's remark, he starts to shift to do as much. No more sit-ups, he flips over on his hands and knees, soon breaking into a bridge that descends immediately into a push-up. Zhaoth is floating in the water as his attention crans back toward the shoreline, bobbing up and down in the lapping waves. He mutters up to Briana at the upbeat of a push-up, "Reckon she must. Be explaining her knee to my crotch…" he snarks inbetween the motions, saying on the next up-beat, keeping his voice low, "Did narh expect it, but be a reason she be so crazy…"

M'nol raises a brow at Alosynth, then at Keziah, "You're what?" He looks at the pair of Weyrlings darkly, "Not everyone's got a weyrmate to get pregnant. Time you be learnin' that." His voice is hard for a moment before he turns a concerned look back on Keziah, "Let's talk for a minute." And he moves aside with the greenrider to have a little… chat.

As Ers'lan settles into pushups, Briana gives him a curious look for a moment before she sits down on the ground beside him to do situps. Well might as well get it in while she can, her new duties have left her little extra time for such. "I never noticed her seeming crazy…she seems well enough to me." Briana says looking over to where the WLM's go to chat over her condition. As they are distracted she looks back to Ers'lan, "Was hoping my Ma could come watch me graduate, but…the conditions she must face is more than I want to put her through. I wanted to be honest and tell Thea…but…" She says starts with a shake of her head, giving way to her troubled thoughts.

Ers'lan turns his face absently as he can to regard the weyrlingmasters as M'nol makes that comment, his brow shooting up a moment before he goes back to his push-ups with a dismissive shake of his head. He wasn't going to get himself into any deeper water with either of them, his opinions were for Briana now, considering how close she was as he continued to work himself out. Two arm push-ups turn into one hand push-ups, putting his other hand behind his back. Maybe to show off? A glance to Briana and then to the weyrlingmasters suggests that. He does keep himself propped up at the top of one of the pushes, eyes with concern turning on Briana, "Whar conditions?" A beat, "Honest? Whar did ya withhold from Thea?"

Briana pauses in her own situp in the lay down position looking up at him, "That it would have to be put to the weyr as a vote, publicly acknowledged and she be brought in under guard. I fear that she won't get to leave after and I didn't want it to be such a big deal. Just wanted my Ma to see me graduate is all." She says, then looks quizzical at the last question, "Nothing, honest I didn't. I went to her first and everything. I know she was a little panicked about where I went in the between lesson, but ain't noone there no more."

Ers'lan holds himself up with the one arm, muscles obviously strained to keep his body mass supported on one limb and toes, considering he has to take a few steadying breaths. Eventually as Briana admits to what had happened, his knees fall to the sand, taking some time to breath but also regard his friend with a quick rebellious flash of his eye toward the weyrlingmasters. Checking on their location, he makes sure it is safe enough to mutter to Briana, "Why dun ya jus go ta her? Send her a message… I be goin with ya, ta escort ya. So it ain't so obvious whar ya doin. They be thinkin it just be us friends going off ta practice or train somethin. Maybe be it that ya need me for a project, iffin we have ta wait until after graduation…" A cool calculating eye drifts between Briana and the weyrlingmasters. "Iffin it matters ta ya, yah should have her with ya, but narh ruin her life over it…" He understands, just like that. The two had been 'outsiders' together since the beginning, it was only natural for him to connect the pieces.

At Ers'lan's words Briana looks over to the WLM's, "Talk later?" She asks as she hops up and heads at a run to the barracks

Keziah gives a nod ot M'nol as she slips away, muttering under her breath a little. There's a glare at Alosynth who just yawns and closes her eyes. The green's been putting in a workout with flying straight to a bunch of different places. «Better you should rest. I still think you shouldn't have been hunting.» Keziah rolls her eyes a little and then hmms as she watches Briana run off. "Heh?"

Ers'lan starts when Briana gets up and rushes off, his eyes following her hurried escape. He peers back at the weyrlingmasters and decides against anything but trying to go back into the next set of push-ups.

Keziah frowns a little as she looks at Ers'lan as she is still ignored. Well then, ain't that a fix. There's silence and then she shrugs. Fine. Two can play at that came and so she heads back over to Alosynth and then very carefully works at the straps, using body and good arm to unbuckle. At least there's no more bandage, just the sling to try and keep movement to a minimum. Alo slips out of them herself and heads for the water. The green wants to swim afterall. "There ya go girl. Have fun."

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