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.
Sometimes the infirmary can be a bit too much, even for the always cheery apprentice. Having escaped the dorms at first light, okay, /nearly/ first light, Kera has staked out a small section of the beach, literally. A number of twigs have been stuck into the sand along the section of beach she roams. With a notebook in hand, she She's standing in the water up to her knees and makes notes as she absentmindedly scans here or there with a thoughtful frown. Minimur chitters softly from her shoulder before lifting up to enjoy a few aerial loops. His antics have him darting towards the water, claws first and flapping his wings again with a tiny finger fish clutched in his paw.
Mur'dah and Kalsuoth head for the beach, the rider in swim trunks and the dragon strapless, so their intentions are clear. Padding along with his awkward hopping gait, Kalsuoth stops when he comes to the twigs, dropping his muzzle and shifting his wings as he takes a good sniff of them, curious indeed. Mur'dah stops as well, hands slipping into the pockets of his swim trunks. "What're you doing?" he calls to Kera, just as curious as his dragon.
Kera looks up to watch Minimur, grinning at his successful hunt. "Great job Mini. You're the best hunter at Xanadu aren't you." As the young brown settles on a small outcropping nearby to eat/play with his meal, she spots Mur'dah and Kalsuoth coming along the beach. Wiggling her fingers and grinning as she wades out of the water. With a small shrug "G'morning to you as well Mur'dah. Kalsuoth." She gives a polite dip of her head to the dragon before scribbling something down she just thought of. "Just working out a little idea. Thought it might be fun to have a SandWeyr competition. Weyrfolk, brats and everyone who wants to." Tilting her head at the brownrider curiously. "What do you think?"
Mur'dah tries to figure out a pattern to the sticks while he nods in reply to Kera's greeting. Kalsuoth rumbles, soft and warm, drawing his muzzle away from the stick when he realizes it's not hiding/marking anything amazing. "A sandweyr competition? Like building things out of sand?" A slow grin spreads on his face. "I think that's a great idea."
Kera nods agreeably as Mur'dah gets her idea. "Yea. I was thinking we could set up teams." she nibbles her bottom lip a bit as she glances back down to her notebook and taps her pen on it a few times. "I've got a few ideas, but not sure if they will all work. I think the kids would enjoy it alot. And some adults could be creative in what they make. So…two categories ya think? One for kids teams. And adults teams. I could make a fancy looking ribbon prize for the kids to win." Kera eyes the rider a moment and then chuckles "I guess the adults could win a bottle of wine or something?" Looking over the stakes areas "How big should each little area be? I was trying to make them all equal size to be fair."
Mur'dah sends Kalsuoth into the water, but the rider won't join him just yet. Instead he's watching Kera and looking around at the sand. "Teams would be good, and yeah, kids and adults…" He nods, agreeing with everything she's said so far. "How big? I'd make them at least twenty feet square, with wide paths between each spot for people to walk around and watch without getting in the way."
Kera smiles at the suggestions and adds those notes to the rest. Glancing back to the water briefly as Kalsuoth splashes into the water, she chuckles when Minimur abandons the remains of his fishy meal to chitter excitedly in haphazard airy displays over the submerged dragon. Pulling her gaze back to her pad, she starts muttering softly to herself while scribbling out several calculations. Her head is already shaking as she surveys the stretch of beach . "Hmm. I don't think I can get away with marking off that much of the beach." She reaches up and scrubs at her cheek, dislodging a bit of sand. "How many people do you think would want to join in? Would you? If your duties allowed it I mean."
Mur'dah shrugs, "If you cleared it with the leadership I'm sure you could mark off the beach. Not sure how many folks you'd get but maybe start with a sign up sheet for ten teams in each category? You could get ten spots here, with the leadership's approval. And sure, I'd enter. Not sure with who though. Marel, maybe. Is there a limit to the team size?"
Kera thinks for a moment and gives a shake of her head "As long as the teams are even, I don't see any reason to limit size. I don't think it would be fair if one person was on one team, and five people on another team. It would be rather obvious which creation would win in that case. I definately think there should be a time limit." She makes another note. "I think all the kids teams should have at least one adult though." Smiling at the new ideas Mur'dah has voiced and triggered in her mind, she nods "The higher ups huh? Maybe Soriana could use the distraction.." Kera nibbles on her bottom lip in a worried manner before scribbling a final note on her pad and tossing it onto the sand where her stuff is. "I'll have to figure out to propose the idea."Shaking her head as if to clear it of all the jumbled thoughts she flashes a grin "How is your sister? I think I met her once briefly."
Mur'dah is nodding along until she mentions Soriana's name, and his brown eyes shift to focus on her again. "Distraction?" he asks, not quite sure what she's implying Sori needs distraction from. There are so many things, after all. "Marel? She's doing fine. Doing a great job in her wing, not that I doubted she would. That wing is made for her."
Kera gives a little nod of her head "Yea, from…the roasting heat of the sands." Her gaze darts around towards the water, grinning as she watches Minimur wheeling over the water, his claws barely touching the surface at times. Canting her head back to Mur'dah, "Good to hear she's doing well." She starts to shift her bare feet, lifting one a few seconds to cool some before repeating the process. "And you? You're both doing well?" She flicks her fingers towards the swimming dragon before peering back to his rider. "Been a few months since I've seen ya around."
Mur'dah watches the firelizard, and then checks on his lifemate, who is digging his talons into the sand hunting for things beneath the waves. "Me? Yeah, doing fine. Has it been months?" He looks surprised at that, blinking a few times. "Huh. Yeah, I guess I've been real busy with wing stuff." He shrugs, rolling his shoulders and giving her a crooked smile. "Stayed out of the Infirmary, too. How're you?"
Kera dips her head in a quick nod "Yea. Since Minimur peeked his cute little muzzle out of his shell a little bit that way." Her arm lifts and point out around the rocky bend in the shoreline. "And that was a few months ago at least." Chuckling a bit she shrugs "I guess I'm the same as always. Always got my head in a book or researching for papers to be written." With a hint of color to her cheeks she cough and mutters "A few punishments I had to do." She looks up quickly "But the Headwoman didn't get hurt. I think I just spooked her a bit." She's nibbling on her bottom lip again. "So, um, wanna go swimming?" Way to change the subject.
Mur'dah blinks a few times, a grin pulling at his lips. "Wait," he says, holding up a hand. "We'll swim in a second. First you have to tell me about these punishments."
Kera blinks up to Mur'dah with a frustrated sigh "You would focus on that." is muttered before she straightens her shoulders "I was looking for some things in the weyrstores, and those upper shelves were packed in tightly. So I sorta dropped a few down to the floor so I could have room to check the boxes." She shifts her hot feet again "Then I hear this squeaky sound after I drop another crate. When I look back down, I've nearly squished the new Headwoman. And then the Steward showed up." She suddenly finds her fingernails very fascinating. "IT sorta went downhill from there."
Mur'dah grins crookedly and he shrugs. "Of course I would. You brought it up." She did! At her story, the brownrider laughs. He laughs a lot. "Oh, Kera…that…sounds like something /I/ would have done." It's not really a compliment. "Did you get defensive?"
Kera frowns and crosses her arm in front of her. She wasn't defensive before, but she's starting to get there. "It's not that funny." When he continues laughing she stomp her foot. "Cut that out!" But his laughter draws a little snicker from herself and she snorts and turns on her heel, leaving him laughing at her as she starts wading back into the water "No I did not. What would be the point? Headwoman and Steward said I cracked the crates, even though they weren't. So I made more to replace them anyway." She smirks over her shoulder "They'll be easy to spot. I also painted them bright purple."
Mur'dah continues to laugh as he follows her out into the water. Then more laughter. "Purple? Shards, Kera, you're a feisty one…why did you paint them purple? Just to stick it to them that wronged you? Even though you were the one almost squished my sister?"
Kera rakes her hands back through the water sharply, sending a little spray up behind her. Peering towards the rider curiously at his inquiries, she gives a shake of her head. "No. I just thought they looked pretty boring when I finished smashing my fingers by nailing them together. So I was just brightening them up some." She starts treading water "And I didn't actually squish anyone for the record. Just, sorta, nearly. Almost. But not quite." After a few seconds, Kera can't help but chuckle a little "I really didn't know anyone was around. No one was when I climbed up there."
Mur'dah laughs, getting wet by her spray of water, so he slices his hand through the waves to try and send water back at her. "So you painted them purple." It makes sense! Sort of. "Almost but not quite." Another chuckle. "Well, no, but that's why you've got to pay attention." Snickering, he dives beneath the waves to emerge beside her, trying to splash her again.
Kera nods and manages to get her eyes closed before before Mur'dah's splash gets to her. Grinning as she turns her head a bit and tries to retaliate but the sneaky brat went under the water. Treading as she tries to judge where he will pop up, she's wrong when a little wave comes from the side, catching her by surpise. With a little sputter, she chuckles and tries to shield her face. "What's wrong with purple? I happen to like most shades of it very much." Canting her head at the rider, she grins cheekily "Or do you have a dislike for purple like you do perfumes?"
Mur'dah snorts, "Perfumes suck. You know I get queasy whenever I smell mint now? And I don't dislike purple, it's just silly to put on packing crates. A wall, sure. Dresses and stuff, fine, but packing crates are supposed to be crappy looking…" He grins and splashes here again before diving down once more.
Kera snorts and rolls her eyes, turning slowly in the water to keep him in her line of sight. "That's an easy thing to say if ya have a wall to paint. They don't take kindly to us painting the divider curtains between the cots in the craft dorms." And just how does she know that? Frowning a little, she ponders his words and her gaze darts around after he dives under.
Mur'dah emerges a short distance away, treading water and bobbing on the waves, pushing wet hair off his forehead as he grins at her. "What did you say?" He calls. "You painted your curtains?"
Kera turns in the water to face Mur'dah when he pops up. Embarrassed over the incedent, she blushes and nods with a little grin. "Yes, and before you ask, I had to appologize to all the apprentices for the inconvenance and mess it caused when it fell over. Still wet." She splashes water towards him and sighs a little. "And I'm sorry you get sick around mint now."
Mur'dah laughs, grinning at her. "Girl, you've got more of a reputation than /I/ do, and considering you haven't been here that long, that's saying something. I'm impressed." Splashed again he just laughs, grinning, but it turns into a little smirk and a shrug. "I never liked mint that much anyway."
Kera smiles and gives an uncertain shrug, unsure of there was a compliment or insult in there somewhere. "If I get in much more trouble, I probably won't be around too much longer." Which is a problem since she doesn't even have to leave her cot to get in trouble it seems. Eyes widen then narrow at Mur'dah's admission about mint. She smirks and splashes his way again before kicking her feet out and putting some distance between herself and him.
Mur'dah splutters at the splash and as she kicks away, he strikes out to follow her. "What?" he calls. "What was that for?"
Kera 's momentum likely slows as she responds "That was for making me think it was my fault ya don't like mint." Sure, she probably had a /little/ to do with it, but not /all/ her fault.
Mur'dah blinks as he slows. "It /is/ your fault. I never used to want to throw up and go wash myself when I smelled mint.."
Kera pauses in her motions and starts to tread water, peering briefly back to the shore before her attention goes back to Mur'dah again. "Now now, you /just/ said you 'never liked mint much anyway'. So while I may be partially to blame, I'm not completely to blame, due to your own words."
Mur'dah frowns, "Well, yeah, I was trying to make you feel better." So now he's arguing with her. Because…this will make her feel better? "I liked mint."
Kera cants her head at him a moment before just shaking her head "Well, in any case, I won't be offering you a cup of mint tea anytime soon." She chuckles and flicks her fingers through the water, sending droplets towards Mur'dah refusing to let him bait her into another argument. "There is a little issue I need some ideas on. I can't come up with a gift idea for Ka'el." Expecially on the measly marks an apprentice makes. "Can you think of anything?"
Mur'dah continues to swim after her with a smirk. "I appreciate that." And then he halts, brows lifting as he treads water, and the first response is, "Why does Ka'el need a gift?"
Kera kicks her feet a little as she rolls to half tread half float on her back. "No reason in particular, but if I simply must have one, I guess ya could say I'm trying to return a thoughtful gesture." She blinks a couple of times them swipes at her eyes, clearing them so she can see again. "I'm already working on something for Soriana. But I've no good ideas about what Ka'el might like."
Mur'dah blinks a few times again with a little frown. But he pushes his feelings aside, treading water and shrugging. "Right now I think he'd like things to do. Games, or books or something. What are you doing for Sori?"
Kera considers the suggestions and nods before smiling a bit, still treading slowly around. "I'm working on planting a few things around her weyr, well, when she's able to turn her thoughts back to the project again that is." With a sudden giggle, she peers to Mur'dah. "For Idrissa I'm gonna put together a super-sized first aid case she can strap to her dragon's gear." She can't help but chuckle over that one a moment and dips her head back in the water and tugs a few strands away from her eyes. "I'm sorta stumped on ideas for a couple other people though."
So she's getting gifts for Ka'el, and Sori, and Idrissa? And a couple other people? Mur'dah dunks beneath the waters to regain his composure before he returns to the surface, pushing hair out of his face. "I think Idrissa will like that. What other people are you stumped on?"
Kera goes to nibbling on her bottom lip again as her eyes drift around as if looking for something to hide behind. "Well, N'talya. I'ld like to get her something, but not sure what she would like. And then there's well.." She sputters to a stop as a incoming wave does a sneak attack, pretty much submerging the girl momentarily. Arms and legs flail til her heads pops back up. Coughing to clear her lungs, she blinks but can't see anything due to the sopping wet hair covering her face. Her fingers claws at the clingy strands til she blinks and can see again "Where the shard did that wave come from?" Sure that smooth subject change is sure to let her off the hook, won't it?
Mur'dah tilts his head a bit. "Who is N'talya?" Then he's dunked by the wave too, coming up with strong strokes and swimming towards her just in case she needs help. But when she appears to be fine, he just chuckles. "Sometimes you get big waves. Just have to pay attention." Like he totally wasn't.
Kera grins at Mur'dah and nods agreeably "I guess you're right." Turning, she starts slowly back to the shore. "She was dolphineer apprentice her when I was first posted here. She was searched and chosen by a dragonmate at Ista a while back." Glancing to Mur'dah a couple of times while she swims, she finally works her nerve up to continue with what she was saying. "The other gift I'm just plain clueless about. Me and the person seem to disagree on alot of things. And we argue alot. But we still manage to have get along, most of the time." Peeking back to shore briefly "So what would you suggest?" Nothing like having someone pick their own gift huh?
Mur'dah is clueless as he swims after her, still a bit irritated that he's being asked to pick presents for everyone else. He does smirk though. "How about mint perfume?" he teases. "Uh, I don't know. Just find something she likes and get her that."
Kera looks back to Mur'dah in surprise "But you hate mi.." She snaps her mouth shut and blinks at the rider before her face turns a bright shade of red. Moving closer to the shore, her feet finally catch sand and she stands. Trying to squeeze the water from her hair, she wades out of the water slowly.
Mur'dah eyes her. "Doesn't mean your girlfriend will hate it," he says as he stays in the shallows, fingers digging through the sand beneath the water, feeling for anything interesting.
Kera looks over to Mur'dah quickly and is speechless a moment. Wringing her hair bit, she forces more water to drip down. "I've a couple of friends that are girls, if that's what you mean." Unsure of his meaning, she tucks it away to ponder later and drips onto the beach to get her towel. As she swipes it over herself, she darts a few quick glances towards the water where Mur'dah is.
Mur'dah nods, and blushes. "Yeah. That's what I meant, yeah. I didn't mean, like…/girlfriend/ girlfriend." He stays in the water, digging through the shallows and coming up with a few shells.
Kera nods quickly when they manage to avoid a misunderstanding. As if she wasn't feeling awkward enough. She starts toweling her hair dry absentminedly as she peers back to the water. Taking a big, nerve refueling, breath. "So..what/sorta/thing/would/you/like/as/a/gift?" She rushes out in a quick breath before coughing and clearing her throat. "I mean um.." well shells. That is going smoothly. NOT!
Mur'dah blinks, looking up at her. "Me?" Blink blink. "Um. I don't know." Some help he is, right? "If it were me, I'd like…probably something for my weyr. A picture or something. Decorative. Since it's still kind of sparse for all those little touches…"
Kera smiles a little and dips her head marginally. "Something to decorate your weyr hmm?" Pondering that a few long seconds, she flashes Mur'dah a grin. "I could paint it for you. What would you think of a bright shade of….blue." She smirks "Ya thought I was gonna say purple didn't ya?" She winks good-naturedly.
Mur'dah is blinking at her again, a bit clueless and confused. "Um. Well, yeah. I like blue a lot. Favorite color, actually. I always thought I'd Impress blue…"
Kera grins as she learns something new. "Good to know. About the color I mean." She crouches down and wraps the towel around her shoulders and she watches Mur'dah still in the water "Why were you so certain you would impress blue?" After a few seconds, she teeters and loses her balance. Flopping back onto her backside, she shrugs and flicks sand from her legs.
Mur'dah shrugs, glancing up when she falls, and then standing, moving onto the shore with Kalsuoth in tow. "Don't know. My dad rides blue, so I always thought I would too, I guess." There's another shrug and a smile. "Time for us to get back to work. See you around? Let me know about the sandweyr contest. I want to participate."
Kera nods. "I'll let ya know what happens. Several things still up in the air over it." Wiggling her fingers as the pair passes. "Have a good evening you two." As they leave, she tucks the new info away and looks around for her notebooks. Ah, there it is.