Xanadu Weyr - Feeding Grounds
A large portion of the eastern edge of the meadow has been fenced off, the corralling on three sides is located on the rolling meadow, while the fourth is located a short way up on the eastern hills. Within the large corral are a variety of beasts - ovines, bovines, and wherries - milling around, though the appearance of a dragon may send them one way or the other to try and escape. A small pond is set near one corner of the enclosure, and at times it reflects the low, bordering mountains.
It is a rather annoyed looking Niva that is attending Kilaueth as the gold feeds in the late afternoon sun, the dark gold tearing apart her beast with unparalleled ferocity, while her rider looks on. "Ya doing that ain't gonna fix anything.." She mutters to herself, yet she doesn't make any move to stop the carnage from continuing, despite a variety of corpses already littering the ground. Thankfully, the gore is mostly contained to the grounds, though the animals are anything but peaceful as they stomp their feet and moo loudly.
Ah, the mooing. The /mooing/. Y'ki is, of course, out on the grounds. Why? Because there's a rather beautifully intact skull to look at, even if it does have bits of cow still clinging to it. Ecoatleth is beyond the fence, outside the corral with his own food, a smaller creature that the dragon currently has his head..buried in. Yum. "Well it's only got a crack down the side there. Pretty well off, I think. Eco, look at i— /ECO/. Get your fat head out of it's stomach for /two/ seconds! You wanted to see this!"
On a tour of the grounds, Erdric finds himself drawn to the animals couped up in the feeding pen. He is leaning on one of the railings nearest the wherry pen, watching them as the go about their daily routine, engrossed almost as much as if he were reading his history books. His attention is drawn from the wherries to the gold who has started to feed. Not being raised in the Weyr he is not used to the violence of the act and his face starts to turn visibly green.
On the other side of the pens, near the pond, was Ysa. She had been traveling from the stables after spending some quality time with the runners, something that the junior weyrwoman does from time to time. If it wasn't the broken leg, it was her lifemate rising. If it wasn't that… well, she had been in an ill temper. Having her pants covered in muck was not helping her mood, either, as she travels through the muddy ground from all the trampling beasts. Not that she really paid that much attention to it. Ellamariseth is gliding low, scattering the beasts here and there away from her lifemate with a warbling call as she moves along. The gold chases them a bit, circles back, and then goes for another bunch, but never actually striking. "Just /down/ one already, Ella!" Ysa shouts up to the gold.
Niva is long since used to the standard feeding habits of the various dragons, however even Niva is looking slightly green at Kilaueth's behavior, especially as pieces of innards go flying left and right, some headed for the others in the area, and one piece finding a place on Niva's shoulder. Grumbling a fair bit, she flicks it off with a look of disgust, sighing. "What /are/ you going to do with a skull?" Her attention is turned on the unfortunate Y'ki then, eyeing him and his exploration - anything as a distraction, even if Kilaueth is merely mirroring her own mood.
Y'ki pulls on the skull. ..It's still attached somewhere down there, after all. After a good bit of heaving though, he manages to get it free, holding onto it by the horns. Niva's questioning gets a faint headtilt from the bluerider, before he shrugs. "I dunno. Maybe hang it up? Some people do that.." Like his dad. But..not with bovine skulls. He just shrugs again though, making a face at the slightly grotesque..and hollow head. "It's got horns and everything on it. It'd look good. Over a doorway, something like that." Ecoatleth makes his own slight tearing noises as he rips through flesh, bringing his head around to stare at the nearby Erdric curiously. Mm. Dragonbreath.
Erdric is momentarily distracted from the feeding, thankfully, when he hears the Weyrwoman call over to Y'ki, his attention following her words to the young man and the skull he is eyeing. He mumbles something about using to scare some poor child somewhere. Despite the carnage nearby, Erdric manages to hold his afternoon lunch at bay and stays put where he is determined not to be undone by the first sight of dragons this close, let alone their feeding habits. Thankfully he is looking the other direction and does not immediately notice the blue Ecoatleth turning to stare at him though he does suddenly get an unmistakable smell wafting in his direction.
Ysa's got a good path freed by her lifemate to travel straight towards the Weyrwoman and the bluerider. "Shells, she sure is getting into her meal," she comments to Niva, nodding at her much larger queen. She glances down at the skull the other one nearby, arching a brow. "So long as ya make sure your dragon doesn't think it's a snack, I bet it'll make for interesting… decor." The way she wrinkles her nose, she probably didn't really think that. Ellamariseth had finally decided to go down for her first kill, her wings folding as she dives the short distance towards the wherry pens… and Erdric. Thankfully, she misses the boy as she snags a wherry instead, only to forget to flare out to stop her speed, sending her smashing into the rail (and through it) that the boy was leaning on, her head shaking off the crash with her prize in her jaws.
"O-on the wall?" Niva just stares at Y'ki in disbelief, hand covering her mouth hurriedly as the skull suddenly detaches itself, and is held up by the horns. "Why the shards would ya do that?" Yet, the weyrwoman continues to stare at the skull and the boy for a long moment until she is thankfully distracted by Ysa's progress and arrival. And then Ellamariseth is crashing through the railing and Kilaueth is rocking back on her hind legs, meal forgotten as she trumpets loudly, wings spread for balance as she attempts to discover if the other gold is alright. Niva, however, can do little else but stare at the continuing catastrophes.
There's stuff /breaking/. And Y'ki didn't do it. He does in fact stare as well as Ellamariseth goes careening through the fence, gawking for a bit before turning his head toward Ysa. "She take flying lessons from falling rocks, or what?" Still, he does set the skull down again, not having much point in lugging it around at all for the time being. Ecoatleth makes a startled noise of his own, the blue scrambling out of the way when the gold crashes through the fence, earning a growl from the boy. "She /almost/ squished Eco with her fat butt!"
That did it! Erdric has lost all control and apparent common sense as he is nearly mauled by the very large gold crashing through the fence. The boy bolts not for the safety meadow, no but rather straight into the pens, yelling and screaming as if he were some little child, unable to control his outburts. His yells stir up the wherries which in turn frightens the boy further and he heads right for the herdbeasts who now also bolt. Erdric realizes his mistake, too late of course, and manages to correct his course, this time straight for the two gold riders. The animals are all riled up from the poor boys screaming (and you thought a dragon was bad) and here he is running head long at breakneck speed straight into the poor goldrider Ysa.
Ysa jumps a bit at Kilaeuth's trumpeting, glancing in the direction of her lifemate. Ellamariseth rumbles deeply back to the queen, just a bit dizzy over the fall, but otherwise good. She crunches down loudly on her wherry, her whirling eyes turning towards the blue. She spits out a bit of feathers at him, amused nonetheless. "Ella's /not/ fat, boy," Ys says as she turns back with a glare towards Y'ki. "At least, not yet," she corrects with a mumble. The screaming boy gets a long stare, and she leans away, eyes watching as he passes, towards the Weyrwoman. "He's going to cause a— Oof!" Ysa's knocked down! And hard. She falls into the muck below, face-first and too startled to catch her fall right away, and with a heavy teenager on top of her, no less.
Of course, riled up animals aren't calmed any by the continued trumpeting and carrying on of the large gold that is Kilaueth. Wings are beat even as she remains on the ground, stirring up the beasts even more, and causing the herd to change direction, as they gather speed and begin to charge blindly - just away from that too big, too nosy creature. Its all Niva can do to avoid being caught by Erdric's charge as well, though she's slipping away as Ysa ends up in the muck, sliding to a stop and grabbing at a still present section of fence. "Kila!" She shouts at the gold, even though she knows just as well as everyone else that its too late to stop it. Then her attention turns to Y'ki, and she's waving at the boy. "Move!"
Ecoatleth lets out his own bellow of surprise at the sudden chaos. No, the dragons really aren't helping in all of this. Y'ki might've made continued comment about certain oversized golds, but..well, it's difficult when there's a large mass of animals bearing down on you. So the boy moves, eyes a little wide. Or he tries to, moving in the incorrect direction considering that there's a large skull on the ground still. One wrong step, and the boy goes right down in a heap of crunching bone. Not his, of course.
Erdric manages somehow to remain mostly muck free due to the fact that he lands on top of poor Ysa. While he is no longer screaming, he is still quite shaken, and shaking to boot. He rights himself and gets off Ysa, his hands trembling, his head pounding and manages to regain enough composure to offer her a hand in getting up. "I..I.." he is still too shaken to speak correctly though and manages to look more the fool with his stammering. "killed, sorry, what have I done?" He is also still oblivious to Y'ki's misfortunes.
Ysa would have taken that opportunity to comment to Y'ki about what happens when you call a gold fat. Except she was also on the ground. In the confusion of the rampage, Ellamariseth joins in with her own voice, mostly a bugle towards the Senior gold to see if it might calm her down. Except that it turns into a pained scream as her rider goes down, and she leaps back onto all fours, rearing on her hind legs and flapping her wings, hoping to steer the herdbeasts away from her lifemate. The junior shakes her head, unruly hair now covered in dirty and… She spits up some dirt and gags. "Ugh… Ew, Faranth, please don't tell me." She peels herself off the ground, covered in beast muck and dirt and gets to her feet without Erdric's help. Shaking off her hands, she glares back at Erdric only to start running. Being in the pen around stampeding beasts wasn't good. "Go help the bluerider!" she shouts back at Erdric. Her punishment? Maybe, but she only cared to save her skin.
There is never a proper time to call a gold fat. And definitely not when there is a stampeding herd. Kilaueth is finally starting to slowly chill out, though her wings are still flailed once and again, the trumpeting calls becoming more and more spaced out. The beasts are still on the move however, and as Y'ki goes down, Niva is clearly as ignorant as Kilaueth has been, for she's dodging around the fence, trying to get to the fallen bluerider before the beasts do, even as Ysa sends Erdric on a similar errand. "Y'ki…" She yelps, as she crouches down next to the bluerider, trying to pull him upright, sparing a glance at the beasts.
Y'ki is down. Well, somewhat down. He starts to push himself upward just before those herdbeast come barreling right through, sending the boy down again, curling himself into a fetal position. Ecoatleth's previous noise turns into a somewhat panicked shriek as the stampeding animals pound through the spot where his rider went down, leaping right over the fence with wings outspread. Maybe it'll scare them off? He might not be as big as a gold, but he'll certainly try.
Erdric stands there dumbfounded for a moment his hand still outstretched to Ysa as the goldrider takes off running. As she calls back he pulls his hand in and his face takes on the same dumbfounded look as his previous stance. Help the bluerider? What on Pern could she mean? He turns around and sees the Weyrwoman dodge around the fence and head for Y'ki also sprawled out on the ground, herdbeasts trampling all around. As he starts to rush towards the now prone bluerider, the smaller blue dragon comes swooping in wings apart apparently trying to frighten the anmials even more he thinks to himself. He turns back towards Ysa, "Are you nuts?" and he takes off after her, better to save his own hide he concedes as the herd starts to move now in his direction. This of course leaves Niva alone in the pens to help Y'ki.
While Ysa was trying to reach the outside of the fence, even if part of it was broken, Ellamariseth was skipping back over and into the pens. The larger gold was bugling as loudly as she can, coming to the blue's aid after his pained call. Her large body literally pummels through the beasts that didn't get away in time, and her head swings around to push and snap to get them to try to run around the young rider. The goldrider would have made it safely, except that the ground was uneven and she was in a hurry to be safe. Her muddied boots catch a rock or some other piece of carcass, going down again into the mud. She rolls away from an injured wherry, her hair clumping on her face. "Alright, come help /me/ up then!" she calls over towards Erdric, seeing that he decided to run away from the pair instead, and she was getting weighed down and stuck in the mud.
Niva barely managed to get out of the way as the herd hits the young bluerider - a barely that does not include her right leg, so as the herd clears, sent on their way by Ecoatleth, at least for the moment, Niva is left to half drag herself back towards the bluerider, leg left outstretched as she tries to pull the boy partway into her lap, supporting his head as she does so. Kilaueth is quick to take up a stance with Ecoatleth and Ellamariseth, as if daring those blasted beasts to return this way, wings spread wide as faceted eyes whirl dark orange, crooning pitifully. "Ysa!" She shouts without looking up from the teen.
Y'ki at least maintains his fetal position for a little while. But with all the rumbling commotion, and being pulled around, that sort of gets lost. Besides, one or two good knocks, and really, the boy is a tad..limp when he's pulled free of the chaos of legs. Or at least when the herd heads in a different direction, anyway. There's dirt and gore all over the place! And while quite a /bit/ of it happens to be from that herdbeast carcass on the ground, there's a fair bit of blood that happens to belong to the bluerider.
Hot on the heels of Ysa, Erdric manages to avoid her as she tumbles in front of him. At this point the poor boy is a tad bit hesitant to do anything but get as far away from here as possible but despite the urge to just run and keep running he stops and offers Ysa a hand up, just as Niva calls her name. He grabs her arm but it is quite slippery from all the mud, muck and other unmentionables and he has to grab onto her with both arms to keep from dropper her back into the muck along with himself. He was on top of her once already and that was more than enough for his liking.
Ellamariseth would stand her ground with Kilaueth and Ecoatleth, unless her lifemate was in real danger. And Ysa was just getting stuck in the muck. The herdbeasts, thankfully, were stampeding towards the other side of the corral instead. The goldrider takes a firm hold of Erdric this time, making sure not to let the teen go. "I don' think 'm going to be able to get this smell off," she grumbles to him, only to swing her head about at the Senior's call. "He isn't dead, is he!?" is her first thought shouted out, but the standing blue clears that up right away. It isn't hard to keep her balance that time, holding onto the Erdric. But she does keep a firm hold on him even as she starts trudging back towards the site of carnage, eyes wide. She wasn't going to let this one out of her sight to run away or get trampled, too.
"He's not, but I'm not sure…" The Healer part of the Senior Weyrwoman is left trying to gently squeeze here and there to attempt to determine if anything is broken, pulling her light jacket off to gently dab at the greatest spots of blood, trying to figure out where its actually coming from. "And.. I'm not sure I can walk." Niva finally admits, as she continues to cradle Y'ki, gaze only occasionally going to the others, through the protective screen of dragons.
Y'ki is definitely unconscious. And that blood? Well, it's starting to increase in amount, from a rather nice cut in the side of his head. Granted, head wounds tend to bleed far more than necessary. Maybe it's not /too/ serious? There's some in his mouth, too, but that might just be some gore that got kicked up in there. Ecoatleth seems satisfied that the animals are going to stay away, at least, worming his body right down to try and get a closer inspection of his prone rider, crooning worriedly.
Erdric is pulled along by Ysa as the goldrider refuses to let go of him now that he has helped her up. Thankful for at least some protection for the dragons and the dratted herbbeasts he realizes that she is no longer headed for safety but rather straight for the other two riders and, she wouldn't, the dragons. "You mind telling me what youare doing? I am NOT going anywhere near those things." he exlaims. Not that he expects that to matter to her at this point. "Wouldn't it be better if I went and got a healer?" Anything to avoid going over to where the three dragons are not to mention the Weyrwoman.
Ellamariseth definitely looked pleased with herself at scaring away the herdbeasts, though she eventually turns around with a croon of concern. Hers had been in a few rough patches enough times to teach her to worry when people stop moving. Ysa doesn't let go of Erdric, even when he says he wasn't going to go with her. "Those what?" she snaps back to him, half distracted. "Ya could go get a Healer, once we make sure we can't get them there outselves." She pushes him through the dragons, frowning at Niva's leg. "Did ya break it? Faranth, he doesn't look good…" She winces at the bleeding. "If we can get ya onto your gold, Niva, maybe me and… and this boy, can carry Y'ki?" Yes, boy doesn't have a name in her mind, as she glances back to him. She finally lets go of him, though, to stand there, covered in filth from head to toe and trying not to look completely disgusted in front of the Senior.
"Boy, tear off a strip of your shirt. We have got to wrap up his head, the way its bleeding. Got to keep some sort of pressure on it, or it won't be good." As she's talking, Niva's already moving to press her palm hard against the headwound, while the other hand carefully opens each of his eyes in turn, shaking her head. "I think he has a concussion, too." As the pressure is kept she absently tears a strip from her own shirt to stick under her palm before she blinks from Erdric to Ysa, and then stares at her own leg. "I.. I think so. But, he's worse.. You'll have to get him there, first." And then she's waiting expectantly for the objects she demanded.
Y'ki will have to remain in la-la land for a little bit. Or..well maybe not quite. There's a low little groan from the boy when his eyes get pried open, trying and failing to focus on Niva for a moment. "Ow.." Ecoatleth seems quite happy that at least his rider isn't dead. …And neither is he, for that matter. Always good. The blue croons quietly though at the teen when the boy does start to come to, tail twitching behind him.
Erdric thinks for one brief moment about tearing off the moment Ysa lets him ago but he knows better given the severity of the injuries present. He does as he is told, pulling his shirt off and tearing off a long strip from around the bottom before handing it to Niva, "Here you go Ma'am, and its Erdric." He says the last part tentatively. Despite the fact he had twice attempted to run away he does in fact have /some/ healer training thanks to his grandmother, although he has never had to use the training she provided before. Even as he hands Niva the stip of cloth he is tearing off others and searching nearby for anything he can use to immobilize the Weyrwomans apparently broken leg. For the moment at least he seems to have forgotten about the dragons looming over them.
Ysa had worked in the infirmary for awhile, but outside of some poorly done stitches she's never really had much practice. Or training. But she has been snapped instructions like that before, even if it wasn't directed immediately to her. The goldrider suspected Erdric might run away, and he gets a look for a moment. Ellamariseth is hovering close by, but she does make sure to give space to Ecoatleth for his rider. That and her lifemate smelled. Real bad. "Y'ki? Ya alright there?" she asks immediately when he starts to wake up. "Hey, can ya move? We got to get ya to the Healers now. Niva, if he can walk, we can take ya both. Prop him up on one of the dragons and get ya up on Kilaueth. Or the boy here can offer ya his shoulder." She nods back towards Erdric, but her eyes were on Y'ki as she squats down.
"You still need to carry him… I don't think he should be walking.." Niva answers as she tries to turn Y'ki enough to try and watch him, before she's quickly binding the fabric from Erdric around Y'ki's head, pulling it tight over the previously added fabric, tucking it in so that it crosses over one eyebrow. Then she's trying to shift him enough to hand him up to the other two. "You take him, Kilaueth says that V'dim's on his way. I'll make him help me walk back." Of course walking will become an awkward, hobbling, painful experience. "He needs to be in the infirmary.." The woman is quite concerned as she sighs softly, shaking her head at the boy. Punishment will wait.
Punishment? Hope it's not punishment for Y'ki because he didn't do anything! Or at least he doesn't remember doing anything. Probably why there's a bit of dazed confusion appearing on the boy's face. "What happened?" At least that's what he tries to say. It comes out more of a mumbled, garbly mess when he tries to put muddled thought into actual speech. Hrm, better save that for later. When he's coherant. Take who, where? He doesn't know, and the bluerider isn't likely to be much help, considering that he slides right back unconscious once again. Oops.
The search for something to stabilize the leg is interrupted when Y'ki is handed up to himself and Ysa. The last thing he want to do now is to drop the poor blue rider and makes things even worse. He bites his lip softly at the look from the Weyrwoman, knowing full well despite the gold's crashing through the fence this was all his fault. He looks towards Y'ki as he attempts to speak, then grabs on tightly and actually manages to pull the boy into a cradle carry position as he falls unconscious once again. (he is stronger than he appears). He turns to Ysa, "I don't think I can carry him all the way to the infirmary and best that you don't touch him given what you are covered in." He looks towards the large gold dragon, and despite his deathly fear of them wishes she would come closer so he could put him up there. "Do you think you and, um, your dragon could carry us to the infirmary?"
Ysa nods her head immediately at the Weyrwoman, but she wasn't quite inclined to leave her there on her own. She tilts her head to look up at the large Senior queen, though, and sighs. "Alright, we'll take him together. We'll be /right/ back, to see if you're still here. And we need to get someone immediately on that fence." For now, the herdbeasts weren't running out of it, seeing that they were clumping in the other side. Ellamariseth doesn't want to leave yet, either, but her appetite was definitely done. "Is it alright to mount up, Niva? Wouldn't want to jostle him too much." She frowns when Y'ki tries to speak, shaking her head. "S'okay, we're just—" Well, that's a waste, since he's gone already. "Ella, lean down as much as possible." Which the gold does, even mudding herself up quite a bit. "I don't think him smelling like herdbeast dung is going to make it worse, if we have to carry him together." But she'll help Erdric mount up safely with the young bluerider, if she gets the okay from the Weyrwoman.
"I don't think you'll be able to do any more damage, by getting him up there." Niva offers, shaking her head and motioning for the two to get the boy up on Ellamariseth, even as V'dim is crossing the feeding grounds, the older greenrider making a wide circle around the frightened animals, before he's crouching down as well, surveying the damage even as he offers the weyrwoman's arm a reassuring pat. "They won't go ta far, miss. Not with them here. We'll take care of it. You take care of him." And he's busying himself attempting to get Niva to her feet, wedging his shoulder under her arm to help carry her in the same direction as the others will be headed at a much faster pace.
Y'ki will just have to be carried around. Ecoatleth mills about, still making low sounds of worry every now and again, before sending a scathing look back toward the animals. Oh he will /enjoy/ his next meal. Yes.. For now though, Y'ki will just be a sack of potatoes for people to haul about, not protesting at all.
Erdric manages to easily climb up onto Ella's back, even with the bluerider cradled in his arms, needing only a hand from Ysa at the top to keep from falling backwards off the gold. Of course it helps that she got so low to the ground and he is used to climbing things (boat masts) with heavy objects (ropes) in his arms. For somoene who not five minutes ago was deathly afraid of the very dragon he is now perched atop, Erdric appears to be keeping it together quite well. "I am not sure what to expect here, sorry never been atop a dragon before." he says to Ysa as he situates Y'ki into a better position, such that Erdic can hang onto both the straps and the blue rider. He then turns to Niva and V'dim to make sure everything is alright (well as alright as could be given the current situation).
Ysa nods her head at Niva's words before getting Ellamariseth down on the ground as far as she'd go. She goes and mounts first, of course, getting her lifemate even more dirty than she was. She grips with her legs while leaning down to help Erdric. "Ya got him well, there?" she asks, watching Y'ki in his arms before nodding. Once they were on, she makes sure to at least buckle Erdric up. "At least we're not going to fly. Going to have to get ya used to the dragons if you're stuck at the Weyr," she mumbles as she gets the straps right. "I don't want him falling out of your arms, now, so hold him good. Ya won't fall yourself. C'mon, Ella, hurry us to the infirmary!" The gold at least knew the way to go, and her larger strides will get them there in no time. But even as they leave, Ysa does shoot a worried glance back to the Weyrwoman.
Niva gives a dismissing wave at the others, still looking rather concerned for Y'ki, despite her own situation, and its at a much slower pace that she and the greenrider make their way back to the infirmary.
Yes, Y'ki's still unconscious. But at least he gets good taxi service.
Erdric holds onto Y'ki tight taking with both hands taking Ysa's words as truth about his not needing to hold on. He also quietly comments to her, "Not sure I will ever get used to them though."
Ellamariseth hits a few bumps along the road. Just in case Y'ki needed a bit more lumps on the head. "Trust me, ya will," is Ysa's answer.