Weyrling Lesson: Hunting
feedgrounds.jpg

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.


Oh, how lovely. Wet grass and chilly air. Y'ki's not looking particularly thrilled with the way things are at the moment, trudging through the grass even as his pants become slightly damp around the bottoms, where the grass comes up high enough to touch. Bleh, always a gross feeling, wet pantlegs. Ecoatleth doesn't seem to mind too much for his part, despite the occasional awkward step that the wet ground gives him, the blue making his careful way along the edge of the pen. "We're here.." Y'ki mutters, irritably. But hey, at least he's bundled up a little.

Zevida is bundled slightly, a coat and pants while her hair is wrapped. She follows Avaeth quietly, gazes everywhere /but/ towards Lorena. Wandering here and theere before she peeks at Y'ki who enters before her. An idle shrug to a quiet question while a smirk of amusement forms on her lips. Avaeth rumbles softly, taking lead of Zevida as they venture closer.

Myra is chuckling softly to herself, yes, even while pulling her jacket close around her. "Time for everyone's favourite lesson, already?" Well, earliest of the favourites - between often ranks right up there because it means weyrlinghood is nearly over. This one signifies the beginning of the end of cutting up all that meat. She may be amused, but she does look uncomfortable, it's too cold and damp to be out here. Ailath merely looks hungry. Fear her hungry eyes, /fear/ them. Rah!

Wet? Chilly? Those just happen to be two things that S'ya despises, and it's easily discerned from the large frown the usually cheerful girl is wearing, along with a thick jacket. "I /am/ glad you are learning to hunt today, love, but I wish we could have picked a better day." She whines to her lifemate, hugging herself tightly as she moves towards those already gathered. The green however seems to be enjoying the weather, her delicate neck twisting this way and that in order to examine everything around her. She's anxious and ready to get started!

Loyauth turns his head first to the approaching young dragons and Ailath, Lorena following suit the brown's rumble. Mist creeps towards their group as she beckons them forward to spy upon the beasts below. She grins at Myra. "Well, the dragons' favorites at any rate." She broadens her words out to the weyrlings. "Time to see just how bloody of a hunter your dragon is." Loyauth gives a chuckling rumble. "The best way to learn how to hunt is to observe and repeat. You will all probably be doing this many times. Some of your dragons might get lucky the first time, some won't. There are so many factors involved that it can hardly be pinned to any one thing. So… Loyauth and Ailath will go ahead and take your dragons up." At this the brown leaps into the air. « C'mon folks! Lets get huntin'! » He circles in the misty air over the nervous herd below.

Y'ki shifts over to the fence, arms lifting to drape on the top of it. Well hey, no reason why /he/ can't relax. He doesn't have to do anything for this sort of lesson anyway. Ecoatleth makes a fairly plaintive noise, however, rumbling softly at his rider..only to receive a swat from the boy. "No! No you get up there and do your thing. It's not like it's /that/ hard or anything, you'll be fine. /Shoo!/" Yes, away! He rolls his eyes a little, even as Ecoatleth does finally hop into the air, before the boy sends a quick look toward his other clutchmates present, brows slightly raised.

S'ya nods her head, hugging herself as tightly as she can as she listens to the instructors. "Make sure to do as you are told." She mutters to her lifemate, her hazel eyes keeping on Loyauth as he takes to the skies and beckons the younger dragons to follow. Sophyrinth only offers a ear piercing trumpet to her lifemate before rising up after the brown, flying gracefully above the herd and peering down at them eagerly, much like a little girl in a sweet shop. «Fat ones are best? How many do I take?» Her crackling voice fills the minds of those around her, tipping her wing down as she glides rather lowly over the beasts, seeming to search for an appropriate kill.

Avaeth is ready, ruffling her wings as impatience seems to eminate from the gold. She is /ready/. As soon as Loyauth takes off into the air, she's after him. Zevida tilts her head at the gold, rolling her eyes in amusement. "Don't make a mess." Is all she murmurs, turning to finally look at Lorena with a blank expression before she's turning to watch Avaeth.

Myra moves over to stand beside Lorena, scanning the pens idly. "Probably should've let Ailath eat earlier, this isn't going to be pretty." she grimaces, but, it's too late now. She nods to Ailath, gesturing to the beasts cowering in the corner of the pen. "Go on," she says, waving the green off. Ailath bugles, frightening the herdbeasts more, and gets a stern glare from Myra as a result. We /don't/ need to make things harder for the 'little' ones. The green relents, circling slowly, just above Loyauth. «Come on, they're good eating! Shards, but they're tasty!» "Ailath!" Myra calls, warningly. Ailath has a bit of a reputation for inappropriate language at times. «Get a good fat one, they're the juiciest!» Perhaps a little too much information there, but the /dragons/ may find it pertinent.

Nasrinth is some where in the group too, though not awkwardly hiding in the back anymore - rather he's sure of himself in the element of air and demonstrates that by taking a more up front position. N'kor for his part is up on a fence post, yes, sitting on it, his back toward the field. His eyes regard the others with a some what cool collective silence that is far too often seen on him these days. He's got a red fruit in his hand and is systematically working on slicing it with his knife, eating each slice from the flat of the blade. Once and a while he can be noted to look over his shoulder to check the location of the dragons.

Lorena smirks at Myra as she watches Ailath take to the skies. "Well, she'll be an enthusiastic demonstration?" She offers. Could be worse… could be… - and rain drops plop on Lorena's head - …raining. Well, it's only a light rain. No reason to call this off. She pulls the jacket closer around her, glancing over at N'kor on the fence, to Y'ki leaning on it, S'ya watching the skies… and the others. All but Zevida, yep. Loyauth rumbles as they all rise, looking towards Ailath with amusement. Dusty wagonwheels leave tracks in their mind with a gravely sound of his voice. « The fat ones go slower for y'all. So I wan' every'un ta watch me. Ah select'a beast… » He sweeps over one. « An dive… » He floats over top of a bulky beast, older one who looks like he's spent a long time dodging talons and, by a scar, not always missing. He plummets, wings tucked. The beast makes a run for it, several following, but Loyauth cuts above them, using the velocity to travel swift above with talon's outretched. He latches on, shoving it into the ground as the others scatter the opposite direction, and, pinning it, looks up. « And capture… Now yeh'all's turn! » He sits on his beast, watching. « Ifn ya need, Ailath can show ya'll again. »

Y'ki simply moves over next to N'kor after a bit, giving the older man a slightly imploring look. Yes, he can pull off those more innocent expressions when he really wants to. ..Or when someone has food. "Hey..mind if I have some?" At least he's not trying to snatch any of the red fruit. Still, he glances up after a moment, sighing as Ecoatleth gives a faint bugle into the damp air. "Oi, just because you think /his/ way is boring.. /Eco!/" Yes indeed, the blue takes a brief circle around the corral, giving a low, disappointed rumble at Loyauth's performance. Thankfully though, he's gotten quite a bit more used to the air by now. His own dive is made well away from the frightened herd, plummeting toward the open ground before a swift flap angles him horizontal with the ground. The rush of air created provides his smaller frame with the lift he needs, while allowing him to rocket fairly close to the ground, arrow-straight. Plowing straight for the herd, animals scatter, and he does in fact..miss his target. Though thankfully, not completely. Talons hook into the fleeing back leg as he goes, the animal twisting as it's momentum is suddenly cut off..and..well so is the mentioned limb. Ecoatleth even seems surprised as he rises from the air with naught but a leg in his grip, making a quick turn-around to land on the severely fouled animal, giving a bashful little trill into the air. Uh..well..at least he got it, right? Y'ki just..stares. "..Well. Kay then. Hey N'kor, I /can/ have some, right?" No, his appetite isn't affected at all!

S'ya moves to join the Y'ki and N'kor, her hazel eyes glued to her lifemate. She attempts to get on the fence but fails the first time, seeming unable to climb since she is so keen on keeping her arms close to her body at all times. "It is freezing out here!" To her at least. She resigns herself to just leaning against the fence, smiling as her lifemate continues to make the beasts anxious. Sophyrinth seems to take Ailath's advice to heart, swooping down on a particularly fat herdbeast. «This one is good? Watch it run!» Her voice crackles again, seeming to crunch with every dive she takes on the poor beasts, her voice warming the minds she touches. She catches sight of Loyauth pinning down his chosen prey and finally stops tormenting her own and attempts it. But she flat out fails, missing the frenzied animal and crashing onto the dirt. "So!" S'ya cries out, the rain forgotten as she tries to the scramble over the fence. But the little green gets up, shaking herself a bit before moving back to the sky, keeping to slow circles for the time being.

N'kor glances over at Y'ki and S'ya with a slight boredom showing on his face - his lips moving as if he could curb it some how. Unfortunately, he simply opens his mouth to crunch down on another apple slice, drawing his eyes back toward it as he rolls it to slice off the meat of the fruit. It's Nasrinth that has to be physical today at this moment, the only encouragement given to him is not one that others can hear. Nasrinth watches the dive of Loyauth, amused at the brown going after a fat one. It's not instinct for this bronze to go after a healthy fat one today, since his belly is full from the day prior - hence he turns animalistic in his selection of his prey. Quick to tuck wing, he's suddenly diving down toward a young calf. The dive is fluid. The attack is a little awkward but produces the result - the death of the target, but not without that innocent wail of a cry from the dying animal. He regards it with a pensive stretch of neck once it stops kicking, sniffing at it before he watches another beast - likely the mother stampede at him. Nasrinth makes a dragon bleat of surprise before snapping his teeth at the mother beast. Not once, but twice, and three times more does he have to swish his tail at the herd beast, mother's determination to strong. He ends up nipping the thing on the but, leaving marks in hide before it scurries away. N'kor doesn't seem affected by it at all - or perhaps he just thought ahead and is thusly sitting with his back to the field for a reason. Slicing off a chunk of red fruit for Y'ki, passing it to the younger man, he dots his brow with the back of his jacket cuff. "I should've brought more," this the only words from Nalkor as the man continues to pass slices to Y'ki when and if he wants more than the first slice. S'ya's shriek does have him pause though to look over his shoulder, catching the last moments of her Sophrinth in the dirt.

Myra echoes Lorena's smirk, aiming hers more at her lifemate. Ailath, enthusiastic, about /hunting/? "And how!" she agrees, strongly. The green is still circling, waiting impatiently for Loyauth and the weyrlings to have a go at the beasts first. She doesn't appear to be watching the beasts at all, just circling, keeping an eye on the other dragons. When she sees an opening, she swoops down, talons wrapping tightly around the neck of a plump beast. Not quite a killing blow, but her abrupt flight upwards does the trick, with an audible snap. She then tosses the beast a short distance, towards a quieter part of the pens, and sets to eating. «Mm, and /that's/ how it's done.» But Myra just puts her head in her hands. "Ailath, that's a bit /ambitious/ for weyrlings, isn't it? Remember the first one /you/ killed? How did you kill that one? Huh?" There's a slight pause, though not enough for Ailath to answer, before Myra continues, "That's right, you /sat/ on it!" But, of course Myra had to answer, Ailath can't even remember how she killed her /last/ meal. As for the weyrlings, well, Myra just watches, hugging her jacket close. "They /may/ fail the first time, or more. That's okay. They'll learn. That's what we're here for."

Avaeth circles about lazily, waiting and watching. Others have chosen their prey while she stalks, it's not obvious what one she's picked as she circles around a small crowd idly. Finally, a calculated dip downwards and the group splits, down lower and spreading her wings to glide she leads off her selected, far from the others and the other dragons. She makes a game of leading the beast before, finally, she drops right down on the beast holding it tightly. Once that pitiful cry comes, she rips it open with no remorse and devours, messily from the inside out. Zevida, on the other hand, is watching without any signs of flinching or even disgust at her lifemate's behavior before she's tilting her head away to peek at the other weyrlings, looking to see their kills or, in some cases, failure.

Lorena is actually chuckling at Ecoatleth's -interesting- method, watching the blue with a bit of grin. Sure, it's morbid, but she's used to it now. Loyauth can be much worse for flights. She observes the others, Loyauth rumbling encouragement to the greenlet. « Thas' alrigh' darlin'. Try an' surprise the next one a bit more ifn ya can. » He strips a fleshy section of the old beast, still alive and moaning. Loyauth… the 'lings. Oops. Snap! No more moaning. The others are so very hit and miss. Needless to say the pudgy brown must also try again… and again… and again. « Mayhaps it'll starve summa tha' weight off ya, boy! Then you'll keep up. » Loyauth growls irritably. Lorena, too, looking rather annoyed at the antsy E'us, diplomacy causing her to purse her lips and hold her tongue… as well as an arm that would like to slug him… for his whining.

Y'ki is given..treats! Or redfruit slices, really, but hey, he likes having a snack. Chewing contently on the redfruit, he simply takes a glance over to where there are dragons with..or without prey. His own has already started eating, a faint grin twitching at the boy's lips. He just shakes his head then, sighing a bit. "I'm gonna miss all that meat-cutting. I mean, that was like…a /highlight/ of the day." Because apparently, he doesn't mind sticking /his/ hands in buckets full of blood and bits. He chews on his piece of redfruit then, and shifts, draping his arms back onto the fence again. "So now they can fly and hunt and stuff. Just gotta get them going between and we won't have to shovel their /crap/ anymore."

Sophyrinth doesn't let her first failure stop her from trying again. The petite green scans the grounds again, her eyes whirling red as she catches sight of the beast that eluded her. Without a moments hesitation she launches herself at it once more, this time managing to pin the animal to the ground. She trumpets her delight before spreading her wings out and setting to work on the poor creature. First she grabs it by the neck, shaking it violently until a sickening 'crack' is heard. Once that's taken care of she sets to dismantling it, taking care to tear off each limb, placing them in a neat little pile. With just the neck and trunk left she decides to claw out the creatures innards, curious to see what's inside. «I got him, Loy! Did ya see? I /surprised/ him!» She says happily, all beams of sunshine as she sends the brown a draconic 'smile', her body completely covered in blood. S'ya can't help but frown at her lifemate, watching her tear into the poor creature. "So, really love, is that necessary?" She asks weakly, moving her hazel eyes away from the blood bath. "Miss chopping up meat? I will not. It was so messy!" She wrinkles her nose as she watches Y'ki and N'kor curiously.

N'kor regards the younger man with a brow that twitches up on his forehead, amusement seen around the crunch of the next red fruit slice. N'kor decides to check up on his bronze, who is picky apparently, with his first kill. Picky because of the weight already in his stomach from the day prior and picky because he would rather observe the dead thing than tear into it. He killed it afterall - almost regretful of that fact, almost. To Y'ki's continued words, N'kor agrees, "I suppose after they learn to between, we'll have to focus on real work again. Hrm?" He seems a little enthusiastic about that, draping one arm over his knee, "You know, I'm looking forward to betweening. That will be exciting. That will be the highlight for us." He shifts another slice to Y'ki, noting that there's only another half of the apple remaining before it's nothing but core left.

Myra snickers a little at Ailath, and leans back against the fence to watch the dragons have at. Sophyrinth's 'neatness' that leaves her covered in blood gets a raised eyebrow, and perhaps a little more interest than would be expected. Well, Myra was a chef, so she finds it intriguing. Ailath certainly doesn't take such care. She's a precise hunter, she takes care /there/, and her kills are clean, but eating? There's a mess. Oh, and, there's the mess, Ailath, bloody-muzzled, slurping at the last of the herdbeast, before taking flight. She finds her opening, careful to avoid the weyrlings, and swoops down again, this time grabbing the beast in her talons, and twisting - snapping its spine and killing it instantly. She carries this one off to the last, tearing at the hide. "It is interesting to see how the riders react. /I/ was glad of it, though carving that meat up did remind me of my chef days. It was interesting when she tried to /share/ with me, though." she notes, with a slightly wistful tone on the word chef.

Y'ki snickers for a moment at that, and just gives N'kor a faint little grin. "Yeah. Getting back to /life/ sounds like a good idea.." Ecoatleth promptly makes an almost whining noise between bites. "/No/ Eco, you /are/ part of that, I meant this whole stupid schedule and lessons crap they put us through." He's certainly not fond of it. "But yeah..betweening will be good..though I dunno about all the flying. I'm not real into it." His foot kicks then at the fencepost nearby, before he moves down just a bit to meet Ecoatleth as the blue trots over, giving the young dragon a broad grin.

N'kor watches for a moment, though as he sees everyone departing and taking care of their own issues. With a sigh, his gaze turns down at the remainder of his apple, the rain drizzling down through his hair to stream down his face.

Avaeth continues making a bloody mess, spraying anything near her with blood as she devours messily. Finally, she finishes and slowly takes into the air again, repeating the process and downing another one, bigger this time. A bigger bloody mess this time, even a bit of meat flies as she enjoys herself a bath of blood. A smile from Zevida and finally, she laughs freely. "Avaeth… Come now, you'll only need to wash off later." She chimes, but, does not stop the gold from enjoying her little game. Instead, she is watching intently.

Sophyrinth finishes dissecting her kill, having gotten her fill it seems. After giving off another happy bugle she takes to the air, dropping down in front of her lifemate. "Great, now you need another bath." S'ya says as she takes in the bloody, the green seeming nearer a crimson bronze now. "Well, at least you will get washed off." She says, a smile finally breaking over her face as the rain starts to fall a bit more rapidly. She eyes N'kor curiously, watching him gaze at the apple. "Do not stay out to long or you will catch a cold, love." She says to her fellow weyrling, Sophyrinth whuffling the mans hair as she gets closer to him.

N'kor seems to blink out of whatever thoughts he was currently stuck in when another voice inquires toward him. Here he lifts his eyes from his apple with another slice caught up on the flat of the blade, pinched with a thumb and a finger for the sake of saving it from toppling to the ground. The whuffling from Sophyrinth has him smirking, "Oh, don't worry about that. I've sayed out in much colder air before." A glance to the green then back to her rider, "You haven't found anything… pecuilar in Soph's couch have you? Perhaps something that sparkles? Nasrinth has been complaining about his missing ruby stone. I've been asking around quietly if anyone's see it."

Myra shakes her head at Ailath, eyeing the rain. It's not even enough rain to properly wash away the blood, just enough to be uncomfortable. Well, and wash some of the blood away. "You know Ailath, you're /really/ not as dainty as you look." she mutters, an oft-repeated phrase by the woman. Ailath is, of course, being a bit of a grot. She's making a right old mess of herself, and she seems to be enjoying it. There's blood all over her muzzle, and some scattered drops of it on the rest of her too. She doesn't care. "Really wished it was something she'd /grow out of/." the woman notes, though she's not squeamish. No, it's /heights/ that worry her. Myra appears to be lost in her own little world, else she just has nothing more important to say. They've had the lesson, eaten, what more /is/ there?

Sophyrinth watches curiously as N'kor speaks her her 'mate, her eyes whirling vivid blues. But she grows bored soon enough and moves off to watch Ailath and Avaeth. The green however finds herself nearer Myra and takes the opportunity to whuffle the woman's hair as well. S'ya grins as N'kor assures her he's dealt with worse weather. "Hard for me to believe, this is just a dreadful day! I sure do miss my Ista." At the question of the ruby she pauses however, her eyes moving off to where her green is sniffing the co-weyrlingmaster. "Stone? Hmm, I do not recall seeing one, but then again So is rather good at hiding things. I can go and check if you would like? If it sparkles there is a good chance that So might have snatched it, she likes things that do that, or crinkle or anything really. But she is currently interested in hair now." Without another word the green takes to the sky, flying off towards the beach. "Well if I find it I will let you know!" She says with a wave before following after her lifemate.

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