Beach

An eerie mirror, the glass-quiet Sea of Azov: the clear waters stretch along the dark-pebbled shores, and along this narrow beach. Here the faintest lap of waves belies the calm beyond; here the rocks have been ground down into finest, softest sand - those observant would mark upon the similarity between it and the sands of the hatching grounds. The soft sand soaks up summer sunlight as a sponge; painfully hot during the warmer months, it is only truly pleasant at wintertime. Rocks rise to east and west, lichen-limned and green against the abyssal darkness of stone.

The afternoon is waning and the nearly omni-present autumn drizzle has almost disappeared. It at least hasn't put too much damper on the construction going down on the beach. With official duties done, D'wane finally manages to tear himself away long enough to actually sneak a peek. The shirtless weyrsecond prowls along the edge of the course, occassionally poking along at this or that since there aren't any smiths around to stop him at the moment.

Over on the beach somewhere near the construction of the obstacle course, Rocio is dressed in her PT clothes and stretching. First her arms, then her legs. Soon after, she's straightening and breathing deeply — in through her nose, out through her mouth as she works on centering her thoughts on what she's about to do. Both hands lift to gather up her blonde hair into a mid runnertail and tighten it. That's when you know she means business. Rolling her shoulders, the Weyrlingmaster makes her way toward a part of the course that's finished, all while passing by a very shirtless Weyrsecond. "Gonna watch me conquer this here wall, D'wane?" Yeah, the very tall wooden fixture with a few thick ropes dangling from the top.

When Rocio manages to sneak up on him, D'wane jumps a little like a kid caught sneaking a bubbly pie. "You do know to conquer it means you can't just walk around it," the weyrsecond grins as he watches her head towards the towering wall before breaking out the real questions. "That the tallest they'd let you make it?" He was wanting torture a challenge! But even as he's questioning the suitablity of the fixture, he'll be heading a few steps closer to get a better look.

Ha! Caught ya! Rocio might arch a honey colored brow at the big man's twitch, though she doesn't say anything about it. She's a little busy checking out the wall and the height of it. "Uh, well. For some of us it's big enough. To behemoths, it probably could be a smidge taller." Rolling her shoulders again, she grabs hold of a rope and tugs back on it for a little test. "I'll tell the smiths to add another one that meets your height requirements, 'kay?" Tug, tug. Seems good enough! Now she's pulling herself up and climbing the rope a little before curling her legs and pressing her feet against the wooden boards. "Hey, I heard they found a candidate even bigger than you…" There's no wavering in her voice. Yet.

D'wane gives a snort at the height joke as he goes about tugging the second rope. "Not all the eggs are gonna hatch out dainty greens. If this is supposed to be practice, it should at least be the height of a brown!" He's got practical reasons for insisting it's not quite tall enough, see? Not just pride. "They did. The wildling right? Or is there another one?" Although even D'wane sounds a bit skeptical at the thought of multiple giants roaming the Weyr. They already have enough. And it's totally the rope that the man is looking at when glancing up at the climbing Rocio.

Very carefully does Rocio hold onto the rope and 'walk' up the wooden wall. Her body is at an angle and she seems to be doing a pretty good job at keeping her feet planted against the boards — for now. Her strength is holding up the further she climbs and she's even able to talk while doing so. "I see what ya mean. Maybe we can have one the size of Dhiammarath." A very fleeting fond memory of Hannah zips through her mind and then she's back to peering up at how far she has to go. Not bad! Until her foot slips from the rain slicked wood and she gasps, hanging on for dear life. Or what seems like it. "I aint…" Wince. It takes some effort to hold her body weight up and regain her footing again. "An expert…" There. She's back. "Smith." Whew. Time to climb on!

There's a few tentative tugs from D'wane as Rocio is scaling the wall, although he eyes the fixture suspiciously and decides to wait before actually adding his own weight to it. The last thing they need is to both get flattened by their own obstacle course! He does give a grunt of agreement after pondering the potential size increase. "Huh… might not be a bad idea. Zymuraith is from one of Dhiammarath's clutches. Ravaith too if I remember my records right?" It's been a while since Rocketh last asked him to read up on the lineage of the Southern dragons and neither of the pair managed to commit it all to memory. D'wane also winces at the fall and by reflex, reaches up as if ready to catch, but then relaxes when her footing is regained. "So you just go up and over?"

"I think so?" Rocio says as she continues to pull herself up the wall. Her feet do a decent job of staying put this time and when she gets to the very top, she's hesitates a moment as it pondering what exactly to do next. "Up and over, yeah! Just… gotta figure out how to get down without breakin' a leg, ya know?" She considers her options while holding onto the rope at the very top of the fixture. First, she'll get herself up on it by caaarefully hoisting herself up, arm muscles working and burning during the process. See, kids? This is why PT is important! "Okay!" She's perched atop the wall, hands clinging and legs dangling from her seated position. "Now how the shells am I gonna turn around." Muttered to herself, that. She's got to face the other way in order to get down. Here goes nothing! Now comes the fun part of caaaarefully maneuvering her entire body in the opposite direction.

"Or your head!" D'wane will be oh so helpful from down on the ground as he wanders around the wall. Gotta keep his eyes on any potential falling weyrlingmasters after all! There may have been some breath holding as she manages to turn herself around, but once she does, the big man will start clapping and let out a whoop. "You got it!" Somebody get D'wane some pompoms. He can be Southern's biggest Cheerleader (or next biggest, after Jedemeth).

Rocio manages to turn herself around and sit in the opposite direction, but not before a little slip that has her gripping the rope with white knuckles. She laughs, though, probably because it's better than screeching! "Oh Faranth." She's up high. Maybe even a little higher than what she's used to — Niamyth is one of the smallest greens at Southern, afterall. "Wait, is this the part when other participants help the climber down?" Because she's not really seeing any other way (and breaking a leg doesn't count). "Like… Two go up at the same time and help each other over." She squints down at D'wane. "Pretty sure that means you!"

D'wane eyes the bit of a predicament that Rocio's found herself in and gives a bit of a laugh. "I think me getting up there would be the opposite of helping you down. Here, just a little bit farther now and I can get your foot!" Since the wall wasn't that tall yet and D'wane is practically a mountain, reaching up and he's almost touching her foot. "Between me and the rope, you should have this. Guess we'll need spotters." Cause no candidate nogging bustin allowed!

Oh this seems like a recipe for disaster, let's be honest. Rocio is able to maneuver herself so that she's soon lowering herself down the wall, wincing a teensie bit as she does. "This is why we do trial runs…" Safety first, y'all. Safety first. "D'wane." She's still in control of her arms and movement, but there's gonna be a point where she's just gonna have to let go. And he better be there! "I'mma… get there…" No, she's not exactly wincing. She's just trying her damnedest to not plummet like a stone onto the Weyrsecond. "D'wane?" She can't feel his hand and she's about to reach the point where she needs to let go. "D'WANE!" Her grip upon the rain slicked wooden board gives way and down she goes, eyes squeezing shut as she prepares to make contact with either him or the sandy beach.

"Look, don't panic!" D'wane's might have got a little rusty with his rescue skills in his time out of Ocelot. It's clearly not helping as Rocio still starts sliding, but he's there. And he's still reaching up and bracing himself just in case. And the 'in case' comes sooner than he expected due to those rain soaked boards. He's at least mostly able to catch the falling weyrlingmaster. Might not be the most graceful of manuevers. Probably a few bumps or two, but descent to ground is definitely slowed. "Sooo… more spotters?" And maybe they don't need to make the wall any bigger.

Crashing against the sandy beach might've been a smoother landing than bouncing off the Weyrsecond, brick wall that he is. When she steadies herself onto her feet again, her pulse takes a moment to slow down and she finds herself leaning against the wooden wall with an exasperated sigh. "Yeah. More spotters that are a little softer." Her arms feel light and tingly like they do after a rigorous PT session and she continues to lean. "Thanks. Coulda been worse." To think she was going to do this by herself! "Aaand I ain't gonna catch ya if'n ya try to climb this thing." Both hands smooth back the wisps of her blonde hair as she looks up at D'wane with a little smirk.

Once Rocio is firmly on her own two feet, D'wane seems to develop a minor case of hover hands until he realizes, oh yeah. He can just cross his arms across his chest. There's a snort of the mention of softer catchers. "If they're too pudgy, then you'll just have a heap of two hurting folks…" Although his voice trails off as he's still eyeing the wall. "I think I can take it! I mean… I climb up Rock's straps every day." There's a grin at that, even as he's ignoring the fact that climbing Rocketh's straps involve a little bit of draconic assistance as well. Unlike the wall, which is not very helpful at all.

Rocio pushes herself from the wall and steps forward to then turn around and cant a look toward the top. "I mean it, D'wane. I can't exactly catch ya if you slip! Then Va'os is gonna blame me for breakin' ya." Is she joking? Partly! "But…" She considers just how tall he is and how tall the actual fixture is. Stepping around to the other side, she eyes the ropes before glancing over at him. "If you wanna, I s'pose the sand ain't that terrible to fall on." A beat, "If you fall at all. Right?" Light colored eyes glint with amusement as she keeps her gaze on him, moving back and out of the way.

D'wane gives a snort. Those were definitely fighting climbing words to his ears and the weyrsecond gives a few serious tugs to the rope before he actually starts climbing. The first part at least is going pretty easy, but he did have a full foot of height advantage to begin with. "Va'os will blame me for being a sharding idiot if I break myself." Which is completely true. Ignore the grunting in between words as he begins to haul himself higher. "You say that like I'm gonna fall… I can roll if I do." Hopefully he can remember to tuck before the rolling if it gets necessary.

"Riiight." Rocio watches D'wane from her view upon the ground, arms folding across her chest as she does. She's quiet for a moment as she observes his technique and maybe that asset of his — not that he's gonna know! Her lips purse to try to keep her mouth shut after he mentions rolling if he falls. "Let's hope. Else there's gonna be an earthquake in High Reaches." What starts out as snickering erupts into full blown laughter and she breaks her focus on him climbing the wall. Jokes! Ro has 'em! Now if she can only catch her breath~

Unfortunately for Rocio, D'wane is not in his full PT-get up. The short shorts are safely tucked away up in his weyr and today it's just his flight pants and no shirt. And technique might be a bit too generous, unless you count just brute force as a technique for getting up the rope. There's a couple times his boots slip, but he keeps catching himself, although one of those slips is definitely going to leave a bruise on his elbow as he lets out a string of muttered curses right around the time the weyrlingmaster breaks out into laughing. "Just remember, if I do fall, you're gonna get stuck in the crater!" If he falls, he's taking her down with him!

Rocio has the kind of laugh that's infectious once she really gets going. The kind that's almost a high pitched cackling giggle that makes folks around her atleast break into a smile if they're resisting joining her. This time, she has some tears that she wipes away with the back of her hand when D'wane comments about a crater. "I'm dying." she manages to rasp, rubbing her eyes in the process. A few more giggles escape before she straightens to regard him with an amused look, though she's not laughing this time. "I just wanna see how you get down from there."

D'wane has at least at this point managed to get himself up and perched precariously on the top of the wall, where he digs a handkerchief out to wipe the sweat away from his eyes and dry his hands. There are more than a few second thoughts going through his head now that he's actually up there, but he's gonna shrug off the laughter. "Carefully." And hopefully in one piece! It takes some very careful manuevering to get himself back off the wall since he doesn't want to end up like Humpty Dumpty. All Va'os's men might not be able to put poor D'wane back together again. The drizzle is beginning to pick up into some actual light rain, which was the last thing he needed. Boots begin to slip and D'wane's hands slip with it. He catches himself enough to at least slow the fall around five feet from the ground, but at that point is when he just jumps down. He was definitely not a gymnast, but even if he doesn't stick the landing, he doesn't fall on his ass. "This can be the I'm Dying Wall. The whole crawling thing can be the Oh, Farnath Why???. For the rest… I haven't thought that far."

There's a split second after D'wane slips that Rocio feels a spike of adrenaline — he fell! But, caught himself with plenty of room to spare. Now that he's on the ground, she lets out a breath she didn't realize that she was holding and her pulse slows again. Whew. At least she doesn't have to go tell Va'os that D'wane broke something! Like an ankle or an arm. "I'm Dying Wall." she says with a snort. She's reminded of a previous conversation about the crawling portion of the course that has her walking closer to him and trying to remain serious, though her eyes give her away. "I made sure the smiths made the crawl spaces big enough for you." That drizzle picks up into light rain and sheens her skin, which means that his skin gets the same sheen. Nothing to complain about there. It a warm rain, though, and actually feels good after that mini workout. "Glad ya tried this out with me."

At the mention of crawling, D'wane stares at Rocio and then down at his own very red hands. "I think the crawling part can wait until tomorrow. And take two…" He pats at the wall, cause he does remember that three way bet! "Can be on a day it's not raining. What do you think odds are Va'os is gonna do a practice run himself?" He gives a quick nod to the last as he's stretching out his arms. "Yeah, couldn't have let you at it alone. Who'd have been there to pick you up when you fell?"

"Oh no. No, no. Not today." Rocio lifts her hands and reveals her own rope burn. That's gonna hurt in the baths later on! "Was just sayin'." Pivoting to regard the wall with a slightly narrowed brow, she clearly underestimated the amount of physical prowess it's going to take to run through this portion of the course, let alone the entire thing once it's all built. The thought causes her to straighten and she rather enjoys that bit of a challenge. It just means more practice, with or without the Weyrsecond. "A day without rain would be good. And I hope Va'os at least tries this first." Safety, y'all. Remember that? Then D'wane is stretching out his arms which causes her to fold hers across her chest again as she regards him with an amused look. "Might not have fell had I been alone. Who knows…"

"Are you saying I'm a distraction?" D'wane gives a bit of an eyebrow wraggle with that as he finishes stretching out his arms and rolls his shoulders. "And no booze until after running the course." Because drunk obstacling would be near suicide. "Since no more course today, should we get out of here before the sky decides to really open up?" There may be some numbweed somewhere that's calling his name.

Rocio does, in fact, roll her eyes with an accompanying smirk when he asks if he's a distraction. "Shut up, D'wane." Is that answer enough? Well, that's all he's gonna get! Turning around, the Weyrlingmaster starts to walk away from the obstacle course and in the direction of the boardwalk at a pace that indicates she's not exactly trying to ditch him. "No booze 'til after. I'm gonna need a victory drink." because she's going to win (with a little more practice)! It's just… yeah. That part goes unsaid. There's a quick glance over her shoulder at the obstacle course and then maybe to D'wane. That sheen, though~

D'wane will take Shut Up as a victory, although he's not going to verbally gloat in it. More just smug grinning. Luckily, D'wane's also got the longer legs, so Rocio would really need to be booking it to try and ditch him. "Well, now it's after." Victory might be premature, but they can have 'this thing is mostly built!' drinks. "To the Kitten?" And their thankfully lax policy about shirts and shoes being required.