Who

Ginger, Shokravanth, Evka, Saetyroith, NPC's P'quil and Kwirath

What

Two weyrlings watch their browns take practice flights under the watchful eye of P'quil and Kwirath.

When

-- On Pern --
It is 12:24 PM where you are.
It is noon of the twenty-second day of the ninth month of the fourteenth turn of the 12th pass.
In Igen:
It is the twenty-second day of Autumn and 93 degrees. A cloud appears on the horizon, familiar to Igen natives, swelling across the blue skies quickly. Sand blows across the weyr, pelting everyone and everything until it blows itself out. The fine sands, raised by the strong winds, penetrates the ears, eyes, nose, and throat.
In Southern:
It is the twenty-second day of Spring and 87 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.
In Southern Mountains:
It is the twenty-second day of Spring and 19 degrees. It's really damn cold out.


Where

Southern Weyr, Training Grounds

OOC Date 13 Aug 2018 06:00

 

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"Who wouldn't be excited by that?"


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Training Grounds

A broad and sheltered swoop of bowl lies bare for the talons and tread of countless weyrlings that-will-be, encased by stone scoured and scarred by those-that-were. Dirt lies as neatly as dirt can lie, swept and raked daily, at the mouth of the caverns that must indubitably be the weyrling barracks. Devoid of decoration, the place stands strangely absent of pressence when empty, the everpresent wind of Southern giving strange acoustics to those under the shelter of the towering bowl-wall.

It is the twenty-second day of Spring and 87 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.



Flying lessons continue for the weyrling dragons, while the weyrling riders are expecting to have their first flight any day now. This morning, they've been practising under the eagle eyes of P'quil and Kwirath. Now, though, it's getting on for lunchtime. Wings have been thoroughly exercised, landings practised, and most of those present have been decreed unlikely to do themselves or their riders any damage when the latter finally get off the ground with their lifemates. "That's assuming you can all stay on, of course," P'quil grumbles. He's been in a bad mood all morning and the sun has done nothing for it. "All right, last round. One circuit and landing each, and then we're done. Shokravanth, you're up." The young brown is glad to oblige: he's got the hang of taking off without waddling, and landing without stumbling, both of which represent progress. Ginger watches intently. "Go on," she mutters. "Don't spoil your record…" He doesn't. A neat landing is followed by a sigh of relief.

Evka is eagerly awaiting she and Saetyroith's turn at flying, he's much improved over the last couple of sevens and has become quite graceful in the air. The chance to experience flight from her brown's back has Evka nearly bouncing on her toes. She's got a hand on Sae's shoulder, or as close as she can get to it. He's much much larger now. «You're trembling Evka…» The chatter and noise of Saetyroith's permanent gather filters into her brain, the smell of wine, the clink of glasses and silverware, the dull roar of a crowd of voices. She shakes her head to clear it. I'm excited. Comes her response, not nearly as colorful as Sae's. «Are you sure you aren't scared?» Faranth knows Saetyroith is. What if Evka falls off his back? Straps or no, the brown is nervous about it.

Shokravanth lands, signalling his satisfaction by sharing with his classmates a sparkle of mental stars bursting into the dark surround of his mindscape. « It will be even better when I am carrying my rider! When can we fly together? Can we do it today? » "He is so looking forward to us flying together," Ginger comments with a shake of the head. "I hope he's not going to be disappointed when it finally happens." As Shokravanth lumbers back towards Ginger, P'quil says, "Good. Who's next? Saetyroith, your turn." Kwirath answers Shokravanth. « When my rider says you can. » And that's that: no more flying for Shokravanth this morning.

Evka chuckles. "Who wouldn't be excited by that?" Her head whips around when P'quil calls Saetyroith's name. That's you love… Saetyroith rumbles in response and moves to his place, waiting for the signal to fly. When it comes, his lift off is seamless, as if the air just lifted him up. He wobbles a bit on his circuit, more because of wind than being off balance. Evka watches him excitedly, part of her mind distracted with Saetyroith's view of things.

As her brown draws alongside her, Shokravanth smiles and absently rubs Shokravanth's leg. She's watching Saetyroith do his circuit. "They really are so much better, aren't they - Shokravanth's always been confident about it, but it's kind of a solid confidence now, and he's got much better control of his turns. And his landings. I'm really looking forward to getting up there now." Shokravanth croons his enthusiasm. "Not now now! When we're allowed." The croon sinks into a grumble.

Evka chuckles at Shokravanth's obvious eagerness. "They really are, much better, but a little too eager at times I think." Teaching her brown patience and not to be a glutton for punishment had been quite the chore. "I can't wait to fly, I bet it's better than dancing!" Evka's been a'dragon back before, but not in this sense, not as the pilot. The thought is thrilling. Saetyroith begins coming in for his landing, lining himself up with the landing space.

"He's looking good." Ginger gives an appreciative nod as Saetyroith makes his approach. "And once we're flying…." She tails off. "Actually, it's going to be really weird, having our own weyrs. I was looking forward to it at first, especially when it was too noisy in the barracks to sleep, but now I'm not so sure. I don't think I've ever spent a night with nobody else in the room. Still, it's not like there's actually nobody there." She reaches for Shokravanth again. "Going to be really quiet, though." P'quil seems keen to get off to his lunch: he motions the next dragon into position for a take-off as soon as Saetyroith lands, and ignores the chatter in the ranks.

Evka looks a bit nervous at the mention of having her own weyr. "Can't I just live in a wagon or something?" She jokes, well, half-jokes. "All this time here and I'm still not quite used to living inside stone." The trader blood is strong in this one. "I can't wait for the quiet, too many of the boys snore. It'll be nice to have some peace again." Though she has a feeling that if Saetyroith has anything to say about it, and he will, her weyr won't be empty as often as she would like to think.

"I don't think I got more than a couple of hours sleep any night for weeks when the dragons were little, but eventually I was so tired I just slept through the snoring." Ginger glances up at the brown who's doing his circuit, but the conversation has more of her attention. "But the idea of having my own place, and maybe being able to make it how I want it - that could be good. Ma said she'd sew me some cushions, so that's a start. I wonder how much choice of weyr we'll get."

Evka sighs. "You'd think with as long as I shared a wagon with my family that I'd be used to that sort of thing by now… but I'm not." In fact, Evka has been known to throw pillows at the most egregious of snorers. "Do we really need more room than enough for us and our dragons?" She's lived in cramped spaces so long she hadn't even thought of having any of her own to decorate and do with as she pleases.

"I suppose the dragons will take up a fair bit - especially seeing as we've got browns." Ginger frowns as she envisages weyrs. "I don't think rider quarters are all that huge - though some of them aren't small. Some people have families in them, after all. But you need a bed, and some storage, and most people have a table and chairs. We lived in Pa's weyr when I was small, but we moved back to the caverns - I mean, you couldn't have had all five of us kids in there, but it did all right for him and Ma until the rest of us came along." She gives a chuckle, then assumes a serious expression as if she's decided that laughter is inappropriate. "Sometimes weyrlings get offered really awful ones that haven't been used for hundreds of turns - but that's actually good, because - well, if something's been used recently and it's empty…"

Evka smiles nervously. "Aye I suppose they do take up a fair amount of space. I lived in a weyr once….but it was on the larger side for family growth….and I only stayed in one room." There's a part of Evka that misses living there, misses learning the healing arts and dancing. "Aye…well, lets not think about that." THinking of why a weyr is revently vacated is a depressing thought.

"Yeah, let's not." Ginger turns to see who's flying now, and whether P'quil's about to let them go soon, but finds herself caught up in conversation with Shokravanth. Whatever he said, she answers aloud: "Silly! You can talk to them any time you want: you don't have to sleep in the same room." She tells Evka, "Having a place of our own is a new idea for him, too. He's still working out what he thinks about it."

Evka giggles. "Well. They have never known anything else. They've always slept with others about." She chuckles as Saetyroith comes in for a near perfect landing, going off balance just a little bit when he snaps his sails in too soon. Evka claps, mentally praising her brown as well. Though, a look of concern washes over her face when he shows signs of fatigue. "I hope they dismiss us soon, Saetyroith is tiring out…"

Evka's going to get her wish. The blue who's been waiting is sent off on his long circuit of the bowl, but once he's in the air, P'quil tells the rest of the class to go and get lunch. There will be more to learn and practice in the afternoon!

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