Who

Amania, D'wane, N'tash, Nox, Therst, Xanthee

What

Just some Dragon care lessons for the candidates

When

The first day of the eleventh month of the eleventh turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Beach, Southern Weyr

OOC Date 31 Aug 2017 04:00

 

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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.


So D'wane may have found himself double checking his knot briefly this afternoon. It turns out his indeed still a wingsecond and not an assistant weyrlingmaster despite the fact he's been wrangled into candidate duty again. Ah well, such is life. At least he got put in charge of a lesson that's best handled on the beach, so no shirt required! Rocketh has found a convenient spot to lounge on the beach, wings stretched out to catch all the sun. While everyone gathers, the bronzerider is sitting on the dragon's foreleg. Waiting. And probably counting. There is an array of brushes nearby. And a container which any weyrbrats or former candidates will immediately recognize as oil.

From the boardwalk, Xanthee strolls towards the bronze and his rider. As D'wane's shirtless form comes into view, she stops in her tracks. So. Many. Muscles. Oh my! With a wave of her hand to fan at her face, color rising into her cheeks that has nothing to do with the opressive Southern heat. With one deep breath she keeps going and manages to move herself to the front of the group of candidates, to get a good view of the abs..lessons.

Therst comes walking up behind a pair of twin boys form High Reaches Hold, and while the pair is talking the young miner will go and stand near the back being short my save him another day of scrubbing the dragon again. Hopefully D'wane won't really be in a mood to remember his name and call on him about stuff, but Captain Shirtless is always an unpredictable sort so you never know. When he sees Xanthee becoming an amateur geologist as she stares the current… lesson plan, he will chuckle and continue to hide.

D'wane happens to have a very good reason for having his shirt off. It's hot and he's on the beach. He also has another reason that's applicable to the lesson. Along with all those muscly muscles he has on display, his skin is crossed with the scars of past threadscoring. None of them have been the life altering severity, but turns of dragonriding in a pass will always leave marks. Also… that plan of Therst for hiding in the back might not do so much good. Even if the rider can't see the back, Rocketh will open his lidded eyes and raise his head. At seventeen feet high in the shoulder, the bronze towers without even standing up. D'wane stands up and claps his hands in front of him. "Alright. Looks like you're all here. Who can tell me what you know about dragons?" Let's get the broadest question out of the way first.

With further inspection of D'wane and those threadscores, Xanthee sobers slightly, a cloud crossing her features as a chill runs through her and she shudders despite the heat. As he asks his very general question, she ponders for a moment and calls out hesitantly, "When they hatch, they are very hungry?" she knows more than that but she is not one to hog the spotlight, right now at least. A small boy next to her calls out with, "They bleed green!" rather loudly and Xan shoots him a glance at that and again she shakes involuntarily. There are emotions just under the surface of Xan's facade that she is actively trying to wrangle.

N'tash might actually have been directed to come help out with this lesson by his wingsecond, but that doesn't keep him from being late, unfortunately. Enzoth backwings with no small amount of elegance and showmanship to alight on the sand, kicking up a mini-sandstorm to anyone who was standing too close. N'tash slides down the bronze's shoulder and wanders over like he's not late at all. And he does happen to be wearing a shirt, unlike his wingsecond, though it's a light one to accomodate the heat on the beach.

Therst is hiding well, it is like game of where did the red head go, but he does pay attention because learning is the job today and well can't pass up a good chance at knowledge. A tall Fort boy with brown hair will add "they can't poop Between till they are older" there is always one poop question it seems. Finally the miner will speak up "They chew firestone but have to cough out the excess because it is bad for them."

"Thank you so much for joining us today, N'tash," D'wane gives a nod to his wingrider who shows up fashionably late. So much for those candidates who thought they might get out of possibly scrubbing dragonhide today. With not one, but two bronze dragons, there'll be plenty of hide for everyone to scrub. A nice practical demonstration of some of the material they're going over. "They are very hungry when they first hatch. And you feed them 'til they sleep and then they wake up ravenous and you keep repeating that until eventually they stay awake for longer and longer." There's a great brief summary of early weyrlinghood for you. "They bleed green, but they call it ichor instead of blood. No, I don't know why. Ask a dragonhealer." He's just going to pre-emptively cut off the logical follow up question before moving on to the poop with a green. "They can't poop Between until they can go between. And if you're ever grounded due to injury, there's more muck. N'tash, you care to elaborate about the firestone?"

Nox has been listening intently and politely, to D'wane and his Rocketh. As the time passes, he may or may not be distracted, gazing out across the ocean, squinting. As if on cue, a dolphin leaps far out in the distance. A wide stupid grin threatens to crack his face. As people start to shout answers, he glances back in the direction of the Assistant Weyrl——er… D'wane. N'tash's entrance captures his attention, and he snaps off a salute with the rest. Bailey's reminder didn't fall on deaf ears, it would seem. He's quiet, just listening and observing at the moment, doing everything he can to look attentive and focused.

N'tash really had hoped to sit back and goof off and maybe make sarcastic comments during the lesson (he really didn't learn anything having to repeat weyrlinghood, did he?), but there D'wane is, calling on him. "What? Oh, right. Firestone. Chunks of black rock, which you will become intimately familiar with as weyrlings when you are throwing sacks of it at each other. So the dragons chew it and swallow it, and it goes into kind of a second stomach. Then you go and fly Thread, and when you get back, the dragons regurgitate the ash into the ash pits. Don't miss, because that shit's awful to clean up." There's probably a story there, but you'll have to ask him another time for it.

Xanthee watches the other bronze land and gives his rider the once over as she salutes with the rest of her class. Are all the riders just like really hot here or is it just her? She listens intently to D'wane as he goes over the candidates' responses one by one. Her eyes trail to the buckets, and brushes and she realizes this is going to be a practical lesson, oh joy of joys. As N'tash takes up his response, she grins at his laissez-faire attitude and gives him a longer, more appreciative look up and down.

Therst is all to familiar with all the forms of firestone, lovely miner apprentice learning trips. Even hiding though he does salute because no one wants to scrub latrines AFTER scrubbing a dragon. Not like scrubbing a dragon is hard, but just time consuming, and with the landing of the other bronze rider and dragon he knows it might just take a little longer. He should of brought a hat so his head doesn't turn out like his hair but oh well back to listening to D'wane he wasn't day dreaming swear.

For the most part yes but just wait, Xanthee. One day they're going to bring out the rider that had his dashing good looks absolutely ruined by a nasty threadscore to the face. They might be hiding him for more advance lessons. Don't want to scare the new candidates away right away after all. D'wane's got N'tash to help out with this and so he's going to get N'tash to help out. If he just needed a second dragon, he could have asked for Enzoth alone and not the bronzerider. As informal as the response might have been, at least it was all technically correct, so D'wane will nod along. "Second stomach is important. Always seems like at least one weyrling doesn't get it right and swallows it to their first stomach and the indigestion after that is awful." There's actually a faint shudder from the big man. Rock might not have been the unfortunate dragon in their weyrling class, but they could hear the grumbling from their own weyr. "Okay. So on to the most important thing about dragon anatomy… hidecare! What do you know about dragonhide?" At this point, Rocketh is going to stand up and flare out his massive wings. Dual purpose of showing more of that lovely dragon hide (also traced with lines of threadscore acquired over the turns) and also to block whatever might have been catching Nox's attention. There's basically a wall of dragon in front of the class.

Nox's hazel gaze was just starting to wander, when a wall of Rocketh wing flares out. He looks sharply at the bronze, a light flush rising in his cheeks. He coughs a bit, turning his attention FULLY to the two bronzeriders, right there. Hello. Nox here. Paying attention. To words. And dragon concepts. Not dolphins. Right. The young man is calm, perhaps even a bit relieved to have the sparkling distraction of the ocean gone. "You need to oil it." He'll offer, about dragon hides, after clearing his throat. "And wash it." That causes the boy next to him - a young man with dark hair falling over one eye - to grooooan, as if Nox saying that might cause them to suddenly, you know, have to wash the dragons right away, instead of stalling. "There's different perfumes too right, that you can get in the oils?" The dark-haired young NPC attempts to stall the inevitable.

Rocketh bespeaks Nox with « You sense: The sound of the ocean grows just a little louder but not from the shore over there. It's all around you, but pushing towards the lecture. This is important. « Listen. »

N'tash might have noticed a certain female candidate looking him up and down, so he shoots her a charming grin and a wink, when he thinks that his wingsecond isn't looking. This guy would be a terrible weyrlingmaster, for sure. The only thing that made him halfway behave during his second weyrlinghood was the threat of having to repeat the dang thing for A Third Time. And while N'tash is distracted, Enzoth isn't particualrly pleased abotu Rocketh soaking up all the attention with his display. On the other side of the weyrlings, the other bronze flips open his wings in what is more a dramatic flourish than a useful demonstration of dragon anatomy. The wind from Enzoth's wings catches N'tash's attention if nothing else does. "Hey, really? You couldn't save this for later?" he asks the bronze in hushed tones.

Xanthee watches as the dragon unfurls his wings her breath catching at the awesomness of the bronze. She looks like she is about to answer his question about dragon's hide, but Nox beats her to it, so she looks around a bit at the other candidates gathered around until she catches the younger bronze rider's grin and wink and shoots him back a smile made flirty by gently biting her lower lip. As the other bronze flips his wings out as well, she gets pulled back to attention and wait eagerly for the practical portion of the lesson.

Well that blows as some of the younger candidates, and Therst are buffeted by the newer display form Enzoth sand may not fly but the hot air being moved is sure distracting. So distracting infact the young miner forgets he was trying to remain in stealth mode and will pipe up with "You got to make sure you scrub all the dead skin off and oil it evenly so it won't itch them as the skin can be sensitive" He is looking at the other bronze now head fully turned around from D'wane.

If a dragon could wink, Rocketh would totally being doing that at Nox right now. As it is, the bronze's eyes just whirl an amused blue. He totally meant to do it. And Enzoth's showboating attempts don't phase the older brown. He knows he's bigger and awesomer. He's got stories written on his wings. D'wane nods again. "Yeah. You got to scrub them and wash them and oil them regularly. Dry skin can become patched skin which can crack Between. A bad enough crack can even become fatal." See why he said most important part of dragon care? And even if N'tash might make a horrible weyrlingmaster, D'wane might make a half decent one. He can keep track of both the class and a wayward assistants. "N'tash is going to make sure you all get some scrubbers and then we're going to give these fellows some baths. And oiling afterwards. If you've been around a Weyr long enough, you've probably don't this before. If you happen to Impress, you'll never stop doing it." And so lecture part is mostly over. Now onto the fun part of actually doing something. He'll just supervise from behind the mass of candidates for a moment.

N'tash shoots a look at D'wane that might be a little resentful, but he keeps his trap shut and doesn't say what he's actually thinking. "Scrubbers, right… and you, get in the water," he adds to Enzoth, shooing the bronze into the shallows. He finds the buckets with the scrubbers and passes out equipment. "You can use handfuls of sand too, which is helpful after a Fall or if they're really dirty. Enzoth doesn't need a really deep scrubbing today, though." He make sure to put a scrubber into Xanthee's hands firmly, trying to imply, Scrub now, flirt later. Who knows if that idea is actually conveyed, since the bronzerider isn't actually telepathic himself.

Nox's knees buckle a bit there for a moment, and it looks like he might suddenly be tripping himself right where he's standing. He pinwheels his arms every-so-slightly to get his balance and blinks rapidly up and up and over at Rocketh. The young man smiles, a secret kind of knowing smile that's almost crooked. His face is also totally flushed. Hazel eyes lock back FULL OF FOCUS NOW on the lesson. As it comes to a close, he'll go looking for a scrub brush. He's weyrbred, so he must have done this before, a thousand times, right? "I heard that," he says softly to Rocketh, with a little wink. "Thanks." His cheeks are still very red, although he's determined to ignore his embarrassment. "Should I help wash you, then?" He looks between the bronzes. They're both so massive!

As the candidates are dismissed to get prepped for the practical portion, Xanthee hangs back a moment until she finds a scrubber brush thrust into her hands by the younger bronzerider and a small whimper escapes her lips as she looks up at him simperingly, is that a word? it is now! "Thanks." she squeaks and moves over to Enzoth, making her mind up quickly as to which dragon she is going to work on. Luckily she is wearing a knee length tunic, so she slips off her sandals and wades into the water and moves towards his hindquarters, starting there with the brush after wetting it. She is firm but gentle as she spies dry spots and takes them to task.

Caught between two bronzes to work on Therst goes with the one he knows better, besides Xanthee seems most adamant to there so he will move to Rocketh and grab a bucket and scubber as well. "I will do the feet, he likes it when you get between his toes and talons" he says to Nox, "Or at least he did last time I gave him a scrub" Time to work, he heads over to wait for the older Bronze to go and get in the water for his own bath.

Heard what, Nox? Rock is his name and Rock he might as well be. Not another response from bronze as he turns his tail and heads obediently towards the shallows. Another lesson to be learned, dragons can be fickle creatures. He's just going to wait for the minions to come and scrub him like a good little big dragon that he can be. When he feels like it at least. Therst does get a little toe wiggle for his observation. Which might be a little bit terrifying considering how large those talons are. "Next time you should probably tell them which dragon to go to." D'wane points out to N'tash as he heads towards the water. No scrubber in his hand. He's going to be making sure everyone else knows how to use those. Also, trying to even out how many candidates are on each bronze.

Amania isn't normally one to hang at the back of the class. She's more an 'in the midst' sort of girl. Or the front, if the taller people insist on making a wall. But right now…they're near the water. It's RIGHT THERE. And she only got her first glimpse of the sea this afternoon, stopping at the edge of the boardwalk to take it in. Therefore, she's been inconspicuously hovering in the back through the lesson…and now she's going to be expected to move. Shards. She'd been talking about having a spine earlier, too. Time to walk her talk. Setting her jaw determinedly, she gets a scrubber and marches over to Enzoth, summoning up a smile for N'tash along the way and then keeping her focus firmly on the dragon and not the water as she follows Xanthee and picks a spot to the other girl's right.

Nox wasn't really expecting a response from Rocketh, but he'll follow the bronze into the ocean, and set to work on an area near Therst. He sends Amania a curious look, which turns to one that he hopes is encouraging, noting the way she walks into the sea. "This your first time?" He asks Therst as he scrub-a-dub-dubs, half watching Amania until she disappears behind dragon. There's a lot of dragon. "My mom has a green. But she's a lot smaller." He smirks a bit at the toe-wiggle, moving easily with the flow of the tide. "Dragons."

Enzoth sprawls out in the water, so the candidates can reach his neckridges and the spots in between his wings that itch particularly. "Careful of the wingsails, too. They're quite delicate," N'tash says. The bronzerider takes a moment to clean carefully around Enzoth's eyes and muzzle, which caught a bit of blood spray from the dragon's last meal, and he doesn't quite trust new candidates to such work. "Let me know if you see any spots that look like they need oil," he tells the candidates. "A big part of dragon washing is inspecting the hide." Enzoth doesn't seem inclined to give any feedback to the candidates, either, the way he's sprawled out in relaxed elegance, about to drift off for a nap.

"Amania! I didn't see you there." Xanthee calls to her fellow Igenite, she waves her scrubber in her direction, spraying a pair of girls neaby with the water flung from the bristles. They gives Xan dirty looks behind her back but go on with their work. Moving onto where the wing joints meet the body, not yet confident to work on the delicate wingsails. She continues her work in quiet industry off in the background, probably trying to catch the N'tash's eye occasionally.

Therst shakes his head to Nox "no i scrubbed Rocketh here first day off the ferry when I was re-assigned here" He may not see Amania as he has kicked his boots off and rolled up his paints, he will take his own shirt off because when in Southern..as they say. "Maybe you should help those who don't know what they are doing" he will motion to a couple of Keroon girls about there age who are looking abit shy and lost. "I mean you are kind of an expert on the subject of scrubbing and water" So much butter where are the Spiderclaw's for it.

"Hi Xanthee," Amania returns, and turns a quick smile to her friend. Everything she does is rather distracted, though, since she can't help the anxiety that bubbles up when the water laps halfway up her thighs. At least there's a great big bronze dragon in front of her to keep her from going anywhere! And she'll just give him a nice, diligent scrubbing in gratitude for the fact. Moving down along Enzoth's side, she spies Nox and Therst with Rocketh but doesn't manage more than a quick wave, feeling the need to stay in contact with the dragon with at least one hand. Preferably two.

Look, it's not that hard to scrub a dragon. D'wane shouldn't be having to give that much instruction to some of the candidates, but for some reason there's even a Weyrbred girl that's claiming complete ignorance of a scrubbrush and asking the wingsecond to show her how. Why did this group get assigned so many females? That was probably not a good decision. Rocketh is not shy. Far from it. He'll crane his head around to inspect just what it is that Therst and Nox are up to. If they dally too much, they might find themselves being prodded by a great, big, bronze nose.

Nox is in bare feet - as Therst takes his shirt off - why not - the young dolphineer does too. Bro code, right? It's already wet. He'll flop it back over his shoulder. "Right. I can tell." That he's done this before. "Huh?" Oh. Looking a bit uncomfortable, he gives the girl from Keroon next to him some pointers, which consists of… a shrug and some circular motions with his brush-hand. Not awkward at all, boyo. What did N'tash say about scrubbing first, flirting later? Nox isn't the best at flirting, it would seem. "I wouldn't say an expert," he says to Therst. "Chopping fish heads tho, I'm your man." He's joking. He pauses. "Hey, I heard you and Xanthee were talking in the stables?" He sneaks a peek over at Enzoth, trying to spy a glimse of Amania, to check on how she's doing. And suddenly, there's a nose there, blocking the way. He grins sheepishly. "Hi Rocketh."

Therst shrugs "yeah why? did you want to get in on the card game too? I thought I asked you already but if not your welcome too" He moves quickly now to his designated area which are the large feet and talons of Rocketh, no bumping required here. Well maybe a little as he gets to work he will still hold the conversation with Nox "I figure we can't gamble really but we could play for like beads or buttons, just something to keep the group loose" Because there is tension in the barracks, the usuall wondering who is going to get a dragon is also compounded with the still at large pillow abductor.

It really isn't that hard to scrub a dragon, no. Being bonded to five flits, Amania knows well enough how to look for patchy hide and such. There's a hundred times more hide to deal with in this case, however! She's glad she's not the only one working on Enzoth. What she's having a bit of trouble with, however, is trying not to pay attention to the push and pull of the water at her legs while she works. It's unpredictable and pulls sand away from underneath her feet, making her readjust her stance every so often. Suddenly, the tide swirls just a bit harder around her than any other time before, and she abruptly feels as though she's going to fall. Gasping, she scrambles back from the water, landing on her rear for a moment before she's completely clear. Frustrated with herself and now embarrassed as well, she turns away from the dragons and the water and flings the scrub-brush down at her feet, scrubbing her hands over her thoroughly flushed face and leaving them there for a moment as she works to regain her composure.

And once Amania does regain that composure, right in front of her is a conveniently placed bronze tail. It wasn't there before, but Rocketh has made sure it's there now. D'wane notices the tumble, but she looks like she needs a minute. He'll allow it. More than a minute though… might need some words. Although right now his words are distracted with telling those High Reaches twins just what they need to look for as far was patchy skin goes. Some of Rocketh's coloring is a little bit tricky, the dark ash fading just a tad light. Not true gray, but grayish black in a few spots. The rider knows every inch of hide though and what's normal and what's not. As for Rocketh, as far as he's concerned, Therst has those dragon toesies under control. This dolphin boy though, he gets a whuffle of dragonbreath at him, complete with the faint scent of firestone that will just never go away. And a nudge. Back to work. Or get to work. Whichever the case may be. He doesn't have all day for this scrubbing.

Nox shrugs to Therst, "No reason. Don't mention it." Cards would be good to distract them all. The young man focuses on scrubbing, under Rocketh's watchful(?) eye. He does see Amania fall tho, out of the corner of his vision, and turns his head just in time to watch it all happen. His scrubbing hand freezes against bronze hide, as if torn on what to do. He idly taps the side of his face with his scrub brush. The girl beside him giggles and elbows him a bit - and now they're all turning to look at Amania. Nox frowns, crossing the lengths between the two dragons. "Hey, you ok?" He'll approach the girl from Igen, sending anyone that's gawking a stern look until they go back to what they're doing.

Therst is going to work and as always doesn't leave things at half measures, but he does notice Amania's fall and stops as well. Instead of drawing attention to the young guard from Igen he does the opposite, in that journeyman trained voice that makes most apprentices jump says "You know the Latrines can be just as easily scrubbed as the dragons can" Yeah he may get in trouble for it but right now it is more about giving Amania the common decency to regain her composure. Becuase that is what friends are for right?

When Amania's hands finally come down, she's not doing much to hide the fact that she's unhappy. Still, she's gradually reeling it in, adding to her mental list of challenges to tackle by making learning to swim a priority. And she's glad of the tail blocking her path this time. She still wants to be useful, after all. Looking about, she finds a bucket and then turns just in time to find Nox there. "I'm fine," she replies a little stiffly. "Just… I'm not used to the water." She considers the boy for a moment before blushing again and looks back at the sea, then forces herself to walk back to it to fill the bucket. Rocketh's tail won't clean itself, after all! Nox can follow along with her if he wants to.

"Why, thank you for that excellent observation, Therst!" That note of sheer glee in D'wane's booming voice probably does not bode well for the candidates. "I'll be sure to let the headwoman's assistants know that you have volunteered for that particular duty along with your peers. I do love a clean shitter." Which he and the rest of the weyr can then proceed to mess up again. Riders unlike dragons do not evacuate themselves between. Except for some terrified weyrlings on their first between trip. And look, all this gawking at Amania means that there are less eyes on the utter perfection of bronze form that is Rocketh and he can't let this stand (and maybe because he does have a soft spot for saving ladies). He'll unfurl one of his wings which acts as both a shield for the girl from most of her classmates as well as providing those lookie-loos something in their face for them to scrub. Win-win.

Nox sends Therst a firm manly nod of approval for his comment about latrines (with a faint sigh for D'wane's announcement - it's ok Therst! Teamwork or whatever. Ugh.) before his attention is back on the girl. She also gets a nod, although it's decidedly softer, and his hand absently goes to brush through his curls - a hand that is still somehow holding his scrub brush, so his eyebrow and forehead get poked with the stiff bristles. "Ow," he says, although it doesn't really hurt. "You're doing fine," he says to Amania, trying to sound encouraging, smiling slightly as he notices her blush, his own cheeks flushing slightly. "Is this your first time at the ocean…?" He will follow behind, for some reason more sturdy in his movements in ankle-deep rushing water than on cold stone. She has a bucket, and he has a brush! And now, crouching down to retrieve it, two brushes! Then, a bit awkwardly: "Can you… swim? Ugh. Sounds like we have latrines tomorrow."

Therst shrugs even as he knows he is receiving dirty looks, he will take two good friends over a room of people anyday. He is still working through and moves to another large foot of the bronze dragon. He will help a younger candidate who is having trouble getting into the groove of scrubbing and soon they are working as a team to knock out the rest of the underside of the dragon.

Amania is unaware of the gawking until she spots a few pairs of eyes turned her way from Enzoth's direction. It doesn't help her blushing. And if she suspected that anyone, human or draconic, might be trying to save her from further embarrassment, she just might start bristling. She can take care of herself, damn it! Still, she'll manage a small smile at Nox, a little puzzled to find him blushing slightly as well. "No, I can't," she eventually admits as they get to work on Rocketh's tail in earnest. She might not be happy about having to scrub latrines tomorrow…but oh well. At least it's a group assignment. She'll just focus on the here and now and maybe arrange some swimming lessons with Nox until dragon-scrubbing is done and it's time for them all to go back to the Weyr. Away from the water.

And so the practical lesson on dragonscrubbing will continue. D'wane and N'tash will give pointers and eventually everything that can be scrubbed will be scrubbed. And those scrubbing muscles the candidates are starting to develop will be all primed and ready to go when it comes to latrine cleaning duty tomorrow, right? Right?

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