Who

A'sh, Kho'l, Tasna

What

Two weyrling pairs get caught in a sudden sand storm, and a third pair helps mentally reel them to safety.

When

It is afternoon of the first day of the seventh month of the first turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Weyrling Training Grounds, Igen Weyr

OOC Date

 

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Weyrling Training Grounds

Here, a wide and spacious field, devoid of all but more of the glare of ubiquitous, fine white sand of Igen: not even a blade of grass dares lift its head against centuries of clumsy draconic antics. To one side, ever-present firestone bins are set, kept supplied by many a hand, while agenothree tanks line the curving angle just outside the barracks, primed and ready for use. Very often, a glimpse of classes in session or dragonets at play may be caught under the open sky under the watchful eye of diligent Weyrlingmasters and older dragons.

It is the sixty-first day of Summer and 90 degrees. The small dark cloud has grown rapidly over night, covering the blue sky. It blows a furious rush of hot, stirring wind. In a moment, the daylight is gone as visibility plummets. The clouds of burning sand mercilessly flog all living things as the air itself turns against you. Every living thing chokes on sand and dust before escaping inside.


It was a moment. It was one. moment. But that's all it took, for Sholeth to venture out, for Kho'l to come dashing to him, for the sand to go from 'irritating' to 'okay really ouch'. Kho'l is using a length of cloth as a shield, half-wrapped about his head, half-held up as some sort of half-effective sail. His torso currently serves as Sholeth's face-shield, the weyrling's shoulders and back to the brunt of the wind and sand. Kho'l dares to squint, now and then, to try direct their trek for the barracks. Sholeth's is a mental radar, reaching for someone near, young dragon panic not quite full-blown, not yet. He's found Kho'l at least!

Tasna and Tseylath were also caught by that first onslaught of sand, though thankfully not apart from one another. They were, however, about as far across the Weyr's bowl from the weyrling area as they could be, and have only just now reached the training area. Sholeth's mental radar probably started picking up similar pings from Tseylath a few minutes ago, but it's still a little sudden when they appear right next to the other pair. Unprepared for the sand storm, Tasna's had to resort to using her jacket to shield her face, though rather than turning her back to the wind, she's just trying to blindly push her way forward. Tseylath has his wings wrapped tightly to his body, sandblasted hide looking all the more so as he angles his head into the wind, all but the outermost layer of eyelids closed against the cutting grit. Tasna tries to say something to Kho'l, but her words are ripped away by the howling wind.

« Tseylath. » There's a metallic grating behind it, but at least it's something certain, if not a landmark, for Sholeth. Kho'l's shoulder bumps Tasna's, not on purpose, though a moment later he's trying again with the edge of his arm, his own sort of radar. "Where-" manages to get out, if muffled by all the other sounds, flapping fabric, whistling wind, before he's turned too far, dropped his guard in the physical reach, and is sputtering. Sholeth isn't much help in that, though he presents his brother with one clear need: the imagined entrance of the barracks. Okay really ouch.

Tseylath's reply is more felt than heard as the barely bigger brown hunkers down next to Sholeth and continues moving forward, using the weyrlings as human shields. Tasna grabs Kho'l's elbow after the second shoulder bump and turns her face away when the other weyrling's guard drops. She glances back at Tseylath who leans his head to the side just enough to see past the humans' legs, then she leans toward Kho'l. "Bit to our right," she shouts out, tugging at his elbow as she turns them. "I didn't think this storm would come so quickly!"

Kho'l is not like to make that same mistake again; now, the veil-sail is held in all the more careful a grip. He makes no effort to take his elbow from Tasna, the contact that keeps them together. "Right," whether agreement or repetition, does see him moving in the proper direction. Sholeth pushes his snout into his rider's gut again. It might set them off course, but not by much. Still ducked behind his cloth shield, Kho'l's answer of, "Fast," can come… more unhindered than previously, at least. He tries to spit remaining grit from his mouth. It may prove to have hit Sholeth, once anyone can see again. Hopefully it doesn't hit the brown hunkered down along with him, with the two humans blocking the tearing, sandbearing winds for their baby dragons.

What's a little spit between clutchmates? If there is saliva headed his way, Tseylath takes no notice. After sending Sholeth and Tasna a brief image of what little he can see of the looming barracks, he's back to hiding his head behind Tasna's backside. In the way of weather mechanics, they eventually reach an eddy created by the shape of the Weyr's walls, sending a dervish of grit-infested air straight up from their feet, fabric shields be damned. Tasna, about to say something at that moment, is instead sent into a fit of painful, hacking coughs. The quartet is then buffeted forward instead of back as the wall of the barracks looms nearby.

As much as the sand has been billowing about, and people taking shelter from it, A'sh has been…pacing. At the edge of the sheltered area that makes up the barracks, the weyrling has cut a line, occasionally making a face and brushing stray sand away from his nose. The wind might not be /blowing/ it inside, but that doesn't mean it's not still floating about. Getting everywhere. Including up his nose. It causes more than a single sneeze at times, really. Tokath isn't far off, although the blue has hung back a bit further than his rider, occasionally lifting his own head as high as it can go, yellow-touched eyes whirling. And if A'sh happens to see a few lump-shaped forms in all of the hazy darkness? Well he starts waving his hands a bit. Then calling out, with Tokath giving a short bugle now and again from behind him. "Oi! Oh, this way, this way! Yes..that's it!"

Metal screeches, « Sand is sharp! » Sholeth would have to be breathing in just then, and the sneeze, it was bad. His dragon, so much as the sand, makes Kho'l bring his hands up to his face. Both hands, including the one with the elbow that Tasna had. He crouches lower, hunkers a moment, as cocooned as he can be, waiting for things to stop swirling, while the blue pushes the resultant dragon-snot into his rider's belly. When Kho'l gets that cloth back up and tries to open his eyes, there's grit in them. Awesome. Sholeth picks up on the bugle. Sholeth reaches out, a mental ping for Tokath. Dragon radar, don't fail him now.

Draconic and dry, Tseylath's drawling, « Well, that was new, » accompanies the sudden lack of wind as the weyrlings reach the lee side of the barracks, drawn in Tokath's direction. Tasna finally lets go of Kho'l's elbow to let her arms fall limp at her sides. Coated in sand dust, her hair and face have nearly taken on the same shade was Tseylath's desert-camo hide. Her jacket drags at her side as Tseylath moves away from Sholeth as the second set of eyelids opens. It's only in the imagination that it's accompanied by the sound of sandpaper, right? « We were ambushed, » he adds for Tokath's benefit as Tasna slumps against the side of the barracks entrance. "Holy crap." Her voice is scratchy and tired sounding. At least she doesn't spit at anyone. Yet.

However ineffectual A'sh's flailing might be, he still does it. Standing still just seems so…lacking. Tokath's bugle cuts in again though, with the blue trotting out just a bit. Or at least until his rider stops him. Going too far would put him in the blasting of sand as well. Not a good place to be. But among all that draconic pingery is bright sunshine and deep, solid rocks. Not the floaty kind that sting the eyes and get snorted up the nose. « You're almost here. Stop breathing! Or wait..no. No forget that. Breathe! Just not the air! » The blue hops back and forth on his feet a little, excitement rising as the pair do in fact..make it. Alive! A'sh even darts over, complete with a few damp rags. "Are you alright? There's..well here, take these.. the sand.. Oh well it's just /everywhere/ isn't it? You are alright, aren't you?"

Kho'l stumbles a bit past Tasna before throwing a shoulder into the wall, and finally letting that length of cloth drop to where it hangs, limp and exhausted, about his neck. Sholeth is still snuffling, little half-cough, half-sneezes that are bordering more on the adorable, now that most of the sand has cleared his mucous membranes. « It was everywhere, » is cheerfully chimed in after Tsyelath's comment, the experience earning a hint of the epic tale… now he's out of harm's way. Kho'l every so slowly drops into a squat, just reaching one hand up to take one of those wet rags, and start working at the corners of his eyes. A grunt for A'sh seems affirmative, though.

"Yeah," Tasna answers gruffly, taking one of the offered rags from A'sh with a murmur of thanks. She gives her own face a much-needed swipe, then crouches next to Tseylath to gently clear out the brown's eyes before giving his sandy head a bit of a swab, though that just ends up smearing the dust into lines of grimy brown. "Faranth. I'm going to go dunk both Tsey and me in the water. See you guys inside," she informs Kho'l and A'sh before the brown pair duck into the blessed relative quiet of the barracks.

A grunting! Excellent! A'sh nods just a bit,one arm looping around Tokath's head when the blue comes up near him. "That's certainly a relief. We knew everyone wasn't yet accounted for, so.." The weyrling's head nods just a bit, watching Tasna as she moves on by. "An excellent idea. You both really should get cleaned up before anything. Even I feel like I have sand everywhere already and I wasn't even out in it."

That cloth hovers a short distance from his face while Kho'l tries a few blinks. When that proves successful, he looks to Sholeth, who steps forward, eager for the wipe-down. "Yeah," is a murmur, really. "It came up really," distracted as he carefully tries to dab the inside of a little blue nostril, "fast." Once most of the blue's face is cleared, Kho'l is left just looking at him, still crouched in a squat, thoughtful. When he looks over to A'sh, it's with the feel of sudden remembrance. With those usual darting eyes, he shares, "They're still really little."

A'sh leans forward a little, setting his hands on his knees for support as he watches the other blue pair. "They really do come up quickly. I just hate that they can last for a while. At least you can go outside in rain. This..is a bit different." He smiles though for Kho'l, head tipping somewhat to the side while Tokath pokes in closer, giving a whuff at his clutchmate. "Still small…still vulnerable.. I'm glad that you're alright though.. Do you need anything else?"

Sholeth looks right back at Tokath, and returns the whuff, this time sand-free, if still a bit snotty. He doesn't mean it, and even draws his head back a bit. « Sorry, » for the other blue. "No," Kho'l shakes his head, in answer to A'sh. "We'll go check his hide…" But instead of that, the young man is looking to the bowl, eyes tracking upwards, as far as the angle of the barracks entrance will let him look. "I wonder how high it goes," is just that, a wonder out loud, seemingly unnoticed when it passed his lips.

Tokath hurries back a step or two in surprise, though he still peers at Sholeth. Worry! « Everything still in there..where it's supposed to be? I heard someone say you can sneeze your brains right out. » A'sh reaches to simply pat the blue's head again, absently stroking. Though he leans a bit after a moment, taking a look up at the storm blowing outside. "I've never really seen one from afar.. I'm sure someone knows how high they go.."

« Well don't try. Keep your brains in! » Tokath rumbles a little, drawing his head back. Brains should stay where brains belong! A'sh..can't really help it. There's a bit of a laugh for a moment, and then he makes his way to the nearby wall, leaning against it somewhat to better angle himself to look out. But, then there's the smattering of sand that billows in every once in a while, and the blueling coughs, brushing sand away from his face with a frown. "When we can fly with them, we could always see one from the air, maybe."

Sholeth gives Tokath as serious a look as a little dragon can. « I'm not testing it as hard as an accidental sneeze would be. Or else it wouldn't be testing. See? » And he makes another sniff, this one not nearly so snotty. The dry Igen climate is already working its magic. Kho'l moves carefully back, a bit further into the barracks - farther from the sand, still within talking range, if barely. Sholeth shuffles after him, even if it risks taking him further from Tokath. "We will. How could we not?"

Tokath seems quite willing to follow, leaning after Sholeth until A'sh begins to move a little as well. The proximity allows him to continue moving, trailing along with a faint bob of his head. He sees, he sees. The former healer simply shrugs, giving an incline of his head towards his fellow weyrling. "Well if there are no sandstorms to watch, we surely won't. But I'll look forward to it. I'm sure it looks amazing..when not choking on it."

Kho'l gives a thoughtful look to A'sh, though it would be easier to maintain if that other young man weren't looking right back at him. Soon enough, his eyes are on the outside world again. "That's what I mean. It's not that big an 'if' is it?" Then, a thoughtful flip to the bottom of the cloth he'd been using as a half-headscarf. "I'm sure there's ways to keep from choking."

A'sh nods slowly. "Wearing something over your face certainly helps. As would goggles." The weyrling moves then, strolling right past Kho'l with a bit of a thoughtful nod, even as Tokath trails along after him. "I'm sure we'll have to wear plenty of things while flying as well. Protection and all." Wind, sand…between. So much padding in between!

"Goggles," repeats Kho'l turning to meet Sholeth's eyes. The blue stares happily back, wings and tail giving little shimmies as he adjusts his stance. His arms uncross, and that damp cloth is brought, where he wrings it between both hands. "Yeah… all that." Still contemplating his dragon's eyes.

A'sh laughs brightly for a moment, but gives Kho'l a slight shooing motion. "You really should get yourselves cleaned up, you know? The longer the grit stays put, the more it's going to start chafing. Everywhere." And really…everywhere. Sand has a habit of that. Tokath makes a move to trot back to his own couch then, climbing up as the young man follows.

"Right," says a distracted Kho'l. "Right." The sausage of a rag is held up toward A'sh as a sort of farewell wave. "Thanks again." They'll get moving soon enough. Really.

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