Logs:Ice Breaker
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| RL Date: 16 June, 2013 |
| Who: Alida, N'ky |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Alida teaches N'ky how to ice skate. He ends up in the infirmary. |
| Where: Tiny Glacial Valley and Pond |
| When: Day 25, Month 13, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Light snow |
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| Tiny Glacial Valley and Pond, near High Reaches Weyr Not far from High Reaches Weyr, this sheltered, shallow valley tucked into the mountains is reachable only by dragonwings, and is home to many ponds and hardy trees, the former thawing only in deep summer. During summer, it is also festooned with wildflowers and scrubby grasses. This high up in the 'Reaches mountains, there's none of the torrential rain that's plaguing the Weyr - instead, there's a light snow that falls powdery-soft on the world below, including on two figures testing their abilities on the frozen pond, while their dragons watch on. One of the two, clad in his winter gear with an overlong scarf trailing down by his knees, looks incredibly awkward on the ice, even if he's (only just) managing to remain upright and moving. N'ky is clearly a beginner at this, but he's at least past the Bambi splayed-limbs phase - one that, given the length of his legs, was no doubt interesting to watch. "I th-think I'm getting better, 'Lida," he stammers, breath crystallising in front of him, as he manages an almost complete circle of the area they're skating in without wobbling. "Yep... Just keep in motion. It helps some," Alida comments to N'ky, watching the greenie get his long legs in under him as he moves to his next phase in this 'beginner' ice skating thing. She's passable at it, and that's about it, the blonde skating lazy circles around her fellow weyrling, sometimes mixing it up with a careful figure 8. Her own breath is hidden behind a muffler, greens squinting some at their surroundings, and occasionally at Nicky and their curled-up, heat-sharing dragons just beyond their chosen pond. A little more of the going round and round stuff, and N'ky's feeling confident enough to mimic Alida, trying his own hand at a figure of eight. It's a clumsy attempt, with a too-sharp turning causing him to wobble almost to the point of no recovery - but he regains his balance after a bit of windmilling, and skates his way across to the bluerider's side, instinctively reaching out for her shoulder for support. "I, um, thought it might be more fun," he admits, words slow as he concentrates on keeping upright. "Is it always just round and round?" He's allowed that motion and grapple, Alida providing some steadiness to the greenrider after she stops her own motion. A small grin for N'ky's windmilling is followed by her clipped, somewhat muffled, "Can be. Butcha' gotta do it enough ta' get beyond the circles thing. I'm almost decent enough ta do a half-jump-spin...'r whatever it's called, but not quite. The spin's almost down pat." Holding onto Alida stills the wobbles, but the coltish N'ky is too either too tall and ungainly, or too unsure of his abilities, to be able to fully banish them; there's still trembling in his legs, which may or may not be felt as he keeps his hand on the bluerider's shoulder as long as he's allowed to before he breaks off again, gaining a little speed now. "It's e-easier if you keep moving, I think? A, um, little bit f-faster, and..." He manages to do three things at once - talk, shrug, and skate - but not for long. A flaw in the ice's surface, either a nick carved from their boots or something simply naturally occurring, knocks him off balance a little; the greenrider flails forward, only just managing to catch himself in time. What he doesn't realise, though, is that the action's loosened his over-long scarf, so that the tail end's hanging a whole lot lower than his knee. "Forward motion...slow 'n steady," Alida notes again to N'ky as she feels his wobbling, the bluie providing a secure base for the greenie to push off of as he tries out his skates on his own again. "Concentrate!" is noted at that flailing almost-fall, the woman not hovering over her fellow weyrling, but keeping an eye on him. It's only on her second glance his way that she notices that scarf flowing out behind him, and calls to Nick, "Hey, hold still. Lemme' snag that before it get in yer blades." Off towards him she pushes, not too fast, but not slow, either. "I've got it," N'ky reassures once he's regained his balance and is back on course, near enough. Alida's request for him to hold still has him looking around at his scarf, to see what the problem is; and it's an easily-fixed one, so he tugs it up to curl it back around his neck, without noticing that that causes the front-most portion to fall down... right into the way of his ice skates. One blade runs over the tasselled end, the woolly texture causing him to spin as his skate snags on it, and while N'ky himself is silent as he falls, Cailluneth raises her head from where it was resting on her paw, blaring out her worry as her rider falls backwards to hit the ice on his butt, hands behind him to try and stop himself from falling further. The green's up and at the ice's edge in a flash while N'ky groans, leaning forward with his legs splayed before him, left arm cradled in his right while his lifemate hovers, crooning anxiously, at the shore, clearly wanting to get out to him but not thoughtless enough to step on the ice. Don't ever distract the new skater/driver/bicyclist/etc., for bad shit(tm) is all too eager to happen. Before she can reach him, N'ky's falling victim to Murphy's Law, and even as Cailluneth's stepping towards them, Alida's barking out, "Stay there!" to the chubby green...who thankfully halts, anyway. Ilicaeth's up to his own feet, and standing beside his sister to offer reinforcement and steadiness, even while the blonde's scraping the last few feet over to the other weyrling, then halting, and carefully kneeling to peer at his cradled left arm. "Okay, where's it hurt..?" is asked in clipped, no-nonsense fashion, 'lida unable to make out anything on him, since Nicky's swaddled in layers of winter clothing, like herself. Cailluneth weaves back and forth along the shore, trying to find the spot where she can be closest to her Heart without actually stepping out towards him. Ilicaeth is bumping warmly against for reassurance as she creels in worry, and N'ky looks up to her, rather than Alida, to silently try to reassure his green. His sharply drawn breath, closed-tight eyes and the thin line of his lips all suggest he's hurting, and the fact that he groans when he tries to raise his left hand is pretty much a giveaway that that's where where the pain is. It's quickly tucked back against him, the weyrling attempting to take deep breaths to calm himself, as well as his lifemate. "I th-think I.... I-I n-need to g-g-go h-home." Rasped haltingly through gritted teeth, broken by little grunts of pain as he tries to shift himself into a position where he can get to his feet... probably not the easiest of tasks, in the circumstances. Ilicaeth rumbles softly to his sister, offering her calm reassurance from the draconic front, while N'ky does so from the human front, Alida's muffler-hidden nose wrinkling a bit when the greenie groans out his pain. "Yeah...no kiddin'," the woman responds, then lifting her hand in a forestalling gesture. "Just sit there, lemme scoot ya ta' the edge uv the pond. Easier th'n trying ta get a new skater up while on the ice." Grunt. "Brace yerself." And if N'ky does as in structed, Alida places her gloved hands upon his back, jams the tose of first one blade then another into the ice, and begins push-sliding his ass towards the frozen pool's edge. Under her breath might just be overheard, "Get 'er away from there, 'caeth." Already, the blue's bumping his nose lightly at Cailluneth's shoulder, telling her, « Step back carefully, so Alida can move him here. » Not so easily moved, Cailluneth is slow to do as she's told, even with Ilicaeth's bumping, but only because she tries to help; she lowers her dainty muzzle to try and assist Alida in getting him to the snow. Once there's something more stable beneath him N'ky uses a hand on Cai's muzzle to help him turn around and sit, and he winces as he leans forward to start unlacing his boots. That makes the green hover in even closer, pressing her muzzle to his shoulder and breathing hot air over him. "S-sorry," he murmurs to Alida, giving her a quick glance as he struggles with the knotted laces, but finally manages to get one boot off. The other's a little more difficult, and by the time he leans in to start on it he's quivering with pain, but biting hard on his lip to try and control it; as if he would cry in front of Alida, of all people! « Stay still! » Ilicaeth reiterates, chuffing to the green in warning. « If ya' step on the ice, you'll break it, send both uv 'em in. » In that horridly cold water. Still, if it helps Cailluneth to keep busy helping her rider some, then neither the blue nor Alida will bother to stop her, since she *isn't* acting like an ice breaker. Once she's shoved him on to the land, Alida's plucking off her gloves to unlace the greenrider's second skate as he works on the first, her fingers deft and sure, only a hint of a pinch about the corners of her eyes showing concern. "Cheer up, toots; y' could've snapped yer neck, instead." How reassuring. Once that one skate's off, she's plucking up his boots - which they thankfully left right beside the pool - and handing one to her companion. "Can y'get that one on by yerself?" comes the clipped inquiry, even as the blonde's carefully working his other foot into that boot. "Poin'cher toes." If she notices Nicky's try at concealing his pain, she doesn't say anything. "Just tie off the laces." No need to fully retighten his boots, right now. N'ky automatically reaches down to try and tie his laces with both hands - which leads to him yelping in pain and then quivering head to toe as he tries to get his rapid, hissed breathing under control. His toes are forcefully pointed, the fingers on his right hand clenched tight around his left elbow, and his teeth gritted in a grimace of hurt. But, at least he's got both boots on, and Cailluneth's nose helps him to his feet. "I... I th-think it's b-broken," he whimpers, leaning heavily against Cai's muzzle. "C-can't go between, i-i-if it is..." He looks up at the straps he's got to climb to get up onto his dragon's back, and groans again; that's going to be hard, one-handed. "I-I... I n-n-need to go n-now, 'Lida. C-c-can you get the b-boots?" They're not his, and therefore can't be left behind! With his right hand on Cailluneth's muzzle still, reassuring her as much as she's doing to him, he goes around to the straps, eyeing them again from close up. Whether Alida's ready to go or not, he's ready to start what's bound to be a slow, clumsy, graceless attempt at mounting up and buckling in. "Stupid question..." the blonde murmurs to herself when she remembers N'ky's lack of one hand to properly tie his laces, the blonde waving him off and doing the work herself. "Not gonna' *between*, no matter," is clipped off casually to the greenrider, Alida already plunking her own ass to the ground and efficiently exchanging her own ice skates for boots. Both pairs of specialist footgear are tied together by their laces, and dangled over her shoulders, their metal blades flashing dully in the snowy daylight. "Hold on; y' ain't gonna' make it like that..." is soon noted to the other weyrling once he starts trying to climb his green's straps on his lonesome. Think-think... "Ilicaeth, step up, position yerself. Yer gonna lift Nicky up towards Cai's straps as far as y'can." And taking the cue directly from his rider's mind, the blue maneuvers himself perfectly to do so...turning his forepaw 'palm' up, and awaiting N'ky's sitting himself upon it with expectant, blue-whirling eyes. Praise from Cailluneth for the good thinking floods Ilicaeth's mind in ripples and waves of gold, while she turns to offer N'ky her muzzle as a stabiliser while he gets his boost from the blue. « My Heart thanks you, » she adds in her husky tones, warmth - and a hint of N'ky's accent - colouring her every word. The lift certainly makes it easier for the greenrider to get up onto his lifemate's back, and he's soon enough strapped in, still clutching his arm tightly to his chest - though he's slipped his gloved hand into the gap between his winter coat's buttons, as a sort of make-shift sling to keep it in place. Once Alida's mounted up beside him, he waits for the wingsecond's signal for take-off, bracing himself for the jarring launch that the maneuver involves. « We aim ta' please, ma'am » Ilicaeth gruffly chuckles to Cailluneth, the blue only stepping away once N'ky's settled himself securely in the green's straps. Up she goes, and soon enough, Alida's strapped in, too, donning her goggles and gloves, rechecking her straps and making certain the greenie does so, too... then having her blue step farther away so they can give the signal, then launch upwards. On the way back straight, you can believe Alida and Ilicaeth are monitoring both N'ky and Cailluneth for any extra problems that might crop up. What a day. Thankfully it's not too far back to the Weyr, though N'ky leans in against Cailluneth's 'ridges the entire way, thankful that, with the goggles and distance between himself and Alida, she can't see just how much every little jolt of his carefully-flying lifemate hurts him. When they're finally back, Cailluneth touches down near the dragon infirmary with her softest possible landing, cushioned, no doubt, by the thick layer of mud that covers the Weyr after so much rain. N'ky slides clumsily from her back, and slipping a little on his landing, though he's got Cailluneth's soft, warm side to cushion him. She follows him through the dragon infirmary until he ducks through the double doors into the side for people - emerging later with a simple diagnosis and treatment: a fractured radius, bound in a cast and pinned up in a sling. |
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