Logs:Lythronath's Oopsie Daisy
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| RL Date: 25 November, 2013 |
| Who: A'rist, Lythronath, G'laer, Teisyth, L'sha, Rillaeth |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: A lovely day at the lake take a turn toward violence. Whoops. |
| Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 17, Month 5, Turn 33 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day. |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, Ghena/Mentions, J'vain/Mentions |
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| Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself. A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs. The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day. L'sha decides to head outdoors and enjoy the sun by the lake, Rillaeth in tow. He carries a redfruit, the last of his lunch, which he takes a bite of and stands by the shore, looking out across the calm surface. "Lovely day, isn't it, dear?" Rillaeth warbles and wastes no time in admiring the view. She splashes out into the water until she's floating with her feet just barely touching the bottom. L'sha chuckles and watches her, then unlaces his boots and kicks them off, wiggling his toes in the sand. Lythronath, streaked with blood. Lythronath, falling back as A'rist walks alongside him. Lythronath, smearing his muzzle against his rider's back. « Red! » A'rist senses the intent long enough to brace himself, and doesn't fall over. He does bend and scoop up some sand and dirt. "Mud!" But the bronze is quick, and leaps away, those back legs strong, wings out for balance but not flapping. That's more or less when the dragon sees his sister. « Blood! » is the warning. Here he comes. Beware of splashing. L'sha looks back over his shoulder as he hears A'rist and Lythronath approaching. He grins and waves to the pair, then grabs his boots and gives the bronze plenty of room to enter the lake. "Hi there, A'rist! How are you and Lythronath doing?" Out in the lake, Rillaeth swims happily, her streamlined form cutting through the water with ease. She lifts her head out of of the water just enough to bugle a greeting to her brother, then ducks back down so that only nostrils and eyes can be seen. Lythronath does his very best to keep his top half (the half with far more gore on it) above water, balancing on his back legs (he's getting quite good at it) as he stomps through the water, triangulating to intercept Rillaeth. Soon, buoyancy will help. A'rist, wiping the remaining mud that he'd try to smear on his dragon onto his shirt instead (it's already got a bloody Lythronath muzzle-print on it, so why not?) is slower in approaching. "L'sha," he greets, lifting the muddy had, effecting something of a wave. "I think we're good. You? Both?" L'sha smiles and nods. "Yep, doing pretty good. Rillaeth wanted a swim and a bath, and I figured the lake must be warm enough now." He walks down to the edge of the water in his bare feet and sticks a toe in to test it, then pulls it out quickly. "Yeek! Cold!" He runs back to the warmer sand. "Maybe warm enough for them, but I'm not going swimming yet." Rillaeth cruises over to meet Lythronath, still mostly submerged. « Don't you want to wash off the blood? » « Draaagonbaaaaall!! » The mental shout reverberates along with the honk-bugle whose vibrations scamper across the lake and get tossed back by the rocks. To be honest, it's not really much of a leap, and not much of a ball as Teisyth reaches the edge of the water and gives what is more like a belly flop into the shallows, bursting up onto her paws moments later and proceeding toward her siblings, her mental exuberance and joy swelling and racing the ripples to reach them first. If Teisyth is the obvious element, G'laer is the subtle, not that it's easy to miss him as he walks down the shore. The weather's pleasant enough that he doesn't need his long coat, so his garments are his typically plain work clothes, though clean so must have been recently changed. His route is in the general direction of the others, though it doesn't seem a purposeful approach by any means. A'rist crosses his arms over his chest, an amused quirk at the corner of his lips as he follows L'sha's progress to, and back from, the water. « Hahahahah! » answers Rillaeth's question, and when she gets good and close, that muzzle, and all the bits of beast attached to it, swings hard and fast, and straight for Rillaeth's hide. If Lythronath's too focused on trying to smear Rillaeth's clean rep- err, hide - A'rist, at least, notices Teisyth, and shrugs up a shoulder, as if that might keep him from any splash that reaches far enough. G'laer gets a look next. And a nod. Rillaeth's eyes pop open in surprise as Lythronath lunges at her and darts away with a huge splash, like a giant hooked fish. The big bronze just barely brushes her hide, but it's just enough to smear a bit of gore on her dark green hide. « Ew ew ewwww! » Apparently she's happy to be splattered with blood when she's feeding, but getting another dragon's leavings on her just cannot be tolerated. On the shore, L'sha gives a little "Oh!" of surprise and a hand rises to cover his mouth, but he's reassured that Rillaeth isn't hurt. Upon seeing Teisyth, he looks around for G'laer and gives him a wave upon finding him, then turns back to the bronze and green. "He does play rough, doesn't he?" Teisyth has tuned in to her siblings back and forthing now that she's done making her own splash, and there's mental guffawing for both Lythronath's mental Hahahahing and for Rillaeth's splash backward, the right lids to keep out water already down over her eyes. « Y'all are too funny! » The rust-bucket appreciates with an extra strong flavor of nut overlaying the usual taste of copper and nuts. « Paint me next! » She insists cheerfully to Lythronath, starting to push herself up out of the water the best she can (though she lacks his talent for standing on hindquarters), so he has a better canvas. With the nod and the wave, G'laer's path becomes more directed toward the others and he comes to a stop, "A'rist. L'sha." Each get a slight nod and his usual lack-of-cheer greeting before his blue eyes shift toward the dragons. The corner of his mouth twitches slightly, but no expression comes to replace the flat line of his lips. A'rist neatly misses G'laer's greeting, as much as L'sha's commentary on Lythronath's play. This is because Lythronath is lunging after Rillaeth, taunting at her to, « Run! » while swinging his gored-up muzzle again. Splashing ensues, and when the water gets higher, those front legs start to paddle. A'rist's eyes are on the bronze as he calls what might even be an invite of « Chase! » out to Teisyth. The bronzerider even takes a few steps toward the water, squinting hard, boot toes getting wet. L'sha smirks at Teisyth. "Uh-oh." He turns back toward the other greenrider and nods to him. "Afternoon, G'laer. Guess we all had the same idea." He raises his arms over his head and stands on his tiptoes, stretching languidly. "Don't you just love the first warm day of Spring," he says, to no one in particular, "my favorite day of the year, followed by the first cool day of Autumn. Winter's finally over." Rillaeth hisses at Lythronath, eyes whirling red. « Can't you see a girl's trying to take a bath here? » She trumpets a warning to Teisyth, but the other green seems to want blood on her. « Whatever. » « OKAY! » Teisyth is enthusiastically on board with the new game in less than half a tic after Lythronath's word comes through. So she chases! The bronze, not the green; she'll get 'im! ... if she doesn't get distracted first; and distractions... well, they are abundant. "There's only so many ideas to have at this point in our training," G'laer points out, his baritone edging on dry. It might be meant to be humorous. "Once we can fly, I suspect our choices will diverge." He shifts his weight and moves away from the other pair, not so far as to not hear the conversation, but perhaps far enough that he can ignore it if he likes. Either that, or maybe Teisyth is getting into something he needs to keep an eye on. His path brings him closer to the edge of the water. « Try. » The 'hahahahah' sentiment is not far beneath that one-word challenge. His tail and limbs thrash at the water in front and behind him. Sure, maybe some of the gore gets washed off, but he's still got that gob on top of his nose. And it still has a set destination in the bronze's mind. A'rist catches G'laer's movement out of the corner of his eye, jerking his head briefly to see that greenrider, and then reminded of L'sha, who gets a shoulder-check to see how much damage is being done so far by this 'game'. « Think you can catch me, huh? Fat chance! » Rillaeth swims in the opposite direction of Lythronath, out toward the deeper part of the lake. She begins to put some distance between herself and the huge bronze, paddling furiously with both feet as well as her tail. L'sha keeps a close eye on Rillaeth, but spares a glance at G'laer, wondering what conversation he's listening to. "Speaking of flying, we should be starting our gliding training any day now. I can't wait!" He catches A'rist's look and smiles at him. "They're fine, they're just playing." There might be some distance at first, sure. But if Lythronath is anything, he's powerful. Also, bigger. It's a gap that can be closed, even if it means losing a bit more of the gore from his muzzle. The trouble is, of course, that when he gets really close, he starts lunging and reaching with those front claws. This, of course, while A'rist is looking back to L'sha. Doubt is written all over his face, and after a moment of moody teenage frowning, he decides, "If it changes... you say." Rillaeth simply disappears as soon as the huge bronze gets within striking distance, as if she'd just gone Between. After a few seconds, she reappears behind Lythronath, heading back toward the shore. « Hah! You might be bigger, but I'm quicker! And smarter! » L'sha quirks a sly grin at A'rist, no doubt to be seen on his face. He laces his fingers behind his head and strolls up next to the bronzerider. "See? Nothing to worry about." Except that Lythronath's reaction is to kick one of those (relatively) massive feet out behind him, a swipe for Rillaeth closely following by a whirling of his head to try and knock her over. That has A'rist ankle-deep in the water, mouth open a bit, but all the words coming mentally. But that bronze, he's in the zone. The foot-swipe just makes contact with Rillaeth's tail, but the talons don't touch the green's hide. By the time Lythronath's bulk and head turns around, she's half a dragonlength away and gaining speed for the shore. She gives the bronze the mental equivalent of a raspberry, « Pbbbblblblblblt! » L'sha giggles and watches his lifemate swim toward him. "A'rist. Relax. It's OK, I know he doesn't mean any harm." He steps forward again and his hand reaches out toward the bronzerider's shoulder. "No," corrects A'rist, with a shortness that's certainly a new addition since candidacy, "you think he doesn't mean any harm." Lythronath is barreling after the green, roaring, splashing, making up distance again now that he's got a straight path. A'rist takes another step out, water up to his calves now, shoulder sliding just out from beneath the greenrider's fingertips. The bronzerider's eyes are darting between the Rillaeth and his lifemate, judging velocities, preparing for an intervention he probably hasn't figured out yet. Rillaeth puts on a final burst of speed and wriggles like an eel onto the sand. « I win! Take that! » She gives a squeak and darts behind L'sha's legs. L'sha's effort to reassure A'rist fails, so he folds his arms over his chest and stares at the huge bronze barreling toward him. He doesn't move a muscle or show an iota of fear. G'laer, crouched now at water's edge some handful of paces away from where A'rist's waded in, his eyes intent, shifts and rises. He moves swiftly and silently to where he can stand at water's edge more or less behind the younger man. L'sha is spared a brief glance, one that has wariness in it, perhaps he sees what A'rist does about the predatory nature of the bronze and the movements as he stalks his clutchsister. G'laer may not be actively engaging to help, but Teisyth just has to. Well, now that she's not distracted anymore. Something she perceives has her tossing her tail with the intent to hook on to Lythronath's, trying to create distraction in his focus. A'rist is on the balls of his feet, sloshing through the water, ready. "Lyn..." is wary, and sneaks out in verbal form. It's the last attempt really. Here comes Lythronath, crashing, charging, not seeming to give a betweened turd as to whether L'sha is showing fear or not, and then - then something hits his tail. He tries to jerk it away. It just links and tugs at Teisyth. He veers. And A'rist steps forward. Probably, the bronze tried to stop at that point, and probably A'rist tried to get out of the way of a scrambling clawed paw in the shallows. Either way, this time, when he says, « Blood! » it's not predatory excitement at all. These eyes are yellow, not red. L'sha blinks as Teisyth stops Lythronath and his arms fall to his sides and takes a step forward, but says nothing. Rillaeth huddles behind her lifemate's legs and hisses at Lythronath. L'sha reaches down to caress Rillaeth's headknobs reassuringly. What's between A'rist and Lythronath is between man and bronze, clearly, as far as G'laer's concerned, but that doesn't mean that in the moment after impact he isn't acting. No, he's moving. Heedless of the chill of the waters or his clothes or boots, he's wading in to A'rist's side for damage control. Teisyth, tugged forward when she became hooked tail with tail with the bronze, makes a sound of surprise, though not distress. « Whoo boy, » is her first assessment. Followed, helpfully, in answer to the 'Blood!' « Oopsie daisy. » But G'laer's there, so she's not too worried. She does, after righting herself in the water, lean her head forward to peer at A'rist. He's not gushing blood, is he? « You alright? » This is directed to Rillaeth with warm concern for her green sister. A'rist, for his part, kept his feet and his stance, so best he could, until he was assured of his dragon's stop. And after that, he's bent over, resting one hand on Lythronath's side for support, and lifting his leg - with all its ripped pants and boot cuff and semi-epic gouge - for his own inspection. And, apparently, Teisyth's. Well, it's not spurting blood, anyway. Lythronath doesn't let Teisyth look long before headbutting at her, away. « Blood. » L'sha gasps as he gets a clean view of what just happened, and the blood in the water. "Stay here," he tells Rillaeth firmly, then he's off like a shot into the water, quickly removing his shirt as he splashes through the chilly water and lake plants. When he reaches A'rist, he begins to tear his shirt into long strips of cloth. "Here, lift your leg up, please, A'rist." He calmly straightens out the strip so he can wrap it around the bronzerider's leg. On the shore, Rillaeth croons reassuringly to Teisyth. « I'm fine. You saved me! My heroine! » And that makes it a party of bandage makers because G'laer, who is already in the water and quite near the injured bronze weyrling, is, as soon as the injury is shown above water level, doing the same as L'sha does instants later during his approach. Off comes the shirt and it's offered to A'rist, "Put pressure on it." True that G'laer's emergency training didn't include baby dragons as a cause, but once a wound exists, it's treated (most times) like any other. He looks to L'sha, at his arrival and instruction, with some small measure of surprise, though the why of it isn't articulated, of course. Teisyth sends relief to Rillaeth for her being well and whole, not minding when Lythronath headbutts her, jostling her steps away in the lake. « Now, Lynner, » Her tone is affectionate, « You gotta let them help. An' don't lick it, y'hear? » Helpfully, her mind also reaches for one of the weyrlingmaster team and the polite and even calm alarm is sounded; wounded weyrling at the lake shore. A'rist's face is starting to go a bit pale as initial shock sets in. He shifts the foot still in the water, a bit of a bounce, and presses his hand more firmly against Lythronath. When L'sha starts coming, and Lythronath starts a low, menacing growl, yellows starting to go orange in his eyes, A'rist's fingers dig harder against bronze hide. When he speaks, eyes mostly on L'sha, his tone isn't far off from his dragon's growl. "Get. Away. From me. Or Lythronath will tear you open." There's a quiver in his voice at the end, and a tremble through his shoulders and arm. The raised leg dips until half his foot is in the water again. Turning to the older greenrider, with metered tones, "I'm just going to get to... dry." When that foot gets set down all the way, and he winces, Lythronath's growl turns into, « Frig! » L'sha shakes his head as A'rist tries to walk, ignoring his warning about Lythronath. "No, no, stay off it. We'll carry you over." He looks at G'laer and nods his head toward a dry, sandy spot on the shore. Rillaeth summons all the force she can muster toward Lythronath, her voice reaching from the blackness of interstellar space. « Lythronath, stay. Let them help. » G'laer looks, for half a moment, like he's going to step to try to assist A'rist, but between the bronze weyrling's warning to L'sha and an internal alert from Teisyth, the older man stays still, slowly withdrawing his hand, shirt and all. When L'sha ignores the warning, G'laer reaches out an arm to try to block his path closer. "This isn't the time to be a hero." Then, calmly, "Always observe the dangers in coming to someone's aid before doing so. Right now, that includes him." Lythronath. "We don't need more injuries to deal with." To A'rist, "He is right that you should try not to put weight on it. Can you lean on him to the shore?" Teisyth is too busy just now to talk to anyone who's right here. When things get out of hand, even with certainly one of the assistants already on the way, babies know who to look to for help: Ma! A'rist closes his eyes for a moment, fingers still digging at Lythronath's hide. The growl has resumed, is getting louder. The dragon's teeth are showing. A'rist speaks, "Lythronath," about the same time as the force of waves hits the bronze's mind. It's not instant surrender, not even to his queen mum. But the growl stays at just that, and bronze and rider start limp-skipping to the shore. By the time they get there, A'rist's pantleg will be good and red. But J'vain, nearest weyrlingmaster at hand, is on his way, and surely the young bronzerider will soon be seen to, under the very watchful, and very close, and still mostly hostile eye of his lifemate. L'sha sighs and looks at G'laer, but then nods and steps back from A'rist slowly as he and Lythronath hobble over to the shoreline. He heads back toward Rillaeth once the bronze pair is on dry land. Rillaeth gives Lythronath and A'rist a wide berth, skittering back a few meters. L'sha walks over to Rillaeth and sits down next to her, scritching her eyeridges. "You OK, sweetie?" The green's eyes slowly whirl back to a yellowish-green as she's reassured by her lifemate. G'laer first waits to see what L'sha does, lowering his raised arm once he's sure L'sha isn't going to cause himself to become Lythronath's new favorite meal. He watches A'rist depart for shore and looks to Teisyth, still lingering in the water. There must be a silent exchange because he nods to her and cautiously follows the bronze weyrling at a distance. He follows only long enough to get in range for an underarm throw which lofts his shirt to the expectant hands of the other weyrling; something to tide him over as J'vain makes the approach. Then he's turning to meet Teisyth on shore and glancing toward L'sha. Teisyth makes an encouraging noise that makes G'laer frown, but he steps toward the younger man anyway. "It was a good thing you tried to do." Beat. "Just... try not to underestimate the effect of panic and pain." Or crazy bronze dragons. "It makes a situation unpredictable." Like crazy bronze dragons. L'sha looks up at G'laer and nods. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for next time." He sighs and looks down at the tattered remains of his shirt. "Ruined a good shirt for nothing." He looks over at A'rist and Lythronath as J'vain backwings to a landing with a healer in tow. "I guess I just refused to believe a dragon would intentionally hurt a human, so I thought I wouldn't have a problem helping A'rist. There I go being idealistic again. 'Course, in just about every case, dragons wouldn't hurt a human, but that one...I don't blame him, it's just his nature, but he needs help." He looks at Rillaeth lovingly, but holds up a finger to her. "No more taunting Lythronath, pretty one. And I'm sorry, I should've gotten you out of there sooner." He looks up at G'laer again. "She's so competitive, and I was overconfident that Lythronath couldn't catch her." He drops his head and looks at the sand at his feet. "L'sha," G'laer begins and when he does his voice has a slightly softer timbre than is his usual, his brows furrowing and wrinkling his forehead. The next words are not said lightly: "Dragons are as varied as people. There are some who wouldn't hurt a human, some who don't even like hurting beasts for all that that's their dinner. But there are some, and my gut says Lythronath might just be one of them, that are as deadly as Thread itself." The way he says it has a quality that if one were guessing might be guessed as 'takes one to know one.' "Just like you can't count on every man to do you no harm, you can't count on every dragon, either." Beat. "That's why they train you for self-defense here. If you didn't need to know it, they wouldn't teach it. But you need to know how to defend yourself because if you die, she dies." Simple as that. "When you fight," He must have noticed L'sha's struggle in the self-defense classes, "Remember that you're fighting for her. It'll keep you alive." It's more words than G'laer has ever directed, so seriously, at the younger greenrider. But that's not all, there's more: "It's good to be confident in your abilities. In her abilities. But it's important, too, to recognize and give proper weight to the differences. Lythronath has a short man's height on them both in length. Whether they like it or not," They, their greens, "He is bigger and stronger and will only get to be moreso as time goes on." Now he falls silent. L'sha stands and brushes himself off as G'laer speaks, and listens carefully. He nods in agreement when the older man finishes. "I understand. And...about the self-defense classes, I was wondering...d'you - do you think you could maybe give me some pointers sometime? You're the best in the class and I'm the worst. I mean, even your little sister is better than I am." Once again, there's that soft and encouraging sound from Teisyth in the pause that ensues between L'sha's request and the coming answer. "Sure." It's simple. "During free time tomorrow. Or the next day." He's not picky. G'laer shrugs his shoulders as if it doesn't matter to him when. Then he turns and moves back toward Teisyth, crouching at her tail to inspect it, at long last, for any signs of injury she mightn't have noticed. L'sha is surprised that the other greenrider agreed so quickly, then his face breaks into a brilliant grin. "Wonderful, thanks! I'll see you then!" He beams down at Rillaeth, who warbles happily and croons to Teisyth. They both head off back toward the weyrling barracks. G'laer simply grunts what is probably agreement to seeing him then as he examines the tail. Who can blame him? He used up his word quota in one go. Nothing left for goodbyes. |
Comments
Comments on "Logs:Lythronath's Oopsie Daisy"Lythronath (H'kon (talk)) left a comment on Sat, 30 Nov 2013 07:01:10 GMT.
But there are some, and my gut says Lythronath might just be one of them, that are as deadly as Thread itself.
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