Logs:The Benefits of Hands-On Learning
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| RL Date: 17 November, 2011 |
| Who: E'gin, K'del, Lujayn, Riorde |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Rielsath and Cadejoth frolic; their riders, and others, are less easy. |
| Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 5, Month 4, Turn 27 (Interval 10) |
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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. Heavy, driving rain makes everything a wet and muddy mess today. Spring has sprung, and with it, the rains; the lake shore is a muddy mess, this afternoon, but at least the water has melted enough that certain dragons enthusiastic about mess can get clean within it. While Cadejoth frolics, merrily, his rider sits gingerly on the edge of a wet boulder, his boots covered in grime up past the ankles, his hair limp and dark against his neck. Despite that, he's grinning: staring out over the water as if it were a perfect, warm spring afternoon, and not an utterly miserable one. E'gin, though dressed in his mis-matched patched together riding leathers, appears from the bowl alone. Striding toward the lake shore, his heavy boots collecting clumps of wet dirt, he looks to be moving toward a destination, though, what purpose could have have in the driving rain? Bending over, tightening the laces of his boots he has a moment to stop and survey the area through the sheets of water. Spotting the weyrleader, he snorts to himself and finishes the distance between them. "Weyrleader." Pause, "Strange weather to be taking a bath, yah?" He questions his gaze settling on the frolicking dragon. Rielsath is among the frolickers, the faintest of sunspots gleaming off of her hide as she dives and surfaces again and again, each underwater plunder longer than the last for sheer joy and self-competition. Lu's not far away, though the woman remains ashore. She's wet enough without completely submerging herself, long hair plastered to the sides of her face. A parasol folded up against a rock, ready to lend itself should the rain turn too nasty for her tastes. Happy to see another dragon and rider enjoying one of the first real spring storms, she waves to K'del. "I think she likes the mud best," Lu confides by way of greeting as a golden snout begins to dredge up wet soil at the edge of the lake, burbling a little bit before receding again. "Vysravth high and dry?" She turns to E'gin without skipping a beat, grinning. "Like mother like son," K'del returns to Lujayn, pushing damp hair back away from his face with an equally damp hand. "Cadejoth," and this time, he's explaining to E'gin as well as to the goldrider, his gaze flicking between the two, "got covered in mud. And now it's time for him to get clean again. At least it's damp enough to just all come off, no scrubbing necessary." The bronze lets out a cheerful rumble towards his dam, now that their riders are conversing, lowering himself deeper into the water until all that's visible in the top of his head and his wriggling tail. "She's looking-- good." "Hmmm..." E'gin comments to the question returning the grin, "Not entirely, he was out all night fishing, he's sleeping it off now." The young man has simply decided to be out in the rain on his own, a fingers move through his hair, slicking it back, helping for only a moment. "Your dragons enjoy..." He searches for the right words before letting a smile crawl across his face, "Whimsy?" The word falls out like he testing it, turning it over, deciding if he likes it. His eyes flicker from K'del's emphasized "good" to the bathing gold, there is something he picks up but the connection is made. "Doesn't she, though?" Lujayn beams, turning indulgently towards the dragon turning spirals on the lake's already turbulent surface. A little splash of her muddy snout towards Cadejoth and then Rielsath ducks down again, gleeful. "It's a good trait to have." Considering E'gin with a smile caught from her dragon's antics, Lu has to admit: "Whimsy, adventure, imagination- at least on Ri's part. She can't sit still for two seconds, I swear." She catches the pause in the weyrling's question and decides to pursue it. "Your brown.. sounds a little more austere." K'del pushes off from his rock, standing, so that he can stretch out his muscles while keeping up with the conversation between riders. "Whimsy's a good word for it," he agrees, mildly. "Cadejoth can't sit still either. Go, go, go. Until he's tired out and sleeps like a rock." Cadejoth beats his tail against the water, evidently intending to generate a wave in Rielsath's direction: water goes everywhere, rippling all the way back to shore. "Vysravth's more restrained, isn't he? He start," a pause, "noticing the greens, yet?" "Vysravth is 'go-go-go' - even 'adventurous'," E'gin pauses, "But is less in movement." He points to his head, "He's always thinking." Always. The corner of the boy's mouth curl up at Lujayn's word, "Yes. Austere. I like that." He studies K'del with a nod, "Yah, but he hasn't decided to chase yet. It will be interesting. I understand the concept of weyr lift in my mind, but it still seems a little foreign. I almost just wish he would get it over with, it would be easier to adjust to live it." He crosses his arms as he watches the dragons in the water, "Are they flirting?" Lujayn flushes a little bit. "Maybe. Sometimes it's hard to tell with her, but it's been a while since she's risen. Who knows?" Lu herself probably knows, but isn't as forward with the more intimate matters of being a dragonrider. "He'll go when he's ready. And a fair number of dragons can take their rider's preference into account, if you have a strong mind for it." She looks to K'del as if for confirmation, keeping her gaze on the two dragons instead of venturing further into talk of flirting and flights. K'del, with half an eye on Cadejoth, laughs. "/He's/ just playing. For now, anyway. Not like he chases all that often these days, anyways, though who knows." He's got a sidelong glance for Lujayn, but not one that lingers: his attention returns to E'gin. "Lu's right. Sometimes, anyway. Cadejoth grew out of his passion for Yyth, anyway, which was a relief. He'll chase when he's ready to, no sooner. Cadejoth chased Fort's senior when we were still weyrlings, but-- most of them take longer than that." Beat. "Don't worry about it too much. When it does happen, you won't have time to be nervous, generally." E'gin looks back and forth between the dragons before turning back to their riders, "Sure seems like flirting, at least a little bit like human flirting." You know, a little splashy-splashy, wink-wink. The boy chuckles with a smirk, "I highly doubt I'll have much of a choice in the matter," The male shoves his hands into the pockets of his sopping riding jacket, the faintest knowing smirk playing at his eyes, "I'm not too worried, it is just - it is like learning formations as a weyrling." He turns to K'del, "You can /know/ it, in your mind." Pause, "But until you do it you don't completely understand the lesson." Lujayn has her lips firmly sealed on this one, even though her ears are wide open to hear any exchange between the two men. Her face is pink and likely not from the rain's chill. Rielsath takes the opportunity to redouble Cadejoth's wave, powering up out of the water and splashing down like a too-big shipfish in a small pond, the flick of her tail all for show. Playfulness and flirtation have a fine line when it comes to dragons. K'del's opinion? "It's a fine line. Being playful, and being flirty. Cadejoth's always playful, though, which makes it-- different. A bit, anyway." For the rest of what E'gin has to say, he has a firm nod: he seems, if the sympathy on his expression is anything to go by, to understand what the weyrling is trying to say. "Guess that's the best attitude. Don't you think--" He presumably means to aim that last towards Lujayn, but a glance in her direction has his expression shifting again; he gives her a thoughtful glance. Cadejoth's rumble of glee echoes about the bowl, the bronze launching himself closer to the gold with his wings outstretched, another giant wave rising out of his wake. 'Playing'. "Well that isn't just for dragons." E'gin grins at K'del's comment, "It is a fine line for people too, sometimes." If E'gin is looking for sympathy it certainly doesn't show, his tone has taken on a rather academic tone, or at least one of thoughtfulness. "If nothing else, perhaps it will give him a few minutes of mindlessness, release." Still the boy, even in the rain, seems to have picked up on the quietness of the goldrider. He changes the subject abruptly, though his tone is still cool and even, "Do you agree Lujayn, you can learn something in the classroom but it doesn't really make sense until you have practiced it? Did you learn more about being a goldrider, from the classroom or living it?" Academic is fine. With academic, Lu can pry herself away from pink cheeks and back into the conversation. "They do the best they can in lessons, but some things you only learn about by going through them. Thread, when it used to fall, flights - and for some dragons, the power they can exert over others, how to keep than in check or use it to help others." Restless hands turn to wringing rain out of the end of her ponytail, "You're the one picked for wingleader, aren't you?" She asks curiously, more sure of herself on different terrain. "That's something else you don't really learn, how to lead people. Lots of times you can, or you can't." K'del, Lujayn and E'gin are standing out by the lake, in the rain; Rielsath and Cadejoth are muddy and playful, frolicking in the lake itself. "Always a difference between theory and practice," agrees K'del. "Classroom can't teach you everything. Generally, that's part of why we get you to shadow the wings, during senior weyrlinghood. But the learning'll continue after you've been tapped, too: being a wingrider is different from watching one." He'll let E'gin answer for himself, subsiding into silence as he glances back out at the dragons once more. While Sforzath hits the feeding grounds, Riorde makes her soggy way in the opposite direction, boots squelching in the mud. Gone are the days when the weyrling has to accompany the dragon to make sure he doesn't tackle a beast outside of his level of competence and end up kicked in the jaw. Her path swerves towards the three standing along the lake shore by mere happenstance, and with her chin tucked toward her chest, Riorde might very well keep going. "Oh, I know they do." E'gin waves off the idea that he might think differently, but he nods with K'del, "You really can't know until you do. Knowledge is important, but it is useless unless there it moves to doing." The hands shoved in pockets move to accentuate his points, moving awkwardly in the wet leather. "Yes," He agress with Lujayn, "It was me, and they can give you ideas, but people are so dynamic there is really nothing that can be done to help a person learn to lead, but doing it. I think, but then I have relatively little experience." He winks at no one imparticular through the rain, "You have to really know someone to know how they might react to something to know how to deal with them." But then he is probably preaching to the choir. His conversation stops as an unrecognized figure happens by, he lifts a hand in greeting. "Congratulations," Lujayn's smile is wry, familiar with the hardships of being 'given' leadership before earning a full rider's knot but admiring of the weyrling's take on it. "At this point, who would you know better than your own clutchmates? It might be the best practice of all," She reflects with a warmer expression, attention turning away when the brownrider's shifts: "Hey there," Her words echo E'gin's wave. "You learn on your feet," agrees K'del, vaguely but with a certain firmness to it nonetheless: he of all people would know about that kind of thing. Anything else he might have intended to say gets forestalled by Riorde's arrival; he shades his eyes against the rain with one hand, giving her a thoughtful glance before identifying the brownrider. "Riorde," he greets, his following after those of Lujayn and E'gin. Then, to E'gin: "Got a grip on planning for that camping trip Meara's been talking about?" The wave catches Riorde's eye, enough so that she takes her eyes off her mud puddled path long enough to note just who waved. But when she does, her chin stays tucked as she entertains a brief fantasy that she can pass by pretending she never saw it. Alas, being called out to means that fantasy dies a water-logged death. She lifts her head, utters a short, polite, "Hi," and continues toward the other three with every intention of keeping right on going. Until the camping trip is mentioned. Then she slows, looking to E'gin and curious to see how he answers. E'gin's only answer to the congrats is a snort accompanied by a smile, perhaps something they can all understand. A nod to K'del, "And mostly be trail and error." A grin passes by his face at the mention of the camping trip, "Well the thought to not take anything at all, to live as we did before, to let the others see..." He pauses, as Riorde pulls up he smiles briefly at her before continuing, "But I think it will nice to get out, to bond, it should be nice. We can explain the rest...We will definetly take some of the food from here." He chuckles softly, "Like we were saying before, something can be explained to you but unless you live it you can't really know what it is like -No matter what the people that go can come back, so they can never really know. Sympathize, perhaps, truly understand, no. But, the classroom knowledge is better than no knowledge at all." He glances at Riorde, "What do you think? And thing imparticular you want us to take, or do without?" Lujayn seems intrigued by talk of the camping trip, leaning forward to listen. "Going to the island?" It doesn't need to be specified which island, either. "Sounds like a hard trip," Again, she doesn't specify who the trip might be hardest for, and her thoughtful pause is brief. "Meara wouldn't let you if she didn't think everyone was up to it, though. Are you excited to get out of here for a few days?" Appealing to both weyrlings, she looks towards the new arrival. "Riorde. I feel like I'm meeting everyone for a second time. You've all come a long way." "I expect," says K'del, sounding thoughtful, "that you'll have to come back to the weyr at least once or twice, to keep those dragons of yours fed. Unless you try and corrall some beasts to come with you, but then they would need feeding--" he trails off, as if suddenly remembering that, oh yes, this is not his task to prepare for. Instead, he grins. "Should be an experience. For you guys, going back after all this time. And for the others." Beat. "Reckon we might want to drop in and see how you're all doing, what do you think, Lu? If we get the chance." Riorde comes to a stop just shy of joining the group, hands shoved in her pockets. Her expression remains fixed and unreadable until E'gin asks her opinion; then, her eyebrows lift to meet the low lie of her wool hat. "You want to 'live like we did before' - by bringing provisions? Rather defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Might as well go camping in Boll. Were you planning on little fruity drinks too?" Not answering Lujayn's question could be oversight, but this is Riorde; she's attentive, and it's doubtful. "It's been awhile," she agrees, considering the goldrider with a little questioning smile. "Have we?" Without direct conversation between herself and K'del, there's no reason for her to address him, though she watches closely him when he speaks. "Yes, /the/ island." E'gin agrees with Lujayn, "Oh, I know we are up for it. But it is the balance between bonding and understanding that I am struggling with." He chuckles as K'del and shakes his head, "There isn't enough out there to feed a beast much less a dragon, they will have to come back here to eat." Riorde is considered with an emotional expression for a few moments, her words are considered for a time before he responds, "Yes, I quite agree. I only considered doing it that way. I thought though it might take away from the fun of just being a way for a while." He is quiet for another moment before nodding to K'del and Lujayn, "I should go meet with Vysravth." He gaze falls on Riorde again, as he starts back towards the bowl, he pauses as he passes by her, "If you wanted fruity drinks we could arrange that, if you have anything to say about it, come see me." He seems sincere, though his words are calculated and slow. Turning back he nods again, "Good night all." "Definitely. I hardly recognize you." Lujayn means it best as a compliment, though it could be misconstrued as a comment upon the adaptation of exiles to Weyr life should anyone be in the wrong mood for it. Fortunately comes a distraction - first E'gin's departure; sloshing her way to muddy shores, Rielsath takes Lujayn's attention with a querulous warble before taking flight, circling in the air a few times before heading for her ledge. "Time to dry off, I think." Grabbing the long-ignored parasol, she pops it open and stands. "I hope I can see you two on your trip. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two." A wink not unlike E'gin's, directed at no one in particular, is her farewell. Half the group on their way off, K'del's attention falls, unsurprisingly, towards Riorde; he gives her a long, thoughtful glance. "Little fruity drinks?" He sounds-- amused, somehow, but also a little dubious. "Would you really want to try and live off the sea again? Even just for a few days? Seems like a lot of work, if there's, you know, supplies to be had." "Right." Riorde's mildly sarcastic reply to E'gin dies off in the rain as he leaves along with Lujayn. Looking back at K'del, the young woman allows a lull before she responds, judging him and judging her words. "It doesn't seem right to go back treating it like it's just a holiday. It's-- false. Besides," here, she achieves a lighter tone, "fishing can be fun." At least it seems as though K'del is taking her answer seriously, pausing to consider before he launches in to any kind of reply. "Suppose I can see that. Imagine you'll be fishing and catching and whatever, even if you do bring supplies. Because... well, presumably you'll be bringing mostly the extras. Not," and he glances around, his gaze following E'gin, "that I can really speak for him. Them." He rubs at his face, wiping rain away. "Is it going to be okay? Taking the others - the non-islanders, I mean." "Sure," Riorde says, continuing in the vein she had ended in and refusing to sound too serious. It probably helps that E'gin's gone. "They can pull their own weight, and we can help them. And it's not like anyone's stuck there." Anymore. K'del cracks a smile, at least. "Sure," he agrees. "Guess that's so. Well-- good." It's as though he's run out of things to say, now, and flounders in silent for several long seconds before he adds, "Guess I ought to get Cadejoth in. Hope Glacier's going okay, though? And-- stuff?" 'Stuff'. For an instant, the young woman looks uncomfortable. Yet her response is neutral, after a slight fumble: "Uh, yeah. Everything's fine." And if it wasn't, would Riorde complain? To K'del? "Think Sforzath's finished," she gives as her own out, looking over her shoulder back toward the pens. "So we can both go dry off, warm up." K'del's brows raise, just for a moment, but he doesn't push. Instead: a single nod, before he's turning to head back towards the weyr, a damp Cadejoth winging his way into the sky above them as he goes. |
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