Logs:Bitter
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| RL Date: 15 May, 2007 |
| Who: P'draig, C'ael, Zi'ya |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Weyrling boys shoot the shit, or something. |
| Where: Feeding Grounds, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 7, Month 1, Turn 12 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Zahava/Mentions, Ilya/Mentions |
Nestled in the southwestern end of the oval-shaped Bowl, this grassy field provides quite a contrast from the unremarkable dirt ground found elsewhere around it. These are the pastures for the herdbeasts which feed the inhabitants of Fort Weyr. The peaceful lake shore from which the herdbeasts drink runs east, where the sandy shore allows for swimming and relaxing, and curves to the south. The western most portion of the lake is fenced off, to keep the herdbeasts separated from bathing dragons, and is reachable to the south. The bowl stretches far to the northeast, nearly 2 miles long. The weyrling barracks lie a north of here. Immediately to the west, next to the cliffs, are pens in which the herdbeasts are kept. Enjanth warbles, muzzle tipped to the wind, catching the scent of herdbeast. C'ael pats the brown hide. "Aye. You're to hunt today, Enjanth." He turns to Zi'ya. "Gryth all excited about the hunt?" The question seems tinged with some personal worry, the young man frowning. Zi'ya grins at C'ael as he hikes up to the feeding grounds with Gryth. "Hey there C'ael. Oh yeah, he's more than ready... and frankly so am I." he grins a bit. "I'm tired of feeding the big lug." he smirks. C'ael grins at that, having sympathies, and his own big lug to feed. "Aye. They are hard to keep in food these days." His smile fades, though, considering Enjanth. "So, are they supposed to know how to do this by themselves, or?" Zi'ya shrugs. "I think they have to be shown... but they have natural instincts that help them out." he glances over his shoulder. "But I assume Paddy will tell us all about that." he grins. P'draig walks up from a brief discussion with K'len who heads back towards the Barracks to take care of the lecture portion of the morning. "Okay!" he calls out to the group assembled at the fence. "Today your dragons finally get to get a taste of hunting on their own. You might still need to do a little bit of barrel feeding until they've settled into a hunting routing, but over the next two weeks or so, they should get transitioned into feeding themselves, good break for your chopping arms." The Weyrlingmaster adopts a position at the fence, one foot up on the lower bar, arms leaning on the upper. "Jekzith'll go up and give you an idea of how it's done, the rest ... is instinct." C'ael hrms to himself, nodding. "I imagine so. They've grown so much. Hard to believe that they're the same dragonets as hatched, huh?" He pauses as P'draig's voice cuts in over his own, confirming Zi'ya's suspicions. Zi'ya grins at C'ael. "It really is..." he says, turning as P'draig joins them and snapping a salute in his direction. "Sounds... like a plan." he grins, glancing out at the grounds though there's a faint frown at the idea of still having to feed Gryth despite him learning to hunt already. Jekzith waits nearby, just to one side of the grounds. At some unheard signal from P'draig, he takes off into the sky, winging around in a tight circle that's almost as good as turning on a wingtip. He glides along, driving the herd before him, then suddenly pumps his wings and diiiives down to snatch up a beast, killing it with a neat snap of its neck and drops it to one side, where he sets to munching away happily. P'draig nods in answer to the sudden rash of salutes snapping up along the fence. "Some might like Jekzith's very direct approach, others might take more time. And there's always Wrencath's method: sit on the beast." Amusement colors P'draig's voice and he catches the expression on Zi'ya's face. "Most of them won't need hand feeding after today." C'ael encourages Enjanth to follow Jekzith's lead, and the brown alights into the air, happily chasing the herd as it races along, spurred into action by the larger dragon. Enjanth circles around and wings back towards his lifemate, backwinging and looking to land, much to C'ael's dismay. "No! No! You're supposed to catch one and kill it. Not just fly around and show you can keep up with them!" Zi'ya's frown dissipates quickly at the assurance from P'draig. He nods. There's a glance in Gryth's direction who, instead of taking to the sky right away, turns to look at the herd beasts. He scans them, contemplates them and finally takes to the sky, his eyes locked on one in particular. In a moment he's diving for the beast, intent on snapping its neck and enjoying his feast. Zi'ya has to chuckle at Enjanth. Jekzith is still busily munching and he looks up at C'ael's dismayed exclamation. P'draig's expression might be interpreted, briefly to read thusly: "Oh no. Not another one." But he doesn't say that out loud. Rather he musters a smile and moves on down the fence to C'ael. "He likes to chase huh?" is the rider's easygoing remark. Gryth's targeted strike gets a nod sent Zi'ya's way. No problems there and he claps a few shoulders on his way down to C'ael, other Weyrlings whose beasts have either taken down a meal or are still figuring out their strikes. Fort weyrlings sense that Jekzith nudges gently at Enjanth's thoughts. « Like *this* » and he demonstrates mentally, picking out a beast, a bright target painted on its back to follow, to chase, to leap and *catch* with the satisfying taste of blood in your mouth. C'ael grimaces and shrugs his shoulders, trying to answer the Weyrlingmaster as best he can. "He doesn't like... that is, he.. Aren't they supposed to /want/ to kill?" The young man stumbles over his words, but doesn't stutter. Enjanth takes to the air again, chasing down a herdbeast, and for a time it looks like he's going to catch the beast and tear into it. Instead the brown drops just enough to graze his hind claws along the herdbeast's back and then he's pumping up into the air again. Fort weyrlings sense that Enjanth is all distaste for the graphic nature of the hunt. « Too much » But too much what, he does not say. Zi'ya raises a brow at C'ael's question to P'draig, but that lasts only a moment as he gets the sensation of Gryth rather enjoying his meal. He stumbles and leans against a pole. "Oh... oh Gryth keep it to yourself!" he says, wrapping an arm around his stomach. Fort weyrlings sense that Jekzith retreats, puzzled, then returns, bright colors spiraling psychedlically. « Too much what? Food? » Fort weyrlings sense that Enjanth answers calmly. « Too much blood. Too much.. » Something that is somewhere between anger and violence. « I do not like that. » Enjanth continues his lazy circling of the herd. He seems to like the chase. It only seems to be what comes after the catch he has issues with.
C'ael chuckles faintly at P'draig's words. "Aye, he does that. But even when I feed him he prefers the bits that aren't so bloody - you know? He's always been like that." Fort weyrlings sense that Jekzith considerst that for a moment, then broadcasts again, coloring everything with fun. « It's not like that. » He opens his mind up, there's no anger or violence, just the fun of chasing, catching, and then filling his hungry tummy. Fort weyrlings sense that Enjanth takes pause at Ciath's offer. « I can bring you a *beast* » Even better than food is the thought of her pleasure! Zi'ya glances up at P'draig, still a bit green around the gills. Pie was /so/ the wrong thing to suggest thinking about and sinks to the ground. "Swimming... swimming... ice cold lake... swimming..." he's murmurs softly to himself as Gryth gorges himself on the beast he's captured, apparently unaware of his rider's discomfort. Enjanth circles about the herd again, this time with a determined purpose to his flight. He chases down a likely looking beast, plump from days of grazing, and settles his attention on that one. His first attempt to grab the beast up fails, but not his second. A quick shake, and he's made his first kill. Not that he intends on eating this one - there's a pretty gold to please with the gift in his claws. Fort weyrlings sense that Enjanth warbles in his warm tenor « Where shall I bring it? » He sends the limpness of his gift, all ready for Ciath, only needing her bidding now. P'draig looks down at Zi'ya with a surprised blink. "Oh well, sometimes it's easier to replace whatever it is they're tossing your way with something similar, but less objectionable. Sorry 'bout that Zil. Lake's right over there if you want to go dunk your head in." He looks around and blinks at Enjanth. "Hey he caught one .. what's he doing --" he breaks off as Jekzith fills him in and this time the Weyrlingmaster can't help laughing. Zi'ya shakes his head. "I'll... I need to stay sitting for the moment I think." he says, catching wind of Enjanth's reaction, he hazards a glance at the brown. There's a weak smirk at the whole thing, but soon his head has decided to return to his knees. "Ciath needs to learn to hunt for herself..." he murmurs to no one in particular. C'ael groans. "Enjanth." And apologizes to the Weyrlingmaster for his dragon's behavior. "I don't know what's got into him." Except he does know, the brown always with a soft spot or two for a pretty girl. P'draig scrubs at his face. "It's a shame that tactic won't work for Azath," he murmurs and clears his throat. "Okay, if he's hungry, Enjanth can still eat out of the barrels, and you might want to steer him towards ... I dunno, wherries or something, they're not as messy a kill as herdbeasts or ovines." C'ael grits his teeth as Enjanth appears to be leaving with the herdbeast. "Oh, he'll hunt sure enough. I'll not feed him forever. He's able enough to.. Azath doesn't like hunting either?" Now that's news. Gryth has finished his meal and has set about to lick the last little bits of whatever might be sticking to himself or the beast away. The color starts to return to Zi'ya's face. "Will it always be like that?" he wonders, glancing over at the smug looking bronze. Fort weyrlings sense that Ciath's reply is tinged both with pleasure and a certain smug satisfaction at having been more successful in coaxing Enjanth to hunt than she'd been with Azath. « Right here, » she directs. « And you may share it with me. » Enjanth wastes no time in bringing his gift to Ciath. Fort weyrlings sense that Jekzith shoots a ray of admiration Ciath's way for her adept handling of the situation. « Enjoy your meal! » he wishes heartily to both dragons. P'draig stops laughing, getting a hold of himself and hunkers down by Zi'ya, offering him a ginger-tab. "Here, this should help your stomach, and no, it shouldn't be that visceral forever. And you'll get better at blocking it or morphing it so it doesn't affect you so much." He rises and nods C'ael's way. "Yes, Azath refused point blank. Couldn't budge her. Eventually we might have to stop bringing her cut meat if it gets down to it. Illya can't be expected to hand feed her forever. Hopefully we can persuade her before it comes to that." C'ael blinks, watching his dragon leave, gift in claws. "He's.. impossible!" Then he laughs. "I can't believe it. Takes the gold to get him to overlook he's hunting. But yes, that's not good about Azath." "At least there's something to key into for him though, actually, if you could plant the seed in his mind, that eating makes him strong to catch greens and golds ...." P'draig trails off leaving the implication open. Zi'ya smiles weakly at P'draig. "Thanks." he says, popping the tab into his mouth without question. Gryth looks towards Enjanth and Ciath then back at the herdbeasts. He soars, heavily, up towards Zi'ya, finally taking notice of his rider's discomfort. However the smell of dead herdbeast does nothing for Zi'ya's already rather unhappy stomach. He glances up at P'draig. "That's not how I heard the story." he comments to the weyrlingmaster. C'ael quirks a brow at Zi'ya. "What'd you hear?" He nods to P'draig and smiles weakly. "Aye. Just what he needs. More encouragement to chase. Though I'm getting better at reasoning with him about it. I think. That or he's got me more interested in girls." He says that without his cheeks pinkening. Maybe a bit of both. Jekzith senses that Ciath confesses after a moment, « I am not even particularly hungry, but thank you. I will let Enjanth eat most of it. » P'draig leans back on the fence, watching the other young dragons circling and finally all of them but Enjanth have actually eaten. "Hang in there Zil. Oh?" he blinks down at Gryth's rider, nodding along with C'ael. Jekzith> Ciath senses that Jekzith nudges warmth and light Ciath's way. « Very generous of you. » Zi'ya glances at C'ael and scratches the back of his head. "Actually... I heard that Ciath was the one who didn't want to hunt... didn't want to get herself dirty or something... that she demanded Azath bring her food." he glances at P'draig, "Then of course I also heard that Ciath was trying to do the same thing she just did with Enjanth and that Azath and Illya now think Za and Ciath are bullies... you take your pick as to what story is true I guess." he shrugs and then frowns. "I'm inclined to believe Zahava's version, but... Illya has begun to trust me a but more...and I see no reason she would lie either." there's a frown, torn about what to believe himself. P'draig's brows furrow. "Azath told Jekzith she didn't want to hurt the animals," remarks the Weyrlingmaster, frown deepening. "I didn't know that about Ciath ..." he trails off, head turning towards the gold and he huffs out a long breath. "Well. We'll just have to see what we can do about that." C'ael's brow furrows deeply. "Well, maybe it happened both ways. I mean, Ciath could have said that just to get Azath to listen, but not actually meant it, you know? I mean, golds are supposed to be able to make other dragons listen... right?" Zi'ya frowns. "The only reason I think that is that... well... Ciath /has/ been trying to boss other dragons around. I know it's been bothering Za a little at least. Maybe we're not hearing the whole story..." he shrugs. "I'm sure it will just blow over." he says, trying to shrug it off. "And Zahava would kill me if she knew I said anything." he says, tossing glances around at the group pleading at them not to mention him saying anything. P'draig's fingers drum atop the fence post. "Mmm. I'll pull Zahava aside for a little chat ... maybe touch base with Jenna. That's something that really only a goldrider can advise another goldrider on. Queens have more strength of will than most other colors and most males especially, really /want/ to do whatever a queen asks." He nods at Zi'ya's plea. "I won't mention my source. Dragons gossip enough to cover that up. Besides, you can cut the tension between Zahava and Illya with a knife. It's good to understand a little about the source though." C'ael gets a distant look to his face. "Well, Enjanth is eating, at least. He's enamoured of Ciath. But she's not had to get pushy with him." Zi'ya looks slightly uncomfortable. "Ok... you... really, talk to her first, don't bring the Weyrwoman into this unless you have to..." he looks pleadingly at P'draig. "And... yeah, you can. But honestly, that is more Illya's issue than Zahava's... well, until Illya /made/ it Zahava's issue." he frowns. "Illya's still bitter she didn't impress Ciath." he says simply. C'ael whistles soft and low, without comment. A slight shake of P'draig's head ensues. "I can just nudge Jenna with a general report, 'You might want to talk to Zahava about bonding and control of Ciath' without getting into particulars." He winks at Zi'ya. "Don't worry, they didn't give me this big old knot without reason." Zil's next words silence him. "Well. That will just take time. In the mean time I expect them /both/ to be team players. You're Weyrlings now, riders. You have to put aside individual differences." There's a slight edge to P'draig's voice. "But, if Illya's comfortable enough to confide in you Zi'ya, please keep talking to her. I'll pull her aside too." He turns towards C'ael with a look of relief. "Well that's good news. Just keep up the encouragement and the association between hunting and uh ... getting girls. Ciath's not the only lovely lady he could hunt for .... actually, that could be one way to bring Azath around ...." C'ael blinks, uncertain of how Azath can be brought about the way Enjanth was. "How? That she'll get more boys if she hunts? I'd think she'd be better convincing them to hunt for her?" Of course he's still faltering at this boy girl thing himself, so who's to say. Zi'ya nods at P'draig. "Just... ok..." he says, not having much more to say about any of this. He glances at C'ael and smirks. "The day those rules are lifted..." he chuckles and shakes his head. The comment is made more to himself but C'ael can surely hear him, Paddy likely can too. "No, Enjanth can pay court to her and then she might eat his offerings at least and then work up to cajoling her to do it for herself. If he'd be up for it," muses P'draig, thinking it through. He shoots Zi'ya a grin and smirks. "Yeah, I'm sure." C'ael gives P'draig a look. "You think it would work?" He doesn't even add 'if I can convince Enjanth'. The brown is all about courting those girls. Zi'ya smirks. "Well, sounds like you've got that all under control. I think a dip in the frozen lake is still in store for me..." he says, trying to get to his feet. "That and Gryth needs a good scrubbing after eating." he says, hazarding a glance at the dragon. Gryth huffs, he was actually fairly neat about his meal. P'draig shrugs. "Worth a try, I don't know if it'll work, but it might ... kill two birds with one stone." He grins at C'ael and nods Zi'ya's way. "Doesn't have to be a cold dip in the lake, but if that's what you need," he winks at the bronzerider. C'ael asks abruptly, "So, when are the contact rules going to be lifted, Sir?" Not that the young man has anyone to worry about that rule with (yet - not for Enjanth's trying). "Well when you get your weyrs in a couple of months, the rules get lightened. You'll be allowed to kiss for example at that point, and then a month or so after that, after we talk about mating flights and the Healers do their thing about reproduction - well after that I don't care what the heck you do with each other as long as I don't have to see it." The Weyrlingmaster grins, lopsided. Zi'ya nods. "Cold lake." he says afirmitively. There's a glance in C'ael's direction and a smirk. "Got someone you've set your mind on?" he asks, teasing his fellow weyrling. There's a smirk in P'draig's direction. C'ael scoffs at the suggestion he's got someone. "I've been cooped up with you lot too long!" P'draig's head ducks briefly then he resurfaces with a smile for both Weyrlings. "Well. Good luck with your cold bath, Zi'ya and C'ael, I'll hope that someone does actually find you when the time comes, because you're a nice lad. For now though, I'm off to see if I can find me a pair of squabbling Weyrlings. See you later." C'ael gives off a quick salute, with a grin. "Aye. Thank you Sir. And good day to you too." |
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