Dragon washing injury
Who: D'kai, Javeri, P'draig, Suizen, Sunniva, T'mic with Aath, Jekzith, and Mikhuth and NPCs Tosolla, Borley, Meljen, Rian, and Neraset
Where: The beach
When: Afternoon. Not sure of date.
What: The candidates do not raise money washing cars, but do get to the beach washing dragons. Dooms are plotted and Javeri gets injured.
The sky is clear and the weather perfectly warm on this fine Istan spring day. Candidates have been gathering gradually as they're allowed, most with buckets and towels and all the other things that they'll need to wash dragons. A few others have been tasked with getting oil, but it seems they have yet to return. A pair of early arrivals -- two blues, both fairly older -- are already covered in eager candidates wanting to do a fine job of scrubbing, while the riders look on with much amusement. (aaaand we also have NPC candidates Tosolla, Borley, Meljen, Rian, and Neraset.)
Among the candidates organizing supplies would be Sunniva, who is happily making sure everyone has what they need to get the job done. She's eschewed her skirts for the day in favour of something a bit more suited to the task, though it must have been at the doggedly persistent insistence of other candidates -- a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, hair in a ponytail and with not a sign of her sandals in sight. Of course, barefoot on sand still has her walking like a feline on wet ground, with much foot wiggling and nose-wrinkling. "Over there, Borley," she's directing with a bright laugh and a bout of obliviousness to the arrivals, "they will need at least another bucket or two, and another towel." Meanwhile, Meljen trots over to Jekzith upon spying Tosolla headed that way, bringing a bucket and a pair of brushes.
Jekzith hasn't even made it to the water yet, but his head turns to nose gently at Tosolla as she dashes towards him with a jolly croon of welcome. "Hey Mic," P'draig calls over with a laugh and moves to greet the greenrider with a kiss to the cheek and a brief hug. D'kai's hail turns his head and hey, there's another friend to wave to. "Hey Deke!" Neraset wrinkles her nose as her little group arrive and find things as they are. "/Well/," she says with a little flip of blonde curls over her shoulder and nods towards the arriving bronze. "Let's see if we can snag the sire's dragon, hmm?" she tells her pals sidelong and starts to march thattaway with a purposeful stride.
She's late and she knows it so Javeri comes running over to where people are gathered fast enough that when she does arrive she has to stop and catch her breath. While the potter is as fond of skirts as Sunniva she seems just as comfortable in loose shorts and shirt she's found for today. Sucking in deep breaths she straightens up and gives her head a shake to get her braids where she wants them. "Oh, you would not believe the mess," she tells Sunniva as she spies her and heads her way. "I didn't think I was ever going to get here. But, here I am!"
"Hey babe," T'mic says to P'draig and doesn't even flinch at the public display of affection. Greenriders. Only after the clinch does he turn to spot, "Oh hey, D'kai! --And Sunniva! G'wan with you," he adds to his green, and sends her with a fond slap into the water near Mikhuth. All of the dragons have at least one Candidate tending to them by now, but the 'favorites' have three or four while the less-desirable (like Aath) have only one.
Rian, with his near-sloshing bucket of oil, draws up slightly short of breath next to Sunniva. "I - oil!" Huff, puff, if only there was a straw house for him to blow down. "Where's it go?" With both hands wrapped tight around the handle, he lowers it to the sand and blinks at her bare feet. "Don't you hate sand?" Beyond him, Mikhuth, half-in-half-out of the water, cranes his neck about to peer at Neraset's marching approach, rumbling to Aath, while Deke chuckles and clasps his hands behind his back. "How's things, P'draig, T'mic?" Standing some distance behind Rian, the bronzerider scans the beach for a moment before he tip-toes high as he asks the question. Once he's caught sight of Sunni he waves quite enthusiastically, though whether or not he's caught her attention is an entirely different matter.
"Oh! Javeri!" the other candidate is greeted with a wave and a bright smile. Sunniva laughs softly, "Actually, I probably /would/ believe it -- I heard what your chores were for today." Cue a sympathetic wince. To Rian, a quick, "Right over there. And, oh, it /is/ awful, but I could not find my sandals or any of my other shoes." A sneaky candidate conspiracy, probably. Ah, but then she's looking around and spots a few familiar dragons and their affiliated riders, which makes that smile of hers widen impossibly. "Oh! Oh, P'draig, T'mic," are the first she sees and are the first to be given a wave ... and then, of course, her eyes flick to D'kai after spying Mikhuth and he, too, gets an enthusiastic wave. "D'kai!"
As the earlier blues are scrubbed and oil buckets are finally making an appearance, many candidates scatter to do the slightly more fun task of cleaning, rather than oiling. Borley and a few of the other boys toddle their way to Aath, sharing apprehensive looks all the while. Jekzith, of course, is also beset upon by another pair of candidates -- Neraset and her gaggle of associates heading to Mikhuth is plenty deterrent to keep others from headed that way.
Jekzith nudges at Tosolla a few more times then trots on down into the water, hopping shallow waves to get out a little deeper and inconveniently dunking himself fully as soon as he's deep enough, leaving just the tips of headknobs showing. Then his head lifts, a canny 'grin' on his face as he paddles back to where he can actually be reached. "Oh for Faranth's ..." P'draig starts, then laughs as the motley brown comes in a little shallower. "For a second there, thought he wasn't going to play along," he notes to Mic and D'kai. Neraset and her crew of two others have just about reached Mikhuth and she simpers over at D'kai, running a hand through her hair. "Oh sir, may we /please/ wash your /lovely/ bronze," she asks in a tone that doesn't really request so much as state for all there's lash-fluttering involved.
"I swear someone is out to get me," Javeri says with a grin. She looks down at her own bare feet and then says, "If I'd known you'd needed sandals I'd have brought mine for you. Although I think my feet are bigger than yours." Breathing back to normal she looks around the beach to see who else is around and waves to a couple of candidates. "There's some sort of system to this I imagine. Like, smaller dragons take less time, but it means you do more while you do fewer bigger ones, but they take forever. Hmm." More looking before she shrugs. "Oh, well. I suppose in the long run it's not mucking stables so who cares?" A more apprehensive look is cast about before she lowers her voice to ask Sunniva, "Has X'lar or Balinne been about? I hear someone tattled."
"Oh," and Rian coughs to hide a grin behind his hand before he's hauling his bucket away, heading for Aath with his load even though it probably won't be needed for some time yet. The candidate, however, leaves the pail on the beach before studiously bending to roll up his shorts even higher, and then he's slogging in after the green and the handful of others surrounding her.
Suizen follows along with the rest of the gaggle of candidates, taking her time, though that might have something to do with the fact she hadn't bothered with sandals, and in fact - is back to the wear that Balinne had scolded her over.
T'mic throws another grin Paddy's way, arches his eyebrows at Neraset's simpering and - still grinning - ducks out of the little clump of riders to amble toward Javeri and Sunniva. "Afternoon, ladies - Mikhuth could use another set of hands, and Solla's in need of some help with Jekzith too." Spotting Suizen he waves her over too. "Suizen! Just in time. Jekzith or Mikhuth?" I.e., they're being drafted, and do they want to be assigned a dragon, or choose one?
"Sunni, hi!" D'kai calls back, rocking back on his heels as the boy with the oil shuffles away and he's grinning across the beach quite cheerfully before - oh? Neraset's begging for the bronzerider's attention, and who's he to refuse? So he turns to her properly, that former smile for Sunniva fading only slightly at that coy fluttering of her eyelashes. "Uh, sure, have at! He's always happy for the attention," and he manages to widen that grin for the girl even though when he's turned his head away towards T'mic and P'draig one eyebrows arches high.
"No, no, it is quite alright. I shall survive, I suppose," even so, Sunni wiggles her toes with uncertainty. "I truly do hope my shoes turn up later, though. I /do/ rather like them." The young woman slants a look to Javeri with a grin, "Exactly. And we are learning more about dragons, for that matter. There are plenty of us and plenty of dragons, anyway." But the last has her expression smoothing into a careful mask, a murmured, "I have not spoken to either, no." And anything further is quashed when T'mic arrives. "Oh! Well. Mikhuth, of course, but it rather looks like he will have plenty of hands," at least from the looks of Neraset and the others, so she looks to D'kai for his suggestion.
"I dunno... if I help out Jekzith, is P'draig goin' to be ...er.. encouragin' folks by making sure they don't get thirsty?" the redhaired potter asks with a bit of a grin from T'mic to said P'draig, even as she heads straight towards the water, evidently planning on getting her clothes soaked.
There's a little please smirk on Neraset's face as she flips around again and heads on over to Mikhuth, setting her bucket down, she bends to remove sandals, roll up the cuffs of her already short shorts just a little higher, then heads out into the waves with her trailing pair of cronies .... to wash one side of him. Which leaves an entire side wholly available! P'draig is just eyeing these proceedings with a wide grin, a hand to the back of his neck and a chuckle. "There's always one, isn't there?" he drawls out with a grin for D'kai and a nod as T'mic ambles off. Jekzith meanwhile is doing his best to hold still for Tosolla as she gets started, though his tail keeps swishing back and forth in the shallows, casting up foam. "Hey Sooz," the brownrider answers the potter. "I might, maybe have brought down beer."
"Oh, my," Javeri says with a wide-eyed smile at T'mic as she flutters her lashes in an exaggerated manner. "Why, gee, I would just be honored to my little sand covered toes to go ahead and help out with Jekzith." She doesn't bother sparing a look for Neraset as it should be obvious who she is making fun of with her behavior. With a wink she turns and then waves to Suizen. "Ohh. That's a good question, Sooz." Sunniva gets a quick shared look of potential doom for later, but then it's gone with a smile. "Anyway Neraset's liable to bite off someone's hand if they get too close to her and if I'm losing a hand it'll be to some starving dragonet not that girl."
One of the pranksters of the bunch has taken it upon himself to, with the help of a few cohorts, dump a partial bucket of oil on a group of other candidates. The resulting mess has the latter group running for the water to rinse, while the other lads look on and laugh, good-naturedly.
D'kai, catching Javeri's words, eyes the girl sidelong and flashes her a grin, though his face is straight enough as he follows Neraset's trek out into the water. "That bad, huh?" For the biting-of-the-hand remark, and the bronzerider squints slightly out over the water towards his dragon. Obligingly - and presumably at the command of his rider - Mikhuth lifts and rustles his wings, just settling them on his back, and sents wavelets out in any direction: if Neraset wasn't planning on getting those short shorts wet, she was wrong! To both candidates not yet chosen a dragon to wash: "He's got a whole big empty side, and he's real sandy from sitting around with Lieryth, if you're feeling inclined."
"Encouraging...?" the greenrider repeats blankly at Suizen's hinting, but she's heading toward the water and he turns back in time to catch Javeri's exaggerating. He snickers and waves her toward Jekzith, then drops Sunniva a shrug as he turns back. "S'your loss." He toes out of his sandals and tosses them somewhere up the beach; heads toward Aath and her constant flirting, pausing only to avoid the oil-soaked Candidates as he moves to Borley and the others.
"Well, for what it is worth," Sunniva remarks to Javeri with a waggle of fingers, "She will hardly get much of a meal out of /my/ hand." But, she looks over to yonder Jekzith before glancing at Suizen as if just now realizing she were there, "Oh! There you are, Suizen. Well. It rather looks like both of them will be fairly well covered, doesn't it?" Which leaves her back to her undecided waffling state of shifting her weight from foot to foot and looking to Javeri and P'draig this time, since T'mic's already wandering off. A glance is given to the oiling incident gone awry and she frowns, shaking her head a little.
Tucking one hand behind her back Javeri goes off down the beach to the water where Jekzith awaits. When she gets there she tells Tosolla, "I got too close and lost a hand to Neraset!" She laughs whether the other girl does or not because this is way better than mucking stables. Way better! There's not an endless supply of dragon hides like there seems to be of recycled runner meals. Looking over her shoulder she waves to Sunni. "Don't go out too far," she teases loudly. "And don't let em drown you!" She will ignore the oil incident in hopes of not having it happen to her.
Rian, not quite fast enough to get out the way of that dumping of oil, squeals loudly as it strikes him, and ducks behind Aath for protection. From somewhere behind her haunches, he splashes a handful or two of water at her, with a quick look around as though to confirm he's doing it right. Another candidate, taking pity on him, fetches a spare rag and hands it off to the boy, who tentatively applies it to the green's hide, with a quick look towards the nearing T'mic.
"I might have found him one evenin', with a bit of his stash..." Sooz explains, sort of, to Mic, before diving into a shallow wave to get the hair slicked back, then is making her way over to Jekzith, rather fearlessly as such things go, though she offers to the brown, "If I don't drink my weight in water, I'll give scritching later?" Over one shoulder, the potter offers to the other, "Wouldn't worry about loosin' it - just it goin' bad afterwards.." she calls out, not exactly being subtle in her words.
Tosolla giggles at Javeri and sends a splash toward Suizen before bending to grab a handful of dark sand. "Either of you washed a dragon before?" she'd like to know, her Southerner's vowels stretching out even more broadly than usual. "Jekzith's a sweetie, honest. Just grab some sand and scrub away. They like it, see?"
Borley, miraculously, avoids an unexpected oiling. But he's busy, see? Doing about what Rian does, that is, by splashing water at Aath, rather than actually, oh, washing the green. Others are definitely more involved in the task and look grateful when T'mic heads toward them.
"Never before," Javeri admits to Tosolla and gives the other girl a grateful smile when she explains how to do it. "Oh, eww," she then tells Suizen as she grabs a handful of sand and starts to scrub with little force behind it like she doesn't want to be too hard. Which means she's just not doing it hard enough. "I cannot be a potter with one hand. And even less so with one arm. Ugh. Then I'd smell worse than I do. I am so sick of the stables I am beginning to wish I were back in the nursery risking life and limb. Whoever said runners could be dangerous never dealt with a cranky kid!"
Aath's not too pleased with the lackidaisical 'scrubbing' she's getting from Borley and Rian, if the darkening of her eyes is any indication. Mic catches up to them just as the green starts to rumble ominously. "Nah, see - shh, baby, s'a'right. You!" That's to Rian; a double finger snap and an imperious beckoning out from behind Aath's haunches. "She's wet enough - she can do that herself. But she needs scrubbing." He stoops to pull a soggy dripping handful out from under the waves, slaps it to Aath's neck and starts scrubbing away. "Just like that."
"I will not get out too far and I will not let them drown me," Sunniva dutifully repeats to Javeri, voice lifting a bit in the process to make sure she's heard. There's a look at Suizen, then a laugh for her words, even as she moves to get a bucket and brush. She pauses briefly near D'kai, stretching up on tiptoe to say something or another to the rider, and then it's off to Mikhuth with her, intent on claiming the bronze's 'free' side even if it means risking life and limb.
P'draig is busily stripping down himself, leaving most of his stuff in a pile well up from the shoreline. With just shorts left, he ambles on down to see how Tosolla and the others are doing with Jekzith. "Ladies, how's it going?" he asks with a grin for each as he wades on in, and bends for a handful of sand himself and applies it to the bottom of the brown's chin. Jekzith himself? Well he just croons happily. Life is sweet when you're a dragon. Over by Mikhuth, Neraset is ... posing? Well something. The girl stretches up artfully as she gets splashed and wet, apparently this was what she was after all along. Because yeah, that shirt of hers? Is not going to be opaque for much longer. There's giggling and a lot of peeking from that side of the bronze too and whatever good-looking male of the human persuasion happens to be closest at the time.
Suizen rolls her eyes a bit at the antics of Neraset and crew, before picking up a handful of sand, and starting to work on the flank, shaking her head at Solla, "Can't say I have, honestly, but it doesn't look too hard." To Paddy, "He'll let us know if we're doin' it too hard, right?" as she puts about the same amount of pressure on the hide as she would for smoothing out a bit of pottery.
Mikhuth, apparently happy to go with what he's given, leans into Neraset and her cronie's attention, arching his neck about to lower his gaze close, eye-level, with them. He's very intent on their washing of his flank, and whirls curious eyes down at their efforts - although every so often, he slaps his tail against the water to send droplets of it sparkling down over the girls. D'kai, meanwhile, has taken up cross-armed to watch the festivies with a smile twitching at his mouth, and when Sunni passes by he hunches to catch her words. A hand lightly touches her shoulder and he nods, widening that grin, and then she's continued on to Mikhuth he rocks back on the balls of his feet, quite content just to hang back and watch.
Meljen is among those working on Jekzith, settling comfortably into the task with more than a few backwards looks at Neraset. One of the other lads laughs and punches Mel's arm in a friendly fashion, the favour being returned before they settle back into the task. Borley, meanwhile, seems to be listening to whatever the greenrider is saying, but that doesn't make him any less apprehensive. A bit of sand is taken up, placed warily on the green's hide, and then worked around with pudgy fingers.
Rian all but drops that rag right in the water when Aath begins to rumble, and he turns a horrified, wide-eyed look on Borley shortly before T'mic's caught to them and is demonstrating the proper washing technique. The snap has him creeping out a little further, awkwardly holding his shoulders back, and when the other boy scoops up a handful of sand, Rian does the same, only applies it with a bit firmer hand. "Like - like this, sir?"
"Wow. Could she be more obvious?" Clearly Javeri is less than impressed with the behavior of one of her fellow candidates. "Ugh. There's being friendly and being, well, I won't repeat the word my granny uses. It's not polite." She scrubs a little harder as she watches how the others are doing it and seems to realize maybe she could be a little less apprehensive over it. It can't all be apprehension over this task and the way she keeps looking around makes it obvious the hold potter expects something bad to happen at any minute unrelated to the task at hand. "This is way better than regular chores. I could happily do anything that lets us be out at the beach."
Tosolla isn't above a little flirting herself, with cast-down eyes and sultry glances P'draig's way, but at least she continues to scrub his brown while she's doing it. "I think we're all right," one of the other girls answers, though she catches her bottom lip in her teeth when Jekzith croons. Solla informs her in an undertone, "Means he's happy. They're all happy, 'cept maybe Mikhuth, since Neraset's more interested...," her voice drops further, but the look she sends over her shoulder toward the posing bronze dragon washer isn't an amiable one.
"Can't really go too hard," P'draig replies from beneath Jekzith's head, ducking around the brown a little. "But yeah, he'll let me know if you're missing a spot and all," the brownrider continues. Javeri and Suizen's remarks shift his gaze towards the crew at Mikhuth's side and it's possible, entirely possible he's distracted for a second or two before applying himself all the more dutifully to Jekzith's neck. Solla's flirting only earns a 'paternal' smile in return. Neraset only giggles as she gets splashed again and oh whoops? Was that a button popping? Tsk. She turns and splashes a little water back towards Mikhuth and one of her pals splashes her again and soon there might be more splashing than scrubbing going on over there. Sunniva's arrival is barely noticed given the bronze bulk between thenm but when Neraset /does/ notice, she gives the other girl a little chin lift and an assessing look, then gets back to being ... shameless. Meljen? Not on her radar. She's giving D'kai another long, coy look as she moves along to 'scrub' at one of Mikhuth's haunches.
Suizen looks over at Javeri, with a bit of a grin, "If she weren't bein' a Candidate, it probably wouldn't be so bad. Gettin' caught without a stitch on would probably do her right..." she admits, after a moment's consideration of the girl's posing, and...er.. splashing about. That done, though, the potter turns back to her spot of hide, and continues to scrub, "Well, that's bein' good - always worried about the runners - looks like half of 'em are tryin' to shrug out of their skins, when gettin' brushed - not that I do that, but I've had the muckin' duty a time or two. Which is still better than the sewin' or dish-washin'."
Upon reaching her destination, Sunni's quick to start in on scrubbing one of Mikhuth's forelegs, a glance upward being tossed to the bronze's shoulder. "Mikhuth," is thusly directed to the dragon, her voice low, "would you be a dear and stretch this out so I can get to your shoulder?" Thankfully, she's oblivious -- or relatively so, at least -- to whatever Neraset's antics are. Of course, when she notices the other has noticed, she offers only a too-sweet smile and a waggle of fingers.
"Just like that," T'mic agrees with a grin at the two boys; jerks his head at Aath. She's arching her neck and cooing at Mikhuth again, as if to show Neraset how this ought to be done. "No dragons with tempers here, and...," he pauses to crane his neck around at the varied colors, "None of these'd dump you for a prank, either. Aath'd love it if you rub her - like this, see?" A quick swish rinses the sand from his hands and the greenrider starts massaging dark green side, following the well-known line and play of muscle. "Feel what her hide feels like? Soft and warm. If you feel any dry patches, that needs to get sand-scrubbed. Or you can use a brush, too."
A few of the other girls -- working on a green not far from Mikhuth -- aren't quite as tolerating of Neraset's posturing. Luckily, their plotting goes unheard, given the distance and sloshing of water, but it's hard to mistake those conspiratorial looks as anything /but/ that.
"I would much rather wash dishes," Javeri says with a shake of her head. "Not so much sewing as I am not good at it and just wind up bleeding all over things. Sunni's gonna give me some pointers though so I can take care of my robe." Another peek is given to the posing going on and she laughs. "Yea, well, she's gonna go to fat at an early age so better enjoy it while she can. That kind always do. Snag a man and let themselves go. Seen it a hundred times." Sometimes she can sound just like an old auntie without even trying. Must be her granny's influence. She scoots over a few inches to scrub a new patch of hide.
When Deke does start to move, it's to head around to Sunniva's side of Mikhuth, though as he passes Neraset and the other two he offers a smile not until P'draig's directed to Solla. "Good job, girls." That button? Either he does see it or he makes a very good effort at pretending not to, because then he's bumping his hip into Sunni and leaning his shoulder into his lifemate to watch her scrubbing. "You've had practise, though," he points out, mock-accusingly, to his companion - as though it's a bad thing. Water washes over him as the bronze shuffles around slightly to respond to Aath's croon with a tip of his head and a half-lidded murmur of his own, and D'kai sputters slightly, spitting out a mouthful of it back into the ocean. "Careful, buddy!"
Borley ohs, blinking openly at T'mic and then at the neck-arching Aath. "Uh. Uh, yessir." He ducks his head and sets into the task more thoroughly, trying his best to imitate how T'mic's showing them ... and failing miserably. But he's trying at least?
Eyes narrowed as he watches T'mic quite intently, Rian squints for a long moment at Aath's hide as though it were completely foreign to him, and then he's plunging his hands into the water to rinse the grit off his hands, too. His efforts at massaging are enthuiastic, though inexpert, and a bit belatedly he asks, "We gonna hurt her or anything if we do it too hard, sir?" And then he's wrinkling his nose at a dry patch of hide, and picking up another palm of sand to work away at that.
Suizen shakes her head, "Dishes, definitely worse. I'm always breakin' them - and while that's fine and well, when I'm tryin' to, in the ktichen just causes trouble. What was bein' your least-favorite chore, P'draig?" she asks, before scooting down a touch, and getting some new sand to continue with the scrubbing.
The hip bump is returned in kind -- with a gently aimed elbow for his side, to boot -- and Sunniva sends a quirked grin up to D'kai. "Oh, hush. It just means I can clean a dragon a bit faster than they could. Though, if they would actually /work/ at it, that might not hurt either. Could we get up to his shoulder? I doubt they would even think to wash up there." All of this is murmured low enough for him to hear and the others to only speculate about. The dragon's movement and subsequent bit of a wave has Sunniva sputtering as well, a hand reached out to cling to -- well, either Mikhuth or D'kai, whichever happens to be nearest to her.
In spite of the character of that smile of D'kai's, Neraset still flounces a little, and prettily too and she makes a show of scrubbing. Until he's passed and then it's back to flicking water at her friends and a lot of giggling as snatches of "Isn't he just so charming?" float up between the sound of the ocean and splashing and other dragons warbling and crooning and so on. "Never know how things might turn out," P'draig counters Javeri's old-auntie-style assertion. "Sometimes it goes that way, sometimes it doesn't. Life's not neat and tidy that way and -- there's a patch there that could use a hard scrub." He finishes running that handful of sand down Jekzith's neck and ambles around to point it out. "I know it's hard to see on him because he's so many different shades of brown, here, where that paler shade and the darker meet, see it? Or better yet, feel." Suizen's question earns a lift of shoulders. "Latrines and mending. I had to work hard to learn how to stitch straps."
T'mic comes up behind Borley and - after waiting for permission - takes the pudgy boy's hand in his own. "Feel the way her muscle moves - here, see?" Long strokes have the green's eyelids drooping in pleasure even as she stretches her neck toward the younger bronze. Mic laughs and steps back, giving Aath a mock-shove to keep her from making a Candidate-and-rider sandwich of them all. "If you scrub too hard she'll let you know, but you can do pretty much anything to her so long as you're telling her how beautiful she is."
Tosolla chimes in, "I like any chore so long as I'm with other people. I hate hunting for snakes! All alone in the dark, and all you can hear is slithering...." She shivers and rinses her hands before going around to Jekzith's far side.
"I used to not mind runners," Javeri says with a grin. "Til I had to clean up after them. Now I don't even know if I go home if I'll want to ride them for deliveries." P'draig's words get a shake of her head. "You're not supposed to be logical about it, you know. It's to make those of us who wouldn't turn heads being more obvious than that feel better. It's a woman thing and all. Men are just supposed to shake their heads and mutter about how we're all so horrid to one another!" She grins as she tells him before trying to spot the spot he was pointing out. When she can't make it out she does as was suggested and uses her hand. With one hand resting on him she bends down to get more sand and manages to find her spot again for scrubbing. "Oh, I hate that!" she agrees with Tosolla.
Sneaky greenriders. T'mic's approach startles poor Borley, who /would/ step back, but for the greenrider behind him. He nods, momentarily unable to speak -- concentrating on this takes effort, see -- and then he tries to catch Rian's attention with one of those panicked 'save me?' looks. No luck. "Oh. Okay. She won't, um. Won't bite us or anything, will she?" But, his hands soon find and follow the paths T'mic shows him, and Borley murmurs a low, "You are very beautiful," to Aath with all the skill that a never-gonna-be-a-ladies-man can manage.
Those giggled comments floating by don't go entirely unnoticed by D'kai, first fends off Sunniva's elbowing with a flapping of his hand, and bites his lip in silent laughter as he balls one fist against his hip and dramatically motions with the other hand. 'Look how charming I am', he mouths to Sunni, lifting his brows. But perhaps for fear of Neraset coming around to his side, he drops the pose and instead hisses up at Mikhuth, who's crowding the three girls on his other flank in his efforts to shamble nearer still to Aath. "Quit it, Mickey," there's a thump against the bronze's chest and a grunt, and finally the dragon rumbles and ceases, instead dropping a shoulder low at Sunniva's request. "Yeah, that's an idea. He hasn't had a proper wash since the clutching, I bet."
Bite? Borley's suggestion have Rian scrubbing just that much harder, but his attention is fixed on T'mic in anticipation of the greenrider's response. Scrub, rinse, sand. Rinse, and repeat. He manages, too, under his breath, "Yeah, you're real pretty. Pretty green, pretty-pretty-pretty green." Like she's a feline under a table he's trying to coax out.
Suizen groans a bit, and lightly thumps her head on Jek - that's scrubbing him, right? "I don't even want to think about the robes. With my luck an' skill, mine will just fall off." As opposed to others who will probably rig it that way.
Suizen says, "Oops?"
Sunniva awws. D:
"There's my beautiful girl," Mic croons to his green, demonstrating unconsciously for Rian and Borley. Whether it was the greenrider's attempts or all three (plus Mikhuth!), she soon settles, water sloshing delicately along her flanks. "She won't bite," the greenrider assures Rian, tossing a grin over his shoulder at Deke and poor unscrubbed Mikhuth. "Dragons don't, except when they're just hatched, and even then it's just because they're confused and scared. Aath'd just flounce off and sulk at you until you apologized."
With a good-natured roll of her eyes at his antics, Sunniva reaches over to poke at D'kai's middle while refraining her own laughter with a bit of lip-biting that mirrors the bronzerider's own. Her small bucket is half-filled with sand and water to take up, then promptly held out to D'kai when Mikhuth finally obliges to stretch a leg out. "Would you? It /is/ so dreadfully heavy and all." And it's her turn to flutter eyelashes at the rider, though it's done with horribly feigned innocence -- her lopsided smile does much to ruin the attempt.
Shuffling dragons aiming to make a candidate sandwich wind up sending Neraset flopping down on her tushie in the water. The girl sits there blinking for a bit, dripping sand and suds, up to her shoulders in water. She gapes up at Mikhuth. "Well. I /never/." P'draig meanwhile is pointing out the entirety of that patch to Javeri. "I had a hard time seeing it at first too, but I've been scrubbing him for turns. I had to learn by feel though." And Sooz' remark just earns a laugh. "Nah - you just pick one out of Stores see, fix it up if it needs it. Mine had a rent in it and um, well I managed to get it fixed up but it wasn't pretty." Jekzith doesn't seem to mind Suizen's head-thunking, though he does twist his head around to nose at her gently as if saying "It'll be okay."
Borley sucks in a breath and tries, "Beautiful girl," to see if that has any other effect on, say, his scrubbing ability. It doesn't, but he still repeats the words like a mantra while he settles into it. Still, there's a wary look to T'mic at his words, uncertainty manifesting plainly on his plain features. "But they really don't, ummm, bite otherwise? Because some of the others," over by Jekzith, Meljen and some other boys can be heard snickering, which seems to cause Borley to rethink his words, "said that, uh, dragons can be really mean like that afterward and I don't like being bitten."
Now that she has the spot in sight it's easy for Javeri to work at scrubbing it. "It is kinda hard to see," she says with a smile. "Thanks for pointing it out." Suizen's words earn a quickly stifled giggle. "Well, just make sure you have clean underwear on then," she teases her fellow potter. Shifting over an inch to be able to scrub better at one spot she stops and then goes, "Ow!" The sand falls and she hops back on one foot going, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Lifting her foot up from the water she stares at it and then holds onto it. "Ow. I think I found a shell." So much for cleaning up yesterday! "I think it's bleeding."
Mic assures, "They really don't bite." He spreads his arms to display his utter lack of dragon bite scars, flashes a grin at Borley and shuffles a step or two toward Aath's shoulders. "Not even Malsaeth. You're in more danger of getting clawed from a hatchling than bitten, and even maulings are... well. Just watch out. If something does happen to you on the Sands, we'll get you taken care of straight away. There's usually a couple injuries every hatching, but rarely serious."
Suizen just stares at Javeri for a long moment, until she starts hopping about, "You goin' to be all right?" she asks, before reaching up to scritch along a ridge in thanks to the brown, before turning back to scrubbing a bit, before adding, "... can we make sure everyone is wearin' clean underwear?"
Tosolla pokes her head back around mottled brown haunches. "You want some help, Javeri? I've stepped on lots of shells. I can help you back to the healers, if you want. Sore foot's never fun."
Rian appears simply aghast at the way the conversation's turned, jaw dropped and everything. "M-maulings?" To his credit, his hands never stop moving about Aath's hide, though it's turned a bit scattered with no real pattern to it even though he's staring up at the green as though she's likely to turn on him at any moment, despite T'mic's reassurances. "Rarely serious. Rarely." There, he's found a mantra to cling to.
Suizen's question earns a brief laugh, then a little frown turns up on Paddy's face as Javeri starts exclaiming in pain. "Yikes, you all right?" He offers a supportive hand against the Candidate falling over and he nods as Tosolla pokes her head around. "Might be a good idea, Solla, need to see about stitches maybe, though that doesn't look /too/ bad from here."
"If you say so," Borley apprehensively replies to T'mic. Elsewhere, some candidates are having a fine time figuring out how best to oil a brown up on the shore, much to the amusement of his rider. Perhaps someone should have warned them that they're just as liable to be oiled as the dragon?
Her foot lowers a bit, but when it hits the water Javeri jerks it back up. "Ouch. Stupid water. Stupid shell. Stupid foot!" It stings bad enough the potter has to clear her throat and swipe 'ocean water' away from her eyes. "Oh, no. It's ok, Tosolla. I just need to go sit down I think. Once it stops bleeding I should be ok." She's such a baby. "I don't want to drag too many hands away from Jekzith. I'll just go sit and maybe I can help hand things out for a bit?" She's still useful in some way! Besides she does hate healers. Hopping comically up out of the water she shakes her head and turns a pale face back to P'draig. "No, not stitches! Really. I'll be fine." And she hops up to sit on the beach. She'll hand out supplies a bit before getting someone to help her back.
Where: The beach
When: Afternoon. Not sure of date.
What: The candidates do not raise money washing cars, but do get to the beach washing dragons. Dooms are plotted and Javeri gets injured.
The sky is clear and the weather perfectly warm on this fine Istan spring day. Candidates have been gathering gradually as they're allowed, most with buckets and towels and all the other things that they'll need to wash dragons. A few others have been tasked with getting oil, but it seems they have yet to return. A pair of early arrivals -- two blues, both fairly older -- are already covered in eager candidates wanting to do a fine job of scrubbing, while the riders look on with much amusement. (aaaand we also have NPC candidates Tosolla, Borley, Meljen, Rian, and Neraset.)
Among the candidates organizing supplies would be Sunniva, who is happily making sure everyone has what they need to get the job done. She's eschewed her skirts for the day in favour of something a bit more suited to the task, though it must have been at the doggedly persistent insistence of other candidates -- a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, hair in a ponytail and with not a sign of her sandals in sight. Of course, barefoot on sand still has her walking like a feline on wet ground, with much foot wiggling and nose-wrinkling. "Over there, Borley," she's directing with a bright laugh and a bout of obliviousness to the arrivals, "they will need at least another bucket or two, and another towel." Meanwhile, Meljen trots over to Jekzith upon spying Tosolla headed that way, bringing a bucket and a pair of brushes.
Jekzith hasn't even made it to the water yet, but his head turns to nose gently at Tosolla as she dashes towards him with a jolly croon of welcome. "Hey Mic," P'draig calls over with a laugh and moves to greet the greenrider with a kiss to the cheek and a brief hug. D'kai's hail turns his head and hey, there's another friend to wave to. "Hey Deke!" Neraset wrinkles her nose as her little group arrive and find things as they are. "/Well/," she says with a little flip of blonde curls over her shoulder and nods towards the arriving bronze. "Let's see if we can snag the sire's dragon, hmm?" she tells her pals sidelong and starts to march thattaway with a purposeful stride.
She's late and she knows it so Javeri comes running over to where people are gathered fast enough that when she does arrive she has to stop and catch her breath. While the potter is as fond of skirts as Sunniva she seems just as comfortable in loose shorts and shirt she's found for today. Sucking in deep breaths she straightens up and gives her head a shake to get her braids where she wants them. "Oh, you would not believe the mess," she tells Sunniva as she spies her and heads her way. "I didn't think I was ever going to get here. But, here I am!"
"Hey babe," T'mic says to P'draig and doesn't even flinch at the public display of affection. Greenriders. Only after the clinch does he turn to spot, "Oh hey, D'kai! --And Sunniva! G'wan with you," he adds to his green, and sends her with a fond slap into the water near Mikhuth. All of the dragons have at least one Candidate tending to them by now, but the 'favorites' have three or four while the less-desirable (like Aath) have only one.
Rian, with his near-sloshing bucket of oil, draws up slightly short of breath next to Sunniva. "I - oil!" Huff, puff, if only there was a straw house for him to blow down. "Where's it go?" With both hands wrapped tight around the handle, he lowers it to the sand and blinks at her bare feet. "Don't you hate sand?" Beyond him, Mikhuth, half-in-half-out of the water, cranes his neck about to peer at Neraset's marching approach, rumbling to Aath, while Deke chuckles and clasps his hands behind his back. "How's things, P'draig, T'mic?" Standing some distance behind Rian, the bronzerider scans the beach for a moment before he tip-toes high as he asks the question. Once he's caught sight of Sunni he waves quite enthusiastically, though whether or not he's caught her attention is an entirely different matter.
"Oh! Javeri!" the other candidate is greeted with a wave and a bright smile. Sunniva laughs softly, "Actually, I probably /would/ believe it -- I heard what your chores were for today." Cue a sympathetic wince. To Rian, a quick, "Right over there. And, oh, it /is/ awful, but I could not find my sandals or any of my other shoes." A sneaky candidate conspiracy, probably. Ah, but then she's looking around and spots a few familiar dragons and their affiliated riders, which makes that smile of hers widen impossibly. "Oh! Oh, P'draig, T'mic," are the first she sees and are the first to be given a wave ... and then, of course, her eyes flick to D'kai after spying Mikhuth and he, too, gets an enthusiastic wave. "D'kai!"
As the earlier blues are scrubbed and oil buckets are finally making an appearance, many candidates scatter to do the slightly more fun task of cleaning, rather than oiling. Borley and a few of the other boys toddle their way to Aath, sharing apprehensive looks all the while. Jekzith, of course, is also beset upon by another pair of candidates -- Neraset and her gaggle of associates heading to Mikhuth is plenty deterrent to keep others from headed that way.
Jekzith nudges at Tosolla a few more times then trots on down into the water, hopping shallow waves to get out a little deeper and inconveniently dunking himself fully as soon as he's deep enough, leaving just the tips of headknobs showing. Then his head lifts, a canny 'grin' on his face as he paddles back to where he can actually be reached. "Oh for Faranth's ..." P'draig starts, then laughs as the motley brown comes in a little shallower. "For a second there, thought he wasn't going to play along," he notes to Mic and D'kai. Neraset and her crew of two others have just about reached Mikhuth and she simpers over at D'kai, running a hand through her hair. "Oh sir, may we /please/ wash your /lovely/ bronze," she asks in a tone that doesn't really request so much as state for all there's lash-fluttering involved.
"I swear someone is out to get me," Javeri says with a grin. She looks down at her own bare feet and then says, "If I'd known you'd needed sandals I'd have brought mine for you. Although I think my feet are bigger than yours." Breathing back to normal she looks around the beach to see who else is around and waves to a couple of candidates. "There's some sort of system to this I imagine. Like, smaller dragons take less time, but it means you do more while you do fewer bigger ones, but they take forever. Hmm." More looking before she shrugs. "Oh, well. I suppose in the long run it's not mucking stables so who cares?" A more apprehensive look is cast about before she lowers her voice to ask Sunniva, "Has X'lar or Balinne been about? I hear someone tattled."
"Oh," and Rian coughs to hide a grin behind his hand before he's hauling his bucket away, heading for Aath with his load even though it probably won't be needed for some time yet. The candidate, however, leaves the pail on the beach before studiously bending to roll up his shorts even higher, and then he's slogging in after the green and the handful of others surrounding her.
Suizen follows along with the rest of the gaggle of candidates, taking her time, though that might have something to do with the fact she hadn't bothered with sandals, and in fact - is back to the wear that Balinne had scolded her over.
T'mic throws another grin Paddy's way, arches his eyebrows at Neraset's simpering and - still grinning - ducks out of the little clump of riders to amble toward Javeri and Sunniva. "Afternoon, ladies - Mikhuth could use another set of hands, and Solla's in need of some help with Jekzith too." Spotting Suizen he waves her over too. "Suizen! Just in time. Jekzith or Mikhuth?" I.e., they're being drafted, and do they want to be assigned a dragon, or choose one?
"Sunni, hi!" D'kai calls back, rocking back on his heels as the boy with the oil shuffles away and he's grinning across the beach quite cheerfully before - oh? Neraset's begging for the bronzerider's attention, and who's he to refuse? So he turns to her properly, that former smile for Sunniva fading only slightly at that coy fluttering of her eyelashes. "Uh, sure, have at! He's always happy for the attention," and he manages to widen that grin for the girl even though when he's turned his head away towards T'mic and P'draig one eyebrows arches high.
"No, no, it is quite alright. I shall survive, I suppose," even so, Sunni wiggles her toes with uncertainty. "I truly do hope my shoes turn up later, though. I /do/ rather like them." The young woman slants a look to Javeri with a grin, "Exactly. And we are learning more about dragons, for that matter. There are plenty of us and plenty of dragons, anyway." But the last has her expression smoothing into a careful mask, a murmured, "I have not spoken to either, no." And anything further is quashed when T'mic arrives. "Oh! Well. Mikhuth, of course, but it rather looks like he will have plenty of hands," at least from the looks of Neraset and the others, so she looks to D'kai for his suggestion.
"I dunno... if I help out Jekzith, is P'draig goin' to be ...er.. encouragin' folks by making sure they don't get thirsty?" the redhaired potter asks with a bit of a grin from T'mic to said P'draig, even as she heads straight towards the water, evidently planning on getting her clothes soaked.
There's a little please smirk on Neraset's face as she flips around again and heads on over to Mikhuth, setting her bucket down, she bends to remove sandals, roll up the cuffs of her already short shorts just a little higher, then heads out into the waves with her trailing pair of cronies .... to wash one side of him. Which leaves an entire side wholly available! P'draig is just eyeing these proceedings with a wide grin, a hand to the back of his neck and a chuckle. "There's always one, isn't there?" he drawls out with a grin for D'kai and a nod as T'mic ambles off. Jekzith meanwhile is doing his best to hold still for Tosolla as she gets started, though his tail keeps swishing back and forth in the shallows, casting up foam. "Hey Sooz," the brownrider answers the potter. "I might, maybe have brought down beer."
"Oh, my," Javeri says with a wide-eyed smile at T'mic as she flutters her lashes in an exaggerated manner. "Why, gee, I would just be honored to my little sand covered toes to go ahead and help out with Jekzith." She doesn't bother sparing a look for Neraset as it should be obvious who she is making fun of with her behavior. With a wink she turns and then waves to Suizen. "Ohh. That's a good question, Sooz." Sunniva gets a quick shared look of potential doom for later, but then it's gone with a smile. "Anyway Neraset's liable to bite off someone's hand if they get too close to her and if I'm losing a hand it'll be to some starving dragonet not that girl."
One of the pranksters of the bunch has taken it upon himself to, with the help of a few cohorts, dump a partial bucket of oil on a group of other candidates. The resulting mess has the latter group running for the water to rinse, while the other lads look on and laugh, good-naturedly.
D'kai, catching Javeri's words, eyes the girl sidelong and flashes her a grin, though his face is straight enough as he follows Neraset's trek out into the water. "That bad, huh?" For the biting-of-the-hand remark, and the bronzerider squints slightly out over the water towards his dragon. Obligingly - and presumably at the command of his rider - Mikhuth lifts and rustles his wings, just settling them on his back, and sents wavelets out in any direction: if Neraset wasn't planning on getting those short shorts wet, she was wrong! To both candidates not yet chosen a dragon to wash: "He's got a whole big empty side, and he's real sandy from sitting around with Lieryth, if you're feeling inclined."
"Encouraging...?" the greenrider repeats blankly at Suizen's hinting, but she's heading toward the water and he turns back in time to catch Javeri's exaggerating. He snickers and waves her toward Jekzith, then drops Sunniva a shrug as he turns back. "S'your loss." He toes out of his sandals and tosses them somewhere up the beach; heads toward Aath and her constant flirting, pausing only to avoid the oil-soaked Candidates as he moves to Borley and the others.
"Well, for what it is worth," Sunniva remarks to Javeri with a waggle of fingers, "She will hardly get much of a meal out of /my/ hand." But, she looks over to yonder Jekzith before glancing at Suizen as if just now realizing she were there, "Oh! There you are, Suizen. Well. It rather looks like both of them will be fairly well covered, doesn't it?" Which leaves her back to her undecided waffling state of shifting her weight from foot to foot and looking to Javeri and P'draig this time, since T'mic's already wandering off. A glance is given to the oiling incident gone awry and she frowns, shaking her head a little.
Tucking one hand behind her back Javeri goes off down the beach to the water where Jekzith awaits. When she gets there she tells Tosolla, "I got too close and lost a hand to Neraset!" She laughs whether the other girl does or not because this is way better than mucking stables. Way better! There's not an endless supply of dragon hides like there seems to be of recycled runner meals. Looking over her shoulder she waves to Sunni. "Don't go out too far," she teases loudly. "And don't let em drown you!" She will ignore the oil incident in hopes of not having it happen to her.
Rian, not quite fast enough to get out the way of that dumping of oil, squeals loudly as it strikes him, and ducks behind Aath for protection. From somewhere behind her haunches, he splashes a handful or two of water at her, with a quick look around as though to confirm he's doing it right. Another candidate, taking pity on him, fetches a spare rag and hands it off to the boy, who tentatively applies it to the green's hide, with a quick look towards the nearing T'mic.
"I might have found him one evenin', with a bit of his stash..." Sooz explains, sort of, to Mic, before diving into a shallow wave to get the hair slicked back, then is making her way over to Jekzith, rather fearlessly as such things go, though she offers to the brown, "If I don't drink my weight in water, I'll give scritching later?" Over one shoulder, the potter offers to the other, "Wouldn't worry about loosin' it - just it goin' bad afterwards.." she calls out, not exactly being subtle in her words.
Tosolla giggles at Javeri and sends a splash toward Suizen before bending to grab a handful of dark sand. "Either of you washed a dragon before?" she'd like to know, her Southerner's vowels stretching out even more broadly than usual. "Jekzith's a sweetie, honest. Just grab some sand and scrub away. They like it, see?"
Borley, miraculously, avoids an unexpected oiling. But he's busy, see? Doing about what Rian does, that is, by splashing water at Aath, rather than actually, oh, washing the green. Others are definitely more involved in the task and look grateful when T'mic heads toward them.
"Never before," Javeri admits to Tosolla and gives the other girl a grateful smile when she explains how to do it. "Oh, eww," she then tells Suizen as she grabs a handful of sand and starts to scrub with little force behind it like she doesn't want to be too hard. Which means she's just not doing it hard enough. "I cannot be a potter with one hand. And even less so with one arm. Ugh. Then I'd smell worse than I do. I am so sick of the stables I am beginning to wish I were back in the nursery risking life and limb. Whoever said runners could be dangerous never dealt with a cranky kid!"
Aath's not too pleased with the lackidaisical 'scrubbing' she's getting from Borley and Rian, if the darkening of her eyes is any indication. Mic catches up to them just as the green starts to rumble ominously. "Nah, see - shh, baby, s'a'right. You!" That's to Rian; a double finger snap and an imperious beckoning out from behind Aath's haunches. "She's wet enough - she can do that herself. But she needs scrubbing." He stoops to pull a soggy dripping handful out from under the waves, slaps it to Aath's neck and starts scrubbing away. "Just like that."
"I will not get out too far and I will not let them drown me," Sunniva dutifully repeats to Javeri, voice lifting a bit in the process to make sure she's heard. There's a look at Suizen, then a laugh for her words, even as she moves to get a bucket and brush. She pauses briefly near D'kai, stretching up on tiptoe to say something or another to the rider, and then it's off to Mikhuth with her, intent on claiming the bronze's 'free' side even if it means risking life and limb.
P'draig is busily stripping down himself, leaving most of his stuff in a pile well up from the shoreline. With just shorts left, he ambles on down to see how Tosolla and the others are doing with Jekzith. "Ladies, how's it going?" he asks with a grin for each as he wades on in, and bends for a handful of sand himself and applies it to the bottom of the brown's chin. Jekzith himself? Well he just croons happily. Life is sweet when you're a dragon. Over by Mikhuth, Neraset is ... posing? Well something. The girl stretches up artfully as she gets splashed and wet, apparently this was what she was after all along. Because yeah, that shirt of hers? Is not going to be opaque for much longer. There's giggling and a lot of peeking from that side of the bronze too and whatever good-looking male of the human persuasion happens to be closest at the time.
Suizen rolls her eyes a bit at the antics of Neraset and crew, before picking up a handful of sand, and starting to work on the flank, shaking her head at Solla, "Can't say I have, honestly, but it doesn't look too hard." To Paddy, "He'll let us know if we're doin' it too hard, right?" as she puts about the same amount of pressure on the hide as she would for smoothing out a bit of pottery.
Mikhuth, apparently happy to go with what he's given, leans into Neraset and her cronie's attention, arching his neck about to lower his gaze close, eye-level, with them. He's very intent on their washing of his flank, and whirls curious eyes down at their efforts - although every so often, he slaps his tail against the water to send droplets of it sparkling down over the girls. D'kai, meanwhile, has taken up cross-armed to watch the festivies with a smile twitching at his mouth, and when Sunni passes by he hunches to catch her words. A hand lightly touches her shoulder and he nods, widening that grin, and then she's continued on to Mikhuth he rocks back on the balls of his feet, quite content just to hang back and watch.
Meljen is among those working on Jekzith, settling comfortably into the task with more than a few backwards looks at Neraset. One of the other lads laughs and punches Mel's arm in a friendly fashion, the favour being returned before they settle back into the task. Borley, meanwhile, seems to be listening to whatever the greenrider is saying, but that doesn't make him any less apprehensive. A bit of sand is taken up, placed warily on the green's hide, and then worked around with pudgy fingers.
Rian all but drops that rag right in the water when Aath begins to rumble, and he turns a horrified, wide-eyed look on Borley shortly before T'mic's caught to them and is demonstrating the proper washing technique. The snap has him creeping out a little further, awkwardly holding his shoulders back, and when the other boy scoops up a handful of sand, Rian does the same, only applies it with a bit firmer hand. "Like - like this, sir?"
"Wow. Could she be more obvious?" Clearly Javeri is less than impressed with the behavior of one of her fellow candidates. "Ugh. There's being friendly and being, well, I won't repeat the word my granny uses. It's not polite." She scrubs a little harder as she watches how the others are doing it and seems to realize maybe she could be a little less apprehensive over it. It can't all be apprehension over this task and the way she keeps looking around makes it obvious the hold potter expects something bad to happen at any minute unrelated to the task at hand. "This is way better than regular chores. I could happily do anything that lets us be out at the beach."
Tosolla isn't above a little flirting herself, with cast-down eyes and sultry glances P'draig's way, but at least she continues to scrub his brown while she's doing it. "I think we're all right," one of the other girls answers, though she catches her bottom lip in her teeth when Jekzith croons. Solla informs her in an undertone, "Means he's happy. They're all happy, 'cept maybe Mikhuth, since Neraset's more interested...," her voice drops further, but the look she sends over her shoulder toward the posing bronze dragon washer isn't an amiable one.
"Can't really go too hard," P'draig replies from beneath Jekzith's head, ducking around the brown a little. "But yeah, he'll let me know if you're missing a spot and all," the brownrider continues. Javeri and Suizen's remarks shift his gaze towards the crew at Mikhuth's side and it's possible, entirely possible he's distracted for a second or two before applying himself all the more dutifully to Jekzith's neck. Solla's flirting only earns a 'paternal' smile in return. Neraset only giggles as she gets splashed again and oh whoops? Was that a button popping? Tsk. She turns and splashes a little water back towards Mikhuth and one of her pals splashes her again and soon there might be more splashing than scrubbing going on over there. Sunniva's arrival is barely noticed given the bronze bulk between thenm but when Neraset /does/ notice, she gives the other girl a little chin lift and an assessing look, then gets back to being ... shameless. Meljen? Not on her radar. She's giving D'kai another long, coy look as she moves along to 'scrub' at one of Mikhuth's haunches.
Suizen looks over at Javeri, with a bit of a grin, "If she weren't bein' a Candidate, it probably wouldn't be so bad. Gettin' caught without a stitch on would probably do her right..." she admits, after a moment's consideration of the girl's posing, and...er.. splashing about. That done, though, the potter turns back to her spot of hide, and continues to scrub, "Well, that's bein' good - always worried about the runners - looks like half of 'em are tryin' to shrug out of their skins, when gettin' brushed - not that I do that, but I've had the muckin' duty a time or two. Which is still better than the sewin' or dish-washin'."
Upon reaching her destination, Sunni's quick to start in on scrubbing one of Mikhuth's forelegs, a glance upward being tossed to the bronze's shoulder. "Mikhuth," is thusly directed to the dragon, her voice low, "would you be a dear and stretch this out so I can get to your shoulder?" Thankfully, she's oblivious -- or relatively so, at least -- to whatever Neraset's antics are. Of course, when she notices the other has noticed, she offers only a too-sweet smile and a waggle of fingers.
"Just like that," T'mic agrees with a grin at the two boys; jerks his head at Aath. She's arching her neck and cooing at Mikhuth again, as if to show Neraset how this ought to be done. "No dragons with tempers here, and...," he pauses to crane his neck around at the varied colors, "None of these'd dump you for a prank, either. Aath'd love it if you rub her - like this, see?" A quick swish rinses the sand from his hands and the greenrider starts massaging dark green side, following the well-known line and play of muscle. "Feel what her hide feels like? Soft and warm. If you feel any dry patches, that needs to get sand-scrubbed. Or you can use a brush, too."
A few of the other girls -- working on a green not far from Mikhuth -- aren't quite as tolerating of Neraset's posturing. Luckily, their plotting goes unheard, given the distance and sloshing of water, but it's hard to mistake those conspiratorial looks as anything /but/ that.
"I would much rather wash dishes," Javeri says with a shake of her head. "Not so much sewing as I am not good at it and just wind up bleeding all over things. Sunni's gonna give me some pointers though so I can take care of my robe." Another peek is given to the posing going on and she laughs. "Yea, well, she's gonna go to fat at an early age so better enjoy it while she can. That kind always do. Snag a man and let themselves go. Seen it a hundred times." Sometimes she can sound just like an old auntie without even trying. Must be her granny's influence. She scoots over a few inches to scrub a new patch of hide.
When Deke does start to move, it's to head around to Sunniva's side of Mikhuth, though as he passes Neraset and the other two he offers a smile not until P'draig's directed to Solla. "Good job, girls." That button? Either he does see it or he makes a very good effort at pretending not to, because then he's bumping his hip into Sunni and leaning his shoulder into his lifemate to watch her scrubbing. "You've had practise, though," he points out, mock-accusingly, to his companion - as though it's a bad thing. Water washes over him as the bronze shuffles around slightly to respond to Aath's croon with a tip of his head and a half-lidded murmur of his own, and D'kai sputters slightly, spitting out a mouthful of it back into the ocean. "Careful, buddy!"
Borley ohs, blinking openly at T'mic and then at the neck-arching Aath. "Uh. Uh, yessir." He ducks his head and sets into the task more thoroughly, trying his best to imitate how T'mic's showing them ... and failing miserably. But he's trying at least?
Eyes narrowed as he watches T'mic quite intently, Rian squints for a long moment at Aath's hide as though it were completely foreign to him, and then he's plunging his hands into the water to rinse the grit off his hands, too. His efforts at massaging are enthuiastic, though inexpert, and a bit belatedly he asks, "We gonna hurt her or anything if we do it too hard, sir?" And then he's wrinkling his nose at a dry patch of hide, and picking up another palm of sand to work away at that.
Suizen shakes her head, "Dishes, definitely worse. I'm always breakin' them - and while that's fine and well, when I'm tryin' to, in the ktichen just causes trouble. What was bein' your least-favorite chore, P'draig?" she asks, before scooting down a touch, and getting some new sand to continue with the scrubbing.
The hip bump is returned in kind -- with a gently aimed elbow for his side, to boot -- and Sunniva sends a quirked grin up to D'kai. "Oh, hush. It just means I can clean a dragon a bit faster than they could. Though, if they would actually /work/ at it, that might not hurt either. Could we get up to his shoulder? I doubt they would even think to wash up there." All of this is murmured low enough for him to hear and the others to only speculate about. The dragon's movement and subsequent bit of a wave has Sunniva sputtering as well, a hand reached out to cling to -- well, either Mikhuth or D'kai, whichever happens to be nearest to her.
In spite of the character of that smile of D'kai's, Neraset still flounces a little, and prettily too and she makes a show of scrubbing. Until he's passed and then it's back to flicking water at her friends and a lot of giggling as snatches of "Isn't he just so charming?" float up between the sound of the ocean and splashing and other dragons warbling and crooning and so on. "Never know how things might turn out," P'draig counters Javeri's old-auntie-style assertion. "Sometimes it goes that way, sometimes it doesn't. Life's not neat and tidy that way and -- there's a patch there that could use a hard scrub." He finishes running that handful of sand down Jekzith's neck and ambles around to point it out. "I know it's hard to see on him because he's so many different shades of brown, here, where that paler shade and the darker meet, see it? Or better yet, feel." Suizen's question earns a lift of shoulders. "Latrines and mending. I had to work hard to learn how to stitch straps."
T'mic comes up behind Borley and - after waiting for permission - takes the pudgy boy's hand in his own. "Feel the way her muscle moves - here, see?" Long strokes have the green's eyelids drooping in pleasure even as she stretches her neck toward the younger bronze. Mic laughs and steps back, giving Aath a mock-shove to keep her from making a Candidate-and-rider sandwich of them all. "If you scrub too hard she'll let you know, but you can do pretty much anything to her so long as you're telling her how beautiful she is."
Tosolla chimes in, "I like any chore so long as I'm with other people. I hate hunting for snakes! All alone in the dark, and all you can hear is slithering...." She shivers and rinses her hands before going around to Jekzith's far side.
"I used to not mind runners," Javeri says with a grin. "Til I had to clean up after them. Now I don't even know if I go home if I'll want to ride them for deliveries." P'draig's words get a shake of her head. "You're not supposed to be logical about it, you know. It's to make those of us who wouldn't turn heads being more obvious than that feel better. It's a woman thing and all. Men are just supposed to shake their heads and mutter about how we're all so horrid to one another!" She grins as she tells him before trying to spot the spot he was pointing out. When she can't make it out she does as was suggested and uses her hand. With one hand resting on him she bends down to get more sand and manages to find her spot again for scrubbing. "Oh, I hate that!" she agrees with Tosolla.
Sneaky greenriders. T'mic's approach startles poor Borley, who /would/ step back, but for the greenrider behind him. He nods, momentarily unable to speak -- concentrating on this takes effort, see -- and then he tries to catch Rian's attention with one of those panicked 'save me?' looks. No luck. "Oh. Okay. She won't, um. Won't bite us or anything, will she?" But, his hands soon find and follow the paths T'mic shows him, and Borley murmurs a low, "You are very beautiful," to Aath with all the skill that a never-gonna-be-a-ladies-man can manage.
Those giggled comments floating by don't go entirely unnoticed by D'kai, first fends off Sunniva's elbowing with a flapping of his hand, and bites his lip in silent laughter as he balls one fist against his hip and dramatically motions with the other hand. 'Look how charming I am', he mouths to Sunni, lifting his brows. But perhaps for fear of Neraset coming around to his side, he drops the pose and instead hisses up at Mikhuth, who's crowding the three girls on his other flank in his efforts to shamble nearer still to Aath. "Quit it, Mickey," there's a thump against the bronze's chest and a grunt, and finally the dragon rumbles and ceases, instead dropping a shoulder low at Sunniva's request. "Yeah, that's an idea. He hasn't had a proper wash since the clutching, I bet."
Bite? Borley's suggestion have Rian scrubbing just that much harder, but his attention is fixed on T'mic in anticipation of the greenrider's response. Scrub, rinse, sand. Rinse, and repeat. He manages, too, under his breath, "Yeah, you're real pretty. Pretty green, pretty-pretty-pretty green." Like she's a feline under a table he's trying to coax out.
Suizen groans a bit, and lightly thumps her head on Jek - that's scrubbing him, right? "I don't even want to think about the robes. With my luck an' skill, mine will just fall off." As opposed to others who will probably rig it that way.
Suizen says, "Oops?"
Sunniva awws. D:
"There's my beautiful girl," Mic croons to his green, demonstrating unconsciously for Rian and Borley. Whether it was the greenrider's attempts or all three (plus Mikhuth!), she soon settles, water sloshing delicately along her flanks. "She won't bite," the greenrider assures Rian, tossing a grin over his shoulder at Deke and poor unscrubbed Mikhuth. "Dragons don't, except when they're just hatched, and even then it's just because they're confused and scared. Aath'd just flounce off and sulk at you until you apologized."
With a good-natured roll of her eyes at his antics, Sunniva reaches over to poke at D'kai's middle while refraining her own laughter with a bit of lip-biting that mirrors the bronzerider's own. Her small bucket is half-filled with sand and water to take up, then promptly held out to D'kai when Mikhuth finally obliges to stretch a leg out. "Would you? It /is/ so dreadfully heavy and all." And it's her turn to flutter eyelashes at the rider, though it's done with horribly feigned innocence -- her lopsided smile does much to ruin the attempt.
Shuffling dragons aiming to make a candidate sandwich wind up sending Neraset flopping down on her tushie in the water. The girl sits there blinking for a bit, dripping sand and suds, up to her shoulders in water. She gapes up at Mikhuth. "Well. I /never/." P'draig meanwhile is pointing out the entirety of that patch to Javeri. "I had a hard time seeing it at first too, but I've been scrubbing him for turns. I had to learn by feel though." And Sooz' remark just earns a laugh. "Nah - you just pick one out of Stores see, fix it up if it needs it. Mine had a rent in it and um, well I managed to get it fixed up but it wasn't pretty." Jekzith doesn't seem to mind Suizen's head-thunking, though he does twist his head around to nose at her gently as if saying "It'll be okay."
Borley sucks in a breath and tries, "Beautiful girl," to see if that has any other effect on, say, his scrubbing ability. It doesn't, but he still repeats the words like a mantra while he settles into it. Still, there's a wary look to T'mic at his words, uncertainty manifesting plainly on his plain features. "But they really don't, ummm, bite otherwise? Because some of the others," over by Jekzith, Meljen and some other boys can be heard snickering, which seems to cause Borley to rethink his words, "said that, uh, dragons can be really mean like that afterward and I don't like being bitten."
Now that she has the spot in sight it's easy for Javeri to work at scrubbing it. "It is kinda hard to see," she says with a smile. "Thanks for pointing it out." Suizen's words earn a quickly stifled giggle. "Well, just make sure you have clean underwear on then," she teases her fellow potter. Shifting over an inch to be able to scrub better at one spot she stops and then goes, "Ow!" The sand falls and she hops back on one foot going, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Lifting her foot up from the water she stares at it and then holds onto it. "Ow. I think I found a shell." So much for cleaning up yesterday! "I think it's bleeding."
Mic assures, "They really don't bite." He spreads his arms to display his utter lack of dragon bite scars, flashes a grin at Borley and shuffles a step or two toward Aath's shoulders. "Not even Malsaeth. You're in more danger of getting clawed from a hatchling than bitten, and even maulings are... well. Just watch out. If something does happen to you on the Sands, we'll get you taken care of straight away. There's usually a couple injuries every hatching, but rarely serious."
Suizen just stares at Javeri for a long moment, until she starts hopping about, "You goin' to be all right?" she asks, before reaching up to scritch along a ridge in thanks to the brown, before turning back to scrubbing a bit, before adding, "... can we make sure everyone is wearin' clean underwear?"
Tosolla pokes her head back around mottled brown haunches. "You want some help, Javeri? I've stepped on lots of shells. I can help you back to the healers, if you want. Sore foot's never fun."
Rian appears simply aghast at the way the conversation's turned, jaw dropped and everything. "M-maulings?" To his credit, his hands never stop moving about Aath's hide, though it's turned a bit scattered with no real pattern to it even though he's staring up at the green as though she's likely to turn on him at any moment, despite T'mic's reassurances. "Rarely serious. Rarely." There, he's found a mantra to cling to.
Suizen's question earns a brief laugh, then a little frown turns up on Paddy's face as Javeri starts exclaiming in pain. "Yikes, you all right?" He offers a supportive hand against the Candidate falling over and he nods as Tosolla pokes her head around. "Might be a good idea, Solla, need to see about stitches maybe, though that doesn't look /too/ bad from here."
"If you say so," Borley apprehensively replies to T'mic. Elsewhere, some candidates are having a fine time figuring out how best to oil a brown up on the shore, much to the amusement of his rider. Perhaps someone should have warned them that they're just as liable to be oiled as the dragon?
Her foot lowers a bit, but when it hits the water Javeri jerks it back up. "Ouch. Stupid water. Stupid shell. Stupid foot!" It stings bad enough the potter has to clear her throat and swipe 'ocean water' away from her eyes. "Oh, no. It's ok, Tosolla. I just need to go sit down I think. Once it stops bleeding I should be ok." She's such a baby. "I don't want to drag too many hands away from Jekzith. I'll just go sit and maybe I can help hand things out for a bit?" She's still useful in some way! Besides she does hate healers. Hopping comically up out of the water she shakes her head and turns a pale face back to P'draig. "No, not stitches! Really. I'll be fine." And she hops up to sit on the beach. She'll hand out supplies a bit before getting someone to help her back.