[Log] Different Games
Who: E'sere, Roa
When: Day 27, Month 8, Turn 1, 7th Pass
Where: Southern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr
What: E'sere shows Roa some wing formations while Tialith and Morelenth play entirely different games.
Morelenth> Tialith's thoughts swirl towards the bronze mind. Not forceful, exactly, but undeniably and heavily *there*. << Mine says she is finished with classes today wand wonders if yours still wishes to meet with her? >> Then, bleatedly. << Oh yes. Good afternoon. >>
Morelenth> To Tialith: Morelenth answers at once, << Mine would love to meet with yours, Tialith. Where would you like to meet him? We are free now, and will come. >>
Morelenth> Tialith projects, << It is a fine day. I would like to swim and mine enjoys the sun. >> An image of the gold swimming in the lake as her rider sits nearby is projected. << Roa reminds yours to bring the wing patterns. >>
Morelenth> Morelenth projects to Tialith, << We come, then. We will be there soon. >>
Southern Bowl
The bowl floor is a broad expanse of gravel and dust, packed flat over decades of dragonweight landing on it. Kept free of vegetation, the only color variation across the vast hollow of the bowl are the dragons, in good weather often found sunning on low ledges or sprawled along the floor itself. The well-worn, charcoal-grey walls of the bowl are nearly vertical, far too steep for even the most adventurous climber to attempt. The rim of the bowl, marked by a rainbow of perching dragons at all times of the day, is topped with massive stone spires that stretch upwards into the blue vault of the sky. There are seven in all, great black fingers of stone that seem, from where you stand, to touch the clouds.
Here the lake dominates the bowl floor, wind-scattered waves lapping at the gravel shore. A few scrawny shrubs to the southeast mark the fenced-in enclosure of the feeding grounds, bordered on its southwestern edge by the lake itself. Following the wall here will lead to the entrance to the weyrling complex and, past that, the stairs that lead to the guest weyr. On the other side of the lake is a vast, yawning tunnel curving upwards slightly, connecting to the long road leading away from High Reaches Weyr. Adjoining the exit is the high arch of the infirmary entrance.
It's a clear autumn day and the air has become crisp, stirred by breezes cool enough to redden cheeks. The sky is cloudless and a dazzling shade of blue.
Contents:
Morelenth
Tialith
Roa
Caucus Barracks (CB) Dragon Barracks (DB) Northern Bowl (NB)
Infirmary (INF) Guest Weyr (GW) Weyrling Complex (WC)
Feeding Grounds (FG) Exit Tunnel (ET)
Tialith
Sunlight shone through amber, the warm golden hue has been poured into long, lean form. The wedge of this dragon's head is a decided triangle, round eyes set deep and a little back. Neck is atypically long and the rich golden chest lacks the breadth of muscle that some queens display. The warm hue flows evenly over sides, belly, flank and spinal ridges, altering only at the end of a long sinewy tail where it deepens to the color of burnt caramel. A paler silvery-gold gloves all four feet which conclude in nearly-white talons. The icy tint is also visible in a blaze across her muzzle, like an accidental smear, resting bewteen those large glowing eyes. Great, graceful wings, when spread, display a mosaic of gold on their sails, small patches of assorted depths and shades creating a stained-glass-window effect, especially when backlit by the sun. Petite and more delicate-seeming than the average gold, what she lacks in size she compensates for by fluidity of motion.
Tialith is 1 turns, 9 months old and 71 feet long. She is 35 feet tall at the shoulder and has a wingspan of 106 feet.
Roa
Straight black hair has been gathered up and tied into a thick braided bun at the nape of this young woman's neck, a widow's peak forming an arched 'V' that accentuates a heart-shaped face. Large, wideset, almond eyes are a clear, cool blue fringed in dark lashes and set under thin, midnight brows. Her nose is small and pert, and lips are full and a soft pale pink.
She is thin, perhaps a little too thin, and the young woman's diminuative stature of 4'10" leaves her looking a mite waifish. Her upper torso is clothed in a dark blue shirt, soft cloth a little loose but gently outlining what few curves she has and stopping just past the faint flare of her hips. By her right shoulder is the knot that marks her as a junior weyrwoman in the colors of Telgar weyr. A small pin fastened to the knot also proclaims her a caucus student. Sleeves spill down skinny arms, the ends cuffed and stopping just shy of little hands with long fingers and nails worn down to the nub. Long legs are wrapped in a light grey skirt and peeping out from the ankle-length hems are a pair of black wherhide boots.
The girl looks to be in her late teens.
As Tialith described, she and her rider are settled around the lake. Roa sits on a flat rock and her gold stands ankle-deep in the water, tail lashing slowly and sending a modest spray along the shore.
Soaring over from their weyr high above, Morelenth and E'sere approach, the bronze landing lightly near water's edge. E'sere slides down from his dragon's neck, a bundle of hides under his arm as he turns to greet Roa. "Weyrwoman, good afternoon. How are you and Tialith?" he asks politely as he approaches.
Roa lifts her hand in a greeting wave as E'sere approaches. "Well, sir, thank you. And yourself and Morelenth?" Her eyes cannot help but move to the fascinating collection of hides E'sere carries. Tialith offers the bronze a languid stretch, complete with arching back and spreading wings. Then she makes her way deeper into the water with a single glance back to Morelenth. An invitation. Or as much as the young and haughty gold is willing to offer.
"We're well," E'sere offers in return, as he steps forward and takes a seat alongside her. "I brought the formation charts, weyrwoman--Morelenth says you're ready to take a look at them?" He sets the hides between them, while Morelenth stretches out and gives Tialith a mild look, before deigning to join her. He stalks forward, slipping into the water easily, a rumbling croon greeting her.
The golden one replies with a congenial warble and then sinks into the lakewater near up to her nose. Whirling eyes regard the approaching bronze. On shore, Roa regards his rider with a little nod. "Yes sir. I've always been curious about them but, as I mentioned before, never had much time to study them." She scoots over to make room for the hides, waiting to see what information they hold.
E'sere nods slowly, picking one hide out of the stack and unfurling it carefully. "We'll start with this one, then," he decides, glancing sideways at Roa. "It's got some of our most basic formations on it--the ones that can be used in basic 'Fall, with no wind or other complications. This one in particular--" he points "--is one of the simplest, but also most useful, I've found." In the water, Morelenth slashes his tail briefly, snaking through the water before settling, returning Tialith's stare with his own.
The little Telgari leans forward and watches the hdie unroll, staring intently at the little marks and lines that connote dragon placements and wing maneuvers. "Huh," Roa says softly. "The bronze and brown placements are somewhat like the pattern the queen's wing flies. I guess catching thread high or low is fairly similar when basic." If it's a staring contest he wants, it's a contest Morelenth will get as blue eyes regard him silently. And then blub blub blub, bubbles begin to appear and pop on the surface as Tialith exhales under the water.
Morelenth stares at Tialith, surprise drifting through his eyes at the bubble-blowing. He lowers his head to water level, staring at the bubbles intently, as though he'd never seen them before. E'sere ignores the dragons in favor of watching Roa, however. "Yes, and the bronzes, at least, being comparably sized to your golds," he explains, "leaves them in a similar position. The blues' and greens' added agility lets them go into different positions, you see?"
Roa nods, a single finger brushing over a mark meant to signify one of the smaller colors. "They move inbetween the bigger ones, and through the gaps in the formation. So," a pause as her focus reurns to the image at large, "In part they're catching thread that breaks through and in part they're protecting the larger, less agile dragons. Right?" Uh oh. Morelenth comes over? He peers? Tialith strikes, flicking her nose up and out of the water with enough force to send a small wave careening upwards and aimed towards the raptly attentive bronze.
"That's right," E'sere agrees, nodding once and offering Roa a pleased smile. "That's precisely it. You should have impressed a green, weyrwoman--you'd do well on a fighting dragon, it seems. You've already got a better grasp of it than some of my riders." He shakes his head, but doesn't name the riders in question. The wave of water catches Morelenth off guard; the bronze isn't so playful, seems mystified by playfulness in others. He only blinks at Tialith, the water sloshing against him.
Roa's cheeks heat and deepen in color. "I can't believe riders who would be flying in these formations didn't understand them," she says with a little laugh. And then, "I actually thought I would. Impress green. If I were to impress anything at all." Her gaze lifts and moves briefly over to the pair of dragons, neither of which happen to be the color mentioned. Then back to E'sere. "Could we look at another one, please?" In the water, it's Tialith's turn to be confused. Her head rises and cants to the side and then lowers again. Another splash, smaller this time, is nudged towards Morelenth and she peers up at him, her inner eyelids blinking.
E'sere shrugs mildly. "We're still going through growing pains. However much we drilled before the Pass, it's an entirely different thing when actually in 'Fall, as we're all learning," he answers. He folds that first hide carefully back up, reaching for another. In the water, Morelenth eyes that second wave while it hits him; then, experimentally, he lowers his muzzle to the water and mimics Tialith's actions. "This one is better suited for crosswinds," he explains it. "See how it changes around. When the wind comes from this direction, we move the larger dragons here to compensate," he notes, a finger tracing across the formation. Then: "Did you really think that? Interesting. I suppose you're just that modest, hmm?" he notes on the subject of her dragon's color, glancing upward with a bemused smile.
Roa clears her thoat and opts not to address her modesty, but rather to look at this new chart. "How quickly can you shift formations? I mean, what if everyone's all aligned and then the wind shifts. The wing's vulnerable from the other side. Would the smaller dragns between over?" The gold shakes her head as water sloshes towards eher but awards the bronze with an encouraging croon. Nose. Splash. Then she waits again.
E'sere's smile broadens at Roa's lack of response, though he turns back to the hide obligingly. "It doesn't take that long to switch, although if it's only one gust, we won't. If the prevailing winds change, I give in the order and we can reform in less than a minute, unless we're under heavy 'Fall. /Between/, yes, that's generally how we do it." Morelenth, dubiously, rumbles, then mimics again, a harder shove at the water scooping up a larger wave, directed at the gold.
Assuming now that her chosen playmate 'gets it' Tialith suddenly sinks well and fully beneath the waves. For the moment, she cannot easily be seen. At least, not from the shore. Over on the rock, Ra peers at the hide, occasionally darting looks upwards to E'sere and then away. "I can understand how, as we're still just learning, betweening in a Fall could be particularly dangerous." She exhales softly, her memory recalling something which makes her lips tiwst into a small frown.
E'sere's eyes cut upward again, falling on Roa. "Not /betweening/ is just as dangerous," he remarks. "There's no way we can be completely assured of our safety, but we take every precaution we can." Shoulders shrugging, he gives the two dragons a glance, a brow arching at Morelenth's consternation. Tialith's disappearance causes the lanky bronze to shuffle closely warily, neck craning for a glimpse of her beneath the water. "I'm surprised Morelenth humors her--he's not a player, in general," the bronzerider on shore remarks idly.
Roa's interest turns to the water and the poor bewildered bronze. Blue eyes regard the scene and then the girl chuckles softly. "Perhaps, sir, he's playing a different game than Tialith," is offered is her low, quiet cadence. "He's going to get very wet very soon," the goldrider predicts. It's only a heartbeat after that the queen surfaces behind Morelenth, rearing up and suddenly expanding her wings in a single, forceful sweep. The result? *SPLASH*.
"I suspect so," agrees E'sere with a nod, eyes still on the dragons. Morelenth gives the two riders a quick befuddled glance, and in that moment, realization and Tialith hit him. He doesn't have time to recoil as the gold pops up again and soaks him. Standing there, dripping, he snorts water from his nostrils and gives Tialith a resignedly bemused look. He knew it was coming, really. On the shore, though, E'sere actually laughs. "She got him good," he remarks. "And here he thought he was being all suave, too."
Roa groans and shakes her head, though the shy smile lingers. "Oh Tia," she sighs, "you really are a pest." It's a well-used comment and more a term of endearment by this point. "She's never really...been interested in suave." The gold flutters her wings, shaking droplets off of her silad before lowering back into the water up to her shoulders. The glides around to peer up at the bronze and emits what can only be deemed a 'chirp'. She *did* get him good. What'll he do about it? Roa's intrest moves back to the hides. "Speaking of being a pest, could I see one more?"
"I'll warn Morelenth, then," E'sere notes dryly, "that maybe he needs to try a different approach on her next time." He grins, glancing around at Roa again. He nods, rerolling that hide easily, while Morelenth gives his rider a brief look before rumbling back to Tialith. "How about this, weyrwoman," suggests E'sere, nodding to his dragon. "Morelenth says one of my riders needs to speak with me, but I'll leave these with you, and you can look over them at your leisure. I don't need them back urgently, and I trust you'll take care of them. If you have any questions or anything, we'll talk more later, all right? Good day, weyrwoman." He stands to leave, though Morelenth remains in the water with Tialith, his eyes mild. He's above such petty retribution--for now.