Log: Storm
Who: Ch'son, Nenita, P'draig, Taineth, Safriath, Jekzith, NPCs: M'sar/Inath, Sivra, Fasha/Cairenth
When: BACKSCENE 2/20/21
Where: Small Island, Ista Area
What: During the weyrling outing and exercise, a bad storm brews up and strands the groups. A weyrling is lost before getting back to safety.
Little Island off the Coast of Ista(#785RJ)
There's a lot of little pocket islands like this one scattered off the coast of Ista given the still active volcanoes in the region. This one has fairly rugged terrain in its tropical jungle interior, but is ringed with pretty white sand beaches, a stark contrast to the black that is so common across the channel on the big island. Several good springs have fresh water further inland a short trek through the trees and a cave system tunnels through the high ridge that is likely the remnant of some ancient volcanic cone.
The winds have been rising steadily for the last half hour and the clouds rolled in /fast/ as they did. The groups on the islands have been here for a full day already, camps set up and varying levels of dedication to the assigned tasks have reigned. Today though, there's a sudden urgent communication from Jekzith to pack up and saddle up to head back to the Weyr as soon as possible. It's an instruction that won't be able to be followed though and it's a near miss when the motley brown pops out of Between over the island where Ch'son is leading, nearly hurled to the ground rather than landing in a sudden gust of wind. Waves crash hard on the beach sending up high plumes of froth and the trees sway back and forth in the building gale.
Nenita having been tucked along into the same group as Ch'son, pulls her jacket over her head. "Of course it would fucking rain out here. This is terrible. I didn't bring a fucking jacket with a fucking hood with me." It doesn't matter what anyone does of course, the rain is just coming down in sheets now and soaking anything that it touches. It even makes visiblity difficult, something that's likely stopping them from getting to their dragons and betweening to the weyr ASAP. Across the group, she calls over to the bronze weyrling in charge. "Anyone heard from M'sar yet? He's supposed to be on the west side picking Fasha up. He should have been back with her by now." She doesn't even notice the appearance of P'draig in the storm.
"Not that anyone's told me," Ch'son calls back to Nenita. He's had that orange thing tied around the top of his head but now he pushes the soaked thing off to tuck into his pocket. It's not doing much to keep the water out of his face at this point. The bronze weyrling is still trying to see things packed up despite the saddling up to head back not being such a great idea now.
Swinging off of Jekzith's back, P'draig looks up at the sky a little pale, concern writ large on his face. One hand sweeps water out of his eyes: the Weyrlingmaster is soaked to the skin. Rapid steps carry him to where the weyrlings are busily packing up. "Hey! Ch'son, Nenita, change of plan!" he calls out through the roar of the sea and the wind. "Is everyone all pulled in?" he asks promptly as he nears, shoves a hand through his hair and grimaces as it slicks back, tangles a little around his fingers and he has to yank them out with a wince.
Safriath of course, is out on the beach. She looks disenchanted with the sun suddenl gone rain and perhaps even, a little worried. Her swirls yellow with caution and she protectively spreads her wings over a smaller green that's nearby. Nenita glances back to her and then across the beach to Ch'son. "Has Taineth tried to get a hold of them?" The approach of the Weyrlingmaster gets a little jolt of her shoulders and she pulls that jacket down tighter. "M'sar and Fasha are on the other side of the island still. He was supposed to go and bring them back from that little search and rescue exercise. Haven't heard anything yet, don't know what's going on."
The bronzerider pauses when he hears P'draig and stands straight to face the brownrider and listen in on what these change of plans are exactly. Nenita's question pulls Ch'son's attention her way, though, but he unfocuses in that familiar way of a rider talking to their dragon a moment later. "Inath says," there's a pause and Ch'son comes back to focus with a slightly more tense expression. "She says M'sar don't know where Fasha is. Damned useless wherry," the last isn't exactly muttered but quiet compared to the rain.
Brow knitting with concern at this update, P'draig only nods for a moment, then gestures back towards the ridge that divides the island. "There's that cave system back there right? We're going to have to hunker down back there. I think whatever happens, we've got to get off the beach though," he points out, gesturing to the increasingly high seas, the violence of the waves. "I almost got slammed into the ground though just landing in these winds, so I don't know if dragons'll be able to take off again. Might have to risk it and quickly to get under cover though." Breath in. "All right, M'sar went alone after Fasha?" That's making his frown deepen considerably. "T'mic's on the other island pulling the others together, but I don't think they're going to make it over here. Hope they'll be okay though, that spot doesn't have nearly as much rock on it as this one."
"He doesn't know where she is? What the hell is he doing over there then?" Nevermind that Ch'son probably doesn't have the answers to those questions. Nenita mutters them to herself anyway, arms crossing over her chest. "Cairenth isn't answering either?" She asks allowed, looking from brownrider to bronzerider and then twisting back to her queen. Her eyes lose focus as she reaches out to the gold. "It's confusing. Just rain, lets of rain. And jungle. I don't think they understand where they're at either." Her 'brow furrows together and she drops the jacket back over her shoulders. "What do we do about them? We can't just go off and hide in the caves and leave those two wandering around out there?"
"Looking?" Ch'son suggests to Nenita before he's looking toward where they should probably be. At least the general direction considering the visibility. He lifts a hand to rub the water out of his eyes, which squint against the water that keeps falling. "Lets get everyone else put up and then maybe I can go try 'n find them?" It's sort of a question vaguely directed at P'draig in particular for some confirmation or disagreement on the plan. Not entirely comfortable in this role of responsibility.
It's entirely possible that P'draig's been waiting to see what Ch'son is going to come up with as leader. That he shoots the bronzerider a faint look of askance for his proposed plan, might indicate a test not passed. "No, we can't leave them out there alone. Ch'son, Nenita, get ready to saddle up and fly out with me, we're going after M'sar and Fasha, both of your dragons should be big enough to handle these winds better than the rest of the group. Ch'son, grab Sivra over there and have her pull the group together, leave anything heavy behind and make a quick dash for the caves. They're to stay there until the weather clears up. When the wind and rain have /stopped/ they're to form up and jump back to the Weyr unless they hear back from a Weyrlingmaster or the Weyrleaders." Jekzith meanwhile is eyeing the onrushing storm with narrowed eyes and his paws dig restlessly at the sand on th ebeach.
There's a nod from Ch'son before he moves off to give Sivra her instructions on what to do while the three of them go to find the missing pair. There's a gesture in the direction of the caves, a gesture back toward more open space, a few more moments of talking and then Ch'son pats her on the back. The weyrling turns to gather up straps and heads for Taineth to saddle up with over-practiced ease. The bronze is watching the storm with some bit of fascination and his eyes whirl with a mixture of excitement and concern.
Nenita's grumbling doesn't really cause much of a reaction from P'draig other than a little twitch of his brows. The two ostensible leaders of the group are both acting like anything but and so his face remains mostly neutral-to-stern. Not really a natural expression for the usually affable WLM. Jekzith leaves off digging in the sand and comes over, P'draig tightening straps and he then he steps over to give some extra words of reassureance to the group. "Everyone, Sivra's going to take care of getting you all to the caves. Take a mid-flight position, fly in a vee, and fly /strong/. Give the ridge a good clearance when you land. Do not try to /fly/ into any of the upper caves, /walk/ people and dragons both into the lower. That should be plenty high ground enough and decent shelter. We'll be back as soon as possible with your fellow weyrlings. Now, everyone, get a move on!" A clap of hands follows and then Paddy's turning to mount up onto Jekzith. << Safriath, Taineth, with me please. Vee formation and we will alternate breaking the wind for each other if we need to. What are the last coordinates for the missing pairs? >>
When the trio lift into the air, Nenita leans down on Safriath's back trying to remain as out of the wind as she can up there. << Cairenath is on the beach, the other side. With Inath and his. I do not know where the other is. >> There are traces of concern in her voice, though there might be some excitement laced in with it all. << I will fly in front first. >> Oh, the entitlement. Being the one to break the wind first as they leap into the air and fly on must be making her rider /so/ glad.
Taineth offers his visual of the beach to Jekzith for visual reference even if it's likely changed with the falling sheets of rain and wind now. He offers his visual of where Ch'son and him last knew of Fasha's whereabouts, too. The bronze seems content to let the oh-so-clever Safriath take point first, though only because he's just usually kind of obliging with her, not because he doesn't want to do it himself.
Up into the air they go and Jekzith cedes point to Safriath with a straightforward: << You're the biggest, that makes sense. But watch the wind currents as we come out of Between. >> P'draig nods over at Ch'son for the visual, makes sure it's solid with Jekzith. << Use Taineth's visual, and we'll hop over Between, but be ready to brace over the other side if the winds change. >> It's hard to stay aloft anf flying a steady course in the mess. Very hard. Smaller dragons would be struggling even more right now and the dark clouds coming promise worse. It's a quick Between jump and on the other side, they do get slammed with a howling gust and driving rain. << Hold together! >> is Jekzith's relay as they skim along to find M'sar and his green.
Safriath though prepared is not /totally/ prepared when she comes out on the other side. The howling winds and driving rains rock her body a little and it's probably good that she volunteered to go first. After the readjustment period she wings it over the beach, keeping them relatively on course as they proceed forward to find Ianath and his. << Down there! I think I see her. Or is that just seaweed? >> She trumpets loudly to signal their arrival to the pair below, anxiously craning her neck for sight of the other dragon as well.
Small as bronzes go, Taineth must compensate some amount when they come out of between to hold position. Ch'son is wiping away at the driving rain to try looking himself and Taineth is keeping his attention on the land below. << Inath's should go back to her if he hasn't already. If he's been no help so far, we don't need to worry about finding someone else. >> That's probably Ch'son's influence there.
Though long, Jekzith is slender and it's definitely a good thing Safriath is out front, because for him it's a matter of skill more than brute strength to stay on target. << I can hear her. That's Inath. Ask her to call her rider back, Safriath, please, P'draig asks. Fly down carefully, power down landing, >> the brown adds, << Paddy wants to find out what's going on before we go on. >> And then he's putting action to words, though of course, following Safriath's lead.
Safriath angles down, carefully adjusting her wings so that she's not blown off course while coming down to the ground, eventually using her wings catch some wind so that she doesn't crash into the ground. << Of course. >> She answers as her legs finally hit the sand. The gold comes along right next to Inath, extending a wing over the top of her to keep some of the rain away. << He's on his way. >> And sure enough he. M'sar comes stumbling out of the jungles, looking dazed and confused. And he's more than a little stressed out, as soon as the dragons come within his line of sight the babbling begins. "Sir, sir! I just... I told her to wait- or rather I told Inath to tell Cairenath to wait and then... she didn't! She just wanted to come down to the beach but I kept looking I didn't wait for her down here! Was I supposed to wait, I can't /find/ her!"
Taineth follows Safriath to a stubborn landing, his disproportionately large wings not his biggest asset in the strong winds. Both his and Ch'son's heads turn toward M'sar when he comes out of the jungle. The bronze echoes some of his rider's frustration with a low rumble and an anxiously restless twitch of tail. "Calm down, man," Ch'son calls back to the greenrider. "D'you know which way she was headin'? Any landmarks she can tell t'Cairenath that might help?" Taineth looks at the green.
On landing, P'draig holds onto straps, then straightens, unbuckles and hops down to go meet M'sar. "So she's up in the jungle still?" he asks the weyrling. "How long ago was this and which way did she go and like Ch'son said, can she pass anything to Cairenth?" One of his hands goes to M'sar's shoulder to steady him. "C"mon, take a deep breath and think, M'sar."
Nenita undoes her buckles and climbs down from Safriath, though what she's going to do once down there remains unseen. She's relatively quiet in respect to the spectacle that's M'sar. "Last she sent to me she was up by one of the 'falls. Awhile ago. She was coming down hill, through the jungles over the rocks and stuff and I don't know! Inath can't get through to Cairenath to tell us anything!" He does try to calm down for a second. A second long enough to reach to his own dragon and await a response. "Oh, oh! She's /hurt/! The /rocks/!" And if there's anything he's going to do now? It's panic. Not calm down. Wide eyes look into P'draig's before he utters a pained, "I /lost/ her! I lost her!" It's only moments after this that the dragons should feel the pain from a new hole ripped in their collective conscious. Cairenth goes between. Cue true horror on the greenrider's face as he yanks away from the Weyrlingmaster and makes an attempt at mad dash down the beach to his dragon.
Ch'son hits the ground around the time that M'sar is starting to panic and he's making his way in the greenrider's direction with an expression that everyone's likely familiar with by now. He'd really like to smack him back to focus. Taineth keens a horrible sound when the green goes between and it might be a good thing for both him and M'sar that Ch'son is a little overwhelmed by what the bronze puts into his head. For now it keeps him from trying to chase after the greenrider, having enough trouble staying on his feet. "Fuck!" is what he has to say, probably not entirely audible over the rain, wind and dragons.
Jekzith's keen joins the others' but P'draig ... well he's heard it before. A lot and though his face grays out, he strides past Ch'son, hand to his shoulder now. "Stay put," he orders rather crisply and then he's after M'sar, reaching to grab the weyrling's arm and hold him in place. "C'mon M'sar. Shake it off, pull it together." Otherwise, it's likely P'draig is going to shake or slap some sense into him. The wind doubles up just then, and the brownrider looks up at the darkening sky. "Ch'son, Nenita, get ready to go," he makes a swift decision. "She's gone. We'll come back to see if we can find the body when the storm lets up. For now, we've got to worry about the living and we're going to be in serious trouble if we stay out here." Then he's looking back at M'sar. "Come on M'sar. If she went off by herself, it's not your fault," he says in a quieter voice. "Right now though, it's time to go and if I have to put you across Jekzith's back, knocked out cold, I will." There's a thread of iron in his voice.
While Ch'son and P'draig are reacting, Nenita is remarkably silent. Her mouth drops open and she looks up at the sky as if she's expecting to be able to see Cairenath up there. But it's impossible, the skies are too dark and the rain too intense for her to see any fleeting glimpse of green hide. There isn't a single sound that comes out of her mouth and her eyes eventually drop, landing on M'sar and casting over to the bronze weyrling. Mention of going back later prompts her eyes to widen even more, even as she steps back to Safriath climbing up numbly to follow the other two back to camp. "No, no! It's /my/ fault! I let her go! Me!" M'sar will continue to be absolutely hysterical until P'draig or Ch'son (definitely not Nenita) does something to silence him or manhandle him into submission. And once he's in that state, he should be easy to bring back to the caves.
Ch'son actually stays right where he was told to stay but his fists are clenching and it's not the easiest task the weyrling has been given recently. That look he's watching M'sar with, at least, probably suggests he'll just wait for some other time with less P'draig's around to stop him. So much nicer to blame the greenrider than himself, after all. It takes a few moments but after the order to get ready, that's when Ch'son moves to get back on Taineth, very quiet and very tense. The bronze himself is watching Inath and offering the much smaller green what comforting thoughts he can through his own grief.
Hysterics. Oh fun. Ultimately, P'draig who generally doesn't like to do these things, gives M'sar a good slap across the face which shuts the weyrling up, though he's still crying silently. Then rather than trust him to do his own visual, Paddy marches him over to Jekzith and makes sure he's aboard. The visual to get back is shared dragon-dragon directly with the brown trying to be as soothing as possible to hold the group of weyrlings together. The weyrlingmaster does take a moment to check on both Nenita and CH'son, but there's no time, the storm is coming on fast and furious. "Ch'son, Nenita, let's get back under cover. We can grieve once we're there," he says firmly and then he's up on Jekzith's back and this time, the motley brown is taking point, instructing Inath to fall into the rear between the other two bigger dragons so they can protect her from the winds before jumping 'home' to dash in under cover of rock just as the wind shrieks in full over the island and lightning and thunder growl and shake everything and the sea out there looks like it's turning into a stirred pot.
When: BACKSCENE 2/20/21
Where: Small Island, Ista Area
What: During the weyrling outing and exercise, a bad storm brews up and strands the groups. A weyrling is lost before getting back to safety.
Little Island off the Coast of Ista(#785RJ)
There's a lot of little pocket islands like this one scattered off the coast of Ista given the still active volcanoes in the region. This one has fairly rugged terrain in its tropical jungle interior, but is ringed with pretty white sand beaches, a stark contrast to the black that is so common across the channel on the big island. Several good springs have fresh water further inland a short trek through the trees and a cave system tunnels through the high ridge that is likely the remnant of some ancient volcanic cone.
The winds have been rising steadily for the last half hour and the clouds rolled in /fast/ as they did. The groups on the islands have been here for a full day already, camps set up and varying levels of dedication to the assigned tasks have reigned. Today though, there's a sudden urgent communication from Jekzith to pack up and saddle up to head back to the Weyr as soon as possible. It's an instruction that won't be able to be followed though and it's a near miss when the motley brown pops out of Between over the island where Ch'son is leading, nearly hurled to the ground rather than landing in a sudden gust of wind. Waves crash hard on the beach sending up high plumes of froth and the trees sway back and forth in the building gale.
Nenita having been tucked along into the same group as Ch'son, pulls her jacket over her head. "Of course it would fucking rain out here. This is terrible. I didn't bring a fucking jacket with a fucking hood with me." It doesn't matter what anyone does of course, the rain is just coming down in sheets now and soaking anything that it touches. It even makes visiblity difficult, something that's likely stopping them from getting to their dragons and betweening to the weyr ASAP. Across the group, she calls over to the bronze weyrling in charge. "Anyone heard from M'sar yet? He's supposed to be on the west side picking Fasha up. He should have been back with her by now." She doesn't even notice the appearance of P'draig in the storm.
"Not that anyone's told me," Ch'son calls back to Nenita. He's had that orange thing tied around the top of his head but now he pushes the soaked thing off to tuck into his pocket. It's not doing much to keep the water out of his face at this point. The bronze weyrling is still trying to see things packed up despite the saddling up to head back not being such a great idea now.
Swinging off of Jekzith's back, P'draig looks up at the sky a little pale, concern writ large on his face. One hand sweeps water out of his eyes: the Weyrlingmaster is soaked to the skin. Rapid steps carry him to where the weyrlings are busily packing up. "Hey! Ch'son, Nenita, change of plan!" he calls out through the roar of the sea and the wind. "Is everyone all pulled in?" he asks promptly as he nears, shoves a hand through his hair and grimaces as it slicks back, tangles a little around his fingers and he has to yank them out with a wince.
Safriath of course, is out on the beach. She looks disenchanted with the sun suddenl gone rain and perhaps even, a little worried. Her swirls yellow with caution and she protectively spreads her wings over a smaller green that's nearby. Nenita glances back to her and then across the beach to Ch'son. "Has Taineth tried to get a hold of them?" The approach of the Weyrlingmaster gets a little jolt of her shoulders and she pulls that jacket down tighter. "M'sar and Fasha are on the other side of the island still. He was supposed to go and bring them back from that little search and rescue exercise. Haven't heard anything yet, don't know what's going on."
The bronzerider pauses when he hears P'draig and stands straight to face the brownrider and listen in on what these change of plans are exactly. Nenita's question pulls Ch'son's attention her way, though, but he unfocuses in that familiar way of a rider talking to their dragon a moment later. "Inath says," there's a pause and Ch'son comes back to focus with a slightly more tense expression. "She says M'sar don't know where Fasha is. Damned useless wherry," the last isn't exactly muttered but quiet compared to the rain.
Brow knitting with concern at this update, P'draig only nods for a moment, then gestures back towards the ridge that divides the island. "There's that cave system back there right? We're going to have to hunker down back there. I think whatever happens, we've got to get off the beach though," he points out, gesturing to the increasingly high seas, the violence of the waves. "I almost got slammed into the ground though just landing in these winds, so I don't know if dragons'll be able to take off again. Might have to risk it and quickly to get under cover though." Breath in. "All right, M'sar went alone after Fasha?" That's making his frown deepen considerably. "T'mic's on the other island pulling the others together, but I don't think they're going to make it over here. Hope they'll be okay though, that spot doesn't have nearly as much rock on it as this one."
"He doesn't know where she is? What the hell is he doing over there then?" Nevermind that Ch'son probably doesn't have the answers to those questions. Nenita mutters them to herself anyway, arms crossing over her chest. "Cairenth isn't answering either?" She asks allowed, looking from brownrider to bronzerider and then twisting back to her queen. Her eyes lose focus as she reaches out to the gold. "It's confusing. Just rain, lets of rain. And jungle. I don't think they understand where they're at either." Her 'brow furrows together and she drops the jacket back over her shoulders. "What do we do about them? We can't just go off and hide in the caves and leave those two wandering around out there?"
"Looking?" Ch'son suggests to Nenita before he's looking toward where they should probably be. At least the general direction considering the visibility. He lifts a hand to rub the water out of his eyes, which squint against the water that keeps falling. "Lets get everyone else put up and then maybe I can go try 'n find them?" It's sort of a question vaguely directed at P'draig in particular for some confirmation or disagreement on the plan. Not entirely comfortable in this role of responsibility.
It's entirely possible that P'draig's been waiting to see what Ch'son is going to come up with as leader. That he shoots the bronzerider a faint look of askance for his proposed plan, might indicate a test not passed. "No, we can't leave them out there alone. Ch'son, Nenita, get ready to saddle up and fly out with me, we're going after M'sar and Fasha, both of your dragons should be big enough to handle these winds better than the rest of the group. Ch'son, grab Sivra over there and have her pull the group together, leave anything heavy behind and make a quick dash for the caves. They're to stay there until the weather clears up. When the wind and rain have /stopped/ they're to form up and jump back to the Weyr unless they hear back from a Weyrlingmaster or the Weyrleaders." Jekzith meanwhile is eyeing the onrushing storm with narrowed eyes and his paws dig restlessly at the sand on th ebeach.
There's a nod from Ch'son before he moves off to give Sivra her instructions on what to do while the three of them go to find the missing pair. There's a gesture in the direction of the caves, a gesture back toward more open space, a few more moments of talking and then Ch'son pats her on the back. The weyrling turns to gather up straps and heads for Taineth to saddle up with over-practiced ease. The bronze is watching the storm with some bit of fascination and his eyes whirl with a mixture of excitement and concern.
Nenita's grumbling doesn't really cause much of a reaction from P'draig other than a little twitch of his brows. The two ostensible leaders of the group are both acting like anything but and so his face remains mostly neutral-to-stern. Not really a natural expression for the usually affable WLM. Jekzith leaves off digging in the sand and comes over, P'draig tightening straps and he then he steps over to give some extra words of reassureance to the group. "Everyone, Sivra's going to take care of getting you all to the caves. Take a mid-flight position, fly in a vee, and fly /strong/. Give the ridge a good clearance when you land. Do not try to /fly/ into any of the upper caves, /walk/ people and dragons both into the lower. That should be plenty high ground enough and decent shelter. We'll be back as soon as possible with your fellow weyrlings. Now, everyone, get a move on!" A clap of hands follows and then Paddy's turning to mount up onto Jekzith. << Safriath, Taineth, with me please. Vee formation and we will alternate breaking the wind for each other if we need to. What are the last coordinates for the missing pairs? >>
When the trio lift into the air, Nenita leans down on Safriath's back trying to remain as out of the wind as she can up there. << Cairenath is on the beach, the other side. With Inath and his. I do not know where the other is. >> There are traces of concern in her voice, though there might be some excitement laced in with it all. << I will fly in front first. >> Oh, the entitlement. Being the one to break the wind first as they leap into the air and fly on must be making her rider /so/ glad.
Taineth offers his visual of the beach to Jekzith for visual reference even if it's likely changed with the falling sheets of rain and wind now. He offers his visual of where Ch'son and him last knew of Fasha's whereabouts, too. The bronze seems content to let the oh-so-clever Safriath take point first, though only because he's just usually kind of obliging with her, not because he doesn't want to do it himself.
Up into the air they go and Jekzith cedes point to Safriath with a straightforward: << You're the biggest, that makes sense. But watch the wind currents as we come out of Between. >> P'draig nods over at Ch'son for the visual, makes sure it's solid with Jekzith. << Use Taineth's visual, and we'll hop over Between, but be ready to brace over the other side if the winds change. >> It's hard to stay aloft anf flying a steady course in the mess. Very hard. Smaller dragons would be struggling even more right now and the dark clouds coming promise worse. It's a quick Between jump and on the other side, they do get slammed with a howling gust and driving rain. << Hold together! >> is Jekzith's relay as they skim along to find M'sar and his green.
Safriath though prepared is not /totally/ prepared when she comes out on the other side. The howling winds and driving rains rock her body a little and it's probably good that she volunteered to go first. After the readjustment period she wings it over the beach, keeping them relatively on course as they proceed forward to find Ianath and his. << Down there! I think I see her. Or is that just seaweed? >> She trumpets loudly to signal their arrival to the pair below, anxiously craning her neck for sight of the other dragon as well.
Small as bronzes go, Taineth must compensate some amount when they come out of between to hold position. Ch'son is wiping away at the driving rain to try looking himself and Taineth is keeping his attention on the land below. << Inath's should go back to her if he hasn't already. If he's been no help so far, we don't need to worry about finding someone else. >> That's probably Ch'son's influence there.
Though long, Jekzith is slender and it's definitely a good thing Safriath is out front, because for him it's a matter of skill more than brute strength to stay on target. << I can hear her. That's Inath. Ask her to call her rider back, Safriath, please, P'draig asks. Fly down carefully, power down landing, >> the brown adds, << Paddy wants to find out what's going on before we go on. >> And then he's putting action to words, though of course, following Safriath's lead.
Safriath angles down, carefully adjusting her wings so that she's not blown off course while coming down to the ground, eventually using her wings catch some wind so that she doesn't crash into the ground. << Of course. >> She answers as her legs finally hit the sand. The gold comes along right next to Inath, extending a wing over the top of her to keep some of the rain away. << He's on his way. >> And sure enough he. M'sar comes stumbling out of the jungles, looking dazed and confused. And he's more than a little stressed out, as soon as the dragons come within his line of sight the babbling begins. "Sir, sir! I just... I told her to wait- or rather I told Inath to tell Cairenath to wait and then... she didn't! She just wanted to come down to the beach but I kept looking I didn't wait for her down here! Was I supposed to wait, I can't /find/ her!"
Taineth follows Safriath to a stubborn landing, his disproportionately large wings not his biggest asset in the strong winds. Both his and Ch'son's heads turn toward M'sar when he comes out of the jungle. The bronze echoes some of his rider's frustration with a low rumble and an anxiously restless twitch of tail. "Calm down, man," Ch'son calls back to the greenrider. "D'you know which way she was headin'? Any landmarks she can tell t'Cairenath that might help?" Taineth looks at the green.
On landing, P'draig holds onto straps, then straightens, unbuckles and hops down to go meet M'sar. "So she's up in the jungle still?" he asks the weyrling. "How long ago was this and which way did she go and like Ch'son said, can she pass anything to Cairenth?" One of his hands goes to M'sar's shoulder to steady him. "C"mon, take a deep breath and think, M'sar."
Nenita undoes her buckles and climbs down from Safriath, though what she's going to do once down there remains unseen. She's relatively quiet in respect to the spectacle that's M'sar. "Last she sent to me she was up by one of the 'falls. Awhile ago. She was coming down hill, through the jungles over the rocks and stuff and I don't know! Inath can't get through to Cairenath to tell us anything!" He does try to calm down for a second. A second long enough to reach to his own dragon and await a response. "Oh, oh! She's /hurt/! The /rocks/!" And if there's anything he's going to do now? It's panic. Not calm down. Wide eyes look into P'draig's before he utters a pained, "I /lost/ her! I lost her!" It's only moments after this that the dragons should feel the pain from a new hole ripped in their collective conscious. Cairenth goes between. Cue true horror on the greenrider's face as he yanks away from the Weyrlingmaster and makes an attempt at mad dash down the beach to his dragon.
Ch'son hits the ground around the time that M'sar is starting to panic and he's making his way in the greenrider's direction with an expression that everyone's likely familiar with by now. He'd really like to smack him back to focus. Taineth keens a horrible sound when the green goes between and it might be a good thing for both him and M'sar that Ch'son is a little overwhelmed by what the bronze puts into his head. For now it keeps him from trying to chase after the greenrider, having enough trouble staying on his feet. "Fuck!" is what he has to say, probably not entirely audible over the rain, wind and dragons.
Jekzith's keen joins the others' but P'draig ... well he's heard it before. A lot and though his face grays out, he strides past Ch'son, hand to his shoulder now. "Stay put," he orders rather crisply and then he's after M'sar, reaching to grab the weyrling's arm and hold him in place. "C'mon M'sar. Shake it off, pull it together." Otherwise, it's likely P'draig is going to shake or slap some sense into him. The wind doubles up just then, and the brownrider looks up at the darkening sky. "Ch'son, Nenita, get ready to go," he makes a swift decision. "She's gone. We'll come back to see if we can find the body when the storm lets up. For now, we've got to worry about the living and we're going to be in serious trouble if we stay out here." Then he's looking back at M'sar. "Come on M'sar. If she went off by herself, it's not your fault," he says in a quieter voice. "Right now though, it's time to go and if I have to put you across Jekzith's back, knocked out cold, I will." There's a thread of iron in his voice.
While Ch'son and P'draig are reacting, Nenita is remarkably silent. Her mouth drops open and she looks up at the sky as if she's expecting to be able to see Cairenath up there. But it's impossible, the skies are too dark and the rain too intense for her to see any fleeting glimpse of green hide. There isn't a single sound that comes out of her mouth and her eyes eventually drop, landing on M'sar and casting over to the bronze weyrling. Mention of going back later prompts her eyes to widen even more, even as she steps back to Safriath climbing up numbly to follow the other two back to camp. "No, no! It's /my/ fault! I let her go! Me!" M'sar will continue to be absolutely hysterical until P'draig or Ch'son (definitely not Nenita) does something to silence him or manhandle him into submission. And once he's in that state, he should be easy to bring back to the caves.
Ch'son actually stays right where he was told to stay but his fists are clenching and it's not the easiest task the weyrling has been given recently. That look he's watching M'sar with, at least, probably suggests he'll just wait for some other time with less P'draig's around to stop him. So much nicer to blame the greenrider than himself, after all. It takes a few moments but after the order to get ready, that's when Ch'son moves to get back on Taineth, very quiet and very tense. The bronze himself is watching Inath and offering the much smaller green what comforting thoughts he can through his own grief.
Hysterics. Oh fun. Ultimately, P'draig who generally doesn't like to do these things, gives M'sar a good slap across the face which shuts the weyrling up, though he's still crying silently. Then rather than trust him to do his own visual, Paddy marches him over to Jekzith and makes sure he's aboard. The visual to get back is shared dragon-dragon directly with the brown trying to be as soothing as possible to hold the group of weyrlings together. The weyrlingmaster does take a moment to check on both Nenita and CH'son, but there's no time, the storm is coming on fast and furious. "Ch'son, Nenita, let's get back under cover. We can grieve once we're there," he says firmly and then he's up on Jekzith's back and this time, the motley brown is taking point, instructing Inath to fall into the rear between the other two bigger dragons so they can protect her from the winds before jumping 'home' to dash in under cover of rock just as the wind shrieks in full over the island and lightning and thunder growl and shake everything and the sea out there looks like it's turning into a stirred pot.