Log: In which Szadath and Iskiveth get wet!
Date: Day 8, Month 8, Turn 23 of Interval 10
Summary: Szadath and Iskiveth roughhouse in the lake. Apparently they are still like month-old hatchlings. Only gigantic. And they can squish you.
>'>
NorCon MUSH - 8/27/2010
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Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr(#276RJs)
The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.
A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs.
The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day.
Contents:
Szadath(#1824abep$0)
Iskiveth
Teris
Obvious exits:
Diving Cliff Lake Bowl
It is a summer dusk, 20:13 of day 8, month 8, turn 23 of Interval 10.
It's a pleasant dusk evening and Iskiveth has made good use of it mutilating two herdbeasts. She managed to get a lot of them on herself and she looks oddly proud about it as she sits by the lake, surveying the inhabitants that are giving the blood-stained queen a rather large berth at the moment. Teris is on her way, there in the distance.
The relatively clear skies have apparently held some appeal to Szadath and Taikrin: they've been absent the Weyr for most of the afternoon, and only now do they pair of them circle tightly down towards the lake. The brown levels out briefly a couple of lengths above Iskiveth, head craned in a rather obvious way, before completing his overly aggressive descent with a bugle of raw delight. << Hey, Iskiveth! Lookin' good. >> The line has the slur of something taken from Taikrin's thoughts, though echoed in his too-loud baritone.
<< I know. >> Iskiveth is so modest. Except not. She thinks she looks good and she expects everyone else to think so, too. She sounds pleasant, at any rate. << Did you and yours find anymore treasure? >> They do have a tendency of picking it up, after all. The pointy gold looks back toward where Teris is still making her way closer with all manner of bathing paraphernalia for the dragon. She's probably muttering about it, too. Damned bloody (literally) dragon.
No sooner has Taikrin slid down the brown's side than he's hop-stepping over to join Iskiveth, though the way he's flaring his wings isn't /entirely/ called for. << No new treasure today. Just a lot of flowers. Boring flowers. >> He sits back on his haunches, spine held stiffly to make himself look as absolutely tall as his squat frame can manage. << Killing stuff was good? >> Taikrin herself is grumbling about being so summarily dumped, but she does simultaneously get to work on kicking off her heavy boots. << Found a wherry flock, but they were lame. Too slow. >>
Iskiveth tilts her head toward the brown and snaps her jaws in his direction. It almost seems affectionate, though, in it's oddly warning way. She doesn't have to make sense, though. She's a girl! << Killing stuff was good, >> she agrees. << Teris only lets me eat certain ones and I don't really get to /chase/ them. But they're still good. >> Maybe that's why she made such a mess of them, to make up for the lack of chasing. "You couldn't at least get in the sharding water?" calls Teris irritably as she gets closer, lugging that basket of stuff.
Szadath has probably been snapped at so many times by now that it hardly brings any reaction at all, except for perfunctary baring of teeth in a ruggedly charming sort of way -- especially given his prominently missing tooth. << Come killing with me next time. We can chase those wherries as much as we want because they don't taste that great so nobody cares. But they can fly pretty fast when they get real scared. >> A curl of acrid smoke drifts through his thoughts, smugly pleased, as he flashes an image of a requisite wherry hunt. "Hey, Teris!" Taikrin is likewise nonplussed by Teris' irritation; conversely, seeing the other woman so annoyed seems to brighten her own mood. "Need a hand?"
The queen's eyes thread with a deep whirl of red at the thought of hunting. << Things taste better when they're scared, >> she notes almost wistfully. Her last meal was taken too abruptly to be very scared at all. Such a shame! "I need so many hands, I don't even know where to start," returns Teris, the answer in there not really offered up front until she sighs and adds, "Please?" Then, continues unnecessarily, "Sometimes I think she makes such a mess just so I have to bathe her. But then she fights about having to hold still the whole time."
<< And it's more fun to chase them, first. It's not worth it if it's not hard. >> Words of wisdom from the brown that's still holding himself as upright as he can-- it can't possibly be comfortable, though he gives no sign he's doing anything at all unusual. "Hah, yeah, well, reckon maybe she does, huh?" Taikrin trots, barefoot, to relieve Teris of the more ungainly of her burdens. "Maybe she just likes the /thought/ of it, y'know? Szad's kinda that way-- sometimes I don't understand what's goin' through his head, things he comes up with." Another quick glance at Iskiveth, then she adds wrly, "'Course, usually he don't end up leavin' himself covered in blood, neither."
Since Iskiveth is bigger than Szadath, she doesn't seem to be taking his uprightness as trying to be bigger than her. That probably wouldn't go over very well. With a playful croon, she clicks her teeth together near his neck, then ducks her head to nudge him before her own wings mantle and she stands. << I bet I can catch more than you can. >> You'd think she could go one conversation without challenging him, but no. Teris hands over the basket like she's oh so glad to be rid of it even though she watches to make sure Taikrin doesn't somehow spontaneously bust the whole thing apart or anything. "Lucky you," she offers dryly, then looks toward Iskiveth. "Water! I don't want to have to scrub it all off of you by hand." The gold, reluctantly, moves away from Szadath to plow into the water in a fashion that would probably not look so ridiculous were she still a small hatchling.
<< I've been practicing a /lot/. I'm getting really good at catching. Bet I can do twice as many as you can. >> Szadath has never /not/ been able to rise to the bait. He bares that gap-toothed grin again, utterly unfazed by the snapping. As he gets nudged, he twists around to buffet at one of those mantling wings with his own. << At least twice. >> "What're you carryin' in here, anyways?" Taikrin appears happy enough to take the basket, though she eyes it somewhat warily once she's toting it along. "Don't ever need half so much stuff t'get him clean."
The fact that Szadath has been /able/ to practice a lot ruffles Iskiveth noticeably. Her fire crackles and pops as she settles in the water, moves out further and doesn't respond. In fact, she's fixed her gaze on a bronze on the far side of the lake. "It's just... stuff." Teris waves a vague hand and doesn't have much better of an answer than that. "Soapsand, brushes, scented oils... just stuff." Girly stuff, evidently.
Well. If there's anything assured to get a rise out of Szadath, it's losing out on being the center of attenion to a /bronze/. Apparently the best way to combat that is to take a huge leap into the water, straps and all, with the apparent aim of drowning Iskiveth under as much water as he can manage. << Bet I can get /more/ than twice! Bet I could get twice as many before you even got out of the water! >> Taikrin is not oblivious to all this -- there's a flicker of a smirk, but it's quickly subsumed by a long-suffering groan. "Bloody shells, there he goes again." She rattles the basket in her hand, drawing to a halt a good set of paces from the lake shore. "Well. At least she's gonna get, uh, good an' soaked."
There's a ear-grating screech of protest from the pointy little queen and the way she snaps at him seems a little more serious this time but still doesn't quite connect. Possibly because she goes under water. << Never! /I/ always get more. >> Which, yeah, isn't true. But she's clearly entitled to more! Teris is /trying/ to ignore the commotion the two clutchmates have started. "You can just put it down wherever, thanks," she says, not sounding all that grateful what with being distracted by her lifemate and all. "Right, soaked. I'm going to be, too." At least she's not wearing things to cover every inch of her body. Shorts and a button down shirt that looks like it might have belonged to a man but couldn't possibly be from one with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
This time the snapping is taken more seriously, and Szadath lunges away from those jaws (never mind that Iskiveth is going underwater) only to twist back and try to offer what's got to be the most awkward shoulder-check of all time. << Yeah well you're going to have to come and take it! Bet you can't! >> It's probably a good thing that the hour is such that all of the children are likely out of the lake. "Yeah, well-- have fun with that." Taikrin is more than happy to leave the basket up above the high water line, where it's nice and safe and dry. But despite the tone of voice, there's a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips again. "Figured they would'a grown out of this by the time they got t'be too big t'be picked up, y'know?"
<< I can take anything you can! >> And Iskiveth totally means it! The fire of her presence blazes with the indignity of Szadath having any upper hand over her and she twists around toward him to take it back. "He'd better not hurt her," Teris says in that way of hers. And, yes, she's ignoring the fact that Iskiveth is just as likely to hurt him. "I'm still hoping they do grow out of it. It doesn't seem very... right for her to be like that."
"Sure he won't," Taikrin assures breezily, as if Szadath lunging up at the taller Iskiveth with bruising force-- at least there's enough water to prove a significant hamper to any sudden motions. << Prove it! >> His voice reverberates, incredibly loud, accompanied by a blast of chill wind to fan Iskiveth's flames. "Well, maybe another coupl'a turns, she won't-- y'know, want t'play so much. Be a little more, uh, mature?" There's a pointed look in there for Teris, an eyebrow raising in silent question.
Today Iskiveth is a contrary creature and almost as loudly, flames burning briefly white, she returns, << No! >> Then, with a parting hiss toward the brown, makes breaks off to make her way back toward the shore where Teris is waiting for her. The goldrider ignores the look she's given, "I'll hope for that, then." She waits a moment, looking at the brownrider like Taikrin might actually need her for something, then starts rooting around in her basket for a stiff brush to scrub the gold with. "I'm not sure it's working," she offers vaguely after that.
Szadath falls back abruptly, sending waves skudding out towards the shore. He's off-balance by the sudden reversal, green gaze shot with yellows and reds, but after a moment of staring in consternation back at Iskiveth, he rumbles out, << Fine. I win! >> and smugly paddles back to the shore where he can shake himself like a dog. "Y'think it's not?" Taikrin's voice rises slightly, worry sneaking through despite her otherwise unconcerned mein. "Probably it takes a few turns though, yeah? They're not even two turns shelled yet..." Still-- arms fold across her chest as she eyes the pointy little queen speculatively. "Y'reckon y'need anything? Missing something, like?"
Hmph. Iskiveth makes it /clear/ that she isn't falling into the same line of thinking but she offers no verbal response to him. So there. "I don't know. I mean... how do we know anyway?" She pads out toward where Iskiveth has basically thumped to the wet sand in the shallows and starts in unceremoniously with the scrubbing. "I'll have to check again." It's probably not that she doesn't know, just that all of her records and paperwork aren't here.
Taikrin rolls her eyes as Szadath lumbers back over towards her, still dripping wet. "I dunno, really. I mean-- guess it either works, or it doesn't?" Her gaze cuts towards the brown, briefly, before refocusing on Teris in a clear attempt to ignore him. "I mean-- needs time to work, right? Like when y'break a bone, maybe, takes a long time for all the pieces t'come back together again?" Her hands gesture, helplessly, before she abruptly grounds out, "/Fine/, but it's your /own/ fault y'got all that leather wet an' now I got t'deal with it!" That last part, it probably wasn't meant for Teris, but for an increasingly-uncomfortable Szadath that's looming over her.
"I suppose," Teris allows thoughtfully. Iskiveth watches Szadath but she remains silent, even her fire somewhat subdued. "I'll let you know if I need anything," she says to the brownrider, then turns back to the bathing to set in a little more forcefully at a patch of dried blood that really doesn't want to come off.
"Faranth, you /really/ had to soak these, didn't you?" Taikrin mutters under her breath as she reluctantly moves around to the nearest piece of strap. Louder, "Glad to, y'know, help. If there's anything I can do." Halfway up the straps to Szadath's back she pauses, twisting to frown out over Teris and Iskiveth. "I mean it. Anything you need," Finally, a crooked grin lights her face. "Y'know where t'find us." It only takes her a moment to settle in and for Szadath to mantle wings in preparation for takeoff. Just long enough for, << Let's go kill things tomorrow! >>
Summary: Szadath and Iskiveth roughhouse in the lake. Apparently they are still like month-old hatchlings. Only gigantic. And they can squish you.
>'>
NorCon MUSH - 8/27/2010
-----------------------
Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr(#276RJs)
The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.
A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs.
The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day.
Contents:
Szadath(#1824abep$0)
Iskiveth
Teris
Obvious exits:
Diving Cliff Lake Bowl
It is a summer dusk, 20:13 of day 8, month 8, turn 23 of Interval 10.
It's a pleasant dusk evening and Iskiveth has made good use of it mutilating two herdbeasts. She managed to get a lot of them on herself and she looks oddly proud about it as she sits by the lake, surveying the inhabitants that are giving the blood-stained queen a rather large berth at the moment. Teris is on her way, there in the distance.
The relatively clear skies have apparently held some appeal to Szadath and Taikrin: they've been absent the Weyr for most of the afternoon, and only now do they pair of them circle tightly down towards the lake. The brown levels out briefly a couple of lengths above Iskiveth, head craned in a rather obvious way, before completing his overly aggressive descent with a bugle of raw delight. << Hey, Iskiveth! Lookin' good. >> The line has the slur of something taken from Taikrin's thoughts, though echoed in his too-loud baritone.
<< I know. >> Iskiveth is so modest. Except not. She thinks she looks good and she expects everyone else to think so, too. She sounds pleasant, at any rate. << Did you and yours find anymore treasure? >> They do have a tendency of picking it up, after all. The pointy gold looks back toward where Teris is still making her way closer with all manner of bathing paraphernalia for the dragon. She's probably muttering about it, too. Damned bloody (literally) dragon.
No sooner has Taikrin slid down the brown's side than he's hop-stepping over to join Iskiveth, though the way he's flaring his wings isn't /entirely/ called for. << No new treasure today. Just a lot of flowers. Boring flowers. >> He sits back on his haunches, spine held stiffly to make himself look as absolutely tall as his squat frame can manage. << Killing stuff was good? >> Taikrin herself is grumbling about being so summarily dumped, but she does simultaneously get to work on kicking off her heavy boots. << Found a wherry flock, but they were lame. Too slow. >>
Iskiveth tilts her head toward the brown and snaps her jaws in his direction. It almost seems affectionate, though, in it's oddly warning way. She doesn't have to make sense, though. She's a girl! << Killing stuff was good, >> she agrees. << Teris only lets me eat certain ones and I don't really get to /chase/ them. But they're still good. >> Maybe that's why she made such a mess of them, to make up for the lack of chasing. "You couldn't at least get in the sharding water?" calls Teris irritably as she gets closer, lugging that basket of stuff.
Szadath has probably been snapped at so many times by now that it hardly brings any reaction at all, except for perfunctary baring of teeth in a ruggedly charming sort of way -- especially given his prominently missing tooth. << Come killing with me next time. We can chase those wherries as much as we want because they don't taste that great so nobody cares. But they can fly pretty fast when they get real scared. >> A curl of acrid smoke drifts through his thoughts, smugly pleased, as he flashes an image of a requisite wherry hunt. "Hey, Teris!" Taikrin is likewise nonplussed by Teris' irritation; conversely, seeing the other woman so annoyed seems to brighten her own mood. "Need a hand?"
The queen's eyes thread with a deep whirl of red at the thought of hunting. << Things taste better when they're scared, >> she notes almost wistfully. Her last meal was taken too abruptly to be very scared at all. Such a shame! "I need so many hands, I don't even know where to start," returns Teris, the answer in there not really offered up front until she sighs and adds, "Please?" Then, continues unnecessarily, "Sometimes I think she makes such a mess just so I have to bathe her. But then she fights about having to hold still the whole time."
<< And it's more fun to chase them, first. It's not worth it if it's not hard. >> Words of wisdom from the brown that's still holding himself as upright as he can-- it can't possibly be comfortable, though he gives no sign he's doing anything at all unusual. "Hah, yeah, well, reckon maybe she does, huh?" Taikrin trots, barefoot, to relieve Teris of the more ungainly of her burdens. "Maybe she just likes the /thought/ of it, y'know? Szad's kinda that way-- sometimes I don't understand what's goin' through his head, things he comes up with." Another quick glance at Iskiveth, then she adds wrly, "'Course, usually he don't end up leavin' himself covered in blood, neither."
Since Iskiveth is bigger than Szadath, she doesn't seem to be taking his uprightness as trying to be bigger than her. That probably wouldn't go over very well. With a playful croon, she clicks her teeth together near his neck, then ducks her head to nudge him before her own wings mantle and she stands. << I bet I can catch more than you can. >> You'd think she could go one conversation without challenging him, but no. Teris hands over the basket like she's oh so glad to be rid of it even though she watches to make sure Taikrin doesn't somehow spontaneously bust the whole thing apart or anything. "Lucky you," she offers dryly, then looks toward Iskiveth. "Water! I don't want to have to scrub it all off of you by hand." The gold, reluctantly, moves away from Szadath to plow into the water in a fashion that would probably not look so ridiculous were she still a small hatchling.
<< I've been practicing a /lot/. I'm getting really good at catching. Bet I can do twice as many as you can. >> Szadath has never /not/ been able to rise to the bait. He bares that gap-toothed grin again, utterly unfazed by the snapping. As he gets nudged, he twists around to buffet at one of those mantling wings with his own. << At least twice. >> "What're you carryin' in here, anyways?" Taikrin appears happy enough to take the basket, though she eyes it somewhat warily once she's toting it along. "Don't ever need half so much stuff t'get him clean."
The fact that Szadath has been /able/ to practice a lot ruffles Iskiveth noticeably. Her fire crackles and pops as she settles in the water, moves out further and doesn't respond. In fact, she's fixed her gaze on a bronze on the far side of the lake. "It's just... stuff." Teris waves a vague hand and doesn't have much better of an answer than that. "Soapsand, brushes, scented oils... just stuff." Girly stuff, evidently.
Well. If there's anything assured to get a rise out of Szadath, it's losing out on being the center of attenion to a /bronze/. Apparently the best way to combat that is to take a huge leap into the water, straps and all, with the apparent aim of drowning Iskiveth under as much water as he can manage. << Bet I can get /more/ than twice! Bet I could get twice as many before you even got out of the water! >> Taikrin is not oblivious to all this -- there's a flicker of a smirk, but it's quickly subsumed by a long-suffering groan. "Bloody shells, there he goes again." She rattles the basket in her hand, drawing to a halt a good set of paces from the lake shore. "Well. At least she's gonna get, uh, good an' soaked."
There's a ear-grating screech of protest from the pointy little queen and the way she snaps at him seems a little more serious this time but still doesn't quite connect. Possibly because she goes under water. << Never! /I/ always get more. >> Which, yeah, isn't true. But she's clearly entitled to more! Teris is /trying/ to ignore the commotion the two clutchmates have started. "You can just put it down wherever, thanks," she says, not sounding all that grateful what with being distracted by her lifemate and all. "Right, soaked. I'm going to be, too." At least she's not wearing things to cover every inch of her body. Shorts and a button down shirt that looks like it might have belonged to a man but couldn't possibly be from one with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
This time the snapping is taken more seriously, and Szadath lunges away from those jaws (never mind that Iskiveth is going underwater) only to twist back and try to offer what's got to be the most awkward shoulder-check of all time. << Yeah well you're going to have to come and take it! Bet you can't! >> It's probably a good thing that the hour is such that all of the children are likely out of the lake. "Yeah, well-- have fun with that." Taikrin is more than happy to leave the basket up above the high water line, where it's nice and safe and dry. But despite the tone of voice, there's a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips again. "Figured they would'a grown out of this by the time they got t'be too big t'be picked up, y'know?"
<< I can take anything you can! >> And Iskiveth totally means it! The fire of her presence blazes with the indignity of Szadath having any upper hand over her and she twists around toward him to take it back. "He'd better not hurt her," Teris says in that way of hers. And, yes, she's ignoring the fact that Iskiveth is just as likely to hurt him. "I'm still hoping they do grow out of it. It doesn't seem very... right for her to be like that."
"Sure he won't," Taikrin assures breezily, as if Szadath lunging up at the taller Iskiveth with bruising force-- at least there's enough water to prove a significant hamper to any sudden motions. << Prove it! >> His voice reverberates, incredibly loud, accompanied by a blast of chill wind to fan Iskiveth's flames. "Well, maybe another coupl'a turns, she won't-- y'know, want t'play so much. Be a little more, uh, mature?" There's a pointed look in there for Teris, an eyebrow raising in silent question.
Today Iskiveth is a contrary creature and almost as loudly, flames burning briefly white, she returns, << No! >> Then, with a parting hiss toward the brown, makes breaks off to make her way back toward the shore where Teris is waiting for her. The goldrider ignores the look she's given, "I'll hope for that, then." She waits a moment, looking at the brownrider like Taikrin might actually need her for something, then starts rooting around in her basket for a stiff brush to scrub the gold with. "I'm not sure it's working," she offers vaguely after that.
Szadath falls back abruptly, sending waves skudding out towards the shore. He's off-balance by the sudden reversal, green gaze shot with yellows and reds, but after a moment of staring in consternation back at Iskiveth, he rumbles out, << Fine. I win! >> and smugly paddles back to the shore where he can shake himself like a dog. "Y'think it's not?" Taikrin's voice rises slightly, worry sneaking through despite her otherwise unconcerned mein. "Probably it takes a few turns though, yeah? They're not even two turns shelled yet..." Still-- arms fold across her chest as she eyes the pointy little queen speculatively. "Y'reckon y'need anything? Missing something, like?"
Hmph. Iskiveth makes it /clear/ that she isn't falling into the same line of thinking but she offers no verbal response to him. So there. "I don't know. I mean... how do we know anyway?" She pads out toward where Iskiveth has basically thumped to the wet sand in the shallows and starts in unceremoniously with the scrubbing. "I'll have to check again." It's probably not that she doesn't know, just that all of her records and paperwork aren't here.
Taikrin rolls her eyes as Szadath lumbers back over towards her, still dripping wet. "I dunno, really. I mean-- guess it either works, or it doesn't?" Her gaze cuts towards the brown, briefly, before refocusing on Teris in a clear attempt to ignore him. "I mean-- needs time to work, right? Like when y'break a bone, maybe, takes a long time for all the pieces t'come back together again?" Her hands gesture, helplessly, before she abruptly grounds out, "/Fine/, but it's your /own/ fault y'got all that leather wet an' now I got t'deal with it!" That last part, it probably wasn't meant for Teris, but for an increasingly-uncomfortable Szadath that's looming over her.
"I suppose," Teris allows thoughtfully. Iskiveth watches Szadath but she remains silent, even her fire somewhat subdued. "I'll let you know if I need anything," she says to the brownrider, then turns back to the bathing to set in a little more forcefully at a patch of dried blood that really doesn't want to come off.
"Faranth, you /really/ had to soak these, didn't you?" Taikrin mutters under her breath as she reluctantly moves around to the nearest piece of strap. Louder, "Glad to, y'know, help. If there's anything I can do." Halfway up the straps to Szadath's back she pauses, twisting to frown out over Teris and Iskiveth. "I mean it. Anything you need," Finally, a crooked grin lights her face. "Y'know where t'find us." It only takes her a moment to settle in and for Szadath to mantle wings in preparation for takeoff. Just long enough for, << Let's go kill things tomorrow! >>