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 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:34 pm
It was a beautiful, sunny day. Sunny, and hot, so A'bri was very enthusiastic about giving Varth his afternoon bath. The Brown was getting bigger, large enough that bathing him was starting to take a lot more effort, which was only to the good on hot days (of which there were many) when A'bri would rather spend most of his day neck-deep in the water anyway. Chattering animately at Varth, A'bri carried the wash tools down to the water. Varth strode purposefully toward the lake- he was hot and itchy and wanted his bath.
"Here, now, this looks like a good spot," A'bri commented, picking a place not too far from everyone else, but not near enough to get in anyone's way. They weren't the only ones indulging in some time in the water, after all.
:It will do,: Varth replied, walking out into the water until it was deep enough that he could submerge, and coming back up with a flap of wings that sent water spraying everywhere. Including at other dragons, not that Varth seemed concerned by the fact that he was splashing them. :Come here now,: he added. :I have an itch.:
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:57 pm
This was nice, they both agreed. Raith floated lazily on the surface of the lake and L'thor, currently wearing only a very short pair of shorts, had sprawled himself on her back. Heat, sun, water, and no drills today. Feeling deliciously lazily, L'thor ran a gentle hand over his dragon's neck and sighed out a long breath. Usually he didn't like to be still for long, had to be doing something, talking to someone, or both, but right now he was quite happy to-
Agh!
Somebody had just splashed water at him! L'thor sat up abruptly and scowled about at the other bathers. Had that been on purpose... Given he didn't know the dragon who he thought had probably been responsible, probably not. Well! He could be lazy and chat at the same time. He could at least ask the brown to be a bit more careful. Raith agreed, and turned in the water to paddle the short distance between herself and the weyrling.
"Hello there," L'thor called to the young rider, first to speak as always, "out for a nice splash are you?" As his lifemate reached wading depth, he slid from her back and paddled over to meet the brown's rider. "I'm L'thor, my lifemate is Raith, and..." Oh, looked like none of his flitts were actually around, "and my pests aren't here," he concluded with a slight frown, searching the skies and surrounding area for the little beasts; where were they?
"Hello there," Raith said to the other dragon once Hers had finished speaking, "a lovely day for a bath, is it not? I think we've had far too much rain recently." It had been raining for as long as she could remember, she was sure of it. True that wasn't saying too much, but still, she liked a bit of shine to go with her showers.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:14 pm
"Sorry about that," A'bri said sheepishly, when the other pair headed over. His smile was friendly, if slightly chagrined. "Varth doesn't always watch where he's flinging water." A'bri headed out into the water, paddling over to Varth and catching hold of his shoulder as he searched out his itch. "I'm A'bri, and this is Varth. It's good to meet you both."
A'bri glanced around when L'thor did, also instinctively looking for his own little pest- where had Fancy gone off to? ...Knowing her, she was probably stealing ribbons or feeding other flitts. She tended to avoid their bathtimes, finding them a bit undignified for her tastes.
Varth eyed Raith warily, his eyes whirling a somewhat muddy green- he wasn't quite irritated by the interruption, yet, but it was a near thing. :Hello,: he said finally, deciding that the Green was probably not competition of any sort. He tilted his head, water running down his eye-ridges, and tried to determine whether he'd cared about the weather recently. He didn't think he had. :It is a good day for bathing. It is hot and the water is cool.: There, that satisfied the requirement that he be polite, didn't it? He could return to his bathing without interruption.
"Just out enjoying the sun?" A'bri asked, not willing to pass up a chance for conversation once he had it. "It's nice when it's bright like this, makes for a good excuse to swim." Internally, Varth sighed- so much for no interruptions.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:41 am
"Don't worry about it," L'thor smiled and waved the apology off with a lazy hand movement. "Glad to meet you both. Handsome young brown you have there if I might say so." Not as pretty as a blue or green, but still rather nice, and a hundred times better than a bronze. "Yes though," he stretched luxuriantly and looked up at the azure blue sky, "just enjoying being lazy. We've got no drills today, so we're taking the chance to just relax out here where it isn't too crowded." Everything was too crowded inside the Weyr, still! He almost wished he'd opted to go along with Favan, but only almost; the dry air would do his and Raith's skin no favors at all. Still, the food was probably better there... ah well.
"My favorite combination," Raith replied with a chuckle, "though I've always thought it would be interesting the other way around." She knew how much Hers enjoyed a hot bath, and was a little jealous that she was too large to fit in a tub. How relaxing, after a long hard drill, to sink into warm water and let your troubles slide away... She'd pass on the goblet of wine though, she never would understand what humans saw in fruit juice at all, let alone stuff that had been allowed to go off!
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:20 pm
"Thank you," A'bri said, his smile widening. "Your lady is lovely, as well." As far as he was concerned, Varth was the most gorgeous dragon in existence, of course, but it was always nice when other people recognized his appeal. It seemed not as many folks appreciated the range of color Browns could have, even when the subtle nuances were played out so brilliantly on, say, Varth. Not that the other colors weren't attractive- A'bri did still have something of a soft spot for Greens and Golds. "Always nice to have a chance to relax. The crowding doesn't really bother me too much, but every now and again it's nice to be able to stretch without bumping into someone."
Varth posed slightly, drawing himself up and looking pleased at L'thor's comment. It was always good to be noticed. He ducked his wings under the water again, though he was more careful about not throwing water around this time, simply raising them slowly so the water ran down over his back. He tilted his head to look at Raith, considering the idea of hot water and cold air. :I do not think I would enjoy that,: he said finally. :It would be even colder when I got out of the water. I would not like to be cold and wet.:
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 5:50 am
"Agreed!" L'thor grinned and stretched again. "Then again, I suppose it's easier for me not to be troubled by the crowding given I've a nice weyr to retreat to, and the option of vanishing to anywhere I fancy in my free time if I fancy. Still, though Pern's got a lot of lovely places to offer I must say this lake, and the coast of the island are some of my favorites." They almost felt as though... as though they belonged to him, and he to them. It had taken him a while to adjust to being settled when he had first come to the Weyr, but now he really rather liked having a permanent home. That didn't mean he didn't like exploring, he loved to see new places, but he also loved having this place to come back to at the end of the day.
That was a fair point. Raith considered it carefully. "I think I'd like it while I was in the water, but you're right; getting out wouldn't be so much fun. Directly back to Ista to warm up again I think, or maybe the Igen area, everything dries out quickly there." It was because the air was dry, she gathered. That made sense; wet air kept you wetter for longer, dry air sucked the water off you. Something like that anyway.
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 1:13 pm
"It's nice being near the coast, that's for certain sure. Never saw the ocean before I came here. I like it." A'bri moved so that he was resting mostly on Varth, who was definitely big enough to take his weight, now. For once, Varth wasn't in a hurry to move to the next activity- he'd decided that moving his wings in water was as good a way to exercise them as simply flapping them while on the ground- so he was willing to allow them to linger, and since Varth wasn't feeling hurried, A'bri was more than willing to relax. "There's a lot of Pern I'd like to see, once we're able to... The idea of being able to go anywhere, to just... Take off when we have free time, it's exciting. Never really thought I'd have that kind of freedom, you know?"
:We cannot go anywhere else yet,: Varth admitted grudgingly. They had not yet begun lessons in flight, nor in how to go between safely. Not that Varth wasn't ready. No, he was definitely ready, he'd been working on his wings almost since he'd hatched. He was going to fly better than everyone else, and he was going to do it right the very first time. He was going to prove he could. :When we can, maybe it would be good. Mine enjoys warm water. But I have not seen a warm lake.: It would be difficult to test such a thing if there wasn't any warm water to swim in. A sort of reluctant curiosity took him, and he tilted his head. :Mine was thinking about Igen, when people started to go away. Have you been there? Mine was curious about what it might be like.:
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:32 pm
"Nothing quite like seeing the world from dragonback," L'thor agreed with a grin, paddling over to perch on Raith's back again as he tired of treading water. "I love this place of course, but the freedom to go and visit any place on Pern I can picture... Incredible, the sort of thing dreams are made of." Yes. That was what was best; going to distant places and then coming back to think about it all, to talk about it with good friends over good wine. No wonder many Holders resented them; who wouldn't be jealous of the chances being a rider gave you? Right now, without Thread, there wasn't even the trade off of danger to weigh against the freedom. Ha. How he pitied those unbonded.
"We..." Raith paused as she realized she couldn't recall, and nudged her rider to give her the information she wanted. "We have, yes," the sleek green continued, "quite a few times. Sometimes just going there for the fun of it, sometimes to deliver a message. We've been to the Weyr, the main Hold, a couple of more minor holds too... we've been north too, east, west, south. All over the world really, though there's still an awful lot we haven't seen. I expect we will one day though, we do like to get around. Any excuse to fly new skies!" To swoop and dive over different land with different air currents beneath her wings. Like her rider she felt deeply attached to Ista, but loved it best when she'd just returned from somewhere exciting and could reflect on that while she dozed in the hot sun.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:01 pm
"It is something- not that I've done much sightseeing from dragonback yet. We're not quite there in lessons, we'll be learning soon." ...Well, they were supposed to be learning soon. Varth was already making low, careful glides between a pair of small hillocks they'd found. Not that anyone was supposed to know about that. He'd not been satisfied to wait, oh no. They had to be first, ready to do it perfectly by the time they were onto it in lessons. "I did get to see a bit when I was brought in after being Searched, though... Seeing the whole of the island from up above... Everything looked so small. When Varth's up for it... I think we're going to have a lot of fun, exploring. Just... seeing as much as we can."
Varth felt a (very grudging) note of appreciation for Raith's experience. The Green had seen much, had done much. It was... interesting, sort of. In a way. Not that he'd admit it. :One day I will take Mine everywhere,: he declared. Deciding it might not actually be admitting anything to ask an opinion, he added, :Where is the best place to go? Mine has not been many places yet.:
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