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 Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:59 am
She snorted at him when he mentioned not wanting to see them more than a couple of times. Oh, she could relate to that quite a great deal.
The water was nice and cool as she walked, and she loved the feeling as the sand worked its way through her toes. Perhaps it hadn't been the best idea not to bring shoes, but she had lapses of judgment just like everyone else.
She didn't bother to respond to anything he'd said; there was nothing over the matter to say. Perhaps she could have made a 'witty' response, but it wouldn't have gone anywhere, and it was a waste of energy to think of one.
In the moonlight, she could pick out a few broken shells here and there, but nothing whole or interesting. Still, if as few people came to the beach as she thought, there were bound to be a lot lingering here and there - that which the ocean hadn't tossed and destroyed that was.
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:26 am
As Uuni didn't add anything, he didn't bother to either; he had come out here to enjoy a lovely twilight in company, talking wasn't necessary in the least. Garith sent him a soft feeling of assent, and contentment at being away from the Weyr for a short while. He wouldn't want to be away from other dragons for good but sometimes it was needed. So many dragons, so little space, so little peace.
R'than agreed with that, though right now he wanted the company of one other, or maybe a couple of other humans. Some time with just them tomorrow would be good though, maybe back here? Well, they could decide at the time.
Propping himself up on his elbows, R'than watched Uuni scan the beach around herself. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but doubtless if his input was needed she would ask for it. Getting back to his feet, the grey-haired rider padded up the beach to Garith and eased himself down beside the sturdy brown. Tomorrow they would have the trials and tribulations of an overfull Weyr to contend with again, but for now at least there was time to kick back and enjoy the view. Smiling slightly to himself, R'than looked back down the beach to where a rather attractive young woman appeared to be looking for something. Yes, a lovely view indeed.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:55 am
Either she did not know he was watching her, or she did not care as she went down the beach with nothing more than eyesight to guide her. She turned and looked back on occasion to make sure that he was still present by the side of his dragon. She wasn't the most fond of the idea of being eaten by a feline that had chanced to wander on the beach, and she would make sure she could see them at all times.
Perhaps a candlemark went by before she began to make her way back. She had a few little shells in hand, and she'd found one larger specimen. It was a round rock and completely smooth. Had she known the material, she would have found it much like glass in that it was slightly translucent and had a particular shine to it even in the light of the moon.
With a heavy yawn she slumped down a ways away from Garith's massive form and turned the rock between her fingers. She'd seen small ones like this before, but never quite this size. Not that it meant they were rare by any means; Uuni couldn't say she got much of a chance to go to the sea.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:16 am
R'than had been half dozing when Uuni began to walk back towards them, but Garith gave him a mental nudge and so he was fully awake by the time she flopped down. "Collecting things?" he quizzed as he padded over and peered at the items she'd collected. Dim light made it rather difficult for him to see details in recent turns but as he drew near and sat down he was easily able to identify that said things were some shells, and a stone of some kind.
"Don't often see that kind of rock so large," he commented as he identified the kind of stone it was. "They make lovely ornaments, jewelry too.; it polishes up really beautifully." His mother had had a necklace set with that kind of stone, the only piece of jewelry she'd ever owned save for the ring his father had given her when they married. Even though he hadn't seen the piece for years he remembered it in perfect detail; she had never been without it. Smiling faintly to himself, he wondered where it was now; presumably his sister still had it. Maybe he should go an visit his family sometime, it had been a while.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:52 am
"You could say that," she said with a grin as he headed her way. She watched his facial expression as he looked at what she had.
When he persisted to comment on the rock, however, she shook her head and let the grin fade to a smile. Tossing the rock once in her hand she held it up to him. "Here. You'll have more use for it than I would." Perhaps he could give it to one of those pretty ladies he deemed a little more favourable. At this point, she didn't really who he gave it to. The fact was that she had no one to which she'd bother to give such a thing, and even less of a desire to wear a rock around her neck. It may have been a pretty rock, but it was still a rock.
With that out of the way, she went picking through the shells. "So, I hear you can listen to the ocean with these." She gave him a skeptical look. "That the creatures that inhabited them left their soul behind, and those who truly love the ocean will never have to leave it." Shifting and turning the small conch over, she added, "But they say a lot of untrue things in the Holds."
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:13 am
He managed to catch the rock, just about, and gave Uuni a smile. "Thank you. I could do with a few more decorations in my weyr, it feels a bit bare at times." It was quite amusing that she was the one giving him a gift; that wasn't usually how things went. It wasn't an uncomfortable kind of unusual though, not like so many things were of late... No, no don't think about that. Forget it all, just for the evening.
"I've heard that said too," he agreed with a nod, "seems to be true at least in part. That kind you have there," he indicated one of the shells, "if you hold those to your ear it certainly sounds like the ocean. I don't know if it is some remnant of a sea-creature's life, I suppose that possible but it doesn't seem likely to me. Don't know why it actually does happen, but that explanation seems a bit far fetched to me."
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:33 am
He was keeping it? Had Uuni had something to choke on, she would have done so. That had implications she didn't want to think about. As easy as that, she didn't think about it. It was so easy to shut off that side of her brain and ignore all knowledge that he'd be keeping it for himself.
Taking the shell to ear, she listened, and quickly realized that it wasn't a very good test of the theory considering the ocean was right there.
Giving up on that adventure, she stood and piled her small collection in the sand. Hopefully she'd be able to find it again.
"Do you suppose the ocean is safe for a swim?" She was still wide awake; it was hardly late yet.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:22 am
Swim? At night? When he couldn't see the bottom? Agh! "Erm... Probably it is," R'than said slowly, setting the stone down where he would remember it and getting to his feet. "I certainly don't know of anything... nasty that lives in these waters." That was the point. Nothing known: of course nobody knew about big tentacled sea monsters, they ate everyone who ever saw them, almost anyway, so many that stories of them seemed like, well stories... Of course all of that made absolutely no sense. Of course there weren't sea monsters, or if they were they weren't right by the beach.
Smiling slightly, Garith got to his feet and padded down to the waterline. "I shall make sure it is safe," he informed R'than. "You can come and sit on me while she swims. If anything strange comes near me, I shall bite it."
Well, that sounded alright to him. "Garith says it's safe, and that if anything unpleasant does come along he'll eat it," R'than passed on as he set off after the brown. Erg. There was dark water between him and where Garith had settled down, back just submerged in the salty water. Still, it wasn't far to go, he could cope with it. As the water began to lap over his feet, R'than paused and looked over at his lifemate with a wry smile. This was ridiculous.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:30 am
Uuni was having much less of a problem with the whole ordeal than R'than. Without a look back, she got rid of her clothes for the second time that night and didn't waste time in wading out and then plunging headfirst into the slightly chilled water.
She came back up shortly as a wave crashed over and left her sputtering saltwater.
Was R'than scared of a little sea-monster? She grinned at the idea and moved onto her back to float along with the current. The waves were making it interesting, certainly, and she'd have to submerge now and then, but it was overall very pleasant.
"Can dragons swim?" she asked R'than after a while and took a look towards Garith. It wasn't something she remembered being discussed in candidacy lessons.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:57 am
R'than sighed at himself, tossed his clothes further up the beach and, gritting his teeth, waded in. Fine, fine, nothing had grabbed him so far, fine... And he had reached Garith. As he sat down on the brown's neck, his lifemate moved deeper until he was in up to his shoulders. Okay, Garith was right here, anything monsterish wouldn't be able to get around the solid dragon to bite him. Good.
Shaking himself, he turned to Uuni. "Yes, they swim very well actually, they can hold the breath for minutes at a time, too. Almost all of them seem to enjoy it, Garith certainly likes to spend time paddling about... when he isn't being a seat for me in any case."
Garith, the large dragon communicated with feeling rather than clear thought, did not mind being a seat at all. He could swim another time, he did not want R'than to be unhappy. R'than responded with a feeling of thanks; it was good to have such a loyal supporter in his dragon, he knew very well that some riders ended up with a silly prankster rather than a stalwart friend.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:14 pm
For being a brown rider, R'than was sure a chicken about water. This seemed to offer Uuni no end of amusement as she contented herself with making laps around the big animal and R'than.
"You should take him for a swim, Garith," she said with a wink in the dragons direction. After all, she'd agreed to go flying, so it was a fair trade, right?
R'than needed to get over his fears, she decided. "I think he'd very much enjoy a swim."
With a light laugh, she went underwater and away with any repercussions that might have followed. This so beat the lake.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:23 pm
He did not want to go for a swim, but he did not want to look like an idiot either. In the end pride won out and, trying not to share his irrational panic with Garith, he slid into the water. It was cool, the temperature was indeed pleasant. When he opened his eyes, however, he could hardly see a thing. He did not like this, he did not like this at all. Nevertheless, he swam down until he found the bottom with his hands; smooth sand, nothing else.
The something touched his leg; he would have yelped if he'd been on land, but all that came out of his mouth was a stream of bubbles. A moment later he realized it had been Garith's nose, of course, and surfaced feeling very foolish indeed.
Treading water, he scowled at the brown, who looked suitably contrite; he hadn't meant to startle, he had meant to reassure. Oh well thanks, that was very kind of him, very kind indeed. R'than snorted and splashed water at his lifemate before looking around for Uuni, and hoping that she wasn't sneaking up on him from below the surface too.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:22 pm
Uuni heard the yelp and grinned broadly, nearly swallowing a mouthful of sea-water. She spit it out, still smiling as she watched R'than, who looked very uptight, tread water.
Normally, yes, Uuni would probably have grabbed his leg or something from under water just to freak him out, but with a large dragon there to protect him, Uuni didn't want to risk any 'backlashing' habits that it might cause.
"That's more like the brave brown rider I know." Her voice was light and playful, but pleased that he'd been brave enough to get into the water.
Swimming over to his side, she added, "Alright, now it's just the first baby steps away from your dragon."
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:33 pm
R'than groaned and gave Uuni a rather imploring look. After a moment, however, he decided it was useless. He'd dragged her up on a dragon, twice, so he ought to do something he didn't want to do as well; it was only fair. "Alright then," he said, not sounding as sure as he would have liked to. What was the point? He was never going to need to swim in nasty dark water... but there was still the reciprocity to think of. Time for Uuni to be competent, and for him to be frightened.
"Stay here Garith," he said after a few moments more. "I am going for a nice swim. Ahha." Giving his lifemate a nervous grin, he struck out parallel to the beach; he didn't want to go deeper, but wasn't about to go shallower. Oh shards. He couldn't see anything down there! So much for a nice relaxing trip at twilight. "You can laugh if you want," he called to Uuni after a few strokes, his voice at once wry and afraid, "I know it's a very silly thing to be scared of, but there it is." Something could be underneath him right now, it could grab him before Garith could get to him and... don't think about it. It was silly, of course there was nothing there. He hoped.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:39 pm
"I'll take you up on that offer," she said and let a clearly pleased chime of laughter out as she swam well ahead of him and disappeared under the surface for a brief moment before re-emerging fairly close once again.
"I don't know of anything deadly that can get this close to shore," she told him in comfort. Except for, perhaps, a couple of types of jellyfish that stung like hell and could be potentially deadly. Best not to tell him about those.
"We'll go out to that rockpoint and come back, alright? It can't be more than a couple of tail lengths." As if inspired by this idea, she urged him to pick up the pace. "If it gets that bad, we can swim to shore and walk back on the beach."
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