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 Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:57 pm
Well, he smiled again, he had offered, and honestly it was a little good to be laughed at; it made him feel silly, and that made the fear feel slightly silly. Sillier, he'd already known it was silly. Nothing was going to eat him between here and that rockpoint. "Alright. I can cope with that. I think."
She was getting well ahead now, and the rider turned his attention to swimming. Understandably, he had never got all that good at it; he was just about competent, but no more than that, and he certainly wasn't quick enough to catch Uuni. Still, he did his best, and after a while he tried to emulate her technique. It didn't exactly go perfectly, but it worked as well as his own attempts had been. He just needed practice. Practice. He didn't want to practice swimming in horrible black water. He did, however, want to make it to that rock and back. It would be the first significant thing he'd achieved in a while. Oh, besides being made wingsecond, but given the wingleader that was a bit of a joke frankly. Scowling in determination, R'than swam on towards his target; he was going to make it, preferably without screaming like a little girl again.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:05 pm
When she'd reached the designated area, she did a somersault underneath the surface and came back up treading water. Watching him slowly make his way there was interesting. He had guts, that was certain.
Had she been as terrified as he looked, she would no doubt have tucked tail and run at this prospect. "Well, congratulations," she told him with a grin when he finally made it there.
"Halfway there. Don't die on the way back, please, I'd like not to get home via raft." She splashed some water in his direction before returning to floating on her back. Her strokes were slow and she kept up with his pace for the most part.
Maybe a fish would nibble at his toes. Then again, maybe that would be bad; she'd rather not rescue a screaming man from drowning.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:17 am
Half way there, and only about half way scared out of his wits. He was fairly sure that if it were not for a stream of enouragement coming from Garith he would have given in and made for the shore at high speed by now. He was sure something was going to bite him soon, utterly convinced, even though he was also pretty certain that nothing would happen at all. Strange thing, fear.
"Haha, I'll try not to," he responded to Uuni's jest, his humor a little tenser than it had been when he set off. "Not all that far to go, I'm sure I'll be fine." It was easier now, he discovered as he turned around; Garith's calm presence was a much more attractive target than some dark rock in the middle of a dark sea. It seemed a shorter trip, too, but he didn't know if that was because he was actually swimming faster, or because he knew the whole ordeal was nearly at an end.
As soon as he reached his lifemate's side, he pulled himself up to a seat on the dragon's neck and shuddered. "Brr. That was no fun at all. Still, didn't get eaten." It didn't make him want to go swiming in dark water any more than he had before, but it was reassuing to know that he had done it and could therefore do it again if pressed.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:57 pm
By the time they had gotten back, the slowness of things had started to cool Uuni off even a little. With numb fingers, she moved her way back to the shore and when her feet touched sand, she walked the rest of the way to solid ground.
Making her way along the shore, she eventually found where she'd left her clothes. She took her sweet time in putting them back on; she didn't want them to get wet and sticky with salt. As it was, a bath was in order when she got back to the Weyr.
In fact, it was probably unwise to stay much longer. R'than's roommate might start to wonder where he'd gone off to.
"You did great," she called back to R'than. Maybe it wouldn't help his spirit any, but the swim had helped her own mood a great deal and she was feeling full of compliments.
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 4:16 am
Once Garith had waded in a little way, R'than slid off his neck and walked gratefully back onto dry land. "Why thank you," he said with a smile as he picked up his shirt and dried himself off on it. "Personally I felt like I was making a bit of a fool of myself. Still, I suppose everyone has to start somewhere." Not that he exactly planned to continue with this. Maybe if Uuni did come back here with him sometime he would, to avoid losing face, but otherwise he didn't see the need to put himself through such unpleasantness.
After shaking the sand off his trousers and donning them, R'than sighed contentedly and rolled his shoulders to loosen them up; the cool water and the tension of fear had knotted them up really quite well. As he looked up at the sky, he realized that they had been here for quite some time now; it was fully night, high time they were heading back. Uuni of course should have been back in her dorm candlemarks ago, but he was sure the young woman was adept at avoiding getting into trouble for late returns by now.
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:34 am
She past him a wry smile that showed none of her teeth. He had looked foolish. There was no questioning that. "I can keep a secret," was her answer.
Now fully clothed, she stepped her way back along the thicker, drier part of the sand until she was even with him once again. It seemed unspoken, but simply known, that they'd be returning to the Weyr at this time of night.
Yes, adept was probably a good word for it. On summer days like this, it was often easier to sleep outside than risk stumbling into the candidatemaster while wandering the halls. Really, when did some of these people sleep at the Weyr? Including herself, for that matter.
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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:36 am
R'than chuckled. "Thank you, that's most generous of you. Ready to head back, Garith?" The brown rumbled his assent and stretched out a foreleg, which R'than quickly stepped up onto. As he settled himself into the harnesses he sighed slightly; salt water, he should have thought to take them off. Ah well, it was nothing a bit of time and grease wouldn't wort out, he'd see to it in the morning.
R'than shrugged into his damp shirt, because he'd just discovered he didn't have anywhere to put it, and extended a hand down to Uuni. He probably owed her another swim in questionable waters, one at least. She'd ridden Garith twice now, about to be three times, and that wasn't even counting her trip here. Maybe that one didn't count though, maybe keeping score at all was silly. Well, nevermind, if nobody else was around and she prodded him into it, he'd do it again. It was no fun, but it was character building, and it would be nice if he could overcome his aversion to dark water.
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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:26 pm
Generous her a**. She just had no one to tell it to and no desire to. What good would it do her? It wasn't as though everyone in the Weyr didn't already find her a bit thick, evil, and a skank. Tattling on R'than would either get her laughed at, stared at, scowled at, or all three. No, not her cup of tea. Actually, she didn't like tea.
Taking his hand for what must have been the hundredth time that night, Uuni carefully made her way up once more to Garith's back. It was funny how things got the most terrifying after you'd done them three or four times instead of getting better.
What kind of mentality was that? Maybe the 'it didn't happen the first three times, so it must this time' one. Had she had an option, she would have scolded her mentality for being so off kilter.
As it was, however, she was busy taking in slow, even breaths to calm herself. She hadn't died the first two times, and she had no intention of dying this time.
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:14 pm
It wasn't too long before they were circling down to land in the Weyrbowl; Garith had come in from between quite low, so it didn't take too long to touch down. Nobody else was around save for the watch dragon, who Garith greeted polity with a thought; he hoped the night went well for them. Night. Yes. Time to sleep. R'than swallowed a yawn and freed Uuni of the riding strap one Garith had dipped his stance to allow her to climb down.
"I enjoyed this evening," R'than said with a smile as he offered a hand to Uuni to help her down for the final time that day. "I hope we can meet up again sometime." It didn't need to be soon, but he did want to spend time with her again; she was refreshing, and... enthusiastic. Quite a perfect antidote to stress, worry, and thinking about how life at the moment seemed to be going down the latrine. It would be nice if there were more girls like her about the place.
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:11 pm
He was ever persistent, wasn't he?
Uuni smiled at him when she was finally on the ground. Did she have any intention of seeing him ever again? No.
If, and only if, fate made them meet, she might tolerate another encounter, but it was bad enough she'd spent the evening with him as it was.
"Take care, R'than," she told him instead with a grin and a wink before turning off and heading out in some direction that would either lead her to her room, or wherever her temporary room would end up being.
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:22 am
R'than smiled and nodded. "You too Uuni." He watched her walk away for a short time, not wanting to buffet her with the wind of Garith's lift off. Once he judged her to be a safe distance off he gave a mental nod to his lifemate, and the brown leapt into the air. Before long they touched down on the ledge of their weyr, and R'than stifled a yawn as he removed Garith's riding straps. Time for sleep, they agreed, there was lots to do tomorrow. There was always lots to do tomorrow.
Stripping off his clothes and tossing them over the back of a chair, R'than collapsed into bed with a weary sigh. It was only then that he realized he'd left the black stone on the beach. Ah well, it had been a pretty thing but really it would just have been clutter. Somebody else would find it and no doubt appreciate it far more than he would have. Yawing again, R'than closed his eyes and sank swiftly into sleep.
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