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 Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:52 pm
Dinner was eaten, by both dragon and rider, and the food had even had a little time to go down on a relaxed walk to the lake. It was still light, but the air was much cooler than it had been a few candlemarks ago. This meant that it was merely hot rather than scorching. As they reached the lake's edge, C'mor kicked off his sandals and stripped to his underwear before wading into the blessedly cool water. Naedreth followed him in short order, managing to keep his proud carriage even once he got out of his depth and started swimming.
They had nothing to say to one another just at the moment, and so they didn't try to make conversation. Instead, they set about enjoying a relaxing swim. Well, Naedreth enjoyed a relaxing swim; C'mor, who had been working very hard all day, opted to float on his back with his eyes shut. This, the pair agreed silently, was good.
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:17 pm
Well, it seemed that Koios wasn't the only one who had decided on a swim after dinner. He'd left as soon as he was finished eating, wishing to avoid the crowds who would likely be there for a while with all their noise and talk and everything, and it really was so much quieter out here, and so much more peaceful.
His clothes were left in a heap behind a rock a ways from where C'mor had gotten in, and he popped up out of the water soon after the pair arrived, a few yards away from them but hadn't noticed them quite yet. Shaking his head to toss aside his wet hair to see more clearly, he lifted his hands out of the water to inspect his treasures while using his feet to stay above the surface. He'd been searching the bottom of the lake, or at least the shallower portion of the bottom, for smooth, flat rocks. They were always fun to skip across the water, and were generally a fun way to relax after a long, hot day. He was too busy studying his finds to notice that he wasn't the only one out for a swim anymore.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:16 am
"Mine, we are not alone."
They weren't? C'mor switched from lazy floating, and turned his eyes in the same direction as Nadreth's. Well, he was inobservant today. So was Naedreth come to that; what about those amazing dragon eyes?
"I saw him before you did," the young bronze pointed out placidly, setting off for the shore; he wished to meet this new person. You could never know too many people, or at least C'mor couldn't; he never remembered them all, but His could remind him of people quite quickly if he had met them before.
Naedreth had a point of course; he both needed and wanted to get to know more people. Sure he didn't have very much time to spend with anyone save the riders of Naedreth's clutchmates but it was well worth taking the opportunity to chat with someone else even briefly. You never knew where friendship might spring up, after all. "Hi," he called as he got to wading depth, "we didn't spot you there!" He vaguely recognized the young man, but only vaguely; somebody he had spotted in a passageway or in the dining hall but no more.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:16 pm
Koios jumped in surprise - well, more like jolted considering he was in the water - and dropped the smooth skipping rocks he'd found. Swiftly turning and preparing to defend himself if need be, he paused and blinked at the other boy. He was.. sort of familiar... Oh! He was at the hatching too, and had Impressed one of the adder dragonets. And there the bronze was, near the shore. Hu. Well, his tone was positive and he didn't look or seem threatening, so maybe he was alright.
"Hello there," he said tentatively, lifting a hand partially out of the water before it sank back down, and went back to using it to stay afloat. "I didn't notice you two coming in. I was looking for skipping rocks, you see." No, they didn't see, because he'd dropped them. Shards. Oh well, he'd find more of them. It wasn't like they were really very hard to find, anyway. Maybe they'd want to join him? Maybe, but probably not. They probably had much better things to occupy their time with.
He probably expected him to say more though. Umm, uhh.. Shards, he was bad at thinking of things to say. Well, since that was on his mind at the moment anyway... "Have you ever skipped rocks before?" He probably had. But no, maybe he hadn't; maybe he'd been too busy with more important things than to go and skip rocks across the lake.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:49 pm
C'mor grinned - he had wondered what the other young man had been holding - and nodded. "Yes, but not for a long time. I was never any good at it, either," he added with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "My all time record was... three hops, I think, and that was a lucky throw and a good stone." Rock skipping had been a good game for a boy whose friends had mostly been adults busy with their work, and with better things to do than hang around with a child off hours. He hadn't minded, he'd always liked a bit of solitude... Not now though; he couldn't imagine ever being completely alone again.
"You shall no be, Mine," Naedreth said confidently, wading back toward His. "I am your Naedreth, and I shall always be here... What is rock skipping?"
C'mor grinned, and sent the young dragon a quick explanation of the basic premise. His lifemate was right, he wouldn’t be alone, so long as he could keep Naedreth’s pride from driving him to attempt anything too insane in any case. When the explanation had finished, the bronze seemed rather mystified by the whole idea. Nevertheless, he gave an obliging rumble and waded into deeper water before ducking under the surface and swimming further into the lake.
"He's gone to look for skipping stones; the good ones that people have thrown out into deep water," C'mor said with a smile, turning back to his unexpected companion. "He's Naedreth, and I'm C'mor; glad to meet you, meet you properly at any rate."
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:14 pm
Well. Well, yes. Apparently he had been rock skipping before, which Koios shouldn't really be surprised at, he supposed, but it was odd all the same. He wasn't used to having anything in common with other people. Come to think of it, he wasn't used to talking to other people. Well, maybe now he'd get in a little practice, humm?
"My record is maybe five hops, I think, if I remember right," he said, thinking about it. Yes, five skips was his best. "And good stones help a lot. The oval or circular flat ones with smooth edges, although I've had a few good skips from ones that didn't look all that promising." Of course, it helped to know exactly how to throw them too, to get the most number of skips out of them, good or bad. The good ones just got a lot more hops.
"He is?" The candidate asked, bright eyes widening a bit. "How long can he hold his breath for? Can all dragons do that?" What was he getting himself into? He was trying to stand and find who would become his lifemate, and he hardly knew anything about dragons! What a dimglow he was. He'd have to watch the new Jr. Weyrlings and go read up on dragon care, or just ask people. He'd probably end up learning from scrolls. "..sorry," he said sheepishly after a moment, his train of thought taking not but a second or two, "I'm getting really ahead of myself. I'm Koios, a Candidate. You Impressed at the last hatching, didn't you? I remember Naedreth and his brother hatching."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 4:31 am
Five hops was pretty good; he'd have to watch how the young man - Koios - skimmed the stones. There was technique to almost everything, and it was always worth trying to pick up better ways of doing things from those who did better than you at, well, anything. "That's true; you need good tools to do a good job... and good stones to get a decent number of hops." Smiling, C'mor turned his eyes out over the lake; he couldn't see Naedreth anymore, but he knew he was out there. Currently he was grabbing stones in his forefeet and jaws.
"Yes," he went on, "bronze Uktenath. I can see their relationship being... interesting in the future." It was interesting enough now. Ah well, you couldn't like everyone he supposed. "Naedreth's quite young still," C'mor went on, "but he can still hold his breath for a couple of minutes. Mature dragons can hold their breath a lot longer, ten minutes plus I think." This was purely from observation; he hadn’t ever run across a scroll exactly detailing such a thing. How long a dragon could mess around underwater was hardly a vital thing to note, but perhaps the Weyrlingmaster would have a more precise figure for him if he asked.
Just as he finished speaking, a bronze head popped up out of the water some distance away. C'mor chuckled to himself; Naedreth had both forefeet full of stones, and his mouth too, yet the bronze was managing a vaguely dignified swim back towards them. Back feet and tail were doing most of the work, fore legs working hard to keep him balanced. Goodness knew Naedreth couldn’t just flail around gracelessly like he was just anyone. Naedreth was the best, and had to carry himself as such even when he was on a strange errand for His.
"Stones do not taste good," Naedreth announced to his rider as he reached the pair of young men. "I brought as many as I could," he went on as he dropped his burden and reassumed his usual regal stance. "There were more there, but I had no way to carry them."
C'mor grinned and rubbed his lifemate's eyeridges fondly. "This is loads Naedreth; thanks." Still fussing over his dragon, he turned back to Koios. "He says the stones don't taste all that good," he passed on with a chuckle.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:19 pm
Shards... Ten minutes?! He could barely hold his breath for... half a minute, he estimated; he didn't really have much of a need to be underwater for extended periods anyway. Save for finding good skipping rocks, of course.
And they had plenty of good ones now! He grinned at the young dragon, nodding his thanks before inspecting the rocks to find the perfect ones. "Thanks a lot, Naedreth, these are perfect." Speaking of which, the bronze dragon seemed to maintain a certain sense of dignity and grace while swimming with so many rocks. It was very impressive in Koios's mind, considering it couldn't have been very easy, even for a dragon.
Picking out a few of the perfect skipping rocks, he couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the passed on comment. "No, I don't think they would taste very good at all, and I'm sorry you had to taste them Naedreth." He couldn't imagine what they would taste like, but probably not good either way. Holding a rock in one hand between thumb and forefinger, he aimed it carefully before flinging it out towards the center of the lake, watching as it skipped four times before disappearing beneath the surface. "Yes, these are perfect!" He repeated, mostly to reiterate the fact that they were officially perfect now that he'd tested one. He offered a smile to the other young man and his dragon. "Alright, your turn," he stated, whether or not the fact was obvious. Still, he'd help him if the Jr. Weyrling needed it. He wasn't sure why he'd need help from a Candidate, though.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:12 am
C'mor hefted the stone and nodded thoughtfully. "Right, thanks. Let's see if I'm still terrible at this." Grinning at the other young man, he tossed the stone up once more before turning and flicking it out across the lake. It hopped. Once. C'mor laughed and shook his head. "Yes, looks like I haven't lost my touch at this. I'm going to need a lot of practice at this I think. At least I've a way to get good stones back now."
"Indeed," Naedreth rumbled, "if it is important to you to be good at this stone flicking I'll fetch stones for you as many times as you need."
"Not really... important as such," C'mor said with a mental shrug, "but it would be fun." That, Naedreth told him, was good enough reason for him to go out and bring back the smooth flat rocks. "You excited for the hatching?" he asked with a grin to Koios. "Shouldn't be all that long now I think."
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