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 Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 10:41 pm
Every time there was a lull in duties, the coast line always seemed to end up being the place of refuge for those few short hours. So why should this free-time be any different?
Partially sunny and consistently sticky, the horizon held promise of rain for later that day. Right now, however, the sun still shined down in hot beams, and Annelie walked with one hand at her forehead to shield her eyes while she carried her sandals in the other.
With ginger steps, she plucked her way down onto the dark shoreline, then stopped and looked about.
There was definitely no large, gold thing in site.
Yansanth...
No definite reply came, but a few happy and joyous feelings floated into the woman's mind. That little huge imp...
With a sigh, Annelie could only begin what would hopefully not be too long of a walk down the beach.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:52 pm
There were lots of benefits to owning a firelizard. Now, C’ym wasn’t certain if the love was unconditional; he’d heard stories about mistreated or ignored firelizards flying away and everything, so they weren’t like dogs. Smarter than dogs, for one thing. But at least a dog could manage to keep track of her own puppies, unlike some firelizards. Lytah couldn’t keep track of her own eggs if they were stapled to her, which was why C’ym was currently combing the beach in search of the eggs. It shouldn’t be that tricky, right? Just look for disturbed parts of sand and dig.
The thing about the beach was that it was constantly being disturbed, what with the foot traffic and waves and whatnot. Lytah radiated pride and glee, pleased that she had pulled Hers into such a glorious game. She wasn’t certain why C’ym was so upset, but…
OH! Someone else was here. The green firelizard shrieked at Anne before flying up slightly. She knew that person, didn’t she? Something… maybe? Or maybe she didn’t. Well, if she was going to try and get C’ym alone then she would regret it!
C’ym held one finger in his ear and used his spare hand to shield his eyes a little as he squinted at the figure. “…Annelie?” he eventually hazarded, walking closer. “Where’s Yansanth?” Actually, he belatedly realized, he ought to be more concerned about Gnattie. She tended to be more vicious and worrisome than the gold dragon. For one thing, gold dragons didn’t go for the eyes like one particularly possessive firelizard.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:32 pm
Annelie gave a sudden stop in her walking and squinted more under her hand-shield. Who...? Oh.
She dropped her hand from her face.
C'ym was maybe the last person she had expected to see on her merry little hunt for her free-spirited Queen. She hadn't talked nor seen him in awhile, so of course his sudden presence deserved a few curious blinks. And some blushing of the cheeks... though that was more of a reflex or something and was completely habitual. She eventually took a half step forward, paused, and then continued on to meet him halfway, aware that he had said something to her, but unsure of what it had actually been.
"C'ym," she said in quiet greeting once she was closer. "And Lytah." Annelie hadn't actually noticed the flit until then, despite her having shrieked earlier, and the woman was quite glad that her own flitter hadn't popped up. ...Though, it was best to knock on wood on that; Gnattie had the skill of appearing at the most inconvenient of times, and Annelie was sure that that would happen quiet soon.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:01 pm
Well… it had been a while since C’ym had last seen Annelie. The last time was… well, there were Weyrling lessons, of course, but surely it hadn’t been that long, right? As they stood there in awkward silence for a little while longer, C’ym continued to make excuses. There was always a lot to do. Washing and oiling Hanumanth, which had once taken just an hour or so, now took three hours (mostly because, whenever the dragon saw someone in need of help or comfort, he just had to ramble over there and try to help, even if they didn’t want help).
OH RIGHT. THEY WERE STILL STANDING THERE. Being awkward. Well, at least it was something they were both good at. “It’s been a while,” he said eventually, still unsure how to start this sort of conversation.
MINE! Guess what I found? Hanumanth’s voice was a joyful mewl. Currently, the Bronze dragon was swimming in the water; he wasn’t visible from where C’ym was standing, but that was alright. There wasn’t anything in the water that could take on a dragon. Without waiting for an answer, the Bronze went on quickly, I found shipfish! Shiiiiipfiiiiiish! Out of sight, the Bronze continued to barrel after the dolphins, who apparently thought this was all a grand game.
C’ym smiled at that; it was impossible not to smile at Hanumanth’s unrelenting optimism that everyone was here to play and be nice. “So, how have you been? It’s been a long time. I think since Weyrling lessons,” he said sheepishly, a bit embarrassed about that. But they both had a lot of things to do. Being a Queenrider was important and C’ym had wingsecond duties now.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 1:32 pm
Awkwaaaaaaaarrd.
Annelie looked up from where she had been previously digging a toe in the sand. She nodded her head a little, drawing in her lips for a quick moment as more and more Awkward just descended onto them. It had definitely been a while, though not -as- long ago as he seemed to remember.
"Since ...since the Hatching where Elae, um, fainted. ...actually," she corrected quietly, slightly put-off that he hadn't really remembered that. But she gave no inclination and just shifted her eyes here and there, bringing her hands with her sandals behind her back.
"And I'm alright --"
Annelieee! Anneliemine, who are you talking toooo?
Annelie almost gave a visible start when the Gold's questioning voice suddenly popped into her head after being absent for an hour or more.
C'ym, she replied quickly, almost giving a mental cold-shoulder, though the dragon didn't seem to really comprehend, and the woman's head and self were filled with excitement and happy feelings. Oi.
" -- I heard you're Wingsecond now. ...Congratulations." she gave a small smile, ignoring the momentary, silent conversation she had just had.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:05 pm
That was the nice thing about being a dragonrider, C’ym reflected. Your conversations were full of awkward pregnant pauses, each of which gave birth to even more pregnant pauses, each more awkward than the one before, but you could claim you were busy talking to your dragon. The system worked! Although Annelie wasn’t carrying anything, C’ym still did his best to stay a good distance away. If this meant they practically had to shout at each other to hold a decent conversation, fine.
Speaking of pregnant pauses, another one was born when Annelie mentioned Elae’s fainting. “…Oh right. That…” but that hardly really counted. It wasn’t like they had really talked to each other. Umm…
Oh look! A convenient distraction! C’ym jumped onto the new topic gratefully. “Yeah, I’m a Wingsecond now. It’s not that different from being a Wingrider for me.” Mostly because he was already well-practiced in the area of telling everyone else what he thought they ought to be doing. “Umm… where’s Yansanth?” he asked again, trying to find the gold behemoth. “Hanumanth’s swimming right now. He just found some shipfish.”
Shiiiiiipfiiiiiish! the Bronze sang out with a joyful bugle. At some point, he checked back in on C’ym, recognizing Yansanth’s name. Yansaaaanth! Come play with me! he said, trying to find the gold so they could splash around some. Or maybe even splash their riders!
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:28 pm
An "ORLY?" look whizzed across Annelie's features at C'ym's some-what "I'MAWESOOOME~" sounding response before she shifted her weight and glanced down the beach.
"Yansanth's...um--"
ANNELIEEEEE!
The voice hit Annelie before the ground did, and soon the woman's bottom was nice and sandy.
Annelie, what'cha doing down there? On the ground? Is it more fun? Yansanth asked, nudging the glaring woman with a golden nose. The Queen had the habit of Betweening while literally just off the ground, so that when she popped up somewhere else, she free-fell a few feet and made the ground go JUMLBLERUMBLEBOOM. All fall down! Annelie didn't like it; Yansanth LOVED it.
Blushing, but with her eyes still narrowed, Annelie looked back at C'ym while still on the ground, almost as if this was maybe somehow his fault. "She's right here."
Yansanth gave a happy croon in the man's direction after she removed her snout from Her's shoulder. She didn't remember C'ym, but she did somehow remember the name 'Hanumanth' and whom the name was connected to.
HANUMANTH! Yansanth bugled up into the air quite suddenly. She turned her head in each direction to try and find the speaking bronze. Where are you?
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:04 am
The ground shook with dire warning. Or maybe the opposite of warning, actually, since the event----namely several tons of dragon appearing right in front of his nose----had already happened. Was there a word for that? C’ym didn’t know, but figured he’d have a better chance of thinking of the right word after he had gotten back to his feet. The Wingsecond stood up quickly and tried to look as if he meant for that to happen. Yep. Totally and completely. And disregard any and all sand on his person. It was supposed to be there!
“Yes, I can see that. Thank you for pointing her out to me,” C’ym said drily, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to get rid of at least some of that accursed sand. “Does she still try to adopt tiny creatures?”
Hanumanth bugled again, deciding that a game of hide and find me was far more fun than just telling Yansanth where he was. Actually, the Bronze was paddling not too far away from the shore and swam a little closer. It would have been very cinematic, the great striped Bronze emerging from the fog, but the effect was spoiled by seaweed draped on his face and head. Yansaaaaanth! There are shipfish! Come on, let’s play!
“…Hanumanth hasn’t really grown up,” C’ym said, trying to sound apologetic and failing completely. The fact was, he loved the dragon just the way he was.
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:10 pm
At Hanumanth's second calling, the Queen straightened up and really started looking about for the Bronze, chortling every so often in whichever direction her head was turned. Shipfish, Hanumanth? Oh how adorable! -- Wait, what are shipfish again? Boats... shaped like fish? Used for fishing? she questioned eagerly, ignorantly, as she looked back out into the crashing ocean.
Yansanth had seen shipfish before. She had swam with shipfish before, and had even tried to bring some with her as her own, but the Gold's memory... Well, to put it simply, her memory sucked.
She gave another chortle and then a small trumpet into the air, swaying her tail and moving some feet away from Annelie. Do boats shaped like fish help attract fish, Hanumanth? How are boats fun to play with -- we aren't allowed to play with -- OH!
All of a sudden, the striped bronze became visible to Yansanth, and in her excitement, she completely lost her train of thought as she flared her large wings and reared up onto her hind legs. HANUMANTH, I found you! I found you!
As Yansanth crooned out loud, and laughed through her mind, Annelie finally picked herself up off the sand and dusted off her tied skirts, only to nearly fall down again as the Queen returned to standing on all four feet. After righting herself for the second time, Annelie gave Yansanth a look and a tilt of the head, but the Queen remained visibly oblivious to whatever Hers was doing, and continued to act like an excited puppy.
It was too hard to remain annoyed at her.
"Yes..." Annelie finally replied, turning to look back at C'ym. "But now she tries to adopt creatures of any size, not just the small ones." She had to shake her head at that. There had been many an instance where Yansanth would go to feed, but end up not eating at all because she'd be too preoccupied with corralling the beasty food.
"And...Yansanth has hardly seemed to grow up herself," she added, looking back again at the dragon. She was over three years old and still hadn't shown any urges to rise. ...Which was all fine and dandy to Annelie, but it always made one wonder.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:16 pm
At Yansanth’s probing questions, Hanumanth had to stop and think. Oh, and look down carefully at the dolphins. Nooo… he said slowly, sounding fairly certain of himself. They aren’t boats. They are fish. I think they’re called shipfish because… because… he floundered a little now, not knowing at all why they would be called such things. They certainly didn’t look like ships! Ships didn’t have a tail. That was a bit of a sticking point, you know. And, speaking of sticking points, shipfish also had that little point on their backs, like a dragon’s almost.
Maybe they just weren’t very well named? he hazarded after thinking about it for a while. He bugled at Yansanth again before inviting her to play some more. Come into the water! It’s fun! We can even splash Ours! There was just a hint of a mewl at the end of his invitation.
Once again, C’ym fought to keep his balance as the ground shook. Shards, but Yansanth was huge now! He could still remember how tiny she had once been, when she had tried to hide in her own shell. Then again, Hanumanth had been a fairly shy dragon himself. Or sort of shy… he had just needed encouragement. Reaching out a hand, C’ym silently offered to help Annelie back up, although she managed to get herself up just fine. Well, it worked out for everyone in the end.
“I don’t know about growing up,” he commented, eyeing the huge queen. “She certainly seems to have grown up. Way up. And that’s cute about the animals she tries to adopt,” he said, since he wasn’t the one who had to deal with such ‘cuteness’.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:52 pm
Yansanth mellowed during the time that Hanumanth took to explain the reason behind the naming of the shipfish, and for a few minutes there was steady ground and some silence. However, no such thing lasted long when the queen was involved, and at the bronze's latest bugle, she upped her excitement once again, this time directing it into a forceful charge into the waters.
Yes, yes! We should splash Ours! Yansanth trumpeted happily in agreement, though she still continued to paddle out towards Hanumanth. The whole idea-to-action thing hadn't exactly clicked yet.
Annelie took a moment to watch the gold finally make it into the water before returning her attention back to the one who was actually talking to her. "Then...likewise to Hanumanth," she commented quietly, though the words as a whole probably weren't necessary. Both dragons were ginormous, and both seemed to stay incredibly young in their mindset.
"I-it's cute. ...Sometimes," she began, "but when you wake up to find a herdbeast in your weyr, it no longer becomes so adorable."
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:08 pm
Living with Hanumanth was a bit like living with a permanent child. It wasn’t exactly how C’ym had imagined his dragon, honestly… not that he minded at all. Changing Hanumanth in any way, shape or form would change everything. He just wouldn’t be him anymore and that just wasn’t right.
For a while, C’ym was silent as his imagination explored the full horror of just what Annelie was saying. “Um. Um. Would this be a live herdbeast or…?” he left the question hanging, trying not to contemplate the alternative too much. Look, imagination; if this is how you’re going to behave, I won’t bring you again, he chided himself. Actually, the idea of Yansanth actually killing anything was just insane.
As the gold dragon hurried to join him, the young bronze was nearly beside himself in excitement. He wiggled back any forth, causing small waves to crash up on the shoreline. Oh, this would be such fun! Taking a huge gulp of air, Hanumanth filled his huge lungs and dove underwater as best he could. This wasn’t very well, actually, since his huge lungs also acted as a float system. All that could be seen were the spines on his neck and his horns as he swam towards Yansanth. One felt that there should have been some rather dramatic and cinematic music behind it all.
Duh-nuh.
Duh-nuh.
Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh…
NUH!
The Bronze bobbed back to the surface quickly with a playful bugle, showering Yansanth in seaweed and water. Oh, and that roar of his, which still somehow carried a mewl in it. It was strange how such a thing could translate into adulthood, but there it was.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:33 pm
Annelie had to give him an odd look for a moment, and think about what he was implying to, before she suddenly became wide-eyed. "Live -- live... definitely live. ..." she shook her head, and a hand, in more attempts to counter the other...possibility. Ew.
Yansanth killed -- she had to for food after all -- but after she had her fill, it wasn't completely uncommon for her to, uh, bring a friend home. A large, tormented and obviously mentally scarred, "friend."
"If she ever brought sometime dead. ...I-I think that's the one time everyone is the Weyr would hear me."
When Haunmath suddenly disappeared, Yansanth stopped in her swimming and stared about, totally dumbfounded and at a loss as to what had happened. She failed to look down, and thusly failed to see his ridges and horns as he came closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And duh-nuh. ...duh-nuh....duuuuhh
NUUUUH!
It was the bugle that startled the queen most, and then it was the flying/falling seaweed. She let out her own trumpet, and wheeled backwards, floundering in the water before she realized whom the assailant was.
HANUMANTH! she cried, though not angrily. Quite the opposite, actually. As her eyes swirled from yellow to green, she gave a more playful bugle, and then crooned.
You were a seamonster! A monster of the sea! Eater of. ...of...fishchips -- fishships...shipsfish?
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:50 pm
“Oh thank Faranth…” Now at least C’ym’s imagination could stop tormenting him, at least for a little while. Thankfully, Hanumanth hadn’t tried bringing any ‘friends’ like that home. Although, occasionally, C’ym would still find the Bronze gamely trying to make conversation with an angry wher or a dragon who really didn’t want his help. And that was bad enough, since that generally ended in a few snaps at Han, who honestly couldn’t understand what he had done wrong.
“Yeah… I think I’d scream too,” he admitted sheepishly, since it was pretty obvious. They had been in weyrling lessons together, after all, so Annelie knew full and well how much the spoiled man hated blood and guts. He looked up sharply at all the commotion coming from the water, but, judging from the sheer joy in Hanumanth’s mind, everything was going well. At least from his point of view. “At least someone enjoys his company. A lot of the dragons lose patience with Hanumanth, especially when they really don’t want help.”
Fishchips? Hanumanth repeated as he shook his head in an attempt to dislodge a strand of seaweed. It didn’t work; instead, the green tendril simply flapped around his face, which simply amused the Bronze. Those sound delicious! I want to eat fishchips! Mine once caught a fish for me. It was very yummy. Do you want a fish, Yansanth? I bet I could get one for you! And then we could take it to Ours so they can make it into fishchips for us!
Yansanth’s absolute and utter delight was infectious. Either that or Hanumanth’s was. Or maybe their combined joy mutated into a sort of super-happiness that spread over everything. Whatever it was, there was no way of bringing the Bronze down now.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 10:12 pm
When Yansanth's startled thoughts and feelings rushed into Annelie's head, the young woman turned quickly to see what was the matter and nearly missed C'ym comments. However, after a minute or so, Yansanth's worries turned to laughter, just as she almost always did.
That was a nice thing about Yansanth's ...child-like personality; while she wasn't the smartest dragon in the bunch, she had a very good rebound rate when it came to small or medium-sized stresses.
Sensing things were okay, she looked away from the paddling pair. "Poor Han," she said, turning to C'ym. "That's, um, sometimes the case with Yansanth as well. Only the gabbiest of greens and blues can take her flighty, bubbly nature. ...But, but I think they'll always have friends in each other, at least."
Fishchips! I don't know what chips are, Han, but fish are very good, and cute! ...I think. Do you really think you can get one? she babbled, ending with a very honest question.
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