Written in Sand {Open}

[Sheari]

They had swept his couch.

The brown was currently sun bathing on the sandy beaches of the Selenitas River because his couch had been swept of all the sand and dirt and grit that kept his belly soft. He suspected that His had been in on the conspiracy, and had gotten a drudge to help him do it, simply because he knew the man was sick of walking through what fell on the floor of the weyr. That, and he had complained about having to shake his clothes out the day after he'd worn them if he desired to wear them again.

Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine. The mental mocking reached the otherwise sour-mooded man that was dozing nearby, a hat shading his eyes, a piece of straw in his mouth, a fishing pole resting on the ground. "Y'know, if you miss your sand so much, why don't you start carrying it up there every time your couch is swept?", C'ryl asked aloud, cracking an eye to look at his dragon. Pagoth didn't move, save for opening the outer lid of his left eye to glare back at His. Why don't you put your clothes where my sand can't reach them, like in the large wooden box?[/i] Pagoth mimicked the tone C'ryl had used.

C'ryl opened both eyes and glared full on to Pagoth. The brown closed his outer lid and resumed his dozing. The brownrider went back to subconsciously chewing the piece of straw in his mouth.

"If you want to be such a grump about, you could probably go and put more sand on your couch. The work wouldn't hurt you, Pagoth."
If you want to be a sarcastic know-it-all, you can go back to the stables, the work would hurt you either, C'ryl.[/i]

The brownrider got up, grabbed his fishing pole and waded into the river. The water felt chilly as it soaked into his trousers, his boots were on the shore. Child's head popped out of one, the lace to it in her mouth. The green fire lizard must be unlacing his boots again. He cast the line and waited, slowly reeling it in. His mood would get better as Pagoth got over his little issue, until then, C'ryl would be grumpy.

[raii]

Perion lazily brushed his fingers against the bark of a nearby tree. Residue from the tree stuck to his fingers. With an annoyed sigh, he flicked the dusty substance from his hands, continuing on his way. He was bored. Truth be told, he was bored with everything life had to offer. He had finished all of his chores early, as always. He'd done his lessons. He had nothing to do. So it was off to the river. It was getting chillier, but the river was a nice place to be. Peaceful, quiet.

He peeked out of the forest. To his dismay, there was a person nearby. The fishing figure made him feel no hatred, anger, or dislike. Rather, he just didn't want to have to talk to someone. A candidate of few words, Perion was. He rarely spoke. He just didn't much like to. He scanned the beach, wondering how he had missed the lounging brown nearby. He was a dark brown, so he didn't exactly blend in with the sand.

Dragons were one of the few things that interested him. Intrigued him, maybe. They were intelligent, more so than most humans he had met. In a way, they were like people, just more interesting and lacking the natural flaws every person possessed. Whers, too, interested him, but for a different reason. They weren't beautiful like dragons. They were burly, muscular, and interesting. He didn't know which he would rather Impress.

He did, of course, want to Impress.

If he didn't, he wouldn't be upset about it. Some people Impressed, some people didn't. He'd be happy to Impress, but he might not. He'd love to Impress something sturdy like a brown--muscular and strong, well built--but he'd happily settle for a leaner blue or green. A bronze too, would be nice, but he doubted he was bronze material. Bronzeriders were potential Weyrleaders. Perion would make the worst Weyrleader in the history of Pern. He looked up at the large dragon. He hadn't been this close to a dragon since he'd been brought here from his hold.

[Rowana]

Grass rustled as small feet and paws tiptoed towards the river. Nabrik crouched behind a bush at the river's edge, trying to hide his giggles. The rider and his dragon hadn't even seen him yet! Sometimes it helped being so small. Path whined next to him, licking her paws lazily. "Shh, Path!" Nabrik hissed at her. "We don't want them to hear us!" The boy wasn't sure how good dragon hearing was. Why? a pleasant voice asked in his head as Alph crawled up next to him. At least salamandyrs didn't make noise when they talked. "Because, it wouldn't be a surprise, Alph," Nabrik explained in a hushed whispered. The brown cocked his head curiously. His boy had the strangest ideas of fun.

Nabrik spotted an older boy approaching and groaned. He hadn't counted on more than one person. He might ruin everything. Though, he hadn't spoken yet. Maybe this would still work. "Alright, he's the plan," he explained to his troops. "Alph will get the end of the fishing line and I'll put this on it." With a grin, he held up some ladies undergarments he'd found while doing laundry chores. Why? Alph asked again. That not nice. Nabrik rolled his eyes. "Of course it isn't, silly. That's the point. Now, go!"

Alph gave his boy a long suffering look, but slipped into the river. The salamandyr might have been young, but he was often the more mature member of the group. Almost a pity he was so obedient and loyal as well. Within moments he'd found the fishing line and gently pulled it towards shore. Hopefully C'ryl wouldn't noticed before the rest of the prank was prepared. The other boy could prove to be a useful distraction if that happened.

[Sheari]

Grr.

Pagoth lifted his head only enough to move it toward the boy standing near him. His eyes opened just enough to look at him, whirling a contented turquoise, with a little hint of red to show his general annoyance. He was still brooding about his couch. What do you want? he though to himself, blowing air out of his nose in a sigh. Well, he couldn't just as well scare the boy away. The brown didn't exactly keep up on the loop of things in the weyr, but there was always a need of candidates. Not being on "Search" meant the oft lazy lump of brown dragon wasn't trying to determine if the lad would be a good match for a mindmate. Jokingly, he half wondered what the Searcher for His was thinking. Pagoth turned is head and yawned, showing all of his teeth as his lips pulled back slightly, before returning his head to its previous position.

C'ryl was momentarily distracted by the sound of hide against hide, hoping the lad near Pagoth didn't realize he was watching him. He turned his attention back to line. It was moving, yes, but he didn't know if there was anything on the hook or if it was just the flow of the river pulling it. Experimentally he reeled it in a little bit before letting it go again. There was little tension on the nearly invisible strand, but enough to make the brownrider suspicious. Had he really caught something in this cold water? Did the fish abandon the river during the winter. No fisherman was C'ryl so he had no answers.

Child, on the other hand, has seen something slip into the water and, two and two had connected. With the lace of the boot she was in held tightly in her mouth, the green firelizard flew over line. She circled it, where it entered the water, swooping low, over and under the strand. "Child, get away from there!" C'ryl called to the creature. Reluctantly, she flew back to him, taunting the man with the bootlace. After a few moments of futilely waving his hand to catch it he did. The green proceeded to tug back, in a game. "I don't have time for this," he growled low for only her to hear. The green stopped tugging and began chewing. C'ryl let her go, he'd have to get a new bootlace anyway, not that she was chewing on it.

[raii]

A brown salamandyr dove into the water. Strange. Perion glanced to the bush where the creature had emerged from. His ears caught the sound of breathing, and he caught a rustle of movement. It seemed they were being observed. He sat down, choosing to ignore all the presences. He noticed the dragon observing him for a moment, and looked at the dragon, before looking back to the water.

The fisher's fire lizard freaked out. She must have noticed the salamandyr. She tried to warn hers, but he pushed her off with annoyance. He seemed completely oblivious to the salamandyr. He wondered what the salamandyr was up to. As far as he was concerned, they were pesky creatures. He didn't know much about them, but they still seemed annoying. Perion glanced to the dragon.

Did the dragon not notice the salamandyr? Did he not care? No doubt the creature was up to no good, as the fire lizard had realized. The brown should listen to the creature, as should the fisher-rider. It seemed the idiotic creatures weren't quite as idiotic as Perion had thought. He placed his hands on the ground. The older candidate would watch and see how this played out.

The fisher seemed to be too focused on fishing. Perion found no interest in that. Fish didn't make a very good meal either way. For some reason, sitting, thinking, and doing nothing was more appealing than fishing, which seemed quite similar.

[Rowana]

Alph could feel the slight tug on the line, but it didn't look like the man was going to reel it. Just as well, as that would cause a number of problems he would rather not deal with. Child surprised him though. Alph glanced up at her curiously. Was she mad at him? He hoped not. Fire lizards were alright in his book. He would rather make friends than not. I sorry he told her sincerely. Mine wants it.

Nabrik's eyes lit up when Alph returned. It didn't look like anyone had noticed them yet. "Good boy," he whispered. With an evil grin, the boy gently hooked the underpants on the end of the line. Alph shook himself free of water and hopped up onto Nabrik's shoulder. "Hey!" Nabrik hissed indignantly. "You want me to get wet too?" Is fair, Alph pointed out smugly. Nabrik rolled his eyes, but he was to busy to argue. The trap was completed, now to spring it!

Nabrik yanked hard on the panties and ducked back behind the bushes. He watched C'ryl, barely able to hold back his excitement. Would he take the bait?

[raii]

This bored him.

The kid was being a troublemaker, he assumed. Doing something "sneaky" behind the bush. The man was fishing. Boring. The dragon simply glanced at him and ignored him. So, strangely for him, he broke the silence. "Well, not that this isn't fun, but I'll leave you two to your own challenges."

Yes, he did just give away the boy's presence. No, he didn't really care. The man could take it as he pleased. The dragon could be the second. Or the fire lizard, perhaps. It didn't matter either way to him. He left the way he came, headed back to the Weyr.

((Fail post, just ignore him if you please.))

[Sheari]

It wasn't long before the frigid water got to C'ryl and he walked out. Southern winters were a bit warmer than northern ones, he'd noticed, but not by much. Or perhaps this was simply a rare winter heatwave? He'd rather not brave the hypothermia to find out. Well, the fish weren't biting, and the man began to reel in the line. The nearly invisible strand began to curve the wrong direction and the boy next to Pagoth spoke and then left. Challenges? "What do you mean, challenges?" C'ryl called to him, but it was too late and the boy was already gone. He began to reel the line in more, suspicious.

There is someone behind the bushes over there.[/i] Pagoth shifted his position to a sitting one, curving his neck a bit to peer at Nabrik. The content turquoise from earlier turned to a lighter, more amused blue-green. He couldn't see the panties hooked on the line, His had already reeled them into the water. But the brown simply sat there, looking at Nabrik. He had one of those annoying things that those of the weyr he'd heard call Salamandyrs. Obnoxious things that often left him alone, and he was glad for it. Child was enough for him.

The green firelizard, at Pagoth's moving, leaped from her chewing on C'ryl's bootlaces, one still clasped in her mouth, and began to fly circles above the brown's head. The trailing string delicately tickling the dragon's muzzle. Yes! He'd found them! He'd found those that Her's ignored her for and maybe the great Pagoth would do something about it! The 'mandyr's words had been nearly lost to her, but she understood he was just following orders. Something she didn't like to do but would do if she felt like it.

With the undergarments in the water, slowly being reeled in, the trap had been set and the quarry snared. The sour mood of the brown had lifted a bit at his "find". Though once or twice he gently snapped at Child to keep her and her string from tickling his nose.

[Rowana]

Something large seemed to be looming over them. Path was first to see the danger and yipped in alarm. "Shhh, Path!" Nabrik hissed. "You'll get us caught!" Alph raised his head and saw the dragon. He offered his brown kin an apologetic chirp. Too late, he stated sorrowfully. Nabrik looked up and swore. A child of his age really had no business knowing such harsh language, but no one had ever bothered to teach him different. Besides, his mother wasn't here.

Well, now the dragon had spotted them, Nabrik was pretty sure the game was up. He glanced over at C'ryl. Why wasn't he doing anything? Dragons spoke in the mind like Alph, so surely he knew by now. The boy frowned and eyed Pagoth suspiciously. Maybe he hadn't raised the alarm yet or maybe he didn't know. Getting caught didn't necessarily mean he couldn't still have fun. He could always escape later.