Smile That Pensiveness Away (Open)

[sammykins]

Go ahead and say goodbye
I'll be alright
Go ahead and make me cry
I'll be alright

Royamuru, lazy git that he was prone to being, had often complained that she didn't know the meaning of 'relaxation', let alone the concept of actually doing so. She was always watchful, searching for something to do. Even idle, she would twitch a hand a little here, roll an ankle there. If they so happened to be down by the water during precious free time, it wouldn't take long for her to be in the drink, putting the energy in her deceptively calm form to good use. For her, doing nothing was a bit of a waste of time. If you wanted to be a bit of an idiot romantic, more so in their once utopian world turned war-torn. Not that she could remember when it wasn't war-torn, mind.

At this point in time, Riza put her free time to good use through visiting her young dolphin. Recently paired as they were, it made sense in her rational mind to spend as much time as she reasonably could with him when there wasn't other training or instruction to be done. At this point in time, she didn't have any particular aspirations occupying - or deluding - her mind, though the thought of dolphin-healing was somewhat intriguing.

For now, though, she was content just to be...like this. At any rate, it made more sense again to be down here - Thalut had proven himself to be quite a bit shyer than even the average shy dolphin, though as he began to realise that she wasn't going to be taking any nonsense - the presence of the fish beside Riza on the dock helped -, he was becoming a great deal more confident, less prone to his odd little habit of ducking his head under water with each greeting, as if the thin veil of liquid made the difference between shielding and baring him. He'd even begun to show something of a mischievous side - cocking his head this way and that, daring but not quite mustering up the courage to snatch a fish from the deck lest he be graced with a scolding glower from Riza's dark eyes.

Riza, for her part, was glad of the distraction more so than usual. It was another reason she liked to keep busy; it left less opportunity to think. Thinking was all good and well, but when you thought about particular things too long, you grew rather...pensive. Morose, if you thought beyond that.

She couldn't help it, though. If it wasn't pondering on the world at large, it was worrying about 'Roy'. She knew what he was like all too well, and though he was, as far as she knew, still at his station on the coast, she still...worried.

A series of clicks interrupted her musings, and Riza barely had time to utter a spluttered curse before she was doused quite liberally down her front. Apparently, Thalut wasn't fond of the present aura radiating off his new human female - or perhaps he was just waiting for a fish -, for he had chosen that rather inopportune moment to beat his tail peremptorily against the surface of the water...hence the reason why Riza now had a great, horrid wet patch down her front. The pale blue of the tunic hardly helped matters, either, and the young woman's freckled cheeks reddened slightly even as she attempted to ring out the material and scowl at the dolphin all in one go.

"Thalut! That is very ru--no, bad. No fish for that one!"

Awwwwwww~ The young male seemed to deflate slightly at that, but then just as suddenly, he whistled, a merry tune to go with a wave of his fin as he swum about on his side, and then the other fin when he shifted in a little loop to his other side. At that angle, the faintest beginnings of pink hide were visible on his stomach, peeking up before it was hidden again by the water.

Like little salmon... Riza thought offhandedly. For some reason, the thought was amusing - though the dolphin's sudden spurt of playful behaviour didn't help - and despite herself, the blonde grinned. Just a little.

[Tashe]

"Alright, good work Milla! Call Blue back in." Crossing his arms, the Dolphineer listened to the young woman whistle for the Dolphin, who responded immediately. Not necessarily because the girl had massive practice under her belt, but Blue was old and incredibly wise, having worked as a partner for many Turns himself he knew exactly what to do. "You're free to go! You've got another lesson with Melista herself in a few candlemarks so spend your time wisely." He paused then added, "Milla, you should start considering taking on a baby partner... Blue is an old dolphin and if you bond now, it may lessen the blow of loosing him." A biting response and a sigh later, Cavelieran was left to himself on the shore front. That girl was just too attached to her partner... if she didn't distance herself soon, she might never take another Partner. He reached up to touched his bandoleer of bells, only to remember he hadn't put it on this morning. Instead a thin whistle on a thick leather cord hung like a pendent from his neck, he touched that instead. Whenever he planned on working in the water the Journeyman always switched his bells for his work whistle, bells could be lost quite easily to the waves and mischievous Dolphins liked to steal those dropped bells and ring them when no one was looking.

Stretching as a wave lapped at his knees, Lier yawned and sent his hello's to the warm and mighty Rukbat before lifting the whistle to his lips. As he waded into deeper waters, two, completely different tunes called a Mother and a Son who had been feeding lazily near by over to the man. Lowering his hands as the two Dolphins came up to greet him, Cavelieran rubbed the female's back and between the younger male's front flippers as he rolled over with a chatter. "Hello lovelies, ready for our swim?" He said to them from around the whistle. Latching onto Raidy's back fin, the Dolphineer made a peeping noise with the whistle, letting the female know he was ready. They started off slow then picked up speed, occasionally diving under water to spice things up. Rukto was old enough and big enough now that when Cavelieran switched to him, the young male knew exactly what to do.

A single tweet told Rukto to slow down, a tap on his left told him to take his human toward the near by docks. Letting go so he could tread water at a suitable distance, Cavelieran watched just as a Dolphin splashed it's partner. He swam closer with a friendly hello, his own dolphins bobbing up and down behind him. Though Rukto swam right up to the other Dolphin without hesitation, clicking happily at him. Slinging an arm around his Primary partner, he let the dolphin support some of his weight.

"Good Morn'! I thought I heard that someone else had a young partner, but he's just a little one isn't he, still grey and all. Congratulations by the way." He glanced back up at the woman on the docks. "Riza, right? I think I remember you walking the tables... what was it... about a turn ago?" The memory was vague, since he hadn't been one of her teachers and therefore hadn't been top priority in his mind. "My name is Cavelieran by the way, and this is Raidy. That young'in over there is Rukto, Raidy's second pup and my second partner. Come swim with us. I'm sure Rukto would love another young'in to swim with instead of his mother for a change." He cracked a grin. "You're wet already so whats to loose, neh?"

[sammykins]

It wasn't exactly unlikely that there would be others out. Durr, of course it wasn't, her logical mind would say. She just usually didn't expect to be approached. Not because she was cruel, or mean, or surly...just because she was Riza. Being Riza though made for an amusing sight, and not just because of her drenched front; it was the slight widening of her dark eyes, the way they blinked several times and the manner in which her head tilted to the side when Cavelieran called out to her, as if she had expected to be keeping naught but her own and Thalut's company.

Thalut was slightly more ahead of his game than his human partner, and responded as such. Still slightly shy as ever, he actually drew closer to Riza, or where her legs rested in the water. His nose bumped into her knee shyly before he turned beady eyes to Rukto - not an unfamiliar by any means, they'd possibly bumped into each other in the past...it was just Thalut being Thalut, and the presence of the adult female was slightly disconcerting, too. Somewhat familiarity and just allround good-humoured dolphin nature won out, though, and though his smooth head still stayed close to Riza's knee, Thalut emitted a series of soft, low clicks in response to his ebullient counterpart, finishing it off with a whistle and a nod of his slim head so that the water about him splashed lightly.

"Uh..." Riza blinked again before her usually (note, usually), impeccable good sense returned. Upon processing the presence of the Senior Journeyman to her fullest extent, she fought her lips until they at least managed a small, lopsided smile, shrugging one shoulder as was her habit.

"I walked the tables nine months ago, to be precise," she said quietly, pursing her lips a little when hindsight dictated to her that as usual, her straight-laced mannerisms were potentially bringing her off as brisk, cold at worst. At least she managed to keep the little smile on her face, though out of reflex when slightly uncomfortable, her hand reached up to play with what could be found on her chain - in this case, her own dolphin whistle.

She almost refused out of habit when Cavelieran invited her to swim, too used to people not bothering with her particularly once her usual brisk mannerisms made themselves known. Shame, really, because she wasn't a cruel person. But then Thalut emitted a surprisingly vocal whistle, spinning in a half circle where he floated at the prospect of Cavelieran's offer. He was inexperienced, yes, but with the patience Riza had inherently treated him with, he was more than willing to try out this swimming business. Make it a common occurence, even.

Thus, he bumped his nose against her leg, and if dolphins could give puppy eyes, the young 'un certainly came darn close to doing so. Whatever reservations she'd had melted just enough, Riza's eyes softening on the young male before she sighed, a little huff of acqueisance and exasperated amusement and affection in one. A rueful smile and another little shrug was given to the Senior Journeyman before she stood, stripping her shorts and sandals so she was clad in her undergarments and the shirt that was already drenched. No point worrying - as Cavelieran had already pointed out; it was already wet.

Thalut clicking enthusiastically all the while, Riza took but a moment to gather her dirty blonde hair into it's usual birdtail bun before diving in. Her form was but a slender ripple of shadow through the water before she surfaced, shaking her fringe out of her face and treading water. She barely had time to do that though before she started in surprise, the reason becoming obvious when Thalut's pinkish snout appeared at her elbow before the rest of him did, nudging his way under one of her arms. That done, he whistled softly, clearly seeking some kind of approval from his partner herself. From the older dolphin's present too, at that. Shy he was, but not unwilling to seek some sort of advice or approval, so that he could know if he was doing the right thing.

[Tashe]

"Eh. Twelve months, nine months, almost the same thing. Though I'm sure a pregnant woman would wholeheartedly disagree with me." Letting go of Raidy, Cavelieran let himself float backward as he called Rukto to him with a tweet of his whistle. The youngest of his partners chittered at Thalut before diving under and retreating to his human, popping up right next to him with an equally happy whistle, copying Cavey's calling pattern. "Oi, don't be cheeky. That's your call not mine." As he waited for Riza to undress, the Journey man released Raidy from her duties with him, but he knew she'd stick to the vicinity. She was a mom after all. Keeping an eye on Rukto as he swam in happy circles around the nearest buoy, Cavelieran only looked away when Riza joined him in the water.

"Have you taken your partner out like this before?" He felt the answer was probably closer to a negative but still, he asked out of habit. "Well either way, you look light enough and your Dolphin big enough for a short jaunt from here." Rukto clacked at Thalut as he bumped into his human, spinning so that Cavelieran could grab onto the smooth fin that was common to his species. "We'll stay in the shallows just in case." And by shallows he meant just deep enough for the dolphins to swim comfortably with their human passengers. Quickly ducking under the water to plaster back his hair (he'd stopped cutting in in August in preparation for the cold months to come), he re-emerged to look at Riza. "Its just the standard hold, nothing special. I assume your teachers took you on practice swims as an Apprentice. You wont have to worry about hand signals or whistle calls right now, he should just follow Rukto's lead."

Using both hands he readjusted his grip on his partner's fin, letting himself float to one side. "If um... I've forgotten to ask your partners name..." He continued once it was given. "Though, If Thalut starts going to fast, just let go and call him back to you." He paused with a smile. "Any questions?"