Young Blood [Open]

[Ruby]

Spring was just beginning, but in the South that meant that about once a week there was a day that seemed as beautiful as full summer. T'ri was fed up with the Weyr, as usual, and Arhenaiyth was feeling restless, so the pair had loaded up a bag of food, a fishing pole, T'ri's battered old guitar, and several skins of wine and other booze before heading down the Burimyu River to find some shady pool. Cristal opted to stay in the Weyr for the time being, although she assured her human that she would join him later. She had things to do, after all. She was a busy Green.

T'ri, on the other hand, had nothing to do, which was exactly how he liked it. He'd picked at his guitar for a while, finished a skin of wine, and now he'd settled in with his fishing pole next to him, stripped down to nothing but his lime-green swimming trunks. He was perched on a rock above a wide, deep pool formed by a natural dam just downstream. The water was frigid elsewhere in the river, but in the shallows of this particular pool the sun warmed it to something tolerable for swimming, not that T'ri had tried yet. He might have to soon, though - it was getting warm, and the juice and quikal mixture he was working on now wasn't quite doing the job of keeping him cool. He checked his fishing pole and eyed the river, deciding if he was too lazy to get up or not.

You probably are, useless lump,[/i] Arhenaiyth drawled, flopping his tail up onto T'ri's lap. The Blue was lounging behind his rider, head on paws, the picture of relaxation - until he suddenly surged to his feet, that is, making T'ri squirt liquid from the skin he was drinking out of all over his face and chest. "Henny, you ass!" I'm going hunting, I need a snack. See you when I see you, the Weyr's only about two hours away on foot. You can get youself back if you need to.[/i] "Henny! What about, like, felines. I'm totes gonna get eaten, then you're gonna feel really bad. And you spilled on my shorts! These are vintage." You spilled on your shorts, T'ri. See you later.[/i] And with that, the dragon took off, blowing dirt and leaves all over his sticky Rider.

T'ri exhaled, glancing down at his dusty torso as Arhenaiyth's shadow passed overhead. The Blue was circling T'ri's spot, signalling to the entire world that his Rider was below. Awesome. Well, if he was going to have company, he might as well be clean, right? With a wild yell, T'ri dashed forward and launched himself off his rock, cannon balling into the pool in front of him.

[Rowana]

It wasn't the best day to be out for Ophiuchusth, but the blue had to admit that some time outside sounded nice. He figured he could always lie in the shade while N'rik went swimming and the sun did feel nice on his hide, even if it didn't on his eyes. The pair was growing quite accustomed to day flights by now. They couldn't manage many fancy tricks with only N'rik's eyes to guide them, but getting from one place to another was no trouble. At least so long as N'rik didn't get distracted as sometimes happened.

Unfortunately as they near the pool N'rik had picked out, he lost focus long to come uncomfortable close to hitting Arhenaiyth. Oh! Sorry, brother! You look so much like the sky. N'rik glanced up and rapidly changed their course. "Woah! Watch it!" That is your job, N'rik, the blue reminded patiently. "Right," N'rik grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." He glanced down in time to see T'ri's dive into the pool. It was great to have company.

Ophiuchusth landed near the place Arhenaiyth had occupied a moment before. N'rik slid off, also dressed only in shorts and sandals and a light jacket for flying. He tossed off the shoes and jacket, before running to the end of the rock himself. "Look out, T'ri! Here I come!" He dove off the ledge, mimicking T'ri's cannonball move with a tremendous splash. Ophiuchusth moved farther off where he could sit under a tree. Ah, it was good to relax and enjoy the day.

[Ruby]

Like his sibling, Arhenaiyth didn't do so well with bright days. The blue was blinking rapidly, even more than normal, which was making it hard to find prey... and apparently hard to spot approaching brothers, too. Arhenaiyth pulled up and looped around Ophiuchusth, letting his tail brush along whatever part of his brother it reached. Well, as you know, I find your presence absolutely repellant,[/i] the blue drawled. Ophiuchusth should know his blue brother well enough now to recognize when Arhenaiyth was joking, and he absolutely was right now. Arhenaiyth never sought out company, but if he happened to find himself lounging near Ophiuchusth more often than some other dragons... well then.

T'ri, meanwhile, surfaced with a splutter just in time to get swamped by N'rik's cannonball. Unlike his dragon, T'ri didn't spend any extra time with the other bluerider, but he honestly had no idea why. He liked N'rik. Maybe the age difference between them had just been too large when they had first impressed. There was still a reasonable gap, but T'ri never acted his age anyway. Filling his mouth with river water, he waited until N'rik surfaced and launched a stream of water directly at the smaller rider's face. "That's for trying to drown me," he said, tone identical to his dragon's a few minutes ago, and equally facetious. Breaking into a smile, T'ri sent another little wave towards N'rik. "How's it going, bro," he asked, treading water and shaking his damp hair out of his face.

Arhenaiyth circled low, nearly taking the tops off the trees above Ophiuchusth. Hungry, Ophiuchusth?[/i] A usual, Arhenaiyth used the full name of the dragons he knew - he despised the nickname T'ri insisted on using, and didn't hold with nicknames, overall. Even if he and his siblings and all chosen pretty good tongue twisters. I see some wherries a few lengths away, and I have no objection to taking out two of the pests instead of one. Since I'm getting one for myself anyway.[/i] Because Arhenaiyth never did anything for other people unless he was doing it for himself, too.

[Rowana]

N'rik surfaced to a stream of water hitting his face. Of course he was already wet, but that didn't stop him waving the water away and splashing back. "Hey!" Then he grinned and shrugged. "I guess I deserved that, huh?" He shook water from his hair and swam around lazily. "Not bad, same old stuff really," he answered.

Ophiuchusth chuckled brightly. Arhenaiyth always had such funny things to say. He liked all his siblings and this brother was no exception, for all his strangeness. Of course, he replied, without any trace of being offended at all. He considered his brother's offer for a moment. It really was very nice of him. After all, he probably wouldn't be much good at wherry hunting himself and a snack did sound good. That does sound good, he relayed. Thank you muchly, Arheniayth! Because even when he tried to mimic whoever he was talking to, like not using the nicknames some of his other siblings did, he still sometimes talked like Alph the salamandyr.

[Ruby]

T'ri crinkled his nose up at the other rider's splash, grinning lazily and letting his hips float up to the surface so the pool's slight current dragged him slowly downstream, past N'rik. "Same old stuff, huh. Who's that girl you're always hanging around with then, she must be someone. Bluerider, I think," T'ri observed. He actually knew the girl's name - Olivia of... Nevarath? She'd been at Burimyu, after all, and it was hard not to know everyone at the hidden Weyr. She'd impressed later, though, and Arhenaiyth wasn't nearly as observant as his rider when it came to social things. Human sociability T'ri had down, though. "You two looked pretty cozy at dinner the other night," the Bluerider added.

By now, T'ri had reached the far end of the pool, where the bottom flattened out before the water trickled through a pile of stones that could have been natural or man-made, T'ri didn't know. Standing up now that the pool was shallow enough to do so, he stretched and climbed out of the water, retrieving the skin Henny had made him spill all over himself and taking a swig before he chucked it at the still-swimming N'rik. "Help yourself, I've got plenty," T'ri offered, before clambering back up onto the rock and taking another flying leap, letting out a joyful "Wooooo!" as he plunged into the cold water.

Arhenaiyth made a little humphing noise, vaguely upset with Ophiuchusth for not being properly offended. Ah well, he was used to it, Ophiuchusth was far too amenable for his own good. Blinking at the wherries he saw lounging below, Arhenaiyth tucked his wings, dropping with surprising speed and grace to snatch up one in his foreclaws, then snapped another's neck with his jaws. As the rest of the wherries screamed and scattered, Arhenaiyth took back to the sky, trailing feathers. Muchly, hmm? He considered making a snide comment, but it was just too nice of a day. Passing low over Ophiuchusth's head, he dropped the wherry he was holding, then settled down next to his brother to crunch into his own. Taking his cue from his rider's conversational direction, Arhenaiyth asked somewhat more bluntly, Caught anyone lately?[/i]