Fear Weyrling Lesson Eleven

[Ember]

Lesson Eleven:
Classroom: Rider Signing Test and Special Training; Mating Flights
Training Field: Formations up from Three to Nine; Riders Given Straight Flight Assignments Throughout Pern

-- In an effort to make weyrling lessons more interesting I've decided to skip some parts but please be aware that they did occur. Bolded parts are what we're doing, or going to be doing. --

Attendance:
Bronzeweyrling Cr'oph of Mavenath
Brownweyrling R'ven of Trilaranth
Blueweyrling Dy'shi of Chakraith
Blueweyrling L'nu of Paglieth
Blueweyrling J'naes of Barientoth *
Blueweyrling J'ash of Craivaruth
Blueweyrling K'lin of Picarth *
Greenweyrling Casta of Posilanth *
Greenweyrling Dyudahlii of Nemmalorith *
Greenweyrling Erilena of Feyrianth
Greenweyrling C'erc of Harmonyth
Greenweyrling Kiana of Tuelzanth *
Greenweyrling X'rx of Eveyth

Post count key: 1, 2, 3, 4+

*Inactive

----

Iskierka eyed her class for a moment before turning them over to the doubtlessly expert care of Kalierre for the more...entertaining part of the lesson. Entertaining for her, at the very least. "Now, listen to Weyrdragonhealer Kalierre as she tells you about dragon mating Flights." The bluerider motioned towards the greenrider to take over and moved to perch on the edge of her desk as she looked at the weyrlings to watch for their reactions. She distinctly remembered her lesson on it and being equally amused at the reactions of her classmates.

She found it a bit too amusing for her own good though, so she clamped down on the emotion and forced most of it. There wasn't really a place for humour in her life, or so she had decided a while ago. She touched briefly on the mind of her blue to see how he was doing. He reported being completely fine. He had quickly forgotten his anger with her and was quite happy to be playing tag with the weyrling dragons while he waited. She let him do as he wanted since she'd actually managed to get him annoyed at her. She withdrew from his mind and continued to look at the class, finding something quite interesting.

Ioth was It. His current target was Feyrianth. He had noticed an interesting gust of wind earlier and was debating chasing the green towards it to give him the upper hand in catching her. The blue was almost too nice for his own good, though. He knew the green's troubles with flying as it was, she didn't need him deliberately trying to mess her up. Ioth bugled a small challenge and put on a sudden burst of speed to try and catch up to the green and tag her with his snout....

----

Dy'shi had been doing his best in lessons, especially with tests, but he was suddenly at a loss when Iskierka told them they'd be learning about mating flights. Wasn't it simple? Green or gold (or Chakraith, maybe) flew; blue (Chakraith excepted), brown, or bronze chased. He didn't get why they had to go over anything more. He almost glanced at X'rx until he remembered that he didn't want to look at his friend just then. The boy was most definitely sulking. Not only had he been a little late to lessons but when he had arrived he's seen something he hadn't wanted to see.

Cr'oph had come to the lesson and X'rx was sitting with him. Dy was beginning to realize that would most likely always be the case. It didn't mean he would be happy with it, or even accept it right away. The fact was that Dy didn't like Cr'oph and he disliked the bronzeweyrling having any sway at all over X'rx. Okay, who was he kidding? He was just a jealous kid who wanted his 'older brother' all to himself. He glanced at Iskierka for a moment and noticed her looking at him. What? Something funny? Her gaze lingered a moment longer before flicking over to X'rx and Cr'oph.

She knew something was up. That was the only reason she'd do that, right? The boy blushed and briefly burried his face in his hands. Chakraith lent some of her support from where she rested outside, watching what siblings were playing with the teacher. She found it interesting that such an old dragon would be playing with weyrlings but she supposed it was good practice for some. She wasn't very interested in playing games of tag but she didn't mind watching them.

[Requiem]

Kalierre nodded to Iskierka, not once moving from her position leaning against the wall. Lust was, as usual, perched on the top of her cane, though he'd been silent throughout the lesson thus far. "I know some of you have already experienced this yourselves," she began, a touch of wry amusement behind her voice. "If not last lesson, then with salamandyrs that you're not really supposed to have as weyrlings. But just in case you haven't...mating Flights are when your dragon either Rises or chases a Rising dragon, seeking to mate. In the case of the Rising dragon, you will always end up with a bedpartner, and yes, often they'll be someone you probably wouldn't have in your furs otherwise. If your dragon Chases, you will probably also end up with someone...either the rider of the female dragon or a moth. Some riders don't need a moth, but most do."

She glanced around. "I trust I don't have to explain the mechanics of sex? Good. So let me just touch on a few things. When your dragon enters a mating Flight - especially for the first time - the most important thing is to be supportive. This is a very crucial point in your dragon's development, and they shouldn't be feeling that it's wrong to want to mate, especially considering they can't help themselves, so all that will cause is undue stress. The best thing to do is try to get to a Flightroom or at least a contained area, and then let yourself go as much as possible. Enjoy yourself, meld with your dragon. For some of us, like myself...as soon as Phre Rises she has me. I think I'm her. Other people aren't effected much at all.

"You'll know what to expect for your specific dragon after it happens a few times. For those of you with females, your dragon will start to glow when it comes time for her to Fly. You may not notice - it's typically a gradual change. You're more likely to notice a difference in how much attention the males pay her and perhaps in the way their riders act toward you. You and your dragon likely also will have small personality changes. Phre and I start acting more like one another.

"Apart from that, Flights tend to be very bestial. Naturally. You will want to mate, just like your dragons. People usually say that if you're a virgin, you should lose your virginity - especially as a rider of a female dragon - before your dragon mates. Or it will be very uncomfortable for you afterwards. Maybe even painful. I call it developing muscle memory. Your body might want it, but if it doesn't know how to react when you're with the topping rider, you can still get hurt. This is especially true for males who ride females. It can sometimes be bad enough to require a visit to the healers, so I strongly suggest you find someone who you trust - and is experienced, preferably - to initiate you before your dragon Flies.

"Beyond that...post-Flight courtesy. It can be awkward, uncomfortable, and maybe even traumatic to wake up with another rider. Please remember that they had no more control over it than you and are probably just as shaken. If you need to decompress...wait until you can talk to a friend, and try not to freak out on the other rider. Also, please don't leave before they wake up. Can you imagine how creepy it would be to wake up alone after that? It's just plain rude." Tapping her chin, she smiled. "That's all I have. You can ask me or Iskierka questions, or if you'd rather do it in private, my office is always open, as are the weyrlingmasters'."

---

X'rx nudged Cr'oph lightly with an elbow. "I hope when you said you can 'at least' walk back and forth from the infirmary, you didn't intend to actually participate in the formations. Not that Iskierka would let you, but even if she did, I'll have Ev pin you first." He wrinkled his nose at the bronzeweyrling, his voice a low murmur as Kalierre began talking about Flights. (Nothing he didn't already know - obviously. Nothing like a practical example to get you on the fast track.) He'd seriously considered sitting on Cr'oph to prevent any macho foolishness.

Trailing off, X'rx got the feeling of eyes on him and glanced over to the other side of the room, frowning slightly when he saw that it was Dy'shi. What was he doing all the way over there, anyway? Making a mental note to pounce the kid later and make sure he was okay, X'rx was just about to at least pretend he was paying attention to the Weyrdragonhealer when the blueweyrling flushed and ducked his head. An eyebrow rose. Was he uncomfortable with the subject material?

[dragon]

L'nu shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He remembered the last lesson ... sometimes more clearly than he liked. It had been a terrifying, confusing, and somewhat embarrassing predicament to find himself in, to be quite sure. He'd as of yet been unable to quite face J'ash without being a bit uncomfortable about it. Immensely grateful to his friend for saving his life, definitely. But he was a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal as well.

The topic of this lesson didn't help any at all in ... you know ... forgetting. But at the same time, he was a tad confused. Why was the Weyrhealer giving the lesson, instead of the weyrlingmaster? It wasn't like the healer had revealed anything particularly technical that the weyrlingmaster couldn't have know ... so ...? This was on top of L'nu being distracted by what Paglieth was doing. Sometimes, always seeing what Paglieth could see was more of a detriment than a boon... though it had been handy a few times already.

Paglieth seemed to be engrossed in tunneling at the moment, enthusiastically digging along the path of a much ... much much .. .smaller tunnel. Something was in there, he could smell it! But, it was likely tunneling far faster than the blue was. For some reason to which L'nu could not fathom, Paglieth was not at all interested in playing tag with the teacher-dragon.

[Rei]

Erilena sat to the back of the class. Nearest the door. For one she didn’t feel comfortable with this lesson. For two she wanted the easiest escape route possible. Sitting rigidly in her seat her eyes flicked from one of her classmates to another before coming to rest back on Kalierre. Her hands where balled up in the fabric of her shirt twisting and squeezing the fabric in nervous gestures as the woman continued to speak. Problem was the greenrider wasn’t listening. Not really. Erilena knew what flights where about. Not only had she witnessed them on occasion but at least one of her friends had been a part of them and she well knew what the end result would be. Her sleeping with another rider. Rider of whichever dragon caught Feyrianth and well that didn’t appeal to her in the least. In fact it made her feel sick. Sick and scared. Nevermind at the time she would want it because Feyrianth wanted it. The thought of someone anyone pawing at her like that. Someone she didn’t likely know or even have feelings for made her want to curl up and cry. Maybe it was a weird fear to have but well there was no way Erilena could ignore it. It had been in her mind since Eveyth rose last month. A like some dark thing growing and it wasn’t getting any better.

The greenrider’s eyes flicked momentarily to the dragon healer as she spoke of ‘post flight courtesy.’ To be honest she would /rather/ them leave before she woke up. At least then she didn’t have to face them and could feel uncomfortable in peace. The weyrling didn’t like the thought of some random person she just slept with trying to comfort her. Not at all. Oh Erilena knew Feyrianth couldn’t help it and there was no way she could escape it. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to vomit every time she thought of what it would mean. The problem for her would be keeping the emotions from Feyrianth. Her emotions drastically effected the green. Always had, so top on her list of things to do before the rise is try and work on blocking those emotions. But blocking felt like lying. Swallowing the lump in her throat Erilena put her head in her hands as Kali finished speaking. Alright please next subject now.

Feyrianth hovered briefly in place noting the places of the other dragons in the sky as she tried to avoid Ioth’s attempting tag. Unfortunately for her the emotions coming off of hers where more distracting than she wanted to admit and the blue had little trouble tagging her. With a slow turn the four winged dragon banked and examined her likely targets. Not everyone had decided to play sadly and there would be no tag backs. She couldn’t tag any of her green sisters. They would definitely outrun her and her brothers? Well Paglieth was more than skilled enough to avoid her so that only left her bigger brothers. Neither of which she was sure was playing.

~~~

Cr’oph actually yawned and then gave X’rx a light smile at his elbow. “She’d squish me and I doubt Mave would approve anyway. So you have nothing to worry about.” He softly snorted after that. It was true the bronze had allowed him to attend classroom portions but more than that /would/ wait until he had been cleared by the healers completely. Mavenath made sure his behaved well in this regard. If his re-injured himself, recovery would be worse. Silly human needed to learn patience.

The bronzeweyrling quickly grew bored with the lesson topic. Flights. Eh. He well knew what flights where all about. Had participated in mandyr runs. Got stabbed in a mandyr run. He wasn’t worried. The only thing he would need to work on from now on was control. Never again did he plan to lose himself completely to flight or run lust. It was far more fun to watch the expressions of his classmates.So klai got ignored. Dy’shi and L’nu for one looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. Not really surprising. Erilena looked way too pale, again not a surprise, she was quite reserved and X’rx seemed as at ease as he was. Ah the difference between holder and weyrbred. It showed quite well this lesson actually. Well they’d all have to get over it eventually.

Mavenath rumbled as he did a lazy barrel roll in the air. He elected to stay out of the game of tag. If he got tagged the only one he could likely catch was Trilaranth if he was lucky and Feyrianth by spooking her so bad she messed up. Not really promising choices. So instead he just decided to make use to the time away form the infirmary by stretching his wings. It felt soooo good to be in the sky again. No need for silly game playing.

[mierce]

Cer’c sat with back straight and shoulders thrown back, doing his best to look as if he were paying close attention with full confidence in the topic at hand. He didn’t let his eyes wander though, focusing his gaze intently on Kalierre and Iskierka as the two women spoke. Truth be told, he was still a touch shaken from Eveyth’s flight last month. Things were less awkward now, but he still could feel--taste--X’rx’s lips on his. It was not wholly unpleasant but the resulting flurry of confusing emotions sure were.

In the skies above, Harmonyth was flying pleasantly with a portion of the class. She didn’t speak to any of the dragons, simply enjoying the exercise. She crooned softly when Ioth tagged Feyrianth and swooped around in a playful taunt for her four-winged sister to try catching her. Despite how Hers was feeling, Harmonyth was in a strangely good mood.