Talent Show of Fire (Fire Wing Drills)

[Requiem]

He liked the shade. Ykkith sprawled, half in the sunlight and half out, tail flicking lazily. The dark brown was watching other dragons flitting across the skies in various formations from beneath the first layer of transparent lids. I think we should renname the wing, he commented to His. Ur'h was currently shinnying back down a tree, redfruit in hand. He dusted it off on his shirt and took a bite. "Okay. What to?" Ykkith's Wing. Ur'h blinked at him. "Why?" Because it's mine, the brown replied reasonably. Or Icky Wing. "That makes less sense. Anyway, they were told they were on Fire Wing. That would only confuse them." Just a suggestion, Ykkith drawled lazily. Ur'h gave him that 'I'm not so sure,' look, but didn't comment.

Time for drills, Fire, Ykkith broadcasted cheerfully to Viaqueth, Shith, Saboth and Peppeth. He gave them coordinates to the small field, while Ur'h continued to munch on his redfruit. "See. It would be weird if you said 'Time for drills, Ykkith.' Fire is better." Weird? I always talk to myself. "You do?" Ykkith licked Ur'h, who pulled back with an 'ick' face. This had become his default response when Ur'hHis didn't pick up on his sarcasm. The older brownrider spent the next several moments trying to shake off dragon slobber, and tossed the ruined redfruit toward the river. "Must you always do that?" Nope. I just like to.

Ignoring the fact that he was still dripping dragon spit - it was a fairly frequent occurrence, after all - Ur'h greeted his wing with a raised hand (some he'd met before or knew of, but T'lor was new to him) and squinted over the riders to be sure everyone was here. "So...I don't know most of you. Or what you're capable of. Just...I don't know. Pick the most unique, outrageous thing you and your dragon are good at and show me." A pause. Then, when no one seemed to be moving, he added, "Go."

Miiiiine. We are missing someone. Demotaeth decided to break Saboth, remember? I'll just go get his rider. Ur'h nodded absently, stepping back as Ykkith leapt for the skies and headed back to the canyon to collect the last of their wing.

[Rowana]

Farryl-mine! Ykkith is calling! Peppeth sang out. She bounced in place, thrilled to be awake on a new day and with new friends to play with. Hobbs circled her brightly, trilling merrily along. Farryl just glared at him. Tell him to stuff it, she retorted firmly. I don't see why we have to go. Farryl-mine, Peppeth curled around her rider, crooning melodiously. You are not being fair. He was very nice when he came to see us. He unlocked my door! Farryl ranted. Well, doors are silly anyway. We dragons never bother with them.

Farryl rolled her eyes, but finished getting ready anyway. She was still determined not to like Ur'h, but she had to admit he wasn't all bad. She could have done far worse for a Wingleader and she was interested in what these small wings would be doing. At least Peppeth liked them both, it was a start. Mounting, the pair flew quickly to Ykkith's meeting place.

Once they were mostly gathered, Farryl cocked her head at Ur'h's request. Something unique? she mused. We could play tag! Peppeth suggested brightly. That isn't what he meant. Farryl gave a small smile. She did know one thing they were good at. "By your leave," she offered Ur'h and half bow, almost mocking, and urged Peppeth into the sky again.

As practically the smallest green in the weyr, Peppeth had one thing going for her: she was fast. The tiny dragon shot into the air in a flurry of wings and dodged left. Farryl didn't want to bother the other drills, so she kept their show closer to the ground. Peppeth made a sharp, right turn at the canyon wall, missing it by hardly a foot. Curving around more gently, Peppeth brushed so close to the ground that she could, and did, reach out a pick up a large stick. Stick in claw, she danced around several trees without even dropping a leaf, then set the stick gently in front of Ur'h as she landed. Good job, Peppeth! All that extra practice is paying off, Farryl beamed with pride.

[Lotty]

Viaqueth practically purred at the sound of drills. Drills! It was time to play now wasn't it? And he had brand new playmates, and maybe even the new baby sitter would be more lenient and a little bit of rough housing would be allowed. It would be oh so fun, and the dragon displayed his enthusiasm with his every movement, and dragon whispered his wingmates names to them before he even was close enough to truly be seen. Tricky blue liked to take advantage of his color against clear skies....Peppppppeth.....Ykkkkith.....I'm here. landing with claws extended onto the field next to the tiny green he finally commented Boo!

C'zan as always was much more contained, and as usual quiet using nothing more than a nod to greet Ur'h; a face that had been lost to him for some while now. Viaqueth sometimes did more talking than he preferred as it was, and much too often his words were nothing more than damage control. These were nothing more than drills though, and he was going to celebrate his new found liberation with a little bit of chaos. His feline printed friend could cause all the trouble he wished, he was just all too glad to be grounded no longer.

Now what was all of this business about unique talents. Hmmmm, so hard to think about it... even Viaqueth was pondering his talents, which was obvious by the mocking way his scratched his chin with his own tail. He was very good one beating up on other dragons but that didn't seem like a very good option. Instead the dragon swished his tail around to flick C'zan off of his back. Silly rider of his should know to keep those safety straps secured you know... How small can you get Zanny? A definite cue if there was ever one and the rider pulled his hands and legs in to his body. Before he could hit the ground the dragon snapped his jaws around the rider seemingly ready to swallow him whole but instead flickering between.

It wasn't like the dragon was going very far however, and reappeared over where Peppeth was - he seemed to like bothering her the best yes...must because she was smallll like a little dragon cricket to him, and dropped the contents of his mouth out over her. This left little time for a very spit soaked C'zan to gain his bearings mid air and drop down and cling to the green from a neckridge. It took all of his grace to swing his way properly onto the dragon and greet her rider rather blandly. As if none of that really happened, "Hello."

[kat]

Shith nudged his rider with his nose, only T'lor wasn't moving. Placing his forepaws against his riders bedside--and there was an audible creaking from this action--he looked at his rider upside down.

T'lormine, there are drills. Ykkith calls.[/color]

But T'lor already knew that. He just had no desire to bother going to drills with the enemy. The only reason that Ur'h and that brown of his were Wingleaders is because they had literally taken over Selenitas. When the riders abandoned the Weyr he'd had no clue they were going. He would have rather gone with them, but something about how they had run away rather than fight felt a bit cowardly and traitorous.

Maybe they went but maybe they'll come back,[/color] Shith said with another nudge. T'lor didn't reply, just seem to draw further into himself. The normally cheery, optimistic and flirtatious bluerider was plain down in the dumps. He had wanted to go, and at the same time there wouldn't have been time to get Mihkal and flee. Mihkal, his cousin, who was Candidate and not yet Impressed. So they'd stayed, to wait until Mihkal had or until they could leave together. If they even could. He felt like a prisoner in his own Weyr here.

Yeh can tell 'Yukkith' an' that bastard rider of his to go an' eat dragon dung, T'lor sent, tone dark and angry. Shith's eyes whirled with hints of yellow, worried. Did his really mean for him to tell Ur'h's that? They would get in trouble, would they not? He was actually about to relay the message when T'lor sat up and sighed loudly. Shith stopped what he was about to send and looked at his quizzically.

"We'll go. Only 'cause ah' have a feeling if'n we don't they'll force us to. An' much as I'd like to spit in th' enemy's eye ah' can see that we need to co'operate with 'em until we can get away with Mihkal." So saying, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and walked to the Weyr ledge. Mounting up he and Shith flew to Ur'h and Ykkith's location. But neither was happy. Shith because his rider was unhappy and he would miss all the familiar faces. T'lor because he loathed the enemy riders and all that they had done.

They arrived in time to hear the instructions. However neither said anything to their new Wingleader pair. T'lor had the sense to speak when spoken to--but he wasn't about to go out of his way to address those evil Northerners! He was a bit taken aback by what Ur'h asked of him. Show him the most unique and outrageous thing...? What in Faranth's name was that supposed to mean? Only Shith, eager to show off, wasn't about to be outdone.

Shith had an entirely different idea about what 'unique and outrageous meant'. The blue waited until the other pair were done, then without so much as telling T'lor what he was doing he suddenly began to roll over and over very, very quickly across the ground. Standing he began to dig, sending dirt flying so fast that before long he was up to his neck in his hole. Suddenly he went between only to reappear near a large tree nearby with fallen limbs. Picking up a too large stick he snapped it in half with one sharp bite of his jaws and picked up the smaller, whippy end. Then he ran towards his at a surprising speed for such stubby legs and began to shake his head so that T'lor had to keep hopping around like his pants were on fire, cussing as the tip of the stick rained stinging little blows on him. Going down deftly so his could mount up he sent T'lor the idea for what he wanted to do next. They had practiced this many times and T'lor had to agree it was unique. Quickly mounting he gave Shith the silent 'okay'. Shith ran straight for U'rh, but suddenly disappeared only to reappear above him, hovering a moment before tapping him on the head with the stick, disappearing to reappear on the ground behind the dragonman but facing the opposite direction, rapping him swiftly but oh so lightly with his tail tip. Then he disappeared and was suddenly many dragonlengths away from U'rh, but began racing towards him. He disappeared only to reappear a second away a little closer, still running, then did this again, each time his position was a little to the right, then the left, so that it was hard to tell where he'd show up next. His strengths lie in stamina and going between. He was great at riding thermals but his speed was average for a blue. He was an expert at saving energy by gliding. His short legs were stunningly fast. His tail was a great weapon, and he was good with using objects to help aid him. Like sticks or rocks. Suddenly he disappeared for the last time to reappear in front of Ur'h and land a long, slobbery lick up the front of the brownrider. He glanced at his proudly, then back to Ur'h. Wasn't he so awesome? His tail, meanwhile, thumped back and forth on the ground rapidly. It was completely muscular because it never stopped moving! Pity his brain wasn't always as quick.

T'lor grimaced. Great, he was sure Ur'h was going to love that display. It hadn't even been aerial. Shith's talent was what he could do on the ground. He could fight just as well there as in the air, if not better. Sighing, T'lor waited to see what Ur'h would do.

[Requiem]

Ur'h cocked his head to one side at Farryl's half-bow, executing a similar one in response like they were partners in some hold dance. (Given that this was the only real context he had for bows anyway, it wasn't far off.) He watched the green's display with the aid of Ykkith, who was now lounging just outside the infirmary. The brown crooned to Peppeth as she passed, and Ur'h picked up the stick offered him with a thoughtful nod. He spun it between his hands, eyeing the leaves, then blinked when Viaqueth knocked his rider right off him with a lash of his tail.

The brownrider blinked again at this odd sort of hide the rider-ball game that the blue was playing, which provoked Ykkith to go, Viaaqueeth, what are the rules for playing rider spitball? I want to plaaay. Fortunately for evil dragon plottings, Ur'h was too distracted by the rolling young blue flinging dirt everywhere to realize his danger of being turned into a second spitball. Shith looked like nothing so much as a hyperactive canine pup. The hops Between surprised him enough that Ur'h jumped when the stick tapped his head and again as the tail flicked him. Hello more dragon slobber. The man stood in complete silence for a long moment, just dripping spit from arms held slightly out from his sides.

"That was...um...different," he finally stated. "Peppeth and Farryl, how do you two do with Betweening?" He really meant Betweening at close quarters, but since he hadn't seen them make any jumps at all as of yet he kept the question general. "Viaqueth. C'zan. Can you do that with a moving target? Shith. T'lor. Is it possible for you to do that disorienting-Between stuff in the air, or just on the ground? And what is taking Ykkith?" he concluded, the last question obviously not intended for the others on the wing.

I am picking up the Saboth's, as you told me to. What is he - Ykkith, F'lix is in a coma. I know. That's why I'm on the infirmary ledge. Ur'h sighed. Get back here. You mean, you don't want me to fetch Saboth's? No. Well, make up your mind then. Ykkith winged back to the other dragons and settled to the ground with a graceless plop.

[Rowana]

Peppeth was delighted with her wingmates' tricks, especially Viaqueth. She squeaked with surprise as his rider dropped onto her neck, nearly bowing under the sudden weight. She recovered quickly, however, turning her neck around to look at the man with sparkling eyes. What a great trick! she crooned to the blue. Can I learn? Can I? Never mind that she was far too small for such antics.

Farryl was less than amused. She scowled at C'zan, waving off his greeting. She was tempted to whack him off Peppeth right then, but that wasn't a good start to things. Besides, she had promised Peppeth she would try to get over her crankiness of late. "Very clever," she allowed grumpily. She crossed her arms and looked to see Shith's odd display. A digging dragon wasn't something she saw everyday.

When they were done, Farryl and Peppeth both turned to hear what Ur'h had to say. Farryl's eyes narrowed at the question. True, she hadn't shown him any betweening yet, but how much should she tell him? Wingleader or no, he was still a Wastelander. It was possible she might need the advantage in the future. On the other hand, Peppeth wasn't that great a keeping secrets and she didn't want anyone to get killed in the meantime because she hadn't used all her strengths.

Finally, Farryl shrugged in a dismissive gesture. "We do fine," she answered curtly. "Peppeth is small, so we can between into and out of most spaces." No need for him to know just how small. She'd been working on that skill after some of the recent attacks. A dragon that could between into a building could be very useful in a surprise attack. She'd been trying to train Hobbs to between and send back coordinates, but fire lizards weren't know for their clear pictures so it hadn't worked so far.

[kat]

T'lor was a bit rankled that U'rh didn't even seem to be upset. The complete silence as the brownrider stood there had him thinking the man would be ticked off or unimpressed. But U'rh just picked up from where he'd left off, even asking if they could do their stunt in the air! T'lor wanted U'rh to give him just one sharding good reason to say something. He didn't want to even consider the enemy as remotely likable. Shith seemed pleased and T'lor sent him irately,

Don't be fooled by 'em, Shith. Remember what they did. Killed our dragons an' riders both. They jus' wanna' sucker us into believing we kin' trust or like 'em. What we are is nothin' short of prisoners.

Shith seemed to wilt a little but he knew his was right. There were all these new rules and no one was allowed to leave the Weyr. There was really no place else to go, however. Unless they wanted to be without a Weyr they were stuck here. T'lor retained hopes that those who had left would return in greater numbers and put an end to these enemies of theirs. Shith seemed to be upset. He knew he was not to like these other riders and dragons. But it was harder for the amiable blue than for his rider who was dead set on it.

"We kin' do it in th' air," T'lor said confidently, trying to keep the edge out of his tone. While they had practiced this more on the ground they'd been working at it in the air, too. It was a great way to avoid being hurt. Rayne was the one who had given them the idea. Her Kynoath, though the green seemed to actually like battle, was very adept at betweening. They had just modified it.

Shith glanced over at Viaqueth, then Peppeth. They did not seem upset. Were theirs? The blue's tail was twitching at the end, but no longer thumping happily. He didn't like this at all. Silently he looked up as Ykkith drew near, watching as the brown landed nearby. Why were other riders and their dragons always attacking Selenitas and each other? It was not supposed to be this way. Dragons were not supposed to fight and kill dragons. Something instinctively told him this, something that had been half beat out of him but still remained in the back of his draconian mind.

[Lotty]

He didn't seem too phased by the woman's less than friendly greeting. He hadn't given her much of one either and so he could only expect that he would receive the same sort of coldness in return. Of course it didn't help at all that he was also sort of sopping wet with drool. Nah, that had no effect what so ever, and without too much more of a thought given to the situation he dropped off of Peppeth and strode over to where Viaqueth had settled in, taking only brief glances over at the other blue dragon and its... odd display. He shouldn't be surprised by the things that Selenites did anymore really.

Then came the questions. With a moment of consideration C'zan replied with more questions of his own, though they were technically pointless, "What spit me onto a moving target or can Viaqueth scoop up a moving target? Because we can do both," not that they ever really tried it, but he couldn't see why they wouldn't be able to. Besides he really didn't want his wingleader to be let down....or something like that.

The blue meanwhile was absolutely beside himself. He had gotten quite a bit of attention for his little game now didn't he? The others actually wanted to know how to do it too, and he supposed he could be nice enough just this once to share. Flicking his tail he replied to Ykkith first, but let the other two dragons in on the secret too. It couldn't hurt after all, The rules? You must get your rider, and chomp him up without spoiling him. Then you drop him on another dragon, and then they are it. Easy enough isn't it? His head turned over to Peppeth, The trick is to catch your rider when they least expect it. Now would be a good time to pull it on yours for example...

[Requiem]

Dripping. Dripping. A bath would be nice. Hm. Ur'h was not blind to Farryl's nasty looks, or deaf to the sharpness in T'lor's tones. It wasn't something he could fix and it probably never would be, but he didn't need them to like him. He just needed them to work with him. Which they seemed to be willing to do, however grudgingly. C'zan's hesitation on the response earned Ur'h's attention as well, though he had no ideas as to why he might have paused. Gathering his words, gathering his thoughts, unclear on the question...impossible to tell.

At any rate, Ur'h wasn't too interested in verbal responses from the riders, anyway. "Show me." It might have seemed like that was all he would say - and, indeed, it did cross his mind to leave it at that - but Ur'h turned to Ykkith and mounted his dragon. "Peppeth and Shith, in the air, make yourself hard targets to hit. Between. Evade Viaqueth like he's the enemy. Viaqueth, your show." Ooh, fun, spitball tag, Ykkith crooned to His. Why don't we make this a little more even, hm? He made as if to roll, making Ur'h scramble down off his back, then enveloped him in his mouth.

Let's show them how it's done, Viaqueth. I'll take Shith! Ykkith leapt into the air, angling for the younger blue. They'd see how good at Betweening he was, yes they would.

[Rowana]

Spitball tag! Peppeth squealed with delight. Her tail twitched dangerously close to Farryl. No, the greenrider said flatly. Aww, but Farryl-mine. Even Ykkith and His are playing. Farryl rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure what kind of drill this was, but she was pretty sure she did not want to go in Peppeth's mouth. Good for them, she answered firmly. I'm not even sure if I fit in your mouth. Farryl is no fun, Peppeth pouted.

Farryl's eyes lit with interest at the new exercise. How about we show them how fast we really are? Peppeth's head perked up. That might be fun too! Oh yes! Here I go! Peppeth shot into the air again in a dizzying spiral. A short distance up, she vanished between in an instant. Only to reappear underneath the treeline, dodging trunks with ease. This would be hard, even for her, in deeper jungle, but here it was no different than dodging mountain tops with a ceiling over head. Catch me if you can! Peppeth sang lightly. Larger dragons would have a hard time doing this, she was sure!