CL2: This is How You Do It [Casiloy]

[Shiny]

J'ash's hair whipped behind him as Craivaruth's long wings beat the air, the duo just having appeared out of between above the Candidate Barracks. Being the kind of person who had to help people in order to feel like he had a use in the world, J'ash had signed them both up for Candidate Lesson Volunteering. With a hopeful and excited aura, the blond put a hand on the back of Craivaruth's massive neck and peered against the sharp wind in search of the Candidate he would be helping today.

Craivaruth was an entirely different story when it came to volunteering. Grouchily, the Blue slowed their decent and landed them in one piece. Orange eyes shifted around to see who else was going to be volunteering with the Candidates today. Why was he stuck doing this? It wasn't his job to deal with whiny brats.

Upon spotting Casiloy, J'ash got off of Craivaruth and walked over to him. "Hi, Casiloy! I'm J'ash - this is Craivaruth," he signaled to the blue-green dragon with a vague wave of his hand, "we're going to be your mentors for today. If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask, but for now, let's go over mounting a dragon. We're going to mount Craivaruth and Between to the River. I hope you're up for it." It felt good to get everything he had mentally rehearsed into action. Walking back to the Blue, J'ash heaved himself up and into the dragonrider saddle, watching his Candidate from his perch. Hopefully the kid could mimic what he had done. If not, which was probable if it was his first time doing it, J'ash would have to give him pointers.

[Sebz]

Thankfully Casiloy had chosen that day to dress releltivly normal, he had learned from his expieriences riding Feyrianth that pants allowed the wearer a much easier time to meneuver on dragon back than skirts did. He had never met J'ash before, and was rather nervous to meet the rider. Elisabeta had been the one to assign groups after all, so perhaps J'ash was a rider after her own style.

He was in for a cheerful surprise when he was greated by the blue rider, he seemed like quite a decent fellow. Even better, Casiloy realized he was going to get a chance to show off in front of the dragonrider. His excursions with Erilena and Feyrianth had given him some expierience with flying dragon back. He watched J'ash mount the dragon with interest, to refresh himself on how it was done. His memory served him well it seemed, it had only been a few days after Erilena and Feyrianth had taken him falling.

Even though J'ash rode a blue, the concept seemed to be the same, so Casiloy bent his legs and swung onto the saddle with reletive ease- practice made perfect after all. Pleased with himself, Casiloy looked at J'ash cheerfully. "To the river then!" he quipped hapilly, before adressing Cravaruth. "Good morning," he nodded in greeting, though the blue could hardly see the gesture from where Casiloy was perched. It never hurt to be polite.

[Shiny]

J'ash watched with a look of surprised interest as Casiloy seemed to bound up onto Craivaruth with ease. Either the kid had done this before, or he was just naturally gifted. "You ever done that before?" Or lucky. There was something strange about him, after all. But J'ash wasn't one to talk - he was the one who was getting mistaken for a girl all the time. With that reminder, J'ash reached back to tie his long, silky blond hair into a folded ponytail so he wouldn't whip the Candidate in the face. He then turned around and proceeded to attach his harness to Casiloy's outfit. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for the boy's innards splashed all over the ground.

Craivaruth growled a little at Casiloy's greeting. He felt as though he was being mocked somehow for the way he looked - of course that was a normal Craivaruth reaction, considering how deeply he read into things and moped. Thankfully, the Blue was just a little bigger than the average green, allowing Casiloy to mount him in one fluid movement. The faster he got on, the faster this would be over with.

"I don't know if you've been explained this yet in your lessons, but Between is a very dangerous place. It is a void that allows dragons and their riders to travel between locations. You must have a mental coordination and perfect location image in your mind in order to pull it off successfully." The pretty Bluerider wasn't trying to scare Casiloy, but it was kind of risky going through Between if you had never done it before. Especially without proper training. Hold on to J'ashmine unless you want to die. Craivaruth piped in, earning a light smack on the side of the neck. "You're not going to die, Craivaruth and I have done this many times. Now just try to relax and hold on to me, okay?" J'ash flashed a sparkling white smile at the Candidate. "Here we go!"

Craivaruth took a few ground-shaking steps, and then powerfully launched himself into the air with his vivid green hind legs, beating his narrow, dark blue wings to get them into the air. J'ash looked over at Elisabeta and smiled, giving her a simple hand gesture to signal that they were out, then closed his eyes. The sharpness of the screaming wind quickly faded, becoming a deathly cold quiescence of nothing that was Between. Before the Bluerider even had time to consider how frozen and lifeless the space (or lack thereof) of Between was, the light of Rukbat was once again warming his chilled skin, and the infinitesimally tiny moment of silence was replaced with the sound of rushing water.

Craivaruth sped low against the spraying surface of the water and then sharply turned and came to a harsh stop on the riverbank. J'ash grasped onto the blue-green's spinal ridge, trying to keep down his lunch. When they had all completely stilled, J'ash moaned. "Was that really necessary?" A snort from the dragon made it seem as though he thought so. J'ash turned around, tucking a loose strand behind his ear. "You okay, Casiloy?"

[Zephyr]

As one of the oldest candidates and probably the oldest dragon candidate, August knew he had a lot to live up to, and he knew that things wouldn't work out for him if he was late to everything. He cursed himself all the way to the lesson. He just had to sleep in, and now he was late, so fucking late. Luckily for him, he narrowly managed to miss getting his head bitten off by Elisabeta as she gave him directions for what to do next. So, he had to go find this...J'ash and his dragon? Turning, he exited the barracks in a quick walk, laying eyes upon the unusually hued dragon and the two blonde men standing near him. It didn't take him long to find them, but they were very far away, and the candidate was leaping up on the dragon's back.

He knew if he didn't act quickly, he'd have to go find them. So, breaking out in a run, the older candidate quickly made his way towards them. " Hey!" He called out to the two of them. Unfortunately, they didn't hear or see him and by the time he was there, the dragon was gone. Frowning slightly, Gus made a face. " What a drag. This is just what I needed. At least I know where they're going." Gus thought, for the briefest of seconds about going home and going back to bed. That would be so much better than chasing down a dragon, but the thought of what the candidate master would do to him spurred him on in a run towards the river.

By the time he got there, the candidate was gasping for air, holding onto his chest. " H..eY!" He gasped, his voice raising and lowering as he breathed hard. Stopping near where the dragon was, August doubled over, trying to catch his breath. " I'm...August...the scary candidate master lady...told me to join...your lesson." Plopping down in the grass, he gazed over at the river, as if he would have liked nothing more than to just jump in. Of course that would have been inappropriate.

[Sebz]

"Erilena and Feyrianth have taken me flying a few times, so I have had practice," Casiloy admitted, flashing a smile at the memory. Feyrianth was quite something else in the air. The candidate nodded in agreement at J'ashs description of between as well as the dangers. Betweening was tricky business, and if it went wrong, there were no second chances.

He gulped as the blue gave him a terse warning, the grip on his straps tightening. He had always felt safe on dragon back, but was there some reason he was ignorant off that he was in danger? Surely not. He was put to ease at J'ash's reassurance, but did as instructed and 'held on tight.'

Flying on the blue was not nearlly as smooth as riding Feyrianth, perhaps this was how all dragon flights felt, Feyrianth being an exception with her mutation. He gritted his teeth as they betweened, desperately trying to keep his head and count to three as he had been taught. The sense deprivation was mind numbing.

And then they emerged, the sun's head contrasting with the cold of between. The worst was over. Craivaruth's sharp turns failed to unsettle him, he doubted nothing could very easily after going 'falling' with Feyrianth. "I'm ok," Casiloy answered the rider, releasing the death grip on the straps he had acquired as they betweened.

Casiloy slid off the blue's back, landing on his feet. Casiloy turned abruptly as he heard a voice that wasn't J'ash's. "Hello there," Casiloy said. Another candidate? How had he known where to find them?

[Shiny]

J'ash sighed and shook his head at Craivaruth. "I swear he can fly better than that. He's just grouchy because I signed us both up for teaching when he didn't want to. He's a big ol' sourpuss, you see." The blue-green dragon snorted and flapped his narrow wings, the wind whipping their faces a very clear warning to get off before he took off again.

Unbuckling himself from Craivaruth and Casiloy from himself, he followed the Candidate in sliding off of the Blue's back. Surveying the area while he untied his very long hair, he noticed a slightly younger person running towards them at full speed. "Um... Is that a friend of yours?" J'ash mumbled distractedly as he tried to figure out who exactly that was, and if he should be alarmed. A hand went to his belt where he just recently began keeping a little dagger for protection. Craivaruth watched with mildly curious yellow eyes, then snorted once he'd evaluated the runner.

At the breathless call, J'ash relaxed. There was no way in hell this kid could be trouble. And running at them in the open like that? Definitely safe. He smiled and listened to the explanation. "That's okay, August. Better late than never. Although you did miss Betweening with us. Oh well, Crai and I will Between you both back to the Candidate Barracks after the lesson is over. Oh, by the way, I'm J'ash - if you didn't already know - and this is Craivaruth," J'ash flipped his hair to flow over one shoulder and shifted to pat his dragon's side. "He is a Blue, just in case his vivid Green bottom half confuses you." Then, in a rather loud whisper, he added, "he gets very upset when others confuse his gender." That comment earned J'ash what was supposed to be a smack upside the head with a wing, but instead ended up being a full-body smack. J'ash gave the dragon a sour look. "He's got the mentality of a human, thinks he can do what we can without adverse dragon side-effects. Like giving hugs. If you think you've ever felt a bone-crushing hug before being hugged by a dragon..." The feminine Bluerider shuddered.

"Anyway! On to the lesson. I'm going to be teaching you how to take care of your dragon, if you Impress one. Each dragon is different, so you're going to have to learn about yours specifically to meet their needs. Hides usually have a certain amount of shine to them - if they're dull, it means your dragon is sick. Craivaruth's hide is always matte, so I have to ask him to know how he's feeling." Running a hand perpendicularly over the nearly exact line that separated blue from green hide, J'ash continued. "It is very important to give your dragon lots of grooming attention, especially when they're in their Hatchling and Weyrling stages. As you certainly know, their hides are not scaly, and need to be cleansed frequently of oils. Oil can cause their hide to crack, which is an extremely bad thing for a Betweening dragon. It can be fatal, actually. So take very good care of your dragon's hide."

J'ash stepped away from his dragon's shadow and smiled at the Candidates. "The best way to learn is to practice! In my opinion, anyway." He reached into the rather roomy sack attached to his belt and pulled out three decently-sized cloths. "We're going to clean Craivaruth's hide. Shouldn't take too long with the three of us at work, and if Craivaruth cooperates and takes a quick dunk first..." The pretty Bluerider gazed over at the blue-green with pleading silver eyes.

With a rumbling growl, Craivaruth frustratedly flopped into the river, sending a rather large wave onto the shore. The surface of the river slapped together in waves and spat large quantities of water up into the air as Craivaruth displaced it. The Blue burst through the surface, waterfalls falling off of his matte, multicoloured hide. The Blue gave the Candidates a terse, orange-eyed look, before seeming to give them the affirmative to clean his hide by looking at the other side of the river bank. "Remember to scrub in circles! Hope you fellas don't mind getting a little wet," J'ash exclaimed, taking off his Dragonrider boots to wade into the shallow waters to access his dragon. "I'll continue the lesson as we wash."