Boat duty (weyrling chores

[nightingale]

The girl sighed, shaking her head dismissively at C'oar's disappointing follow up to his brief moment of existential depth. Well, somehow she had known he wouldn't be able to keep it up.

"Stupid?"

She asked curiously as she brought the adorable little miscriant to mind.

"You mean T'rid's Salamandyr? Why would...you know what? Never mind. I really don't want to know -but if you're worried, just call him back. You can do that, can't you?"

Offering the boy and his hungry dragon a small shrug, Saeo redirected her attention toward getting her boat back into the water. The simple concept proved to be much harder in practice than she had first imagined. Gravity helped her with easing it right-side up, but all the strength she could muster only succeeded in moving the boat a third of the way to it's destination.

"Stupid boats....have to be so heavy...I'd hate to ever have to move one in an emergency..."

She grunted, feeling her sandals slide in the wet, algae covered sand. Cherilith lifted his head and peered curiously at her, half-lidded eyes whirling a dreamy ocean blue.

Saeo? Yes? What are you doing? I'm training a runner to weave blankets, obviously.

Cherilith crooned good-naturedly, recognizing the sarcasm for what it was. Folding his wings across his back, the little blue rose from his sunning spot and trundled across the beach toward His.

My Saeo would like help? He offered, rubbing his head up against her side. Saeo smiled, and ran an affectionate hand across his face.

"Yes please darling."

The girl sighed, handing off the rope to her weyrling and standing back as he proceeded to drag it toward the water. Cherilith made the action look completely effortless as he tugged the small vessel behind him, towing it out into the river until he was chest-deep and then glancing back toward her. Now what mine?

"Just hold it there and I'll come get the rope."

She laughed, kicking off her sandals and jogging toward the dock. Carefully sidestepping C'oar and Frosstyth, she reached out for the rope which Cherilith was all too pleased to hand over.

"Ahmmm...how does that knot go again?"

She asked, glancing over her shoulder at the boy. She knew that there was a specific way of tying the boats up, but she was lost to figure out what it was. And why should she know, really? This wasn't usually her job...

[dragon]

C'oar grunted, and got to his feet, walking down the dock to where she was standing, looking stupid while holding the rope. It was both comical and cute at the same time, and C'oar couldn't figure out why. For all her pretenses to be so terrible smart and canny, she sure was uninformed and ignorant. "Like this." He said, kindly, taking the rope, wrapping it around the post.

"First, you take the rope, and wrap it around the post. Like so. See?" He said, just hanging onto the rope, as he teased her with it, obviously playfully mocking her. And then he slowly tied the knot, using exagerated loops so that she could clearly see how it was done. And he explained each step verbally, too, while he was at it. Partly poking fun at her, and partly seriously trying to teach her the knot.

Meanwhile, back by the bucket, Frosstyth was helping himself to the pail of meat, snout burried into the metal pail, making slurping and slobbery noises, tail twitching happily behind him. Mmmm! Meat! And all he could eat, just as fast as he wanted it! Gulping without really chewing, the young dragon was sure to make himself sick, if he didn't have an iron stomach.

C'oar finished the knot, and cinched it tight. "Just like that." He said, finally. "Now you try." He yanked the knot undone, and handed the rope to her again, mildly.

"I could call him back, I suppose." C'oar admitted. But that took concentration to do, and at the moment he was being rather distracted from something along the lines of finding his flitter. Among them would be the disgusting noises that Frosstyth's snout being inside the pail was making his normal eating noises into. "Frost!" he scolded, upon seeing what the dragon was doing. But it was too late now, the pail was empty already ... Frosstyth was just licking up the puddles in the bottom.

[nightingale]

Saeo watched with only the vaguest, obliging interest glimmering in her eyes as the knot was explained to her. She kept her hands clasped tightly behind her back, trying her very hardest to resist the temptation of shoving her condescending friend into the river. He would probably get her back if she did. She was after all, small enough for him to throw if he set his mind to it...

"Alright, back to your dragon brownrider."

She sighed with a dismissing wave of her hand as she grabbed hold of the rope. Her tone was severe only in a mocking sense and obviously not meant to be taken any more seriously that her unkind words were usually meant to be taken. if he was going to give her a hard time, why not reciprocate?

The knot hadn't looked so difficult, she mused, replaying the process over again in her mind. She was sure it would be quite easy actually, if the rope wasn't so thick...
She glanced up curiously at the boy's next exclamation, her mind taking a moment to realize what had happened. When it did register, she laughed.

"Oh goodness, don't tell me he's eaten it all?"

She grinned sympathetically, knowing full well that he'd have a rather unhappy dragon on his hands in short order. She'd been lucky enough to impress a dragon to whom eating came as only a secondary instinct -for Frosstyth, it seemed his whole world centered around how often and how much he was fed.

[dragon]

In all actuality, he had sortof been expecting her to try and shove him into the river, and had been mentally and physically prepared to resist such and action. This was, after all, Saeo he was dealing with. She was weird that way. And of course, it didn't help when he deliberately prodded her.

But mabe being impressed to Cherilith was changing her ... she never moved in any way he expected, and instead brushed him off absently, not really paying any attention at all. Gur. So much for poking at her and getting a rise out of her... He let her have the rope, and wandered off, like she requested. Oh well. He'd have to figure out where her buttons had moved to, before he could resume poking them at leisure. Stalking over to where Frosstyth, C'oar pulled the bucket away from him. "Fool." He accused, kindly, before setting the empty bucket on top of one of the peir's posts.

Frosstyth looked up at C'oar for a moment, and grunted only, sides bulging outward rather largely. C'oar was rather glad that he hadn't had more than a meal's worth of meat in that pail, though the speed at which Frosstyth had eaten it was going to be an issue, if he wasn't totally and absurdly lucky. C'oar didn't even know what sort of stomach his dragon had. Well ... he was about to find out!

Heaving a sigh, C'oar fastened the lid down on the top of the pail, as Frosstyth wandered over into the river where Cherilith was. Splashing around, the brown burbled happily, before pawing at his little brother, playfully.

"Don't you dare drown, or get swept away." C'oar warned the brown. He walked back down the peir again, over to where Saeo was standing. "Done? Or do you want another boat?" He offered, right as Storm appeared suddenly, from between overhead. The young bronze swirled low and around, circled the two weyrling dragons, and then perched on a post with an inquisitive peep.

"Hi." Was all C'oar said to him, in return. At least the flitter was safe, and not attempting to kill Stupid.

[nightingale]

Knotting the rope while the current fought to drag the boat attached to it downstream wasn't an easy task, but somehow Saeo managed to complete it without loosing her grip or tumbling into the river. She smiled down at her handwork, watching the knot for a moment to make sure it wouldn't slip before offering her large, blue helper a pleasant smile and nod of her head.

"An excellent job Cherilith! We'll make mariners of ourselves yet!"

She grinned as Frosstyth came splashing over, watching as first confusion, then playful affection pass through her dragon's eyes. He crooned a pleasant sound that was somewhere between a chirp and a groan, nudging his larger sibling with his forehead. What a big silly! He was going to make himself sick, playing in the water so soon after eating.

"Actually, I think I might wait a little while before I do the next one."

Saeo said, tilting her head back to smile at C'oar.

"If I'm going to be here all afternoon, I may as well stagger my work so I don't end up bored, right? Oh, I think your little friend is back."

She cast an interested eye toward Storm as he perched nearby, admiring the way the sun played off of his metallic hide.

"Hello pretty boy!"

She greeted, folding her hands behind her back and leaning toward him.

"Have any grand adventures today? Nothing involving brown salamandyrs I hope?"

[dragon]

Frosstyth bounded about in the water, creating big splashes every time he landed in the current again. That only lasted for a few minutes, though, before he waded back out onto the shore. Sitting down there, he flicked his tail around his legs and cocked his head to one side at his little brother. And after a moment, he tilted it the other way again, before uttering a 'chirrup?' noise. It really made him look like an overgrown flitter, the way he was acting. And everyone had just one guess where he'd learned it ...

Storm jumped back to all four feet, and cheeped in reply, before going into a long winded narrative of peeps, pops, clicks, burrrts, and other such and asundry noises, dancing around on the top of the post, as if telling an animated story to Saeo. C'oar just stood there and watched that for a moment, before cracking a small grin. Silly flitter.

"Okay. That's fine by me." C'oar said, in reply to Saeo's comments on staggering her work out. He leaned on a post across the peir walk from the one that Storm was occupying, watching the excited flitter tell his tale. It really was anyone's guess what the little guy was trying to convey, but C'oar found it utterly hilarious to watch.

Frosstyth was distracted by the motion for a time, before looking back at Cherilith, and waving one foreleg in the air at the blue. Come out of the water? Frosstyth requested, wishing to play with his little clutch brother where there was no danger of tumbling into the current and being swept away or drowned.

[nightingale]

For her part, Saeo made sure to appear completely enthralled by Storm's narrative. Sitting down cross-legged on the dock, she stared eagerly up at the little bronze, nodding and encouraging him to continue every so often.

"Uh huh....uh huh...really! And then what?"

Of course she had no idea what he was saying, but the little darling was just so adorable, prancing around and squawking as if he actually expected her to understand that she couldn't bare to shrug him off.

Cherilith however, seemed to have only the most passing interest in the flitter's antics. He was watching a boat far downstream as it made it's was across the river. How nice it would be to ride in a boat he mused, a low rumbling sound rising from his throat. Perhaps he and Saeo could find a boat large enough to carry him one day...yes, they could fly down to the ocean and find a big fishing boat! Oh it would be lovely, sailing out on the water and moving without even having to flap his wings or lift his legs! They could sail far, far off to a new, undiscovered land...

He glanced up curiously as Frosstyth's voice invaded his thoughts, turning his attention toward the brown dragonet. Hm? Oh, yes of course. The little blue crooned agreeably, wandering out of the shallows and giving himself a shake to dislodge the waterdroplets his brother's playful splashing had deposited on his back. Ours will be busy for some time. He commented, glancing briefly toward the human pair on the he dock. Shall we go for a walk? I would like to see who is in that boat.

[dragon]

Thrilled to have such a captivated audience, Storm started getting even more excited with his story telling, even though still no one could really understand what it was he was trying to say. Either he had a very active imagination and was just entertaining them both, or the young Bronze had really been up to some dirt in the few hours he was gone ...

C'oar rather hoped it was just imagination, and that Storm hadn't been doing anything nearly that exciting. If he got chewed out later for something his flitter supposedly did, he was going to be rather upset with Storm. Right now he was trying to lay low, and avoid getting noticed by ranking peoples ... not deliberatly stirr up the whole stinking Weyr!

But Storm was still gunning for Stupid, and C'oar was aware of it. It made him rather nervous, whenever he couldn't find his flitter. He just hoped that he could keep the two lizards far enough apart for long enough that they'd both forget about thier encounter before the hatching.

Frosstyth bounced around a little bit, before stopping long enough to comprehend what it was Cherilith was saying. Someone in a boat? That sounded exciting! And the thought also channeled the freshly-fed Weyrling's energy. Okay! Maybe they'll let us climb in, too? He asked. Floating on top of the water was a novel idea! How to do it, he had yet to figure out. Everytime he jumped in the bathing pool, or the river, his feet always hit bottom.

And with that, the young brown dragon took off running down the side of the river, plowing through the occassional bush that got in his way. Thick and sturdy, there wasn't very many bushes about that would slow the muscular dragon down.

Hearing Frosstyth go tearing through a bush, C'oar turned to see what the dragonets were up to, ignoring Storm for the time being. He frowned, when he saw the dragons leaving. "Uh, Saeo? Did Cherri say anything to you about going somewhere? Cause they're both leaving." He mentioned. Frost! Where are you going?[/b] He asked, afterward.

Exploring! There's something down here on the river! Frosstyth replied.

[nightingale]

Saeo remained motionless as the sound of dying shrubs sounded to her left, eyes dimly focused on the dock as she listened to her dragon’s voice. My Saeo? Frosstyth and I are going to follow the boat I saw. Does Frosstyth know how to swim? She questioned, raising an eyebrow skeptically. She knew that Cherilith was a strong swimmer, but Cloar had seemed rather concerned about his brown getting swept away in the river current. Cherilith, who had been following his brother at a slower, more cautious pace, paused to tilt his head questioningly

Frosstyth? Are you able to swim?

He queried, adding an inquisitive chirrup. He must know how to swim -all one had to do after all, was walk into the deep water, move their legs and swish their tail in the direction they wanted to go.

“He says they’re going to see a boat.”


The girl informed C’oar, looking glance sideways and upwards at him. She then tilted her head slightly to add a diagonal dimension as well, hair falling over her shoulder.

“You look quite dramatic from this angle.”

She mused, grinning foolishly. Maybe if she tilted her head a little further he would look less grumpy as well...but it seemed that her neck didn’t turn that far. A shame. What did he have to frown about anyway? They were just going off to see some people in a boat after all, not playing with live Threads.

[dragon]

"A boat? Okay." C'oar said, leaning against a post again, merely watching the two weyrlings go. They should be safe enough, as long as they didn't decide to attack the boat. Which he really doubted they would do. They weren't mental.

Storm wound down from his story telling, when he lost his entire audience. Uttering a small curious peep, he fluttered over to land on one of C'oar's shoulders, and looked after the two dragons, too. Sitting down there, he looked down at Saeo curiously, watching with interest as her hair moved, apparently all on its own. He barely suppressed an urge to jump on it, kill it!!

But, no, the flitter stayed put, and stayed good, just staring.

C'oar looked down at Saeo when she started looking at him from such a funny angle, and couldn't help but laugh at her. "Okay. If you say so." He chuckled. 'Dramatic' ... heh. She had quite an imagination! C'oar just looked at her again, greatly amused by her goofing off.

Could he swim? Could he swim? Frosstyth didn't know. His had never allowed him that deep in the water. I don't know! Let's find out! And with that, the brown leaped sideways, changing direction abruptly. He plowed straight into the water with no fear, and splashed out toward the deeper, faster moving water. Swim! Swim! Swim! He announced, as if the word would help him stay afloat.