Goofing Off {{open}}

[Deleted]

76.11.03 // midday //The waters edge

The sun beamed down from directly above the blue-rider and her dragon. Both sat lazily on the coolest sand right next to the water while the short-haired rider oiled her beloved blue's hide to that he wouldn't dry in the heat. "As pretty a shade of blue as you are, Baneroth, I'd swear you were a piece of the sky" A men's t-shirt that had no doubt been snatched from her father hung far too big on her thin frame and the fitting denim pants were only visible from the thy down. The blue blinked at her comment, remarking silently about her baggy shirt by taking it gently between his teeth and tugging as gently as a big dragon could. This, of course, caused Honolly to fall I to the water with a startled gasp.

"So that's it, huh? I see how you are!" the short brunette teased throwing water over Baneroth's muzzle. This began a playful romp that had both rider and dragon throwing water back and forth with the great blue casting waves over Honolly. "Ah!Baneroth, don't drown me!" the rider called playfully, her deep brown eyes shining with enjoyment. There wasn't much that the small rider could do to return her dragon's favor except run deeper into the water and try to see if she could dunk his nose under just for a second. It was no surprise that the ruckus had drawn a crowd considering that the pair were very loud when they got started rough housing. The volume was a rarity for Baneroth, so anyone who knew them a little would usually enjoy the show, but neither dragon nor rider noticed anyone very close by. Yet.

[Shoki]

Lan couldn’t sleep. This was a very unpleasant realization. He had hoped that maybe, perhaps he would be getting some sort of sleep today, but it was not to be the case. Eventually he just had to say, ‘forget it’ and got dressed. Arc was rather pleased at the fact, but the White firelizard was more suited to day hours. Technically, so was he, but growing up with Syne had altered him to be a night time guy. Still, he didn’t do much more then run a comb through his hair before throwing on clothes and letting Arc take a ride on his shoulders as he went out. The White rubbed her head under his chin, getting a neat scratch with some of his stubble. He should shave sometime tonight. For the time he looked how he felt, way too tired.

He made a brief stop at the kitchens, getting some meat for Arc, himself, and finally a little extra for someone else who probably shouldn’t be awake at this time. However, he headed towards Syne’s cage anyway. He didn’t know if it was because the bird had been around him since he had been an egg or not, but Syne tended to be awake when he was. Regardless of the situation. If that was the case, might as well get the bird some exercise. Saved time between now and when it got dark which meant tending to his ‘girlfriend’. He smiled tiredly at that thought. Well, he’d be well awake for that tonight anyway. He arrived at Syne’s cage, and little he expected, the bird greeted him immediately.

“Oah-hoo.” The call was loud enough, to be head, and the bird shifted his perch. Arc lay very still, trying not to catch the eye of the larger creature. Things were mostly settled between the pair, but Syne still would react to suspicious noise and Arc never wanted to push things. He got the bird out, his mottled brown feathers getting a brief pet before the hood was put on. Out and to work.

Lan kept walking, until he was well clear of the Bowl. Unless the other falconers were out and practicing, having a bird around here was no good. He found a nice spot as he headed more toward the beach. Arc seemed to get some enjoyment out of the sea breeze, and it seemed mostly clear as he took Syne’s hood off. There was soon a ‘splash’ heard from the water, and the bird’s head whipped around to see the offending noise, his orange eyes gazing at the Blue dragon and a woman in the water. Lan frowned. Like many things not related to dragons, trained birds didn’t like dragons. However, Syne had some resistance considering that he saw some firelizards as something to hunt, and could even stand his ground against a Wher (specifically his). Still, best not get him too riled up. He offered a bit of meat, which off course got Syne’s attention. One snack later, and it looked as though the bird was calm.

Lan gave a brief whistle, and lifted his arm, Syne taking off beautifully. Arce stayed put, watching the hunter abover her with some brief wariness, before relaxing into Lan’s neck. Lan watched his bird for a moment, before flopping down and watching the waves. He really wished he could get some sleep today.

[Deleted]

Distracted by the whistle, Honolly found herself very nearly flung from her blue's back and she squeaked in surprise as she fell onto the sand and rolled Lan's feet, both holding her sand-scraped arm and giggling. Even with the slight stinging in her arm, the short-haired female had found that funny and entertaining.

Once Honolly had finished laughing, she stared up to watch the beautiful bird which he commanded and a quiet gasp of awe left the childish woman's mouth. To watch Syne fly was just as amazing as watching her dragon. At this insinuation, Baneroth huffed darkly from the water, his multi-faceted eyes changing color to reflect his indignation.

Smiling brightly, Honolly stood and presented her hand. "Honolly of Blue Baneroth at your feet." The replacement of "service" with "feet" was a jibe at the silliness which had ended her up at the feet of the falconer in front of her. As usual with Honolly, everything about her was bright and welcoming. This was, of course, the exact opposite of her dragon who was quiet and distant toward everyone.

There was little to do or say until Lan answered with his own name or in some other way. Baneroth rolled in the water, enjoying the cooling sensation that even the oil didn't give. It was a good day with little wrong for the pair, and Honolly hoped that the same was true for the Falconer and his Fire lizard. "How are you doing today?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

((ugh, 245 words is short, but it works. I'm just hurting too much to do any better right now.))

[Shoki]

Lan heard a squeak of sort and turned directly to the source of the noise. He took a quick step back, as someone rolled over to him, his face showing a fair bit of surprise. He opened his mouth before she started to laugh, which surprised him even more. At least until he broke into an easy smile. Well, he supposed that answered his unasked question of if she was okay. He relaxed a bit, letting a relieved chuckle escape him. Well, looked like all was well that ended well. Still he didn’t know what had caused it, the sudden tumble. However, when she stopped laughing, he followed her eyes. She was watching Syne. Oh, right, whistling.

“Oh.” He looked a bit embarrassed, as he was probably the cause of this, he opened his mouth, feeling a little extra nervous, before she spoke first. She seemed so relaxed about everything, so he found himself a little bit better. Still, dragon rider.

“H-hello. Its v-very nice to meet you.” His voice was amused, what with her little joke, but he still stuttered some. He extended his hand, still having his glove on it. It really didn’t leave him, not even when he was on patrol. “I’m Lan. I, uh, h-handle Ethilask.” Handle was entirely the wrong word for that relationship, but conventional terms were useful. He took a moment to look behind Honolly, at what he presumed was her Blue dragon. He looked nice. He distinctly did not think that dragons looked better than Whers, but he did think dragons looked nice. He didn’t hang out with his dragon rider friend (K’tar counted as a friend, right?) as often to get used to being around dragons in a more casual setting. He did sleep through their more active hours after all. At least usually. He snapped to attention when Honolly spoke again.

“I’m v-very well.” It was more of an automatic response then anything, but he relaxed a little after a moment, Arc crooning into her master’s neck. “B-bit tired honestly. It’s a v-very nice d-day but I like s-sleeping through them.” There we go, that was an actual answer.

“A-and you?” He tried, oh he tried, but it was casual conversation and he still wasn’t used to it. At least he could bark orders without the stutter, to people if they were breaking rules. He’d probably get kicked out as a guard if he couldn’t.

[Deleted]

Undeterred by the stutter which her newest conversation partner had, Honolly nodded to his replies and her eyes grew wide with curiosity when he mentioned being a wher handler. The energetic rider had heard many things about whers both good an bad. Now she had a chance to set some things right and get an idea of what they were really like from an actual handler. Her day was just getting better and better!

"I'm always doing well." The short-haired woman replied, her smile friendly, bright, and seemingly never-ending. Even with a reputation for being easily frustrated and hard-headed, Honolly's good days were just that: Good. Curiosity overwhelmed the blue-rider as she looked Lan over, possibly making him slightly uncomfortable without even really realizing it. There were so many things she could ask. This man seemed to have a Falcon, a Flitt, AND a Wher!

"I'm glad that you are well. I'm sorry you're having trouble sleeping." Honolly knew how much it sucked to not get enough sleep and sympathized at least partly with his plight. Of course, it was probably harder to deal with the lack of sleep when you worked at night with a creature like a wher. "What are wher's like? I've heard a lot of things both good and bad. I want to know the truth." Rumors, even the fun ones, were almost never true and Honolly made it her mission to figure the truth out more often than was probably smart.

Huffing, Baneroth rolled onto his back in the shallow water, cooling the skin. It seemed that she had found a conversationalist that he could not get near due to the little creature around his neck and the hunting bird in the sky. Although he was cousins with both whers and flits, the blue just couldn't get his head around them being just as smart as dragons. This was mostly due to the way that all dragons thought, but also because he had spoken to both before and neither made any truly intelligible attempts at speaking. Beyond that, Whers almost always just threw sk onto the end of their handlers' names and called it theirs. How unoriginal.

[Shoki]

“That’s good…” Lan sort of trailed off as she looked him up and down. Did he look weird? He thought he looked at least reasonable before leaving his room. Arc retreated under the gaze of the strange woman, but didn’t retreat too far. The White was shy of course. Lan got fairly self-conscious for the moment, until she started talking normally again. It was easier to shake it off.

“Whers, huh?” He looked at the sand and shrugged. “I d-don’t know what y-you have heard, b-but I c-can only tell y-you about Ethilask. S-she’s really strong, l-lots of pride, and hates anyone else g-getting more attention than h-her.” He could fairly see the Black and Gray wher eying Arc and Syne with the evil eye, while demanding his attention. His own personal jealous girlfriend. “S-she’s also very insecure. W-whatever I thought of whers b-before, she k-kinda destroyed that idea. I’m t-told we do g-good work though.” Ethilask was just another in the group that had joined in on his own personal language, though she had her own way of communicating. Though, he thought that things were finally in a stable balance. At least he hoped that was the case.

“W-what about you? W-what’s B-baneroth like?” He looked at the Blue for a moment, before he made a glance at Syne. The bird was gliding, just getting his wings stretched. The bird was well, well trained so he didn’t foresee a problem, but he always wanted to be sure. He turned back to Honolly while giving the tiny firelizard a pet, who relaxed for him. Keeping track of everything was a challenge, but again, he’d had practice.

[Deleted]

His answer wasn't quite what she was asking, but it was enough of an answer for her to let it go and keep the conversation going. Asking about Baneroth, huh? Where was she to start? The short-haired rider could talk about so many things having to do with her beautiful blue, and there was so much dragons did that whers could not do. It took her a thoughtful moment to figure out a ways to describe her dragon and what dragons were like in general.

"Baneroth is quieter than other dragons. He doesn't talk much, even to me." Oh, but Honolly had heard that Whers couldn't talk. She guessed that Lan wouldn't know much about the way dragons communicate, just like she had no clue about the way whers did. "A bond with a dragon is like having a second person in your mind. They talk in full sentences, erm, well in your head anyway." It was hard to explain to a non-rider and the quizzical look on her face as she tried to think of a way to explain it made that much obvious.

"Ban is a gentle giant, but he's also a bit frustrating at times." Honolly thought back to all of the times that he had talked her out of something or flat out refused to let her go anywhere. "He's got a mind of his own and he's my opposite. Kind of like an anchor. I haven't gotten into as much trouble as I used to since we impressed." That was another thing that was different from what Honolly had heard. Dragons chose their riders, Handlers chose their whers. Or that was the rumor anyway. "We can share pain and pleasure, and are so close that rising dragons effect both him and me. When whers run, do you feel what they feel?" Well, that topic had changed rather quickly.

Curiosity was a bad filter, and Honolly only realized how awkward that question could be seen. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that. It just kind of slipped." She blushed slightly with embarrassment at the intrusive question and tried to think of a way to change the subject.

[Shoki]

Lan listened quietly as she described the dragon. He knew, intellectually that dragons were supposed to be smarter, more coherent then Whers. He actually didn’t think about that too much in how it related to him, for practical reasons. Dragons were always apart of Weyr life, but it was amazing how things changed as part of ones who lived in the night. Sure, he had dragon rider friends, at least more than acquaintances, but their dragons didn’t talk to him. He heard it was possible, but not likely. He listened, getting a picture of what it would be like. When she asked him another question, he stared blankly at her for a moment, before she started to back pedal. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking less embarrassed then Honolly looked.

“It’s n-not like dragons. I w-wouldn’t know p-personally, Ethilask hasn’t d-decided to run yet. B-but so far it’s like…” He trailed off. He knew what it felt like. “It’s l-like trying to read someone you h-have known f-forever. Only m-more intense. B-because sometimes you j-just know something, and you c-can’t figure out how.” It was like when Ethilask came to him. He just knew what she was to be called, without anyone telling him. Of course she made her will clear in other ways, like when she was purring at him.

“I-I am t-told that it’s l-like f-firelizard f-flights for intensity though.” Lan left it at that, a bit more embarrassed. He reasoned that Wher runs and firelizard flights were just a normal fact of life, like learning the reproductive cycle of birds as a child. Only the former two got people attached to them thinking along the same lines. Dragons were supposed to be worse, lucky he wasn’t a rider, he’d be useless around any female riders. He got rather red at the thought. His sharding younger brother was likely to be married with a kid before Lan got settled around girls. Probably be just like their dad, a farmer in a hold where farming was crazy, and training birds for sale. He had to go visit sometime. Arc pushed her nose into his check, getting him out of his thoughts. He gave her a pet under her chin, and she settled again, happy to have cheered up her protector.

“B-baneroth, he sounds really n-nice.” He had to say something to get off the topic somehow, good enough way.

[Deleted]

Baneroth sighed at his rider's silliness and looked over at the stuttering wher handler who was having trouble keeping a conversation up with his rider. The male seemed kind and trustworthy. Perhaps he would be an interesting friend for His. Lan was calm and quiet, much like Baneroth himself, and would do well to keep Honolly out of the trouble that Baneroth couldn't talk her out of. Eyes swirling with thoughtful hues, the large blue repositioned himself so that he didn't have to look over his shoulder at the pair. Perhaps there was someone calm that Baneroth himself could occasionally converse with.

Touching the wher handler's mind gently, the blue spoke carefully. He didn't want to scare away the handler or insult him. [smear:1661d3]You could do with a better compliment.[/smear:3d8aff] The blue teased calmly as Honolly's jaw dropped. That was just not fair! Baneroth was doing this on purpose, she knew it. He wouldn't talk to her unless there was someone else around to keep her from shivering like she did when they were alone. Honolly knew it amused the dragon and huffed good-naturedly. "Well. It seems that you have interested Baneroth in some way." The rider remarked, shaking her head. She wondered how he would react to the dragon's sultry voice in his head. She knew he wasn't used to that sort of communication.

Honolly's comment about interesting the dragon was in good humor as she knew that Baneroth was picky about his conversations. He preferred quieter people who were more likely to converse calmly than argue, where Honolly didn't rightly care who she spoke with as long as she got a laugh by the end of the conversation. There was almost no one that Honolly didn't get along with on some level, even if that level was only on her side and the other person greatly disliked her. She wasn't clueless, per say, just persistent. There was little to say now that Baneroth had spoken up, so Honolly smiled good-naturedly and let him ask any questions he wanted of her life-partner. "You can talk back to him out loud if it's easier. I still haven't gotten the hang of thinking our conversations yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 370
Muse: Meh
Tags: Shoki
Notes: Let's see how Lan does with this.

[Shoki]

Lan looked a bit startled, as the Blue’s voice was heard in his mind. It was a very curious experience, but not unpleasant. His gaze shifted to the Blue, who was now watching the humans a little more intently. He thought throw the sentence in his mind a moment before chuckling a little, low, but not really under his breath. He turned back to Honolly when she spoke and he looked at the dragon a bit quizzically. Really? Well whatever the Blue found interesting was probably not his eloquent words, because he had mangled his words more than a Wher did to their favorite toy. Or claws did to an unprotected arm. He didn’t say as much though. If he started talking about it, he’d probably just say so much, and then he would end up explaining and sometimes gals took offense to that. Least some of them back home had. He opened his mouth but then thought about it. Dragons talked in the mind, right, could he talk to them like that? Or was that just riders. Confusing. Honolly clarified, and he looked a bit more relaxed. Sure, he’d have a stutter, but he didn’t care so much about that. He had it half the time around here anyway.

“O-okay.” He shifted to looking at the Blue, who was rather large. Oh, he knew that there were quite a few dragons bigger (he’d seen the Sr Werwoman’s Gold around from time to time) but all dragons looked big to him. They were large, imposing, but really airy too. At least in his mind, but he was used to his sturdy looking lady. “Sorry Baneroth, I’ll try t-too give you a better compliment next time. Easier t-to do when I know y-you better.” It was easier to talk, somewhat. Baneroth might be a dragon, but he was a guy, which was easier to get his head around.

“So what do y-you like doing?” He was curious how dragons spend their days. Most of the ones he saw were flying around or sleeping.