Eastern Weyr- Exercise yard
Sheltered from the direct heat of the day and the storms of the season by the rocky walls of the weyr, this exercise yard holds a thick layer of lush grass. The yard offers room enough for the entire class of weyrlings to stretch, romp, and practice behind a tall wooden palisade meant to keep the pre-flight dragons from wandering off too far. To the west, just against the palisade, a small coral of ovines and caprines has been erected for convenience. A freshwater pump is installed to the north, against the wall of the caverns, to provide just enough water flow to clean a weyrling dragon after a meal. When the palisade gate is open, there is a clear, stone-lined path leading towards the paradise river and the designated weyrling beach.
Shaded in the heat of the day, this area only aquires the light it needs in the late afternoon. In the light of day it is active with people and dragons, going about lessons and practice. Summer has struck this coast paradise hard, the heat of the day neary unbareable without the shade and breezes, but the evenings made sweet with the smell of the coast.
It's early morning and Chi is sitting on the ground and watching Ansonth investigate the exercise yard, the brown lets out a quiet snort as a bit of dirt gets into his nose and lets out a quiet sneeze. Chi shakes his head with a slight smirk pulling at his lips. "If you didn't inhale so much, it wouldn't get up your nose, Ansonth." Chi calls over to the brown, if dragons could roll their eyes, Ansonth would. But they can't, so he just twitches his tail behind him. This seems to amuse Chi even further and he pushes himself to his feet. "C'mon, Ans, you're only stuck on the ground for a little while longer. It's not that bad, plenty of things to investigate down here."
Ceresth rumbles a pleasant greeting towards Ansonth as she lumbers into the yard. A smaller queen she may be, she is still fairly good sized. More hide to oil for Vanessa. « Hello! Have you found anything fun? » she moves towards where the brown is exploring. Vanessa is trailing behind. "Ceres…wait." she's saying as she steps into the yard. "Oh." she says shortly as Chi is spotted. "Hiya Chi." it's impossible for this bubbly and cheery girl to outright ignore the other weyrling but she's been fairly short to him as of late.
Chi glances over at Nessa as she calls his name and he lets out a quiet sigh, letting his shoulders slump as he glances to the ground, "Hi, Nessa." Chi says quietly as he eyes the groun. Ansonth lets out a quiet snort, nudging some of the dirt with a claw. «Nothing interesting yet, little sister. If I could fly in the air, I'm sure I would find something of interest, but mine won't let me.» He glances over towards his bonded with a slightly irritated look which Chi only responds with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, well, it's for your own good buddy."
Ceresth offers a warm chuff of affection towards Ansonth. « You must be patient. Together we'll fly soon. For now we strengthen our mind and body! » she swivels her head around to peer intently towards the ground to see what she can see. Vanessa moves to stand next to Chi though her attention is focused on the pair of young dragons. "He give up the flying attempts for now?" she asks quietly.
Chi nods his head slowly as he watches the dragons, "No, not really, but he's listening, for the moment." Chi says quietly as he stares the dragon down, "He's not happy about it though." Chi says, nodding towards the brown with a frown that dissapears when he glances to Nessa, pursing his lips. Ansonth rumbles his discontent as he lashes his tail back and forth, pawing at the ground restlessly.«I was born to fly, I should not be bound to the ground like some unwinged creature.»
Ceresth rumbles again. « You worry too much about just flight! There is much more to learn. » she chuffs once more towards him with a flicker of her tail behind her. Turning attention away from him briefly she does a few hops around the yard. A large rock, about the size of her head, is found and she starts to push at it with the top of her head. Vanessa peers sideways a bit towards Chi then simply nods. "At least he's listening. There's more to do than simply worry about flying. " she says in an unconscious repetition of her gold.
Chi chuckles quietly as he reaches out to shove Nessa playfully, "I know that, must as well as you do." Chi points out, shaking his head, "He's just stubborn about it, that's all. I didn't know dragons could be just as stubborn as humans." Chi smirks slightly, wrapping his arms about his chest. Ansonth glances to watch the gold and lumbers over to eye the rock she's found. He lowers his head in an attempt to help her push it out of its depression.
Vanessa manages a weak smile at Chi's playful shove. "The dragons always know their best match then eh?" she teases lightly. Adjusting the big floppy straw hat that's perched on her head she looks back towards the brown and gold. Ceresth shivers excitedly as now the pair of them get the rock shoved away from where it was. It's with quick whirling eyes of contented blue green that she watches it roll away. Out from under where the rock was a family of trundle bugs start marching out.
"Yeah, maybe…" Chi drifts off, rubbing his hand against his clothes in a nervous manner. "Look, Nessa, I'm sorry what I said the other day. It was uncalled for, but I didn't want you getting in trouble because of me." Chi lets his eyes flicker to the ground. "And I've been thinking a lot lately, maybe I'll go be independent when I graduate." Chi shakes his head slowly. Ansonth rumbles quietly as he watches the stone roll away and lowers his head to investigate the trundlebugs. He gives a soft snort at them, watching them scatter under his gaze.
Remembered hurt from his words flashes briefly in her gaze before Vanessa drops her eyes downwards. "You aint nice to any bronze riders that I've seen…I suppose now you really don't like me cause Ceresth chose me." her words a said softly as she struggles to keep any emotion within her tone that Ceresth might pick up on. Though his next words cause her to look up in surprise. "What? Leave here?" her eyes go wide. "But..why? And where would you go?"
The trundle bugs scatter which captures Ceresth's full attention as she watches them attentively.
"I like you," Chi says quickly, shaking his head. "I don't have a problem with you." He lets his gaze shift to his brown frowning. "I don't know. Somewhere that's not here where I won't be problem. Maybe Ierne, they do things different there."
"And I like you!" Vanessa blurts out. "I would like you even if you were on bronze. Or green." she frowns with unhappiness flickering in her expression. "You don't really know how they do it here yet. We just started out training. You can't give up before you know if you'll like it in one of the wings.
Chi sighs quietly as he runs a hand through his hair in frustration, "You're one of my best friends, you know? And Ansonth simply adores Ceresth, he's always going on about her." He glances over towards the brown, frowning. "I don't know, I don't think I'm cut out for this type of life. You know how I am."
Vanessa ohs softly and smiles. "I am?" this helps bring out some more of the sunniness that is atypical for her. "Oh Chi!" she throws her arms around him in a impromptu hug if he doesn't move away. "I know how you are but I'd miss you so much if you left me! Training's gonna get so much harder and even after…when I'm a jr. Weyrwoman…." she trails her words off uncertainly.
Chi lets out a startled yelp when Nessa hugs him unexpectedly, he doesn't quite seem sure how to deal with the sudden onslaught. "You would? Even with me being annoying and a big jerk?" He asks, arching a brow as he glances over towards Ansonth. "I'm not sure what I'm going to amount to in weyrlife. I guess it depends on what I want to do."
Vanessa giggles at his surprise from the sudden hug. Stepping back she's still all smiles towards him. A brief glance towards Ceresth shows she's still enthralled by the bugs as she shivers and hops along behind them. "Oh sure you're a bit annoying and a jerk towards some but…" she grins bigger. "I would miss you yes." confirms the weyrling. "And you don't know what you can do until you try! You can't give up /now/ and assume you'll be all bad. Just…I dunno. Try!" she hits upon a thought. "Once a day try to stop yourself from saying one thing that would upset someone. And just say it in your head…" her eyes light up. "Or just say it to Ansonth!"
Chi shakes his head slowly, brushing down his shirt in an unsure manner. "Well, thanks Nessa, that means a lot, you know?" He glances over towards Ansonth, watching the brown trail after the gold. Chi lets out a quiet sigh, shaking his head. "You do realize that Ansonth's just as bad as I am, right? He'd probably repeat what I said." He glances back over towards Nessa, frowning. "I don't like bronzeriders, and I especially dislike S'ic. Bout the only bronzerider I like is He'ro and that's because he's not an ass."
"Oh…right." Vanessa didn't think of that. "Well…maybe not such a good idea." she'll concede that. A frown mars her face though as he speaks of basically calling all bronze riders an ass. "I liked S'ic. He seems nice and I'ro has always been nice to me. Even before the hatching. He was the one who showed me where the stores were and told me I could get stuff from 'em."
Chi shrugs his shoulders as he stuffs his hands into his pockets, looking off to the horizon. "Let's just face it, I'm not cut out for weyr life." Chi says, quietly shaking his head. "Unless I decide to bow and grovel and be polite to everyone, it's not going to work out." Chi wrinkles his nose slightly, "Yeah, well, S'ic's the one that took my knot away as a candidate, I don't think we're going to get along. Ever."
Vanessa makes a face. "I don't grovel!" though she is polite to everyone. "Why's it so hard to be polite to people?" she asks curiously. "Oh..S'ic took it away? Maybe..um, just…I dunno. Don't be snide or anything and just don't talk to him?" she doesn't know. She's taking a guess on what to do in his place.
"Being polite would mean that I'm condeding to the fact that they are better than me." Chi mutters under his breath, "No one's better than anyone, and especially not some bronzer who thinks he's the best ever." Chi sighs quietly, "I just want to be something great."
Vanessa crinkles her nose and loops an arm around his shoulder. "I don't think anyone's better than anyone else." she says matter of factly. "You are as good as you think you are and however you act!"
Chi shakes his head slowly and glances over towards Nessa, "Well, it's all good and dandy for you, Nessa. You're on a /gold/ you're going to be a /weyrwoman/. You're going to be the most important person of the weyr someday. Bronzes have it even better, they fly golds, they can become weyrleaders. What good is that?" Chi shrugs his shoulders, glancing at his brown, "Not that I wanted a bronze. I didn't want to be one of them."
Vanessa sticks out her tongue. "And you think that doesn't scare the shells out of me?" she asks suddenly, twisting to look fully at him. "Everyone will be watching ME. Watching what I do and judging me. Why? Because Ceresth chose me and not…someone older like Zahl. Or Kayla. She said I'm her perfect match but I'm young! I doubt it's going to be easy for me. You can choose a wing. T'revs and R'en can choose a wing. Me? No choice. And her…" she glances over to Ceresth. "Farnath knows what wing she'll want to join that can't. She wants to be with the boys." she looks back to Chi. "So maybe it's not all about you!" she says with force in her tone. "You have more options than me!" she stops, surprised by her small little speech she just gave.
Chi goes to open his mouth but then closes it and glances to the ground. "Sorry, Nessa," Chi mmurmurs nudging the ground with his shoe. "If it's any consolation, she picked you for a reason, so that means you're going to be great, right? You'll be fine, you'll see. I know it."
"I don't know about great." Nessa says quickly. "I just want to be good!" a tentative smile forms. "But I know you'll be good or even great at whatever you apply yourself to."
Chi sighs quietly, "Well, we'll see. I don't know. I doubt anyone will want me around unless I'm nicer to people." He shakes his head slowly, "And anyway, we have a long road ahead of us before we get there. So who's to know what's going to happen before then. Maybe something will click."
Vanessa smiles brightly. "Maybe something will click." she agrees. "Ansonth is a handsome brown." she says, perhaps to switch subjects a bit to Chi's life mate.
Chi smiles slightly as he eyes his brown, "I really like him, he is rather handsome, isn't he? I'm thankful he picked me, it's nice to have someone who understands me and doesn't judge me."
Vanessa beams. "He is handsome. And the perfect match for you. Ceresth always has so many questions for me. I think she asks more than my little sister!"
Chi laughs quietly as he watches the two dragons, Ansonth seems to be enjoying chasing after the trundlebugs at least for the moment. "Ansonth doesn't ask me too many questions, he just usually follows my lead." He looks over at Nessa, smiling, "Yeah, we're pretty good together. I'm glad he picked me."
"It's good that you were there for him to find." Nessa muses thoughtfully, her gaze upon the pair once more. Ceresth's attention has wavered from the trundle bugs as now she's snuffling around the ground to smell it. At least it seems like she's smelling it.
Chi tilts his head to the side, "Wonder what would've happened if I wasn't there, would he have chosen someone else?" Chi asks, glancing sideways at Nessa. "I mean, he told me on the sands that I didn't wash out, and that we had a lot of work to do." He glances towards the brown thoughtfully.
Vanessa doesn't begin to contemplate what would have happened were he not there. Instead she asks. "Didn't wash out?"
Chi laughs quietly and shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, it's something he said. You know how he was on the sands, running back and forth between everyone? He was testing everyone, apparently I was the one who passed the test."
Vanessa's eyes unfocus briefly as she searches through her memory of that day. "Ah yeah, that's right." a smile blossoms. "I remember when he came up to you. I got hit with a lot of the sand he sprayed at you."
Chi laughs quietly, "Oh right, you were behind me at that point." Chi says, glancing up at the sky, "Sorry about that, Nessa, I was a bit distracted at that moment." He offers a sheepish smile, "I would've stayed to guard you but…"
Vanessa giggles a bit. "That's okay! I imagine Ansonth didn't want to hang around and wait for his food!"
Chi shakes his head slowly and glances over towards Nessa, smiling. "No, not really, he was pretty hungry." He glances back to the gold and brown, "I'm happy we both impressed though, it's good to have a friend."
"I'm glad we both did too. I certain never expected too really!" grins Vanessa. "I think though that she needs to get some wing stretches done while we're out here." with that she strides forward and towards the young gold.
Chi laughs cheerfully and makes his way over towards Ansonth, "Alright big guy, want to get stronger so you can fly faster? Let's strengthen those wings!"