Staring Contest [Jenth?]

[Sparrow]

OOC: Unless you're busy, Jenth, in which case this is open. If you're not, I'm not looking for any specific character... just whoever strikes your fancy.

The greatest thing about having Nayarath no longer sands-bound was that, although Kora had less free time, all her free time could be spent with her dragon. Things got so dull and lonely when Nayarath was stuck watching her eggs. Both were much more cheerful in between clutches.

Kora yawned and leaned back against a tree. Incredible how much warmer it was down here at sea level than it was at the top of a mountain, even in winter. She had swum enough with Nayarath and was ready for a break to dry off before they headed back to the Weyr.

Nayarath remained in the water, although her head rested on a boulder just out of it as she and Soot battled through a staring contest. Lilac and stayed behind with Squeak, but neither minded that. Nayarath liked being the only queen around; Soot liked only having one queen around. Nayarath was preferable to Lilac too, since she usually didn't interact much with fire-lizards.

"You going for the record for longest staring contest or most pointless activity?" Kora asked her dragon dryly.

I'm discovering the best way to wait for my rider to come around and swim with me again.

"I'm pretty sure having a staring contest with something hardly the size of your eye is not going to be the winner."

No, but I'm pretty sure I can out-stare the little one.

Of course winning was what mattered. "You have fun with that then." Kora rolled her eyes before closing them. Dragons.

[Jenth]

L'han gave the signal to K'nam and C'it to head on back to the Weyr, the sweep was over. Even as Weyrleader he couldn't let himself get rusty, and now more so then ever. Leadership was only a temporary thing, come Nayarath's next flight the tanrider expected to be back down to Weyr second. Depending who succeeded him, wing second at the worst.

A sudden lurch had L'han scrambling to take hold of his straps. Wuith rumbled under him in dragon laughter. You need to stop thinking like that. It wasn't a fluke that I caught Nayarath, now hold tight!

The tan threw himself forwards, pushing himself as fast as he would go. After the first dive L'han was feeling more himself and started urging his dragon on, just like they had done fresh out of weyrlinghood when no one was watching. There really was nothing to worry about, except for her first flight Wuith had chased Nayarath every time and had always come close to the catch.

Something gold finally caught his attention, his dragons eagerness finally making sense. trust the tan to want to show off just infront of his queenWUITH! You show off! Put me down![/b] Again Wuith chuckled, dropping L'han on to the sands near the gold.

[Sparrow]

Nayarath suddenly swung her gaze upwards and Soot gave a triumphant little bugle, figuring her looking away was as good as winning. Kora opened her eyes, surprised. "You lost to a flitt?"

I did not lose. We have company.

Kora had to move out from under the tree to see, but there was Wuith up above, clear as day. What a surprise. It wasn't the first time she had been followed out here.

I'm feeling a terrible desire to mock your lack of enthusiasm. Nayarath rumbled. She watched Wuith streak by and then come in to land, and stood to greet her mate. Soot, chattering unhappily about his ignored triumph, fluttered onto the Gold's headknob, but she still ignored him. Wuith was a far handsomer Tan. Good to see you, she said, giving him a nuzzle.

"Needed a break after your sweep?" Kora smiled as she moved to greet L'han. No, she didn't mind company. Her worry was simply that things always seemed to end up awkward when they were together.

[Jenth]

And you, beautiful Nayarath. Pern is a brighter place now that you're out and about again Wuith returned his mate's nuzzle with gentle affection. Apart from a quick glance at Soot, he too paid the small creature no attention. He should know better then to try scolding a queen.

"Something like that..." Indicating their dragons. He could have forced Wuith back to the Weyr, but L'han doubt he would have listened. There would be no moving the tan any time soon. As long as they were happy, but if only he and Kora got along even half as well. But then again, the rumors that circulated wouldn't be as humorous as they were.

As soon as his jacket was shed a huge green fire lizard dropped heavily onto the man's shoulder with a happy little chirp.

[Sparrow]

Nayarath's eyes whirled cheerfully at the compliment. It is nice to be free from the sands, she agreed. Very nice. Now she could not only spend more time with Kora without eggs in the way, but with her mate.

Kora had mostly figured it was Wuith that wanted the break, although she doubted L'han had much reason to be against it. Not that it mattered much. Usually if dragons were happy, so were their riders. To an extent. With Nayarath's broodiness no longer affecting her, Kora was hoping she would have better luck with L'han... and everyone else. Recent events made her doubtful though... which would probably throw off her chances.

Kora raised her eyebrows a bit when L'han's Green dropped from between. "I didn't realize Lady had grown so big." It didn't seem like his flitters were usually around when they were together.

[Jenth]

"I think all that laying around with a broken wing did it. I thought she was just fat, but her wingspan is too long." L'han reached up and gave the green a little scratch, Lady shrilling in delight. It was nice to have a well tempered flit, Terror would have bitten off the finger and try to take the rest of the hand with it. Good thing the brown didn't have a habit of following him around. With a small command the tanrider sent her off to play with Soot and Lilac, the Kora's pair were normally never far away.

And yet despite asking Lady to leave, L'han wasn't sure what to talk to Kora about. Anything he tried to discuss normally ended up turning things bad between them. Maybe it was best to leave her alone then? Seemed like running away to him, distasteful the thought was, but what other choice did he have?

"But if you'd rather be alone, that's fine. If Wuith hadn't spotted Nayarath we would have returned to the Weyr."

[Sparrow]

"When did she break her wing?" Flitters breaking their wings wasn't exactly commonplace- how had she not known about that? It was embarrassing. It would also explain why she had hardly seen L'han's Green... maybe she should have asked about it. It was his wild Brown that she usually remembered though, and there wasn't ever really a good reason to ask why he wasn't around.

Soot fluttered off to play with Lady, happy enough to entertain a female even if it wasn't his queen. Lilac wouldn't know, and Lady was sure to be nicer to him than the Violet.

Kora shook her head anxiously. "No, i-it's alright. If Wuith hadn't shown up we wouldn't have stayed much longer anyway. Nayarath was getting bored and I was just... drying off." She was still wet, and probably looked like a bedraggled mess with her short hair hanging thin around her face and patches of salt and sand sticking to her skin. At least she had dried up enough to get dressed again before L'han had arrived.

[Jenth]

L'han gave a small smile, moving off the sands and into the shade. Nayarath hardly looked bored anymore so it looked like he might be here for some time. At least till he messed it all up again like he tended to.

"When she hatched, one of her sisters tore a hole in her wing. It wouldn't have been a problem, had she not try to fly when it was still healing. Silly thing jumped straight off a table." The scar from the whole ordeal was still visable, and didn't appear to bother her at all. Flying was second nature to dragons and lizards, and while Lady was bulkier and less agile then other greens she was physically stronger.

Lady chirped happily to have found a playmate, at least one that didn't hiss all the time. Terror had to be half tunnel snake. Being the young flit she was, the tidal pools entrigued her. There were things that darted around, too small to be very appitising, so found herself clawing at a shellfish.

[Sparrow]

Hmm, maybe she did remember that, vaguely. Kora wouldn't classify a torn wing as broken, and she would use that as her excuse. Supposing she needed one, anyway, which she really didn't. It was just for herself. "Well, it's good she's healed up now."

Soot followed Lady down to the pools and pawed at a little fish caught in one. It darted away with a flash and he jumped, then gurgled. Soon his whole head was under the water as he tried to locate the fish again.

Kora watched the fire-lizards, then looked at Nayarath, unsure of what to say next. Her dragon was busy with Wuith though, and not about to prompt her. "So I'm guessing nothing eventful happened during the sweep?" That was usually the case. It was a good thing, however dull that made the job.

[Jenth]

"Yeah...Nothing..." It wasn't boredom in L'han's voice, but disappointment. Despite sweeps being one of the most dullest duties a Rider could do, many tried to see the good in it. For some it was punishment, others a convient escape from something but lately all had kept an extra eye out. Spotting one slight thing out of place but be the clue they need to finally eliminate the fear in the Weyr. Hopefully the day will come soon when a dragonrider wouldn't have to keep looking over their shoulder.

A swim, Nayarath? Or have you had enough today? Wuith asked. An obvious thing to do when visiting the beach, but if Nayarath wasn't interested he was more then happy to curl up with her and enjoy the sun. Things were always arkward between their riders so he was ignoring it, they needed to get over it.

The silence was starting to get to L'han, so he just said the first things that came to mind, never the best idea but it was better then nothing. "Inolyn is finally coming out more and more. It's good to see she's recovering well."

[Sparrow]

"Mmm." Kora didn't miss the disappointment in L'han's voice. She wanted to think that the whole queenrider-hunt issue was over, but that likely wasn't true. Finally finding something on a sweep would be a good thing. The lack of events left people wondering.

I always love to swim, Nayarath replied cheerfully, already turning to wade back into the ocean. She loved water. No one ever had to question that.

"Yes. I was really worried about her for a while there." But they had good healers here. They had taken care of everything. Inolyn wasn't completely healed yet, of course, but she was well on the way. There certainly wasn't much chance of her suddenly getting worse.

Inolyn healing was hardly opening up any avenues for Kora to talk to her though. First it was all healing bustle, and now she was catching up with B'can and... Kora couldn't get past the feeling that Inolyn didn't like her. It made her scared to try and contact the other queenrider; Kora had yet to manage to turn those sorts of feelings around. Rather, she always managed to make them worse.

[Jenth]

((originally i was going to target Kora, and have L'han beat him off but i felt like i didn't have an opening...))

"We were all worried about her, it really hit us hard." The lose one queen was a tragedy, to lose two so close together might as well be a nightmare. Dragon-kind were slowly acceding in numbers to fight back the Thread, and with them the hopes of reclaiming Pern's North and surviving in general. Traditionalist or not, who ever thought hunting violet's was a good idea must have a death wish.

Wuith darted to the water, happily splashing up water till he could no longer touch sand. The water was cool and had a refreshing feeling you couldn't find when bathing in the lake. Yes, he was very glad they had decided to land. You shine brighter then the sun's reflection on the water, Nayarath

[[Bleh....inspiration dying....]]

[Sparrow]

((I wondered if you might mean to do that, but I think it worked out better with Inolyn. That way it could involve Reine too... had it been Kora, it pretty-much just would have been us.))

"I need to talk to her." Like she always did, and didn't. She sighed, and then jumped at a pop too close to her head for comfort. Apparently Squeak was napping, because now Lilac was here. The Violet settled on Kora's shoulder, chirpled a greeting to L'han, and then bumped Kora's chin in a request for scratches.

"Don't scare me like that," Kora whispered to the flitt. But there was a smile on her face, and she obliged the scratches. If L'han missed that she was kidding there, then she really did need to work on her sarcasm.

Nayarath crooned and half spread her wings, dipping them under the water so it could come up around the thin membranes. She liked the feel of smooth water on her sides more than cold winds.

[Jenth]

"Why do you need to talk to her?" L'han said almost curiously. If it was about her returning to her duties she would almost be ready, on healer approval of course. Many knew that Jorindath and Nayarath had nearly butted heads over their personality differences, the gold wanting everything organized to suit her needs while the violet a lot more lenient and flexible. That should have little to nothing to do with their rider's though, and both parties probably felt the same and tried to avoid each other. Funny how things turned out like that.

The mood had lightened up a little, the tanrider was getting a little worried for a moment. With Wuith in the water it would have been hard to try and make a smooth get away if he needed to bail. Still, any excuse he had come up with Kora wouldn't buy it.

"Itunas has nearly finished his preparations at Danac to move in the whers. Some of the holders are still reluctant, but still no suitable candidates have come forwards."

[Sparrow]

"Because I never do. Queenriders should work together. Nayarath has absolutely nothing against Jorindath, but for some reason Inolyn seems to have an extreme dislike for me." From what she had heard, the Violetrider blamed it on the dragons. Everyone blamed it on the dragons, particularly Nayarath. But when had Nayarath ever had any problem with Jorindath? Except when she was on the sands, of course, when that was expected. But even that was very light, unimportant. Nayarath complained, as she usually did, in jest.

Kora had been good friends with Shador, but somehow never made that sort of bond with Inolyn. It was frustrating.

She gave L'han a tired look. The reason she and Nayarath weren't the Weyr was to escaped Weyr business. The Hold wasn't exactly Weyr business, admittedly, but it was still business and not what she wanted to talk about. "Once they've got a good leader, they'll forget their complaints." Itunas would be a big step up from the previous Lord Holder. ((Whose name is failing me. xP))