Lonely Sword

[Minajerie]

"Hah!"
Sweat flew from Kuroi's brow as he continued with his swordsmanship forms. His twin had been invited to a get together with some weyrfolk, and Kuroi had declined, preferring quiet practice to loud tedium. He just could never get the right thing out around people. Perhaps it was a disease. The inability to talk around beings of intelligence.

Well, he didn't have to worry about looking the fool, or even looking the jerk, if he was alone with no one and nothing to keep him company besides the lake and his sword. Kuroi did another sword maneuver. Perhaps if he practiced enough he could finally beat his brother at this. Even though he didn't really want too. After all, Kuroi was already better at many other things than his twin brother, it might be cruel to take away one of the few things Kuroh was better than him at.

Kuroi stopped for a moment and wiped his brow on his sleeve, he was working up a good sweat by himself. He went over by a rock where he had set his things and took a swig from his water-skin. After his drink he emitted a little sigh and shook out his sword arm. After stretching out the muscles a little he changed the sword from one hand to the other, and started his workout all over again. He liked being able to use both hands in combat.

"Arr- HAH!"

[Sparrow]

Artemisth yawned. There's an overachiever for you. Her voice, of course, was picked up by no one but Salise, but the Barred was really speaking to no one in particular. She sat down in the shallows of the lake to watch the one-man sword fight, and Salise glanced at the dragon with a raised eyebrow.

He's just practicing.

Yeah, but aren't Candidates busy enough? Artemisth had actually started paying attention to them since graduating. Holleth hadn't clutched, and Mermaiyeth hadn't flown yet, leaving many people thinking Barreds wouldn't clutch at all; Artemisth's newest interests were kind of frightening Salise.

I guess not. Salise shrugged and rubbed her dragon's eyeridge. She wasn't about to go greet the boy, starting conversations had never been her thing. Scout, seeing as he wasn't being petted, decided he would flit over though, and cheerfully took off of Salise's shoulder to inspect the Candidate. The sword was what really caught his interest, shiny and quick-moving, and soon the little Blue was following its movements- thankfully from a safe distance- and trying to immitate every sound the boy was making as he swung the weapon.

Artemisth rumbled. Well now, the little Blue's forgotten his duties too. What was it with boys and fighting, even with nothing?

[Minajerie]

Kuroi finished his routine with his other arm and noticed something moving in the periphery of his vision. After a direct look he identified the once colorless blur into a blue fire lizard seemingly entranced by the movement of his sword.

Well, he might as please someone. A small lifting of the corner of his lips was as close to a smile as he came as he then flew into an imaginary battle with a worthy foe. Every man wishes for a worthy foe... as long as he isn't too worthy. No man wants his ass handed to him.

However, Kuroi felt that he was winning this imaginary battle through quick feints and perrys, a twirl here and an avoidance there, he even jump and flip in the air, jumping over his opponent, of course and caught the guy unaware. But Mr.I was quick to recover and kept Kuroi on his toes till one of his thrusts made Kuroi bend all the way backwards; but it also spelled his doom as Kuroi used Mr.I's maneuver to fuel his own. Kuroi had buried his sword into Mr.I's imaginary chest. Victorious, Kuroi went ahead and allowed his straining legs (which were still holding him in that backwards position about a foot off the ground) to relax, and he collapsed on the floor with a "Huff" and a cloud of dust.

[Sparrow]

Scout gurgled happily when the boy finally collapsed onto the ground and landed cheerfully on his lap, chattering and reaching out to sniff tentatively at the sword. What had he been doing? It made no sense to Scout, all that swinging at and dodging nothing at all. He wasn't a Blue with much of an imagination.

"Scout? Um, I doubt that boy wants you sitting on him. C'mere." Salise decided that it was probably time she intervened, and started over; Artemisth stood up to trail behind her rider and watch. Scout chirped a sad goodbye to the boy before fluttering back to Salise and settling, once again, on her shoulder. Salise gave the Blue a pet and smiled sheepishly at the Candidate. "Uh, sorry about him."

Artemisth rumbled. Why does he flail around like that when there's no one returning the gesture?

Why do you always want to practice aerial maneuvers when there's no Thread falling? Salise gave her dragon a long look. Be nice. Yeah right. Scout chirped again and she returned her attention to the boy. Well... now that she had said something... "I'm Salise, by the way. That's Artemisth, and Scout's the one who's been... swordchasing or whatever you'd call it."

Scout promptly decided he liked swordchasing, and fluttered back over to the weapon to inspect it further.

[Minajerie]

Kuroi was mildly surprised when the fire lizard decided to land in his lap. Most of the time animals didn't come near him... but then it's also possible that it was because most of the time he was with Kuroh.. and he doesn't really like animals.

He was a little surprised when the girl spoke, gaining the attention of the fire lizard and calling him back to her. He hadn't really minded the little guy, though.

He lifted himself up onto an elbow, so he could see the girl- no, the weyrling? Perhaps even a dragonrider... Seeing as she had a good sized dragon shadowing her. He gave the dragon a glance before turning his attention back to the rider. With the small movement of his head, some of his hair fell into his eyes, making him frown a little.

When the rider spoke again, Kuroi gave her his attention. He acknowledged the unnecessary apology and filed their names in his memory for future reference.

When the blue flitted over to take another look at his sword he reached out in a protective gesture. Not the sword from the fire lizard, but the fire lizard from the sword.

In a gruff voice he voiced his concern. "Careful, the edge is sharp." He supposed he would have to say something else... like perhaps tell Salise his name. After all, that would be the polite thing to do. He hoped. "M'names Kuroi."

[Sparrow]

Not very talkative, is he? You two'll get along, sitting around saying nothing all day. Artemisth snorted softly. At least he had some sense, blocking Scout from cutting his nose open or whatever the Blue planned to do with the sword. Scout wasn't actually that stupid, but he didn't know much about anything and was still fairly young, so it was possible he would hurt himself on accident.

Scout only gurgled when the boy warned him though, and then flew over to Artemisth, apparently done with his inspection. The Barred gave her head an irritated shake as he settled at its back, but when he didn't come off, didn't fight further. Salise didn't like her being mean to the Blue, and some things she could live with.

Kuroi? Salise didn't recognize the name, but, considering her level of social expertise, that didn't make much difference to her. He could be new, or she could have just not talked to him before. "Looks like you're pretty good at, um, swordfighting." She forced a small smile, but wondered if that was the right term. He had been practicing... but when there was no one else there, did it count as fighting? She felt kind of stupid just complimenting someone out of the blue anyways, but what else could she say?

There are lots of things you can ask a Candidate. But, of course, questions are much more intimidating, hm? Artemisth sat down, not expecting them to be going anywhere quickly. If these two could keep a conversation up, it would be slow, and if they couldn't, she could still sun out here for a while. Scout seemed to have the same idea, and lay himself down across Artemisth's brow.

[Minajerie]

((XDD Lol))

"Sword...practice." Kuroi sat up and after grabbing a rag from his belt, wiped the dirt off his sword and then sheathed the piece of sharp metal. "Haven't been... in a real fight... so... sword practice."

He ran a hand through his hair, making a majority of it stand up. He glanced up at Salise- something he wasn't used to, being so tall.

"Thanks.. brother is better." He fiddled with his sheathed sword for a moment, then strapped it back to his hip, where he had it before he started practice. He took another swallow of water then tried to speak again.

"So... somethin you want?" That probably wasn't what he should have said...

[Sparrow]

"Oh... right." Salise messed things like this up all the time, it wasn't too much of a shock, and so not too embarrassing, to have mixed up practice and actual fighting. It was so obvious now, the right word just hadn't come to mind, and she had spoken anyways.

Not much you can do about that though. Artemisth rumbled. She wasn't the most comforting of dragons, perhaps one of the reasons she had Impressed to a girl who rarely let on to how things affected her. Salise didn't usually care what others thought anyways, anything she worried about was self-inflicted. Artemisth could deal with that.

"You have a brother?" Salise wasn't about to go agreeing with Kuroi on his comment that his brother was better, it wouldn't be fair at all to say that without having seen him. She wasn't any sort of judge of swordfighting- or practice- anyways. Sure she had seen it in her life, but in her family, the girls had been expected to keep out of fighting. There had been plenty of men about, and they were all perfectly capable of protecting everyone else.

Salise's brows contracted as she considered Kuroi's question. "No, I don't think so." She had just come to get Scout off him and then not left. Maybe she should have, it didn't sound a lot like this Candidate wanted her hanging around.

And yet we stay. Artemisth yawned, half because she suddenly felt an impulse to do so and half to show off sharp teeth that were better than any sword, in her opinion, to the boy. Salise gave the dragon an irritated look. Artemisth was nowhere near the size of queens, but she was a big Barred, and dragons were big anyways. She didn't need to go scaring Kuroi off.

But it would make your life so much easier wouldn't it?! Artemisth shut her mouth though, and ducked her head abruptly so that Scout slid down her nose. The Blue just gurgled before flopping off and into Salise's arms.

[Minajerie]

Kuroi nodded, stretching out his long legs, in preparation of getting up. "My twin. We look exactly alike, 'cept he wears his hair longer."

He brushed off his backside and stood up, taking care to get most of the dust off him. As he straightened he noticed just how small she was compared to him. There was a good foot distance between their heights. Perhaps a little more. Unfortunately this actually made him even more nervous. He flung a hand into his hair, causing half of it to spike up in an odd direction compared to the rest.

"So... uh... do you.... walk?"

((I thought the flitters name was scout... ? O.o))

[Sparrow]

((I mix up my flitters lots. xP))

"Oh. What's his name?" Salise watched as Kuroi stood, feeling a bit more awkward at how he towered over her. It had been obvious looking at him that he would be tall, but his sitting and her standing had definitely been decieving. Salise was a bit on the tall side for girls, but that didn't make much difference here.

Artemisth rumbled. Now that's a silly question. Hers had walked over, of course she walked. More intriguing than Kuroi's question though, was his hair. The Barred wanted to blow on it and see if that would get it to settle- all the boy's dragging his hand through it and changing the already odd style was getting distracting to her.

Don't. Salise gave the dragon a warning look. One could never know if Artemisth would know better than to do something stupid or not, she had never been much for considering things. She quickly returned her gaze to the boy though, unable to hide a smile at his question. "Yes, I walk. What about you?"

That had probably been a stupid thing to say too. Salise couldn't joke.

[Minajerie]

"...My brother's name is Kuroh. And yes...I can walk." Kuroi gave Artemisth a wary glance, as if he could sense her mischievousness.

He grabbed his pack and threw his waterskin inside it before shouldering the thing with a small grunt.

"I need to.. uh.. cool down my muscles so.. I need to go for a walk... would you..?" He threw his hand into his hair again, this time on the other side, but still making the strands fling every which way.

(( Argh, Kuroi is coming across more as shy!! >_< I fail!! ))

[Sparrow]

"Oh." Salise nodded and Artemisth replied to Kuroi's look with her best attempt at an innocent expression that wasn't missed by her rider. Hopefully she wouldn't try anything stupid.

Scout watched hopefully as Kuroi donned his pack, but apparently he was just putting it on, not preparing to get out more interesting sword-y things. A little disappointed, the Blue flew over to Artemisth again. He apparently was in the mood for doing something, even if that was just traveling back and forth between his keeper and her dragon. Scout wasn't the most creative of flitters.

Would she... go for a walk? Salise hated it when people didn't finish their sentences. "Um, sure." Hopefully he wasn't actually asking her to leave or something. It wouldn't surprise her much, and Salise didn't quite get why she was still dragging this out... but she didn't talk to people enough, and it wasn't like she had anything to worry about from a Candidate, no matter how tall, when she had Artemisth.

I think I'll stay, all the excitement you two are sure to stir up would probably have some sort of bad effect on me. Artemisth snorted softly. She was content to stay and sun. Apparently Scout wasn't though, and, chirping somewhat irritably, headed back over to Salise's shoulder.

[Minajerie]

"Kay. Then lets walk." He shifted his pack a little and took out a small blunted dagger to toss in the air. It was weighted the same as his sharp dagger so it gave him good practice without the cuts. He tossed the blunt weapon in the air and caught it by it's tip.

Without looking at her he posed a question. "What do you do... besides dragon riden'?"

[Sparrow]

Salise watched uncertainly as Kuroi started tossing a dagger, she would never really support people throwing around weapons for what seemed like no reason. Of course, she wouldn't fight it either. She seemed to have a talent for finding people with obsessions with knives or similar things; Kuroi didn't seem nearly as bad as the last boy she had met, but it put her a little more on edge.

Still, this struck her more as practicing than just messing around. He most definitely wasn't working along the lines of 'oh my gosh, I have a dagger, let's get it out and see what I can cut.' That she had seen, and it frightened her. And, yet, last she had observed, T'lat had a pretty good relationship going with Inolyn.

Some things just made no sense. Her reply to Kuroi's question would probably join those ranks, as his voice took her by surprise. Salise was a slow thinker, and when she did start to consider things... well, she did it slowly. "Um... not much. I'm kind of good at sewing I guess, but mostly know I use that for Artemisth's riding straps and stuff..."

She hesitated, then, "Once you've got a dragon, I guess everything just focuses around that. Even now that Artemisth's grown big and I don't have to do so much to take care of her, we've got even more stuff to do to make up for it." All sorts of practicing for fighting Thread, or actually doing that. It all made constantly bathing and feeding growing dragonets seem like no trouble, sometimes.

[Minajerie]

"Sounds... tuff." Kuroi tossed his blunted dagger a few more times, using it, not so much for practice, but as an outlet for his nervousness. So far, he hadn't said anything rude to this girl yet. So far.

"But worth it... right? The most worthwhile things are... won with hard work."

[Sparrow]

"Yes, very worth it." Salise smiled. "Even when you get dragons like Artemisth." The Barred was a lovely looking dragon, but she definitely wasn't the friendliest. They loved each other anyways, but it didn't often show.

"Hoping to Impress anything specific?" She glanced questioningly at Kuroi. Not one to really expect anything- especially not after Impressing her own dragon- Salise didn't usually share her ideas, if she had any, on what people would get. But she didn't mind asking, it was often interesting to hear what others thought.

[Minajerie]

He walked a little in silence, thinking. What did he want to impress? They were all really big and interesting. He supposed anything was all right, but the newer colors interested him. He had never heard any stories about them when he was little, so they were a curiosity.

"Hmmm...Tan. They look.... interesting... but anything really... even a blue. They are... important to the weyr... just as the bronzes are. I sort of wish I... or we... my and my brother and I, had come for a violet and tan hatching. The new colors are something very different. But really, I'm sure I will be happy with any dragon I get." Kuroi returned to silence, turning the blunt dagger in his hand, not really wanting to toss it again just yet.