Seaside Lunch [Wolf]

[Sparrow]

Lately, Artemisth had grown fairly private about her tricks. Although the Barred still had yet to rise, she spent all her free time in the air, attempting just about everything a dragon her size could dare to do. Sometimes Salise would strap up and see what she could ride through, but for the most part, like today, she just went with Artemisth to wherever she wanted to practice and then sat back on the ground and watched.

Today was the old island that they had heard no one but the Weyrwoman was fond of, and with Nayarath egg heavy and broody, it seemed like a pretty safe place to go. Salise crouched on a large boulder edging the shore, switching periodically between watching the waves and Artemisth and feeding Scout snacks from the lunch she had brought along.

Look at me! Artemisth called. Salise looked up in time to see her dragon do a wide loop, spinning herself as she arced upside down and up again.

No one is ever going to catch you, she told the Barred. Artemisth rumbled and came in to land on the sand next to her rider. She lay her head on the rock, obviously hoping for scratches, and Salise obliged. "You even give Greens a run for their money, huh?"

Artemisth only rumbled again. Like that was hard.

[wolflover1458]

Hearth had been grumpy recently. More grumpy than he normally was. N'lel wasn't really sure why. The Charcoal seemed to be making it a thing to get annoyed at anything he could. I think we need to get away for a while. It'll help you calm down N'lel suggested to the dragon. He could remember how slightly-less-grumpy Hearth had been before, and wanted the dragon to get back to that. It made it easier for everyone to get along with him.

You are right, Mine. We could use some time away from everyone Hearth agreed. N'lel hadn't actually expected him to agree, but he didn't let it faze him. "Alright then, let's get out of here. Where should be go?"

The dragon turned to glance at his rider. Hearth has heard of a nice little island. Nobody ever goes there. That's where we shall go.

Sounds good N'lel responded as he quickly strapped the Charcoal dragon up. Hearth waited calmly for his rider to finish and then get Dare to agree to come with them, and as soon as they were in the air, they vanished between to reappear above the island where, not far below them were Salise and Artemisth.

[Sparrow]

Artmisth's head jerked upwards at the faint pop that sounded as Hearth exited between over their heads. After a moment's confusion, Salise looked up too. Someone else? And from the streaks of red on black, it was a Charcoal.

Interrupted, Artemisth muttered, a bit of yellow whirling through her eyes to show her irritation. Good thing I was already done.

"If you're done, I don't think they interrupted you," Salise pointed out, rubbing Artemisth under her chin to cheer her. Crazy Barred. "Tell them hello." Artemisth gave her a suspicious look but turned her nose skyward again, as though looking at the dragon above would help her voice reach him.

Afternoon, Hearth, she said with a very forced cheerfulness. Company was the last thing I expected here.

Salise rolled her eyes. "Very nice."

[wolflover1458]

I think someone's already here Hearth N'lel pointed out.

I had noticed the dragon pointed out irritably. What are they doing here?

Well, I guess other people do come here.

Hearth snorted as he heard Artemisth. I think the same thing he told the Barred, not even trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. The Charcoal dragon swooped down to land on the beach of the island. N'lel slid off of Hearth, but stayed next to the Charcoal. He wasn't really worried Hearth would do anything really bad, but he didn't want to be to far from the dragon. You just never knew with Hearth.

He hadn't really met Salise before, so he wasn't really sure what she was like. It made him nervous about how she would feel. After all, she'd been here first with Artemisth. Now was his chance to get to know the rider and her dragon better. Maybe running into them wouldn't turn out to be so bad. N'lel would be very, very impressed, though, if this bettered Hearth's mood. Somehow he just doubted it.

[Sparrow]

Hearth agrees with me, Artemisth informed Salise. Her tone was almost triumphant, as though getting a Charcoal to agree with her was some great feat. Considering what Salise had heard about them, perhaps it was. But she didn't know any Charcoals or Charcoalriders at all well, and didn't know for sure. At any rate, a grumpy observation wasn't exactly what she would have liked them agreeing on.

But perhaps it was better than nothing. She looked at Scout. "Don't eat all the food, alright?" The Blue gurgled irresponsibly. Salise hopped off the rock and waved to N'lel. "Afternoon, N'lel. What brings you here?"

Did they come here often? Perhaps she had only heard about the Weyrwoman liking this place because she was an important person and they kept track of what she did. Someone with a small dragon, even a rare one like a Charcoal, would draw less attention. Salise surreptitiously crossed her fingers, hoping she wasn't intruding on anything.

[wolflover1458]

Well, at least Salise didn't seem to upset that they'd shown up. "I've never been here before, actually," he told her. "Hearth's just been... grumpier than usual, and I was hoping to improve his mood by getting him away from the Weyr." He didn't want to say 'get him away from everyone' because that make Salise feel like she was intruding, when he was the one doing the intruding.

It was nice that they weren't off to a bad start. Hearth didn't seem to be too annoyed at running into Artemisth. Dare was being calm for once, settled on N'lel's shoulders and glancing Scout curiously. It left the rider time to think about something other than his dragon and firelizard.

"Do you come here often?" He doubted he could bring Hearth back here in the future if there was a high chance someone else would be here, so he might as well ask.

[Sparrow]

"Oh." That was a relief. "I guess that was probably a good idea." Escaping crowded, busy places had always struck Salise as a good solution when she was in a bad mood. It worked for Artemisth too, in a manner. She went from a showy, bossy Barred to a more playful one, at least. Hearth's presence was bringing back the egotistical female she usually was though.

At the moment, Artemisth was just looking Hearth up and down, noting his more agile build and putting the knowledge away for the future. Charcoals struck her as the sort to all be heavyset; that sort of build simply seemed to go with their attitude. Hearth wasn't though, and only showed how little attention she usually paid males.

Salise shook her head. "No, we've never been here before. Artemisth wanted to come today." She doubted the dragon would like Salise revealing just why. That it just sounded fun and interesting was a plenty plausible excuse though, if she needed to use it.

Meanwhile, Scout chattered to Dare, inviting him over to share in his lunch. Salise had told him not to eat everything himself- she had said nothing about sharing.

[wolflover1458]

Well, at least she didn't come here all the time either. If they needed to come back, they could. Maybe there wouldn't be anyone here, and maybe there would. N'lel glanced at Hearth, hoping the dragon might decide to be less grumpy if they spent a little while longer here.

Hearth wasn't thinking about that. He was looking pointedly at Artemisth. Seeing a Barred or Green dragon larger than him always annoyed Hearth, and Artemisth was most definitely larger than him. Well, she might be bigger, but that didn't make her any better than him. She wasn't built quite as slender as Hearth was, which made him wonder if he was a better flier than her. That would be something. At least it wouldn't let anyone have the impression that being smaller made Hearth less of a dragon. He was most certainly not.

Dare chirped excitedly and suddenly flew straight to Scout, joining the Blue firelizard happily next to his lunch.

[Sparrow]

Salise shifted uncertainly. "Uh... well, I was just eating lunch." She glanced back towards the boulder, where Scout was now sharing her stores with N'lel's fire-lizard. "You want any before the flitters eat it all?" For their size, they were surprisingly voracious.

Artemisth was not particularly supportive of Hearth returning her inspection and edged towards the water. Do you ever swim, Hearth? She preferred flying, but having just been doing that, didn't feel like going back to it. Salise would appreciate it if she invited the Charcoal to do something, and hopefully it would distract him a bit from staring at her. Were she performing, and he busy praising her, that would be fine. But when she was doing nothing, Artemisth preferred not to be watched.

Scout chittered happily and shoved a half a meatroll Dare's way before picking up a new one for himself. If Salise was going to come back, they had better get eating.

[wolflover1458]

"That's okay, I'm not really hungry," N'lel said, walking closer to where the two firelizards were. He didn't want to let Dare eat to much. The Brown loved to eat and eat and eat, and then sleep and sleep and sleep. Then he would wake up and want to do it all over again. It was best to make sure the lizard didn't eat to much from the start.

I don't swim all the time, there is no reason. I can swim just fine though. Hearth headed towards where Artemisth was, keeping a short distance from her, because he didn't feel like getting to close to the Barred. Hearth hadn't really gone swimming before. Taking a bath in the lake didn't count. Still, being in the water wasn't to bad, and he was sure he wasn't about to drown.

Dare cheeped happily to Scout and grabbed the meatroll, happily chewing at it while staring out at the growth of trees and other plants on the island.

[Sparrow]

Salise nodded and leaned her back against the boulder. "What's your fire-lizard's name?" Since he and Scout seemed to be making fast friends- although what flitter didn't when food was involved- she figured she may as well learn it. She wasn't sure she would remember it though; there were a lot of fire-lizards to keep track of at the Weyr.

Artemisth snorted. Of course we don't swim all the time. They were dragons, not fish. Noting Hearth's approach, she trotted into the ocean. But I think I will right now, so if you care to join me... Hopefully she would turn out to be the better swimmer, although it definitely wasn't a pastime she took up often either.

Salise turned to watch Artemisth, hoping the Barred wasn't plotting something for the Charcoal. It had never been in her nature to be vengeful, especially over little things, but she was snappy enough to make Salise worry. Scout wasn't though, and remained happily focused on his food.

[wolflover1458]

"Dare," N'lel replied, although he wasn't really sure how 'daring' the firelizard was. Mostly he was just excited and hyper. "What's yours called?" The tiny Blue lizard was cute. The two firelizards seemed to be getting along perfectly fine, and even if that wasn't really a surprise, it was nice to see.

Hearth wasn't about to let Artemisth do anything that might make her look better than him. He waded carefully into the water, ignoring how it made him wet and a little cold. He looked over at Artemisth before looking out at the expanse of the ocean. It was very large indeed.

Not noticing the conversation around him at all, Dare was looking around excitedly, glad to have gotten to make a new friend today.

[Sparrow]

"Mine's Scout," Salise replied. Dare. That was a cute name. Hard to say how apt, but it was easy to see that the Brown wasn't shy, so at least somewhat. He was friendly too, which was what mattered.

Once the waves were lapping at Artemisth's chest, she glanced back at Hearth. Looking a little nervous there, she rumbled. After a moment's thought, she gave her tail a swing through the water and sent a wave of it surging towards the Charcoal. Salise always tells me it's easiest to just go all the way under first! Unsure of just how Hearth would retaliate, she started sloshing hurriedly to deeper water.

A slight smile, part worried and part laughing, tugged at Salise's lips. "I hope Hearth doesn't mind getting wet too much." Artemisth had never participated in a splash war, but Salise suspected her dragon would enjoy it if Hearth took her up. "If he does, we may want to get out of the way." Even smaller dragons could make a pretty massive mess with water, and Salise wasn't sure how much she wanted to get wet.

[wolflover1458]

Scout was a pretty nice name. N'lel kind of liked it. He glanced out at the dragons when Salise spoke. "He doesn't usually mind getting wet, but since it's Artemisth getting him wet, I'm sure it'll annoy him." Anything like that was going to get the Charcoal dragon annoyed.

Hearth snorted at the wave of water. I can get myself wet as I want to he snorted at Artemisth before following her through the water. She was not going to get the better of him. The water was catching up to him, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go to deep. Hearth stopped and swung his tail through the water at Artemisth, sending a wave after her.

N'lel watched the two dragons in the water. If they were going to get into a fight, they really shouldn't stay to near the shore. "If they do get into it, we should move" he agreed with Salise.

[Sparrow]

"Sounds like Artemisth," Salise said. If something was her own doing, it was just fine, but if someone else was involved? He was in trouble. She gave N'lel a sidelong glance. He had come here because Hearth had been grumpy lately? "Hopefully this'll get Hearth's grumpiness out, and not just make him worse, huh?" The same went for Artemisth. She didn't play with others much.

Artemisth rumbled and ducked her head under the water to avoid Hearth's splash. Her eyes were whirling when she came back up. That the best you can do? She spread her wings and flapped them, half submerged, in Hearth's direction, sending water surging his way.

Now Artemisth was sending water back towards shore, even if it was meant for Hearth. "Looks like we'd better get moving." She scrambled back onto the boulder to gather up what was left of her lunch and then jumped off again behind it. Scout followed her, eyes on the food.

[wolflover1458]

"I hope it'll it make him better, but somehow I'm not so sure. Maybe he'll end up enjoying it" N'lel said quietly. He had a slight smile on his face watching the two dragons in the water. They didn't really look like they were getting along, but it might end up just turning into a big game that would make both of them feel better. He glanced at Artemisth next surge of water and immediately decided to follow Salise away from the shore.

Hearth ducked so the water wouldn't have as much of an impact before glancing back at Artemisth. She was almost mocking him, and he didn't like it one bit. He flapped his wings once before splashing the water out with his tail again, and then going through the water as fast as he could after Artemisth. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to knock her over or just be further out. It didn't really matter.

Dare followed Scout, N'lel, and Sarise away from the water, bounding along the ground happily and glancing at where lunch was kept the whole time. He wasn't about to let everyone else eat all the food without him.

[Sparrow]

"I hope both of them do." Artemisth wasn't much for silliness, so as much as this seemed like a silly fight, a game might sound slightly more sophisticated to her. Artemisth wasn't usually much for games either, but it was better than just standing there and arguing with Hearth. Salise headed up to the relative safety of the treeline and turned back to watch the dragons.

Busy avoiding the water, Artemisth almost missed Hearth's sudden decision to charge at her. Luckily the water slowed a run, and she ducked under the water, gave a kick of her tail and legs, and swerved out of the way. Had he been trying to run her down, or just trying to scare her? Either way, she had run. Catching her footing again, Artemisth scowled.

Salise frowned thoughtfully and shoved Scout, busy trying to snatch some food from her, off her arm. That had been a sudden downhill for Artemisth, but maybe if Hearth felt like he had won a round, he would cheer up. If he was a bit happier, surely Artemisth would be too. "That was clever of Hearth." It came at the cost of upsetting Artemisth, but a lot upset Artemisth.

[wolflover1458]

"Clever a bit, as long as it doesn't make it worse." Getting Artemisth upset didn't sound like the best move for Hearth to make. It might improve his mood for a while, but not for to long. Artemisth would find a way to get back at him and the Charcoal would be upset all over again.

Hearth glanced at Artemisth as she ducked out of the way. It was nice to think that he could still scare someone, even someone bigger than him that kept hitting his with water. He was certain that the Barred dragon was going to try something, so he backed away from her a bit in case she sent another wave at him. He wasn't ready to get caught with a wave from her again.

Now that they had settled down, Dare had gotten back to snacking on another meatroll. He chirped happily and then started chewing down the food, happily flapping his tiny wings next to his body as he ate.

[Sparrow]

"This seems likely to get worse before it gets better," Salise sighed. But she did suspect it would get better. If Hearth stuck it out, eventually Artemisth would be impressed by his determination. She could see the Barred calculating even now, taking Hearth's last move into account and wondering how that would affect the future of the water fight.

Artemisth ducked low in the water, eyeing Hearth. That was a cheap move. She was not nearly as giving as her rider and would not say clever. Cheating in a water fight did imply some amount of intelligence though- a game nearly without rules was hard to undermine. For a moment though, Artemisth wasn't sure what to try next. Another wave would be expected, and obviously it was time to get more creative. She couldn't try what Hearth just had, but nothing better was coming to mind.

Scout, upset that Dare still had some food of his own, pawed at Salise's leg. "Alright, alright." She bent and set the food on the ground, and couldn't help but notice N'lel's arm as she stood again. A scar? She knew it was rude to ask about those but... well, she was curious. "How did you get that scar on your arm?" She knotted her hands uncertainly as soon as she had asked. N'lel seemed nice, but she didn't know him well. Hopefully he wouldn't be offended.

[wolflover1458]

"Hmm?" N'lel questioned, glancing at his arm. "Oh, that. It's from my first hatching." He couldn't help but grin at thought. "My big dream in life was to be a great dragonrider. I was so excited when I was first a Candidate. Didn't Impress, although I did get run over when I didn't get out of the way of one of the hatchlings in time. I think it helped calm me down so I was more ready to actually Impress."

For a while, Artemisth didn't do anything. It made Hearth nervous, wondering what she was up to. He didn't back up again, although his gaze never left the Barred dragon. He didn't want her to try something and succeed in it. The water was lapping up at him, and he wasn't sure how much he liked being this deep in, but he did his best not to show it as he watched the other dragon. She was larger than him, and could go farther in the water.

Dare happily went to sit next to Scout. Now they both had food. He looked over at the Blue firelizard. The day was going so well for the Brown firelizard.