Days End (Open)

[whitefox]

There was nothing like a long shift in the Infirmary to make you want to take a bath. Alethea longed to rinse the sweat and the smells of blood and disinfectant from her skin. Even if she couldn't see it, somehow she knew it was there, clinging to her. Perhaps it was only her mind that needed cleansed.

In any case, the bathing room in the Barracks was crowded and noisy, but the weather was warm. So, on went light cotton chemise and shorts, and after throwing a towel over her shoulder, she walked out to the lake, Starfire trailing behind her. The blue sensed her need for peace and was quiet and calm.

Alethea walked in the grass barefoot, her feet pleased to be free of the confines of shoes. Against the setting sun, the lake looked as still as glass, and it was alight with fiery colors. She slipped into the water silently. It was so warm, it felt almost like nothing against her skin, but as she dove under, she could feel the cares of the day sluicing away. When she emerged into the evening air, she wore a smile of contentment.

Starfire swooped in and splashed down beside her and she tickled his belly. "Another day nearly done, little one." The blue cooed happily and floated lazily on his back. It seemed like a good plan, so the candidate did the same, gazing up at the deepening twilight. Now that she felt more relaxed, she wished she'd asked someone to com with her. It seemed now too quiet. She was always too busy to think about it, but Alethea had no close friends. Sometimes she wished she had someone to share her thoughts with.

[Sketchy]

(OOC; Sorry Jenth, you can have it! I totally failed. xD Midterms got in the way and I had to disappear. Whitefox, I'll gladly start a different one with you if you're at all interested! Sorry again.)

[Jenth]

((its been 5 days, i'm stepping in. feel free to join in Sketchy ))

Aresth didn't get along well with other dragons, it was quite a concerning matter. He behaved well enough in Threadfall, a small comfort considering the trouble he tended to cause during drills. What was worse was that he, R'mal, was dragged down by all this. As partners they reflected each other, and both of them were easy to irritate with short fuses. In conclusion, they were both moody nearly all the time.

Being alone most of the time had its advantages. It was peaceful, they didn't feel indebted to go out of their way to help others, or need to share anything. Still, being alone was lonely but there were few who could really tolerate or disregard a snappy attitude. A change of Weyrleader, which wasn't too far in the future, could see someone he particularly irritated in the position to put him on permanent sweeps and watches. Like that would solve anything...

Now that it was getting later in the afternoon, most of the lake's bathers had left in search of warm ledges in the dying light or dry clothes. It was a perfect time to slip in for a quite dip to freshen up before the evening meal was set out. Aresth didn't need any scrubbing, the brown was just dusty, and a good oiling would do wonders. Speaking of whom, had already leaped eagerly into the lake with a great crash. Only too late did he realize he was too close to a lone swimmer, having only just seen her and scrambled to try and right her.

"Stop moving you great lump, Your making it worse! Are you alright?!" R'mal called, racing into the water himself. Shards, hope his dragon had drowned her!

[whitefox]

ooc- I'm glad I checked. I had all but given up.

Starfire's surprised squawk and abrupt disappearance gave Alethea less than a second to prepare for whatever horrible thing was about to happen. And then a huge wage crashed down over her, driving her down into the lake. It was really lucky she was a strong swimmer. Despite her surprise, she manged to dive down a bit deeper, hearing the disjointed sound of shouting and splashing above, and surfaced a few, hopefully safe feet away. She gasped for air as a man raced toward her. The culprit it appeared, had been a smallish brown dragon, and this must be his rider.

So much for peace and quiet. And she looked like a drowned rat. Such was life. "I'm all right," she said, coughing a bit bit. "Mostly surprised. He's yours, I take it?" Alethea rather liked browns, they were usually steadier and calmer than bronzes.

Starfire reappeared with a concerned coo, and when he saw the his pet was around strangers, he hid behind her head, peering around from behind her ear occasionally. She reached up to give him a reassuring pat. Now that her eyes were less water-blurred, she revised her assessment. The rider wasn't a man exactly, but closer to a boy, a bit younger than her, and judging by his knots, he was a weyrling. Which explained the smallishness of the dragon. He was pale, with long ginger hair, and there was something endearingly awkward about the way he held himself. She suspected maybe he had not had the easiest time the last few Turns, a feeling with which she could somewhat sympathize. Despite her bedraggled state, she felt herself smile kindly. "No harm done, anyway, and I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Alethea."

[Jenth]

((ooc- That's what i was afraid of, glad i did step in ))

R'mal gave a large sigh of relief, partially because he was half out of breathe but it was mirrored in the loosened tension in his brown. "You have no idea how relieved I am! Shards! What they would do to me if Aresth had hurt you!" It was at this point of time with the crisis over that he realize that he had just run into the lake fully clothed, boots and all. No wonder he had felt slowed down in the water, turning back for the shore.

He began taking off his boots as he answered her question, "Yes, he's mine. Been together for 3 Turns and he still hasn't learned consideration for others." Taking off his soaked shirt revealed toned muscle and scars, particularly the large healed threadsore on his left shoulder blade. Aresth huffed loudly, irritated at the insult his own rider had given him but knew he deserved it from what his actions had shown.

Her name wasn't familiar to him, she couldn't be a rider. A member of weyr-folk perhaps, but considering the upcoming clutch... "So you're a candidate, are you? I'm R'mal, its a pleasure to meet you and once again i apologies for my dragon nearly drowning you."

[whitefox]

"I'm sure the other Healers wouldn't have been glad to see me back so soon and they would have given you a stern talking to, at the very least." she said with a half-smile. Apparently he had just now realized that he had charged into the lake fully clothed. It was kind of cute, truthfully, and she followed him back to shore half out of curiosity, and also she didn't feel like swimming quite so much.

She wrapped herself in her towel and sat down as he began to divest himself of his soaked clothing. But she had misjudged his age, three turns together made he and the brown a full rider pair. And the very diverting sight of his bare torso revealed old Threadscores. Both the Healer and the woman in her felt a strange urge to touch the scars. She squashed the thought. Clearly, she'd been too long alone.

Alethea smiled at the disgruntled brown. "I'm sure he didn't mean it. Starfire warned me, so I at least had time to prepare myself for the shock." The firelizard cooed from behind the curtain of her hair as he heard his name.

"And yes, I'm a Candidate now. I came here on for my journeyman posting, and wouldn't you know, my own brother picked me up, I hadn't seen him in Turns, and his blue Searched me right then. It was a crazy day." A happy day too, one of the first truly happy moments of her life since her family had been lost to Thread.

[Jenth]

R'mal trekked back to retrieve his towel from where he had dropped it in his rush. It might be a warm summer night but being soaking wet was a pretty miserable feeling. His pants he hadn't removed out of consideration, non-weyrfolk tended to be a little conservative to acts of nudity. The dragons must be to blame for that, some how it just didn't bother riders that much.

"I'm surprised there isn't a rule about swimming in the lake alone. Its both dangerous and safe, with all the dragons around." He seating himself down once more, towel draped over his shoulders. Dragons couldn't see well in the dark, which would make it difficult to rescue any drowning night swimmers. Not to mention a group would be more noticeable.

"Well they do saw it's something in the blood. It's not proven, but its not uncommon for siblings to Impress." The other side of the argument was that it was favoritism, but many suitable candidates were left standing for several hatchings. Some never impressed at all. Let them have hope.

[whitefox]

She smiled in return. "Well, too many rules can take all the excitement out of life, you know. I grew up a Trader, we're very independent," she said, shrugging. "I doubt swimming alone happens very often anyway. This place is pretty crowded. It only took a minute or two for you to come along, after all. It was just bad luck that your brown ran right for the part of the lake that I was in. I have a lot of that, bad luck, I mean."

Alethea watched him with interest as he went to pick up his towel. She felt a bit sorry for him being soaking wet, but she certainly didn't know him well enough to advise him to take his clothes off. Not that she would complain. "I've heard that as well. If we kept better records we might even be able to test it out, see if a higher percentage of siblings Impress. It would be an interesting subject. How about you? Where did you come from?" She reached up to stroke Starfire's head, coaxing the blue out of his hiding place. The blue was helpful in the infirmary, but he was weirdly shy outside of it.

[Jenth]

"Aresth is... temperamental. Easily annoyed." It was just easier this way, to keep him slightly separated. The female dragons he got along better with, but it would be annoying to have to ask them to watch the brown all the time. As his rider, it was R'mal's responsibility.

"If it's records you want, you're better off talking to a queenrider. They take care of that stuff, the rest of us just worry about our dragons, Thread, and our own hides." Being able to read and count was well enough, keeping records of everyone and thing in the Weyr was a bit out of his league. It was best left to those who knew what they were doing.

"Trader born, like yourself. Wasn't a very good one, I burned easily in the sun and was picked on a lot. I'm glad the dragons searched me early, I was about ready to start learning the Tanner craft."