Slip and Slide! (Spiffy)

[Dragon Song]

Skadith, in her usual fashion, was in absolutely no mood to sit around and do nothing. Her stupid rider didn't want to go outside, and didn't want Skadith to go outside either because 'she'd just been bathed and oiled'. Well, screw her. Skadith wasn't about to stay inside and do nothing like Kiara. She wanted to be outside and to have some fun!!

So of course, whilst Kiara had vanished off to the springs to clean herself off, complaining all the while about the muck that had been transferred to her from cleaning her dragon - apparently it was Skadith's fault because she'd gotten dirty at some point - the Firestone queen had pretended to be a good little dragon and go to sleep. Pretended being the key word there. The moment she knew that Kiara was now paying attention though, the young dragonet was up, off her bed, and out of the barracks in an instant. She wanted to do something.

Not that she had any idea what of course. She'd just have to find something to do. Something that was exciting. She needed to make up for the lack of excitement in her life. She'd picked such a boring rider! Strolling across the bowl, flicking her golden tail tips back and forth as she thought, she looked for something to do. When she did find something though, it wasn't what she expected, nor how she expected to find it.

In her musings, she'd not noticed the small slope she'd come across. one step, she missed her footing on it, landed on her belly and slid head first down the small incline, the mud making it a swift slide. Bemused, the dark dragoness, pulled herself onto her feet again, digging her claws into the ground to keep her stable on the slippery surface. Then, deciding that had been fun, figured out how she was going to amuse herself. Turning around she bounded back up to where the top of her new mud slide was, then went further. Turning back on herself again, she started to run and as she reached where she had first slipper, flung herself belly first onto the ground to slide down the slight slope through the mud. It didn't take her long to have a track formed, and to be half brown on her bottom half, rather than the smouldering red shades she was supposed to be.

Of course, Skadith soon lost track of time with her new fund game. So she was startled as she started another slide by a sudden yell.
"Skadith!" Pulling herself up, she turned to see Kiara stood looking at her in what could only be described as absolute horror. Then the Firestone recalled the complaints about a small amount of mud earlier. She looked down. She was covered in slick, wet mud. She looked back to her rider. Kiara.
"What are you doing?!" The look of horror was now joined by a mild one of disgust. Having fun. You're a bore Kiara.
"You're absolutely filthy!" Kiara screeched back. The vain woman couldn't see how rolling in the mud could be considered fun in any sense. Her stupid dragon! She was reflecting on them both! "Get out of the mud! Right now!" Skadith gave her the blink. "I said get out of the mud Skadith!" Kiara ordered again. Skadith did the opposite. Instead, she lay down in her mud slide and rolled as much as she could, covering her wings and back, which had escaped a lot of the mud up until now. Don't tell me what to do, she said, looking up at Kiara from her back on the floor. Then, she stood up again and shook like a canine, aiming to throw some of the mud at her rider. She succeeded. It did not go down well.

"You foul beast! You're impossible, you know that?" Kiara snapped once she'd wiped the mud mostly from her cheek. It didn't entirely go though, and left a large brown streak. You frequently tell me, Skadith replied, now sat down to observe what 'trouble' she had caused, ignoring the first comment. She seemed completely unbothered about the whole situation. "You look no better than a common brown." Skadith growled, starting to be irritated by the continuous insults she seemed to receive from Hers. "Don't you growl at me," Kiara hissed. She'd accepted that Skadith was not a normal gold by now, but seeing as the Firestone was a queen - how could she not be by the markings she bore? - and one of a kind, she now used that. And Skadith seemed perfectly happy to tell everybody what to do. She could still be the Weyrwoman, providing the dark coloured female rose before her sister. However, she needed to work on her dragon's apparent lack of cosmetic taste. How she deemed being covered in mud acceptable was not possible for Kiara to understand, but the vain woman was determined to stamp out this almost tomboyish streak. Skadith seemed to have different ideas about it though. Hopefully no one was about at the moment to see the state that both of them were now in.

[Spiffy]

The deserted areas of the Weyrs were interesting places, despite the shadow of sorrow that hung over them. Many of them had been empty for a mere matter of weeks, but already they were collecting dust, the scattered remains of riders now dead painful reminders of what had happened to the Weyr just 2 short months before.

But for a bored Weyrling and his dragonet, these empty weyrs provided hours of entertainment and exploration potential. Astaath was more than happy to leap between weyr ledges, those he could reach, while his rider followed behind, using the passages inside the Weyr walls to go from one to the next and examining the abandoned contents with interest. Astaath, being a small dragon, despite his 'rank', often followed when he deemed a jump too long. It wouldn't be too dangerous if he fell, they were only on the lowest row of weyrs, because the little brown was as yet not big enough to fly, despite his wishes.

It was Astaath that first heard Kiara's screams of outrage. Intrigued, the little dragon bounded up to the edge of the weyr ledge and sat there watching them, even though he only got half the conversation. When K'mir realised that the babble of thoughts in the back of is mind, not necessarily words, but feelings, had gone quiet, he wandered into the weyr from where he'd been in the bathroom. He was just in time to receive a backward glance from his dragonet as the young brown jumped off of the edge of the ledge. "Astaath, what... argh shells!" he cursed, jogging up to the edge and peering down. It was only a drop of 8 feet or so, but still more than he should be letting his dragonet fall from.

Astaath, on the other hand, was having a whale of a time. He'd aimed to land just behind Skadith, but had not accounted for the slippy shale floor. He didn't land too far from the queen but, predictably, his landing sent him on a long slide down the incline that had him bumping into her on his way past as he bugled in surprise. He came rolling to a stop at the bottom.

You alright, Astaath? his rider asked from up on the ledge, trying not to laugh. He'd felt his dragonet's surprise, but he'd not felt him come to any harm other than that, thank Faranth. The dragonet shook himself off, looked up at his rider. K'mir, K'mir! That was fun! Can I do it again, can I can I? K'mir chuckled, relieved. Astaath, taking the lack of response as a yes, bounded back up the slope as his rider knelt by the edge and dropped himself rather more gracefully off onto the ground.

"Kiara!" he greeted her with mild surprise. He'd known she was there, but it was usually a good way to greet people. "Skadith," he greeted the queen in her turn. He took a double take, looking again down at Skadith, who didn't look a lot like Skadith. "I see Skadith has been having a good time," he said to Kiara, looking back up at her, smiling, but with a mental wink to his dragonet, who slid up to the queen, scattering shale. Hi Skadith! I'm gonna try that again, would you join me? Just don't jump from that ledge again, we don't want you breaking a wing now. You'll have no chance of flying if you do that, his rider added as Astaath bounded up to the weyr. The dragonet stopped and did the draconic equivalent of a face-blanch, eyes whirling rapidly before he turned back to Skadith. I'm gonna go from here. Race? he suggested. K'mir just smiled. However much truth there was in the threat of flightlessness, he knew his dragonet well enough to know it worked wonders in keeping him out of trouble. Well, relatively out of trouble.

[Dragon Song]

Kiara didn't notice the flicker of movement on one of the nearby ledges. She was faaar too busy trying to wipe off the tiniest flecks of mud, and berate Skadith for being so impossibly filthy, disobedient and all other manner of things that didn't sit well with the Firestone. So the dragonet had stopped listening, instead turning her attention to what was going on around her. So she noticed the movement on the ledge. And having spotted it, Kiara still not having even noticed that her lifemate wasn't paying her attention any more, she watched with interest what it was that Astaath was doing. Her brother was much more interesting then her rider.

She stood up just before the miniature Brown made his jump, turning a little so that she could look at him better. It was at about this point that Kiara realised that she was being ignored. However, she wasn't given the opportunity to protest because it was then that Astaath landed. And slipped. Skadith, having only been stood up for a few moments was back down again the instant her brother collided with her. She slipped slightly, digging her claws into the ground to stop her going all the way to the bottom like Astaath, looking a little bemused as she pulled herself upright again and back onto four feet once again. She padded the few steps back up the slope so that she was stood on level ground, watching in amusement as Kiara whirled around and nearly slipped herself when K'mir addressed her. Whilst the other weyrling might not have Impressed Bronze (And so she didn't consider him worth that much, especially not when the Brown he had Impressed was a pipsqueak), he had a Bronze riding brother, who was acting as Weyrleader. It wouldn't do to brush him off as it could backfire on her later.
"K'mir," she returned levelly, no where near the same amount of liveliness to her greeting. She was hardly thrilled to see him, especially not seeing as her dragon was nearly unrecognisable being covered in filth, thus reflecting badly on her. And she had mud on herself as well. It was an awful image for her! "Yes, she is enjoying herself isn't she? It's good to see them having fun," was her reply to his question. A loud snort came from Skadith, who had dipped her head in acknowledgement of the greeting. Clearly she didn't agree with what ehr rider had just said. Hello Astaath, she greeted pleasantly. Her eyes whirled that little bit faster at the thought of getting to leap from the ledge. She'd not thought of that earlier. Yes, it would be good fun! I would be happy to join you! She started off after the smaller dragon, stopping only when Kiara shot at her through their link. Skadith! just where do you think you're going? To join Astaath. It wouldn't do for me to be rude and decline his offer now would it? Can't have him thinking I'm a stuck up snob like my rider. Kiara scowled after the dragon, who had started walking again.

You're not going to jump from the ledge again? Skadith asked in surprise, looking at Astaath quizzically. I'm going to jump from the ledge. Are you scared Astaath? she teased, prancing past him on her way to the ledge. Too scared to do a little jump like that again? It wasn't until she was up onto the ledge that she spoke to him again. Coming? Or are you too much of a wussy wherry?

[Spiffy]

(OOC: Half brothers? Is that the impression that they're giving people? xD I like it)


K'mir had to hide a smile when Kiara whirled around at his voice and almost slipped. Ah, he liked surprising people, always had and frankly always would. Small pleasures. She didn't sound overly thrilled to see him, which was quite understandable given the circumstances, but even so he was a little disappointed at the flat greeting he received in return. Even her second reply of "Yes, she is enjoying herself isn't she? It's good to see them having fun," sounded distinctly unenthusiastic. He turned his head slightly when the firestone dragonet snorted, her tone sounding slightly derisive. He knew Skadith wasn't likely to talk to him or explain her outburst, but that didn't stop him wondering if it was for the reason that he thought it maybe was. Did the two normally disagree as much as this? Judging by Kiara's curses on her dragonet before his appearance, they did. That puzzled him. Of the dragonriders he knew every single one of them got on with their dragons, loved them dearly, and any accusations were taken as jokes and jibes, as he did Astaath. He'd never heard anyone berate their dragon with the same level of vehemence as Kiara. Curious.

He looked back at Kiara as Skadith turned her attentions to his own dragonet, ignoring them both. "Sorry about springing ourselves on you like that. Astaath doesn't tend to think his actions through before he does them very much. I tend to just follow along behind and clean up his mess," he apologised with a wry grin at the end. That wasn't strictly true, for as often as not it was him that went looking for trouble, not his dragonet, but it was better for conversation's sake that Kiara believed Astaath to be the culprit and not him. If she believed it to be his fault then she may refuse to talk to him. And that meant that he'd have to back to amusing himself some other way, which frankly he didn't want to do right then. Plus, keeping good relations with the opposite sex was always a good thing, queenriders or not. Besides, Kiara was a very good looking lady, if a bit on the temperamental side.

"I hope we didn't cause you too much trouble...?"

Astaath, on the other hand, was thrilled that Skadith was about to join him, even if his joy was dampened a little by his rider's caution. As much as the little dragonet had enjoyed his short-lived flight and subsequent slide, and he had enjoyed it very much, he rather disliked the idea of getting injured. If he hurt his wing then that would impact on his flying exercises, and if he didn't do them then the Weyrlingmaster said that he wouldn't be able to fly, ad that would be disastrous! He was a dragon, and since the day he'd hatched from his egg he'd known that he was meant to fly, not dawdle on the ground. No, the sky was where he belonged, and the sooner he could get there the better!

You're not going to jump from the ledge again? He turned to the queen, surprised by her surprise, then shook his head slightly. Nope. Here's fine. I'm going to jump from the ledge. Are you scared Astaath? He drew himself up to his full tiny stature at that comment, incensed that she would even think such a thing. Him? Scared of some small jump? Never! But he still couldn't help but doubt his own certainty. If I'm not scared then why am I not going to do it? Because I want to be able to fly, of course! I want to be the first to fly, the best at it, even more than Skadith, but I don't want to not be able to. Is that being scared of not being able to fly? With all these thoughts going on around his head it took him a while to form a reply to Skadith, Of course I'm not! I ju-- but she cut him off. Too scared to do a little jump like that again? she said as she climbed up the side of the Weyrbowl to reach the ledge he'd so recently dived off of himself.

K'mir, sensing his dragon's indecision, looked around then, having been wondering for the last few seconds that it took the dragonets to have their conversation why Kiara had been looking over his shoulder in slight alarm. He could see now, with Skadith heading up the 'Bowl side, and by listening in on his brown's thought processes, what it was that was bothering Astaath. He was relieved that Astaath was not following her, but that relief evaporated as he watched the brown stride toward the 'Bowl side, determination written in his movement and mind. Astaath... What do you think you're doing? he cautioned the dragonet, but received no reply as Astaath ignored him and began to climb. Astaath! I wouldn't-- Skadith is going to. I will do this again too, K'mir. She can't have all the fun, queen or not.

"Astaath, c'mon! You could hurt yourself!" K'mir tried again, having to call out loud lest his dragon cut him off altogether. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

Reaching the ledge Astaath turned to look down at his rider, eyes tinged with yellow. Don't pretend, K'mir. You and I both know that you wouldn't turn down a dare if one were offered, so why should I. That hadn't been a question, and it had been oh so true that K'mir didn't know what to say to it. Astaath was right, he couldn't help but take up a dare, and his dragonet's fearlessness was part of why K'mir loved him so much, besides all the other reasons that a rider would love his dragon unconditionally. The two of them were so alike it was often uncanny.

Finally resigned, he turned back to face Kiara, shaking his head. Just be careful, ok? "He'll kill himself one of these days, I know it, and then where will I be?" he said to nobody in particular, even though he was facing Kiara at the time, as he received an affirmative from his dragonet on the ledge.

Astaath, satisfied that he'd won that particular battle, sat on is haunches and looked up at Skadith, also on the ledge next to him. Ladies first, he said politely, inclining his head. He had learned a few good things from his rider.