Weyrling Training: Bonding Hide & Seek
Who: Noemie, Alexiel, Fadra, T'ace, Izarit, R'klen, and the dragons
What: Noemie leads the Weyrling class in a game of hide-and-seek while blindfolded.
Where: Weyrling Barracks and Bowl, Ista Weyr
When: Day 21, month 5, Turn 13, of the Interval. It is a spring evening.
Noemie enters the barracks, a wide smile on her face. Nope, this isn't a member of the Weyrlingmaster staff that's going to be inspiring fear in anyone, that's for sure. A sling meant for an infant is draped around her, but the child meant to occupy it is absent, pawned off for the moment on one nursery aide or another. Instead, the tail ends of brightly colored lengths of cloth can be seen dangling from it. "Who's ready to work on bonding with their lifemates?" she calls.
T'ace is just finishing up oiling a half-snoozing Eldenth when Noemie enters. The brown raises his head and opens his eyes to regard the weyrlingmaster for a moment before looking to his lifemate. "Yeah, she said bonding." He says quietly to the dragon, finishing the rapidly growing oiling job and wiping his hands clean. Whew, that's becoming longer and longer each day.
Well, of course Noemie's not inspiring fear. That's why Fadra and B'ryce are around, of course! The heavy wooden door to the office creaks open and the greenrider precedes the brown, both of them looking a bit put-out to be drawn out of whatever they were doing. Probably a riviting game of dragonpoker with the stakes being who was going to take over those weyrlings who were...a bit out of shape. So far it looks like Fadra's losing, which will no doubt make for a surly Weyrlingmaster. But for now, she crosses her arms and props herself against the wall, overseeing Noemie's cheerful lesson without a word.
"He just went to sleep," gripes Izarit, curled up on her own cot next to Kajrath on his couch, the brown well and truly dead to the world. He's sprawled out awkwardly, limbs askew in a position that can't possibly be comfortable for all he doesn't seem to be bothered. Izarit eyes him a moment and shakes her head as she pushes herself up with a release of breath, and grabs for her shoes to slide her feet back into them before nudging the brown awake with one now-booted foot. He rouses with a whuff and a sleepy set of blinks, and then a clearer rumble as he gets caught up.
Alexiel looks up from the set of straps that she's working on, Xavelth's gaze following her to where the weyrlingmaster and her team stand. The pair's attention is mostly on Noemie, considering she's the one who spoke. Alex slides away from the wall and sets the straps on the bed before stretching. Xavelth does much the same, rising with his lifemate, stretching and shaking himself to loosen up.
R'klen, having been working on a what appears to be a letter home, drops his things and moves to nudge Arsiloth. "Come on, lesson is starting," he informs the bronze. Grudgingly, the dragon rises and stretches languidly before sweeping off his couch and glancing around airily. R'klen moves along with him, turning his attention to the Weyrlingmaster and staff.
"Come closer, so you can hear me," Noemie says as she begins to explain the lesson, handing out the lengths of cloth to the Weyrlings as they reach her. "Today you're going to be blindfolded--" hence the cloth-- "And are going to have to rely on your dragons to be your 'eyes'. We'll go out into the bowl and play a little hide-and-seek. One of you will be 'it', and the rest of you will hide, having your dragon lead you to a hiding place. Once 'it' finds someone hiding, that person becomes 'it' and the first person takes their hiding place, or finds a new one if they wish." She looks around the Weyrlings, checking for understanding on their faces. "Got it?"
T'ace blinks and tilts head, still wiping his hands on the cloth as he tries to get the last of the oil off. He glances sideways at Izzy and grins, reaching out to try and get some oil on her face with a finger before he quickly moves forward to be closer to Noemie, listening intently. He says nothing as she explains, and only nods slightly at the last question. His gaze flicks over to Fadra as she exits her office, but for only a brief moment before he quickly looks away, frowning ever so slightly.
Kajrath, despite being recently woken, is already quite ready to play a game; it's Izarit that's dragging along in his wake, pausing to kneel and relace a boot. "So... tag with dragons. This should be interesting," she mutters to herself before straightening, pushing back her hair and then, in that movement, jerking back and rubbing her face against a sleeve as T'ace brushes her. "Cretin," she mutters to him, bemused.
B'ryce leans in to say something to Fadra, his voice hushed, and it concludes with a nod from the brownrider. But still silence beyond that single gesture in affirmative, her arms remaining crossed and her eyes following the distribution of cloths, then turning to the dragons. After all, they'd be the ones doing most of the work here, excluding those weyrlings that ran into trees, or one another.
R'klen jams his hands in his pockets and scuffs his way over to listen to Noemie, a glance given to Fadra and then he turns and gawks. "A...game?" he wonders aloud. "Tag?" he mumbles, Arsiloth and R'klen exchanging a look a moment. Then, the pair are silent and attentive, R'klen's orange brows arched curiously.
Alexiel scritches lightly at her brown's eye ridges before the two move closer to listen to Noemie. "Yes, heart, I'll be relying completely on you," she reiterates Noemie's instructions with a nod given to the assistant weyrlingmaster to show that she understands.
"Yes, tag. Or hide and seek, sort of a combination therein. Shall we head out to the bowl? You can wait to put the blindfolds on until we're there." Noemie waves the group outside, and leads the way.
You walk out of the huge opening and into the bowl.
Ista Weyr Bowl -- Northwest
The golden light of the evening sun outlines the corral's fences to the west. To the southeast, the bowl widens out as it approaches the far side of towering black rock and the high fingers, five jutting peaks, high above. The black and gray rock of the bowl is devoid of any green or colour, except for the hundreds of dragons seen on ledges all along the Weyr walls. The Weyrling Barracks to the north open wide in a double-arch.
The dry spring season relieves Ista Island of its humidity, replacing it with light, buoyant air. As the sun sets, a gray blanket of clouds dominates the sky and a turbulent wind gusts violently, howling around the peaks of the Weyr.
T'ace throws the cloth back on his cot and follows Noemie out, motioning for Eldenth to follow which he does, yawning once as he goes out. The youth steps outside the barracks and to the side to wait, Eldenth stepping behind him and taking a moment to stretch his wings and neck in the fresh air. A chuckle and grin come from chases, apparently at something bespoken to him.
Noemie weaves her way around the Weyrlings, helping them to tie the blindfolds on tightly as she explains, "The point of this exercise is to strengthen the mental bond between you and your dragon. So he or she will give you a mental picture of what you can't see because of the blindfold, and help guide you to a hiding place-- or to someone who's hiding, as the case might be." After the whole group has been blindfolded, she closes her eyes and points at random to someone in the group. "Izarit! I dub you the first 'it'. Count to, um, thirty, and then start searching. Everyone else-- go hide!"
R'klen itches at the blindfold and sighs softly, his lips set in a pout that says he isn't much for such games. He stands there stupidly, unsure what to do and then reaches out to put a hand against Arsiloth's side -- just checking. When Izarit is pronounced it, he snickers to himself, pout turning into a sneer.
Sulizath is already sprawled out in the bowl, beside Fiyanth, both looking as conspiratorial as their riders with thier heads dipped low together. When the weyrlings and riders arrive, they both bugle their greetings: a brassy one from Fiyanth, a more thrumming baritone from Sulizath. "Three marks says M'lim breaks somethin' this lesson. Nose, probably," Fadra notes dryly as she stalks out behind the weyrlings, effectively catching stragglers and one hapless A'tero who tries to shirk the lesson and sneak behind the door. He's dragged out by an ear and tossed with the rest of the group, while Fadra starts making her rounds, smacking wrists and fingers deftly to knock them off the sides of dragons. "Let 'er /go/, Sabrina. 'Tis no different than when y'go t'the lower caverns t'bat eyes at m'wingriders." A blush rises on the green weyrlings face, and she nervously tucks her hands into her pockets.
"Me?" says Izarit, blinking and pressing a hand to her chest. She glances at Kajrath who is already bouncing in place as she blindfolds herself with trepidation. She reaches one hand for her brown when she is, steadying herself against him for a moment, her lips pursed. "This is going to mess my hair up," she notes, sounding a little nervous about that fact, before she begins dutifully counting off.
Frowning again, R'klen itches at the back of his head this time where the knot of the blindfold is. "We supposed to run, or hide...or what?" he mumbles, looking unsure about how he's really supposed to play this. Izarit's complaint sparks another smirk though and Arsiloth is grinning in a draconic manner, sardonic amusement evident on his face. R'klen shifts, looking around without his sight and then pausing, seeming to something.
Alexiel wobbles a bit in place as she adjusts to suddenly not being able to see, but a tail at her back provides her reassurance and steadies her before dropping back into place behind the brown body it's attatched to. She remains still for a moment as she confers with her partner, and then a smile works its way into her features. "Show me the way Xavelth."
Naijath is here, too, in a patch of lingering sunlight a bit away from Sulizath and Fiyanth. She was quiet as the Weyrling pairs made their way into the bowl, but as the pairs begin to spread out, she croons a sound of encouragement. "Yes, hide!" Noemie says, hearing R'klen, "Before Izzy's done counting! Behind a dragon, or behind a passerby, or maybe over by the corrals--" Her eyes flick around the bowl, trying to spot likely places.
T'ace grins as Izzy is called on to be first, then finishes tying his blindfold in place. "You better not." He yells out to his dragon, then grumbles as he turns uncertainly and begins walking slowly and uncertainly. He moves along, and along...then stubs his toe once and lets out a yelp, an apologetic rumble issuing forth from Eldenth. Another moment and T'ace finds himself hiding...behind Fadra? Of course, that's not what Eldenth makes it seem like, but that's where he ends up.
R'klen nods his head in understanding and then turns to look at Arisloth. "Slow down," he comments as the dragon sets off ahead of in anticipation. The young man, trusting his lifemate wobbles slowly after the bronze, fighting the urge to put his arms up and instead dropping them to his side. After a moment, he trips over a rock and goes sprawling, strong arms catching his fall before he face-plants. Arsiloth whuffs at Rook's orange hair in an apology. Smooth ground, rock -- eh, details.
Kajrath is already venturing further from Izarit, leaving her to stand very still in the middle of the bowl while he quests around, watching what all the others are doing in plain fascination. Izarit finishes counting and stops, as though to get her bearings again before she takes one very hesitant step--and nearly falls over. "Kajrath!" she snaps at the dragon as she catches herself. "You did that on purpose." He whuffs again, undaunted, but does strut over to stand by her, lowering his head to her level while she gets her balance, and can take a first few steps toward Alexiel, Kajrath having apparently picked her as the destination, with a smug chuff at the other brown.
Alexiel starts to move forward, slowly and weaving a bit as she moves. It's a bit odd, seeing your world through a dragon's eyes. A mental note passes between the two and Xavelth shifts his position, and Alex seems to find this new view to be much easier to work with, for he's viewing her from the side now. Alex seems alright with this distant view of herself from the side. Her destination seems to be none other than Fadra. And the moment she finds herself in front of the weyrlingmaster, she sidesteps and continues forward another two steps before sidestepping again and turning around. Now, so long as the return trip goes just as smoothly, she's fine.
What: Noemie leads the Weyrling class in a game of hide-and-seek while blindfolded.
Where: Weyrling Barracks and Bowl, Ista Weyr
When: Day 21, month 5, Turn 13, of the Interval. It is a spring evening.
Noemie enters the barracks, a wide smile on her face. Nope, this isn't a member of the Weyrlingmaster staff that's going to be inspiring fear in anyone, that's for sure. A sling meant for an infant is draped around her, but the child meant to occupy it is absent, pawned off for the moment on one nursery aide or another. Instead, the tail ends of brightly colored lengths of cloth can be seen dangling from it. "Who's ready to work on bonding with their lifemates?" she calls.
T'ace is just finishing up oiling a half-snoozing Eldenth when Noemie enters. The brown raises his head and opens his eyes to regard the weyrlingmaster for a moment before looking to his lifemate. "Yeah, she said bonding." He says quietly to the dragon, finishing the rapidly growing oiling job and wiping his hands clean. Whew, that's becoming longer and longer each day.
Well, of course Noemie's not inspiring fear. That's why Fadra and B'ryce are around, of course! The heavy wooden door to the office creaks open and the greenrider precedes the brown, both of them looking a bit put-out to be drawn out of whatever they were doing. Probably a riviting game of dragonpoker with the stakes being who was going to take over those weyrlings who were...a bit out of shape. So far it looks like Fadra's losing, which will no doubt make for a surly Weyrlingmaster. But for now, she crosses her arms and props herself against the wall, overseeing Noemie's cheerful lesson without a word.
"He just went to sleep," gripes Izarit, curled up on her own cot next to Kajrath on his couch, the brown well and truly dead to the world. He's sprawled out awkwardly, limbs askew in a position that can't possibly be comfortable for all he doesn't seem to be bothered. Izarit eyes him a moment and shakes her head as she pushes herself up with a release of breath, and grabs for her shoes to slide her feet back into them before nudging the brown awake with one now-booted foot. He rouses with a whuff and a sleepy set of blinks, and then a clearer rumble as he gets caught up.
Alexiel looks up from the set of straps that she's working on, Xavelth's gaze following her to where the weyrlingmaster and her team stand. The pair's attention is mostly on Noemie, considering she's the one who spoke. Alex slides away from the wall and sets the straps on the bed before stretching. Xavelth does much the same, rising with his lifemate, stretching and shaking himself to loosen up.
R'klen, having been working on a what appears to be a letter home, drops his things and moves to nudge Arsiloth. "Come on, lesson is starting," he informs the bronze. Grudgingly, the dragon rises and stretches languidly before sweeping off his couch and glancing around airily. R'klen moves along with him, turning his attention to the Weyrlingmaster and staff.
"Come closer, so you can hear me," Noemie says as she begins to explain the lesson, handing out the lengths of cloth to the Weyrlings as they reach her. "Today you're going to be blindfolded--" hence the cloth-- "And are going to have to rely on your dragons to be your 'eyes'. We'll go out into the bowl and play a little hide-and-seek. One of you will be 'it', and the rest of you will hide, having your dragon lead you to a hiding place. Once 'it' finds someone hiding, that person becomes 'it' and the first person takes their hiding place, or finds a new one if they wish." She looks around the Weyrlings, checking for understanding on their faces. "Got it?"
T'ace blinks and tilts head, still wiping his hands on the cloth as he tries to get the last of the oil off. He glances sideways at Izzy and grins, reaching out to try and get some oil on her face with a finger before he quickly moves forward to be closer to Noemie, listening intently. He says nothing as she explains, and only nods slightly at the last question. His gaze flicks over to Fadra as she exits her office, but for only a brief moment before he quickly looks away, frowning ever so slightly.
Kajrath, despite being recently woken, is already quite ready to play a game; it's Izarit that's dragging along in his wake, pausing to kneel and relace a boot. "So... tag with dragons. This should be interesting," she mutters to herself before straightening, pushing back her hair and then, in that movement, jerking back and rubbing her face against a sleeve as T'ace brushes her. "Cretin," she mutters to him, bemused.
B'ryce leans in to say something to Fadra, his voice hushed, and it concludes with a nod from the brownrider. But still silence beyond that single gesture in affirmative, her arms remaining crossed and her eyes following the distribution of cloths, then turning to the dragons. After all, they'd be the ones doing most of the work here, excluding those weyrlings that ran into trees, or one another.
R'klen jams his hands in his pockets and scuffs his way over to listen to Noemie, a glance given to Fadra and then he turns and gawks. "A...game?" he wonders aloud. "Tag?" he mumbles, Arsiloth and R'klen exchanging a look a moment. Then, the pair are silent and attentive, R'klen's orange brows arched curiously.
Alexiel scritches lightly at her brown's eye ridges before the two move closer to listen to Noemie. "Yes, heart, I'll be relying completely on you," she reiterates Noemie's instructions with a nod given to the assistant weyrlingmaster to show that she understands.
"Yes, tag. Or hide and seek, sort of a combination therein. Shall we head out to the bowl? You can wait to put the blindfolds on until we're there." Noemie waves the group outside, and leads the way.
You walk out of the huge opening and into the bowl.
Ista Weyr Bowl -- Northwest
The golden light of the evening sun outlines the corral's fences to the west. To the southeast, the bowl widens out as it approaches the far side of towering black rock and the high fingers, five jutting peaks, high above. The black and gray rock of the bowl is devoid of any green or colour, except for the hundreds of dragons seen on ledges all along the Weyr walls. The Weyrling Barracks to the north open wide in a double-arch.
The dry spring season relieves Ista Island of its humidity, replacing it with light, buoyant air. As the sun sets, a gray blanket of clouds dominates the sky and a turbulent wind gusts violently, howling around the peaks of the Weyr.
T'ace throws the cloth back on his cot and follows Noemie out, motioning for Eldenth to follow which he does, yawning once as he goes out. The youth steps outside the barracks and to the side to wait, Eldenth stepping behind him and taking a moment to stretch his wings and neck in the fresh air. A chuckle and grin come from chases, apparently at something bespoken to him.
Noemie weaves her way around the Weyrlings, helping them to tie the blindfolds on tightly as she explains, "The point of this exercise is to strengthen the mental bond between you and your dragon. So he or she will give you a mental picture of what you can't see because of the blindfold, and help guide you to a hiding place-- or to someone who's hiding, as the case might be." After the whole group has been blindfolded, she closes her eyes and points at random to someone in the group. "Izarit! I dub you the first 'it'. Count to, um, thirty, and then start searching. Everyone else-- go hide!"
R'klen itches at the blindfold and sighs softly, his lips set in a pout that says he isn't much for such games. He stands there stupidly, unsure what to do and then reaches out to put a hand against Arsiloth's side -- just checking. When Izarit is pronounced it, he snickers to himself, pout turning into a sneer.
Sulizath is already sprawled out in the bowl, beside Fiyanth, both looking as conspiratorial as their riders with thier heads dipped low together. When the weyrlings and riders arrive, they both bugle their greetings: a brassy one from Fiyanth, a more thrumming baritone from Sulizath. "Three marks says M'lim breaks somethin' this lesson. Nose, probably," Fadra notes dryly as she stalks out behind the weyrlings, effectively catching stragglers and one hapless A'tero who tries to shirk the lesson and sneak behind the door. He's dragged out by an ear and tossed with the rest of the group, while Fadra starts making her rounds, smacking wrists and fingers deftly to knock them off the sides of dragons. "Let 'er /go/, Sabrina. 'Tis no different than when y'go t'the lower caverns t'bat eyes at m'wingriders." A blush rises on the green weyrlings face, and she nervously tucks her hands into her pockets.
"Me?" says Izarit, blinking and pressing a hand to her chest. She glances at Kajrath who is already bouncing in place as she blindfolds herself with trepidation. She reaches one hand for her brown when she is, steadying herself against him for a moment, her lips pursed. "This is going to mess my hair up," she notes, sounding a little nervous about that fact, before she begins dutifully counting off.
Frowning again, R'klen itches at the back of his head this time where the knot of the blindfold is. "We supposed to run, or hide...or what?" he mumbles, looking unsure about how he's really supposed to play this. Izarit's complaint sparks another smirk though and Arsiloth is grinning in a draconic manner, sardonic amusement evident on his face. R'klen shifts, looking around without his sight and then pausing, seeming to something.
Alexiel wobbles a bit in place as she adjusts to suddenly not being able to see, but a tail at her back provides her reassurance and steadies her before dropping back into place behind the brown body it's attatched to. She remains still for a moment as she confers with her partner, and then a smile works its way into her features. "Show me the way Xavelth."
Naijath is here, too, in a patch of lingering sunlight a bit away from Sulizath and Fiyanth. She was quiet as the Weyrling pairs made their way into the bowl, but as the pairs begin to spread out, she croons a sound of encouragement. "Yes, hide!" Noemie says, hearing R'klen, "Before Izzy's done counting! Behind a dragon, or behind a passerby, or maybe over by the corrals--" Her eyes flick around the bowl, trying to spot likely places.
T'ace grins as Izzy is called on to be first, then finishes tying his blindfold in place. "You better not." He yells out to his dragon, then grumbles as he turns uncertainly and begins walking slowly and uncertainly. He moves along, and along...then stubs his toe once and lets out a yelp, an apologetic rumble issuing forth from Eldenth. Another moment and T'ace finds himself hiding...behind Fadra? Of course, that's not what Eldenth makes it seem like, but that's where he ends up.
R'klen nods his head in understanding and then turns to look at Arisloth. "Slow down," he comments as the dragon sets off ahead of in anticipation. The young man, trusting his lifemate wobbles slowly after the bronze, fighting the urge to put his arms up and instead dropping them to his side. After a moment, he trips over a rock and goes sprawling, strong arms catching his fall before he face-plants. Arsiloth whuffs at Rook's orange hair in an apology. Smooth ground, rock -- eh, details.
Kajrath is already venturing further from Izarit, leaving her to stand very still in the middle of the bowl while he quests around, watching what all the others are doing in plain fascination. Izarit finishes counting and stops, as though to get her bearings again before she takes one very hesitant step--and nearly falls over. "Kajrath!" she snaps at the dragon as she catches herself. "You did that on purpose." He whuffs again, undaunted, but does strut over to stand by her, lowering his head to her level while she gets her balance, and can take a first few steps toward Alexiel, Kajrath having apparently picked her as the destination, with a smug chuff at the other brown.
Alexiel starts to move forward, slowly and weaving a bit as she moves. It's a bit odd, seeing your world through a dragon's eyes. A mental note passes between the two and Xavelth shifts his position, and Alex seems to find this new view to be much easier to work with, for he's viewing her from the side now. Alex seems alright with this distant view of herself from the side. Her destination seems to be none other than Fadra. And the moment she finds herself in front of the weyrlingmaster, she sidesteps and continues forward another two steps before sidestepping again and turning around. Now, so long as the return trip goes just as smoothly, she's fine.