Down on Paper (Nozomi)

[Spiffy]

"Now, keep still."

I'm not moving.

"Good, keep it up," Sh'lon replied as he drew a line across the paper, lightly blotching in some circles to represent his dragon's chest, hips and head, then adding another line joining them together. Now he had the basic - very basic - outline of his dragon. He frowned at it. "I wish you'd stand up, Kitath, it makes it so much easier when you're not so scrunched up like this," he said, considering how to do her legs and wings.

Mine, if you'd just eaten the better part of a herdbeast, you'd want to lie down too.

"Probably. And then I'd be sick, violently," he added, grinning. "Can you just lift your wing up a little? I can't see when your leg starts and it's gonna end up off otherwise."

A minute ago you wanted me to stay still, the green said sleepily, but lifted her wing obligingly.

"It's just for a second," he said, carefully adding a couple of blobs to represent her hind leg. "Thanks, you can put it back now." The green let her wing down, shuffling it back into place. Sh'lon sketched out some more blobs for her forearms. He'd been introduced to sketching by one of the other apprentices at the beastcrafthall. The kid, a couple of turns younger than the then Shea, had apparently been the son of an artist, and his father had taught him to draw. Shea had come across his sketching the runners one afternoon and, intrigued, sat down beside him. They soon got talking, the kid explaining what he was doing and pointing out the relevant techniques. They'd pretty quickly become friends, and had done that many times during their time at the crafthall. But then Shea'd been searched, and had to leave his friends behind.

Sad, really. He'd had a bit more practise drawing at the Weyr, but then he'd moved to Wardens to join their candidates and he'd not done much since. It was a little harder to get ahold of the materials here. How he'd got the paper was a bit of a long story. They had writing on the back, which he'd not bothered to read, but assumed was something vaguely unimportant that Warden had cast out. He was using a piece of charcoal he'd fashioned into a stick and wrapped in another sheet of paper to draw with, with a knife to sharpen it when needed attached to his belt.

He blocked in the wings, then started on the outlines.


(( whenever you're ready Noz, no rush ;) ))

[nozomi]

Mine, I am horribly bored. I am bored, T'dimine. Mordanth, darling, open minded, caring blue he was, whined like a toddler to it's creche mother. The mottled dragon pawed at the ground of the river with dragging claws, his neck stretching out with an almost-croon. When T'di did not immediately reply to Mordanth's described distress, his blue shunned him, turning away from the rider with a flick of a tail.

T'di rolled his eyes, and stepped towards Mordanth, one hand reaching out to give his hide a gentle pat. The blue whined. Then, off like a shot, bounding out towards the more open area by the length of water. It was then that he spotted the young Kitath and Hers - he knew the Weyrlings! He did! At least, by name. Being a friendly dragon meant he knew them all by name, guards and weyrlings alike. T'di actually yelped, spinning on his heels seconds before floundering off after his dragon. Before he could stop Mordanth from interrupting, the large dragon slid to a stop off to the side of Kitath and Sh'lon, his butt prompt on the ground.

Kitath and - Kitath's! Okay, so he didn't know the riders names. Mordanth tried, but his memory limited itself to those important to His (Leshta, for example, or Warden, although for different reasons) and other dragons. What are you doing? That looks like lines, on paper. Why are there lines?

T'di caught up, grabbing a hold of his blue boys leg. He cast the dragon a dirty look, cheeks rounder with the huff. "And this is where my dragon is inappropriate and harassing people, shards."

Oh! But look! Pretty boy, random, one he was harassing. T'di finally blinked over, and grinned, wide. "Hey, hope he didn't scare you. I promise he's friendly."

Mine, out of the two of us, you know I am not the--

Time to stop talking now, Mordanth, baby.

[Spiffy]

Kitath opened an eye in surprise as the ground under her began to rumble, picking out the shape of a skinny blue sliding across the soft ground toward her. She narrowed her eyes at him in displeasure, frowning at the blue and his rider as T'di puffed up behind him.

Hello Mordanth. I see you're making a mess again.

It didn't matter that the blue was almost twice the size of the young green, she'd still chastise him for leaving a muddy trench in his wake. And for disturbing her nap, of course.

Sh'lon for his part, saw the pair coming a bit earlier than Kitath, but unlike his dragon he merely stared dumbly at them as they skidded to a halt.

"... Weyrleader!" he spluttered finally, belatedly remembering T'di's title, however oddly applied. "No, no no, he's not harassing me! Not at all. He's not scary at all," he replied, recovering something of his usual self from the shock of the sudden arrival. "Actually, it's good to have some company who's not sleeping." Kitath grumbled, closing her eyes and ignoring Mordanth.

"Uh, it's a drawing. Of Kitath," Sh'lon answered the blue's question, a little late, holding up the paper for them to see. "Except it doesn't look much like her yet, or much of anything, really," he added, frowning. Art wasn't his strong point.

[nozomi]

Mordanth's eyes swirled happy colors despite Kitath and her silly grumbles over cleanliness and the like. Greens like her were why he never believed the stereotypes for greens, not once, or ever! Kitath was such a serious creature, well spoken and nice! Not the flirty things some assumed they were. ... Even if she were the sort to dislike him. Ah well, it couldn't be helped.

Not making a mess, Kitath! I am spreading around earth, it's good to make sure things are mixed up a little. The blue squirmed as he teased, claws wriggling in time with his body movements. Not the sort to demand any respect for his (laughable) 'position', Mordanth paid no mind to the truth behind her chastisment, but stretched out a bit away from the green, flopping bonelessly to the ground.

T'di laughed. He couldn't help it! Weyrleader - pfffbt. And sputtering boys and their dragons who felt the need to point it out. He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes flicking to Kitath before going back to her rider. When offered, of course T'di scooted closer, leaning in to see the lines and dots on the paper. He grinned anyway, head tilting to the side.

"It looks like a spitting image of her, just in line form. A skeletal Kitath. I'm sure you'll make her lovely, with a bit more practice. Even dragons start out as eggs, and look at what we get." He nodded with as much conviction as possible, eyeing the green dragon in question. "And my name is T'di! Or 'hey you' or 'Shards!', if you're feeling really enthusiastic about it. Weyrleader. Keep expecting Mordanth to start glittering or something, but, hey, anything is possible."

He waved his hand, eyes rolling. "But! It's good to see they're letting you weyrlings out to have free time at some point. It can be hectic. Art can be a good stress relief, especially when first starting to fly."

Flying is fun, don't you think, Kitath? Mordanth loved mind-speech: it was so hard to ignore.

[Spiffy]

Kitath merely grunted, in as lady-like a way as a dragon could grunt, in response to Mordanth's excuse. Sure, she wasn't a normal green, she wasn't even normal green sized, but that didn't bother her in the slightest. And she delighted in making sure people knew that. She flinched when the larger blue flopped to the ground near her, the sudden vibration in the earth catching her off guard. She flipped an eye open in irritation to glare at Mordanth. Sit down, why don't you. I don't mind, she said, mental tones dripping sarcasm.

"Err, well... thanks!" Sh'lon responded to the sudden encouragement from the bluerider. "I suppose. There's still a lot left of her that I haven't done yet. It's a bit... stick-y as you said. But once I've joined up all the lines and made an outline of everything, then it should look a lot more like her! I'm not sure what to do about her markings though..." he mused, tailing off. He could shade the markings in, but then that wouldn't be a true representation of his Kitath, because on the drawing her markings would be darker than her skin tone, whereas in real life they were lighter. But to get that would mean that he'd have to shade the rest of her and leave out the markings as light areas. Trouble was, he didn't really know how to do that properly, and he'd not really shaded anything successfully in his life.

He turned back to T'di as he introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you T'di!" he could cope with that. He'd feel a bit odd calling his Weyrleader 'shards!' after all... "Actually, he may start glittering," Sh'lon added cryptically. Kitath, can you call Glitt here for me?

"I like lessons and stuff, but yeah, it's nice to be able to just enjoy some time with your dragon and all. Not that I don't lie the rest of the class!" he added hastily, "I like them. Well, most of them. Some of them are a little prickly..."

It was then that Glitter popped in from between with a peep, settling on Sh'lon's shoulder. "This is Glitter," he told T'di. "He's a blue, but he's shiny, see?"

Oh yes, I love it to bits. I can't wait to get back into the air... Kitath wasn't in a good mood. Couldn't you tell?

[nozomi]

Mordanth stared at the green, and creeled; the sound would have qualified as mournful if it weren't for the fact his eyes swirled bright pleasure, his large head flat on the ground for that long stretch of multi-colored dragon. Let her snark and mumble all she wanted to, Mordanth and his overly peppy attitude could not be squished! ... For long! The blue had his days too filled with things to worry too much, and Kitath, bless her poor little soul, caught him on one of their days off. It meant a well slept weyrleader and his dragon.

One day you will like me, Kitath! When I am not interrupting your sleep, and Mine is not being loud. The situation dawned on Mordanth just then; he froze in whatever squirms he'd be doing had the entire realization crashed onto the poor blue. Mordanth back pedalled, scrunching up as much as his large body would allow, and flopped the end of his tail over his muzzle, yellow eyed and whirling. Oh! Oh. You are trying to sleep! And we are talking and making noise.

Mordie, she'll get over it. T'di sighed with his poor dragons sudden fretting over the little weyrlings upset. He grinned at Sh'lon, regardless of Mordanth's fluffernutting about. "Can you just imagine? The Watch is already flipping out about having some dragons with different hides; the second a blue goes metallic, people will start having riots in the streets." T'di mimed an explosion with his hands, full of flared fingers and a snicker.

"Lucky - Weyrling lessons with Mordanth were boring as anything. Run here, do this, practice balance. I mean, you know, it was fun, but." Another shrug, and T'di opened his mouth to spout something possibly inappropriate, when the bright and shiny little thing popped into their area. His eyes lit up when Glitter the Flitter came into clear view, a ridiculously pleased smile spreading across the young weyrleaders face. "Shards, that is the cutest little flit ever! How is he all sparkly like that??"

He wriggled his fingers at the flitter as if it were a kitten, still grinning. "And how do you manage a flit and a young dragon? Maybe Mordanth was just that big of a handful. And - Glitter the Flitter?" T'di couldn't help the twitch of his lips there. "You named him?"

[Spiffy]

One day I will love you. I wonder when that day will come, Kitath thought out loud. She wasn't too impressed with Mordanth having caught her on his day off, and her evening off too to boot.

Oh, why yes, I was trying to sleep. What a pity that someone came along and ruined that, she continued at Mordanth's horror, voice dripping in sarcasm. Sh'lon finally noticed the blue's p;ight at the words of his green, frowning. Now Kitath, don't be so mean. He was only trying to be friendly. I'm not in the mood for being friendly in return. I wish to sleep. Talk to Mine, he won't mind, she said to Mordanth.

"I don't see why they don't like them, I think they're fascinating! Especially that little opal one, poor thing. And the little green, the one with the gashed shoulder. They're so cute." He'd helped out with a couple of the classes to begin with when L'vey needed a hand. He'd been all too keen to meet them all, and Kitath had been wanting to meet the babies again for ages. He had a suspicion that she'd seen more of them than she was admitting.

"Well, some of them are quite fun. I liked all the lessons about caring for the little ones, and the flying lessons... Yeah he's amazing isn't he! I have no idea why he's shiny, he just came out of the egg like that," he ended with a slight frown, which was quickly replaced by a smile. "Yep! I named him. I thought it was appropriate," he added, beaming. He'd used a long word!

[nozomi]

Mine, she dislikes me. Mordanth whined mentally towards his rider. He gradually began to slink away from the green in question, his eyes tinged with an anxious yellow. So very used to the little greens liking him, Kitath and her grumpy (however well deserved), Mordanth withdrew from Kitath and her Sh'lon. T'di may like the young boy, but that green Kitath did not like his Mordanth, oh no. And that, ladies and gentleman, was a very sad thing indeed.

He'd forget the interaction soon enough but, until then, O! Devestation! Mordanth mourned the possible friendship with the Sr. Weyrling, all but rolling onto his back in sadness. T'di, that uncaring Rider, paid his dragon no mind. Mordanth loved everything, and had that 'fatherly' aura to him when in his more serious moods, but really - he'd have to learn to deal with unpleased females - T'di simply ignored the part of him that liked women. Mordanth decided to be a drama queen.

"I like his name. It's totally appropriate." T'di paused and then shoved his hand into one of his pockets, hrming before he found his small stash of snacks. Before he pulled the bit of jerkied meat out (those kitchen folk were notoriously easy to bribe, sometimes), the bluerider grinned at the greenrider. "Mind if I give him something to eat? I'm partial to blues." No little wonder why.

"Yeah - the first flight is always nuts, isn't it? S'like nothing else. At least, that's for me, personally, can't talk for the rest of you. The oiling is the crazy exhausting part. One of the good thing about the little colors, though, can you imagine trying to oil a Bronze? Or a Gold?" T'di shudered. He had nothing to worry about, with the Gold part, but Mordanth's Impression still rang out as one of the more horrible moments in his life, although the very best out there.

The Looks one got when the boy expected to Impress a Bronze ended up with a small, multi-hued blue...

T'di grinned anyway, squinting over at the two dragons. "Yeaaah, that shiny one was interesting, wasn't she? Poor critter, she looked terrified, but I'm hoping she's doing better now. I've heard the green is okay - That's why there's a dragonhealer around, after all. They're supposed to be telling us if the babies are okay or not. Fingers crossed, right?" His nose wrinkled, their dragons being cast a sideways glance. "So. What drew you to Warden's? This isn't exactly the most hospitable place on Pern, and the shifts are nuts.

"--Uuuh, unless I'm prying. Lesh says I'm nosy."

[Spiffy]

Kitath also paid the blue little mind. He was leaving her alone now and that was what she'd wanted, the world was good again. She settled her head back onto her hands and let her eyes close.

Sh'lon was glad when T'di agreed with him, deciding impulsively that he liked the weyrleader, he was so much nice that the weyrleader where he was searched. But then, Sh'lon liking you wasn't exactly a difficult thing to achieve. "Of course! He's probably getting hungry about now anyway," he said, thinking that he'd have to make a pass by the kitchens on his way back to the barracks. He wouldn't want to impose on the Weyrleader to feed his flitter for him. Glitter was indeed hungry, and fixed his whirling eyes on the meat as son as it was produced, trilling expectantly. "Blues are lovely creatures, yes" he said, smiling fondly at Glitter before looking up at Mordanth. Oh, he'd moved. Wasn't he talking to Kitath a minute ago? He looked to his own green, fastidiously ignoring the blue. Kitath, are you being mean again? he asked, tone almost pleading. She ignored him, snoring gently. Hmm, asleep then. Or maybe she was just pretending. She was good at fooling him with things like that.

"It isn't like anything else, not at all! Even better that racing a runner, and that's a blast, if you've never tried it." He shuddered too at the thought of oiling a gold. "Back when I was a candidate at Igen they used to make us help out with oiling the larger dragons. They're big," he said, laughing. "Kitath is a much more manageable size."

"Yep, fingers crossed," he said, holding his hands up, fingers crossed, in evidence.

"Oh no, you're not prying! Really, there's not really that much to say. When I was at Igen we were told that a new Weyr in the south was asking for transfer candidates, we weren't told anything else and I didn't really ask. Bit of a shock when I turned up finally to find myself surrounded by criminals," he said, grinning sheepishly. "S'not that bad though, once you get used to the idea. Occupied myself helping out at the feeding pens, and then the eggs hatched at Kitath chose me," he said, now smiling openly at the memory.

"So what about you then?" he asked, figuring that if T'di had asked him the question he wouldn't mind him asking it back.