Western Weyr - West Bowl
The western end of the great bowl of the Weyr. You can see the steep walls of the crater to the south and south, with small openings and ledges in the cliffside. These are the individual weyrs of dragons and their riders. To the west you can see the great natural arch, and the lagoon, to the east, the center of the bowl. To the south you see a large natural cave opening that has been made into a tunnel. It is the main entrance to the Weyr from the road to Half Moon Bay Hold.
It's a pleasant evening, some may even go as far as to call it gorgeous. Of course, Nisa has never been one for scenery. Normally she would be out finding something to busy herself with. Tonight, however, that feels impossible. The greenrider is restless and it shouldn't be hard to see why. Her dragon, a green by the name of Anshenuith, is sporting quite the shine. She paces this way and that on the ground beneath their Weyr. Then, before her rider's watchful eye, she stiffens. The blue eyed woman quirks and eyebrow and inquires, "it's time then?" The green responds by warbling and reaching her mind out to that of any nearby males, humming with a creamy white light, beckoning.
Ujinath heeds that beckoning white light, drawn to the west bowl half by curiosity and half by instinct. The cerulean blue lands nearby, giving Anshenuith a wide enough berth for now as he observes the glowing green. She is unfamiliar to him and until he knows her "mood" for this event he is being cautious. He rumbles low and quiet, wings rustling restlessly as he shifts his weight, preparing to take flight immediately when the green makes her next move. As for his rider? Kiena's probably delayed. Caught off guard again and scrambling to escape wherever she is currently detained (and cursing his name the whole time).
K'yan has just taken the last crate off Khaneth, setting it down to be carried away to wherever in the stores it belongs. "Right, so next…" « We hunt. » "…huh?" K'yan gives his dragon a searching look, but Khaneth is looking away, toward Anshenuith and her summons. He doesn't answer, save by spreading his wings as his thoughts reach toward the glowing green with dappled shadows, but K'yan gets the idea as Khaneth heads that way, turning himself to look. "Oh."
Musical tones reach out to the minds of her suitors, a touch of red joining that humming white. The red drizzles through the white, a whisper enticing whisper joining that beckoning as Anshensuith shuffles her wings. « Come to me, » a low voice calls amongst the chorus. « I feel hunger. » The dappled green lifts off the ground, needing to fly only a short distance before alighting upon on of the beasts in the corrals. With one swift bite to the neck it has been dispatched and she has begun to drink. The rider, however, has hardly moved. Nisa's eye flicker this way and that every now and then, checking for suitors, before going unfocused once more. Most of her attention is on her dragon at the moment, the beginning of a flight, the certain amount of control needed to prevent her from gorging.
Ujinath does not wait, nor does he answer Anshenuith. Not with words but with color, answering the music and the red with flickers of wheat yellow, bright sky blue and the distance hum of electricity. With a flare of his wings, he launches into the sky and arrows in on the panicked animals in the corral. Taking little time, he takes down his first kill and sets to the familiar ritual with precision. His eyes remain focused on the glowing green but he keeps a sharp eye on his competition too and any who approaches too close will earn a low throated hiss and growl of warning. It's by this point that Kiena finally catches up, flustered and just out of breath. "Shards 'n shells…" she grumbles as she passes K'yan, giving him a brisk nod before spying Nisa standing there.
The shadows of Khaneth's mind deepen, cast into sharper contrast by the red-white light of Anshensuith's mind. « So do I. » He rumbles deeply, pursuing her… to the feeding grounds, where he pounces swiftly on a buck to drain it and feed one kind of hunger. The scent of meat and blood is mingled in his mind with the heat of spices, bright red peppers and sharp white onions to flavor the kill and entice the appetite. Ujinath is ignored, Khaneth's focus on Anshenuith, but K'yan glances to Kiena as she passes, with a slight smile and a nod of his head before he ambles on in the same direction as she does, approaching Nisa… though he keeps some distance, hands tucked behind his back as he glances in the direction the dragons flew to feed.
Blood slides down her throat, staining he muzzle with just a touch of red. Anshenuith allows her mind to travel as she feeds, the humming a ever-changing wave of tempos and the colors beginning to churn. As she drinks Nisa takes the opportunity to eye the newly arrived riders. Her brows furrow momentarily as she assesses them, before she offers a soft, "hello." That is all for now, for it is time to truly fly. Anshenuith drops the carcass and her mind momentarily flashes a stunning white. Sunlight-touched wings flare aout and she launches herself into the sky. One wingbeat, two. The faint tinkle of chimes joins the hum and light blue replaces red, seeping into the corners of her suitor's minds.
Ujinath will take the colors of Anshenuith's mind and use them to paint the canvas of his mind with them. Fields and meadows, untouched forests and rolling mountains all framed by blue sky. Just mind that tall, tall electric fence! Her mind may hum with music and chimes, but his is nothing but electricity and the low thrum of nerves. Surprise is on Anshenuith's side, however, as he was not prepared for her to take to the skies so swiftly. He'd just taken down a second beast, already draining some of the blood he needs when she rises. With a grunt, he tosses the kill aside and gathers himself into a crouch to spring after her. Wings flare wide and sweep powerfully at the air, following her ascension into the skies. Down below, Kiena shields her eyes for a moment as the exodus begins and she sighs heavily, letting that hand now brush back over the wild tangles of her hair. "Always at the wrong times." she mutters again, glancing sidelong once more to K'yan as he follows and then to Nisa. "Hey." she says with a smirk. Awkward? Just a bit.
K'yan nods to answer Nisa, his attention going back to her from watching after dragons… not that he can really escape them, not with Khaneth's attention focused on Anshenuith and drawing his after. "Are there right ones?" he asks Kiena belatedly, and that's when Anshenuith decides that right or wrong, now is the time. She flies, and Khaneth roars as that pure white flashes, shadows rebounding as he leaps into the air in pursuit. His wings beat strongly, letting the wind lift and carry him as it does the scents of pepper-spice and clove, reaching into the blue of the sky. « Feed your hunger, » he calls to her, encouraging this chase. « Soar high. »
Poor awkward chasers. Nisa herself tends to be a ball of confused intentions and awkwardness most of the time. It's… kind of refreshing to see someone else struggling with that for a change. Still, she's not entirely unsympathetic. A small smile graces her lips. "At least more than a warning." It's little more than a whisper; all she can manage before she's pulled back up into the skies. Anshenuith's hums and chimes attempt to harmonize with Ujinath's arguably almost-musical electricity, wrapping them in something a little sweeter. Khaneth has his shadows met with light, little white trendrils reaching out to twine and dance among the writhing shade. « Fly, » comes the low hum, « I can fly. Can you chase? Follow me. » All eyes are on her for now, not in laughter but in beauty and awe. This is good. It is… different, but good different. A touch of green enters of mind of whites and blues, inching toward the shadows and reaching out the color and grasses and leaves.
Kiena laughs dryly, though it doesn't last for long. Her mind is distracted and far off, following her other half as he soars ever onward. "Good point," she answers both to K'yan and to Nisa's whispered reply. Again, the greenrider falls under her scrutiny but it's hard to pinpoint what the bluerider is thinking. « I will chase you. » Ujinath's voice answers, oddly soft spoken but not without determination lacing his tone. Once he has his mind set on something, there is little to stop him from pursuing. He follows Anshenuith but hangs back, reserving as much of his energy as possible. When she reaches for him with something sweeter, he does not shy from it though 'sweet' is not usually his thing. There is no answering 'sweetness', just a change in canvas as he wipes the current images clean and switches to a night-scape of stars and ocean coastline below.
Khaneth's shadows are dappled with that light, shifting like the patterns made by foliage swaying in the breeze… a natural place for that green, and he offers the shade cast by the tree-like hue, the undergrowth of a verdant forest… and through it, he moves. « I chase, » he answers, and rumbles deeply. « He chases. Fly! Lead us on a worthy chase. » Perhaps the brown, knowing himself to have more stamina than most blues, is seeking to encourage things to his own advantage… or perhaps he simply enjoys the chase. Who knows? K'yan might, but he's not answering questions at the moment. He nods absently to the things said, then closes his eyes for a moment, head tilting down as Khaneth climbs.
Things are quiet amonst the riders for a moment, and Nisa is alright with that quiet. She uses it to watch, to wait. In the skies, however, things are far from silent. « Good, » is Anshenuith's low thrum to both of her chasers. The green angles herself upward and begin to twirl; a sky-born dancer. Her mind reacts to Ujinath's change of canvas, switching from whites, blues, and greens to shades of brown, black, and a remaining hint of silvery white. She moves the colors forward, something that could almost be a singing voice joining the music of her mind.
Kiena is quite alright with the silence as well and she'll start to chew at her lower lip as the flight progresses. Her arms will cross over her chest as her head tilts up though it's impossible by now to see where their dragons fly. Not that she is seeing the sky — her mind is elsewhere and gone. Ujinath is smaller, but he approves of Khaneth's tactics even if it works against him as a blue. He's been known to taunt in the past but he's willing to hand that over to another while he focuses on keeping Anshenuith in his sights and his competition under even closer watch. All the while he tries to keep up with the whirling change in the green's mind, filtering through many of his painted canvases of landscapes that grow all the more abstract and odd.
Khaneth flies strongly, but without the agility shown by Anshenuith's dance. His mind echoes it, showing shadows that shift as if being cast by her aerial twists, but his wings simply carry him on after her, losing speed when he must turn but regaining it on the straightaway. She leads, and he chases - no more words of encouragement, merely the reactive touch of his mind and eager presence behind her. He seeks a central position behind her, one that makes him well-suited to turn in pursuit or - when the time comes - to pounce. K'yan opens his eyes again, head still tilted slightly downward, and observes Nisa with a faint smile.
The dance is a wonderful thing, assisted by it's music and spectrum of colors. However, it cannot last forever. As the green twirls the colors and music slowly begin to pull back. Like a wave retracting from a beach it fades until, finally, silence. Anshenuith stops spinning. For a second she hangs in the sky before lunging forward in a burst of daunting speed. One last note before the dance finishes off. The humming begins again, increasing until it is a near buzz. Her mind flares white. To her suitors are only three words, « chase, catch me. » Who would be hers tonight? They would see.
No dance can last forever and neither can any flight. Ujinath can feel exhaustion creeping in, a subtle heat in his joints and muscles. He does not have much time left to act and when Anshenuith makes that final forwards burst, the blue lunges after her. His "battle cry" nothing more than a low throated growl as he pushes himself to his limits. One final surge, one final attempt. It's all or nothing and Ujinath does not hold back! Talons extend, reaching, hoping to snare that glowing green and pluck her right out from under all the others. Fate will decide if he's victorious or not or if his attempts will leave his talons empty.
Chase. Khaneth does, throwing himself into his leap after Anshenuith with powerful beats of his wings. The motion in his dappled forest is his own now, the stalking beast leapt into sudden motion - swift and eager, throwing himself into this final moment. He pounces after her, a burst of energy that will end either with their twining or his failure… but in this moment, his confidence is supreme, his heart wholly in the attempt. « I catch! » he cries as he leaps, eager claim or else mere foolhardy urge as his paws extend - like Ujinath's - guided on by instinct and that fervent hope shared by all who compete, the desire to be the one and only who will win this glowing prize.
Who will it be? Anshenuith doesn't know - doesn't even care too much. Both of her chasers have proven themselves to her. In the end, her buzzing white mind ends up with shades of black playing at the edges as brown limbs twine with hers. The music reaches out to Khaneth's mind to tell him to fly and carry her home. On the ground, Nisa reaches out to take K'yan's hand and lead him somewhere more private.
Khaneth's pride is justified - this time - as he twines with Anshenuith, a rumble between roar and purr as his wings beat with a strength renewed by his satisfaction. K'yan steps forward, that smile lingering as he takes Nisa's hand and lets her lead him in a chase briefer than the one their dragons did - and with a more foregone conclusion, for the other dragons depart now and only Khaneth and Anshenuith - K'yan and Nisa - remain.