Half Moon Bay Weyr - Lagoon
A sandy beach running along the edge of the lagoon, between the sparkling waters and the bowl. Given the weyr's tropical climate, riders and dragons can be seen playing in the water nearby or a dolphin can be seen cavorting nearly turn-round. At other times seacraft can be seen coming in under the arch to dock. The lagoon is large enough to fill a quarter of the length of the bowl.
“I’m fine.” J’en tells the enormous pale colored dragon he’s currently scrubbing just a ways off the shoreline. Well, considering its size, that’s either a very small gold, or a very large bronze. Seeing as the weyrling tending to this particular dragon was male, it was probably a safe bet that this was a bronze and not a gold. Mystery solved for anyone that might be passing by, but it might give pause. “Leketh…seriously. Stop.” There was that growling undertone, golden eyes narrowed and shooting the beast a rather withering look. Dusk was setting in, sending a vibrant splash of color across the sky that Jae was completely ignoring in favor of the task at hand. He was wearing his flight jacket, left open to reveal the tank top beneath; his pants were rolled up a bit, and his footwear/socks had been removed. Leketh chuffed softly and hunkers down, eyes whirling but otherwise seems to have finally decided to stop whatever it was that he was probing about that was making his rider so irritated. This at least has the added result of drawing a sigh from J’en, and then there is only the scrubbing and the subtle ebb and flow of waves gently licking at the beach’s edge.
There are others that occasionally need a good washing. Though V’nyk will be happy to report that Lychenth isn't one who does right at the moment. No, the green herself has managed to get herself into the water quite stealthily, slithering about under the surface before poking just her head up like a periscope, trilling a high pitched tone at Leketh before vanishing again. Into the depths. V’nyk isn't far off though, huffing out a sigh as he trudges his way down onto the beach. “Leave him alone, Ly! Geez, you’re gonna give him a dragon sized heart attack, and he’ll cause a tidal wave or something.” V’nyk himself is not particularly covered. The weather of Half Moon doesn’t seem keen on dipping low enough for him to feel the need for anything but a thin tank top these days. Although the fact that Lychenth is rapidly approaching an age where proddiness could be just around the corner might have something to do with it as well. He grins though, hands settling on his hips once he finally reaches the water. “Jae! Hey! How long you been at this? I swear you guys with these giant bronzes..you need to get some helpers with a dragon this big.”
Leketh might be fully grown physically, the mating flights lecture may be behind them, and he possessed his own ledge…yet the bronze was far from being mature. Other than that bashful and awkward interest he’d shown since he was shelled, Leketh was far from ready to start chasing even if there was an ample supply of prodigy females to chase. Not that J’en appeared worried at all, in fact, he hadn’t even brought it up to the Weyrlingmasters. If Leketh wasn’t interested than that was apparently fine with him. Lychenth is noted by the rider half of the bronze pairing, but ignored. The dragon side of things was a whole other story. Leketh, bless his hearts, trumpets not in alarm but in greeting to the submersed green, much like a very over-enthusiastic greeting given across an otherwise dead quiet room. Unnecessary and considering J’en shudders and then slaps the male upon one haunch with a nasty glare to follow, unwarranted. “Shut. The. Fuck. UP!” He growls and jerks his head towards the water, “Go rinse ya dumb lizard.” Leketh snorts and thrusts his nose up into the air, before he marches off towards the water as hidden. Jae just sighs and shakes his head before sliding golden eyes the way of V’nyk, offering only a shrug and then silence, before starting the cleanup of the mess he’d made. Uh oh.
Lychenth is more than happy to return the greeting just as loudly. They are a loud bunch of weyrlings, really. Have been since they hatched! But the green keeps right on swimming, enjoying her attempts to be a sneaky underwater beast while she can. V’nyk still looks amused though, grinning after the dragons a bit before he tips his head, eyeballing Jae and his obviously bad mood for a long quiet moment. When there’s still no reply, the teen sighs, making his way closer so that he can take a better look, leaning to catch a glimpse of the taller weyrling’s face. “Alright, come on out with it. Something’s up, or wrong, or otherwise cockeyed with you. Or you’ve chosen to become deaf. So?”
If J’en has any issues with being observed or watched, it doesn’t show. For all intents and purposes, V’nyk might as well not exist. At least, not until he speaks and considering the guy was the bronzeling’s best friend in the whole wide world, well, it becomes clear that at least it was not the rider of all things green that was the source of his silence. He backs up a step though when Ryk leans in like that, lashes lowering and chin coming up automatically in that defensive/challenging gesture of his. “What the fuck are ya talkin’ about?” Is asked gently despite the vocabulary chosen, but those golden eyes advert off to the side a moment before he steps away and puts some distance physically between himself and his companion. Buckets must be gathered, things collect, messes removed. Busy. Busy. Busy! Leketh? He’s busy too, busy having a super fun game of underwater hide and seek apparently with Lychenth, because he was totally ignoring his rather grumpy lifemate.
“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” V’nyk is not impressed with the deflection! He even looks suitably bored at the attempt, eyes following after J’en before he follows along, dipping down to collect a bucket swiftly. “You’re acting grouchy, which, I’ll admit isn't exactly weird, but you’re first ignoring me talking, and you’re being snappy at Leketh, /and/ you won’t look at me. So there’s obviously some kind of problem and I’m guessing it wasn’t a crawler in your socks.” V’nyk isn’t about to be discouraged! Not when he’s known Jae for turns already. A grin is thrown at him though, at least. He’s not /trying/ to simply be annoying, after all. He cares. “Your dad didn’t come by, did he?”
Tension immediately erupts along the line of Jae’s shoulders, which is not surprising really, when V’nyk doesn’t just simply drop the subject. Neither is this particularly unexpected. He eyeballs the greenling when the bucket he was going to pick up hoisted up and out of his reach, before tossing the smaller items he had already collected within it. The bucket of oil was for after dragon water play which was doubling as rinsing right now, and that one is left off to the side with it’s paddle. Considering Leketh’s girth, it could easily take several hours to completely oil the dragon up, but it was just another one of those necessary things that came part and parcel with being a dragonrider. He does finally stop with all that motion, mostly because he literally had nothing else to do other than oil Leketh, at least when it came to beach ready activities. Yes, he ignores all the rationales that Ryk lists out for him, but there is a snort for the inquiry after parental visitations. “Fuck no. Malphath can’t stand Leketh, and he’s bigger than him so makes a pretty effective roadblock.” If P’rel can’t get near Jae, he can’t mess with him. LOGIC.
V’nyk has still not gotten his answer. There’s a small frown given for the utter /lack/ of it, before puffing out a breath. “So it's bad then. Alright.” There’s a vague nod given for the non-answer he is continually given. Oh sure, he might not /nag/, but that doesn’t mean he’ll give up entirely. There’s a briefly worried look given to his friend then, before nodding out at the water. “I’ll bet he does. Even a Lychenth sized blockage is enough to deter some, so that makes a lot of sense. And less hassle to deal with, which is great. Just..” There’s a pause, for words are sometimes a bit more carefully chosen than what tends to simply erupt from his mouth. “Ledge is open if you wanna come by and just scream or something.”
It wasn’t that there was a non-answer, there was absolutely no answer as if Jae’s brain was incapable of even processing that he was being asked anything in regards to the obvious issue that was the source of his irritation level. His gaze flickers back to V’nyk when the offer to listen is extended, passing over the opportunity to make further comment on his father and dragon stopping power. There is a pause of hesitation before he sighs, and awkwardly reaches out into the space between them just long enough to caress the back of the fingers on his left hand featherlight against Ryk’s cheek, and then just as awkwardly letting the hand drop away. “This ain’t somethin’ ya should be helpin’ meh with, ‘kay?” he says gently, lashes lowering without the accompanying chin lift this time around. The somber moment lingers for a few more seconds, before he offers his friend a weak but lopsided grin. “And if I do happen to swin’ by yer ledge, ya’ll definitely be the one screamin’.” A soft chuckle soon follows. Pervert.
There may be a faint bit of leaning into the touch that happens. V'nyk can't really help that. Lashes briefly lower a moment then before the greenling gives a snort, one finger jabbing into Jae's chest purposefully. "Friend code absolutely doesn't have little things in it that says a friend is excused from helping with /some/ things and not others. Don't try that with me, Jae. You need help, you'll be getting it. So there." No, V'nyk does not shy away from offering to help when he can. Though the comment about who'll be screaming earns a bit of a smirk from the teenager, shoulders lifting in a shrug. "Well I'm not gonna complain about /that/. Everyone gets to come out of that feeling better." The boy's tongue briefly sticks out, stubbornly defiant about helping out. But he doesn't /push/ for information at least. Not anymore. He simply gives a grin and goes back to looking at the water. "I met a kid the other day that was new around here. Drew me a picture of Lychenth and everything. Was pretty good! I'll show you next time you're over."
J’en certainly doesn’t complain about the lean into his brief touch, and for a moment some of the tension that had been built up fades. However, the poke to his chest earn a grunt and crinkle of his nose, rubbing faintly at the offended spot before the tension released returns to sender. “Not with this.” he replies gently but firmly, stubbornly refusing to budge. At some point it might be entirely possible that he would share whatever it was that was bothering him, but right now and perhaps even in the very near future V’nyk might be hard pressed to get anything out of him. At least when the subject changes again, he seems to relax some, but this time the tension remains even as he flashes the poor greenling one of his devastator grins, “Ain’t really ever had complaints, least not with that.” Cheeky bastard. Another soft chuckle soon follows but it fades off along with the smile when Ryk mentions a kid. That did sound familiar. “Taeski.” He breathes, his chin going up but leaving it at that, although he does nod in confirmation. Yes, he knows who was being talked about.
V’nyk will just have to do what friends /do/. He’ll simply be there. It’s a relatively easy thing to do, given the months upon months of coexisting in the barracks. The mention of the other boy’s name has the greenling looking a bit surprised though, before another grin breaks out. “You ran into him too? He’s kinda quiet but he seems nice enough. /Apparently/ he’s Ila’den’s nephew.” V’nyk knows things. Probably because he talks to everyone and asks questions. He shakes his head just a little at that though, finally giving a slight groan. “They’ve got to let us graduate soon, right? I am so ready to stop running drills and formations.”
“Ya.” J’en says, shifting his left shoulder upwards in a half-shrug. “Ain’t what he told meh. Said he was stayin’ with the friend of relatives.” And that is apparently all that he had to say on the subject of the quiet new boy. Information was power, not that Jae was likely to pursue a line of questioning or anything unless the situation required it. He wasn’t leadership, and he wasn’t part of the guard. Not his job. “We’re all done with lessons. Only thing left is wing tappin’ and graduation.” Leketh finally emerges from the water, hauling his bulk back out onto the beach and croons softly at V’nyk before settling down to be oiled, and he waits. Patiently. J’en merely tsks with a sigh to follow before he heads over to the bucket, grabbing the paddle and simply gets to work. “Ya got any idea what wing ya want?”
“Well that makes sense. He’s staying with V’ric actually. Him and a brother, I think. V’ric is that brownrider that’s really tall and quiet and stuff. Usually hangs around Ila’den.” V’nyk has all the gossip, apparently! All of it. Though perhaps not some of the finer details. He makes a face though, tongue briefly sticking out. “We may be all but graduated, but until then we’re still under the command of our esteemed Weyrlingmasters. Bleh.” Sick of practice? Definitely so. He grins and waves his fingers a bit when Leketh comes back out again, casually wandering after J’en to the oil. “Search and rescue, definitely. Ly won't be happy unless we’re having ‘adventures’ and the way I see it those guys can use all the first aid experience they can get. So it's a win-win. I’d rather that than taking stuff all hither and yon, even if traveling places is fun. What about you guys?”
Again, J’en shrugs that single shoulder, but not before brows launch upwards some. Then it’s back to oiling, because the subject of Taeski is dropped immediately afterward unless the greenling brings it back up again. He had no idea who V’ric was, and while he might have had a few conversation with Ila’den, the two bronzers were certainly not friends. Jae could probably count on one hand how many people he could officially give that designation. “Meh. At this point I can do the drills an’ shit while mah head is concentratin’ on more important thin’s.” he confesses, expelling a sigh and moving a whole another inch downwards to oil another patch of dragon flesh. “Leketh and I want Archipelago, as well. Might as well do somethin’ worth doin’ and with him outta the weyr some we can reduce the chances of him doin’ somethin’ really stupid. Like winnin’ a gold flight.”
"Oh how devastating that would be." V'nyk laughs lowly, throwing another look up at Leketh at the thought of him catching a gold. "Have to put up with a goldrider while she tries to make you wait on her hand and foot on the sands.." No, the torment shall end there. Any other awful side effects of being a clutch-parent can just..remain hidden. The teen grins though, tilting his head. "You want any help with that?" See? At least he won't make J'en do all the work of oilwork if he's standing right there. His head bobs though, nodding along with the talk of wings. "Well good! Someone's gotta watch your back so being in the same wing is pretty awesome." Lychenth herself finally manages to make her way out of the water as well, prancing up onto the beach to settle down contentedly. Her glorious reign as seamonster has come to an end.
J’en shoots his fellow weyrling a look that might give others pause and wonder if he was really upset at that line of thought, but as it was directed at V’nyk who knew him probably better than he did himself, he was likely confident that the guy could handle it. “I ain’t waitin’ on no one. Dun care who the fuck they think they are. Ya saw how pussy whipped that C'vryn dude was durin’ candidacy.” There is an actual shudder that follows, offering the paddle he was using to the greenling when he offers his help. Not going to say no, that was a lot of work he had ahead of him. Only Faranth knows why he waited so late in the day to start the whole process. He nods once for the other teen’s interpretation of being in the same wing together. Once the paddle is out of his hands, he moves away towards Leketh’s front and the bronze’s head lowers, allowing him to use a rag to apply oil to the more delicate areas such as around his eyes and nostrils. He falls into silence then, the look of concentration on his face, far more intense than it needed to be considering his current task. Likely unbeknownst to him, at least in the first few seconds, his eyes begin to well before spilling their contents down his cheeks. A moment later, he swears under his breath and shoots Leketh another nasty look, following it up with a round of hushed curses better left unwritten, “I told ya to let it be…” he tells his lifemate, but the tone doesn’t hold much chastising weight, and soon he’s wrapping his arms with a creak of leather around that partially oiled head and buries his face between Leketh’s headknobs. The bronze can only mournfully croon.
V'nyk wastes no time in getting to work with helping. The less light there is to work with, the harder things would get, after all. He peeks his head around what he can though when J'en mentions C'vryn, eyes wide. "Oh I /know/. That's what I was thinking of. I mean, I shudder to even imagine you in such a state. Like..seriously. She could've used him as a footstool and I bet he'd have agreed to it. Granted, maybe he's into that kind of thing." You never know with some people! He gets back to work through with getting some of that oiling done, humming a little to himself to fill in what silence there is. It's almost enough to miss the muttered cursing from J'en, although the greenling's head slowly appears around part of Leketh again, peering at the other teen in concern. A concern which is much more apparent at the sight of /tears/ on his friend's face. Walking around, he takes the time to drop the paddle in the bucket, one hand briefly touching Leketh's neck in a light pat. He doesn't say anything though, deciding rather to stand silently close for J'en to take comfort in his dragon.
Jae would refer to what was happening right now as an ‘unmanly display’ or something to that effect but even if he was prone to this every now and then, he certainly didn’t go out of his way to make a show of it. In fact, he just didn’t even admit to it ever having happened in the first place. One thing he could be sure of, was that for all the gossiping that V’nyk enjoyed, situations such as these were never part of it. Leketh croons again briefly for the pat to his neck, before rapidly whirling facets close. J’en clutches that head tight, not that the bronze seems to mind, and it wasn’t like his lifemate could even get his arms all the way around anyway. This goes on for quite some time, into and beyond soft sobs and shaking shoulders, then well into when he finally goes silent and still. Rukbat has long since set and night cast it’s obscuring blanket over the scene before he manages to pull himself free and take the paddle from V’nyk without a word and returns it to the bucket along with the rag. In fact, he quiet goes about collecting everything he brought down to the beach, and puts it all in one spot before going after Leketh’s straps. “…I’m goin’ home.” he murmurs at last, his voice a little hoarse which gives it an uncharacteristically rugged sound. He doesn’t even look at the greenling, as he tosses the straps over his lifemate’s body and starts to work them into place.
V'nyk can certainly be very quiet when he wants to be. Or when he needs to. He waits the whole time though, managing to not make any noise while J'en vents his sorrow. There's a helpless look on his face for the most part, unable to really do anything but stand there uselessly. He blinks even though when Jae finally starts to move around, head tilted to watch him pack everything else away and gather things. And then there are straps. There's a quick glance at Lychenth, already dozing on the beach in the darkness. It's been a while, after all! "..You want me to come by later?" It's all he can really think to offer, really. One hand rubs at the opposite arm while J'en buckles the straps onto Leketh, shifting just a bit awkwardly on his feet.
Still visibly upset and no longer able to hide it even for a seemingly benign and friendly conversation with his friend, Jae is making for the exit at warp speed. The straps at least are being put on proper and securely, so at least the sixteen turn old didn’t have a death wish, at least not at the moment. The fact that V’nyk was still there and hadn’t just taken off despite everything isn’t lost on J’en, because as soon as everything was loaded up and all there is left is to leave, he marches over. There was a definite height difference, but he doesn’t hesitate in gathering the other teen’s face between his hands and leaning down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. “No.” he breathes, lingering there with his nose buried in that soft fluffy hair. “Dun take it personal. I jus’ need some time before I’m gunna be fit for much of anyhin’ worth givin’ ya.” Another lingering moment before he pulls away and heads over to Leketh, soon climbing into his forepaw to get a lift.
Such bits of affection are always a little bit surprising for V'nyk, and he holds still while there are lips on his forehead. There's a smile that goes with it though, relaxing somewhat at the proximity of J'en..although he doesn't look particularly pleased at being denied a visit. Not unexpected, of course, but he doesn't have to like it. Though he stares after the bronzeling in bewilderment a moment, one hand settling on his hip with a defiant huff. "Who said anything about you /giving/ me anything? I'm going to bring you a snack in a few hours, just so you know." Yep, he'll outright ignore some things at times, especially if J'en thinks he needs to be /fit/ for being around him. The greenling has seen Jae in all sorts of states of..less than savory mood. "Don't worry, I won't stick around." Wearing out his welcome, however, is not something V'nyk is keen on. But checking up on the other boy? That's a must. Once he turns back to Lychenth however, heading off to wake the green up, the boy's expression darkens. After all, people don't generally get so upset without /help/ in getting there.
“Dun show up.” J’en warns, but while there is mild irritation at the persistence of the other boy, the pain of whatever he’d recently suffered that had him so upset overshadows it for the most part. He climbs into his seat between neckridges, and Leketh starts walking on further down the beach in order to give himself enough room to take off without any danger of kicking up sand and whatnot. Soon the pair are launching upwards into the sky, and flying back towards the weyr. If V’nyk does stop by as promised, he won’t find anyone home. Seems Jae was serious about needing space.
Him being there or not doesn’t stop a delivery of snack items and half a bottle of alcohol showing up in J’en’s weyr though. V’nyk’s delivery is made with the greenling disappearing quickly after. Yep.